happy valentine's day

The sass monster just wanted to wish all you lovelies out there a happy valentine's day.  We're having a pretty good day so far... I successfully made pancakes without burning ALL of them.  We gave Daddy a little 'I love you' robot card that Ryann picked out.  We've wandered around Target and Toys "R" Us and just spent the day as a family.  The hubs is cooking some dinner tonight and we might go out for a little dessert.  Dang near perfect valentine's day if you ask me :o).

And because I always take a million photos at a time, I have a few more Ryann faces to leave you with:







See?  Sass monster.

Hope you're spending the day with someone you love!

snow snow go away

Slowly but surely I'm becoming more adapt and ok with the idea of running outside in the cold.  It really isn't as bad as I thought it would be.  No doubt it helps that we've had a fairly mild winter (which means we are totally screwed the rest of February through the beginning of April, I'm sure of it), but really with the right clothing or gear I almost always get HOT while I'm running.

Things I don't deal with?  Any sort of elements.  Like rain.  Or flipping SNOW.  And temperatures under 10!  Chris has been on vacation since Thursday, and I thought I'd get a couple outdoor runs in before he has to be back at work this Thursday.  But the last time I ran at all?  Was Thursday.  I went pretty much all out on Thursday, 4.15 miles in 36 minutes (8:44 pace).  Friday I did the 30 Day Shred because I couldn't convince myself to go to the gym with the hubby home :o), Saturday I took the 50/50 group fitness class at the gym, and Sunday?  Sunday it was miserably cold out.  So instead of running or hitting up the gym, we went out to brunch with friends.  A good compromise right?

And wouldn't you know it, this morning it is snowing.  We pretty much haven't seen snow all winter, and the few days that I could utilize Christopher to watch Ryann right now, I simply can't make myself get out the door.  The good news is that I'm not currently training for a big race or anything, so I'm not freaking out about missing the runs.  I do feel a bit guilty, but it seems like that is the trend with me right now.  I know I'm not doing everything I could in the health and fitness department, and I feel guilty about it.  But apparently it hasn't been enough guilt to convince me to do otherwise.

I'm trying to give myself a swift kick in the butt though.  Even though I'm not training for a big race, I've got plans for the 5k I want to run the first weekend in March.  Looking at last years results, the top female finisher in my age group finished in 25:33, an 8:13 pace. That almost 5k I did recently?  I finished with an 8:16 pace.  Now obviously there is no telling who will turn out for the 5k this year, how fast they will go, etc.  But potentially I could place in my age division.  Well actually the random site I was looking at claimed the overall top woman's finisher was 25 and finished in 19:14 (ha, never going to happen for me!) so I'm not really sure how to read the results.  But if I ignore that she wasn't included in the age division, I COULD place.

Do you know how insane that sounds to me?  I've always gone to races with the mentality that they are fun, I simply love the atmosphere, I'm not there to win anything.  I've never been fast enough.  And that is completely ok.  But... what if I could win something?  Even if it is just my age division?  Simply typing this all out is encouraging me to go to some sprints on the treadmill (except I don't want to drive in the snow, but the treadmills at the gym are so much nicer than the one in my basement :o).  Must. Get. Faster.

For the record, I really started to like running when I completed a 10k without walking.  I fell in love with running the first time I completed a training run under a 9:30 pace.  You don't have to be fast to like running, but it definitely makes it more fun in my opinion.

 

Sorry for the delay on the link-up, but it should be working right now!  Link up your health and fitness posts :o).

project 366 {week 6}

week in iphone pics

World Nutella Day.  A lovely mama to be.  Post nap beauty.  Bears on the window.  Wonderscope.  Avid reader.  Smiles for grammy.  Goofy girl.  Talking to Papa (and Grammy).  Asking for a mouseketool to get over the rag.  More reading.  A childless grocery run.  Hidden treats in hubby's car.  Shopping for shoes.  Carousel!  Shopped out.  Cheese.  Peanut butter & banana chocolate chip cookies.  Bath hair.  Clementines.  My valentine (+ cake).

Most definitely a good week.  I love when the hubby is on vacation.  Can he always be on vacation?  :)

And the picture of her in a diaper standing by a rag?  Yes, she literally asked me for a mouseketool.  "Mommy!  Mommy!  I need a mouseketool!"  "A mouseketool?  For what?"  "To get over the rag."  "Oh, um, ok.  What kind of mouseketool do you need?"  "A mystery one."

Oh how she loves her Mickey Mouse.

a day in the life - libby

Thanks to an e-mail mix up on my part, poor Libby didn't find out it was her week to share on the blog until Monday.  But she still pulled through and put together a post for you guys!  I figured the kind thing to do would be to give her more than a day, and decided none of you would mind if we didn't share until Friday.  So enjoy a peek into Libby's life!

***

Hi, I am Libby from over at Libby's Life. I am a 29 year-old SAHM mom & wife who loves her boys. James and I have been married for almost 5 years now and we have one son Zane {almost 2} and are hoping to be adding a second little one to the mix soon. I am so excited to be sharing with what a typical day looks like for us. Thank you to Ashley for having me visit her blog.

7:00 - 8:00: Zane wakes up pretty much on the dot every.single.morning. I go in change his diaper and get him up, then we go downstairs and I get him breakfast which is usually cheerios, bananas & milk and we turn on the Disney channel and watch cartoons.

9:00 - 11:00: We play, play, play or if we have a play date we get ready to go meet and then we go have fun either at our friends house or at a fun play place in the area and have lunch while we're out.

11:00 - 1:00 - Nap time. Well sometimes it's shorter and sometimes it's a good two hours {if I am lucky}. During which time I do dishes, blog, watch TV, clean... whatever needs to be done. If we have a play date nap time is later than this depending on what time we get home from playing.

1:00: Lunch time when we're home. Which is usually chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, chicken & rice, etc. {the normal toddler type food} with some kind of fruit like grapes, apples, oranges, etc. My child loves all fruits and veggies so I don't have to force anything on him. Usually the fruit & veggies are what is eaten first.

1:30 - 3 or 4:00: We play, read whatever he feels like doing. Sometimes I'll read my book during this time because he likes to play by himself in the afternoon it seems like... well until daddy gets home that is.

3 or 4:00 - 5:00: Daddy gets home from work and Zane gets very excited and they play. Dinner gets made during this time also it's not usually me who cooks though, my husband is the cook in this family {I am a very lucky girl in that sense!}.

5:00: Dinner time for whatever daddy has made or take out if he's tootired to cook.

5:30 - 7:30: We play or watch TV usually until it's time for bedtime.

7:30: Bath time every other day.

8:00: Bed time it is. He goes to bed at 8 every night and it's the perfect bedtime for him. He goes to sleep pretty much immediately when we put him down every night. It's fabulous!

8:15 - 10:00: My husband and I either watch our TV shows or go and read in bed. My husband has to get up at 4 so we go to bed early in this house and then we wake up and do it all again the next day. ;)


And now the three questions...

1. What is the most surprising thing about being a mom?
I think the most surprising thing to me is that it was easier than I thought it would be {not to say I do not have hard days! That would be a lie}. But as soon as I had my son my life drastically changed and it has been the best thing I've ever done. I always knew I wanted to be a mom but now that I am one I wouldn't want to be anything else, it's the absolute best thing in the world.


2. What advice would you give new or soon-to-be moms?
Don't beat yourself up when you have a bad day. Just remember that tomorrow is a new day and when they're really little they're not going to remember what happened the day before. You will, but if you dwell on it and just keep beating yourself up because something went wrong or not as planned you will miss out on all those great days!


3. What are your top three baby products?
The Boppy pillow. I used it for everything and every single day when he was a baby... he took naps in it, I used it to nurse, and he learned to sit up in it. It was so helpful to plop him down in it and know that he wouldn't be able to roll out and onto the floor.

Sophie the giraffe teether. She was the only teether that he would use, he didn't like the other teether toys we bought for him and hated the ones that you put in the freezer but Sophie was attached to him for months wherever we went.

The Gentle giraffe soother from Cloud B. It has 4 different noises including the mothers heartbeat and an 2  automatic shutoff times. We used it every single night when he was a baby and it was amazing he would be crying and as soon as we'd turn that on he'd immediately calm down and fall asleep. We still have it and we'll occasionally turn it on and it works just the same as it did when he was a itty baby. I highly recommend one of these {they have other animals too & mini travel sizes too, which we have at grandma's house}.

***

Thank you for sharing your day with us Libby!  Sorry about the e-mail mix up!

corn, bacon and potato chowder

Please please please go look at the photo on the site where I originally found the recipe.  It looks much more appetizing, and might make you actually want to make the soup!

I LOVE soup.  A lot.  I'm not sure why but there is just something about it.  Especially more of a creamy soup.  I'm the dork who will be ordering the broccoli cheese soup at Panera in July when it is 102 degrees.  I love soup that much.  I don't think Chris likes soup as much as I do, so we rarely cook it as a meal.  But this had potatoes and bacon in the title, so I figured it wouldn't be too tough to convince him to eat it.

I'll admit, when I first started putting the ingredients together, I thought, ok so I have a whole bunch of vegetables in some hot milk.  Stellar.  I'm sure that will be delicious.  But you know what?  It was.  The corn gives the soup such a nice flavor.  Don't mind the fact that we used frozen corn and not yukon gold potatoes.  I'm sure the yukons would have made the soup even tastier.  I actually wanted more potato in my soup, so maybe throw in an extra as well?  Or one that has just been chopped as opposed to mashed...

This chowder was good enough that our friend Chris, who generally gives vegetables and anything besides pizza or chicken tenders the side eye, ate two whole bowls.  I was astonished!  Did you hear that Jennifer??  Chris pretty much ate two bowls of vegetables.  Impressive!

Overall I highly recommend this dish.  It was incredibly easy to put together (just takes time to chop up your veggies) and was great leftover the next day.  The site also notes you can feel free to use your favorite fresh veggies like asparagus and broccoli instead of (or in addition to!) the red pepper

Corn, Bacon and Potato Chowder
from the Weight Watchers website

Ingredients

• 1 medium uncooked yukon gold potato
• 1/2 cup uncooked celery, chopped
• 1/4 cup uncooked onion, chopped
• 4 pieces corn on the cob, kernels removed with a knife (or 2 cups frozen corn kernels)
• 1 cup sweet red pepper, diced (or 1 cup frozen diced bell pepper pieces)
• 4 oz uncooked Canadian style bacon, diced
• 2 cups fat-free skim milk
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce, or to taste (I omitted this)

Directions

1. Pierce potato in several places with a fork; microwave on high power until tender, turning over once, about 8 minutes.  Allow to cool; peel and mash.
2. Meanwhile, coat a large saucepan with cooking spray.  Add celery, onion, corn and red pepper; saute over medium-high heat for 5 minutes.
3. Stir back and milk into saucepan; stir in mashed potato and mix well.  Season with salt, pepper and hot pepper sauce; stir to combine.  Cover and simmer 10 minutes (do not allow to boil).

Enjoy!

week in iphone pics

This is a wee bit late.  Not like that is anything new.  Whatever.

Um, you guys?  I'm kind of becoming obsessed with instagram.  I've been using the regular camera on my phone, and then uploading the images I want to use a filter on into the app.  It makes it easy for me to take a few snapshots when I want to, and then play around with them later.  And I may or may not overuse the little blur feature.  It just makes the little square pictures so much more fun.  :o)

I don't have much to say about these pictures, just a few snippits from the week.  And again, if you want to follow me on instagram, search thedomesticwannabe.