I hope everyone had a good Valentine’s – I was surprised to receive flowers, and even better these are flowers that I can plant and grow and keep. Thanks to my wonderful hubby!
Not so Wordless Wednesday: Asking
08
Feb
Today Katherine and I got to take her 1st swim class – one of those for parents and children together in the pool, mostly to learn basics like bubbles.
I ended up learning so much more. The teacher pointed out, in a very nice way, that I was always asking Katherine to do things. Like “Can you do this like mommy?” – when I was showing her blowing bubbles. When she pointed it out, I had no idea I was doing it. I didn’t realize the tone that I had, the Katherine is in charge, I’m letting her decide tone…. I’m in charge aren’t I?
Once she said it, I found myself asking and realizing it so many more times in our short little lesson. So a goal for myself is to stop asking and just state what we are doing. For example, ‘Time to get on the board and kick our footies!’ instead of ‘Do you want to get on the board Katherine?’.
Knowing is half the battle right?
How can I ever resist this face??
Trimming Tuesday: Made Up Recipes!
07
Feb
This trimming Tuesday is brought to you by the recipe I made up last night and loved. I’m sure there are similar ones out there, but I used no recipe for mine – just what I had on hand.
The best part is it is a mostly healthy meal, especially when served with a side salad and fruit like we did last night.
So here is my made up recipe.
Mostly Mexican Pot Pie
Dice approx. 3 cups of grilled chicken (this was 1 1/2 breasts we had grilled the night before – could be any cooked chicken)
Add a can of 98% fat free cream of chicken soup
Add a can of mild rotel diced tomatoes and chilis (depending on your spice preference – this was too spicy for girls, just right for me)
Mix all together in a oven safe dish
Use one box of jiffy and prepare as directed (one egg, 1/3 cup milk – we used soy it was what we had)
Cover top. I used a round oven-safe dish that was probably about 8 inches in diameter and it covered the whole thing perfectly with one box.
Bake at 400 for 25 – 35 minutes. Ours was about 30 to be the brown golden color I like for cornbread.
Dig in.
I used a recipe calculator to approximate one serving (assuming it has 6 – my husband ate half of the whole thing, but I probably had 1/6).
Calories: 315
Fat: 6 g
Fiber: 5 g
Protein: 20 g
So there you go – high in protein, and a pretty good calorie amount for dinner.
Have you made up anything recently?
Counting Away
02
Feb
I joined a few friends in a Biggest Loser Challenge starting yesterday (Feb. 1st) and it goes on for 8 weeks. I would love to lose the 10% of my weight that I want to lose in those 8 weeks, or at least almost all of it, so I am going to track calories. Really for me, that is the only tried & true method (Weight Watchers works for a similar concept, but it costs money I don’t want to spend right now.)
I put out a call for apps people like on their iPhone and wow, there are many different favorites. So I will try a few of them over the next few weeks until I find the one that works best for me, and I’ll review them here as well.
Up until now I’ve tried SparkPeople in the past, so probably nothing like it is now, and I currently use DailyPlate from Livestrong. It doesn’t have a UPC scanner which I just found out is a possible feature in others. So we’ll see.
The recommendations so far are:
SparkPeople
My Fitness Pal ( 2 recs, due to UPC mostly)
Lose It
Daily Burn (can use UPC, costs extra I think)
Daily Plate (by me)
Wish me luck! I want to Burn, Lose, Count, Be Fit and Be a Spark. 
Kind of Wordless Wednesday: Resolutions
25
Jan
I can’t seem to post photos without talking about them so these post are never truly wordless…
I have been searching for inspiration for a photo for the theme Resolution. Should I take a picture of my journal or my blog where I talk about my goals? Or me having fun with my girls since I resolve to spend lots of quality time with them? I keep coming back to my grocery challenge – it has been so eye opening to try and stay on a food budget.
Today I am doing something I have never done before – I am making soup from leftover chicken carcasses we have since we smoked chickens this weekend on the big green egg. We smoked 3 of them, knowing we’d have leftover chicken for another night or two and that is frozen in the freezer. However there was still a lot of chicken on those bones, and so I am trying to make Chicken Soup (I think Chicken & Rice since I have a ton of rice in the pantry). I have never done it from scratch. I know this is not a new thing for a lot of people, but I am oddly weirded out by the concept so it is not something I ever would have attempted were it not for our budget resolution. [In addition, this will be a pretty healthy meal for the family - also a part of our goals for the year.]
So here is the picture – my resolution has led to me simmering celery, onion, carrots, spices and chicken carcass together on the stovetop. I actually really like how this photo turned out with the curve of the pot and I’m sure it will end up a delicious dinner for my family.
Wordless Wednesday: My Self-Portrait
18
Jan
So after lots of thought – I finally decided on how I wanted to take my self-portrait.
Some of my favorite photos of kids are when they are enjoying themself on a swing – and since I definitely want to focus more on enjoying simple pleasures like that this year, what better than a shot of me swinging?
This definitely had challenges – I had to use a tripod and a remote with a 2 second delay so I could trigger it and get my hand back to the chain on the swing. I tried serious, smiling, not looking… For those who know me, smiling ended up the way to go. In college, I think I was known as that girl who is always smiling. The serious photos are just not me at all.
The timing was very hard to work out since I was moving. In the end though – I got this picture. When I look at it I really see myself, how I see myself, in the photo – so for that reason I really like this self-portrait.
While I liked the color version of this photo as well – I love editing in this more dramatic black and white style. It is based off the look in the movie 300, just with all the color removed instead of some of it. Lots of contrast and black, but also lots of fill light. I think it works great for this photo and I love it even more this way.
Thanks to Rock the Shot for such a fun contest to start the year.
Trimming Tuesday: Groceries
17
Jan
Trimming Tuesday is back. One of my goals this year was to figure out how to control our grocery spending. I found that even though I planned some of the time, I did not plan all of the time. The nights when it was last minute would mean eating out or pizza. Costco trips sometimes ended up a bit out of control – even if I bought things I would use – eventually.
So for the New Year we decided that was a category that would benefit from the cash budget. I pulled out cash at the beginning of the month. It is in an envelope. That is what is allocated for the month for all food – that means eating out as well, and liquor. It even includes items like diapers.
It is January 16th and right now I have food through Friday night the 20th. I then have about $50 of that money left in the envelope for the last 11 days of the month. Needless to say, this challenge has been eye opening. Now granted, a large part of why we are down more than I would like is that I had to buy not only diapers, but prilosec… and we decided since the prilosec was on sale, to go ahead and buy two boxes of it. Those two boxes not being purchased would pretty much double what I have left for the rest of the month.
Now it really isn’t as dire as I am making it sound - I actually have enough meat for the rest of the month (probably) frozen in the freezer, and I have a couple cans of beans too, and a big bag of rice … so mostly that money needs to buy fresh items like fruit and veggies. So while it will be tight and a close call – I think I can manage fine. Definitely means no family meals out for this month.
One thing I use to help with the meal planning is E-mealz. I’ve talked about them before – for $5 month they help you plan your meals based on your grocery and that groceries specials for the week. What I am getting better at is filling in meals based on what we already have in the house so things do not go to waste.
Also, I am not someone who tends to do extreme couponing. I tend to only use coupons that are easily found online. I am however being more aware of the available coupons, as well as the BOGO weeks. [I love Publix BOGO.] This month though, even with a tight remaining budget – I did spend the money to buy a Sunday paper to dig through for coupons to help us get through those last 11 days.
Another benefit to this meal planning and budget – I have only eaten out once this month, for a business lunch. I am eating much less processed foods and haven’t had fast food a single time. I have lost 3 pounds in two weeks and that is before I started my exercise training for the 5k (1st workout today felt great!)
So far this challenge is … well a challenge. However, the results – the feeling good about losing weight, the feeling good about saving money… learning and opening my eyes… has been very rewarding.
How do you save money on your groceries?
Goal Picked… Start Training in 3…2…1…
13
Jan
I want to get back into an exercise routine, but I find without a goal in mind – it is hard to get motivated. I needed something tangible. I didn’t want to sign up for something major yet like another sprint tri – last time I over did it an injured myself. I wanted something that was very do-able so that in three months I could really check it off my list and do it well.
I happened to find the perfect thing.
Apparently 2012 is the inaugral Dacula Dash 5k in late March – literally just a couple miles from our house. That gives me almost 3 months to do the Couch to 5K training plan. After the 5k they have a fun run for the kids – which makes it even more great.
A 5k is a great goal for me because for one thing, I haven’t really exercised in months other than the occasional walk or short bike ride. I don’t consider myself a runner, and running is a challenge for me. I have a treadmill in the basement however, so cold is no excuse. A 5k is very attainable, and I know I can do it – but it will still take the training to get me there.
So I am going to sign up – anyone want to join?
Starting Monday I will be doing the C25k challenge and tracking via social media and this blog. I’m excited!
Self-Portrait, Take 1
11
Jan
So in my efforts for one of the projects – the January photo challenge of a self-portrait – I had a great idea! I took this photo back in the summer of Amelia and you could see me pretty clearly in the reflection in her eye. I thought I would try something similar with Katherine today. I guess it is not 100% creative when you have done it before – but it was an accident in the picture of Amelia, and this was intentional.
I’m posting the results because they are cute pictures of Katherine – but I couldn’t get my reflection quite right. In the sunglasses you can see me, but it blends too much with the window and on the one without glasses, even zoomed in, it wasn’t what I wanted – so try try try again.
This 2nd picture is so Katherine – so totally worth the time to take the photos!
[Note: I promise my blog isn't going to all be photography - I have other stuff I want to discuss too like budget/grocery and exercise.]
Rock The Shot