Weekend Fun

Posted on October 20, 2012 by the2beths

Lots of weekends lately have been spent cramming in all the stuff we can’t get done during the week. This weekend is going to be nothing but FUN.  As Beth WA said, it kicked off last night with a roaring good time with our local and longtime girlfriends.  My older daughter is a cheerlearder for gradeschool football and today is the last game of the season, to be followed by a fun night out with Mr. FS to celebrate our 12 year wedding anniversary (which is actually tomorrow).  And tomorrow we are going to go cheer on my sister as she runs her first marathon! I’m  not even sure I can handle all of the fun.

A few other random things:

My favorite Trader Joe’s snack this week has been a combination of Trader Joe’s dried sour Montmorency cherries, 50% salted almonds, and dark chocolate covered raisins.  Inspired by this suggestion for Friend Bait, I mixed all three in one jar to keep at my desk at work.  But instead of displaying it, I kept it in a drawer all to myself. So I didn’t attract work friends, but I sure did some delicious snacking.

I bought the new Mumford and Sons album, Babel yesterday.  I love them and the album is excellent. I also downloaded two other singles that I have been loving lately: Too Close by Alex Clare and It’s Time by Imagine Dragons. I recommend checking all of them out.

And finally, I read two books last week, which is more than I’ve read in the last three months.  The first was One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper.

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This is his newest.  I’m not a fan of lengthy detailed book reviews, so I am not going to write one, but suffice to say I have loved all of his books.  They are hilarious and real and sometimes make me a little teary. My favorite is This is Where I Leave You, but One Last Thing did not disappoint.

The other was The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

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I had no idea what it was about, but I saw the movie preview and was intrigued. (I don’t like to see movies before reading the book.) The story follows a boy through about a year of high school told through his own letters to a friend who remains anonymous.  It is a little heavy.  But I recommend it and I am looking forward to seeing the movie.

What fun is everyone else up to this weekend?  Happy Saturday!

– Beth FS

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It’s Friday and I’m in love.

Posted on October 19, 2012 by the2beths

I have the best girlfriends.
After the stressful-ness of life me full time work, my friends -friends I’ve had for over 20 years- and I met up at a local watering hole for dinner and drinks.
Also, we laughed our arses off. There is nothing like laughing with old friends who know you’re story and still love you with all of their heart. Warts and all.

It makes all the stresses of the week seem so far away.
And it puts me in a place of gratitude.
I am blessed.
Beyond comprehension.

I hope you all had an equally lovely Friday evening.

And best of all… I get to sleep in tomorrow.

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dam gram crackers.

Posted on October 17, 2012 by the2beths

Today is my weigh-in day on Fitness Pal and I lost 2.5 lbs!! YAY! I was THRILLED because I also weight less than I have weighed in several years. I still have a LONG way to go, but it was so good to see a number I haven’t seen in ages.
From my highest weight last year, I am down 24.5 lbs. Yay.

Anyway, it is a miracle I managed to lose the weight this week with the ingredients for S’mores in my house. I have whittled away at them all week. I had my husband buy the ingredients for Saturday when my niece spent the night. We had a fire in the backyard along with S’mores. Well, for some reason, I couldn’t get them out of my head.
I put them together, and put them in the microwave for 15 seconds. Every day this week.
Mmmmm….
Now, I’ve tracked them on Fitness Pal, but they still aren’t the best choice as far as nutrition goes.
Then….I started putting this frosting I had in the cupboard on the graham crackers.
Then…I thought the graham crackers would be good alone.
Then…. I thought the graham crackers would be good with Nutella or Biscoff spread.

Then, I realized that I can NOT have graham crackers in the house.
They are a trigger food for me. A food that if it is in my house, will be eaten at every opportunity until gone, and often in a binge.
Other such foods: pop-tarts, donuts, sugar cereal, vanilla wafers, pepperidge farm Milano’s, ice cream, dove ice cream bars, candy, especially fruity, sugary kinds, a good loaf of bread, any baked good, chips, and so many more.
I’ve gotten better about not having those foods in my house, but it is a struggle, EVERY DAY.

What are your trigger foods?
Do you keep them in the house?

Have a good evening…..

Beth WA

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today has been too busy

Posted on October 16, 2012 by the2beths

today has been so busy, i haven’t had time to do anything i wanted to do.

this post has a serious tone. just a warning.

first, my dear friend Liz, lost her father two years ago today. you can read her post about him, but i can tell you he was awesome. he had no trouble expressing his feelings here on earth, even before he was ill. i remember him telling me ALL of the time how much he loves me, and what a good friend I was to Liz. he just knew how to make you feel good about yourself. Liz and I often compared our dad’s often, because they were similar in many ways, but the most important thing they shared in common is that they loved their daughters in a BIG way. so, when i hear that my friend liz is in pain, i can’t quite understand completelly what she is feeling, but i know that i can’t even comprehend life without my dad, so the fact that she is forced to comprehend this at such a young time in her life, breaks my heart.

second, i just finished working for today, and i am exhasuted. school. meeting. store. cook dinner. work. now, bed.

I wanted to share the quick dinner I made when I got home at 4:15. I threw the following items in the crockpot:

2 jars of spaghetti sauce i found in my pantry. one was classico roasted garlic, and one was ragu with mushroom.

2 garlic cloves

some random italian seasonings and sugar

a package of frozen turkey meatballs

a package of spicy italian chicken sausage sliced up (also frozen)

And I just let it heat for the 3 hours before I made the pasta. It was so easy and so filling, and SO lacking in vegetables.

but, hey….i only had a minute.

off to bed to read my google reader and turn off this presidential debate. i am exhausted. and annoyed.

 

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What Up.

Posted on October 15, 2012 by the2beths

I’d say “life has been a little crazy lately” and leave it at that, but I fear that that alone doesn’t quite justify a many many month absence from blogging. So I’ll summarize quickly – In January 2012, I went back to work full time for the first time in almost seven years. I am working for a wonderful organization that I believe in with my whole heart. And I am completely overwhelmed. I have yet to find a work/life balance, which means that all aspects of the “life” part have been greatly outweighed by the “work” part. I am a perfectionist and feel a great need to do everything well at my new job, and there is A LOT to do. As a result, many all other areas of life have been moved to the back burner…my house, my health, my faith, my family, you name it. I’m not okay with that and in the last week or two, the need for balance has made itself very apparent. It will be a slow and trying process getting there, I’m sure. Thankfully I have a very supportive husband, very adaptable children, and lovely friends who love me no matter what (namely Beth WA).

Cooking is something that I love, but that I have not had or made the time for lately. In an effort to cut back on eating out junky food, yet still have some quick and healthy options to make at home, the I went to Trader Joe’s yesterday. People rave about Trader Joe’s, and I like it, but I never know what to buy there to actually make meals, and to avoid having to make a second stop at a bigger grocery store. I spent a good part of my day yesterday devoted to Trader Joe’s research and found a great blog in the process: Dinner: A Love Story. Armed with some suggestions from this and other blogs, I came home with quite a stash. This is part of it:

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Please note that I did not wait until everything was put away to open the wine.

And so, that is going to be my blog motivation for the next couple of posts – talking about what I’ve tried, and what I will go back for (the nearest TJ’s is about 45 minutes away). Last night, we had this:

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When I saw it on the shelf, I thought it was my opportunity to have my very favorite yet very labor intensive  Pioneer Woman pizza in eight minutes or less. It is not an acceptable substitute. However, it was good in a pinch, and great for a dinner that took less than ten minutes. f I was feeling really fancy I would have served it with some mixed greens like on the box. But I wasn’t, so I got my fruit/vegetable serving from this:

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My good friend The bassist from my favorite band said it best:

Mark Hoppus‏@markhoppus When you order wine and they pour a tiny bit for you to approve like a benevolent king is the worst I have no idea pour the wine I’m stupid.

I’m not wine smart, but this is decent vino for $5.99.  I’m glad to be back, and I’m off to go finish my glass.

– Beth FS

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Chicken Fried Rice

Posted on October 15, 2012 by the2beths

Well, Monday was nice to me, so that was good. Instead of a regular school day, we had a retreat with all of the staff. It was nice, and relaxing, and also, it ended at 1:30! Woo hoo.
AND, instead of coming home and taking a nap, I did my second workout of the week to achieve my October goals.
I was really proud of myself. It reminded me of that song on the Biggest Loser, “Do something everyday to make yourself proud…” Or something like that….
As I was on my walk, I actually felt like I was on my way to losing the rest of the weight I need to lose, which is a lot. I was laughing at myself on my walk, because I spent the first 15 minutes of the walk talking myself out of the full 45 minutes. But, I just kept walking, thinking, if I walked 22 minutes away from my house, I’d have to walk 22 minutes back. And, it worked.

I went to my niece, Ava’s, last soccer game, and came home to make a quick dinner. I already knew what I was going to make (because I did a meal plan, per my goals!! yay me!) It was so easy. The nutrition was pretty good, too, except the soy sauce’s sodium. I used low sodium Kikkoman, and it still has a lot.

Here’s what I combined:

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Some garlic and onions: (AND BUTTER!!! REAL BUTTER!!)

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Some eggs:

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And some sauce:

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Here is the finished product. It isn’t that pretty, but it got about 4 compliments from my husband, who usually doesn’t speak at all while eating.
The microwave rice and frozen chicken even tasted exceptional in this mixture.
And, they usually don’t.

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Okay, I have to go grade a million papers.

Have a good Monday!!!

xoxox,
Beth WA

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Sunday’s are for relaxin’

Posted on October 14, 2012 by the2beths

Today was a relaxing day. It was a lot easier to relax since tomorrow I have a retreat instead of 6 classes of 5th and 6th graders. But, tomorrow night, I will be doing lots of work to make up for my relaxation today.

Oh, well…

One of the best parts about no school on Monday is that it is a 4 day work week AND I get to miss my least favorite duty, which is cafeteria duty for the 5th and 6th graders. It’s not even that hard, it’s just loud and during lunch. ha ha.

I took my niece to the zoo yesterday, and I have lots of cute pictures that I will share tomorrow. I can’t find the attachment kit that my brother bought me to connect my camera to the iPad. But, rest assured, when I do, you will see the cutest 7 year old at the Columbus Zoo yesterday.

Today, my husband I had the last of the Beef Stew, and there wasn’t quite enough to make 2 servings, so I made pasta shells to add to it to bulk it up. That was what the original recipe called for, but I didn’t add it because I added potatoes instead.
It was delicious with the pasta shells and VERY filling.
Here’s a picture:

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Then, we went too my mom’s for dinner…chili, pork chops, sweet potatoes, salad….yum.
And for dessert, delicious angel food cake with crushed pineapples added to the recipe, and about 3/4 of an inch of cool whip as icing/frosting. I ate way too much of that cake with some low fat Turkey Hill vanilla bean ice cream.

Then, we played a heated game of Apples to Apples, and now I am at home on the couch watching my DVR while our dog stinks us out of the living room with her sour stomach.

Have a good start to the week tomorrow, everybody!!

xoxox,
Beth WA

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I am a pumpkin spice blogger cliche.

Posted on October 13, 2012 by the2beths

This morning, I made my favorite pumpkin spice coffee.

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And I drank it out of my pumpkin mug.

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And my honey brought me a Tim Horton’s B.E.L.T. sandwich for breakfast.
I love Saturday mornings.
Now, I am sitting in at the kitchen counter that I just cleaned blogging, while my husband is cleaning his brewing equipment to brew beer on this beautiful fall day. It is going to be 70 and sunny here today, and that makes me so happy.

I am taking my niece to the Columbus Zoo, and then we are going to have a fire in the back yard and make s’mores, and then she is sleeping over. She doesn’t sleep over very much – probably only 5 times in her life – so I think it will be a fun day and night. Mostly because she is probably the awesomest 7 year old, ever.

We are going to have warmed up beef and vegetable soup for dinner. I am excited about that. It should be even better today.

I know that I am not alone in this, but I LOVE fall in the midwest. I was driving home from my meeting yesterday, and I was lost in my thoughts, and I missed my exit on the freeway. Luckily I had my Garmin, so it took me on an alternate rural route. I know our scenery in Ohio isn’t mountains and oceans, but I love it. I love the huge farms, with horses and cows, with a background of beautiful trees all changing into the beautiful fall colors of red, orange, and yellow. I love that so much of the area around me is not developed. I know it means that I live in a small town that has mostly chain restaurants, and not that many exciting things to do, but I love it. It’s peaceful, and it helps me to focus on what is most important to me. The people in my life.

Well, I am off to do some school work so I don’t have to do it all tomorrow and Monday.
What is everybody else up to on this Saturday morning?
Anybody have Saturday morning routines?

Love,
Beth WA

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Beef Stew. I mean Beef and Vegetable Soup.

Posted on October 12, 2012 by the2beths

My husband loves beef stew. I like to cook things my husband likes. However, in the 7 years we have been together, I have never made beef stew. For some reason, because it contains beef, I never thought I could make it. I am not good at preparing meat. I try. I just am not.
The best meat we have is when my husband grills it or prepares it.
So, after my friend Liz was telling me that it is so easy to make in the crockpot, and I found this Hamburger Soup recipe that sounded like a beef stew that I would like, I decided to make it today for dinner.

I only had a half day of work today, so I thought I could run to the grocery, and then come home and fill the crockpot with all of the ingredients. I can’t find the original website with the original recipe, but I changed it a bit, so I will just tell you what I used:

2 packages of stew Angus beef (I browned before I added to crockpot)
1 diced onion
15-20 baby carrots cut in half
3 celery stalked sliced
48 oz of beef broth
1 large can of diced tomatoes
1/2 c frozen peas
1 pkg Lipton Beef and Onion
2 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves (my first time using bay leaves)
1 tsp thyme
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp Italian seasoning
3 idaho potatoes peeled and chopped up in kind of big pieces so they didn’t get mushy.

I put all of this in the crockpot for 4 hours on high.

Here is what it looked like before I stirred it:

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Then, here is what it looked like when we ate it:

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I served it with a French baguette. It was perfect for soaking up the broth.

My husband LOVED it. Although, he informed me it was SOUP and not STEW. That disappointed me a bit, but overall I was happy it turned out as all of the ingredients aside from the beef were pretty nutritional. Not that beef isn’t nutritional, but I meant things that were considered healthy foods.

And it was VERRRY filling.

Well, I am going to catch up on my DVR and sleep, as my niece and I are having a DAY OF FUN tomorrow and then she is spending the night.

What is everybody else up to this weekend?

Thank you to all the people who read my blog. It’s the most exciting part of my day when I check my stats.

Love,
Beth WA

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I play favorites.

Posted on October 11, 2012 by the2beths

There are a few things I love about waking up in the morning. One of those things, is that my calorie count starts all over, so it’s a clean slate. I get to decide exactly what I want for breakfast….I love so many breakfast foods; oatmeal, eggs, smoothies, and PANCAKES.

The other reason I like to get up is my cup of coffee.
Well, it’s more like cream and coffee, in that order. I love Coffee-mate Sweet Cream flavored sweet creamer.
I have a Keurig, that I also love, because I am a one cup of coffee person. This is for many reasons. One, in my old age, I have become more sensitive to caffeine. Second, I am counting my calories, and with my creamer addition, I don’t like to use too many calories on my cup off coffee.

We have lots of coffee mugs to choose from…

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The bottom one is my favorite. It is short and wide. So, it fits into the Keurig very well, and then has room for me to add my delicious creamer!!!

Yummm…the calmest part of my day.

Today was a day where I felt like I didn’t get a minute to take a breath and realize what was going on. I hate that. When I can’t remember looking a student in the eye and having a conversation with them. I know I told kids I would do things that I never got done, and I was very impatient.

I suppose some days are like that.

And the kids will forgive me. That’s the best part about working with kids. They are so forgiving, and willing to overlook your flaws.

Tomorrow is an inservice, and it ends at noon. Woo hoo!! Looking forward to a Friday afternoon off.

Have a good evening!

xoxo
Beth WA

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