One of my Favorites

This is one of my favorite songs! I remember when I saw this preformed at the symphony. It moved me.

Body after Baby Week 4

I can't believe another week has come and gone. My motivation completely went away and I'm trying to recover it. I'm surprised at how one day I am pumped and super excited with the progress I'm making and the next day I have no desire to do anything. This isn't good. In the past this is when I completely give up.

I'm grateful for my friends who keep me going. Just by knowing that I have these people to workout with, I feel that I need to be there and do my best. But there have been days that I've slacked or when my buddies were busy. I need to find a way to do it on my own on those days.

I have lost another pound (3 pounds total) and lost inches in certain places on my body. I am VERY pleased with this. Only 4 pounds to go to reach my first mini-goal of loosing all the baby weight.

This weeks plan is to find a way to keep myself motivated and push through the days when I have an "I don't care" attitude.

Linking up to Body after Baby at Mama Notes

Groundhogs

Just a little project today to celebrate Groundhog's Day.

We made groundhogs for our snack and must say were rather delicious!

(Those are whiskers not crazy alien arms.)

A Touch of Spring

There is nothing like flowers to cheer you up on a gloomy winter day! This past month I was assigned the task of coming up with centerpieces for a large church event. At times I feel completely uncreative and felt doomed in the task. For a week I mulled over what I should do and every time I had a bright idea, something would keep me from accomplishing it. Finally I decided to be boring and make some floral arrangements.

Off to the local grocery store (I know not the best place to get fresh flowers. Anyone in Utah know where I can get flowers for cheap?) and picked up several bunches of flowers. Once home I started chopping, mixing and finally arranging. I stood back and declared to myself: Not bad! I can do this!

For years I have loved arranging flowers, but it was another hobby that was put aside during my pregnancy. Now that I have experienced the joy once again, I have plans. At least plans that would work in a perfect world without budgets. I think it would be wonderful to fill my house with fresh flowers on a weekly basis. I would have arrangements scattered throughout my home so everywhere I looked, I'd have a bit of hope in midwinter.

Until then, I have three beautiful arrangements, left over from the event, that I get to enjoy. A little piece of springtime.

(Perhaps I'll have to plant several flower gardens for the sole purpose of cutting! I'll have to think about that one!)

Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?

Keeping Money

We work well with cash. I know this isn't typical for many people, but when we budget and take expenses out in cash we tend to spend less. The way how it works is simple, we withdraw the cash for food or other expenses and once the money is gone it's gone. For us this means no extra spending and we stick with our budget.

My only problem is keeping the money separated for the different expenses. I started using the envelopes that the bank gives with the cash back, but found they fall apart after a few months.

So today I created new money envelopes.

I unfolded the bank envelope and traced it on scrapbook paper. Once cut, I protected it with contact paper. A little super glue to keep it all together and a magnet for closure and I now have several new money envelopes!

Body after Baby--Week 3

I'm actually a little excited to write this blog post about my progress. Let me say that I've had some great changes and I'm looking forward to more. On Sunday I weighed myself and I have lost 2 pounds! But that is only a small portion of it. I have lost enough that I now wear a size smaller pant which means that more of my pre-pregnancy clothes are available to me. It certainly was a happy day!

Last weeks Body after Baby Challenge was " How many days a week can you do some physical activity? Going on a walk or run, hitting the gym, swimming laps, doing a workout DVD. Can you reach 5 or 6 days of exercise for at least 30 minutes?"

Last weeks goals were to:

• Do something active every day! Workout video with friends, walking, dancing with Livy, Yoga with my husband, etc. I want to continue to do several active things in a day.
• Plan a healthy menu and go grocery shopping. (I dislike grocery shopping but it needs to be done!)

How I did:

• Wednesday: Workout with my friends--20 minutes
• Thursday: Fast-paced walking for over an hour--roughly 3 miles. Dance workout that totally kicked my butt! 50 minutes
• Friday: Workout with friends-- 25 minutes
• Saturday: Busy day--didn't do any actual workouts
• Sunday: Rest
• Monday: Workout on my own-- 20 minutes
• Tuesday: Fast-paced walking--3 miles over an hour. Dance workout 45 min

This Weeks goals are going to be a repeat of last weeks goals. I need to remain active on a daily basis (this is a lifelong goal) and plan healthy meals. One of my problem areas is snacking! I get hungry the same time every day at 3:30p and 8:30p and need a little snacking. Since I am exclusively breastfeeding, I need the extra to keep my supply. My problem is that I am usually tired at these times too so I typically don't take the time to make a proper snack. Too often I grab a bag of Livy's fruit snacks, handful of crackers or frozen cookie dough to munch on. I have made a list of healthy snacks that I need to first keep the ingredients on hand and second post it on the fridge so when I need to nibble I know what to get. (I have taken several of these from Joy's Life Diet book.)

• cheese with 10 raw almonds
• string cheese with a piece of fruit
• cream cheese with celery sticks
• cottage cheese with fruit or veggies
• yogurt with fruit
• peanut butter with fruit
• 1 slice toast with peanut butter
• fruit
• turkey rolled with lettuce and mustard
• pita with hummas
• hummas with veggie slices

Linking up to Body after Baby Challenge at Mama Notes

The Best Crepes

Photo from Image Source

One of my goals for the year is to entertain every month. Since I'm still trying to get back into the swing of life after bed rest and a new baby, I decided it would be best to do desserts in place of a full dinner party. There was plenty of time to chat with friends instead of worrying about a complete meal and clean up.

I served homemade crepes with a variety of toppings. Some crepe toppings were new to me, but oh so delicious! Some favorites that night were: Nutella, strawberries, peaches, plenty of whip cream, honey with nuts, various jellies and chocolate syrup.

After testing a few crepe recipes, this was my all time favorite! (The ones we had in Paris are my absolute favorite but this recipe came very close!) It came be found in The Sweet Melissa Baking Book.

Mom's French Pancakes

1 1/2 cups whole milk

4 large eggs

1 tsp canola oil or melted butter, plus more for the skillet

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1. In a blender, combine the milk, eggs, and oil and pulse for a few seconds to blend. Add the flour, sugar, and salt and pulse again until the batter is smooth. Do not over-mix. The batter should be the consistency of heavy cream. For the best results, let it rest covered in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or overnight before using.

2. Preheat a 12-inch skillet. Rub the pan with a few drops of oil. Repeat between pancakes if the skillet looks dry. When the skillet is hop, pour about 1/4 cup of batter into the pan (I found I needed more for my pan), then quickly pick up the pan and swirl the batter around, aiming for a round shape.

3. When the surface of the crepe looks dry, use a spatula to loosen the edges and flip it, remove from the pan almost immediately.

Vacation on the Mind....again

It seems that about this time every year, late winter/early spring, I start to crave a vacation. Perhaps it's from being stuck indoors all winter that causes me to desperately want to explore someplace new.
On slow days (or while I'm nursing my baby) I often find myself looking at travel websites and "pricing" vacation packages. I would like to think that by some miracle I will be able to do some extensive traveling in the near future.
In recent conversations with friends, I find that I am a little different by not wanting to be a "home-body" or take "vacations" to visit family a short drive away. I am completely okay with this. Personally, I have a need or a burning desire to travel. I want to visit exciting locations, experience other cultures (we do not travel like the typical American!), and expose my children to a love of these things. (I am not afraid to travel with my children to other countries. One of my favorite vacations was to Yucatan, Mexico with Livy when she was 10 months old.)
Since the time that I started penpaling roughly 19 years ago, I have wanted to explore the countries where these friends came from. Later as I studied foreign languages (which I have forgotten) in school, I was exposed to a different aspect of culture. It made me want to travel even more. Sometimes I like to think that there is a reason why I want to travel; that it's more than a mere hobby.
I have a lifetime goal to visit 50 countries. I only have 46 more to see! Perhaps this year I will be able to knock a few off that number.

I have found some fantastic travel deals at Gate1Travel, where all these beautiful photos came from.

Do you love to travel? Do you make it a priority or something that you will do far in the future when kids are grown or you retire?

Body after Baby--Week 2

This past week flew by very quickly and honestly I didn't do as well as I should have. It seemed that I was rarely home last week and when I was home I was preparing for Lucy's Blessing. There were a few days where I hit an emotional threshold that made me want to "pig out". It's times like these that I need to remember why I want to get into better shape, and what is my motivation for doing this.

I don't know if it's motivation or not, but I remember how I was several months after I had my first baby. I liked who I was. I liked that I was wearing single digits and I felt good about myself. I long for those days again. I tell myself that it is going to be like that again and I have to remember that my baby is only 2 months old. These things take time! I understand that and I'm okay that I didn't lose any weight this past week. I do love that I'm being active.

I think during a weight lose period that motivation changes. Right now I am motivated to fit into my old clothes. Seriously I have one pair of pants that fit and I'm sure my friends think I wear the same thing everyday. In a way I kind of am, but I promise it's gets washed OFTEN! I'm sure my motivation later will change.

So how well did I do?

• Last Wednesday-- Did a workout video with friends
• Thursday--Dance Workout Class
• Friday--nothing official but cleaned house
• Saturday-- Finished cleaning house and completely exhausted preparing for Sunday's party
• Sunday--Rest
• Monday--Sick Baby, survived the day with 2 hours of sleep
• Tuesday--Walked Several miles--1 1/2 hours

This weeks goals and plan

• Do something active every day! Workout video with friends, walking, dancing with Livy, Yoga with my husband, etc. I want to continue to do several active things in a day.
• Plan a healthy menu and go grocery shopping. (I dislike grocery shopping but it needs to be done!)

I'm heading out to workout with my friends. I am grateful for them because they certainly help keep me motivated!

Linking up to the Body after Baby Challenge