Last day of freedom.

Today is my last day of freedom before school starts, and it looks like such a gross day outside. It makes me feel all lazy and uninspired to move quickly or, you know, do any form of chores. Luckily there's not really an overwhelming amount of chores to do, most of what needs done lies purely in the form of little odds and ends and papers cluttering up our space. I really don't know how we accumulate so much junk... Maybe that'll be a good thing to discover as this year progresses so that we can nip it in the butt.

In any case, I figure that since it's such a nasty day out, and Mr. A is off working hard chopping veggies and prepping yummy foods, and it's just the tiny Jarl and I today, it's just going to be a lazy morning. She's alternating between watching Barney (*sigh*) and playing with her animal books - they make noises for her, so she loves them. And mama? She's going to alternate between picking up a tiny bit so she doesn't feel like a total lazy ass, and reading. I'm on my fifth book in the past month since I've been out of school, the third of this series that Mr. A found by chance at BAM one day. I stole his books and have been reading themselves - and I really like them! It's this series:

The Outcast Chronicles - Rowena Cory Daniells

It's just a really interesting concept. I can't wait to see how she ends the series.

Anyways, I've also been up to some other fun things - like a minor crafty night with the husband! We wanted to make a Date Night jar so that we don't have to hee-haw around wasting time when we actually get the chance to go on a date together sans the little one. The jar itself isn't done, but the sticks are... They're color-coded by type of activity - purple sticks are for dates at home, orange sticks are for mid-grade expensive, and the pink are for the major hitters. I think. I may have pink and orange mixed up. Anyways, I'll post an updated picture when I decide what to do with the jar.

Date Night jar!

Last night, we experimented with our dinner (which had to happen quickly because I had a mini date-night with a friend of mine at a Dirty Spelling Bee - quite hilarious, mind you). We've heard that when you put pumpkin in spaghetti sauce, you can't tell it's there, and we have four giant cans of pumpkin that needs to be used before they expire, so I decided to try a pumpkin sauce - no red added. Well, I didn't read the recipe right and added TOO much pumpkin, so it was a little bland, even after we dressed it up - so we just added in some red sauce and more spices, and it turned out alright. We served it over homemade ravioli, which also turned out pretty awesome... I found a new love for my wonton wrappers!

Mr. A wasn't crazy about the sauce, but he said it grew on him and that he wanted to try it over super spicy manicotti or ravioli, so that may be another dinner this week.

Pumpkin sauce ravioli

Other experiments for this week include making my first FULL chicken in the crock pot so that I can pull the bones out and make my own broth. Fingers crossed that I don't screw it up horribly. *wink* I'm also going to make breakfast oatmeal cupcakes to grab on the go for classes this week, and when my crock pot is free of chicken juice, I'm going to make some pumpkin pie crock pot oatmeal. I'm so glad pumpkin is actually good for you, otherwise this would be a terrible week for weight loss, but I'm calling it our "Pumpkin Week!" Haha.

Anyways, the reason I'm really writing today - weigh-in! It is Sunday, after all. I need to do my measurements soon (like before the 15th), but today, I'm happy to say that I've seen a loss and that I'm glad to be back to reporting progress instead of the excuses I'd been offering all of the last year and a half. It feel great!

That's a 2.3lb loss! Wewt!

Goals for my week:
Continue monitoring my portions
Drink more water!! Good gawd, how is it so hard to remember to hydrate?!
Get a little workout routine going on
Be happy!

Have a great Sunday!