When Pigs Fly!

You've heard the expression but did you know that pigs do fly...in Cincinnati?!?!  Yes, they do and Josh and I have decided that we will be flying along in the half marathon for the 2013 Flying Pig Marathon!

I'm really excited but also nervous because now I've put it out there so it's a goal that must be accomplished.  I'm not really one that enjoys running per se but I love how I feel when I'm done.

You see, I used to run a little bit before I was a Mom.  Nothing major, a couple miles here and there to keep in shape.  Josh and I ran a 10k (ok, so I walked just a bit of it) for the Thanksgiving Day Race in 2008 and that was the furthest I had ever run.  I didn't run while I was pregnant and had little time to run once I was taking care of a baby.  So, exercise got pushed to the back burner.  Fast forward, 3 years and I still have "baby weight."  Really?!?!  Yes, it's there and it's time to do something about that. 

Josh and I are blessed to be in a Life Group through our church and we've met some amazing families.  Two of the women, who are also wives and mothers, just completed a full marathon!  They probably don't even know it but they are such an inspiration to me!

My Dad and I have also been watching a special about the Iron Man in Hawaii.  Just watching it makes me feel like I could go out and start running.  People who do amazing things like that are such an inspiration.  God built our bodies to do amazing things! 

So, we've set the goal and registered but now comes the hard part...training.  The local park district just put in a  walking path at the park behind our house...I'm fairly certain they did this just for me and training purposes! Haha!

I'll keep you posted on how things are going.  I know it's not going to be easy, there are times I'll rather be napping or doing anything else but running.  It's going to feel so good though when it's done and I can slap that 13.1 sticker on the back of my car.  Oh yeah-I'm totally getting the sticker!

A Great Weeekend and a Day Off!

You know the weekends that you look back and think, "Wow-that was a great weekend!"?  Well, that was our weekend.  The weather mostly cooperated, we had so much fun and I even crossed many items off my to-do list.

Friday night my Dad came up to stay through to Saturday.  We ventured out for frozen yogurt (both nights!) and I tell you, Rory is my child through and through.  Out of all the available flavors he wanted pumpkin.  That's my boy!  I love pumpkin anything.  Rory loved it so much so that he did not let one drop go to waste.

Saturday morning Josh and I went to look at a house.  We are currently renting a condo but it's not a lifestyle we prefer.  It works now in the short-term but not something that we want to do long term.  It was really exciting to go look at the house and I hope we can start the buying process soon. 

After our house hunt we went for lunch.  When Dad comes up we usually try to pick out someplace new to eat.  Since we relocated to a different city there are lots of restaurants that we didn't have before.  We chose Firehouse Subs.  It was pretty yummy--the subs were warm, which is the way I like them and Rory loved the firehouse memorabilia. 

This is Rory being goofy with "Papa's" sunglasses on the way home.

Our great weekend stretched right on into Monday.  I had the day off in observance of Veteran's Day.  Most importantly, thank you to all the veteran's that have served or are currently serving to protect and secure our freedom.

I have been looking forward to this day for a long time!  It was a few hours that we were going to get to spend as a family doing something fun.  Originally, I intended to go to the zoo but the downpour forced me to come up with an alternative plan.  I settled on an indoor play yard.  It's a company that sells jungle gym equipment in an indoor showroom but for a $5 fee you can go play on all the equipment.  We all had a fabulous time and by the end of the morning I knew I hadn't settled at all!

Rory loved the trampolines and the football yard where we could "tackle" each other.  I have to admit I thought the trampolines were pretty fun too.  He also loved climbing up the ropes and for his age I thought he seemed exceptionally coordinated.

After playing so hard we refueled at Chick-fil-A and went home and chilled out.  All in all a perfect day!

Menu Plan thru November 18, 2012

My Mom recently went on a girls trip and she brought me back a brand new cookbook!  It's by Gooseberry Patch and called "From Grandma's Kitchen."  I have a few of their smaller cookbooks and they have great recipes.  It's normal food that it easy to prepare and no weird ingredients that you spend 20 minutes looking for at the grocery store.  Most of my inspiration came from this book.

Monday-Ham, Bean (green beans) and Potato soup
Tuesday-Pizza Cupcakes
Wednesday-Country Fried Steak with potatoes
Thursday-Johnny Marzetti
Friday-leftovers
Saturday-Headed to a lunch gathering--not sure what I am taking yet.
Sunday-out of leftovers

Since I only have to feed 3 of us I can rely heavily on leftovers.  Some make enough to feed a family of 6 so there is plenty left over, which means less cooking for me on the weekends and more time with my boys.

Happy Cooking!

Menu Plan thru November 11, 2012

One of my favorite things to do it look through recipes.  It's dorky--I know, but I can sit with a recipe book and read it like a novel.  Whenever I'm stumped on menu planning these are my go to guies.  I have a small collection of recipe books and almost all of them have a story.  A friend or family member gave them to me, a baby recipe book for Rory, a cookie book from my Grandma or a recipe book I picked up on vacation.  Seeing these on my counter makes me think of all these wonderful people and adventures and I can't help but smile!

To menu planning---it's all about chicken this week since it was on sale.

Monday-Crispy Baked Chicken Nuggets, tater tots and pears
Tuesday-Chick-fil-A drive thru and headed to VOTE!
Wednesday-Super Easy Chicken and Noodles
Thursday-Fried Rice with veggies
Friday-Aloha Chicken (yes, this is the 3rd time but I'm really going to make it this week!)
Saturday-Homemade Chicken Pot Pie
Sunday-leftovers

What are you cooking this week? 

Don't forget to subscribe to see my next menu, recipe or homemade project.

This menu plan can also be seen here. and here.

Homemade Child's Neck Pillow

All too often my little man falls asleep in the car.  We travel a fair amount and try to do it at nap time so Rory can sleep in the car.  Our family is about 120 miles away and we make the drive about times a month.  Rory is a great traveler!  I always feel bad though when he falls asleep and his little head bobs back and forth.  You can easily find neck pillows for adults but I wanted a child size one.  With my new motto of being homemade and using what I have on hand I decided to try and make one.  It was such an easy project and worth the effort!

I started by making a "U" shape pattern out of tissue paper and pinning it to my fabric.  Make sure the fabric is layered so you are cutting out 2 pieces at the same time.

Once the pieces are cut, pin the right sides together.  In other words, you will see the wrong side of the fabric.

Then sew the pieces together leaving a small opening for stuffing.

Start stuffing!  This was the only part of the project that I had to buy.  A small bag of stuffing cost $3 and I still have plenty left!

 Once the pillow is stuffed, sew up the small opening my hand...and that, my friends, is it!

This pillow was VERY worth the effort...it probably took about an hour from start to finish.  No more head bobbing here!

Don't worry--I took the picture at a stop light!  I think this pillow is going to get plenty of use.

One Man's Trash....

...just might be my treasure.  Let me preface this by saying I'm not a trash picker or a dumpster diver.  BUT, sometimes these amazing treasures find me.  I've found some really great things that were on there way to the trash dump and I'd like to think it was my "green" duty to rescue them.

My first amazing find was about 4 years ago.  Someone in my parents neighborhood and done some remodeling and they were throwing away 2 long (like 12 foot) pieces of the white wire shelving.  It's the kind that Home Depot sells for almost $1 per foot and is great for closets.  I sent my Dad to get the mini-van and those shelved ended up saving us a lot money when we renovated one of the closets in our old house to a pantry, turned a storage area into a coat closet and gave us lots of extra storage in our laundry room.

I've also been looking for one of those Little Tyke picnic tables for Rory for a long time.  You know, the yellow, red and blue plastic ones?  I've kept my eye out driving by garage sales and had yet to find one....until now!  Driving to meet some friends for dinner in our hometown, low and behold a picnic table and little plastic bike was sitting by someones mailbox.  I asked Josh if he thought those might be out for the trash...I wish I could have captured the look he gave me when he said, "I don't know...do you want me to turn around?"  Josh humored me and back tracked so I could knock on the door to get the scoop.  A young girl answered the door and said if I wanted them to take them.  Seriously??  I offered to pay her but she wouldn't take any money.  It was like hitting the lottery.  The picnic table will get a good scrub down when it gets warmer and I found another little boy that could use the bike since Rory already has quite a few.  Josh gets props for this one too because the picnic table wouldn't fit in the car with our suitcases so he carried it the 1/4 mile back to our friends house.

My latest find was coming home after Trick-or-Treat.  We live in a condo (not ideal) and the carports are set up so we share one big carport with our our neighbor.  Each condo gets one parking spot in the carport.  I pulled in our spot and noticed some furniture on the other side.  I dismissed it but then quickly realized that I should get a closer look.  I turned the headlights on and found these beauties....

The little side table is solid wood and just needs a new handle, some sand paper and a fresh stain or paint job.  The dresser might be a little trickier because it's not solid wood...I guess laminate maybe, but envision this...new decorative trim, painted white and glass knobs on the front.  Both are great pieces but they just need a little love.  I'll keep you updated on their new and improved look!

I should also mention that I did ask my neighbor about the furniture and he was more than willing to get rid of it.  Even offered to help me carry it in the house!

I've never done very well at garage sales or second hand stores so I guess the curb it is!

What treasures have you found lately?

Homemade Charlie Brown

One thing I really enjoyed about Halloween this year was making Rory's costume.  I've always been a fan of the homemade costumes, especially as the kids get older and can make things themselves. 

The first year Rory was a cow.  He had pajamas with cow print and a cow hat.  It was all given to us as a gift and worked perfectly for a costume.  Last year Rory was a farmer.  I used a plaid shirt and overalls from his closet and topped it off with a John Deere hat that was also a gift.  This year got a little trickier because I was out of things already in his closet to use as an entire costume. 

The idea for Charlie Brown started last year at Christmas because we watched A Charlie Brown Christmas over and over and over....I have it memorized.  This year he has loved watching Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin so I knew he just had to be Charlie Brown. 

I started with a plain yellow shirt that my friend found at the craft shop.  This was the hardest part of the process.  It was so hard to find a plain yellow shirt that didn't have writing, a truck or football plastered across the front.  I also used 2 felt squares to make the stripes.

I wanted the stripes to match up on the sides so it looked like one continuous stripe around and for that I had to whip up some math skills.  I started by measuring across the shirt to determine how long the strip needed to be.  I knew I wanted 3 "peaks" so I divided the length by 3 and marked on the felt with a white sewing pencil.  I also made the stripe 2 inches in width...made the marks and then draw the lines together.  It was kind of like putting a puzzle together that had no pieces to begin with.

After that I cut out the felt strip and pinned it to the shirt.  It was easier to hand stitch this than use the sewing machine...at least for me.  I had a hard time getting the two different types of fabric to not wiggle around on the machine.  It only took about 30 minutes of hand sewing...which I completed while we watch Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin.  How appropriate!



I completed the look with black pants and brown shoes that came right from Rory's wardrobe.  In the end it turned out just as I had envisioned and was an awesome costume.  It did take some time but cost less than $5 to make.  I look forward to more homemade costume making in the future.