The Last Ten Pounds – Entry 4: Update

So if you were looking for new posts about the Last Ten Pounds challenge, you noticed that I haven’t mentioned it in awhile. See at first, the holidays were coming. Then, it was the holidays. Then, we had just gotten home and I had a house to put back together. Then, we were super popular and had a ton of playdates. Then, it snowed. Then, I had laundry to do. Then, I needed to buy cat litter. Then, I…well you get the point.

My excuses are getting less and less meaningful. I really didn’t get much done during the holidays, but we did try to get out, and we ran a few times. Since we’ve been home though, I haven’t even seen the gym (!!!). Maybe I’m just waiting for everyone who made a resolution to get back into working out to get over their resolution. Not that I want them to fail. I just want to know I’ll have a treadmill.

My biggest excuse though, is Simon. I hate that, but it is the truth. I started taking him to the gym on a regular basis when he was about 6 months old, because their childcare hours finally fit around his naptimes. I really wanted to get him going early because I was hoping he would get used to the place, the people, and he wouldn’t get terrible separation anxiety. That did not happen. He has horrible separation anxiety.
It isn’t so bad if someone takes me from me and then gives him constant attention, but they don’t always have the staff for that there. So I feel bad leaving him, and making one of them either carry him around the whole time, let him be upset, or have someone come get me to take him home. That last one happened right before Christmas. Its the teeniest bit embarrassing.

Anyway, needless to say, things have not been going well. I’ve been eating a bit better. My plan for eating soup for lunch has been going really well. I haven’t completely cut out sweets, although I haven’t been bingeing on them either. I froze the cookies I made last week. If I keep freezing all this stuff I’m going to need a bigger freezer. But they are so easy to pop out of the freezer and microwave for 30 seconds, and you have a fresh homemade cookie. Probably not what I should be talking about in a post entitled “The Last Ten Pounds” but, it was better than eating the entire batch of cookies over the course of a day or two, so in that, it was a win.

You’ll notice, obviously, that this is a written post, and not a video blog. That is because, I don’t like video blogs. If I go on someone else’s blog, unless I really really like you, I’m probably not going to wait for your video to load. Sorry. I don’t even watch my friend’s Facebook videos (sorry friends). Anyway, I can at least appreciate that people like different things. I don’t mind doing the video blog, so I figured I would put it to popular vote (Vote!  I don’t care if I know you or not, and I won’t know what you’re voting.  You won’t hurt my feelings…unless you don’t vote).

I guess it is time to lose the excuses? I didn’t get to the gym this morning, we had an Army meeting to go to around nap time, so I wanted him to get an early nap, which means no gym. My car wouldn’t start though, so we didn’t end up going. Anywhere. I don’t have any excuses for the rest of the week, but perhaps I just haven’t thought of them yet (I do need more cat litter, actually..). Whenever I do go back, I really hope Simon does okay, because I hate upsetting him so that I can work out. I know it is important for me to take care of myself, but it still feels a little selfish.

Oh, lastly, I haven’t lost or gained any weight, so it is still the last 11 pounds to go.

Anyway, until next time.  Hopefully I’ll be able to update with some actual results.

Yes, Soup for You!

I just don’t like lunch.

Am I the only one?  I feel like I have better things to do than prepare a nice lunch.  I try my best to have enough leftovers, but I always underestimate how much my husband eats (and then takes to work the next morning).  None of my posts ever say “I had this for lunch today”.  Well until now.  

Who doesn’t need a healthy eating kick start at the beginning of the year?  Its not so much the fact that its a new year, rather the result of a steady stream of cookies since Thanksgiving.  My diet itself was not terrible…minus the cookies.  Oh, and if you don’t count lunch.  Often, cookies end up being lunch.  Or I just snack all through Simon’s nap, on whatever I can find.  So sometimes it’s healthy, sometimes it’s not.

In order to keep my lunches on the healthy side, they have to be planned.  My favorite thing to have for lunch?  Soup.  So when we came back from our trip to our parents’ for the holidays, I went out and bought the ingredients to make a whole bunch of soup.

On Sunday, I make a big pot of soup, then freeze most of it.  I keep out enough for three or four days worth of soup for lunch.  Inevitably there are a few days where I either have leftovers, or we have a playdate and aren’t home.

So far I’ve made both Creamy Bean Soup:

And Garlic and Greens Soup:

Next up are the Miso French Onion Soup I made for Thanksgiving, and Vegetable Barley.  Yum!  It’ll all be frozen and ready to defrost when I’m in need of a quick lunch.

Let’s face it though, you can’t just have soup for lunch.  At least I can’t.  That’ll still send me to the pantry snacking.  Some days a quick hummus sandwich can accompany, sometimes a salad.  Today I had the salad at the top, some leftover quinoa and edamame with some red onion on some salad greens.  Yummy, and rounded that meal out to hold me over until dinner.  I wasn’t the only one enjoying today’s lunch though, Simon loves some kale.  It was one of the first foods he ever tried, and he has always loved it.

Garlic and Greens Soup works for the baby too!  He likes getting a loaded spoon with thicker soups on it too, like the Creamy Bean Soup.

Hope you all are having a great Monday and getting back into the swing of things.  Anyone else love having soup for lunch?  What is your favorite soup recipe?

Blogdentity

I know that it doesn’t matter. It is my blog, and it is whatever I want it to be. And thus far it has been. But as I’ve been getting more into the food related posts the past few weeks, I’ve found myself wondering what exactly the identity of my blog is.

There are posts about:
Food
Running
Natural Parenting
Cats
Absolutely Nothing
Weight Loss
Knitting

All in all, its kind of just a big mess. To be honest though, that is pretty reflective of my life at the moment – a big mess. Not in a bad way, in an “I have a baby who is going to be a year old in a month, and he wants to play, not clean”, kind of a way. Don’t worry, he isn’t growing up in filth…I have a playgroup at my house every week so that I have a reason to clean it. But he might be growing up amongst some unorganized clutter (But I know where everything is, I swear!). That takes a visit from Simon’s Grammy to get cleaned up.

The title of this blog is Oats and Beans and Baby Grow. But I feel like this has become a lot more about Mommy growing, not Baby. When I started writing here, I wanted it to follow Simon being introduced to food through Baby Led Weaning. Included in that, some background, and some “Natural Parenting” posts. And I am doing that. While Baby Led Weaning is great, there isn’t necessarily that much to write about though. So it worked out well, since I seem to have a lot of other things to write about.

I have kept a diary for most of my life, since I was teenager. But when it comes to writing here, I’ve never felt very good at doing more “diary” type posts that some people do, that chronicle their day to day life. But in a way, its broadness, its randomness, and how personal it is, does make feel like diary to me.

So welcome to my diary, that I didn’t know I had. Simon will still be growing here, but Mama is growing too.

And Simon is 11 months old today!

A New Year: Dinner and a Resolution

Who doesn’t love the beginning of a new year? If your last year was great maybe this year will be better! If last year wasn’t great, maybe this year will be! We had a pretty busy but pretty great year this past year. While this year will inevitably be different, hopefully we will still be lucky enough for another safe and happy one.

New Year’s Day is, for us, a day to be celebrated. So while we don’t do much besides an annual Chinese food dinner for New Year’s Eve, we do have family over to celebrate on New Year’s Day.

The menu has always been Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Corn Fritters, Baked Beans, and until a few years ago, Ham. I always had a dislike for ham, so I wasn’t sad to see it leave the lineup. Until this year there was just no “meat” dish, but that spot was filled this year with what is becoming (in my family) the famous nutloaf.

The majority of the people at this dinner were not any form of vegetarian, so I was really a little nervous about serving this. Family can be your harshest critics, and I know some of my family would not hesitate to let me know if it wasn’t to their liking. But it went over really well. Everyone ate it, even the hunters, and most people went out of their way to say it was really good. I’m glad they agree, and we were all able to start off the year with a good meal!

Now that dinner is over, it is time to get started on the resolutions. I did more thinking about this for this year than I have in the past. I know many people starts the year with fitness goals, but I’ve already set goals for that.

I decided that I wanted a resolution that I would stick with, and that I would have fun doing. So I actually have two resolutions this year: To bake bread, and to learn to crochet.

Baking Bread: I was at a brunch with some other Army wives a few weeks ago, at a place with really good beer bread. Talk turns to how much better homemade bread is, and one girl scoffs that she always makes their bread, she never uses store-bought.

Really? Maybe her husband doesn’t eat as much bread as mine, because making all of our own bread is not an option for me. But at the same time, I’ve actually never made bread. I’m not talking about quick breads or sweet breads; banana bread doesn’t count here. I’m talking good old sandwich bread. So while I’m sure we will buy plenty of bread as well, I am going to try to bake a new bread at least every month.

Learn to Crochet: I already know how to knit, and I personally prefer the look of knitted objects. But every once in awhile I happen upon something that is crocheted that I would really like to make. Things like cute little owls:

Or flower embellishments:

I have a few things I want to make this year that I know would benefit from a crocheted flower, so I’m pretty excited about this resolution! Plus knitted patterns often contain a crocheted detail or two and I don’t want to have to discount those patterns because I don’t know how. I think the real challenge here is taking away what would normally be knitting time to learn.

New Years resolutions are almost always about bettering ourselves, and learning something new is a great way to do that! Additionally, these resolutions will create some yumminess and fun in my life.

I am looking forward to 2012! Happy New Year everyone!

Sometimes, I Run

We’ve been at my parents’ house for a few days now. They got a treadmill a few weeks ago, so I’ve gotten to use that. But this is also home my favorite outdoor running route. There are lots of hills, some that I just plain refuse to run, but I have ran this route so many times over the past 5 years or so that I’ve been running, that it is not only great for the familiarity, but it is a great gage of my general fitness level.

I stepped outside with my husband on Christmas Eve, breathed in that chilly winter air, and started making our way down the pavement. After the past week of rushing around buying ingredients, eating cookies, packing, wrapping, and definitely not working out, being outside, to run, was such a great feeling.

The run itself – was okay. It is about a 3.25 mile loop, and the last 0.25 is up up uphill, then uphill some more, and I was content to walk that this time. We were just happy to be outside.

But, that was the last that I’ve run. I much prefer to run outside, even, dare I say, especially in the cold. Christmas Eve was 3 days ago though, and I haven’t gotten outside again, or been able to use the treadmill anymore. I keep telling myself that we will run more at my in laws’, whose house we leave for tomorrow. We will just have to wait and see if that is true.

This has me thinking today, about what makes someone “a runner” vs. “someone who runs”. In the end, I couldn’t really come up with any definition, although I could think of examples. There is no quantifying measure, not in your mileage, not in your shoes, not in the accessories you’ve acquired for the sport. So I could call myself a runner, but I just don’t feel it. Sometimes though, I run.

I like running because it is easy. You put on shoes, you walk out the door. No fancy outfit, no racquet to carry, no bike to maintain. I don’t like running because it is hard. I’m not naturally good at it. It is work for me to not be huffing and puffing. I love running because when I do work hard to improve at it, is when I am the most fit. I hate running because…it is hard! I know I’m not the first to say it, but I definitely have a love-hate relationship with running.

Right now, I am trying to focus on my third point there. It is when I run regularly that I am rewarded with looking, but more importantly, really feeling my best. The haze of Christmas is lifting, and while I keep us busy and there is always an excuse, I feel an internal momentum that this week is the time to get back on track. Since Simon was born, I’ve yet to really get back to being myself, and I feel like that time is now. So I need to follow through on taking the responsibility to do that!

I’ll start tomorrow.

The Last Ten Pounds – Recap

So, I am feeling the Christmas crunch.  Like all my favorite shows, I’m running repeats this week!  If you missed any of the past three episodes, here are some links:

Episode 1:  Introduction

Episode 2:  Goals

Episode 3:  The Scale

Next week we will be driving around a lot, visiting family, but I still think I should be able to get a new episode in!  And everyone knows keeping up with the last ten pounds is the hardest at Christmas, so at the very least…updating will keep me honest!

Countdown to Christmas:  5 Days!

The Last 10 Pounds – Episode 3: The Scale

The Marine Corp PFT Standards
I thought this question might come up. First, I am not male, and second, I am 27, so why I am I trying to meet the standards set for a 17-26 year old male? First off, this is the absolute bare minimum you need in order to pass. Not to excel. The numbers I would need to excel either the male or female test are currently too lofty of a goal. But the minimum for the female is pretty much where I am now. Anything in between seemed arbitrary, and I wanted something more concrete. This minimum for younger males seems just hard enough to be attainable for me. I know if I put in some work, I can do it!

Being Bored

I’ve been missing the feeling of being bored. I blame Pinterest. Especially when I find things like this:

Homemade Buttons? I love Buttons! If I had more free time or maybe if I just managed my time a little better, I could do stuff like this again.

Except…I never did stuff like this when I did have time. But then, there wasn’t Pinterest then. From baking adventures, to cute dresses, to house decorations, there is always a picture of something showing me how much cool stuff I could have if I only had the time. Another great example:

Cute skirt, a style I love, made from men’s t-shirts. So cool! Pinned! Will I ever get around to it?

Well, that one, maybe. But it’s winter, no need to bother with thinking about skirts now, right?

A quote I like regarding running says: “if you put on your shoes and went for a run when you started thinking about it, you’d be done by now”. Oh so true. And so applicable in most situations. In reality, if I really wanted to get something done, I could. Simon isn’t that demanding [every day].

But it’s just so much easier, and still so much fun to lay on the floor playing blocks with my little man. There will always be time for homemade candy buttons. I’ll just wait until he is old enough to have fun making them with me.

The Last 10 Pounds – Episode 2: Goals

So the plan to do something I don’t want to do has gone pretty well so far….as do all new ideas on the first day.  Today we went to the DMV.  I’ve been putting it off for a few months now.  Of course, we have to go back, because I can never get what I need done at the DMV in one trip.

Anyway, on to the topic at hand today, the second “epsiode” of “The Last Ten Pounds”.

I apologize for looking at the baby monitor about halfway through, and then constantly glancing at it.  He was being a wriggly little guy!

Balance

Laundry, knitting, cleaning, playdates, working out, blogging, sewing, buying Christmas presents, wrapping presents, making appointments, upholding appointments, cooking, making presents, laundry.

I know, I said laundry twice, there is always an opportunity for laundry.

This is a (not comprehensive) list of everything I want or need to get done in the upcoming days and weeks.

There is never enough time for everything, is there?  At the dawn of this upcoming week I have been thinking a lot about trying to find balance in my life.  What is the most important, and how to put some priority to things that I don’t necessarily want to do.  And of course alone time, husband time, and baby time are factored in amongst all of this as well.

I’ve had a couple of projects that I just haven’t been able to get done, and I think it’s really gnawing at me.  I’m going to have less help than usual this week too, so I can’t even see how any of it is going to get done.

Anyway, someone else has been getting much better at balancing than I have.  My goal for this week is to get one thing done every day that I don’t want to do.  For now, I’ll just leave you with hopes that I, as well as you all, can get most of your to-do list done!