Showing posts with label Updates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Updates. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

A Few Of My Favorite Things

In the past few weeks, we have had two times that it has snowed! We have really enjoyed them! Last time, Jason was still at work and the icy roads made his travel time a lot longer than normal. He did finally make it home and then we got to spend the next day together playing in the snow and having fun. It was a very dry snow that time, so it froze very quickly. We had a blast!

Then, yesterday evening/this morning it started snowing again! We were thrilled! This time, since Jason didn't have to go in to work all, we played in it and built a snowman. We tossed snow balls back and forth at each other. We just enjoyed our time while the snow was here. (It still is here!) :)

While the cold had set in outside, I was thinking about what I could make to fill a craving I had for something sweet. Last week I had made some banana muffins. Jason suggested I make some more. There was one problem... we were out of bananas! Well, no bananas, no banana muffins. But I knew that we had apples and carrots. Carrot cake is good. Apple muffins are good. How about putting them together and making something even better?! So I did. The banana bread recipe I used is from an Amish cookbook called Wow! This is Low Cholesterol and Sugar free and is super simple! I love that I can make it with just a few basic ingredients and that it doesn't require a lot of time. Jason specifically loves that it is a moist muffin with just the right texture... not too moist and flaky, not too dense and heavy.

To create this recipe I simply substituted 1 cup of a small apple, cubed and 1/2 cup of 1 medium carrot, grated for the mashed banana. I love this series of cookbooks! They use as many fresh ingredients as possible to create a wonderful, wholesome diet that nourishes their families as well as possible. There is another cookbook for creating allergy free dishes as well as one for baking sugar free desserts for those with blood sugar issues. If I could, I would have each one on my shelf to reference when I cook. :)

I hope others are enjoying the snow!

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Turkey Trot, Reindeer Run and Life

Well, even though it's been a while, I want to give an update on what we've been up to the past few months. In November 2012, Thanksgiving day, Jason and I ran the Turkey Trot 8k (approximately 5 miles). I was thrilled to finish in the time that I had set for myself. I wanted to finish in less than 55 minutes. That was my wishful thinking/hope-I-can-make-it goal. I did it! I finished in 54 minutes and some odd seconds! I was thrilled!

The next week, I pushed Jianna in the stroller during a 5k race, the Reindeer Run. I hoped to make it in under an hour with her as well. It was a tough course, but I made it. Jason ran ahead and once he finished his race, he came back and helped me finish. I don't have the official time on that race, because it is a smaller race and I couldn't find my finishing time.

After those two races, we got several really cold blasts of winter air and I didn't want to take Jianna out in them, so I've fallen off the running bandwagon for a while. But this spring and summer I want to get back to it. In the mean time, I've been doing some exercise videos through sparkpeople.com. They have short videos that are easily played one after another to create my own unique workout every day. Jianna's favorite is a jump-rope interval workout. It is ten minutes long, but she enjoys marching and jumping with me. :)

For Christmas I decided to make the women in my family a scarf each. I decided to do that before I knew exactly how many people I'd be making gifts for. I also only thought of it Thanksgiving day. I was determined and crazy! But I pushed myself and without too much stress was done on time! I had fun figuring out what would be the best color for each person and who would like what style. Most of the scarves I made were my own creation. Not a single one was exactly the same as anyone else's scarf. It was fun to get creative with their gifts.

Since the beginning of the year, I haven't done much crocheting, but I needed the break. I've started back a few things here and there and am enjoying it tremendously! My goal this year is to make the gifts before Thanksgiving, so that I don't have as much last minute stress.:) We'll see how it works out.

Jianna is growing like a weed. This is my kitchen helper and enjoys helping me make dinner most nights and breakfast many mornings. She loves to dress herself and comes up with some interesting, but cute, looking outfits. :) She has started to ask me to fix her hair and help her put lotion on her hands. She hates to see anyone cry. It makes her sad when other kids or babies cry. She thinks her mommy and daddy can fix anything and tells us that a baby is crying and we need to go help. I keep explaining that the baby's mommy or daddy are taking car of it and that we can't go over and help. :) She has a very tender heart. She enjoys playing with play dough, coloring, drawing, playing with puzzles,  reading, building with blocks and legos, and so many other things. She keeps me busy.

Well I hope each of you are doing well. See ya later.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Blessings... It's the Simple Things!

Have you ever prayed for something and hoped for something and wished for something that you kind of, sort of needed and would use every day, but you wanted it more than you needed it? And you understood that, so you waited. Then got impatient and started looking around for that something. Then waited (because God said, "Not yet.")... You know where I'm going with this? You (really, I) repeated that cycle several times, then one day, out of the blue, God dropped that something in your lap. And it was perfect. And you were thrilled! And you couldn't contain yourself, because you were so excited! Well, you could say that the "you" in all of the above paragraph is me. Today.

I've seen Jianna growing up for the past several months and I wanted to be prepared and have just the right furniture and just the right bed and, and, and... And God told me, "Not yet." Through circumstances, through wisdom and through Jason. But I got impatient with the waiting and prayed and looked around for what I thought we needed. And everything that I saw I wanted, but God and Jason said, "wait". Well, I wanted to finagle (is that a word?) and work it out on my own, but I decided they probably knew better than me. And I hate conflict, so I waited. Then I would get impatient again with the waiting, and start looking again. And they would tell me to wait, again. This has been happening on and off for the past 6 months or so. Sometimes on a weekly basis. But today, God provided just what we needed,  at just the right time!!

It is a beautiful bed, chest of drawers and book/toy case/bench. All white. And just right! Thank you, God! You know so much better than I do what we need and when! Thank you!