why can't i just do it?

i haven't meditated, i haven't exercised. i know there are moms with more kids than me. maybe with kids AND a job. maybe with a husband who travels regularly. and i know they blog. i have all these ideas and INTENTIONS, but then i actually FORGET about this blog!

i might be overthinking it. no one is counting on me to make something of this, so i'm just going to put things out there and hope eventually that things come together.

maybe this can be an alternative for therapy. this is where i'm at. it's my birthday. i usually bake myself a cake but didn't have time. i spent my morning at the mall with my kids. my husband has been out of town for the past week. we had subway for dinner.

my goals for this week are to create a healthy menu for the week. our oldest is a vegetarian. he chose to give up meat when he was 3. hubs and i have joined him but never consistently and neither of us have even lasted a year. we're trying again. hubs says we will have a meat free thanksgiving, we'll see.

so far my menu intentions are: chile relleno casserole, homemade pizza, tuscan chickpea soup, nutloaf. maybe a white bean chili. i am also hoping to make enough homemade crackers for the week.

i want to complete week 1 of c25k again. i want to do a sensory tub for b2 and b3 and fill it with shredded paper. i'd like to sew one headband.

there are so many craft projects i want to do. i don't follow directions well and my sewing skills are non-existent. i desperately want to learn to make a few pieces that i love and make tons of them in cute patterns.

wish me luck this week. i'm a year older which is kind of like new year's day for me. i think of all the things i want to do but haven't. i want to stay mindful of my goals and intentions and not get caught up the busyness of the day.

i want to keep up this blog!

meat free sloppy joes

this picture totally does not do this dish justice. i should have taken it open faced. this recipe has such great flavor and i was surprised as soon as i bit into it. i doubled this recipe thinking i'd be able to freeze half, that did not happen!

a little background. my 8 year old son is a vegetarian. has been since he turned 3. we were eating burgers and he asked where they came from. not one to lie (no promises of santa, tooth fairy or easter bunny, in our house), i told him they came from a cow, the kind that say moo. they live on a farm and then they die and are cut up for food. he said 'that is disgusting.' he never ate meat again.

my husband and i have gone thru phases of not eating meat but neither of us have lasted longer than a year. we are now 3 weeks meat free and are trying to maintain it for good. we are planning our first meat free thanksgiving too!

by the way, the buns are also homemade. i've been having a lot of fun baking bread lately!

tuscan chickpea soup

i love blogs that show recipes, step by step, with photos. me, i take pics of what i make with my iphone. finished product only. sorry, that's just how i roll.

this is a tuscan chickpea soup from cooking light. it is simple and delicious. i think an average stocked pantry would always have these ingredients on hand.

meditation challenge wrap up

honestly, i forget that i have this blog. i have the best INTENTIONS of maintaining it and making it awesome. but i'm starting to think that being a blogger is not something i will ever excel at. i'm tired of over thinking what to say and what to share and what to post so i'm going to go for it and make this one big messy blog with no theme or thread to tie it together. then it will pretty much be an accurate portrayal of ME. and that's the point, right?

so, i totally wigged out on the last week of meditation. i wasn't waking up early enough to do it before my oldest got up and by the time he was off to school, the babies were starting to wake. my 2 year old would actually climb into my lap and say 'do meditations' and she would sit quietly, both of us with our eyes closed, waiting for davidji to close the meditation. that in itself made it worth it. B2 is super active, outgoing and noisy. so to have silent and still time with just her and i, has been very special.

i'm not sure if the meditations will remain available but i'm going to check. i still want to have a daily practice and i love his RPM method - rise, pee, meditate. i just need to get myself out of bed a wee bit earlier, which can be hard when i am snuggled up to b3 on a cold, northwest, morning.

oh, and c25k? let's not talk about that just yet!