#11. Run a Half Marathon

I finally sat down last week and found a half marathon race I plan to run.  I haven't signed up yet because I want to see how the first couple of weeks of training go.  It is on August 13 and the place to catch the bus for the race is right by my house.  It should work perfectly.

I'm so excited.  I'm looking forward to incorporating more speed and endurance training into my workouts (as opposed to just going out to run for 30 minutes).  Training with my baby will be interesting but very doable.  She loves going for runs and if I need to, I can go to the track once she has gone to bed to do speed training since it stays light so long these days.  It seems like the perfect time to do this and I'm crossing my fingers I don't get injured along the way.

I want to see how my training goes, but right now I want to shoot for finishing in right at about 2 hours.  My first and only other half time was 1:51 and some seconds, but I was in pretty good shape and had a while to train for it.  I'm not trying to set a PR (personal record) or anything like that, I just want to have something to shoot for and do well.

So I guess that is my major summer plan!  Anyone else training for anything this summer?

I couldn't find the pictures from my previous half marathon, but here's one from the marathon I did.  Hopefully I will be smiling at the end of my race in August!

#50. Take Family Pictures (Part II)

Emily posted some of our family photos on her blog and they happen to basically be ones I picked as my favorites.  So instead of posting them here, I'll just direct you to her fun blog!

#50. Take Family Pictures

My brother and his wife stopped by for a visit during their voyage to California this past weekend.  Our time with them was short, but so fun.  We were very lucky to have my wonderful sister-in-law take family pictures for us.  I have had so much fun looking through them and editing a few.  I can't wait to see the ones she edits for us.  But for now, here is one fun one that I edited.  Thanks, Emily!

#5. Make Abby a Dress

I bought some fabric yesterday, which is one of my guilty pleasures lately.  I just couldn't pass this one up.

  

I love the colors.  I love the flowers.  I think it will make a stinking cute dress for Abby, which is one of my goals (so I'm justified in buying it, right?).

Abby's birthday falls on Easter this year, so I think it will make a great birthday/Easter dress.  I'm thinking this style will be cute since the fabric is retro inspired.

What do you think?

Also, I have had several people ask me to do a tutorial for my mini wallet.  I'm so flattered and plan to have one up next week.  Thanks for all of the compliments!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Thoughts on Homemade Baby Food

I made the goal to make my own baby food at least once.  Well, as it turns out, I have made all of the fruits and veggies for my baby up to this point.  I have been happy with it and thought I would share my experience in case someone out there has questions about it.

Here are some pros for doing it:

• It is cheaper than buying premade baby food.  I haven't done a cost analysis on it or anything, but unless you are really good at coupons, I'm confident it is cheaper.  It would be even cheaper if you got most of the foods from your garden or fruit trees (either during the season or frozen from your garden previously).
• Making large batches and then freezing them is very convenient.  If I were to make the food each day for each meal, there is no way I would do it.  Thank goodness for freezers!  I freeze about a tablespoon in each space of ice cube trays.  The foods are best if you use them within a month, but you can keep them up to 3 months. 
• It doesn't take much time.  Making baby food isn't like making a meal at all.  All you really have to do is some peeling and chopping, then let it bake or steam, and then puree.  I probably make a food two times a week on average, which hasn't been too overwhelming.  
• Lack of jars and plastic containers.  Maybe this isn't a big deal for most of you, but I have a hard time getting rid of containers that could be used again.  Therefore, I could definitely see myself stashing away those jars and not knowing what to do with them.  I'm glad I don't have that clutter to deal with (believe me, I have enough as it is).
• Costco frozen produce.  Sometimes it can be hard to find good produce out of season, so that is why I have discovered I love Costco's frozen bags.  They are a pretty good deal and that way you have a large quantity in your freezer ready to go. 

Here are some cons I have found.

• Freezer space.  If you don't have a lot of freezer space, it could be harder to do.  The ice cube trays don't take up much space, but if you are buying a bunch of frozen produce, then a lack of space can occur.  We don't buy a ton of other frozen foods, so it has been fine.  But... I still can't wait for the day when I can have an extra freezer!
• Time.  Even though it isn't much time, it does take up time and requires some preparation.  And for mothers who have way busier schedules than I do, I can definitely see why you wouldn't bother making baby food.  Convenience is a powerful thing!
• Produce out of season.  You may not have as large of variety when you make your baby food because you can't always get some foods.  Or you can, but they are expensive and don't taste great.  Frozen foods, and even dried foods such as prunes, are a good way to combat this. 

Would I do this for my next child?  I am pretty positive I will.  Especially if I have that extra freezer I dream about.  

#6. Make Homemade Gifts for a Year

For this goal, I defined it by saying I will make a homemade gift for each member of our immediate family at least once during the year, either for birthdays or Christmas.  Yesterday was my cute sister-in-law's birthday.  I decided to make her this little coin purse/mini wallet.

 I had a lot of fun with this little project and will probably make more.  I especially liked picking coordinating fabrics and am in love with the ones I ended up picking.   

The finished product measured about 3.25 x 5 inches.  I put wallet sized photos of her adorable niece inside. 

I think it would also make a great gift card holder.  It's perfect for IDs, credit cards, coins, feminine products, etc.  It was such an fun and easy project and I am so pleased with how it turned out.

#7. Make Abby a Quiet Book

For Valentine's Day I decided to make Abby a book called, "Who Loves Abby?"  It maybe isn't technically a "quiet book," but I'm counting it to cross that item off my list.  I got pictures of my family as well as Landon's and put them in a little photo album for her.  I Photoshopped everyone's names on their pictures for fun.  I am so pleased with how it turned out.  I think it will be perfect for church and it will help Abby recognize faces.  Here are some pictures of the book.

Happy 1st Valentine's Day to my baby girl!

#37. Eat at Boise Fry Company

Okay, so some of the items on my list aren't really a big challenge and are more for enjoyment.  I'm fine with that though.  Who wants to complete a huge laundry list of hard things? 

I'm a proud Boise-an.  I think it is a great place: not too big, not too small, more fun cultural activities than you might expect, great food, growing college football team, etc.  Did I mention the food?  I know you can find great food pretty much anywhere, but some of my very favorite places to eat are local restaurants in Boise.

A new place in town is Boise Fry Company.  Their slogan is, "Burgers on the side."  That is my idea of a burger joint!  We went over Christmas break for the first time and thought it was fun.  They have several types of fries (russet, golden, sweet, yams, purple), cuts, sauces, and seasonings.  It is a little overwhelming for an indecisive person like me to choose what to get, so we basically tried everything we could.  The picture shows all of the sauces.  My favorite was the blueberry ketchup.  I was a little disappointed in a few of the sauces because they tasted a little too much like plain mayonnaise.  I think my overall favorite thing I tried were the yams with vanilla salt and blueberry ketchup.  I also had a buffalo burger for the first time and thought it was pretty good.

Overall, we had a fun time, the food was great, and I would like to go back again.  If you happen to be in Boise, try it out! 

#1. Make a Quilt

I've mentioned this project before, but now that Christmas has passed, I can finally tell you that I completed it. Hallelujah! It was not an easy task, but still a lot of fun. I learned a lot and do not think it will be my last quilt.

All along, the quilt was intended for my newest niece, Lucy. She is my sister's fourth child and she arrived in November. My sister did a lot of sewing for my baby's nursery since I lacked the time and skills. So this project was the least I could do to say, "thanks."

I forgot to take photos of the finished product (doh!), but luckily my sister took a few for me. Here is Lucy showing it off.

Here it is!   

I got my inspiration from Cluck Cluck Sew.  I did three sizes of rectangles/squares and arranged them randomly.  For the quilting I just picked some rectangles that were equally spaced throughout the quilt  and stitched in the ditch around the perimeter of each rectangle.  The binding was probably the most frustrating part.  I just used the backing fabric and wanted to machine sew it down.  I thought it would be a breeze.  I was wrong.  The machine (or rather I) kept pulling it funny so it was just a mess.  I only got about half way down one side when I decided it wasn't worth it.  I ended up hand stitching it, which didn't take as long as I thought it might.  I'm glad I did it that way.  It looked just the way I wanted it to.  I'm not even sure if I would attempt to machine sew a binding in the future, but we'll see.  Hooray for finishing my first quilt that I did every cut and stitch on!

#8. Make Christmas Stockings: Abby's

I finally came up with an idea for Abby's stocking.  I had an image in my head, but couldn't decide how it would actually turn out.  Landon told me to just go with it and see what happened.  So I did.  And I think it turned out just the way I wanted it.

This picture isn't the best, but it gives you the basic idea.  I promise the toe and cuff look better in person. 

My original plan was to put her name on the cuff, but now I can't decide.  What do you think?  And if I do it, how should I do it? 

I'm not sure what I'll do, but for now I am calling it good.  I need to get going on Landon's and my other projects.  I'm so glad I can cross this off my list and do it with something I am proud of. 

What I should be doing right now...

As part of my 500 Days of Refinement, some of my goals I want to accomplish have to do with reading.  I really do like to read, but as a full time student the past six years, "reading for pleasure" didn't really happen.  I am now starting to get back into the habit. 

What I did for my project is ask my husband, parents, and siblings the following question:

"If you had to pick only one book for me to read, what would it be?"

I thought it would be a fun way to have a reading queue all set up for me and to include books I maybe wouldn't have picked up otherwise.  Here are the responses I got.

Husband:  The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
Dad: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Mom: Siddartha by Herman Hesse
Brother #1:  The Fifties by David Halberstam
Sister: The Mother in Me by various mothers
Brother #2:  Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Brother #3:  A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

I have started The Count of Monte Cristo, but am only about four chapters into it.  At this rate, I probably won't even finish it in the next 500 days.  It's not that I don't like it, it is just intimidating because it is a very long book (I was specifically told I am not allowed to read the abridged version). 

On that note, I think I will hop in the tub and read a little before bed.  Goodnight!

#8. Make Christmas Stockings

I haven't actually completed this item, but wanted to share with you that I have started it.  Now that I have a child, it is critical (in my mind) that I make homemade stockings for our whole family.  I'm not sure why I feel so strongly about it, but I do.  I want her stocking to be something special that she will have her entire childhood.  Therefore, I have to get it done.  I don't want to confess to her later in life that she didn't have her special stocking until her 2nd Christmas.  I just can't live with that guilt.

I am struggling, though.  I just can't decide what I want to do for her.  If you have any amazing suggestions, let me know. 

In the meantime, I'm working on Landon's.  He picked out the above fabrics.  And this is what we are going to do. 

Pretty, huh?  He wants the front of the stocking to be a patchwork.  He did most of the cutting, I just helped a little, and he came up with the design he wanted.  Now it is up to me to do the sewing.  I think he did a great job with the picking and arranging.  I am tempted to make a similar Christmas table-runner with the extra fabric since it is so pretty, but I can't get distracted with other projects until I finish my baby girl's stocking.    

#12: Make Baby Food

I have accomplished one thing from my list of 50 things!  One down, 49 to go.  Making homemade baby food was a lot of fun and very easy.  I learned a lot on how I can improve the process in the future.  I made mine with peaches and here's how I did it.

Cut the peaches in half and leave the pits in.

  

Place a baking sheet on your oven rack and use a pitcher or glass to to pour about 1 inch of water into it.  Trust me on this one.  I put the water in the pan before and when I tried to put it in the oven... I spilled all over the place.  Then arrange the peach halves cut side down.

I ate one of the halves... oops!  It was too tempting.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees until the peaches are nice and tender and the skin starts to pucker, about 10-15 minutes.  When they are done, please DO NOT pick up the pan.  The water will be hot.  Use a baster to remove the water and then take them out of the oven.  Save some of the water in a bowl in case you need to thin your puree.

Remove the pits.

And then remove the skins.  They come off very easily.

Then dice 'em up!

Throw them in your food processor (or blender) and process until smooth.

 

If the mixture seems too thick, add some of your peach water.  My texture was perfect with the juice that accumulated on the cutting board.

Use a tablespoon to distribute into ice cube trays.  It fits perfectly and that way you know exactly how much your baby is eating.  I got 4 trays out of 5 1/2 peaches.

  Wrap the trays in plastic wrap and label what it is and when you made it.  Remove one or two cubes as needed.  They will stay good in the freezer for 3 months.  I can't wait to try more foods! 

500 Days of Refinement

Have you ever heard of "101 things in 1001 days?"  I'm not really sure where it came from, but I first heard about it a while back from one of my dear clients.  Basically, you just make a list of 101 things you want to accomplish in the next 1001 days.  When she told me, I thought it sounded fun, so I started making a list.  However, coming up with 101 things was just too many and 1001 days was just way too far out for me.  I wasn't motivated to really do anything because the deadline was more than 2 and a half years away.  Therefore, I have come up with my own plan.

500 Days of Refinement

I have made a list of 50 things I want to accomplish in the next 500 days.  This just seems way more doable to me.  Today is my official start day and that will have me end on my birthday in 2012.  Basically, my list includes projects, health things, spiritual things, books to read, and then just fun and random things.  Some tasks are large and will take a lot of time, while others will be very easy to accomplish.  But all of them are"refining," at least to me.  I think they will help me to utilize and refine my talents as well as help me be a better wife and mother.   I will share some of my experiences with you as I complete them.

My husband helped me prepare my list in a fun way that I will print out and hang up (below).   I think it is a lot of fun.  Thank goodness for a husband who has mad computer skills.