WIP ~ Calendar Quilt

I am almost finished this Calendar Quilt, only need to add the binding to it. I started this project in 2009. Each rectangle block represents a month of that year and each strip in each block represent a day from that month! It was fun to make and I kept up with it that year as I built the blocks, then the top sat in my sewing cupboard for many months.

2009 Calendar Quilt

2 new blogs!

I have been busy in the blogging world!



drops by me..shared on my new photo blog adventure with Tracie!


Last week, I started a new photo adventure with Tracie, a wonderful woman that I met through flickr. Our blog is called Californian Bohemian & Canadian Gypsy. It is still very new, but I love it already!

I also started an online book club! The idea has been swimming around my head and several other moms I know. I decided to go for it!  Come and visit, it's my brand new baby: Moms' Commonplace Book Club.


Good thing we started our Summer Break this week!

52 books :: Update!

I haven't posted about the books I have read since Book 9 (Mockinjay). I have been reading, not as much as I would like, but still reading regularly.

Here is a list of the books I read since Mockinjay:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - I enjoyed this classic very much. I wanted to read it before I saw this movie version, but it wasn't available in my region to see at the theatres..I will wait for DVD!

Peter and the Sword of Mercy by Dave Barry - I read this one aloud to my kids. This is the fourth book in the series that started as a trilogy. We enjoyed this one just as much as the other ones!

The Giver by Lois Lowry - this one was a quick read, interesting but didn't feel like it was long enough.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett - I enjoyed this book once I got confortable with the dialect! It was a great story. I read this one because the movie will be released later this summer. I am looking forward to it and hope they kept close to the book.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant - I really didn't enjoy this one. I read it because the title kept coming up in lists and conversations. I finished it to see if it would get better, but no, I didn't even like the ending.

I am also reading a Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola but I am not trying to finish it in just one week. I am taking my time with this one, digesting little bits at a time!

Come into my garden ~ Happy Summer Solstice!

Week 2 :: 12 Week Spring

Week 2! Lots of walking this week and healthy eating! But not much of anything else. PMS really sucks my energy, it never used to bother me much, but I have found the last six months or so, it does. I like to stay positive, so enough about that whinning and let me focus on what I did do!!

We started the week by walking down to the beach and park. It's a 6.6 km round trip. I was going to bike with my kids, but my bike wasn't cooperating (tires have a small hole in them I think), so I walked instead. Adrienne, my oldest, walked with me and my 2 youngest rode their bikes.

I also walked Orion every morning (only missed Saturday morning), and some days in the evening as well. I spent time gardening this week too. We had beautiful weather!

I tried a couple  of new recipes this week and really enjoyed them! First, I made a Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic soup from the Clean Start cookbook by Terry Walters. That soup is very very yummy! I added a tiny bit of grated gooda cheese on top, but really it was delicious without.




Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic Soup


From the same cookbook, I made the Raw Kale Confetti Salad. I adjusted the recipe a lot because I didn't have all the ingredients, but followed her method of "massaging" the olive oil into the kale and letting it sit for 15 minutes. My salad had kale, olive oil, chopped tomatoes, chopped avocado, and a few raw sunflower seeds. I did add the sea salt and some ginger powder. Next time I will use fresh ginger to get more of that taste. I will also use the lime and lemon juice. Still, even with all my alterations, it was really delicious. I have only used kale in juicing before, I love the taste but wasn't sure about the texture.

Raw Kale Salad

I have often wished in the past to cook my own food because I would prefer to eat more healthy and vegetarian meals that my husband would like. This week, he was really craving meat so I chose to make my own dinner every time he had meat! One particular dinner, I had falafels. I don't always have pitas on hand, so I eat them just like this, with cut up tomatoes and cucumbers on the side, and a big spoonfull of plain yogurt.

One last photo of food from this week. We brought a big container of fresh fruit to the beach. I love this time of year with its abundance of delicious fresh fruits!

Week 1 :: 12-week sprint

 The first week of the 12-week sprint to the finish is done!
There was a few changes this week. First I have decided to not run for a little while. I have found that when I run now, I quickly get light headed and feel really weak. I will be get checked out soon with my doctor, but I also want to stop because I am not enjoying it. I only have a short amount of time to dedicate to fitness and I want to have fun with it! Running hasn't been fun for many months now, more of a check mark on my list of things to do.

This week I completed two workouts on the wii Zumba game. Now, that is fun and challenging!

I also used the Nike Training Club app. I really like this app. You can select your workouts and watch the videos to make sure you are doing the exercices correctly. I completed a total of 75mn. My girls are also doing these with me, which makes it more fun.

Can you tell that fun is an important word for me when it comes to exercising ?

I also walked with Orion, first thing in the morning, every day besides two days. This felt great and he really enjoyed it too. It's amazing how fast dogs think something is routine. After only a couple of days, he followed me around as soon as I got up in the morning!

With my food, I logged 3 days. I keep forgetting to do this, but on the days that I do, it really helps with keeping me focused. I didn't eat a lot of processed food at the beginning of the week. On Friday and the weekend, we did eat out three times. I had to drive around right at meal times and we attended a funeral (with a lunch after it).

This coming week shouldn't be as busy and I am looking forward to my exercices and trying to log my food for longer than 3 days.

Photo of the week... On Wednesday morning at our homeschool park day, I enjoyed my time cuddling this little one for the second week in a row! (Don't mind my hair, it was super windy that day!).

12 Week Sprint to the Finish



Button from Kris, Eclipsed

 On my homeschool blog, I take part in a weekly wrap-up hosted by Kris of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. In her posts, she often mentions her running and weight loss goals. She has done wonderful and I didn't notice until just recently that she also has a seperate blog for her fitness goals called Eclipsed. Last week, she started a 12 week challenge called "12 Week Sprint to the Finish".

I have decided to join her. The challenge is simple: " You set the goal and share it, and we’ll hold you accountable". I personally think a focus like this will help me with some of my 39 goals, especially my running and nutritional goals.

In my 39 goals post, I listed a few related to nutrition:

- give up sugar
- give up white foods
- continue drinking lots of water
- continue to cook new recipes
 
And a few fitness-related ones:
 
- Implement a workout routine with light weights and strength exercices
- Continue running and work up to a half marathon
- Include hill work in my running training
- Start biking more
- Walk Orion more often

Since writing those goals, I have only followed two of these! I started walking with Orion every morning. The fresh air first thing in the morning has been wonderful and I will continue doing this. I have done well with drinking lots of water.

The rest, I have done nothing about. Well for the fitness and nutrition ones. I did accomplish some of the other ones, or start at least! 

Since finishing my couch to 10k program almost two weeks ago, I have only done 1 running workout! I just haven't had any motivation. I am hoping this challenge will help me focus again.

I will be doing a weekly update here on my blog and let you know how the week went with these goals. I don't have a weight-loss goal. I have about 10-15 lbs that I would like to loose, but I am more interested in being fit and feeling good than a particular number on a scale.

To help me with my goals, I mostly use my iTouch for keeping track of my running, along with my dailymile log online. I love using simple apps! I have an app for my half marathon training and will try out the Nike Training Club app for weights and strength training exercices. For my nutrition goals, I use the MyNetDiary app. I can log in all the food I eat, for meals and snacks, along with how much water I drink. It also keeps track of my exercice if I want to.

Would you like to join me and Kris? Spend the next 12 weeks together focusing on fitness and/or nutrition goals? It's almost summer time, a perfect time to do this, lots of fresh produce, sunshine...What do you say? Let me know in the comments!!

I will "see" you next Sunday for a recap on how my week went. I will share my running log, and hopefully weight training exercices..and maybe even my food log!

ps. I just can't leave a post without a photo..so here is from today. One of my 39 goals is to let my hair grow. I did a first today and splurged on getting my hair coloured at the hairdresser's! She also straightened it for me. It is so silky smooth tonight and it is nice to see how long it truly is already. I think Orion liked it too!

On its way to France..

A little gift for my mother...for mother's day and her birthday. I hope she will like it. I will find out hopefully in the next few months. Our correspondence is not very regular.
Regardless, she is still my mother and I wanted to make something special for her. This mini log cabin quilt is about 24 inches square. The square in the middle is a little twisted compared to the rest. I don't think she will like that, but I had almost ran out of some of the fabrics and improvised! I can't wait to find out what she writes back about it.