Monday, August 25, 2014

Zucchini chips

We harvested some zucchini from my garden a few days ago and I was planning to make zucchini muffins with it - however, I ended up making banana bread instead. So I ended up making some zucchini chips instead.

I followed the recipe here However, I made 2 big mistakes and that kind of ruined the whole thing. The recipe said to use parchment paper or silicone baking mat and also to take the chips out when they start to brown. I didn't do both.  I waited for another 15 mins and didn't use parchment paper.

The result was my chips browned all over and they stuck to the baking sheet and wouldn't come out. Next time, I think I will follow these instructions and make slightly thicker slices too - I made there 1/8" thick but perhaps I should try the next thickness.

I will post the results with photos on my next round.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Rise & Shine Challenge Day 7

I completely missed Day 4, 5 & 6 because of various issues. Still, I'm not going to be hard on myself and just catchup.

Day 4's assignment was to have a nightly checklist or to-do list which will help your mornings go better. Day 5's assignment is to plan to use the time you awake before everybody wakes up to recharge and feel great. Day 6's assignment is to write down what you need to do for ourselves to feel more joy each day.

Today's assignment is to ask what you need today, this week and this weekend. And then set your intentions for them carefully.

Day 4:
A couple of things helps my morning go better - knowing what's for lunch for me and my daughter the next day. I go through what's in the pantry and fridge and write down what's for lunch the next day. Also, writing down what's on my to-do list for the next day helps. If there's any prep work needed, I try to get the prep work done for the next morning.

Day 5:
The time I wake up before everybody else goes mostly in getting ready, drinking my milk and relaxing for a few mins and in preparing lunch. The few mins of relaxing I get - whether it's in browsing or just checking email or just sitting is great. And that's what I love about the mornings.

Day 6:
I'm finding it very hard to write down what I need to do for myself to feel more joy - I'm going to have to take some time to do it separately.

Day 7:
What I need today is have a calm day with my daughter who's down with a cough. I need to be patient and loving. What I need this week is to take some initiative with a new project I want to do - so I need lots of energy and motivation and keep the rest of my world as peaceful as it can be. For the weekend, we need to have some fun as a family and spend time together.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Bought a Freezer!

We just recently bought a freezer from Lowe's and it was delivered yesterday. We decided to buy a fairly big freezer instead of buying a smaller one and running short on space.



This is an experiment for us in that we want to try freezer cooking. We want to beable to save time in cooking by cooking in bulk and not having to cook everyday and also, hoping to save money by not eating out and buying food when it's cheaper and store it.

Rise & Shine Challenge Day 3


Today's Day 3 of the Rise & Shine Challenge.

Today's challenge is to focus on the nightly bedtime rituals and actually do it. So this is my plan for tonight's bedtime routine for me.

Get cooking and cleaning done before 8. Put my daughter to sleep with her bedtime routine. Then work on 1-2 To-Do items. Then read for a little bit. Then go to sleep by 9:30.

Today's Morning Report:
  1. Went to sleep at 8:45. Alarm went off at 5:22. Snoozed and woke up at 5:25. 
  2. Got up, Took long relaxing shower and got ready
  3. Had a glass of milk and relaxed for 5 mins. 
  4. Started lunch preparations
  5. Wrote To-Do list for me today
  6. Prepared lunch for me and for my daughter to take to daycare
  7. Woke up my daughter and got her ready

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Rise & Shone Challenge Day 2


Today's Day 2 of the Rise & Shine Challenge.

Today's challenge is:
Today, your challenge is to focus on your nightly bedtime rituals as a family. What nightly ritual can you do before going to sleep to really foster an earlier -- and more sleepy -- bedtime?
To go to bed early, I think eating dinner early and loading up the dishwasher early would help me go to sleep early. My daughter's bedtime routine is well established and she goes to bed around 8-8:15. Generally, I eat dinner, load dishwasher and spend some time relaxing before going to bed but this pushes my bedtime to 11 sometimes. If I can get dinner and dish washing done earlier, then I can do some light housework, spend some time reading or spending time with my husband and go to sleep by 9-9:30.  This would give me a good 8 hours of sleep.

Today's Morning Report:
  1. Went to sleep at 10:15. Alarm went off at 5:00. Snoozed and woke up at 5:15. 
  2. Got up - did not exercise (not feeling well)
  3. Took shower and got ready
  4. Had a glass of milk and relaxed for 5 mins. 
  5. Wrote To-Do list for me today
  6. Prepared lunch for me and for my daughter to take to daycare
  7. Woke up my daughter and got her ready

Monday, August 18, 2014

Rise & Shine Challenge Day 1



I decided to blog about my taking part in the Rise & Shine Challenge. The Challenge starts August 18th. 

For your first challenge this week take some time to dream a little and consider the following ...
What you want your ideal mornings to feel like? 
How do you want them to flow? 
What sounds do you want to hear?
I would like my ideal morning to be calm and purposeful. I would like to get up at 5 am, exercise, shower and get ready. Unload the dishwasher and get breakfast and lunch ready for me and my daughter. I like the sound of quiet in the morning apart from music when I'm exercising.

Today Morning Report:
  1. Alarm went off at 5:00. Snoozed and woke up at 5:15. 
  2. Got up, got ready to exercise but didn't end up exercising.
  3. Took shower and got ready
  4. Had a glass of milk and relaxed for 5 mins.
  5. Prepared lunch for me and for my daughter to take to daycare
  6. Woke up my daughter and got her ready

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Handyman work

We've had some small work which needed to be done around the house for a while now and after much procrastination (not good, i know!), we finally had a handyman come in last weekend to get the work done.

What he did:

- Ceiling Drywall repair (small part of ceiling had been hanging down)
- Caulking in the kitchen countertop
- Caulking the tub the both the guest bathroom and master bathroom

He charged us $300 for all of these together. It took him about 4 hours in all. I felt it was a fair price - what do you think?

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Weekend recap

My in-laws who were visiting us had to unexpectedly go back to India. So we're still getting used to not having them around the house anymore. We've all been missing them and Agirl's been a  little more sensitive.

Overall, we had a good weekend. On Saturday, I did some cleaning and housework, we had a handyman come by for some work around the house and then some friends visited. K, Agirl and me went out for a drive and picked up some dinner.

Sunday was good - mostly relaxed around the house, did some cooking/cleaning stuff and then went out in the evening to a farmstand. We showed Agirl chickens, goals and some ponies there - she was so excited. Then we went to Target for some back-to-school shopping and I saved $12 with coupons. Was mostly crayons and coloring stuff for Anjali and a few groceries.

Agirl's been really enjoying the crayons and coloring recently. However, she still puts crayons in her mouth - I caught her eating a crayon in the car when I took my eye off of her for 2 minutes while talking on the phone. She still can't be trusted alone with them.

Thursday, August 7, 2014

"Septimus Heap" series by Angie Sage

Recently, I've been hooked onto reading the "Septimus Heap" series by Angie Sage.

I had loaded them onto my Paperwhite Kindle a long time ago and hadn't used that kindle in a long time. My husband was searching for something for the road trip we were going on last weekend and came across it. He asked me if I wanted it and I said ok - I figured I could read something on it if I got bored.

A little while into the trip, I didn't have anything to do as my daughter watching a video and so I opened up the kindle to see what was on it to read.

I had loaded the Septimus Heap series books on it a long time ago and discovered them. I started reading and completely got hooked on it. In a week, I've already finished 4 books in the series - Magyk, Flyte, Physik and Queste.

My favorite books were Magyk and Physik. The other 2 books were good too. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the series.

I'm adding these 4 to my list of books I've read in 2014. :) .. I want to have read at least 20 books by the end of 2014.

Slid off again!

The last few weeks have been extremely busy and I have not spent much time on the computer at all. So I have not been blogging much - hope t...

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