NY resolutions, Week 2

1. Tried 2 new recipes from Pinterest

Easy Carmelized Baked Chicken: This turned out great, if a little on the sweet side. There's enough sauce leftover to use on rice, etc

Beef with Broccoli: Amazing. Just as good as the stuff delivered to our front door

2. Still working on my Pisqu sock. I need to pick up the pace if I want to finish it by the end of the month

3. I still seem to skip a day a week where I don't exercise. But I have been either getting on the treadmill or even hitting the park for some fresh air and exercise. I can see a difference already

And of course, a picture of the babe

 

From the mouths of babes

A slightly rambly post on my clever child.

Last week, on the way to school, S was pointing out all the old bird nests she could see in the trees as we passed by. She informed me that tomorrow the birds would come and lay eggs. I told her that would happen in the spring, at which point she told me that some of the birds would adopt some eggs. Thank you Dinosaur Train. The next thing I know, she's asking whose bellies various family members grew in, all the while putting together the family relationships.

I asked her whose belly she grew in. Smart kid that she is, she announced that "I grew in J's belly, and she took care of me for a few days, and then you and Daddy adopted me into your family".

::swelling with pride::

Tonight she started talking about mommies and daddies. She asked if I could help find her a husband when she grows up. I need to remember with when she's 23! I told her she might find one herself, and she said, "I might have to take some time to choose, because there are a lot of mans in the world." You got that right, kid.

She then proceeded to tell me she needed to find a man as handsome as Daddy. He is indeed handsome.

And just because most of you come here to see pictures of her:

NY Resolution: Week 1

So my new year's resolutions were as follows:

1. Try at least one new Pinterest recipe/project per week
2. Work on at least one unfinished knitting project per month
3. Some as yet undefined exercise resolution, which I decided was going to be at least 10 minutes of exercise a day. Gotta start small, yo.

After one week, here's how we stand

1. I tried apple flaxseed muffins, per this recipe

Verdict: awful. I'm pretty sure flour needed to be added somewhere in there, but I was a good little soldier and followed it to the letter. After 25 minutes of baking, I had squishy, soggy muffins that went into the trash. J was disappointed.

2. I decided to work on my second Pisqu sock, to match the one I already made.

Verdict: so far, so good. I had to rip back several rows, as I dropped a stitch making a fancy braid. But I'm still plugging along.

3. Pretty much anything went in this category

Verdict: I've only missed one day of exercise. I made up for it by building a snow fort with S the next day. And J set up the treadmill again. I can head down to the basement throw in some laundry, fire up the Smartphone, and do an interval circuit.

So all in all not a bad week so far. I have a chicken recipe from Pinterest that I'm going to try tonight. I expect it will go better than the muffins. I plan to work on the sock during S's naptime today (and maybe at sit n knit on Friday). And there's a high-intensity short training module I want to try this weekend. It's scientific, y'all!

And since most of you come here to see pix of the babe, here she is, freezing her butt off in Newport with Daddy and Grania.

Such small things

I just realized yesterday that S is tall enough to turn the light switches off and on. She wanted something from the dining room yesterday, so she just breezed in, turned on the light, and got what she wanted. No asking me for help, no crying that it was too dark in there.

She's getting so big

Thinking about New Year's resolutions

Might as well start early, right? And I figure if I post this in a blog, someone will hold me to it. I'm trying to make the reasonable, hence more attainable. So far I have:

1. Try at least one new Pinterest recipe/craft per week
2. Finish at least one unfinished knitting project per month (this will help when I'm left with nothing but large or complicated projects to finish)
3. I need to add someone do-able as far as exercise goes. I'm open to ideas!

National Adoption Awareness Month!

Yep, November is on us again. This year I want to share a link to a great blog series that takes place each November. It's a collection of essays by those touched by adoption: birthparents, adoptees, adoptive parents, you name it. Some are sad, some are angry, some are uplifting, just like life, and adoption, can be. Enjoy!

http://www.chicagonow.com/portrait-of-an-adoption/2013-30-adoption-portraits/

Cape vacation!

Nana and Tapa came to visit from California. Almost as soon as they touched down, they were off to Cape Cod. S and I joined them for the weekend.

Friday was blustery and rainy, and I didn't think any of it could be salvaged. We headed out to the Cape anyway and hoped for the best. By dinnertime it looked like this:

 

 

The Marshside Inn was perfect for our needs. Excellent view, as you can see. 4 blocks from the house my parents were in. And they had dolls. Maybe a dozen, each with their own hairbrush and a toy seat that clipped on to the table. Any child who wanted to play with one got it for the duration of their meal. And if dolls aren't your thing, there was a chest full of toys. Genius, I tell you.

 

Saturday didn't look much better in terms of weather, but we decided to drive to Provincetown anyway. As we drove into the town center, the clouds parted.

 

 

 

 

S, being a secret Californian, wanted to "dip my toes in the ocean". In November. Fine, they're your toes, kid.

 

 

I could look at that picture all day.

 

She posed a few more times, with Nana and Tapa, and at the Provincetown Monument

 

 







 

 

When we got home, we got all dressed up for my early birthday dinner. Someone sure does rock a panda dress

 

 

 

Dinner was great, even though S didn't much like all the fancy grown up food. She was ordering the server around like he was her own personal chef.

 

Sunday dawned cold and cloudy, but we didn't let that deter us. We found a nice little place for lunch, and S decided she wanted to be the photographer. Pretty good for a 3 year old, no?

 

 





 A good time was had by all, and we enjoyed our visit with Nana and Tapa