Two recipe posts in a row means I haven’t blogged in a week, but there are reasons for that. Would you believe me if I told you that a Sunday afternoon trip to the emergency room with a collapsed congregant {she is fine now}, a bit of a health scare and unexpected trip to my out-of-town doctor {nothing to worry about}, some babysitting, some birthday attending, a few difficult heart-to heart conversations, a heart-wrenching court hearing,  an open-heart surgery {he made it through!}, and a certain 12 year old in bed with me during the crazy and numerous thunderstorms all made their way into my week? Really, there is just never a dull moment around here, and as the saying goes, my best laid plans went awry. Oh, I did accomplish several things that were WAY overdue like homeschool reports, proposals, and portfolios, but I’m certainly not ready to begin teaching my Classical Conversations Challenge 1 class on Tuesday!  I’m hoping the weekend will allow for some cleaning, organizing of the homeschool bookshelf, and preparation to teach 13 students a multitude of subjects come Tuesday morning.

Training for a triathlon really doesn’t fit in with this schedule, but it’s only seven days away now, and I’ve made it this far, so I’m just settled on one more week of all-out training in the midst of our first week of school.  Yikes!  I am so thankful to be able to exercise like this, though.  It really makes a difference, not only in my physical health, but also my spiritual and emotional health.  Here’s what the training has looked like in the last two weeks:

Sunday, Aug.5 ~ Bike 23mi, Run 3mi
{these have to be done vvvvverrrry early in the morning…}
Monday, Aug. 6 ~ Run 6mi
Tuesday, Aug. 7 ~ swim 1mi
Wednesday, Aug. 8 ~ Bike 14mi, Run 6mi
Thursday, Aug. 9 ~ Rest
Friday, Aug. 10 ~ Run 6mi
Saturday, Aug. 11 ~ Rest
Sunday, Aug. 12 ~ Bike 16mi, Run 3mi
Monday, Aug. 13 ~ Run 6mi
Tuesday, Aug 14 ~ Swim 1mi
Wednesday, Aug. 15 ~ Rest {Raining!}
Thursday, Aug. 16 ~ Run 6mi {in a.m.}, Swim 1 mi {in p.m.}
Friday, Aug. 17 ~ Rest

and tomorrow on Saturday the 18th, I’m hoping to do a shorter version of the Olympic length triathlon ~ probably a 1/2 mile swim, a 16 mile bike, and a 3 mile run.  Rest on Sunday, run on Monday, swim on Tuesday and Thursday, bike on Wednesday, and rest on Friday.  The triathlon in is Connecticut on Saturday morning the 25th at 8a.m., and I’ll be doing it with my dear friend, Betsy. We always swim together and she does circles around me! In fact, I may be the last one out of the water next week, but I know I can at least swim for a mile, and maybe I’ll make up some time on the bike and run. I’d like to try and finish in under four hours. {I just read an article called “Breaking the 2.5 Hour Barrier.”  Ha!  Absolutely NO chance of that.}  Now to figure out what to eat and when.  It will probably involve eggs for breakfast and peanut butter and honey somewhere along the way.  That, plus regular water and Vitamin Water seem to do the trick.  We’ll see…

Robert offered to go to the farm for me yesterday and pick up our weekly veggie/fruit share while I was swimming with Betsy.  Then he took the kids for a late afternoon swim.  I got home before they did and realized I hadn’t used all of the veggies from last week yet, which included a bag full of Swiss chard.  I also had carrots and peppers in the frig, so instead of serving sauteed chard like I usually would with other greens, a fresh, raw, appetizer sounded nice.  My friend, Jenna, served something similar to this at a gathering last year, and I had just seen another chard roll like this in my recent issue of Eating Well magazine.

Here’s what I did:

Wash the chard, pat it dry, and cut out the thick stem.  Thinly slice or shred other veggies like carrots, radishes, peppers, cucumbers, and even onions and sprouts. {Avocados!} Spread a thin layer of cream cheese or goat cheese on long pieces of the Swiss chard leaves. Place small amounts of shredded/sliced veggies along the leaf and on top of the cheese.  Roll up and secure with a toothpick.  Have them waiting on a plate when hungry swimmers return home, and watch them disappear!

Now to “deal” with all of the new and freshly picked and delivered veggies, study my Latin declensions and algebraic equations, and put in a few more swims, bikes, and runs.

Oh~  And have a few ladies over for breakfast on Sunday morning to discuss small groups and ministry to women for the coming church/school year.  Can’t wait!

Have a great weekend!