February - natural hearts

So, dogtastic and I went for a walk recently.  Just the two of us and a camera - our mission was to find naturally occuring hearts.  NOT an easy task!!

Ooooh, melty snow heart

Blurry, muddy deer hoof print heart

This one wasn't naturally occuring..I was getting desperate

Tree knot heart.  At this point I gave up and just took pics of the creek etc.

And the snow began to fall :) 

February - conversing with hearts

We gave out conversation hearts at school as well - since when have they been called that?  I googled the answer but just came up with this explanation as to WHY they are called conversation hearts:

"We use them to cover up for our lack of conversational skills and lack of an ability to be romantic by ourselves. Let’s face it. Those chalky bastards are Compensation Hearts."

Hey, that explanation works for me :) 



Not really.   I think my family is kind of fond of me too...

A little Valentine's post for my sweetie :)

Aisle B

Loving Ewe

4 Heifer

and Heifer

February - Cookies for Classmates

My daughter has to bring treats for tomorrow's Valentine's Day party at school.  Normally I'd buy a bag of something and throw it in her backpack but this year I wanted to make something home made.  So we made some sugar cookies, and luckily there was a heart shaped cutter in the playdough box - like I said, I don't normally do stuff like this lol.

Made some pink icing and....

after the first coat....

And the finished product!  They taste pretty darn good too!

February - love muffins lol

So February's theme is hearts and love and other mushy stuff.  Very original I know, thought of it myself :)

So I wanted muffins.  But I wanted healthy heart happy muffins!  Pumpkin is very good for you.  Pumpkin is low in fat and calories and rich in disease-fighting nutrients such as:
•Alpha-carotene
•Beta-carotene
•Fiber
•Vitamins C and E
•Potassium
•Magnesium
•Pantothenic acid

And of course, we all know how good flax is for us.  Flax lowers cholesterol, fights diabetes, cancer, constipation, inflammation, menopause symptoms, heart disease, depression,  strengthens your immune system, stops runaway trains, allows you to fly and be invisible!*

So I made some pumpkin flax seed muffins not the banana chocolate chip ones that my family wants.  Because I'm mean and make them eat healthy stuff :)

Looks like I was a bit crazy in my cooking spray aim as well ha ha!  This is the first time I haven't used paper cups, I have no idea what I'm doing!

 and they are deeeeelicious!!

Served with LOVE

Who am I kidding?  I'm the only one who will eat these.  Just means more for meeeee!

*not all these claims have been proven

Pretending it's still January - water, excercise and taking care of me

It's past the end of the month :)  Ooops...
This is three posts in one.  Because as predicted, I'm not able to do this regularly enough.


One of my January goals has been 8 glasses of water a day.
 Do you have any idea how much that is??? 

LMAO, I spent most of the first week running to the bathroom.  I used to drink maybe 2 if it was a good day.  And I didn't drink any other fluids either.  Well, I don't think wine counts.  In fact, I think it's kinda counter productive...

I had no idea of how dehydrated I was!  The first couple of days were tough but I'm getting in the hang of it now.  Most days are 5 glasses for sure and I'll just keep working at it until drinking 8 becomes a bit easier.  Mostly I needed a convenient, easy to drink out of, easier to clean bottle.  It was on my Christmas wish list and it sure makes it easier.

I feel so much better now too.  Not nearly so tired and dragged out.  I can really tell when I haven't had enough water because I start feeling rather craptacular again. 

And now we gallop on towards the second post....

sigh. exercise. I love it I really do. I just hate trying to fit it in. I have a big guilt thing about taking the time to run or go to a class. Maybe when the kids are older I won't feel so bad about taking that time for myself. 

I really enjoy running and I get into the groove and then miss one run, then another and then next think I know, over a month has gone by.....  At this point, I have to start slow again.  I am prone to shin splints which I tend to ignore until they become stress fractures.  Been there, done that.

I always get back into it using the couch to 5k program and make myself follow it and not rush ahead, I'm able to run pain free.  There is an awesome app for iPhone for this program too - TOTALLY worth the 4 bucks.

I also need good shoes, or my shins yell at me.  I run stupid - I overpronate on one foot, under on the other.  Or something like that.  I can't remember now except they thought I was interesting when I had my gait analyzed at the Running Room.  Found me some awesome shoes and everything has been much better.

Asics Gel Culumus :)

I've done the program 4 times. Because I end up quitting once the program is over. Well once I did get myself up to 10 k before quitting. I'm not sure why I lose my motivation but I think mostly it's scheduling time away from the kids.  It's just hard to do.

I NEED NEW SHOES.

Now slowly limping towards post #3

Almost 2 years ago I started dating this cute-younger-than-me-firefighter. This sort of kick started me into taking better care of all of me. I had only ever used a moisturizer under my make up and did nothing else.  That aisle is terrifying. Who knew so much could be wrong with our skin?

I read a book a few years back written by Paula Begoun called :

It was a pretty eye opening read. So many products filled with so many nasty things. Like alcohol in products that are supposed to moisturize.  So I looked up Paula again and low and behold she has her own line now - Paula's Choice. And a convenient website to order from - yea!

Just one of her awesome products!

I had the BEST customer service experience with them this week - they are great to deal with.  And I have to say I love her stuff. When I use it regularly, my skin is really soft and radiant. I'm working on the 'regularly' part ha ha! I'm pretty good with the morning routine but I have a bad habit of just brushing my teeth and crawling into bed at night.

Continuing to work on these habits this month and hopefully they become second nature.

Tee hee!  From our 'spa night'  No one nibbled the cucumber, it kept sliding off her face (likely from giggling) so I disfigured it a bit.  Didn't help lol.  It was sliding off in this shot.

And finally we can sneak into February's theme ....... love and other mushy stuff!

January - good eats

Another good habit I have been working on is reducing the amount of processed food that I eat.  This trickles down to the kidlets and hopefully starts good habits for them as well. We introduced the kids to a quinoa and black bean wrap last week that went over much better than expected.  Only one wouldn't eat it lol.  We've reduced the convenience foods going into their lunches as well.

I've started making oatmeal on the weekend, then reheating though out the week.  Haven't made the kids try this one yet :)  I was eating the most nutritious little packet oatmeal that I could find and then googled steel cut oats one day and decided to make the switch.  It's not really that much extra time out of my life and the benefits are worth it.



I've been adding flax seed and ground flax seed to everything lately to amp up the nutrition

Steel cut oats close up. Bet my horses would like them lol.

This little bowl fills me up pretty darn good.



Mmmmmmm brown sugar and cinnamon :)