Fill in the Blank Friday (A Link Up)

 

Hi!  Happy almost weekend.  And a three day weekend at that.  I'll bet all of you 9-to-5ers are psyched today, huh?  Me-well, not so much.  I'm one day closer to sending my baby off to become a big school kid.  (Are you sick of hearing about that yet?  Too bad.  My kid is going to kindergarten and I'm freaking out.  Get over it.) 

Anyway, I've never done anything like this before, but today I'm linking up with Lauren from The Little Things We Do. She posted this thing called "Fill in the Blank Friday", and now a whole ton of bloggers are doing it.  So since I love a good bandwagon, I've decided to jump on.  Here we go:

 

 

 

1. Over this Labor Day weekend I will be   crying my eyes out about Kindergarten starting in approximately 3 seconds, eating too much at our friends' BBQ, and celebrating my baby brother's 27th birthday.  Oh shoot, I really need to get him a present...

2. With the political debates going on right now, my thoughts are, "Can these people please stop slamming each other and just tell me how they are going to make things better? Whoever is going to realize that public school kids need to be educated as whole people and not just as standardized test-takers will get my vote".

3. Today  the boys and I had an awesome playdate with a group of friends we started playing with when the oldest ones were 1 and the babies couldn't even sit up.  That's a long time, and we were all sad when we said goodbye. 

4. The best thing I've cooked recently was   some buffalo chicken in the crockpot.  Just one more example of why I am in love with Pinterest.  Holy Man that stuff was good.

5. The last thing I bought was  2 backpacks, some Sharpie markers, and a pack of pens.  Boring with a capital B. It's really great that my students don't even bring a pen to school with them.  I love supplying them with stuff.

6. The best movie I saw this summer was ummmm.... did I even see any movies this summer? I watched this movie on Netflix the other night about this girl who found out at the very beginning that she had cancer.  It was horribly sad and I did that awful shaking cry through the whole thing.  I think I may have even wiped my nose on my shirt. 

7. The best book I read this summer was   50 Shades of Grey.  HaHa, just kidding. I am an English teacher, true.  But I don't think it takes an English teacher to realize that the writing in that book was ridiculously bad.  But if you're looking for a GOOD book, then you should read Room by Emma Donoghue. Trust me on this one.

 

 

Have a healthy day,

 

 

J



Food Lovin' Friday- Vegetarian Stir Fry

Hi! Happy Weekend!  Two things:  1)This week really flew by, didn't it?  (Not that I'm sad about that.  I hope the next 8 go by equally as quickly) and 2) I kinda suck at blogging.  I mean, I love it and all, but I get so sidetracked during the course of any given day and by the time I'm about to get in the shower and crawl into pjs I realize that, "yikes! I totally forgot to post today!" So for that I am sorry.  I'll try to do better.

So anywho (I really hate that fake word.  I hereby promise to never use it again), let's kick the weekend off with another fantastic recipe.  I really love that a bunch of people both here and on Pinterest seemed to like my Farmer's Market Pasta, so I will start sharing some other random creations more regularly.   In fact, I think I'll start doing it on Fridays.  Yes.  From here on out, tune in on Fridays for a healthy dinner you can easily recreate for yourself or your family.  Happy Birthday to  Food Lovin' Fridays!!! 

This week, I made a pretty amazing stir-fry.  And here it is in 5 pictures or less.  It's SOOOO easy.  I mean, seriously easy.  Make it this weekend for yourself.  And then share this post with everyone you know so they can enjoy some healthy deliciousness as well. 

Oooohhh... stir-fried non-chicken and vegetables. 
Lookin' good!

If you're not in love with soy "chick'n", you can use
steak or chicken. I for one, LOVED this though.

Here's the steak version for the Hubs. This
picture isn't blurry.  It's just hot and steamy.

This is the sauce I used. Aww, you don't have
a Wegmans near you?  I'm sorry.  You can
use another kind. I'm sure it'll still be good.

For those of you who enjoy a list of ingredients instead of a group of random pictures, this is what went in to my stir-fry:

Chopped up mixed vegetables (I used a package of frozen stir-fry veggies: broccoli, water chestnuts, baby corn and carrots)

some sort of protein (lean steak, tofu, chicken...)

Stir-Fry sauce

White Rice or Lo-Mein noodles

It's super easy:  Just heat a little bit of oil in a large skillet and heat everything up.  Make sure you stir it frequently.  Add the sauce and reduce the heat.  Serve over rice or noodles immediately. 

Question: What do you like to put in your stir-fry?

Have a healthy day,

J 

Stolen Post

I saw this chart on Pinterest a while back, and am officially deeming it worthy to share.  It absolutely amazes me how much sugar we consume.  It's in pretty much every single thing we eat and drink, but the truth of the matter is, the more we eat, the more we want.  Yes, sugar is very addicting.  Yet, as is the case with everything else, it is fully within our control.

 And just to prove one more time to you that I am in fact on this journey WITH you... this post is coming to you at the end of a day where I *drank* about 600 times the amount of sugar that any normal person should consume in any given day.  Ah yes, it started with Splenda in some coffee at the beginning of a very long day of meetings (Splenda=fake sugar=no calories, but totally weird).  I then downed a Snapple with lunch, and followed that up with some hot chocolate at the end of the day.  I vow to drink nothing but water tomorrow and hope that it all evens out. Blah.

So for those of you who are like me and enjoy a visual aid, here it is in all its glory:  the disgusting amount of sugar we consume in everyday foods and drinks. And for those of you skeptics who enjoy a disclaimer, here it is in all its glory: I have literally no idea who the original creator of this chart is.  I'm choosing to believe it is truth, but I guess unless I take the time to do the math, I will have no real way of knowing.  If you are math person and enjoy that kind of thing, please feel free to figure it out and let me know.

And on that note... ENJOY!


...and now you know. 

Have a healthy day,

J

Spring Fevah...

:

I've got it sooooo badly today, don't you?!?!  It is such a sunny day, and the birds are going nuts out there.  It's still pretty chilly (my car told me it was 50 as I was driving home), but it's coming, friends.  It's coming! 

He's figured out that if he
rides his bike fast enough, the cape
will fly out behind him like
a REAL superhero!

I CANNOT wait until we don't have to be cooped up inside anymore.  The boys are dying to get out there and ride their bikes, and I'm so excited for the long naps and early bedtimes that come with all of that fresh air! 


It's ALMOST making me want to get out there and go for a run (jog? walk/jog?)  But I pretty much hate running, and there is zero shot that I'm pushing the huge ass double stroller the whole time.  I'm hoping though, that I can convince them to accompany me on a nice long POWER WALK later.  The daycare at the gym is closed today, which means that Friday is usually my day off.  Getting out there to enjoy this day would definitely be an added bonus!

This weather is also making me cotemplate cleaning my gross house.  As you know, I'm on a kick to detoxify both my body and my home.  I found this awesome cleaner on Pinterest (Yes, I'm addicted to Pinterest.  I'm not ashamed.) It's completely homemade, and chemical free!  And once I looked in to it a little further, it turns out that it's actually a pretty well known little secret.  Here's the ridiculously easy recipe in case you're interested:

Homemade Disinfecting Cleaner

1 cup Dish Liquid (I use the clear Palmolive stuff)- heat it up for about 30 seconds

1 cup white vinegar

water

Essential Oil (optional. I used Lavendar so my house didn't smell like vinegar)

That's it!! How easy is that?  I diluted the soap/vinegar mix with water because I was planning on using it on my counters and basically everywhere else around my house, but you totally don't have to. In fact, my original source left the water out.  I will totally be using this from now on!

Giving some credit where it's due... here's the original source

(This is totally not my picture.  I stole it from my Pin).

Have a healthy day (weekend!),

J

Sacrifice

Hi! How's your day going? How's your week going? I just got home from a really fun playdate with my kids. One of the boys was turning 5, so we were celebrating. I met his mom when I was interviewing babysitters before my oldest could even walk, (almost 5 years ago!) We used to talk about baby foods and potty training, and now we're talking about choosing the perfect kindergarten. It's so cliche, but so incredibly true: this really does go by so fast...

Anyway, today is a pretty big religious day for all of us Catholics.  I use that term totally loosely, by the way.  My Church is the most liberal "Catholic" church ever.  (Haha, told ya I love a good oxymoron!) So without getting all churchy on you, I'll just sum it up- there are officially 40 days until Easter.  So for the next 40 days, I will be sacrificing something.  And that something should be something meaningful.  Something that will be replaced with another, better alternative. 

I have chosen to give up meat. 

Yep, that's right, for the next 40 days, (maybe longer depending on how it goes), I will be a vegetarian. 
I'm hoping that this decision, along with this blog, will be exactly what my body needs.  That my health will be the reward.  You see, I'm carrying around too much weight.  I'm not totally FAT, but I definitely have extra meat on my bones.  And it's spilling over more than just the waistband on my jeans.  My extra weight is holding me back from being the totally happy person that my family deserves, and that I desire to be. 

So starting today, no meat.  Period.  I can totally do this. (I'm even looking forward to trying out some of those delicious looking recipes that are all over Pinterest.)

What are you giving up (for Lent or just because)? 

Have a healthy day,

J