…is croup!  I cannot stop coughing and feel pretty icky.  In adults, croup is more like bronchitis and man do I have it :(  I took Benadryl before bed last night and I slept really well, so that’s good!

We went to the So You Think You Can Dance live tour last night.  It was fun!  I didn’t bring my camera because I didn’t want them to take it away.  It turns out I could have had it but oh well.  I did get one blurry iPhone picture of Shaun and I at dinner:

It was REALLY fun.  The shrieking squealing girls made us laugh so hard that I had tears running down my face.  It was hilarious and  was a window into the world we’ll be joining soon with Lu. Unfortunately, Philip was hurt so we didn’t get to see him dance but everyone was SO impressive.  I think Brandon and Kayla were the MOST impressive to me.  Brandon’s solo was A.MAZE.ING and Kayla danced so many times that I was in awe.

Last night was a big night for us.  It was the first time that Lu was put to sleep by someone other than Mommy or Daddy.  She did GREAT!  Auntie Laina said she was a breeze and they had fun.  I kept getting text updates and pictures. I even got blurry iPhone picture updates:

She ate her dinner, told Auntie Laina when she was “All Done” (she didn’t throw her food on the floor but actually signed “All Done”!), and she ate 3 cookies and refused the fourth!  She went right down to sleep and even reminded Auntie Laina to close the curtains.  *sigh* I love that girl.

Tonight, we’re having leftovers (happy birthday to me!) and I’m going to can my pumpkin butter and pack.  Lu gave the pumpkin butter 2 thumbs up.  She ate 2 pieces of Ezekiel bread with almond butter and pumpkin butter last night before I left.

She REALLY liked it.

Elaina tried it too and said that she’d better get some.  So now I feel confident posting my recipe.  The hope is to get it up tonight!  We’ll see though.  I do have to pack as well…

I did get a present from Lu yesterday.  It was supposed to be for Thanksgiving but I’ll think of it as an early birthday present 😉

It’s a placemat that she made.  She glued the feathers on the turkey and colored the leaf.  She’s the third kid from the right in the picture (and the only one looking at the camera!).

It came with this sweet note:

My daycare is GOOD 🙂

With that, I should go.  I’ve got a TON of work to do today.  BOO!

Gratitude

Today I’m grateful for my parents.  Without them, I wouldn’t be here!  I’m also grateful for my friends.  I’ve gotten SO many birthday wishes already an it makes me feel really loved.  Thank you!

I went to bed at 10:40 last night (too late) and just woke up at 3:10 this morning.  Boo.  I laid there for over an hour with my eyes closed and it didn’t work.  So, I’ve been up since 3:10 am after a whole 4 and half hours of sleep. Joy!  I think I’ll be breaking out the Benadryl tonight to help me sleep and to help with the congestion.

At 4:30 I went and got my phone and just played around online and then at 5:30 I actually got out of bed and got ready for my planned 3 mile run.  I sat my clothes out last night but as I was getting dressed I realized that my outfit was ALL black and I’d be running in the somewhat dark.  So, I chose safety over looking good and put on a white reflective shirt from when I was training. I’m about 15 pounds too heavy to be wearing this shirt but I’d rather look funny than be hit by a car.  Being the cheese that I am I took pictures:

Little tight, eh?

Kissing the guns ;):

It turned out to be a VERY good choice.  I got out there and it was PITCH BLACK.  I reconsidered my original running route-I usually run in a fancy smancy neighborhood with beautiful houses but there are no street lights.  Thankfully during my training I ran all over this town, well really the entire Bay Area, so I was able to deviate and run in a nice neighborhood that had street lights.  My house is in a funny location-it’s a GREAT location-right by downtown.  But, if you go east 3 blocks you’re in a pretty shady neighborhood and if you go west 2 blocks you’re in a multi-million dollar house neighborhood.  So, needless to say, I have to be careful.  The sun started to come up 30 minutes into my run.  I have to say that the run was AWESOME.  Even though I have a bit of a headcold right now, it still felt great and I did 3.20 miles in about 40 minutes.  I broke the ‘ol Garmin out of retirement so that was fun.

After I dropped Lu off at daycare I stopped by Kmart to get some canning supplies.  Target didn’t have anything and I thought that Kmart for sure would.  NOPE. WTF, right?  I think I have to order it online.  I have jars but none of the cool tools.  I can make do for now but that seriously sucks!

Kmart, by the way, was AWFUL.  The layout makes no sense, they had boxes everywhere and it was just an overall unpleasant experience.  Plus, their prices weren’t any better than Target and then had way fewer options.  I did find a splatter guard that I’m using right now for my new and improved pumpkin butter:

This will be perfect for spaghetti sauce too!

Speaking of pumpkin butter, I tasted the new concoction and it is 100% better.  I’m so excited!

Man, daycare just called and they only have 1 diaper for Lucy left.  She’s Miss Sensitive Butt and can only have a certain diaper or else she gets a horrible diaper rash.  Off I go to daycare again.  At least I get to see Lu!

Gratitude

I’m grateful for NPR.  I listen to it everyday and just yesterday they were doing a tribute to a soldier who had died in Afghanistan recently.  It was so well done and such a great celebration of life that it really made me appreciate NPR.  I love that station.  I’m glad I support them so heartily every year (even though I hate pledge drives!).

Facebook that is.  Today, the New Oxford American Dictionary announced that the word of the year is “unfriend”. Defined as: “v. To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook." The linguist in me finds this very interesting.  New words are intriguing BUT according to a spokesperson for the New Oxford American Dictionary “unfriend” was first used in the 1600’s in much the same way, just with a different modality.

I was listening to that story on the radio as I pulled up to a local produce market and saw this:

Part of the charm of the Milk Pail is it’s old world charm.  See?

Well, it’s on Facebook, consider yourself notified.  Lastly, Shaun turned on XBox Live and exclaimed “AWESOME! Facebook is on XBox now!”  Seriously-it’s taking over the world.

Why was at my local produce market you ask?  Picking up some more pumpkins.  The pumpkin butter was a failure :(  I’ve done some more research and I’m ready to tackle it again.  I’m Working From Home tomorrow so it’s a perfect day to try out my new and improved recipe.  I’m making it without refined sugar and it’s definitely taking some tweaking.  Elaina tried it today and said it was good and “she would eat it” but I want it to be GREAT.  I think I put too many spices in it last time and it took over the consistency. I really hope this batch turns out!

I came home to meat marinara in the crockpot. I only needed to boil some pasta and I used extra pizza dough from last night to make some breadsticks.  Shaun actually got home around 6:15 and we had dinner as a family-it was great!

Here’s my dinner:

I took a big bunch of spinach, put about 10 whole wheat penne pasta on top (I went light on the pasta so I could have breadstick), and topped that with the marinara and parmesan.  Lu ate about 1/4 of that breadstick.

Lu loves pasta and marinara and was too busy chowing down to smile for Mommy. So no cute pictures of her tonight.

With that I think I’m going to go watch some So You Think You Can Dance (dance…dance…dance…) with my hubby.  Tomorrow we get to go see the tour LIVE! How awesome is that?!?!?!

Have you ever had one of those nights where you sleep like such crap that you’re RELIEVED that it’s time to get up?  That was last night.  I was super congested, couldn’t get comfortable, and kept having weird dreams.  When the alarm went off I wanted to scream “THANK YOU!”

I got up and saw a good number on the scale 🙂 I do weigh myself everyday. Personally I need that accountability.  I know that whenever I stop weighing myself, it’s a bad sign and I’m about to gain some weight.  I wish I could be one of those people that could just go by the way their clothes fit but I can’t.  So on the scale I go almost every morning. If I forget, it’s not the end of the world. I’m no where near this weight:

(oh how I love that dress) but I am working on it.  Soon to be there! P.S. I’m so glad my hubby doesn’t have that beard anymore!

I did Core Synergystics and it KICKED MY BUTT.  I’m in my 5th week of P90X and I’m able to do a LOT more than I was when I started and it’s making the workouts much more intense.

After my workout I browned some meat and threw it in the crockpot with some marinara for dinner tonight.  I’m a single parent again tonight 🙁 (Shaun has to work late AGAIN) The easier the better!

Last night I went to Target and FINALLY started my Christmas shopping.  I also got Lucy her first winter coat in preparation for a trip we’re making this weekend to colder weather. How cute is she?

I want that coat!

Gratitude

I posted on Facebook that I was grateful for 5:30-that’s kind of a cheat.  So today I’m thankful for the awesome conversation I had with my hubby this morning.  He reminded me that Rome wasn’t built in a day AND that I didn’t grow Lucy in a day.  He’s so supportive and I’m thankful everyday that I’m married to my best friend (and MORE =D).

Shaun had to work late tonight so I made Lucy an easy dinner of cherry yogurt, almond butter and jelly sandwich, and some veggies.  After I got her down I made myself a whole wheat pizza with goat cheese, spinach, salmon, and capers.  Here is was before it went in the oven:

I get the whole wheat dough from Trader Joes.  Shaun actually prefers it to the white dough that they sell.  I don’t have time with working and Lu to make my own dough and Trader’s is so convenient and only has flour, water, yeast, and some salt. 

Here’s the pizza after it came out of the oven:

I made a simple salad with mache and my last cucumber from the garden.  I dressed it with some Annie’s Goddess Dressing and balsamic.  Next time I’ll put the salmon on after it comes out of the oven.  It was still good but I had one at Central Park Bistro last week when Kath was here and they put the salmon on at the end-it was better.

Now I’m sitting on my couch watching some SNL waiting for my hubby.  I have a feeling I may be going to bed without him 🙁

I feel some pizza in my lunch future!

At lunch today, I did get out for a walk.  It was a beautiful day.

As much Fall foliage as you’re going to find in Northern California:

I was looking at the blog and realized there are very few pictures of me.  So here I am enjoying my walk.

Those lips could use some chapstick, no?

I’m cooking the pumpkin butter some more tonight.  I don’t think I cooked it enough yesterday or had enough sweetener-I’m using agave, honey, and some maple syrup.  It’s almost where I want it.

With that, I think I’ll sign off.  Have a great night!

Those fajitas that I’ve been trying to make since Friday?  They finally got made for lunch yesterday.  I forgot to buy beans so I decided to make some nachos.  Here are Shaun’s fully loaded nachos:

I didn’t take a picture of mine because they weren’t nearly as pretty.  I had about a fourth the amount of chips and I used goat mozzarella that I picked up from Traders-no tummy issues! My fajitas were not as tasty as they normally are so I’m going to hold off on posting that recipe until I have it figured out (again).  Isn’t it weird how you can be really good at making something and then it just goes away?  This happens to me occasionally.

The pancakes I made yesterday (sorry no pictures-it was in the middle of the sink crisis) were made from this recipe. I subbed 1 TBSP of agave for the brown sugar and I should have used more.  They were just okay but Lu liked them!

A lot of you were asking about the lentils from yesterday.  When I was making them I felt like there wasn’t enough spices.  I added a little more than the recipe called for and I added red pepper flakes.  About halfway through cooking I tasted it and it was NOT flavorful enough so I doubled up on the spices.  Shaun had a bite and still thought it lacked a little flavor.  I’m having it for lunch today so hopefully sitting overnight helped it.

As for the pumpkin butter, I’m creating this recipe and I’m still not 100% happy with it.  I’m going to work on it tonight and see if I can get it just right.  Then I’ll post an entire tutorial ;)  Some of you may even get some 😉

Last night we went to Shaun’s Mountain Bike Boot Camp end of season party.

I LOVED the house that it was at.  Usually in the Bay Area you find houses that are HUGE on teeny tiny lots.  Shaun and I both feel strongly that a 3-4 bedroom house is perfect for us. I’d like 4, Shaun would like 3-I want a craft room :). This house was the PERFECT size, a GREAT floor plan and it was on a HUGE lot.  The back yard was like 2 football field lengths and at the back they had a playground.  Not a play structure but a PLAYGROUND.  Our friend owns an upscale construction business and his clients ask him to haul away things all the time that he adds to their play area. I wish I had gotten pictures but I left the camera in the house :(  We had a GREAT time and Lu did so well.  I had total house envy.  Too bad we’ll never get a house like that here.  *sigh* I need to win the lottery! That means I’d have to play the lottery…

Here’s another picture that I LOVE-too bad it’s all blurry 🙁

This morning I had the alarm set for 5:30 to workout but I turned it off at 5:25.  I had a hard time sleeping last night with Lu coughing and I seem to have come down with a touch of what Lu had/has. I’m also pretty sore from running on Saturday and Kenpo yesterday.  My IT band is KILLING me :(  I foam rolled it out and hopefully I’ll be 100% tomorrow.  I plan to go for a nice walk at lunch-I wore my running shoes today and everything.

Lastly, my sweet husband let me start wearing my birthday present a few days early-isn’t he awesome?  Here it is:

The “diamonds” are a bit blingy for my taste but the Coach one that was almost exactly the same without the “diamonds” was 4 times as much.  So I’ll get over the bling.

Gratitude

I’m grateful for MY house.  It’s pretty awesome and I own it which makes me smile.

Roto Rooter!  I had to call Rotto Rooter today because my kitchen sink started backing up.  I was making pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin butter, and preparing to make Chicken and Lentils when this happened.  It was GREAT.  Thankfully Roto Rooter sent someone out within an hour and they were able to snake the drain.  I live in a condo and 4 units share the same pipe.  They ALL put food down their disposals and I don’t (because I’ve learned) and who ALWAYS has to deal with the clogged sink? ME.   There was 16 FEET of food backed up in the pipe-EWWWWE!

Once the plumber left, Lu and I walked to the store to pick up a few items I forgot and then she had lunch and went down for a nap.  While she napped, I did P90X-Kenpo X. Have any of you done this workout?  They are all sweating and acting like it’s hard and I just don’t feel it or get sweaty.  And I really DO the moves.  I don’t get it.  Give me running any day.  After that, I cleaned the kitchen and then took a shower.

My house smells REALLY funny right now.  I’ve got Indian Lentils:

and Pumpkin Butter:

cooking right next to one another:

For the lentils I used this recipe. Only I’m cooking it in a pot since my crock pot is being used and I added carrots and more spices.  I’ll let you know how it turns out.

This afternoon, I’m making fajitas for lunch and then we’re going to a get together for Shaun’s Mountain Bike Boot Camp.  It should be fun!  It’s beautiful out there.

Gratitude

Today I’m grateful for Roto Rooter!!!

Today was the ideal Saturday for me.  It started off with Shaun getting up with Lu and me sleeping in until 9-ahhhh pure heaven!  I then went on a 3 mile run.  I ran the whole way without stopping and got some great “me” time where I just thought about everything.  I forgot that running did that for me.  I also forgot how well it cleans out my digestive system 🙂

My run took me 40 minutes.  That same run before getting pregnant with Lucy took me ~25 minutes.  If you would have asked me before getting pregnant if I would be where I was now, I think I would have told you that that was my worst nightmare. I so wanted to be one of those women who worked out all through her pregnancy and then got right back on the horse after 6 weeks. I so wanted that. Then the first trimester hit.  During my second and third trimester I did stay very active and was walking ~2 miles a day but I wasn’t working out like I thought I’d be.  After she was born I was itching to work out again.  Then I started and I was so tired. I don’t think I realized how much nursing took out of me.  Then when I started work I was so tired and couldn’t figure out how to fit it all in.  It was an uphill battle.  But, I’m doing it now.  Hey, in college, I had no excuse and I weighed 40 pounds more than I do now and I lost 75 pounds and eventually became an Ironman.

Here I am right after finishing the Ironman-the best shape of my life-EVAR!

I still, 3 years later, need to scan the picture of me crossing the finish line. I had one digitally that I copied from online but I can’t, for the life of me, find it.

After my run, I ate lunch with Lu and Shaun and then I put together my shopping list for the week.  The food plan this week is:

S: Chicken and Lentils
M: Pizza
T: Spaghetti
W: Out to dinner before we see the tour for So You Think You Can Dance for our birthdays
Th: Leftovers
F: Out of town

I always email my grocery list to myself so that I’m saving paper and my list is all there on my phone.  I used to use a grocery list app on my iPhone but it as a pain to enter in everything and it didn’t list things in the order I wanted.  I like to list things out in the order they appear at the grocery store.

I went shopping while Lucy slept.  First Trader Joes and then Whole Paycheck. Trader Joes had tons of great stuff today!  I got some decaffeinated candy cane green tea.  The had chocolate covered peppermint Joe Joe’s that I so wanted but I resisted.  What I DID get was a dark chocolate taster.  It’s 10 different dark chocolate bars made around the world.  I thought that that would be a great gift, or part of a gift for the upcoming holiday season.

Here’s the goods from grocery shopping:

After grocery shopping, I got those pumpkins up there ready for baking.  I’m going to attempt my own pumpkin butter tomorrow!  While I did that Shaun pruned our plants outside and harvested these beauties!

I cut those up for the fajitas. YOM.

We then went and ran some errands together.  Shaun dropped off his bike to get new tubeless tires put on (my birthday present to him). Then we went to the mall and I got some new NON-NURSING! bras and I picked out my birthday present-a new watch-which I don’t get until Thursday. We got a Williams Sonoma at the my mall-WOO HOO.  I’ll definitely be heading back there soon! After the mall, we picked up Shaun’s improved bike and we were a little later than we thought we’d be.  There was no way I’d be able to get dinner done and Lucy fed in a reasonable amount of time so we decided to have fajitas for lunch tomorrow and we went to Fresh Choice. It was actually pretty good-great for a toddler (and free)!

And now, here I sit.  I had a day where I got some me time, some family time, and I got some chores done.  SCORE!

Gratitude

Today I’m grateful that I got to run and that I’m able to run. It was fantastic!

The plan was to make fajitas tonight.  I had the meat marinating and everything.  But, Shaun had to work late and it’s almost impossible to cook dinner all by myself without really upsetting Lu.  She’s not supposed to cry right now, due to the croup (not that we let her cry all that often) and Mommy in the kitchen would definitely have resulted in a crying Lu.

I thought about what I should make, and remembered that I had some potatoes that needed to be used.

Most people have probably baked a potato but I recently went searching for the best way to bake a potato and I think I’ve found it. 

1. Start with nice sized, well cleaned and dried russet potatoes.

2. Use a paring knife to cut deep slits in the potato. I do 3-4 slits per side.  This allows the steam to escape.

3. Rub the potato with olive oil and then rub with kosher salt.

4. Place potatoes in a preheated 350* oven on the middle shelf. I like to place a casserole dish with some foil in it directly under the potatoes to catch any drippings and help keep my oven clean 🙂 Many people wrap their potatoes in foil to help them cook faster, but this results in a steamed potato that doesn’t have delicious crunchy skin.

5. Bake for about an hour. You’ll know they’re ready when you squeeze them (using a pot holder) and the are nice and squishy.

6. Use a fork to split the potato.

7. Mash up the insides.

8. Add your favorite toppings and ENJOY!

This one had a little cheese (my tummy is already mad), navy beans, greek yogurt, salsa, and Tapatio hot sauce. YOM.

Lu is feeling much better thankfully!  She had a great night-no waking up and she hasn’t had any medicine since yesterday morning at 8.  I took her into daycare today and she was so happy to be there.

I hope she does well all day.  Evidently there were only 3 kids there out of her class of 8 yesterday.

I got up this morning and did P90X.  I’m at the end of my 4th week and start a new phase on Monday.  For a home workout, this is great.  Tony Horton is like the Michael Scott of the exercise world so I get my little chuckles every morning with him.  I swear most of the people on that video just think he’s a douche but put up with it and laugh on the inside.  I think the only one that actually thinks he’s cool is Dreya Weber and she’s an interesting one herself.  Since I don’t have any mirrors while I workout and I’m staring at the TV with all these people with beautiful bodies I think it gives me body image issues in the opposite way.  I think I look like the them and then I look in the mirror afterwards and I’m sadly disappointed. HA!

Hopefully soon I won’t be disappointed-I’m working on it! I’m 1 pounds away from hitting the 30 pounds lost since having Lucy.  I gained a total of 35 pounds with her so that makes me happy.  I still have 25 or so to go. 

You know how yesterday Shaun was taking care of Lu?  Well I get an email titled “She really wanted to feed herself" with this picture:

I love it.  I love how she totally missed her mouth but got her forehead. She’s a silly girl.

Gratitude

Today I’m grateful that Lu is feeling better!