Are you my Mommy?

Are you my Mommy?
Are you my Mommy?

Monday, February 27, 2012

My busy Mama workout

This is either one of my worst titles or one of my best.  Research shows that it is a popular choice, well at least the very bad non scientific type of research.  Curiosity got me again and I googled this blog title and I got
"About 2,030,000 results."  So either I have become a popular cool kid or I am a boring sheep bleating as I go over the cliff with all the other sheep.  (Feel free to comment on my sheep status in the comments)


Busy, chaotic, interesting, ever changing...just a few words to describe my lifestyle that 
includes toggling between a few part-time jobs and spending as much time as possible with 
Mr. B.  So, exercising at times gets the short end of the stick.  This means a compromise right?

Jogging when the weather is nice works great for me as it means exercise and outdoor
time for myself, Mr. B, and T, the wonder dog.  I did invest in a nice multi-purpose stroller 
right after Mr. B was born, waiting with great anticipation until my new Phil and Teds arrived 
in the mail.  It is everything for us.  We take it everywhere and it is a great jogging stroller.  
I honestly only own a cheapie umbrella stroller in addition, which is just a back up or for 
camping.  Yes, they are expensive, yes they are mutli-purpose, yes they turn on a dime, 
yes the tires are inflatable and thus difficult to break, yes you can add a seat for the second 
kiddo, yes it comes in dark colored canvas models if your toddler like mine knows how to 
dirty anything.  Mr. B and I have a deal.  I start at a point in the park where he can't see the 
playground and go all the way around...he thinks it is a long trip to get to favored destination 
and I get a run in before he finds the promised land. :)  Throw an extra diaper, a snack, and 
water for everyone in the basket and we are all happy.  Mr. B and I started this when he 
was a mere 3 weeks old, so the stroller is second nature to him and he still loves to find the 
birds, ducks, trees, dogs, etc.  It is also a great chance to practice our sign language.

I also like to do ballet type plea A's (that's how fancy and cultured I am) and lunges when
I am getting him to sleep.  I get exercise and he gets mama's help to fall asleep (I do not 
believe in CIO, but more on that later).  I like to do floor exercises on his playmat in the 
evenings.  When he was really little, he would sit on  my belly while I did crunches.  Now, 
he just runs around me laughing or being my personal trainer by guiding me through leg lifts 
(very cute and fun).  Sometimes we have family wrestling time after dinner too.  

Finally, I think that bending over to clean or pick up toys counts for something.  Green living 
requires a little more physical work, such as scrubbing surfaces rather than allowing chemicals 
to do the work or walking to the store, or hanging diapers to dry.


I fit exercise in little bits of time whenever I can and never complain when I can't park close 
or have to carry Mr. B because he needs mama time.


The Compromise: disjointed workouts and maybe not enough exercise for my body at times 
especially when colder than I like outside.

The Sweet Reward:  Incorporating  my kiddo into exercise starts great lifetime habits for 
him and me and sometimes it makes us giggle.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Velentine's Day My Way

First, I have to start by acknowledging that this is a created, consumer driven holiday.  Yes, I get that, but I have to say anything that gives me a reminder to show my love for wonderful people in my life is a fabulous thing.  There is of course a compromise (yep, that's my thing, compromising).  Husband, D, is working all day and he will come home for a 5 minute baton pass in our relay race, where I give him the 411 of the day and then run out the door to work an evening job.  The hope is that I get home by 9 pm for our weekly date.  I decided this was no excuse to not do something special for him.  So, I decided to do what I do best....bake.  I wanted to share the results, which I hope you agree are beautiful and guess what...not hard.

Here goes...

With the motto of eating dessert first in life. First is the finished picture ...




...It's been a tempting day.

Here go the recipes

First Oatmeal Bars, inspired by a very bedraggled and old version of Betty Crocker, but no an exact duplicate.

1 1/2 cups of butter softened (if you use salted butter, omit the salt in the recipe)
2 cups of packed brown sugar (real stuff here please like C & H...yum)
3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups of quick-cooking oats (or do what I did and put your old-fashioned oats in a food chopper)
1/4 cup of milk (I used whole milk because I had it on hand)

Cream butter and brown sugar until light, fluffy and the color lightens using an electric mixer (I used my grandma's Kitchen Aid today...seemed appropriate for Valentines).  Mix in remaining ingredients.
Press into a butter four sided cookie sheet (I used a half sheet, which is the normal home size).

Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until light brown on edges only. Better to slightly under bake, but do bake until firm.

Leave in pan to cool until you can handle but still quite warm.  Cut bars right in the pan using a heart shaped cookie cutter.  My cutter was 2 inches across or maybe 3.  When cool use a small metal spatula or off-set spreader to lift out of pan onto cooling rack.

Second, fudgy, gooey brownies, which I guarantee are not a health food...healthy ones are not as good, I don't care what people tell you.  Go for the gusto here, but just don't do it often.

In a double boiler (I used the mixer bowl of my Kitchen Aid with oatmeal bar batter still clinging to it...great trick and less clean up since I was using it already), melt the following
1 cup of butter
4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate...I didn't have any so I substituted 3/4 cup of cocoa and 1/4 cup of oil.


When melted stir in 4 room temperature eggs, 2 cups of suggar, 2 teaspoons vanilla, one teaspoon of almond extract.  Use a wooden spoon to beat in 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour and 1 1/2 cups of dark chocolate chips

Spread with an off set spatula in half sheet four sided cookie sheet. bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  cool on wire rack and cut with the heart shaped cookie cutter when cool.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Taking the Bite out of Onions

I love onions, but they are getting stronger....or I am getting older and more sensitive. I choose to blame the onions for the problem and therefore they need to solve it themselves...yep, healthy boundaries with your onions is the best way to develop a healthy and fulfilling mutual relationship.  Next up, my advice on marital relationships...just kidding. I like a bit of crunch in my food (celery in salad sandwiches...yum), so I like thinly sliced onions on my tacos.  We enjoyed these the other night and tonight is Mexican casserole (better known as what to do with leftover taco layer dip).  I stopped eating raw onions for awhile until I discovered a simple trick from Rick Bayless, an amazing Mexican chef. I have watched him for years on PBS (gotta love the PBS).  It's one extra simple step after slicing your onions. Simply cover them with cold water in the serving bowl while you cook dinner.  Pour off water before serving and enjoy.

Leftover layered taco dip from weekend party becomes a casserole by adding chopped onion, bell peppers,tomatoes, then a layer of tortilla, a layer of cheese, another layer of tortilla, followed by salsa or other preferred sauce such as mole.  Make sure to leave areas for steam to vent as it cooks.  Bake at 350 for about an hour, let set up for 15 minutes, and enjoy.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Why I work

Oh, yes, there are so many things I write on this topic.  Do you remember the old show, the 25,000 Dollar Pyramid?  I will work backwords today and give you the topic, Why I Work, first and then the details.

There are so many reasons why I actually work some and am not a fully SAHM (stay at home mom...blogger abbreviation, which I am not always in to, but this one is just cute.)  I have a friend who is curious about my decision, so I thought I would share it with my readers and the world, in case, my thought process is helpful to anyone else.

Deciding to not work full-time was the easy part for me.  I plain and simple did not want to and my heart was very clear in sending this message.  If I should work at all and how much I should work was the next decision.

If I am going to worry about something, money is typically high on the list.  This upsets me since I am not a money driven person and rarely make decisions based solely on money.  Yes, I do think about money, but I do not let money be the biggest part of any decision.  I had a feeling, I would work at least some, so the question was how much.  I made an extremely detailed family budget and added it all up with "a little wiggle room" (this is one of my favorite Tracy-isms). Then, I compared it to our income and goals.  Although this step was stressful and required a lot of research, it was the easy part since it was objective in nature.  Next came the subjective part of the decision, which involved me considering the personal value I place in other benefits of working.  This included maintaining my professional self, time with other adults talking about more than just my kid's sleeping habits or diapers, a chance for others to spend time with Mr. B (I do love to hoard him since he is amazing...at least in my mommy eyes), contributing to the greater world, getting to wear more than just comfy clothes (this was a pro and a con), etc.

There were a few things I did not realize though.  I recently posted when I was sad because I was working A LOT.  Check it out here

Turns out Mr. B does miss me (yes, I know you all knew that, but in my guilt filled mommy brain I needed real evidence) and has wonderful ways of showing it. Here are a couple of interesting ways:

  • Although he is a toddler, when I get home he has to be held for a long time.  I now plan ahead and make sure to stop at the bathroom before I  leave work for the day.
  • If husband D has to put Mr. B to bed, he will sometimes wake up and then when he sees I am home sit up praire dog style and ask to be picked up.  Cuteness and cuddles all in one happy reunion.
  • When Mr. B sees me put on certain shoes, he gets upset and tries to prevent me from putting on work shoes...even bringing me non-work shoes from the closet.  Long ago he brought me daddy's shoes...lol
  • And, my favorite occurred after a day home with daddy.  Mr. B and I were playing in the all purpose room (I have a small house), while husband D finished up dinner and was talking to us while we played.  Mr. B got up off the playmat, walked over, and emphatically shut the door between the two rooms.  Let me translate from toddler speak..."This is MY time with mommy.  Leave us alone." 

The Compromise:  Being somewhere in between SAHM and working mom.  Missing my Mr. B and having a chaotic, hectic schedule that is never the same from week to week.

The Sweet Reward:  Spending enough time away from Mr. B to get to find out how much he loves and misses me...He is an awesome kid. And yes, I do know I am blessed. :)