ugh

I am visiting my family right now and I wanted to go for a run this morning. I was trying to decide how many layers I would need, so I went to weather.com. The report said 9 degrees, feels like -2. UGH!! Nine is gross enough as it is, but -2 is snotsickle weather.

I didn't go running this morning.

O-o-e-o, The White Stuff

On Friday night we were supposed to go up to Harrisonburg to see the 'rents. That's when the white stuff happened. It was supposed to start late and then go all day saturday. So that didn't happen, it was kind of closing down everything, and there were a bunch of wrecks between Richmond and H-burg, wo we decided to postpone the visit. While a bummer, we still got to play in all of the beautiful snow. On Saturday, we went to the main "Quad" in Chelsea and were sledding up a storm, using some Klondike sleds that the Scouts made for their Klondike activity last week. It was awesome, until this crusty lady poked her head out of her sliding door and said, "You all know I live in this room, right?" "Uh, no..." "Yeah, and I know it's fun outside, but you all being up woke me up." (It's frickin' 11 o'clock lady) [blank stare] "You know this is my porch and you're making it an eyesore out here." [blank stare] "You know I like you kids and I'm a good neighbor and I'd do anything for you kids, but you need to respect my privacy....blah...blah...blah..." "Yeah, sure, we'll go somewhere else." So we went to another little hill and had a really good time, it was a lot of fun. Take home message, "enjoy the weather, some people other than students sleep to 11"

From the apartment, yes, that's a lot of snow.

The Men on a sledding challenge.

Embarking up the hill.

Sometimes it felt like a long way

Right before the crusty old lady kicked us off her "patio"

The missus lookin all hot.

I'm gonna write myself a note

Today I am annoyed at people asking for notes for work. I understand this is a perfectly acceptable thing to do at a doctor's office and there are many days where I don't mind doing it. Today, however, it annoyed me. I am going to write myself (and my nurse because she requested it) a note. It will say this:

Name: Heather Sedwick Date: 12/16/09

Please excuse patient from work today, she is sick of writing excusal notes. She will be out until bad attitude resolves.


MESSY SIGNATURE THAT IS COMPLETELY ILLEGIBLE

Mary MOOOOOoaaaaaaa....she's vegetarian Mary Mo Mary Mo*

*She's not really a vegetarian, that's just how the song goes.

Happy Birthday to my mom today. Sometimes we call her Mary Mo and I think she is the best. Here are some reasons: (I know I can't even begin to list them all but this is what came to my head at the moment)

She is VERY creative and makes every single holiday a blast. I could always count on my mom decorating big for every holiday. On April Fool's Day she loved to come up with things to make the holiday exciting. Like one year when she put assorted kitchen/non kitchen items in a bag and we had to use whatever was in the bag as our plate and utensils for a spagetti dinner. Or one year she put a can of something (it might have been dog food) in my lunch bag for school and then I had to solve a puzzle to find out where to meet her to get my real lunch. She dyes everything from our milk, eggs and pancackes to the toliet water green on St. Patties day.

She is the most compassionate person and always worries about how others feel Even though I tend to be stubborn my mom can always see when I need a hug. She says, "come sit down on the couch with me and let me play with your hair." Then I put my head in her lap, she plays with my hair and lets me cry.

Even though she acts like a prude and says she doesn't like vulgar conversations at the dinner table, she is always the one who brings it up. I think she is hilarious.

She has these "vibes" that are really a super intense version of mother's intuition. Even though I hated it, I think she saved me from a lot of bad situations in junior high and high school.

She once told me, when I was a bratty teenager that, "Heather, one day we will be friends." I told her maybe in the next life, but it didn't take that long and now my mom is a best friend to me. I love my mom!!

Treated like Royalty

We went to the Greenbriar with Nancy(MIL), Dickie (Doodoo) and Mammie (Martha) for Thanksgiving. It is such an amazing place to stay. They make sure that every detail is perfect and beautiful. You are treated like royalty the whole time. My favorite story to illustrate this is that Dickie bought a pair of pants from one of the shops in the lobby and they tailored them and had them sitting in his room by that evening. Pressed and ready to wear. The food was incredible. I wish I could have taken a little bit of every single dish home so I could continue enjoying it. MMM...my mouth waters just thinking about it. We went to lots of cooking demos and a culinary class, so let me know if you want me to make you a pumpkin bisque that is incredible...I learned how. I Here are the highlight pictures...

Thank goodness for timers on cameras so we can all be in a picture.

Us with the executive sous chef at the culinary class, this guy helped train Michael Voltaggio (you won't know who that is unless you watch Top Chef...which we do) Still can't get over how good the food was. Ride that reindeer

All the night lights in the hotel say, "It's sleepy time down south." Welcome to Richard's life, always seeing me fall asleep.

Richard and Doo Doo
Taking advantage of the characiture artist that was the there for the kids...we're kids right??

The scavenger hunt (again...I think this may have been for the kids, but we loved it)

Mammie "reading" her book...I totally understand this.

The purpose of this picture is to show that my shoes match his shirt.

Should I grow a mustache too??

As most of you readers know I think mustache=pedophile

So why, you ask, should I grow a mustache? It is because I went to New Moon this weekend and I must confess that I thought the guy playing Jacob was very, very hot. I told Rich this when I got home from the movie and then the next morning he was listening to the radio and he heard that the guy was a 17 year old. I feel like a perv.

My half-marathon top 10 list

This is my half-marathon top 10 reasons why I love the Richmond McD's half-marathon:

10. discussing disgraceful fashion trends of the 90s with complete strangers at mile 5

9. hearing BYU alum/mormons get excited and cheer on my friend that was sporting a BYU T

8.Seeing the guy in the top hat, tuxedo top, bow tie and running shorts

7. running past Virginia Union University where they were blasting the song Humpty Hump

6. seeing the one white guy by VUU dancing in a strange hula to the Humpty Hump

5. hearing Darci compliment some guys calves and telling him that he shouldn't hide them under tube socks

4. hearing the guy that was rockin this flute with speakers of bass in the background (I have always wanted to run to flute music)

3. running past the most vibrantly colored yellow tree (so bright it hurt my eyes)

2. getting a runner's high at the end (I LOVED IT!!!)

1. Spending time with good friends both in training and on the day of the run. I have loved having early morning run time to talk to friends and when my old roommate Mary called to say she was coming to do the half I couldn't pass it up. Thanks ladies--and Scott!

Songs that make you say, "YES"

When I was 4th or 5th grade I became obsessed with Ace of Base. I LOVED Ace of Base, in fact it was my first CD ever. But before it became a CD that I owned I had to resort to the radio and since none of the radio stations in Elko, Nevada played that kind of hip music I would have to wait until we would go to Utah to visit family. I would spend hours listening to the radio and calling the station to request I Saw the Sign. Each time an Ace of Base song would come on the radio I would get really excited and say, "yessssssssssssss" and I probably did that fist pull/pump thing (if you don't know what I am talking about let me know and I will try to be more descriptive). Anyway, so I got in the car today and heard the song Fireflies by Owl City and I said, "yessssssssssss." Then I laughed because I realized I haven't changed all that much over the last 15 years. I did it then and now and many times in between. I don't think I am the only one out there that does this. Owl City is my new Ace of Base. Anybody else have a new song that makes you say yesssssssssss.

Strong Words

Today my fortune cookie said, "God will give you anything you want." Intense, huh?

Rich asked if I promptly prayed for a million dollars. I didn't...but maybe I should.

Since I am going to be getting ANYTHING I want I am going to start making a list:

1. A housekeeper (this goes beyond wants...this is a need)
2. Under armor running pants
3. A new camera
4. More free time
5. calorie free ice cream
6. Richard not to grow a mustache (see Shafer's blog)
7. Skinny jeans that flatter my body shape (I mean as long as I am wanting the impossible)
8. Big screen tv
9.???What else am I forgetting to want?

Getting into Character

For our ward party, last weekend, we decided to go as the H1N1 virus. We went as the actual molecule. (We still don't have a camera but thanks to friends who took pictures for us.)





So then in preparation for Halloween Day Rich went all out on his costume and internalized the H1N1 virus, if you know what I mean. I came home from the grocery store and Rich said he was feeling warm. His temp was a lovely 101. He is doing better now and hasn't had a fever all day! But I gotta say...way to get into character!

Winner Winner Chili Dinner

Third time is a charm. Rich has finally won first prize for our church chili cook off. He decided our first year that he wanted to make up a chili recipe and it turned out really good. That year he won second and then the first place winner moved away last year and he thought he had it in the bag, but alas you can't alway keep up with the Jones'. This year was finally his year and now that he has won, he is going to retire the recipe. So now for your cooking pleasure.

Rich’s Chili

2 cans Tomato Sauce (14oz or whatever the regular size is)
2 cans Diced tomatoes (regular, not Italian)
14 oz chicken broth
1 to 2 lbs Hamburger (2 for a heartier chili)
1 large onion
1 large green pepper
2 small really hot peppers (pureed)
2 can beans (kidney, drained)
1.5 tsp oregano
¾ tsp ground red pepper
3/8 tsp cumin
¾ tsp pepper
1.5 cup brown sugar
1.5 tbsp granulated garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
3 chorizos cooked and chopped

Cook meat separately with granulated garlic, onion, and green pepper, and salt and pepper to taste.

Cook chorizo separately and set aside.

Mix the remainder of the ingredients and cook for 30-40 minutes. Special notes: For easier puree of the Jalepenos, use a cup or so of the broth. When adding the brown sugar 1) add only 1 cup at first and cook as directed. If, after cooking, the sweet flavor is not coming through, add the additional 1/2 cup, or add to taste. Add meat and veggie mix to broth. Add meat and chorizos.

I'm so vain, I probably think this post is about me

Alright readers, I need your help on a matter of utmost importance. I have been informed that I have to do professional photos for our upcoming website at work. I am already worrying about it. I hope my skin is clear and the stye on my eye resolves beofore the picture (but I can't control that). So here are my questions.

1. Hair: Curly vs. straight vs. back in a bun
2. Clothes: sweater vs. collared shirt vs. suit (colors??)
3.Jewelry: Dangly earings vs none vs studs and ? necklace

What would you wear?

Death of an inspiring man

This man was such an inspiration to me during my first triathlon. I had tears come to my eyes as he gave an inspirational speech reminding us to enjoy every second of our triathlon, because you never know when it might be your last. Then he rode his wheelchair up and down the running path encouraging people. All I could say was thank you. I think it is good reminder to live everyday to it fullest.

10/15/09 - Roanoke Resident and VTS Speaker Dick Kelley Passes AwayYesterday,

Richard "Dick" Kelley, passed away after a courageous battle with ALS. Dick was an avid biker, skier and triathlete. He actually competed in every Big Lick event until this year. Dick was a triathlete for over 20 years. He was diagnosed in January of this year. The disease eventually left him paralyzed from the neck down. He never let the disease get him down and dedicated his final months of life to raising awareness of ALS and the lack of funding and treatments for this fatal disease. He appeared at the Angels Race Triathlon, Smith Mountain Lake Triathlon, Bath County Triathlon and Lake Norman Triathlon. Dick was the key driving force behind start of the Bath County Triathlon. He gave many inspirational talks despite the huge effort that was required by him to attend these events. Dick's last triathlon appearance was at Lake Norman 2009 which was the last triathlon that he completed in the summer of 2008. Dick is survived by his wife Carol. Donations in his honor can be made to alsa.org in the name of Richard Kelley.

Primary makes me smile

Sometimes I just sit in primary and smile, because children are strange and most of the time the things they do don't make any sense. They are so cute and most of the time innocent.
Here are some strange things that I noticed in primary today that made me smile.

1. I looked down and noticed that one of the boys had jeans hanging out the bottom of his church pants. I asked him if he was wearing a pair of jeans under his church pants and he told me that he was. So I asked him why and he just shrugged. Don't you know...wearing two pairs of pants is more comfortable.

2. I had to lead the opening song (fact: I just waved my arm to the 4/4 time and sang and my face turned red. Afterwards I looked at the song book and turns out that the song was actually 3/4 time, but its cool because the kids didn't know) and there was this cute little girl on the front row with pink bows on her pig tails and she covered her ears the whole time. Apparently this 3 year old can tell I don't have an angel voice.

3. There was a 5 year old that put his jacket over his face and kept shaking his head back and forth. Really? You are more fascinated by the inside of your jacket than by my lesson.

4. Right after the closing prayer two kids came running up to the front of the room jumped up on the stool in front of the microphone and yelled, "blah la blah blah" into the microphone. Everybody knows that hearing your own voice made loud is cool, even if you aren't saying anything important.

5. We did a spotlight time and the kids are supposed to sit down if the description of the spotlight child doesn't fit them, with the idea being that the last one standing is the spotlight person. Well the little kids don't get this concept at all and they jump up and down off of their seats throughout it. So this one sweet girl was sitting down apparently not paying attention to the fact that she was the person being described. Then Nicole said, "this person's favorite hobby is Thomas the Train." All of sudden her head popped up and she jumps out of her chair yelling, "I LIKE THOMAS THE TRAIN, I LIKE THOMAS." Ohh to be so excited about such a simple hobby.

Day PA Happy

I am sure you didn't realize that "PA Day" Even existed. I didn't either, until my nurse showed up to work with these beautiful flowers and balloons for PA day.

Philosophical questions

Philosophical questions #1:

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, did it really fall?



Philosophical question #2:

If my parents and brothers come to town and we tour downtown, go to belle isle, go on a fun bike ride, go on the sweet rides at Busch Gardens, watch conference, play games, laugh really hard and there are no pictures for proof because your husband loses the camera at Busch Gardens, did it really happen?

Answer:
Yes

My family came and we had such a great time while they were here.


Now we are in the market for a new camera.

Shucking Part 3

Last corn post...I promise.

During one of our shucking sessions, my sisters and I were banished to the garage to decrease the mess from our shucking. We set the shucked cobs on the car. While we working away one of the cobs rolled off the car hood onto the ground. We all laughed and decided that we would "mark" it by picking out some selected kernels so we would know which one it was and not eat it. So as dinner was being served that night we made sure my dad got the one that rolled onto the garage floor. We all watched with anticipation as my dad munched away. He exclaimed, "this is the best corn I have EVER had." We fell off our chairs with laughter. We decided that it was BECAUSE the corn rolled off the car and onto the ground. So from then on we made it a tradition to shuck the corn then roll it off a car and onto the ground. I really think it made the corn that much better, plus it was a fantastic tradition.

*Note: if you eat corn on the cob at my house now, you can rest assured that I have disbanded this tradition.*

Shucking part 2

Based on my informal poll it looks like shucking in the store is a nationwide thing. Maybe it is a new thing. ANYWAY I remember as a kids my mom would get corn from my uncle's farmer's market stand. It would be our (my sisters' and my) responsiblity to shuck the corn. One day we found a catepillar and for what ever reason we put it in a glass of water and it sunk. Decided that it should be named "sinka." Over the years everytime we would find a catepillar in our corn it would name sinka II, sinka III, sinka IV etc. So while I was at my friendly local walmart I was thinking that we were morbid children for naming this little animal after the manner of its death. What if we went around naming people with names like "bullettotheheada" or "myocardialinfarctiona" or "tripandfallintothegrandcanyona"?

Shucking Part 1

Today I was buying corn and I realized that the whole shucking corn in the store thing is completely foreign to me. I don't ever remember seeing people shucking corn before they buy it. Not that I mind it, but I am just wondering is that a Virginia thing?

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend we went camping at lake anna. I still maintain that my favorite thing about camping is waking up early, while everybody else is sleeping and going for a walk in the cool morning dew...followed closely by Smores.



Also I have a story:

On Saturday before we left for our camping trip we went to the annual Sedwick family reunion/potluck lunch. I didn't have anything to bring for the potluck lunch and with all the hub bub of packing for camping I didn't have time to make anything. SO we just weren't going to bring anything. Then I go too nervous about going empty-handed (I kept envisioning people watching us walk in with nothing to contribute and then whispering to each other as we promptly got in line for the food they brought....irrational, I know, but this is what I was picturing). SOOO We stopped at the grocery store and I started browsing the bakery and saw these cookies that could pass for homemade. I decided I would buy them, but I knew it would be obvious it was store bought if I brought it in the box, so I thought I would try to make it look like I made it. I went and bought a tupperware container, removed the stickers and put my cookies in the container. Looks authentic, right??

Then I had to hide the evidence in my car.

Luray Triathlon and busted Rich

Our relay team for the Luray Triathlon
Me (run), Kim(bike), Rich (swim)

Our team (4th place!!)

This is what happened to Rich from training too much. Diagnosis: Stress Fracture

What my grocery items say about me

Last night we went grocery shopping. Rich was really happy, because he had gone a whole week without cereal and he was very sure he would die if he didn't have it for another week. Anyway, I have always known they "profile" you when you buy your groceries, so the coupons you get printed with your reciept are specific to the items that you bought. For example you buy peanut butter they give you coupons for jelly or if you buy ice cream they give you coupons for topping. So I looked at the coupon that printed with our receipt and laughed at what we had been profiled for this time: it was a coupon for 20% off at the Plus size clothing store. I guess my food choices indicate that I need plus size clothing!

What constitutes "a long time"

Rich asked me this question the other day. I don't remember what we were talking about, but he asked, "when you think, well that was 'a long time' ago, how long is a long time." I decided that 5 years seems like a long time. Maybe that is because I feel like we have been married a long time. This is a round about way of saying, we have been married for five years now. IT has been a great 5 years and it seems so crazy that is have been that long.

This is us...a long time ago!

I definitely feel like I picked the best one. Haha...really though these last 5 years have been great.

Mutants

A couple of months ago I bought some strawberries and opened the container and found these ginormous strawberries. This one was the size of an apple. I called it a mutant strawberry, then i ate the mutant strawberry. As I was eating it I started to wonder what exactly made that strawberry so big. AND if it makes the strawberry grow to freakishly enormous sizes, what is it going to do to me...and more specifically my hind quarters? Or worse yet maybe it has some kind of crazy radiation in and I am going to become spiderman (not that being spiderman would be bad...or spiderwoman I should say), but as Rich pointed out my power wouldn't be spider powers it would be strawberry powers. He said my superpower would be "to smell delicious and taste good too." Honestly, those would be lame superpowers. Anyway the point is...look at that giant strawberry.

It's not what you think

Rich and I love the John Denver song Country Roads. It talks about Shenandoah and the blueridge mountains which are near Harrisonburg (Richard's hometown). We argued over whether the part of the song that says "west virginia" is about the state West Virginia or if it is western Virginia. We decided to look it up. Turns out the song wasn't written by John Denver and it wasn't about Virginia or west Virginia. The guy who wrote it was writing about what he had seen in Maryland (he thought it was what West Virginia was like). He actually never even went to West Virginia. I feel a little betrayed.

calisthenics

**Prepare for a ramble**

I am a morning person. I like to wake up in the morning and start my day. On the rare occasion that I do sleep in, I feel grumpy because I have "wasted" my morning. Rich makes fun of me for falling asleep on the couch everyday and not being able to stay awake during movies, when reading a book, working on charts or while driving (don't worry I pull over and make him drive), but guess where he is right now at 9:40 am...that's right, asleep in his bed. Anyway, the point is I am a morning person and I like to get my exercise done in the morning. I usually go to the gym or go for a run and every morning at about 6 am I pass this area in the road where there is a little island. Each morning when I pass it I see this middle aged bald Indian man wearing a red shirt with a blue stripe and white pants. He is always standing in the middle of the road, near the island, doing what I thought were calisthenics (see discussion below). He is either rolling his neck or stretching his arms or doing calf raises. I support his mode of exercise, but I question his location. Why does he do it right there in the middle of the road? Maybe it has a good aura/vibe. Maybe he wants everyone to know that he is doing his exercise. Maybe he is trying to get a tan (probably not his skin is already tan and the sun isn't that bright in the morning). Maybe he likes the smell of honeysuckle that grows nearby. Maybe his neighbor smokes outside and he doesn't want to inhale the toxic fumes. I don't know, but I think he is interesting.

Discussion below: As I was running the other day thinking about this guy and how I should post about it, I was trying to figure out exactly how to label what he was doing because it isn't exactly yoga or pilates and it isn't exactly cardiovascular exercise. The word calisthenics came into my head and I thought that was a good description. I decided to look it up on Wikipedia (which I find to be a very helpful tool...even if I can't prove it is accurate). Apparently, Calisthenics is push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, squats etc. that can be done in a group to boost teamwork. hmmmm....so what he does is not calisthenics. I actually am very surprised about the definition. I really thought it was something more like stretching/yogaish. But, apparently not.

Back at'cha Heather

From Richard:

Dear Heather, on your birthday this, the 9th day of July 2009, I decided to take the high road and not tell any embarrassing stories, but mostly only because I couldn't think of any. But, it's your birthday, so I thought that writing on the blog was the best way to let everyone know that you are a quarter of a century old today! The big 2-5. I love you babycakes, you are so great and so funny (especially when you fall asleep on the couch), and so smart, and such an awesome example. Thanks, I'm glad I've been able to celebrate the last 5 birthdays with you, and I look forward to a whole lot more.

Some oldies and Goodies:

4th o July

When Rich and I told everyone at work/school that we were going to be driving 8 hours to Columbus, Ohio to watch a DC United Soccer Game, we realized that it sounded kind of crazy. Even with the really long drive we had an awesome time. We had a blast in an average midwest city. We went to a conservatory that had butterflies and Richard's favorite was the bonsai trees. We were part of the super fans that follow the team (they are an intense, strange group).

Crabtree Falls

We went on a sweet hike to Crabtree falls and had fun camping with our friends from Northern Virginia. It was BEAUTIFUL!!