Outwardly Pleasant

Asking for help is not a weakness

2012-02-13T01:00:00.000-06:00

I've helped several friends through some tough times and I've told even more that when things are rough, you need to talk about it and it's ok to see a therapist. It is NOT a sign of weakness to reach out. Yet when I started to hit rock bottom I resisted asking for help. I didn't want to open up to friends and I didn't want to seek out a therapist. I felt it was a sign of weakness and while I know I'm not always a strong person I like to pretend I'm strong. If I admitted to how bad the depression was it meant I was weak. If I had to ask for help instead of working through things on my own, it meant I was weak.

Taking our own advice is the hardest thing to do sometimes.

I suppose I'm starting to use this blog as a big of self therapy. I don't run the risk of running in to any of you in my day-to-day activities, I don't think anybody I know in my home town actually reads this. For some reason it feels safe.

I admit to having a lot of problems, a lot of things that I've never worked through that have been with me since my teenage years. Normally this is not an issue as when I feel myself starting to get depressed and the old insecurities and crap start to creep up I can work through it before things are bad. I suppose all the extra hormones kept me from being able to do that this time. I started to get bad in August and it just got worse and worse until I was having a major break down at least once a week. I tried to hide it, I don't think most knew what was going on or if they did notice a change they didn't realize it was as bad as it was. If I happened to mention being depressed people would comment that it was the hormones and it was common to be upset over nothing.

I wasn't upset over nothing. Everything that was depressing me were things that bother me a lot. This time I just couldn't fight it.

I tried to take my own advice and I reached out to somebody that I thought I had a connection with and was close to. I misjudged that one big time. Yet like an idiot a little over a month later this person seemed like they were reaching out to me and I opened up again, thinking the first time was a fluke. Bad move. It's really hard for me to open up to people so for me to open up to somebody and to be ignored and treated the way I was, not good. At least I can use this as a learning experience.

Now, you might be wondering where Husband was during all this. I have to say he was great. There were nights I woke up him at night because of the crying and he would be there for me. There were days he would get home from work and see how bad I was and lay down with me. The problem was he didn't know what was going on, I wasn't talking. If I did talk I would skirt around the major issues and mention some things but not the major things. I wasn't ready to admit my problems.

It took Husband to tell me several times that I needed to call my OB and tell them what was going on and get on medication for me to make one of the hardest decisions in my life. I called a therapist and made an appointment. See, you might not see that as being such a hard decision. For me, I felt like I was being weak. I wasn't strong. I had to admit that I wasn't strong. I didn't like how that felt.

It took a lot for me to convince myself that asking for help WAS the strong thing to do, not the weak. I wasn't showing weakness by admitting that I couldn't handle these things myself. I showed strength in admitting I needed help and taking the necessary steps to get that help. As you can see, I am talking about this. This is a huge step for me, something I'm working on. I have come to realize recently that talking my own advice and talking about it really is the best medicine. I found help in some very unlikely places, something I'll be touching on in another post. If nothing else..I think I wanted to talk about this because this might reach somebody who is in a similar situation I was. Maybe it'll help somebody else in a time of need. If so, then it was worth it for me to open up with this post.

Astrology - is there some truth to it?

2012-02-11T01:00:00.000-06:00

I'm not somebody who follows my astrology or puts much stock in it. Yet sometimes it comes up in conversation with people and I always look up what I am, Libra, and while not everything describes me it's pretty crazy how much does.

Recently I was talking to somebody about Chinese Astrology and how we're both going to have kids born in the year of the dragon. I had to look up with that sign even meant. While I was at it I decided to see what my sign was and was rather surprised. This shit is just crazy.

My Chinese astrology is the horse. Sure there is a lot in the description that I don't feel fits me (I could be wrong) but I was shocked by how much was on point. It was also weird how I realized a lot of the issues I've been having lately are kinda summed up in this sign, maybe me feel a bit better and like I'm not completely off my rocker.

According to www.astrology.com, "Horses are the nomads of the Chinease Zodiac, roaming from one place or project to the next. All the Sign's incessant activity and searching may be to satisfy a deep-rooted desire to fit in". Um..yup. It also says that Horses tend to feel "inferior to their peers, a misconception that causes them to drift from group to group out of an irrational fear of being exposed as a fraud." I can't say the last part is correct but I definitely feel inferior to almost everyone in my life. It doesn't matter what it is, I always feel like I'm a step behind and not as good as the other person. So this one is so very true.

One part I found funny was that "Horses crave love and intimacy, which is a double-edged sword since it often leads them to feel trapped". God that is so freaking true. I crave the intimacy part of a relationship but then I'll turn around and want to be left alone to do my own thing. It then says "Love connections tend to come easily to Horses, since they exude the kind of raw sex appeal that is a magnet to others. This sign tends to come on strong in the beginning of the relationship, having an almost innate sense of romance and seduction". Really? This is so not me. Somehow I missed the whole sex appeal thing. I doubt anybody has ever looked at me or thought of me and thought I had it. Me and sex appeal have never been in the same sentence, at least not with a positive spin. I'm sure somebody has mentioned how I don't have it.

If you haven't looked up your Chinese Zodiac in awhile, give it a shot. If nothing else it might surprise you how eerily accurate it is.

Change the World Wednesday - No Power Exercising

2012-02-09T01:00:00.000-06:00

This weeks Change the World Wednesday challenge is:

This week unplug your exercise routine by using no power. No treadmills, ellipticals, gyms, TV, music, or anything powered to assist in exercise. Make your workout Eco-friendly ... and, as always, let us know all about it.

Or ...

If you're not really into exercise, please consider it. In the meantime, take a look at your daily routine and choose one activity which uses power and accomplish it without power. Some examples might be preparing a meal without the use of the stove, washing dishes by hand instead of using a dishwasher, visiting friends and family instead of watching TV, etc. And oh yes, we want to know all about it (you'll get points for creativity).

Now THIS is a challenge you know I'm all about. Treadmills are so incredibly boring, I had to do my long run on one several weeks ago and stopped at 8 miles (my goal had been 12) because I was going to shoot myself. As long as it's not raining I will do all my runs outside. In fact, up until May 2011 I didn't even have a gym membership. So I either did weights at home or ran outside. Now that I have a gym membership I do go several times a week for cross-training (swimming and bike).

While normally this challenge would be easy and fun, at this time it's actually one I won't be able to really participate in right now. I have a good reason for that though. At 26 weeks pregnant I have to play things smart.

Running is starting to become an issue, a lot of ligament pain during and after my runs. This means I've had to finally convince myself that no more 8 mile or longer runs on the weekend. I'm trying to convince myself 4 miles is my max. I've also told myself that to keep from running as often during the week (normally I'll try to get in a run outside 3-4 days a week) I need to cross-train more with things that don't cause me as much pain. This means swimming and biking and that requires my gym. I haven't figured out exactly what I'm going to do yet but I think I'm going to drop my runs to 2 days per week and cross-train 3-4. I've already dropped weight lifting as I realized I tended to still push the weight I was using, or I would say I could do that at home without the use of any devices.

It's also winter, which means if there is any chance of ice or snow on the sidewalk/street or the weather is misty/rainy, my butt is headed to the gym because it's safest for me right now.

I would say that I would do this challenge halfway and not use my ipod or my garmin (which tracks my distance, time, pace) however I can't do that either. Sure, I don't need the ipod and I'll actually keep from using that for a week. However the garmin I can't give up. My heart rate monitor is attached to it and I have to monitor it to make sure I don't go over 155 for baby girls health.

So while I love this challenge and am totally behind it and support it, for obvious health reasons it's not one I can participate in right now. I can tell you this though. I love to trail run and I can't do that right now. It's also frustrating to go so much slower that some days the beep telling me I went over 155 and to slow down drives me nuts. Therefore when I'm given the ok to start running after baby girl arrives, you can bet I'll be outside on the trails as much as possible and I'll probably leave the garmin at home several times. You can bet I'll be revisiting this challenge later this summer.

I do have one suggestion for all of you. While thinking of this challenge keep in mind that one excellent way to be eco-friendly and get in a good workout is to drop your car off for an oil change and run/walk home. Then when it's ready to be picked up, run/walk to go get it. I do this almost every time the car gets an oil change. It's a great way to get in a short run and it saves on somebody having to pick me up/drop me off.

Wordless Wednesday - One of us already had the baby

2012-02-08T01:00:00.001-06:00

My Mom took this photo in early December. I'm the one in green, with a due date of early May. My cousin is in the cute dress (give me a break..I still didn't have any maternity clothes at that point and had very little I could still squeeze in to). My cousin had her daughter on January 24th. We look like we could have been very close in due dates.

More Wordless Wednesday can be found here.

Cherry Stollen or Cherry Bread Braid Recipe

2012-02-06T01:00:00.000-06:00

This recipe is an old family favorite. Well, it's not a family recipe but it's a family favorite. My paternal Grandma used to make this for Christmas every year when I was growing up. A couple years ago I remembered it and asked her for the recipe, we hadn't had it in years. It was at this point that she mentioned she got it from one of her friends. I figure I don't care, as far as I'm concerned it's a family tradition now. Husband and I took over having Christmas at our house a couple of years ago and I have made this a staple. I don't really make it at any other time of the year, but it makes 4 so I always bake two and freeze two. The reason you are getting this recipe now is because I needed room in the freezer and pulled one out to bake. I've been in a happy cherry stollen coma for a couple of days.

I don't have pictures of what mine look like, because they do not look great. They test great, appearance is something I'm working on. Instead I've just posted a picture I found online. In fact, I found a posting for a different braid bread recipe on reliable answers and the photo's show you exactly how to do the dough part.

Stollen or Braid Bread Recipe

Makes 4

Ingredients
1 lb butter, softened (4 sticks) (I ALWAYS use salt free butter when baking)
1 lb smooth cottage cheese *
4 1/2 cups flour
pie filling of your choice (1 can makes 2 stollens, or use fresh fruit)

*I haven't been able to find smooth cottage cheese so I just puree normal cottage cheese until it is smooth

Mix the butter, cottage cheese, and flour together until well mixed. I have a habit of combining the butter and cottege cheese until well mixed and then adding in the flour. I'm not sure it matters though.

Divide dough into 4 parts. Place in the refrigerator until cold or over night.

When you are ready to make the stollens, remove one piece at a time as you don't want it to get too soft. Roll dough out on parchment paper into an oval shape. Size depends on you, I always treat it like a pie shell and do about the same thickness. If you are going to cook right away, it's easier to then place this on a cookie sheet before doing the next step.

Pour fruit down the center of the rolled dough. Half a can per stollen. Cut the dough on the sides into strips and twist over the fruit. If you are going to freeze any of these, now is when you would freeze it (before baking).

Bake at 350 for about 30 min.

Once out of the oven, while still hot, make a thin icing to drizzle on top. I don't measure this, I just mix powdered sugar with a bit of vanilla and a tad of milk. I get the consistency I want and then drizzle. You don't have to use vanilla, I just love the flavor of it so I always do.

Sometimes we need motivation

2012-02-04T01:00:00.000-06:00

I never really thought I was the type of person to really "get" motivational posters or sayings. Sure I read them and some I would think "that's cool" but never thought of them again.

Lately I've found that I really like them. I'm not sure why this happened all of a sudden. Of course most of them are running related or deal with working out in general. I have also found some that are really funny and have been sharing them with a friend I run with once a week or so and it at least makes the work day a bit easier to get through.

There is one saying that I saw that I actually printed and taped up in my closet. I wasn't going to admit this to anybody. I felt embarrassed by it, in a way I kinda of still am.

The above really stuck with me for some reason. I have it taped to a container that my sports bras are stored in, so I see it every time I go to either change into my workout clothes or gather them to go in the gym bag for a workout later in the day.

One day at work I was talking to a co-worker/friend who also works out and we were talking about insecurities with our workouts. I mentioned the quote and told him how I had it taped up in my closet. I told him not to make fun of me. He said he never would, he has a motivational word written on the inside of his gym bag so every time he works out he see's it and it motivates him to work out harder. It was great to see that somebody else understood where I was coming from. Sometimes a word or a saying will really hit a nerve and stay with us and mean something to us.

Why this one specifically? It's because I always feel like I'm not good enough. My pace is slow, my runs are just ok. I know so many people who run faster, and further, and better than I do. I was running with a group on Sunday's for our long runs. The pace was slower for all of us, only for them it's 2 min or more slower, for me it was either less than a minute or 1 minute slower. I felt like I was somehow always struggling to be as good as they were. I didn't even realize this at first, but late last year noticed how their race times were so freaking fast. It's awesome, I'm happy for them. I started to get upset about my race times though when I realized just how much better they were than me. How these slower runs must seem really slow to them, when I sometimes struggle because of the distance, the heat, etc. I enjoy the challenge, I know that it helps me to push myself. It doesn't mean I don't get upset about it though.

I know I improved a lot with my running last year. I worked my butt off for it and it paid off. I know I can get back to that once I'm able to really train again. However right now I am forced to go at a slower pace and take things easy. While I realize this is for the best and I don't mind doing it, it can also be frustrating. I've also been dealing with a lot of depression issues and feeling inferior in my running played in to that.

Then I came across the quote above. It hit a nerve. I felt it was true for me. I strive to be better, I work on it (when I'm able). That's what really matters. That I don't give up. We all have bad days, there will always be somebody better. What matters is that we strive to be the best that we can be, in whatever that is. For me, that's in running, in my over-all fitness, and my goal to start doing triathlons.

I read this almost every day, sometimes twice. I'll read it sometimes in the morning when dressing for work but always when I'm getting my workout clothes together. I'm a bit embarrassed to say it, but it's helped. I'm much more confident in myself as an amateur athlete. I know the level of fitness I'm at now, or rather what I was in before becoming pregnant, and I know what I want to be at after baby girl arrives. I know it'll take a lot of dedication and hard work to make it happen. On those days when I read about everyone else's workouts and I see them getting in mileage I've never even attempted, and I see people doing mileage I can do but at a much faster pace than I've been able to do, I remind myself of this quote. For me, it's making a word of difference.

Change the World Wednesday: National Heart Month

2012-02-02T09:23:00.000-06:00

This Week's Challenge:

This week (and throughout the month), experiment with left over fruits and veggies by either blending them into smoothies or making soups. Fruits and veggies are very heart-healthy and finding creative uses for them instead of tossing them out is very earth-friendly (especially the ones which are slightly tired - check your refrigerators for these culprits). Be sure to come back and tell us about your efforts ... and offer recipes if you wish.

Hmm...what to do with this one. The thing is that for the most part Husband and I do really well not letting fruits and veggies go to waste. We don't buy a lot at one time, which helps.

We usually only buy enough fruit to get us through a week, or what we assume we'll eat in a week. Obviously sometimes we don't get to it but it rarely goes bad. OK, fine, I'll admit that sometimes I let bananas get too ripe so I can make banana bread. I'm guessing that doesn't really count though. So for the most part fruit doesn't go bad. If I notice something beginning to go bad I usually will throw it in a smoothie, which isn't a big deal since I make them at least once a week for breakfast.

Veggies are a different story. Usually when we buy them fresh it's for a specific recipe. I admit, otherwise we usually buy frozen so we have them when we want them for a meal. The problem with buying fresh is that a lot of things you can't buy just what you need. For example, carrots and celery. You have to buy the entire bunch when normally you only need a couple pieces. This is where we run into problems. I know I'll need help when it happens again.

It is winter here, even if the temps have been around 60 recently (boy do I LOVE that). I imagine this means we'll be making stew and soups several times within the next two months. I'll have to keep this challenge in mind and try to be better about using the left-over veggies.

On the flip side, now that I can and do compost at home, at least I know they will get used towards something and not go into the trash.

Wordless Wednesday: Practicing

2012-02-01T01:00:00.000-06:00

I have to admit that pretty much as soon as this picture was taken Husband looked at me and wanted me to save him, he has no clue what he's doing. Oh his time is coming.

More Wordless Wednesday can be found here.

Change the World Wednesday - de-cluttering

2012-01-30T01:00:00.000-06:00

This week's CTWW involves cleaning out our closets and finding alternate places for the items.

This week, begin creating a list of unneeded household items to donate to nonprofits. Perhaps you have clothing, pillows, books or sports equipment which could be given to men's and women's shelters. Animal shelters are always in need of towels and food containers. So look around your home and see what could be offered. Donating keeps stuff out of landfills & supports local nonprofits that need all the help they can get.

Or ...

If you've already cleaned out your closets, please share other ideas on how we can keep "stuff" out of landfills.

Perfect timing with this challenge. A couple of weekends ago Husband and I cleaned out one of the hall closets. It wasn't that it was over-flowing with stuff, I'm actually a rather organized person. He just happened to be in it one day and realized we didn't use half the coats hanging up or other items in it. He mentioned we needed to go through it and make some room for baby girls stuff. It didn't take us long to go through the closet but we managed to pull out almost everything and set it aside to get rid of it. We actually have 6 shelves in that closet and two places to hang things up with hangers. We went from everything being full to having only 2 shelves with stuff on them and one side with coats.

Where is the stuff now? Well, it's actually still in the soon-to-be nursery awaiting proper homes. We had a vacuum cleaner that works great, but we don't use it and don't have a need for it anymore. That will be going on Craigs list. We could take it too a goodwill and donate it, but we've had great luck getting rid of things on Craig's list. We usually try to list things for a small amount and most of the time we are able to sell it. If we can't sell it for even a small amount, we make the decision to either list it for free or take it to a donation center. A lot of things we'll list for free because they are too bulky or just weird items that we think a donation center would have trouble getting rid of.

As far as the coats, those I'm going to take to a Veteran's donation center one weekend. Husband recently went through his closet and pulled out a lot of clothes he doesn't wear anymore and they are in a pile waiting to go out the door as well. Many times when we have clothes I'll contact a Veteran's charity to come pick it up but I noticed a drop-off donation center opened up not to far from us and we drive by it a lot of the weekends. I prefer to donate clothes and other items I feel they can use because I feel we need to do what we can for our vet's. I would rather see the items go to vet's or be sold and the money going to a veteran foundation than just a normal donation center.

Some of the items we are getting rid of are also pet items and toys that our dog doesn't use. These I'm going to contact local animal shelters to see if they need/want. Since the items are used I'm not sure what they will take but want to make the offer. Otherwise I'm not sure how best to get rid of these.

Now that this closet is cleaned out, we're pretty much done. I love (cuz I'm nuts) to organize so throughout the year I will go through drawers and closets and re-organize and pull out things we don't use anymore. So unless Husband finds a closet I've forgotten about, I'm done for awhile. That is, until baby girl starts growing up and I have all of that stuff to deal with.

Easy Brownies from scratch

2012-01-28T01:00:00.000-06:00

I mentioned before that there are basically two cookbooks I own for baking and that's because so far they are the only ones I've felt worth it. Clinton St. Baking Company is a heck of a cookbook. The recipes are all from the cafe of the same name that can be found in New York. I can't tell you how much I hope to eat there one day.

I wanted to share their recipe for brownies. Hopefully you'll make them and this will entice you to pick up a copy of the book, if you do I don't think you'll be disappointed.

The brownies are super easy to make and taste wonderful. I personally have all the ingredients in my house most of the time so it's not something where a special trip to the store is required. psst..I've posted the Flourless Chocolate cake recipe on my other blog in the past, this one has become a favorite dessert for my husband. He rates it as the best dessert he's ever had. I'm not as huge a fan but admit it's good. I actually prefer these brownies. Oh, and as I'm typing this Husband is going through the recipe book picking out the next item for me to make. He's mentioned 3 so far. haha!

Brownies

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks (I just use a bag of chocolate chips)
2 cups sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, cubed
5 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. if using a convection oven, set it at 325. Lightly grease a 9x12 pan, line with parchment paper to prevent sticking and grease paper (I just spray the pan).

Melt the chocolate, sugar, and butter together in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave on high heat. stir at 1-minute intervals. The total time to melt this mixture will be 2 1/2 - 3 minutes. Or melt the mixture in the stainless-steel bowl of a double boiler. Let cool.

Whisk the eggs and vanilla extract into the warm chocolate mixture.

Sift the dry ingredients into a separate bowl.

In two stages, gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet batter until combined.

Evenly distribute the butter into the prepared pan.

Bake the brownies for 25 minutes, until the top is cracked and the center is still fudgy.

Allow the brownies to cool in the refrigerator overnight and cut into approximately 3-inch squares once cooled.

The Rooted Tree Test

2012-01-26T01:00:00.000-06:00

You Are Freedom Loving

You are laid back and easygoing with people. Too much intensity tires you out.
You believe that there is a lot to still be discovered in this world, and you're hoping to find some of it.

You are blessed with an enormous amount of self-confidence. You love who you are.
Structure and rules bore you. Even worse - they make you feel stifled.

The Rooted Tree Test

I WISH I had an enormous amount of self-confidence. Maybe one of these days.

Change the World Wednesday - Road Blocks

2012-01-24T01:00:00.000-06:00

It's a new year and glad to get back to the Change the World Wednesday challenges over at Reduce Footprints.

This past week the challenge was in regards to road blocks. What roadblocks do I encounter when trying to be green. This one was rather easy for me. The greatest roadblock I have is in my desire to buy local. There are several farmers markets during the summer but non that have been convenient for me to get to. There is one in Tower Grove Park that I hear is wonderful, but it's at least a 30 min drive. When I drive 35-40min each way for my commute to/from work 5 days a week, I just don't always want that commute on the weekend (plus the park is by my work so it just feels like I'm headed to work again).

There is a farmer's market closer to where I live but it is during the week and closes around 6pm. That just hasn't been a possibility for me.

However, I was able to change my hours at work this past fall and now I normally work 7-3, which gives me plenty of time to get to the farmer's market close to my house. However another roadblock is that baby girl is supposed to arrive in early May. My life is about to be turned upside down, in a good way. I think, though, that buying local and fresh produce is important enough to me that I could hopefully make this an outing we can do together. Sure, as an infant she'll have no clue and it'll be tougher for me to get around, but I'm hoping I can get into a routine and make it a habit.

Running Breakthrough

2012-01-23T01:00:00.000-06:00

It feels good when you finally realize that a dream of yours is within reach. It might take some planning, it might take some training, but to have that realization that yes you can do X, that's an incredible feeling.

I had such a breakthrough not too long ago. I've been kicking around the idea of training for a full marathon for awhile. It took me forever to convince myself I was capable of running a half marathon. Once I proved I could train and run one, I started thinking about a full marathon. However 26.2 miles is a long way to run. I have way too much self-doubt about my abilities and my mental strength to fully commit. It was something that I kept thinking about but wasn't ready to do. Then when I found out I was pregnant I knew I wouldn't be able to train for a Spring marathon like I was thinking about. I was ok with that.

Something crazy happened though. While I'm still able to workout I'm having to pay close attention to my heart rate. This means I'm running at a much slower speed than normal. This also means that I've been able to keep up my distance and increase it for my weekly long runs. I'm not putting as much effort into the runs, because I can't, so my legs aren't as tired and my body isn't fatigued and I can go further. Up until recently the longest distance I have ever run consecutivly was 13.1 miles, a half marathon.

A couple of weekends ago I decided that my goal was to run 12-16 miles for my long run. 12 was doable as that's what I've been doing. 16 was a pipe dream. I came up with 16 because the route I run at a local park is roughly 4 miles, although I've been adding extra routes in to make it a tad longer. So 12 mile would mean 3 loops, 16 miles would be 4 loops. Hmm. I met up with a couple of othe women for the first time. The one runs slower so she offered to run with me most weekends since I've been lonly and missing my normal running group (I can't keep up with them right now). She then found another girl who wanted to run with a group. So we started out and they were super cool and stayed at the pace I needed to go. We did 9 miles together because that's what their goal was for that day. I was feeling good. My legs were incredibly sore from the workout I had done the day before, but I felt good. I ate part of a banana and headed out for another loop around the park. I got close to my car and was at 14 miles. I felt good. I ran further and then decided to only push it to 15. I do believe at that point my thought process was "You crazy f***, you're pregnant, what are you doing running 16 miles."

When I hit 15 miles I stopped and walked back to my car. My legs were on fire, they were so sore from the previous days workout. The rest of my body felt great. My mental state was awesome. I've been dealing with a lot lately and have no way to relieve stress. This run did it. Not only did I finally feel like I got in a good workout, I did 15 miles. 15! Who would have ever though I could run for 15 miles?! Nobody!

I was estatic. I was pumped. I got back to the car and looked at my phone and saw it was almost 11:30. I had been running for almost 3 hours. I panicked. I called the husband thinking he was probably freaked out and when he answered I said "I'm alive". When I said that I realized just how alive I felt. I felt on top of the world. I was estatic. I wanted to yell, I wanted to scream. I wanted to tell somebody but had nobody who would really care so I just had my own little happy party and patted myself on the back. I just freaking ran for 15 miles and I felt great. I felt like I could have kept going. I realized, for the very first time, that I could run for 26.2 miles. I could run a full marathon. Sure, I might not be able to do it at the pace that I want to, but the first one is just about finishing isn't it? Once I can finish a marathon I can work on pace for another one right?

This feeling, this feeling of realizing that you can accomplish something that you thought about doing but didn't really think you could achieve, that's the most amazing feeling in the world.

I do realize that running 15 miles is probably not the best thing to do while pregnant, even though my body is fit and I've been keeping up with my workouts. So I won't do it again. I also realize that once Baby Girl arrives my priorities will change. I realize that I'm not going to have 3+ hours to devote to running on the weekend. I realize that training for a marathon takes a huge time commitment and I'm not going to be able to do that for awhile. But that's ok. I'm ok if I have to wait 2 or 3 or 4 years before I can train for a marathon. Because I know I'll remember this run and I'll know how it felt to realize I could do it.

Altra running shoes - review

2012-01-21T01:00:00.000-06:00

I recently did a review of the Eve shoe by Altra for a friend's blog, RunBreak. Be sure to check it out if you are interested in running shoes. Actually, I don't run in them, I wear them to the gym and out and about and they are super comfy. So check them out even if you aren't in the market for new running shoes.

It's also exciting that Altra recently had two of their shoes awarded the Best Debut award by runners world. You can read more about that on Altra's blog.

The Story of Stuff

2012-01-20T01:00:00.000-06:00

If you haven't watched any of the video's produced by The Story of Stuff Project, you are in for a treat. Annie Leonard makes some really good points in the videos. Even if you don't believe it all, I think it still makes you question things and look at how you live.

I recently watched their video The Story of Stuff and wanted to share it with you. There were several good points that she makes. For one she mentions that recycling isn't enough. Seeing as how I've done a lot of reading/research within the last year on living green I already knew this. However I used to think I was doing my part if if recycled, heck, I kept it out of the landfill didn't I? But it's true that it's not enough. We need to look deeper into what we buy and why we buy things.

Chocolate Cupcakes and Buttercream Frosting

2012-01-16T01:00:00.000-06:00

We had my family over to celebrate my Mom's birthday the other night and my Mom had requested chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing for the dessert. Since I refuse to buy desserts I turned to one of my trusty cookbooks to see if there was a recipe before I went searching on the internet. I found a recipe for chocolate cupcakes in the book Flour by Joanne Chang. If you live in Boston or have been there, you might be famliar with the Flour Bakery. Man I hope to get there one day. I actually have to admit that so far I only have two cookbooks and both are recipes from bakeries and both are awesome. The only cookbooks I've felt worth spending money on so far. However..let me get back on track.

This was the first time I made the cupcakes so of course we didn't know what to expect. I tend to make new dessert recipes when people are coming over, no better way to test it all out. These cupcakes weren't hard to bake, a few different steps, but not hard. While I love chocolate I'm not a huge fan of chocolate cake. I have to admit that I've been eating my share of these, they taste wonderful. Everyone who had one also commented on how good they are (and I don't think it was just to make me feel good since I baked them). I didn't make the icing recipe included with that recipe as it wasn't for a chocolate recipe. Instead I used a chocolate buttercream recipe that I've had for several years, found it on the internet but don't remember where.

If you feel like a chocolate cupcake and are up to baking from scratch, definitly give these a try.

Chocolate Cupcakes from Flour by Joanne Chang

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
¼ cup dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup unsalted butter
⅓ cup water
½ cup milk
1 egg
1 egg yolk
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp kosher salt

In a heatproof bowl, combine the chocolate and cocoa powder. In a small saucepan, heat the sugar, butter, and water over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally, for 3-4 minutes or until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Pour the hot butter-sugar mixture over the chocolate-cocoa mixture and whisk until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is homogeneous.

Whisk the milk, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla into the chocolate mixture until thoroughly combined.

In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well mixed. Dump the flour mixture on top of the chocolate mixture. Whisk until the dry ingredients are totally mixed into the chocolate mixture. Let the batter sit for at least 1 hour at room temperature, or transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. (This allows the liquid to be totally absorbed into the batter, so the batter thickens up a bit and isn’t so soupy.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, dividing it evenly and filling the cups to the rim. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the tops spring back when pressed with a fingertip. Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.

**I did make only 12 cupcakes but some were pretty large and overflowing. Next time I make these I won't fill the cupcake cups to the rim and I'll make more.

Buttercream Frosting
6 tablespoons butter, softened
⅓ - ¾ cup Cocoa powder
2 ⅔ cup powdered sugar
⅓ cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cocoa powder - for light chocolate frosting us ⅓ cup cocoa powder. For medium chocolate frosting use ½ cup cocoa powder. For dark chocolate frosting us ¾ cup cocoa powder.

Directions
Cream the butter. Add the cocoa and powdered sugar, alternately with milk. beat to spreading constistantency, add more milk if needed. Blend in Vanilla.

Makes enough for 12 cupcakes

**Note: I use this recipe for non-chocolate buttercream frosting too, I (obviously) just don't add the cocoa powder

Wool Dryer Balls

2012-01-10T16:45:00.001-06:00

I became aware of wool dryer balls sometime last year while browsing different green blogs. The purpose of using wool dryer balls is to elminate the need of a dryer softener sheet when you dry clothes. The sheets contain chemicals and cost money. By using wool dryer balls you not only save money but you also keep chemicals from getting on your clothes. Win-win.

I had looked into purchasing some but then found a tutorial on how to make some using wool yarn. I saved that and then never did it. I happened to run across another blog article late last year that gave a tutorial on how to make them using wool sweaters. This seemed more my style as I could pick up some wool sweaters pretty cheap from Goodwill.

I found the tutorial at Eco Friendly Homemaking and it seemed easy enough. Buy some wool sweaters (at least 85% wool), wash them in hot water, dry them, cut them into strips, sew the strips into balls (roughly the size of a tennis ball). That's it! Ok, I can do this.

I got the sweaters and then sat on my lazy bum and did nothing with them for awhile. I finally realized I was almost out of dryer sheets so I needed to get my arse in gear and make these so I could test them out and see how they worked. Would they work as promised? Would I like them? Or would I have to find an eco-friendly dryer sheet to use.

In the tutorial the poster says she made about 11 in an hour. I must be really slow because it took me a lot longer than that. It wasn't that it was hard, it was just more time consuming than I expected. However she also states the dryer balls should last 2 years. The first handful I made I didn't sew at the beginning of the strip and the end, I only did at the end. I soon found this was a problem as they started to unravel in the dryer. I think by not sewing them at both ends I wasn't wrapping them tight enough. The second batch I sewed I sewed at the beginning and end of each strip and pulled tighter. These have stayed together, for the most part. I've noticed the last trip coming loose on some.   This hasn't been hard to fix though, I just put it back together and sew the sides.   I made about 15 dryer balls and have all in the dryer for each use.

How do I like them? I can't say that I've noticed the dry time speeding up, that's one thing mentioned in the tutorial..that the dry time is faster.   However I don't have any static on my clothes. Well, there is on exception. I"ve noticed my workout clothes can have static. I do all my workout clothes in the same load and most of them say not to use dryer softners/sheets. I don't notice the clothes being staticky when I wear them, just when I take them out of the dryer sometimes. I pretty much wear all the tech clothes too, so I'm sure it's whatever material is used that causes the static.

Other than than noticing those two issues, neither of which bothers me and I actually consider an issue, I love using these. They were super easy to make, I just made them while sitting in front of the tv, and they'll last about 2 weeks. Sure I'll have to fix some of mine, but I imagine as I make more and get better at it and find a process that works for me I won't have this issue.

Now, you might be saying that this is too much trouble when dryer sheets aren't expensive. So let's take a look at it.   I looked online and Walmart (ugh I hate that store and rarely shop there) has a 160 ct box of Bounce for $6.84. This comes to roughly $0.042 per sheet.   I don't know how many loads an average household does with kids, but for a household of 2 we do 4-5 per week.   So it would be $.21 per week or $10.92 per year. Still not a lot. Ok, so let's go further. I'll be using cloth diapers and we decided against a diaper service. I'll be washing them every other day. So let's just say I'll be doing at least 10 loads of laundry a week, no idea how many loads I'll do of baby girls clothing. Now I just doubled my cost, at least. It's going to cost me $20.92 a year.   However I wouldn't be using Bounce. I would be using a brand such as 7th Generation because I feel more comfortable with it.   I looked online and a dryer sheet by that brand would run me about $0.062 per sheet, $0.62 per week or $32.24 per year. The dryer balls will last me two years, it cost me about $7 to buy the sweaters.   So for two years I've spent $7. If I used dryer sheets I would be spending at least $64.48.

You might look at that and say your time is worth the $65. You're right, time is important. However I'm going to stick with the wool dryer balls. We watch money pretty closely in our household and I spend more on products from eco-friendly companies and products are better for me and the environment. So I already have some areas where I spend more. This means I look for areas where I can save. This is one of those areas where I can save a little bit of money. It's a small amount but it adds up in time.

Let's also factor into this that when you purchase dryer sheets the environment is effected. Chemicals, utilities, etc were used to create those dryer sheets, to ship those dryer sheets etc. Not to mention the waste that was created to make them and package/ship them. For the environmentally concious person making your own wool dryer balls from used sweaters is a very easy way to lesson your carbon footprint.

Motivation

2012-01-08T01:00:00.000-06:00

I really want to get into triathlons. I wanted to do a sprint tri last year and wasn't able to since I didn't have a road bike. I actually still don't have a road bike but I'm hoping to complete my first indoor tri within the next couple of months actually. Fingers crossed I feel well enough and baby cooporates.

While I plan to start off with a sprint tri because the distances are all relatively low and I feel it's a great way to get my feet wet with this sport I have to admit that to one day even train for an Ironman is a dream of mine. I mean, I have to like tri's first, so doing a couple sprint tri's will let me know if I want to continue with this pipe dream. But if I do find that I like them I plan to do an Olympic distance and possibly a half-ironman once baby girl is bigger.

A full ironman, most days that seems like a pipe dream. It seems like something I could NEVER do. These athletes are crazy! Ok..actually I don't think they are crazy, I think they are AMAZING. Anybody wyo can swim 2.4 miles, then bike 112 miles, then run 26.2 miles is amazing. Shoot, anybody who trains to do that and goes for it is worthy in my opinion.

The below video is very motivating for me. It's people who are at their breaking point but they keep trying. They Try to finish something they started. I think we can all learn from that. I also have a feeling if I ever compete in an ironman I'll make it on a video like this one. haha

How do you get your point across?

2012-01-06T02:57:00.000-06:00

One of the book blogs I follow, Kittling: Books, posts these quizes and it's always fun to see what others get and how many of us are similar or how many different answers there are. I thought I might start posting them on this blog. Many times these answers are actually spot on, other times I just don't see it.

This one, I'm not so sure about. Some things I know are correct though.

You Get Your Point Across by Discussing

You are an indirect person, both with yourself and others. You are never sure where you're going.
You prefer to open things up for discussion and see where the brainstorming takes you. You don't have expectations.

You are open-minded and flexible. You don't see things as set in stone, and you like to leave yourself open.
You are a good listener, and you think that you can learn from everyone. You know you're not always right.

How Do You Get Your Point Across?

Another year bites the dust

2012-01-04T13:55:00.000-06:00

2011 was an interesting year. Interesting good, interesting bad.

I started off the year in high hopes because I had finally begun seeing a fertility specialist (unless you've had diagnosed issues in the past you normally have to wait 1 year before a specialist will see you) and felt that things were finally moving forward. Only to go through tests and surgery and find that nothing was wrong, the body was just broken. Then of course incredibly happy when I found out that the drugs finally worked and I was pregnant. The only issue is that this happened when Husband I were going through some issues. So in my mind that puts a dent in the happiness factor.

I started off the year training for a 15k trail run and a half marathon. Training on my own. I did awesome, for me, at the 15k trail run and had a very disapointing half marathon. I then met some local runners and started to run with them and things picked up. I ended up hitting my time goal for the fall half marathon and being incredibly happy with my training for the year.

I had started eating healthier in 2010 and continued doing that in 2011. I slowly started to get more organic and all-natural items into our diet. This is still a struggle with Husband as he looks at cost and nothing else. So it depends on who does the grocery shopping.

I really started to make changes to make our life more eco-friendly. It's something I had always been interested in and I started doing it in 2010 but 2011 saw me making some major strides. I have indoor laundry lines, I haven't bought cleaning supplies all year, instead I make my own. I tried my hand at growing tomatoes and was happy with the result, although the lettuce didn't work out. I cleared land for a vegetable garden for this coming Spring. I even have a compost area now.

The year was full of ups and downs for me. For some reason the end of the year seemed to be the hardest for me and while I want to blame it on the hormones I'm not sure that's actually what's going on. I found myself doing a lot of searching inside on what I want and what makes me happy and I'm not sure a conclusion has been made yet. I suppose this is probably normal for a lot of people while awaiting their first child.

I can't say 2012 has been off to a great start, heck we're only 4 days into it. However some major changes are coming and while I'm paranoid about the main one, I'm also looking forward to it and feel I'm ready. You don't deal with the ups and downs of infertility just to not feel ready when the time approaches.

Here's hoping we all have a great 2012.

Happy Holidays

2011-12-25T06:29:00.006-06:00

I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday and you get to spend time with loved ones and friends.

The Diaper Debate

2011-12-19T14:08:00.000-06:00

I'm determined to use cloth diapers once Squirt arrives.   So this debate isn't even whether I use cloth or disposables. The issue is do I use a diaper service or buy them ourselves.

At first I was set on using the all-in-one kind and getting enough that we would only have to wash every 2 or 3 days.    Then I talked to a friend who used a diaper service and she recommended it. Even though she is a stay-at-home Mom she was happy not to have to actually clean the diapers off and wash them herself.   Knowing that Husband was going along with the cloth diaper idea but not looking forward to cleaning the diapers I looked into a diaper service.

We compared the cost of the all-in-ones and the cost of the diaper service. We factored in both of us working 40 hours per week and needing to find time to do all this laundry. We factored in the cost of running our washing machine and dryer every couple of days. We went away leaning towards the diaper service.   Since Husband only wants one kid, we wouldn't get as much use out of the diapers as other parents who re-use them for multiple children. So it came down to the cost not being that much different. We leaned towards the diaper service so that I wouldn't be stuck doing the extra loads of laundry and we wouldn't have to clean the diapers before putting them in the laundry.

Then I did some more reading and saw that the diaper services use pre-folds. First off, we already have the day-care reserved and we'll be using in-home daycare. The lady we decided to go with is perfectly ok with cloth diapering and says she did it with her kids. So I actually think she'll be ok with pre-folds. However, if we ended up not being happy with her and wanted to put Squirt in a daycare center, they would require the all-in-ones. So that could be an issue.    The other thing is that I wasn't too happy with the pre-fold idea.

This past weekend we went to a store called Cotton Babies. I'm pretty sure they're my only option for a store that I can go into and buy cloth diapers instead of using the internet. They have several different kinds so we tested them all out on a doll. We came up with a way to do the pre-folds that makes me happy. I walked out saying ok, let's do this diaper service.

Later that night Husband brought up the cloth diapering and mentioned that if we're doing pre-folds we should look into buying everything and doing it ourselves instead of using a diaper service. He thought the pre-folds were pretty inexpensive and it would be a lot cheaper.   So I ran numbers again. Even though he insists on only one child, so knowing we'll only use these diapers for one kid, it's still a heck of a lot cheaper for us to purchase the pre-folds and covers than to use the diaper service.

Here's what is holding me back. Again, we both work 40 hour weeks. Doing it all ourselves just means we'll have to do more laundry. We'll be exhausted. We'll want to spend time with Squirt and not doing laundry.   Plus I had gotten really happy about the fact that I could just put soiled, poopy diapers in a bag and put it on my porch once a week and they magically get replaced with clean ones.

So here's my question to all you Mom's out there who used cloth diapers. You have experience, what can you suggest?    Was doing a load of diapers every 2 days a big pain in the butt and you wish you used a service or was it something you got used to pretty quickly and it wasn't an issue. Is cleaning the diapers a pain, to the point that the idea of just throwing soiled diapers into a bag and forgetting about it would be heaven? Or is that something you quickly get used it?

Oh, and let me add in that we've run the numbers and we've erred on the side of things being more expensive and the cost of the diaper service is very management for us. So while keeping cost down is important, it's not a deal breaker (if that makes sense).    I've also had people tell me that they were going to use cloth and lasted 2 weeks or a month, and switched to disposables because it was a pain (all these people have older children, so they weren't using the clothe options available these days). I don't see us doing that. Not just because I think it's the best option for my child and for the environment. But also because I'm pretty stubborn and since everyone is telling me I won't last and I won't like it, I'm determined to prove them wrong. haha

Mastercard + cloth diapers?

2011-12-08T00:39:00.000-06:00

I don't normally watch commercials. I'm one of the millions in love with their DVR because I can record all my programs and watch them later, when I can skip adds. However dealing with insomnia often finds me watching tv when most people are asleep. This means I'm watching, or listening, to a lot of commercials.

I just happened to catch a MasterCard commercial and I was just staring at the screen, not really paying attention, when I noticed something. The toddler in the commercial is wearing a cloth diaper. At least I assume it's a cloth diaper. It certainly looks like the toddler is probably in a pre-folder with a cover. I was surprised and then excited. It's so nice to see a commercial for a major company showing this. I don't know how many will notice that it's not a disposable. I don't know how many who do notice will bother thinking "hmm..that's not a disposable. It's cloth. Let me look into this." However, it's a start. Even if the commercial gets one person to think about cloth and make the switch to cloth, it's worth it. I can only hope this will be a trend and we'll see this more often.

Here's the commercial in case you haven't seen it yet. Not that I'm promoting the company, they aren't paying me for this, but it sure would be nice if they did.

Frustration

2011-12-03T00:20:00.001-06:00

I don't think it will come as a surprise to any of you when I mention how much I like to workout. Even a bad workout is preferred over no workout. It's not that I'm that vain and want to keep my body in the shape that it is, it's more that it's a huge stress reliever for me. I don't usually have a lot of stress, but a workout can still be very calming.

So that's why I'm struggling with working out while pregnant. It's not that I can't workout, because I'm still working out roughly 5 days a week. The issue is that I can't do the intensity that I need. As luck would have it, my relatively stress free life is currently very stressful (both home and work). I'm nursing an injury so I'm not able to run, but I'm able to do a lot of cross training. I'm spending my time riding a bike, swimming, and doing strength training. All are great workouts. It's not the same as running. It doesn't calm me the same way. To make matters worse, I have to keep my heart rate at 155 or below, which means I can't get in as tough of a workout as I would like. I think this adds in a bit of stress.

To add to this, trail running is a huge passion of mine. I had 3 trail races planned for this winter. Due to being a huge klutz and tripping every time I trail run and falling a lot, I'm currently not trail running while pregnant. I realize that this is all for the best, seriously I do. It's still hard to not be able to do something you love so much. I live 5 min from the park I prefer to run at, so it's not even like I can avoid it.

Yes, I realize I need to watch my hear rate. Yes, I realize it's best to avoid situations that I know would be harmful to my body. Yes I'm still stressed out about it. Yes I do realize how that sounds. Husband and I dealt with infertility and it took 20 months for my body to actually work properly. So feeling upset because I can't do the races I wanted to do and feeling upset because I can't trail run or workout to the intensity that I want is also causing a lot of guilt. I shouldn't be stressed about it, I should be happy about it because of the reason why. Yet, it's hard on me. I wish it wasn't. I kinda hope this is a normal reaction that people have, just being a tad upset but I feel like I'm alone in this. Which causes more guilt. Which stresses me out. This is a viscous cycle.

Trashy Eye Opener

2011-11-30T07:01:00.000-06:00

Over the Thanksgiving holiday Husband and I had some house guests, his brother, wife, and their (almost) 4 year old son. They stayed with us for a week. They've stayed with us before and we always offer and never mind. We have the room and since they live out of state it's always good to be able to see them.

This year was a bit of an eye opener though. I'm not talking about having a 4 year old around either, we'll be there before we know it. I'm taking about waste. Over the last couple of years I've slowly been making changes in our household so as to reduce waste, waste of all kinds. These changes have turned into habits for us and we don't even think twice about it. That is, until this past week.

The monthly challenge on Reduce Footprints was to reduce the electricity usage this month. Perhaps that is why I was very aware every time lights were left on and devices plugged in. I noticed that a laptop was plugged in and charging almost the entire time. Yikes! I only plug mine in when I need to charge the battery, which isn't daily or even every other day. We also left the router and modem on the entire week. Ok, most people do this. We don't. We're in the habit of turning the router off when we aren't using wireless and unplugging both at night and not plugging them in until they are needed again. I also noticed lights being left on and the tv being left on when nobody was around to use them. I think these are ones that really bothered me. Why leave a light on if you aren't in the room?

The other thing I noticed was the amount of trash and recycling. In a normal week we fill the recycle bin about half way. It was full this week and I had more to add to it. Yes, I'm glad all of that was kept out of the trash but, wow, that is still a lot of "waste". The trash? Oh my! Normally we have 1 bag of trash per week, it's not even a full bag normally. With having the holiday at our house I knew there would be more waste and figured two bags, that's pretty normal. Oh no..we had two trash cans full. FULL! How does that happen? I don't even know what was all in the trash. I know some of the waste was due to having a child around. There were a lot of single serving containers for drinks and snacks. These were recycled when they could be, but not all of it was recyclable. But that shouldn't have caused us to have so much waste this week. Should I even mention how it can take us months to go through a roll of paper towels, but in one week almost an entire roll was used? Yikes!

There was also one incident at dinner. Husband and I were getting containers together for his parents to take leftovers home and his Mom kept telling us to put it in a ziplock bag. I ignored this as much as I could but she didn't let up so finally I commented that using ziplock bags would be wasteful. I prefer to just give them containers they can then return to us at a later time.

This was really an eye-opener for me. The things Husband and I do to be more eco-friendly and to keep waste at a minimum have become habits for us. I still slowly add in more things as I come across them and I think adding things in slowly has helped us become as eco-friendly as we are. None of what we do seems out of the ordinary or like it causes us too much work etc. It's all so natural for us. It also showed me just how different our household is from others. I would imagine the things I noticed are normal for a lot of households. That's really scary.

I don't want this to seem like I'm complaining about having house guests either. I will readily offer our house for their next stay in STL. I just find this very fascinating. It almost feels like my own person science experiment. Now...to somehow get them to slowly change their ways..that's the challenge.

Change the World Wednesday - Food Waste?

2011-11-28T08:41:00.001-06:00

Last Wednesday the challenge posted on Change the World Wednesday was to work on wasting NO food over the holiday. Well, really it's to waste no food for the week.   I read over the article that she linked to in how to help keep food waste down. I'm happy to report that the suggestions are pretty much ones that we follow in my house anyway.

Husband and I provide the Thanksgiving meal for his side of the family and we always take the minimalist approach. Instead of having a ton of sides and options, we limit it to three: stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green beans. We then, obviously, have turky and gravy. You can't forget the bread or my favorite part of the meal, dessert.    One reason we do it this way is because whenever we go somewhere for a holiday meal there is always way too much food left over. The other reason is that normally it's us and his parents. Every other year, just about, his brother comes in town along with his wife and kid. It's a very small family meal so there really isn't a need for a lot of food.

This year his brother and family were in town and staying at our house. Due to our nephew turning 4 soon we also celebrated his birthday. This means that if there was any extra food to be had, it was with dessert as I made a birthday cake and pie. However, dessert NEVER goes to waste in our house (especially not yummy applie pie).   The only other place where there could have been waste was the fact that two turkeys were made. I don't eat turkey, so I had no part in this.   The good thing is that almost all the turkey was sent home with others who would eat it, so no waste there.

I was also super excited when making the fruit pies and peeling the potatoes and making the stuffing that all the normal "waste" would be composted this year.

All-in-all, I would say this year was very successful with have zero to little food waste. Other waste, well, wait for another post on that one. It's interesting having house guests who aren't as eco-conscious as you.

Things NOT to say to somebody dealing with infertility

2011-11-25T08:33:00.000-06:00

People deal with infertility in different ways, some people talk about it and don’t really mind telling people. Other people don’t tell people and prefer to keep it private. I’m of the type that preferred to keep it private. For me it was easier to deal with people asking me when we were going to try for kids than to get the pity looks and be asked how things were going. In fact, Husband and I told very few people we were even trying. I knew before we even started that it would be a long process and I had issues. The less people who knew the better.

So the following are things that people said to me during the time I was struggling with infertility. The people who said these things all knew I had fertility issues and was working closely with first my regular OB and then a specialist after a year.

1)Hold this baby, maybe it’ll rub off on you
Yes..because babies have some kind of magic fairy dust that only works on those females who are trying to get pregnant

2) Hurry up and get pregnant
I rather enjoy being depressed that my body doesn’t work correctly and I can’t get pregnant, I’ve been delaying this on purpose. Now that I know you want me to be pregnant though, I’ll get right on that.

3) Try harder
Right, I’m sorry, let me put in 110% effort instead of the 100% effort I’ve been doing. That’s all it is, I’m just not TRYING hard enough.

4) You workout too much and/or you need to stop running
Working out and running have nothing to do with infertility issues. I didn’t do anything extreme to cause issues with my body. Working out is actually a good thing for those wanting to get pregnant.

5) You need to gain weight
I work out, I eat healthy about 90% of the time. I’ve always been skinny. These people know that. I’m actually in a lot better shape than the people who told me this.

6) I know what you’re going through
This is the worst one. Not when it comes from somebody who really does understand, but when it comes from somebody who has no clue. I had somebody who already had one kid (no problems getting pregnant), and it took them roughly 5 months (which is average) to get pregnant with their 2nd kid, tell me that they knew what I was going through and I could talk to them about it if I wanted to. This is after I had been trying for a year, had gone through an OP surgery, and was on fertility drugs. No..they have no clue what it’s like to have infertility issues.

I’m sure there’s more, but I can’t think of any right now. Have you dealt with infertility? If so were there things people told you that really bothered you and you wished they hadn’t said anything?

Change the World Wednesday - eco-friendly holidays

2011-11-22T08:09:00.001-06:00

WEEK-LONG CHALLENGE: At this time of year, many people are planning holiday dinners, family get-togethers, etc. Typically, decorations play into these events. So this week, we'd like your tips & ideas for decorating in a "green" way. And, of course, we'd like you to choose Eco-friendly decorations for your event.

Or ...

If you are not planning to decorate for a special occasion this year, we'd like to know how you generally adorn your living space. For example, do you purchase recycled items (wall hangings, knickknacks, etc.). Is your furniture made of Eco-friendly materials? Again, we'd love your tips & ideas for creating a comfortable, "green" living space ... and if you're thinking of adding anything new to your home, please choose an Eco-friendly item.

And don't forget, we're still working on a month-long challenge ...

MONTH-LONG CHALLENGE: This month make note of the electricity (Kilowatts) used in your home (find this number on your electric bill, by reading the meter, by using a home electricity monitor, etc.). Then, spend one month reducing that number by 10%. In December we'll come back and report on our success including the actions we've taken to reduce our usage.

We're pretty much minimalists in our house. We don't have a lot sitting out and don't do a lot of decorating for the holidays. In fact, while we have the Thanksgiving meal at our house for my in-laws, we won't decorate at all. I think cooking and baking everything from scratch is enough. There have been times in the past that my MIL will bring decorative paper plates for us to use, I usually just stuck those in a drawer and use the normal dishes anyway. I know she's trying to be helpful by doing this, thinking it's less clean-up for me. However, I would rather use real dishes and put everything in the dishwasher.

The only holiday that Husband and I decorate for is Christmas. We don't buy new things each ear, we just use things we already own and have been given to us. I know there's a big debate on fake tree's vs real tree's and which is more eco friendly. We personally have a fake tree that we've had for 7 or 8 years now. We didn't do it because we thought it was eco-friendly but rather I'm extremely allergic to the real thing. But hey..at least I don't plan to buy another one anytime soon.

As far as normal, every-day decorating. Again, we are pretty much minimalists. We haven't bought a lot to decorate our house. The photo's on the wall are almost all from trips we have taken in the past. Husband recently built some shelves we hung in the kitchen and he put pictures of the nephews and family up there. I plan to put pictures of the kitchen before the makeover as well. Anything that sits around was mostly given to us or we've had for awhile. I personally don't want a lot sitting around because it's just more for me to clean. Besides, having a big dog means her tale could knock things over. I also have 6 nephews 5 years and under, so we don't need anything out they could mess with.

I also had an update on the month long challenge. Husband and I FINALLY bought a new window treatment for the master bathroom. We've been using the pink blinds the previous owners left since we moved in 4 years ago. We re-did the master bathroom earlier this year and have been wanting to replace the blinds but they worked and we were lazy (ok and cheap). We finally bought on that can be lifted up from the bottom or pulled down from the top. The reason we wanted one we can pull down from the top is because this is a huge window that is directly across from the shower. We couldn't lift up the bottom for light because then people can see in. I was more worried about this than Husband was, go figure. Husband actually replaced the blind while I was on my long run over the weekend. When I got home and took my shower it was sunny enough outside that I could pull down the top a couple feet and let in enough light that I didn't need to use any lights in the bathroom while showering and getting ready. I love this! Unfortunately right now it's too dark in the morning and at night when I'm mostly in there to take advantage of this, but in the summer I look forward to using a lot more natural light in that room.

Winterize your Home - Change the World Wednesday

2011-11-14T18:28:00.001-06:00

This week's CTTW has us looking at our houses and how we can be more eco-friendly for the weekend.

WEEK-LONG CHALLENGE: This week, prepare your home for winter. Do at least one thing which will ensure that your winter is Eco-friendly. Need some ideas? Click HERE. If you are moving into spring/summer, prepare your home for the warm months ... you'll find some ideas HERE.

Or ...

If you've already prepared your home for the cold (or warm) months ahead, we'd like to know what you've done. Please include tips, ideas and any do-it-yourself advice.

I can't say that we have deliberately set out to winterize our home however we have done several things that are on the list. One thing I can say we definitely do is keep the thermostat pretty low. I'm pretty much always cold in our house. haha! I learned early on just to layer up and keep blankets on the couch.

One thing the husband does this time of year, and I have no idea if it helps or not so would like your opinion on it, is that if he uses the oven he will leave the door open after he turns it off. I suppose he feels this helps to heat the kitchen/house a bit? I have no idea if this makes a difference or not, but I don't say anything. I figure that since the oven is off, it can't hurt.

I think I feel we do need to do is clean behind the fridge. I know I haven't done that in a year, which means it hasn't been done.

Ok, so not a lot to share with this one this time around. I'll do better next time. :)

I haven't mentioned the month long challenge yet, which is to reduce energy use by 10%. You know, we actually do really well with our electricity. So I've been trying to think of ways to reduce our usage. I haven't come up with anything yet. Unfortunately, I think it might actually be a bit higher. Due to my insomnia I will often get up once I've awaken and head into the family room to watch tv. Sometimes I actually watch tv and sometimes I just turn it on for the noise and try to sleep. While I feel this is a waste, especially on those days that I turn it on and then immediately turn my back to it and try to sleep, I also feel that if I can get even an hour more of sleep it's worth it.

Every day should be Veterans Day

2011-11-11T04:57:00.000-06:00

I'm glad the US sets aside at least one day to honor our veterans. I feel this should be done every day, and I know a lot do, but I'm still happy we have one dedicated day. A lot of countries don't.

My paternal Grandfather and my paternal Grandmother's brother (whom we called Uncle) both enlisted the day after Pearl Harbor. According to them it was the right thing to do. I think we can all agree that it was actions like this that have many calling them the "greatest generation".

My Grandmother's Brother,
my Grandmother, and
my Grandfather
Nov. 26, 1944

My Grandfather joined the Navy and served on the USS Perry until it was sunk due to a mine explosion (luckily my Grandfather was not on board when this happened). My Uncle joined the Air Force and ended up making a career of it.

While both men had different reactions to fighting in the war and were effected differently, both deserved to be honored for their willingness to give up their lives to fight for our country, to fight for what they believed in.

While my Uncle is no longer with us and I am unable to thank him for his service, I do make it a point to thank my Grandfather on Veterans Day every year.

My Uncle was buried at a local veterans cemetary, Jefferson Barracks. This was the first, and possibly the only, military funeral I'll attend (My Grandfather does not want a military burial). While I know how this sounds, I'm just going to say it. I hope everyone has the opportunity to experience a military burial at some time. There is just something about it that really touched me and made me proud to have a family member who served.

I also take time on this day to contact a good friend and let her know I'm thinking of her and her family. Her son was killed in action 2 years ago. He was still a teenager. It always makes my heart heavy because he died so young and had so much yet to experience in life. Yet I thank him and I appreciate his willingness to serve our country in a war that many don't understand or feel the need for.

Today is for these gentlemen. Those who were brave and loved their country enough to risk losing their life so we could remain safe and free.

I am not a vampire

2011-11-07T08:42:00.000-06:00

It's been months (except for 1 day due to drugs) since I've slept through the night. I was beginning to think I had been bitten and turned into a vampire, except that I'm still able to function in daylight. I checked to see if I had become sparkly without knowing it or was somehow wearing new jewelry that would allow me to live in daylight, but both are false. I'm pretty sure I'm not a vampire. So that leaves me back to questioning why I'm not sleeping.

When I say it's been months, I do mean months. I started having trouble sleeping in July. This is different from my normal sleep issues, which consisted of constantly waking up but going back to sleep and then waking up for good anytime after 4am. Now I'm waking up anytime from 10:30 pm -12:30am. This means I'm getting 2-4 hours per night. I'm not falling back asleep. For a couple of months I functioned pretty well like this, those days are over. It's showing at work. I have a bad temper anyway, now I'm having trouble controling it.

I did talk to a dr. recently and was given a prescription to Ambien. The first night I took it, I slept 8 hours. It was awesome. Since then, I've only managed to get 4 hours of sleep using the pill. Last night I thought I was smart, I went to bed when I was tired and didn't take the pill. When I woke up at 10:30, after 2 hours, I took the pill. I slept another 4 hours. I felt rested. While I'm not supposed to take the pill every night, perhaps if I remember this I can at least gett a decent nights sleep every other night.

If I notice a couple of sharp teeth and that my skin starts to burn in the daylight, I'll let you know. The vampire conversion process is finally coming to an end. Until then, I guess I'll just deal with the insomnia as best I can. Perhaps I'll go online and try to make some vampire friends so we can chat at night.

Why didn’t I buy them sooner?

2011-10-31T01:30:00.000-05:00

I’ve been interested in arm warmers for awhile, but just never took the plunge to actually purchase a pair. Luckily for me I was given a pair for my birthday and recently had a chance to wear them for the first time.

Shoot..if Kara Goucher can wear them, so
can I. It doesn't matter that she's
superwoman and I'm just your average
run of the mill runner.

If you aren’t a runner, and maybe even if you are, you might be asking yourself “Why would you/I want arm warmers? Couldn’t you/I just wear long sleeves?” The answer is yes….and no. Sure when it gets cold enough everyone has to switch to long sleeves when running outside. However sometimes it’s a toss-up. Will I be too warm in long sleeves? But will I freeze in short sleeves? What if I’m doing a long run and I’m going to be out there for an hour or longer and the temps start out in the low 50’s but reach close to 60 before I’m expected to be done? As you can see, once you start running outside there’s a lot of thought put into what to wear (at least for me there is).

Arm warmers are great because if the temperature is a bit cool but you feel you might be too warm in long sleeves, just put on a short sleeve shirt or a tank top and slap on the arm warmers. The arm warmers cover the majority of your arm. They are light-weight, moisture-wicking, and warm. If the temperature warms up and/or you are running in direct sunlight and feel a bit warm, just roll them down. Easy! If you wore long sleeves and got warm it’s a pain to have to roll the sleeves up and get them to stay up. If you are even able to roll them up. I have some long sleeved tech shirts that are form fighting and I can’t roll those suckers up. Plus, if you do roll up your sleeves you risk stretching them out. Nobody wants that.

So yes, after one use of my arm warmers I’m a convert. I love them! I work them with short sleeves and it was perfect. Running in direct sunlight I could tell I was getting a bit warm but not overly so. However soon I was back in the woods and surrounded my trees and the temperature dropped and I was comfortable again.

I personally have a pair of Nike Dri-Fit arm warmers, at $20 they aren’t that expensive. I must also say that I was worried they wouldn’t stay up. I have very skinny arms. Yes, I do strength train and while my upper arm muscles are somewhat impressive (for me) they are still a bit pathetic and small. I’m happy to report that I had no problems with the arm warmers staying up for the entire run, which was almost 9 miles and took about 1 hr and 23 min. I would say that’s a pretty good test if they work or not. Oh..and for me. These were perfect for when the temperate was in the low 50’s. I wore capri’s, the arm warmers, and a short sleeved shirt and was comfortable (once I started running and until I stopped..at which point I froze).

Guilty Pleasures - Pumped Up Kicks

2011-10-28T01:00:00.000-05:00

For some reason I’ve recently become addicted to the song Pumped up Kicks by Foster the People.
Yes, I consider this a guilty pleasure. This song is very much out of the ordinary for me. I’m the type of person who listens a lot of angsty music, think Rage Against the Machine and Boy Sets Fire. I love the harder stuff. So for me to be addicted to a song like this, and admit it, that’s big.

Enjoy this confession, and enjoy the song.

oh, and if you happen to listen to the lyrics. You will notice that while the song has a very catchy tune, the song iteslf is dark. Pherhaps that is why I like it so much.

Change the World Wednesday – Eco-Friendly gift giving

2011-10-26T13:00:00.006-05:00

It’s Wednesday, so that means it’s time for CTWW and this week the question to ponder is:

This week, please share ideas on Eco-friendly gift giving. We're looking for anything which helps us choose "green" gifts that will please the receiver. Feel free to offer links, do-it-yourself projects, etc. ... the more creative the better.

I agree that we do give “stuff” for presents. However I also feel that Husband and I are pretty good at picking out gifts for people and buying things that we know they want and/or need. That being said…I do tend to do some eco-friendly things.

The last several years I have made a calendar for my Mom and Grandparents. Each month is basically a picture of something that happened in that same month the year before, so imagine it’s basically a scrapbook but is a calendar instead. They love this! Now they don’t buy their own calendar, which they would end up throwing away at the end of the year anyway. Last year I took this a step further and along with the calendar gave them each an empty scrapbook. This way when the year is over they can but the pages off of the spine and put them in the scrapbook and have them to look at as they wish. Sure, buying a scrapbook wasn’t the most eco-friendly thing I could buy but it’s a great place for the used calendar photo’s and they don’t end up in the trash (not that I think they would throw away pictures of their kids/grandkids/great-grandkids anyway).

My sisters and I also try to give my Grandparents a giftcard to restaurants, we know they don’t need “stuff” and this way they can enjoy a meal out on us. Usually we pick up a gift card for a restaurant close to their house we know they enjoy. Often times it’s a locally owned restaurant and not a chain as well, I like that better.

As far as other gifts..I like to shop Etsy as often as I can. Sometimes I’ll pick out things for myself to tell somebody to get me and often times I find something I know somebody else will enjoy. I love buying handmade items and giving them as gifts as well.

I can’t wait to see what others have done in the past to make gift-giving eco-friendly , hoping to “steal” some idea’s.

Almost as exciting as my half

2011-10-22T01:00:00.000-05:00

I ran my second half marathon on October 2nd, almost 3 weeks ago. It was a fantastic experience and one I don’t think I’ll forget any time soon. I went in hoping to redeem myself and do a heck of a lot better than I did with my first half, which was this past April.   I’m happy to report that not only did I NOT have to walk, I hit my time goal and shaved off 20 minutes from the first half.   Shaving off 20 min in 6 months is awesome.

Within the last 6 months running has become very social for me. I love that! I joined a website called DailyMile. It’s basically a site where you post your workouts and talk about them and become friends with other runners and cyclists. I joined and didn’t know anybody and little by little had people friend me and I would friend others. I ended up meeting up with a guy I met on there for a group run one Sunday. Then while I didn’t always run with them on Sunday’s, I would head to another park to run solo trail runs, I soon realized that I liked running with others. So little by little I started running with that group more often and it soon became a weekly event.

I then met another girl on there who lives in my area and we started to run together on Wednesday’s after work. I looked forward to those runs as, while she runs at a slower pace, this never bothered me because I used the runs as recovery and it was good to take it easier and not worry about my time.

So what I’m getting at with this, is that I’ve become a social runner. While my half was almost 3 weeks ago, those I’ve been running with and others that I’ve been talking with online are all getting ready to do their half marathon or full marathon this weekend.   They signed up for the Rock N Roll – St. Louis race that’s on the 23rd. While I won’t be running it, I’m nervous and excited for all of them. For some it’s their first half marathon. For others it’s their first marathon. For other’s it might not be their first but they haven’t run one in awhile and are in much better shape so they’ll be working for a PR (personal record).

I will be attending the expo tomorrow. It’s basically a 2 day fair where race participants can pick up their race packets but there are also a lot of vendors there giving out free samples or selling products. I’m in need of a new pair of running shoes and have two picked out. My hope is that a vendor will have one of them discounted. haha! I’ll also be meeting up with a handful of runners who will be running on Sunday.   I can’t wait to hear from them after the run and read their race reports.   I’ll be on pins and needles Sunday morning until I hear from some of the runners about how well they did. For me, being a non-participant is almost as nerve-wrecking as doing the running myself.

CTWW – Environmental Impact of Pets

2011-10-20T10:32:00.002-05:00

This Week's Challenge:

This week's challenge comes from Jennifer. I think it's going to be a fun challenge! Here you go:

This week, find one way to lower the environmental impact of your pet.

OR ...

If you don't have a pet, suggest ways that we can protect wild animals.

This week’s CTWW challenge is all about making our pets more environmentally friendly. This is something I’ve thought about in the past regarding my dog, Myla. For the most part we don’t have a lot of waste with our dog.

We don’t buy her toys because she doesn’t play with them a lot. We do have a lot for her, because she doesn’t ruin them. So when she wants to play she just selects one of her favorites and is happy (usually it’s a duck..she’s odd). So in the toy department we don’t buy and we don’t throw any in the trash either.

The bag her food comes in is probably one of the worst ways she is not environmentally friendly. I don’t really see a way around this either. She is using Newman’s Own Organic adult dog food. I feel better about her on that than a lot of other brands. Especially since she has stomach problems and seems to do ok with this stuff. Since Myla is a large dog, 100lbs, we buy big bags of dog food and I just don’t see a way around those bags. I have been known to use the bags for trash in the past, so at least they did get a 2nd use out of them.

The dog treats we’ve used in the past has come in cardboard containers, so at least those are recyclable. However, once the current treats are gone I plan to make her treats instead of buying them. If it doesn’t work, I’ll go back to buying some, but I hope I’m able to find a good recipe and get the hang of it so they can be made from scratch. I feel this would not only be healthier for her but also reduce waste. The exception would be when I buy her special treats from Three Dog Bakery. They have an apple oatmeal treat that she goes crazy for so I buy them once in awhile.

The main area where we are not environmentally friendly is when it comes to cleaning up her waste. If it’s in the yard, I use a paper bag. I feel this way it at least has a chance of breaking down in the landfill. However when we take her for a walk we end up using plastic bags, and not biodegradable ones. I would love to use biodegradable ones, and I need to just bite the bullet and buy some. Here’s the thing, while we rarely bring in plastic bags from stores, we do end up with some from other people. So I use those. I also use sandwich bread bags and the plastic bags newspapers are delivered in. So I feel like at least those are getting a 2nd use. I suppose I could just recycle those at the grocery stores instead though.

Eco-Friendly Birthday

2011-10-17T14:16:00.000-05:00

I’m not talking eco-friendly as far as wrapping paper, etc, I’m talking gifts. Although, to be honest, only one gift was wrapped and I recycled the paper. Not everyone would be pumped to get a composter for their birthday, but this girl was! Yes, I got a composter. It is actually a gift from my in-laws, but the idea came from my husband. He told them I would like it and his Mom didn’t believe him. So for those of you
who wouldn’t enjoy the composter put yourself at ease because I did get a couple of other things (arm warmers and a gift card to a local running store. Heaven).

I’ve been wanting to start composting for awhile but the issue was a composter. The ones I was looking at were around $100 or more and I knew my husband wouldn’t go for that. He’s only eco-friendly because I force the issue in the house. I played around with the idea of using a bucket to make one, but never really went further with that.

Therefore getting a composter for my birthday was an awesome gift. I got the composter on Saturday and the first thing I did on Sunday after I arrived home from my long run is get Husband to help me put it together (it wasn’t hard). We then had yard work to do so I already put it to use. I then baked a cake and bread in the afternoon and was able to put even more stuff in it.

The composter I have is the tumbling composter from Suncast. I can’t really give a review of it just yet as I’ve just started using it. Plus I really need to read up on composting again to make sure I do it right. I’m sure it will be trial and error. Plus starting in the winter
probably isn’t best, but at least it’s something.

Stay tuned for future updates where I tell you how well (fingers crossed) this adventure works for me.

CTWW - Lightbulbs

2011-10-12T18:45:00.001-05:00

It's been a long time since I updated this blog! I'm sure you all missed me (cough cough). Things have been pretty crazy for me lately but I hope this is a start to me being able to update my blog more frequently again.

This week, replace at least one incandescent bulb in your home with either a CFL or LED bulb.

OR ...

If you accomplished this challenge when we first ran it in July of 2009 (or before) ... or if you felt, at that time, that you couldn't participate ... we'd like to know how it's gone since then. Are you using Eco-friendly bulbs ... why or why not? Do you prefer CFLs or LEDs ... and why? If you're using Eco-friendly bulbs, have you noticed a decrease in your electric bill? Do you recycle bulbs ... if so, where? We'd like to know where you're at now in regards to light bulbs.

UP THE ANTE (On the Halloween challenge): Argentum Vulgaris challenges us further. Here it is: Don’t buy anything that is used only once for Hallowe’en! Make, or use what you have. Who's going to take him up on this one??

I didn't participate in this challenge before, wasn't doing the CTWW posts back then. I struggle with doing it now. As light bulbs burn out we do replace them with a more eco-friendly option. However, I won't replace a lightbulb that is currently already working.

So here's why I won't participate in this challenge this week (unless a lightbulb burns out). I realize that replacing a lightbulb with a more eco-friendly option will save me money as far as electricity goes. I can't get past the idea of replacing a lightbulb that isn't currently broken. It's working, why replace it? To me this seems like a waste. Why would I throw away or get rid of something that works?

Maybe you all know something I don't know, maybe there is a really good reason why I should replace existing working bulbs with new ones. Till you change my mind, I'll leave things as they are.

CTWW - Could you shower in 5 min?

2011-07-21T12:52:00.001-05:00

This Week's Challenge:

We're going to revisit our original challenge which is designed to save water. If you've been with us from the beginning and have already accomplished this challenge, feel free to "up the ante" on the rest of us. Here you go:

This week take only showers and limit them to no more than 5 minutes each.

Or ...

If this is something you already do, please share other water saving ideas with us.

UP THE ANTE: Argentum Vulgaris challenges us to take a 3-minute shower and further save water by peeing in the shower. Oh My Goodness!!

"CALL" THE ANTE AND RAISE IT ONE: Brian challenges us as follows: "When you take a shower do so with the coldest water you can stand. This will save you money because your water heater will not run as much plus it is better for the environment because...well, your water heater will not run as much." WhooHoo ... it is ON!

oh boy. I do not do well with this one. I'm a girl..I workout. I have 2 legs. I have 2 legs that need to be shaved almost every day because I'll be out and about in shorts. How do you girls do it? I've tried shaving by sitting on the side of the tub but then I just get cold and that doesn't work well for shaving.

I will admit that if I don't have to wash my hair or shave, I can be in and out of the shower in 5 min. I can't handle it when I have to shave and/or wash my hair.

What's worse is that there are several days a week when I take two showers since I take one in the morning before work and then again at night after I've done a workout. The good thing is that the 2nd shower is usually around 5 min.

This week, I'll make the effort to wash my hair faster..shave faster (without cutting myself of course) and possibly taking those 2nd showers even faster. Wish me luck.

oh..and interested on your thoughts on that first Up the Ante. Is it gross to pee in the shower? Or is it not so bad? Interested to see what the majority of us American's think.

CTWW - no plastic?

2011-07-18T12:59:00.000-05:00

I'm a "tad" late in getting out my Change the World Wednesday post for last Wednesday. Here's the challenge as it was given to us last week:

This Week's Challenge:

So ... are you ready for another challenge? How about a tough challenge ... a real tough challenge ... one that will definitely "test your metal"? Are you up for it? I know that you are. Here it is:

This week refuse to buy anything which is, or which comes in, plastic. Instead, opt for Eco-friendly items and packaging ... or do without.

UP THE ANTE: Jessica is upping the ante and challenges us to make our own reusable, bulk product bags. You can see her efforts HERE. Whose going to take her up on her challenge?? Thanks, Jessica!

I didn't actually read the challenge last week. However, I did go grocery shopping on Thursday and admit that I 1)brought my own bags to the grocery store and 2) that includes re-usable bags for produce. I believe a couple things might have come in plastic (cheese and milk and bread) but most of what I bought was not in plastic. I' going to keep this challenge in mind though for when I head to the store this week when I shop for the pool party we are having Saturday. I'm interested to see how well I can do.

Carpenter for hire

2011-07-01T04:35:00.001-05:00

Earlier this summer Husband and I started working on the landscaping in the backyard by the pool. We started in April and continued to work on it through May and most of June. I meant to do a post on this too, in fact I thought I did until I went looking for it. Expect that one soon!

With the landscaping now looking nice we have a nice spot for some furniture. Currently we have a table and 4 chairs that were left by the previous owners. It's not the best, but it was free so we kept it. We started talking about getting a canopy and some sofa's for by the pool. We also talked about need some lounge chairs since the ones given to us when we first moved in are both broken. I guess that's what you get when it's not a good brand, it breaks after 3 years. After pricing out a lot of this, we thought we should wait.

Until, I saw directions for a lounge chair on the Ana-White website. I'm a long time follower of this lady. She draws up plans to build tables and beds and bookcases, etc. They seem to be pretty easy to follow, a lot of people comment that they have never built anything but were able to X item thanks to her. I emailed Husband the info for the lounge chair and suggested we try to build it. Oddly, he agreed. Let me remind you that this is a guy who never even used a drill or mowed the lawn before we got married. Sure, we've done a ton of home renovations, but to actually build something? Could we do it? Could he do it?

We decided to start with a workbench. I found plans on the same website and figured this would be a good way to get our feet wet and if we are going to build other things we would need one. It should be much easier to build a workbench than a lounge. Husband built the workbench, by himself, on weekend morning. I don't know how long it took him but it was only a couple of hours. I don't remember why I didn't help him, other than that I think he started it on Sunday morning while I was running and finished it not long after I got back. I didn't even realize he was working on it till he found me to tell me he finished it.

I could have sworn I took photo's of it right after he finished it, but I can't find them. Instead you get this one..which was taken last weekend after he made the chairs and, as you can see, already started to use it.

We set out to buy the furniture for the lounge and this time I didn't even pretend I was going to help build it. I just helped carry the supplies to the basement and left him alone. He finished it this past Saturday. We then went out on Sunday and bought the materials for a second one, and he finished it within 1.5 hours. I'm amazed and proud of him. Before you see the pictures, please excuse the mess and that they kinda suck. The lounges are currently in the unfinished area still since we still need to seal them before putting them outside. The mess on the floor..the previous owners let their kids do that and we haven't bothered repainting the floor. Psst..don't forget you can click on the photo for a bigger image.

I can't wait to get these sealed and to get some cushions for them. They will look so nice outside!

And don't worry, now that I know Husband can build things, I've already given him plans for a craft table. He looked at them and said "oh, this will be easy." I can't wait! I also caught him measuring the dining room, and then the kitchen table the other day. when I asked what he was doing he said "Seeing how big a dining room table I could make." (yes..there is no furniture in our dining room).

As far as cost, was it really worth it? I did a quick search online and wooden outdoor lounge chairs can be found for as low as $185. The first trip for supplies to build a lounge chair we spent $170. We also bought a couple of tools that were not exactly required but would make the job easier. The trip for the second chair we spent $59.09. I would say it was definitely worth it. Sure, the chairs might not be fancy smancy but they look nice and we like them. Plus, Husband is incredibly proud that he actually did this on his own.

Change the World Wednesday - proudest green achievement

2011-06-30T14:32:00.000-05:00

This week's Change the World Wednesday with Reduce Footprints is:

This week we'd like to hear about your proudest "green" achievement. Perhaps you started a compost for the first time or purchased organic food. Maybe you stopped driving a car or added solar panels to your home. It could be as small as carrying a reusable bag or as large as building an energy efficient home. Whatever your proudest Eco-friendly achievement is ... we want to know about it. Please leave details and tips/ideas so that we can all celebrate with you and perhaps try the activity ourselves.

I would have to say that my proudest green achievement is getting my Grandparents to recycle. Sure, they still don't do it 100% of the time, but they do it more than they used to. My Grandma will sometimes also save things and wait for me to show up and them she'll be like "Ah-ha! Look at what I'm going to recycle!". I don't want to say it's a game, but it kind of is. Whenever I'm at their house if I notice something in the trash that can be recycled, I take it out and give my Grandma "trouble", and if she saves something while I'm over she makes sure that I see it. I mostly just like that they now think about it and make an effort to recycle.

Also, I have to mention my vegetable garden. It's not doing too great, but I'm trying. I haven't had a vegetable garden since I was young and my Mom would grow tomatoes and I would sometimes water them. So I guess that doesn't really count as me having one when I was young. This year I have 4 tomato plants, two strawberry plants, and 1 pepper plant. I attempted lettuce, that didn't work out well. Then I lost the rest of the seeds so I haven't tried it again. I feel good that I'm even attempting a vegetable garden, no matter how small it is. We all have to start somewhere don't we? (It goes without saying that I used all organic soil too.)

I would mention my blackberry bush, but I've already done a post on that. I have to admit that I look at it every day though and I can't wait for the blackberries to be ready for picking. They are all reddish/pinkish and I'm enjoying watching the colors change as the fruit ripens.

Catalog Choice - I'm loving it

2011-06-24T04:15:00.000-05:00

Several weeks ago the Change the World Wednesday challenge was on paper usage. One of the things mentioned was to sign up with catalog choice and start elimination unwanted catalogs in the mail.

Knowing that it would be pretty easy to do this via Catalog Choice I've been making the effort to do so. So far I only have two catalogs that I've requested to stop being sent to my house via this website. Two isn't much, but it's better than non. It's also the only two that we've received. haha! You need info from the catalog so I can't go in and request ones that I know we sometimes get until after I've received them.

I like that my account shows how much I'm saving by doing this though. I've saved 1 fully grown tree, 30lbs of greenhouse gas, 71lbs of solid waste, and 11 gallons of water. Not to bad, so far.

I haven't just stopped at Catalog Choice though. I took it a step further. We receive an alumni magazine for the college where Husband got his MBA. He doesn't read it. He doesn't even look at it. When I do the bills on the weekend I put it right in the recycle bin. Well, we received it on Monday and on Tuesday I went online and couldn't find a spot to elect not to receive. So I called the number and requested they stop. They said they would remove his name from the list, but we'll see. Considering how common his name is and they didn't get my address, I'm not so sure this will really happen. I figure I'll give it till the end of the year (I know most places create lists well in advance) and if we are still receiving them I'll try it again.

I also contacted a company that constantly (as in once a week) sends us mail begging for cash/donations. This is a charity that we both agree is worth supporting and we do donate money, but we do it online. So I went to their website and filled out a contact form asking them to remove us from their list since we donate online and don't want the waste of receiving the mailings. I received a personal reply within 24 hours saying they would remove us from the mailing list.

I'm feeling pretty good about this! I know it can be time consuming doing all this, but if I remember to save the mail as it comes and do it when I have time, little by little I'll be able to get the junk mail to a minimum.

Change the World Wednesday - Take Action

2011-06-22T16:04:00.000-05:00

http://reducefootprints.blogspot.com/2011/06/change-world-wednesday-ctww_22.html

This week, become an activist. Please take some kind of action (letter writing, phone calls, petitions, etc.) designed to encourage a business, community, government, etc. to make a positive change. Need some ideas? Here you go:

Browse the Care2 Take Action site, HERE, and sign a petition or in some way get involved.
Write an email/letter to a local restaurant that uses Styrofoam containers for take-away food and politely ask them to consider an Eco-friendly alternative.
Visit Oceana HERE and take action to protect our oceans.
Contact your community (apartment managers, homeowner's association, etc.) and suggest "green" improvements to your area.
Choose from one of these 10 Actions to save the whales.
If you attend a festival, look for ways that the function could be greener and then write to the organizers with suggestions.
Contact your child's school with ideas on how the school can be greener.
Find out what you can do to help end nuclear threats HERE (thanks, Mrs. Green)
Check out the opportunities to take action from the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council)HERE. (Thanks to EcoGrrl for reminding me about this one).

The idea, here, is to take action and make your voice heard on behalf of the environment and all of it's inhabitants. And, of course, we want to hear about it so please share your experience, links, etc.

Or ...

If you are already taking action, we'd like tips on how to make it successful and we'd like to hear about your lessons learned.

I took the easy way out and I looked around on the Care2 Take Action website. Several of the other options don't really apply to me, and the ones that did (such as writing an email or letter) just didn't appeal to me. I have a feeling, though, that now that the idea is in my head the next time I notice a restaurant use a non-recyclable container for food I'll probably send an email.

In the past, I have written such an email though. I had a giftcode for an online merchant and ordered some bamboo towels. The towels came in plastic wrap. I emailed the company the same day the item arrived and expressed my concern that their eco-friendly item was being packaged in a non-eco friendly way. I'm happy to report that I heard back from them within a couple of days. The response didn't sound like a standard response either, they thanked me for making the suggestion and said they would look in to it. Will they? Who knows, but it did get at least one person thinking.

Back to the Care2 Take Action website. I first clicked on health to see what I could find and wouldn't you know it, there was a petition for a matter in my home state. It was a matter I feel very strongly about so after reading a bit more about it I went ahead and signed the petition. I'm not going to say which one it was because it's of such a subject that people are either for or against and it's not something I publicly talk about because it can really cause some disagreements.

I also checked out the corporate responsibility section and after reading several that caught my interest I signed those too.

One of the other areas that don't really apply to me is contacting your community, in my case a home owners association, and suggest green changes. Ok, I suppose it could apply to me but I wouldn't know where to begin, as in I don't know what to suggest. However I bring this up because my husband and I have been going around and around with our home owners association for a couple months now regarding solar panels. We want them. They would have to be on the South side of our roof and for us that's the side facing the street. I contacted the association to try and get this approved. One lady is for it and doesn't see it being an issue. One of the guys works in government and he's been really hard to get in touch with. He thinks it's a good idea but is more worried about how it would look and how it would effect the neighborhood in that regard. When they came to the house several weeks ago to discuss it, again, I said that I felt this is the way things were going and soon others would want it as well. I said that I felt this would be a good selling point if we were to move. I also said I think people would notice it as first but then it would just seem "normal".

So far..I haven't heard back from them. I give them the rest of the week and then they get another pestering email from me. Fingers crossed they will approve it and we can move forward actually getting an official bid. The company we are working with don't want to move forward with drawing up a proposal, it's labor intensive, until we know for sure we could do it.

Change the World Wednesday - Take out versus homemade

2011-06-16T15:47:00.001-05:00

There are actually two "up the ante" challenges this week..let's see how well I can do.

This week, make your coffee or tea at home. Getting coffee/tea out every day not only costs a lot but also generates a lot of waste. Make it at home instead. And don't forget ... both coffee grounds and tea leaves are great in the compost bin.

Or ...

If you don't drink these beverages or always drink them at home, choose one other food or beverage, which you typically buy at either a restaurant or grocery store, and make it yourself at home. And, of course, we'd like to hear all about it!

Or, if you're a Superstar, accept the "Up The Ante" challenge ...

Our bloggy friend, What A Card, is upping the ante on this challenge. She says, "Use the money you save by not going out for coffee/tea for some environmentally-friendly purpose. I use the money I saved so we could afford to switch to organic milk." Great challenge, WAC!

Or, wanna reach Super-Superstar status? Accept a second "Up The Ante" challenge ...

Whoops - this idea actually came from @CoffeeContessa... not Jessica (thanks, Jessica for pointing that out). So, here's what @CoffeeContessa says "I'll up the ante and only brew organic certified!" Okay ... who's gonna take on this challenge?

I honestly feel like Husband and I are the only ones who don't drink coffee or tea. That makes the first part of this challenge and the second "up the ante" challenge a piece of cake. Don't buy coffee or tea on the run? Done! Only brew certified organic..sure..I won't buy the non-organic stuff!

So I suppose I'll take on the 2nd challenge and the second "up the ante" challenge. What do I normally buy that I could make at home? And what could I do with the money saved by doing so? Well, this is actually something I'm trying to do. I've already switched to making my own croutons instead of buying croutons. We make our own spaghetti sauce, chili, and dinner rolls (yes..you can make these ahead of time and freeze them, then only heat up what you want for dinner that night).

Here's what I'm going to do. I already make one of my salad dressings from scratch. However there is one other one that I love and buy. It's called Garlic Expressions. I love garlic so of course the first time I noticed this one I had to try it. I've been in love with it ever since. I don't feel bad buying it because the list of ingredients is short and basic. However, at almost $4 a bottle, I feel it's expensive. So..I'm going to take on this challenge by attempting to make this myself. I'm off to search for a similar recipe online and I'll probably buy ingredients tonight since I'm doing the grocery shopping on my way home from work.

Another thing, since the goal was to reduce your drink waste, that I want to mention is sports drinks. I workout a lot yet I refuse to by individual sports drinks because of the waste. Instead, I have found several brands that offer tabs. You're familiar with Airborne and how it comes in a tab that you dissolve in water? Same concept. It's a tab that you just add to your own bottle with your own water. I personally like GU better than the Nuun. I tried lemon-lime GU and Orange Nuun. The Nuun tasted like Airborne, yuck. I'm going to give Nuun another try though, just a different flavor. I believe there were 12 tablets in the Nuun and only 10 in the GU container. Sure, I'm still buying something that has to be thrown away or recycled (although I know the Nuun container did not have a recycle sign on it) but instead of buying 10-12 containers I'm buying one.

As for the second challenge, I suppose I already do this to a point. I've slowly been changing our food choices to organic. I'm not 100% there but I'm getting there. It's a slow process since it's more expensive. I feel like I need to do a little at a time and get used to the increase in cost, then work on cooking more from scratch, then buy more organic etc. For me the two go hand in hand.

Oh..and I did search for a recipe and here's the one I plan to try:
1/4 cup pure apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil or other cold pressed oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
one or more cloves of garlic, crushed, chopped or sliced

What I'm going to do is take this recipe to the store with me, but also look at the ingredient list of the dressing I like. I might end up modifying ingredients based on that. I'll be sure to do an update post.

Get Fit Monday - a workout week in review

2011-06-13T07:42:00.001-05:00

It's been awhile since I updated you on my weekly activities. I've been making some changes to my routine, adding in a bit more cross-training and a few extra workouts. I switched up my routine again this past week and I think it worked out really well for me.

My workout week starts on Tuesday. Tuesday morning I get up at 4:50am in order to get to the gym for a 5:30 barbell strength class. I am loving this class. It's very hard, it hits all the major muscle groups, and it's fun. Tuesday night I've been participating in Big River Running's speedwork sessions. They are hard but I love the structure of it.

Wednesday nights I'm starting to meet up with another runner for a hot evening run. It's the worst time of the day to run but we both want to run with somebody because 1)it's fun and 2)it keeps us motivated. This past week we did just under 3 miles.

Thursdays I get up at 5:30am for a morning run, usually 4 miles. I then take a yoga class at 7:15pm. The instructor is a bit weird..it's definitely a different type of yoga than I'm used to. I like it..I think I just need to get used to it.

Friday's I get up at 4:50am for a 5:30 spin class. I'm loving the spin class! It's so hard, I really push myself, but it's so much fun. I love that it's a great workout and it's something different from running. A girl just needs to mix it up sometimes.

Saturday is my swim day. This is the workout I'm the worst at but it just takes practice right? This past week I ended up doing a total of 500 yards but I had to take a lot of rests, usually after only going one length. I only did 8 full laps of freestyle. I know I need to increase that but I'm happy that I did more laps with modified breaststroke and other swimming forms.

Sundays are my long run days. The last two weekends I've run with a group of other runners and I love it. It's just more enjoyable running with others. This week my goal was 8 miles but I decided to do two full loops of the course we run, which is 9 miles. I could have stopped at 8 but when I hit 8 I knew it wasn't much further to the cars and I felt like I could do more. I'm so happy with this! It feels good to get in that many miles. I have switched completely to a minimalist shoe now and this is the furthest I've gone in them. My calves are still sore and I doubt I could have done much more since they were really hurting that last mile, but I'm glad I stuck with it.

Monday, today, is my rest day. Ah....I love rest days. I feel it is well deserved this week.

Oh blackberries, I can't wait to eat you

2011-06-11T21:14:00.000-05:00

Last year my sister gave me 2 clippings from her blackberry bushes. I got a totally of 3 blackberries from them, but that was ok. I didn't expect to get any because I had planted them that Spring. This year the two bushes have taken off! I can't believe how many blooms I had and now how many fruits I have. I'm really looking forward to eating fresh blackberries that I know are free from chemicals (and free in general since I didn't pay for the plants nor do I spend any money on the upkeep of them). I'm looking forward to freezing those I can't eat before they go bad for future smoothies..and blackberry cobblers.

Here's what the blackberry busy looked like last weekend, look at all those white blooms (ok so some of them are about gone but still)! (if you want to see a bigger image, click on the pictures)

Here's what it looks like this weekend, barely any blooms.

But wait..instead of blooms I have fruit!

And, as you may have noticed, instead of using an arbor or something else for the vines to climb on, I'm using my fence. My plan, and seeing how much it's grown I can see this really happening, is to have it take over the fence. haha! Not only will this provide us with some privacy that we are wanting but it will provide me with lots of yummy fruit. I'm going to have to see if my sister has raspberries. It would be nice to have raspberries too. I worry about the deer eating the fruit, but we'll have to see what happens. there isn't really a way to keep them out since this fence is only around the pool and the rest of the yard isn't fenced in. Husband said he saw a chipmunk eating one but if the deer stay away and the chipmunks and rabbits only eat the fruits at the bottom, I'll consider this a success.

Change the World Wednesday - paper use

2011-06-08T20:00:00.000-05:00

I'm back with another edition of Change the World Wednesday hosted by Reduce Footprints. Here is the challenge this week:

This week, lets reduce the amount of paper we use. Please choose at least one of the following actions and accomplish it (take on all of them to be a true Eco-superstar).

Use no more than 6 squares of toilet paper per bathroom trip.

If given the option, choose not to have receipts printed out.

If you must print things out, print on both sides of the paper (try to avoid printing by saving a file electronically instead).

Visit Catalog Choice, Do Not Mail (US), Red Dot Campaign (Canada), Stop Junk Mail (UK), or a similar service to remove your name from mailers, advertisements, catalogs, junk mail, etc.

Read the newspaper online rather than buy a paper copy.

Use cloth napkins and towels rather than the paper varieties.

Opt for reusable plates rather than paper plates.

Or ...

If you're already doing the above, please come up with at least one other way to save paper and share it with us.

UP THE ANTE (a new feature)

Jessica takes on this challenge, especially the toilet paper part, and raises us one (or in this case, decreases us one) ... she's going to use only 5 squares per trip. Who's up for Jessica's challenge?

Well..I kinda do a lot of this already. I'll go through some of the stuff I do though and maybe it will be something new to you.

1)Use no more than 6 squares of toilet paper per bathroom trip or if you take on Jessica - use no more than 5. Honestly, I don't think I use much but I don't know how much. I started to try and lesson the amount used per trip earlier in the year when I thought we were going through it faster than we should. I'm going to be extra attentive to just how many squares I'm using now though and try to keep it to 5.

2) Receipts - If I'm given the option I always choose not to have a receipt printed. There are some stores that will print a receipt and ask if I want it, and I usually say no. However, I noticed they just throw it away. So I'm trying to say yes in those instances so that I can at least take it home and recycle it.

3) If printing something on the pc..print on both sides. I can't say that I select dual-sided copies a lot however if I'm finished with a piece of paper and only one side is used I'll either put it in a stack and print on the opposite side at home or at work I save it and use it for scrap paper. So eventually both sides do end up being used. I also save a lot of files as PDF's instead of printing. I do this both at work and at home. I email items instead of faxing as often as possible also. At work we have our faxes actually being saved as a pdf file and going to a shared drive. Then the files are emailed to the correct individual instead of being printed (although I have a feeling a lot of people still print them out).

4) I definitely plan to visit two of these sites to try and minimize the catalogs arriving at our house. We don't have many, but some. In fact, we have some being sent to our house in my mother-in-law's name. Not sure how that happened..but I don't like it since I'll never order from them. I actually looked up one company only and couldn't find a way to opt-out so I contacted their customer service via chat. They took our address of of the mailing list. I figure if I need to save the catalogs and do that for all when I have time, then so be it.

5) I only get the Sunday copy and that's for coupons...so...I'll still get it but it's only once per week. I then take the paper to a school or church where it can be recycled and they get money towards the school/church.

6) I keep meaning to make cloth napkins and never taking the time to do it. Recently I've just put out an extra towel and I use that instead of a napkin in the kitchen. We rarely use paper towels, I use rags to clean up any mess. We basically only use them to clean up any dog accidents in the house.

7) I always use re-usable plates. I have the paper variety because I basically got them for free. I figure this way I have them as a back-up if needed. I made sure to have enough plates for all of my immediate family though.

Ok..so since I do all of that...do I have a recommendation as to what others could do? Here's a tip I learned it from a different CTTW poster. Instead of using a new piece of paper for a list or for notes, use an envelope. A used envelope. Maybe an envelope that was mailed to you with a bill. An envelope that was going to end up in the recycle bin anyway.

That's it..I'm out of ideas. haha!

Faster than a speeding bullet...

2011-06-01T19:52:00.001-05:00

Okay, so I'm NOT faster than a speeding bullet. But I'm SO fast that I'm blurry in the above picture. Okay, so while I'm blurry it's not because I'm so fast but because it was taken with Husband's cell phone and therefore not a good camera. Yes, that's me in the pink top crossing the finish line.

This photo was taken last night at my Tuesday speedwork session. Yes..I'm taking speedwork sessions for the summer to improve my pace. As my husband would say: you're weird. Yesterday's workout was one mile timed. It's not your goal race pace, it's not your current pace. It's one mile as fast as you can do it. If you can see it in the picture above, I crossed the line at 7:13. While I'm sure that's not the fastest I've ever run a mile ( I do believe I completed a 5k race in highschool in 21 something) but it's the fastest I've ever run a mile as an adult. It felt AWESOME. Ok, so I felt horrible running because I was really pushing myself, but once I finished I felt awesome. If I did it again. I'm sure I could do it even faster, now that I've finished I feel like I could have surged sooner at the last lap.

Husband and Myla decided to go with me last night since it was only one mile. The speedwork sessions are being held at a local highschool and we pulled into the parking area and Husband says "What are all these cars doing here?" To which I responded, "uh..speedwork session." He made the comment that he didn't expect so many people. After a slight pause I said "What? You thought it would be me and 10 other people?" and I laughed because I thought I was making a joke. He said he thought there would be 20. haha!

After I did my run we watched the two faster groups do their runs. I'm not sure Husband wanted to stay but Myla was having a good time and I wanted to see how fast the other runners could go. When we got back in the car to head home, Husband got in the car, closed the door and said "You runners are weird."
Well..I have to agree, we are a special group.

Today is National Running Day. While I didn't get in a run today (spin class this morning) I at least celebrated by getting in this post. Happy running!

When running becomes eco-friendly

2011-05-28T18:52:00.000-05:00

My car needed an oil change. I always prefer to drop my car off at the place on Friday night so they can work on it first thing Saturday morning. I picked a new place that was close to my house and instead of having my husband follow me or meet me there I went home, changed into running clothes and drove to the place. I then ran home..adding in more mileage to give me a total of 4.3 miles for the run.

When my car was ready this morning I put on my running clothes and ran the 2.5 miles to the place to pick it up.

Not only did I get in two great workouts but I saved money on gas and I reduced my carbon footprint. Sounds like a win-win to me!

To make it an even better run for me, I went faster than normal this morning but didn't slow myself down since I knew I had less than 3 miles to go. I ended up with negative splits! Woohoo!

The guy that checked me out at the business also talked to me about running and said I looked like I was in great shape. I'll take complements any day of the week.

Change the World Wednesday - Garden Green

2011-05-11T12:55:00.000-05:00

This week's edition of Change the World Wednesday hosted by Reduce Footprints is focused on your garden.

This week, please share information on planting anedible garden. Tell us what you grow and share any tips you've learned. We'd like to know if you use containers, raised beds, etc. and how you grow successfully without chemicals. Tell us what has worked and what hasn't.

Or ...

If you grow food but not in an Eco-friendly way, please make at least one "green" change. For example, switch to organic fertilizers. Investigate which plants repel bugs and insects and use them instead of pesticides. Find out which plants, in your area, require the least amount of water ... or investigate ways to water efficiently. And, of course, we want to know all about it so ... write a post.

Or ...

If you don't grow food, please do so. Try a container of herbs or plant some onions. Swiss Chard and Kale are nutritious powerhouses and make a lovely addition to gardens. Even if you don't have much space, try growing one thing. And yep ... we want to hear all about your adventure as well.

I'm happy to report that this year I am making my first effort at actually growing something edible. I'm not sure how it's going to turn out, but I'm making an effort.

A couple of months ago I bought some lettuce and spinach seeds. I planted them using organic top soil and in cardboard egg cartons that I saved. I had several seeds germinate and start to grow...but think I put too many in each little hole and they got crowded. Then I was so busy I didn't get around to switching them to larger containers until this past weekend. All containers are still inside because the plants are so small I'm worried about damage with hard rain and frost. I'm worried this won't work this year but I'm happy I tried. Plus, I could still be surprised. I really hope the lettuce grows though since I eat a salad roughly 3 days a week for lunch. This would be a huge cost saver for us in the long run.

Earth day weekend Lowe's was selling tomato plants 2 for $1. I had the husband pick up 4 plants while he was at the store. I finally planted those into their own containers this past weekend too. Since these are already plants I have a better hope of these making it. These are currently outside. I like tomato's but rarely eat them. However you want to know why I want to grow them? I'm hoping I get a good enough crop that I can freeze almost all of them (whatever the husband doesn't eat) and we can use them for tomato sauce and diced tomatoes all winter long.

I also have one pepper plant that was given to us. I don't eat peppers but the husband will sometimes use them to cook with.

As mentioned..I'm using an organic soil that I bought. It's more expensive but I felt better using it since I was planning to eat the vegetables grown in the soil. I also mentioned containers. While I do live in a house with a big enough yard for a vegetable garden, I decided to use containers for now. I'm not always the best at remembering I need to water plants outside. So this is a test to see how well I do growing vegetables. If I do remember to take care of them, I'll work on creating a vegetable garden in the yard somewhere this fall.

The other reason I wanted to use containers for now is because our subdivision backs up to a state park. You know what this means, deer. We have a lot of deer. It's not uncommon to see deer hanging out in our backyard (even though we are in the middle of the subdivision and not the closest to the park). My hope is that by having the items in containers on our deck, we won't have to worry about the deer or rabbits eating the vegetables.

One plant that I know, ok, am about 85% positive will do well, this year is my blackberry bush. I planted it last year and actually got two fruits from it. This year it looks to be coming back nice and strong so I hope to get a lot more. I know it can take several years to get fruit from a newly planted bush so I don't know what to expect. However, I think because I was green when I planted this one I might get more than most 2nd year plants. How exactly was I green? Instead of buying a blackberry bush, I took 2 clippings from my sister. What's more green than that? The only carbon footprint in getting these clippings was the gas to drive them to my house and even that can't all be on my shoulder since her husband dropped them off on his way to his parents house. I didn't do anything special to the soil when I planted this one. I basically planted it next to the fence that is around our pool. I thought about using some of the organic soil I bought around it, but it's coming back so well I don't want to mess with it. I also think that because I used clippings and didn't buy the plant new, that's why I did get a couple pieces of fruit last year and why I hope to get more this year.

Get Fit Mondays - Week of May 1st

2011-05-09T02:21:00.002-05:00

I'm finally back to workout out regularly..and boy does it feel good. I went through a several week period of eating like crap and barely working out. It always feels good to get back in track. I'm still not eating 100% better, but I'm doing better than I was. My problem? Easter candy. I didn't buy any, but I had some given to me. While I'm back to working out regularly, I haven't been doing much running. I want to run, but I also wanted to start working towards a sprint triathlon so I've been doing other cross-training. I sat down a couple nights ago and created a weekly workout schedule so I can get in runs and still cross train. It won't totally go into effect until later in the month but I have my fingers crossed it will work.

So here's what I did for the week of May 1st:
Sunday - swam - roughly 10-12 lengths - I don't remember
Monday - This was a rest day although I did have a fitness assessment done at my gym so I did walk on a treadmill for 15 min. The end result of all the testing..I have the body of a 21 year old. Go me!
Tuesday - Ran 2 miles..you read that right..I only ran 2 miles
Wednesday - Spin class - loved it! Lots of intervals.
Thursday - Soccer - Technically I did sprint and run a lot so I guess it counts for running
Friday - more swimming - There was an old guy walking in the lane next to the one I was swimming in. I don't know if I should be embarrassed or impressed...because he was lapping me. lol! I did a total of 10 lengths.
I did 2 easy lengths of what I call a modified butterfly, then freestyle for 4 lengths, 2 lengths using a board and kicking, 2 lengths of combined freesyle and modified butterfly. This is nowhere close to where I need to be if I want to do a sprint triathlon. I think I've come to the realization that I won't be able to do one this year...so I need to just work on getting better at swimming and focus on running for my next half later this year.
Saturday - run! I finally got out for a run. I did two runs, roughly an hour apart. The first run was 2.7 miles and the second was 2.6 miles.

You want to know the best part? I did all of this..all those workouts, with a cold!

One change that I'm excited about is that I signed up for Big River Running's speed workouts. Big River Running is a local running store and favorite running store in STL. They put on a lot of the races that I love (such as the Castlewood Cup) Plus, another reason they are my go to store, they are locally owned. Love supporting the locals. I have decided not to play soccer anymore because I think it's causing some of the issues I've been having with my back and my IT band. I used soccer as speedwork (because I'm too lazy to do it on my own). Since no more soccer after a couple more weeks I knew I would need to do speedwork and since their program is free, it was perfect. I had to sign up, so I feel like I'm accountable. Since I signed up I know I'll make myself go even if I don't feel like it that day. I'm nervous, but I'm excited. The speed sessions Start on May 10th and are every Tuesday until August 2nd when there is a timed 5k on the track to see what our pace is and how much we've improved. My goal is to get under 25 min or an 8:06 min/mile.

Driving slow or speeding along?

2011-05-07T02:38:00.000-05:00

Back in February one of the Change the World Wednesday challenges was to reduce speed. When I wrote about it I mentioned how I normally speed to/from work because I just want to be home..I don't want to spend my time driving to/from work. Boy it really does suck to live so far away from my job!

Since then I have actively been working on not speeding and going 60-65 mph on the highway. I didn't think it was going to make much of a difference but I'm amazed that it has.

I normally would average 322 miles per tank. Yes..I'm one of those that doesn't normally get gas until the light comes on telling me I'm nearing empty. At first I didn't pay too much attention but last month I noticed I got a lot more miles than normal so I started to pay attention. I've been able to get up to 367 miles per tank of gas (although I was seriously on empty when I filled up. haha! The light came on when I was at work and I don't work in the safest of areas and decided I could make it home..which I did..barely). However normally I get at least 20 more miles per tank of gas than I used to. With the rise in gas prices, this really makes a difference. I was talking to Husband about this and the next time we were in my car (we normally take his) I showed him how I had started to keep track (lame..I know) and we figured out that I'm now averaging around 28 miles/gallon.

On another note, my husband filled up his new car, which is a hybrid recently. He said he went 3 weeks and had over 700 miles. That's awesome! I can't wait till we get his paid off because then it will be about time for me to get a new one and I want something that gets as good of mileage.

However there is one other thing I wanted to mention about not speeding. I thought I would have to start leaving earlier in the mornings in order to get to work on time, but that's not the case. I'm leaving at the same time and I'm arriving on time. I've also noticed, and to me this is the most important change, that I"m less stressed. I honestly didn't even realize that the commute was stressing me. After I had been going slower for several weeks it dawned on me that I didn't feel stressed, I didn't feel pressured. It was such a jolt to realize that I had been stressed out on my commute. I just hadn't realized it. I'm much calmer in the car. Not that I had road rage, but I would get annoyed when somebody would get in front of me and be going slower etc. I love that I'm more calm. This was an unexpected perk of reducing my speed and I'm so glad I did.

Unfortunately, while I am getting more miles per gallon with my car, due to joining a gym I'm also driving more. I hate that but live is about balances. I don't want to give up working out in order to save a couple bucks on gas. The gym is only 5 miles away, so I'm not adding on a ton of miles, but it's still significant when gas is $4.00/gallon.

Hey, I finally joined a gym, you got something to say about that?

2011-05-05T04:32:00.000-05:00

In late March I decided to start taking yoga classes. As a runner I'm putting my legs through a lot. My legs aren't always happy about this. I felt that yoga could make my legs happier and if my legs were happy my performance would improve. I searched around and found that a local rec center offered yoga classes. I didn't want to join the center because it's pretty expensive but did more digging and found that I could get a class pass for $50. This would give me 10 classes ($5 per class). Then when my 10 classes were up, all I had to do was give them another $50. I could take as many or as few classes as I wanted. This was perfect. My husband saw that spin classes were an option and suggested I try that. He has mentioned it in the past, thinking it's something I would like. So I took one. I liked it.

I had a new routine. Sunday was my long run day, Monday was a rest day with yoga, Tuesday was a run, Wednesday was strength training, Thursday was a run, Friday was spin class, Saturday was either a rest day in anticipation for a long run on Sunday or another workout that I decided that day. Repeat.

Then a couple of weeks ago at an employee meeting one lady talked to us about this Vitality program my work started using last year. I have been using the Vitality program but she introduced me to something I was unaware of. Vitality has partnered with some gyms in the areas where Vitality is available. Ok, I did know that. What I didn't know was that if you link up your gym account with Vitality you could get a subsidiary. To make it simple..they give you money towards your gym membership.

Front lobby

Hmm....now I'm interested. I quickly got on Vitalities website and started looking up the info. I found a couple of gyms in my city that were close to me. One I drive by frequently and it's fancy smancy. Every time Husband and I would drive by and he would catch me looking at it he would tell me to not even think about it. So at first I didn't look at that one. But then on a whim I decided to look at what the subsidiary would be. For the level I'm at with Vitality (you earn points for working out, doing other healthy things and this allows you to move up levels) the subsidiary for this fancy smancy gym would $50. How expensive is this freaking gym?! I went to the gym's website and couldn't find it so I contacted them. I found out it's $60 per month. That seems like a lot, but knowing I would get $50 back I knew it was affordable. I knew it was cheaper than what I was paying now for only 2 classes per week. Plus once I reach the next level with Vitality the subsidiary will be $60 per month, that covers the membership! I'm working on moving to the next level by August.

I mentioned all this to Husband and he was not on board with it. So I created an excel spreadsheet detailing the cost of the 2 classes I was doing and both gyms I was looking at. I did cost from May through December, pointing out when I would start getting the subsidiary, when I would break even, and ending with out much money I would save by joining the gyms compared to the current method. He still wasn't sold.

I made an apt with a sales rep at the fancy smancy gym and dragged Husband along to look at it. We talked to the sales guy first, got a tour of the gym, went back to the office, and Husband agreed I could join. I was super excited!! This gym has everything I wanted.

locker room

The gym is Life Time Fitness. The benches in the locker room are granite. The lockers are wood. There is granite in the showers. There is a huge spin room with a projector. There are a ton of treadmills, bikes, and other equipment. There is an outdoor pool and an indoor pool. Including a lap pool. The gym is open 24 hours. There are two sauna's in the locker room. There is a spa inside the gym. There's a cafe inside the gym. I don't need to continue do I? You're already sold right?

How much will I use the gym? Only time will tell. I know I plan on taking at least 2 classes each week. There's a third class I will probably start taking too. I joined a week ago Saturday. Since then I have used it for a spin class, barbell strength training, treadmill, pool, and I had a fitness assessment. (By the way, the fitness assessment has determined that my body age is 21, so from now on that's how old I'm telling people I am. haha)

cycle room

One of my goals for this year was to do a sprint triathlon. I know how the pool so I can start swimming and access to bikes. I'm pumped!

After my half I kinda lost it. I still wanted to run and still wanted to be active but I wasn't. The half was a bad race for me and that took something out of me. It was hard to get back into the swing of things. Combine that with no big race until Fall and I had nothing to work towards. With the gym, I've got my interest back. There is so much I can do there. I'm excited about working out again! I won't use it to run a lot, but I will use it sometimes. I'll use it when the weather is bad. I'll use it when I want to work on pace.

I think it's funny when I talk to people about the gym and mention the cost. I think $60 is very expensive for a gym but can understand why this place is so expensive. It truly is super nice. However a lot of people think it's a decent price. In fact, those who know what you get with the gym think it's a decent price and not expensive at all. I guess it's all in how you view things.

**copyright info - all pictures were taken from the lifetime fitness website for the location I go to. I didn't snap the pictures myself. However..they are accurate as to what those areas do look like**

Change the World Wednesday - cleaning the air

2011-05-04T12:54:00.001-05:00

This week's Change the World Wednesday Challenge hosted by Reduce Footprints is:

This week, stop smoking for at least one day (forever would be better) ... yep, 24 hours ... no smoking! It's hard but I know you can do it!

Or ...

If you are not a smoker, remove toxins in your home by cleaning (yep, dust is a toxin), opening windows (fresh air, sunshine and a rainy day actually help clean indoor air), adding a plant to your environment, etc.

Or ...

If you don't smoke and have already taken the above actions, please let us know about any other actions we can take to purify the air in our homes.

It's been awhile since I participated in Change the World Wednesday. I think the daily challenges and then my life getting hectic for awhile caused me to just stay clear of my google reader for awhile. I hope to be back though! Let's hope this starts another long trend of me participating in CTWW.

I'm not a smoker, I never have been and never will (or so I tell myself). So not smoking for 24 hours isn't a challenge for me.

We've been having some crazy weather here lately and we go from having the heat on to having the AC on. Ok, I wouldn't have turned on the AC but the husband did it because he was hot. We've had a lot of days where it's been nice though. A bit chilly to wear shorts outside but warm enough to have the heat off in the house. We've been opening windows when we can. In fact, they were open just last night. Sometimes they are only open for a couple of hours before it's too cool and we have to close them but I do like to open them for a little bit.

I have 3 house plants in the kitchen and recently, in an effort to be a surban farmer, I've planted some lettuce and spinach seeds. These are currently still in the house as it's too cold yet for outside. In the last couple of weeks I've also added 4 tomato plants and a pepper plant to the inside garden. I'm looking forward to putting them outside but until then, they sit on the floor in the kitchen in front of some big windows.

Since it doesn't appear that not smoking and adding a plant to the house was an issue, let's mention the third part of the challenge..doing something else to help purify the air.

While I can't say I don't do anything specific to purify it (although I'm looking forward to reading what others do so I can copy) I can tell you what I don't do. I don't normally use air fresheners. When I do, it's because Myla had an accident in her kennel and the smell is over powering. I'll then spray something in that area to get the smell to go away.

I don't use the glad plug in's or other similar products on the market. I just don't see how that can be healthy. There have to be chemicals in them that I would be putting into the air in my house. Plus I don't think we need it. Our house doesn't have a "bad" smell to it so I just don't see the point of them either.

I will admit that we burn candles, but in an effort to make that better for us I hope to find some soy ones when I'm in need of more. At least I think it's soy that's better, it appears I need to do more research on this before I do anything.

pssst..when I went to Reduce Footprints to link my post I read the other comments and Eco Friendly Homemaking had a great suggestion. She said that by removing your shoes before you step inside you can eliminate roughly 65% of the toxins that we pick up when out and about. I believe I have read this before, or something similar, but forgot about it. Husband and I do remove our shoes once we are in the house..but do walk around a bit. He walks only a couple of yards before removing his but I normally walk through the house to our bedroom to remove mine. I'm going to try and remember to remove mine either right before I step into the laundry room or right after I do and then carry them to my closet to be put away. Right now I normally put my shoes on in the kitchen when I'm getting ready to head out the door and I'll try to do that in the laundry room from now on.

Happy Spring Cold

2011-05-03T12:25:00.000-05:00

That's right, I'm suffering from another cold. My husband is the sharing type, which is good except when it comes to germs.

I brought my organic honey to work so I can eat it periodically throughout the day. I don't know anybody who likes to just eat honey by the spoonful, but I have no idea what to mix it with so that's how I eat it.

I've been working on the rest of the Dove Chocolate bunny my Mom gave me for Easter. I don't think the milk chocolate is the cure-all for colds but it sure makes my day more enjoyable.

I was just getting back into a regular workout mode, still not running a lot but working out regularly, and now the cold decides to pay a visit. Mondays are generally my rest day. I went to the gym early in the morning for a fitness assessment and decided not to work out that night. Ok, fine, dinner was ready when I got home so I decided to eat instead of run. Who wouldn't? I'm still trying to decide if I want to run tonight when I get home. I think even a 2 mile run would be worth the effort. I've read several reports that say working out when you first get a cold can actually help you get over it faster. Plus, if I do polish off this chocolate bunny I will need the 2 miles just to burn off an ear.

April Savings and Spending

2011-04-30T16:03:00.000-05:00

I thought I was going to go way over my spending in April since there was so much of it at the beginning of the month so I'm really happy with how things ended. In fact, I actually bought some junk food the last couple of weeks and if I hadn't done that I wouldn't have gone over. That just tells me that I need to get back on track with the healthier eating and resist buying the expensive junk food at the stores.

My goal is to spend $300 or less on groceries and health/beauty items.
I spent $305.72. This brings my average spending so far this year to $304.81/month.

I ended up saving $34.94 in coupons towards budget items and $40 in coupons towards non-budget items. This continues with the trend of me not being able to use as many coupons as I have been in previous years, but it's still a good amount.

GO! St. Louis Half Marathon

2011-04-22T04:23:00.000-05:00

On April 10th, 2011 I participated in my first ever half marathon. For those who aren't aware, a half marathon is 13.1 miles and a full marathon would then be 26.2 miles.

Start of the race..I'm in a pink tank top with black shorts

Yes, I'm a long time runner but I've never ran this kind of distance before. I was happy with my 3 mile runs. Then last year I decided that wasn't enough and moved up to 4 miles for my weekday runs and 5-6 for the weekend runs. Then I decided I might want to do a half marathon.

So the 10th was the day. I was confident going into the race. I had run 12 miles two weekends before that and it felt great..I was tired and my legs were weak ( I did some major hills) but I knew I could have run 13. I set a goal of 2 hours but told myself that the real goal was finishing the race, the time would just be a bonus. Then the day of the race is here. And we have unseasonably high temps. When the race started at 7am it was already 73 degrees out. By 9am it was so hot they closed the marathon course where the half and the marathon runners split. Any marathon runners who came to that point after 9am were forced to continue on the half course and call it a day. Let me tell you, I felt the heat. I don't run well in the heat and humidity that we get in St. Louis and it showed. I showed up confident and determined to have a great race, and my race sucked. My first 6 miles were great and then it went downhill.

Right after mile 6

I felt really good the first couple of miles. I had been having issues with my heal again (the one with the stress fracture) and had been worried about it. It hurt right from the start but on mile two I felt a sharp pain and then nothing. I must have eased out whatever was causing it to hurt because it felt awesome after that. Then on mile 4 I started to feel the heat. I was getting hot. I told myself to slow down. Mile 5 I'm beginning to have doubts that I could finish the race. Mile 6 I wanted to walk but knew my Mom, she drove me, was planning to be on the course somewhere in mile 7 so I couldn't walk, I didn't want her to see me. Miles 7 through 8 were all uphill. I was feeling horrible. Mentally I wasn't doing very good. I was also over-hydrating because of the heat and in desperate need of a bathroom. I finally started walking after mile 8. I just couldn't do it! I felt miserable, I was hot and my legs were tired.

I started playing games with myself...if I walk to the next light..I have to run to the light after that. If I walk for .3 miles then I have to run for .3 miles. The more I had to stop and walk, the worse I got mentally. I would work back into a run but would find myself tripping on the pavement, a sure sign that my legs were fatigued, so I would walk again.

it's kinda hard to see me..I'm waving at my Mom at the finish

Finally, I hit the 12 mile marker and I was determined to run the last 1.1 miles to the finish. I did it too. I felt bad but I pushed through it and I did it.

I can't tell you how many times I wanted to quite. I can't tell you how many times I called myself a failure for having to walk part of the course. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to sit down and cry. I had worked for this. I had trained for this. Why couldn't I do it? Yes, I was having a one woman pity party.

After the race was over I kept it together long enough to get home and then broke down crying in the bathroom as I was getting ready for a shower. I felt so bad, mentally and physically, that I crawled into bed after the shower were I dozed and just laid there for a couple of hours. I only got out of bed when I did because Husband came in and laid with me and after a couple minutes suggested we go get ice cream. Does he know me or what? He offered to take me to my favorite place for some cherry almond ice cream. It's made fresh in the store and it's the only place I know of to get that flavor and it's my absolute favorite. I then came home and made a cake to take to my Mom's since she was having the family over for dinner. I had planned to make a celebration cake but, as I told Husband, it turned into a "I walked but I didn't quite" cake.

Crossing the finish line..finally

I was still feeling pretty bad Monday but by Monday night I was doing much better. By Wednesday I was finishing with the pity party. I belong to a website called DailyMile (you're welcome to be my friend if you belong too!) and I posted my sob story. The support I received was amazing. I can't even begin to tell you how good it made me feel.

My friends on DM made me realize that while I had to walk, I didn't quite. I did finish the race. I completed my first ever half marathon! I couldn't do anything about the temperatures and I was smart by listening to my body and walking when I realized I was suffering. I could, and should, be proud of myself for what I completed. And you know..they were all right. Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I should embrace the race. Realize that I completed it and set my sights on the next one. I know have a PR (personal record). I can tell people that I completed a half marathon and I can be proud of that.

Finish..medal around my neck.time to go home

What also helped me realize that I did the right thing was reading news articles and watching news clips on the race, as well as talking to others. I talked to a couple co-workers who also ran it and they both had to walk. They both mentioned seeing people drop out of the race. Husband talked to a co-worker of his that runs and that guy said he knew two people running the marathon. Both he would consider very strong runners, both dropped out. One dropped out at mile 6. Watching the news report I learned that over 100 people were treated for dehydration, 20 taken to hospitals. I was not one of them. I did not drop out of the race. I did not quite. I walked when I felt my body needed it and I completed it. I'm proud of what I did. It take me some time to be comfortable with this but now I embrace it.

You know, we all have good days and bad. The 10th was a very bad racing day for me. However it's not the end. I'll continue to run and I'll continue to work towards the tougher runs. We have another half in October and while I haven't signed up for it yet, I plan to. I have a PR, I need to beat it.

For those of you who might be interested in, here are my stats for the race:

Finish time: 2:13:18
Overall place: 4,217/11,535
Female place: 1,863/7,086
splits according to my Garmin: 8:45, 8:27, 9:01, 8:25, 9:01, 9:29, 9:47, 10:10, 11:46, 11:35, 12:19, 11:59, 10:00

Here's a video from a local news channel that covers a part of the race. The funniest thing is that they interview the men's winner of the half and he said the heat didn't bother him but the wind did. I can tell you that every time I felt a breeze, I could usually hear several people go "ah..that feels good". haha

Dye your Easter Eggs..naturally!

2011-04-19T14:46:00.000-05:00

Photo linked from Adventures on Cooking

I might be late in posting this, seeing as how Easter is this Sunday and most of you probably already dyed your Easter Eggs. However, for those who put the "pro" in procrastination like I do, this is just in time. snicker.

I don't have kids yet so I haven't dyed Easter eggs in years. However, I imagine one day I'll need to dye eggs again and I'll be keeping this info handy.

Photo linked from Boulder Locavore

Instead of using chemicals to dye your eggs, because you know that's going to end up on the eggs and you'll be eating it right? How about using natural ingredients to dye them? Sounds awesome! The only thing that worries me a bit is..what if it seeps through cracks and does get on the egg, will it change the flavor? Guess I won't know till I try it.

Since I haven't tried this, I'm not posting photo's or directions but rather I want to link to two different blog posts. One shoes you how to naturally dye the eggs and gives you directions on how to do it. The other shows you how to stencil eggs using herbs...trust me, you just have to see it.

Boulder Locavore is your stop for naturally dyed eggs.
Adventures in Cooking is your stop for stenciled eggs.

Get Fit Monday - April 10th - 16th

2011-04-18T16:58:00.000-05:00

Last week was, for the most part, a recovery week for me. On Sunday the 10th I competed in my first ever half marathon. I'm working on a longer post about that one (keep forgetting to add pictures to it). I had decided to take the rest of the week off, for the most part.

I did go to yoga on Monday and at my request (heck..the instructor asked for suggestions) we did a lot of leg work and it felt awesome.

Tuesday and Wednesday I took off.

Thursday I started playing indoor soccer again. I had been playing it for, oh, 6 months until my team couldn't find enough girls and had to stop in January. I found another team though and I'm back to playing for at least 6 more weeks. Depending on how friendly the people are and how comfortable I am playing with them will determine if I play the next session. Or if the husband agrees to let me join a gym I might have to take some time off from soccer since soccer and the gym would both be costing some $$$$$$.

Friday I attended a spin class and Saturday I took another rest day. Ok, so I had planned to run Saturday but it was freaking cold and I couldn't get up enough nerve to go running outside in that darn cold weather!

So there you have it! Didn't do to much, but it was just what I needed to get my head back on track and my body ready to get back in the swing of things.

Organization - workout clothes

2011-04-08T08:13:00.000-05:00

Living in an area that has 4 changes of season and no gym membership means that I run outside all year round in the 4 seasons. This means that I have a lot of running/workout clothes because I have to be warm or cool enough depending on what season it is.

I also thrive on organization (but please don't come over and look in some of the closets this weekend, I haven't been able to keep up with organization as much as I would like lately).

So what am I getting to? I re-organized my side of the closet the beginning of winter to accommodate my running clothes and make it more organized. It was a mess before! I had all the clothes on two shelves and because I have so many different lengths of pants and shirt sleeves, it was annoying trying to find the right item to wear.

This is what I ended up with, don't you like it?

Ok..here's how it's organized. Starting with the top shelf, left side and working down.

Shelf 1: tights (shorts), loose shorts

Shelf 2: tank tops, tank tops (don't fit as well), short sleeves

Shelf 3: long sleeves - thick/warmer, container full of sports bra's, long sleeves - light/not as warm

Shelf 4: tights (capri's), misc tights, tights (long/warm) + a 2nd layer pant

Shelf 5: yoga pants and loose pants, yoga capri's

Shelf 6: (can't really see) I have three containers with socks in them. One is dedicated to running socks.

I love it! It's so easy for me to find exactly what I'm looking for. I usually run in the mornings before work so having the items easy to get to is a plus. Now that it's getting warmer, I'll be switching some items around. I'll move the long tights and capri's to shelf 1 and the shorts to shelf 4. I'll swap the shirts too so the tanks and short sleeves are on shelf 3 and the long sleeves are on shelf 2.

It looks like I have a ton of workout clothes (and Husband would probably agree with you) but the way I see it is that I run 3-4 days a week. I need enough clothes to get me through a week so I'm not constantly doing laundry. So that means I need 3-4 of each item for each season. Most things I only have 3 of right now. Good workout clothes are expensive! My long running tights cost $50 each full price. The long, warm shirts are the same price. The other items are pretty similar in price. So I tend to only buy when I'm able to get a good deal. I might like having the official running clothes because they work great, but that doesn't mean I can't be frugal about it.

Oh...and the funny thing about our weather? A couple of weeks ago I was doing a load of laundry of my workout clothes (I was them all together because I have to use a special detergent) and found it amusing that for one week's worth of clothing I had long tights, capri's, and shorts for my legs. For my upper body I had Llng sleeves, short sleeves, and a tank top. Good ol' Saint Louis weather, gotta love it.

New Job = cleaning service, part one

2011-04-06T04:24:00.000-05:00

Sometime in December my husband asked if I knew my sister has a cleaning lady. I said that I did, in fact both sisters have a cleaning service. He said that I needed to get a promotion at work so we could get one too. I remarked that while a promotion would be nice and while a cleaning service would be nice, my sisters have kids and we don't. They need it a bit more than we do, we're just tired of cleaning.

Then January came around and my department posted a new position, Technology Coordinator, and I applied. And I got it. My first official start date for the new job was February first, although I'm still handling things at my old position until a replacement is hired and trained.

I had a set amount I wanted to make and was all prepared to counter when the official offer came in lower. Imagine my surprise when the initial offer was higher, much higher. I jumped on it, I took it and ran (as my husband said). What's the first thing my husband said after I told him what the monetary offer was? Well, after the "OMG?! Really? Wow?". The first thing he said was for me to talk to the sisters and get the number for their cleaning service.

I couldn't believe he was still planning to hire a cleaning service! My husband is very frugal, more so than me. Not just frugal, he hates to spend money. So for him to suggest we pay money for somebody to clean our house, something that we are already handling and have time for, well this is big news.

The other thing is that he was much more willing than I was. I was torn. I don't enjoy cleaning house yet I know we could easily do it. We don't have kids, there's nothing keeping us from cleaning the house on the weekends. Yet, I've been feeling lazy and I know the house hasn't been cleaned as well in the past several months as it should be. I felt guilty. If cleaning our house was gong to be such a problem, why did we buy such a big house? Why did we buy a house so big we couldn't keep up with it? (To be honest, our house is roughly 2,400 sq feet and we can easily clean it..but again we're just feeling lazy, and our last house was roughly 1,700 sq feet, so it's not that much bigger). Why am I being so lazy? Why can't I just get the energy to clean my house? Why waist money paying somebody else to clean it? So all these thoughts are going through my head. But we still went ahead and interviewed some people and hired the lady one of my sisters uses. The price was right, she was nice, we knew somebody who trusted her.

So..part one of going about hiring a cleaning lady...the guilt. Stay tuned for my thoughts about it after she started.

Do you have a cleaning service? Did you feel guilty about it too or not?

Change the World Wednesday Daily Challenge - buy local

2011-04-04T12:57:00.001-05:00

Here's the daily challenge from Reduce Footprints for today:

Buy food that's being grown or produced locally, using local farms and local farmers' markets where possible.

This is actually something I plan to do once the farmer's markets open in my area. Sure, we have one that is open year round but in doing some research I found that the ones open all year round don't exactly grow the produce nor is it organic. So..not something I'm going to go out of my way to buy (because it would be out of my way). However, come next month several open and I look forward to that.

However, oddly enough I stopped at a local store this past Friday to check out what they had that was local since I needed some items. It's the first time I've been to the store so I didn't know what to expect. I wanted eggs, apples, and lettuce. Those were the things on the list for this weekend's Whole Food shopping trip. Since it wasn't a lot, I finally said..just go to this other store and see if I can get it there. The store is called Local Harvest Grocery. I believe I've mentioned them before. They were in the process of moving so I decided to wait for my first visit until after the move.

So I went on Friday. I didn't realize it was their official Grand opening. If I had known that I would have waited since it is a very small store and it was very packed, with long lines to check out (only 1 of 2 registers were open).

I was disappointed that they didn't have any lettuce. They had some spinach, but no lettuce. I guess it's not exactly in season for my area right now though. I did pick up 3 apples, which cost me $2.37. I don't like when places price apples by the quantity, it just seems so expensive. Plus the apples are usually somewhat large and I like smaller apples. I'm being picky though, right?

I also picked up a dozen eggs, they were $2.99. This was a cheaper than the cage-free, vegetarian eggs I normally buy. I like that the company is local as well.

My splurge item was a Dogtown Pizza. It's a local company who makes their pizza's by hand with fresh ingredients and then freeze them. Because they are made in STL and because they really only sell them in STL, they say the pizza's are in the grocery stores within 3 days. I liked all this info so I bought one, even though it cost $9.49 (I can get a large Domino's for less than that). I checked out their website and I like that not only is Dogtown Pizza a local company, they get their dough from a local bakery and their sausage is from a local company as well. I got the Tomato, Basil, Garlic variety and on their website it says this about it:
he newest in Dogtown pizzas varieties, is not only vegetarian, but free of preservatives, HFCS and MSGs
Sounds great to me! So yes, it's expensive but I like supporting a local company, especially one that gets supplies from other local companies.

So will I shop there again? I'm sure I will. What I'll try to do is stop there on my way home from work when I know I need eggs and some produce. Then I know that if they don't have the produce I need, the trip won't be wasted since I'll be getting the eggs.

Get Fit Monday - week of March 28th

2011-04-04T06:14:00.000-05:00

Sorry everyone, I sorta skipped doing my post last week. Never fear...you get my fitness babble this week.

As far as getting in workouts..that went well. I just didn't feel awesome with every workout.

Monday - I took my first yoga class in something like 7 or 8 years. It was ok. Felt like we spent too much time meditating in the beginning and not doing enough poses. But..first class so we'll see how it goes. I think I need to do yoga so I'll stick with it for awhile and if I need to find another place, I will.

Tuesday - Ran 4.23 miles in 36.3 minutes. I did a surge for the last .23 and was super tired but think it will help in the long run.

Wednesday - I did a strength training workout, P90X Shoulders and back

Thursday - I did the same loop as Tuesday and this time in 37 min. A tad longer but still good. I also did the surge at the end again and felt proud of myself for doing it.

Friday - spin class! That's the thing I missed telling you all about. The week before I started taking a spinning class. So far I'm loving it! It's tough and I can't do all the standing cycling but when I can't stand and cycle I increase my resistance and try to peddle faster. I definitely see myself continuing with the spinning class for a long time.

Saturday - threat of thunder storms on Sunday so instead of resting on Saturday I went for my long run. My planned 6 miles turned into 4. At first I was upset with this but my ankle and heel were hurting and I was tired. I felt it best to stop at four and let my body rest. I think doing all the workouts with no rest really effected my run.

Sunday - rest! Finally!!!

What's up for this week? Well, my first ever half marathon is on the 10th! Yikes! I'm nervous, scared, and excited all at the same time.

March Coupon Savings and Budget spending

2011-04-01T14:24:00.000-05:00

Just a recap...what is included in the budget spending that I'm keeping track of is dog food/treats, all groceries, makeup/nail polish, and health/beauty items (excluding prescriptions). My goal is to be under $300.

Here are the numbers:
Budget
Coupon Savings: $24.31
Advertised Savings: $30.56
Spending: $322.81

Non-Budget:
Coupon Savings: $34.69
Advertised Savings: $56.52
Reward Points/Rebates: $16.62

Total Coupon savings for the month: $59
Total Advertised savings for the month: $87.08

I went over the budget again in March, but by a tad less than $23. I'm not too upset about this though because I know why it happened. I bought $23 worth of electrolyte chews and drink tabs from REI (they are the only place that carries one of the brands I wanted so I stocked up since I don't live near the store). At first I didn't think about it being a budget item but then realized that if I had been able to buy the items at a grocery store or Target/Walgreens, I would have included it in the budget. I bought a lot in order to stock up for awhile, so it's not an expense I'll have again for a couple of months. Now that I consider this a budget item, I'll be better prepared.

Roughly $36 of the spending was not on groceries, the rest was. That worries me a bit because the time will come soon when I need to buy some health/beauty items and that's going to put me over the budget really fast. I know part of the grocery spending was high because my Husband dragged me to Walmart to get some deli meat and while there he picked up snacks for himself (since I don't normally buy snacks anymore). So it was full price and rather expensive. The $36 was basically on dog food too..which is a normal expense. I'm going to stick with the $300 budget for the rest of this year though, but might have to increase it next year. We'll see.

Change the World Wednesday - using a Clothes line instead of a dryer

2011-03-24T12:41:00.000-05:00

Dry your clothes on a clothes line instead of in an electric drier. Electric driers use up to 10% of residential electricity in the United States. The average household can save more than $100 a year by forgoing the electric clothes dryer and using a clothesline. Clothes dried in the fresh air smell better, too! Some say that you can soften your towels and prevent them from drying stiff on the line by adding a ½ cup of white vinegar to the rinse cycle.

I haven't been answering all of the daily change the world Wednesday posts but want to touch on this one.

I can't use an outside line due to allergies but earlier this year I hung up two lines in my laundry room inside. While most clothes I will put in the dryer, I have a lot of loads where not everything dries the first time through and instead of putting the items through the dryer a 2nd time, I've started to hang them up. I'm loving it so far! I really feel like I'm not wasting electricity to dry the clothes and because it's inside I know I don't have to deal with the allergies.

I did create a post about this already, so instead of basically re-writing the post, I'm just going to link to it.

Get Fit Monday - week of March 14th

2011-03-21T15:43:00.000-05:00

Hosted by Journey To Green

Lats week was not a good workout week. I'm not sure exactly why. I don't know if I was pushing too hard and my body was telling me to back off or if I was just mentally not with it.

I ran on Wednesday, I did 4.1 miles in 35.3 min. I didn't run again until Friday. I didn't really want to run on Friday but knew I had to. I ran 3.5 miles in 30.4 min Friday. I did an Insanity workout on Saturday, didn't push myself too much because it was a lot of cardio and leg work and I didn't want to be fatigued for Sunday.

Sunday...was a disappointment. I had planned to do 12 miles in preparation for my first ever half marathon. 12 turned into 4. I wanted to stop within 10 min of starting my run. I don't know if it was because of the heat (I think it was around 80 when I was outside...and to think I woke up to snow on Monday). I don't know if it's because I'm freaking out about my upcoming run. I don't know. All I know is that I wanted to stop almost right away and pushed myself to finish 4 miles without walking. I did the 4 miles in 39 min.

Of course, now I'm freaking out that I can't really do 13.1 miles and what if it's warm on the day of the race, etc. Lots of mental anxiety right now. I tell myself that if I can do 12 this coming weekend, then I'll be ok. I'm really nervous about doing that 12. eek!

On a brighter note, I decided attending regular yoga classes would probably be a good thing. Hopefully this will help solve a lot of the injuries I keep having (issues with my back, pulled muscles, etc). I researched it and found that a local sports complex offers a class pass that's $50 for 10 classes. It was the cheapest I found and the closest location, it's only 1.5 miles from my house. They have a yoga class at 7:40 pm on Tuesday nights and I plan to try attending that one weekly. We'll see how well that goes. My husband asked if they had spinning classes and suggested I take one of those. He thinks I'll like it. He also said it would be a good way to start building up my biking ability if I plan to do a short triathlon. The pass will count towards spinning classes and there are two each week in the morning, 5:45 am, that I could take before I actually go to work. So...I'm going to plan on trying one of those too. I haven't decided if I'll try one this week or wait until after my race.

Change the World Wednesday - Daily challenge 3/18/11

2011-03-18T12:29:00.002-05:00

Today's challenge for CTWW at Reduce Footprints is:

Avoid buying products that have lots of packaging. About a third of the waste we generate is from packaging to get items to our homes. Choose loose products and buy refillable containers when possible (food co-ops and health food stores usually offer these options.)

I really like this challenge. Sometimes I have to struggle with this because, I'm a pretty frugal person. I love a deal. Sometimes, a lot of times, the items with less packaging or recyclable packaging are more expensive. So I struggle with the issue of being frugal and saving a buck or being eco-smart. I'm definitely moved towards being more eco-smart, which makes me happy. I just watch the spending in other areas in order to compensate.

I've been buying my own nuts to make trail mix for several months now. I take my own re-usable mesh bags, they have a tight weave, to the store and I use these to get nuts and other items out of the bins. This allows me to buy just the amount I want and also saves on packaging. My husband always points out the bag of almonds next to the bins and tells me to just grab that, but I refuse. I tell him I don't want the packaging. I also refuse to buy the nuts that have been put in plastic containers, from the bins, by the store for people to easily grab.

I've started to shop regularly at Whole Foods and they have sugar and flour in bins. I recently learned, thanks to a CTWW post, that you can bring in your own containers and have customer service weigh them or do something so that you can fill up the item and you aren't charged for the weight of your own container. I had planned to start getting sugar and flour this way but had assumed I needed to use a nasty plastic bag, I'm happy I don't have to.

I also always buy my lettuce and fresh fruit/veggies loose. I put them in my own mesh or hemp bags. This way I don't have any waste. If I have to buy lettuce in a container, I make sure to find the brand that used recycled plastic that can then be recycled. This is pretty rare though. I've only done this once in the last 6 months and that was because I couldn't get to Whole Foods for lettuce but was by a Trader Joes..and Trader Joes didn't have loose lettuce. I didn't want to go to a different grocery store because I wanted organic.

Also at Whole Foods (can you see I love this store?) last month Husband and I went to get some frozen veggies out of the freezer section and they had several different brands. Not having used any we just randomly selected one that was low in cost. As we got the bag out of the freezer I happened to notice a brand under it and the bags looked different. So I picked it up and the bags were biodegradable. The item was the same size and cost. We put back the other bag and now buy the brand with the biodegradable bag. I know this is still a waste, but at least it's a better option.

Once again..back to Whole Foods. I did notice that near the bin area they have a machine to make your own almond butter and peanut butter. I've glanced at it, I've been intimidated by it. However, I think the next time I need peanut butter, instead of buying an organic variety, I'm going to take my own jar or Tupperware with me, get it weighed (or whatever) and then have somebody show me how to use the machine. Not only will it be fresh, I'll save on packaging.

Here's one that I bet a lot of people don't think about. I bake from scratch. I don't buy pre-made bakery items. I don't buy box or bag mixes. I believe that not only does the item taste better but in a lot of cases it's cheaper. Plus, you have the extra benefit of not having a lot of waste. No plastic containers. No boxes with a plastic bag on the inside. Of course, you can also factor in cooking from scratch. We do a lot of that too. Although I use the term "we" loosely, I don't like to cook so Husband does that. I do love to bake though.

Another thing, I use a battery powered toothbrush where I only change the head of the toothbrush. While this is still a waste, since it can't be recycled, it's much smaller than a normal sized toothbrush. While we can't get away from packaging and plastic waste with this type of item yet, making a change like this so the item we throw away is smaller is worth it, in my opinion. Plus, the packaging usually comes with 2 replacement heads, so I don't have as much waste there either.

Also, since I'm going towards making more of my own cleaning supplies, this means I have less waste in plastic bottles too. For stainless steel cleaner and granite cleaner..I have one bottle that gets recycled and that's dish soap..and the bottle lasts for a very long time (I only use 2 tbsp at a time).

Here's a question for you all..see what your opinion is. For dishwasher detergent. Is it better to get 1 big bottle of a liquid detergent or a box of individual tabs wrapped in plastic? I'm thinking the big bottle of liquid because you can at least recycled that bottle. Yet..that's such a big bottle! The individual tabs come wrapped in their own plastic, but at least it's small. But is it better to be able to recycle a big container than throw little bits of plastic in the landfill? I'm thinking yes. Yet I struggle with this. Probably what holds me back is that I can get boxes of the tabs incredible cheap several times a year when they go on sale and I can match coupons. This doesn't happen with the big containers. So I'm guessing the frugal part of me is the one that is having the dilemma. Of course, that won't be much of a dilemma once I make the permanent switch to an eco-friendly dishwasher detergent since the sales aren't nearly as good. haha

Change the World Wednesday - on a Thursday and weeks late!

2011-03-17T13:04:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted on my blog in awhile. Things have been a bit crazy. I've been busy at work and therefore not a lot of downtime. I've also been suffering from major fatigue for months now and it's been particularly bad. I was in bed by 8pm every freaking night last week, which means by the time I finish dinner and clean up, I don't have any energy to do anything else and so my blogging suffered (as did my reading..and we all know how I love to read). So I'm trying to get caught up and decided to briefly mention some of the Change the World Wednesday posts that I've missed.

CTWW - March 2nd
The challenge was to use the garbage disposal less. This would help conserve water, mostly, and a bit of electricity. It would also force you to think about the food you put down the garbage disposal. Could it be saved? composted? etc.

I don't use the disposal too much so this wasn't too big a deal for me. I tend to put any food in the trash instead. I already plan to start a compost bin, this just made me think more about it and tell myself that I really need to get off my butt and do it.

Reading the results of this challenge on week 9's post, I saw one tip that I love and have already starting practicing at my house. The person, Nicole, suggested that when you do have to let water run (such as in the kitchen sink waiting for warm water to do dishes) instead of letting the water just go down the drain, keep a couple of milk jugs or similar containers and fill those with the water. This water can then be used around the house for water plants, fill pet water bowls, etc. I have a couple of sensitive teeth and rinsing with cold water is incredibly painful so I have to let the water run till it gets warm. I hate doing this, but it's just so wasteful but at the same time if I don't, I'm in a lot of pain. Luckily within a couple days of reading that I had a gallon milk jug ready to be used. I just love this. I fill it up with water and then use it to give Myla water and water the plants. I feel so much better about it. Husband is almost finished with another gallon of milk and I'll be saving that one for this purpose too.

Change the World Wednesday - daily challenges
For the rest of the time until Wednesday there will be daily challenges. I was planning to play along each day, but heck, I was having trouble keeping up with the weekly challenges. I hope to start doing them daily though.

Here's a break down of some:
The 2nd one was to remove a light bulb for the remainder of the challenge - until Easter. Not only will this save a bit of money but also save CO2 emissions. I'm one step ahead of the group on this one! I had replaced the outlets and switches in my library from beige to white. Suddenly, the light switch didn't work anymore. I took everything apart several times and couldn't figure it out. I talked to somebody and they suggested a fix. I finally got around to doing that fix in January. Guess what? The light switch works great but now the light switch to turn on the light at the bottom of our basement stairs doesn't work. Lol! I've been too lazy to try and fix this (I think I know how) and so we've been living without it already. I would turn it on a couple times a day, whenever I would put the dog in her kennel and get her out later. Now I deal without it, since it's a walk out basement there is usually enough light coming in through the curtains that I can still see what I'm doing.

The March 11th challenge:
Address your "standby" habits. Unplug mobile phone chargers and any unused appliances. 8% of electricity consumed at home is from "vampire" appliances that we aren't even using

I already do this! We only have 3 kitchen appliances this would work towards..a toaster, toaster oven, and can opener. I keep the toaster in a cabinet since it's rarely used and the other two we unplug as soon as we finish with them. In the office I have the paper shredder, desktop pc, printer, router, and modem all on the same surge protector and keep it unplugged when not in use. I keep the charger for the laptop unplugged unless I'm actually charging it. I don't keep phone charges plugged in either.

The March 16th challenge:
Save energy in the kitchen. Cook food in a microwave, which uses 50-70% less energy than a conventional oven. When you need to cook in a pan on the stove, use a lid to preserve heat, which will also cook your food faster. Cook double portions and freeze what you don't eat.

I can't say that we use our microwave much, other than re-heating things, but I recently bought a toaster oven and that's saved us from using the actual wall oven almost every night. We've gone from using the wall oven 4 days a week (at least) to either 0 or once. Not too bad!

We also cook enough for leftovers for my lunches. Not exactly double portions frozen for future meals, but it keeps me from buying frozen meals etc.

We also make chili, spaghetti, homemade rolls, and soups from scratch. Then we freeze all of it in dinner size portions.

And that's it! It's a long post and I hope you stuck with me for all of it. I'm going to try and keep up from now on, but might end up having to do one long post to cover several again.

I have a lot of posts started that I need to finish and schedule to show up. Please bear with me as I deal with my fatigue, some other minor health issues, and my half marathon training. All those things are pretty much taking up a lot of my time. Oh..and I got my bookshelves so I've spending most of my weekends working on staining those so they can be installed and then used. I can't wait!

Practically Green - an update

2011-03-11T04:32:00.000-06:00

I took some time and played around on the Practically Green site trying to see just how green I truly am. I have to admit, it was a lot of fun.

I clicked on each of the 4 actions and went through each suggestion under them and either marked it as done, added it to my plan, or marked it as not applicable.

Here's how my numbers were after taking the survey:
water - 30
energy - 79
health - 430
stuff - 460

Here's how my numbers were after updating each suggestion:
water - 55

energy - 1910

health - 1215

stuff - 800

Other than my water, which is rather embarrassing, everything else really jumped up and I'm very happy about it. I went from being fairly green to being wicked green. I like the sound of that.

I have a huge list of things on the planned list. Several I'm already planning to do this Spring, such as start composting, plant veggies, etc. Others are things that I'm going to be more aware of when I'm shopping, such as buying organic cotton towels and sheets when next needed. I also have a long list of stuff on the health side I already planned to make changes with, but have to use up when I've already bought first. Such as using healthier cleaning supplies and beauty supplies.

One of the other fun things about Practically green is that you can compare yourself to your friends, if they are on the site..and yes I facebooked bout this and hope others join, and also others in your area. I'm proud to announce I'm the most green in my area. Although I suppose I have to admit I'm the only one in my are on the website. lol! You can also see over-all leaders and compare how you are doing. I'm way behind the leaders but that's ok. That just means I have a lot of things I can improve on.

Get Fit Monday - week of 2/28 - 3/6

2011-03-07T17:00:00.000-06:00

Get Fit Monday is hosted by Journey to Green

Last week was back to normal for me. I was off of my racing high and back into freak mode. I've officially started training for my first ever half marathon. Just call me crazy.

I didn't do anything Monday or Tuesday, still recovering from the run the previous Saturday.

I finally got out and ran on Wednesday and then again on Friday. Light runs, only 4 miles each. I was working on transitioning to a minimalist shoe and that's causing my calves to be sore. I have since decided to wait until after the half though since there is no way I would be ready to run 13.1 miles in the minimalist shoe by April 9th.

Thursday I did the Insanity upper body workout. Definitely disappointed in it. I like the p90x upper body workouts a lot better so I'll start using those again. I felt like I didn't work very much. Due to the moves we were doing in Insanity, he combined a couple different moves to do together, so I had to use a lower weight for all of it. If the moves had been separated, I could have used my normal, higher weight, for one move and then gone to the lower weight for the move that I needed it for.

On Saturday I worked out with Husband and he selected the Insanity Max Interval Plyo workout. It was a killer! I wasn't happy with his choice though, I had to do a long run Sunday and didn't need to do that kind of leg workout the day before. I told him that from now on, until after the half at least, no more plyo.

Sunday I attempted 10 miles..and did it! Woohoo! I am right on schedule with training for the half. I ran at a different local park than my normal due to the rain we had Friday, I knew my local park would be too muddy. I ran at Queeny park and still got in a bunch of tough hills. I did 10 miles in 1hr 33 min, a pace of 9:18. I'm very excited about that. My goal for the half is to do it with (or under) a 9:30min/mile pace. The route is mostly flat..so if I keep working on hills and keep my pace where it was on Sunday..I think I'll be fine.

Electronic Bills - what is your carbon footprint?

2011-03-04T03:26:00.000-06:00

If you are like me, you have heard it and seen it. I'm talking about paying bills electronically and receiving bills electronically, instead of paper bills.

My guess is most of you have already switched to paying bills electronically. I did a long time ago. It's cheaper all around. Right now my bank isn't able to send a payment electronically to all the companies who get our money, but they can with most of them.

As far as going paperless for statements. That's been a bit harder on me. Most things I've done this with, but credit cards I haven't been able to yet. I tried to. Then I forgot to pay it one month. We have a credit card that doesn't do ebill and that's the one I forgot to pay. I told myself I would remember the next month. Nope. I switched back to paper bills.

I've also been receiving some statements for utilities that I either 1) have the bank automatically make a payment every month since it's always the same or 2) use ebill to get my balance via my bank. I don't know why I haven't bothered to cancel those yet, probably because I didn't think about it.

I'm going to make an effort though! It's just a waste.

I found this handy calculator at PayItGreen. It calculates the resources used by receiving paper bills. You input the number of paper bills and statements you receive each month and the number of paper payments you mail each month. The handy calculator tells you the carbon footprint for that.

I entered a total of 6 items. I was astonished to find that with only 6 items each month, that generates to a waste of 2 lb's of paper, 35 pounds of greenhouse gases, and 19 gallons of water. Yikes!

You can bet I'm going to see what I can do about getting that number down as close to zero as I can. As of right now the only one I can say I'll have to continue to get is the credit card statement, I don't want to be hit with a late fine of $25 because I forgot to pay it.

Coupon Savings and Spending - February 2011

2011-03-01T11:22:00.000-06:00

I did so much better keeping within my spending budget for February compared to January. In fact, so good that I'm on track for the year now.

Just a recap...what is included in the budget spending that I'm keeping track of is dog food/treats, all groceries, makeup/nail polish, and health/beauty items (excluding prescriptions). My goal is to be under $300.

For February I only spent $236.03! Woohoo! I'm so excited about that! It would have been higher by about $30 except that when I stopped at Target to get dogfood over the weekend, they were completely out. Either way, it would have still been in my budget. Almost all of that spending was on food and keep in mind that most of the grocery shopping is being done at Whole Foods or if at regular stores..it's still mostly on organic items.

The reason I'm so excited my spending in February was so low is that I did so bad in January! I spent $361.53 on budget items in January. However, if I average the two months I have an average of $295.35, which means I'm right on target for the year.

I saved a total of $169.21 by using coupons, although only $47.05 of the coupon savings was on budget items.

I saved a total of $55.02 in advertised sales, when known.

This gives me a total amount saved of $236.03 for the month. Not too bad!

I am keeping track of spending on clothes and shoes (including running/sports items), just for fun. I bought a new pair of running shoes this past month and a couple of running items. I spent $110.47. Still not bad when you factor in the cost of running shoes as being close to or over $100. I should be set for running shoes for most of the year too...unless I waiver and decide to go with a minimalist pair of trail shoes..which is possible.

Get Fit Monday - Castlewood Cup edition

2011-02-28T16:00:00.000-06:00

This Monday, instead of telling you about everything I did last week I'm going to focus on one thing, the Castlewood Cup.

The Castlewood Cup is a 15k (9.3 miles) trail run held at a local state park, Castlewood. I live right by the park and tend to run there on the weekends, so I knew just how tough it was going to be. There are a some wicked hills. Lucky me, the 3 worst hills were all included in this course.

I had signed up for this one last year knowing that it would be tough, take a lot of training, and would be just what I need to force me to go outside in the cold weather and run.

Unfortunately, I had several set backs that kept me from training like I wanted to. I did a 10 mile race the end of November and my heel (I have a heel fracture that still gives me trouble) hurt for over a week after that. Then I had a cold that lasted about 2 weeks in December. Then the end of January I had an op surgery that kept me from doing anything for a week, and then once I did start to run again I had to take it easy and could only handle low mileage. So coming up to the race..the weekend before I ran 7.1 miles on the course, but before that the most mileage I had done was almost 5 miles. Nowhere close to the 9.3 needed.

So I was very nervous about race day and my goal was to complete the race without walking and not to be last. One of my friends was running it with me and I knew that if I was able to stay with him for most of the race, I wouldn't be tempted to walk.

So how did I do? I'm happy to announce that I didn't walk! Nor did I come in last! In fact, I was 192 out of 322 people, and I was the 45th female to finish. Woohoo! I completed the 15k trail run in 1 hr and 36 minutes. This gives me an average pace of 10:32/min mile. That's a somewhat slow mile for me, but considering the hills and the length of the course and my problems training, I'm ok with it. I'm happy with how I did. In fact, my last mile was mostly flat and it was 9:06/min. I still can't believe I was going that fast, I thought I was dragging. The race was very hard and had it been much longer I'm not sure how long I would have lasted. It truly was a challenge for me and I feel incredibly happy with myself for doing it. Oh..did I mention that we had a lot of rain last week and the trail was very muddy.

My husband went along and snapped some pictures. I thought I would share, even though they aren't the most flattering pictures of me. You've been warned.

This is roughly 2 miles into the race, I'm in black with the blue shirt. And my friend is behind me in white. and yes..we were talking. lol

Towards the end of the course there was a creek crossing, which was somewhat high due to the recent rains we had. Husband got a picture of me before I got in the creek. There was a photographer taking pictures of everyone crossing the creek though, so I hope to get one of me in the creek soon.

This is me almost at the finish line! I'm incredibly tired and as you can see I'm barely picking my feet up.

This is my friend and I after the race..once we had gotten something to eat and drink. It was sooo cold..we were standing by the heat lamps and shaking. I was holding the cup with both hands because my hands were shaking uncontrollable.

Practically Green

2011-02-25T02:22:00.001-06:00

I saw a blog post at Sprout's Green Family regarding a website called Practically Green and knew I had to try it out. The goal of practically green is to help you become more green. When you sign up you are asked to complete a survey that can be a bit lengthy but stick to it. You will then be rated on how green you are. Then you can play around on the site, with the different areas, and view ways to be more green. You can update your green status by marking different things that you already do, add some to your list of things you plan to do, and mark others as not applying to you. This can increase your green status.

I started out being Fairly Green. Which actually made me a tad upset because I feel I do a pretty good job of being green. I know I'm a lot more green than most people I know.

The different areas you are graded on are broken out like so:
Water
Energy
Health
Stuff

Water is by far my worst area. My points are only 30. Energy is my best at 790, Health comes in at 430, and Stuff is 460.

You can also earn badges based on the things you do. I've earned the bronze badge in energy and stuff right away.

I decided to see how high I could increase my score by going over the different things recommended and marking all the ones that I have already completed or already do as Done. I found several things that just aren't applicable to me or aren't going to happen for awhile. One example is to buy or build a LEED house or apartment. Since we don't plan to move until we are old and gray, I marked this one as "not applicable". Another example is the option to install a dual flush toilet. We recently replaced two toilets with low-flow toilets but not dual flush, I'm marking that one as not applicable as well since we aren't going to replace them again. However I did get points for having a high-efficiency toilet installed. Another example is to replace our water heater with a tankless one. We don't plan to buy a new water heater for another year or two so I marked this one as "add to my plan" and we'll research options when the time comes.

Don't get me wrong though. There's a ton of stuff suggested that I think is somewhat easier and cheaper. Example, one suggestion is to turn the water off when you brush your teeth. Done! One of the things I believe will be pretty in-expensive is to install low-flow valves on all faucets. I did a brief search and it looks like it would cost $6 or less to do this for each faucet. Even better, the website Practically Green links you to a video so you can see just how easy it is to do this. I added this one to my plan. In fact, this was something new the website taught me. I knew you could buy low-flow faucets but I never thought about seeing if I could convert my current ones to be so. Since we have replaced all faucets (except 1) in our house, fixing the faucet is the way we will go. Another simple and easy action is to switch to a reusable water bottle. Done!

As you can see, the steps you can take to be even more green range from being major (replace your water heater) to simple (use a reusable bottle).

I'm off to play on the website and see how high I can get my numbers and what I can add to my "plan" so I have a list of things to work on changing. I'll be sure to do another post and let you know how I did.

CSN Giveaway - winner!

2011-02-24T14:53:00.001-06:00

Thanks to everyone who entered into the giveaway.

Congrats to Liz! You have won the $30 gift code for CSN stores. Have fun shopping!

I'll email the code to you, but if you don't receive it please contact me

Change the World Wednesday - commute

2011-02-24T11:55:00.001-06:00

This week, if you drive, reduce your speed. Reducing your driving speed reduces the amount of fuel you burn ... and that is very Eco-friendly. So ... this week ... slow down!

Or ...

If you don't use a car for transportation, please share your alternate choice and give us practical ideas for making it work. For example, if you ride a bike or walk, please share how you manage inclement weather, shopping and getting to the other side of the city/state. Tell us about the ways in which you stay safe while riding a bike in heavy traffic or walking when there isn't a sidewalk. We'd like to know exactly how you make an Eco-friendly form of transportation work in today's world.

This weeks challenge is something that I've thought a lot about. Because I don't have much of a choice on how I get to work, I have to drive. I can't carpool either. This bother's me though and I constantly think about it.

Unfortunately, I also speed. Hey..when you drive mostly highway and you drive roughly 23 miles a day, the last think you want to do is mosey on home...I just want to be home..I'm ready to relax. However I'm going to make the effort to slow down on the highway and go 60-65.

Sure..there is some public transportation in our city, but it pretty much sucks. We do have a metrolink, but I would have to drive half-way to work before I could get to the closest station. Then we factor in that I don't work in the safest of areas and the station I would have to get off at is under a highway and not safe at all. Then I would have to walk about a mile to work. No thanks (not to the walking..to the lack of safety).

We do have buses that come into the area where I live, but it would take me twice as long for my commute. When I already spend roughly 80 min a day getting to/from work, doubling that just doesn't appeal to me.

I've thought about biking to work...if I ever bought a bike. However, my commute is roughly 23 miles, and that's highway. I'm not sure how long it would take on a bike going secondary roads. Not to mention the safety of it in the dark. It's something I've thought of though. I'm hoping to get a bike later this summer (husband has agreed to it..if I can swim 53 laps in our pool at the same time). I think it would be nice to bike to/from work once a week.

However....I can tell you some ways I do limit car use.

Whenever one of our cars needs an oil change or work done, I will normally drop the car off and then run home (most places are within 3-4 miles of our house). When the car is ready to be picked up, a lot of times I will run to get it. This saves us from using another car to make 2 trips to the place.

I also carpool a lot when doing non-work activities. I live by both my sisters, my Mom, and the in-laws. If we are doing anything with any of those relatives, we carpool. I also go out with one of my friends at least once a month and I have him pick me up, because if he's coming from his apartment, then getting to the movies or dinner would normally have him pass my subdivision..if he doesn't head right to a highway.

I also tend to do as many errands together as I can and I'll do them in a loop so I'm not backtracking and wasting gas. I'll stop at the grocery store, library, etc on my way home from work in the evenings because I pass them. When we go out on the weekends we try to do all the errands together to minimize gar usage.

While I can't get away from relying on my car, I do try to find ways to limit it's use. For me, the challenge is going to be slowing my speed. Oh..and we bought a hybrid this past November. I'm planning to do a post about that one..so won't say much...but at least it's something with this one. Just wanted to mention it so you can see that we do at least think about our driving and gas mileage. haha!

2011-02-23T03:01:00.000-06:00

***** Sticky Post - this will remain at the top until the giveaway is over, please look below for more recent posts*****

As promised, I am hosting a giveaway for a $30 gift code for CSN stores.

Here are the rules:
Anybody is eligible to enter, you can only enter once though (giveaway is showing up on both blogs but please note there is only one giveaway)

You will be responsible for any charges over $30 (including shipping if applicable).

The giveaway runs 2/11/10-2/23/10 (midnight, central time)
I will use random.org to pick a winner on the 24th.

A couple things to know:
This code can be used to cover domestic shipping costs within the US, however please note that this code cannot cover international shipping taxes for Canadian addresses.

(The below info will also be emailed to the winner but I wanted you to know it up front as well)

1. Expires March 31, 2011.

2. Code expires after first use.

3. Entire promotional amount must be used on first purchase.

4. If the total cost of the basket exceeds the amount of money from the promotional code, you are responsible for the difference.

5. Promotional code will be applied to all items in your basket.

6. This promotional code cannot be used to purchase gift certificates on our sites.

7. This promotional code cannot be combined with any other promotional code or CSN Rewards Dollars

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Get Fit Mondays - workout week of Feb. 14th - 20th

2011-02-21T07:00:00.000-06:00

Hosted by Journey to Green

Last week was wonderful..we had such nice weather! I went from running in my coldgear to running in capri tights and short sleeve shirts and even shorts!

So let's see how I did this week.

On the 14th I did an Insanity workout when I got home from work. Husband didn't think I could do the whole thing and wanted me to try it...I took that dare and completed the workout much to his surprise. Lol! I had been worried too since I did two runs that weekend and was worried my legs would be fatigued.

I came down with a cold on Tuesday, which totally threw me into stress mode regarding the race. Luckily the symptoms haven't been too bad and I continued to workout.

I ran on the 16th, Wednesday. I ran after work and did 5.32 miles in 48:03. I averaged a 9:02 min\mile. Slower than normal..but I had a cold. The first 3 miles were under a 9 min mile but the last two I was feeling it and they were slower.

I ran on the 19th. I actually ran 7.1 miles in 1hour 19 min. I averaged 11:11 min\mile. I ran at Castlewood and did all the hills that will be part of the upcoming race. The only parts I didn't do were part of the flat part. Fingers crossed I won't have a problem doing the full 15k on race day. This is the most miles I've done since, well, November I think. So I'm rather happy with this workout.

I ran on the 20th. I ran at Castlewood again but didn't do any of the course for the race. Husband wanted to see if he could run 1 mile so he went with me. We ran the first mile together, at his pace, and then I continued and he went back to the car. I only ran 3 miles in 30:44. I averaged a 10:14 min/pace. I really felt fatigued. I think I should have taken the day off after the long run yesterday.

My big race is on the 26th, fingers crossed I won't have any issues. After the run on Saturday I'm pretty confident I can do it. I just hope this cold goes away.

Indoor clothes line

2011-02-20T08:35:00.000-06:00

In January when I did a Change the World Wednesday post regarding laundry practices I mentioned clothes lines. Due to my allergies I'm unable to dry clothes outside. However, it struck me that I could hang a clothes line inside. It took me awhile, but I finally did it! I felt I would share how it works.

I'm lucky enough to have a laundry room on the main floor of the house (we have a ranch). Even luckier is that there is a lot of storage in there. On one side are open shelves and the previous owner attached gizmo's to it that allow me to hang up hangers. They fold up so they are out of the way, and I only have them down when in use. I use this every week when I do laundry. It's an easy way to hang up pants and shirts that come out of the drier still a bit wet or that don't go in the dryer at all (mostly my running clothes).

However, I still wanted to hang up a clothes line so I could hang up socks, towels, etc that were still wet when coming out of the dryer. The dryer is old, left by the previous owners, and while it does a good job it often times doesn't dry all the clothes when only one run. I found myself running a lot of loads through twice.

I hung up two different clothes lines. one is under the open shelving. I liked this because it would be out of the way. I hung up another one in front of the cabinets that hang over the washer and dryer. I originally liked this idea but wasn't going to put it here because then it would be in the way when I tried to open a cabinet door. However, I soon realized that I could hang the clothes line in such a way that they wouldn't always have to be hung. This way I could have a clothes line in front of the cabinet doors, but it wouldn't always have to be there so it wouldn't cause problems.

The only thing I bought for this laundry room addition was the clothes line, it cost less than $3. I looked in our supply of nails, etc and found some hooks. Luckily there were 4 matching sized ones. I then got to work. Installing both these lines took me less than 30 min. I used a drill to drill the holes in the wall. I roughly measured but mostly just eye-balled it. It's not something that anybody is going to be paying attention to. I then used, well, I don't remember what they are called. They are the plastic pieces you hammer into drywall so you can then put screws in them. So I hammered those in place. The four hooks I had then screwed into each one of those. I then tied the clothes line onto each hook. That's it! Now, I did go back and tie a washer onto one end of each of the clothes line. This allows me to easily hook/unhook each clothes line without having to loosen the knot.

Here's a picture of the laundry room with the clothes lines and the extra gizmo's to hang up clothes. (Just ignore the mess. lol! It's a laundry room afterall...the door is always closed)

Here's the same photo but with everything circled so you can see it better.

I've been using these clothes lines for several weeks now and I'm very happy with them. Husband is a bit worried that I'll cause mold to grow on the wall since I'm hanging wet items next to the wall (in regards to the clothes line that's under the open shelves). So I try to just hang stuff there that doesn't really touch the wall or that's not very wet. I've used the one above the washer and dryer to hang up all sorts of things ranging from light socks to heavy towels.

So far I haven't used the clothes lines to hang stuff up instead of putting them in the dryer and I'm not sure I will. However, I have not put anything through the dryer twice since installing these. I usually do roughly 4-5 loads of laundry a week and I was having to put at least 3 loads through the dryer twice. Now I don't have to and it makes me feel better knowing I'm not wasting resources.

You might wonder why we have 4-6 loads of laundry for only two people. It seems crazy to me. I usually have roughly 2 loads of darks in the winter..thanks to jeans and sweaters and 1 load of medium colors. That's 3 right there. I then have a load of towels, bed sheets, and rags. Then I have a load of running clothes, due to needing special detergent I do all the running stuff by themselves. It's a small load but I wait until I've used all the available running clothes for the weather we are having. I then do a load of socks/undershirts roughly ever 2-3 weeks. Sometimes I'll add this to the towel load but if I forget then I end up having to do it by itself since it gets so full.

Change the World Wednesday - Re-usable not disposable

2011-02-16T11:50:00.003-06:00

This weeks Change the World Wednesday Challenge hosted by Reduce Footprints isn't about recycling, but rather re-using What we could use so we don't have to recycle or throw something away.

Here's the info from the challenge post:
We've had a couple of tough challenges so let's switch gears and try something new. This challenge is suggested by our friend, Kris, who says, "... instead of finding new ways to use things that we would normally recycle the idea is to think about the disposable items you use and find a better solution. The idea is that it would be better for the environment and, in the long run, better for our bank accounts too. example: instead of using paper towels to clean up a spill, use a rag. Or..instead of using a paper napkin at dinner time, use a cloth napkin that can be washed and used again." So, here's the challenge:

This week, take a look at all the disposable items you use and find Eco-friendly alternatives.

Or ...

If you've already gone from disposable to reusable, please share the changes you've made.

Yup..you read that right. Little ol' me suggest the challenge for this week. It's something that I didn't really think about until not too long ago. I've made some changes and I know I need to make more. So here's a list of things that I've though of that I do. Hopefully some of them will be new to you and hopefully you'll think of some I missed and leave a comment (or better yet..create your own blog post and link it to the official change and in my comments so I can visit and read your suggestions).

Without further ado...here we go:

1) I buy milk from Oberweis Dairy (which I've mentioned before), their milk comes in glass bottles which they would like you to return so they can reuse them. No more dealing with plastic milk containers for me (well..except for my Husband's milk..but at least I can help out with the milk I drink).

2) Rags - I use rags to clean up spills in the kitchen, to clean with, etc. I admit that I do still use paper towels but it's mostly to clean up when Myla has an accident in the house. I try to use rags whenever possible. Rags are usually cut up undershirts that Husband can no longer wear. Keeps them from going into a landfill, keeps me from spending money on a rag/cleaning cloth.

3) Cottonballs - Instead of using cottonballs to remove eye-makeup, I made my own. I wanted a very soft fabric so I bought some. If you have a soft shirt or something similar that you can no longer wear, you could use that. I didn't have one. I cut the fabric into squares. Some I sewed the edges, some I used a fabric glue to test, some I didn't do anything. The sewing is nice but for me it's time consuming since I don't keep my sewing machine out. The glue worked great but you'll have a hard edge, which doesn't bother me. Not doing anything just means the ends fray. I also doubled up the fabric so it was softer and more durable. I put a plastic container near my sink in the bathroom to put the dirty cloth pieces in. I put these in the wash (in a small laundry bag like you would use for stockings or bra's). Once clean, I put them in my drawer in the bathroom and use them again. I love not paying for cottonballs anymore and knowing that I'm not throwing away one or two cottonballs every night. The fabric I bought either when it was on sale or with a coupon, I only got 1/4th a yard and it was only a couple dollars, roughly the cost of buying a bag of cottonballs. I've been using these for several months now and love it. I currently use cottonballs to remove fingernail polish (some I already had...I haven't bought more). I plan to test using a fabric square to remove fingernail polish, not sure if it will wash off or not. I'll have to keep you updated! If I do go to fabric squares for fingernail polish..I plan to use a different color fabric so I don't use it for my face (even though the fingernail polish I use is free of harmful chemicals..I still wish to keep separate).

4) Makeup brush cleaning - Up until a week ago, I used a kleenex to wipe my makeup brushes off after I used them each morning. I would re-use the kleenex several times, but was still using one. Then I realized I could easily use something else. I have no idea why I didn't think of this sooner. Now I use a wash cloth. I just keep it with my makeup container so it only gets used for that purpose and I'll throw it into the laundry at the end of the week and get out a fresh one.

5) Cloth napkins - I admit that I'm currently not using cloth napkins but I plan to. I have fabric I plan to sew for this purpose, it's just a matter of getting off my lazy butt and doing it.

6) I rarely use paper plates and/or cups. I do have several packages because I got them when they were very very cheap and you just never know (although it's funny that I've never used any of them). Since we have a pool we have my family over a couple times a summer for pool parties and I don't want to run into an issue with not having enough dishes. As it is, I realized close to Christmas that I would run out of dishes for Christmas brunch with the family and when I was at the store I saw some plastic plates for kids. They were pretty cheap, only $2 for 3 plates (they have dividers too!). I bought 2 sets (6 plates) because I knew I would have 6 nephews living in St. Louis by the end of this year. They were perfect! My sisters weren't worried about the kids knocking my dishes on the floor and breaking them and I was happy not to use disposable plates.

7) Food storage - I admit that we do use ziploc bags, but not many. Most are used to freeze meat (and I'm open to suggestions for alternatives). I then wash them out and re-use them. I bought some ziploc bags early summer last year when they were cheap and I have yet to even open those packages since we are still using the same ones. Most food storage in the pantry is done with tupperware. Husband and I store left overs in tupperware. We also take our lunches to work every day and use tupperware. I've had a box of sandwich bags in my pantry since before we moved into our current house, almost 4 years ago.

8) We don't buy plastic water bottles. Instead, I have 4 different bottles. One is always at work for use at my desk. One is actually specifically for running (it's attached to a strap for holding it in my hand). The other two are used for everything else. Here's a fun fact if you didn't know it already. While you can't take liquids through the security checkpoint at an airport, you can take empty bottles. When we travel I pack two empty water bottles, I leave the lids off and in an easy place to get so when I go through security there aren't any questions. Once I pass security, I fill them up with water at a drinking fountain. Not only is it cheaper than buying bottled water at an airport, I'm not using disposable containers.

9) Plastic Bags - I rarely use them. I keep two reusable bags that fold up nice and small (and light!) in my purse. I use these everywhere we go. If I'm not buying much, only a couple of items, half the time I'll carry them out of the store or put in my purse. I always have re-usable bags for the grocery store. I also use my produce bags from everything...from produce to bulk items like nuts and seeds (I bought some bags specifically because it's a small weave and can handle the bulk items). I do use a plastic bag in the kitchen garbage can, but it's bio-degradable. I don't use plastic in the other trash cans, I just empty them out into the kitchen one each week. I'm open to suggestions on what to use instead of a plastic bag in the kitchen. Right now not using a bag or a paper bag aren't an option (paper would get wet and rip....the outside trashcans we have are from the previous home owners and full of holes..not to mention the abundance of deer in the subdivision)

2/17/11 - update regarding plastic bags. I mentioned I use my product bags for bulk bin items. Well, I forgot to mention that I also don't use tags to mark the item. The tags the stores provide for you to write down the bulk number aren't normally recyclable. Instead, the bags I use have different colored tags on them. So I take my grocery list/envelope and on the opposite side I write down the color..the item..and the bulk #. Then I put these items last and when the cashier gets to them, I hand over my handwritten list. Sometimes..it's the little things like this that make me happy.

10) (added on 02/17/11) One thing I forgot about, because I keep forgetting to do it, is bringing my own Tupperware when I go out to eat. Most restaurants still use non-recyclable containers and it's rare for me to eat everything on my plate. So I'm always taking the food home and I cringe every time (we go out to eat usually once over a weekend). For awhile I was really good about putting tupperware in my purse when we left the house and I would use that for anything I wanted to take home. I've been relaxed in that though, haven't remember in months. In fact, what prompted me to remember is that a friend commented on my facebook post yesterday about this challenge and asked if I had ever done that. Thanks to CTWW - I got somebody else thinking about it and a reminder that I needed to get better at it myself! So...fingers crossed I remember to do this more frequently.

I'm sure a lot of you already practice some of the same things I do, but I really hope you do other things that I didn't list. I would love to know what I'm over-looking and what I could do differently.

Oh..and as a continuation of last week. I posted all this on my facebook page too. I was also tempted to buy some snacks from the vending machine at work, I'm craving chips, but reading the CTWW post on Reduce Footprints reminded me of the month-long challenge to not eat unhealthy snacks. So I won't be buying any.

Get Fit Monday - on a Tuesday

2011-02-15T15:59:00.000-06:00

hosted by Journey to Green

I totally flaked on posting my workout update yesterday. Ooops. It wasn't anything special either. I'm still not doing full workouts, was still taking it easy after the surgery. I had actually pulled something or gave myself a hernia or, well, something that was really bothering me last week. Heck, it was so sore just my pants touching it was painful. So I didn't do any cross-training, I didn't want to chance making it worse. I did, however, go running.

I ran on Wednesday, I did 4.08 miles in 36 minutes, had an average pace of 8:49 which is close to what my normal pace was. I was really happy about that.

I ran at Castlewood on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday I went by myself and attempted two of the hills that are in the trial running coming up soon. I had to walk up the last part of the second major hill. I wasn't happy about that but since I haven't been working out as often as planned, there wasn't much I could do. I was also still running on a lot of ice and snow. I ran 4.64 miles in 49:01 minutes. My average pace was 10:33. On Sunday I ran with a friend who is doing the trial run with me. He hasn't run on the trails before so it was a way for me to show him the trails and to run one of the hills. He was just getting back from vacation so we took it easy, we are both out of shape! lol! We did 4.08 miles in 01:03:07. Our average pace was 13:09. This is slower than normal for me, but it was a great pace and we talked and had fun. Yes, I said it, we had fun running.

I've been really nervous about the upcoming trail run. I'm still having trouble with all the hills and the mileage. The good thing is that when I was finished with the run Sunday I felt like I could have kept going, I felt like I could have easily ran several more miles. We also ran up all the hills, although we only did one major one. After Sunday, I'm actually feeling confident that I can do the race. I might be slow but I'm confident I can do it. I have one more weekend to train and I plan to tackle one of the hills I have only run up twice. I think it's the longest and hardest. If I can do it, I'll feel really good.

So that's it. I only ran 3 times Monday - Sunday. How did you do?