Treadmill TV

This text-heavy  post is dedicated to my friend-in-nerddom, JJ.  All these words are for YOU, Jessica!  :-)

We've discussed here before that the fall kickoff to the new television season stresses me out.  Not only do I have to find time to watch a whole bunch of new shows, but also I have to find time the next day to read all the postmortem internet musings.  (There's also this little matter of having 2 little kids lurking about, and I have books checked out from the library that I want to read, and two sets of weekly job tasks, and recipes I want to try, and errands I need to run, and piles of stuff I need to sort....and....and....now I'm hyperventilating.)

To make matters worse, said internet-reading time generally requires a snack of some kind, if not two kinds.  And since many of my other daily tasks (like, you know, this blog thing) involve also sitting in front of the computer, I do a lot of snacking.   And a lot of sitting.   Methinks I need to do a lot of exercise to make up for it.  But, um, I'm not exactly sure when to do that.

Enter my exciting new plan!!   And I've stuck to this for more than a week, so I think it's actually legit:

I now get up each morning in the 6:30ish time frame.  (You'll remember that the BG leaves the house at 6 each morning so it's not like this should be that difficult for me. But I do enjoy my slumber.)   I pull on some exercise clothes, socks, and sneakers and stumble downstairs to our wee little treadmill that now takes up the far wall of our family room for lack of anywhere else to put it.  I mute the TV, set up the subtitle option on the cable menu, and turn the TV as far to the left as I can so that I can see it from the treadmill with only a slight crick in the neck.   Then I do some combination of walking and running, depending on how much time I have and how I'm feeling.  But the proverbial two birds?   The one stone looms.  Exercise AND television--- yes!

What this has served to do (besides hopefully make up for at least a portion of the copious amounts of Hershey's Kisses I eat the rest of the day) is to develop a hierarchy of television shows.   Some shows remain "couch shows," as in, I will sit on the couch and focus on them.  But many of these newbies are perfect "treadmill shows, " as in, they're probably not worth my scarce couch time, but not so bad for passing the time exercising.   Here's how it's looking these days:

Couch Shows:  HIMYM, Castle, Glee (only because subtitled music is kinda pointless; not that I think the show is necessarily couch-worthy), Parenthood, Modern Family, Revenge (only new show to win couch time status), Community, Parks & Recreation, The Office, Blue Bloods, The Good Wife.

Treadmill Shows:  2 Broke Girls, The New Girl, Hart of Dixie,  Suburgatory, Up All Night, Prime Suspect,  Pan Am.

The pattern I've got going at this point is that I walk at an incline for the 42-minute shows (hourlong ones fast-forwarding through commercials) and, for the sitcoms, I don't fast-forward commercials and run through them.  Or, if I'm feeling crazy, I might actually run through one entire segment.

Our treadmill was quite inexpensive (for a treadmill) because it's narrow and technically a "walking" one, but it seems to manage my bursts of not-fast-at-all-running every now and then.   And it even has arm pole things so I can be really cool and pull those down and up as if I were walking outside with cross-country poles like the serious walkers do!   :-)

Oh, and as a side note, tell me you know that Kohl's is the BEST place to get running shoes if you're not picky!!?   I know I wrote a post about my last Kohl's sneaker purchase a few years ago but I have no idea where even to look for it (the shoes were turquoise and gray, though, so it was a Zeta shout-out post!) so I'll just show you my latest replacements.  And these puppies were FREE with Kohl's Cash earnings.  OH YEAH!

Happy Friday!  

Quality Sibling Time

In the "First Time for Everything" category, I present to you THE DOUBLE BATH:

Also that same day, there was THE DOUBLE LAUNDRY BASKET, which I suppose is pretty cute as well, albeit much less nicely photographed:

But Will There STILL Be Tomatoes?

Our CSA season at the local farm should continue into late October.  I took a picture of our bounty from last Wednesday to show Sheils that, yes indeed, we are still getting tomatoes:

What you may notice is how green most everything else is.  What in the world should we do with Napa cabbage, Romaine lettuce, purple kale, bok choy, kohlrabi, scallions, and radishes?

The farm always has a newsletter at pickup time and it includes a recipe or two aimed at the week's offerings. I ended up forging ahead and making the Chinese Chicken Salad that helped me use the cabbage and lettuce.  And it was really good!

(Interestingly, the newsletter version omitted the snow peas as well as the mention of fried wontons (um, yum!?), but suggested the addition of mandarin oranges!)

We did a pork stir-fry that used the bok choy and scallions and I'm realizing right now that I meant to put kohlrabi in it, as well.  Zut alors!  I also plan to turn the kale into kale chips, which I did the previous week with the variety that was green and curly:

And now it's already Wednesday again and time for a new bounty.

Any bets on tomatoes?!

PS:  Congratulations to loyal blog reader, Laura, (and Pete!) on the arrival of Claire Anita!!  (And yes, this has been 3 girls in as many weeks...with one more to come soon!!)

Super 8

No, not the movie.  (Which, of course, I didn't even see since I don't get out much although EMMY-WINNER Kyle Chandler was in it so that pretty much makes it cool in my book.)

But no, not the movie.  C is 8 months old...which is clearly super!

What wasn't so super, however, was our monthly photoshoot.  We don't see this look very much from Mellow C, but have been getting it a bit more often upon being told repeatedly NO as she makes a beeline for any and all cords.

But she's fine in an instant and...what's that? Something else to chase?  Oooooh....big camera lens:

 Wait, what's with the guy in the background of that picture above?  Why do his pants seem not to match his top?

Oh, no biggie-- he just doesn't ever put his pants back on right after going to the bathroom!!  Sometimes we get inside-out AND backwards.  We're pretty sure this is a scamp move since it happens far more than the 50% of the time you'd expect this outcome.  But at least he loves playing with his sister, whom he has taken to calling "sweet pea":

 It's not on the special pink blanket, but this was the most "Meelie-like" pic I could get:

And let's see....what's the scoop at 8 months?   She's crawling all over the place.   Still eating everything we give her, which is still pureed food with the addition of puffs, cheerios, and baby mum-mums.    I pureed some homemade macaroni and cheese this past month so I guess she's branched out of the fruits/veggies world for the first time. (Although it was this cover CL recipe that has butternut squash in it!)

She continues to be a great sleeper and actually still takes 3 naps each day.  I'm not convinced she needs that 3rd nap but this mama generally needs that time NOT to be chasing around a mad crawler headed for each and every cord, so we're gonna keep taking advantage of it.

Stay tuned to see if we can even snap a pic of this brute (new nickname by her daddy:  "Ca-meel-cu-les" to rhyme with Hercules, and yes, Lyman Green, she will show you her muscles, baby!) at 9 months.....!!!

RAMblings

Yeah, the football season isn't going so well.  But boy, are these peeps cute, right?!

Saturday was the rescheduled-due-to-hurricane "Kick-Off" Picnic and Silent Auction fundraiser for the football program so the kiddies, my tired eyes, and I trekked over for a little while: 

And yes, that IS a super-fun personalized shirt I had made for the B-man!  I got it from Rock Paper Sisters:

I decided to go seasonal rather than sporty for the little miss's version-- can't wait to show you soon!  :-)

Classic.

Yesterday was "Favorite Color Day" at B's school.  I asked him several times what his favorite color was and, each time, he responded, "Red."  Seriously, like 7 times.  I even asked him if it might be orange for Go Rams!  But no, every time it was red.  Red. Red. Red.  So we got him dressed accordingly:

 So you can imagine my surprise when I went through his daily folder and pulled out this gem:

BK: Scampin' it up since 2008.

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

Shameful (but cute). Cute (but shadowy).

I just downloaded pictures from yesterday to choose one to post this morning, and--FOR SHAME!--realized that I totally missed documenting our wonderful afternoon o' Polly the week before last!   After she came to the BG's game, she ended up staying in the area for more than a week so we got to see her again before she returned to Boston.  It was just like old times when we'd sit on the red couch and chat the hours away!

This time, she got to bond with C or, as she calls her, "purty girl":

Now, moving on to the shadowiest of photos.  How did I not notice the second baby in this pic?!   Crazy.  Anyway, this little elephant dress was the first thing I bought once we found out that B would have a sister.  She finally wore it yesterday and clearly loved it!

Hard to believe it's been a year since we learned that Camille would be Camille and not "Unnamed Baby Boy Because We Can't Agree On Any Other Names."  Time flies, indeed!

Aerial Assault

The twins even jump in the exact same spot!!

(I was going to post this as a "Wordless Wednesday" but, let's be honest, I can't do anything sans words.  The worst mime ever I would be!)

PS:  Big Congrats to the BG's brother, Adam, and sister-in-law, Sara, on the birth of their second child, daughter Drue Elizabeth!  Hooray for big brother, Miles, too!

Batter Up!

(Subtitle:  For the Grandfathers)

Sunday afternoon, C and I were hanging out in her room when we realized there was quite the sports event going on outside her window:


(And yes, that's a window screen providing that delightful texture!

Proud little sister supported the athlete from the inside:

The boys "played" for a good 45 minutes or so, and the scamp kept exclaiming things like, "I am really, really good at baseball!" and "This is my most favorite thing to do!"   And for a right-handed guy who clearly hits left, he's pretty darn good!

Meeting Buddha

(No religious conversions implied.)

The kiddies and I took a quick little roadtrip this past weekend to visit Anne, Adam, and their newest family member, Buddha the St. Bernard.

Look, it's two gentle giants!!

You'll notice that a certain older brother is missing from these pictures.  He was mostly likely running through the room, shrieking at the thought of coming near the canine.  The wee one loved the big doggie, though!

Looking rosy:

I just love that A&A (&B!) live close enough that we can scoot down for a fun 24-hour visit.  It rained All.Day.Saturday so that put a bit of a damper on some of our plans, but we managed to shop, eat, and chat our way to happiness!

Party Time

There are few things more special in life than having friends who can drop in after months apart and just immediately fall back into the familiar fold. We are so happy that Lindsey and Cady came to play on a quick trip to their previous homeland!

Check out the girl train:

The twins had little trouble picking up where they left off. After a rousing game of "climb the couch" and "throw the pillows"...

...we moved on to "jump on the bed" which is always a crowd-pleaser!

Then we put them to bed and put the BG to work squeezing limes for our celebratory margs. Someone is turning 30 next week! (She'll have to tell me how it is since I'm only 25!)

About an hour after the picture above was taken, the party expanded by one when neighbor Jen came over to sample the insane chocolate treats that I had made earlier. Seriously-- easiest thing ever to bake and probably the highest-calorie, too! But oh so good, and a wonderful accompaniment to even more fabulous conversation amongst friends, old and new!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

The Way It Is

As I write this, sweaty from my 25 minutes on the treadmill while I watched part of a subtitled episode of Drop Dead Diva from my Netflix DVD, thinking about the laundry that just took a spin in the dryer, wondering how long I leave C in the crib cooing, hearing B stir on the living room couch where he ends up every single morning, trying to plan the morning's errands while checking to make sure there are no pressing tasks for either of my part-time gigs, figuring out when to take a shower, and how to get the house a lot less scary for our fabulous impromptu guests (The Ladies Carlson!) arriving later this afternoon.....even with all this, the chaos of our life right now, there is one universal truth.

Two kids will never look cutely at the camera at the same time.



PS:  Congrats to loyal reader, Alison, (and David, too!) on the birth of Ruby Katherine yesterday afternoon!

Meet the Quints!

At least, I'm pretty sure Grammie will say, "Those don't even look like the same child!" Must be that I have FIVE baby girls, then!!

I decked each of them out in this super-cute dress sent by loyal reader Emily K (thanks, E!) and plunked 'em on a blanket in the front yard. Cool air is on its way (yay, fall!) so I had to grab the opportunity while I could!

Back in the Kitchen

The week without power got us a little out of whack with our weekly CSA share of veggies. So I decided to use a bunch of stuff and go Italian-- Eggplant Parm with Roasted Tomato Sauce, it was!

I found this recipe for the sauce (although I didn't add the butter). It was kinda fun to throw everything on a baking sheet, roast it up, and then go nuts with the Cuisinart. See?

(Yellow Roma tomatoes kinda play with your notion of red tomato sauce, right?!)

Then I used the sauce in this recipe for healthier eggplant parmesan. It wasn't without some labor, but the results were pretty darn tasty!

I will say, however, that this extended cooking experience made me realize that it's mighty difficult to accomplish anything with two children afoot. I'm pretty much at the point of accepting that if I want to do as much cooking as I used to, it's going to require an older child spending more time in front of a screen than he probably should. Ugh-- the tightrope of household management, right?

Balance

Since last week was pretty photo-heavy, I figured I should blather a bit to balance it out! ;-)

• Not sure if the week sans power lit some internal fires instead, but the little miss just exploded this week in the development department. In the span of two days, she started babbling with consonant sounds, getting into a sitting position by herself, and is now crawling short distances when she really wants something. Why, oh why, was the blissful time of sitting-up-but-not-moving so short??!
  

• I've advanced, as well-- I've been making C's baby food! I didn't do that with B, for whatever reason, but am finding it to be as easy and as not-a-big-deal as peeps told me. So far, I've made green beans, wax beans, cauliflower, carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, spinach, pears, peaches, plums, cantaloupe, and I'm making a batch of zucchini while I type this. I've also smooshed bananas in her morning cereal and given her store-bought unsweetened applesauce as well as purchased peas and mangoes. After a bit of a hesitant start, she has eaten every single new food with not even a grimace, so we're holding out hope she'll be a good eater.

• There was so much rain last week that our sump pump, which hasn't had to work much the whole time we've lived here because our basement is only a few feet underground, went nuts and started pumping out a steady stream of water into the backyard (as it's supposed to). Unfortunately, it then started making some not-so-pleasant noises and we ended up with a plumber visit and a new sump pump. I can tell you that I did not wake up last Thursday morning thinking we'd have that expense that day, but at least we are prepared for the next deluge that comes our way. (But I'm kinda hoping this is the end of our weather hardships...at least until we're talking snow with school cancellations!!)

• Most of the Friday night football games were cancelled because of the insanely saturated ground, so the BG's team plays that game tonight and then has a regularly scheduled game on Friday. Busy week!

• I'm finding it very difficult to be disciplined enough to accomplish each day what I should be accomplishing. And we're just now getting to the fall TV season!!! (Guess I should just stop sleeping!!) Any shows you're super excited to watch this season?
  

And More

Well, B did get two days in a row of pics. And I really love these shots of "Meelie Jean":


Happy Friday!

Equity

The young lass needs her own collage, don't you think?

She's been scooting backwards across impressive distances for almost a month, and now she's really getting into forward-motion position. Wonder when she's gonna take off?!

Old Hat

Sentimentality-wise, I only cared about taking a new pic of B in front of the tree on the first day of school. Even though it was on the verge of raining, we were able to get the job done and even find a real smile! Yep, he looks a titch older, doesn't he?!

Since most children don't start preschool until the year they're 3 (as opposed to B starting last year at 2), I'd guess it was the first school drop-off for a good 85% of the class. I actually got guilted into pulling out my phone and snapping a pic of him playing at the train table because all the other parents were still in the room going camera-crazy. The pics both turned out blurry, but I died laughing when I saw them: off on the edge of the frame, you can see the open bathroom and a kid standing there taking advantage of the facilities. Ha! (and OOPS)

Hooray for the return of a school schedule! I'm still envious that Texas programs often last until 2-ish each day and ours ends at 11:45 AM, but we'll take what we can get!! ;-) Here's to a great year as a Caterpillar!

School-Ready

Look at those summer scraggles!

School starts today, so it was time for a little snippety-snip by the Master Barber. (At least the price is right!!):

Look at that hairy neck!

It's like a real barbershop up in here:

The young lad really does not ever make taking pictures an easy task, so I didn't get the comparative post-shot I was looking for:

My best bet was snapping while he was concentrating on his dinner!

Happy Respite

As you might have heard, we had a little electricity drama this past week. After a little tease on the evening of the 7th day, we finally had power back for real on the evening of the 8th day (yesterday).

And in the wise words of Forrest Gump, that's all I have to say about that.

Friday eve marked the beginning of the 2011 Rams football season. It's always so weird to be hot at the first couple of games and to know that, soon enough, we'll be bundled up in coats and hats.

Anyway, we were super excited about this opening game because we had a VERY fun friend with us: none other than Auntie Polly visiting from Beantown!! Seeing her was such a nice break from the pioneer conditions at home.

Someone sure had grown since Polly saw her last!


The game-watchers:


And the best we could do at corralling Mr.B:

We just love Polly so much and wish that she would move back to this area (hint, hint)!!! She was a tremendous help to me at both dinner and the game, in addition to being the most optimistic football-watcher possible!

(BTW, this whole doing-evening-events-with-two-kids-thing is kinda for the birds! Although I'm still not exactly sure what that expression means. Are birds good at such activities?!)

Unfortunately, the game did not go so well for the Rams. They've moved up a classification and lost their star player so it's probably going to be a year of challenges. But we're hoping they turn it around because we really want some more shirts!

I think it's high time for a trip down memory lane. Here are two collages o' Polly pics:


Did you notice that there are way more with B at a wee age? Yeah, that's because she moved away after that. Don't you think she should move back???!!