Fathers Day

Fathers Day this year was a fun filled and exciting day. I am so sorry that is has taken so darn long to get it posted!

The day started out rather nice, Jeremy and I were able to sleep in, although both of us got up around 8ish. We spent some time cleaning and getting the apartment ready for company later in the day.

For Fathers Day, Peter, Jeremy's Dad, wanted to go fishing. They called us when they got home from church and we all met up to go spend the day at Silver Lake.
We had a great time, I continued my rein as fishing queen catching 4 fish that day!

Jeremy is pushing to become the fishing prince. It will take a while to earn the rank of king. Sadly, Peter didn't catch anything.

Alice and Peter brought steaks to grill for lunch and a salad, and we brought drinks and chips. The food was wonderful! Cooking on the grill in the rain wasn't so hot though. The coal got too cool, then too hot, luckily Alice likes her steaks well done and doesn't mind more than a bit of char.

We did end up having to move from the lake side were we had a sweet spot for fishing and a table to the pavillion to get away from the rain. It rained off and on all day, we got wet, but still had a lot of fun.

When we left Silver Lake we still had about a half an hour before we had to back to the apartment to get things ready for my dad, so we decided to swing into Peavine Park to do a little bit of fishing by the river. Alice and Peter both loved the spot, and Jeremy has already been back twice to fish there.

We were a little bit late getting back to the apartment so I had to jump in the shower while Dad and Deb where there but that was ok. I had already put the meatloaf in the oven. Potatoes were on the stove to boil, and salad was already made, and the asparagus was just waiting to be cooked.

Joseph and Mel were able to come for dinner and with some cards, a little Ice Road Truckers, Dad was smiling from ear to ear all night. He especially liked that the meatloaf had "crunchies" in it and that both of his kids were there to celebrate him. Sadly I didn't think to take the camera out to get any pictures.

The night ended with a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich and it was time to veg out on the couch and start the new week.

*** Hannah's Meatloaf ***
(This recipe serves 8)

Preheat the oven to 350*

2 lbs ground burger
1 medium onion diced
1 pepper diced (any color)
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 egg
1/4 can of condensed tomato soup
1/4 to 1/4 cup oatmeal (more or less, you want it to stick together but not be too dry)
1 TBS butter
1 TBS olive oil
salt and pepper

Saute the onions, peppers, and garlic until soft. Mix the burger, egg, soup, oatmeal, salt and pepper together, mix in the sauted veggies. Spoon into loaf pan or form into log on cookie sheet.

Bake until internal temperature reaches 140* - 160*

Habits...

Why are habits so hard to form? And others so hard to break?

I have never been able to really form a good habit for myself. I love to eat healthy and love to be outdoors and active, yet I also love to eat junk and veg out in front of the TV. I do know that some of the habits have taken years to develop and that it will take time to break them and learn develop new ones, but its remembering to do something on a daily and weekly basis that always throws me for a loop.

My weight is a struggle for me. I am completely comfortable with who I am, but know that my weight is not healthy and is going to lead to problems in my future. I want to do all I can to avoid diabetes and asthma as well as heart problems and anything else that can happen being overweight. Knowing I want to be healthier would seem to be the best motivation to keep a healthy life style, but somehow I always end up falling a step back for every step and a half I make forward!

I cook and eat healthy, although I do have a problem with portion. I seemed to have killed my off switch through years of emotional/boredom eating. My head will get wrapped around the idea I am still hungry and so eat a bit more I do. Sometimes I can get interested in something after I eat the first serving and can forget about food long enough for my body to recognize and tell me it is actually satisfied, but that can take upwards of an hour.

I love to exercise and be active, getting out the door is the hard part though. I can have all the best of intentions, but unless I get out the door, they don't do me any good. I had friends in college who would be able to get me out the door to exercise but would soon tire of working out with me because I would just go and go and go.

I was at my most fit in highschool when I was attending Tae Kwon Do 2 - 4 days a week. I had achieved my red belt and was working towards my high red belt when I was in a car accident. Do to my injuries, although small, I was unable to participate and slowly stopped attending. I was also working as a lifeguard and swimming instructor, which helped keep me active and I was able to swim and work in the pool even with my injuries. Luckily at the time I was teaching a higher level class who didn't need to be hands on. In college I become a water aerobics instructor and would get a workout 3 times a week or more because you did the moves along with the class, only standing on water. When college ended, I kept that up for a year or so, but soon moved away and let all of my credentials expire.

I can go for bike rides, hikes, and while I might huff and puff, I am the little engine that could. I don't stop, ok thats not true, I take breaks, but I don't quit. I keep going until I reach the goal, whatever that might be, however challenging it might get. I just lack the motivation to get out the door!

Thinning out the garden... YUM

This past weekend Jeremy and I spent time with Mom working on the gardens. We managed to get a fence up around one of the gardens as the chickens just would not stay out of it. We had to plant the squashes a 2nd and 3rd time because of the chickens getting into it! We had just the right amount of fencing to enclose it, which was nice to not have to try to figure out what else would keep them out. The rest of the squash got planted so hopefully we don't have to try to replant everything again.
Once that project was done it was time to break for lunch. We had some fresh greens from the garden, we thinned the carrots, onions, parsnips, beets, chard, and lettuce, along with lettuce from the farmers market, egg salad with eggs from Mom's chickens, and homemade pickles! Even the bread we used to make the sandwiches was made just one town over. It felt so good to be eating locally. Holy YUM!

Planting Potatoes & Making Scarecrows

Finally getting some pictures from our gardening adventures posted! We spent one afternoon making scarecrows for some of the gardens. It was a beautiful day and they came out great. They really added to the gardens, making them feel ready for all summer has to bring.







Another project was planting potatoes. We have never planted potatoes before so this was an experiment. Newspaper, hay, and pro-grow were all needed to start the potato beds. So far so good, although we need more sunshine!

Quilt Squares

The 9 Patch Crazy Quilt is coming along nicely! I was finally able to take a few pictures to share.
As I said before, it is being made of fabric that my grandmother either had left over from quilts she had made or had made to go towards a new quilt. There are wonderful blues, purples, pinks, greens, and neutrals.


These are 5 of the twelve stacks cut and sewn together. Each stack is comprised of 9 squares and when cut, there are 9 different crazy patch squares. While some stacks are very similar, there are no 2 stacks that are exactly the same.

Operation Beautiful

Today I did something I have never done before. I left an anonymous post it with a note on it in the bathroom. It says "You are beautiful." I am hoping to life someones spirits and make them feel good!

I did it in support of Operation Beautiful. Operation Beautiful is something Caitlin over at Healthy Tipping Point started.

The goal of Operation Beautiful is to end Fat Talk. Fat Talk is very toxic! As Jillian Michaels said, "Fat talk is transcending.... It affects your reality and damages you professionally, personally, and physically."


Here are a few tips Caitlin offers for ending Fat Talk:
Don't compare your body to others.
Appreciate your body for what it can do.
Turn a negative into a positive. Instead of "I'm stocky," try "I'm strong!"
Never Fat Talk in front of your kids or friends.

9 Patch Crazy Quilt

I am getting very excited about my quilt. It is really starting to come together. After looking through a bunch of fabric my grandmother gave me when she stopped working on quilts due to her eye sight, Jeremy's sister Mary helped me pick a pattern so I didn't have to go buy fabric. It totally rocks, I only have to buy batting and backing.
The 9 patch crazy quilt is going together quickly and I have only been working on it for a total of 4 nights, including cutting. I cut 12 stacks of 9, each stack being a bit different from the next if only in one square, and will make a 90" by 120" (approximately) quilt when finished. Everything except the backing is cut out, and I already have 4 of the 12 stacks cut out.
It won't take but a few more nights to finish cutting and sewing the stacks into crazy patch squares then I can looking at arranging it and sewing it together!

Skippity Do Da....

With the weather finally getting warm outside, all I want to do is be outside. Nothing wrong with that at all, except I started a project that I want to get finished! I am making a quilt, and it was the perfect thing to fill the cold and dreary rainy nasty days we have been having for the last few weeks.
I am looking out my window at the sun and blue sky and wanting more than anything to be outside enjoying it. I want to get into the gardens up at Mom's pulling weeds and planting more lettuce and chards. I want to get on my bike and ride. I want to go to the river and fish, although a lake or pond will do!
I would even be content sitting outside with a book or a magazine, but something outside. Why do I do these things to myself?
It needs to be nice on weekends, Thursdays, and it can mix it up the other days. Wednesdays I want rainy and dreary, so I can work on my quilt. Is that too much to ask?

I love long weekends!

This weekend has been awesome!

Friday night Jeremy surprised me and took me to the drive in. He made sure to hang on to a bit of money from his previous paycheck so he could take me out. Not that hanging onto $14 to get into a double feature is very challenging :-)
Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Fired Up were playing and worth every penny! Paul Blart was a mall cop who got his chance at the big time in saving his mall when it was taken hostage by a group of thieves. Jeremy and I both laughed until our sides hurt, especially over his mini video on his segway.
Fired Up was your typical cheerleader movie, good team always placing last versus top teams, only there is a twist. Two boys who are only after tail sign up for cheerleading camp and end up loving the sport. There is also the requisite boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, girl avoids boy, then girl falls in love with boy, happily ever after.
We packed some blankets, a snack, and some iced tea and curled up on the grass with a radio. It was the perfect night.
Saturday we went fishing and for a cookout with Jeremy's parents. They had never been up to McIntosh Pond in South Royalton and it turned out to be the perfect place because we were able to have sun, shade, privacy, a great fishing spot, and it was a wonderful day. Burgers and dogs were cooked on the grill. Jeremy caught two pumpkin seeds, I caught a pumpkin seed and a dace. That was the extent of our catches for the day but it was still pretty exciting.
Sunday we did a bit of gardening with Mom, and I spent the afternoon feeling yucky! Not even a large glass of fresh veggie juice could get me feeling ok. We have almost everything planted finally. We will go back into the gardens and plant more chard and more lettuce because it grows so quickly and we want several harvests out of it.

Baby Chicks and Sweet Pickled Watermelon Rind

About two weeks ago the hatchling that was beginning to stretch its legs in the big bad world was killed! My moms dogs got ahold of the chick and played with it, ultimately ending its little life. It was really sad, and Mom was super pissed at the dogs, which I totally can't blame her for.
Sweetie, momma chicken, is sitting on a new batch of eggs, so hopefully we will get another baby chick or two.
This past weekend was also the arrival of our meat chicks and a few new layers. There were 35 chicks in all, 10 of them going to a friend of Mom and Lynda's.
On the other end of the spectrum is the garden, which is getting closer and cloesr each day to being fully planted. There is only 2 gardesn left to plant, the other 4 are completely planted, along with the seperate potato patch! YAY!
The strawberrys look awesome, we layed down newspaper and hay in between the rows to help keep the paths clear. As they have started flowering, we are pinching all but a few buds this year so that the energy is spent on the roots and the offshoots.
It was a busy day as Mom and I also prepped watermelon rind to make Sweet Pickled Watermelon Rind. She had two bags of rinds to be trimmed, and it was perfect for making a half batch. All of the fruit, the pink, had to be trimmed away, as well as the green part of the rind. We set them to soak in a salt water brine over night.
The next day at work, Mom surprised me with a jar of the pickles. She finished them Monday morning and boy were they super tasty!!! They were a little less sweet than what I buy in the store, a bit more clovey/cinnamony, but oh soooo good. I can't wait to wrap them in bacon for an appetizer, dice them up and serve over a baked potato! YUM.

Jumping on the Bandwagon

This past weekend I decided to jump on the bandwagon and give the Green Monster a shot. I have been reading about it on Eat Live Run for several weeks now. I am trying to work on getting better about eating breakfast as well as getting more vegetables into my diet. This seemed the perfect way.
Here is my first attempt:
4 cups spinach
1 frozen banana
1 scoop peanut butter
soy milk
I used my immersion blender and it was a bit more textural than I really wanted, the pieces were small but I could still chew them. Flavor wise it was really good.

My second attempt:
4 cups spinach
1 frozen banana
1 scoop almond butter
1 scoop protein powder
soy milk
I used my moms blender this time and it was nice and fluffy, not textural bits in the smoothie. I really enjoyed the flavor that the almond butter added as opposed to the peanut butter, and the protein powder helped make it thicker and richer.

I can't wait to try it with a few added frozen berries for some extra color nutrients. I might also try adding some ground flax seed.

With all of the protein it kept me full for hours! On top of being so healthy and so filling, it was incredibly tasty to boot, gotta love that.

La Ronde!

The best La Ronde trip EVER! Between timing, the group, and flash pass, we couldn't have asked for a better day.
Ordering tickets ahead of time was key.
Bethany, Beth, Chasity, Kristie, Bridget, and I met up early Saturday morning and made our way across the border to Montreal.
We spent just under 9 hours in Montreal. Most of that time was in the park and we went on so many rides, took an hour lunch, a break for a snack, and were exhausted by the time we left.
Goliath was my favorite ride by far. Bethany and I rode it 4 times, and by the end it was nothing to ride the whole thing with our arms up in the air. The feeling of your butt coming up a little bit and the drop, it was intense and so free.
Can't wait to go again!

Amusement Park Fun

Tomorrow is the girls trip to LaRonde up in Montreal! We are so excited.
I love roller coasters, which is so funny because as a child, I HATED them with a passion, especially ones that went upside down. Now, that is what I am looking forward to the most. I'll have more details to share tomorrow and hopefully some pictures. There will be six of us and the weather is supposed to be wonderful.

I LOVE VOLLEYBALL!

Yesterday was the first Thursday I have been home in weeks that we didn't have rain. That meant it was officially volleyball night.
Jed cuts and sells firewood for a living, because of this he has a great field, the woodlot, that he and his wife Abby have set up a volleyball court. It is such great fun to get together and play.
Quite a few people were there, and had obviously had a chance to play before I had. This was my first night of the season.
I was a bit rusty, but so much fun. I couldn't believe how much my legs hurt this morning when I got up. I guess that is what I get for running around on the dirt in barefeet. I can't wait till next week. I'm planning on grabbing my bike from my Dads, which has been there since Memorial Day, and riding from Randolph to Bethel.

Sad Day

Yesterday was a very sad day. We had to put Cupcake, our 34 year old Morgan, down.
Mom was at home and noticed she was laying down in a very awkward position, she stopped to check on her and she couldn't get up. Mom called the vet, and spent the better part of the day with her, watching her struggle and in pain. As awful as it was, we were all SOOOO glad that Mom was able to be with her. The vet was able to put her down quickly and quietly, and she was in the ground by 2pm.
Iris, our other horse was frantic. She was tearing around the pasture and screaming. She continued on for the evening, winnying and crying, looking for her friend. My heart really went out to her as I was feeling the same way.
Cupcake came to us 15 years ago on a weekend I was away at a marching band event in the seventh grade. I loved taking her for bareback rides with just the halter and a lead rope down the road and through the woods at my Dads. I remember going to meet up with Katy and Gypsie, halfway between her house and mine, for trail rides. She never needed wooden fences or electric fences to keep her in, string worked just fine. I remember one summer I was having trouble catching her, I guess Cupcake just didn't want to go in, and so I asked my brother for help. Wouldn't you know it, she booted him, hard. Joseph had a huge bruise on his thigh for the rest of summer.
She was always willing to go for a ride, ready to jump out of the gate. She was also just as ready to go home, getting a jiggy walk when she knew we were headed back. She loved being brushed, especially rubs and scrubs on the forehead and between the ears. She hated, with a passion, the sadle being put on and the girth being tightened.
Cupcake loved snacks, carrots, apples, popcorn, popsicles, they were all great treats to her. We had to put her in at night because she would eat herself sick on the grass in the summer, and she would gorge herself on grain if the bin was left open.
She was my first horse and I couldn't have asked for a better one. Cupcake couldn't have asked for a better home than she got living with my mom either. I miss you!