Apple storage; Back to school; Interval training

Back in October, many of my weekends were spent harvesting our apples.  On October 20, I was reaching my limit of APPLE processing!  For others who preserve anything, I know you know the feeling of: 'Limit-Reached.'

Some time was spent researching different ways to process and preserve apples, and one site suggested an intriguing method.  Namely, the best of the best apples, blemish free, were individually wrapped in newspaper and then stored in our root cellar.  

Fast-forward two months to last night, I grabbed a few from the top layer; they were pretty much as crisp and juicy as freshly picked!  

Our root cellar stays right around 40 degrees F, so this specimen was also perfectly chilled.  Chopped up and mixed together with some light greek (vanilla) yogurt and PB2 powder -- you can bet it was a great lil' evening snack.  CONCLUSION: definitely going to keep this method and will continually track monthly progress to see how long these apples remain stored in good condition.

"Mrs. S, we're twinning today!"

It was back to work today after the nice, lengthy holiday break.  A handful of absences (staff and students alike) were observed; the crud-bugs of cold-n-flu season have been around our area over the entire break.  Ughers!  I kept my hand-sanitizer readily available in the pocket of my vest -- no lie!  lol.  I can just fathom all the bugs floating around with the ultimate goal of wiping us (ie: me) out for the weekend.  Nope-nope....not gonna happen!

Today is always the toughest day of the school year, IMO.  After almost 2 weeks of "their own schedules" - OY! It's not uncommon to see dragging feet from the teens (specially when the same is true for many of the adults in the building 😂), but... today was pretty darn good!  Only a little bit of extra patience and grace was needed.  This teaching thing really has some perks and is a pretty good gig.

No quilting on the docket today, but definitely stayed true to the training log...

Today's run was some Interval Training;  5x5:00 @ 10K pace (roughly 9:30/mile pace).
"Being back" (running) feels great, really!  The mental anguish of knowing I was completely back to square one in September actually wasn't that big of a concern because....well... MINDSET!  Speed/pace/times -- all were kept in perspective of 100% beginning stage versus where I left off waaaay back in 2013.  I can't even really say WHY I got back into running.  The whole fitness shift started in August after returning from my FL vacation visiting sis;  and it started with nutrition.  I simply wanted to eat better to feel better.  Anyone who knows anything about fitness and nutrition knows the saying, "you cannot outrun a bad diet."  Being empty-nesters now, it was MUCH easier to manage nutrition, and (not meaning to flex here) the first 10 lbs melted off without any extreme effort; nutrition and lots of walking with Bailee-girl, essentially.
I guess the running just started happening on its own once I dropped those pounds, and then a colleague of mine (also a former athlete, now busy teacher-mom) joined me in a pact of being accountability partners.  Then... race websites were perused... a local-ish race was bookmarked... a certain half-marathon registration link was followed one night when I was in an up-beat, awesome mood, and... v'iola!  Race-date placed on the calendar, training plans set up in the NRC app, and.... there ya have it. And here we are.

And THIS girl has been on most of my runs.  She is my other accountability partner!  Truly, a woman-runner's best friend!!!!!!! 💗🐶🏃.  Can't imagine these runs without her, as I've said before. But I'm not sure about the meteorologists up here;  ummmm, this picture does NOT portray "18 and mostly sunny".  

...and a good day, t'was

Happy Thursday!  Make it a great day 🙌

Running in the New Year & Old Town quilt steps 7 & 8

**heavenly sigh**

Happy New Year.  Happy 2025.  Happiness to ALL in ALL you endeavor.

Imma start with the short recovery run that Bailee's puppy-dog eyes INSISTED we take this afternoon (I think she was feeling lonely and bored after I had been (almost completely, but not entirely) ignoring her while in the quilting loft for 6ish hours)

LOL.  Having taken the day off of running yesterday, it didn't take much convincing...

... even though t'was a bit on the not-so-nice scale outside.  I really don't mind running in cold weather, but that wind is another story.  Ughers!  BUT... I bundled, and we got out for a simple down-n-back to the corner.

Truly an easy run:  1.77 miles (11'37/mile pace).  The knees were apparent right off the bat, but by the end, they had loosened nicely.  When we ran the Half on Monday, it wasn't initially on the weekly plan; actually about 4 weeks too soon, but we only 'ran' it versus 'racing' it.  I wanted to end the year meeting my December goal of >100 miles having only done it once before in 2013. Despite, the knees were starting to become a bit tender during the last half mile or so. 

December wrap-up: 104.5 miles 👊, my second highest monthly mileage ever.

I use the Nike Run Club (NRC) app on my phone to track all my runs.  I LOVE this app!  There are plans available for many different race-lengths and/or for simple walks or runs a person may be interested in, all for free, and coach-guided for EVERY plan.  Today, Coach Bennett had us focus on the purpose of every run.  During Monday's Half-marathon training run, right around mile 8, he had us focus on two things that were going well, and then later at about 8.5 miles, two things that weren't going that great.
I was brain-dead.  I couldn't come up with ANYTHING!  Not a brag at all.  Just... wow; like I really couldn't think of anything that was going poo-poo.  

For the most part, life is good!  The run was clipping along.  Bailee is an amazing partner.  I LOVE running with her!!!  She really makes my time laced up SO enjoyable!  Things are going well with a couple colleagues who have also been on a fitness journey.  School, for the most part, is going swimmingly well.  Family is good.  AND, I've been on holiday break, and the stress had started melting away already last week.

So, I am knocking VERY loudly on the wood armrest of my glider-rocker.
Life. Is. Good!  And I TRULY hope the same is true for you!!!

Okay, now onto the quilting.

#Clue7done Trimmed and tidied right away; that certainly doesn’t always happen

And bless this guy; he schlepped up one of his Little Giant ladders to replace some dead bulbs in my quilting loft;  I was down to three from six, so some supplemental lights had been sufficing in the meantime.  And me?... I continued on with the Old Town mystery, cutting, cutting and more cutting of browns and neutrals for clue #8 for about four hours to completion.

And all of THAT while, making continual progress on the star blocks for Dawn's Early Light.

Bailee at least seems to be content now.  And after 45 minutes in my portable steam sauna (a Cyber Monday self-purchased Christmas present to myself), I too am quite content.  I am not an affiliate to Amazon or the likes, but maaaan oh mannnn, this Portable Steam Sauna has been one of my Top10 best purchases EVER.  The picture here is my POV to the sauna's window viewed through the steam from the chair that included 😊💆

Happy New Year, 2025.  And remember to #MakeItAGreatDay!