Breakfast Salad

I've been reading Born to Run, a book about a tribe of super runners in Mexico, and I feel inspired to live healthier. I like running, but not to the degree that I'll take off for 20 miles for the heck of it. What I'd really like to work on is my eating habits. I can feel little Tedster's eyes on me when I'm having a snack or making a meal, and I know that I have a short amount of time left before I have to set a good example. Goodbye Poptarts, goodbye Diet Cherry Pepsi, goodbye Swedish Fish.

Anywho, the book talked about how eating like the Tarahumara leads to more energy and stronger athletic ability. The author talked about the benefits of getting your daily vegetable intake in at the start of the day. Somehow, this made a lot of sense to me when I was reading it last night, and I tried a breakfast salad this morning.

Fail. My salad greens from last week's farm share were a little wilty, and then the apple I added in for texture ended up being mealy. I thought Ranch dressing might defeat the purpose of the breakfast salad, so I was going to try some balsamic. Only I didn't have balsamic, so I opted for Apple Cider Vinegar instead.

Long story short, I had to toss the majority of the salad and ended up with a bowl of Trix about an hour later. Since I've already blown my goal for the day, I think I'll just snack on some cheddar popcorn and buy a soda. When do I realistically need to start setting an example anyway?

Anyone have hints for a great and healthy breakfast (but not a smoothie with kale...just how that looks grosses me out)? Should I look into hiding snack foods around my house for when Teddy is bigger and I'm hungry?

Christmas wish list

Just ran across a few pictures on the WWW that are going straight to the top of my wish-list. I wonder if the hubster can make these for me??

First: book headboard. I also love the lamp. I LOVE LAMP!

original image from here

Second: book table

original image from here

Third: a festive tree

original image from here

This Week's Library Faves

Pre-Ted, I never would have imagined that picture books could be so entertaining. Every week, we end up with a few gems that are our (mostly mine, if I'm going to be honest) favorites. Without further ado, this week's top picks: The Boy Who Cried Ninja, by Alex Latimer: Tim deals with ninjas, pirates, and time-traveling monkeys (!!!) The illustrations in this book are great, specifically the speech bubbles.

Anton Can Do Magic, by Ole Konnecke: This book is Calvin & Hobbes-esque with the illustrations. Anton gets a magic hat and believes in his ability to make things appear.

I would like a promotion

I'm feeling cranky, so be forewarned that this could get whiny.

I've been very fortunate that my employer has been super flexible and willing to work with me in creating a schedule that works now that I'm a mother. I'm half-time for the semester, and really appreciate that I have a job with benefits and that I get to hang with the Tedster for the majority of my day.

That being said, I want to be promoted to full-time SAHM status. Pre-Ted, I was on the fence about what would work best for me. I've only been back at work for a few weeks, so who knows how I'll feel at the end of the semester. All I know is that right now, my heart's not in it and I've become a chronic clock watcher.

I went to my first MOPS meeting today, and I think that's why I'm feeling especially down about the whole situation. We talked about the "supermom myth," and the whole time, I was comparing myself to these mothers who get to stay home with their kiddos (not the take-away from the meeting, whoops). At this point, I'm trying to talk myself into being the best I can be wherever I may be. I'm committed to my job this semester, and also hoping that something magical happens that allows me to stay home. Or sneak Teddy in with me. He looks professional, right?

Farm Share adventures

Earlier in the summer, Zach and I decided to sign up with our local CSA for a summer farm share. We thought it would be great to have fresh produce every week, and I knew that I should branch out from my normal routine (aka, canned green beans as my go-to veggie for every meal). So far, so good with what we've gotten, and I thought I'd share some discoveries:

 

1) Beets are actually delicious. I was only familiar with canned beets prior to this summer, and always hated how the juice would leak into my other food or even the taste. Roasting beets makes them pretty mild, and when you put them in foil packets, clean up is easy (I've roasted them on the grill and in the oven, both methods work great). You can also apparently do things with the beet greens, which I haven't tried, but am considering using this recipe (care of Martha):

recipe here

2) Any veggie in chip or fry form is delicious. Beet chips? Good. Kale chips? Good. Zucchini fries? Really good. Now go make these zucchini fries right now.

3) Baba ganoush is trickier than I thought it would be. First off, what the heck is tahini anyway? I had an eggplant, and thought a little dip would be good. I didn't have all the ingredients for baba ganoush, so I went with a roasted eggplant dip. It was a little meh. Since I love dip I ate it all, but I don't think I'd make it again, or if I did, I would add cheese. Cheese makes everything tastier.

Summer is over, and now I cry

I started back to work in the middle of last week, and today is my first Monday. Mondays are the worst, am I right? I'm lucky enough to be working half-time, so I only have to leave Teddy for 4 hours a day, but I still have mixed feelings. Would you want to leave this guy?

Aloooooooooooooooha!



Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy my job and I love the people I work with. It's just that Ted was pretty fun to work with, too. I had this brilliant idea of laying out a weekly chore chart of the house things I need to get done so I spread out the joy of cleaning and laundry throughout the week. Monday's chores remain untouched as of this writing. We were too busy reading books and playing with toys this morning to bother with lame chores.

The silver lining to terrible Monday is that today is the first day of classes, and the energy on campus in CRAZY. Students have been in and out of the ASUW office all afternoon, and everyone is genuinely excited to be back. Next Monday could be a different story.

In other news, I'm between reads and trying to decide whether I should tackle the TBR pile in my house, or ransack the shelves when I go to the library tomorrow. I have a hard time resisting the siren song of the library. Does anyone have book recommendations for me? Preferably something easy and entertaining, because my reading takes place in the evenings when my brain is mush.

Recuperating

Tedster had his 2 month old immunizations today, and we're regrouping. The silver lining of the doctor visit is he discovered how fun and noisy the paper on the exam table is. I may need to look into buying a roll to make tummy time more fun.

My Car is Officially too Small

Zach and I are weird about cars. He loves going to look at new cars and take test drives, and I'm easily convinced that we need to trade in whatever we're driving for something different. Currently, my car is a Ford Fiesta, which I love. When we found out that Ted would be joining our zoo, we debated whether we would need a new car. I held firm on waiting to see what we would need after Ted got here, and for a few weeks, it seemed like maybe little Machete (the Fiesta) would actually work. Turns out that it works great when it's just Ted and me, is sufficient for the three of us when Zach drives (the passenger seat can't go back very far because of the car seat), and won't work at all if we need to fit in another passenger or more cargo than the diaper bag. My family has been giving me a hard time about our small car, which makes me want to dig in my heels even more and make Machete work for our family. Alas, it seems like it might be time to say goodbye. Family, if you're reading this, you were right. Jerks.

Life Lately, part 1

I've been MIA lately, for good reason, my little guy, Ted:

He's 8 weeks old, and super cute. Without further ado, here's what else is new at Casa Guier:

1) My dishwasher is broken and has been for over a week and a half. This is a total first world problem, but I'll still be psyched to see the diva appliance repair guy who books appointments 10 days out.

2) I've read a bit through my maternity leave, but not as much as I had hoped. Most recently, I finished "Ready Player One."

I liked it, but since it was about video games, I probably only really understood 80% of the gaming jargon. This was a book club selection from a few months ago that I didn't quite get to, and was also named in one of those "best of" lists recently. If you're a child of the '80s, this would be a good read for you.

To be continued...