My Little Workout Buddy

As part of my work's health insurance, we have this school-wide 10 week fitness plan/competition.  As part of it, I am supposed to do 2-3 strength workouts per week.  Since Little Man does not get to go out as much as his little body should, due to the ice covered playground at pre-school, I have enlisted him to help me with the strength workouts.  It makes them go by so much faster and we have a lot of fun. 

 Just look at that face of determination. 

Run today: Speed workout: Little Man and I also spent a half-hour outside playing snow soccer.

Great Meal

I spent the summer saving and storing food for the winter and, despite the warm temperatures we have had lately, it is winter; so we're digging in. Tonight's dinner, Italian Wedding Soup with ingredients from our garden and warm-out-of-the-oven bread.

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Run for the day: 3.5 miles

Temptation

     While I have been incredibly bummed out this winter due to the lack of snow, I did not hesitate to take advantage of a beautiful spring day (in January) this weekend.  Little Man and I spent the morning checking out all the animal tracks running through our yard (deer, birds, rabbit, squirrel) and then headed off to the park.  Thankfully, I put his snow pants on for the trip, because as soon as we got there, Little Man noticed this little puddle, which I was able to steer him clear of.  However, a little later while I was standing and talking to another mom, Little Man decided that I was distracted enough to pull off a full sprint right into the lake sized puddle on the other side of the playground.  Little Man was determined to go for a swim and outwit his mother. I saw the moment of hesitation from across the playground and was just far enough that there was no way I could get there on time. He was incredibly proud of himself for pulling it off, although once he knew he had been spotted, turned around and sat by the massive puddle and looked at me with that "what's the matter with you, nothing going on here" look.  Not long after that I was carrying his happy wet butt off the playground to be stripped down in the car.  Thankfully the warm spring like weather kept him from getting too cold and we were both thankful for the hour we spent at the playground soaking up the little sun we have had this winter.  So happy in fact that we went to the playground a bit today, thankfully the puddles had frozen back over. 

Mileage for the past week: A little over 18 miles, not where I wanted to be at this point in the year, but much better then last week. 

New Shoes!

 I needed a little extra motivation today, so I went shopping for new running shoes.

My personal trainer decided he would also help out with the motivation. 

Run for the day 3.25 miles



Note to Grandma

I am not going down without a fight!

Run for the day; speed workout, fueled by the need to take down the grandma.

I should probably also mention that the laundry detergent made it though it's first real test, soiled toddler sheets.  They came out of the drying ready to go back on little man's bed.  

Vermont Farm Show

Farm show? Hey, why not, we do appear to be on the verge of being a small family farm and they say you can sample local Vermont products. It's free, even better. 

If you have not been following my blog from the beginning, I should probably tell you, that since we discovered the coop behind our house and purchased chickens, our home has been slowly turning into a small family farm (she's turning it into a zoo! -NorthernDaddy) ; it is probably good we don't have more land, because we would be in trouble.  Up to this point, we have chickens, 1 rabbit(a pet) and will be purchasing ducks and possibly meat rabbits in the spring.  Going to a farm show makes a lot of sense.

While we were at the show, not only did we get the information we needed for the things we already have or are going to have, we were able to sample some wonderful new products.  We found out about a new ice cream place between here and grandma's house.  My friend Sarah recently pointed out a disturbing trend; that all of our major vacation stories seem to revolve around us finding another ice cream place.  We discovered a place in Vermont that sells Emu burger and - yes - bought some before we left. (Note to all of our Virginian friends; there is a place in Prince William County that we first discovered the stuff and it is wonderful!) Most importantly, I finally was able to sample Ice Cider and man is it good.  In fact Andy and I sampled it from two different vendors.  Sorry Little Man, you're just going to have to wait until you are 21.  There were other good products, but these were by far the best and the greatest new discoveries. 

I would highly recommend attending a farm show if you ever get the chance.  It will be worth the trip, I promise, and if you live in Vermont, the one here is open for one more day. Go check it out.

A friend just asked how the laundry detergent works, we have only done one load since we made it, but it appears to be working fine.  No complaints yet.  The Simple Dollar guy did a test with mustard and white shirts and the results were in favor of using the homemade stuff, so we'll see.

Run for the day: 3.1 on the hamster track...... I have already totaled more the for this week than I did last week.  

Laundry Detergent

For months I have been telling myself I am going to make laundry detergent.  Several people state it is a much more environmentally friendly and incredibly cost effective way to go.  I even have a recipe; book marked from a blog called the Simple Dollar.  I finally decided that today was the day.   The ingredients (which were surprisingly easy to find at the grocery store) are:

1 cup washing soda

1/2 cup borax (supposedly this can be optional)

1 bar of soap (the cheap kind)

about 3 gallons of warm water

Next you take the bar of soap and break it into small pieces (I used a kitchen grater). Bring 4 cups of water to a boil and slowly add the soap to dissolve.  

Next, you put 3 gallons of warm water into a bucket, add the borax, washing soda and soap mixture.

Stir everything together, put a lid on it and let it sit for 24 hours. 

 The total cost of everything was $8.74 and I have enough to make at least two more batches.  At a cup per load, I should have 52 loads in that bucket.  You do the math on savings. 

Run for the day 3.2 miles

Winter Blues

This year started out great! I got up on New Years Day and ran a 5k with a faster time than I have been running all year.  It was wonderful! The following day, Little Man and I went skating in the morning and sledding in the afternoon with friends.  2012 was off to a great start.  Fast forward to this past week, when I struggled to get my butt moving and running 1-3 miles 4 times during the week.  Now there you have it, that is why I need some accountability.  There is still time--with your help of course to get my lazy butt back on track, and until recently this year has not been a total loss.  Up to this point in January we have.......

  Gone sledding twice with friends. Even on the day it was 3.7 degrees!

 Taken Little Man to try out his down hill skis once. 

Gone ice skating 3 times.  Look little man no longer needs crates, although he does use them occasionally because he knows he can move significantly faster with them.

With a great view like this at one of our favorite winter spots I should have no problem right?  After today I'll post what I have actually done during the week, and if you see me sliding, give me a call---tell me to get moving or even better invite me for a an evening snowshoe. 

Need a Little Accountability

The past year has been a great year in terms of us becoming more conscious of the resources we are using and being more locally/self-sufficiency focused.  In addition to this, I have been doing much better in my own exercise routines and goals.  However, January, the month that is supposed to be set aside for making new resolutions, has seen a rapid decline in both areas.  I have been reading a fellow coach's running blog the last few weeks and realized that, like her, I need to do something to keep myself accountable (since I know so many of you do a really good job kicking my butt when I need it).  As a means of using my wonderful readers to keep me accountable, I am going to start posting how we are doing is the areas of self-sufficiency and also how I am doing pulling myself off the couch to run and get out and enjoy the snow--even though it is insanely cold out there right now.
Of course I need to start out with a little reflection back, for my own sake, in order to motivate myself to keep moving forward.  For today's blog I am doing a delayed New Year's look back at how we have done this past year in terms of sustainability and tomorrow I will reflect on what I have done so far in January for getting my butt outside and moving. Bear with me and please feel free to pick up the phone and tell me to get off the couch and get moving at any point.  I need it.

While we have had some epic failures, such as dandelion fritters (yucky) and trying to make pasta with gluten-free flour,  we have had some amazing culinary favorites that have been locally sourced, homemade and much cheaper and tastier (in most cases) than buying the pre-made stuff at the store.

Homemade pastas: We have made a variety of different pastas this year.  The one above is homemade ravioli made from King Arthur flour and eggs from our chickens, homemade ricotta cheese (we also made mozzarella, that was amazing) topped off with pasta sauce that I made (Although I will admit Boves of Vermont makes an amazing vodka sauce that you have to try.). And to go with that, homemade bread that Andy makes on a weekly-if not daily- basis. 

Quiche: This has become a favorite of not only us but friends and family as well.  Once again, King Arthur flour, eggs from our chickens and cheddar cheese.  Sometimes a little bacon also gets added in.  And evidenced by my husband's efforts to cut corners one night, it does not taste as good without a home-made crust.  Which, by the way, is so easy to make. 

Preserving: We picked our own strawberries, apples and blueberries this summer and froze a ton for the winter.  Last week I was eating Greek yogurt with blueberries we picked down the road this summer, it was wonderful.  We also made raspberry jam from our own bushes, froze some basil from the garden, made pasta sauce, and pickled beets.  It has been a nice winter so far.

We made raised beds this year

We made a bird feeder for our wonderful mosquito eating friends.  Ever since we kicked the bats out of the house we have had bug issues. 

We winterized the house by weatherizing the pipes and caulking every gap that air could come in . 

 To top it all off Little Man helped daddy with various household projects. 

There you go, that is what we have been doing the last year or so, now I just need to get my butt in gear and keep going. 

Feeding Our Friends

When we went to get our Christmas tree in December, the lady who was making wreaths gave little man a pine cone.  This week we decided to make use of it.

Little man created a bird feeder and placed it outside where he can watch it from his window.

Happy New Year!