Monday tacos

The way I see it, if Mother Nature can see fit to drop a bunch of snow on our heads, wreck the Monday commute, and interfere with what was becoming a very nice spring… Then I can make tacos on a Monday morning.

We had a great weekend as we started to choose baby gear and consider lifestyle options:

– Yes, we should have a pro redo the newel post.
– No we don’t need a pro to install the banister.
– Yes we should get the structural issues in the basement repaired.
– No we shouldn’t take out a new loan to pay for the repairs.
– Yes, technically the car seat fits in the Audi, but no, it’s not practical to keep the car.

I swear we need a weekend to recover from our weekend.

The next best thing I could do was to inject a little flavor into our Monday.  I browned ground beef, sauteed some yellow onion, added some orange peppers for color, seasoned with the home made taco seasoning blend (courtesy of Practical Paleo).  I served it all up on soft tortillas, topped with fresh avocado and salsa.

I guess if I have to say one good thing about the snow, it’s that it makes great filtered lighting for taking pictures of food with my phone 😉

Happy Monday, everyone!

Sh-Boom! Life Could Be a Dream

 

The title is inspired by the track that is playing in the background as I write this post.  I am such a lucky person.  Gainfully employed, completing my degree, happily in love and married, and about to buy my own home…. what’s not to love?  Life really could be a dream.

This morning when I came to work, my mom was approaching my desk with a gift for me:  It’s a binder with copies of execises that she’s collected from her experience at the gym.  There are BOSU workouts, bootcamp style interval workouts, etc.  And on the cover: a Post-it note that says “Because you are loved!!”

I told Mom how I’m getting back into fitness and ready to really hit it hard, and this is her way to encourage me.  🙂 I definitely have the warm fuzzies at this point.

Yesterday, I signed up for The Academy with Nerd Fitness:

 

The premise seems to be that it will guide me back into the fitness lifestyle by enticing me with the opportunity to level up my real life person instead of a digital character.  It plays like an RPG, except you get experience by doing things in real life.  The quest lines that you see there (General, Academy, Warrior, etc.) correlate to the type of training that you want to be doing.  I want to get started with the basics, so I’ll pursue the general quests first, then progress to The Academy and eventually start tackling some of the Ranger class quests.

I got 25 exp points for taking my ‘before’ photos, and I’ll get 25 more for taking my measurements.  The general quests start with small, easily accomplished goals and then work up to more challenging ones.  It’s just the inspiration that I need to get going without diving into the deep end and getting injured again.

We move in 2 weeks (if I’m lucky) and I have been dreaming about setting up a basement gym.  I’ve got images of rubberized flooring, inspirational posters, and blaring music dancing in my head.  Jeff wants to burst my bubble by reminding me that we have low ceilings, but then I remember that I’m short and go back to dreaming 😉

Can I have it? Pretty please?

So that’s what we’re up to 🙂 I’ll be sure to keep you posted.  Stay classy!

We’re Moving!

 

We found this lovely home within our budget… We had gone back and forth a couple times about actually buying it because there’s quite a bit of work that needs to be done in the house.  We had actually rescinded our offer to purchase the home, except the sellers altered the terms of the purchase and we came around.  This gives us so much to actually be excited about…  I know where we’re going to put our Christmas tree, and how I’d like to arrange the dining room.  I can picture what our guest bedroom is going to look like, and I’m pinning up so many ideas for what to do with the unfinished basement.

 

The real deciding factor was when we got our parents to do a walk-through of the house to get a feel for whether the problems that it has are insurmountable or not.  After seeing everything in person–including the pug room, and the spray-painted spare bedroom…

They said that they didn’t see anything that tells them to actually walk away from the house.  I think that the males in the family were impressed with the 30′ x 30′ garage, and I think that no one could really pass up the half-acre yard that’s already fenced in for pupper-duppers:

Even though we went back and forth a few times, we’re still trying to keep the same closing-date as before… so here’s hoping that we’ll be able to move the weekend of 9/27.  It’s going to be a flurry of packing and cleaning until then, and sadly, I have to revert the kitchen back to the brown/yellow/red mess that it was when we first moved in.  There was a term in the contract that said no contact paper, but apparently the office staff didn’t read it any closer than I did.  Thankfully, they’ll let me just remove it instead of keeping my security deposit..

Out with the old and in with the new

I mentioned, of course, that I wanted to make some changes around here, and so I have.  This fresh theme is brought to you by the fantastic designers and programmers at WordPress.  If you like it, head on over to their visualizer and customize the Superhero Theme for yourself.  

There have been a lot of other changes going on in my personal life, too.  For example, I recently took an extended leave of absence from my gaming guild.  Some of it was guild drama and guild members clashing with my personality, and a lot of it was just realizing that I can’t have it all–I can’t be a full time gamer, and a full time employee, nurturing wife, accomplished artist, consistent blogger, and still manage to cook, clean and get a full 8+ hours of sleep every night.  It’s just not happening.  So, I nixed gaming. 

I joined a new guild, called NerdFitness.  I am on the verge of completing my first 6-week challenge over there, and I’ve been exploring the possibilities of going paleo.  I am not 100% there yet, but I’ve noticed that on days that I avoid bread and other refined carbs, I feel a lot better than when I eat traditional American meals.  I’m more alert, more energized… I’ve got fewer cravings and I’m better able to stay focused on my goals. 

As if that weren’t enough change for one blog post, I also got a new job that has been keeping me busy (but you already knew about that).  Tonight, I also finished up a large project that has been taking up a ton of my time… I finally finished “remodeling” our kitchen. 

It started last year, just with the counter tops.  The yellow was so dated and ugly that I needed to do something about it right away.  The rest of the make-over took longer to formulate and execute.  I was just dealing with the drab brown cupboards until we could renew our lease–the management staff had dangled a juicy carrot in front of our noses with the implication that we might be able to get new cupboards at our renewal.  Well, the upgrade was declined, and my request to *paint* the cabinets was shot down.  

We are not planning on moving any time within the next year, and this bathroom-themed (red, brown, and yellow–seriously?) kitchen was getting me down.  Not to be deterred, I collected points at work and turned them in for a Lowe’s Gift Card.  I spent $50 on brushed nickel pulls, then bought a 18″x75′ roll of Contact Paper from Amazon.  My total out of pocket expense was just over $14.

Covering old outdated surfaces with Contact Paper to refresh them.

work in progress..

Unexpected hurdles

The payoff

I love my new kitchen

Love love love

I have spent weeks measuring and cutting contact paper to be just-so.  I had to wash each surface and then apply the contact paper carefully to avoid air bubbles.  I disassembled cupboards (with the help of my own Super Hero, Jeffrah), and made sure that this wasn’t a job that would look tacky on completion. 

Now that it’s done… my kitchen is beautiful.  It’s bright and clean and inviting–the red walls pop and no one could be reminded of a bathroom or of McDonalds or whatever red + yellow + brown brings to mind. 

 

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

For the crust:
2 cups flour (not packed)
1/2 cup oil (canola or vegetable oil)
1/4 cup milk

Mix flour and oil together with a fork, then add milk and mix. Dough should hold its shape.  Roll half out between two sheets of wax paper, this forms the bottom crust. Carefully remove the top sheet of wax paper (can use a butter knife to coax it). Put your pie tin on top of the crust then slip your hand under the bottom sheet of wax paper and turn the whole thing over. Now you can coax the wax paper off the top and the crust should be in the tin.

For the filling:
2 cups strawberries cut into bite sized pieces
2 cups rhubarb cut into bite sized pieces
2 cups sugar

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss/mix together, then pour into the prepared crust.  Add 3-4 rounded tablespoons sprinkled on top, to absorb some of the juice as it bakes.

Follow the directions above to roll out the second crust. This time, though, take of the top later of wax paper, then carefully flip/place the crust over the pie. Remove the last bit of wax paper, then press the edges of the crusts together.

Cut slits for vents, then bake at 350°F for about an hour.

Soup-y pie is still pie…

The Shoes-ah!

I’m so excited. I knew there was no way I could be tottering around in my towering heels on my wedding day and so I went shopping on Zappos for the first time, looking for a back-up plan.  I was bummin’ around with my mom at the time so I used their mobile site.  It was super easy.  I bought a couple pair of back-up shoes for the wedding and I was really impressed with everything.  Zappos has an agreement of sorts with Amazon and so I was able to use the login credentials from that site. Since I was using my mobile phone to do all of my shopping, that made it super easy.  There’s nothing worse* than trying to configure a secure password that you’ll remember on a PC using a smartphone keyboard.  Ugh. (*there are worse things, but I like being mellow-dramatic).

So yes, the mobile site was great. The shipping (even super fast ‘next-business-day’ shipping) was free and it’s free to send them back, too, which may come in handy… I saw a pair of purple heels that had my name on them – “Meg.”  They were kind of summery, strappy.. I thought, what the hey, they might work!

 

First impressions were good–they were the perfect color, the style was pleasing…but wearing them around the house kind of made me realize that they’re a little cheaply constructed.  The sole was flimsy and the liner was pulling up near the toe bed.  Womp womp 😦  It’s safe to say I was kinda glad I ordered a second pair, and really glad that they have free shipping for returns, ’cause these aren’t going to make the cut.

The blue, oh my goodness.. the blue were beautiful!! Breathtaking, even.. I unwrapped them and inspected them for quality and was pleased with the stitching and the fabric, the construction of the sole and the heel…

I wore them around the apartment for a while and was pleased with the fit and the comfort.  It’s got excellent cushioning for such a low heel.  The only trouble spot is near the big toe.. unfortunately, these rub right near the cuticle in a way I can tell will cause a blister 😦  I’m going to try to find a way to break them in gently so that it’s not a problem.

 

They are even a perfect match to the bridesmaids’ dresses ❤  I’m so thrilled!  I’m going to be showing the blue ones off tomorrow when I get to work to see if mom likes them.  Even if she doesn’t, I do, and they’re perfect.  *gush* The shoes-ah!!

K.I.S.S. — Having a work out plan

Along the same lines of the cooking related “I don’t feeeeeel like it” there’s also the exercise demon named “I don’t wanna.”  He’s a fiendish thing, sneaking up and stealing the best of your intentions and leaving you as a gelatinous heap on the couch.

The “I don’t wanna” excuse comes out after a long day at work and although you *meant* to go to the gym after work, somehow you ended up at home eating funyuns and watching re-runs of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.  Or Dr. Who, either or.

“I don’t wanna” also comes around early in the a.m. when the alarm is set nice and early to allow you time to work out–he sneaks up and slaps the snooze button for an hour until you cannot possibly squeeze in a work out before you have to squeeze into your shrinking work clothes and get your bum to the office.

The good news is that “I don’t feeel like it” and “I don’t wanna” are both trumped by “it’s too easy NOT to.”

In the last K.I.S.S. entry, I told you about Campbell’s Skillet Sauces.  In this entry, I’m going to tell you about a number of tools and resources that you can use to make a quick work out too easy NOT to do.

1. The first, and my new favorite, are resistance bands.  My mom got both Jeff and I resistance bands for Christmas and I have been using them quite a bit ever since.

You can still partially give in to your couch potato ways and sit in front of the TV while using an exercise band to do seated rows, arm curls, chest presses, etc.  Get a door anchor for the resistance band and you can do even more workouts–single leg abductors, kick-backs, squatting rows, etc.  The band should come with a booklet of ideas, but then that’s where a couple of other resources kick in:

2) Fit Deck.  These handy-dandy cards let you shuffle up any and all exercises you might be interested in and then choose as many exercises at random as you’d like to do.  Originally, we sorted them out into specific areas of the body to target because I really need to focus on my arms, upper back, chest, and torso so I can make sure to rock it in my wedding dress in May.  I realized I was defeating the purpose of the cards by targeting them, though, so recently they’ve been mixed together again so that we can have a spontaneous work out any time.  Right now, we can use the body weight and resistance band cards thoroughly.  Stairs are optional depending on how embarrassed we’d feel if a neighbor were to catch us.  We’re looking into getting a medicine ball at home, too.  If you like to work out at home, but DVDs are too predictable for you, definitely look at picking up some Fit Decks.

3) Spark People’s Work Out Generator.  Answer a few simple questions in this free tool and it will spit out a fitness plan that works with where you’re at in your fitness journey and the equipment that you have available to use.  I am a member of spark and value their community so much.  A few of my spark buddies have recently gotten engaged and so we will be able to get together (virtually) to do wedding dress work outs.  I’ve taped a few to my front door so that as I leave for work, I know what’s coming up and I can stay motivated.

4) Pinterest for Fitness Motivation.*  I love pinterest.  Granted, not as much as I used to when it was new and shiny, but it’s still a great place to find new ideas and inspiration.  My fitness board is my place to dump ideas that I come across for fitness info online, funny quotes about working out, self-image, self-acceptance, reasons to work out, etc.  It’s a one-stop-shop for workout ideas and inspiration to do them.  I love to laugh, so there’s a lot of humour thrown in.  I have some body image issues, so there’s a lot of self-acceptance thrown in.  All in all, my board is my place for fitness inspiration.  Your board, might be different!  Pinterest user Emily has more workout plans and how-tos than inspiration.  The point is that you can use pinterest for whatever you want to use it for.  *The caveat is that it can be addicting.  Don’t get sucked in to pinterest for so long that you lose the time to actually go do something. 

My S.M.A.R.T. goal for fitness is:

S – Specific – I want to lose 12 pounds by the end of March, 2013.

M – Measurable – I will weigh in every other Saturday and report it to The Last Stand girls (spark people)

A – Attainable – 12 pounds in three months is l pound per week gone, doctors recommend 1-2 pounds per week weight loss in order to keep it off in the long term.

R – Relevant – Losing weight is relevant because being at a healthier weight will reduce the cost of food, clothing, and medical bills in the future, plus it has the potential to increase my happiness and self esteem.

T – Time-bound – Weigh-ins are bi-weekly with a milestone check-in in March.

So there you have it.  The cure to “I don’t wanna” is to make it too easy not to.  How do you defeat the “I don’t wanna”‘s?  

Well that’s pinteresting…

I took an idea from Pinterest recently and decided to freeze some coffee into little heart-shaped coffee cubes 😀 I like my coffee not-so-hot and so I’m constantly adding ice. It tends to water down the coffee, though, so this was a nice solution.

The only problem I can see is that the coffee seemed to settle to the bottom of the “cube”.

Worked like a charm this morning, and now Jeff and put them in his smoothies too =P

Weekly Menu Planning: Week of 10-29-12

Hello readers,

The pictures in my previous post weren’t exactly the best, but the recipe definitely was!  I posted that entry while riding along to the coffee shop with my mom.  We headed out to Caribou to hang out and get some wedding planning stuff done.  The culmination of which amounted to a three-page list and the decision to buy buttermints.  Mmm.. buttermints..

This week’s menu includes a left-over from last week’s menu that never made it into the rotation – Bourbon Chicken.  The recipe itself calls for skillet cooking, but it also says it can be done in a crockpot, so we’ll see how that goes.  Our menu this week also features:

Stir Fry (pork)

Pork Chops w/ Potatoes and mixed Veg.

Eight-Layer Casserole

Shrimp w/ mushrooms, spinach, bell pepper and spicy alfredo

Broccoli & chicken casserole

So, we’ll be doing lots of baking this week and not so much slave-over-the-stove type cooking.  One of the things that I did to help with my weekly menu planning and the facilitation of actually cooking these recipes, is I made a new board on Pinterest and I just repin menu items from my “Foodies!” board to my “Weekly menu planning” board.  If you’re a member of Pinterest, you should check it out for all of the recipes that I’m going to be using this week.  If you have your own “Foodies!” style board, or make your own Weekly Menu Planning board, I’d love to check it out 🙂 Just include the link in the comments.

Crunchy garlic chicken

The other night, Jeff and I tried out a new recipe from Jamie Oliver. This crunchy garlic chicken recipe was great!! We got the idea from pinterest and served it with baked potatoes and honey crisp apples.

The breading has just the right mix of flavors… Butter, parsley, lemon, salt and pepper.  When lightly fried, it tastes absolutely decadent.  Go make it. 🙂