She has only one arm, he has only one leg! Beautiful!!!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Cranberry Orange Oat Pancakes...
I made these tonight (for breakfast in the morning) and now I regret it because they smell sooooooooooooooo yummy and I tasted one and they taste soooooooooooooooooo yummy, I want to eat them all right now! Instead I shall blog about them and go to bed, so I can hurry up and get up in the morning and eat them!
Cranberry Orange Oat Pancakes
1 cup Quaker old fashioned rolled oats
1 1/4 cup whole wheat pancake mix
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
mix dry ingredients in bowl set aside
2 large eggs
1 cup OJ (if you don't want the orange flavor then just replace this liquid with milk)
1/4 cup 2% milk or soy milk
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, or olive oil
mix wet ingredients
add wet into dry and stir until just combined
3/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries (or blueberries or any other fruit)
fold in fruit at the end
cook on hot griddle 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. when pancake edges are dry and bubbles appear in the middle, flip and cook for one to two more minutes!
YUM! These don't require much if any syrup because there is so much flavor in them. Nutritional info...
Nutritional Info Per Serving (2 pancakes):
259 cal, 6 g pro, 39 g carb, 4 g fiber, 9.5 g fat, 1.5 g sat fat, 53 mg chol, 298 mg sodium
I used quick cooking oats (not instant, quick cooking), soy milk, and frozen mixed berries (cran, blue and ras) because I didn't have any dried berries.
My house smells amazing right now! You seriously don't even need syrup for these, maybe a tiny sprinkle of powdered sugar if you just GOTTA, but they are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo YUMMY! Try it, you'll love it!
Cranberry Orange Oat Pancakes
1 cup Quaker old fashioned rolled oats
1 1/4 cup whole wheat pancake mix
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
mix dry ingredients in bowl set aside
2 large eggs
1 cup OJ (if you don't want the orange flavor then just replace this liquid with milk)
1/4 cup 2% milk or soy milk
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, or olive oil
mix wet ingredients
add wet into dry and stir until just combined
3/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries (or blueberries or any other fruit)
fold in fruit at the end
cook on hot griddle 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. when pancake edges are dry and bubbles appear in the middle, flip and cook for one to two more minutes!
YUM! These don't require much if any syrup because there is so much flavor in them. Nutritional info...
Nutritional Info Per Serving (2 pancakes):
259 cal, 6 g pro, 39 g carb, 4 g fiber, 9.5 g fat, 1.5 g sat fat, 53 mg chol, 298 mg sodium
I used quick cooking oats (not instant, quick cooking), soy milk, and frozen mixed berries (cran, blue and ras) because I didn't have any dried berries.
My house smells amazing right now! You seriously don't even need syrup for these, maybe a tiny sprinkle of powdered sugar if you just GOTTA, but they are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo YUMMY! Try it, you'll love it!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Life in the fast lane....
Have I told you guys we are going to America this year! Have I told you how excited we are!? I can hardly stand it. I've been knee deep in emails, planning the details of our trip this week, and I am so excited I think I could burst. We are going to have so much fun and see so many people, and I just can't imagine that we'll ever be able to keep Hana entertained by ourselves after this trip. Grandma's and Grandpa's, Aunts and Uncles, Cousins, Friends GALORE!!! It is going to be soooooooooooooo amazing to share my home and our family with my daughter, now that she is old enough to understand and enjoy it with me!
Back in the real world, all is well. We continue to be so busy! I made some new friends this week (Hi E and M, if you're reading)! These two ladies work out at my gym and now that I go to some of the studio classes, our paths crossed and we have become friends. E struck up a conversation with me in BEAUTIFUL English and I was so impressed. Just moments later her daughter came up and began talking to me in equally perfect English! I was very surprised and impressed!
So keeping up these yoga or pilates classes AND keeping up a cardio workout is more time consuming than what I was doing before. And yet, I really like what those classes are doing for my muscle tone and stamina. So I'm sticking with it, at least for now, when I have a LITTLE bit of time.
I am soooooooooo excited about the new developments with QTbaby. I have been back to where our new location will be, to find out more and pick dates for the store. They let their vendors sign up for an entire year at once, so I am a little late coming in and have some slim pickings, but we'll take whatever we can get. I was VERY impressed with the amount of "shoppers" browsing in the stores set up both days I was there. I think we will do more business at this location! Which means I get to go SHOPPING for more baby's/children's clothes when I am in the states. YIPPEEE! In the meantime I have to revamp the website, re-design a poster and post card to pass out, and get the word out about the dates we will be setting up shop. FUN FUN FUN
Otherwise I'm doing good. did I mention I am really REALLY excited about going to America!?
Wahooooo!!!
Back in the real world, all is well. We continue to be so busy! I made some new friends this week (Hi E and M, if you're reading)! These two ladies work out at my gym and now that I go to some of the studio classes, our paths crossed and we have become friends. E struck up a conversation with me in BEAUTIFUL English and I was so impressed. Just moments later her daughter came up and began talking to me in equally perfect English! I was very surprised and impressed!
So keeping up these yoga or pilates classes AND keeping up a cardio workout is more time consuming than what I was doing before. And yet, I really like what those classes are doing for my muscle tone and stamina. So I'm sticking with it, at least for now, when I have a LITTLE bit of time.
I am soooooooooo excited about the new developments with QTbaby. I have been back to where our new location will be, to find out more and pick dates for the store. They let their vendors sign up for an entire year at once, so I am a little late coming in and have some slim pickings, but we'll take whatever we can get. I was VERY impressed with the amount of "shoppers" browsing in the stores set up both days I was there. I think we will do more business at this location! Which means I get to go SHOPPING for more baby's/children's clothes when I am in the states. YIPPEEE! In the meantime I have to revamp the website, re-design a poster and post card to pass out, and get the word out about the dates we will be setting up shop. FUN FUN FUN
Otherwise I'm doing good. did I mention I am really REALLY excited about going to America!?
Wahooooo!!!
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Pillow talk...
Rocky and I probably communicate with each other more than any couple I have ever known. Rocky's love langauge is "quality time" and he would simply shrivel up and die without quality time to talk and hang out with me.
One of our favorite times to talk is after we crawl into bed at night. We don't talk EVERY night, sometimes one of us is in bed before the other and falls asleep before the other, or sometimes we are just too tired to talk much.
Last night I was so sleepy that I thought I'd be asleep before my head hit the pillow. But as soon as we crawled into bed we started talking and we went on for a while. We got so tickled a couple of times though, at a line I was using in our conversation...
"Cause I'm the Mommy!"
Hana is in the "why?" stage that little kids go through, or in Hana's case it is the "how come?" stage. For everything you tell her you get asked, "how come?" As many of you parents probably remember well, there are times that little question can crawl under your skin and make you think you're gonna go crazy if you hear it one more time. Especially when it is not simple to explain the reason why, the only answer is "just because it is". Which of course is not a very satisfactory answer to most 3 year olds and usually gets even more inquisition.
So my favorite answers are...
"because God made it that way!"
AND
"because I'm the Mommy!" (this one gets used when she wants to know why Mommy told her to do something or not to do something)
Both of which usually can't be argued with, and that ends the matter then and there.
Well last night Rocky kept pushing on my feet while he was talking to me and I don't know why but it was driving me nuts. So I told him to stop and he said, "how come?" (immitating Hana's voice) and I said, "Because I'm the Mommy!" He just grunted and said, "That's a really convenient line isn't it!?" And we both burst out laughing (trying not to laugh so hard as to wake the little 3 year old sleeping in the next room). Then several minutes later I used my power line again on him and it sent us into giggles again!
What a convenient line, and amazingly enough one I wondered if I'd ever get the chance to use. But now I get to BECAUSE...
I'm the Mommy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of our favorite times to talk is after we crawl into bed at night. We don't talk EVERY night, sometimes one of us is in bed before the other and falls asleep before the other, or sometimes we are just too tired to talk much.
Last night I was so sleepy that I thought I'd be asleep before my head hit the pillow. But as soon as we crawled into bed we started talking and we went on for a while. We got so tickled a couple of times though, at a line I was using in our conversation...
"Cause I'm the Mommy!"
Hana is in the "why?" stage that little kids go through, or in Hana's case it is the "how come?" stage. For everything you tell her you get asked, "how come?" As many of you parents probably remember well, there are times that little question can crawl under your skin and make you think you're gonna go crazy if you hear it one more time. Especially when it is not simple to explain the reason why, the only answer is "just because it is". Which of course is not a very satisfactory answer to most 3 year olds and usually gets even more inquisition.
So my favorite answers are...
"because God made it that way!"
AND
"because I'm the Mommy!" (this one gets used when she wants to know why Mommy told her to do something or not to do something)
Both of which usually can't be argued with, and that ends the matter then and there.
Well last night Rocky kept pushing on my feet while he was talking to me and I don't know why but it was driving me nuts. So I told him to stop and he said, "how come?" (immitating Hana's voice) and I said, "Because I'm the Mommy!" He just grunted and said, "That's a really convenient line isn't it!?" And we both burst out laughing (trying not to laugh so hard as to wake the little 3 year old sleeping in the next room). Then several minutes later I used my power line again on him and it sent us into giggles again!
What a convenient line, and amazingly enough one I wondered if I'd ever get the chance to use. But now I get to BECAUSE...
I'm the Mommy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, February 15, 2008
LONG week!
How do I manage to fill up my week when I have nothing on my calendar??? I don't know how I do it, but somehow I do. This week was such a busy week. But it was sooooo awesome.
I made some awesome new friends at the gym in one of my Pilates classes. Two women who speak English flawlessly! I was truely amazed to meet these women at my sports club of all places. We are having lunch at the local Bolivian restaurant next week after Yoga class... But never fear, lunches come in small portions in Japan so it will not be counterproductive to our workout! LOL
Let's see, then we did QTbaby again this week. It's been a long time since ya heard that one huh! Yep, we were too busy in the fall, my business partner had a baby, and our schedule was so packed with concerts. And then we had very little in the way of winter clothes to offer our customers, so we didn't open up shop in the winter. But this week we had a great one day store set up in our usual location and had some good business. However, we are sad to find out that our usual location is going to remodel and not offer the space for little stores like ourselves to set up there anymore... so we have to find another place to go. And I was so excited that God provided us with that just as I was beginning to pray for an answer! Another man who does women's clothing at various places said he would introduce us to a great place to set up our store. And would you believe it is right down the street from our house! It is one minutes walk from Hana's preschool!!! We will be finding out more about this very soon.
Let's see, this week I did... Yoga on Monday, Pilates on Wednesday, I walked around A LOT and did squats and leg lifts and some arm excercises during my down time at QTbaby on Thursday (I was so tired at the end of the day, I bet I walked 10 miles in little circles around my store space and did about a hundrend squats and lunges), and then today I went to the Yoga class of with a friend which was being instructed by an aquantance of ours. I did cardio 3 times this week too! And I am maintaining my goal weight!!!!!!!! I feel great and am in an awesome place in my fitness.
I have been making so many friends lately and getting the chance to spend time with friends I don't normally get to see. I feel so blessed and am so thankful that God has given me such wonderful friends in my life!
Our trip to America will be here before you know it! I can not wait to go back and see family and friends, eat some foods I haven't had in a while (can you say MEXICAN FOOD, AND SHOP!!!!!!!!!!) Rocky and I both are really really antsy to get there. It is goign to be a crazy and exhausting trip, but we are soooooooooo looking forward to it.
OK, I gotta go to bed, my eyes are about to slam shut. Yoga took it out of me this afternoon and I got no downtime after that at all. Good night!
I made some awesome new friends at the gym in one of my Pilates classes. Two women who speak English flawlessly! I was truely amazed to meet these women at my sports club of all places. We are having lunch at the local Bolivian restaurant next week after Yoga class... But never fear, lunches come in small portions in Japan so it will not be counterproductive to our workout! LOL
Let's see, then we did QTbaby again this week. It's been a long time since ya heard that one huh! Yep, we were too busy in the fall, my business partner had a baby, and our schedule was so packed with concerts. And then we had very little in the way of winter clothes to offer our customers, so we didn't open up shop in the winter. But this week we had a great one day store set up in our usual location and had some good business. However, we are sad to find out that our usual location is going to remodel and not offer the space for little stores like ourselves to set up there anymore... so we have to find another place to go. And I was so excited that God provided us with that just as I was beginning to pray for an answer! Another man who does women's clothing at various places said he would introduce us to a great place to set up our store. And would you believe it is right down the street from our house! It is one minutes walk from Hana's preschool!!! We will be finding out more about this very soon.
Let's see, this week I did... Yoga on Monday, Pilates on Wednesday, I walked around A LOT and did squats and leg lifts and some arm excercises during my down time at QTbaby on Thursday (I was so tired at the end of the day, I bet I walked 10 miles in little circles around my store space and did about a hundrend squats and lunges), and then today I went to the Yoga class of with a friend which was being instructed by an aquantance of ours. I did cardio 3 times this week too! And I am maintaining my goal weight!!!!!!!! I feel great and am in an awesome place in my fitness.
I have been making so many friends lately and getting the chance to spend time with friends I don't normally get to see. I feel so blessed and am so thankful that God has given me such wonderful friends in my life!
Our trip to America will be here before you know it! I can not wait to go back and see family and friends, eat some foods I haven't had in a while (can you say MEXICAN FOOD, AND SHOP!!!!!!!!!!) Rocky and I both are really really antsy to get there. It is goign to be a crazy and exhausting trip, but we are soooooooooo looking forward to it.
OK, I gotta go to bed, my eyes are about to slam shut. Yoga took it out of me this afternoon and I got no downtime after that at all. Good night!
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Small is Tall.
I am not a coffee drinker AT ALL, so I always thought that the mess at this particular coffee shop for ordering was just rediculous! I loved this lady's take on it!
Pilates and stuff...
Ok, so I get all of my health and wellness info on the net. I kept reading this stuff about how great pilates is, and I kept wondering what fitness had to do with the people who fly airplanes! Slowly I began to put pieces together and figure out what this whole thing was about. And I even found a few clips on YouTube that I had used a few times to do a short little work out at home.
Well, I have been so bored with my routine at the gym. I mean I've been doing basically the same thing for over a year. Since I reached my weight loss goal I knew I'd get REALLY bored really quick, without some goal to achieve or some kind of challenge. So the last few trips to the gym I decided to shake it up a bit. Last Friday I just happened to be finishing my cardio when a pilates class was beginning so I joined in. It was great, and I could tell it was working muscles in zones that my regular weight lifting doesn't touch.
So I grabbed the printout of this months schedule of classes at the gym. The pilates classes are not always at convenient times for me. The only thing I could do yesterday in line with pilates was a yoga class. I honestly didn't want to go to a Yoga class because I didn't want to have all the new age spiritual stuff crammed down my throat. I decided to try it anyways, because I suspected that the spiritual part MIGHT be left out. I was right, no spiritual stuff at all, the instructor only mentioned a few times that certain positions were beneficial for certain health issues. I really enjoyed the class and feel like it is really going to tone some good spots, and make me more flexible which I REALLY need! There are points in the routine where you'll be holding a position and your wishing the instructor would let you release it cause your muscles SCREAMING at you, "OK OK OKAY!!!!!!!!!!"
I'm headed to another pilates class tomorrow I hope. I am really enjoying these, but it might get tricky trying to juggle my schedule with the studio class schedule.
I measured my waist and I have lost another cm! That's really cool! All from just two classes of this type of excercise. It really targets the core muscles. Good stuff!
Anyways, I'm trucking along! Trying to keep it interesting... I hope this phase will last me a while!
Well, I have been so bored with my routine at the gym. I mean I've been doing basically the same thing for over a year. Since I reached my weight loss goal I knew I'd get REALLY bored really quick, without some goal to achieve or some kind of challenge. So the last few trips to the gym I decided to shake it up a bit. Last Friday I just happened to be finishing my cardio when a pilates class was beginning so I joined in. It was great, and I could tell it was working muscles in zones that my regular weight lifting doesn't touch.
So I grabbed the printout of this months schedule of classes at the gym. The pilates classes are not always at convenient times for me. The only thing I could do yesterday in line with pilates was a yoga class. I honestly didn't want to go to a Yoga class because I didn't want to have all the new age spiritual stuff crammed down my throat. I decided to try it anyways, because I suspected that the spiritual part MIGHT be left out. I was right, no spiritual stuff at all, the instructor only mentioned a few times that certain positions were beneficial for certain health issues. I really enjoyed the class and feel like it is really going to tone some good spots, and make me more flexible which I REALLY need! There are points in the routine where you'll be holding a position and your wishing the instructor would let you release it cause your muscles SCREAMING at you, "OK OK OKAY!!!!!!!!!!"
I'm headed to another pilates class tomorrow I hope. I am really enjoying these, but it might get tricky trying to juggle my schedule with the studio class schedule.
I measured my waist and I have lost another cm! That's really cool! All from just two classes of this type of excercise. It really targets the core muscles. Good stuff!
Anyways, I'm trucking along! Trying to keep it interesting... I hope this phase will last me a while!
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Friday, February 01, 2008
The Busy Bees...
I think we should just give up on any hope of ever being bored again! We somehow end up being busy all the time, how does that happen???
Anyways, there are lots of things going on around here. It never ends. Our church is going through some important stuff right now, and that has Rocky especially busy since he is on the leadership committee at church are they are having lots of meetings. Our ministry just seems to be trucking along even without lots of concerts at this time of year. And on a personal level we have been trying to spend time with friends.
So now that the cleanse is over, and I hit my goal weight, I am bored when it comes to work out! Soooooo, I decided to mix it up a little tonight. I did my regular 30 minutes cardio on the elliptical trainer, and then I decided to try a Pilates class. I have done a few Pilates workouts here at home that I found for free online (YouTube stuff) and they weren't that difficult. But this class at the gym kicked my BUTT! For as gentle as Pilates is, it REALLY targets some muscles and you hold positions for a LONG time, and those muscles start SCREAMING at you -- LET ME GO, LET ME GO!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am ruthless and hard headed when it comes to doing a workout and won't give in till it's over, so my legs were literally shaking like jello when it was all over. Whew! I am gonna do that class again. It felt really clean and fluid, and my posture would improve without a doubt if I kept that up!
All in all, life is good. OH and my good friend Kiko-chan is in labor right now! Can't wait to meet little George!!!
Gotta run, tomorrow is English Circle.
Yaaaaawwwwwwwwnnnnn
Anyways, there are lots of things going on around here. It never ends. Our church is going through some important stuff right now, and that has Rocky especially busy since he is on the leadership committee at church are they are having lots of meetings. Our ministry just seems to be trucking along even without lots of concerts at this time of year. And on a personal level we have been trying to spend time with friends.
So now that the cleanse is over, and I hit my goal weight, I am bored when it comes to work out! Soooooo, I decided to mix it up a little tonight. I did my regular 30 minutes cardio on the elliptical trainer, and then I decided to try a Pilates class. I have done a few Pilates workouts here at home that I found for free online (YouTube stuff) and they weren't that difficult. But this class at the gym kicked my BUTT! For as gentle as Pilates is, it REALLY targets some muscles and you hold positions for a LONG time, and those muscles start SCREAMING at you -- LET ME GO, LET ME GO!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am ruthless and hard headed when it comes to doing a workout and won't give in till it's over, so my legs were literally shaking like jello when it was all over. Whew! I am gonna do that class again. It felt really clean and fluid, and my posture would improve without a doubt if I kept that up!
All in all, life is good. OH and my good friend Kiko-chan is in labor right now! Can't wait to meet little George!!!
Gotta run, tomorrow is English Circle.
Yaaaaawwwwwwwwnnnnn
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