To Live is to Learn

Ran today, plan this week is 2.75 miles without stopping, again found this challenging, I had to mentally talk myself through the whole thing then afterward I wasn't as sweaty or tired, it was kind of frustrating. I didn't feel like I pushed myself as hard. Ugh! Hopefully this is a normal part of the process. Anywho, ran 3 miles and my running speed was 6.0. We shall see how the rest of this week goes. Until next time, ; p.

So, due to inefficient planning, I went over budget this month on groceries, so the last week I've just been making due with what we have in an effort not to keep putting my grocery category in the negative. I figured I'd have to skip my homemaking project of the week because I simply couldn't come up with anything that I already had ingredients for, until this afternoon that is. So the hubby and I get home from church, both semi hungry, I'm scrounging around in the fridge trying to find some sort of lunch food and think, ahhh tostadas, they are fast and we have ingredients. Lo and behold, I check the cabinet and we're out of shells, ugh, I thought. Then I remembered I also keep corn tortillas in the freezer. So, then ran to my pc, googled how to make homemade tostadas and sure enough it called for simple ingredients like corn tortillas and olive oil, had both of those. The recipe said you could either bake them or fry them. Trying to be healthier I opted for bak...

Let myself sleep in, I'm thinking that actually made running a little more difficult, that and I'm still mildly congested...Oh well, 2.75 miles, running speed 6, sprinted the last .68 miles, boy am I tuckered out. Next week should be interesting, they add another quarter of a mile, all without stopping, I can do it! Happy Saturday everyone, until next time.

Pheww, ran this morning, made sure my ipod was charged, running was still more difficult but not because I was tired, simply put, running is more difficult when you're unable to fully expand your chest and breathe, ha! Oh well, I'm definitely on the mend and I was able to run 2.78 miles running speed 5.5-6. Again no knee pain, I'm very excited about that! Until next time, : p.

Normally, my first run of the week is Monday, however a little virus invaded my body on Monday and made me sick, ugh! Anyway, thank you Lord, I was able to get up and run this morning. Plan this week is to run 2.5 miles without stopping every day. I was a little nervous but anxious to try this week, only because I constantly wonder if my endurance really is building. Well I ran this morning, 2.75 miles, it was very challenging but I believe that has everything to do with my chest congestion and not being able to breathe normally, ha! I also got out to go run, turn on my tunes and my ipod had died. Never realized how helpful my music was until today. I'll be sure to charge it every night before a run so that doesn't happen again. Oh yeah, I'm happy to report, no knee pain at all, thank you Jenni!!! Until next time, ; p.

I was going to skip my homemaking project of the week being that it's my birthday this weekend, however; I decided tonight we would have chicken soft tacos with homemade tortillas. The homemade tortillas are the project. Let's see, what did I learn, next time I'll make the tortillas a little larger, they shrank a little during the cooking and also, I'll research a little on how to make them more perfect circles, the little type A in me tried to make them good circles, to my disappointment it's more difficult than it looks. Anyway, the hubby loved them and I liked them as well. Well that's it for now, until next time. ; p

Okay, start off, today is my birthday, 26 yikes! Woke up at 545 so I figured I'd get up and run to start my birthday. Plan today was to run 2.25 miles without stopping and I did just that, in fact, including my 5 minute warm up I should have ran 2.5 miles and was so energized I ran 2.65, not a big deal I know but I'm excited, I can feel my endurance growing and my running improving, I love it! Got back from my run all sweaty and out of breath and what do I find??? My hubby awake and making breakfast for me, he's so sweet! We sat down to breakfast and a gift was waiting for me on the table, it was a coupon book, homemade kind :). At the end of the coupon book there was a sticky note that said you should Turn On The Fan . So I said, I'll turn it on after breakfast and he says, you should turn it on now. So I got over to the fan and turn it on and lo and behold, 7 Cardinals tickets fly off the fan and all over the floor!!! I was so excited I was jumping up and down. I...

Normally, I run all my work days, which typically are Mon, Wed and Thur. Well with pain on Monday, I figured yoga on Tuesday and would run Thurs and Saturday. Having heard from my sister in law about some stretches I could do that would decrease knee pain, I'm happy to report that although my knee hurt a little it was nothing like Monday. So my run today was 2.5 miles, running speed of 5.5 (I'm keeping it slow in order to prevent injuries.) I may explore the idea that my running shoes are getting old and get some different ones this weekend. We'll see :) Plan Saturday is to run the full 2.25 miles without stopping, I did 2 miles without stopping, so I hope I can do 2.25 on Saturday. I"ll be sure to let you know, until next time ; p.

After an irritating week last week, only being able to run once due to knee pain, I decided to rest my knee and only do yoga last week and start running again today. Well, I ran this morning. 2.5 miles, slowed my running speed to 5.5 all the while my knee bothered me the whole time. Slightly frustrated and discouraged, I sought out my sister in law, who is an avid runner for some advice. We'll see what she says and hopefully and prayerfully I can get back to running this week, until next time ; p.

So, if you've read my previous posts, you'd know that one of my goals is to make something from scratch every week. I'm going to call it my HPOW, homemaking project of the week, I know it's kind of cheesy but I'm gonna go with it. This week's homemaking project was homemade strawberry preserves. I'm not going to lie, I was very nervous about this. Mostly because I've heard that canning is pretty hard and that I need a lot more education and experience to know what I'm doing. I'm not denying that it can be hard, however; I follow a lot of homemaking blogs and multiple women have said that if you have a deep enough pot, then a canner is not necessary and all you need is to put a kitchen towel in the bottom of the deep pot so so that the jars don't hit each other when boiling. Well having done it now, it is involved, I wouldn't say it was hard, next time I try this hopefully it won't be as nerve wracking. My mom is the only...

Plan for this week was to run Wed, Thur and Saturday. Ran Wednesday morning and all through my run my knee was bothering me. Talked to the hubby, doctor and running expert and he said I should rest it, so I've been resting it for two days and my knee is still sore but not bothering me as much and I plan to run tomorrow, I'll just go a little slower than previous days. Because of this minor setback, I will be doing this week in my running plan over next week. I pray that I will not have any injuries, I really want to get good a running and I really really want to run the 1/2 in January. Okay that is all, until next time ; P

This is going to seem silly but, I'm making a little list of things I want to learn or do before we start our family. I have 7 things on the list so far, they are as follows: 1. Run 5K in October 2. Run 1/2 Marathon in January 3. Plant something in October-pray it grows  :) 4. Scrapbook the rest of our courting days 5. Make something from scratch once per week 6. Learn basic sewing 7. Begin Yoga Okay, that is all I have so far, I'm sure I'll think of more but for now this is a start. I'm currently training with running three times per week, I've done yoga two weeks in a row and really like it, visit this website if you want to take yoga from a Christian perspective and for very little if any money. I'm researching the best thing to plant in October. I just bought scrapbook paper to finish scrapbooking. I'm going to go buy material to learn sewing via my mom. Lastly, I'm slowly building a list of things I want to make from scratch per week. Okay...

So the hubby approached me last night and said "hey, cheerios are 1.48 at frys if you buy 8" my reply was " we don't have any room for 8 more boxes of cereal." We got a previous deal at frys two weeks before, I don't remember the whole deal but we got like 20 boxes of cereal for 26 dollars or something, needless to say, all of our limited cupboard space is occupied by cereal boxes. Anyway, he said for 1.48, we'll find some place to put them  :). Upon further inspection of the ad, we saw that canned Del Monte fruit was .79 if you bought 8, we eat a lot of canned fruit and it's always so expensive. Anywho, the picture shows, 8 boxes of cheerios and 8 cans of del monte fruit and the total was 14.52, love sweet deals! Until next time.

Have you ever had pizza rolls or muffins, whatever they are called. There is this little pizza place in Gilbert called Floridinos, for 5 bucks you get 12 pizza rolls, I love these. Well, I live in Phoenix, 45 minutes from Gilbert and Floridinos, therefore, I decided to try and make my own. Two little tidbits you should know is, my hubby is a huge fan of the toaster oven, he used it avidly during his bachelor days, well I've rarely used it in the 14 months we've been married, all this to say I am attempting to cook more in the crock and the toaster oven to decrease heating up the apartment. Basically my research has shown and my hubby attests to the fact that anything you can cook in the regular oven you can cook in a smaller scale in the toaster oven. So here we go, my attempt at pizza muffins.... Ingredients Rising Time Supposed to be a rectangle but I'm def still learning in this way, this is the best my rectangle got :) Pizza Sauce, check Topping...

Today was my 3rd run for the week. Plan today was 5 min warm up, then run 2 miles without stopping. I knew this run was coming and was dreading it because I enjoy running but I often wonder about my endurance. Well the results are, I did it, ran the full 2 miles, 2.3 to be exact, running speed 6. Boy was it challenging, I'm a firm believer in how mental running is. I found myself hoping the run would be over only to be almost half through it. I had to change my thought patterns in order to make it through. But the important thing is, I did it. Also, I was able to run the 2 miles in less than 20 min, which means that I ran a 9 min 45 sec mile x2. HA! Not that I could have kept up that pace but I met this small goal for today, yay! Okay, enough for today, I have some errands to run and different bread recipe to try, until next time : p.

Boy am I tuckered out. Woke up early early this morning. Ran 2.25 miles, running speed 5.8-6.0. It felt pretty challenging when I was on the treadmill, when I got off I wasn't nearly as sweaty as previously and I didn't feel like I pushed myself, I'll have to push myself next time to make sure I'm still getting results. Anywho, been awake for like 19.5 hrs right now and I'm getting sleepy. Night all, until next time  : p

Just finished my first morning run of the week and came back to a voice mail telling me not to come to work until they call me, it's always nice when that happens :) Anyway, plan is different all three days this week, today I was to run 1/2, walk 1/4, run 1/2, walk 1/4 and lastly run 1/2. Was able to do that and I also sprinted the last 2 minutes of my run, I feel like I'm getting better every time. Running speed was increased to 5.8-6, 2.45 miles! Okay, since I don't have to be to work in 40 minutes, I need a nice cold shower, until next time :p

Hey! Not a running entry! So, I have a long way to go but I would love to be the wife and mom that makes things from scratch. My mom tells me that I'll start out that way but probably won't keep it up once we start having kids. I'm sure she's right but I guess there is this part of me that really wants to be uber organized and on top of things, if I can get it under control enough now and schedule it, then maybe I can keep it up even when I have little ones in toe. I can hope right? Anyway, in an effort to make more things from scratch, I borrowed my mom's bread machine and gave it a shot last night. That is another thing, I borrowed her machine to see if A. I can make bread in a bread machine, B. If it's simple enough to do on a weekly basis, and C. If someday when we hopefully have a bigger kitchen we should purchase a bread machine of our own. Okay, sorry kind of long winded.                  ...