Lunch Lady Land

True story...in my high school, on enchilada day, there was chaos!  Fights to get in line, 2 order maximums, running out and serving flautas covered in enchilada sauce instead.  Man those things were good (at least in my memories).  I think they served them up once a month. 

Anyways, this memory was brought to you by the beef stroganoff we had last night (another school cafeteria staple).  Sear your meat, put in some beef broth, some wine, and thicken it up with some flour.  Stir in the sour cream and pour it over your egg noodles.  Wyatt had 3 bowls!

Instead of working, I was trying to purchase some shoes that were on sale.  My laptop bombed as I hit submit so I have no idea what went through.  I wandered in here to the other computer and decided to bless you with a delightful blog posting instead.  Now back to shoe ordering and then working.  Maybe I should not buy the shoes and should buy a laptop instead? 

Don't forget to soak your black eyed peas.  And chop up your greens.  And make your cornbread.  Toodles!

Peace Out 2012

Merry Really Late Christmas!  We had a fabulous time in Houston celebrating with both sides of the family.  Wyatt is going to be so bored without fun nephews to play with and aunties, uncles, grandmas, and grandpas to entertain him.  I will post pictures of the trip soon. (don't I always say that and then never post pics?)

We were "that kid" on the flight home yesterday.  I was sweating the whole time.  Flight delay, bad morning nap, won't nap on a plane, ran out of tricks, too stuffed on kiddie snacks, chapped face from outdoor play in the cold wind.  Funny...nobody told me he was cute yesterday. ;)  Also, right as the descending announcement was made "that kid" filled up his diaper. Ha ha...we survived.  Our airport shuttle driver entertained us by playing the harmonica on the way to our truck.  He also randomly met his cousin on the shuttle bus.  There was calling of mom back home and lots of shouting in non English.  Small world. 

Today Wyatt has the sniffles, but at least we are home to deal with any potential sickies. I have started the unpacking and laundry as part of vacation detoxification.  I have the itch to organize and clean!  Must be my mind telling me it's time to prepare for 2013.  Can't believe the year is almost over.  We have lived in Florida for a little less than a year now. My baby is all grown up!  Hunter and I are the same (but older and less cool). 

Check out his Christmas picture from last year.  Might be the cutest picture I have of him.  He looks like an angel.

3 months old - he was actually wearing the hat, but laying on a grody blanket

Here is this year.  Less angelic.  Less sitting still.  Still my baby!

He does have a bit more hair, but it doesn't show up

Well, I am off to prepare for new years.  Have to make my hoppin john (black eyed peas).  I loved this recipe last year.  I need to make some cornbread too.  What are your go to New Years recipes?

Merry Christmas (late) and Happy New Year (early)!

Today..

Not much planned today.  We will probably...

Put "rash" in the trash can 15 times.
Play "block block" infinity times and say "uh oh" double infinity times when we tear down our block structure.
Read "LaLa" (Elmo)  and "BrmmBrrmm" books over and over
Point out all the "liiggghhhhts" in our house. and in the condo. and on the Christmas tree.
Shake our head no when we know we shouldn't be doing something. And do it anyways. And shake our head no again.

Tick tock. Holiday weeks as a stay at home mom feel long! 

Tomorrow night we are having mini Christmas at home before we head to Houston to see all of the family.  Santa is going to bring Wyatt a few toys that are great for traveling.  That Santa is the best. I might try to make this Frozen Hot Chocolate for our Christmas celebration.

I Hired a Personal Stylist (Stitch Fix Review)

Ok...not really.  I did read about a company that is kind of like BirchBox for clothes called Stitch Fix.  Stitch Fix is a personal styling service.  They get your style and size preferences, then send you a package of stylish goodies to try on at home. No two Fixes are alike. Each one is hand–picked just for you.

I decided to try it out.  You fill out a massive questionnaire that includes questions about your job, your usual dress, your sizes, body type, price range, and all that good stuff.  The site also shows you pictures of clothes and you get to thumbs down/up them.  You can provide them links to your pinterest, facebook, and twitter accounts so they can get a better understanding of "you".

You pay $20 to request a fix.  The stylist analyzes you and sends you a shipment of 5 items based on your style  / size.  You can suggest items you are looking for if you want to.  You also have the option of opting in or out for accessories. You get to try on all of your goodies at home to see if you like them and if they go with other items in your closet.  Each item comes with a picture and/or instructions for ways to wear it....exactly what I need!

If you do not like anything in your box, you can send everything back (free shipping).  You are however out $20.  If you keep all of the items in your box, you get 25% off of your entire order.  Basically the $20 goes towards whatever you choose to keep, and the rest of the items go back in a pre-paid USPS bag.

In my first box, I got 1 pair of pants, 3 tops, and 1 set of earrings. I am too lazy to take pics of the items I got (sorry), but I really liked 2 of the tops and the pair of pants. I did not like a sweater/ tunic style top and the pair of earrings I was sent was just ok.  All of the clothes fit me great! The clothes are trendy, boutique style items so are a bit more expensive than I would have liked.  When filling out the questionnaire, I selected $0-$50 price range for tops and $0-$100 price range for pants. The tops were towards the upper end of the range as were the pants.  I suppose this should be expected, since these are trendy items.  They appear to be well made. 

I will probably try out the service one or two more times in the future.  There are no requirements for how often you request a stitch fix.

Are you interested in trying it too?  There is currently a wait list, but you can request an invite.  If you are interested, hook a mama up and use my referral ID here so I get a $25 credit.  Happy styling!


UPDATE:  Here is a picture I took in one of the tops I got. I styled it as recommended on the card. 

A Salad Recipe

I came across this recipe in the salad section of the 1993 First Baptist Church of Richmond Texas cookbook.  I didn't tag it as a recipe on my "to make" list, but then I saw America's Test Kitchen testing it on their Instagram account.  Maybe I need to try it.  It IS a salad afterall.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad by Margaret

Ingredients:
2 cups pretzels, crushed
1&1/4 cups sugar, divided
1&1/2 sticks butter, melted
1 8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 8 oz container cool whip
1 6 oz strawberry jello
2 cups boiling water or pineapple juice
2 10 oz packages frozen strawberries

Instructions:
1. Mix pretzels 1/4 cup sugar and melted butter. Pour into a 9" x 13" pan, press down to form a crust on bottom only. Bake in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Cool.
2. Mix cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and cool whip. Spread over crust.
3. Dissolve Jello in pineapple juie or water, add strawberries. Refrigerate until thick and spread over cream cheese mixture. Chill.
4. Top with additional Cool Whip if desired.

My 8K Ahem Race and End of Training Plan

My throat finally quit hurting, but I was waiting for the humidity to drop before I tried to run my 10K "race" to finish up my 3 month training plan.  Well, on Wednesday, the humidity dropped from 99% to 98% so I went for it.

Distance: 5 miles
Pace: 10:30 min/mile
Avg Heart Rate: 174 bpm

Fear of rain caused me to turn my 10K into an 8K.  I was pushing a stroller, and I tried not to look at my heart rate for the entire time.  At the 3 mile mark, I tried to push myself a bit harder. This is about what I would expect for a 5 mile run where I pushed myself based on the paces from my hard runs.

Here are all of the stats for my 3 month training plan so you can see the trends:

5K Pre Training Plan:
Distance: 3 miles
Page: 10:49 min/mile
Avg Heart Rate: 184 bpm

Week 1 Paces:
3 Mile Easy Run - 15:02 minute mile
1 Mile Hard Run - 11:13 minute mile

Week 4 Paces:
3 Mile Easy Run - 13:48 minute mile
Hard Run Intervals - 14:46 minute mile

Week 8 Paces:
5 Mile Easy Run - 12:40 minute mile
3 Mile Hard Run - 11:00 minute mile

Week 12 Paces:
5 Mile Easy Run -  12: 33 minute mile
3 Mile Hard Run -  10: 27 minute mile

As you can see, there is plenty of improvement.  As you can also see, the hard runs are too slow for my liking.  I am considering contacting the author of the book to see if he has any comments.  It would be nice of him to say, you need to exercise at a much higher heart rate.  I can see that now.  Bwah ha.  I guess I will give up on my hopes of being an elite runner.  Kidding..I never had those dreams.  WNBA, yes.  Olympic gymnast, yes

Other than that, I have to decide what to do next.  I can:

A. Sit on the couch
B. Sign up for a race and run as fast as I want to while training
C. Try to get back into weight training and still run a few times a week

Decisions, decisions. 



Related Posts:
Heart Monitor Training - Why Am I Trying It?
Heart Monitor Training - Part 1 - Max Heart Rate
Heart Monitor Training - Part 2 - Resting Heart Rate 
Heart Monitor Training - Part 3 - Hard vs Easy Runs
Heart Monitor Training - 1 Month Update 
Heart Monitor Training - 2 Month Update

Brmmm Brmm

I know all mom's of boys say this, but I am experiencing the obsession for the first time as a mama.  Wyatt is obsessed with anything with wheels or that makes a brmm brmm sound.

Every time he hears a loud car "brmmm brmmm".  A big truck drives by my truck...."brmmm brmmm".  Wheelchair has wheels...."brmmm brmmm".   KitchenAid mixer has a motor...."brmmm brmmm".   Sometimes his "brrmmm brmmmm" gets stuck and he "brmmm brmmms" for 10 minutes straight.

Until last week, he would let me read any of his 25 books to him at nap / bed time.  Now I can only read Little Blue Truck, a trucks board book, a book about earth movers, or a Cars book that has regular paper pages and is for an older kiddo...Ka-Chow!  He brmmm brmmms every time he sees a wheel.  He makes me flip back to the pages where you can see lots of big trucks or cars all on one page. 

I tell him its time for bed and he "brmmm brmmms" until we are singing Twinkle Twinkle.  I am pretty sure he dreams of brmmm brmmms. 

Blogging In My Head

Sorry for my blog neglect.  I kept writing posts in my head if it makes you feel any better.

I mentally wrote a post about not being the favorite parent (500 dadas for every 1 mama).  Sometimes I feel like Wyatt just thinks of me as "lady who is always around".   Hey lady! Get me out of this crib and entertain me until my precious comes home from work.  Hey lady! Feed me a snack.

I also mentally wrote a post about having a sore throat and pushing my pretend 10K race to this week.  I am hoping to do that tomorrow so I can see my final heart rate improvement numbers.

So what did we do this weekend?  I am glad you asked.

Wyatt and I were in a local parade. 

Doesn't he look excited?

We did a lot of this before the parade so he was pretty happy to sit still for the 1.5 mile parade.

Ruuuuuuunnnnnnnn!

Did I do ok on his outfit?  Not sure if it's too clashy clashy. 

Merry Christmas - Be Green, It's Cool

Last Week of Heart Monitor Training

I am in the last week of my heart monitor training plan.  This week I am supposed to run less mileage and many more hard runs.  I feel a little silly because I am not training for a race.  There are only a few jingle bell runs around the area this weekend.  I might just go see if I can ran an almost fast 5K without a stroller on my usual route. 

I did want to mention 2 iPhone apps I found recently.

RunLocator is a free app that lists upcoming races in areas you want to monitor.  The list isn't as complete as some websites, but is pretty good for a free app.

Also, I found an app called Heart Rate.  You have to take your phone out of the case, but then you cover the camera with your finger and it flashes and somehow measures your heart rate.  I would have thought there was no way it can be accurate, but surprisingly it is close.  Looks like they are charging $0.99 for it now, but it was free a few weeks ago. 

Tis The Season (With Pics)

December is here! I can't believe it.

I have ordered my Christmas cards.  We have booked our flight to Houston.   I have started shopping.

I have decorated my Charlie Brown Christmas tree. It is a real tree. It has tiny ornaments. It sits on the bar / counter top so that Wyatt cannot eat, push, break it. It looks pretty pathetic.  No, I can't be bothered to remove the junk from around the tree EVEN for a picture.  All of my decor is back in the garage in San Antone and I refuse to buy a bunch of new stuff.

O Christmas Tree

I have a serious candle addiction, and I have stepped it up for the holidays.  I have taken a break from my Scentsy Bars and am burning Better Homes Glittering Bayberry Garland and Spiced Apple Wreath wax cubes.  These were impulse buys at the Wally Mart while Hunter was getting a new battery for my trucko.  When I am feeling classier, I burn these Yankee Tarts.

Christmas on the Beach and North Pole.  Delicious.  The background is my new Christmas table cloth.

Wyatt has started wearing his Christmas jammies. I am bummed that the seams already ripped and I had to bust out my needle and thread.  I only had to watch one YouTube video to make sure I was sewing a seam correctly.

Cheese!

At a playgroup last week, one of the moms had made a felt tree for their kiddos.  Wyatt tinkered with it. It is now on my to do list. 

I am the complete opposite of crafty, but I have this sudden burst of "wanting to try". Kids make you do funny things.  Beware family members, you MIGHT be getting some homemade gifts.  Ha ha!


Make sure you find ways to avoid the holiday stress! I don't want you to end up looking like this.