729/1000 miles

I rounded out December adding 66 miles to my tally.  And that includes a few days where my Fitbit was in the bottom of the clothes basket.

This gives me 729 of my 1000 miles it's possible I actually hit the 1000 with my inconsistencies but we'll never know.  What I learned about trying to track my steps this year was if you want to track them you have to wear and charge the Fitbit.  

Additionally on months where I made a more of an effort to remember I averaged around 2-3 miles per day which isn't necessarily amazing but I would have been on track to hit the 1000 steps if I had met the 3 miles a day.  

Moving forward I don't plan to track it at the same level or really try and stay on top of wearing my Fitbit regularly (it's not my jam).  I do hope to work on running again after the new baby comes even if it's slow and not long distance.  Jones likes to go out and the park is like 5 blocks.  

Craft Project 6 - Dinosaur accessories

I made this necklace holder for Kathleen for Christmas.  Super simple Dinos painted gold mounted on a spray painted mini pallet.  The hardest part was finding the right sized dinosaurs.  I got these at family dollar.

I had already previously made her this toilet paper holder there's no toilet paper on it but it goes on the neck.  It was super easy as well I just mounted this Dino on a plague mount and sprayed it all gold together.  Lynley ordered the dinosaur online we had a hard time finding one with a long enough neck that wasn't like $30 (what's up with pricey plastic dinosaurs?)

And then there was this guy.  Cut a hole in his back also painted.

18 Months of Jones

This month we were a few days late but jones did get to wear his Christmas sweater.  He didn't really want to have his photo taken he wanted to play.  But I don't blame him.  Something to note last December he wore these same pants and they were long now they fit perfectly! He has some massive thighs back then and cloth diaper bubble butt.  

Dear Jonesy -

At 18 months you are a barrel of fun.  You are full of hugs and smiles and jibber jabber.  

You are starting to do things that you shouldn't to test our rules and it's hard to give timeouts and stick to No, but we are working on it.  

You weigh 26 lbs 10 oz according to the U.S. postal scales.

I think you are about 32 inches tall but I am not sure - I haven't finished your measuring ruler.

You love to dance and have some new moves picked up at school "we all fall down" and "chicken dance".

You also learned to walk backwards and March at school and sometimes we march from room to room at home.

You know so many new words I have lost track of them.  But I love when you repeat a big word I didn't know you knew.

Christmas is super fun with you and we are proud of how you do each activity.  And get excited for things.

Daddy took you on daddy Jonesy date to the chuckecheese and you had a great time.

Daddy is very excited when you greet him when he comes home from work.

Daddy also is noticing that you play him because he gives in to you.

Mommy sees you learning new things daily.

Mommy and you talk about the new baby coming soon.

Sometimes you seem to understand like you told daddy the baby was in your belly the other day & sometimes you tell him mine.

Mommy and you have been working on projects and you get very excited when I break out supplies.

Keep growing our little boy you are such a joy.  

Love mommy

PS.  mommy also made you this sweater considering it craft project 5!  

Craft Project 4 - ornaments with Jones

Jones and I actually did three seperate ornaments as a craft project.  The first one was this baking soda dough.  jones absolutely loved doing these he wanted to put more and more beads into them.  Several of them cracked when drying but we still gave them away. 

We also made ornaments from Popsicle sticks.  He painted or colored them with markers.  Then we added sequins, and ribbon.  He loved doing the sequins and ended up adding many sequins to his belly.  

We also made a cutout ornament that was already to be decorated.  But I didn't photograph it before it was given away.  This was probably joness least favorite one to make it had foam stickers you added to it and he wanted to just stack them on top of each other.

Anyhow it was fun to make projects with jones and I was very impressed by his ability to get what I asked him to do. 

28 - Return Work Equipment

Did this the other day.  I have been meaning to unload this box of 6 yes 6 unused laptops and old software for at least 2 years.  Finally returned and just in time for equipment recycling at the office.  

Crossing rando things off my big list every day!

663/1000

Ahhh November - I didn't do much better at remembering to put on my Fitbit or charge the thing but I did try and do more things and this resulted in more miles when I did have the thing on.  So in Novemeber I added 68 miles to the tally 663 (not including the last two days of November because Fitbit never sent me an email to add those to the tally).  Anyhow last month which is highly doubtful to add 300 miles to, but maybe 100? The weather is supposed to be nice and I have over a week off with Jonesy coming up.

Craft Project 3 - one hour basket

I swear I have done many craft projects this but somehow this is 3???  Anyhow in efforts to stick within our budget for Christmas I need to make some gifts.  I started these as a gift for jones's teachers at school.  I was thinking I could fill it with other handmade items like cookies, Carmel corn, ornaments by jones etc.  

I followed the pattern available for free on Craftsy.  It was a terrible mess!  Took me two hours I had to do seam ripping and I didn't use interfacing so it's floppy.  My next attempt I subbed in leftover batting for interfacing and didn't follow the directions instead I just did what I remembered working.  This second one is much better.  And it took like 45 minutes.  I need to make one more but I am now out of this leftover houndstooth and trying to decide if I cut into my fancy Japanese fabric or use some other duck cloth I have on hand that is a directional print???  Agh decisions.

50 - Advent Calendar

I actually wanted to make an advent calendar last year but time got away.  But I got it done this year.  We opened the first two already.  Jones first reaction yesterday was "more". And he kept pointing to the calendar pouches which are hung in the living room.  

I made the pouches from felt and buttons.  They aren't sewn perfectly but they will be easy to replace if one goes missing or something.  They are all different sizes.  I hung them with ribbons and twine from my grandma's old stash. And I decided to hang them off of Dustin's old Hebron Walking Stick because let's be real he's not taking it walking in the woods.  I filled them all with little small toys and treats and some have cards in them that say things like "date with just daddy" or "make the gingerbread house" or "go pick out a Christmas tree".

So far they are a hit jones got a painting kit tonight and he is most impressed even not opening the paint part he's been fake painting Dustin's toes and the side of the sofa with the brushes.  

7:12 Sausage and Tortellini Soup

I usually make a chicken tortellini soup but we had sausage not chicken so I found another recipe.  We used this one from epicurious 

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/italian-sausage-and-tortellini-soup-2537 we didn't have zucchini or red wine and used chicken broth.  But we liked the soup maybe more than our usual tortellini soup, but we like spicy chorizo.  Next time we will probably add more broth as well.   

Play date 3 - Central Library

This morning Holly text for a play date.  We've been trying to hook up a date for several weeks.  But today we did it.  It was raining so we went for some free fun at the Central Library Kidzone.  Miriam and Rachael joined Jones, Ewan, holly and I as well.  The boys are literally almost as tall as Miriam and they are for sure heavier.  It's so neat to see them all growing up and interacting.  It's hard to believe that like 4 years ago none of my quilty friends had kids and now we have a pack of them. 

Jones was a little ornery wanting to take everything out and not being so good at sharing.  But he enjoyed himself.  Afterward Holly and I took the boys for Punch Burger where they ate ketchup with a side of tots and slider.  

Book 55 - The Bassoon King

Book 55 The Bassoon King by Rainn Wilson - this year I am on a roll.  Nobody saw that coming.  I have read a lot of celebrity books this year I feel like.  I actually really liked this one.  Rainn had a lot of interesting things to share and I appreciate his passion for education and philanthropy.  I also already loved Dwight Schruete and soulpancake.com (one of his side projects) so I enjoyed his book. A I liked his question towards the end of the book "What are ten things you KnOW" - I plan to blog that later this month.  But anyhow this one I would read again probably best celebrity book all year (of course I have already forgotten the other 5 or so don't quote me on that.)

6:12 Pot Roast

I haven't made pot roast since my days at crackerbarrel and I am not ever sure why not.  It's super simple.  I am probably going to have to make it again soon.  I ended up following this recipe from QueenBee coupons... http://queenbeecoupons.com/slow-cooker-crockpot-coca-cola-beef-roast-recipe-simple/

True to form I did alter the recipe to use more coke (a whole can) and we didn't add potatoes although I ate the leftover roast with leftover mashed potatoes from another night.  (This is shown in said photos).  Our roast was super large too so I actually split it into two parts and cooked on in the oven at 275 for like 5 hours.  

Overall it was good.  I wished it had more flavor but it was better the next day.  And also the crockpot roast was by far superior to the oven one although they looked the same.  

5:12 Crockpot Potato & Corn Chowder

I have been trying to use the crockpot more (honestly sometimes it's not my favorite).  But I made this crockpot recipe http://damndelicious.net/2014/09/12/slow-cooker-potato-corn-chowder/? Naturally I added bacon, pork loin, carrots and onion to the mix as well.  The recipe wasn't as Chowdery as I thought it should be which was probably because of the crockpot.  It also needed some additional flavor or spice I peppered mine up and it still wasn't amazing.  But it was good I might try it again using more cream and perhaps more garlic or something.

Book 54 - Bastards by Mary King

So even though I finished my list I still have been reading a few books.  I tried to finish "Yes Please" by Amy Poelher too but the library wanted it back before I did finished it - this is the second attempt I did with this book so I am not likely to try again. But anyhow I did read another a memoir - Bastards by Mary King.  It was in my recommended queue so I went with it.  It was pretty good the childhood stories were interesting and detailed, I wasn't so wild about the end it was all hurry up and get to the point that it just seemed so fast toward the end. But it was still a good book, some sad with some humor and feel good aspects in there too.

4:12 Rolled Sugar Cookies

I have made Sugar Cookies many times before usually using the Betty Crocker Recipe or Julie's Recipe (a friend).  But since I am trying 12 new recipes this year I found an alternative recipe.  We cheated though and used store bought icing.

The recipe I used is here from Family Spice true to form I modified it and added 2 tsp of vanilla and 1 tsp of almond extract.  http://familyspice.com/recipes/recipe/?recipe_id=458. 

They cookies turned out pretty good, Dustin said he likes the usual recipe better because it's more doughy less cakey.  But I think these were good and soft and not to sweet.  I did make 1.5x the recipe because 4 of us were decorating seems we run out of creative ideas at about 3 cookies each so we could have just done the 1x recipe.  I also cut everything in circles because I don't have many Halloween shapes, but I think that worked perfectly.  

3:12 meatball Strongaoff

So we made this one several months back and enjoyed it.  We used this recipe http://menumusings.blogspot.com/2011/06/meatballs-stroganoff.html?m=1 

This time however we used turkey meatballs, chicken broth, and no cream cheese, I think we liked it better.  I might have also tossed in some extra spice too.   The first time I tossed in some frozen peas too which I rather liked.   Sorry I didn't take more photos.  Anyhow so that's recipe 3.  I guess I need to pick up the pace. 

561.5/1000 miles

In September I was going to make a better effort to wear my Fitbit and keep it charged.  Ha!  I actually did worse than normal maybe 10 days went by were I forgot it until noon or 3pm.  I had several days where I wore it dead too.  Clearly I didn't make a special point to capture the miles.  As a result September seems like a pretty walk less month, although I did try and get out and walk more as well as do things with Jones.  With that said I added 50 miles to the tally based on what was tracked and I am now at 561.5 for the year, still pretty shy of my 1000 goal.  But I'm going to plug along and still see what it looks like for the entire 12 months.

September 2015 - Family Photos

Well My friend took some family photos too but they aren't back yet (patiently waiting I swear).  But I did get a few at the end of the month for my project. These first two are from Homecoming, the first is terrible of me what am I doing there?

This bottom one is better though. 

We also got a family + shot at the orchard I love that jones is throwing his "ball" aka apple. There are several variations of this one but this is my favorite.

Book 53 - Down the Rabbit Hole

So despite finishing my 52 books I actually kept reading my latest finish was "Down the Rabbit Hole" by Holly Madison.  I have to say this was an interesting book about the life of a Playboy Girlfriend.  Some parts of the story are crazy, especially from someone who has no desire to be in playboy or be objectified like that.  But it was interesting, it left me questioning why this women would escape this weird scenario and still be involved and concerned what the playboy people think.  But it ends well and it was a good and interesting read.  

2:12 best chicken soup ever

This technically is not recipe 2 but I never blogged meatball stroganoff.  So #2 I will blog that other one soon I am going to make it again first - the best chicken soup ever (no I did not come up with that title).  This recipe comes from Budget Savy Diva here's the link - http://www.budgetsavvydiva.com/2014/12/chicken-soup-recipe/

I followed the recipe for the most part - I tossed in like 1/2 cup of rice and also about 10oz more chicken broth because I cooked it in the crockpot for about 2 hrs rather than on the stove.  My guests seemed to like it and Jones also enjoyed it.  I liked it myself but I might have put in cilantro or peppers if They were here. 

My photo above is actually taken after I tupperwared it because I forgot since we had company.  But originally it had more broth before I left it on high for like an extra hour - DOH!