The Challenge

This was December, but it looks Valentine-ish.

Today’s Exploit:

In the spirit of making new resolutions, last month, I came up with a challenge for my sister.

She has been trying to get more fit with swimming and running and being attacked by her pets. So I decided that I would give her a bit more motivation to keep doing those things, and maybe fighting back when the pets attack.

My challenge - 

Task: Hike 7 miles

Duration: 4 hours

Terrain: Mountains

Caveat: Carry a 25-30 lb pack

Deadline: End of June

If she wins the challenge she gets a prize, like a new pair of hiking shoes, or a weekend getaway, or a massage.

If she doesn’t make it I get to come up with something dreadful that she has to do for me. Like clean all my toilets, or smell H’s socks, or give me all her peaches from her awesome peach tree. 

Anyway, she had a total of six months to get going on this, and so far she has swum a lot and made 1 running goal (of 2) and gotten attacked by the super-excitable Eda. 

I think she’d better get ready to give me head massages every time she visits for 2 years.

A Little Bit Crazy

I just tried to replace the water bottle in the dispenser. It usually sticks a bit, so I pushed it out with a little more force than usual.  It was just enough to pop out and smack me in the nose.

Just hard enough to make my eyes water and everyone in the trailer think I was crying.

Yay.

Today’s Exploit: 

She’s a bit crazy sometimes. Just the way she should start out their life together…

Whoa

The "I-can't-believe-they're-actually-doing-it" Look

The Smash

Yum. Cake in the nose.

It's Almost Thanksmas!

Happy Thanksgiving. I will be jealous of everyone who gets to see their families. Thanksgiving is all about extended family and a big reunion.

Today’s Exploit:

Thanksmas is my version of Thanksgiving and Christmas, since my job doesn’t allow me to take holidays off.

My parents and my sister and her significant other will be coming to my house.

Cupcake is the only one who has seen it in person, and she was just there late at night and early in the morning.

And that was before we had any furniture. 

Plus she was more interested in her wedding dress.

Duh.

But now they are going to be crashing my house for a week, and I haven’t even had a chance to put the curtains up.

They may have to do chores before we can do an official house tour.

Talking to Walter

This week’s reading recommendation: 

I love ALL of her books

Today’s Exploit:

Yesterday Walter, the other MWD, told me that his mom was almost 60 and getting to the age where she was starting to be crazy.  

And I laughed and laughed.

Mom and Dad, I thought you’d appreciate that.

Then we talked about parents and grandparents and siblings.

He has two crazy sisters and therefore thinks all women are scary.

I have one crazy sister and love hanging out with her because she makes me look meek and mild no matter how silly I am.

We have been sharing lots of stories and laughing a lot, and he ate 3 Lemon Brownies, so we are friends.

He likes checklists, so I drew this:

Going Running, Again

Oni Devil, the cat that won’t cuddle Cupcake, cuddling me when I’m trying to sleep:

She is 2.1 inches from my face, sitting on my chest.

Today’s Exploit:

I am going to run another half marathon. This is my first race since the full one, except that color one with Cupcake. But this is the first long one. I’m excited, and nervous because last time I got cramps and had to hop across the finish. 

I have been following my marathon training plan, and am at the 6-8 mile stage. Last week I had the worst run in the history of ever, so I am nervous for this week. Although the previous week I had a super duper run and could have kept going. 

I am excited to see Eli and Cavan, because they are awesome kids and I have missed them so much. Also, they are going to be giants, and probably taller than me. 

This is what they looked like last time I saw them. That was 2 years ago.

Aren’t they adorable? I probably can’t call them adorable any more. They’ll have to be “handsome”.

Cupcake Had a Birthday

The dd sent me to town for hamburgers.  

Then he came in and started talking about how I’d been goofing around and going to town and being irresponsible since he arrived at the rig.

I know he was joking, but he’s one of those that’s pretty good at keeping a strait face.

Today’s Exploit:

I got to go home for Cupcake’s birthday, but I didn’t make it in time for her sushi dinner.  So we had her birthday the next day.  (She is in town for some interviews.) 

We went for a run, and I made her run really hard at the end.

Then she opened some gifts and was mad at me because I didn’t make her open them before we went running.  I got a fitbit for her, and she really wanted to know how many steps she ran.

Then we made some waffles, that I couldn’t finish because I got a migraine.  

Then I went to bed for a couple hours while she talked to my parents and my mom almost cried about the scrapbook-type pages I made to go with the fitbit.  (But don’t tell her, she claims her eye was running all day. Not that I could see, I was in the other room listening to her choked up voice caused by the running eye.)

When I felt a little better I went back out and talked to my parents on Skype.

Then, when they finished making their cookies, I brought out the birthday cake.  (I stayed up until 1 making it the night before because those tiny little cakes took over an hour to bake, and I only had one pan that size.)

I need a bigger offset spatula, my little one wasn't quite doing the trick.
Also I was trying not to use any frosting because Cupcake is a weirdo and doesn't like it.

We sang Happy Birthday to her and she told me I had pretty candles and that she didn’t remember that she’d gotten them for me a few years ago for my birthday.

She almost didn't get all six candles out with one breath!

And finally we ate some cake and everyone was happy.

Photo bombing cake pictures

Being the normal girl that she is.

Green is her favorite color, and pink is her signature color.
Duh, she calls herself Cupcake!

The end.

The Race is On

5 dozen cookies gone in 4 hours.

Today’s Exploit:

Have I ever mentioned that Cupcake and I have fitness competitions? Sometimes it’s just a challenge from me to her, with prizes for meeting certain requirements, sometimes it’s fighting for the most steps of most miles.  

This time we are going for time. 

Six days a week.

At least 40 minutes a dy.

I bet I win the first 2 weeks.

Thanksmas in Texas

I made marshmallows!

Today’s Exploit:

My parents came to Texas for Thanksmas this year. I told them it was going to be really nice and to bring some shorts. And then the weather changed and we spent the week with windy mid 30* weather. However, they were not too disappointed because they left -30* weather when they came here.

We went Thanksmas shopping and failed to complete any of my well organized plans for entertainment. We had Christmas Sausage and Bran Muffins and my dad ran the Jingle Bell 5k with me. I think it was actually called Sights and Sounds, but everyone was wearing jingle bells. 

And then we opened gifts and everyone was happy and Cupcake and Arley procrastinated going back to Albuquerque because they were afraid of ice storms. 

Racing Colors

I have been reading so many books lately. They are silly and not well written free books on my phone, but I can’t tear myself away. I don’t understand it. I have so many books for my Kindle that I consider it my own personal library, but I have been ignoring the good books available there for the silly ones I found. 

Today’s Exploit:

At the end of August I did a 5k with my sister. She chose it and signed up for it without my coercion, which is a minor miracle after the half marathon drama. But she wanted running motivation and to celebrate finishing her school. She’s now a real nurse, I don’t know if she’s taken her final test yet, but she’s looking for jobs. 

The race she chose was in San Antonio, in the hottest month of the year. I think she’s trying to get me back for that last race. But I agreed since I never thought she’d run with me again.

It was a color run, where they throw powdered paint at you to stain your clothes, underclothes, skin and hair. It was pretty fun, even though it was Texas hot. The people throwing paint though it was hilarious to throw it at my face and at Cupcake’s legs. 

Afterward we raced to New Braunfels to look at a house, covered in powder and sunscreen and sweat. The lady showing the house didn’t even blink when we got out of the car. However she did ask us several times if we were sure that we weren’t twins. 

We got many stares at IHOP, too, because Cupcake just HAD to have pancakes after the race. 

Also, I still have paint powder in my car from throwing water bottles in the back seat, and having to dig around for my money at the restaurant. 

Working Hard

I went for a bike ride with my sister and her roommates the other day. 

I need to go for more bike rides.

Today’s Exploit:

I found a new workout. It is hard.

I have done it twice. And then I had to get ready to go back to work. 

It consists of 6 or 7 moves and lots of reps. And it is timed.

My favorite and least favorite one is the Knees to Elbows one.

You hang from a pull up bar and pull your knees up to touch your elbows. When they get there your back should be parallel to the floor.  

I have yet to do one properly.

I Win at Guns

My sister has “discovered” a drawing/guessing app that is somewhat like Pictionary. And by “discovered” I mean “I told her about it thinking we could have a fun distraction”. 

However it turned out to be “she has turned into a maniac and will not let me do anything else because she wants to PLAY!”

Today’s Exploit:

Yesterday Matt and George were having a conversation about guns and ammunition.

This is nothing out of the ordinary, generally when they are both awake and in the same room they are talking about guns.

Matt was telling George that could use soap for something, but George said that that might be bad since soap has lye in it.

While Matt was looking on the soap box to see if soap still does use lye, he suggested using candle wax, and said that you could use “shorts” with it.

I automatically assumed some type of ammunition.

George, on the other hand, assumed clothing and said, “No, I think I’ll be wearing blue jeans if I do that.”

Matt: No, shorts.

George: I don’t think that would be fun.

Me: Ahahahaha!

Eventually George realized what Matt was talking about, and I got to make fun of him for catching on before he did.

That is probably that I will know what is going on in a gun conversation before someone who actually uses a gun.

I Feel Like This Makes Me a Big Kid

I had a long list of posts to write about last night. 

Naturally they are all gone because I didn’t have a piece of paper within arm’s reach at the time.

Today’s Exploit:

I was very brave today.

I did something that I have never done alone before.

It was a big step for me in my kitchen experimentationalism, or something.

Anyway.

The thing I did.

I did it by myself.

For the first time ever.

I canned!

They sealed and everything, on the first try!

That was somewhat less exciting than I had hoped.

But the canning was not.

Yesterday I stopped at a truck on the side of the road with H. to buy some strawberries.  I don’t know if I have mentioned it before, but I live rather near the strawberry capital of Texas, and they make sure you know it.  They have a water tower painted like a strawberry, a huge sign saying “Home of the Strawberry Festival” and everything is painted green and red.  Everything.

So I got a flat of Poteet strawberries.  That’s a lot of strawberries.

I helped Tammy make some jam once, and I helped my dad make some syrup a few times, but I never did it by myself, and I was never in charge. 

So I looked up a recipe for Strawberry Preserves, disregarded it, and looked up instructions on what to do with the jars to make them seal.  

Then I gave up on recipes and tried to remember what we did to make syrup.

I didn’t have any dish washing gloves, that was a major setback. But I got some cool silicone tongs to make up for it.

I hulled 4 pints of the strawberries with my spring-loaded-super-duper-strawberry-huller from Aunt Sarah, and then I sliced them with my extra-sharp-and-kinda-scary-strawberry-chopper/slicer from Cupcake.

It took me about 20.462 minutes to do a million strawberries.

Then I added some sugar and left it to sit overnight in the fridge. 

Today I got out my steamer to my BIG pot, that I magically saved, and put my jars in it, and put my strawberries in my other pot to simmer.

When the jars were hot and the strawberry juice was no longer opaque I used my antique ladle, because it’s the only one I have, to add the preserves to the jars.  I sealed them and turned them upside down on a white towel, because that’s what Tammy did, and because I only have white towels. 

I waited and waited for them to pop to mean that they were sealed, but they never did.  So I checked and they were sealed, they just didn’t do the fun part. 

And now I have 6 jars of home-grown strawberry preserves, that may turn out to be strawberry syrup, but that’s ok because I made it.

By myself.

Aren't they pretty strawberries? They were the small ones, and therefore less expensive, but it also meant I got more of them. Yay

My Apologies

I am very sorry, but this may be my final post for a while. I have more posts in my queue, but I made an agreement with my mother that I would post more if she did. Sadly, she hasn’t kept up her end of the deal, and I’ve come to find out she made a similar agreement with my sister. So Cupcake and I have agreed to protest by discontinuing our posting.  I will start my protest today, Cupcake will start hers in one week if no new posts appear on The Naylor Home Front.

Until Mom posts again...

Adieu.

Today’s Exploit:

When talking about trying to convince my mom to update her bloggie:

PJ: I said I'd do more posts if she did. And then she didn't. 

Cupcake: haha she said she would do more posts if i did. and then she didn't.

PJ: I may have to postpone some of mine as incentive.

Cupcake: hahah do it.

The notice:

To my mom:

I have 2 or 3 posts ready to go, but since you haven't made any new posts I will be forced to postpone them indefinitely. I will make an apology letter for my next one, and then wait...

When Cupcake found out what I said: hahahahahahahahaha

Cupcake: you can tell her that i said if she doesn't make a post within one week, i have agreed to also postpone my future posts.

So, the notice continues:

My sister has also agreed that if you do not make a post within 1 week she will also postpone her posts indefinitely.

Thank you and good night.

Cupcake’s response: hahahahahahaha

A Late Thanksmas

Thanksgiving pies for some roughnecks, or other oilfield workers, by PJ and Cupcake.

Apple Pie by PJ

Pumpkin Pie by Cupcake

Today’s Exploit:

I made it home for the week before Christmas, it was our latest Thanksmas so far. Only a week before the 25th. 

I went tree hunting with the whole family, to lunch with my mom, and went to work with my dad, and skied and rode in a groomer and had all sorts of adventures. 

And then we had Christmas breakfast for dinner

And my mom made the table look very pretty so that the mass destruction was even more obvious and traumatic

and destroyed my mom’s cleaning efforts with ribbons and tissue paper and crepe paper. 

Everyone is guilty of gift paper-chaos

Cupcake mad out like a stripy-cupcakey bandit

And she loved her babushka hat and russian doll measuring set

And we all got ‘stashes and had an official family photo night. Arley was forced to take part, but Eda managed to escape Cupcake’s best efforts to get her to join. 

Family photos with faux-stashes are totally in

Wurstfest in New Braunfels

I have spent more time slogging through mud in Canada than slipping on ice and snow. Everyone claims that January is supposed to be the coldest time of the year with temperatures around from -20 to -40 C. (That’s -4* to -40* F) But so far it’s been closer to 0 C (32* F)the whole time. And at the moment it is somewhere around 7 C (45* F). Texas is colder than that right now! What is going on?

Today’s Exploit:

In November we went to Wurstfest. My parents were in Texas for my marathon and my dad’s birthday, so we thought a party would be good. 

Naturally one must wear a hot-dog hat to a hot-dog party. 

That orange watch is an object of fascination to 4-year-olds

And make sure the kids take some pictures. 

He was actually taking a picture of the guy in the Robbin Hood had, but Cupcake photo-bombed