March Challenge - Steps

It's my sister's turn to set our challenge for month (thank goodness this is the last day for squats... woohoo! 280 today - yikes!), and she's picked trying to get 70,000 steps per week (average 10,000 a day).  We get a point every week if we reach 70,000 (with the option to earn bonus points if we hit 100,000 steps in a week, and an additional point for every 1,000 steps over 100,000), and then start over for the next week. Her "rules" and point system will take a little keeping track but should be easy enough to follow - I have a pedometer on my watch that I'll hopefully keep an eye on to see my  daily steps so I know if I'm falling behind! Every night I'll record that days step count total and add it up at the end of the week.

In summary (per week - 3/1-3/7, 3/8 - 3/14, 3/15 - 3/21, 3/22 - 3/28):

70,000 steps   = 1 point
100,000 steps = 1 extra point
101,000 steps = 1 extra point
102,000 steps = 1 extra point and so on...

Start the count over every week. There is a potential to gain lots of points this month which I plan to do in case there are upcoming monthly challenges that I don't hit!! I'm going to stock up as many points as possible hahaha.

Who's up for a step challenge this month (with or without points earned!)? A few ideas that we've heard SO many times before (but usually ignore) on how to get those steps in:

-park far away instead of circling for a front row parking space
-pace when talking on the phone, doing the laundry, cooking, waiting an hour for the doc to finally see you (yes, she made me wait an hour and I should have been pacing instead of stewing!)
-ignore the elevator and escalators, take the stairs!
-stand up and walk around the house during commercial breaks (instead of fast forwarding them!)
-set a reminder on your phone to get up and walk or march in place for a couple minutes every hour
-return your shopping cart to a cart corral far from where you parked
-bring in the groceries one bag at a time
-don't park close to the store you want to go to in the mall, get in a little mall walking
-have a little random dance party in your kitchen
-get up a little early and go for a walk
-you've heard the saying "if your dog is fat you probably aren't getting enough steps in"?

And now some motivational images to get you started! You're getting a bunch because I couldn't decide which I liked best. And apparently because I have too much time on my hands (I should be getting steps instead of searching online for motivational quotes to get me to not sit at the computer all day!).

Quinoa Salad

Lunch today - quinoa, steamed butternut squash (already cut up from the produce section of grocery store), edamame (from the freezer section), chopped up kale, drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper. This is SO good, easy, and healthy :).

 I made enough for two portions and told Dave to help himself - he looked at it and said "is any of that edible?" LOL. 

Bracelet Safety Chain

Ronda gave me this adorable scissor bracelet that I love and wear all the time, but it kept falling off and one of these days I was going to lose it which woulda bummed me out. So I added this simple safety chain and now it's not going anywhere unless I want it to. Super easy - just took a short piece of chain, opened up one link on each end and attached it to the original clasp parts on either side of the bracelet. To wear I slip it over my wrist under the safety chain and then hook the original clasp - you don't even notice the extra bit of chain and it's totally secure.

You could have an actual jeweler add a safety chain for you if you doubt your skills and/or if the bracelet has diamonds and you really don't want to risk it ;) otherwise I think this is a great DIY solution.

Potato Tacos

"Potato what?" you say? Never heard of them? Me neither...but this recipe came up on Facebook and since I (a) love potatoes and (b) love tacos and (c) have all the ingredients on hand, I decided to make them for dinner (Dave isn't here so it's a perfect time to experiment and see if they're any good before making them for him - I know he isn't going to be thrilled if I suggest "potato tacos" for dinner and then they aren't great; even if they are good it's going to take some convincing for him to eat them hahah!).

Ingredients:

• 2 large russet potatoes, cut into bite size pieces
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• corn tortillas
• optional toppings: lettuce, tomato, avocado, salsa, onion, jalapeno, cilantro

Directions:

1. Add chopped potatoes to a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring potatoes to a boil and cook until fork tender, 15-20 minutes (don't overcook, you want them to hold their shape when frying them). When done, drain potatoes well.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add olive oil, potatoes, and all the spices. Stir until all the spices are evenly incorporated and then arrange in a single layer. Let potatoes cook for 3-5 minutes until crispy, then flip and repeat. 
3. Fill corn tortillas with desired amount of potatoes and top with your favorite toppings. 

Notes: these taste good, although they are really messy - it didn't help that I cut the potatoes in largish bite size pieces and they easily fell out of the tortillas! I ate 2 as tacos and then the rest with a fork more like a salad. Basically it's fried potatoes with taco fixings. So what's not to like? To be honest tho there is no way I'm getting Dave to eat these for dinner...just keepin' it real here ;)

click here for original recipe

Fringed Lampshade

After making my little side table less contemporary (by wrapping the chrome legs in twine and adding woodgrain contact paper to the frosted top, click here for that post), my modern standing lamp looked out of place. I didn't want to wrap the whole thing with twine (because how many twine wrapped things does one room need?) so I played around with the shade to see if I could make it look a little less white and modern.  First I covered it with patterned paper but because the shade curves in the middle the paper didn't fit right...so I found this fringe in my stash and literally just wrapped it around the bottom and clipped it in the back. When and if I want to change it I can just remove the clip and the shade is as good as new.

Random Acts of...Crochet

You know my motto "if it stands still long enough I'm going to decorate it", right? Click here, here, and here for examples. Well someone in my neighborhood (no, I'm not even going to suggest it's the crazy cat lady up the street, that would be a not-nice stereotype...LOL just kidding all you crazy cat ladies!!) has taken that beyond anything I've done  and is crocheting the street signs! I didn't see him/her in action, wonder if they are sneaking around randomly crocheting sign posts or brazenly crocheting their little hearts out right in the broad daylight? I've seen this in a couple different areas of town, this one happens to be on my street...love that I have a crafty sole-mate out there somewhere!!

Easy Homemade Tortilla Chips

It's so easy to make homemade baked tortilla chips - especially if you just need a few to add a little crunch to a salad (I make these for our burger taco salad, click here for that post) or just to satisfy a little craving for a salty snack. Cut corn tortillas into strips using a pizza cutter (a knife will obviously work too), put them on a pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, sprinkle with coarse salt and bake at 350' for a few minutes until they're crunchy. I turn them when the bottoms are starting to brown, and spray them again with non-stick cooking spray. Watch them closely - they go from almost done to burned very quickly!

Snickerdoodles

Mmmmmm. Snickerdoodles. You should make these. That's all I'm going to say.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter (or 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup shortening)
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 3/4 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (I like coarse salt, up to you)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 cup sugar mixed with 1 T. cinnamon to roll the dough balls in. 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350'
2. In a bowl sift together flour, cream of tartar, salt and baking soda; set aside. 
3. In a large bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; add eggs and beat until smooth. 
4. Add the flour mixture, stir until well blended.
5. Shape the dough into small 1" balls, roll in cinnamon sugar.
6. Bake on an ungreased or parchment lined cookie sheet, 2 inches apart, for 14-15 minutes until light brown. Cool on racks. 

Makes 4 1/2 dozen. Give them away as soon as you bake them or run the risk of eating waaaaaay too many cookies before lunch. Don't ask how I know. 

Unfinished Project Day

I had a "finish what you started" craft day - I let a whole bunch of things stack up to fix or change or correct or whatever and I finally sat down to get them done...seems to be a winter project for me since I just noticed that I did the same thing last year about this time! Feels good to get these odds and ends cleaned up, it only took me a couple hours to get everything done...why do I put it off so long? Here's a few of the little things I got done:

I broke this little string tassel bracelet that I wear all the time...

replaced with new string - easy fix

just needed to weave in the tails of the yarn on this hat...

easy to do with a big tapestry needle. Just weave the needle thru
the hat in a few different places to hide and bury the ends. 

the season for ordering candles was a fail - 3 different candles, 3 different shipments, all arrived broken! But they smell so good I didn't want to throw the wax out...so I VERY carefully peeled the broken glass away from the wax (I was super careful especially since I'm a klutz and have the tendency to hurt myself around sharp objects!) - I will find a different container to put the wax and new wicks in so I can still enjoy the candles!

fixed a couple broken ground stakes for my snowman lights - now I'm ready for next Christmas! 

Nothing terribly exciting or creative but hey - it's what I made today!!


one year ago: make a mason jar salt pourer
two years ago: lucky cat martini

Macrame Wall Hanging

I wanted to make myself a macrame hanging planter (if my sissy is reading this, I know she has just asked "why?" and rolled her eyes at me ) and spent all-kinds-of-way-too-much time hunting for patterns and figuring what I was going to do - right down to putting a big thing of twisted cotton rope in my Amazon shopping cart...then I realized I didn't want a hanging planter but how 'bout a wall hanging (since I'd now invested-slash-wasted so much time thinking about this!). I couldn't find a pattern that I wanted to make, and by now I was too impatient to order rope or drive to the craft store for supplies - so like impatient thrifty hoarders everywhere I toggled this together using things I had on hand.

Because I have a thing for sticks (!) this pretty branch has been in our garage for a couple years now waiting for me to turn it into a walking stick. (Why did I think this crooked stick was going to work as a walking stick?) I had leftover twine from covering the legs of that table last week (click here for that project), and I found this heavy soft yarn in my stash. Add a couple beads in with my variety of basic macrame knots and this is what I came up with. And I think it's super pretty :)

This only took me a couple hours to make...and I can add or subtract knots if I look at it long enough and want to change it!

Cut 36 pieces of twine or yarn (each 7' long). Fold in half and tie onto the branch using a lark's head knot

because the branch is crooked I set a ruler across the back to try to get the first row of square knots at the same place all the way across, so it would look level (see how some are right up against the branch but others are down a little bit?)

I've never made anything bigger than a dog collar or camera strap using macrame knots, and my repertoire is limited. This sort of became a sampler of different things using square knots and spiral knots (which are just a bunch of half square knots in a row). There's a couple braids in there as well...

                                               

my "helper" after he got the zoomies and ran thru my project ...

Pastitsio

This is a sort of Greek lasagna type dish that I made for our "Palentine's" dinner last week, it's an Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa) recipe on Food Network that sounded good and let me tell you, it's fabulous!! There are a few steps and I know some of you are going to be intimidated by that but trust me - it's worth it. So good that Ron and Janis had leftovers for dinner the next night (I said "how did you resist until dinnertime? I ate some for breakfast the next morning"!!) - it was just as good reheated the following day. Mmmmm...this is a keeper. Since I'm crediting Ina and Food Network I'm not going to retype - just copy and pasting the recipe straight from them (hopefully that's allowed, don't narc on  me...!).  You can watch a video of Ina making this at Foodnetwork.com.

Ingredients

For the Tomato Meat Sauce:

• 3 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 large)
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 pound lean ground lamb
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 large cloves)
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes in puree
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Bechamel:

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan or Kasseri cheese
• 2 extra-large eggs, beaten
• 2/3 cup Greek-style yogurt, such as Fage Total
• 3/4 pound small shells
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Directions

  For the sauce, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large pot. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add the beef and lamb, and saute over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until it's no longer pink, crumbling it with the back of wooden spoon. Drain off any excess liquid, add the wine, and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the garlic, cinnamon, oregano, thyme, and cayenne, and continue cooking over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 40 to 45 minutes. Set aside.

  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

  For the bechamel, heat the milk and cream together in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until simmering. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly for 2 minutes. Pour the warm milk and cream mixture into the butter and flour mixture, whisking constantly. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, until smooth and thick. Add the nutmeg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Stir in 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup of the tomato and meat sauce, and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Stir in the eggs and yogurt and set aside.

  Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente. Don't over-cook because the pasta will later be baked. Drain and set aside.

  Add the pasta to the meat and tomato sauce, and pour the mixture into a baking dish. Spread the bechamel evenly to cover the pasta and sprinkle with the remaining 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Bake for 1 hour, until golden brown and bubbly. Set aside for 10 minutes and serve hot.
  
  
  
  

  2009, Ina Garten, All Rights Reserved
  
  
  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  
  

  It might sound like a lot of dishes but this is all it took - I don't think that's too bad...although I did have a "helper" ;)

Glitter Cuticle Manicure

My new favorite way of polishing my nails - a very thin strip of glitter just along the cuticle. So far I've done it with light pink/rose gold glitter, and periwinkle blue with silver glitter - I'm pretty sure any combination you can think of is going to be nice! I did have a moment of concern when reading about how to prepare for an MRI last week - I read that some polish has metal in it and I'm pretty sure since the glitter is metallic that would not be good, so I removed it all the night before my test. I might have over-reacted but better safe than sorry...it was SO pretty tho! I'm going to try dark polish next time and see if I like that as much...try it and see for yourself!








one year ago: coincidentally, it's how to do ombre nail art!
two years ago: making paper crowns

Flower Centerpiece...by Brooke

hello, everybody! I was looking at my desk today and realized that it needed something cool on it! so i made a flower center piece with artificial flowers, a jar, and crayons! first you break all of your crayons and put them in the jar. then you just put your flowers in it! it is super easy and is so cute! you can use it as a center piece or just a little decoration! hope you love it!

note from Aunt Jill: I would never break all my crayons! Brooke grew up coming to my house and having to color with a second box of crayons I bought for her so she wouldn't use mine and possibly break them! Yes that's a little weird but there it is...hands off my crayons ;) This is a cute idea tho...for someone else's crayons. 

one year ago: homemade zucchini tots

two years ago: Sheryl's lemon cake

Clary Sage Bath Salts

I just got a bottle of Clary Sage essential oil - there's a bunch of things you can do with it (diffuse it, add to shampoo/conditioner, add to lotion...) and my friend Isabelle gave me this recipe for homemade clary sage bath salts that I'm loving. Clary sage is an herb known for it's calming properties and benefits to the skin - and it smells really good too - so it's perfect to mix into bath salts. I haven't added sea salt or baking soda to my usual Epsom salt routine before so this is different for me, I really like it though and hope you'll try it!

The instructions she sent me are hard to read, so I'm typing out the basics:

1/2 cup coarse sea salt
2 cups Epsom salts
1/4 cup baking soda
8 drops clary sage essential oil
food coloring if desired (note I didn't add coloring, if you want to give as a gift tho it might be nice to make it a pretty color)

Mix all together in a large bowl.
I keep mine in a big jar with a lid and a scoop right next to my bath tub.



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