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Over the past few years, I have been happy to now that I was exercising regularly.  I had gotten bored with lifting weights at the gym and decided to go back to running after all of these years since grade nine in high school.

I set myself up a goal to go the 5k Easter Seal Run in Newmarket and began running on my own.  My first real run in years, I did a 38 minute run and even though it wasn’t extremely fast, I was proud of myself.  I then signed up for a clinic at the Running Room for the 10k distance and had a goal race to run in July on the beaches in Toronto.  I got up to training at about the 8k mark and my knee was aching.  I bought more supportive saucony running shoes and tried to continue.  The knee pain would not go away. I saw the doctor, he referred me to the Markham |Stouffville Hospital for an MRI appointment.  I also started going once or twice every couple of weeks for pyhysiotherapy to help strenghten my muscles.

I was quite disappointed when I was told that I could no longer run anymore and that it was best to wait until the MRI appointment came, which was about four months away.

I had always wanted to run a half marathon and because I was unaware of what was wrong with my knee, I figured that if I couldn’t run it, I would walk it then.  So I signed myself up for a half marathon walk in Burlington for March of 2012.  I had my MRI appointment in November 2011 and was given the news that nothing was needed surgically to fix my knee. My doctor didn’t really have any suggestions other than maybe I shouldn’t run anymore or do pyshio.

I decided to sell my eliptical trainer and bought myself a used but fairly new treadmill.  I had signed up for a web clinic for the half marathon distance but instead of the running, I was doing the walking instead.  I was even alternating running with the walking.  I did the half marathon walk in March and was very happy with myself, I walked it in 3 hours and 17 minutes. Yay!

At this point, I had already signed myself up for a half marathon run for the Toronto Waterfront Scotiabank Marathon in October 2012.  I had a brilliant idea and thought ” you know what, why not sign up for the Goodlife Half Marathon run in Toronto in May” .  So I did the half marathon run in May, finished but wasn’t very happy with my performance. I didn’t train fully and had lost a bit of interest along the way.

Based on my training efforst, I decided to sign up for a running clinic through the Running Room in hopes that running with other people could motivate me to keep going when it got hard.  That was another bust but on my end and more of a stubbourness than anything else. I went to the first session and the instructor was a 23 year old kid.  My thought was that if I am paying money for a running instructor, I wanted someone more experience who has actually done alot of runs.  During our first run, I stopped and took a break, was running too fast et cetera.  Even though he said, that between him and his mother who was also instructing the clinic that they wouldn’t leave anyone behind, no one noticed I had stopped and continued on. So immediately, that turned me off and still to this day, I haven’t gone back.  I know that it was a dumb decision on my part but I was being pigheaded.

I have a half marathon run scheduled in just over a month and have done no training whatsoever.  Recently after cottaging and no running for a while, I am gaining weight. I did not realize just how much running kept my weight in check so needless to say, I NEED to get off my butt and get moving again.  I planned our meals for the next two weeks and not as eating clean ( I realized that all the running I had been doing was compensating for my bad food choices) so I am also going to start on a meal plan for my next grocery shopping trip to ensure we are back to eating clean and making better food choices.

Oh, and I will be getting off my butt!  Wish me luck!

As a mother of four, I enjoy trying new recipes all of the time. 

Recently I have tried squash chips (not a hit with my kids) and kale chips which was definitely not a very accepted snack either.  Nonetheless I try different things all the time because you just never know what the kids will like and what they will not.

In the last while, my 11 year old son Justin has shown interest in learning how to cook.  He has learned to make cheese buns ( a family fav) as well as homemade pancakes, bacon and eggs, cookies and a few other things. 

Tonight, Justin has asked to learn how to make meatballs and for us to have a spaghetti and meatball meal for dinner.  I have found the following recipe shown below that he will be making tonight by himself.  The recipe below is from the website www.busycooks.about.com 

 http://busycooks.about.com/od/groundbeefrecipes/r/easymeatballs.htm

Easy Meatballs

Easy Meatballs

Linda Larsen

 

This simple recipe for delicious homemade meatballs can be flavored any way you like, or just make it plain.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. pepper

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl combine egg, water, bread crumbs, onion, salt and pepper and combine. Add ground beef, broken into chunks, and mush with your hands to combine. Form into meatballs about 1″ in diameter and place on a broiler pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until meatballs are no longer pink in center. Cool and freeze, or when baked, use in your favorite recipe.  In the picture, these meatballs were recooked in the crockpot in Sweet and Sour Meatballs.
Nutrition info:
Calories: 328.1
Fat: 17.5 g
Sodium: 341.3 mg
Carbohydrate: 11.1 g
Protein: 23.8 g
Vitamin B-12: 46.3% DV
Vitamin B-6: 17.0% DV
Niacin: 30.3% DV
Zinc: 31.7% DV

UPDATE:

Justin did a great job making meatballs for the first time and they tasted very good.

MMMMMMM Spaghetti and meatballs!!

Well, you would think I am talking about the kids going back to school in less than a couple of weeks but this time, I am talking about ME!

After being off for eight years as a stay at home raising four children, I have decided to FINALLY take an online certificate course through Algonquin College in Ottawa.  The name of the course is Fundraising Management.

Over the years, I have done a variety of volunteer work in the areas of fundraising, special event planning, and public relations.  I have sat on the Board of Directors for the Red Cross Society in Barrie as a Fundraising Chair, Special Events Chair and a Public Relations Chair. I also helped at the Heart and Stroke Foundation in Barrie planning special events and in the office but specifically with the Big Bike Fundraiser.  There have been other volunteer opportunities but those have been the major two. 

Through highschool, I had always planned on taking Journalism in college and had written articles over the years in the Orillia Packet and Times Newspaper in a column called Teen Talk, that was geared towards the teens in town. They were usually about events happening in and around the Orillia area.  I am actually going to call the Orillia Public Library to see if they still have the micro feche files so that I can make a date and get all of the articles I wrote printed off.

After highschool, I worked at Bayview Wildwood Resort and thought that maybe Journalism was not what I had really wanted so I second guessed myself and decided to take Hotel and Resort Management at Georgian College in Barrie instead.  Well, that was a bust.  I did not like the course, let alone finish it and the one regret I have had my entire life was not taking Journalism afterall. 

Every job I have had in the past had some element of marketing, sales support, and where I really love to work and excel.  I have helped at my childrens school councils as a Co Chair, Secretary, with special events fundraising and planning a winter carnival on my own from scratch which turned out pretty successful.  This is what I love to do so finally after all of these years, I am going to get the education to go with the job I have always wanted!

My online course begins on September 7 and ends on December 14.   The first course I have signed up for is Intro to Fundraising.  This is a 45 hour program course that will be followed up by an exam on December 15 or 16, 2012.  Because I am over 100 km from Ottawa, I will be trying to arrange the exam to take place in the Newmarket Public Library, in the city I live in.  (Reminds me, I better call about setting that up)

The beautiful thing about an online course is that even though my twin girls are still on alternate days for school, I can continue to stay home with them when needed and get this program done all at the same time.  I will start course number two in January and have three years to finish six courses.

After all of these years, I am a bit nervous and excited at the same time.

Wish me luck!

I just recently returned back home after a week away with my family.  We rented a cottage in Minden like we do every year, always try a different place.  This cottage was not however as they had described it to me. 

The cottage was on Lake Kushog…. took us a while to finally find it.  It had been advertised as Minden but in fact, it was not very close to Minden at all.  It was about ten minutes south of Dorset which really was not that close to Minden, I think it was considered Algonquin Highlands.

Nonetheless, the cottage advertisement had said we had our very own private and secluded beach. Even with the picture they sent me of the beach, you could see a road in the background, which ended up being Highway 35.  Our cottage was on top of a hill and in order to get to the beach and water, we had to walk down a rocky terrain back and forth to the beach. Mind you, I was hoping that would maybe make me lose some weight before the end of the week but that did not happen. 🙁 

So, anyway, the beach we had was in the open, and beside the boat launch.  We were beside the shop for the lodge there that was closed for renovations.  Our beach was down below a hill and a main road that hosted some cabins and Lake Kushog Road.  Our beach area was private in the sense that it was not shared with anyone else but definitely not secluded.  The dogs that live on the property came to visit us often, which is normally not an issue, but the one dog peed on our lifejackets and in the bag of sand toys that we had brought for my children and niece and nephew to play with.  When we saw the dog coming after the first day, we made sure we had our bags and lifejackets put up on a chair.

The cottage rental came with a canoe, paddleboat, and two kayaks.  We had never used a kayak before but my 11 year old son got in there and it was like it was meant for him.  He was such a natural.  There was also a swimming raft that everyone swam to and did some jumping tricks off and into the water, this was quite a bit part of the cottage week itself. 

The day we arrived, my dad and his girlfriend, as well as my sister and her two children came as well and stayed for two nights.  All of the kids had a fantastic time playing in the water.  Oh and I cannot leave out my dog Chase, he was in heaven.  In and out of the water, barking at the kids because he wanted to go in the water, it was quite funny to see.

The cottage itself had 3 bedrooms, one with a double bed, single bed, and a bunkbed that had a single and a double as well and we had a pull out couch in the livingroom.  It also came with a bunkie that had a queen bed and a separate portapottie was was not quite that nice at all.  The washroom in the main cottage was a full washroom so this is what we all used.  The cottage was cozy and had everything we could need. There was Bell Expressvu satellite which was nice for the children and adults to be able to watch on a rainy day or in the evenings. 

So overall, I would say the cottage was alright. We paid a cheap amount for it and for the price, we could not have gone wrong.  Other cottages we had rented before had washer and dryers and other amenities that this did not have but we had no complaints.  You never realize just how lucky you are to have a dry towel, our towels were soaked all week.  We will rent another cottage again next year or go on a trip farther away next time but I can say that we created a lot of family memories.

My name is Darlene and I am a mother of four.  I am a mother, wife, sister, aunt, daughter, sister in law, a try-to-be-runner lately it seems and very busy.   I like adventure although with four children, it is usually centered around them.

 I love hanging with friends and famly and my kids of course. I have a loving husband and family and wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. 🙂  I like to talk and post photos on facebook, dabble with twitter.  I like to think I am internet savvy but I know I have many things to learn. 

I enjoy reading my kobo, trying out new food recipes quite often and always experimenting and trying new things.  I like to be fit and eat well although I am not always the best following through.

I know alot of people who blog and I thought, “hey, why not give it a try? Worse case I have nothing interesting to say and best case, I surprise myself”.

Welcome to my blog and I look forward to writing more soon!   🙂