Made with Love

Fitness #1 (12 in '12)

2012-02-03T15:39:00.000-05:00

Just an update on my fitness goals for 2012 - I logged 40 miles either walking or running in the month of January!

Woo-hoo!! I'll be posting a little more detail about my fitness goals in the next few days. Have a great day!

Book #1 Review (12 in '12)

2012-02-03T15:30:00.001-05:00

Wow, on 1/31/12, I finished my first book of 2012 (remember my 12 in '12 goals for this year?) - Horses Never Lie About Love by Jana Harris.

This was a great book. I thoroughly enjoyed every page. It was filled with lots of details and information about horses, plus it was written with some humor, a big dose of honesty and truth, and detailed descriptions of the locations, feelings, and thoughts of the characters. I had to pace myself throughout the month because it was so good that I could have stayed up all night long and finished the book in one sitting. But, I restrained myself and read just a few pages every couple of days. This allowed me to enjoy the story, thinking about it through the week at different times and wondering what would happen in the upcoming pages...

The story of True Colors was poignant. I didn't realize how much it had impacted me until a few moments after I closed the book after reading the last page. P asked me how the book was and I started weeping. It surprised me so much, I wasn't expecting to be impacted like that, but for some reason, I started crying. It was a celebration of the life of True Colors along with a feeling of loss and mourning.

As a girl, I was horse crazy! I would actually pretend to be a horse during recess somewhere around 2nd or 3rd grade. I wanted a horse so bad and read every book in the school library that had anything to do with horses. My wish came true and my parents got Pedro from a nearby family friend - an older Thoroughbred-Tennessee Walker-Appaloosa mix with a strawberry roan coat. So, for a long time during my childhood, my best friend and closest companion had 4 legs and long bristly tail. Pedro was a great horse for me - his patience was never-ending as he submitted to my bumblings while grooming and riding him. He developed a bad case of colic one time - I think from eating the salal bushes that grew everywhere - and couldn't recover. My parents and I had to make a hard decision and decided that it was time to end his suffering. It was a traumatic experience for a 9th grade girl.

This book, Horses Never Lie About Love, is definitely a must-read for every woman who remembers what it was like to be a horse-crazy young girl.

warm and comfy winter berry crisp

2012-01-26T11:35:00.001-05:00

Oh Yummy Goodness!
I made this Winter Berry Crisp the other day for dessert and it was awesome, especially warm out of the oven with vanilla ice cream on top.

I had frozen cranberries, fresh blueberries, and frozen mulberries (from our trees in the backyard from last summer), so I mixed them gently in a bowl with some powdered sugar, tossed them in a pan (sprayed with Pam), and mixed up a basic oatmeal crisp - oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, and a little flour. Then, I poured that on top of the berries and baked (350*) for about 40 minutes, until juicy and bubbly - plus I added more butter in the dry spots about halfway through.
And, you know the best part? P & J are more ice cream/milkshake people, so they didn't cotton to this like I did - more for me! :)
And voila! Winter Yumminess!

Project #1 - 12 in '12

2012-01-20T14:59:00.004-05:00

Project #1 - I described it a little here.
Basically, I am taking down all the curtains in the house, washing them, dusting the curtain rods, dusting all the ceiling fans, and re-hanging all the curtains after ironing them. Whew - what a lot of dust and cobwebs build up after a few years. I usually wipe the ceiling fans every 6 months or so, but I've never done the curtains, so it was definitely time.
And, I should complete that this weekend (January 21, 2012).

Notice anything different?

2012-01-20T14:53:00.003-05:00

Notice anything different here? New colors, new banner!! Can you tell I'm looking forward to spring? I think the colors I used before were a little more fall-ish, so I wanted to make a little change.

I use the phrase 'Made with Love' a lot to describe my cooking and baking - I put my positive energy and love into everything I make and I think that it makes food taste better. If you cook angry or lacking enthusiasm, the finished product reflects that. So, when my husband or daughter say that they like something I cooked/baked, I usually respond with 'thank you, I put love in it.'

So, what's been going on around here this week?
It's cold, for one thing. Wednesday night, I did a 59 minute outdoor run while J was in swim practice - crazy me! I was warm while running, but got really chilled once I stopped. It felt great though. I think I covered 4-4 1/2 miles, I was going slow. And, I LOVE that my phone is an .mp3 player also - I was jamming! But, it also got dark while I was running, so it's harder for drivers to see me. And, the best part is that my left shin didn't hurt at all - yahoo! Maybe my injury in the first part of December was because I was doing 64 laps on the running track at the Y, all in one direction - too many left turns. :)

J has a swim meet this weekend! Hope she does well.

We are volunteering at the Cincinnati Sports, Travel, and Boat Show next weekend for the Southwest Ohio Doberman Rescue table - to promote the rescue. That should be kind of fun - we've never done anything like that to help them. I manage the Facebook page for them too, which is a good niche for me.

I've read some in my book, Horses Never Lie About Love - it is a great book and I am trying to pace myself, so that I can savor it. Otherwise, I would stay up all night long and read it in one sitting.

I've also been working on a project, this may be Project #2 for 2012 - crocheting a blanket. I started out just doing a super long row and then going row by row... I just found a great pattern idea at Lion Yarn though - I think that may be a project for the fall.

And, I'm finishing up Project #1 this weekend - taking down all the curtains in the house, washing them, dusting the curtain rods, dusting all the ceiling fans, and re-hanging all the curtains after ironing them. Whew - what a lot of dust and cobwebs build up after a few years. I usually wipe the ceiling fans every 6 months or so, but I've never done the curtains, so it was definitely time.

We skipped grocery shopping last weekend, so we have been eating up everything in the freezer and the cabinets - it's interesting. I've noticed that we don't have a lot of food, but at the same time, we have plenty of food. It has forced me to think outside the box a little too. Besides milk and bread and eggs, we could almost go until next weekend if we wanted to. I love the fact that I put up so much during the summer too - I still have 2 packs of zucchini, 2 tubs of sauce, 6 jars of pickles, and 3 quarts of salsa left. It's a nice feeling and I plan to expand that this year too I think. I think.

And, one more wonderful thing about using our food up - I made a winter berry crisp last night that was AMAZING - frozen cranberries from last spring that never got used, fresh blueberries, and frozen mulberries from our trees with oatmeal and brown sugar baked until hot and bubbly. Quite awesome - sweet and tart!!
Have a good weekend!!

Book #1 (12 in '12)

2012-01-10T10:44:00.000-05:00

OK, the first book I am reading for 2012 is Horses Never Lie About Love, by Jana Harris... I haven't gotten very far yet, but it's great so far! I'll keep you posted.

highlights from 2011

2012-01-05T10:41:00.002-05:00

Things we remember about 2011

Spring Break trip for Jordan and I to Gatlinburg, quick 3 days

J hitting her head on light post in Gatlinburg
TGI Fridays in the rain
Salad bar at the grocery store (eating picnic lunch at Cades Cove)

J fainted at Civil War Day
J started swim team in April

First swim meet in October

Yellowstone trip

Buffalo
Furry hat
Yellow cabin at lake
Old Faithful

Dale Hollow (times 2)

Overnight at Star Point, slept outside at Billie & Danny's campsite (July)
2-3 day trip to Noel Island (first weekend of June), HOT
Willow Grove pizza
J - BIG catfish!

Unlimited texting in January
Hocking Hills for New Year's weekend (2010-2011)

Van broke down (drove awful) on way home ($400 repair)

Lasagna for Christmas Day
Farmer's Market - baking

Amish lady
Old man w/veggies

Losing 20 pounds
Camping at Whitewater Memorial on Thanksgiving weekend
Canoing - Molly & Jason, Dana & Chris, Steve, Tami, Madison, Cade
Camping at Caesar Creek with RV

J & Chris picked wild onions for our eggs

Adrianna & J playing in the flooded backyard, trying to canoe in 4 inches of water, water up to picnic area
Garden!

100's of cherry tomatoes
Zucchini
18 white mini pumpkins
Salsa
Spaghetti Sauce

Paul's trip to Colorado with Steve in August
Paul's trip to Daytona in March
J's trip to Pensacola, Florida in November
J's dad & Jill got Spencer, the dog
Ipod touch for J for Christmas!
New phone for K!
Cumberland Falls camping in February

Hiking
KOA kabin

All in all - a very good year!

6 days off - wow

2012-01-03T12:50:00.000-05:00

Some things I learned in the last 6 days (lucky me, I was able to have 6 straight days off this past week):

A body at rest, stays at rest - a body in motion, stays in motion

Routine and structure is good for me, sleep is good for me - but both in moderation.

Friday and Saturday were 50 degrees - YEA!!! Then, boom, Sunday (2012) blew in with fierce arctic air - BOO!!!
9:30am is too late to sleep in, but 5:20am is too early.
I like sushi.
I like the Food channel.
I don't like Quinoa.
I can't find a recipe for canning a homemade caramel sauce for ice cream topping (I want to can it, so that it can last on the shelf and not have to be refrigerated the whole time).
I like fondue!

Have a great week! peace out.

closing out 2011, hello 2012

2011-12-30T09:31:00.003-05:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been just over a month since I last posted anything. I guess December was busy! It's been a good season from Thanksgiving to Christmas - lots of homemade food - lasagna, salad, cheeseball, peppermint bark (very addictive stuff, I add pretzels to mine, so it's salty/sweet), chocolate oatmeal bars, caramels, peanut brittle, buckeyes, and more...
The company was good too. My sister, Louisa, flew in for a week from Washington. It had been ages since we'd seen each other and it was great to catch up, hang out, go for a long walk in the rain with the dogs, decorate the tree, bake gingerbread men, etc.
For Christmas day, we had Paul's parents, his sister, Dana, and nephew, Chris, over for lasagna and all kinds of yummies. Danny's brother, Dale, and sister, Evey (?), stopped by also to show us Dale's new bulldog named Chan. I'm not sure of the name really - it doesn't have much punch, but for some reason Dale is stuck on it.

And now we come to the end of 2011. And the beginning of 2012. I've been pondering goals for next year, so here's the lowdown of what I've been thinking:

Read 12 books (one a month maybe) - first one up is Horses Never Lie About Love. Paul bought this for me for Christmas and it sounds like a great 'girl and her horse' story.
12 exercise or physical goals - this includes losing the next 20 pounds (!), running 2 5k races, increasing my push-ups to be able to do 50 push-ups (Army-style), and some kind of hiking/walking goal (maybe # of miles in a year). Any good ideas for another 7 to add to this?
12 character traits - not sure about this one totally, but I think it may be focusing on something like Joy for January, Patience for February, Contentment for March, etc... What other character traits should I include? Generosity? Gratitude? Financial Security/Frugality (not sure if this is actually a character trait, but think I should have some financial focus for the year)? Also, do I just practice one for each month, or do I look at all of them and incorporate bits of each every month?
And, 12 new recipes or food to try! Swiss Chard is one of the top and first picks. I've heard lots about it, but have never actually tried it.
And, some homesteading goals too - I'm not sure about 12, but something. This probably includes homesteading, do-it-yourself, gardening, and all sorts of household projects. Some ideas I have for this - growing my own garlic (it's already in the ground), expanding my raised bed gardens from this past year, developing my eclectic garden in the far back, and rock paving the area between the back patio and the hot tub slab.

So, that is kind of the layout and it feels really good to have something, some skeleton of a plan for the next year, not just hanging out, letting the current take me wherever, not purposefully pursuing things...
Last year was big and busy. Work was busy. I baked for the Farmer's Market in Germantown over the summer and although that is my hobby, it was A LOT of work! I will have to think carefully about that for this year. I am lounging around the house, off work for 6 whole days this last week of 2011. It's 9:31am and I am still in bed in my PJ's. That does not happen very often at all. :)

Peace, Joy, Light, Love, Blessings to you.

recap - turkey, campfires, and a trifle

2011-11-28T09:11:00.002-05:00

Well, Happy Thanksgiving! I know, I am a little late with the turkey-day wishes, but I do subscribe to the idea that one should be thankful every day of the year, and not just especially thankful on the 4th Thursday of November.
Thanksgiving was good - lots of good food, including this awesome trifle!

And, it was even pretty healthy! Sugar-free white chocolate pudding folded into Cool Whip, layers of angel food cake (cut in squares), raspberries, blueberries, and sprinkling of almonds on top, complete with strawberry garnish! That was my favorite thing.
And I made deviled eggs, green bean casserole, and sweet potato casserole. Jordan made her own dessert too - healthy pumpkin bars (including Fiber One cereal) - they were quite tasty.
After that Jordan headed to her dad's for their Thanksgiving meal and then had a quick trip to Michigan for a step-cousin's birthday party. She's home from school today, sick! Throwing up counts as a pretty good reason for missing school. I keep thinking that she'll be able to go in to school in a little while, so that it only counts as a late day and not a complete absence. But, we'll see.
P and I went camping on Friday afternoon to Whitewater Memorial park in Indiana. The park was pretty empty, maybe just 4-5 other campers total. And, Friday and Saturday were both in the mid-60's - beautiful weather. Saturday night, it started raining and rained all night, clear into Sunday, so packing up was a little soggy. But, overall, it was a great weekend.
OK, time to do some cyber-shopping. :)
Actually, I skipped the Black Friday crowds and did my cyber-shopping late Thursday evening - it was great!
peace to you this week...

pumpkins, swim meets, and garlic

2011-11-14T13:30:00.003-05:00

OK, so what do pumpkins, swim meets, and garlic have in common? Not much really, it was just what I was thinking of.

Pumpkins: I did roast my 2 pie pumpkins last week in the oven. It was very easy to do and I ended up with quite a nice amount of pumpkin puree. It does take some time though, but it's a nice feeling to know that these were 'real' pumpkins, instead of canned pumpkins. I also roasted one of the white pumpkins that I had. Those had just cropped up all by themselves back near my compost area, producing 16 little white pumpkins on one plant. They were adorable, but I'm not sure they are the best to eat. The one that I roasted was EXTREMELY hard to cut through and there was very little meat on the inside. It tasted OK, but I think they are probably better for decorating than eating.
I also took my big pumpkin that I never got around to carving for Halloween and cut it up and roasted the seeds. That was fun and easy - just a little olive oil and salt, plus putting them in a low oven for awhile - a tasty little snack.

Swim Meets: Jordan had her 3rd swim meet this past weekend and swam wonderfully. She won 2 of her heats, which is a great feeling. She swam a 100 IM, her first one ever, and did a great job with it. Plus, she was chosen for the breast leg of the 200 Medley Relay. Her relay team came in 3rd overall and dropped their previous time by 1 second. Very cool! And, it's very cool to see Jordan talking with the other girls on the team, smiling, proud of her accomplishments, and growing in confidence.

Garlic: I have a few hard-neck garlics that I am going to plant soon. This is my first time trying the garlic, so I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing. I think that I just pull the big garlic ball apart and separate into smaller individual cloves. Then, I put the cloves in the ground and cover with straw. That's a pretty basic run-down, so maybe I need to google 'planting garlic' to make sure I do it right. :)

A normal busy week ahead. Oh, and it's about 70 degrees here today in Ohio, makes it a little hard to realize that Thanksgiving is coming soon.
Have a great week! peace.

pumpkins

2011-11-02T13:55:00.000-05:00

I may be trying my hand at roasting some pumpkins tomorrow night (when I know I'll have a little time after work). I found a great article/tutorial on how to roast pumpkins at Elana's Pantry. It seems pretty simple.

And, remember these guys?

They don't know it yet, but I'm going to try to roast a couple of them too and see how they compare to orange pumpkins - texture, taste, etc... I'm thinking pumpkin muffins, although pumpkin pancakes could be a winner too. I'll let you know what I find out with the double-blind orange or white taste test. :)
peace.

Halloween

2011-11-01T09:16:00.001-05:00

Fun time trick-or-treating last night, even though it got super-chilly once the sun went down.

Now, it's November 1! 53 days, 14 hours until Christmas! :)
peace.

6th grade, Halloween, and more

2011-10-31T13:45:00.002-05:00

Jordan is looking so grown up! 6th grade pictures just came back the other day, plus we just got report cards for the first quarter - 2 A's, 1 B, 1 C, and 1 D.

And, it's Halloween tonight. Why is it 6-8pm? It will be dark at 7:20pm. I'm not sure I understand that - couldn't they make it 5-7pm? Also, I don't remember having a designated trick-or-treat time when I was a kid. We have lots of candy, so I hope we get a good number of trick-or-treaters. Last year, there was one girl with a TATTOO! Yes, a real one. Plus, I've had trick-or-treaters that were smoking cigarettes before. Crazies!

This past weekend was awesome - went mountain biking for the first time ever, used my non-mountain-bike which was a little rough on it. The leaves were slippery and I had a hard time at first - lots of trees/branches across the trail, but it was a great workout!
Have a great week everyone!
Lots of treats, no tricks!

TGI Friday!

2011-10-28T13:27:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been another busy week for this working mom - work is busy, lots of projects underway right now and home is busy, swim practice, exercise, laundry, dinner, dishes, dogs, husband, daughter, fish... Somehow, I've made some headway at work, even after feeling stuck and procrastinating for much of Monday. I even managed to make mini-quiches (which are delicious) on Monday evening for breakfasts the rest of the week. It's nice to have a hot breakfast in the morning. Since I get up at 5:20 (AM!), we are all eating breakfast at 6:20-6:30 (AM!), so it's nice to have something with a little substance. My other favorite is homemade egg mcmuffins (no trademark symbol). I have seen where some people make a batch up ahead of time, but I prefer to make those fresh every morning. The most time-consuming part is waiting for the pan to heat up, but I pack lunches during that time, so it works pretty well.
The last high school football game of the season is tonight, so we are going. Even though it's going to be chilly. Layers!
I finished the Wheat Belly book. I'll have to write in more detail about that in another post. Mostly, I liked it, but I'm not sure it's the new bible for foodies. There are probably some good nuggets of truth in there (like eat more veggies, duh!), but I'm not 100% convinced that our household is going totally wheat-free quite yet. We might try a limited experiment, but my leaning is to continue to eat healthy (the way our family seems to have defined 'healthy') - more veggies, salads, real food (less processed), nuts, fresh food, small portions, and exercise.
Have a great weekend!
peace.

wordless wednesay

2011-10-26T14:40:00.000-05:00

I don't think I've ever done a Wordless Wednesday, but it's definitely a cool idea. Love this pic of J from our Yellowstone trip (which suddenly seems a very long time ago).

Coffman Halloween Invitational

2011-10-24T09:31:00.004-05:00

Can I do video on here?

Oh yes, it looks like I can! Yahoo! This is a video of Jordan swimming a 50 free at the Coffman Y Halloween Invitational yesterday. She didn't feel very good (went to the doctor on Friday, amoxicillin, etc) and didn't swim her events on Saturday, but she did go ahead and swim 2 events on Sunday.
Way to go Jordan!
peace.

wheat weight?

2011-10-18T13:41:00.001-05:00

Have you heard about the new book, Wheat Belly?

I just checked out the audio book from the library yesterday, and I think I am the very first one to get it. It's a brand new book by William Davis, MD and it talks about the wheat that we are eating today, how different it is from the wheat of the early 1900's, and some of the differences between the people of the 1950's (slender, low rates of diabetes, low to no obesity rates, etc) to the people of the 2010's (heart disease, obesity is commonplace, diabetes, buying an extra seat on the airplane just to be able to fit, and on and on). How fascinating!! I've only listened to the first 30 minutes and it is wonderful. I will keep giving updates, but my first impression is WOW! Could this be true?
It almost feels like I have been brainwashed for years - eat whole grains, heart-healthy cereals, bagels, oatmeal, wheat bread, etc... This is quite a switch in thinking, but if, IF it makes a difference, it could be well worth checking out and experimenting...
Peace.

One Proud Mama!

2011-10-17T08:45:00.004-05:00

Jordan had her first swim meet this past weekend and I couldn't be more proud of her. She did great - even placing 13th out of 34 swimmers in the 50 Breast! Plus, she was chosen by the coaches to swim the Breast-leg of the medley relay - and her team won their heat!

This was our first swim meet and everything was a little new to us. What do we do? Why do we have to be there at 7am, in the water for warm-ups? What do we do in the gym while waiting for events? (I suddenly have an urge to take up knitting or crocheting again, so I can have something to do.) How do you know when to swim? Oh, this is what concessions and hospitality is all about. $7 for a heat sheet! You've got to be kidding.

Chlorine!

Jordan did great - I'm sure she was nervous. And she did get a little confused with the Heat and Lane numbers written on her arm, but after the first event, it all clicked. I am so proud of her and got some good pictures too.

It is a considerable investment of time though. We had to be there at about 6:45am on Saturday morning and left about 10:30am. Then, on Sunday, she had to be there at 7am and had to stay for the relay at about 12:15pm... All in all, it's a time commitment. It was refreshing to see that all of her practices paid off this past weekend. If she was a reader, it would solve the problem of what to do while camping out in the gym awaiting the next event. But, she's not. She's more of a fidget-er. :)

The next meet is this coming weekend, and our Y is hosting it, so I actually have a volunteer job to do (which will alleviate the 'waiting around' issues)...

Peace.

Thoughts for Thursday

2011-10-13T19:11:00.001-05:00

Well, today (and yesterday evening) has been an interesting bit of time, some interesting revealing from God, and a bit of cleansing... Let me explain a little. Over the past year or so, I have begun following really cool blogs like Money Saving Mom, Passionate Homemaking, and just recently started looking at the Morris Tribe and the Pioneer Woman. Maybe I shouldn't name names. I do admire them, but I have just realized they are oranges. Plus, over the summer, I was baking for the farmer's market and found myself 'competing' with the Amish lady, Lydia. Well, the problem with this scenario is that it is apples (me) to oranges (them).
I work full time, have a husband, an 11-year old daughter, 2 dogs, a fish, and 2.7 acres of grass to mow.
Some of the blogs that I have been following are distinctly stay at home/home school-style and there is a huge inequity of time available, namely 40+ hours plus drive time to & from work...
So, this past year or two, I've been trying to be an apple, when really I'm an orange. Or maybe I'm really an apple that's been trying to be an orange. Whatever the case, it came to a head last night and this morning.
I have been dreaming lofty orange-y thoughts over the past few months, baking for the farmer's market (which is A LOT of work done before work and after work for Saturday morning), plus doing my little homesteading, 'Little House on the Prairie' things like canning pickles, spaghetti sauce, and salsa over the summer...
The upside is that we have over 12 pints of pickles, 12 pints of spaghetti sauce, 3 quarts of salsa, and 2 large tupperwares of frozen marinara, plus a good-sized tupperware of assorted chopped peppers (which need to be used soon).
Over the last several weeks, I've gotten into meal planning and have been working extra hard to be able to put decent, nutritional meals on our table for 3, without having to run to McDonald's after swim practice 3 nights a week. This means cooking hamburger for spaghetti sauce at 6 in the morning (before work), or boiling potatoes the night before we actually eat them, or cutting, chopping, or some other prep work prior to actually assembling the meal. This requires a lot of organization and energy and thinking about when to cook things, how to store them, when to assemble and bake things, what is on the menu, grocery shopping for those items, using those items for the purpose intended, etc, etc. Oh, and I haven't even mentioned coupon-ing. No, I admit, I do not always use coupons. I would like to, but I find it difficult to add that into my day.
The last 24 hours has been a little rough - I've yelled at my little family and cried from frustration. Yes, I only have 1 daughter, not 12 kids, half of which were adopted from other countries south of the Equator. That's noble, but that's not my mission in life. I've yelled at my husband, which I don't do very often. He is a blessing to me and I know it. Why did I do this? Well, partly because of the spilled yogurt and partly because of the spaghetti on the counter, but really it is because I can't do it all! I work full-time, with a 40 minute one-way drive (that's 80 minutes a day!), my daughter is on the Y swim team with 4 75-minute practices a week, and I have a husband that I like to talk to every so often. :) Plus, I have been focusing on my weight and exercise quite seriously the past 2 1/2 months, resulting in a 13.5 pounds LOST!! Yea me!! But, that requires some work too. Thank goodness for swim practice - it gives me an allotted amount of time for walking, running, push-ups or whatever else works.
Anyways, I think that, bottom line, what God is trying to show me in the last 24 hours is that I am not a SAHM that can do an organized monthly or weekly meal planning chart and expect to get everything done all the time... I am a busy working mom with 1 child and 1 husband, and that is worthy!
I think I need to tweak my system a bit. More on this later. Time to help with homework.
Peace.

100% vs. 5%

2011-10-12T09:51:00.000-05:00

When we were on vacation, we got into a funny habit of having orange juice with our breakfasts. Not every single day, but enough so that we were kind of hooked on that sweet orange-y taste.

We've been back from vacation for just about a month and I have bought regular orange juice at the grocery a few times now. This morning we had just a wee bit left in the gallon jug of OJ (not Simpson), so Jordan finished it up and asked for more. I pulled out a bottle of Sunny Delight from the fridge that I had bought a day or two ago. She lit up and said 'yea.' But, when she actually drank it, her face fell and she said that it tasted different. So, I said 'oh, it's probably a different taste from the real orange juice we've been drinking lately.'
I looked at the ingredients on the Sunny D bottle.

Ingredients: Water, High Fructose, Corn Syrup and 2% or Less of Each of the Following: Concentrated Juices (Orange, Tangerine, Apple, Lime, Grapefruit). Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Beta-Carotene, Thiamin Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Natural Flavors, Food Starch-Modified, Canola Oil, Cellulose Gum, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Sodium Benzoate To Protect Flavor, Yellow #5, Yellow #6

YIKES!

Then, I looked at the gallon jug from the orange juice I had just put in the trash.

Ingredients: Water, Orange Juice Concentrate

WOW!

There is a price difference though. The real thing is $3.89 for a gallon at Kroger. The Sunny D is $1.58 for the same size. Hmmm...

Tuesday

2011-10-11T12:54:00.000-05:00

I downloaded my pics from the Hill Climbs this morning - pretty awesome!

Some other random notes:

When we got home from swim practice last night, I took some time and made homemade bagel twists (covered in cinnamon and sugar) and bagels (topped with garlic and parmesan cheese). These all came out wonderful, even though it was close to 9pm by the time I finished. The cinnamon sugar twists are a great treat - we dip them in strawberry yogurt! Yum! And, the bagels - well, I toasted one this morning in the oven (the toaster started burning the parm cheese) and put butter on it. It was great - not the best bagel I've ever had, but pretty good for my first attempt. Usually, I use this dough for bagel-dogs and wrap the dough around hot dogs and bake. Those are quite yummy too.

Tonight is my night to get all the laundry put away. Woo-hoo - that will be fun. And I might even sneak in a little closet cleaning out too. :)

I've noticed with this blogging every day thing - I tend to just keep to surface, day-to-day things. I'm not sure if that's bad or good, just something I've noticed.

Maybe, as I keep on with this blogging thing, I will get better at it. Practice makes perfect. Peace.

Monday

2011-10-10T09:46:00.000-05:00

Posting again this morning - that makes 5 days in a row! Wow!
Went to the Hill Climbs yesterday, very awesome weather. I will be downloading my pictures probably tonight and then posting pictures to Shutterfly... Lots of motorcycles, tattoos, beer in gallon milk jugs, dirt bikes racing up a BIG hill, parachuting American flag, Star Spangled Banner with an unfortunate coughing spell in the middle of the song (poor girl), awesome biscuits and gravy (maple sausage, gave it a sweet taste) in the morning at GameDay plus an awesome burger in the afternoon at GameDay also.

Plans for the week:
Meal planning - pretty simple this week. Since we've done good on grocery shopping the last few weeks, we have some extras, which is providing our meals for this week (so groceries this week was just milk, juice, bread, and chips).

Spaghetti
Salad w/Grilled Chicken
Breakfast for dinner (Biscuits and Gravy, eggs, etc)
Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes
Breakfasts for this week - I'm making mini-quiches for us (hopefully tonight, if I have time)

Jordan's first swim meet is this weekend. She's pretty nervous, so I hope that it goes well for her.
She also has a swim meet next weekend, so it will be a busy 2 weekends.
I hope to start cleaning out my closet this week, getting rid of clothes that I don't ever wear or that don't fit.
And, I also would like to work on the organizing the closet in the office - it has gotten pretty messy, especially Jordan's desk area (which can't be used for homework right now, because it's covered with junk).
Oh, and I want to clean out my freezer. :)
Fun times!
Have a great week. Peace.

Hill Climbs

2011-10-09T14:18:00.002-05:00

Just a pic or two of the Hill Climbs from last year (2010)...

It's quite fun. And the weather is going to be great. I'll post 2011 pics in the next day or so.

Happy Sunday!

Saturday

2011-10-08T14:08:00.001-05:00

So, I got my haircut the other day! First time that I have actually gone to a salon and paid someone to cut my hair in at least 4-5 years. It was great - I even colored it when I got home, so it was a cut AND color day. I just didn't want to pay the extra $$ for a salon color, but I may do that in the future. It really gave me a boost in how I felt. I had been doing the ponytail thing for several months now, which is very easy, but not very stylish. :)

I don't have a picture yet of my new do, but here is something similar...

It's similar, kind of... :)