Tag: family

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!

Monday Motivation **January 15, 2017

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, training

(Image from google)

I managed 3 runs this week for a grand total of 7 miles. Given the circumstances I am thrilled with a that.

I managed 2 miles last Monday morning while we were in Reno. This was a really good run for me, not because it felt amazing (running at 5000ft when you are used to sea level isn’t super fun hahaha) but because I was sad and depressed and we had been eating crap for days which just added to it so this was absolutely needed for my mental well being as well as physical.

Brandon came over for the weekend once I was back and got me out for 2 runs. Both were a major combination of walking and running.

We actually saw some sun in Portland this weekend so we managed both these runs outside!

Other than this my life has been a lot of small things here and there just taking it day by day.

I am back at work this morning and I am just numb. It was so hard to go to sleep last night my brain wouldn’t shut off, I got maybe 4 hours of sleep and balled my eyes out before being able to go to sleep last night. Just thinking about the terrible turn life took the last time I was sitting at this desk is really hard.

That is my life right now. I hope yours is going a little better.

Here we come a-wassailing…..

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle

As I have mentioned once or twice (hahahaha) a farm (or a city girls version of a farm) is one of my end goals for my future so I love to look back at old traditions and think about what I would want to do on my farm. I do plan on having some fruit trees so Wassailing will be a thing in my life. You may have heard the Christmas carol but do you know the story behind it?

According to Wikipedia there are 2 types of wassailing, one that is basically caroling though you would take a big bowl of wassail around to your neighbors and sing for them and offer them a cup of wassail. The 2nd type, and one I want to do, is to drink to the health of the trees on Twelfth night. You make a big pot of basically spiced cider and add pieces of toast to it, then you head out while singing and banging pots and pans (if you wish) out to the orchard and stick pieces of this wassail soaked toast on the branches of the orchard trees and pour a little wassail at the base and toast to the health of the trees. This is supposed to appease the universe and help ensure you have a plentiful harvest the next year. There are still many places in England that carry on this tradition and I read a book about a farm on the East coast side of the US that does and I just love it. It sounds so fun and I am all about embracing old traditions like this. So hopefully in a few years at most you will see some awesome posts about us Wassailing our fruit trees!!!!

 

Happy New Year!!!!!/Monday motivation!

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, school/studying

 


Today is day 1, make this the year of you, the year you have always wanted to have, lose the weight, pay off debt, let the walls down, deal with your depression or other illness, travel, do whatever you want. With the right attitude you can do it! I promise anything is possible, if you want it bad enough you will find a way and the universe will bring it to you. I mean I just came back from 18 days in Europe a few months ago, I am going to school to be a nurse, I am spending my life with the man I love, I live paycheck to paycheck currently and also managed to pay off a credit card last year!!!!! Yes it was my smallest one but every thing counts!!! If you want to make a change, take charge and do it.

I hope you have a great day and realize all the amazing things this next year holds for you.

Week 2 marathon training:

 

Not gonna lie, nothing happened this week. I took full advantage of using the holiday as an excuse and sat on my butt. My roommates were out of town so I enjoyed the empty house and binged on TV. I also rationalized that school is starting soon and workouts are going to get longer to enjoy this week of total laziness.

My 2018 goals (resolutions seems like a word that means you aren’t really going to stick with them so these are goals!!! AND I will achieve my goals!)

  1. Blog at least 3 times a week
  2. PROPERLY train for and run a half, full and ultra marathon
  3. revamp my diet and STICK TO IT!!!! (I am going to do a post about this soon)
  4. Get A’s in all my classes this year.
  5. Drop two clothing sizes, go from a 10 to a 6.
  6. Stop overspending!!!! I am terrible about sticking to my budget, I have stopped over drafting and am paying off debt but I could be in such a better place if I didn’t spend so frivolously.
  7. Take a few minutes everyday to sit in quiet reflection, meditate, do something spiritual.
  8. Continue to work on and grow my relationship with Brandon
  9. To read 1 non-school book a month. I had originally wanted to do 1 a week then thought about it and changed it to every other week but now I think it will be 1 a month to be safe. I have a 40 hour work week, 6 hours of classes a week, another probably 4-6 hours of school work a week, in a few months I will have a 2 hour/day commute, training for my runs and house work.

In a few days I will post about breaking these down in to manageable goals which will help them be more attainable.

House Hunting: A Possible Ray of Light

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, travel

There might be a house in our future, the details are all being looked at and calculated. We are weighing our options. Nothing is for sure at this point but I should know more details in the next few weeks, so fingers crossed!!!!!

On a fun relationship note my end of year bonus came at work which will allow me to buy plane tickets for myself AND the bf to fly down to Southern California for my friends wedding in April…..meaning he will meet all my family that is down there AND my friends, Yikes he is going to have a fun 4 day weekend in April hahahahaha. I’ll tell you all about it then. Wish him luck!

See the source image

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle

I hope your day is filled with love, light, laughter, friends, family and of course way too much amazing food!!!!

My thanksgiving is not quite what I had hoped. My schedule at work just changed 2 weeks ago so today is my Friday at work and yes, I am working. I was invited to Thanksgiving with the BF’s family but there are eating at 1 and I now work until 3:30pm and wouldn’t even get there until 5 with the drive and needing to go home to let the dogs out first so no Thanksgiving for me this year. I did stop and get a Starbucks though this morning so that is nice.

My idea Thanksgiving would be a turkey trot in the AM then lots of family and food……one day.

What does your Thanksgiving look like?

Grandparent’s day!!!

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, Uncategorized

Shout out to my amazing grandmother!!!! Just like my amazing mom that I talked about on mother’s day my grandma is one for the books. She is the matriarch of our family in the true sense of the word, we all visit and gather around her. For someone who has been alive for 90 years she is surprisingly forward thinking, like my mother she does not judge people she only supports. It is no wonder that I have such an amazing mother when she was raised by such an amazing person.

I was lucky enough to grow up in a very warm, loving family and I think it is in most part to this wonderful woman who had a hand in raising us all, either directly or indirectly.

Remember that life is fleeting and you never know what tomorrow holds, tell the people you love how you feel, reach out to someone today and tell them that you love them.

Monday Motivation**September 4, 2017

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, school/studying, training

 

(Image from Google)

Goodbye August and Hello September!!

Wow August flew by. 

School: My final ‘opens’ online today and closes on the 6th so lots of studying going on over here. This basically means I can take my final anytime in the next 2 days. It is online, 100 cumulative questions and I have 82 minutes to complete it. Whatever I have done will submit after 82 minutes. After that I am done for a few months! I will think of it as winter vacation hahahahaha.

Food and Fitness: In the next 2 weeks I am trying to get as much food bought, made, frozen and prepped as possible. When I get back from the cruise my budget will be even more restricted. I will by trying to save a bit to go toward my expensive CNA class come January, my BF and I are trying to find a place to move into together which will also cost money and of course I need to continue to work on paying my roommate back as she paid upfront for 95% of my Europe costs so I owe her about 2 grand still. Oh the joys of being poor. But overall in my life I can’t complain too much, my life could be so much worse, so I choose to not stress about my debt and instead slowly chip away at it.

As far as workouts go, if I get a workout in before I finish my final, great, but I am not banking on it so my goal this week is 3-4 workouts.

10 days and counting to europe!!!!!

Day on the farm!

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle

Brandon and I headed out to his grandparents small farm in northern Oregon to hang out for half a day and had such a great time! It was so relaxing and wonderful.

From the moment we got there Brandon was in front of the blueberry bushes snacking away while we talked to his grandfather. Artemis enjoyed the flavor of the pigs trough water hahahaha. This is the only pig they have left and it is much more of a pet than something intended for a meal. It is getting old and grumpy though. It likes having its belly rubbed hahahaha!!!!! It was a little wary of Artemis but surprisingly she was not afraid of it!

I spent some time talking to his grandfather about their Israel trip which sounded amazing. Then we all went out to lunch and a teriyaki burger hit the spot.

When we got back from lunch Brandon, Artemis, the grandparents dog and I all set off to explore the property. 1/4 of their property is basically a little forest area that is super beautiful, the cows graze down there in the heat and there are blackberry bushes going wild. We wandered down there and explored and snacked on blackberries hahaha. Definitely getting our fruit quota for the day. Have you ever had a yellow raspberry? Now I have! they are pretty amazing right off the vine and according to his grandfather that is how you have to eat them because by the time you have them in the house they are starting to go bad.



At this point we were both super hot as it was the hottest part of the day so we headed back instead to talk some more and look at pictures and cool down.

Around 5:30-6 as the sun was starting to move toward the horizon and a lovely breeze started we headed out to feed the cows!! Got some hay from the barn and some treats for the cows and they slowly wandered over. We fed them some treats as well, their tounge feels like sandpaper like a cat! Again it took a minute but Artemis wasn’t afraid! Though they were a little wary of her hahaha.




Once the cows were chomping away happily we headed back down to the wood area and spent about an hour picking blackberries! 



We went home with probably a good 8lbs of blackberries! I am so making a blackberry balsamic reduction to freeze to put on some amazing stuff this winter (that post to come). At that point the temperature was perfect, I could have stayed out there for hours, and the space and joy of the country was just everything. It was such a great peaceful day. I can’t wait to go back!

In a month or 2 their trees will be hanging low with Apples!!! Can’t wait to make some apple desserts and some great slow cooker meals with apples!