Water Snacks and Pink Shoes

We had an errand to run this morning, and fortunately it landed us very near the library, so we stopped in for a visit. First stop: the bird cages.

Be sure to check out Maxine’s self selected ensemble. I just got those shoes for her at a thrift shop ($2!!) and no other shoes have been worn since. I kid you not that she threw a complete fit last night when I told her she could not wear them to bed.

Home from the library, I was thrilled to get the mail and find the new Runner’s World waiting for me!

I’m especially excited about this issue though because yours truly is mentioned in one of the articles this month! Do you get Runner’s World? Be sure to check out the article “Run for All” article by John Hanc. When I attempted to train for the marathon in 2007 I had to stop because I wasn’t ready, but I still volunteered at the race that year and it made me more determined than ever to do it in 2008. The article is basically about how running can do much more for you than just shedding some pounds.

Breakfast was so late this morning that I wasn’t really hungry for lunch, but I felt like I should eat a little something and cut up a (Washed! TWICE!) apple for a mid day snack.

Later in the afternoon while I made a late lunch for myself the girls were ready for a “snack”. This would be Ava’s recipe, hold on to your hats.

Water popsicles.

They were so excited for ice cubes on a stick it made me wonder why I ever buy them cookies. Ava made these a while ago but found them today when the snacks I offered (an apple, a banana) were unappealing to her.

Someone remind me why I spend so much money on organic food.

During water popcicle fun, my I enjoyed a sun filled salad with the left over white bean dip smeared on a piece of Ezekiel toast.  My beast of a salad was comprised of red leaf, spinach, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, sprouts, mushrooms, broccoli and carrots.

After water snacks Ava and I sat down on the couch together to read a book about volcano’s and Maxine crawled up into my lap to listen, but apparently we bored her to sleep.

Tonight for dinner I was in the mood for something new. I was going to try one of Brendan Brazier’s pizza recipes but when I realized it was getting kind of late and the pizza recipes in his book take 45 minutes just to BAKE (not even including prep time) I decided to save it for another night and went with a new spin on black bean burgers instead.

Tonight’s All Star Ingredient? Why sun dried tomatoes! Thanks for asking!

I put about a 1/2 cup of jarred sun dried tomatoes packed in oil into my mini prep and chopped them up to mix into the can of rinsed black beans that I had mashed up. I then chopped up about a 1/2 cup or so of sunflower seeds in the mini prep and stirred it all together. I added a little minced garlic on a whim, formed into patties and cooked on each side for about 4 – 5 minutes.

Sun dried tomato burger on an Ezekiel roll with pickles, mustard and red leaf lettuce.  This turned out so great and held together the best of all my veggie burger experiments yet!  Served with steamed broccoli topped with Nutritional Yeast. I usually use parm but Brendan talks about the benefits of nutritional yeast in Thrive and I’ve had some in the cupboard for a while now, not knowing what to really do with it.   I whipped it out tonight for a broccoli topping and it was good. It’s got a very nutty, almost cheesy flavor and is a good source of protein. I liked it and will use it again.

And now I better prepare myself to fight the Pink Shoes Bedtime Battle again tonight, I’m sure. Wish me luck.

She Missed the Bus

Today would have been Ava’s first day at school. Kindergarten, to be more precise. But as the saying goes, she missed the bus.

I’m very grateful that the homeschooling seed was planted in our minds early on because it took me a while to get comfortable with the idea. I use to resist the instinct to hyperventilate at the idea of NOT schooling our kids in the traditional sense. But fortunately we have a large homeschooling community in our area and we’ve gotten to know a lot of homeschooling families and kids, including a couple of incredibly amazing grown up homeschoolers.  I know that homeschooling DOES indeed work and the pros easily out weight any cons. This confidence enables me to take a picture of a school bus driving by the house this morning and I can continue breathing in a normal fashion.

I had the alarm set for 5:30 and got up early this morning to get caught up on house work. I’m working on this being my new routine. Instead of sitting down at my computer when I wake up I head straight downstairs to the basement and start a load of laundry.  This primes the house work pump for me and it’s easy to keep rolling once I hear the washer filling.  It’s like it flips the “get to work!” switch.  I have no problem doing house work once I get stared, but that’s just it.  Getting STARTED is the hardest part. Now that we are “officially” homeschooling I need to get into a regular routine here. I kind of feel like I’ve been goofing off all summer long, keeping up (or not) with house work with no real system in place.  If I’ve learned anything from regular exercise, routine is key!

I worked on house work until the sun came up and then headed out for a 4 mile run and was back again in just over a half hour. I planned to run today and will run Thursday and then it’s REST REST REST until the half marathon on Sunday!

I came back to hear the juicer purring and to find Zak standing over a sea of produce.

Fortunately he left me more than just a couple of tablespoons. I hadn’t planned to make juice today so this was a nice surprise. The man is hooked!

The usual: romaine, a beet, a cucumber, an apple, a lemon and a couple inches of ginger.

Juice held me over well and it’s just now nearing 10 and I’m having breakfast. Today’s fruit cereal combo is made up a diced banana, a couple diced prunes tossed in ground flax, topped with a small handful of sliced almonds and a little spoonful of almond butter.

I suppose now we should go do something homeschool-y, in honor of NOT back to school today!