2 birds with one stone (Day 498)

I am all about multi tasking, this is why I decided to combine #46 (try 20 new recipes) with #78 (take Micah out for 10 dates). Now technically I didn't actually take Micah out on a date, but who says that a date has to involve leaving the house? Both Micah and I agreed that even though we stayed in it was totally an awesome date!

Micah and I have a fascination for cooking shows. We both enjoy watching just about anything that is on the food network or cooking channels. Yesterday was no exception, when Paula Dean came across our screen we were both mesmerized. She was cooking with her sons and they were having a grand ole' time. Micah and I were both starting to salivate over the screen and I thought, "This is ridiculous, we could totally do that"

Well, it was not QUITE as easy as Paula made it out to be, but with a few minor substitutions to the recipe we ended up with a rather lovely meal.

Now to answer the question that I know you are all wanting to ask... we made two dishes and both of them were really amazing.

~Grilled Steak with Blue Cheese and Berry Glaze

I was surprised at how good this was, I was worried it would be overly sweet with four different kinds of berries and two cups of sugar. The creaminess of the cheese really meshed well with the glaze (which I might add is beyond wonderful over

vanilla ice cream)

~Baked Wild Rice

Our version was a lot less wild and a whole lot more brown... it was AMAZING!

Yes!

Stuck (Day 478)

I have a knack for getting stuck in places.

When I was really little I got my head stuck in the stair railing, with a little fanagaling (one of my new favorite made up words) and I believe a stick of butter, I was freed and I never again tried to put my head through the stair railing.

When I was about 11 years old my mom, my sister Tracy (who had just gotten her drivers permit), and I were driving across the country. I was in the backseat and dropped something, when I reached down to get what had fallen under the drivers seat, I of course got my arm and shoulder stuck under the drivers seat. While trying to get my arm out my head got stuck. My mom (who by this time was use to me getting stuck) crawled over the seats to try and "unstick" me. It was quite the fiasco... me whimpering, my sister laughing, and my mother yelling "Tracy, slow down... Tricia stop crying!"

I remember, as a teenager, getting my foot stuck under the passanger seat of my friend Scott's parent's car. We were on our way to youth group and I managed to somehow get the sling of my new sling back shoes stuck under the passenger seat. I think we may have had to cut my shoe to get me unstuck.

In college, I took a class called "Math for Educators" I was pretty much stuck from day one and only managed to get a C in the class because my amazing fiance spent hours on the phone working patiently through every problem with me.

Just the other day, I was stuck in downtown Seattle. I had been at a doula training and forgot to move my car.... a 1/2 mile walk, a bus ride and $150 towing bill later I became unstuck.

So why am I writing all of this... Because I once again find myself stuck. I have done all of the "easy" things on my list and I am now stuck.

#3 getting skinnnny! (Day 473)

Long time no update on my weight loss... So here it is folks

*** 164.4 lbs ***

Yup, that's right folks, I am down 33.6 pounds since I started this blog. That is a little over half way to my goal weight and I feel SO much better.

Here are my stats from my first blog on June 17th 2010:

Age: 33 (40 days shy of 34)

Weight: 198

Pant Size: 12/14

Shirt: Extra Large

Now here are my stats as of today:

Age: 35 (70 days since my birthday)

Weight: 164.4

Pant Size: 10

Shirt: Large

Looking forward to what the future holds... Don't know what that is, but I do know that it includes long walks where I don't get out of breathe, playing chase with the boys and not having to always be it, and a healthier and happier out look on life because I am finally taking a real initiative to take care of the only body that God gave me!

(Day 459)

This was written on day 459 but I accidentally saved it as a draft instead of publishing, better late than never :)

Have you ever gotten so far behind on something that you feel like just quiting because there is no possible way to catch up? That is how I feel about this blog right now. For months I have felt like I've needed to blog but I have SO much to tell you, and just can't figure out where to begin. So this blog may not be pretty or even be coherent but I am going to try and catch you up on what I have been doing.

#12- Do a 3 week cleanse: I am 2 weeks into my cleanse and I feel great. I conned Brent into doing it with me which has been, for the most part, very helpful. The first few days we were both a little grouchy, but we have now adjusted to it and are seeing some great results (energy level is up and weight is down)

#8- Hike 10 different trails: Some dear friends suggested that we take the kids on a walk down near the Des Moines marina. Now typically I would not consider this a hike because the trail is paved and it just doesn't seem like "hiking". So why am I putting it down on my blog? Because I want to! It is a really cool walking trail and we have had so much fun walking there that it deserves to be mentioned.

Last Saturday we took the youth group on a hike to Denny Creek. It sprinkled most of the hike but we still managed to have a good time. I would like to go back there again when the weather is more cooperative.

# 46- Try 20 new recipes: I just made a meatball recipe that is not only tasty but it is healthy too. I also have been playing around with marinades and chicken a lot lately.

# 53- Turn garage into a playroom: I don't know how much I can actually take credit for on this one. I guess if nagging your spouse to lay carpet tiles down counts then I have done a TON of the work :-)

# 68- Go on a cross country road-trip: WOW, I need to dedicate an entry just for our cross country train trip adventure. When I originally wrote this I was thinking of a traditional road-trip. What I can tell you is that there was nothing "traditional" about our cross country Rail-road trip!

# 85- Spend the day playing board games: I love that my hubby & kiddo's are board game freaks! We have so much fun pulling out our "non-monopoly games" (that's what Ben calls them). We sat down the other day and played almost 7 hours of games... I think that qualifies , don't you?

#24 Share my faith: Since Brent & I have taken over the senior high youth group at our church there has been a lot of opportunity for me to talk about what and why I believe what I do. I have to say that this is not exactly what I was thinking of when I wrote out this goal. In my heart I really would love to talk to some of my family and friends that don't share the same belief system that I do. I hate that I am at times hesitant to bring it up, I know that they know where I stand, but I would love to talk more about it with them. I also know that I am very passionate about Christ and I never want for my passion to come off as being pushy.

It's funny, I was talking to some doulas the other day and the subject of religion came up. I was amazed at how tolerant everyone was toward Buddhism, Universalism, and even Judaism. When I brought up Christianity the door was slammed so hard (all I said was that some Christian women enjoy playing worship music and quoting scripture during their labors). I was really shocked at the reaction. I had not said anything negative about their use of non-Christian practices in the labor room, such as Reiki, so I figured that I would be safe. Where is the tolerance... I have to be tolerant of others but the same courtesy is not reciprocated?

I am thinking that I need to grow a thicker skin and not let what is said to me bother me so much.

WOW- I had no idea that I had so much to say about that. Thanks for letting me stand on my own little blogging soap-box and vent.

15 years! (Day 340)

(this post was started on day 340, but somehow not posted until now)

I was a little worried about #79 (celebrate our 15th anniversary in a unique way). 15 years is a long time and I really wanted for our weekend to be special.

I am responsible for planning the odd years and I decided that I wanted to go someplace new so I found a cute Bed & Breakfast in Leavenworth and made reservations (Cottonwood Shores B&B) I was so excited that they had availability and was really looking forward to our weekend away.

Here is where the story goes wonky. I received a phone a few days before we were going to leave, from the owner Pat, who informed me that they would not like for us to come and stay with them. I was perplexed and asked why. She had looked me up on Peoplefinder.com and was "concerned" that I had lived in so many different locations and told me that I had aliases (which was news to me). I was in total shock!

I went home and looked on Peoplefinder and found several listings for a Patricia which is not and has never been my name.

I was pretty emotional, but I called Pat (who IS actually a Patricia) back. I was trying to choke back tears as I explained to her that her source was not valid and that I was not the person that she thought I was. It didn't change her mind and I was forced to find another B&B.

What blows my mind about the entire situation is, that Pat was really nice through the entire ordeal and I really want to give them a good review but I can't.

We ended up staying at an interesting B&B. The owner Verne was I believe he said 84 years old. Verne's wife was away visiting there son in Florida, so Verne was left on his own to tend to the guests. He was very sweet and had some amazing stories that somehow all ended up with someone being dead. I guess when I have lived that long most of my stories may end that way too.

We arrived in around 10pm on the first night and after putting our bags in our room (which was sweet and very clean), we joined Verne and the other couple who was staying there in the living room. It was a large room that had last been redecorated in the 1950's. The walls had the most interesting wallpaper on them, I think the part that was so interesting was that the paper went up the wall, covered the extremely high vaulted ceiling and then came right down the other side. It was truly... interesting.

We said our good nights and retreated to our room. Brent opened the door for me and as I turned to close the door my dear sweet husband said "Tricia, take your pants off". Well as you can imagine I was expecting something a little bit more romantic. Here is how the rest of the conversation went like this;

Me: "I know we are celebrating our anniversary honey and you are excited but do you think ...." Brent: "TAKE your pants off NOW Tricia!"

Me: "Brent I was hoping to..."

Brent: "Tricia, listen to me, if you don't take your pants off right now we.. NO NO NO DON'T SIT ON THE BED"

Well now I was intrigued at this point (and a little frightened) so I obeyed my hubby and removed my pants. He then proceeded to show me that the back of my pants were completely covered in fur. When I say covered I mean covered! There was so much golden fur that you could barely see my black pants through the fur.

At this point I am stating to panic and tear up. What in the world I had gotten us into. Brent was able to defuse the situation as only he could and within minutes we were laughing so hard that we were both crying.

The next day I found out that the chair that I had been sitting on the night before just happened to be the cats favorite spot. I decided not to sit there for the rest of our stay.

We puttered around the town the following day and just enjoyed the ambiance of this amazing German inspired town. The following day I planned a white water river rafting trip for us. It was SO much fun! Neither Brent or I had been white water rafting since we had gone 20+ years ago with our church youth group. We thoroughly loved Leavenworth and will be visiting it again soon.

1/3 of the way done. (Day 332)

Well not quite... I am one day shy of being a third of the way done. I have completed 27 of my 101 items completed and I have started on 26 others.

Not bad, considering I was hesitant to do a "101 in 1001 day" challenge in the first place. Here is an update on a few items that I have completed or are in the process of working on.

I bought a Groupon today for a knitting 101 class. Woo Hoo! I may actually get #50 marked off my list (Learn how to knit).

This last weekend was spent completing the second half of #57 (decrease clutter by having 2 yard sales), I had one of the two sales last summer. I was motivated to help a friend who is moving sell some of her things which in turn helped me!

I am pretty sure that I will not be completing all of the reading goals that I have listed. I use to love reading, but lately it seems that the only time I have to read is when I am beat tired, which for this dyslexic girl, is the worst time to try and read.

I figured I have to at least try and start some of this reading so the last week Micah and I have been reading "Bridge to Terabithia" I read it for the first time in 4th grade and since Micah is now in 4th I figured it was time for me to share it with him. I am happy that he is enjoying it as much as I did. We have had some great conversations about what we think Terabithia looked like or what it would look like if we could build a land of our own.

Last week was Mother's Day, so I decided it was time to knock #84 off my list (take my mom out for pedi's). It was a fun present for both of us and we really enjoyed the special treatment.

I am meeting with a group of ladies for a class that is given by a personal trainer. Because the class is so small (there were 4 of us in the last class) and personal I am counting it towards #17. It was fun and I am looking forward to our next class on Wednesday.

Speaking of Wednesday, it just so happens that Wednesday is my 15th anniversary. I am trying to plan a fun get-away but I can't blog too much about it yet. I promise to update you with all of the details (ok, maybe not ALL of them) when we return.

She flies through the air with the greatest of.... ease??? (Day 318)

I got a phone call the other day that was... unique!

It was my dear friend Jena, she was calling to ask me if I would like to go to a trapeze class with her. After checking my calendar and finding that the time and day where available I said YES!

My thought process went something like this:

"Woo Hoo, I get to hang out with Jena.... I love Jena... she is so great... we always have so much fun together... we both like good food... I love that she likes good food... I bet we can do lunch before this class... I love lunch... lunch is so great... lunch with Jena is double great... this is going to be so great... Woo Hoo"

As you can see, when I said yes I was not considering several things, in fact, I was not considering much at all. I was excited to spend time with my friend who, like me, loves little cafes that serve amazing Caresse sandwiches on a wonderful baguette with cute little dishes filled with olives & pickles, and others with figs & heavenly almonds. (can you guess what I had for lunch :-)

When I told Brent what I was going to do, he (unlike me) was thinking a little more practically.

Brent's thought process went something like this:

"...Ummm, are you serious?... You realize what trapezing is, right?... You are terrified of heights... you realize that you will be up high on a tiny little bar swinging... you sure you want to do this... on a full stomach... "

So what did I do.... just that!

Jena and I went out for lunch at a fun little specialty shop in Ballard called "Savour". We had wonderful Caprese sandwich and then we were off to face our fears.

I am proud to announce that we both flew through the air. Jena was much better at the "with ease" part then I was, but the point is I DID IT!

Overall it was a great day, I am able to mark off that I went to a group exercise class (#16) and that I went to a new restaurant (#88). Best of all I was able to have all of these new experiences with a fantastic friend.

Unique & New (day 307)

#81 - Take the boys on 10 unique field-trips

I believe that what I meant when I wrote this goal was "Take the boys on 10 field-trips to somewhere that they have never been on before".

I am clarifying my goal because, any of you with children (especially mine), know that ANY TIME you go on a field-trip you are most likely going to encounter a unique experience. For example: I took the boys to the grocery store (yes, we homeschoolers can even make a quick trip to get bread and milk into an educational field-trip), what should have been a quick in and out stop turned into an hour long "experience" which included a broken pickle jar, a cart full of unneeded items, and a now frazzled mom and two unhappy children who wished that their mother would take them on a "unique" field-trip that didn't require a clean up on aisle 12.

When our homechool co-op planned an Amtrak train trip to Portland for the day, I had not prepared myself for how "unique" this field-trip would be. Let me start by giving a big shout out to my mom who accompanied the boys and I on the trip. She was my a huge help and a great source of comic relief.

When my alarm went off at 5am, I knew that this was going to be... an experience. The train was scheduled to leave at 7:44am. We needed to be at the station 30 minutes early and it takes 15 minutes to get to the Tukwila station from my house, which meant that I needed to be out the door by 6:45am (I am not that bad at math... I added an extra 15 minutes in to assure that we would be on time).

Now for those of you who know me well, you can attest to the fact that I am not a 7am kind of girl. My alarm is usually set to go off at 7am and my day doesn't really start until around 8:30 or 9... at best!

Luckily I had packed most of the lunch and activities for the 3.5 hour train ride

the night before. This only left me with showering, waking up the kids, doing breakfast and getting everyone (and everything) into the car. One might think that 2 hours is enough time to do that... one would be WRONG.

My shower greeted me and beckoned me to stay "just another 5 minutes", my children pleaded from the comforts of their beds for "just another 5 minutes", who knew that breakfast at 6am requires "just another 5 minutes" and when it was time to walk out the door I was the one praying for "just another 5 minutes".

It was no surprise when we pulled into the train parking lot almost 15 minutes late. I was outwardly composed, but internally I was a tired and frazzled mess. I was relieved to see other moms arriving late too. Everyone was smiles and hugs, but I know some of them must have also been thinking "why in the world did I sign up for this craziness?"

It was a chilly morning and all of the adults stood huddled together chatting and reminding the kids to stay behind the yellow safety line, so that they wouldn't fall off the platform onto the tracks.

7:44 came and went, we found out that the train was going to be 45 minutes late... just enough time to run to Starbucks for hot cocoas for the kiddo's and a warm cup of sanity for mom and I.

45 minutes turned into an hour which turned into two hours. My body was no longer finding comfort from my latte, but rather an uncomfortable pain was beginning in my bladder. The kids were restless, Ben wanted to know "exactly why were you in such a hurry to get out of the house?" I was restless my sweet & gentle reminders to stay behind the yellow line were now sounding something like this "Do you want to die, because I can arrange that.... Get behind the yellow line NOW!"

The train finally arrived and we were off!

3.5 hours on a train is a loooong time. I had tried to pack light knowing that whatever I took would have to be hauled around with us. The boys sat a few seats in front of me with some of the other co-op kids and my mom and I sat with some other co-op moms. This arrangement worked out for the first 2 or 2.5 hours. I found out that I had not known what restless was on that train platform, NOW the natives were restless.

When we arrived in Portland I decided to go with a group that was visiting Voodoo Donuts (someone had seen it on the Travel Channel) and to Powells Books (the best bookstore that I know of).

Voodoo Donuts was.... an experience. (If you are a sensitive reader then don't read the following paragraph, just trust me and know that this place was a "one of a kind" type of place that had decent donuts and a not so decent menu)

Usually I ask my kids what they want, this time I tried very hard to get them to not read the menu reader board. When asked what Cock-N-Balls was I was able to convinced them that it was referring to roosters (I was relieved when they didn't ask why it looked like something else, hence the name) I nearly choked when Micah asked what penetration was. I explained that Ben's choice, the Triple Chocolate Penetration donut (chocolate donut covered in coco-puffs) was named that way, because the donut was "penetrated" with chocolate. Micah got a Dirty Donut (donut frosted and covered with Oreo's) which needed no explanation, everyone knows that Oreo's look like dirt. Ben told Micah not to read the "Old Dirty Bastard" donut because it was a bad word that he shouldn't be reading (but it's OK for him too read it and then say it???).

If you want your children to stay innocent then do not visit Voodoo Donuts.

Powell's bookstore was a much needed break after our donut experience. We spent hours browsing through the books. I love bookstores and I am so blessed that my children have inherited this love.

The train ride back was much quieter, we were in a train car with one other family, while the rest of our group was in the other car. The boys read their new books and my mom and I chatted with another co-op mom while her child slept.

All in all it was a fun-filled field-trip for my children. They will hopefully look back on this experience with smiles.

Our next field-trip (also with our co-op group), was yesterday. The boys and I drove 1.5 hours north to the Golden Glen Creamery. We got to look through wire at chickens, look through pens at cows and look through a window in a door at a room where cheese is made (no cheese was actually being made at the time). It was very educational but not nearly as exciting.

#46 - Try 20 new recipes

I tried a new hummus recipe. It was easy, which may be why it doesn't taste so great. It's edible but not fantastic.

#88 - Try 10 new restaurants

I went out to reconnect with my cousin and have a much needed girls night. She suggested we go to Il Fornia for their free appetizer happy hour, it was a good choice. The appetizers were simple but yummy and free as long as you order a drink (diet cokes count).

#3- Update my blog every 3 months on my weight lose

Have you been reading this post? If you have you can probably guess how my weight lose is going. Donuts, creameries, recipes and restaurants do not make for a good diet.

My last update on this was in September, at that time I had lost a total of 13 pounds. I am happy to inform you that I have lost more weight, I am sad to say that it is only 2.5 pounds.

I wish that I could give you good explanation but honestly I can't. The winter months are always difficult for me. Now that we are out of the rainy season I expect for my number to go up, the loss number not the weight one.

With that being said, I am going to put my laptop away and take my kiddo's out for a walk. I hope that attempting to complete #5 will help me get #13 at a -60 and inspire me to blog about #3 on more regular basis.

Inspiration + Motivation= Day 305

I am proud to announce that #100 (inspire 2 other people to do a 101 in 1001) is complete!

I have been told by three people that they will join me on the quest to complete this wonderfully crazy personal challenge. One out of three of them has already made her list and begun her 1001.

I look forward to seeing what they come up with,. My job now is no longer to inspire, but to help motivate them to complete their task.

Woo Hoo... You can do it!!!

Now, how is that for motivation :D

Oregon or bust! (Day 297)

What an amazing weekend!!!

Brent and I went to Salem OR to speak for the student body of Corban University (our Alma mater). We decided to make our trip into a mini vacation (#74) and left a couple of days early so we could visit our dear friends in Eugene OR (#66 ). We are so blessed to have friends that will put us up, and put up with us :-)

While we were in Oregon, we (meaning I) decided that our friends were too cool to stay Muggles, so we introduced them to the joys of geocaching (#72).

On Sunday afternoon, we left our friends and drove up to Salem. The college had reserved a hotel room for Brent and I for the night. We spent the evening just vegging out, Brent finished a book and I continued to work on crocheting my moms blanket (wow... that sure makes us sound old & boring doesn't it?)

The college is about 10 minutes from the hotel so the next morning we weren't rushed at all. We enjoyed the continental breakfast and then packed up the car and headed over to the college.

There were around 300-350 students who attended the chapel service. I was nervous before hand but once I got up on stage I was flooded with peace and it felt almost natural. God was definitely present. The students were receptive and afterwards, we were able to speak to some of them and got some very good feedback.

The only thing that could have been better about the weekend was us. Both Brent and I were struggling with the tail end of a stomach bug. My stomach was unsettled as was his but he had the added bonus of his "tail end" producing all sorts of nasty smells.

Busy, busy, busy! (Day 287)

Busy is a 4 letter word (see my 2/5/11 post), and busy is the best word to use to describe the last couple of months. In fact I have been so busy accomplishing my goals that I haven't had time to blog about them (this is my attempt to excuse away my unfaithfulness to my blog... it's working for me, hope it works for you too :-)

I am going to make a list of what I have been working on so that I don't forget to blog about anything that I've done. In order to keep you on your toes, I will not be writing about them in that they are listed.

16. Go to 10 group exercise classes
25. Make 10 bibs for Des Moines Pregnancy Aid

26. Help serve a meal at the Union Gospel Mission

40. Learn Geo-caching

46. Try 20 new recipes

47. Bake 3 cakes from scratch

48. Crochet a blanket & give it away

82. Invite 3 of our neighbors over for dinner

87. Visit 20 new parks/ playgrounds

94. Go to the Ballet

#48. Crochet a blanket & give it away

My mom went in for surgery last week which gave me a great excuse to get out my forgotten crocheting and try and get it done. I had begun this project months ago, I was almost half way done and thought I may actually complete it. That was until I (with the help of my mother) realized that I was dropping stitches.

For my non-crocheting readers, this means that if I continued on, I would indeed still make a blanket. It would, however, be triangular. Seeing that the blanket is being made for my mother, I tried to sell her on the idea that everyone has normal boring rectangular blankets, but triangular.... that's UNIQUE!

I do believe that ripping out half of a blankets' worth of stitches takes almost as long as crocheting it does. I am now 1/4 of the way completed with a beautifully normal blanket.

# 94. Go to the Ballet

I have been told that I am "lucky". If there is a $20 bill or a diamond ring on the ground, I am the one who finds it. I have entered drawings for concert tickets, deep freezers, a gold bracelet, mariners baseball tickets, and a slew of other things, which I always seem to win.

I loved the Steven Curtis Chapman concert, use my freezer from Dream Dinners on a daily basis, have a bracelet that I rarely wear, and went to an amazing baseball game where the man in front of us just happened to have tickets to the next days game, and out of the blue, gave them to me.

It is no surprise that my son Micah would inherit my "lucky" gene. A while back, the boys and I went to the Seattle Center. Just so happens, that Radio Disney was also at the Center on that day. They had a drawing that kids could enter, so I had both of the boys enter the drawing. A few weeks later I got a call informing me that Micah had won 4 tickets to the Ballet.

Micah decided that he would like to invite a friend of mine and her daughter along. He knew that my friends' daughter was in ballet and thought that she would really enjoy seeing Cinderella at the Pacific Northwest Ballet. As you can see, he also inherited my sweetness gene :-)

So off we went, the ballet was good. Afterwards I was talking to my girlfriend and came to the realization that I am one of those people who appreciates ballet, but by no means, am I an enthusiast.

#46. Try 20 new recipes

I love to cook, hate baking, but LOVE cooking. You may be asking yourself "if you l

ove to cook so much then why haven't you got this goal accomplished already?" That is a good question. I guess that when I think of the phrase "new recipe" it means something completely unlike anything I have ever made before. I am one of those cooks that takes a recipe and ma

kes a variation of it. That to me is not a new recipe, just an altered one.

Last night I made "Panera Breads Broccoli Cheddar Soup". I make potato cheese soup all of the time and I would assume, removing the potato and adding broccoli does not a new recipe make. I found a recipe online and decided to give it a shot. The way that they had me make the roux was a little different than how I made it for my soup. The recipe called for nutmeg which I would never have thought to add to my potato soup. It wasn't until I tasted the thick green gooeyness, that I decided it was indeed a new recipe worthy of blogging about, and one that I will be making often. YUM!

#82 Invite 3 neighbors over for dinner.

I invited some neighbors over for dinner, they came, we talked, we ate.

All in all it was an enjoyable evening (side note: I would have invited them over even if this wasn't one of my 101 items so it feels a bit like cheating... oh well)

#16 Go to 10 group exercise classes

I was at the YMCA with the boys one afternoon and I was ready to go but they were begging to stay in the teen zone just a little bit longer. It just so happened that there was a Zumba class at that time so I thought "what the heck, I'll give it a try".

What the heck is what I was thinking for most of the hour long class. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed the class, but I'm pretty sure that if I was earning my living through using my Latin inspired dancing skills...I would starve.

#26 Help serve a meal at the Union Gospel Mission

I did not actually complete this exactly as it is written, but I am marking it complete anyway.

The family and I went down to the Dream Center on a Saturday morning and helped to prepare sack lunches for the homeless and others who are less fortunate. It was fun doing this with Brent and the boys. I was so proud of how my boys jumped right in and started working and we are all looking forward to going back and doing this on a regular basis.

I figure that my intentions behind this goal were to help prepare a meal for others. With that in mind, I feel like I did complete this goal, just not at the Union Gospel Mission.

Micah was a great "runner" and made sure that 2 sandwiches went in every sack.

Ben was the master mayonnaise spreader

Brent was the master mayonnaise eater!

#87 Visit 20 new parks/playgrounds

The boys and visited a playground in Des Moines. We didn't spend long there because, it honestly wasn't a very great park. I know, your dying to know Why would we go to a not so great park?

#40 Learn Geo-caching

This is the answer to why we would visit a not so great park!

In my mind I had built up geo-caching as this difficult and complicated thing. It is not!

I found a great website that took all of the difficulty out of it for me http://www.geocaching.com

What is geo-caching? It is basically, a treasure hunt using a GPS, or in my case my iPhone (they even have an app for it).

So now that I understood the concept, I decided to take the boys out on our first geo-caching adventure, which is how we ended up at a not so great playground.

Here are the photo's to prove that we are true geo-cachers!

The boys with our very 1st Geo-cache

Ben searching for the second cache.

We found our second cache just as it started to rain.

I was recently told that I am a geo-caching addict and it very well may be true seeing as I have gotten my children, husband, mother and a few of my friends hooked.

I can't say too much more because some of you are most likely geo-cache "Muggles".

#25 Make 10 bibs for Des Moines Pregnancy Aid

I bought the material to make these ages ago and finally decided to take a crack at sewing my very first bib. It actually turned out OK.

I used a pink flannel frog print for the front and a coordinating yellow flannel for the back. I put quilt batting inside for extra absorbency.

I still need to add the Velcro but other than that I am pretty pleased with myself.

#47 Bake 3 cakes from scratch

As you know, I really do not enjoy baking cakes so this is biggie in my book.

In our house we have this crazy tradition called "torture mom" My children know that their mother is a pushover when it comes to birthday cake requests. They come up with an idea for a cake, and then they bat their big brown "irresistible to say no to" eyes and I am a goner.

I love my children and want only the best for them, which is why I don't buy the cheap $0.99 cake in a box mix. I go all out and have been known to spend upwards of $1.89 on their boxed cake mixes.

This year I decided to kill two birds with one stone and make Micah's cake from scratch. This was not done out of love for my child, but rather loathing of a certain goal that I had to accomplish.

When Micah declared what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday I nearly passed out. Here is what our conversation sounded like

Micah: Mom I think I know what kind of cake I want for my birthday

Me: Really buddy, what kind?

Micah: A chocolate cherry one.

Me: Sounds yummy! What shape do you want it in?

Micah: Mine.

Me: I know you want your cake, but what shape do you want it in?

Micah: I want a mine cake!

Me: A mind cake? Like, grey brain matter?

Micah: NO! A mine, like a gold and jewel filled MINE cake.

Me: What?!?!?

Micah: Oh and can you make mine carts too.... that would be soooo cool! (this line is delivered with batting of eyes and a big toothy grin)

After a minor panic attack, help from a dear friend, and a ton of baking (the first cake failed and was replaced by a good old $0.99 box mix) this is what we ended up with.

The bottom sheet cake is the non ruined home made chocolate cherry cake. The mountain is made by good old Betty Crocker.

4 letter words (Day 231)

LAZY is a 4 letter word that I have grown rather attached too . I love being lazy, bumming around the house in comfy clothes is my favorite way to spend my day.

WORK, another 4 letter word, is the opposite of LAZY. Work makes lazy not possible. WORK is one of my not so favorite 4 letter words.

I have very little to blog to you about because I have let the "L" word take over lately. I don't want to be a lazy person, but I don't want to not be one either. So, I there I was, stuck in the middle of a battle between lazy and work, and it appeared that lazy was winning.

That was until some dirty nasty 4 letter words began to take sides with lazy. When SLOB, MESS, and UGLY joined in on the fight I knew that LAZY had the upper hand. That was until WORK pulled out all of the punches and invited KIDS, GILT (that is how Micah spelled guilt on his spelling test), LOVE, DUTY, and of course BLOG. With so much ammunition poor LAZY didn't have a fighting chance.

So there you have it folks, I am back after more than a month of allowing lazy to rule the roost. I fell off the blogging wagon but I am pulling myself up by my BOOT straps and kicking LAZY to the CURB.

Ketchup (Day 197)

I have a few items to blog about I'm going to make it quick seeing as this is my second post for the day and my creative juices have been thoroughly juiced.

The holidays were wonderful. We were able to spend a lot of time quality family time together and in doing so I have been able to turn a few item bold (formerly bold and green, the blog is no longer letting me use colors for some crazy reason so now they are bold and black)

#93~ Over Thanksgiving, we had a freak cold front roll in and we ended up with around 6 inches of snow which allowed for us to build a snow fort. It wasn't the best snow fort, but the boys called it a fort so that is good enough for me.

Pre-fort picture of our house after the first snow fall.

#30~ The North Hill Community Club nominated me to be the "chair" the annual Christmas potluck. I know how to use chairs, I know how to purchase chairs and I even know how to throw chairs but when it comes to officially having the chairing title this was a first.

The event was a success and I have heard rumors of future chairing coming my way.

#60~ In all honesty, this is the reason that I haven't blogged much recently. We have nearly finished the kitchen remodel. I am SOOOOO happy with the progress that I am marking it as complete even though we still have a little bit of painting and a few cosmetic things left to do.

As far as remodels go I think we did pretty good, we are still married and mostly sane :)

This is the new breakfast bar. Not the greatest picture, but it is the only one that I have as of right now. I will post before, during and after photo's in the near future.

Got Milk? (Day 197)

It seems as though no matter how hard I try I go into a store for just a few items, I end up coming out with several bags and a receipt that is 8 feet long.

When I put #41 (make a grocery list, go into the store and ONLY buy what is on the list) I was hoping that it would compel me to become more organized about what I really need to buy. I have a knack for attracting junk food, kitchen gizzmo's and of course the "meal in a minute" cook-azines (not really a cookbook and not exactly a magazine) that are always near the check stand and never have a single "minute" recipe in them.

I am of course proud and yet a bit irritated to announce that I have completed #41. Next time I make a 101 list, I will spend a little more time thinking of items for the list and make sure that the goals are really something I am going to enjoy doing.

I know, I have lost most of you (that is assuming that anyone is reading my ramblings) and the rest of you (once again making the same assumption) are thinking "get to the point!"

Here is the point, I went in to buy milk, I walked out with only milk. I then went home put my milk in the fridge and drove right back to the store so that I could buy cereal at 75% off that I just happened to have a coupon for an additional $.75 off. I bought 3 boxes of cereal for $.27 each. THAT is amazing!!!! I probably spent more on gas than I did on the stinkin cereal.