Press Play

I am starting a photo series called "Press Play", I want to document my daughter doing what she does best...playing!

I will be posting mostly on my Flickr account let me know what you think!

Creativity

Watching my daughter learn is the coolest thing I have ever experienced. I love when she is trying so hard to figure out how a particular thing works and comes up with ingenious ways to use it that I never even thought of because in my mind a spoon is a spoon, a cup is a cup, you only paint with the bristles of a paint brush....you don't use the other side, thats madness! I can see her Dad when I look at her when her brain is fired up. Matt is 25 and is an out of the box thinker, I love that about him! The other day he used a soup spoon as a little bowl for Paisleys grapes and she thought it was the coolest thing ever! I am learning to see the simple things because of my little 21 month old, she is amazing. 

Day 4 Pinterest challenge

Today I had to use my "DIY" board so I am doing several things because I cant help it! haha

First idea: http://www.delightedmomma.com/2012/03/how-to-tie-dye-shirt-naturally-using.html?showComment=1332259591814

Second idea: http://www.parents.com/holiday/christmas/crafts/genius-and-fun-crafts-to-make-with-leftover-boxes/?socsrc=pmmpin130624cShapeSorterBox

Day 3 Pinterest Challenge

So I had to use my "Baby food" board today and I made roasted carrot coins. It was super easy but I suggest not cooking it so long because most of mine burt. Check it at 20 minutes.

Pinterest idea: http://www.thebump.com/a/top-10-recipes-for-one-year-olds

Day 2 Pinterest challenge

I had to use my "Baby and Kids" board today! I did two different things because....caffeine!

First idea: http://blackdressredwagon.blogspot.com/2009/02/elusive-baby-hand-print.html
Second idea: http://simplyfour.com/2013/01/15/sick-tired-and-cold/

Day 1 Pinterest Challenge

So the board I had to pick from today was "favorite Recipes" and I chose Crustles Mini Quiches
I used veggies I had on hand instead of what she used though. I used spinach, mushrooms and cheese and tomato in mine :) What are you doing today?

Pinterest board challenge

So I am not sure if this is a thing, but I thought it would be cool to make a Pinterest challenge where you have to do one thing from each of your boards.

Obviously sometimes that can't happen, for example....I have a board filled with owl photos, what the heck and I supposed to do with that?

But for things like recipe boards you can cook a meal that you have pinned. Or clothing boards, you can buy an item you pined or wear an outfit you owned inspired by an outfit you pined. If you have a hairstyle board you could do one of those hairstyles you pined and so on.

I think it would be best to go down the line and do each board in order, it seems more challenging that way. Anyone want to try it with me?

Use the hashtag: #doyourpins if you want to join 

My pinterest account is: https://www.pinterest.com/ohtabby/

Hydroponic gardening made EASY!

So, I have always wanted to have a hydroponic garden, especially in the winter months. I was going to make one at one point but it was so confusing I never ended up doing it. For Christmas I got an Aerogarden 3 (Link) and I am in love! My dad got me the cow print one as an inside joke, my very first email was "Moomoolover" haha! This machine was super easy to set up, if I can do it anyone can! I am currently growing Dill, Parsley and Basil! You need one in your life!

Freezing portions of baby food (+ Oatmeal Recipe)

So I was totally against buying baby food when I first had Paisley, little did I know being a mom got more and more demanding haha! When Paisley started crawling I discovered how hard it was to actually keep up with anything in the house, when she started eating food at 6 months it was easy at first because she was mostly dependent on breastmilk but at about a year I needed to feed her a lot more. Now, I am not against store bought baby food. I think they are great, especially when you are on the go or sick. I was trying to figure out a way to feed her more healthy foods that were actually healthy, I knew exactly what was in it and that was super convenient. TA-DA making large batches of food and freezing them in muffin tins and then transferring them to a freezer bag was the answer! Thank you Pinterest :D 

Here is Paisley eating a defrosted portion of pear, raison and apple oatmeal (Recipe below)

She loves it!

Pear, Raisin, Apple oatmeal

Ingredients: 

4 cups water

2 Pears ( diced)

1 1/3 cup rolled oats (NOT instant oats) 

2 Apples (peeled and diced)

1/2 cup raisins (chopped)

4 T brown sugar 

1/2 t vanilla

1/2 t nutmeg 

1 T cinnamon 

Directions: 

Bring water to a boil. 

Add all ingredients. 

Simmer for 15 minutes or until fruit is tender. 

You can serve as is or puree in a blender. 

This will store in the freezer for 3 months or the refrigerator for 3 days. 

Things I love about biking

So we haven't posted in a while. We've been plenty busy lately. I've had a post in mind for a little while and would like to share it, so without further adieu *drum roll*

Things About Biking I Never Thought Twice About in a Car

(Catchy right...)

My first one will be what inspired this post

Sun Rays: First thing in the morning when its cold, and I am riding to work... I look forward to every break in the trees where the sun shine. To feel the warmth of the sun and just enjoy it, is amazing when your feeling cold on your ride. In a car it was only an blinding annoyance.

Music: I mean I would think about what I wanted to listen to but not really how it affected my time to and from my destination. If I don't have the write playlist, it really throws off my grove.

Minutes: When you shave a minute off your daily commute in your car its probably because you missed that light that you always hit... on a bike it's because you pushed yourself that little bit harder and you feel great!

Speaking of which, just to show HOW effective biking is as exercise, My first few bike trips to work were 48 minutes, by the end of the week I was down to 43, the next week I was down to 38 and last week I was in the 34-35 range and this week so far I have had two straight days of 30 minutes to work. That's an almost 20 minute increase in time in 3ish weeks! That's huge improvement.

(Ignore that it has different distances, the map tracking isn't the greatest... 

Wind: I have decided that wind is to bikers what kryptonite is to Superman. The more of it and the closer it is to you, the weaker you are. There is nothing like a head wind to just KILL your times, momentum and morale. About half the days I bike home have had a strong head wind, I go from my best bike home being 19 minutes to sometimes 32 minutes because of wind... Granted you think about wind if its really bad in a car otherwise you don't even know its there.

Something I don't think about now that I bike...

Traffic... it doesn't matter what traffic is like, I just go to the front of the line
Gas... I ride through a gas station every day on the way home and think "haha suckers"
How lazy I am... Man I used to think this all the time... "I really should do something active today" now If I want to do ANYTHING I have to be active

There's plenty of more stuff but these are just a few ideas I have had.

Here's some fun pictures to enjoy because I don't have any really about this blog.

(Click them to make them bigger)

Weekend number dos!

So this weekend wasn't tooo eventful but we did get quite a bit of biking in. Sadly, I didn't get a lot of photos for the blog. We went to the Saturday market again. This time we locked up our bike trailer because I keep hearing about people stealing them. We got coffee and then walked up and down the market looking at all of the venues and musicians playing. It was fun :) we hung out at the Capitol park for a while relaxing, Matt got a craft root beer and we got a bag of mixed veggies from one of the refugee gardeners. We also got two oregano plants, one basil plant and a "mystery" tomato plant for free. Also the neighbor's had a birthday part for their son who turned 1 year old. That was pretty fun and Paisley got to socialize with some other babies.:) Sunday we biked to Shopko and bought two bags of cedar mulch and some soil specifically for vegetable gardens. Matt had to bike that all home in the trailer while Paisley and I wandered Shopko for the first time. She embarrassed  me in the store for the first time...Paisley thought it was a good idea to practice her bird screeching capabilities at full volume for several minutes while I nervously hushed her and awkwardly smiled at all of the people staring at is. That was fun! When Matt got to the store we rode home and worked on the garden most of the rest of the day. It looks a million times better now :) We planted all of the herbs and I planted some summer squash seeds! I ended up giving the tomato plant to my neighbor who really wanted one. Her husband said he would build a cage for our tomato plant we got last weekend... score! Overall it was a great weekend! Here are some pics...

We planted three squash seeds here.

The Truth is

So while we have talked about the great side of biking instead of driving... it's really got quiet a bit of downsides too.. and we want to give a fair perspective to the whole thing

1: Sleep is CRITICAL (especially to me)
   
         Think this through with me. You wake up early enough to bike into work (for me that's 6AM.. not bad  really I woke up at 5 to drive in so really I get an extra hour of sleep these days), and the first thing you think is, alright I need to get up! I have a 40 minute battle with traffic and hills ahead of me. Ughhhghghghgh I am so tired, maybe I should just call in sick today... followed by WHAT THE HECK HOW IS IT 7:30!
       There is seriously nothing worse to think about when you wake up tired and groggy than having to bust your butt to get to work when you know you can take the day off and still get paid.

2: Sleep is CRITICAL

        Wait didn't you just say that.... yep! Your body needs time to rest to rebuild those muscles you are tearing up... you'll be sore every day of the week (because you don't get a break from biking!) You need as much sleep as possible so your body has time to rebuild

3: Food sucks...

       All the sudden you look at that free doughnut in the break room and think all you're going to do is weigh me down and make my job harder... BUT YOU LOOK SO GOOD. You suddenly fight with yourself over what food/drink you will have because each one makes a difference in how your ride will go. For some that doesn't matter because you already eat healthy. (And cue off subject rant...3...2...1... and GO) One look at my frame it will tell you I haven't been Health Conscious for some time. 2 years ago I was 60 pounds lighter and could ride 4 more miles to work each day at 4:30 AM without a problem and work a 12 hour shift on my feet. 10 months ago, I worked 2 jobs from Thursday to Saturday my schedule went, wake up at 7 get to work at 8 get off at 5 go home eat and change go to work at 7 get off anywhere  from 3-5am sleep until 7 wake up go to work at 8 get off at 5 go home eat and change, go to work at 7 get off anywhere from 3-5 go home sleep until 12ish get up take some time to relax and connect with the wife. go to work at 7 get off anywhere form 3-5. I also worked Monday nights. so 5 days a week at my day job and 4 days at my night job. I was away from home about 100-110 hours a week and put in about 95 hours of work. Now I am beat up from 5 days of work and an hour of exercise... anyways moving on.

4: Sweating this much sucks...

      I sweat like a pig sitting still. Imagine what I look like after my bike to work each day... wait you don't have to look here. It's disgusting to see, and even worse to feel and smell

5: Showering at work sucks...

      The way the showers work at my job is they're inside the men's bathroom. I don't know about you but, I don't feel 100% clean after showering with umpteen guys coming into the bathroom and doing their business just a few feet away from me while I shower.

6: Biking is not easy!

      If I had a car right now I wouldn't bike to work everyday... trust me. Every morning I wake up I think... man I wish I had a car right now, I need a day off from biking. I would think that every morning with a car too and drive in. It's so bad that if I see a car that looks like someone I know I HOPE they stop to pick me up haha. There is a truck on our block in a empty parking lot that has some paint pen writing on it that says "Please Move" and I couldn't read the rest. But I was hoping I could move it to work... with my bike in the bed.

That's not all the bad stuff there is but, I will just stop there. I will, however, give you why its worth it and rewarding and just incredible and what outweighs all the negatives.

I am loosing weight and feel so much better every day. I got to work and another bicyclist and I were talking and he said something so true.. "You're definitely awake by the time you get here" and that's true for the whole day. I am so much more alert and my mind is so much clearer each day. My wife can attest to it too, I have SO MUCH MORE energy everyday. I used to get home and just want to sit on the couch and be a lazy bum because "I was so warn out". Now I get home, help with the baby, make dinner, do the dishes and get ready for bed, without feel warn out most days.

I get to see my constant progess. Remember those hills I could only climb two of. Tuesday was the first time but, today I climbed them all and look at my time! 35 minute (if you don't have it Moves is a great activity tracker that you don't have to do anything to use... just leaving it running.)

Also I get to see things that generally you won't pay attention to in a car. Look at this view I got this morning!

(Click any of the images to make them larger) (also as a caveat to the 35 minutes that's with stopping to take this picture...)

I would not have stopped to appreciate this view. (I'm no photographer but you get it) also I get a lot of time to reflect and spend time thinking, meditating, and contemplating about life, my day, my family and everything in between. 

All in all its a give and take but, from what I've seen it gives much more than it takes.

Family Photos June 2014