gifts galore

I mentioned yesterday that I have done a lot of crocheting lately, mainly baby hats and hiney covers. One of those sets (the bear) was for a friend that lives about 2 hours away and I haven't seen her since we worked together at a call center. She posted a message on Facebook asking if anyone knew a local knitter in her area willing to make her a baby hat. I responded and told her I don't knit but I crochet. She messaged me on a Sunday morning giving me an idea of what she wanted and after a few emails back and forth we decided on a bear which I had made and in the mail the next morning. Well today when I came home from school this was on my front porch.

Getting gifts in the mail is always fantastic but it's wonderful when it is a surprise. I was quite surprised, thank you Kathryn, the tulips are gorgeous, I'm excited to watch them bloom!

I had another surprise gift today at work, 

my boss gave me a wonderful smelling candle a few chocolates 

and some cute office supplies. I must be a nerd because I'm excited about this highlighter. 

P.S. I didn't like the tan at the bottom of the "puppy" hat so I ripped it out and put blue, like on the bear and made a diaper cover.

What is your little victory today?

 Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

nothing to say

This week I have been so focused on school that I haven't had much time for victories so I will just update what is going on in my life:

I signed up for classes for fall. I will be taking history and government *yawn* but I am super excited about taking nutrition. I was talking with one of the microbiology instructors I work for and she informed me the instructor I chose is actually a nutritionist in her full time job. I am excited to pick her brain.

It seems all of my friends are having babies lately so I have been doing lots of crochet lately too. I have made a few hat/diaper cover sets...

a monkey

 a bear

a puppy

What is your little victory today?

 Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

MMMMMMmmmmmm, steak

I'm sure the people finding me under the vegan google searches is probably confused, I'm not vegan, I have noticed vegan recipes are higher in fiber and I am allergic to beef and can only eat it one in a while so that is why I lean in the vegan direction, but has life changed since I made myself a priority. My husband now insists that it is important for him to take over the responsibilities of the meals on the weekend, so tonight is steak, baked potatoes and salad. The celebration here is that I didn't have to do the cooking.

What is your little victory today?

 Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

I feel pretty

Some days my celebration is pretty simple, I went to a baby shower of a friend and someone I have never met before told me I was pretty. it made me feel pretty, it's simple but effective. So go out and tell a girl she is pretty and make her day.

What is your little victory today?

 Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

Roses updated

As promised some pictures of my roses...

What is your little victory today?

 Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

Roses

When I was pregnant with our second daughter my husband planted 2 dozen climbing rose vines in our front yard along the perimeter. They have slowly filled in the chain link fence and over the last week they have really started blooming like crazy. This was my mother's day present from him in 2006 and now I get several dozen roses a day. This one is my favorite and it just happens to be the one you see when you walk out the front door.

I will take some pictures of the roses tomorrow to post but it's after dark already. 

What is your little victory today?

 Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

friction burn

As I was getting dressed to hop on the treadmill and run tonight I realized something: my thighs don't touch anymore.

When I first started running in January 2010 I would need to buy new pants every few months because I wore holes in the inside part of the thighs. My friend Eric talked about this on his page too, but it didn't really hit me until I grabbed these pants tonight.

I have given away or tossed in the trash, most of the clothes that do not fit me anymore but I still hold on to my (former) favorite size 16 pants, 

my size 42 running bra 

and these holey pants. (really they are well air conditioned). 

Well, I'm gonna run now to celebrate.

What is your little victory today?

 Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

snacking

Every night I treat myself to a dessert after dinner, usually a skinny cow truffle bar (only 100 calories) but as I have mentioned before, I have a lot of food allergies, one of those being chocolate. I can still eat it but lately it has started making my mouth hurt again. So I have been on a mission lately trying to find some kind of ice cream thing to snack on that doesn't have chocolate. Tonight after dinner I went to the freezer again looking for something sweet and this is what I ended up with:

1 cup frozen blueberries (70 calories, 4g fiber)

4 Tbps (1/4 cup) fat free cool whip (30 calories)

Amazingly this is satisfying my sweet fix and it costs the same number of calories as the skinny cow truffle bar, but with a 4g fiber bonus..... but my tongue is purple. Oh well, matches my hair.

What is your little victory today?

 Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

body image

this is me and my dad at one of my high school choir concerts

It's amazing what a little perspective can show you.


When I was in high school I hated my body. I would look in the mirror and see every flaw and just be miserable. I was in 2 dance classes and I walked home from school for lunch everyday so I was very "in shape" but I still hated what I saw in the mirror. It's amazing to me now (still 15lbs heavier than my high school weight) how proud I am of where I am at now. I don't have to look in the mirror to know that I am happy with who I am. I don't think I would have ever been this happy if I had just "stayed" thin from high school on. I feel like I sort of earned my stripes (stretch marks).

and me and my sister at the same concert

Which brings me to my next point, my stretch marks. I bought this special lotion quite some time ago that claims to repair skin that has been broken by stretch marks. The bottle of lotion was $40 and I kind of choked when I made the purchase but I thought it might be worth it to get rid of these scars. I used it a little bit off and on for about 2 weeks then I forgot about it. Recently I decided to start using it again and I really can tell a difference. My skin feels healthier and (just like their slogan) reduce the appearance of stretch marks, catapult confidence. I feel so good about my belly now. It's weird to actually think that, I thought I would always have these scars, but I think I see a light at the end of the tunnel now. 

this photo is from Feb 25th 

February 25th from this post.

my camera does not take very good close ups, sorry.
But my skin is much healthier now.

What is your little victory today? 

Guitarplayingmommy, 

Heather

Rosemary Roasted Chicken with Potatoes

I usually try to do no more than 1 new recipe per week, but I figured this one is "tame" enough the famliy might not throw too much of a fit about it.

I bought this packet that comes with the pre-measured spices and a recipe card.

Just dump the spices (plus salt) into a bowl

Place chopped potatoes and thawed boneless skinless chicken thighs in bowl and mix with olive oil.

We really like onions and mushrooms so I chopped a little of both

and place it all on a pan lined with aluminum foil.
Toss it in the oven and bake at 425ºF for 30 minutes.

I'm going to serve it with green beans.

What is your little victory today?

 Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

who is this?

A picture says a thousand words, right? this one speaks to me!

FaceBook doesn't recognize me! Wow! that's is awesome!

Here is the rest of the picture....

What is your little victory today?

 Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

Cheese Ravioli with Pumpkin Sauce

I'm trying a new recipe tonight from this book. Let's see if I can make it as pretty as the picture and if anyone will eat it.


1/3 cup sliced green onions
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1.2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 cup evaporated skim milk
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
salt and pepper
1/2 cup solid pack pumpkin
2 packages (9 oz each) refrigerated low far cheese ravioli
2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Spray medium nonstick saucepan with cooking spray; heat over medium heat until hot. Add onions, garlic, fennel seeds; 

cook and stir 3 minutes or until onions are tender.

Whisk milk, flour, salt and pepper in small bowl until smooth; 

add to saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly Boil 5 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly. 

Stir in pumpkin; reduce heat to low. 

Meanwhile, cook ravioli according to package directions, omitting salt. Rinse, drain. Divide ravioli evenly among plates. Spoon sauce and sprinkle cheese, if desired, evenly over each serving. Serve immediately.

I plan to serve it with two different kinds of ravioli, my husband won't eat anything with ricotta and I could only find one kind of raviolis with out ricotta and I only bought one package because I didn't read the quantity needed before I bought the pasta. The other kind I will serve to the children and I also bought some shrimp to serve it with.

I was surprised the sauce is not overly pumpkin-ish. I don't like pumpkin pie so I didn't know what to expect, but it tastes very creamy and pretty similar to the Fettucine alfredo sauce I make. My only concern is the fennel seeds, they kind of taste like licorice.

UPDATE: I tasted the fennel/licorice when I taste tested the sauce alone, but with the pasta there was not a licorice flavor at all. I thought it was okay, both kids ate it but it was kind of bland.

What is your little victory today?

 Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

Run for the Arts 2 mile race

I am thankful my new antihistamine has me breathing so much better. I felt like I was really behind on my mileage so I opted for the 2 mile race this morning instead of the 15K. My dad and I decided we will be ready for that next year for sure. I am glad that I decided to run the 2 mile race though, I set a new personal record. I completed the 2 miles in 18 minutes, 14 seconds and I kept my pace pretty consistent and I also got my first medal!

I placed 2nd for my age bracket and 48th overall, my dad finished 84th overall and 3rd for his age bracket, so we both got a medal.

(the other lady in the picture works with my dad)

All-in-all I think it was a pretty awesome race. One of the reasons I decided to do 2 miles instead of the longer distance, I want to recover pretty quickly from this race so I can try my first Zumba class on Monday and I am also going to run in a 5K race in two weeks called Miles for Missions. It should all be fun!

When we were getting ready for the race we were told the roads would possibly still have traffic to avoid and we were discouraged from listening to music so I set my nike+ and runkeeper apps and I just listened to the huffing and puffing and the pounding of feet on the road. I love the energy that pass around in a race. The atmosphere is always so awesome. I think something I never would have noticed while listening to music was how many people were thanking the police that were parked and blocing the roads for us. They are so needed to help keep us safe while we run. I thought it was also pretty neat to have the first few people passing me (on the turnaround) that were hollering back to us... "keep going, guys" Those people finished the two miles in less than 15 minutes, which is amazing to me, but they took the energy to tell us slowpokes to keep on trucking. I don't know that I could keep running races (of longer distances) without music, but it was definitely a new experience.

What is your favorite part of racing/running?

What is your little victory today?

 Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

sole sister

I mentioned on Tuesday that I melted my insoles trying to remold them, but I went to the shoe store on Thursday prepared to spend another $50 for new insoles because I needed them for the race today. I walked in, handed over my warped sad insoles and my friend Roy, the sales person traded them out helping me to mold the new ones, and he told me to come see him if I have any trouble in the future. I should have just come to see him in the first place. I have really high arches, I was a dancer growing up so I need some serious support under my arches when I am running. The arch support had started to sag so I thought the insoles needed to be re-molded, but he said in the future they can just build them back up for me. Anyways, here is the great news, It was FREE! If you are in Lubbock go to FootTech! They are the best, seriously! Worth every penny.

I came home from FootTech and got on the treadmill. I ran 3.5 miles and felt pretty good, but since I was not able to build back the miles I decided I wasn't ready for the 15K today so I opted for the 2 mile race. 

Members of the West texas running club get a discount too, which is fantastic!

What is your little victory today?

 Guitarplayingmommy,

 Heather