La Crosse, Wisconsin

Traveled to Wisconsin this week for a customer conference for the maker of our software for work.  I left my house at noon on Sunday and it's been one adventure after another.  Flew from OKC to Dallas, and the flight from Dallas to Chicago was delayed.  When we got to Chicago, our flight to La Crosse was delayed.  It was delayed from 8:10 to 9:00, then the gate was changed, then the gate was changed again, then we got to board the flight only to have to get off because a thunderstorm rolled through Chicago and they closed the runways.  Luckily that delay was only about 30 minutes and we got back on the plane.  We should have arrived at 9 p.m., but we didn't land until almost midnight.

Turned out that it was alot colder in Wisconsin than I had planned for.  I should have brought a heavier coat.  On Monday all the local weather people could talk about was the wind storm that was moving through.  I have lived in OKC for a long time and we've never had a wind storm in the forecast.  Monday evening, I put in 4 miles on the treadmill, so boring, and ordered room service so I could get some work done. 

I brought supplies to paint my toenails, because it had been forever.  I managed to break the bottle of nail polish, all over me, all over the bed, and I had not packed near enough nail polish remover.  I spend about an hour scrubbing off a layer of skin to get it off and I left a tip for house keeping the next morning for making such a mess.

So it was cold and very windy, and rainy in Wisconsin.  Turns out the trip home has been from hell.  Our 9:20 flight was cancelled for technical problems.  So we were booked on a 12:40 flight into Chicago and then a 2:25 flight direct to OKC.  Score!  That would have put us home at 4:40, in time for Josh to pick me up on the way home from work and to surprise the kiddos at the Rec Center.  Well, our 12:40 flight didn't take off until about 1:15, and when we landed in Chicago, and at this point we might have been able to make it, the gate we were to deplane at had another plane in it.  We got to sit on the runway and wait for them to direct us to a different gate.  Then, they had to call someone to bring out the walk way, so another wait.  We ran through the airport but the plane was already gone.

The lovely American agent in Chicago booked us on the 4:10 flight to Dallas and said she booked us on the 9:05 flight to OKC.  There was an earlier flight but we weren't able to make it to Dallas in time to try to get on it.  When we got to Dallas and went to get our boarding passes we found out that they put Kerry on the 9:05 and me on the11:05.  Stupid Jerks!  So now I have three and a half more hours to kill in this dang airport. 

I am so not working tomorrow.

The First Step is Admitting You Have a Problem...

Okay, I can admit it.  I am a recipe junkie.  I love finding new recipes, especially new cupcake recipes. 

It is a rare day that I don't have at least one new recipe to print and take home with me.  I don't know if it'll be possible for me to ever even make everything I have so far.  Today I found this one for Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls.  Are you kidding me?  They look delicious!  I am a huge pumpkin fan, and even found 11 cans of canned pumpkin at Target this week.  (Yes, I bought all 11 cans, which is probably a little selfish, but I can't help it.)  You never know when the next pumpkin shortage will be and I can't be caught without any.

I love food blogs too.  Which is where I find most of my recipes.  It is a good thing I have co-workers willing to try my baked goods, and a husband that is willing to eat all the new vegetarian recipes I've found. 

So for now, I am a recovering iTunes junkie who has traded her music downloads for printed recipes.  I figure this is better, since all the recipes are free.

Race for the Cure...

So we were up at the crack of dawn on Saturday for what I think is my 10th Race for the Cure.  There seems to be more and more people each year.

I discovered the secret to a good race, if you are running, is starting as close to the front as possible.  We didn't have to run past any strollers, kids, or non-runners which made for a great race.  I finished in 26:19 (by my watch, 26:20 officially), which was my fastest 5k by almost a minute.  I was 10th in my age group out of 172 runners.

Here's some pics...

Josh, Camy, Carson and I after the team picture.  We look very happy for getting up at 5:30 am.

Camy and Carson with their Gammy.  She got up even earlier and drove down from Tulsa to race with us.

Camy, me, Jen, Karen, Paige, Hailey and Carson.  Hannah was not happy by this point and didn't care to be photographed with us.  Maybe she got up too early.

The crazy cousins!  Caeli, Paige, Camy, Carson and Hailey.

Judy, Dan and Caeli sporting some fabulous Sooner colors.

Finally, three sisters.  Me, Jen and Karen, this is our 10th race together.  Our first was back in 2001 and we all walked.  The second was in 2002 when Jen bet us she could run the whole thing, without training.  Karen and I bought breakfast that year.  And all the years since, with our team Sooner Girls for the Cure, and this year two work teams, we have had lots of great people participate with us.  Makes you wonder what will happen next year!

Race for the Cure...

So Saturday is the Race for the Cure in OKC.  I so love this event.  This is the first race that I have done religiously.  Jen and Karen and I did the first one with the three of us back in 2001, when my kiddos were little bitty.  (Carson is still little bitty, but she is 10 now.)

I can't remember if it was that year or in 2002 when we bet Jen breakfast that she couldn't run the whole thing.  She says she ran the whole thing, but we'll never know because Karen and I ran about 100 yards and we were done.  I believe we bought breakfast that day so what can you do, ask for a refund if she cheated?

We formed our team the Sooner Girls for the Cure the next year and have been participating with a bunch of friends an co-workers since then.  I was a little sad this year that I didn't get to register our team.  I organized a team at work and we chose to go with the company name instead of my team name.  Oh well, what can you do?  Especially when your work agrees to pay $30 of each registration for all employees that want to participate.

My work team has almost 50 people on it!  Not bad for our first year, I say first because I am hoping we will be able to do this again next year.

So Saturday morning, I'll put on my running shoes and my team shirt and head to the Bricktown Ballpark at the crack of dawn.  (Not really the crack of dawn for me, since I will actually be sleeping in compared to my usually 5 am wake up calls.)  My girls will get a bunch of free pink stuff and I'll run with some of my Y friends and we'll see how good we can do.  Maybe break 27 minutes?  We'll see.

As always, I'll carry the memories of my mom with me.

Chili Cook-Off

We had a chili cook-off at work today, to raise money for a co-worker who is 27 and was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.  I'm not even going to start on how mad that makes me, and how with all the money that has been raised so far there is no cure and how my co-worker had her first baby earlier this year, and how she should not be going through all this.

I am instead going to talk about our cook-off.  We had a great turn out, and we raised a good chunk of change for Jill and her medical bills.  I, as usual, did not have my camera to take pictures but we did get a few.

From the top we have Sherri, Jeana, Candace and Cassie; Monica and Kerry; Jeanne with her first place prize tickets to the OU-Colorado football game; Roland, Stacey and Pat judging; pink ribbon cupcakes; Jeanne and Ginger with a few non-employees that stopped by; and pots of chili.

What a great way to spend lunch.

What's Baking?

So far this week, we've had Chocolate Thunder and Simply Strawberry cupcakes for the kiddos' Girl Scout Flag Ceremony yesterday, and I made some of the Boomer Sooner cupcakes last night.  Half are for a co-worker for her OU/TX watch party tomorrow, the other half will go with a new recipe for a yet-to-be-named cupcake.

The recipe came from The Swell Life, and they look pretty tasty.  I have an order for half Boomer Sooner (red velvet), and half with Texas colors.  I think these should work out well.  I'll do a little vanilla butter cream on top.

Then, I plan to attempt to make cupcake pops!  I am very excited about these and have been contemplating what type of cake I should use.  I might go with my chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  While I could never be as creative or arty as the Bakerella creations, I thought I'd try something simple and basic.  We'll see how they turn out.