Refusing to Go Quietly

My plan to use my love of running to raise funds for Batey 50



On the left is a photo of a typical "house" on Batey 50, a sugarcane work camp in the Dominican Republic where extremely poor Haitians live in harrowing poverty. I have visited Batey 50 three times now and, with profound respect, like to call it the happiest place on Earth. When you show up to give a little bit of love, medicine, food, or hope to the residents, you receive indescribable amounts of love in return. With our service team from Watkinson School, my family had the joy of helping to complete construction on a hurricane proof house (on the right above) that was begun by Wallingford's Dominican Republic Mission Team (DRMT). This house is part of a relatively new campaign to replace all of the dilapidated houses with cement block homes (each house costs about $4,500); the campaign is called Fifty for 50.

In another part of my life, if you have been following me on Facebook, Twitter or here on my blog, you know I have become an avid runner. In September, I am joining a group of women (and one brave guy) who are refusing to go quietly into their 40s and 50s. Instead, we are tackling the Ragnar Relay, a 200-mile relay race through the hilly Adirondacks.

Putting It All Together
My faith has made me a better runner and my running has fueled my faith. When I am running a long distance and struggling, I often focus on someone that I love and pray for them in depth. The next thing I know, five miles will have gone by. Similarly, when I find myself feeling far from God, I will experience his presence in palpable ways in the midst of a run. One day when this happened an idea was born. What if my running could support Fifty for 50?

I use the Nike+ running application on my iPhone. Every time I take off on a run, the application tells my Facebook friendss that I am starting my run and asks them to cheer me on by either liking or commenting on the post. When my Facebook friends do this, I hear raucous cheering in my ears and it never ceases to motivate me to work a little harder. My fundraising commitment for Fifty for 50 is that each "like" I get while I am out running from now until I complete the Ragnar Relay means I will donate a dollar to Fifty for 50. (To help me in my quest, we must become Facebook friends. And I won't be offended if you unfriend me when this challenge is over!)

I hope you join me in supporting this wonderful cause and literally blow up my wall with likes and cheers when I am out running. If you don't have Facebook and would still like to help, please consider sending a check made payable to DR Mission Team to 13 Fawn Drive and designate Ragnar Relay House on the memo line.

Alright, my friends, let's go make some noise!

A New Kind of Pizza Crust

Family Friendly Meals Series—Day 12

My youngest looooooves pasta. So my Tuesday night experiment was right up his alley. I decided to make a pizza crust out of pasta. It was astoundingly easy and super delicious.

Ingredients:
3 cups corkscrew pasta
3/8 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
3T parmesan cheese

Directions:
• Generously grease a 12 inch pizza pan. The size of the pan is important.
• Cook your pasta as directed on the box. Once the pasta is boiled, drain it well, rinse it with cold water and drain it again.
• Toss the pasta with the milk, a beaten egg, and the parmesan cheese (I used a combination of fresh and canned because that was what I had and it was delicious).
• Press the mixture into the bottom of the pizza pan til it forms one solid layer (shown above).
• Bake for 20 mins at 350.

Now you can top this base with almost anything you want! I made a simple meat sauce so my kids would eat it (shown below); but I think it would be good with grilled vegetables, roasted root vegetables, and of course lots of cheese. If you want the recipe for the simple meat sauce, message me and I will send it to you. If you have topping ideas of your own, please let me know!

The Lessons of Running

One year ago today I did my first Couch to 5K workout...so, happy running-versary to me.

Trying something new takes courage. That's a fact.

I fully recognize that I am a diver-inner. I am embarrassed to admit that the first thing written in my baby book to describe me is "stubborn." If I had any motivation, I would actually go dig it out of the piles of nostalgia stored in my shed and take a photo of that page. (In fact, when I was finishing graduate school, my father looked me in the eye and told me that I "aim too high" implying I should have quit before I began...which makes zero sense to me, both then and now.)

Recently, I considered my boys and how much potential still exists in their lives. And then I considered my own...most of my pure, innate potential was reached three decades ago. It feels like all my big accomplishments are behind me.

And than my husband decided to ask me to start the Couch to 5K running program with him. I am almost 50 years old and I have never done anything athletic in my life (I don't consider dancing athletic, rather purely artistic). On March 13, 2011 I ran a half a mile and thought my lungs were going to explode. Now I can run 10 miles whenever I want and in January I ran a 7:13 mile. So what have I learned?

• Perseverance pays off.
More than once I have been running and battling that small voice in my head that is nagging me to quit. I picture my son, the lefty pitcher, who at age 12 learned to dig deep in the face of a 3-0 count with a number 4 batter and stay calm, reach beyond what he thinks he can do, and get an out. Often, when I feel like quitting, I picture him on the mound. What is your image of perseverance that will motivate you?
• Walk before you run...literally.
Now that I am 365 days into my running pursuits, I am struck by the fact that I have enjoyed it every step of the way. Because I started with the Couch to 5K workouts that were a combination of running and walking, I never felt over my head. And there were times early on when I repeated weeks of the Cto5K until I felt ready to move on. Take your time and increase gradually, avoid getting in over your head and, god forbid, causing an injury. You don't want to quit before you even get started.
• Encouragement matters—from friends and others who are doing what you aspire to do.
Every time I go out for run, my mom cheers me on. Every time I get home from a run, my husband asks me how I did. It is a small thing to them, but it means the world to me. My mom has been supporting me unabashedly since I was 10 and went to my first dance class, so I am not surprised. And my husband's repeated queries tickle me as they imply to me that he believes I still have room for improvement. If encouragement matters to you, be sure to thank those who are supporting you. Let them know they are an important part of your success.
• Race your own race; don't worry what other people can do or are doing...only worry about what you can do and do that.
It is dangerous to compare your work to what others can achieve. Everyone's body is different. It is imperative to do your own thing. Celebrate the accomplishments of others and they will celebrate yours.

So whatever it is you are trying to accomplish...be brave. Dive in. Persevere. And above all, race your own race.

2.18.12 Haiku
Running. Blood pulsing,
arms pulling. Music filled mind.
Spirit soars. Freedom.

A Confession and A Memory

In order to share a wonderful memory, I first must confess to something. When my kids were little, they had absurd amounts of energy. Especially my oldest...who, even though he is almost 15, comes home from school looking and acting like a caged bird from sitting at a desk all day. When my boys were about three and six, we took a vacation with family in Rangeley, Maine; which is a seven-hour car ride. My youngest gets very car sick so at the start of the trip to Maine, we gave him some pediatric Dramamine. Then I thought about the challenge of keeping the six-year-old, who has a hard time sitting still for five minutes, entertained all the way to Maine. (This was before having TV screens in backseats was commonplace.) In a momentary lapse of reason, I decided to give my older boy a half a Dramamine just to mellow him out a bit. Well, my husband and I ended up driving for almost five hours straight because both boys were asleep and it was one of the most peaceful travel times we have ever had as a family.

However, I felt so guilty about it that I couldn't bring myself to do it again on the way home. So on the way home, after the Dramamine wore off for my little guy, we still had another three-and-a-half hours of driving left to go. So we did what all white, suburban families do: we wrote a rap song. My big regret should be having given my six year old the Dramamine to begin with; but oh no, it is the fact that I never videoed them singing this song!

There's a Party in My Booster Seat
There's a party in my booster seat (come on, come on)
Wakin' and shakin' like a rooster, see (come on, come on)
Cookin' with sausage and not bacon, see (come on, come on)
The music's pumpin', we ain't fakin', see (come on, come on)

Boom shaka laka laka boom (What?)
Boom shaka laka laka boom (What?)
Boom shaka laka laka boom (What?)
Boom shaka laka laka boom (What! What! What!)

Chicken Chili

My eldest hates beef...he actually calls it "meat gum." Thus I went in search of chili made with chicken or turkey. This recipe, made with ground chicken, is one of two that I really like. It is super easy to make, reasonable healthy and very flavorful.

Ingredients
• one pound of ground chicken
• two cans of white, navy bean
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes
• 3.5 cups chicken broth (I use water and 4 bouillon cubes)
• 1 medium finely chopped onion
• 1/2 medium green pepper also finely chopped
• 1/2 to one cup frozen corn
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1.5-2 teaspoons chili powder (to your taste)
• 1.5 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• Cayenne pepper to your taste (when I make it for my kids, I don't use any and it is very flavorful).
• salt to your taste, I only add 1/2 teaspoon.

Directions
• Put the chicken broth, tomatoes, beans, corn, oregano, cumin and chili powder in a soup pot or a crock pot.
• brown the chicken in a frying pan, drain off the excess grease and add the meat to the soup/crock pot.
• don't wipe out the frying pan of the meat grease and with the burner on about medium head add the onion, peppers and garlic until the veggies are soft. This takes less than five minutes and stir often so the veggies don't burn. Once done, add this mix to the soup/crock pot.
• If cooking on a stove top, bring the mixture to a low boil and simmer for about 10-15 minutes. If cooking in a crock pot, let the flavors marry in a slow cooker for 4-5 hours on low.

I Name My Trees. So What?

I have had numerous post-Storm Alfred reflections, but this is the one I choose to share. While numerous people, including friends and family, have suffered in myriad ways from lack of access to heat, hot water and electricity, my focus is on the loss of life in my yard.

When I woke up the morning after Alfred raged through Connecticut, I was speechless at the devastation in my yard. Lilacs that I have lovingly pruned and transplanted for the last 17 years that are now 20 feet tall were lying on the ground. My dogwood, that was planted when Turner was born and is now as tall as my house, was snapped in half like a toothpick. Two of my maple trees took heavy damage with major limbs falling within inches of our house. But what broke my heart was my Mama Willow…she had lost fifty percent of her branches.

Mama Willow is a commanding presence in my yard. She is our home base in the event of a fire. She is our shade—on the hottest summer days, we are comfortable under her arches. She is the best climbing tree…my boys and my neighbor’s boys have done countless flips from that perfect, low branch on the right side. She is the largest presence at 145 Parker Farms Road; and prior to 10.29.11, she was beautiful. I was so sad.

In the midst of my sadness, I made calls to borrow chain saws and enlist some muscle to help with hauling. Some advised waiting for the town clean up day and some had already gotten quotes from arborists and tree pruning services (to the tune of thousands of dollars).

That is when it struck me.

Why aren’t I as heartbroken about the brokenness of people? Why aren’t I coordinating resources to help the sick, addicted, lonely, downtrodden, and desperately poor of the world? I give one week of the year to help the poor in La Romana, Dominican Republic and it doesn’t feel like enough. I want to get to the point where helping the disadvantaged feels as personal as helping save my Mama Willow.

My Summertime Companion

I don't leave home without it.

If you are a baseball mom—or soccer, lacrosse, or you name the sport—you may already be acquainted with the power of the rolling cooler. But this post is my homage to what has become one of my most useful, and therefor valuable, possessions. This model, purchased at Stop & Shop for about $30, is my favorite because it has a hard plastic interior and is easy to clean. The styles that have a soft, vinyl inside always get smelly and moldy after one season. This is my third summer hauling this puppy around and she's still growing strong!

Below is my masterlist of items to include in your cooler; I promise it will increase your popularity!

• food and water are the no brainers, but here are some specifics. The beverages should back on the bottom, with loose ice. All sandwiches should be packed in plastic containers, not baggies to avoid the soggy factor. Recycled chinese food containers fit in this cooler perfectly!
• the top, zippered compartment fits lots of snacks easily; just don't then put heavy things on top or instead of having chips, you'll have bits of chips.
• other essentials: sunscreen, bug spray, purelle, wet ones, napkins, plasticware, salt.
• individual gatorade powder packets
• sewing kit (I have used mine to fix a button that popped off a uniform; and not once, but twice, have used the needles to extract sunflower seed shells that got stuck too far up in a ball player's gum (ouch!) because dental floss wasn't working. And yes, the needles were sterilized in between times!
• a stack of paper napkins; twice in one weekend these were used to solve bloody nose crises.
• wash cloths serve myriad purposes; the most important for my family is when the ice in the cooler starts to melt, you have an instant sweat relief rag during really hot summer games.
• bottle opener/cork screw: more valuable for the beach or post game activities.

And best of all, whenever I head out with my partner in tow, I hear the old Bud Lite commercial theme song in my head...except I change "Mr." to "Mrs."