V-Day

Valentine's Day was pretty great this year. We didn't have time to put together this Gingerbread Christmas Tree kit I got back in December so we decided to make a Valentine's Tree. I think it turned out much better than our annual gingerbread house usually does. Less room for impatience induced mess. So it was a fun FHE activity with the kids. Brent gave me some beautiful pink tulips, my favorite flowers. Brent's mom volunteered to babysit on Valentine's Day (thank you Cathy!) so we got to go on a date. A valentine's date isn't usually a priority around here so that was pretty cool. We went out to dinner and talked about silly stuff and laughed and laughed, having a great time. It was so nice being out together because it has been a really dreadful, depressing post Christmas winter season for me. I always get kind of depressed in January. Christmas is over, weather is dreary, life is kind of boring. Kind of that seasonal affective disorder I guess. Maybe I need to go sit under a lamp every Saturday through the end of winter. Last year I was able to avoid the whole thing because I had "Election Fever". This year that was all over, of course. So I'd go turn of CNN, often a happy place for me, and all I would see is two senators or pundits arguing about the stimulus thing and how it wasn't going to work and how the whole country and world are going to you know where in a hand basket. There was no love there. Not even from Wolf or Anderson. So the date was a great evening away from everything. We ended it going to see the movie He's Just Not That Into You, which was much better than I thought it would be and one of the better chick flicks I've seen in a while. Brent even liked it.

P90 Wrap Up

Well I did it! I finished Power 90. 90 days and about 78 workouts later, how did it all turn out? I lost 3 pounds! Ha ha! I know, three teeny tiny measly pounds. I was only down two pounds four days ago so I really made up ground in the last couple days. I told my friend Jenn about my two pound loss the other day and she laughed at me. It's okay, the intent wasn't malicious or anything. I reeeeally don't care that I only lost three pounds. After all, at Christmas time I was up three over my starting weight when I was confused into thinking the true meaning of Christmas had something to do with caramel filled chocolate kisses. So, in a way I'm down six and I now have the muscle mass of a 35 year old. Nothing to scoff at there. So I feel like I'm in much better shape and I've stoked the furnace. Last night I was even able to demonstrate some pretty awesome choreography to a High School Musical 3 song ("The Boys are Back" or something like that) which ended with rolling under a bed and jumping out the other side. Okay, I didn't actually do the rolling. Had Noah do it for me.

Remember the vegetarian thing? Well I guess we made it through that. We did cheat a few times. Have you ever tried to eat vegetarian at Applebee's? No easy task there. I really didn't discover many new exciting recipes. Mostly, I just modified dishes I already made. So I still need to work on my quest to eat less processed food. My favorite substitute was throwing in Morningstar Farms Crumbles in everything that would have normally required chicken or hamburger. The hamburger subbing part was easy since we don't really eat that anyway. So it was crumbles in tacos, crumbles in lasagna, crumbles in crazy casserole (Brent's family's recipe, which is basically taco salad with Doritos). Throwing cans of beans in various dishes worked great as well. Remember, fiber is our friend. One thing that was good was baked sweet potato fries. Just slice up some sweet potatoes, coat in a little canola oil and salt and bake for about 30 minutes. So, I'd say we are healthier for it. After about four weeks I stopped jonesing for ice cream- it was a trying time for the family. ;) We didn't give up treats altogether (which may explain the three pound loss in 90 days). Moderation baby, that's the key! I figure if you lose the weight very very slowly, you'll keep it off easier anyway. Eventually, you have to go off a diet so the closer it mirrors regular life (meaning eating healthy in general with treats every now and then) the easier it is to maintain. I'm some sort of guru now, I tell ya. So I think we'll still eat vegetarian at least half the time. It was cheaper too I noticed. Not something to ignore in these times of economic uncertainty.

Here's one more recipe. If you like chili and enchiladas you'll like this:

Vegetarian Enchilada Bake

About 15 corn tortillas
4 cans vegetarian chili (Nalley's works well)
1 medium can enchilada sauce
1 can sliced olives
about 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese

Tear up tortillas. Spray non stick spray on bottom of 9x13 baking dish. Cover bottom of dish with 1/3 of tortillas. Spread 2 cans of chili over tortillas. Spread about 1/3 of enchilada sauce over chili. Repeat layers of 1/3 tortillas, chili and enchilada sauce. Spread the last third of the tortillas, followed by more enchilada sauce. Top with cheese and olives. Bake in 375 preheated oven for about 35 minutes. Top with lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, sour cream, etc. Serve with fruit or whatever. Makes enough for two nights for a family of 5. Actually tastes better warmed up on second night.

How Well Do You Know Your Husband?

These memes are popping up all over facebook. I resisted doing any of them for a while then finally did the "25 random things about me" meme. Almost did it anyway, then I accidentally deleted it before I posted it. So I gave up, decided to stick with putting them on my blog. So here's one:

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? The Office or Colbert Report or Simpsons.

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Ranch, unless it's one of those fruity, nutty salads then whatever vinaigrette comes with it. He loves salads.

3. What's one food he doesn't like? Rare meat.

4. You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order? Water, sometimes sprite. We've both weaned ourselves off of pop over the last few years.

5. Where did he go to high school? West Jordan High School.

6. What size shoe does he wear? 10.

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? He used to collect metal object: keys, nuts and bolts, etc.

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? Those big fat hamburgers at Carl's Jr. (he very rarely eats them though).

9. What would he eat every day if he could? Well he eats the same lunch every day so I guess PB&J, orange, banana, yogurt with flax seed, carrots, nuts and dried fruit. Or maybe a taco salad.

10. What is his favorite cereal? Cheerios.

11. What would he never wear? A sweater vest.

12. What is his favorite sports team? Isabella, Zoe and Noah's soccer teams. He finds watching sports on tv as boring as I do.
(thank you!)

13. Who did he vote for? Duh, Obama.

14. Who is his best friend? Me, of course. :)

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? Neglect the laundry.

16. What is his heritage? Um, some English, German, etc. He also tried to convince me he was 1/4 black when I first met him. Didn't fall for that one, at least not more than a few seconds.

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake? Carrot cake, every year.

18. Did he play sports in high school? Soccer.

19. What kind of music does he like? Some alternative, he loves finding new stuff off of the NPR show "All Songs Considered".

20. *Bonus question. How many monitors does he have on his computer? 3!!!

Guess Who's Six?

Noah turned six on January 12th. He finally got to have his friend party on the 31st. Barely making it in January. The party was fun but exhausting. Ten kindergarteners in my house- Aaaah! Noah had a lot of fun. They had a pinata and played games like pin the tail on the dinosaur and the balloon race. Some of the kids didn't want to do anything but play in Noah's bedroom with his toys. Noah didn't mind so whatever kept them all happy, right?

Little Noah at 1

A big kid at 6

The new wheels

Party fun!

Hippie Freak?

Have I turned into a hippie freak? Last week I realized I officially have one million plastic grocery bags stuffed into a closet. I think it's about a lifetime supply of bags for the bathroom garbage and for Brent to take his lunch to work. I can't bring myself to throw them away or drag them back to the grocery store and shove them all in the recycling thingy. I also can't add anymore to the million I already have so I broke down and bought the reusable grocery bags. So since I bought them I had to talk myself into actually using them so I carried the big stack into Walmart today and stuck them in the cart. After that I was pretty sure everyone in the store was staring at me and my grocery bags thinking derogatory terms (derogatory terms in these parts anyway:) like "hippie!" and "tree hugger" as I pushed my cart past them. It's not so much that those names bug me, besides my hippie cred will always be seriously questioned by the fact that I won't be smoking anything funny anytime soon. I just in general don't like to bring too much attention to myself. Fly under the radar, as I like to say. Okay, I'm sure no one was paying attention too me. It just felt that way and I couldn't help but apologize to the checker for inconveniencing her.
So let's recap. Hippie freak? Let's see, recycling? Check. Vegetarian? (For the moment anyway, probably will only stay semi.) Check. Obama bumper sticker? Check. Reusable grocery bags? Check. Long dresses made of hemp? Check. Stopped shaving? Check. Just kidding on those last two. REALLY. Apparently I'm above average on the shaving anyway, shaving the legs everyday and all. Hate the feel of stubble.

Happy Birthday Isabella!

Isabella turned 11 on the 4th. So this is a bit late but she just had her party a week ago. It was the first big slumber party here. Luckily, everyone was asleep by 12:30 so I'm not totally scared off of having another someday. I love Isabella, my firstborn. My best little buddy and companion when she was little. The sweet little girl who defied all odds with her long blond hair (the long part, not the blond part, of course). Now, she's such a smart, responsible, thoughtful, funny girl. A beautiful girl on her way to becoming a beautiful young woman. Growing up too fast! Isabella loves art, fashion design, reading, music, knitting scarves, her friends and often even her brother and sister. One big wish is to have her own bedroom, but Mom's not sold on that idea yet (it's yet to be established if Mom will ever be, but you never know). She's a blessing in our family, she's a good kid (knocking, knocking, knocking on wood!) and believe me, that's something I do not take for granted!

Reflections-District

Thursday we went to the District Reflections Award Night. She took 2nd in her school in the Visual Arts Category. Finally, I'm able to post a picture! We're so proud of you Isabella!!

President Barack Obama!

This conservative liberal girl is indeed happy and proud today!

I Palindrome I

I've decided I don't have enough stupid pointless stuff on my blog. Yeah, I have some. But is it really enough? And can you have enough? So I don't know why I was thinking about this. Probably because I'm bored (I swear I'm going to go fold the laundry after this). I should be doing a birthday post for Isabella and Noah's birthdays which recently occurred. I'll get to them, there's still more birthday hoopla coming so I'm procrastinating. I don't recommend anyone out there have two kids born withing three weeks of Christmas. So when I was pregnant with Isabella we toyed with naming our kids palindromes (you know words, or names in this case, spelled the same way frontwards or backwards). I've always been a fan of the palindrome, at least as long as I have known what a palindrome is, and of course "I Palindrome I" was a favorite "They Might Be Giants" song back in the early '90s. So it almost worked out for Isabella because Anna was our #2 choice but we ultimately decided Isabella was the name for us and it suits her well so good decision there. Luckily she wasn't a boy because I wanted Bailey, after a character on the '90s drama "Party of Five". Brent would have no part of that, he kept saying the kids would call him Beettle Bailey. As if any child knows who that old newspaper comics character is. But it was a good dodge since there are so many girls named Bailey now. Brent wanted Gabriel, not after the angel or anything close to being sensible. After Gabe Kaplan who played Mr Kotter in the '70s sitcom "Welcome Back Kotter". Not because he loved that show as a kid, just for comedic value. He pictured us dressing our baby up as the guy on Halloween in a little corduroy blazer with a black curly wig and mustache. Apparently we found out Isabella was a girl before we were able to take the boy name thing seriously. So anyway, here is my list of Top 10 Palindrome Names I could have named my kids:

Anna~almost happened
Ava
Ada
Anana~because it means pineapple in French
Elle
Emme~pronounced Emmy
Hannah
Kerek
Level~because it'd be just plain weird
Otto~because J. Otto Seibold is the cool author of the "Mr. Lunch" books and "Olive The Other Reindeer"

Okay, I'm going to do the laundry now.
Seriously.

We're Going Veg!

So I've mentioned to some of you out there that Brent and I are doing this DVD exercise program called Power 90. It's 90 days and we're on day 46. Halfway through, woo hoo! So we did the 1-2 workouts for the first half and now we're moving on to the 3-4 for the second half. They are slightly harder and longer. The first half was during the holidays, of course. We didn't want to worry about the diet during the holidays so now that we're a little in shape and have no excuse to eat chocolate anymore, we're working on the diet. We decided to try out being vegetarians for the last 45 days. Sometimes I think I need to make a major change like that to make it more interesting and easy. Gets the focus off the ice cream (no ice cream is allowed) and onto the veggie diet. I've always wanted to try it out anyway. No, we're not going vegan. We'll still be eating eggs and a little cheese and drinking milk. That makes it a whole lot less complicated.

Thought I'd share our first triumphal vegetarian dinner recipe with you~

Veggie Pasta Salad

1 box Barilla Plus Rotini Pasta, boiled and rinsed (has extra protein and the omega 3s)
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 can whole olives, drained
baby carrots, sliced into quarters and slightly steamed
brocolli, cut up and slightly steamed
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into strips
grape tomatoes, whole or cut in half if you prefer
fresh spinach, torn
italian salad dressing to taste (I used the Good Seasons mix kind)

Toss all ingredients together, sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top, stir.
Refridgerate a few hours.
Makes enough for two nights for a family of five.
Serve with rolls or fruit or whatever.

Good and Pretty!

Update: I'd stir the spinach in right before serving next time, gets really soggy.

Oh, Thank Goodness!

The 16 day weekend is Finally over!
Brent's back at work, kids are back at school. Fun is fun and all, but 16 days is quite enough!