Friday's Fitness Wrapup

Confession time, this week wasn't particularly active. I had a lot going on and as someone who doesn't really enjoy exercising, I let that derail my efforts. Must do better this week! Eating wasn't too bad. Minimal snacking, although my addiction to pretzels is still alive and well (will work on that). I also realize I really need to increase my water intake, it's minimal at best. I have made good strides towards meal planning and packing my lunch for work so that's a good step. So my plans for this upcoming week are to increase water intake, exercise 3x week, keep food journal and decrease pretzel intake. I did step on the scale and there's been no gain since I last weighed...but no loss either. I really am going to have to look at how to change my body's set point if I want to lose any weight. I seem to stay right around the same 5 lbs. Something to think about.

In the UFO basket

I've been doing a lot of quilting (or at least making a lot of quilt blocks) recently which means my garment sewing has suffered. I don't have a ton of free time to stitch so it's not hard for that ufo basket to overflow. Anyway, in the last couple weeks I've begun working on my ufo basket sewing again. I just love the hum of my machine(s) and the satisfaction I get when I have a finished project. Here's a list of unfinished projects that I'm determined to tackle. Let's see.
1. a bunch of undies for O.
2. a top for me
3. a dress for me
4. boxers for the boys
5. O's first day of school outfit
6. O's backpack and lunch bag
7. a coin wallet
I'm also getting ready to start working on two special quilt projects. Both my little fellows have requested quilts of their own. I'm making E's out of this great fabric line that features jungle animals. I'm going to make M a Chinese coin quilt (or maybe a fence rail) using primary colors and a few novelty prints. Neither pattern will be terribly complicated or exacting. Just something special for them to snuggle under.

Monday's Meal

Quick and easy kid friendly recipes

Easy Bow-tie pasta

1 1/2 cups bow-tie pasta
1 pound ground turkey (or your favorite ground meat)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes (1 can of diced in a pinch)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese



Bring a large pot filled with lightly salted water to a rolling boil, stir in the bow-tie pasta and return to a boil. Cook the pasta until it has cooked al dente, about 12 minutes. Drain well in a colander set in the sink. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the ground turkey until browned; drain off excess fat. Stir in garlic and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes are soft, about 5 minutes. Place the bow-tie pasta into a large serving dish, and pour the ground turkey mixture over the pasta. Sprinkle on the chopped basil. Toss lightly to combine, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Friday's Fitness Wrapup

Well, so far, so good. I worked out three times this week. I feel like I'm getting a routine started and that seems really essential for me to keep my momentum going. My schedule has been pretty full recently so I think making it to the gym three times is probably an obtainable and realistic goal for me. I will shot for three times this next week and try to add a walk or something on one other day. Since the weather is so warm and it doesn't get dark until so late I will try and take a walk in the evening after work on one of those days. I haven't weighed myself, but going by the clothing fit test everything is moving in the right direction. My diet is hit or miss. I will have to try and get back to meal planning and keeping a food journal. That's really the only way I don't snack too much and follow the food pyramid. Well, hope you did well in your healthy living plan, good luck next week.

Yoga mat for a yogi

So, my little fellow E. likes to practice yoga with me. He takes it very seriously and he's really good at it. Whenever I'd roll out my mat, he'd run and get a large bath towel. Well, I had an epiphany, I could make him a yoga mat. I had tons of cotton yarn I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do with (got suckered in by a good sale!) but it was perfect for a sturdy mat. The pattern is my own and by all means nothing fancy. I just used 2 skeins double stranded and cast on, I think 70 stitches and then knitted it until I got it to length I thought was big enough, wove in the ends and finito. Easy Peasy. E. loves it and can't wait to get to practicing his poses. Oh and his brother M. thought of another use for it, "a flying carpet". Gotta love a child's imagination.

Monday's Meal

I love kitchen gadgets and one of my favorites in my bread machine. I use it regularly. In fact I had two of them, but one of them recently bit the dust (I'm in the market for another). I love how you just toss all the ingredients and come back later and you have fresh, hot, delicious homemade bread. Yummo! Well, one of the things I haven't mastered is keeping the starter for sour dough going. It seems like a ton of work. So, this is psuedo sourdough bread. You might not call it sour dough, but it's pretty close to the real thing without all the work.

3/4 cup water
3/4 cup sour cream, room temperature
1/4 tsp of lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/8 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons dry potato flakes
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast



Add the lemon to the sour cream about 5 minutes before you are ready to make bread to allow the sour cream to "sour" more. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select White Bread setting, and Start.

Friday's Fitness Wrapup

I almost forgot to report how this week went. I haven't weighed myself, but I did put on a pair of shorts that used to be snug and they weren't, so that's always nice. I made it to the gym three times this week. I hope to make it three times next week at least. I made plans to meet a friend (Heather) to work out on Monday and I'll probably go run on the treadmill Tuesday and do yoga Wednesday and Friday. If I can make it all those days it will be great. The yoga is awesome. I'm horrible at it and it sucks while I'm doing it, but afterward I feel fantastic. I still need to do a better job with my diet, but one thing at a time right? I'll check back next week. Hopefully I would have met my fitness goal for the week and lost a pound or two.