Summoned

The other day in the mail I got a letter from the 4th District Court... I have been summoned for jury duty! I have to say I'm a little excited. I kind of hope that I get picked so I can have an inside look at our judicial system. My two weeks start on June 29. There is a call-in option that I will do. That way, I just call twice a day to see if they need me to show up. If so, off to the courthouse. If not, it's just work as usual.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. It started off with a nice little run (4 miles!!!) - well, really it started with bringing our house guest to the airport at 5 am, then going back to bed. But anyway. Then we went on Grant's boat. It was really windy and a little cool, but we ended up in a little bay that was sheltered. Great fun! Then it was off to David's MBA grad party. So excited for David to have more free time. After that we met up with Grant for a little downtown action.

And now I'm trying to figure out what to feed 6 people for lunch... :)

What a Weekend

This past weekend was a lot of fun and relaxation. Friday was our first 1/2 Friday of the summer, so Ben and I took advantage and went out to eat and then to the dog park (after picking up the little Zoey girl). Ben went swimming while I ran to Costco for some brats and buns and then we grilled and watched a movie with my bro (12 Monkeys).

Saturday we went to Albertville to do some furniture shopping. We found 4 bedroom sets that we liked, but we forgot to measure the room beforehand, so we didn't buy anything. The sales lady, Darlene was hilarious. That night Rick, Mickey and Malachi came back to town, so we hung out with them.

Sunday was my mom's birthday so the family got together to celebrate. After that we went to the Gale's for the annual Memorial Day party. I was relatively good this year. We had a lot of fun and the weather was perfect!

Monday we slept in and went back to Albertville to buy our furniture set. The bad news is that it is all over the country, so we won't get it until the end of June. Which really isn't all that bad, but we wanted two beds set up for this Friday because we have multiple house guests. Oh, well.

I've also caught up with my recipe resolution. Ben and I made an Italian Pasta Salad from our pasta cookbook the other night. It was easy and good. And then tonight I made Corn and Beef Creole with Olive Biscuits. Of course, I didn't follow the recipe exactly, but it was pretty yummy. I am a little worried about how well the biscuits will hold up as leftovers.

Swimming Lessons

The other night (last week) I looked out into the pond and saw 3 Canada Geese families out for a swim. This was the first time that I saw the little goslings. So cute! Since then we have seen them out several times. Boy, do they grow up fast!

Ben and I have been going swimming a few times a week. It is mildly frustrating. The schedule only has lap swim time from 6-7 pm and 9-9:45 pm. Prior to the 6 time slot is swimming lessons. After the slot is water aerobics. (Meaning no lanes open. Other times are just reduced number of lanes). The last time we were there there was a private swimming lesson taking up one lane, kids swimming in another lane, leaving only 3 lanes open for the 7-9 people wanting to swim laps. When we got out of the pool there were about 5 people standing around waiting for their turn to swim. Super annoying! I am seriously thinking about switching to the 9 pm swim time.

HOA

Last night Ben and I attended the first annual meeting of our home owners association. It was an interesting time... One guy wants a special assessment for dog owners because some of his grass is dying... One guy was over analyzing the financial statements... Since our development is still in progress at the moment the builders run the association. Everyone had a bunch of questions for the guy that came to represent the builders. I felt bad for him. But he seemed very nice and had a great sense of humor. After the meeting we talked to him about trees and our "lake" in our back yard. He's going to swing by and look at the lake. It will be nice to get that taken care of.

The Lake - The backyards on our street slope down towards the pond (good plan). The problem is we don't think the slope is right. There are two spots in our yard that water will pool in. Last summer it was always so wet there, we couldn't really mow.

If the Swim Doesn't Kill Me

I just might finish the triathlon. Tonight was my first swim training session. Yikes! I need some work! Heather totally kicked my butt. She's very efficient at that whole front crawl thing. I can do it lifeguard style (head out of water) but not the "real" way. I tried it several times tonight. I think I might need to ask some swimmers some pointers on how to breathe. My legs were fine, my arms were OK, but my breathing was my issue. But, since this was my first swim in a long time, I'm not upset. I just hope that Saturday's swim is a little better. I did manage to swim 26 laps (Heather did 35 in the same time).

April Update

For Easter I made a Key Lime Pie Poke Cake from Betty Crocker. It was pretty tasty. I count this as my second recipe of the month. Ben said that I should only count main dish recipes. What do you think? Just in case he's right, in May I will do three recipes. So, to kick things off right, the other night we grilled some salmon. We made a rub of brown sugar, salt, pepper, and other seasonings. It was great! We used the leftovers for a salad.

On the weight loss progress... India kind of threw me for a loop. I didn't exercise at all while I was there (one day I swam 3 laps, but I don't think that really counts). But I am down 3 pounds from where I started. I think this next little bit will be a challenge. Since I'm training for the tri I am a lot more active. But I don't want to sacrifice muscle so I am trying to eat enough to keep my body in good shape. We'll see what happens.

5k Fun

Last Saturday was the annual Run of the Mills (ROTM). It's a 5k race for families and friends of GMI. Team Tortoise was once again a part of the fun. This year we were going to dress up as the four elements, but none of us were really feeling it. So we came up with a better plan - Ninjas vs. Pirates! Katie and I were the dashing pirates and Dawn and Andrea were the stealthy ninjas.

We had joked about having little battles during the race. Turns out we did exactly that. Andrea was having some wardrobe malfunctions (shoe kept untying). So while she was fixing her issue, the rest of us had little fights (because of course we were running with weapons!). Mile 2 Dawn and Katie had to start walking. Both have bum knees. Andrea and I decided to keep running since really the 5k was our workout for the day for our triathlon training. As we neared the finish we kicked it into high gear and sprinted. It was so fun because all of our friends were cheering/heckling us. We went back to run through the finish with the rest of the team. When Dawn and Katie started to sprint, we stopped and just cheered.

Our official results? Andrea and I tied. Katie and Dawn tied. So the question remains: In battle, who will triumph - Ninjas or Pirates?