Eating Healthier.

Eeeeek, one thing I am striving for this year is to be more CONNECTED! I haven't officially released this blog yet for that very reason; I wasn't sure if it was something I was going to stick with. I think if I had the following, it wouldn't be hard at all... but I don't know if I will, so we'll see.


One big thing that John and I started doing in early December was eating healthy. I'm a pretty healthy eater as is, I just take giant portions! I also am a die-hard sweet tooth, so anything sweet and savory is up my alley. I also love carbs. love love love. Mac and Cheese, Mashed Potatoes, Waffles, Homemade bread... OK, so I guess I'm NOT that healthy of an eater! John is opposite me. He can usually do without sweets and even carbs, but he LOVES salty things and dairy. I am telling you, that man eats at LEAST three times his daily amount of sodium (which, when you look at the DV of sodium on labels isn't that hard to accomplish. Salt is in everything and there's a lot of it.) I think we're still in a transition period grace stage. For example, for a snack, I'll have a LITTLE portion of icecream... or a LARGE portion of sherbert. John will have a banana... and load it up with peanut butter. Hey, we're getting there.

Anyway, the point of this is that I've been having a super fun time finding new recipes to try, as Emily will tell you! I will find myself on the phone with her salivating together over salads and bakes and chicken things... who knew I'd ever be that excited about dinner. I've found some great recipes that I can throw in the freezer until we're hungry. I've been told the crock-pot is man's best friend, but I've only used it once. SOMETHING likes to jump up on the counter and curl around it and poke her nose under the lid whenever I use it. Trust me, the counter is one of the most off-limit things for Penny and she knows it. Thus, I either have to be home with my eye in the kitchen or there's no crockpot stuff happening quite yet.


Here's one of the delicious things I've been creating:

 PIZZA! This is goat cheese, ground turkey, spinach, and tomato (at least on my half.) I used a Pillsbury pizza crust and just baked according to those directions, adding as much as I wanted (or as little.) It was super, super, super good and I'm just bummed I didn't have time to make homemade pizza crust!!

Anyway, so that's new with us. I'm still subbing, but rarely lately as there aren't many openings right after Christmas. I'm just reading, undecorating, organizing, and crafting in my spare time. John has been so busy with work. Pray for him because he's really getting down about it. He is constantly on conference calls and comes home from work drained. Penny is going crazy. Everyday, we find her in a new spot that she is not supposed to be in. Here was one from last week:
We have NO idea how she's even gotten up there, but it involves jumping on kitchen stuff and that is a total no-no. Very frustrating.

Also, I was offered a part-time resource room job in South Lyon at an elementary school. It would only be until the end of the year and it was every day for three hours, so no extra subbing. I was really excited that I was chosen but SUPER bummed when I found out it takes me about 2 hours to get there during rush hour in the morning. 23 SB is nice... but not that nice at that time. It is a long. Long. LONG. way.

Craftyness Board

Quick post, and then I'm off to clean. Thursday is my cleaning day and I need to get it done before I leave for a movie tonight with Kriste. Here is a board I made a few days ago with a bunch of stuff on it!
 Ta-da! It looks fabulous!! I've seen a few at a variety of stores and thought they were cool, but didn't want to pay. Then I started seeing a few homemade ones on Pinterest and since all I needed was a frame, I decided to do one myself!

 This menu has a magnetic backing from an old dry erase board I had. I just cut a piece out and pasted behind the menu paper. Then, I made Popsicle sticks with some of our favorite meals (or Johns, at least, and I eat veggie sides and a salad.) I put little magnets on the back I cut out from a square and they stick perfectly!



I put the calendar and cleaning list page behind plexiglass to make it a dry erase board. I've got my weekly chores I can cross off and it's nice for John to be able to do a quick peek at what's going on this week. I have a separate planner for all the details, but he usually just likes to know the time and where.

 My notes and grocery list. It's ridiculous for me to remember everything we've run out of and we both need random things at random times, so now I have one compiled list that's placed where I'll never forget it.

I love these meal sticks!!! Super cute and SOOO easy to plan a week's worth of dinners! I can just look in the fridge to see what I have and then make my list according to what else I'll need.
                                   And this is just a page from our wedding album I 
                                    pulled out recently. It's coming along, I promise!!






Also, pray for Penny, today is her surgery. In fact, she's probably done. John and I were both anxiously waiting for her to get spayed and declawed. We love our little gymnast, but she cost us $200 worth of blinds and drapes. She completely tore the bedroom and living room ones down.

Peach, Poof... and Penny!

So we got a kitten. Honestly, would it really be that long before we did? John and I both LOVE animals and I needed something to keep me a bit busy this summer... so we got a ball of fur that climbs our drapes and plays with bugs :) Meet Penny.

This is our little Penners. She's about 3 months old and is a ball of fun! She is constantly climbing on stuff, falling into things, and following me around the house all day. She literally runs around the house with me while I'm collecting laundry and curls up on my pillow at night to sleep (which is becoming a bit of a problem as I'm waking up with itchy eyes and a runny nose. Hmm.) We picked her up on our way home from our honeymoon. John's old neighbor is a vet tech at a vet near his house. Someone dropped off a litter of kittens in May and they were looking for good homes. She was the only girl and is just precious. She liked to snuggle at first but now she hates to be held, she's always squiggling. Reminds me of my sister, Emilie, as a baby. We are so happy to have our new little addition to the family!

 This is John's clever meme when I sent him a picture of peeking Penny.

 Those ginormous ears get me every time! I hope she never, ever grows out of them (but I know she will.)