Operation: Skinny Jeans

i thought i'd write a little bit about my "wellness challenge" (aka diet) we call it the WC b/c it makes it a little easier..? maybe not. probably not. defiantly not. anyways these are NOT the type of jeans i'm talking about:

i'm not much for the emo-esque vibe i get from skinny jeans but, skinnier jeans is what i'm after. i started the Prism diet the week of Halloween. perfect. awesome time to start a diet. halloween, thanksgiving and christmas all within 2 months, please wait until january to start this madness. it will make your life easier. looking back though i'm so glad i started when i did. i ws loosing weight while everyone else was gaining it (hypothetically). i figure if i could skip eating all the junk at those three major holidays i could do it on a day to day basis. (basics of prism: 1st 6 weeks, no white or wheat flour, no sugar, no potatoes 1000 cals a day. next 6 weeks: add in 3 portions of potatoes a week, 2 slices of whole wheat bread a day and 3 sugar free desserts a week. next 6 weeks: add in whole wheat pasta still staying within the 1000 cal range)

i'm happy to say, i didn't cheat once...until christmas eve when i had a piece of bread the pratt's brought over. i thought one little piece of it wouldn't hurt. welllll i was up a large portion of the night feeling like i had a stone lodged in my intestine (sorry if that's a poor image) it was terrible i promised i wouldn't cheat again if it was going to make me feel like that. the next day we had family over for ham and company potatoes, i did eat a lot and the potatoes i ate had stuff i probably shouldn't have had so i made friends with the big box of alkaseltzer. so i've made my final decision: it's not worth it! if something that i was eating every day can cause me to feel like that, it's probably not the best thing to eat. someone told me one time that they used white flour to make glue when she was younger i've decided even though i want a flaky melt in my mouth croissant, i DON'T want it sticking to my insides.

since the end of october i've lost about 35 lbs. i haven't checked in about two weeks so hopefully i'm still on the right track. i really wasn't able to tell, still can't really but i'm down a size in jeans and a size in shirts(or more). none of my old pants fit right anymore they hang off and i walk around like erkel all day when i wear them. anyways this was more of an update for me to keep me motivated. i have a ways to go still but i'm glad i'm finally acting on something i've talked about for a few years. if i can do it, YOU can do it. trust me. i loved me some bread and sweets believe me! no more though. it's a happy and sad thing but more happy.
Operation Skinny (but not in the ankle skinny) Jeans can continue.

i like to knit, knit, knit...(& crochet)

quick weird sidenote: after i got home from babysitting 2 weekends ago my parents had gone to an antique shop and found me a kodak brownie camera!! about a month ago we were up in lynden and i found one but it was 25 bucks so i put it back this one they got for 12! i use it as a bookend on my new cube bookcase


ironically it's holding up my photography books, some of them anyways.


this is a granny square blanket i am making for my grandpa's b-day which is this month. (P.S. where did this month go?!!!) i'm not a huge fan of the colors i decided it looks really fallish. hopefully he'll like it. i still have 2 more rows to stitch on there.


for the last two weeks my mom, her friend and i went to a knitting class on friday. i chose to learn how to cable knit and my mom did fair isle knitting. here's my hat close up:

i actually made two hats for the class i started the little blue on on friday and finished it on sat. then started the purple one on tues and finished it thurs. i just cast on another blue hat to be kids size last night.

i bought the knit simple book after the last class on friday and i have about 12 projects in there i want to do.

they might include leg warmers

fingerless gloves

and an earflap fair isle hat

....there are some projects in the crochet book i want to do to but i figure i should get "real life" stuff done first.

i've babysat for the past two full weekends but this last saturday i had some time to take photo's for the wilson family here's a link to some of the pictures: Wilson Family Pics

i'm trying to come up with a pricing sheet for people but it's hard work maybe someday i'll get it done.

well i have to start on my day i guess. i don't really have much motivation i wish i could buy some.

Adventures in Babysitting

this weekend i babysat friday-monday. i've been babysitting for this family for a VERY long time. the oldest is 9 going to be 10 and i think i've babysat since he was one or two. wow i'm old. anyways their parents went on a fun trip and left me with the kids. it was actually one of the better weekends i've watched them. everyone behaved for the most part and we had lots of fun. i didn't start documenting our adventure until saturday night though. i forgot i had my camera.
so friday night after camreee got home we read some books and hung out then it was already time for bed.
saturday morning we woke up (at 5:45 haha) and had breakfast, got dressed and they practiced and did their chores then we left for swim lessons. after swim we went home and ate lunch then had quiet time- reading, board games etc..., then paino lessons for all three and violin lessons for one. by the time lessons were done and they had each practiced one more time it was time for dinner so we went to subway got a footlong for them to share and went to my house to play the wii for a little bit. they played wii resort and mario kart. after wii it was time to go home and that's when our pictures start:
they wanted dessert so i promised them a small mug of hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles when we got home:



he was trying to make it levitate

the next morning was sunday. the kids decided they didn't think they could sit through church conference which was 2 hours long so we stayed home in our pj's all day. it was sooo fun. they had breakfast:

(this is just going to be sideways i'm too annoyed at blogger to fix it.) i was pretty proud of myself. i burned the eggs to nolans liking (he loves burned eggs) although i did "convert" camree to liking unburned fluffy good eggs :).

after breakfast the kids started practicing their songs and started bringing blankets and pillows out to lay on and have story time. we got all cuddly on the floor and read some books. the cat loved my pillow.


nolan practicing his sweet skillz while the girls and i made the blanket "fort"

after lunch we baked cookies! they couldn't decide which kind they wanted m&m or chocolate chips so we did both :)

everyone had their own part. nolan did the wet ingredients.

brooklyn did the dry.

camree did the candy

i used the recipe on the back of the bag (which i never do) and they turned out kind of sticky woops. should have added more flour.

while the cookies were baking they watched a noah's ark movie since it was church related. then played house on the blankets while i made the dough for our homemade pizza. we cleaned up the living room before dinner then i had the kids roll their dough out and make it however they wanted:

we didn't have many choices for toppings though. mine was a salad pizza and theirs were cheese or chicken and cheese

saying cheeeeeeeeese pizzzzzzzzzzza!

after dinner i didn't feel very good (since i haven't eaten pizza since october) so they played skipbo and i watched.
after skipbo they wanted to play sorry. while they were getting set up camree fell backwards and bumped her head on the coffee table. luckily she caught herself so she didn't hit very hard but it still scared her. so we strapped some peas to her head and she started laughing her head off.

well about this time is when i started to think how great that day had been then we had a little breakdown. brooklyn accidentaly knocked some pieces off the board and everyone got upset at each other and cried a little. after people had settled down we talked about it and they worked it out. then we got out picturika!

we decided to not play for points but for fun so nobody would get upset and it worked surprisingly well. each kid was in charge of a different color deck of cards and we had fun.
then it was story time and bed time.

brooklyn the next morning playing eye replacement doctor with camree...haha
we had a lot to do this morning so they had breakfast, practiced and got ready. made their beds and picked up their rooms a little then i took them into town to see Alvin and the Chipmunks the squeakal. i promised them on friday when we talked about our weekend that i would take them to the museum or a movie on monday if they all got along and did the things they were supposed to without being asked a thousand times and it worked!! the museum was closed unfortunately we wanted to go there but the movie was good too they liked it.

after we got home we tried to sync up our DS's to play one round of sorry! together but mine's a DSi so it didn't work. then we decided it was way too nice to play inside so we stopped playing 4 minutes later and played hide and seek outside with the neighbors. we were out there for about 2 hours then we came in and 5 minutes later their parents got home! it was a very good weekend it's fun now that they're older and we can play games and do fun things. i slept a lot last night haha they wore me out a little bit. probably had something to do with the 5 hrs of sleep i got the first night and the raging wind the last night that kept me up but it was fun.

Cauliflower+Feta+Walnuts=YUMMM

if your name is Anita, do no proceed :) jk you can if you want...
i was going to take photos of the making of this dish but forgot so i borrowed the pic. the only thing i didn't use in mine was the pasta. pasta has flour and i can't have whole wheat pasta for a few more weeks :( but i thought it was marvelous without the pasta anyways.
anyways. i've made this recipe several times in the past and since i've been on this diet i've had a rough time figuring out healthy GOOD flavorful meals to eat. i can't believe i didn't think of this one sooner!
i didn't calculate it out but without the pasta i don't think it has hardly any calories at all and it's so filling. here's the recipe:

2 heads cauliflower
1 medium onion
4 cloves garlic
1 pound whole-wheat pasta
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 pinch red pepper flakes
White wine vinegar
1/2 lemon
1/2 cup toasted walnuts
4 ounces ricotta salata or feta cheese
Put a large pot of water on to boil. Cut the cauliflower into small flowerets. Peel the onion and slice it very thin. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Put the pasta on to cook.
Saute the cauliflower in olive oil in a large saute pan. When the cauliflower begins to soften, season with salt and pepper and add the sliced onion and red pepper flakes. Saute over medium to high heat until the vegetables are brown and tender. The cauliflower should still be slightly crunchy and should not taste steamed. Add the garlic and remove from the heat, tossing and stirring so the garlic doesn’t burn; if it starts to brown, add a splash of water. Add a few drops each of vinegar and lemon juice and the toasted walnuts. Taste and correct the seasoning. When the pasta is done, drain and add to the cauliflower, adding enough extra-virgin olive oil to coat the pasta thoroughly, toss together and serve, with the cheese crumbled over the dish.


oh my word this is delicious. actually now that i'm thinking about it i may have already posted this recipe before....i'll check on that but i guess it deserves to be re posted :). it really is so good and i always add a little more than one pinch of red pepper flakes b/c i like it more spicy and we have some really good pepper flakes from teaquent stop here in b'ham.

p.s. please add LOTS of feta. i just love feta. even though it smells like diaper it tastes SOO good. trust me. also i dice my onion very small so i don't know they're in there, i'm not a fan of chunky onions. nosiree.

p.p.s. to toast your walnuts just put them in a dry pan on fairly low heat and keep moving them around so they don't burn. i had a few causalities last night i had to throw away.

thanks smitten kitchen for your always amazing recipes!!

EDIT:

so i went through my archives and realized i am so weird. well that was the first thing i noticed the other thing was i name my blog's weird names so i don't know if i ever posted that recipe before. i vaguely remember writing about it though. hmmm. during my archive adventure i copied some links from old recipes i love and thought i'd post to share the wealth.

fruit flower bouquet- great for babyshowers or other such events

spinach smoothie- be jealous

chicken pizza- 2 different ways

red shredded chicken- yum!

breakfast cookies- favorite "healthy" cookies

chandrans chicken curry- AMAzing!

so there's some homecooking inspiration for you (and for me) i forgot about some of these posts. well now i'm off to grind some whole wheat to make pizza dough for dinner (first time i'll have eaten pizza in 3 months. it won't be like regular pizza but same difference)

#33

So i accomplished one of my goals today. it's hard to classify finishing a goal like this though because it's more of an ongoing thing but i did it for the first time today. i gave money to a lady on the side of the street. it wasn't a significant amount of money but her sign said she was struggling, not homeless. so hopefully it helps a little bit.
it was funny because i had been shopping at target with shelley and we were leaving the mall. i handed shelley the money and rolled her window down to hand it to the lady. after she gave her the money and we were driving away shelley couldn't stop talking about "that woman" she called her. i don't think shelley paid any attention to her sign but she kept saying that woman needs help. she was happy that she gave her money. i thought it was cool that she recognized that she helped someone. well one down 33 more to go.

2010 Goals.

First off I've decided to say two thousand ten instead of twenty ten...just to get that out of the way haha.
on sunday we learned about goals in young womans. i remember having lessons about goals when i was younger but for some reason this lesson made me want to be serious about my goals this year. maybe it's because I'm older and need to finally get serious about life. i feel like i've been skating by the last few years and i'm not too proud of that. we learned that goals should be smart:
S - specific, significant, stretching
M - measurable, meaningful, motivational
A - agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented
R - realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented
T - time-based, timely, tangible, trackable
so when i made up my list of goals i wanted them to fall under these categories and for the most part i think i did a good job i just need to focus on them and maybe if i do focus this year i'll actually have something to show for my life haha.
this might be a pretty boring post but it's more for me anyways and i don't think anyone really reads this anyways.
let's get on to it (these are in no particular order BTW)

2010 Goals:

1. learn to quilt

2. crochet an article of clothing other than a scarf or hat

3. write in my journal letters book

4. exercise in some way 3-4x's a week

5. Continue doing Prism diet

6. learn to cook some cool new things from other countries

7. come up with my own recipes (healthy)

8. blog more on both blogs

9. make knitted socks

10. keep myself & my room organized and clutter free (big one)

11. don't spend money so carelessly (got in a habit the last few months...bad news bears)

12. refinance my car in just my name

13. be more compassionate

14. use less sarcasm (this might be hardest!)

15. meet new people and make new friends

16. complete project 365

17. get a handle on my issues (ocd, anxiety etc...)

18. Visit Michelle in ID. and my uncle's family in UT.

19. Go to Russia (this might be put off until 2011)

20. be a more relaxed driver i'm too tense

21. finish my photography classes or get a big chunk of them done

22. be a better photographer and take risks

23. do something nice for somebody randomly

24. be a better visiting teacher

25. read the Book of Mormon straight through no skipping and jumping around

26. pick a Bible story a study it until i know it real well then pick another

27. collect vintage cameras (just go to more antique stores in general)

28. redecorate my room

29. get a life

30. do something spontaneous (ex: road trip, pick a place out of a hat and fly there)

31. read more

32. be a better friend

33. give $ to a homeless person on the side of the street (i realized it's not my place to judge them)

34. delete music from my ipod that isn't the best

so that's what i have so far for this year i feel like it might be too much but it can be something that i work on not just for 2010 but 2011 too :). well good luck with any goals you may have set i know i'll need luck and determination.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas Season Photos

a few weeks before christmas we got this little box in the mail...it's from Russia where my aunt and uncle are serving a mission for our church. i was soooooooooo excited and wanted to open it ASAP but wasn't allowed. how rude. so it sat under the tree for awhile then was hidden b/c we kept opening the packaging little by little everyday. we will come back to this box later i'll make it a surprise like it was for me...

the first weekend in december is when we usually go and chop down our tree at the tree farm...it's usually a big ordeal b/c we have opposing opinions on what a christmas tree should look like. i like full bushy trees and others like more sparse layered trees. they won this year. :) p.s. they won b/c it was Sooooooooooo cold nobody wanted to be outside anymore.

after putting the tree up we decorated the rest of the living room. we've had those stockings since we were little and even though i think my mom would like them to be matching red stockings, we hang up our mismatched fun stockings.

christmas eve is always the baking day. we make SO many treats and goodies for friends. we spend the WHOLE day baking. this year was hard b/c usually we taste as we go along to make sure things taste good, this year i couldn't soooo that sucked. but we still made lots.

the finished plates. i think we made probably 10 different items we did way too much this year.


i'm in charge of the pretzel rods dipped in chocolate every year this time we did red chocolate then i drizzled white over it to give it a candy cane look.

finally after a long day of baking, delivering and having dinner at a friends house we skyped with my aunt in uncle in russia and opened our special box holy toledo i LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE russian nesting dolls and they sent us 2 sets and those cute little ornaments!!

we will be going to russia (my mom and i) either this summer or next summer to pick them up and i plan on packing an empty suitcase to stuff full with these things- put your order in now haha.

and last but not least christmas morning. santa got me a blu ray player to go with the flat screen TV i bought myself a few weeks ago. we got some good stuff including Beatles rock band which has been played constantly for the last several days.

ok i have to get ready for work now i hope everyone had a good christmas!! and a happy new year in a couple days!

Funky Chunky

Don't let the title...or cover photo fool you. this is an amazing book. it's crochet patterns of all sorts. some are pretty tacky but for the most part they have some pretty cool ideas. i just love to buy yarn so i should start using it up now.

if anyone still needs to get me a present here's a link, BOOK FOR $7! i'm just kidding, kind of. haha i think after the holidays after things settle down i'll buy
it and a few other pattern books. i just love it.
i'm all done with christmas shopping and wrapping (be jealous) but i'm still venturing to the mall
tomorrow morning for Old Navy's $1 socks! i've already bought them i'm just going to
take my receipt back and get the price adjustment. they also will have $3 basic sweatshirts. i'm all
about the pattern books and sales i guess. i will also be getting some buy one get one 1/2 off shoes (boots) at
famous footwear and FREE LIPGLOSS at bath and body works. wow what good savings.
i won't be at the mall past 10am so that's the only reason i'm going. no more mall for me after that.

also tip if you are going to shop at bellis fair mall, the car lines get REALLY bad depending on what
time you go shopping. park in the upper kohl's parking lot (where x-mas trees are sold),
it means you have to walk a little further but it saves you 45+ minutes waiting in that dang car line.
i learned that after working there 4 christmas' i would seriously sit in a row of cars one time for
almost an hour! you only have to wait for the light if you park up there.especially the next several
days if you go at a good time it shouldn't be too bad butit gets nasty the closer we get to christmas.
anyways good luck if you do venture out!!


p.s. if you have safari web browser don't use it to post blogs, it messes EVERYTHING UP!! i will
remember that and only use my regular explorer next time.

Kahards

So my friend is having a baby pretty soon (well march-ish) so i am helping plan a shower for her. i am in charge of food and invites and our other friend is in charge of decorations games. we decided last night that we are going to have the shower next month so i have to get the invites done! here's what i came up with:

their nursery is pink and green, the colors don't show up very well on here though.

i used my new slice and stamp sets to make these. pretty exciting. it's also the layout for the christmas cards i still have to get done :D. i'm still trying to decide what to have on the outside scallop, the word shower is redundant but i don't know what else to put...?! anyways probably won't blog much more this month, too much going on but i'm officially done shopping and wrapping!!!!!!!!!!! so glad i don't have to go near the mall or walmart for the next month!

Projects coming out of my ears!

i have started 8 too many projects in the last 2 or 3 days. it's a little ridiculous actually. i have crocheted projects and knitted projects, i don't discriminate haha. i have hats, blankets, wrist warmers, more blankets etc all going on at the same time. some are for Christmas gifts so those i guess will have to take priority but after seeing this:

i'm having a REALLLLLY hard time not starting another one right now. if/when i ever make this, it's ALL MINE. i'm so selfish i just love love love love love love it. i'm getting the book with the square patterns from the library, that's the only thing stopping me from starting it right this minute. i guess after i make my own i can make some for gifts but we'll see how easy (hard?) it is. i love everything about this dang blanket, here is a link to the blog where i found it Lindamade.

i also have about 12 photo sessions coming up in the next 2-3 weeks, i wish you could see how excited i am for those...i don't like that it's becoming a chore. uggg oh well just this weekend i have 4. lame.

i'm getting back into this reading thing again. i don't think i've read a book in about a month. usually i read a book a week or so. lately i've realized i like listening to books on tape (ha tape, i mean ipod) instead that way i can edit photos or crochet/knit while i listen. but the book i got tuesday is the old fashioned reading, no headphones required. the book is about this girl who commits suicide and she makes these tapes where she lets people know the reasons why she killed herself. it's really interesting and sad i'm about halfway done.

this book i'm writing is still 61 pages...it's been 61 pages for about a week now. i just haven't had the time to write in it. but i have a notebook i keep with me and write ideas down, i have about 4 handwritten pages with ideas. can you say back burner until after christmas?!

let's not talk about black friday. ok let's...michelle came over around 10 and we had every intention of staying awake, well around 12:30 we decided to sleep for half an hour...then an hour...then we decided not to go at all. well i have this thing called feeling guilty so i couldn't sleep anymore so i told michelle i was going to go but she could sleep if she wanted. she got up and we were in town by a little after 2. we went to the mall for Old Navy first...they decided not to open until 4 so we went to walmart and got some great deals and they let us check out at 4 instead of 5 :). then back to the mall where we waited outside target for a TV that was already sold out. then we went to fred meyers and i got myself a nice flat screen tv. woohoooo. we got home around 7 and i slept in until 1. it ended up being good. well this was unplanned and weird so i'll finish now. have a good December!