2022 Books

• The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (book 1)
• The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan (book 2)
• The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan (book 3)
• The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan (book 4)
• The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan (book 5)
• Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan (book 6)
• A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan (book 7)

Wonderful things about Yoshi

Yoshi as a baby

• I knew from his picture that "Oliver" was the boston terrier I wanted. He had two brothers,  Tucker and Maverick, but I liked Oliver best. As fate would have it, by the time we picked him up in Ravenna, OH, he was the only sibling left. 
• The day we got him, Riddick was excited to meet him. But when we packed Yoshi into the car with us, and he got to sit up front on my lap, Riddick was not so happy.
• We have some pictures of that day, including one at the adoption home, where he is shorter than the blades of grass, and two of him on my lap on a towel in the car.
• At our first apartment, Spicetree, we would let him walk off-leash around the apartment complex because he was so unadventurous. He would just plod along behind us, and if we got too far ahead he'd get scared and run to catch up. 
• Once we were walking around the apartment and a toddler stopped to pet him, but the baby and his mom didn't realize he was peeing while they pet him.
• There was about one week where Yoshi had the strongest jaw. He would clamp down on a bone and you could pick up the bone and have Yoshi dangling off the end by his teeth, his body totally limp.
• For the first few months, Yoshi had a yellow stuffed toy we called "duckie" which he would hump to no end. We have since tried to find duckie replacements, but he never found another he liked.

Yoshi peeing

• For the first couple years, Yoshi only peed girl-style, never lifting his leg. 
• At around 6 months, we took him camping and canoeing the first time. He had the craziest projectile pee for the first time, and it pretty much stayed that way the rest of his life. Hence his nickname "pee paw", because he peed so far it always got on his front feet.
• He was about two when he lifted his leg the first time, at bird hills, and I was sad because my baby was all grown up.

Yoshi sleeping

• As a puppy, we tried crating Yoshi because he would have accidents in the house otherwise. I don't think we made it even one night because his crying was so sad and cute, we'd always let him out. For a few weeks we would start him in the crate and move him to bed after he woke and started crying.
• Yoshi used to sleep on our pillows by our faces. Eventually he preferred "twixt" -- sleeping between my legs. In the last year or two, he began to love spooning. He would walk up to our faces and wait for us to lift the covers, then he'd circle in and fall into spooning position.

Yoshi with the zoomies

• Yoshi loves to play. He especially loves to be chased. When he was very young, and Riddick still played fetch, Yoshi would steal the ball just to get chased by him and other dogs.
• Later, Yoshi loved to be chased in circles around the house. He will make eye contact and then run away, or come bark at us until we stand up and he runs away. 
• Around mid-life, maybe sometime after we moved to San Francisco, he started play biting. He loves to be shoved around a little, or tapped on the cheek or head, and then he'll chomp his teeth at me. Sometimes he catches my fingers and bites but his underbite means it doesn't usually hurt too bad. We tell him he bites like a fish.

Yoshi loving Riddick

• Yoshi loved Riddick from day 1. He follows him around, and always tries to give him kisses.
• For years we hoped that one day Riddick and Yoshi would spoon. It eventually happened, and then happened somewhat consistently for ~the last several years. I hope to one day get a tattoo of their silhouettes sitting together.
• Yoshi loves to give and receive ear baths. He'll stand with his shoulders by Riddick's face and press into him, or just go wild on Riddick's ears. We always have to stop Riddick from kissing Yoshi too much because he's prone to ear infections.
• Riddick also "flea bites" Yoshi, which causes Yoshi to get so relaxed and lean into him, eyes half closed. Sometimes Riddick gets sick of Yoshi's zoomies and tries to flea bite him to get him to stop.

Yoshi cuddles

• We coined the term back-it-up butt because of the way Yoshi cuddles in closer by backing up his bottom.
• Yoshi is not super cuddly during the day, but in the evening he demands cuddles. He has jumped onto family and friends laps in the evenings while we're watching TV. Eventually he gets hot and jumps down and flops onto a nearby human's foot.
• Yoshi sleeps so hard that he can be moved all around. If he's asleep in bed and we want to change the sheets, I can set him in a beanbag or on the sofa and then bring him back when we're ready. Sometimes I get stiff spooning him, so I'll move him twixt, and then back spooning again when I miss him.

Yoshi and his dad

• I call Yoshi and Jon the morning men, because they spend long mornings cuddling in bed, often til 12 or 1pm. 
• Later in life, maybe the last two years, Yoshi stopped sleeping in so late and would come follow me around. So we developed a routine where I would pee him, feed him, poop him, then give him a bully stick. After all of that, he would finally be prepped for cuddles with Jon. 
• Yoshi loves to have his face bitten, and Jon does it to calm him down sometimes.
• Jon picks Yoshi up to dance sometimes, and says "Relax relax relax" to get him to lower his feet so they can have their bellies pressed together.
• Yo-yoshi, Yo-yoshi is a call Jon reserves for the most desperate occasions, so Yoshi almost always comes when Jon calls him like that.

2020 Books

1. We Should all be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 
2. Running Your First Ultra by Krissy Moehl
3. Whistle Blower by Susan Fowler
4. Turtles all the Way Down by John Green

Curry chicken salad

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tbsp yellow curry powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cooked crockpot chicken breasts cut into bite-size chunks*
• 1 tart apple, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces**
• 2/3 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup roasted salted cashews
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup sliced chives

Katie's dessert recipes

Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, softened 2 sticks
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar packed
2 large eggs
2 1/2 tsp. real vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups Gold Medal unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. sea salt or kosher salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 12-oz. bags semi-sweet chocolate chips (or 18-oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla, salt, baking powder and baking soda with an electric mixer until smooth.

Stir in flour and chocolate chips with a wooden spoon to combine.

Shape dough with hands into golf ball-sized dough balls and place a couple inches apart on un-greased cookie sheets.

Bake for exactly 9-13 minutes or until edges are light brown.


Makes 36 cookies, 166 calories, 2.2P, 26c, 6.8f

Handle the Heat Class Brownies

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) plain cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into six pieces
2 1/4 cups (15 3/4 ounces) sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoons vanilla extract

Instructions

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position; preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 13x9-inch baking pan with nonstick spray. Line baking pan with parchment paper or foil and spray with nonstick spray again.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together until combined. Set aside.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a large heatproof bowl over a saucepan of almost-simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth. Alternatively, in a microwave, heat the butter and chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl on high for 45 seconds, then stir and heat for 30 seconds more. Stir again, and, if necessary, repeat in 15-second increments until melted. When the chocolate mixture is completely smooth, remove the bowl from the saucepan and gradually whisk in the sugar. Add the eggs, on at a time, whisking after each addition until combined. Whisk in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, folding with a rubber spatula until the batter is smooth.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan; using a spatula, spread the batter into the corners of the pan and smooth the surface. Bake until a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 30-35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack to room temperature, then remove the brownies from the pan. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve. Brownies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

2019 Books

1. Cracking the CrossFit Open by Oliver Norris
2. How I Became the Fittest Woman on Earth by Tia-Clair Toomey
3. Learning to Breathe Fire by J.C. Herz
4. Chasing Excellence by Ben Bergeron
5. Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
6. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
7. The Book on Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner
8. The Definitive Step-by-Step Guide to Making Money on Airbnb by Evian Gutman
9. Chasing Waves by Amy Waeschle
10. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
11. The Cactus by Sarah Haywood
12. The Rise of the Ultra Runners by Adharanan Finn

2019 Resolutions

1. Lift weights 5x/week for three months
2. Finish a Spartan super
3. Take a photography class
4. Read 12 books
5. Visit Yosemite National Park
6. Reach 22% body fat
7. Learn to do handstands
8. Find a good investment for my savings
9. Take a sabbatical
10. Do a triathlon