Days

Days go by
Fog follows me then floats away
Days go by
Time follows me then floats away
Days go by
My thoughts are scattered and then float away

Well, it's been 78 days since I've updated my blog...........I do have things to share or things to say and obviously being retired, I have the time but I find I put my blog on the back burner when other things come up and I guess that's okay especially since it's not like I make any money doing it but I like to think that someone out there in the big world of the internets likes reading my stuff.

It's also been 46 days since my father passed away and his passing is one of the reasons I've not posting anything earlier than now.....I'm still processing his death and I honestly feel like I'm in a bit of a fog since then.  Not having parents anymore is a sad, sad club and some have been members since they were young and others enjoy having their parents around late in life.  There is also another dynamic when your parents are divorced when they pass and depending how long that had occurred come into play also.  In my situation, my father had been married to my step-mother for longer than he had been married to my mother and my mother never remarried.   There is also a decade between my parents deaths....my mom's in April 2006 and now dad's in March of 2016.....spring time and Easter time don't hold fond memories for me because my mother died the Thursday after Easter the year she died and my father the Thursday before Easter this year.

At my age, you also start to question your own mortality.  My parent were very young when they had me (age 18), so I'm not that far behind them.  My mother was 67 when she passed and my father 77.  My maternal grandmother was only 63 when she passed, but I my mom's younger sister just turned 73 and is still going strong...my dad's side lived to be older except for his brothers.  My dad, the middle boy outlived both his older and younger brothers but both grandparents on that side were in their late 80's when they passed.   Our family is small, so when we lose someone, an entire branch seems to be cut-off and gone forever.

One of the things that my dad and I talked about over the years was both of our struggles with our weight.   My weight really wasn't as issue until I quit smoking 13 years ago and over the next 3-4 years continuingly put on weight.   I think the same thing happened with my dad.  You quit smoking, you look for another "thing" and with many ex-smokers, food is it.  Then if you really enjoy food, the battle is super hard.  Both my dad and I are "snackers" and I'm hoping that identifying

Since my dad's death, I've though about what I could do to honor him and I decided that I was finally going to make a concentrated effort to lose 30 pounds.   I'll be thrilled, my doctor will be thrilled and I can hear my dad say "Outstanding!".

So to "chunk" this task out so I don't become overwhelmed or set myself up to completely fail, I'm going to concentrate on the next 90 days to lose half of it.....15 pounds.....that's only 5 pounds a month....should be doable.....here's my obstacles

1. Booze (craft beer, wine, margaritas).  I don't drink everyday, but I do like a beer or cocktail with our meal probably twice a week.
2. Snacking.   One thing my dad and I had in common, we are "snackers".
3. Emotional eating.   This can go one way or another depending on what's going on.
4. Not taking the time out to eat during the day.   Then ravenous at night and we eat late due to the husband's job.
5. Keeping non-healthy crap out of the kitchen.   With a skinny 20 year old still at home there is still more junk food than I would like and my willpower is crap also.  :)

So, now that I've complained about my obstacles, here's some of the things I'm going to try and implement

1. Challenge myself to use My Fitness Pal every day to track my food because tracking does help.
2. I doubt I'm going to completely cut out my snacking, I'm just going to make better choices of what kind of snacks.
3. I'm also not going to give up my Diet Pepsi, but I'm going to make sure I drink TWO bottles of water to every one Diet Pepsi I drink.
4. I'm not going to cut out, but limit the amount of added sugar I consume....I'm talking to you ketsup.  :)
5. I'm also not going to cut out, but keep in check any processed foods that may find their way into our house because I know that little pouch of Idahoan potatoes isn't going to kill me once in a while.  :)

I love most fruits and vegetables and don't hesitate to eat them, I just need to make sure I'm getting the right amounts each day.

I also am pretty active but I could bump it up a bit, but I have to be careful because of the arthritis I have in my ankles, feet and neck.  No running ever, but I do like to walk and I need to start strength training again.

The husband and I were going to a aqua boot camp for quite a while, but it's just too hard to get to anymore because of what time the husband gets home and trying to rush to make the class.   I could go by myself and I might but it was much more fun doing it together.  It's bike season now also, so I anticipate getting out on the bike trails very soon.

So, it make that long story short....I'll be updating you on my fitness journey here if you're interested...sharing any recipes, workouts, etc. that have helped me.   I'm hoping that if I share here, I'll have some accountability of what changes I want to make.

Thanks for stopping by and listening to me!

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

I've been remiss with my blog lately....unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, life got in the way AND I'm also working on the gazillion pictures I took in New York City that I want to share with you at a later date......in the meantime though, I'll share another recipe from our family dinner table.

It's amazing that in the same month I've discovered and made two different casseroles that the spouse loves!  As I've mentioned in a previous post, the spouse is not fond of casseroles or stews but I keep making them thinking I'll hit upon some that he'll like and lately I have.

This one came across my Facebook feed from Tip Hero.   Super easy and really good.  One of our son's friends was over that night and ate two helpings of it and there were no leftovers.  I think the next time I make it, I'll mix it up a bit and use buffalo wing sauce instead of hot sauce and sprinkle fresh chopped green onion on top.

Loaded Chicken & Potatoes

1/2 lb. Bacon – diced and cooked, set aside

8 medium red or gold potatoes - diced

1 lb. cubed chicken breast

Mix together in large bowl:

1 Tbsp. Paprika
2 Tbsp. Garlic Powder
2 tsp. Kosher Salt
1 ½ tsp. ground pepper
¼ cup olive oil
2 ½ Tbsp. hot sauce or buffalo wing sauce

Add potatoes and chicken to the oil & spice mixture and mix well.

Pour chicken & potato mixture into a lightly sprayed 9 x 13 baking dish. 

Bake at 400 degrees for 60 minutes.

Top with:   
½ cup of chopped green onion
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Reserved bacon.
Return to oven for 5 more minutes to melt the cheese

Serve with sour cream.

My Casserole Hating Husband

I'm married to a man who isn't particularly fond of casseroles, stews and even a good majority of soups BUT that doesn't mean I don't make them, because I like them and if I'm cooking, you get what you get.

That said, I made a chicken casserole for dinner that he LOVED and announced "THIS ONE is a keeper", so I thought I'd share it with all of you.  It's also super easy and quick.

If you're a cream soup hater, you might want to stop reading right now and turn your hating can soup heart somewhere else because this recipe does use a can of cream soup.

French Onion Chicken Casserole

Serves 6

2 cups cooked chicken breast

1 can Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup

1 small container of light French Onion sour cream dip

1/2 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese

12 oz. of egg noodles (or really whatever kind of noodle you want to use)

1 cup of French Fried Onions

Prepare the noodles according to directions.

Combine the cooked chicken (I roasted mine, then chopped the breasts up), soup, sour cream dip and cheese in a large bowl.  Once the noodles are done, drain well and add to the chicken mixture.

Pour the chicken and noodle mixture into a greased casserole dish and top with the onions.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.  Let stand a few minutes before serving.

Since I had just a little bit of shredded cheese left in the bag, I sprinkled the rest of it over the dish and let it melt after it came out of the oven.  I was also out of egg noodles, in fact the ONLY noodles I had were rotelle and bow ties, so I used those and the husband loved them and he is SO not a pasta person but he said "they go well in this dish".

The nutritional information isn't too bad either......per serving:

302 calories

21 grams of carbs

14 grams of fat

21 grams of protein

1 gram of sugar

If you decide to try it, let me know what you think!   Enjoy!

"What's For Dinner?"

I'm so darn tired of trying to figure out what to plan for dinner for the myself and the spouse.  I'm married to a man who likes to know "what's for dinner" and the young adult in the house is rarely around at dinner time so we don't worry about him, but funny how, when I'm making a favorite of his....pasta, burgers....he seems to be hanging out. 

I started thinking about making it easier on myself last fall and scoured the Internet for ideas, so my idea is bits of pieces of the information I did find, but with my own twist on it.  Some meal planning is by day....Monday's are meatless, Tuesday is chicken, Wednesday is pork, well, you get the idea.

My idea is super simple and involves your favorite meals, so the first and most important step is to get a pad of paper or open a word processor program, sit down with whomever it is that you are eating with (your family, your spouse, your parents, etc.) and list 30-35 of your favorite meals.  List all those meals that your family asks you to make and jot down your favorite sides that go with the main meal.  

The philosophy behind this is you'll have 30-35 of your favorite meals right at your fingertips. 

Once you have your list of favorites ready, you'll want to make a meal card for each meal.  It's completely up to you....hand write them on index cards, print them on index cards or cardstock.  I was having issues printing directly on to the index cards, so I did it the hard way and created a word document and listed our meals in that, printed, cut them out and glued them to the index cards.  Printing directly on index cards or cardstock would definitely be easier. 

Of course, I'm going to embellish my meal cards....that's the fun part!  I just took some of my many markers out and while watching that three OT college men's basketball game between Kansas and Oklahoma the other night, I doodled on all of the cards.  I used a simple line and dots but it jazzed them up a bit. 

I also like to look at the meal plan cards as a prompt too....maybe seeing it will remind me of a recipe we liked.  I was somewhat vague on several of the cards (like the photo below) so that you have some flexibility in the plan.

"Chef's Choice" when mentioned on the cards is a favorite recipe for that food.  I also made room for any notes that I might want to jot down when using that card.

If your family is like mind, we don't cook all seven nights of the week.  There is usually a leftover night in there and there is usually a night where one of us isn't that hungry so we "fend for ourselves".  Currently, we also have a surplus of make ahead freezer meals, so I doubt I'll use seven of my cards a week.

I decided that I didn't need a box to store these.....I think I ended up with 35 cards and that's not enough to use a box, so instead I embellished up a chipboard envelope that I re-sized with some minions paper (I LOVE minions) which works perfect with my meal planning/coupon basket.

What? you say a meal planning/coupon basket?  Yep.....I've been using this basket for at least 15 years to stash my coupons, my grocery ads, my freezer inventory sheet and clippings of recipes we want to try.   It's 10x14, it's slim and it fits inside a drawer or cabinet easily...it's Longaberger too..

My meal planning routine happens on Sundays...usually in the evening....it's multi-taking at it's finest.   Meal plan, clip coupons, look at grocery ads all while watching the latest movie DVD we've rented or while watching Netflix......then I'm all ready for my Monday grocery shopping and around here, Monday morning at the grocery store will make you feel like you own the place.

So...when you're racking your brain trying to come up with ideas for meals, you'll have an envelope full of ideas to choose from!

I hope sharing my "30Plan" with help all of you with your meal planning.  Enjoy!

I'll be back soon!

In addition to some other New Year's resolutions that I made for 2016 which is surprising because I haven't made a New Year's resolution since 2003 which is when I quit smoking cigarettes....January 3, 2003, so today is the 13th anniversary of not smoking cigarettes......I am also going to start blogging again.....

I think I need more of a routine than I've had the last 15 months and since I'm not taking any classes this spring semester, I'm going to devote more to doing things in a more scheduled way.  As far as my blogging, I'm shooting for twice a week....three at the most if I have anything extra fun or interesting to share (which I know is in the eye of the beholder), but I hope you enjoy letting me share.

One of the things I'll share next week is something I've been working on since summer......meal planning!  Although our son still lives with us while going to school and working, we don't see him much at meal time, unless it's pizza or pasta, so I am back to planning and cooking for two again and after almost 30 years, I'm getting tired of coming up with weekly menus......

I am married to man that wants to know what's for dinner and he's used to having that information, but I'm getting burnt out.....doesn't make sense considering I have the time but it's just coming up with things so we aren't eating the same things all the time.

I call it "30Plan" and all you need are index cards and a good pen or make a template in your word processing program.  You'll also need a small index card box (I'm planning on making mine) to hold the cards and I'll probably embellish mine out with my scrapbooking supplies.

Can I tell you how much a love index cards?  I would but that could be a whole blog post in and of itself.....I used them for so much things.   You can also use card stock or whatever you have, just make it index card size....3x5 or 4x6.

and if you've stopped by, thank you.....and next week I'll share with you something that has made meal planning for me a lot more easy AND I have a bunch of crafty things to share too!

FINALLY...our Master Bathroom Update!

First of all....I can't believe that my last blog post was July 8th!  That is almost two months ago and I have lots to share.  I'm going to try and stay on a once or twice a week schedule this fall.

Second....I'm finally ready to share our master bathroom update that we've been working off and on since the end of May.   I was dealing with both a herniated C7 disc and a fractured ankle during the remodel so between those things, a couple problems we encountered and coordinating with both my husband and our plumber for time, it took twice as long as I should have, but we weren't in any hurry other than having a mess on our hands in our master suite for a while.

The bathroom is pretty large, but very poorly designed, lots of wasted space.  Unfortunately, we didn't have the budget to move plumbing around, so since we couldn't do that, there was no sense in spending money on new vanities, we just needed to update the ones we have!  About six months ago we replaced our toilet with a taller model that flushes quietly, yet strong, so we didn't have to worry about replacing that.  I also decided not to replace the vanity tops as there was nothing wrong with them, they are fine and a neutral off-white, so again, no sense in replacing.

I had half assed painted the bathroom in 2005 but I only did two walls and then did a paint effect around the ceiling parameter with small square sponges.

Here's some before pictures -

 

The tall white cabinets at the end of each of the vanities were purchased at IKEA a couple of years ago and the storage they provide comes in handy. 

We were still using the cheap ass light fixtures the contractor put in (I priced them....$13 bucks a piece) and the only nice thing I'll say about them is they give off good light, but their days were numbered.

 

Our vanities, although well built didn't come with hardware, so this update job includes new hardware for both of them.

 

 

and see that ugly sheet vinyl flooring?  It's history.

I'm pretty loyal to Sherwin Williams for paint, we have a store in my small burb, they have an awesome website to check out paint colors and I like it's durability.

 

For the bathroom, I chose SW6547 Silver Peony for the walls and SW6254 Lazy Gray for the cabinets and mirror molding.   The walls were done in SW Duration Home and for the vanities I used SW ProClassic Interior Acrylic Latex Enamel.

 

Here's a list of the things that we did -

 

1.  Painted the ENTIRE bathroom this time rather than just two walls.

2.  Painted both vanities and added hardware.

3.  Painted molding and framed both plate glass mirrors above the vanities.

4.  Replaced the light fixtures.

5.  Replaced the faucets.

6.  Took down the two towels rods and installed a bar of towel hooks instead.

7.  Replaced our shower head with a rain shower head and bought a new corner shower caddy.

8.  Installed new light switch plates.

7.  Installed new flooring.

 

Here's a few progress pictures of the priming, painting, installing, etc. that happened over couple of months.

 

 

I lined all of the drawers and the bottom of the vanities with really cute paper I found at the Dollar General for $2 bucks a roll.

A closer look at the light fixture.  THAT gave us a bunch of issues from me not finding anything I liked to having an electrical issue spring up after we took down the original fixtures that needed to be corrected.  After searching for several weeks on the internet for lighting with no success, I finally went back to Lowe's where I had seen a section in their lighting department that was a "build your own" type thing and I found the right size fixture in the right finish and the perfect glass globes.  I wanted clear and I love that these are seeded.

 

The flooring was a whole another issue.....my husband was dragging his feet for weeks on this, so I compromised and said it could wait until I returned from a girl's retreat in Colorado.  The weekend after I came home, we started and although just a couple spots that were tricky, we were both surprised how easy and quick it went down.  Total time = about six hours which included breaks.

This is fabulous flooring if your not looking to use ceramic tile in a room that gets moisture.  It's vinyl plank flooring and I found it online at Home Depot.  The product is TrafficMASTER Allure and it comes in 6" x 36" planks.  The online reviews were what convinced me to use it, plus it was affordable, especially when DIYing it.

 

There's my handsome husband.  :)  

 

 

Here's the finished product!!! 

 

I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out since I couldn't have the 20K luxury gut job I would have liked to have. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The faucets were found at ATG Stores online and the vanity hardware at Menards.  Funny story about the hardware.  I ended up picking the exact same knobs as I did when we added hardware to our kitchen cabinets.

 

 

I'm not completely happy with the shower curtain I found, but it will do for now.  The picture on the left shows the color brighter than it really is, it's definitely more of a muted lavender.  The print above the toilet I found at ArtFest Midwest earlier this summer and framed it using a discounted brushed silver frame from Michaels.

 

I also made the decision to get rid of the two towel bars.  One was over the toilet where the framed print is now and the other was over on the wall where the tower hook bar now hangs.  That space is really completely wasted, so I thought we might as well take advantage of it and just hang our towels.

 

Want know how much we put into our update?  Here's the breakdown (round up or down):

 

1. Paint and Primer = $157.00
2. Light Fixtures = $116.00
3. Bathroom Faucets = $178.00
4. Curved shower rod, shower curtain, showerhead and shower caddy = $122.00
5. Framing the mirrors = $45.00
6. Vanity hardware = $29.00
7. Light Switch plates = $24.00
8. Bath Rugs (IKEA) = $30.00
9. Flooring = $168.00
10. Miscellanous = $40.00
11. New linens (Target) = $85.00

For a grand total of $994.00

 

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what took quite a bit of my time this summer!

 

 

 

 



Garden Glimpses - Part 1

With the rainfall we got here in Iowa in May and June, my flower and vegie gardens are going bananas!  I'm already harvesting vegetables that I usually have to wait until later in July to harvest and I have flowers that are blooming better than they have in years.

Some of the early blooms in our yard include:

Peach Iris (they were in my mother's flower garden)

I divided and moved the Peach Iris two summers ago and this summer was the first bloom since relocating them.

Grape Hyacinth

Flowering Almond

Some of the summer blooms came a bit earlier this year and some of them are really taking off this year better than ever before.  The mounds of Salvia are huge this year.

Purple Salvia

Pink Salvia

Peonies

Knock Out Rose

I'm afraid that after this knock rose bloomed and I took this photo, it went into a death spiral.  :(  That's the second one I've lost, the first to the harsh winter of 2013.  I'm not quite ready to dig it up yet.

We have a garden I call the "triangle garden" because its sits in the corner of our backyard.  It's my experimental garden where I plants things and see how they do.  I also like to add interest by placing a huge container pot on one side of the garden to help elevate the color in the garden bed.  This year I filled it with wave petunias and verbena and they really took off.


Container full of Verbena and Wave Petunias

We have a garden I call the "triangle garden" because its sits in the corner of our backyard.  It's my experimental garden where I plants things and see how they do.  I also like to add interest by placing a huge container pot on one side of the garden to help elevate the color in the garden bed.  This year I filled it with wave petunias and verbena and they really took off.

 

 

 

 I added a couple new pieces of "art" to this garden bed this year.  The first being a piece of driftwood that had been in my brother's yard for years that he got from Lake Rathbun and the second is a bicycle that wheel spokes turn in the wind that I found on Mother's Day at a farm/nursery south of where I live called Howell's Tree Farm.  As soon as I saw it, I knew it was coming home with me and the price was reasonable too!

I also have lot of flowers growing in this garden that haven't done as well in previous years.  The Columbine really took off and as spread twice as much as last year and the clump of balloon flowers in that garden doubled.

Columbine

Balloon Flower

There's also the new aster plant that I planted last year that has come back and thrived this year.

 

I love lilies of all kinds and have several varieties.  These Asiatic lilies in the triangle bed are SO gorgeous when they bloom.

 

I'll share more photos of our garden beds later.......the husband and I are heading on a long awaited overnight road trip tomorrow and I have last minute packing and stuff to do......

Thanks for stopping by!