The Countdown Begins...

OK, Finals begin Friday. Trying to not get too nervous, but definitely have a lot to do today to feel more prepared. Will be working on Nutrition and Public Health today because those are the Friday finals. Too make things just a tad more stressful, we'll be leaving for Peoria as soon as we finish our Friday finals because we have a family reunion on Jon's mom's side of the family to attend that day!

Yesterday, Jon and Dartagnan worked hard on the patio and have half of the bricks laid. They are doing a fantastic job. Jon's hips and back are really bothering him, though, from the standing, squatting, leaning, standing, etc. Today, to make this a little better, Dartagnan is stacking bricks next to where Jon will be placing them, so he doesn't have to get up every 2 bricks to go get 2 more to bring back to place. Once all the bricks are placed, then Jon will be working on the perimeter, which will be limestone set in a thin bed of concrete to help shore up the deck so it doesn't spread out over time. Once that is complete, then Jon will fill in the spaces between the bricks with sand. I'm hoping we have no rain until the patio is completely done, so that it doesn't settle or move the bricks from where they have so painstakingly been set.

Our friend Julie (a weight-lifting champion) helped Jon and Dartagnan on Friday afternoon. Jon had rented a plate compacter and got the first layer of gravel for the patio compacted. Julie and D helped get the second layer of gravel down so it could be compacted and that was completed Friday night. She helped Jon load the heavy & awkward compacter back into our van and he was able to get it returned Friday night, so one less thing to do on Saturday morning. We really appreciated her help!

I got laundry (3 loads!) done yesterday and have one in now. Made an egg bake for a late brunch since we went to the 8:00 am service & didn't eat breakfast before we went. Was really yummy with the leftover potatoes O'Brien I made a few days ago. Also made my signature smoothie, below.

Kristi's Signature Smoothie:

Makes about 4 servings

(use as much organic as possible for best health benefits)

2 frozen wheatgrass squares

1 acai puree smoothie packet (Sambazon)

5 frozen strawberries

8 frozen blueberries

4 frozen blackberries

4 frozen cherries

3 frozen peach slices

4 frozen mango pieces

10 frozen red raspberries

1 banana

2 T. brown rice protein powder

2 T. ground flax seed (Barlean's)

1/2 cup vanilla soymilk

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup pomegranate juice

1/4 cup Naked Green Machine or other drink that has spirulina, chlorella, etc.

1/4 cup 50/50 Bolthouse Farms passionfruit/carrot juice

1/4 grape juice

1/4 goji juice

Blend well. Enjoy.

Freeze remainder if you like, in individual cups (plastic), cover with Press N Seal or waxed paper, and then top that with aluminum foil. Secure with a rubber band around top of cup. Perfect to take with you (don't forget to take a spoon!). Defrost in about 1-2 hours on their own.
Because we are vegetarians, I also add a powdered packet of B vitamins (supplement of 6 and 12) to our smoothie.

Delaney loves that smoothie and has been drinking it since she began eating solid food. I love that it is full of good things our bodies need and that it tastes so yummy.

Called my best friend Trish this morning as it is her birthday. Pretty cool that it is 10/10/10. I wonder if she noticed that, too. Sang the birthday song on her voicemail. She was at church. Haven't been able to see her or my other best friend Laura for a while. Going to make some time over break to see them for sure. Really, really looking forward to break!

I really liked today's sermon at church. It was in reference to 2 Timothy 2 where Paul tells Timothy to act as though he is already approved. Pastor Marohl challenged us to think about what life would be like if we behaved as though we are already approved, or already accepted by God just as we are and stopped worrying about what other people thought of us and stopped actively seeking approval from those around us. He also challenged us to view each person around us in the same way: as accepted and approved of by God. Wow. That is really a deep thought. Would really help us shed being judgmental if we could operated that way. It is a good challenge.

Well, just laid Lani down for her nap, so I need to get to studying and using this time wisely.

Toggle

Just completed my CET practical in Toggle (Case Evaluation Thrust) about an hour ago. Was very nervous and really messed up two important aspects: I selected the wrong listing to adjust (I picked the C1 listing instead of the C2 listing) and I also should have decided, based on the information given, to NOT adjust instead of TO adjust. However, I did perform the thrust satisfactorily and got the points for that. The bad part of this is that it makes the final even more important in Toggle.

I've been trying to put most all of my time into studying for PNS. Trying to get the info into my brain in a way that I can recall it instantly. Hoping to quiz with friends this weekend and next to prepare for the final (not next Monday, but the following one). Have two finals next Friday that I'll need to review for as well this weekend.

Sadly, Jon's grandfather passed away Sunday evening. He will be missed; he was such a sweet man--you could really tell how much he loved Jon's grandmother. He had a great sense of humor too. We go to visitation tomorrow night and the funeral on Thursday. We'll miss most of our morning classes, and possibly our afternoon classes. Thankfully, we don't have tests that day, so it is not so much of a concern. I will be going to PNS that morning, because there is the possibility that Dr. Schmiedel will give the last quiz that day and I do not want to miss out on the possible 2 points, which could really make a difference for me. After I get home from that class, we'll hit the road to Galesburg, Illinois.

This past weekend, Jon and Dartagnan worked outside most all of Saturday and Sunday, digging out the base for our patio install. Sunday afternoon, they finally got the 9-inch deep, 14-feet by 14-feet area dug out completely and added the first crushed gravel layer, which comes about halfway up. Next weekend, Jon will rent a compactor and compact the first layer, then he will lay the second gravel layer, compact it, then the 1-inch sand layer, then the Purington Pavers http://www.historicalbricks.com/?gclid=CLvKjNaovKQCFQpV5wodL2cWxw get set into a really beautiful herringbone pattern on top. There will be no morter, just a bit of sand between the bricks. We are excited to have a patio with a little local historical significance. It will be really great to have the space for entertaining and for just enjoying the Spring and Autumn weather, too.

I harvested the rest of the tomatos from my plants. I had 3 areas with multiple plants that were all volunteers from last year (which is great, since I didn't have to buy plants again!). There was a really sweet yellow grape, a smaller, equally sweet red grape, and a pink Thai egg tomato plant. Delaney loves to just pop them in her mouth. They make a good snack for her when I am out of brilliant ideas.

I also pulled up all the tomato plants after harvest because the weather is changing and it has been cold enough to kill the really tender plants outside at night. I brought in our Christmas tree, our little (about 4-foot tall) Norfolk pine (which is really a tropical plant and can't handle our winters here) this weekend and put it in our sunroom. It really grew over summer. We decided that we didn't want to purchase Christmas trees anymore because it is not environmentally friendly, so we re-use our little tree each year as our Christmas tree. Dartagnan doesn't like that, because he grew up with a tree.

Also tried three new recipes this weekend from www.allrecipes.com: an awesome buttercup squash casserole (with apples, pecans, brown sugar and butter, oh my!), alla checca (tomatos marinated in fresh basil, garlic, salt & olive oil over hot angel hair pasta-we threw some tomato-basil reduced fat feta cheese on the finished product as well-YUM!), and oatmeal chocolate chip bars (added pecans and dried currants to the "adult" half and left the "kid" half without). The bars are especially delish warmed up for a few seconds in the microwave, then topped with a scoop of Breyer's chocolate chip ice cream. I'm making myself hungry!

Delaney is loving her Saturday morning swim lessons. She is a little fish, just like Dartagnan. He loved his swim lessons when he was little too.

Gotta go get a bit of lunch before I head back for Sys Path (last class of the day!).