Photo Friday

** Every Friday, I will post a picture from our life.... enjoy! **

Holly and Sarah at Day 1 of swim lessons, Jacksonville, Florida, July 2011

We made lemons into lemonade last summer.  An unexpected trip to Florida to visit ailing family wound up with us enrolling the girls in swimming lessons at the local pool.  Two weeks later, we were able to proclaim them swimmers! 

The Rest of the Snow

It's thawing outside and the snow is melting/melted.  Finally.  We made the most of the white stuff and had some fun while it was here...  Here's all what we did:

How deep did it get?  Here are before and after photos for our kimchi pots. 

Now you see them...  now you don't.  They are still on the ledge but are completely covered!

Sarah went out to "test the waters." She confirmed it was deep and cold.

What we did to entertain ourselves.... 

We painted the snow with food coloring and a spray bottle

We played in the snow with our neighbors

We put our ramp building skills to the test to help the girls sled down the driveway. 

Did you lose power?

Yes, we lost power for about four days...  but we had fun with flashlights and camped out in front of the gas stoves. 

We also escaped to places that had power to just get out of the house...  We took the girls to the Tacoma Children's Museum and played for hours.

 And when we got home, the power was back on.  This morning it was back to normal, with the kids going to school, Ronnie going to work, and me putting the house back together. 



52-Week Challenge: Week Four

Is everyone feeling healthier?  I had my reservations about moving more than I do now, but with Snowmaggedon, I didn't have an issue getting more exercise into my day.  Two days of shoveling snow, pulling kids on sleds, and moving around just to keep warm definitely upped my daily movement last week.  This week I plan to continue with some of the other ideas I had posted last week.  On to week four then shall we... 

Week four's focus is on food journaling.  Simple thought process: how can you change what you eat if you have no idea what it is you put in your mouth on a daily basis.  How can be sure that you are getting the right mix of nutrients?  How sure are you that you eat 2,000 calories a day (or whatever your calorie intake goal is).  Journaling what you eat and how much of it is the key to answering all of these questions.  There is scientific proof that journaling your food intake can double weight loss efforts and can be directly linked to maintaining a healthy weight. 

Here is where I fess up, because what is more private than my confession on the internet right???  Tracking food isn't necessarily the easiest thing for me to remember to do.  Actually, I do really, really good for days, sometimes weeks, at a time.  Then something gets in the way and I don't do it for a day.  Then that day turns into two, then into a week, and before I know it, I've gained weight.  So to keep me accountable, I have been back with Weight Watchers since Thanksgiving.  Nothing pisses me off more than to see money go down the drain.  Accountability to the money spent and make it money spent well has been a kick in the pants for me.  

One of the big things I have changed is meal planning.  I plan out dinners every week.  That way my food budget and shopping stays in line, I have everythign on hand, and we aren't left scrambling for dinner nightly.  The payoff for me personally is that I know exactly what I will eat for dinner and put those calories in first thing in the morning.  Then I know what I have to work with for the rest of the day.  I'm on Pinterest and post my meal plans there if you want to peak at what's gracing our dinner table.    http://pinterest.com/cmoliver1019/meal-planning/

There are so many different options out there for food journaling, it's almost ridiculous and definitely overwhelming.  Weight Watchers isn't the only name in the game and there are several free resources you can tap into this week.  Below, I've pasted some of my preferred trackers as well as links to information on "how-to's."   

And of course, I fully expect to see everyone's journal next week.  I kid -- I kid :) 

So sharpen those pencils and let's get going....


Other resources:

The book we're following: http://www.amazon.com/52-Small-Changes-Healthier-ebook/dp/B0056J4ER0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1325722556&sr=1-1

Jenn's blog: http://thewoogies.blogspot.com/search/label/52%20Small%20Changes
Printable Food/Exercise Journal: http://www.webmd.com/diet/printable/food-fitness-journal

Tips for Journaling:  http://www.recreation.ucla.edu/iworkout/insidepage.aspx?uid=de9e5a4b-90e2-4dba-916b-9fe4cac7dc83

Online Jornaling: 
SparkPeople - http://www.sparkpeople.com/landing_short_v5.asp?gclid=COSik-345q0CFQWDhwodAhyzTQ

My Fitness Pal - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

Photo Friday

** Every Friday, I will post a picture from our life.... enjoy! **

Sarah enjoying the snow, Osan, Korea, January 2010

We had record snowfall that day.  From the Korea Times, “The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said 25.8 centimeters of snow had fallen in Seoul, breaking the previous record of 25.6 centimeters set on Jan. 28, 1969. Weathermen said that the snowfall was the largest amount recorded in the capital since data were first collected in 1937.”  And we had a blast playing in it!!!

Sweet Or range Mar mal ade!!!!

That one is for you, Kim G.  :)

About a week or so ago, I bought a box of oranges from our Bountiful Baskets CSA.  Ronnie brought them home and then proceeded to needle me about my plans for the 35+ pounds of oranges we now had in the fridge.   I looked at him and said I was going to make some orange marmalade.  But first I needed to learn how to can. 

A few days ago I made some apple butter and tried out my hand at canning.  I did all the research I could about how to can. What I found is if you can boil water, you can preserve food.   The apple butter I made was really yummy.  Then I went one step further and put them in the water bath, just like my Southern Living cookbook and Ball handbook told me too.  To my surprise, all four half-pints sealed up nicely. Score one for the novice. 

With my confidence built, I set about looking for the right orange marmalade recipe.  There are so many out there but they are all just a little different.  Some use pectin, some don't; some want you to use a candy thermometer, others just want you to look and watch; some are all orange recipes, others mix citrus.  I settled on the recipe from the Southern Living cookbook using a technique I found on the internet.  Then it was just on to finding time. 

Well, we're in Snowmageddon, Ronnie is home from work, and cooking oranges makes the house smell divine so is there a better time than now?  We peeled, sliced, diced, cooked, strained, and boiled our way to success so far as we can tell.  We can't declare victory just yet because it takes a while for marmalade to set up, a minimum of two weeks so far as I can tell from my research.  But it sure was tasty - tangy and a bit sweet.  Just like we like it!  

Bubbling away (left), cooling after processing (right - my apple butter is there too)

 
Next was to fill and process the jars.  We had enough for four half-pints plus a bit for the fridge.  We put them in the canner and all but one sealed up.  No big deal, we just stuck it in the fridge. 

Making marmalade does require using some of the peels, but not all.  So, we made orange peel candy out of the rest of the peels.  The girls helped chop up the peels and in no time we had a tasty treat for our pantry as well as some orange-infused simple syrup. 

 

Tasty byproducts 

All in all it was a successful morning!  And we have some spreadable sunshine waiting for us in our pantry.  I just have to be patient enough to let it gel. 


More info on making your own:

Orange/Citrus Marmalade recipe:  http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-citrus-marmalade-50400000109479/  

Orange Peel Candy:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/candied-orange-recipe/index.html

USDA site for canning:  http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html

fu·tile [fyoot-l, fyoo-tahyl]

adjective

1.  incapable of producing any result; ineffective; useless; not successful: Attempting to clear the driveway was futile.

2.  trifling; frivolous; unimportant.

 

So, I shoveled the driveway yesterday.  We have a very long driveway but I did it in about an hour.  I removed most of the snow-slushy mess so we wouldn't have a sheet of ice when we did decide to venture out.  That path is wide enough for my SUV to fit down, plus I shoveled a path for Ronnie to park his car in the garage..  Pretty darned proud of myself considering I didn't grow up shoveling snow. 

 

And then we woke up this morning to about 8" of snow that fell overnight.....  

 

 

Like a friend of mine suggested, looks like I have some more work to do.  

Snowmageddon Crafting Day

We have snow! We've spent our MLK weekend playing in it, building a snowman and having snow ball fights.  It's been a lot of fun...  but what do you do when you wake up to:

1 - more snow on the ground;
2 - school being cancelled;
3 - the forecast looking like this:

and 4 - two kids who have been "together" for three days straight?  Well, I declared yesterday and today crafting day for us.  Holly needed to complete a recycling project for Girl Scouts, and I had a few things in mind for that plus all the supplies and a captive audience.  So we got to creating away. 

First, we made pencil/art supply cups, something I saw on Pinterest.  We used tin cans as our main recycled item (Ronnie made them safe by punching down the sharp edges).  Then we glued scraps of paper to them.  They turned out really cute.  I have a drink carrier around here somewhere to keep them in and the girls will have their art supplies ready to go at a moments notice. 

 From this (left) to these (right)

Next up was a project I had seen done in NOLA a few years ago: making a bag from an old t-shirt.  Holly needed a new Girl Scout bag, so we took one of her camp shirts and turned it into one.  To do this all you do is cut the sleeves out, cut the neck out, and sew up the bottom.  Employing yet another Pinterest idea, we took it one step further and added her name and a design using a bleach pen.  It is a really cute tote and fits her Brownie binder perfectly! 

 

Front of the bags (left) and the back (right)

All really cute projects and all it took was a few minutes, since we had the materials on hand.    Here are the links to the Pinterest how-to's we used to guide us. 

Happy crafting!

Tin can art supply holder: http://www.bhg.com/decorating/storage/craft-room/store-small-craft-supplies/#page=4

T-shirt step by step:  http://www.instructables.com/id/FASTEST-RECYCLED-T-SHIRT-TOTE-BAG/

Bleach pen t-shirt designs:  http://showtellshare.blogspot.com/2011/02/bleach-pen-tshirts-stash.html