Tag: food
Monday Motivation **February 12, 2017
(Image from google)
Didn’t make it to the gym last week, my 1 night I had time I chose to sleep and get some laundry done.
I did do a lot of cleaning and lifting heavy things with the remodel so I got a smidge of a workout done hahaha.
Starting to get a handle on the new schedule so hopefully the gym will fit into it this week.
We move really soon!!!!!
WOW so we thought we had at least a week but we got the keys last Friday!!! We immediately got in and started cleaning. We got some basic cleaning done, a little mopping and wiping down of things. We are borrowing Brandon’s brother’s carpet shampooer washer thing and I have managed to get 2 rooms done so far.
And we started demo on the bathroom!!!! It was pretty bad so we are gutting it and redoing it….on a strict budget lol.
Before:
Currently:
Check out my YouTube for a few videos that I uploaded there but didn’t get a change to add to this blog.
I also got a pear tree ordered as well as a fig tree/bush and a raspberry bush. They will ship out to us the 1st week of March. Slowly but surely we are picking things up. Brandon researched internet companies and picked up a modem for us as well as new locks for the doors.
I have also been picking up fun but cheap decorating ideas on pinterest, can we say coffee/tea bar!!!!! Yes!!!!
I have also been working on the layout for the backyard garden. I can’t wait to see everything come to life!
I have been having a lot of fun practicing my mini-farming/homesteading skills. Last week I took the leftover stuff from the roast chicken I made and threw it in a pot, added a little extra seasoning and the tops and bottoms of some of the veggies I juiced, covered it all with water and made some chicken stock to freeze for later. I also made slow cooker dog food to mix with Artemis’ dry food and shook whipping cream into homemade butter hahahahaha! Then I split that butter in half and made some honey butter to freeze! Now I can’t wait to try and get some raw milk and try to really make our own butter, the hunt is on! It was actually really fun and a good workout.
I think with school though I am going to have to ease into the mini-farm a bit slower than I would have liked, we might hold off on chickens until next year when I have a rhythm down a little more and we are more settled. But I will still be planting a good amount.
I will keep you posted!
Monday Motivation **February 5, 2017
(Image from google)
Last week I made it to the gym once, quite an improvement hahaha. I ran 1.5 miles on Wednesday. I could have forced myself to go longer but really the goal was just to get to the gym and workout. I left it feeling incredibly depressed, Wednesday was 4 weeks since my brother died so it hit me kind of hard.
Realistically I do not anticipate making it to the gym this week, a lot has come up with the house which I will tell you about soon but my goal is to get 2 runs this week, I just need to get back into the habit of fitting in some fitness time.
And we do have a 5k coming up this weekend so I know I will at least get 1 good run in.
February goals
February
The goals for the year broken down for this month:
Blog at least 3 times a week- I need to do 12 posts minimum this month
PROPERLY train for and run a half, full and ultra marathon- Half marathon training continues, I need at least 64 miles
Revamp my diet and STICK TO IT!!!! Revamp my diet and STICK TO IT!!!! –
Breakfast-juice and muffin or toast and coffee
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 as well.
Get A’s in all my classes this year. Keep track of current %
Drop two clothing sizes, go from a 10 to a 6. Clothes should be starting to fit better along with less bloating.
Stop overspending!!!! Still not keeping any form of payment with me I also want to consistently send $10 a month to my tiny Edward Jones acct and my savings account that I do not have a debit card for.
Take a few minutes every day to sit in quiet reflection, meditate, and do something spiritual. Keep the goal of last month of 5 minutes a day.
Continue to work on and grow my relationship with Brandon. Keep the goal of last month of getting out once a week.
Read 1 non-school book a month.
I have sugarplum fairies dancing in my head
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
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 29, 2017
(Image from google)
Monday- after work I came home and studied. I was still feeling really down so I went back and forth between studying and watching Castle episodes on Amazon.
Tuesday- After work I went straight to school to get in some last minute studying before my midterm. I tried for healthy food choices and I did ok. I packed an apple, peanut butter, cheese and crackers…..and of course an energy drink.
Wednesday- After work I had a meet and greet kind of thing with a therapist, I want to make sure I get on track and stay on track through all this stress and depression. After that I went home, cuddled in bed with my puppy and went to sleep early.
Thursday- Had lab after work. I went straight to school after work to do all my pre-lab work……had healthy snacks again, though an energy drink as well. Then the bf brought a big pizza after lab hahahaha
Friday- I had looked up and planned a trail run/hike for today but we ended up sleeping in and not really getting up and going until after noon and the hike was an hour away. I had planned to make a roast chicken for dinner so I didn’t want to bet back at 8pm and not eat until 10pm. So we ended up laying around the house for most of the day. We got out and went grocery shopping and looked for some nick-nacks for the house and ended up not getting back until 6:30 anyways so we ended up eating around 9 lol. But it turned out soooo good!!! It probably clogged our arties with the amount of butter I used but it was gooooood!!!
Saturday- We slept in again then headed out to Brandon’s grandparents house. I just love it out there!!! We relaxed and talked with them, fed the cows, had some great dinner. Then headed home around 8pm.
Sunday- I brought everything to go to the gym after work then couldn’t find my key card to actually get in the gym. Really need to find that. Hopefully that means I’ll be able to hit the gym Monday after work!
Mastering the Art of French Cooking/ Julie and Julia
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!!!
Monday Motivation ** January 22, 2017
(Image from google)
Monday- was a no go day in all ways. Sunday night it hit me that I had to go back to “normal” life and that was so hard. Brandon held me while I cried and I didn’t fall asleep until 1:30-2am which made getting up at 5:40am pretty rough. Coffee was needed. I felt sick to my stomach most of the day and was holding back tears. After work I went home and just crawled into bed. I watched 5 hours of Smallville, took some melatonin and cuddled with my puppy.
Tuesday- I felt a little better and started the day off right with some carrot, celery, apple juice. Had canned soup for lunch (not the best choice but better than a lot of other choices) I had a Slimfast and a protein bar for snacks since I wouldn’t be home until almost 10pm with school but since I didn’t do anything on Monday I didn’t prep a good dinner to take to school so I ate out (Panda Express; mushroom chicken, kung pao chicken and beef and broccoli, I avoided the carbs). I tried to use moderation and the best choices possible while not breaking the bank or taking too much time away from studying.
Wednesday – I should have gone to the gym but I had no energy
Thursday – I had lab, I got McDonalds in between work and school and remembered that depression makes everything so much more difficult. We were looking at tissue samples in lab (I’ll cover that more on Friday’s post) and I am not great with the microscope and knowing what I am or should be looking at, add in that depression increases stress and I almost started crying in my lab.
Friday- I stayed in bed or on the couch most of the day. I managed to get up and go for a 1.5 mile walk with Artemis and Brandon but I know if Brandon hadn’t been there and going stir-crazy even that would not have happened. I was so tired and lethargic and just depressed all day.
Saturday was mostly a lot better. We got up and did a little day trip I had planned for us during the week. We drove out to Cape lookout and did a just under 5 mile trail run/hike. We were probably only able to run a little less than half of this because the other half was crazy muddy, had large boulders to climb over and giant tree roots to climb over. I may have fallen on my butt in the mud lol. But it was still fun and good to get out and do something. After the run/hike we hit the Tillamook cheese factory for lunch and bought a few goodies.
We got home, cleaned up and watched the movie “Julie and Julia”. I can’t wait to have a whole kitchen all to myself!!!!! I am going to cook so much!!!
Saturday night was another story, I don’t know what it is, maybe because on the weekend I don’t have to deal with it, I can turn the TV and numb the world out as long as I need but knowing I have to go back to work and face the world just seems to be breaking me each week. Once again I got into bed and all my thoughts and stresses of the coming week came forward and I cried for almost 2 hours while Brandon held me. So of course I was a Zombie on Sunday and yet I need to study for my Midterm, yes I already have a MIDTERM!!!!! How am I supposed to learn everything I need to know when I don’t want to think and when I do think I break down.
Now I remember how the thought of going to class after my dad died was so daunting. Not surprised it took me 4 years to do 2 years of classes back then.
I do not want that to happened again and certainly cannot afford to need to repeat classes so I have started looking for a therapist and/or bereavement group. I can’t fall down the black hole I did after my dad died. I am just hoping I can find some energy and motivation to get through this midterm and not bomb it.
At the end of this week I will have drank more energy drinks in 1 week than I normally drink it a year and that is just to function on a basic level.
Trailing the blonde 