My running week

We had a fairly successful running week. I pushed myself out the door three evenings, even though I didn't feel motivated to run. Last night's run was the best. The weather was perfect and I was feeling great. I wish I could have run longer but had to come back home!

Sunday - 2.68
Tuesday - 2.02
Thursday - 3.12

Weekly total - 7.82 miles

Woohoo! Hopefully next week will be even better!

Chocolate Chip Cookies!

I don't know if these are the world's healthiest chocolate chip cookies but they sure are good!




My husband bought me one of these lovelies last week.


A box for me?


No, silly! A box within a box!



So far I love it! I've used it to make toast, garlic bread, homemade cookies, frozen pie, frozen vegan mac&cheese, and spring rolls. Next week, I hope to attempt a loaf of bread in the toaster oven. I'm hoping it will save money over the long run and keep the kitchen cooler this summer. I love Washington but we have no air conditioning for those rare 90 degree days!

Have you used a toaster oven to cook anything unusual?

What's on my nightstand?

I haven't done a Nightstand post in ages. I've been posting most weeks about what I'm currently reading but haven't done a monthly roundup since... February?

Here are the notable books I've read this month:

• The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani - 4 star read and a new favorite. The Goodreads description: Lush and evocative, told in tantalizing detail and enriched with lovable, unforgettable characters, The Shoemaker's Wife is a portrait of the times, the places and the people who defined the immigrant experience, claiming their portion of the American dream with ambition and resolve, cutting it to fit their needs like the finest Italian silk.

• Blue Skies Tomorrow by Sarah Sundin - 4 stars. A Christian historical novel, I didn't realize this was part of a series when I borrowed it from the library. I recognized the author's name but wasn't sure if I had read the previous books in this particular series. It turns out I haven't, but that didn't spoil my enjoyment of Blue Skies Tomorrow. It definitely stands on its own.

• The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss - I had no idea I would like this how-to guide on starting a business. I picked it up for my husband and he devoured it. He kept quoting various passages to me so I read it for myself. I don't know if I'll ever start my own business, but the possibilities are definitely floating around in the back of my mind.

Upcoming reads:

Everything I'm currently trying to finish.
Ashton Park by Murray Pura
A Heart for Freedom: The Remarkable Journey of a Young Dissident, Her Daring Escape, and Her Quest to Free China's Daughters by Chai Ling
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen

Happy reading!!

This week's memory text

I want to return to memorizing Scripture. I do well at it for awhile and then kind of fade out. I've been reviewing what I've already memorized but haven't learned anything new in awhile.

This week I want to start memorizing Psalm 16. My goal is to have verses one and two memorized by the end of the week.

Preserve me, O God,
for in You I put my trust.
O my soul, you have said to the Lord,
"You are my Lord,
My goodness is nothing apart from You."
I've been meditating on the Psalms lately and have found some fantastic promises. David experienced so many different things during his lifetime but God was there for all of it! Such blessed assurance.

Hiking!

Several Sabbaths ago, Jeff and I went hiking with Bruce and Kiera. We were supposed to hike a new trail but got lost and decided to go to a trail we could actually find - Rattlesnake Ledge.


We're hiking up there?


To the very top!




Hiking is very popular when it's not raining!






Rattlesnake Lake


Hubby and I at the top

It was a great hike and I can't wait to try a new trail!

What I'm Reading

This week is mostly a continuation of a few books I've been reading recently.


So far this one is more depressing than anything. I'm hoping it gets past the "reasons why people fail" and moves on to the "things we can learn from this to succeed."


No Name has been interesting thus far! I wasn't sure what I would think of it but I'm intrigued by the plot and the characters. It's a fat book so I think it'll probably take me awhile to finish.


Eat & Run is rather motivating thus far. It pushed me out the door for a run tonight even though I really, really did not want to go. There are a few recipes in this book that I want to try.

Happy reading!

Slowly getting fit

A year and a half ago, I reached my goal weight. Then I took a long trip due to a family emergency and ate whatever I wanted as a coping mechanism. Not the smartest idea! Then hubby and I moved and ate very cheaply (read: not very healthy) for awhile as we saved to buy pots and pans and recovered from our moving expenses. A couple months ago, we finally bought a scale so I was able to see what the damage was. Surprisingly, I was only 10 pounds over my goal weight. Not too bad!

A month ago, we started tracking calories and eating the correct portions. What a difference that makes! I'm now only four pounds over my goal weight but the weight isn't budging. Time to kick the exercise up a notch.

I started running again. The first run was torture. I bought new shoes that will help transition into a minimalist shoe. My feet weren't used to that and I could tell (very painfully) that I'm a heel striker. Bad! We've been running for three weeks now. Last night I ran a 5k. Woohoo! It feels good to be back into it.

We're hoping to run a 5k race sometime next month. I honestly didn't think that I would be ready in time but last night I proved that I'm stronger than I think. I'll keep training and hopefully run a decent time in the race. It's been almost two years since our last race and I miss the challenge. Races are so much fun! The crowd atmosphere makes me run faster than I run normally. It's a blast seeing all of the runners out there, even ones who are just getting back into shape like me.

I'm finally starting to accept my body shape and recognize that I'm never going to be that skinny model. God gave me curves. I'm learning to embrace that! Hopefully the running and hiking will increase my fitness levels, even if I never do fit into those size four jeans.

Harvest Time!

Day 2


Day 9


My harvest


Plenty of green onions!


Back to Day 1

I used my first harvest of green onions in Orange Chicken Styled Tofu. I'm not sure if they will grow again but I can't wait to find out!

Visiting a new (to us) park

This evening we visited the Mercer Slough Nature Park Trails. We arrived too close to sundown and were only able to explore a small part of the trails. It's a beautiful area!


It's too early in the year to visit the blueberry farms but I would really like to try the u-pick this year!

It grows!

I didn't believe it. I had to try it for myself.


Day 2


Day 5

Green onions really do grow in a jar with just a bit of water. I wonder how many stalks I would need to grow a ready supply...

What I'm reading

Right now I'm reading three books. What I'm reading at any given moment all depends on how much mental power I have when I decide to pick up a book!



The 4-Hour Workweek - Surprisingly, there are a few techniques in here that are applicable to homemaking. I've already implemented several and it's working well. If it continues to work well, I'll post about what specifically I implemented.



Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day - I just picked this one up and can't wait to dive into it. Hopefully I don't need to buy any special baking tools because I want to start next week!



Eat and Run - I'm using this book as motivation to get running again. Last Friday I bought new running shoes and I've run three times this week! My mileage is low, but I'm adjusting to transitional minimalist shoes. The first couple days were rather painful but today I ran without leg pain. I would consider that a plus!

What are you reading this week?

Cleaning and shoes and spiders, oh my!

I can't believe this week is already half over. It seems like it was just Sabbath and now it's Wednesday.

We've been very productive this week. I think spring fever has hit! Both bathrooms have been scrubbed. The kitchen has been scoured. All of our unpacked boxes (mostly books) have been tidied up in the spare bedroom. The laundry has been caught up, including folded and put away!

Spider season is upon us. I opened our hall closet and nearly jumped out of my skin to see a fairly large spider hanging out at the entrance to the attic. Great. That's definitely how the others have invaded. Our bug control company was previously scheduled to come out today between four and six. Good! They can kill the monster in the closet for me...

I emptied all the coats and jackets and shoes out of the closet in case the spider falls when the bug guy tries to kill it. Apparently we have a lot of shoes...


Happy spring!

Zen Habits

I tried to post this last night but was having major issues with Blogger...

Have you ever read and implemented any of the habits from Zen Habits? I've been reading through some of the archives recently and have been motivated to become more organized. This evening I started the reorganization process of my recipe notebook. I picked out a few of the recipes to cook next week and make sure that we actually like them enough to keep. It made my menu planning extremely simple!

I've been thinking about this post today. He advises that we think about we'd like people to say about us at our funeral while trying to write life goals. I've formed weekly goals, quarterly goals, and year-long goals but I've never considered life goals. I definitely want to put some more thought into the idea.

I especially like this advice from the blog post, discussing life goals: "start living your life so that you will eventually get to that point."

Have you written life goals? I know that we don't know how much time God has willed us but it makes sense to plan how to best utilize the time He's given us! James says, "you ought to say, 'If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.'"