Whoops, I Did it Again… (and Apple Chip Recipe)

There are just some days when your brain just isn’t working properly and you end up doing stupid stuff… Come on, you all can admit it… I know I’m not the only one!! ;)  Things that just don’t make sense and it makes you think “Gee, what in the world was I thinking?”  The answer to that question is usually “Apparently, you weren’t” (At least that’s how the conversation goes in my head)  lol ;) If I’m being honest, I have to admit that I happen to have quite a bit of those days/moments!

Things like…

- making a special trip into town (20 minutes away) to buy gas and a specific item only to get there and realize you forgot your wallet

- coming home from the grocery store to make that special meal for your better half only to find out that you forgot the main ingredient

- finishing a really good book and getting all excited to start the next book in the series and dig through the pile of books you got from the library finding that you have every other book in the series except that one

Or, how about…

- Almost slicing off your fingers on a mandolin slicer because you’re too stubborn and think it works better without the hand protector/food grip?

Yep… we’ve all been there… and if you tell me you haven’t been, you’re lying!! OR you really are that good at thinking things through and I need you to bottle some of that up and send it to me!! ;) Your turn to be honest!! What stupid stuff have you done or “shoulda thought that one through” moments have you had lately?

So… the reason I sliced my finger was because I was baking apple chips!! These things are so good that I kept going after I got injured! lol.. not to mention they make your whole house smell like apple goodness… perfect for a fall day! :)

So for your benefit and a little snack to curb your sweet cravings… Here’s the recipe:

~ Set the oven to 200*

~ Slice your apple or apples… Using a mandolin slicer is the easiest way to get thin even slices. I’ve cut them with a knife by hand before and it doesn’t work as well.  (Just make sure you use the food grip on the mandolin slicer!)  ;)  I have an OXO good grip slicer and I put it on setting 3. I got about 20 slices per apple.

~ Line a pan with parchment paper and put your apple slices side-by-side on the pan.  Make sure you don’t overlap them or stack them on top of each other because they wont dry out evenly.

~ (Optional) Mix about 1 tsp sugar and 1/8 tsp cinnamon and sprinkle on top of your apple slices before putting the pan in the oven.  You could also skip this step if your apple is of the sweeter variety or only use cinnamon and no sugar for a little healthier version.

~ Bake at 200* for an hour then, using tongs, flip the apples over and bake for another hour.  Make sure to watch that they don’t burn!

~ Take them out of the oven and let them cool. They will crisp up a little more while they cool down.

~ (Optional) Repeat entire process for more apple chips.

~ Chow down and enjoy!!

 

Thanksgiving Recap

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! :D  I ran a 5k in the morning and then came home to eat a wonderful breakfast, watched the end of the Macy’s day parade and then went to my boyfriends for dinner, came back to my house for dinner AND dessert! haha… Yes, I was full!  I don’t think I’ll have to eat any the next 5 days or so ;)

Then yesterday everyone was home and the boyfriends and girlfriend came over and we played wii (what a workout!!), had homemade hot chocolate and pumpkin pie, watched some really funny home videos, and put our nativity up.  It’s a Christmas tradition that we put it up as a family.  It’s one that everyone enjoys and kind of a competition to see who can find baby Jesus first out of the box.

This morning, I ran another 5k! (That’s right… 2 in 3 days!!)  and had a blast!!!  I will start working on my race reports to put up when I can.  I’ve got some things that I’ve been working on that are quite time consuming (my mom’s afghan) so I’ll put them up when I get to it ;)  I can put my mom’s Christmas gifts on my blog because I know she doesn’t use a computer lol…

Also!!!  I wanted to remind everyone that you have only 3 days left to sign up for the 2010 Christmas Card Swap!!!  So get to it and invite your friends!! :D  CLICK HERE TO JOIN!

Did any of you go shopping yesterday (Black Friday)?  Any good deals?

Three Things Thursday

Wow what a long week!!  I’m so excited though!  Tomorrow I have the day OFF… 100% completely – no work! :)  It might be spent catching up on blogs mostly in bed as I’m feeling a little under the weather but, we’ll see… the medicine I’m taking is good at it’s job!   Oh, and btw… thanks for all your feedback on my Garmin Quiz post!!  I’m seriously really wanting one now!!  Too bad my bank account is telling me no at the moment!

1.  It’s November!!  I love this time because it’s kind of the between seasons season… make sense?  It’s still fall, but it’s starting to show signs of winter and I love this time of year!  Don’t get me wrong, my favorite season is still summer… but this is a good time of year too!  Especially since we just put our candles in the windows!  That, and I just signed up for a turkey trot ;)

2.  I’m thinking about doing THIS RACE, but it’s 2 hours away from where I live and in December. (brrr)  It’s only 30 dollars though and it’d be my last race of the year… go out with a bang?  hmm… I don’t know if I’m in half marathon shape though… I haven’t been running as much as I would like due to work, but I have a 7 miler planned for tomorrow… any opinions on this?  (PS – Blue and Green is my favorite color combo… is it meant to be? or just wishful thinking?)

3.  The results of last weekend’s 5k are up so I’ll be posting a race recap finally …  let me just warn you… probably the least fun race I’ve been to… but it was mostly my fault lol… stay tuned! ;)

A Little Friday Fun

Last Friday was such a fun day!!  My boyfriend and I had plans to go to the country fair Friday night after he got off work so I was so excited!! Something about fair food… yum!

I didn’t have to work so I had made plans to run with J in the morning.  I woke up around 7am and it was raining, but a little rain never hurt anyone right?!  Well I got a text from J that said she didn’t want to run in the rain so she would meet me at the Y.  I don’t have a membership to the Y and I have a treadmill here at home.  But I didn’t really want to run on the treadmill… I hate treadmills, they make my knees hurt for some odd reason.  So we cancelled our plans and I crawled back in bed under the covers to relax a little and catch up on some blogs before I got ready for the day.

Then my boyfriend text me and said he was going on lunch around 11 and wanted to know if I wanted to meet him so of course I said yes!  DUH!!  Time spent with the boyfriend is rare now-a-days since he has school and work and I have work and work.  We don’t live together so we get to see each other a day or two on the weekends.  So I drove to his workplace and when he went on lunch we walked over to the grocery store and then walked to Wendy’s.  It was a fun time especially since the rain had subsided.

It had stopped raining around 9:30am and I had decided before I left my house that I was going to run after our lunch date because I could walk from his work to the bike path.  So, after he went back to work I grabbed my SPIbelt with my cell phone and my Fuel Belt handheld and my IPod and my gum and  my chapstick…… wow, so does anybody else feel like they run with a lot of stuff?! lol

I had decided that I wanted to run about 5 miles.  I haven’t run a whole lot of mileage since my half marathon… anywhere from 1-3 miles at a time, so i just wanted to take it easy.  It had turned into a nice brisk fall day… just beautiful!  I had decided to wear my new NIKE running capris that I had bought for $6 at finish line (due to gift cards and rewards from the boyfriend… he’s the best!)  I really really like the capris!  They’re really comfortable and do keep the legs warm.  My route took me around a park and I loved the scenery!  I ended up running 5.49 miles in 56:34 so a 10:18 pace.  I did stop to take some pictures and stretch out a couple times… yowsa!  Getting back into running after my half has not gone so well lol… but maybe I’ll save that discussion for another post!  It was actually a fun run and it was nice to get out and get moving on a beautiful path!

 
Then after getting cleaned up and doing some work around the house, I went back to meet my boyfriend at 6pm to head to the county fair!!  We had so much fun!  We ate a lot lol… but I dont feel guilty!  IT’S THE FAIR PEOPLE!! Gyro’s, Philly Cheese steak, corn dogs, crazy taters, chocolate covered cheesecake on a steak, and cotton candy!  sounds gross now, but at the time it was delicious!!  And of course we had to ride the ferris wheel… its a 4 year tradition now! :)

View from the top

 
A fun board we saw on our way out

It got cold, and we had conquered everything we had set out to do, so we decided it was time to leave. (plus I was a little sore from my run)  yeah I know… I’m a total wimp lol!  BUT, I ran the farthest since my half marathon, so I was happy and I had gotten to spend some quality time with my man… EXTRA HAPPY!!  At the fair… Bonus happy points!! ;)  So in case you didn’t catch that, I was happy! :D

Do any of you have a hard time getting back into the swing of things after races?

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway!  You have 1 more day!

Saturday in the park…

Last Saturday, my family went on our “Annual Family Picnic”  and it was beautiful outside!  My youngest sister was home from college on fall break and we were joined by mine and my twin’s boyfriends.  We had a blast!  Here’s a picture I took of our beautiful surroundings… aren’t you proud Neil?! ;)  ok so its not as cool as his awesome photos but I thought it was beautiful!

We ate and then went on a hike and played on the playground… I guess the best way to explain to you the fun we had is in pictures… so enjoy! :D

My parents and I

 
Why yes, I am wearing my BIC band I won from Running Diva Mom.  If you dont know about BIC bands please click the words to read about them!  They are seriously awesome!  I wore it all day and it didn’t budge!  It was so comfortable I forgot I was wearing it and usually I have to keep rearranging headbands on my head because they keep falling off!

 

The Self-Timer is our friend lol

 
yes, my family is goofy lol… it makes for fun times!  AND YES, we are all adults… but we act like kids when it comes to play time!! ;)

It was a fun weekend!  I always enjoy spending quality time outside with family!  Good luck to everyone racing this weekend!  Can’t wait to read all your race reports!! Also, don’t forget to enter my Fuel Belt/GU giveaway HERE!