"I'd Like To Quit The Gym" and Ten Things Tuesday

How's your Tuesday going? 

After a three day weekend, I was glad to go back to work  be back to my normal routine. Three day weekends throw me off schedule. 

Just wanted to share this before I get into Ten Things Tuesday. 

Remember the homemade ravioli and how I posted about how pathetically quick and easy it was to have on a busy week night?

Well, last night, I broke out the frozen bag of ravioli and had dinner taken care of in under two minutes. 

Start time: 6:28

I started at 6:28. Turned the oven on, took out the bag of ravioli and dumped it in a casserole dish. I took out a jar of sauce, struggled to get it open, finally managed to open it, and poured it on top of the ravioli. Then I put the ravioli in the oven that was still heating up. End time: 6:30. 

End time: 6:30

While I waited for the ravioli to cook, I did some other things around the kitchen and house. Dinner out of the oven and on a plate by 6:57. 

27 minutes later....

Total prep time: 2 minutes
Total cook time: 27 minutes. 

Homemade cheese ravioli

Moving on to Tuesday's usual routine....


So last week, I set out to take care of the following things by today and here is how I did: 

1. Cancel gym membership

• Done. Phew. I hate "quitting the gym" (anyone else know that reference to the episode in Friends where Chandler wants to quit the gym but they keep sucking him back in with guilt trips. Well, that's exactly what I got when I went there. I have to finish paying out my subscription to the end of the year but after December, I won't be automatically charged anymore and that $33.00 will stay happily in my bank account. 

See ya later gym membership that I never use

2. Post a new recipe

• Mmmmm....cinnamon swirl banana bread. WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS

3. Make a trip to consignment store to bring items and pick my check

4. Post three items on to eBay

• And a gazillion more to go! 

5. Start to finish, complete one new file folder game for work

It's called "Pencil Pals"

Cut, colored, and glued all the pencils.
Half went onto the file folder and the corresponding pencils were glued onto stock paper

After laminating and more cutting...

Added the velco and here is the final product

6. Finish and publish post about lake-house

• One of these days, I will sit down and write about it! 

7. Work on (bonus points for publishing) after-post for bedroom

• Haven't even started but how about a sneak peek:

8. Work out/be active at least 3 times this week

• Only twice. I did some pole work in my dance room on Wednesday and then went to an open pole class on Friday. 

9. Figure out what to do with giant bag of teenager's out-grown clothes (anybody looking for boys clothes, size 10-14)

• I called a few children's consignment stores and now just waiting to hear back. I'm going to try a few more places/other options such as eBay and craigslist but if not, they will be donated. 

10. Go to post office to mail eBay packages

• Done-but now I have more. Once things start selling, it never ends. 

So for next week:
1.Get at least three more items up on eBay. You should see the boxes I have filled with stuff that needs to get posted on there!
2. Figure out Thanksgiving plans 
3. Do the before/after post of the bedroom
4. Clean out my freaking car. 
5. Post a new recipe on the blog
6. Be active/pole at least three times 
7. Deep clean the master bathroom/bedroom
8. Make another file folder game, from start to finish
9. Work on/finish super-top-secret blog post
10. Deal with my Comcast issue

That's all I've got for now. 

Question for you:

• What's on your list of things to do for the week?
• Have you ever had a hard time "quitting the gym" or something similar?

Friends Making Monday: All About The Blog

I have today "off" and while I am not at school, I am working today. 

How was your weekend? Do you have today off?

Friday afternoon, I went to an open pole class and worked on some tricks. I really like the open atmosphere of the open pole classes. They're very laid back. 

 On Saturday, Ryan and the teenager went to his cousins' for the day so I spent some time at my parents' house before heading up to my best friend's house (an hour and a half away) to spend the night. One of my camp friends was in town and I haven't seen her in nearly three years so it was so much fun to be able to see each other. 

camp friends are best friends

Yesterday, we went out for breakfast and then the girls did a little shopping before I headed back home where Ryan and I enjoyed a night with a few beers (mmmm Smoked Porter and Mean Old Tom) and Chinese food delivery in front of the fire. 

We watched the first episode of American Horror Story (did anyone else see it? Yikes!!!!) and attempted to watch a movie called 42 about Jackie Robinson but we both fell asleep pretty quickly. It was good so I'm looking forward to watching the rest of it. Unfortunately, i ALWAYS fall asleep during movies.

I am going to get back to my work but before I do, this post is brought to you, as always, with Friends Making Monday's. 

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

All about the Blog

1.  How long have you been blogging?  About five months or so.....so not very long at all. 

2.  What is the overwhelming theme of your blog? I first started as a way to document the changes we made as we renovated and redecorated our house but it seems as if it is becoming more of a daily life/my on going to-do list sort of theme. Whatever. it works for me. 

3.  Have you connected with people in person after meeting them through blogging?  No....not yet at least.  

4.  What do you enjoy most about blogging?  I really enjoy documenting and putting my every day happenings into words and then seeing them come intro fruition.  I like that I started my ten-things-Tuesday series and my 101 in 1001 list (It once again solidifies that I thrive on lists and having set goals to accomplish). And I cannot neglect the satisfaction that comes when someone comments on the blog. It was such a highlight of my "blogging career" (ha!) when another blogger 

5.  How often do you blog? Over the summer, I had more time and was able to blog a few times per week. Lately, it feels like I can get out a post on Monday (For FMM) and Tuesday's for Ten Things Tuesday. I have a bunch of draft posts that are constantly in the works but since I am so NOT technologically savvy, it sometimes takes me a long time to deal with pictures and formatting, etc. I just bought a keyboard for the iPad so since I won't be forced to stay in the computer room to work on a computer, I will be able to sit on the couch at night and type from the iPad. 

6.  Share one thing that you don’t like about blogging. Nothing major comes to mind. I once got stressed that I wasn't able to post as frequently as some other bloggers but then I put it into perspective that those bloggers do this for a full time job, and my blogging is strictly hobby. I also don't like the spam comments!

7. Do you talk about your blog in everyday life?  Not at all. Very few people know that I do this and of those few people, not very many know the name of the blog or how to find it. I don't even really talk about it with Ryan. 

8.  What is the coolest and most unexpected thing that has happened to you as a result of blogging?  Another blogger has referenced a recipe of mine on her blog! (FYI-it was the homemade applesauce)

9.  Are there topics that are off-limits on your blog?  If so, name a few…I won't go into detail about the Teenager or anything related him. I won't talk too much about my family or the situations that happened. 

10.  If you could accomplish one thing through your blog before the end of this year, what would you want to accomplish? I just want to be able to continue having this online scrapbooking for myself. 

Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions!  Don’t forget to come back and link up in the comments, and say hello to someone new!  

Recap Of My Uber-Productive Day and Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

Cutest pumpkin

 What better way to start the day off than with the cutest pumpkin that I know. Isn't my nephew so handsome??

 

Yesterday, I had the entire day off and vowed to be uber-productive and I absolutely was.

 

 

I started off with some chores around the house: laundry, dishes, and quick general cleaning and picking up of the dining area, kitchen, living room and bedroom.

 

I headed out for some errands and knocked off three items on my Ten Things Tuesday list:

• Post office
• Staples to get some Velcro for my file-folder projects (more on that later)
• Bed Bath and Beyond: returned some things (they have the best return policy ever) and used the merchandise credit to buy an iron. I texted Ryan immediately to tell him that we now own an iron and I officially feel grown-up
• Ran to the consignment store to pick up a check (wahoo-$17.00 and some change-free money!) and bring a few items in
• Deposited the whopping $17.00 check at the ATM
• Used a gift card to snag an iced coffee (thanks Leah!)

• Quick/cheap trip to the grocery store. I tried to keep things to a bare minimum this week and declared the next few weeks as the "empty out the cabinets and pantry and use what we got" sort of weeks.

Once I came home, I immediately got to work and unloaded the groceries, emptied the dishwasher, made and cleaned up lunch, and swept the main floors.

 

Once that was all done, I broke out my pink mix-master and baked a loaf of Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips. But before I get into the recipe, I wanted to brag for a minute.

 

 The teenager has been a rock star in school/home the past week or so and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that he is FINALLY coming to his senses. Something must have clicked because he is putting in effort in his studying/homework, reading the directions and actually following them, helping out with chores with a less-sucky attitude. And it has made a world of difference around here.

 

 Ryan and I are fighting less (it's actually of the only things that cause us to fight), there is practically no yelling at all in our house....and ever since he started listening to us parents (yes, I am tooting our own damn horns here), he has NAILED all of his tests/quizzes.

 

case in point: 100% on his science quiz

 

 

 

 So, check out this recipe:

 

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

with Chocolate Chips

 

 

Here is what you need:

 

• 3 overly ripe banana's (I froze these from a while ago and took them out of the freezer about half an hour before I started baking)
• 1/3 cup melted margarine or butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda
• dash of salt
• cooking spray
• cinnamon/sugar mixture
• chocolate chips

 

 

 

 

 

 

How To:

• Preheat oven to 350

• Grease loaf pan

• Mix bananas, butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla

• Sprinkle baking soda and salt on top

• Gently stir in flour (don't over mix)

• Add half of batter into loaf pan

• Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar mixture followed by a handful of chocolate chip 

 

 

• Add remaining batter to cover chocolate chips

• Sprinkle more cinnamon/sugar mixture and chocolate chips on top

• Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

 

 

Enjoy!!!!

 

 

Ten Things for Tuesday

Since I was sick for so much of last week, I didn't get around to doing much but here is a recap of what I was able to get accomplished

1.   Clean out the basket of crap in our bedroom-

• Never got around to it

2.   Post five more items on eBay

• This I did do. Phew. I also re-listed everything that didn't sell from the week before. I've had a few sales and I love the extra money coming in. I won't let myself transfer it to my bank account until it reaches over $100.00 at which point, the extra money will be going towards my credit card bill. 

3.   Post about last weekend (lake-house dinner, girls day/night, wedding)

• Just plain old didn't feel like sitting in front of a computer and now that so much time has elapsed, it's just not worth it so here is the quick version of it: Two Friday nights ago, Ryan and I had dinner with two other couples and it was our "lake-house" reunion  The next day, Ryan had a bachelor party that went all Saturday day and night so a bunch of us girls were pseudo-single. That day, I went apple picking again, and then went to my friend's birthday party, followed by a sleepover where I promptly passed out from exhaustion. And a few chocolate martini's. On Sunday, Ryan and I went to his cousin's wedding. 

Bride and Groom getting married

View of Boston Harbor from reception

Ooops-I blinked!

4. Start draft post about the lake-house

• I really want to document the story of the lake-house and one day, I'll get around to it

5. Make a batch of soup

Proof I actually made it. Trust me, it was amazing. 

6. Post about soup

• Not yet, but stay tuned. 

7. Reorganize/plan a new budget

• I really should do this soon!

8. Pay my library fine (ooops) and get a new book from the library

• I returned the books and everything but still havent paid the $9.00 fine for being so late. Shiiiiit

9. Michael's or A.C. Moore, get needles and yarn

• Sick=leaving the house for as little trips as possible

10. Start knitting blanket for teenager

• See above. Although I would have had plenty of time to knit. 

'Most of this week's list will be left over from last week-no big deal

1. Find new shoes for upcoming wedding. I have a pair that I could wear but I could really stand to update them. If I can't find a good pair or a good deal, I won't be upset if this doesn't happen.
2. Post about the butternut squash soup
3. Make my evaluation binder
4. Clean out basket of crap from bedroom
5. Work on post about the lake-house (bonus points for finishing and publishing it!)
6. Reorganize/plan new budget
7. Pay that stupid library fine and get a new book
8. Get gift card/ birthday present for friends birthday
9. Get birthday card and wedding card for upcoming events
10. Make hair appointment


What's on your to-do list?

Lazy Today and Ten Things Tuesday

Super quick Ten Things Tuesday:


Last week, I set out to....
1. Begin my evaluation binder.
       Well, sort of. I got going on the electronic version but since I am anal retentive trying to impress my evaluator hoping to make a great impression, I want to create a corresponding hard copy and organize it in binder that would make Martha Stewart jealous.

2. Post three more items on eBay and relist the items not sold
       Done. I put up a few books and some other items and now get such a fun adrenalin rush watching the items being bid and watched on.  Free money!!

3. Post office to ship the item I sold
       Accomplished

4. Post applesauce recipe
       Done. I would like to make some more applesauce this week too!

5. Make double batch of apple bread
       Well, only made one batch which yielded two loaves but good enough

6. Write post with apple bread recipe
       Done and done. You should try the recipe-it’s delicious!
 
7. Vacuum carpets (master bedroom, office, teenagers room, stairs/landing) 
       So, this got done but that's because Ryan was the one to vacuum all the carpets (and sweep and steam the hardwood floors). I'm a lucky gal.
8. Go to rite-aid or other store to get wedding card and birthday card
      
9. Tjmaxx to get gift for friends b-day party and wrap it up all pretty
       One of my friends has an adorable tea pot collection so it was pretty easy coming up with a gift for her.

10. Bring up the puzzle from downstairs and work on it again. 
       Nope. Still sitting in the basement from before my birthday party. I’ll get working on this again once the weather gets cold. Ever since we got the new couch and moved the coffee table out of the way, there is no convenient place to put the puzzle except for the kitchen table and I hate doing that. I can't even put it in the bedroom because it doesn’t fit through the door. I literally have to walk through the sliding glass doors, outside, around through the garage, and then bring it into the basement.
 
 
For next week:
1.   Clean out the basket of crap in our bedroom
2.   Post five more items on ebay
3.   Post about last weekend (lakehouse dinner, girls day/night, wedding)
4. Start draft post about the lakehouse
5. Make a batch of soup
6. Post about soup
7. Reorganize/plan a new budget
8. Pay my library fine (ooops) and get a new book from the library
9. Michael's or A.C. Moore, get needles and yarn
10. Start knitting blanket for teenager
 

I'm off to cook dinner. Any by cook dinner, I mean throw a frozen pizza in the oven.

Lazy today and not ashamed of it.

An Unproductive Ten Things Tuesday

I was not very productive in terms of my list of last week’s Ten Things Tuesday. The weekend happened to be filled lots of unplanned activities that took precedence and I find that way more important. It was really fun to hang out with Ryan and be a couple together instead of being parents so anything that I had thought I was going to do over the weekend, didn't get accomplished. 

1. At least two times, wake up early and go for a walk/run.

Every night as I set my alarm, I was so gung-ho and motivated to get up early but then I would wake up a hundred times in the middle of the night and when the alarm finally did go off, I just wanted to stay in bed. So I did. This one is going to be tough for me, especially as the weather is getting cooler in the mornings. 

2. Start posting items on eBay (I have a giant box of stuff that I want to get rid of). Post at least 7 of my items.

 I got up a few items and since then, one has sold. I made a whopping $2.00 on a cookbook plus $4.00 for shipping.

3. Set up my one year/three year calendar (it's a work thing that's not worth explaining here) 
            Done. 

4. Pick up dry cleaning (I am the worst at remembering to go).
Last minute, but I got it done. 

5.  Find a dress for a wedding. 

Most of the bruises have gone down significantly and I am making it a point not to practice any mores that will aggravate the bruising until the wedding is over next Sunday.  I'm going to stick with a dress that I already have. 

6. Register for next year's pole competition. 
I have officially decided to enter in the competition, but I haven't done it yet. I am going to a pole class tonight, so once I speak with the instructor and get her advice,  I will fill out the entry form

7. Clean my car (ha!). 
I have slowly been making an effort to take things out of the car each time I get out, but I usually have my hands full that I can't manage one extra thing. My car is still a mess though. 

8. Renew books/audio-books at library.
The library is going to hate me!

9. Meal plan for two-three weeks. 
Nope. Didn't do that.

10.  Grocery shop for those two-three weeks. 

See above.  Ryan ended up coming with me to go grocery shopping so our cart was filled with more of a hodge-podge of items instead of ingredients that I know I will use for something specifically. 

For next week, here is what I am hoping to get accomplished:

1. Begin my evaluation binder.

2. Post three more items on eBay and relist the items not sold

3. Post office to ship the item I sold

4. Post applesauce recipe

5. Make double batch of apple bread

6. Write post with apple bread recipe

7. Vacuum carpets (master bedroom, office, teenagers room, stairs/landing) 

8. Go to rite-aid or other store to get wedding card and birthday card

9. Tjmaxx to get gift for friends b-day party and wrap it up all pretty

10. Bring up the puzzle from downstairs and work on it again. 

Well that's all I have for today.

What are some of your to-do items that you've got going on?

Ten Things Tuesday

I did pretty well on list of things to take care of from last week:

1. Get up early at least two times to workout

I am not a morning person, nor am I anything close to being a runner but I took Mulder with me two mornings before work for a run/walk on the trails behind our house. There are two ponds along the trails-one directly in our backyard and the other a little further down the trail. I love the morning fog creeping over the ponds! It is starting to get easier to get up and out of bed that extra early time in the morning. My run-walks are only 15-20 minutes (hey, it's a start!) and my commute at the new job is the shortest one I have ever had, so it really isn't taking that much more time for me to get ready in the morning.

 

2. Find the perfect housewarming gift for a party
This one was really fun and I wish I snapped a picture of it. Our friends recently bought a house in the same town as Ryan and me. While they were doing some renovating and moving in, they tried to gift upon us a switch plate that had a mountain scene and an eagle soaring. While interesting and definitely a one-of-a-kind piece, I continued to veto the idea as Ryan tried to put it up everywhere in our house. Furthermore, I kept thinking that our friends needed to keep this for their home-after all, it was original to their home and it should remain there. So, to make it more of a statement piece, I put it inside of a shadow box and gave it back to them as a housewarming gift. Now, it can pay homage to the home it belongs in. 

3. Go to two pole classes

 Proud to say that I have been going to classes regularly and even "graduated" to level 2. I did this move-the extended butterfly-at the studio: 

My shoulders have been sore ever since!

4. Clean my car, inside and out
One of these days, I will get around to it. 

5. Read through ALL 55+ of my student files
6.  Organize my student files the way I like for all student files
7. Post about the dance room (yay, it's almost done and looks amazing!!!)  Read all about it! 
8. Renew Gone With The Wind and the other book I checked out from the library

I received an email from the library that they are over due and I still didn't renew them. Worst part is, the library is right down the street from me-there is no excuse. 

9. Start new book-Yeah, I was just lazy about this and came up with better things to do 

10. Mail my transcript request form and check. -

So, here's the scoop on this one. I was asked to get this for my new job from HR. It is been a few weeks and they haven't asked me for it since. I have already received my first paycheck (so I know that it won't be holding me up from getting paid) but since I am so freaking broke right now, I am trying to not spend any additional money and cut corners where I can. I am going to try pushing this one off as long as possible and keep the $50.00 fee for processing the transcript request in my wallet until it is absolutely necessary. I'm really hoping this doesn't backfire on me. What do you think, bad idea? 

So for the upcoming week, here is what I am thinking:
1. At least two times, wake up early and go for a walk/run. (If I keep this up, I may be able to cross of #66 on my 101 in 1001 list)
2. Start posting items on eBay (I have a giant box of stuff that I want to get rid of). Post at least 7 of my items
3. Set up my one year/three year calendar (it's a work thing that's not worth explaining here) but I've been super busy so I just gotta do this one
4. Pick up dry cleaning (I am the worst at remembering to go)
5.  Find a dress for a wedding 
6. Register for next year's pole competition. (I went to pole class yesterday and the instructor highly encouraged me to enter next year's competition!)
7. Clean my car (ha!)
8. Renew books/audio-books at library
9. Meal plan for two-three weeks
10.  Grocery shop for those two-three weeks

Okay, I need your advice here. I am not a stylish person. I used to think I had some style, but turns out-I don't.

 In any case, I have a wedding to go to in a few weeks. It is on a Sunday afternoon/evening (4:30) at a hotel in Boston. Typically, I would wear a little black dress or any other short dress but......since I have been working my butt off on the pole, my legs are pretty beat up. I mean it when I say they are bruised all over. Not like one or two small bruises, I'm talking covered from top to bottom in giant bruises. As proud as I am of these bruises (it means I did a hard trick!), I don't think it would be appropriate to wear a short dress. I don't know if the wedding is "long dress" appropriate though-and my only long dresses that I own are either my really fancy black dress I wore for my brothers black tie wedding when I was in the wedding party or a long but almost too casual maxi-dress.

 So what your suggestions? Find a new long dress? Can I even wear a long dress? Wear what something that I have (borrowing from friends is not an option-I am waaaay too short to wear any of my friends' clothes)? Deal with the bruises and wear a short dress? Eeek (I know, first world problems)


Join in on the fun. Well, it's probably not fun-but join anyway! It is at the very least productive! 

Happy Tuesday Folks! 

Ten THings Tuesday-Shit, It's Wednesdays

Yep. Missed this post by a day.
I haven't really accomplished too much on my list from last week

1. Bring all my therapy materials to school
2. Organize my school office
3. Get my caseload, number of students, etc. and create my projected master list for my meeting next week
4. Ensure that my work email is set up and working properly
5. Do something active first thing in the morning at least two times
6. Mail my transcript request form and check
7. Scan/email time sheets from past few weeks
8. Mail anniversary card for my parents
9. Make S'mores truffles and go food shopping for upcoming party
10. Do a deep clean of the bathroom


Well, I brought most of my therapy materials to school and organized as much as I could. I have a few more things such as my personal desk chair but I think all the boxes are taken care of. I don't have much in terms of furniture so it was tough to find a place for all my books. I ended up grabbing a cheap bookshelf from target the other day so once that is all set, I should be completely organized. I am still struggling with getting a properly working computer and log in information for all the systems which is holding me up! I also completely forgot to get an anniversary card for my parents last week and I feel horrible about that.

As far as getting up to work out, well that just didn't happen at all. Maybe next week.

Next weeks plan:

1. Get up early at least two times to workout
2. Find the perfect housewarming gift for a party
3. Go to two pole classes
4. Clean my car, inside and out
5. Read through ALL 55+ of my student files
6.  Organize my student files the way I like for all student files
7. Post about the dance room (yay, it's almost done and looks amazing!!!)
8. Renew Gone With The Wind and the other book I checked out from the library
9. Start new book
10. Mail my transcript request form and check.


I'm trying to get some paperwork done at home before I head off to work. Happy Wednesday!


What's on your list of things to do by next week?