Super Saturday

Well I hope you all had a great Saturday. We had planned to go to a birthday party for one of Faelyn's friends, but since both kids are sick and coughing we decided it was best to not go. The morning consisted of folding 4 loads of laundry that has been sitting in our bedroom.

 And PLAYING...

 I did have to go to the grocery store, which was the worst idea on Saturday especially before the Super Bowl.

During the kids nap is when I took some time to run. I went down stairs and ran on the treadmill for 60 minutes. When looking back at the past couple weeks I have realized that I have only run about 10 miles the last few weeks. Basically, I did a short warm up, then 4 minute interval moderate then 4 minutes moderate-heavy intensity.

Dinner was delicious - Portland Pie Co. Gluten free crust with pepperoni and cheese. I have found that it is easier to roll out the gluten free crust if it is room temperature. And follow the directions, this crust you pre-bake with a light coating of olive oil.

 We have really come to like portland pie co pizza dough. It is a nice, quick, easy meal and it is fairly local. Portland Pie Co. started in Maine and has a couple of restaurants in NH and Mass.

How cute is this little dude? He loves his underwear; over or under his pants. We haven't really tried potty training with him yet because we are still working on his older sister. She is getting closer, only a few accidents this past week.

Last week we got hit with a little snow storm, it was estimated 18-30 inches. I know... thats a big range, but that it what the news station was reporting. My kids love playing in the snow. What really amazed me was that Faelyn instinctively knew how to make a snow angel.

 

On the same snow day we did a little bit of baking. We made these Pretzel Rolls and Banana Muffins. I love making mini muffins. They are the perfect size for them to eat in the morning. The pretzel rolls were definitely a winner. I used this recipe and everything worked perfectly. If you are going to make this and plan to use them for sandwiches then I would make them bigger. These were the perfect size to serve with soup.

I hope you guys have had a great weekend. Tomorrow is the super bowl and we have buffalo chicken strips and nachos on the menu.

My goals for next week:

1) increase running to 20 miles.

2) write reference letter for a friend for grad school

What a great Monday!

Well that might be a little bit of an exaggeration. I survived the drive home from CT to NH in the rain/freezing rain yesterday with a little praying to keep me safe as I watched other cars spin around in front of me or see them on the side of the road getting loaded onto a flat-bed. There was one car that spun around and stopped in the lane that I was traveling in. Thankfully I was driving slowly and there were not many cars around so I was able to come almost to a complete stop and go around him. Luckily he had not hit anything and was able to keep driving. There were many parts of the road that were closed down throughout the day due to accidents. I truly believed that God was looking after me and my children as we made our way home on those roads yesterday. So there was no surprise when my driveway was glare ice when I got home. I immediately called Wally, who is out of town, to call the guys that sand to see if they could come today. I was happy to see them coming up the driveway at 7:45. Typically I am leaving the house at 7:30, I am glad that I was running late today.

Work was non-eventful. Which is good. Busy, which makes the day go by faster. Came home. 5:30 made dinner. Played a little with the kids. Tubby at 7 pm. Story time and in bed by 7:45. Whew...

8:00 pm - My pastor's wife, Hayley, had planned to come over to start my Daily in the Word Discipleship program. I am super excited to dig a little deeper into the Bible and get a little more understanding of it. The program is designed to meet one on one for about 1 hour and go through planned lessons. Well, she was here for easily 2 hours and we only got through one section of the first lesson; there are two sections. My husband has previously gone through this program and had a similar experience. It took a long time.

10:30 - I made myself another cup of coffee; half decaf half regular, and started listening to my assignments for my Young Living Essential Oils bootcamp. Not anything really new, but some good information. It was mostly about the Essential rewards program and the benefits of participating to get points to redeem for YL products, flat rate shipping, and other rewards.

Now it is bedtime, going to make sure the wood stove is full to keep up warm through the night and do it all over again tomorrow.

First Week of the New Year

So the first full week of the New Year is officially over and we are still working on keeping those resolutions.

1) 52 week/26 bi-weekly savings plan. I printed up both and since I get paid bi-weekly I thought for my own budget that one would work better for me.

2) Speed up my running. I have been working out 3-5 days a week, depending on how I feel. My son gave me his cold so I am feeling a little run down and skipped my workout yesterday. I am hoping to get on the treadmill this evening. Last week I tried some Yasso 800's on the treadmill. I actually enjoyed this workout because it gave me something to do instead of just staring that the TV.

3) Organizing - I have cleaned out A LOT of clothes from my dresser and closet. I have a couple of bags in the back of my car to donate.  I have also cleaned off the countertops and kept them from collecting clutter (so far). This especially makes me really happy.

4) Photography - well nothing new to report here.

5) Essential Oil business - This week I have started a bootcamp called Operation Silver. It is a daily bootcamp that you listen to speakers, read, and set goals. They give you support and materials to help you grow your business.

6) Blogging - Well... I am here now. I am planning on getting onto a schedule of blogging, whether it be daily or every other day. I honestly don't know how others are able to put out blog posts multiple times a day and have another job and/or children. So honestly, in order to keep myself sane and to be able to spend quality time with my family, my goal is to blog every other day.

That being said, I am off to listen to a webinar on Everyday essential oils!! I love learning more about these oils and hope to give my own class soon.

~ K

Saturday decluttering and cooking Split Pea Soup

Good Evening everybody. Today was a day that I worked on some of my new years resolutions. I worked on our upstairs desk, putting papers away, and filing them. Cleaned the sheets on the guest bed in that same room. I however did not touch any of the toys in that room. The guest bedroom serves as a playroom and office as well so it has A LOT of stuff in there.

After I went through the papers on the desk I moved on to our desk that is downstairs. This seems to be a dumping ground for our mail, magazines, kids pictures, and barn plans. I don't have a picture of that desk but it is getting cleaner. I have also de-cluttered a full trash bag of clothes and pjs that I just don't wear any more. Every year I get a pair of pjs, so i figured that I should go through my drawers and get rid of the ones that I don't wear or just don't love. The rest of my clothes was a little harder to get rid of stuff. I always feel as though I might want that shirt, pants, or sweatshirt later. So that will be another time. I have been searching pinterest for ideas to help with pairing things down. 

As I mentioned earlier I recently got introduced and involved with Young Living essential oils. I am using them for pretty much anything I can think of. I have a jar of coconut oil with lemon, lavender, and peppermint oil for "allergy relief". I have been using that on the kids (back of the necks and down the spine) for runny nose and when Walter had a fever a few weeks ago. They seem to really like the oils. I have been using Thieves oil on our feet, to help boost immunity, as well as in the diffuser (pictured below). With all of the cleaning I have been doing and taking down christmas decorations it has been dusty and I have been sneezing. This helps!

Wally and I ran a 1 mile race on New Years Day. I ran it in 7:50. I think I probably could have been a little faster but oh well. After that mile I ran 2 more miles while Wally walked back to the start with the kids. In regards to running I have always focused on miles and not so much time. I think this year I will start trying to push myself and get faster. I will be focusing on shorter races 5K, 5 Mile, and 10 mile. I have signed up for a race series through Millennium Running, where you get a Series Jacket when you complete 26.2 miles in races. 

While I was registering for my races we were also cooking some Split Pea Soup with leftover hambone from Christmas dinner. I started soaking the dried split peas in 8 cups of water this morning and let them soak 6-8 hours. After I drained them, I put the hambone, 1 diced onion, 2 diced carrots, the peas, and 8 cups of water in a medium-large pot and brought it to a boil. I let it boil for about 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally so it didn't burn to the bottom. I served it with grilled cheese made with provolone cheese. yum.

Everyone enjoyed some pea soup. Even the kids. 

Now it is almost bedtime and I will be heading downstairs to hit the treadmill after putting the kids to sleep.

Hope you have a great rest of the weekend! Enjoy the snow, if you are getting some tonight.