Category: House/dating/life

I have sugarplum fairies dancing in my head

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, House/dating/life

or more factually correct I have images of fresh baked bread and delicious meals and gardens and chickens dancing in my head.

I cannot wait to break out my bread maker for some fresh amazing bread. Sandwiches our first week in the house on fresh baked bread…..yes!

Brandon already said he would build me a chicken coup from some repurposed wood. In Salem you can have up to 6 chickens without needing any permits. I think we will start with 3-4 this year and see how it goes. Then maybe add the other 2-3 next year. Spacing them out like that will be good for timing too. They don’t lay eggs for about 6 months then they produce for about 2 years then it will be harvesting time. So each year we will have to order 2-3 new chicks (after the first 2 years) and I I’ll need to learn how to butcher a chicken.

I have already placed an order to the Burpee seed company, I will have 6 heirloom tomato plants shipping to me around April 9th ready to be direct planted when they arrive. I think I will pick up 1-2 cherry tomato plants just from the grocery store, not heirloom but that is ok. That is perfect timing and should give us about 2-3 weeks in the house to get the yard ready for planning. I will continue ordering plants over the next few weeks.

Ahhhh about 5.5 weeks at the most!!!!!

 

 

……………..Well we got a call and that 5 or 6 weeks we had until we got to move in just went down to 3! We just got notice that the tenets are moving out early! Which is amazing and moves our timetable up about 2-3 weeks.

We are hoping to start moving things in over presidents day weekend. Brandon gets that Monday off and he would like to refinish the tub that day so it has the rest of the week to “cure” and we could start using it the next weekend. The bottom of the tub is wearing off and pealing away a little bit, so Brandon bought a refinishing kit. This is much cheaper than buying a new tub (which one day we will do, hello claw foot soaking tub!!!! one day lol) Having the tomato plants delivering in early April means we have that as a deadline to get the backyard ready for planting. Spring is also when baby chicks are born and delivered so a chicken coup will be near the top of the list too.

It is going to be a busy but amazing few months as we move it, get everything up and running and settle in!

 

January Goal check in

by Ariana Peters, posted in books, food, healthy lifestyle, House/dating/life, school/studying, training

 

Blog at least 3 times a week- so I need a minimum of 14 blog posts including January 31st Actual number of posts:

PROPERLY train for and run a half, full and ultra marathon- half marathon training is up first, the minimum number of miles I need have run this month to keep up good training is- 60 miles Actual number of miles: 12, I am not made about this, leaving town and dealing with my brothers death this month has taken everything I have so I am just happy I have gotten out and moved once a week. Now the goal is to make it at least twice a week and so on and so forth.  

Revamp my diet and STICK TO IT!!!! –

Breakfast-juice and muffin or toast and coffee (most mornings I had oatmeal, which I consider healthy)

Midmorning snack- Slimfast or smoothie (slimfast or cheese and crackers)

Lunch- Soup or salad (not quite as much but most of the time it was soup or something homemade)

Dinner- Anything I want as long as it is make at home

After dinner- tea or hot chocolate

 

Did you stick to this? Overall I stuck to this about half the time, having to leave town for almost 2 weeks to deal with my brothers death certainly derailed this.

 

Get A’s in all my classes this year- Keep a running tally of my % in my class(es) Current %: 84.83, again I missed the entire first week of class so I am pretty happy with an 84 especially since A&P is a difficult class.

Drop two clothing sizes, go from a 10 to a 6 –Stick with the aforementioned meal plan and marathon training and I should be golden. How is this going? Yea right lol

Stop overspending!!!! – I am not keeping any forms of payment on me at work so that I cannot pop next door to the little market whenever the desire strikes and I only get to eat out once this month so I better choose well. Money saved: $100. I got $100 in my savings and didn’t take it out but I did go on a little spending spree after getting back from Reno and having to face real life again.

Take a few minutes every day to sit in quiet reflection, meditate, and do something spiritual –I have a 5 line a day little diary and a 366 day devotional I am starting to use. Out of 31 days I managed how many days: 12, I packed my little diary and took it to Reno with me then never unpacked it when I got home, I really need to do that.

Continue to work on and grow my relationship with Brandon – we need to get out and do something every week, we currently have Thursday evening through Sunday morning together and I don’t want us to just sit on the couch the whole weekend so my goal is at least one outing a weekend (they just need to be free outings lol)

Our 4 weekend outings:

I was out of town the first 2 weekends

Went for a trail run then hit the Tillamook cheese factory

Went out to his grandparents house

Read 1 non-school book a month- I already met that goal this month so let’s see if I can squeeze in a second one before school starts.

Books read this month: The quarter-acre farm

All in all I didn’t hit most of my goals but considering the circumstances I am ok with this. I got up everyday and kept going, I did the things I needed to do and managed to not completely tank everything. Go me!

2018 run calendar

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, House/dating/life, training

These are the races that Brandon and I currently have on our calendar. As I have learned things are always changing so we might end up adding or taking away from this list.

-Couples classic 5k in February

-Vortex 10k trail run in March

-Honeywagon Half marathon in April

-Banks Linear Trail Brave Run 10K in May (haven’t registered yet)

-Timberline marathon in June

-Rugged Maniac in June (we are planning to volunteer in the morning and run for free in the afternoon) (this is taking place of a July race)

-Spartan Sprint in August (again we are hoping to volunteer in the AM and run for free in the PM)

-Hardesty Hardcore 14 miler in September (haven’t registered yet)

-Defiance 50k in October

Those are the only ones officially on our race calendar but I am hoping to find a few more that we can add, for the right price. Money is really the biggest factor. Since we bought a house funds are limited and now all race entries are for 2 people instead of just one, cost is all the more important these days.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking/ Julie and Julia

by Ariana Peters, posted in books, food, House/dating/life

Hello,

As I mentioned on Monday over the weekend Brandon and I watched the movie “Julie and Julia” which I have already seen more than once and have read the book probably twice hahaha. Now that we have a house on the way to us, 7 weeks and counting!!!!! I am starting to dream about all the cooking I get to do!!!!! One of the cookbooks I really want is Mastering the Art of French cooking by Julia Child.

Since I read Julie and Julia several years I ago I have fantasized about also cooking my way through her book (except the aspics and the pates, ewww) hopefully now I will be able to do that. Look forward to some great meals in the future.

 

I am starting to get so flipping excited about planting food and cooking and eating!!!

The countdown is on

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, House/dating/life

House news! The house we bought currently has tenants in it, they were given 60 days notice just after the start of the year so we should be able to move in the 2nd or 3rd week of March so 8 weeks and counting!

Good news is needed right now so that is nice.

This past weekend Brandon and I started perusing house things. We are taking stock of what we already have and what we need along with some style options. Trying to figure out how much money we will have for furnishing and decorating it. Time will tell!!!!

We checked out Ikea

The bathroom is a little small so we like these cute, space saving, economical options. The cream colored wood is also lightly paneled so it has a little bit of a country feel to it. I think we will be going with a different faucet though. I never noticed how little Ikea has with a farmhouse, rustic feel. But I got almost 200 tea light candles for really cheap so I am very happy about that, I love candles.

We bought some towels this weekend because they were on sale at Costco. Just the big bathroom towels, no hand towels or wash cloths so we need to find those hahahaha! We are pinching pennies everywhere we can!

I am starting to look at gardening things, there are about half a dozen things I can start indoors around the end of March so I am going to start looking at some of that though so far our winter has been pretty mild, if that continues I might direct start some outside. We shall see! I will let you know!

An offer has been made

by Ariana Peters, posted in House/dating/life

…….and accepted, we have a house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It currently has renters who are being given 60 days notice today. So we should be in it in a maximum of about 70 days, if they move out sooner than 60 days we can get in it sooner. I can’t believe it! We have a house!!!!

Brandon and I are finally moving in together!!! I cannot wait to make this house our home. It is 3 bed, 1 bath about 1300sqft on .3 of an acre. I am going to plant so much food!!!! And we should be getting in there just in time for me to start direct planting some great stuff.

AHHHHHHH I am so excited, I hope the next 2 months fly by.

January Monthly goals

by Ariana Peters, posted in books, healthy lifestyle, House/dating/life, school/studying, training

January

The goals for the year broken down for this month:

Blog at least 3 times a week- so I need a minimum of 14 blog posts including January 31st

PROPERLY train for and run a half, full and ultra marathon- half marathon training is up first, the minimum number of miles I need have run this month to keep up good training is- 60 miles

Revamp my diet and STICK TO IT!!!! –

Breakfast-juice and muffin or toast and coffee (I dropped my muffin this morning, sad face, so leftover slice of pizza and juice it is!)

Midmorning snack– Slimfast or smoothie

Lunch– Soup or salad

Dinner– Anything I want as long as it is make at home

After dinner– tea or hot chocolate , popcorn is ok too

 

Get A’s in all my classes this year- Keep a running tally of my % in my class(es)

Drop two clothing sizes, go from a 10 to a 6 –Stick with the aforementioned meal plan and marathon training and I should be golden

Stop overspending!!!! – I am not keeping any forms of payment on me at work so that I cannot pop next door to the little market whenever the desire strikes and I only get to eat out once this month so I better choose well.

Take a few minutes every day to sit in quiet reflection, meditate, and do something spiritual –I have a 5 line a day little diary and a 366 day devotional I am starting to use. (the first of the year was about setting your intention for the year and sending it out into the world, my intention this year is FOLLOW THROUGH!!! I am terrible about this)

Continue to work on and grow my relationship with Brandon – we need to get out and do something every week, we currently have Thursday evening through Sunday morning together and I don’t want us to just sit on the couch the whole weekend so my goal is at least one outing a weekend (they just need to be free outings lol)

Read 1 non-school book a month- I already met that goal this month ( I read online yesterday because work was dead) so let’s see if I can squeeze in a second one before school starts.

No House News but a Great Date Weekend

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, House/dating/life

Hopefully next week I will have a house update for you.

This weekend Brandon and I used a Groupon that I had bought a few months ago to do an escape room. 

Basically they lock you in a room for an hour and you have to try to solve all these puzzles to unlock the door (you are on camera the whole time in case you freak out or something). I wasn’t sure how it was going to go but I LOVED it!!!! It was so much fun! But I love doing puzzles so that is probably why I enjoyed it so much. It was a pricier date at 30 bucks a pop but we both had fun and I think another one will be in our future at some point. Since I had bought this a few months ago we didn’t spend any money today which was nice.

I was starving after words and hadn’t had sushi in months so we went to a sushi place with those tracks where you can just pull things off the conveyer belt. These work great for me when I am starving because you can eat as soon as you sit down, they don’t work great when your boyfriend doesn’t really like sushi and is asking what everything is and you only know some of it.

The 2nd day of our weekend my boyfriend woke up before me (which almost never happens but I got up at 3am to take friend to the airport then came back home and passed out) he went to the store and got everything to make us French Toast! Awesome morning. Then he proceeded to do all the dishes in the kitchen while I laid on the couch and watched Criminal Minds.

Then he was a great sport and took me to see Pitch Perfect 3!!!! Yay!!!!! I love these movies, they are so fun! This one didn’t disappoint and I loved the way that it ended. After the movie we headed home for a quite night of dinner and we watched ‘The Santa Clause.’ It was a great weekend but definitely a more expensive one that we normally have.

Best Boyfriend ever or what?