Monday, February 28, 2011

a journal of sorts

like I need to spend anymore time on the web, but I've decided to keep an online journal about the half-marathon.
maybe it will keep me more accountable, maybe.
Have a good evening!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

needing motivation


(just have to have color, bright too, you know)

early this morning, perhaps because I was under the fog of sleep, I got online and registered to do a half marathon in April. 13.1 miles. is this crazy? I can't tell you the answer to that just yet, but last night we were talking to some friends who had already signed up to do the marathon and they told me it would be a great experience (ah,the beauty of peer pressure). in fact one of our friends told us that he intends to walk the whole race. truth be told I've been struggling with getting down a regular exercise routine since our move (I'm so not consistent-I've been going to the gym once every two weeks and at times less than that!)
I guess it boils down to my strong need of external motivation. exercise and I have a strange relationship. I avoid it, mentally talking myself out of it-however there are those rare moments when I show up and "just do it" (thanks Nike for that one). Then as I work out I find myself liking it (especially when I have my music pumping), but what I love is that after workout feeling, if only I could hold onto that feeling. Well for this upcoming month that feeling is going to keep me going, it just has too.

Happy Sunday!

Friday, February 25, 2011

friendship through the distance

sometimes in life you meet people that just get you. they are easy to be around. they like things you like. they like things that are different too, and that you admire. these are the friends you treasure~













today I received a package of lovely goodies from that kind of friend. a friend I miss a whole lot. I miss our adventures, our lunches (which we always enjoyed some baked goods and a nice cup of hot tea or coffee), our library visits and our knit nights which included sharing our favorite fish sandwich. initially I was worried about the distance and sometimes what it does to friends, but you know somehow I think being aware of this distance makes me cherish our friendship even more.
always hold on to your friends.

Monday, February 21, 2011

just the facts....


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~one of my children has been in her p.j.'s for almost two days straight, only was she now convinced to get dressed to go out and get ice cream with her dad and sister.

~our little kitty is being very adventurous, not so long ago he hid himself in a kitchen drawer one morning after I had dropped the girls off at school. I was on the verge of tears. I had looked almost everywhere in the house-until I pulled open a kitchen drawer and found him (he was just lying there-looking completely unfazed).

~I'm still drinking my morning decaf, and its past three in the afternoon.

~I need to catch up on my garden reading.

~ I have knitting needles sticking out my hair at this moment
(probably should be reading instead of knitting, huh?)

~I made soup for lunch today, so we could have it again for dinner.

~I'm hoping for an early bedtime, for everybody.


Happy Monday!

Saturday, February 19, 2011

into the forest


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today we hiked into the forest. It was a little chilly, but a clear beautiful day. I'm so glad we decided to go out instead of sucumbing to the oh so popular after lunch nap~









lots of people were out on the trails, so glad that we were out there too, taking in God's beautiful creation.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

dishcloths and orchids

I was asked to be a volunteer driver and parent assistant for a field trip today. Grades K-5 of the girls school went to see a play at the local community college.
Just as we were rushing out of the door I grabbed some yarn (the colorway is fiesta) and some size nine double pointed knitting needles and stuffed them into my purse. I just wanted to knit something, something that was not going to need any attention to detail. Since the theater was dark I knew that I was going to make something super simple and do whatever stitches that came to my head. Now mind you the dishcloth came out wonky (increasing and decreasing stitches with no rhyme or reason will do this to a project) but a little crochet edging decreased the wonkiness factor a bit-plus it's just going to be a rag to wash the dishes! It was nice to have something small to work on during the play.


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For Valentines day I received an orchid-truly to make me happy for any occasion just give me a plant of some kind. I'm so excited that my collection is now up to four orchids.

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I am going to try to attend a community garden meeting tonight that is being held at the library. A big pot of beans are cooking on the stove and to tell the truth I'm here blogging to avoid making dinner-but soon my ears will be met with famous "I'm hungry", so for me (after I push publish post) it's back to the "chopping board".
Happy Tuesday!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

making Valentines

The weekends go fast don't they? After church yesterday we had some people over for lunch (which included jerk chicken). After sunset my husband went out to get a few things and I requested ice cream (didn't I just say something about healthy snacks?)
Well I ate a bowl of rocky road last night as I surfed the web, then I knitted a little and finally went to bed. This morning the girls were telling me that we needed to go to the store today to pick up their Valentine cards for their school parties tomorrow, but I suggested that we make some cards instead. I have a stash of stuff, paper wise, that needs to be put to use- so today we did some cutting, gluing, and a little stamping~


making cards, originally uploaded by *nichole*.




cut-out, originally uploaded by *nichole*
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making cards, originally uploaded by *nichole*.




making cards, originally uploaded by *nichole*.



now we just need to add candy to the cards, wonder if I have a stash of that around? (does extra dark chocolate count, I don't know since its full of anti-oxidants and all:)

Friday, February 11, 2011

snack time

~today's after school snack

~my snack of choice lately, dates and slivered almonds

We try to eat relatively healthy snacks, but of course there are times we eat a cookie or two. Anyway my snack of choice lately has been dates with slivered almonds. Dates are so sweet, sticky, really they are natures own caramels. Just a few of them help subdue that sweet tooth of mine-they are full of good stuff too. Here are a list of snacks that make there way on our table after school and on the weekends~

*chips and salsa
*apples with nut butter or cheese
*bananas with nut butter
*crackers
*granola
*cut-up pieces of pineapple
*oranges
*toast with some spread
*popcorn popped in coconut oil and topped with a little butter and brewer's yeast

snacks of course should quell those hunger pains, but shouldn't fill us up.
I notice that the higher quality of the snack the more satisfied I feel (which really is the case with most of the food we eat).

Have a great weekend, and have some great snacks!

Monday, February 7, 2011

this and that~

I am

~working on knitting up an owl family, two more to go


~painting on a big yellow canvas (more on that later:)


~liking the blues on this recently thrifted vase


~glad we saw a rainbow today


this weekend also included church, ordering pizza Saturday night, attending a birthday party (for a classmate of my youngest daughter), vacuuming, with Sunday evening being topped off by a deep, deep cleaning of the upstairs bathroom-yeah. I love seeing the shiny chrome on the hot and cold water knobs-again.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

in the garden cowl, three ways

this cowl is something I worked on a lot during the girls weekly piano lessons. all it is really is a couple of rounds of stockinette stitch with some rounds of seed stitch thrown in.


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~cowl pulled to the back

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~cowl shoulder to shoulder

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~cowl pulled to the front

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for the last couple of rows I did add some increases so that the cowl would be wider at the bottom than at the top. I don't even know how many increases I actually added, I just added them at whim.
I think my favorite way to wear it is going to be the pulled to the front look.
now I gotta go find something else to keep my needles warm!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

untangling the tangled....


I spent a good part of my Tuesday night untangling yarn. I won't tell you how long it took. For the love of knitting, a knitters gotta do what she's gotta do.
(but I won't lie, this certain thing along with this are both looking quite appealing right about now).
goodnight!

kitchen Sunday

I actually did spend some time in the kitchen Sunday, but not so much time on the other things I'd listed (the knitting, the laundry, the reading). I made potato fennel soup, quinoa salad, and gluten-free banana bread~

~rinsing quinoa before cooking


~chop, chop!


~soup simmering


~gluten free banana bread-with a "couple" of chocolate chips thrown in for good measure


It was so nice to come home after picking the girls up from school yesterday and not having to really worry about cooking right away (and it helped even more considering the schoolwork that needed attention). We ate the soup last night for dinner with some sandwiches. More is still in the fridge for my lunch today. The gluten-free banana bread turned out better than I thought it would. I tasted the batter before I placed it in the oven and it did have a pronounced "beany" flavor, but that flavor wasn't so strong after the bread finished baking and rested for awhile. I think it's pretty good and my youngest thinks so too (I suspect this has something to do with the chocolate chips-to her adding chocolate chips to a dish makes it absolutely delicious-note to self, add chocolate chips to tonight's broccoli :)
The gluten-free flour I used was from Bob's Red Mill. We are not a gluten-free family, but I am interested in consuming less gluten-maybe becoming more in terms of "gluten light".
I think I'll try to keep this Sunday cooking going because it definitely makes the start to the week a bit less hectic.
Have a great Tuesday!