Almost a month late and always a dollar short...

Now that it's almost May, I finally have time to update you on my progress from March.  My, how time flies when you're having fun (and squashing some goals)!

Goals re-cap:

Just another snow day out fit from the Little Man

1. Sew one garment a month
2. Post an article a month
3. Run at least 2 5K races
4. Exercise 3 times a week
5. Have one date with my husband a month
6. Become better at expressing my curiosity.
7. Read 10 books

And my progress?
1.  I didn't sew anything, as I packed up all of my sewing stuff and put it into storage (more to come on that topic)
2. I actually posted 2 articles in March (cookies and a minor rant), and started writing a 3rd (which I'm hoping to finish this week so I can meet my April goal).
3. & 4. I actually ran a few times to train for the Temple Alumni Weekend race and did an okay job of meeting or exceeding the 10K steps each day that FitBit deems necessary.
5. We actually went on a date--to my husband's fraternity's anniversary gala.  It was the first time we've left the Little Lady with our babysitter and we had a great time.  And I still fit into the same dress I wore to the last fraternity formal I went to in (2004 or 5 with the help of some spanx), so it was an overall win of an evening.
6. I feel like I'm doing a great job of this at work and in professional situations, but not so much in my personal life.  Might be time to find a Ted Talk or something on the matter...
7. The book that won't die: Songs in Ordinary Time.  I've even been keeping the book that's next in the queue on my desk so that I have to look at it all the time to remind me, have kept to my self-imposed 15 minutes or more of reading this damn book every day, and still it won't end...

April is another month, which I'll be reporting on shortly.  Some highlights to come?
- TU Alumni Weekend 5K
- A great exercise in stress to force me into more poignantly expressed curiosity

Breakfast Cookies

Coming back from vacation, I realized that I had gained 8 lbs.  In one week, I gained 8 lbs.  The same week I had a crazy stomach bug during which I purged an entire day's worth of food. 8 lbs!

Since I'm not a diet/salad/deprive myself kind of girl, I was super excited to see breakfast cookies in my Bloglovin' feed last week from Ambitious Kitchen.  And not because I ever planned on eating these for breakfast (though it's a pretty awesome idea), but because I need to take the ravenous 545pm beast that tries to wrangle ninos, start dinner, and pick up the morning's mayhem while keeping the hanger at bay. 

Yes, I get hangry.  If I'm cranky, please offer me food.  I'll be much nicer to you.

Back to the cookies...


Here's the link to the recipe.

Before Baking

Some notes for making the cookies:
- Cool down the nuts before incorporating the other ingredients (my chocolate chips melted)
- The "batter" doesn't really hold together too well when forming the cookies
- They look super ugly on the cookie sheet out of the oven.  Don't be scared
- Cherries are a better idea than cranberries.  It's just better.

Right Out of the Oven

Some notes on eating:
- Crumbly.  Messy.  Don't eat this in front of people you're trying to impress or in bed.
- Let them sit for a couple days in a ziplock bag or container.  It helps with the messy factor a bit.

You could probably make these vegan by using a banana in lieu of an egg.

I will be making these again.  It's a, easy to make, great recipe and mostly guilt-free. 

And they're delicious.

Yum

It takes a village, but I'm the mayor...

It occurs to me that everyone has a parenting philosophy--even those without children.  And that's fine, but please remember this one thing:

Mom is always the mayor of village in which her children reside.

This doesn't mean that Dad isn't Deputy Mayor, taking over the reigns on a very frequent basis to cover important issues that Mayor isn't able to handle.  Personally, I'm so glad that he does! 

But that peanut gallery has just got to pipe down.

There are a few reasons for this:
1. It's really just rude.
2. You're confusing my kids.
3. Your interventions are likely counterproductive to what we're trying to achieve as parents.
4. Kids are smart and know how to achieve their goals (and get around Mom and Dad if they can).


I'm very grateful for the support we get from family and friends, and frankly I don't think that we would be successful parents without it.  But support means backing us up, and not making rumblings under your breath or flat out disagreeing with me in front of my child.

I know I'm not the only one out there with this gripe.  How do you deal with the peanut gallery?

February Goals Progress

As you sit on pins and needles, wanting to know how I've been doing on my goals, let's re-cap what they are exactly:

Successful Nap Time

1. Sew one garment a month
2. Post an article a month
3. Run at least 2 5K races
4. Exercise 3 times a week
5. Have one date with my husband a month
6. Become better at expressing my curiosity. (I seem to engage people in a way that they think I'm questioning them vs. inquiring things about them.)
7. Read 10 books

So, how'd I do in February?  Honestly, not so hot.
I didn't sew a GD thing
My only February posting was my last update
I haven't run at all (unless you count chasing Little Man)
My ski vacation turned into an "everyone is sick" cation
We did manage to have a family date for Valentine's Day which was really nice at the Franklin Institute, though this goal was achieved mostly by my loving husband and I cannot take credit for it.
I did reassess myself using the DISC model, which helps to zero in on my communication styles and gives some easy leads on identifying those of others (and what motivates them and/or decentivizes them).
This freaking book "In Ordinary Time" just won't finish.  I've got 250 pages to go, which means I've finally made it to the 2/3 mark after seriously 6 months of trying to read it.  And I've been reading it.

Something fun I did accomplish that's not part of the list--I finished listening to the Serial podcast.  Such a good story, and a real life "Who-Dun-It" caper.  If you haven't listened to it yet, go to NPR.org and find their pod casts section.  It's worth it.  I promise.

Goals Update

For those of you not glued to my blog (and why aren't you?), I came up with a few goals I wanted to accomplish in 2015:
1. Sew one garment a month
2. Post an article a month
3. Run at least 2 5K races
4. Exercise 3 times a week
5. Have one date with my husband a month
6. Become better at expressing my curiosity. (I seem to engage people in a way that they think I'm questioning them vs. inquiring things about them.)
7. Read 10 books

My thinking is that if I put these goals out into the world, I might be held a bit more accountable for them--basically shaming myself into getting them done.  So how did I do in January?

1. Sew one garment a month--Nope
- I didn't sew a darn thing.  I really didn't have much time last month to wash clothes, let alone create new ones.

2. Post an article a month--Yup!

I deserve at least one gold star...

- I posted two!

3. Run at least 2 5K races--Getting there
- As previously mentioned, I'm already signed up for one in April, with the second likely to happen in the fall.

4. Exercise 3 times a week--Getting there
- I've been teaching (skiing) on weekends, so I'm spending a lot of time running around on snow.  If I could fit in one gym session during the week, I think I'd be meeting this goal completely.  I'm also committed to getting as close to the 10K steps as I can (thank you FitBit for my new random obsession), so I'm walking a lot more and taking the stairs even more than usual.  I also realized this weekend that my arm muscles have definition for the first time in about 4 years, so I'm pretty excited about that.

5. Have one date with my husband a month--Yup!
- We had an in-home sushi date for our anniversary with the kids last week.  It was sweet and frankly probably as much of a date night as either of us have the energy to muster up right now.

6. Become better at expressing my curiosity--Getting there
- I've had discussions with people about this, and while I feel kind of stuck in qualifying/justifying my actions to others, I'm seeing this as a first step.  Oh the plight of the outgoing introvert...

7. Read 10 books--Getting there
- I've definitely been reading.  But thanks to Mary McGarry Morris, I'm stuck on the same book I've been reading (3+ hours a week) since August.  My upcoming business trip to SoCal should afford me some time to finish that book so I can move onto my next.

I'm actually pretty impressed with myself given how hectic life was in January.  I don't anticipate a lot of calming to happen in February, but knowing that I can get about 2/3 of the way there keeps my spirits high and is pretty motivating, actually.

Wish me luck this month!

Goals for 2015

I usually hate it when people talk about New Year's resolutions.  Don't "resolve" to do something, just do it.  Yoda said so himself--there is only do.  I like the term goals, and I'm making a blog post about mine--mostly to keep me accountable, but to also give me a format for tracking my progress.

1. Sew one garment a month
2. Post an article a month
3. Run at least 2 5K races (I've already been suckered into one in April)--and not walk in either
4. Exercise 3 times a week (run or use eliptical at home)
5. Have one date with my husband a month
6. Become better at expressing my curiosity. (I seem to engage people in a way that they think I'm questioning them vs. inquiring things about them.)
7. Read 10 books

So far, I've already accomplished #2 & #5, and have made progress toward #6 & #7.   #4 begets #3, so I'll have to start working on those, though I have made a point of keeping to that 10K steps a day thing that seems so important.  And #1 really depends on a synchronized nap time on a weekend I think. 

We'll see!  Go 2015!

Chia Seed Pudding

Chia seeds.  I just realized that these were the same seeds that you put on a chia pet.  Which is probably a good thing or I doubt I would have started eating them...or maybe I would have because then I could say I ate a chia pet.

Chia are some good stuff.  They're pretty amazing little buggers nutritionally, are great thickeners, really don't taste like much, and are so easy to add to pretty much anything (salads, smoothies, soups, etc.).  And they're pretty cheap (I bought a bag of Bob's Red Mill at Giant for $8 last week which will last me a solid 2 months).

Whilst pregnant during the dog days of summer, all I wanted was something refreshing to eat that was also healthy and easy to make.  Since a girl can only cut up so much watermelon, I went hunting and found that chia seed puddings are kind of thing and ridiculously easy to make.  And the texture is similar to tapioca, which I adore.

Here's what I came up with after doing some internet and taste-testing research:
1. Use coconut milk:  It's easy, you don't have to add sugar to make it awesome, and I always have a can in the pantry (ironically sitting next to the jar of chia seeds) so I have an instant desert now.
2. Top with fresh fruit:  In addition to making it look prettier, it was a great way to use up that bumper crop of raspberries I had this summer.  I used blueberries, peaches, and grapes (I don't really recommend the grapes), but I'd imagine most anything would be good.
3. Use mini chocolate chips:  normal size are just too big. Dark chocolate is awesome.
4. Anything that doesn't require preparations with heat in the summer are awesome.
5. Maple syrup is a good sweetener if you decide you need it.
6. This is one of the few desserts that should satisfy all of your friends' weird dietary habits (vegan, paleo, low carb, etc.)

Chia Seed Pudding
makes 4 servings
1 12oz. can coconut milk (full or low-fat)
1 1/2 tablespoons chia seed
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup fresh fruit for garnish

Mix coconut milk, chia seeds and chocolate in a bowl.  Cover and let sit in the fridge for 30 minutes up to an hour.  Scoop into serving cups and top with fresh fruit.

Remaining pudding can be stored for up to a week in the fridge.  FYI: it might separate, but will stir back into prettiness easily.

Enjoy!