The Reason our family celebrates:
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
Friday, December 25, 2009
Merry Christmas!
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
Monday, December 21, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Feeling Lucky
In all my years I've entered quite a few random draw contests. And usually I don't win a thing. I don't remember winning anything until about a year ago when I won some really cool Haba blocks on a blog, which I can't recall the name of at the moment.
So I sign up for most of the giveaways I come across online - especially since most of them don't require much effort except for commenting or filling out a form. But I'm usually not very optimist. And now I have one TWO things in the past week. I'm stoked!
The first thing I won was through Steph's Cup of Tea blog. I didn't win her main prize, but I got to pick some loose leaf tea from teaflection.com. I received the package in the mail on Saturday. Tried a cup that night. I don't have the most discerning taste buds, but I like it. I got the Japanese Sencha Green Tea.
Then I got an email today that I won something through the Apartment Therapy sites. They've got several giveaways every day since the beginning of December (I think). They have had a lot of really great things, so it was fun to find what I had won. I won a 7 Piece Baking. As soon as I get it I will let you know what I think about it. :) I can't wait!
I'm pretty sure that there are still giveaways going on on Apartment Therapy, so go over and toss your name in the hat! You might just win something. :-D
So I sign up for most of the giveaways I come across online - especially since most of them don't require much effort except for commenting or filling out a form. But I'm usually not very optimist. And now I have one TWO things in the past week. I'm stoked!
The first thing I won was through Steph's Cup of Tea blog. I didn't win her main prize, but I got to pick some loose leaf tea from teaflection.com. I received the package in the mail on Saturday. Tried a cup that night. I don't have the most discerning taste buds, but I like it. I got the Japanese Sencha Green Tea.
Then I got an email today that I won something through the Apartment Therapy sites. They've got several giveaways every day since the beginning of December (I think). They have had a lot of really great things, so it was fun to find what I had won. I won a 7 Piece Baking. As soon as I get it I will let you know what I think about it. :) I can't wait!
I'm pretty sure that there are still giveaways going on on Apartment Therapy, so go over and toss your name in the hat! You might just win something. :-D
The Blue Bathroom
A long time ago - 3 and 1/2 years actually - I picked out paint colors for our new house. I spent hours staring at paint chips and trying to decide which colors I liked. I also had a husband to run these colors by, and he can be a little picky. Most of the house would be in a cream color. The future kids' rooms would be very muted colors (you can't even tell there is color there...) Our room was a nice light blue. The kitchen, oh the glorious kitchen, was to be a wonderful wine redish. And the bathrooms were the only other bold colored rooms. The color I chose for them was Aqua Smoke.
So the colors were chosen. Then something amazing happened. I gave birth to our oldest son. It was a wonderful, yet very tiring time. And did I mention we were building a house. The way our builders work, is that you have a certain amount of time to get things done before they need to move on. And they can't call the work done, until every thing is done. So if you want to save money and paint walls and stain trim yourself, you have to do it within a strict timeline.
The paint was bought. Then paint day came. We had about a weekend to get all the painting done. Then they would be bringing in all the trim and doors and wanting to put in the carpet. Paint Day was September 23rd - Ohlen was born September 6th. He was just over 2 weeks old. Ok, we were INSANE! Truth be told there was a group of wonderful, amazing people who came and painted the day away for us. I brought some food over at one point, and did paint a little, but I didn't do much. It all looked great.
Except something was wrong with the bathroom paint. I mentioned it to my husband. It was pretty much - If that's the color on the wall, that's what color it is going to be. (Did I mention the strict deadline + the 2 week old baby...) It turns out that the paint mixer mixed the correct color, they just had the settings set for a pint, when it should have been a gallon. So Aqua Smoke was incredibly washed out. So I was disappointed, but I had more important things to worry about.
Now finally, 3 years later, one of the two bathrooms is close to the color I wanted it. I got the paint at a different store, so I didn't get the exact color, but I think it is close. Here's the before and after: (And if you got through the crazy long story, I commend you. :)) Oh and I was here staining trim and doors too many hours at a time with a 4 week old... And moving in with a 7 week old. Those were crazy crazy times.
Ok seriously, here are the pictures. Oh and no this is not of the same bathroom, but my camera wasn't here to take a before picture, but the other bathroom was the same exact color.
And tomorrow (or the next day) look for a post about my crazy giveaway winnings - fun stuff!
So the colors were chosen. Then something amazing happened. I gave birth to our oldest son. It was a wonderful, yet very tiring time. And did I mention we were building a house. The way our builders work, is that you have a certain amount of time to get things done before they need to move on. And they can't call the work done, until every thing is done. So if you want to save money and paint walls and stain trim yourself, you have to do it within a strict timeline.
The paint was bought. Then paint day came. We had about a weekend to get all the painting done. Then they would be bringing in all the trim and doors and wanting to put in the carpet. Paint Day was September 23rd - Ohlen was born September 6th. He was just over 2 weeks old. Ok, we were INSANE! Truth be told there was a group of wonderful, amazing people who came and painted the day away for us. I brought some food over at one point, and did paint a little, but I didn't do much. It all looked great.
Except something was wrong with the bathroom paint. I mentioned it to my husband. It was pretty much - If that's the color on the wall, that's what color it is going to be. (Did I mention the strict deadline + the 2 week old baby...) It turns out that the paint mixer mixed the correct color, they just had the settings set for a pint, when it should have been a gallon. So Aqua Smoke was incredibly washed out. So I was disappointed, but I had more important things to worry about.
Now finally, 3 years later, one of the two bathrooms is close to the color I wanted it. I got the paint at a different store, so I didn't get the exact color, but I think it is close. Here's the before and after: (And if you got through the crazy long story, I commend you. :)) Oh and I was here staining trim and doors too many hours at a time with a 4 week old... And moving in with a 7 week old. Those were crazy crazy times.
Ok seriously, here are the pictures. Oh and no this is not of the same bathroom, but my camera wasn't here to take a before picture, but the other bathroom was the same exact color.
And tomorrow (or the next day) look for a post about my crazy giveaway winnings - fun stuff!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Comparisons
Someone mentioned I needed more pictures on my blog, so here you go anonymous person. :)
Can you pick who is who??
1st picture- Ohlen Noah
2nd picture - Noah Ohlen
3rd picture - Ohlen Noah
I can definitely see differences in them, but they are definitely brothers. :)
Can you pick who is who??
1st picture- Ohlen Noah
2nd picture - Noah Ohlen
3rd picture - Ohlen Noah
I can definitely see differences in them, but they are definitely brothers. :)
Friday, November 13, 2009
Daily Plate and Slim in 6
So I've been working hard this week on weight management. I've been tracking calories every day and exercising every day. I haven't seen crazy results yet, but I'm feeling better, more energetic, and just all around better about myself. There have been two tools that have been very instrumental in helping me achieve my goals.
The first is The Daily Plate. It is a part of the Livestrong site. It is a great tool for keeping track of what you have eaten for the day. There is a search bar where you enter what you have eaten. Then you choose the current food item, fill in how many servings you ate, and you can designate what meal or time you ate it. There are lots of different foods. I've found something to match up with everything I've eaten. It is a bit more difficult if you make most of your meals from scratch, but you can find something very similar - at least that has been the case with me. If you eat prepackaged meals/snacks it is extremely easy to find. They also have a feature where you can group items into meals. This is great for my breakfast, since I eat the same thing every morning. That way I don't have to add everything separately every day.
The site also creates a pie graph to let you know where your calories came from, eg. Carbs, protein, fat. There is also a pie graph you can access that shows all the foods you have eaten that day in regards to their calories. So you can see what is making up most of your calories. It also keeps a running total of sodium, fat, carbs, etc and tallies it towards the bottom of the page.
This has been a wonderful tool for me. I keep the website in my tabs at all times, so it is easy to remember to log what I eat. It is also alot easier to skip the high calorie offenders when I know that I will be logging it.
There are also some other tools available. There is a place to enter your weight and some measurements so you can see your progress over time. There are more in depth tools, but they require a paid subscription. I find that there is plenty there without the subscription, which is great for those of us trying to save some cash where ever we can.
So, if you have ever wanted to keep a Food Journal, I would definitely recommend The Daily Plate.
Exercise - shouldn't it be a four letter word? Well at least for me it could be most days. Sure there are days when I can't wait to get moving, but most days, I'd rather sit and do something else. I've found that I do much better when I have a program spelled out for me, rather than just picking something each day. I was using P90X, which is a great program, but it wasn't right for my goals. It really isn't a weight loss program. However, I really like how Beachbody sets up their programs, so I looked in Slim in 6. The premise is that you work out for 6 weeks and slim down. I have heard stories of people radically transforming through this program, but I'm just hoping for a small transformation. I'm about half way through and I'm really loving it. The program starts out with a few days of a 25 minute routine to teach some of the basic moves. Then you move on to the 45 minute routine for about 1.5 weeks. This one definitely harder, but not too bad. Then you do an hour workout for the last 4 weeks. This one is a serious workout, sweating, sore muscles and all that jazz. It's great. Plus when I feel sore, I'm feeling sore in all the places I want to feel sore: thighs, abs, rear. Another feature that I enjoy is that there is always a timer running to let you know how much time is left. I've done other work out tapes where I was constantly looking a clock trying to figure out just how much torture time was left - here they provide it for you. The instructor is upbeat and encouraging, but not sickenly so. I also like that it is an hour of nonstop movement. P90X seemed to have a lot of downtime, even in the cardio workouts - this one just keeps you going.
There are also 3 shorter workouts also, Thin Thighs, Abs, and Flexibility. They are each about 12 minutes long. I do 2 or 3 of those if I'm feeling off and really really don't want to do a full hour.
The downsides: Taking an hour a day can at times be hard to do, but I keep reminding myself that it's worth it. There are some moves that my neck and back don't appreciate. I just take it a little easy on those. I thought I would see better results by now, but I know that I'm just one of those people that is going to have to be very vigilant to lose the weight, that's just how it is. The first couple weeks of the program I didn't watch what I was eating very closely, I'm hoping that by combining the two I will see better results soon.
The first is The Daily Plate. It is a part of the Livestrong site. It is a great tool for keeping track of what you have eaten for the day. There is a search bar where you enter what you have eaten. Then you choose the current food item, fill in how many servings you ate, and you can designate what meal or time you ate it. There are lots of different foods. I've found something to match up with everything I've eaten. It is a bit more difficult if you make most of your meals from scratch, but you can find something very similar - at least that has been the case with me. If you eat prepackaged meals/snacks it is extremely easy to find. They also have a feature where you can group items into meals. This is great for my breakfast, since I eat the same thing every morning. That way I don't have to add everything separately every day.
The site also creates a pie graph to let you know where your calories came from, eg. Carbs, protein, fat. There is also a pie graph you can access that shows all the foods you have eaten that day in regards to their calories. So you can see what is making up most of your calories. It also keeps a running total of sodium, fat, carbs, etc and tallies it towards the bottom of the page.
This has been a wonderful tool for me. I keep the website in my tabs at all times, so it is easy to remember to log what I eat. It is also alot easier to skip the high calorie offenders when I know that I will be logging it.
There are also some other tools available. There is a place to enter your weight and some measurements so you can see your progress over time. There are more in depth tools, but they require a paid subscription. I find that there is plenty there without the subscription, which is great for those of us trying to save some cash where ever we can.
So, if you have ever wanted to keep a Food Journal, I would definitely recommend The Daily Plate.
Exercise - shouldn't it be a four letter word? Well at least for me it could be most days. Sure there are days when I can't wait to get moving, but most days, I'd rather sit and do something else. I've found that I do much better when I have a program spelled out for me, rather than just picking something each day. I was using P90X, which is a great program, but it wasn't right for my goals. It really isn't a weight loss program. However, I really like how Beachbody sets up their programs, so I looked in Slim in 6. The premise is that you work out for 6 weeks and slim down. I have heard stories of people radically transforming through this program, but I'm just hoping for a small transformation. I'm about half way through and I'm really loving it. The program starts out with a few days of a 25 minute routine to teach some of the basic moves. Then you move on to the 45 minute routine for about 1.5 weeks. This one definitely harder, but not too bad. Then you do an hour workout for the last 4 weeks. This one is a serious workout, sweating, sore muscles and all that jazz. It's great. Plus when I feel sore, I'm feeling sore in all the places I want to feel sore: thighs, abs, rear. Another feature that I enjoy is that there is always a timer running to let you know how much time is left. I've done other work out tapes where I was constantly looking a clock trying to figure out just how much torture time was left - here they provide it for you. The instructor is upbeat and encouraging, but not sickenly so. I also like that it is an hour of nonstop movement. P90X seemed to have a lot of downtime, even in the cardio workouts - this one just keeps you going.
There are also 3 shorter workouts also, Thin Thighs, Abs, and Flexibility. They are each about 12 minutes long. I do 2 or 3 of those if I'm feeling off and really really don't want to do a full hour.
The downsides: Taking an hour a day can at times be hard to do, but I keep reminding myself that it's worth it. There are some moves that my neck and back don't appreciate. I just take it a little easy on those. I thought I would see better results by now, but I know that I'm just one of those people that is going to have to be very vigilant to lose the weight, that's just how it is. The first couple weeks of the program I didn't watch what I was eating very closely, I'm hoping that by combining the two I will see better results soon.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Blog Hop - Question
Today's Hop asks us to pose a question to our readers.
What is your favorite low calorie snack?
I need some more ideas. Mine, right now, are a few almonds or some popcorn.
What is your favorite low calorie snack?
I need some more ideas. Mine, right now, are a few almonds or some popcorn.
Monday, November 9, 2009
6 Months - Noah
So this post is a little late, but oh well. Noah turned 6 months old on the 5th. I can't believe half a year has gone by already, just crazy. He has a Dr. appointment on Wednesday, so I don't know official stats, but my guess is that he is a little over 16 lbs and maybe close to 27 inches. He is creeping, and allllmost crawling. He can sit up for quite a while, although he still has times where he just topples right on over. He's eating some solid foods, and is loving them (most of them). He is still a booger about drinking from his bottle. It's pretty frustrating, but he is still gaining weight, so I try not to worry.
On to the pictures - Wow, he has changed alot, I think.
6 Months Old
On to the pictures - Wow, he has changed alot, I think.
5 Days Old
3 Months Old
6 Months Old
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Blog Hop - Photo
A little late, and I haven't been doing this every week... but I have a recent photo to share, so I thought I would join. Actually I have two photos, one of my boys, and the other of a couple of our pets. Enjoy!
I was making silly faces trying to get some smiles - I guess I over did it. :)
Here we have Ringo the cat and Sophie the dog. There is something going on there I think. The cat lives outside because of my husband's allergies, but he always seems to let him in to play with the dogs. I am realizing that I am definitely not an inside cat person... Oh and yeah, they are sitting in my little one's car seat, the dogs like it because it is nice and cozy right now because of the seat cover.
I was making silly faces trying to get some smiles - I guess I over did it. :)
Here we have Ringo the cat and Sophie the dog. There is something going on there I think. The cat lives outside because of my husband's allergies, but he always seems to let him in to play with the dogs. I am realizing that I am definitely not an inside cat person... Oh and yeah, they are sitting in my little one's car seat, the dogs like it because it is nice and cozy right now because of the seat cover.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Super Spicy Sunday Supper
One of my favorite meals to make is an Asian type dish. I don't know that there is really anything authentically Asian about it, but it reminds me of the Americanized versions. It's sort of a stir fry type dish. Anyways, here's what I do.
"Asian" Chicken
Rice or Noodles
1 chicken breast
Vegetable or Olive Oil
Various Vegetables - Sunday I used:
-1/4 onion chopped
- peas
- 1/2 green pepper sliced
- baby carrots - cut into 1/4ths
- 4 chili peppers
Various spices - What I used Sunday
- Garlic Powder
-Hot Madras Curry Powder
- Garam Masala
- Black Pepper
- Salt
- Cloves
Soy Sauce
Spiracha Hot Chili Sauce (optional - well really, everything in this recipe is optional)
Yeah, there aren't very many measurements - it's all about making it to your tastes. In this occasion I added way too much of the Chili Sauce - I couldn't finish mine, it was too hot for me. I usually go light on the Garlic and Salt and focus more on the other spices. Not sure if I like having the carrots in there - I would probably do broccoli, but the men in my house don't really care for it. Anyways on to the rest of the "recipe"
Prepare the rice or noodles.
But some oil in a skillet. Throw in the vegetables. Defrost chicken if you need to. Add Soy sauce and spices to vegetables. Cook until cooked through. Remove vegetables from pan. Place chicken on skillet. Cook until browned, flip and repeat. Either removing chicken, or doing it right in the pan - cut chicken into small chunks. Add some more spices if desired. Cook until chicken is cooked through. Add the vegetables back to the skillet. Let cook together for a few minutes. Add the Chili Sauce. Serve over rice or noodles.
Here is the result from Sunday night.
Like I said, it turned out entirely too spicy for my liking. And I didn't even try to put the Chili Sauce on for Ohlen - I took his portion out before I added it.
"Asian" Chicken
Rice or Noodles
1 chicken breast
Vegetable or Olive Oil
Various Vegetables - Sunday I used:
-1/4 onion chopped
- peas
- 1/2 green pepper sliced
- baby carrots - cut into 1/4ths
- 4 chili peppers
Various spices - What I used Sunday
- Garlic Powder
-Hot Madras Curry Powder
- Garam Masala
- Black Pepper
- Salt
- Cloves
Soy Sauce
Spiracha Hot Chili Sauce (optional - well really, everything in this recipe is optional)
Yeah, there aren't very many measurements - it's all about making it to your tastes. In this occasion I added way too much of the Chili Sauce - I couldn't finish mine, it was too hot for me. I usually go light on the Garlic and Salt and focus more on the other spices. Not sure if I like having the carrots in there - I would probably do broccoli, but the men in my house don't really care for it. Anyways on to the rest of the "recipe"
Prepare the rice or noodles.
But some oil in a skillet. Throw in the vegetables. Defrost chicken if you need to. Add Soy sauce and spices to vegetables. Cook until cooked through. Remove vegetables from pan. Place chicken on skillet. Cook until browned, flip and repeat. Either removing chicken, or doing it right in the pan - cut chicken into small chunks. Add some more spices if desired. Cook until chicken is cooked through. Add the vegetables back to the skillet. Let cook together for a few minutes. Add the Chili Sauce. Serve over rice or noodles.
Here is the result from Sunday night.
Like I said, it turned out entirely too spicy for my liking. And I didn't even try to put the Chili Sauce on for Ohlen - I took his portion out before I added it.
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