Green Smoothies: Why

A few weeks ago, I replaced my blender. My old blender was given to me by my sister, Jamie. It was 400 watts and drove me nuts whenever I used it for smoothies. Which was just about the only time I ever used it. That is a rate of 98% annoyance. I’m allowing for the slight off chance that I actually used the blender for something else.

I bought a pretty little ninja. Out of the options in my price range with the minimum wattage I needed wanted, this one looked and felt the best. Vitamix was a little bit out of my price range. The ninja boasts of six blades and 1000 watts. And it works like a dream. Assuming that you have nice dreams that go smoothly.

My old blender went back to Jamie whose blender had just died.

Pretty, right? All parts (except the base) is dishwasher safe but I prefer to hand wash it still.The handle is hollow and water and other food bits can get into it from the bottom so I’d rather just keep it out of the dishwasher.

I got this blender because I was going to start having smoothies for breakfast. Every day. Green smoothies, actually. I didn’t want to fight every day with a blender for a task that should take 30 seconds but was instead taking 5 minutes.

There are a few reasons I decided to start drinking green smoothies. 1) I needed to increase my veggies & fruit intake. I was close but close isn’t there. 2) Because of my increase in exercise, I was always hungry and struggling to feel satiated. My trainer thought it might help me. 3) The increase in exercise but not an increase of sleep (as in sleeping through the night instead of being woken several times) was an energy drain. My trainer thought it might help me. 4) A friend had started a few months ago and couldn’t stop raving about it. 5) It was an excuse for a new blender.

I’ve heard many benefits of moving towards a raw foods diet. I’m not sure that we’ll ever be there but it certainly never hurts to take a step in that direction. I’m a fan of foods as close to their original state as possible. That doesn’t still mean that I don’t like eating anything else. Because you’ll still see me with Little Caesars pizza and Olive Garden breadsticks and thoroughly enjoying them to. However, what I eat on a more regular basis is what I’ve been focusing on. Breakfasts and lunches are the two meals that I will make something different for me than for anyone else. Mostly because Kaelyn rarely eats breakfast when I do anyway and Jared takes care of himself. Dinners are a family affair and we’ll all eat the same thing. Having a smoothie for a first meal made the most sense. It’s harder for me to forget about it and if it’s supposed to help with energy than that’s when I need to drink it.

It’s been two weeks since I started and I’ve developed an opinion about them which I will graciously share with you over the next few days. Tune in tomorrow to find out what my very first green smoothie experience was like!

A PICS Tea Party

We love it when we are all in the right place for a PICS party. The right place is pretty general. Anywhere in Ohio is acceptable. Unfortunately, for a while I lived in Oregon and now Sara is off gallivanting the world. But we put forth our effort to get together when we can. Although we no longer write stories, we always have food. This time around was a tea party. (Hope you like pictures!)

Egg salad sandwiches: Jamie couldn’t figure out how to make them pretty on the plate. She kept trying but couldn’t figure it out. I helped her.

Ginger Spice Cake: Yummmmmmy!

Tea: Ginger + lemon + mint + water. A touch of honey took it from good to great.

Rice Pudding: Jamie made this particular one from a book that taught you the Spanish words for all the ingredients.

Fruit: This did not get an individual picture because it was still being cut. Think watermelon (that Andi grew!), asian pears, and mangos!

After we ate, we played several rounds of Pictionary. With cards. My favorite way of playing Pictionary. No drawing involved! Anyway. I explain how to play Pictionary and the other team, Andi and Jamie, decide to organize their cards. Wait, what??? Andi and Jamie are ORGANIZING?? ANDI and JAMIE? Andi AND Jamie? I kid you not. Andi, my free-spirit-come-what-may-and-let-me-have-at-it best friend and Jamie, my when-do-I-have-class-again-today sister. I have proof. I took a picture.

On the other hand, you have me and Sara. We plan and wear watches. We had the blue cards below.

Halfway through Jamie and I switched teams. I reorganized the red cards because their placement of some cards did not make any sense. I tell you... they brought out the obsessive compulsive in me. It’s their fault.

Then we went outside to check on the kids (and the men). Lilli, Grace, and Kaelyn were so cute driving around on the truck. All in similar colors with their hoods up! Kaelyn is recounting the fun that she had with her cousins yesterday! Kaelyn didn’t actually drive it (her legs weren’t long enough yet), but someone else did. You’ll see below.

Kaelyn wanted me to sit in the back with her so I did that too. On a complete si05de note: whenever I see myself in pictures, I feel weird because I’m used to seeing my bangs on the other side. I only see myself in mirrors and that’s where my bangs are... the other side. Pictures mess me up.

I had two choices for the last picture. Jamie’s eyes were closed for both. What the picture doesn’t show is that two of us were in barefeet and the grass was wet and cold.

I love these girls! We always have so much fun together. While we never know when the next time we will all be together, we always look forward to having a good time.

Short and to the point

I haven't cut the deadline to posting so close before. Great day today! Great company! Great food! Details tomorrow.

Day 7 of 30 Days of Me

Day 7 – A photo that makes you happy. Birth story found here.

Almost Hanging the Blinds

Remember my window issue? The one where I was having dilemmas on how high to hang my blinds? You can thank that post for this post.

My blinds arrived yesterday! Hooray! I was working on another project when they arrived so I didn’t get to do any more than open a set and read the instructions.

They come with screws but not anchors.

Anyway… here’s the low down.

I like graphing paper. I haven’t used it a whole lot since college but knew where to find it when I wanted it. This is a good thing.

I measured one of the walls that had a window that is going to get some love. I only needed to visualize one to decide how the rest would look. Usually I can kind of see what it will look like in my head, but I just wasn’t seeing this one. So that, above, is what my wall and window look like. Sans color.

Then I created some other pieces and colored them so you could tell the difference between the different pieces of graph paper. This picture shows what the window would look like with the blinds hung right above the window. Except the blinds would be a little shorter than it shows… but I needed it this long to show the next picture. And I didn’t want to cut out another rectangle because that is hard work.

Here we have the blinds in their upright position but hung much closer to the ceiling. That is why I needed the rectangle as long as it is because when I raise the blinds, I will raise it to right where the window starts (just the glass, not any other part of the window). Ahh! Look at that. So much more window shows now. I’m already liking this. But I had to take it a step further.

I made curtains! Floor to ceiling curtains. Oh my word, I was liking the high blinds before, but now I love it!

My last rectangle was blinds closed. I can modify the blinds so they don’t go down that low and I probably will but I really just love this look. Curtains aren’t on the agenda for any time soon and this particular wall will probably have shorter curtains because of my plans for that wall. But it’s my long-term plan! I love it!

I also now have an itch to create a floor plan. On the computer. Not a paper and pencil.

A Kitten For Mother

This little kitten is eight weeks old. She is so adorable! A family we knew were trying to find homes for five little kittens. When I heard the girls were calico, I thought my mom would love to have one since her cat is not doing well. We are keeping her for a few days until my mom gets back and can meet her new little kitten.

Because our cats sort of don’t get along with other cats, Little Miss gets to sleep with Uncle Josh. Also, Kaelyn loves playing with the kitten but she decided needs more attention when she feels Little Miss is getting too much of it. Kaelyn especially gets concerned when I leave the room while holding Little Miss and needs me to hold her as soon as possible (i.e. as soon as Kaelyn can run to me). I don’t think Kaelyn will be super sad to see her leave. She probably won’t even notice. If a dog were here though... Kaelyn loves those a little bit more. And they can handle her sometimes-not-gentle hands a little bit better than this little gal.

Kaelyn is much better at posing than this little miss is. But she’s still pretty cute! And she has taken a liking to sitting with Josh (and climbing up his jeans). So it’s a good thing she gets to sleep with him tonight. He can’t lie. He likes the attention.

I hope you like her, Mom!

Tuesday Rambles

I have been so busy with so many different things that I really do think that this week will be blogging rambles. Don’t expect anywhere close to thought-out posts this week! It just isn’t going to happen.

Today I did some reading on photography. I have played around with the settings on my camera in the past but I epically fail at getting it right. There’s no better time to get it right and I’m at a point where I really need to start getting some decent pictures. I also want a mini tripod for my camera. It’s only like… $15. I think that will really help my future photos.

I am having a really big itch to paint something. Good thing I have things to paint. Bad thing is that there hasn’t been an opportunity to. And this weekend won’t present one either.

But on the upside, this weekend is bringing a PICS reunion! S has been out of country and so we are taking advantage of her brief time at home with a tea party. And some reading of ridiculous stories found late at night. And we are thinking of crafting this time around. Maybe we will round robin write again.

I made donuts today. It’s Kaelyn’s fault. And maybe perhaps Josh’s. Mostly Kaelyn’s though. She randomly said today “I want a doughnut!” Josh must’ve been saying it a lot but he really hadn’t. She kept saying it though, randomly and sporadically until one time she brought her “dinodaur” book, opened it to the appropriate page, pointed, and said “I want a doughnut!” Ahh... it’s the dinodaurs fault.

Now can you see why I should either not blog or always have a blog plan?

Monday Rambles

This week will be a little different than normal. I guess the goodness and spirit that I felt from Stake Conference prompted me to volunteer watching my youngest brother for the week! It’ll be good, I’m sure. Today wasn’t too bad although we he probably could have gotten more done than we he did.

I can tell you that he now has a ton of flash cards for French. I can also tell you that French is one language that I will never be able to speak. At least without making weird faces (unintentionally—I swear it!) and making people around me bust out laughing (also completely unintentional).

We still haven’t started potty training Kaelyn. But she is volunteering more and more to go on the potty. Sometimes I catch her in the act and ask if she needs to go and she says no. But when I say “let’s go potty”, she immediately says yes and runs over to the bathroom. I still don’t think we’re ready to tackle full potty training but it’s fun to see her progress to our non-training.

I was going to write more (and on a completely different topic) but I want to use the rest of my evening for some reading that I can put into practice tomorrow for some much needed health benefits!

Sunday Rambles

Thank you to everyone who has taken the survey! If you haven’t, you can find it here. I love that I didn’t ask for names so it’s completely anonymous yet for the majority of the responses, I can tell who said what. Love it!

My thoughts are definitely all over the place tonight. Kaelyn slept fairly restless last night. It wasn’t until 6:30am that I realized that I never turned the heat on last night. Coldness doesn’t bother her during the day. Just at night. Also, we were hosting family yesterday and today. I love having my family over! I love that I have a house able to accommodate the masses. I love the companionship, closeness, and the good times that we always have. Kaelyn has so much fun with her cousins and loved hanging out with them all. She even enjoyed her aunts and uncles. (Aunt Lindey was most happy that Kaelyn asked to be with her specifically a few times.)

Hosting does take a toll though. My house isn’t completely chaotic as everyone helped tidy up throughout the weekend. Kaelyn didn’t take a nap today (can we say... social butterfly?) but went down to bed super quick an hour earlier than usual (when the masses left). And I’m just tired! I’d be tired even without everyone here just because of how frequently Kaelyn woke me up last night, but the extra excitement of everyone here adds. Wouldn’t trade it for anything though!

It was a great weekend. Stake Conference was this weekend and my notes have lots of red writing. That means I have a lot to work on. I suppose it’d be a boring life if there weren’t anything to work on!

Oh!!! And another thing that made this weekend great was that on my outside Saturday run, I ran 2.5 miles at a 10:41 min/mi pace! I have never run that far that quick. Now I have another four weeks to double my mileage.

Fact: Our speed (download speed? internet speed?) is way faster when there aren’t six computers on it.

Jared just reminded me that everyone loved the soup I made. We barely had any leftovers!

I just want to leave you with this picture of I Am A Child of God. This song has been sung frequently in our home because Kaelyn knows it. In Stake Conference, we were told that if we got up in the morning and sung all the verses to this song while looking in the mirror, we would know the truth contained in the words and it would show through our actions. And I love how it looks.

Please note: this is an image from Etsy (I found through Pinterest). Please do not print it out on your own. Someone took their time to make it and is selling it and it would not be right for us to use it freely. If you are interested in purchasing it, you can do so here. The price is $8 with different color combo.

Kaelyn + Halloween = ?

A really adorable witch!

My inspiration came from Pinterest. (Picture linked here.) This was the one thing Jared really said “You should do that!”

Isn’t she so cute?!

I made her entire costume. Pants, shirt, hat (oh. em. gee.), tutu. (I was pleased when the hat received its final “fitting” and Jared said “See? Aren’t you happy to make her a Halloween costume?” Only if its absolutely adorable (which, of course, it is because she is adorable).)

Kaelyn went to the zoo for Boo at the Zoo with her Aunt Kimmi, Aunt Valerie, Uncle Reed + her five girl cousins.

The Window Quandry

Ever have a problem and you don’t know how to solve it and then you finally have a solution and then you see a sale. Which means you buy something expensive. And then you see something that totally makes you want to question your solution?

That’s me right now.

We have poor naked windows in my house (except for two/three windows). I finally decided that blinds would be good to put in on the downstairs windows. They have to be outside mount and I refused to even consider vinyl annoying things. Can we say expensive? Then Home Depot had a sale. I purchased five blinds for two different rooms. These rooms are somewhat connected and will be decorated/painted/whatever to have a cohesive feeling. (Family room and craft/dining room for anyone who cares.) I thought that maybe one day I can put up curtains because that would have a lovely look.

Then I read a blog by Sarah at Thrifty Décor Chick. She made her windows more fab than they were before by hanging her blinds from an inside mount to an outside mount and then hanging her curtains higher so they’re almost at the ceiling. And the ceiling molding just makes it that much more swoon worthy.

Now... her windows are larger and extend lower than mine do. I’m afraid that hanging the blinds higher will look really funky because there is still 2 feet and some odd inches from window to floor. Judging from her couch, I’m guessing her windows extend down about a foot below mine. Hanging curtains higher to the ceiling usually help make the window look taller. Sometimes it can make the window look smaller though and that’s what I’m afraid of. With outside mounted blinds, you either have to hang them tall with the tall (or no) curtains or hang them short with short or no curtains. You don’t hang the blinds short with tall curtains. That’s just awful.

I don’t even have the blinds yet. Maybe I’ll hold them up and decide they look really weird not being close to the ceiling or the other way around. But whatever I do to one window, I do to all five. Maybe that’s why I’m freaking out too much about it. I’m not just committing once but FIVE TIMES. And I’m not putting more holes in my wall than I have to so the decision has to be made once and only once!

Sigh... would they ship my blinds already???

Feeling Good About Organization

Some days organizing feels like more work than benefits. Right now feels that way. I know otherwise but it doesn’t change how I feel.

I thought that maybe I’m not the only one who sometimes feels this way so why not blog about it? Many of you probably have insights that I don’t mention here.

Organizing and getting one’s life in order can be so exhausting. And then to have to maintain whatever it is you do! There are some key benefits that I can see to getting and remaining organized in the many different facets of our lives.

Health – When we maintain a clean home (note the different between clean and sterilized, please), we can have better health. Did you know that indoor air is more polluted than outside? And there are cars outside!

Finances – When we can’t find items, we tend to purchase more of that item. Also, when we’re organized, maybe we find that we don’t need extra items. Being organized in our finances can give us a sense of control because we know where our money is going and what we can and can’t do.

Less Stress – And more time! Think of how often we look for something because we didn’t put it away or because not everything has a place. I feel like I spend a lot of time trying to decide on a place an item can call home—and then I don’t remember because it really wasn’t a good spot!

One really key thing for me to always remember is that what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for me. If I try something and it doesn’t work and I’ve really tried to make it work (rather than expecting it to work without me doing anything), I don’t have to feel like a failure. If I gave it an honest try, tweak it or try something new. Just don’t give up!

Another trick is to dedicate time to it. Maybe all you have is five minutes. Maybe you can spend an hour on it.  Instead of wasting that time deciding where to start, just start somewhere. It’s better to do something than nothing. Afterwards, make a list of what you were able to accomplish. Give yourself a little reward. Dance a celebratory dance. Give yourself permission to feel great about whatever you were able to accomplish and don’t give yourself permission to think of what you didn’t get done. I love writing down in my planner how much time I spent and what I did. When I feel discouraged, I can look at it and see what I can do with any amount of time that I have.

I’m the type of person who loves lists. I like writing things down. I like checking things off. I can go too far sometimes. I can get so uptight about things that I fall off the wagon so hard that I’m sure I gave myself a broken leg. Then it is tough to get back in the swing of things.I constantly have to remind myself that I have my own permission to back off!

Here are some of the many areas of my life that I am in the throes of putting in order: spiritually, fitness, family time, blogging, household maintenance and cleaning, fertility, grocery shopping, my house at large, finances, my future unveiled plans, my church calling, crafting, painting, sewing! I’m sure I’m missing some.

I am finally reaching a point where I think things are working FOR me instead of AGAINST me. I will probably share my methods at some future point. Hope it’s not too boring for you! I take requests. :)

Day 6 of 30 Days of Me

Day 6 – Most Treasured Item

This is another favorite! Just with different words.

Can I say Kaelyn even though she’s not an item? She is seriously cute… She’s chinking cups with me right now and then drinking from it. Or pretending to. I’m not sure where she saw that.

I guess I can’t say Jared either then.

I have this yellow blanket I stole from. . . the linen closet when I was younger. Kaelyn shares it with me now. The edges are completely not together anymore but it’s the perfect size.

My phone just can’t stand to leave me almost ever so. . . does that make it a treasured item?

My scriptures. . . my sewing machine. . . my piano. . . my planner. . .

 

BTW--Good guesses on the Halloween costume but there’s no correct guess yet.

Halloween Costume preview

Jared told me I needed to make Kaelyn a costume this year. I had been looking at some ideas for future years but, you know, one of them could work for this year, sure. I told Jared some ideas but when I showed him some pictures, there was one that was a definite yes. After a visit to JoAnn’s, I’m ready to create!

Anyone want to guess what she’ll be?

Corduroy Pants

Kaelyn has been needing pants for a while. We have a lot of legging type pants which only look good on her with longer shirts. I like the option of short shirts as well so I needed pants that fit her that were more wide legged.

I have a lot of cotton material that will be wonderful for shirts. Or skirts. Not so much pants. As I was perusing the merchandise, I came across a pair of castaway pants from Jared. Corduroy. Perfect.

The pattern I sort of started with was drafted for a much skinnier kid than mine. Yes, she has a cloth diaper tush to cover but even without it, that pattern wouldn’t fit her. So I decided to up the some cuteness factor and make some side panels. I used the original hem. The waistband sports a flat front and an elastic back.

Kaelyn was really excited to show Jared. “Daddy! Pants!” Jared says, “Very cute! They look like my pants.” I said, “They should.” But I am quite pleased that he likes them. I kinda thought that he’d think the little bit of gathering on the sides was weird.

Survey Time!

I just want to ask a huge favor for anyone who reads this. I’ve created a really short survey of five questions that I’d really appreciate it if you could answer them. I’ve been thinking of my future and where I’d like to head and the different paths I could take. And wondering which ones are probably bad ideas. If you, my dear reader Fritz, would be willing to take just a few minutes of your time to answer these questions for me, I’d surely appreciate it!

I set this up via Google Forms. Nobody will see your answers besides me. Please be honest but tactful! Love to all!

 

Three Tiers for the Kitchen

This project took 10 minutes. Maybe only five. I didn’t actually time it.

More empty space in the kitchen. I’ve been thinking of what to do for a really long time. Since the tile goes all the way up the wall, I didn’t want to deal with installing shelves. I settled on this. As soon as I decided, I had to do it right away.

Yeah, totally didn’t work out for me. I bought the baskets (Bed, Bath, & Beyond), came home, discovered it doesn’t come with hardware. The next day or two took me to the grocery store for regular shopping. Stopped by the hardware section and got a ceiling hook, got home, discovered it was missing a piece. No problem… I guess. The hardware store will have one. I never made it to a hardware store. I finally picked up a hook somewhere else for pretty cheap a few days ago.

Super easy project though. If you have everything. Drill into the ceiling (drilling up is not my favorite). Install anchor (if necessary) and hook. Hang baskets. Fill. Admire!

In my baskets I have cloths meant for dusting and washing windows. Next down is wash cloths for dishes, counters, etc. The bottom basket holds hand towels. All my non-white ones are in the wash.

My absolutely favorite part of this project was that I didn’t tell Jared. AND HE NOTICED!!! AND LIKED IT!!! And then asked why I didn’t put one on the other side of the window.

Pumpkin Cookies

Food group was yesterday. The theme was Halloween: Your Interpretation. There was a record number of people in attendance: two (four if you count the kids).

I decided that afternoon what to make. Good thing I had frozen pumpkin puree that I made last year or else I’m not sure what I would have done!

I found this recipe on Pinterest. You can find the recipe here.

These cookies are so delicious. I forgot to add the chocolate chips on the first two cookie sheets but you know what… they still taste good! They are very soft. Kaelyn called them muffins at first. I didn’t make the icing but it’s pretty much cream cheese frosting. And I had some leftover cream cheese frosting from these cupcakes so I pulled that out. It’s almost a little too sweet with the frosting. Yummy cookies! Go make them!

Halloween Bats

Look out! There’s bats!

I didn’t put up as many as last year.

But I love them just the same.

I had a helper.

She did a pretty good job.

Don’t you think?

Fall Leaves

Kaelyn and I went for a walk yesterday. We picked up some beautiful fall leaves. My youngest sister also brought me some earlier in the week.

I spent some time during Kaelyn’s nap today prepping these leaves for decorating.

Materials Needed:

• beautiful fall leaves
• mod podge (I used matte finish but whatever you want)
• brush (I used a small brush intended for watercolors or something like that)

Using your brush, paint mod podge on one side of your leave. Above is one partially painted. It will look like Elmers glue when you paint it on. You’ll know what the mod podge is dry because it doesn’t look like that anymore.

Here is a leaf partially dry. It doesn’t take too long. You don’t need a thick layer of mod podge on your leaves. When one side is dry, mod podge the back.

You know how leaves get crunchy as they dry out? Once you mod podge them, you can fold them like that! I don’t plan on doing that, but just so you know…

I wasn’t expecting this benefit of mod podging them, but it helped make the colors more vibrant like when they were on the trees. Aren’t they beautiful!

Family Room Stripes

I painted the family room in August. I had purchased two tints of paint at the same time which I touched on in this post. I haven’t taken pictures because besides the paint, I’m still not happy with this room. Small steps… I know.

Another small step was taken yesterday and today when I taped the walls and then painted. It looks great! Just wait till I show you the pictures.

How to Paint Stripes

Materials needed:

• leveler
• marking device (I started with pencil but moved to chalk because it’s easier to erase if necessary)
• painters tape (masking tape does not equal painters tape – take the time to find your painters tape or go and buy some)
• paint
• paint brush

First. Decide how many stripes you want and how wide (long?) they should be. I made mine 9” except for the very top and bottom stripes. I don’t have a picture of why but I didn’t do stripes on the whole wall. There is an opening to the craft/dining room and then a small portion of wall that wasn’t painted with the stripes. I started the lines at the top of opening so the lines didn’t look weird. It makes sense… I promise.

Second. You mark where your lines go. I did this by marking where I wanted the first line for about a foot. Then I used the level to mark it the rest of the way across the wall. I did it this way because our ceiling is not straight. If I had measured down from the ceiling the whole way across, I would have ended up with crooked lines.

Third. Place your painters tape along the lines. Make sure you do them on the right side of the lines. The first line will be on top of your marks. The second line of tape will be on the bottom of your marks. Repeat. When you’re done taping, your stripes will look uneven but we’re only painting every other stripes so it’s okay. Also tape where your stripes begin and end.

Fourth. This step is optional but I took my wall color (the lovely light gray) and painted where the tape met the wall on the inside of the stripes I would be painting. If any paint seeps under the tape, it will be the original wall color and not your stripe color.

Fifth. If you did step four, wait for it to dry completely. Then paint with your stripes color.

Sixth. Repeat step five unless you don’t see a need for a second coat of paint.

Seventh. Remove the tape before the paint dries. The paint is less likely to pull off or flake that way.

Eighth. Step back and admire. Don’t ask your husband how it looks because he’ll only say that he doesn’t dislike it and you will be sad that he didn’t just say that he liked it.

Above: Wall with just tape (no, I didn’t tape the thermostat, just painted around it)

Above: First coat of paint done and still drying.

Shadow with typical Asian greeting. This wall is HARD to photograph well!

Second coat done and tape is off. It looks so good!

A second picture because I just couldn’t resist.

After stenciling my living room wall, I wasn’t sure if I could like something as simple as stripes. But when I had the idea over the summer, I was pretty much sold on it. I totally love it now that the stripes are painted! Stripes are definitely easier to paint but it is just as big of an impact as the stencil.