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!

I love, love, love Fall fruit.  I look forward to Fall every year so that I can get persimmons and pomegranate. Yom.

I first discovered persimmons my Freshman year of college (that would be 10 years ago now *gulp*). I don’t know what possessed me but I decided to try one and I instantly fell in love.  They are crunchy, sweet, a little cinnamon-y, and just plain perfect. 

Persimmons that you can eat like an apple or pear (I actually eat everything but the little green top) are called Fuju Persimmons.  The longer pointy ones are called Hachiya Persimmons and are much better in baked goods.  If you are going to eat Hachiya Persimmons raw they need to be VERY ripe.  Fuju’s can be eaten either when firm or more ripe. I prefer them when they are firm.

According to Wikipedia, a persimmon is in fact a "true berry" by definition.  It was also known as “the fruit of the Gods” by ancient Greeks.  Those ancient Greeks are smart!

I eat one every day in the fall.  They are more expensive than most fruit but I think they are totally worth it.  I found a 12 pack at Costco for $4 last week and I snatched it up!

The other fall fruit that I eagerly await is the pomegranate.

My Grandma had a HUGE pomegranate tree in her yard and we used to get to harvest them and then eat them on the curb.  We were NOT allowed to eat them inside since they stain so badly.

I now sit on my couch almost every night and eat a half of a pomegranate.  I know you can get the seeds out by submerging one in a bowl of water and breaking it apart, but that takes all the fun and memories out of it for me.  I LOVE the ritual of eating a pomegranate.  I’m a grown up now so I get to eat them inside on the couch 😉

Off to go stain my fingertips!

Shaun stayed home with sick Lu today so that I could get some work done (this post needs to be short!). Last night was our hardest night but I her fever finally broke around 3:30 and she woke up VERY hungry.  It felt like we had a newborn all over again.  I checked on her at 10, 12 and then she woke up screaming at 3:30. I did the first shift-getting her meds and some milk and Shaun did the second shift-rocking her back to sleep.  She woke up at 6:45 today HONGRY-which is a very good sign.

I left a list of instructions for Shaun:

With dosing instructions from the doctor:

Thankfully, I left a smiley little girl:

Who was enjoying her O’s and nanner:

I just got a text from Shaun that she went down for a nap at 9.  I guess she pointed at her crib :(  She normally only goes down for one nap from 12-2.  So she’s definitely still sick but recovering. 

We went to the doctor last night and he gave us some steroids and I think they’re helping.

Sigh. It’s days like today that I wish I didn’t have to work.  It was really hard leaving her.  With that, I’d better hop to it so I can get home as early as possible.

Gratitude

I’m grateful for really great doctors who care.  I love our pediatrician!

Can you tell I’m a little obsessed with my crock pot right now? I found this recipe on Crock Pot 365-a great crock pot recipe site.  I made a modified version of this recipe. It was really good-I thought better than the other Apricot Chicken that I made.  That one was more Asian influenced and this one wasn’t (despite some soy sauce).

Ingredients:

• 1 pound frozen skinless chicken meat-I use thigh since Shaun hates breasts (chicken breasts…)
• 10 ounce jar of apricot preserves-no sugar
• 1 tsp dried onion flakes (sorry Kath!)
• 1 TBSP garlic aioli mustard
• 1 TBSP Braggs Amino
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp red chili flakes

Place the chicken in the crock pot. Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl:

And then smother the chicken:

Set the crock pot on

And then:

For:

hours (6-8 for frozen. 4-6 on high for defrosted).

I made brown rice and just chopped some brussel sprouts and carrots and sautéed them in a little vegan butter, S+P, and cider vinegar.

Look at how pretty it was:

Here’s the finished product in the pot:

Plated:

Lucy didn’t have any-her appetite has disappeared 🙁 She has croup poor thing.  Shaun took his first bite and said “Wow this is AWESOME!” Later I asked him to rate it and he said 3 stars.  I asked how something could be awesome and then only get 3 stars.  His response? “It’s chicken.”  So many people comment on how Shaun will eat anything.  No one believes me when I tell them his particular. Do you believe me?

Yesterday was Shaun’s birthday.  I offered to cook him whatever he wanted but he didn’t want me to have to go to all the trouble, especially with a sick kiddo at home.  He decided that he wanted sushi, so we went and picked some up to bring home.  I offered to put it all on plates so that we could have a nice dinner and Shaun wouldn’t hear of it.  He wanted it all out of the Styrofoam containers. His reasoning? Why dirty plates?

Here’s the whole spread:

Classy, huh?

Here’s the birthday boys’ dinner:

That’s a Lion King Roll, a Rainbow Roll, a Cherry Blossom Roll, and some Seaweed Salad that I ate.

He proclaimed his entire meal (Guiness included of course!) “The Perfect Meal”

He was a happy dude:

Here’s my dinner:

Salmon and Tuna Sashimi and Miso Soup.  I only had 4 pieces since this was a TON of fish.

We got Lu some Chicken Katsu-breaded and fried chicken and she wanted nothing to do with it.  She ate some veggies and then some of cherry yogurt that I had made her earlier in the day-I make fruit purees and then add them to whole milk yogurt and she gobbles it up every day.  No sugar!

She rallied for Daddy, but you can see her little sick eyes in these pictures 🙁 She went to bed shortly after this.  I woke her up at 9 to give her some Motrin and then checked on her throughout the night.  When I went in at 6:45 she was laying there awake (I hadn’t heard a peep) and she reached out to me with a sad little “Mama”. It broke my heart.  Her temp was back up to 102 and she has some congestion.  She’s doing a bit better now.  I’m at home with her today and we just watched a Madeline DVD.  She doesn’t normally watch tv but she was happy to sit on my lap for about 15 minutes and then actually got down and played.  I think that’s a good sign.  If she still has a fever tonight or her breathing gets worse I’ll call the doctor again. I’m in the process of bleaching her humidifier and I’ll run that tonight.

Shaun is on his way home now so that I can jump on a conference call.  The rest of the day will be spent cuddling with my little sick girlie.

Gratitude

Today I’m thankful for all our Veterans.  Thank you!

On Sunday I threw together a soup using a bunch of stuff from my cupboards.  It wasn’t supposed to be a soup originally but I changed my mind mid recipe.  It was seriously good and easy.

Ingredients:

-Tri Tip

-1 TBSP Paprika

-2 TBSP Montreal Steak Seasoning

-S+P

-1 Box Chicken Broth

-2 Cans of Navy Beans, drained

-1 Can Chopped Tomatoes with Roasted Garlic

-1 Can No-Salt Corn

I took a big hunk of tri tip that I had in my freezer from Lu’s birthday party-probably around 1.5 pounds and put that into the crock pot frozen.  I topped it with the seasonings and a little chicken broth.  Cook on low for 4 hours. 

I added the rest of the ingredients (including all the broth) and cooked on low for an additional 2 hours.  I had envisioned the meat shredding but that didn’t happen.  So I took it out and that end and sliced thin pieces of meat (like Carne Asada) and added it back to the soup.  I think the sliced beef ended up much better than shredded beef would have been.

I topped mine with Fage and Avocado.  Shaun got Sour Cream, Avocado, and Cheese on his.  I think it would have been great with some corn chips too.

Lucy gave it a “mmmm-mmmm-mmm-mmm” and Shaun gave it 3 stars-big praise from a man who claims to “HATE soup”.

I just dropped Kath at the airport-she’s back on her way to Matt and the bears!

Here’s us at dinner last night:

This morning we woke up early enough that we could share a bowl of oatmeal:

Each bowl has:

-1/3 Cup Thick Cut Oats

-1/3 Cup Rice Milk

-1/3 Cup Water

-1/2 Banana

-1/2 TBSP Chia Seeds

-Dash of Salt, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Vanilla

Toppings:

-Ezekiel Granola

-Coconut Butter

-Peanut Butter

-Pumpkin Butter (on Kath’s, not on mine)

Here’s mine up close and personal:

It’s nice to know we have almost the same method.  I smush my nanner where as she cut this one up.  It was delish!

It was GREAT getting caught up with Kath.  It was amazing to realize that we’ve “known” each other for over 4 years!  It’s nice to have a friend that you can talk to about almost everything and they know exactly what you’re talking about since we’ve been reading about each other’s life for 4 years now :)  She’s been here 3 times in that 4 years.  I think I need to plan a trip to the East Coast!

Unfortunately, Lu woke up with a fever this morning :(  I’m staying at home to take care of the Lil Munchkin.  We have a doctor’s appointment in about 30 minutes.

OH! As part of November I’ve been posting one thing that I’m thankful for on Facebook.  I think I’ll post it here too.

Today I’m thankful for fun visitors!

P.S.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!!!!