Run Sqrl, Run!

Photo Friday: The Watering Hole

2017-05-26T12:47:00.001-04:00

Photo Friday: After the Rain

2017-05-12T17:53:00.000-04:00

Cecilia: 24 Months

2017-03-31T13:52:00.000-04:00

This is the last time we have to do this, right mama?

I wonder what kind of mischief I can get up to today!

hehehehe!

wow mama, look at the balloons!

mama, did you know it's my birthday?!

Cecilia: 23 Months

2017-03-09T08:31:00.000-05:00

"mommy, I don't know about this picture thing."

"Rush's feet are very interesting!"

"ba-oons!"

"Doesn't everyone play with Playdoh in their sparkly dress?"

Whole 30: Why I Quit on Day 18

2017-02-15T19:52:00.000-05:00

I ended up going radio silent on the Whole 30 thing rather quickly, and an explanation is in order

I quit.

I'm a quitter.

The thought of giving up began to percolate up in my mind about Day 14 when I had to skip my long run. My formerly content and very regular digestive system which wasn't pleased with this Whole 30 thing had edged into a full-on revolt. I was peeved. I haven't skipped or missed a run since last July. I love to run and Whole 30 was screwing that up. That combined with the fact that I was cooking (and cleaning up the dishes from cooking) from the time that I got up until about an hour before I went to bed on top of all my other mom and house manager duties on my non-work days? Whole 30 was rapidly eroding my will to complete the full duration.

On the way home from Zumba the following Thursday night, I completely talked myself into giving up. In my life so far, I've lost large chunks of weight twice and been successful in maintaining those losses. I know how to eat for my body and my health. I mean, hell, I even quoted the post when I posted about Whole 30 originally, calling myself hypocritical for doing the program. Even knowing and saying that, it's easy to get caught up in the hype sometimes.

My personal takeaways from my measly 18 days of Whole 30 are as follows:

I learned that I need to quit my snack habit and start eating bigger meals. I found that I thought about food less during the day and wasn't as focused on the next time I could eat.
Spaghetti squash is actually pretty tasty.
Homemade mayonnaise is easy to make and I'm happy to add another recipe to my repertoire of weird things I can make from scratch.
I didn't miss peanut butter and much as I thought I would, which was pretty surprising to me.

Lest you think that I'm against Whole 30, I'm not. I actually think highly of the program and would recommend it to someone who is looking to improve their relationship with food. It can help you understand some of the detrimental effects certain food groups can have on your body. It also forces you to learn how to cook for yourself (and possibly others), which is a skill that I think has immense importance in your overall health and is vastly undervalued due to the amount of convenience food available to us.

But would I do it again? No, definitely not.

Cecilia: 22 Months

2017-02-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

this is how you smile, right mommy?

*death stare*

look how cute I am, mommy!

Photo Friday - Cecilia: 21 Months

2017-01-13T13:00:00.003-05:00

Whole 30: Days 1-7

2017-01-12T13:46:00.001-05:00

When I looked at the proposed meal plan for the first week of Whole 30 in the book, I laughed. First of all, brisket, seriously? That cut is no longer dirt cheap and are you guys trying to make my food budget go out of control? No, I will not cook this brisket. Secondly, this is a lot of food preparation and cooking for one single week. I already cook for myself enough to know that is simply not how I roll and is one of the fastest ways for me to burn out on this Whole 30 thing. Thus, I made my own meal plan:

It's a running joke in this household that I rarely stick to my weekly meal plans but surprisingly enough, I managed to stay mostly on plan this first week. Probably because falling back to peanut butter and jelly was absolutely not an option.

The general consensus (Eric has been eating the dinners) is that the food is adequate. The only meal that we both thought was awful was the Walnut Crusted Pork Tenderloin on a bed of salad greens and doused in a quarter cup of homemade balsamic vinaigrette which was not emulsified properly so I ended up with an oil slick and wilted salad greens. Next week's meal plan will deviate from the recipes in the book because I found nom nom paleo.

As far as the symptoms the book says you might experience, I haven't had any of them. That's not a huge surprise to me because my diet is, this last holiday season aside, pretty clean.

7 days down, 23 more days to go!

P.S. I've been sharing pics almost daily of what I've been eating on my Instagram!

Photo Friday: Puppy Love

2017-01-06T08:40:00.002-05:00

Whole 30 Prep: Ghee

2017-01-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

This isn't the first time we've had ghee in the house, though this is the first time that I've made it. While there are many methods for ghee making out there on the internet, the oven method from Cook's Illustrated is my favorite due to the hands off nature of it.

Whole 30

2017-01-02T20:18:00.002-05:00

I'll admit me doing Whole 30 is, in fact, kinda-sorta hypocritical given how I wrote about deprivation being the enemy in this post last year. But, it's only 30 days and I'm curious, so I'm giving it a go.

For anyone who doesn't know what Whole 30 is, here's a quick overview of the program.

For 30 days, do not consume the following:

Added sugars, artifical or real

Alcohol

Grains in any form

Legumes

Dairy

Carrageenan, MSG or Added Sulfites

Recreated baked goods, treats or junk foods

If you're interested in learning more about it, their website is full of helpful information.

Stay tuned for more Whole 30 posts!

Photo Friday: Concentration

2016-12-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

Cecilia: 20 Months

2016-12-16T15:59:00.001-05:00

mama, I am not really into this.

see, I'm really not mama.

I may now be contemplating mischief, mama.

Likes

Coloring
Reading books
Puzzle games on the tablet
Being silly (cuckoo baby!)

Dislikes

Being told no

Cecilia: 19 Months

2016-11-05T16:02:00.001-04:00

oh yay! it is picture time!

c'mon mama, you are so slow with these pictures.

oh hey look, someone left a snack here for me to steal and eat.

what to pick, what to pick...

Likes

Coloring - still, and sometimes her circles have eyes and I can tell what she's drawing!
Books - the current favorites: How To Usborne Series(Bathe, Brush, Tuck In and Feed) and Rosie Revere, Engineer
Imitating her How To series from above - Teeth brushing is much easier now
Raspberries
Charlie - she wakes up every morning he's here saying "doggy! doggy! doggy!" then beelines to see him

Dislikes

Wind - you'd think something horrible was happening when the wind hits her face
Mama going to Zumba - sorry kid, but you'll be a-ok with your Dad.
Not getting her way

Cecilia: 18 Months

2016-10-21T20:18:00.002-04:00

Likes

Drawing
Apples
Mama-Horsey Rides (mama naynay)
Playing in the mud
Collecting nature treasures at Tinkergarten

Dislikes

Being told no
Having to go back inside before she's ready

Cecilia: 17 Months

2016-09-13T13:34:00.002-04:00

mama, I'm a little bear! rar rar rar!

dada, why are you making that funny face at me?

mama, we have to put all the stuffed animals away!

Likes

Drawing circles
Goldfish Crackers (go-gahs)
Tricycle Rides
Stroller walks
Peanut Butter (buh)

Dislikes

Being told no
Meats (though mama keeps trying)

Midyear Goal Review

2016-08-09T19:12:00.002-04:00

A month later than I'd intended but here it is.

Health and Fitness Goals

Running

Run three 5Ks (May/August/November)

I did one on May 1st though I never recapped it, August isn't looking to be that likely, but we'll see. November is still happening though, even if I have to walk it!

Weight Loss

Get back to my goal weight and stay in my preferred range.

I'm 10-15lbs from my end range, but there's still several months to go before 2016 closes out. I'm not really worried and I'm still committed to it.

Photography

Pick a theme each month and take weekly photos in that theme for Photo Friday.

I have been massively failing at this, mostly because I forgot that it was even a goal. I'd say that I'll try to be better about it but honestly, I'll probably forget about it once I put this post up. Oops.

Crafts

Sewing

Make Eric's fleece PJ pants with pockets
Sew Cecilia a little fleece jacket with a zipper

I haven't even taken out my sewing machine or serger since before I wrote my original goal post in January but I definitely haven't forgotten about this one. I'm currently devising a craft table organization strategy that involves a trip to IKEA this week which should be fun (or possibly harrowing?) with just myself and the toddler.

Knitting

Finish three of my Dyed My Way kits from KnitCrate.

I doubt this is going to happen but it could, I guess. I'm not willing to discount the possibility yet. I just finished dyeing my first kit but it took me forever to wind it into a ball, and I'm sure it'll take me twice as long to get the toe-up cast-on right for the pair of socks it's planned for.

House

Build the raised bed garden that I've wanted for a good two years now.

Done and the garden is doing wonderfully! I just finished harvesting all of the potatoes and I'm extremely pleased with the results.

Declutter, organize and deep clean. (I'm sure Eric is laughing as he reads this since I've been assigned the task of cleaning the bathroom counter for over a month now.)

I think I've made decent progress on this. I've gotten rid of all of Eric's old DVDs, donated several bags of clothes that neither of us wear anymore, organized the pantry closets and assembled a wire shelving unit in the basement to store all of the paper products. I've got a lot more projects in my queue but I do seem to be making steady (but excruciatingly slow) progress.

Personal

Keep the grocery budget in check. I think we spend too much on groceries and I know that I can do a better job.

I don't have the exact figures in front of me right now but last time I ran them (in June), we were averaging about $30 less a month on our total grocery bill which translated to around $180 of total savings for the year. I'm sure that I could still do better but for now I'm pleased with the results.

Read 100 books! I'm doing the Goodreads 2016 challenge.

I'm 19 books behind schedule as of right now, so it's pretty unlikely that I'll catch up. We'll just have to wait and see!

Cecilia: 16 Months

2016-08-05T14:49:00.001-04:00

this is how you smile, right mama?

I must remove Lambear's hood, mama!

color, color, color!

Likes

Coloring
Saying buh-bye to everything when she's leaving
Goldfish (go-gos)
Bubbles
Peanut Butter (buh)

Dislikes

Having her nails trimmed
Black beans (these get fed to Mama)

Photo Friday: Calibrachoa

2016-07-29T11:22:00.004-04:00

Cecilia: 15 Months

2016-07-04T10:20:00.003-04:00

Cecilia's personality becomes more and more evident with each passing month. She thrives on routine and will intentionally do things that I forget to do when she's understood an established pattern. Everything must be just so and in it's proper place. Often in the morning when we come down to breakfast, she sees that the tray of her high chair is drying in the bottom rack of the dishwasher and she will immediately go to it, pick it up and bring it to me so that I can put it where it belongs. I'm hopeful that she'll keep this organizational skill as she gets older!

mama, why must we do this?

mama, this is boring.

smile? mama, I think you meant to say "eat your toes!"

lalala *kicks feet*

Likes

Her learning tower
Bird watching
Going outside
Oatmeal with tiny chunks of mango and pineapple
Cheesy eggs
Teensy Fruits
Helping put away the dishes
Pointing out mmbls (bumblebees)
Blowing her nose with a tissue
Charlie
Her stuffed animals - she regularly picks three of them in the morning when I pick her up from the crib.
Pandas in general
Books - she's still obsessed with Chu's Day by Neil Gaiman
Playing Hide and Seek with Mama and peeking around corners

Dislikes

Having her nails trimmed - this is slowly changing though, I can at least trick her into letting me trim one nail at a time when I show her that they are long and need to be cut!
Being told no
Having her face wiped

Photo Friday: Summer Sky

2016-07-01T10:28:00.000-04:00

Photo Friday: Fiery Little Flower

2016-06-10T07:00:00.000-04:00

No Deer (or Rabbits) Allowed!

2016-06-07T19:49:00.000-04:00

Back when we bought our house, I was excited about the prospect of a garden despite the overwhelming amount of work that it was going to take to sort out the mess that was, and currently is, the weeden.

Dear weeden, I hate you.

Maybe at one time, for people who have more time than a working mom, that garden worked pretty well.

It does not work for me at all, and I realized that even before I turned into said working mom. When it also became clear to me that in addition to overwhelming amount of weeds, we also had an overwhelming amount of vermin (rabbits, deer, burrowing rodentia), I decided that it was time to design a garden that would work for me. I started by drafting up the basic idea in a spreadsheet, which helped me get the idea out of my head but didn't really give me that much perspective. Thus, I got a little crafty:

The original plan had flower boxes on the front, which after a discussion with my parents, got nixed due to ground levelness. You may note that my plan also lacked a door mostly because I had no idea where to start and partly because I figured it could wait until it was actually constructed for a better fit.

Finally, 1.5 years, pregnancy and a baby later, the garden has become a reality. My dad and brother were instrumental in the construction and I can't thank them enough!

Easy access to water and the house

There is a giant rock where the posts for the gate are set, so my parents designed a gate that can be latched in place and lifted out to prevent wear and tear on both the door and the posts. It's made completely of cedar so it's nice and light!

I bought raised bed corners that came with a soaker hose attachment because I knew that I wanted to use garden mats from gardenmats.com. I have two rows of potatoes and a row of beans in this picture.

Peppers and tomatoes which have grown a ton since I took this picture a week and a half ago.

My mom bought me this squirrel as a gift back when I first came up with the garden plan.
I'm glad it finally has a home.

I moved my strawberry planter in and have two different varieties plus some companion plants (borage).
It's also covered in obnoxious plastic mesh because there are SO MANY BIRDS.

I'm pleased to have seen this garden go from a thought in my head to real life, granted it took many more people than just me to make it happen, but that doesn't make it any less cool to me. It makes gardening a manageable hobby for me; I'm looking forward to eating anything it yields. It's also something I look forward to sharing with Cecilia, who is currently fascinated by everything about it.

Photo Friday: Baby Beans

2016-06-02T11:32:00.001-04:00

Cecilia: 14 Months

2016-05-31T19:41:00.006-04:00

I'll keep the words short this month. Toddlers are fun but they are also tiny whirlwinds that must take all-the-things apart. Oh, and toss all the food on the floor half-chewed with a wet splat that my ears are currently keyed for. Regardless of the perpetual state of destruction my house now remains in, and the unending task of cleaning that damned high chair (yes, I think the high chair has taken the place of the medicine ball from last year), we're having a lot of fun.

mama, dada is being silly behind you!

mama, I am contemplating life right now, please stop photographing me.

of course I am not contemplating mischief mama!

Likes

Pinwheels
Bird watching
Going outside
Strawberries
Cheesy eggs
Teensy Fruits
Helping put away the dishes
Pointing out mmbls (bumblebees)
Blowing her nose with a tissue
Charlie

Dislikes

Teething
Having her face wiped
Being told no
Having to go inside before she is ready