The First One is Always the Hardest, Right?

Okay, yes I am probably beating a dead horse but I do feel that accountability from others helps immensely when working out and trying to get fit. Or eating right. Or even trying to quit a bad habit.

So I'm going to talk about it.

I am hoping to do the Color Run in May with a group of girls and, I know, if I had all the time in the world and could run whenever I wanted I would have no problem achieving that goal. However, I have a little shadow in the form of a 30" tall 14 month old that can sometimes put a damper on the workout front. I want to stop letting that be an excuse. I told my brother I wanted to do this and he asked what my goal is. I want to run the whole time. I know run can be a loose term but I just don't want to, at any point, feel like I am walking. So, then they told me about this run at the end of April that you get a doughnut at the finish. Well, I looove me some doughnuts! I may look into that one as well.

Anyhow. He sent me my workout today and I strapped E into the Bob, told her to be a good little running partner and she was. Me, however, I was a kind of embarrassing running partner. I was huffing and puffing and barely lifting my legs because they felt like they weighed about ten pounds each! Mind you, I am down pretty far in weight but I am out. of. shape. The bro sent me a walk/run 20 minute workout which I picture to be similar to what the C25k is. So it was good, I completed it. I just felt like I was going to die.

Mind you all. I don't know if a 45 degree, damp day, pushing my 22 lb. babe was probably the best idea. Oh well, I figure it can't get much more challenging from there, right?!

I am happy to have started the road. It could be a long road. But that's okay. I'll get there. I think for awhile I was using every excuse in the book to not work out. I'm tired. I have no time. I'm always nursing. I have no time. I'll probably get pregnant again this year so what's the use in getting in shape if I'm going to gain weight again?

Well. While all of those excuses comforted me for about a year I finally realized, OH WELL! So what if I'm tired, working out or a little exercise gives me a little more energy and helps me sleep better at night. Time? Give me 20 minutes and I can accomplish some sort of body movement. I am still nursing but only at bedtime so that has helped in that area. And pregnancy?! Pshhh, if I do, I do and then I'll be one step ahead in a healthy pregnancy!

So there we have it. Day 1 of the road to a 5K for this mama.

The Current State of my Cooking

Not only have my blog posts taken a turn in topic due to my big life change but mostly I have just been pretty embarrassed at how my cooking "talents" have taken a turn for the worse so I haven't been too motivated to post any of my kitchen adventures. I guess by posting mistakes I am being real though so maybe I just need to get on it. I am not bragging and saying I am some gourmet chef, wife who whips up something amazing every single night. However, I enjoy cooking, I enjoy trying new things and I do have my stand by recipes as well. My husband generally likes what I cook and appreciates a home-cooked meal.

The first week Ben went back to work after a week home with us and a week's worth of eating other people's cooking whom had been gracious enough to bring us meals, I decided to put a roast in the crock pot. I put some vegetables, some broth, salt, pepper, etc. I thought, Ben will be so impressed on one of my first days home, I am able to get a meal done. Not that I try to impress my husband and this thought was half sarcasm but whatever. I got the roast in a little bit late for the time I thought we might eat so I put it on high for a while and was going to turn it down. Well, a while turned into basically the whole time. I don't know what I was thinking. I wasn't really. Ben arrived home, we chatted, dished up dinner, he commented on how good it smelled and then started eating. Something was on TV so he was watching that and I took a bite of my roast. I looked over at him and said, "This is terrible! It is so dry. How are you eating this?" He replied with, "Yeah, not  your best." And then proceeded to eat.

I was so embarrassed that I had screwed up a crock pot roast. How does that happen? Crock pot=easy dinner, does it not? Apparently not for me in this case.

A couple of weeks later, I put a chicken in our dutch oven and it turned out okay. The last chicken I had made in the oven had turned out so good.

Next up, this past weekend, on Friday night I was half paying attention to one of our favorite shows, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and saw a dish I wanted to try: pasta carbonara. I told Ben this when he walked in the door and he asked if I had recorded the show. I replied that it looked really easy, I knew the ingredients and I didn't need to have the show to be able to make it.

The next night, I set out to "throw" this dish together. I figured I would make the sauce ahead of time so that we could just heat up the pasta and eat whenever we were ready because nowadays around our house there is a certain little lady who dictates when we eat our dinner. Well, this was a big mistake. I assembled the ingredients just as I remembered in the order I remembered them putting them in the pan: bacon, garlic, white wine, lemon, cream, cheese and egg white. I mixed it all together, tasted it and it tasted good. I left it on the stove on low and went about watching a movie with Ben. Our Idiot Brother was a pretty good movie. It was kind of quirky which made it easy to watch.

Anyway, back to dinner. I went into the kitchen and peeked at my sauce. It had curdled/lumped up/turned into a scrambled mess and my shoulders just slumped. I deemed this inedible and Ben tried to re-create it. What a nice husband. He knew how much I wanted this dinner so he tackled it. The problem is that the sauce is meant to be eaten right away. Not left to simmer on the stove. Lesson learned. Ben wasn't too impressed with his dinner but I thought it was good. It is definitely on the rich side but I guess that's what I was in the mood for.

Moral of the story: I don't know what is wrong with my cooking. I need to get my groove back or I may lose my job. I think my mom hat has risen about my chef hat and they maybe need to gain a little more equality.

Any simple recipes out there I could try to gain some confidence in the kitchen back? Any kitchen/recipe blunders you would like to share?

...Annnd I Finished a Looming Project

I love pennant banners. I don't know why, I just think they add such a cute, fun touch to a room or a party. Ever since I started looking at nursery inspiration, I knew I would want one in Eleanor's room.

*Some inspiration*

Source: hisugarplum.blogspot.com via Allie on Pinterest

Source: dogpile.com via Lucy on Pinterest

Source: hogwash3.blogspot.com via Nicole on Pinterest

I made a pennant banner this summer for my friend's shower. I loved the way it turned out and vowed I would make one for my baby's room too. Well, a couple weeks went by. A month. Two. Finally I picked out some paper for my banner. Then a couple of weeks later I cut out the pennants. Then this past week I actually assembled the banner. 

To get my pennants to stay on the rick rack, I used these teeny, tiny multi-colored brads. For some reason when I think of brads, I think of those bright gold things that teachers used in elementary school. {Anybody else?} So I got these really cute ones and, let me tell you, there were a hundred other choices!

The assembly process.

Annd, the finished product. {I will do pictures of the whole nursery soon!}

There will be a personalized painting on this wall as well.

I hope everyone has a fun time shopping today. We may venture out just to have an outing but for the most part, our Christmas shopping will be done from the comfort of our living room. As well as putting up our Christmas tree. Happy Black Friday!

Fall Maternity Pics

My husband's talents never cease to amaze me. *Sigh*
We took advantage of a frosty, sunny fall morning.
Here is what we came up with.

Recent Reading

I finally finished "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" trilogy. I think I can say that the last book was my favorite.

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I got all three books for Christmas last year and am just now finishing up. It's not because I didn't like them because I really did. They are all very intense books and definitely a different type of writing than I had ever experienced before. However, I really enjoyed that. It felt like I was really branching out. I would warn though, if you haven't already read these, they are a little graphic in some parts and there are some disturbing images. I am looking forward to seeing the movie that comes out in December. I really like Daniel Craig as an actor and think he will do a great job playing Mikael Blomkvist.

Next up, I needed a lighter read. Well this book definitely delivered in that department.

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In my opinion, it is a little too light. I read it maybe a day and a half and was less than thrilled. Maybe it was because I had just come off a heavier read but it just all seemed so shallow and young to me. Don't get me wrong, I love a good chick flick and I'm sure this movie will be good for that. I just didn't love the book all that much. I was thinking about getting the second book, Something Blue, but thought better of it and feel like I don't need to read it just because it is what comes next.

Now, I have moved onto something that is becoming more relevant in my life with each passing day.

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A friend let me borrow this book that they received in their birth class. Our birth class is a little different than the one they took so I thought it would be good to read this book along with taking our class. {That we started last night.} I really like it so far and just finished the birthing chapter and onto reading about possible medical interventions. Since we are planning natural childbirth, obviously our hope is to have no medical intervention, however, we understand that things to come up and want to be prepared for as much as we can and many possible outcomes. I think this book does a really great job at outlining all aspects whether you are planning a hospital or out of hospital birth. So far I would highly recommend it if you didn't receive it or something like it with your birth class.

Last night at our class, our instructor recommended a book that educated on immunizations. This is a pretty hot topic right now and it is very overwhelming. She said this book is really good at just explaining what each vaccination is and then we can make our own informed decision rather than be influenced by the mainstream, internet or a pediatrician.

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What books have you been reading lately? What are your thoughts on any of these books? For you moms out there, any thoughts on immunizations {I know it can be a touchy subject so no pressure to answer and I respect everyone's opinion on the matter.}?

Burlap Wreath

I haven't really done any projects lately. I have kind of been working a lot. I know, I know, it's really no excuse but for some reason keeping the house in order and reading have been taking priority over "crafting." The other day I had to make a Costco run so I stopped off at a couple of other stores along the way. You may be familiar: Micheal's and JoAnn Fabric. I, apparently, was feeling creative that day and there were a few items on sale so I picked up some things to help me complete some quick projects.

I started out with a wreath. I spoke briefly about my strange love of wreaths. I don't know what it is about them. They seem welcoming. They can be full of anything really. They can be country, modern, primitive, crafty, country bumpkin--Ahhh, the possibilities are endless. I felt our front door was looking a little bare after our Christmas season wreath came down so I got the idea here. So here is my version.

My materials included some burlap, a wreath form, scissors, twine, straight pins, hot glue, buttons, fabric and felt.

I cut three long strips of burlap. 4"x70" and then ended up cutting a bit more to get it all wrapped around the wreath form.

Here it is wrapped around the form.

Then it was time to stitch thread through the burlap to make the ruffle, however, my thread was way to thin. So, I found some twine and a nail and used that instead. Kind of makeshift hand-stitching.

Once the thread twine is through the length of the strip, pull the end of the thread to make your ruffle. Then I just fit it around the form and pushed straight pins in {which I think mine may have been too small} then reinforced those pins with hot glue.

This is where I kind of strayed from the Jones Design tutorial because my ruffle wasn't looking how I wanted and coinciding with what she said was supposed to happen.

So instead of putting the other ruffle on the other side of the wreath form, I just pinned and glued it more inside the wreath form and layered it on top of the other ruffle.

I figured now it was time for some embellishment because it was looking a little drab and that was what I was trying to change about our sad front door. I was peeking over at Tatertots yesterday and came across this post. I noticed the design of the greyish pillow and decided to do a version of it for the flower on my wreath. I cut out a big circle of felt for the backing and began cutting out hearts of a decorative fabric.

I glued them all around.

And layered and glued and layered and glued and ended up with this. I also had some buttons on hand that I used for the center.

I am pretty happy with the outcome and even more happy to just have something on the front door. Here she is in all her glory to welcome the Hub home tonight!

Happy Friday!

What are you all crafting lately? Are you as obsessed with burlap as I am? Are you snowed in at all so that gives you an extra incentive to complete some crafts?

Making the Time for Reading

I have always loved to read. When I was younger I could always be found with a book in hand. I could read in the car, with TV on in the background, with music on, while people were talking...literally, anytime. I feel as I have gotten older, I have been reading less and I want that to change. It seems like I can always find an excuse not to read. Throughout college there were always college texts to be read and now there is laundry to be done, dishes to be scrubbed, dust to be wiped, a bathroom to be cleaned, groceries to be bought, dinner to make, that one show to watch and sleep to be had! I hate that I can always talk myself out of sitting down with a book.

The other problem with me and reading is that once I am engrossed in a book, that's it. I am into it so don't talk to me and don't expect me to do anything until I finish that book. It's addicting! Maybe I could just plan reading time everyday. That sounds so silly but I feel like for things that are important, it is okay to make sure I have time for them. After all, work is scheduled, appointments are scheduled, dates with friends, dates with Hub--why not schedule time to read?

I am reading:

and even though I heard from some that it was a little hard to get into at first, it really picks up and is a great book, I have seriously loved it from the start. Larsson's writing style took a little getting used to in the beginning but now it is quite a page-turner for me. 

So, on top of some of the goals I talked about before, I also intend to bring back my love of reading. I am also a firm believer that being a reader results in one being a better writer so hopefully that works for me too! I simply detest how as we get older so many things we used to have time for just fall by the wayside.

When do you find time to read? Do you feel guilty while you're reading thinking about others tasks? What are you reading right now?