At Home on this Mountain
Monday, May 12, 2008
Thanks (and so much more!)
Posted in RamblingThanks for all the help with my crazy plants. I bought them at a little tiny nursery in a lady's backyard. She is very knowledgable about plants but her knowledge somehow doesn't follow one home from the greenhouse. I know that I do indeed have cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, zucchini and yellow crookneck squash. The nursery lady told me that if I plant the melons close to the squash ( I think!) that the melons might taste funny because they may cross-pollinate. Honey says that the melons are pretty much an exercise in futility anyway so just plant them and don't worry about how they taste because "they" probably won't grow at all. I prefer to hold to the belief that this just may be our year for serious melon potential (people grow acres of them up here every year!) and I would hate to grow 15 watermelons that taste like squash.
Anyway, I think I have a consensus on which ones are the melons so I will plant those at one end and the squash at the other (with the cukes somewhere in between maybe, because I don't remember where they fall in the making-each-other-taste-funny spectrum) It's really still too wet out there to run the mantis with the furrow attachment right now. If it dries out today we may do it this evening after supper. Otherwise I will do it tomorrow. I do love to run that tiller!
We also have the hot pepper plants to put in the ground and we need to plant some okra. Honey also wants to put in 4 more rows of corn (in addition to the 400 or so feet we already have!) Corn, okra, tomatoes and yellow squash are my favorites from the garden (yes, I honestly prefer them all to the melons, when they grow) so I just hope we get a decent crop of those things. And of course some good hot peppers for salsa and sweet peppers for the freezer. We have discovered a TON of blueberry bushes in our woods so I am keeping my fingers crossed about those. Have to beat the deer and birds to them. Do deer eat green blueberries?? I don't believe we're going to have nearly as many blackberries this year as we did last year (I still have enough blackberries in the freezer for one last coffeecake or batch of muffins!)
I hope everyone had a wonderful mother's day! I really did although I didn't get to see my own mom. I do see her quite a lot (especially considering that we live 120 miles apart- we see each other twice a month on average) and next weekend all three of her children will be together for the first time in over 2 years. We're all going to the zoo together with her on Saturday. The following week we're all going to Dollywood together- even Dad gets to go to that one (he has to work on Zoo-day) and all 6 of her grandbabies (plus the bun in my sister's oven ;)) I am so excited to see my baby sister and her babies again! It has been FAR too long.
Speaking of my mom, please go visit her brand-spanking-new blog right here. Be sure to tell her I sent you!
I'll leave you with another kitten picture. I will shamelessly call it mother's day-related because they are with one of their mommies. I put all 8 kittens in the same box with both mamas. There's more room for the babies now and the mamas can take turns feeding them. It seems that Roxy has more "turns" at mothering than Tinkerbell has. Her kittens are only 3 days younger but Tinkerbell seems to think that makes Roxy the more necessary mother.
Honestly, y'all, I am not normally a photos-of-kittens kind of gal. I have never owned a photo of cats or other animals wearing costumes (or babies playing jazz instruments for that matter) I am no Angela Martin, but I can't seem to resist pulling out the camera at least once a day to snap a pic of these little critters.
And now, I must feed my children and continue washing my eighty-eleven loads of laundry. I was actually ready to start putting stuff in the dryer this morning if the weather didn't straighten out, but my computer tells me I can dry stuff outside today and tomorrow so I should be able to get all caught up- hooray!!
Have a blessed day!!
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Saturday, May 10, 2008
Name these plants, please?!?
I bought plants for the garden the other day but they weren't all marked and I don't know which of these is which. I will just post the photos for now and not the possible answers. Let me know if you'd like a little hint :D
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
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Friday, May 9, 2008
I am the tooth fairy!!
Wow. Talk about a milestone. My oldest child lost his first tooth this week. He was really upset when he discovered it was loose (really loose!) He was afraid of looking silly. As if a missing tooth or so is going to hurt his 6.5 year-old cred. He has been stressed out about losing teeth for about a year, ever since he realized it was going to happen to him eventually. He cried himself to sleep the night his got loosened.
The next day he had reconciled himself to the situation and realized how silly he had been. Then he bit into an apple and the tooth came out and he helped me make a tooth pillow. Then he got $5 in said pillow (first teeth are much more valuable than any others) and that REALLY cheered him up. He hasn't spent it yet because his birthday is next month and he will probably receive a money gift or two. $5 can go a lot further when it's teamed up with $20 or so of its fellows.
Here's the proud owner of a hole in the mouth:
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Friday, May 9, 2008
Birthday season is upon us!
I am trying to prepare for it. Our first springtime birthday (AC's is in the last week of winter) is a week from Monday and it's my big girl who turns 3 this year! She is so much fun to sew for and I am trying to use that as a good reason to get back in my sewing room. I have done doodly squat in there the past few months and that needs to change. I find that a bit of creativity most days helps keep my bluesy tendencies at bay.
So today I made a doll sling for one of the little girl cousins in Washington. Their birthdays are in May and July but they're coming to visit next week (along with my baby sister, their very pregnant mother!) and we're all getting together several times. We're going to give Cousin J her birthday gifts while she's here and I will either send Cousin D's home with them or let her open it here too. I can't help myself- I love to watch people open gifts. I also don't mind being watched while I open gifts. It's more fun that way! Here are MJ and Gigi modeling our first attempt:
And here is Gloworm, showing how a smaller baby can fit between the folds (which sort of forms a pouch) This is the best way for most stuffed babies to ride so they don't fall out. You can't really tell that he's all tucked in between the two layers (which are not stitched together at the length). She really likes it and she'll be getting one for her birthday too, she just doesn't know it.
So with that bit of crafty goodness under my belt this morning (and still feeling the urge to do more!) I decided to sit and blog a bit. The weather is sunny (for the moment) and extremely MOIST. It's not raining but it did (hard!) yesterday and probably will again this afternoon. I have the dining room window open so I can hear the big 3 in the front yard while Baby does the NAK thing that my babies have all done so well. Here's the view, if I should choose to glance ever so slightly over my left shoulder:
I have been doing a bit of decluttering. Nothing major or with any kind of plan, just trying to eliminate
a few "hot spots." This week I cleared off the top of our dining room bookcase. This bookcase is ANCIENT. My mom grew up in an old farmhouse in Northern California and when my grandparents moved in in the 60s there was a good bit of furniture. They rented the house for over 25 years, until it was sold and moved across town to make room for a Super China Mart
That was almost 20 years ago (which makes me feel incredibly OLD). This piece of furniture is about all that's physically left of our family's memories of that house. It's not a fancy piece of furniture. I believe it was built of scrap wood like you might get off of a pallet behind the grocery store. It has been painted at least half a dozen times. Most recently was probably 15 years ago when my mom had a cute apple-themed kitchen and painted it this cheery green. It is really, really heavy, even when it's empty. I love it. This is its third location in our little house. To the right you can just see the corner of our "breakfast" nook bench (where we eat all our meals) and to the left is our battery and tool center (which is next on the list of things to tidy up in this room) This is where we eat, do formal lessons, use the computers and generally hang out, unless we're reading aloud or watching tv (those happen in the living room). Oh, our pantry is in the room too. That's the subject of another decluttering post, hopefully in the very neat future- it's a WRECK.
It holds our schoolbooks, my favorite cookbooks and our homesteading/farming/building/animal books. The set of plastic drawers on top house our notebook and printer papers and cardstock. Until Monday the magazines on the left were stuffed into a basket and in various nooks and crannies throughout the house. I have 2 more of the cardboard magazine files left to work with (thank you, Ikea!) Until this morning the drawers had a teetering tower of paper junk on top. Now I can breathe when I look at it. I still need to find/repurpose a plastic under-the-bed container for artwork. I have several LARGE pieces that need a permanent home now that they're no longer on display. I figure that 1.5 years is long enough to display the same Thanksgiving posters
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Sunday, May 4, 2008
Babies, babies everywhere!
Insert nice quote about babies and springtime here.
This post has been brewing in my mind for a few days. We are currently surrounded by babies and I have taken pictures of all of them this weekend!! We have baby trees which Honey planted a few weeks ago. They were all sickly looking twigs when they arrived but he dutifully stuck them in the ground with their "pep-start pellets" and here we are with green on every single one! We have apples, pears, plums, almonds, hazelnuts, grapes, pecans and chestnuts. There may be a few more but I can't quite recall. Most of the nut trees and the grape vines are elsewhere on the property. This is just the fruit patch.
Then we have baby corn! Honey planted this exactly a week ago and today the first few peeked out their little pointy heads:
Baby grass, planted last fall but just now starting to do much. For perspective- those are bits of wheat straw in and around the grass and dirt:
Our two cats had babies, 3 days apart last week. We had 9 but one died after 2 days so now we have 8. The bigger mama keeps moving hers around and the rest of them nearly died on Saturday but I happened outside to get something out of the van and heard the pitiful mewing. They're now safely ensconsed in their new cardboard and flannel house on the screen porch. The only exit is just big enough for a cat to fit through, NOT a cat carrying a baby in her mouth. So here are Tinkerbell's babies (we're keeping the white one):
and Roxie's babies (who barely fit in their home when mama is with them):
Friday our meat babies arrived at the post office. This is from Friday evening, before I changed out the newspaper for pine shavings. They smell much better now. I love this one because the chick on the far right has just taken a drink of water and has his head tipped back to swallow it. There are 50 of these cuties:
The neighbor's red calf. I tried to get one with a big cow for perspective but the big cows kept standing between me and the calf. Pills!
And finally, the cutest baby of all, in the garden this evening with her handsome daddy:
Aren't they all sweet?? Aren't I blessed?
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Tuesday, April 8, 2008
10 things I say every day
Inspired by Jenny's post, I decided to think of 10 things from my own every day vocabulary. (Warning, some portions may not be suitable for certain readers!) In no particular order:
1. I love you!
2. Talk to you later (or "ttyl" in the case of my online conversations with Mom, Granny or Chas, because that is how we roll.)
3. Did you poo or just pee??
4. How many times have I told you...???
5. Go wash up.
6. No, you don't need a snack right now.
7. Please remove me from your call list (sometimes prefacing "before I contact the FCC!!)
8. Oh! No poo!! (with a big smile, upon opening a diaper)
9. Please give the baby a toy from her basket.
10. God bless you!
Anyone care to share your own list? I had absolutely no trouble coming up with these. That tells me just what a broken record I am most of the time. Sigh. I think it's the fate of all mother-kind.
By the way, did you know the phrase is, "all of a sudden" rather than "all of the sudden?" I did not. I have often wondered but today I finally took the initiative to look it up. There's my "learned something new" for today. Was it yours? If not, please don't tell me. I would hate to know how ignorant I have been, not knowing which was correct, for so long. Just pretend you didn't know either.
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Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
10 Things
Trying to do enough today to not feel like the whole week was a total waste. So I decided on 10 things. Here they are in no particular order:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8. bank deposit
9. April menu plan (started but not yet done)
10.
These are of varying difficulty and range in time frames from 10 minutes (vacuuming, cleaning bathroom) to an hour or more (bank deposit and menu plan). Most fall in the half hour range. I have not included ('though I was sorely tempted!) lessons, cooking meals, starting bread for tomorrow or basic child care stuff.
Now I am off to feed the baby so she can go down for her morning nap and I can get started. I could get most of it done before lunch if I focused. Is that even possible for me any more?
Oh, I have already planted a row in the garden this morning so I feel pretty good about that.
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Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Wednesday March 26, 2008
First of all, happy birthday to our oldest nephew RWM!! He turns 11 years old today which is just unfathomable as he was a mere 6 or 7 months old when I met his uncle and consequently him :) His sister was just a few years old (it was at her third birthday party that I realized that my Beloved was my Beloved and not just "some guy.") and now she is a bona fide young lady. Astounding! You can't turn your back on these children for a minute or you'll turn back around and they'll be grown.
Anyway, for today I have plenty of work to do. I got my hooded towel made last night but Beloved and I forgot to put it in the truck to go to work today. So it's still in the dining room. I will call the customer today to let her know that it has indeed been finished so she doesn't think I am a slacker. Thankfully she is also a friend and will be forgiving of my forgetfulness (I hope!)
I have laundry to do (as usual). I am trying to get one load done each day with one big laundry day per week in addition to the daily loads. I can wait for a nice sunny, dry day for the big washing and then even if it rains all week, at least I won't be dreadfully far behind. I can manage to hang one load per day around inside the house (except for sock and undies which just go in the dryer if it's raining) on my drying rack and on hangers in the living room around the wood stove or in the bathroom on the curtain rod. And, no, diapers do not count for the daily load. They're a separate entity altogether.
I would like to get into the sewing room again and clean it up (right now it looks a bit like a fabric store vomited all over it. Not a pretty mental image, I'm sure. I thought about taking a photo of it to post here but that's even more sickening than the above description. So I'll leave it to your imaginations. I have a nighty for MJ 2/3 finished. I need to figure out how to put some growth tucks in since I cut out the size 5 and didn't shorten it at all. I am making it sleeveless so with some tucks it should last several years. She likes to wear her clothes to death so I want to help her with that. I'd like to make up a few little things for the Etsy shop (I think I said that yesterday) and I need to get started on another shirt for Beloved's work friend. The muslin process is done now but I am undecided about fabric. There's so little to choose from for men's shirting and I am quite frustrated. I'd also like to start on my new nephew's baby quilt. July seems like forever away but before I know it it'll be July of 2015 and he'll be too big for it. I want to start now before he's born to give him a chance to use it before then. Since I am hand piecing this one I just need to get some of it cut out so I can start doing that in the evenings. It won't take long to get started, it's just a matter of doing it. Then there's my mom's birthday gift, yet to be finished. It's amazing how the enthusiasm for a project wanes after the gift has been presented, even if it's not yet finished.
I never did get bread started yesterday as I realized that the biga needs 12-14 hours (rather than 24 as I originally misread) so it really must be started around dinner time. I am leaving my bag of flour for that out on the counter in a mixing bowl to jog my memory. I have no idea what's for dinner tonight. I should think about that as well so I can pull something to thaw. We had tacos last night and they were smashing even without lettuce and tomato. It's amazing the difference homemade salsa makes in the most mundane meals.
In reality, I will probably spend most of the day engrossed in my new book (thanks for that, Dad!) I have absolutely no willpower when it comes to an interesting book. Never have had. I've been toting this one all around the house and trying to convince the baby to nurse far more often than she needs to, just so I have an excuse to sit down.
We need to do a little extra in the lessons department today as AC had his first migraine yesterday (just like his daddy
) and we were unable to finish yesterday's in the early evening as I had planned. We probably won't actually double up on anything; we just need to be sure and finish all of our subjects properly. I imagine we could get that done better if Mama gets off the computer so...... without further rambling, here is my daily food info thus far:
ham and eggs 172
biscuits 328
coffee 135
breakfast---------> 635 (yikes! no snacks for me this morning!)
ham/pineapple wrap 300
BBQ potato chips 140
lunch total-------> 440
daily total=======> 1075
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008
What I ate today...
Not sure how I am going to do this posting my food intake for the day thing. It could make for a very busy blog. Not busy in the lots-of-commenters sense; just busy in the too-many-posts-with-the-same-title sense. I'll have to puzzle on it a bit and see what I can come up with.
I did pretty well yesterday, staying right at about 1900 calories after having a small snack with Beloved before bedtime (while we watched the last half hour of The Simpsons Movie- shhh, don't tell my kids)
I weighed in this morning at 159 pounds. I did another 20 minutes Pilates session while the kids ate their oatmeal. I am off to a pretty good start. WE also did our reading in Farmer Boy for the day which we missed yesterday. Now I am off to hang out a load of laundry, start a batch of bread (thanks for posting your recipe, Chas; I found a slightly varied version while looking for some instructions here. I am going to try the biga version since I still have some *gasp* storebought bread to tide us over until tomorrow. I'll let you know how it turns out.) and do lessons with the children so I can maybe get into the sewing room later on. I'm thinking of whipping out a little thing or two for my Etsy shop but I also just realized that I was supposed to send a hooded towel to work with my husband yesterday morning. Gack! I completely forgot about it this weekend. I have the materials so I just need to get in there and do it. Thankfully it's not actually needed until next Monday but I want to send it ahead of time. Whew! I'm glad I remembered!
1 egg, over medium, fried in butter 104
sourdough toast with butter 110
coffee 135
breakfast total-------------------------------------------------------> 349
split pea soup 278
sour dough toast with butter 165
lunch total------------------------------------------------------------> 443
miscellaneous grazing...er....snacking 200
mozzarella cheese stick 80
1.5 soft tacos (homemade) 692
1 miniature baby ruth 50?
dinner total----------------------------------------------------------> 742
total for Tuesday--------------------------------------------------> 1814
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Monday, March 24, 2008
He is risen!!
We had a lovely Resurrection Sunday this year. We went to church early but since the church is in a different time zone it was 7 am for us instead of 6 am. We had a very tasty breakfast at the church afterward. We've visited there several times but this was only the second time we'd heard the pastor speak. Here we are shortly after returning home (before I made everyone change into play clothes) You can just barely make out the lace at the hems of the girls's new pantaloons. I finished them Saturday night while watching BBC America.
Then we came home and Beloved took a nap while the kids watched some cartoons and I got a few things ready in the kitchen for our luncheon. I took a short nap on the couch with baby and then the children and I decorated some hardboiled eggs while Beloved did some outdoorsy things to prepare for our new trees that are arriving soon.
Here are the Humpty Dumpty Daddy, Mama and Baby that TH created for our enjoyment. I think the two of us could have decorated dozens of eggs, long after everyone else got tired of doing them. Instead we did about 15 and quit while we were still having fun. My tablecloth is just yardage that my sweet friend Teresa gave me a month or so ago (along with about 100 yards of other fabrics!) Isn't it pretty? I could have at least ironed it but I had other fish to fry.
The children hunted down about 4 dozen plastic eggs filled with candy and we ate a lovely meal around 1:00- ham, macaroni and cheese, deviled eggs, finger jello and black olives (I forgot the corn!)
and then everyone but Daddy took a nap. After nap time we had Springtime Funfetti cake
for dessert and later on we had leftovers for supper. Mainly we just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company, played in the lovely weather and celebrated our Savior. Isn't God good??| 3 comments | | Link
Monday, March 24, 2008
More diet stuff
In response to Illouria's comment I found this to be helpful:
www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/calorie-intake-to-lose-weight.php
Also, I try to make sure I get plenty of good fat in my diet and good clean protein (grass fed beef and chicken, cheese, etc) Whenever I use fat in cooking or eating I make sure it's the good stuff. I try to avoid anything with hydrogenated oils and other such nastiness.
Anyway, in theory it's a lot easier to lose weight while breastfeeding because making milk burns about 500 calories a day. That's a couple hours I don't have to spend on the treadmill. That's almost enough to make me delay solid foods for her for another year or so :D
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Monday, March 24, 2008
sewing
I made 2 pairs of pantaloons this weekend. I am posting this here so I don't forget to put a picture of them in my flickr account and adjust my sewing totals on the sidebar. They're really, really cute and the girls wore them to church.
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Monday, March 24, 2008
Playing catch-up
I haven't been overly inclined to blog lately and that's just as well because I have been as busy as a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest. The last week of February I spent all of my spare time (and a good bit of my other time) working on a dress shirt for a friend of Honey. It ended up being a second muslin because a few of the changes I made after the original muslin did not correspond to the needed size. I think the next one should be just right. For future reference- when I take an inch off the length of each shoulder seam I need to make sure the length of the yoke is still sufficient and that the sleeves are still long enough. The mistakes were slight and not necessarily noticable to everyone but I knew what was wrong and the wearer could feel that some things were not quite right. Besides, the fabric I used did not hold up well to even the two washings it received and one seam has already started to fail (and definitely not seamstress or machine error there)
Anyway....I have told Shan over at Honey Hill Farm that I would talk about my weight loss. There's not really a whole lot to talk about- no top secret methods or anything. I have lost about 20 pounds since RK was born at the end of July although I didn't really start trying until Halloween. Thankfully we don't celebrate Halloween so I didn't have 84 pounds of HFCS in a pillowcase to resist for the month of November.
DISCLAIMER- I am NOT a doctor or weight-loss professional nor did I ever aspire to be one (despite my stellar grades in biology and chemistry; I just got stellar grades in everything) Please do whatever it is you're supposed to do with your doctor before attempting any weight loss program of your own.
The first 15 pounds came off really easily and I was thrilled. To start I multiplied my then-current weight by 15 (which is not just a random number; it has something to do with my activity level. If I was more active I'd use a higher number like 16) to determine the number of calories I needed to consume each day in order to maintain that weight. Then I added 500 calories to compensate for my exclusive breastfeeding status. Then I subtracted 1000 calories from that number in order to find out how much I could eat each day in order to lose 2 pounds per week. So my numbers in the beginning were:
180 lbs times 15= 2700
2700 cal plus 500 for nursing= 3300
3300 minus 1000= 2300 calories per day maximum intake in order to lose 2 pounds per week.
You see, a pound of fat equals 3500 calories. So in order to lose a pound I need to eat 3500 fewer calories than I burn. I can do that by eating whatever I want and spending 24 hours a day on my treadmill set at the steepest incline and running at top speed. Or I can eat less food and stay moderately active. 3500 calories divided by 7 days in a week equals a 500 calorie per day deficit. Multiply that by 2 and you get 1000 fewer per day to lose 2 pounds in a week. That is pretty much the most I can safely afford to lose and not let my baby feel any effects. She still seems to be blooming so I guess we're doing all right.
I do not like to exercise. I enjoy a nice pilates workout now and then but I haven't done any in months. I really need to do some for the toning (four babies will leave a bit of flab behind when they leave the mothership) but I am not depending on exercise to burn a lot of calories. I hang all my laundry out to dry so that's how I get my fresh air. I have 4 children under the age of 7; that's how I get in my running.
When I am really serious about counting calories I write down everything I eat and calculate the number of calories it contains. When I am up to my current number I stop eating (in theory anyway) I haven't done that regularly for a while now and I really need to get back on it. I started out in November with 2300 calories a day to budget. Now that I am down to 155 pounds I should be eating no more than 1825 to lose my 2 pounds per week. I am thinking of stepping it down to 1 pound per week which would give me 2300 calories to work with again. I will have to be careful not to let it go to my head and to keep really good track or I'll overspend my calories and end up flat broke and gaining weight.
I try not to restrict myself too much. That is what I have done in the past- made all sorts of rules for myself about food and drink. I have eliminated all sugar completely (I did lose about 10 pounds in just a few weeks that way). I have not eaten anything after 7pm. I have refused to drink anything but water. I even used to be a vegetarian. *gasp* Every time I have ended up feeling deprived and not losing much weight before giving up (or getting pregnant). Nowadays I try to just avoid eating much in the way of non-food (white flour and sugar, bad fats, fast food, etc) but I eat everything that my family does, including desserts and my morning coffee. During the holidays I tried not to totally gorge on good things but I ate what sounded good and even had seconds at the big holiday dinners. I didn't gain any weight between Thanksgiving and New Year's although I didn't lose any either. The hardest thing was getting back to actually losing after Honey went back to work. I am still working on that, 2 months later.
One thing to remember is that after every 5 pounds or so I have had to recalculate my calorie budget to accomodate my new weight. The heavier a person is, the more calories he expends doing nothing. So as he loses weight he needs to reduce the calories he's taking in because he is naturally burning fewer just by existing. It's not a lot but it might explain some of that "plateau" phenomenon that so many people experience after a few weeks or a month of successful dieting.
One thing I like about this method is that I can also (in theory anyway) use the same type of calculation to keep weight gain under control during pregnancy. I imagine (again, this is just a theory) that it's a lot easier to reach a normal weight after birth if one does not gain 50 or more pounds during the pregnancy. That's a theory because I have never managed to gain less than 45 pounds during a pregnancy. So should we be blessed again (and I am already getting baby fever and my almost-8 month-old hasn't even started solids yet!) I hope to have a leg up on the whole out of control weight gain thing.
I am tired of this post now (I started it on March 6th!) so I am going to stop editing and publish. Hopefully there are no crazy-bad errors and I haven't told anyone to jump off a bridge or anything.
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Monday, March 24, 2008
A fresh start
I have been trying valiantly to igore those last 10 pesky pounds, hoping they'd somehow go away if they felt neglected and unloved. Unfortunately they seem to be a bit like a stray dog- they don't care how badly I treat them they just keep slinking back with their tails between their legs.
I believe that's enough of that particular metaphor. Ahem. Anyway...I have decided to try and post my food/calorie intake and exercise here every day and see if it helps keep me accountable. Since I am probably the only person still trying to read this blog (hello last post from January!) it's just a personal accountability thing but I think it might help. Plus Chas will probably come over and say something nice because she loves me in real life :D
I think if I keep adding to the same post all day long after publishing it in the morning, I will be more apt to keep it updated than if I wait until evening to post. So I'll be adding to this post all day long (I hope!) Thankfully I destroyed all of the miniature butterfingers yesterday (they're destroyed by the digestive process, right?) so there's no temptation there. I forgot to weigh-in this morning so I'll post that later or tomorrow morning.
I am pretty happy with the calorie counting method of losing the pounds (I'll post more on that later as soon as I finish editing that post) but I really do need some toning of the flabby bits. So I am going to get back to a morning pilates workout. I was really pleased with the results the last time I kept it up regularly so I think it might do the trick. Plus it's the best way to keep myself from falling asleep as soon as my Love leaves for work. I can't do the early morning Bible reading thing because I feel rude falling asleep halfway through a verse. I am pathetic at keeping myself awake. The upside is that I can sleep ANYWHERE. I once fell asleep at a monster truck rally. Really.
20 minute Winsor Pilates workout (I'll try to work back up to the 45 minute modified version I was so happy with 2 years ago) I am working with a 1900 calorie budget. I am hanging out just a little below 160 pounds so I am using that to figure my intake. 160 x 15= 2400 2400-1000= 1400 1400 + 500 (baby)= 1900 calories per day for about 2 lbs per week weight loss.
So here are today's stats:
coffee with way too much creamer 135
sourdough toast with butter 197
scrambled egg with ham bits 150
breakfast total---------------------------------------> 482
ham sammy on sourdough 270
deviled egg (2 halves) 226
jelly beans (the yummy starburst kind!) 67
lunch total--------------------------------------------> 563
cheese stick 80
pretzel sticks 55
tea with agave 60
snack total-------------------------------------------> 195
split pea soup with ham bits 278
sourdough toast with butter 165
dinner total------------------------------------------> 443
total for the day=====================> 1683
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Saturday, February 16, 2008
Give a-way! Give a-way! Give a-way at Chas's!!
Head over to Chas's Place for your chance to win a couple of sweet DVDs! I'm not entering because I am waaay too affiliated with the giving blog but I wanted to make sure that as many folks as possible have a chance to win!
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Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Crafty goodness!
Posted in MakingNot as much as I would like but I have been doing a few things in the sewing room. For one thing I cleaned out and organized the freestanding closet/cupboard that I use for my fabric in the house (most of the stash is in storage in the back yard) That felt GREAT! I only got an "after" shot but you can take my word that it was BAD before.
The fabric on all of these shelves is roughly sorted according to type of fabric and/or its intended purpose. I also have a small gift stash on the upper right shelf to pluck a last-minute gift from, if I don't have time or inclination to sew something. That's also where I stash gifts picked up for specific people throughout the year for Christmas or birthdays.
I also sorted my scraps and covered some rice boxes from Aldi with wallpaper for which I paid 10 cents last summer. They aren't beautiful but they're cheap and they get the job done. They also fit perfectly in this space, three high (I need to make another one for the felt) with just a skosh of space on the right side. I am tickled. You can see them in the first picture of the cupboard, on the lefthand side.
Last month I did some mending for my second oldest child AC. He bought himself a Spiderman costume at WM with a Christmas gift card (thanks Uncle Neil!) Unfortunately the suit was made in China and not very well put together. The nicest mama in the whole house put it into the new sewing machine and ran up several opening seams. That wasn't a big deal. The big deal was the fact that AC has such a HUGE BRAIN that the mask wouldn't close in the back. It would close for his 6.5 year-old brother but not for the
4.75 year-old. I removed the velcro dots (there were 2) and basted in a triangular piece of knit fabric from a tank top that I remember my mom wearing when she was pregnant with my sister in 1984. I don't know why I have my mom's tank top from 1984 but it worked great. Not an exact match color-wise but close enough for a 4 year-old who can't see it because it's on the back of his head. I checked the fit and then stitched it with some sort of fancy zigzag or other and he has been pleased as punch ever since.
Finally, after a couple weeks of having my cutting table covered in a stalled out sewing project, I cleaned up and moved on. I was inspired by Quilting Month over at the Sew, Mama, Sew blog and decided to put together a disappearing 9-patch block. I built the 9-patch and cut it into four pieces
but haven't decided the best way to stitch them back together yet.
I'm thinking I'd like to do a block for each tutorial that they plan to feature this month and then do...something....with all of them. Not sure what that "something" might be yet. Maybe I could put them in that plastic storage tub with all 80 or so of my yellow and white attic window blocks. That sounds like a great way to display them, no?
PS- it took me nearly 5 hours to finally get this thing posted after I started it. Thankfully not all 5 of those hours were spent actually working on the post. That would be pathetic.
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Saturday, February 2, 2008
Dinner in February
Posted in Eating1 Feb- brats, kraut, oven fries, steamed carrots
2 Feb- split pea soup with ham, french bread, raw carrots with ranch
3 Feb- skillet chicken teriyaki, rice
4 Feb- salmon puffs, twice baked potatoes, veg
5 Feb-
6 Feb-
7 Feb-
8 Feb- ham and pineapple pizza, carrot sticks
9 Feb-
10th-
11th-
12th-
13th- tacos, frijoles, mexican rice
14th- LOVE DAY! Breakfast for dinner- heart-shaped sausages, pancakes and scrambled eggs, juice
15th- Marlboro Man sandwiches, oven fries, raw veg
16th- lentil veggie soup, french bread
17th- roast chicken, mashed potatoes, veg
18th-
19th- beans, rice, tortillas
20th- lasagna, bread, raw veg
21st- black bean soup, tortillas
22nd- pepperoni pizza, raw veg
23rd- taco salad
24th- beef stew, biscuits
25th- Eat Out
26th- Texas Auntie's lentil soup, bread
27th- enchiladas, frijoles, mexican rice
28th- pancakes, bacon, eggs
29th- LEAP DAY- tried to think of a "jumpy" kind of menu for tonight; I came up with: fried chicken legs, baked "jumping" beans, oven fries (they do tend to leap off the platter) and finger jello for dessert- sort of wiggly/jumpy
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Thursday, January 17, 2008
Kids are hilarious!
Posted in BeingLast night it started on our way home from the City. The boys ran out into the yard (without coats, natch) as soon as the van came to a stop even though it was 7 pm and pitch dark.
This morning TH was dressed and ready at about 6:45 (still pitch dark) I told him that it hadn't really stayed around as the weather had been pretty warm during the night. He didn't care so after breakfast (and sunrise) the three "big'uns" ran outside to play in the snow. Much hilarity ensued with snow angels:
Pratfalls:
Sledding:
and babies in cute hats (self portrait by woman wearing said baby):
TH just came in looking dejected (and whining) because he can't make a snowman. He tries but it keeps getting all "cricked." That's one syllable by the way, rhymes with pricked, not wicked. Perhaps he should try a mudman instead.
OH! Late breaking news story! TH just dragged me back outside to show me "something great!" Here is the "something great":
And the master with his creation:
I'm afraid I'll have to go call them all in soon. We missed lessons yesterday due to the field trip to story time and the City so we have some make up work to do today and tomorrow. I wouldn't want to cut into the weekend that TH finds so sacred now that we do lessons FIVE DAYS A WEEK. The injustice! Oh, the humanity!!
Indeed.
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Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Kids are funny
Posted in RamblingI love to listen to little boys playing their little games. Their sound effects- beeps, whistles, chirps, engines "vrooming" machine guns spitting all over their place. Their intense dialog- peppered with phrases from television and movies like Transformers and Star Wars. They're hollering back and forth across the living room about transponders and borderlines and the enemy fleet.
Suddenly a feminine voice pipes up, equally intense but not without the sweetness she can't seem to drop even when she's angry. "I have my BACKPACK!" she screams, as if the entire army depended on the knowledge that she has a "new" Dora backpack from the thrift store and she has it in. her. hands.
Everyone will be safe now.
She has her backpack.
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Thanks (and so much more!)Name these plants, please?!?
I am the tooth fairy!!
Birthday season is upon us!
Babies, babies everywhere!