Walking a 5K With My Son at Age 42 or Don't Put Your Timing Chip in Your Bra

Holy crap, I am a bit sore here this afternoon. At 9 a.m. my 12-year-old son Joel and I walked a 5K in Leawood, Kansas. It was called Battle of the Bean and we each wore a T-shirt supporting Team Coffee! It was hard to choose between coffee and chocolate, that's for sure!

No, he's not high. He's sleepy, okay?

No, I'm not high. Just excited!

We left everyone sleeping at home and headed out for some exercise in the cold weather. We did a brisk walk the entire time and chatted a bit, winding through beautiful neighborhoods.

I'm certainly not as young as I used to be and am about 20 pounds more than I was when I used to do 5Ks on my own pre-kids, but I did not stop and we made it! Joel's time was 56 minutes because he ran ahead of me at the end. My time was about 58 minutes but I put my timing chip in my bra so it never registered me when I started and finished. Now I know not to do that. It goes on your shoe, people.

Head here to read about when Mr. Kerrie and I walked a half marathon in 2000 when I was just a little bit pregnant with Joel (yes, it is possible to be just a little bit pregnant).

After the race they were giving out Christopher Elbow chocolates and I got a few for the fam, and then went into Foo's Fabulous Custard to buy an expensive box of their gorgeous chocolates. Head here to see a picture of them!

If you need me today I'll be at a birthday party next door and then sitting on my butt the entire rest of the night, putting my feet up.

And I'll be posting more awesome KC Running Company run/walks in the coming weeks. Here's their site in the meantime.

On a personal note, here's my walking story for National Walking Day a couple of years ago with an update.

Vintage Couches Turned into Knife Blocks ... and Shepherd's Pie

This is the knife block my talented husband made out of my 1950s/60s couch. I wrote about the couch here and how it was my first purchase after starting a new life. We have had our knives on top of the fridge for as long as I can remember and recently one wasn't positioned right and almost fell on my friend Christine's head. HOLY LAWSUIT, BATMAN!

Actually, that's not why Aron made the knife block. I think it was because we got him two new knives for Christmas. He's such a little chef!

He also made shepherd's pie last night for dinner only in a pan and the potatoes had a design to them and there broiled on top. He is freaking talented! I'd be just fine if he did all the cooking around here because he is Mr. Gourmet. This shep. pie was AMAZING! He even managed the hide the mushrooms from me! Oh, and he made me hummus from scratch, too, with the help of Joel!

I love that dude and I love his offspring too much for words.

Headed to the 5K with Joel. Have a great weekend!

*Spaghetti sauce is featured because Mr. Kerrie canned it himself. Coconut oil is featured because we love it and because Angeliina makes fun of me for loving it sooo much.

And at the request of a bloggy fan, HappyElfMom (who has a rockin' blog herself), here is the spaghetti sauce recipe.

Cafe Mocha Vodka Valium Latte ... to go! Thank You, Aunt Cathy!

My Aunt Cathy sent this to me before Christmas because she saw it and thought of me. It's a thin dish towel and I LOVE thin dish towels and have run out. Of course the message is perfect for my chaos-filled life, only substitute B12 for Valium because I need to be UP, not out of it!

I love you, Cathy. I'm so glad we reconnected back in 1995 after not seeing each other for years after the divorce. Even though you are divorced from my uncle you will always be my aunt, and one of my very favorites at that!

Happy Hump Day, everybody!

Boys in Pink Snowpants ... Who Cares?

So this is it. For now. Hope you enjoy my surly 4-year-old getting ready to go shovel snow in his pink snowpants. WHAT?! He has two older sisters and one time I bought pink snowpants and now they are what fit him. He is cool with his masculinity, though, so it works out. If you make fun of him he might bap you with his snow shovel so think twice about that one.

Science City CLOSED for Annual Cleaning But We Had Fun Anyway

Click here to head to our homeschooling blog to see pictures of our fun day, even though when we got to Science City they were closed for the entire week. Just for that, we'll get it EXTRA DIRTY next time we go. Wait, that's no good revenge. I'll figure something out. Here's a teaser pic:

Kansas Citians, can you guess where this is?