From the Week

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Woohoo for Friday! Forecast for this weekend: chores and sleep. Sleep sleep sleep. Some stuff that happened this week:

Monday: We started off the day nice and early with a stroll to the library. Gotta love nice weather that allows for us to get some fresh air! We picked a little corner and got some books and just hung out for a while. There were some other kiddos there too, but they sounded a bit destructive otherwise I would have had Wes try to mingle.

We left a while later with a ton of new books to enjoy at home. I even checked one out for myself!

Then I got a huge surprise in the mail. Tyler ordered me a professional light tent set! I am entirely too excited to use this (and it’s WAY better than the light box I constructed myself. I know a few of you were asking how I made it, but it was so crappy that you’re now spared the instructions. haha).

I already have it set up on a table in the basement and it’s just waiting for its first victim! 🙂

The weather was all too sunny, so I decided to take Wes for another stroll around the neighborhood. This time in the wagon! He just sat there pretty content and checking everything out.

We had leftovers for dinner and spent the remainder of the evening just hanging out. This guy is really starting to enjoy his bath time and gets super giggly throwing all of this toys out of his basket over and over again.

Tuesday: I checked the monitor before getting out of bed to get Wes and he was sitting up! Oh man, he’s just minutes away from crawling and I am just not ready for that yet!

We met up with Alison and her kiddos at the zoo. Just my luck Wes fell asleep about 5 minutes before we got there. And of course he woke up when I tried to transfer him into the Bob. There was no one at the zoo and we whizzed through almost the entire park in about an hour before heading home. Then, Wes fell asleep AGAIN five minutes before we got home. Same thing happened and he woke up when I took him out.

I attempted getting him down for a nap a couple of times before he FINALLY fell asleep around 2pm. He slept for 2 hours, but he was so out of whack that he woke up SUPER grumpy and stayed that way until bed time. Boo.

The only thing keeping him somewhat entertained was trying to pull himself up on the step. Or maybe he was doing a yoga pose? Who knows. Babies are weird.

The grump took a lot of my time and energy that dinner was easy peasy: chicken, cous cous, and spicy roasted potatoes.

Wednesday: After a yummy pancake breakfast, Wes and I walked to Safeway for a grocery run then browsed around a few other stores in the shopping center before heading home. The early morning air + an exciting WesOnWheels session tuckered him out for a good, long nap!

I seriously love taking advantage of this crazy good weather, so we headed over to a different shopping center after lunch and walked around for a bit. (Picking up a few necessities, of course. Dang it, even going for walks causes me to spend money!) Before heading home, I ran the car through the car wash and Wes was amazed.

Oh- and we had a delicious dinner! I made Crockpot Minestrone Soup (+ added chicken). I also made a cake. The cake is already gone. Never leave me home alone with a cake. Full disclosure: Tyler did help eat it.

It’s funny that the day after Wes has a ‘grump day’ he tends to be extremely happy. Case in point:

All smiles the whole day! His lack of afternoon naps lately have caused him to zone out pretty early which has been a pretty nice treat for me and Tyler.

Thursday: No morning outing for us. It was entirely too windy to go for a walk, so we played with EVERY toy in the house and hopped from room to room to keep it interesting. After lunch, I tried to take some photos of Wes with Layla (wearing some of his latest goodies from our Wee Nation box) but it was a HUGE no go. Mr Grump did not want to wear his hat. Or sit still. I was seriously considering a glass of wine at that point.

FullSizeRender

Even his non smiley photos are adorable!

We got out of the house and went to the dollar store, Walmart (strictly to stockpile on Easter candy before it sells out), and Michaels. I just realized that I’ve been on the same tank of gas for 3 weeks now. Woohoo!

When we got home, Wes pulled out his personalized plank (A gift from his aunt, uncle and cousin for Christmas) and was mesmerized by it for almost 2 hours. Seriously, a piece of wood is that interesting.

We had naked dinner (Ok, just Wes. Tyler and I kept our clothes on) and bedtime came early once again.

Workouts from the week: Week 1 of Beta from Focus T25 and a 45 minute walk the the doggies each night.

Phew, I am exhausted! But I am so happy with the amount of out-of-the-house time Wes and I had this week. Here’s to hoping the weekend is just as nice!

PS: *Shoutout to all you readers that never comment* I’d love to hear from ya! That said, I dare you to comment below! You can tell me a joke or something random from your week or a new recipe you’ve come across that you think I should try!

Photo Montage Galore

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I’m still alive. Yup. Just haven’t had enough things to actually chat about on here lately. So…yeah.

Things of lately (obviously if you follow me on Instagram, you got the idea already. And if you don’t follow me on Instagram, then please do!)

Workouts have been pretty consistent. I have been mixing it up between outdoor runs, home circuit workouts, TRX, spinning, tabatas, and as of tonight….HOT YOGA! I purchased another one-month unlimited pass today and attended the Bikram Vinyasa Flow class. Love Love LOVE it because not only did I get a killer workout, but it allowed me to completely shut my mind off for 75 minutes. So lovely.

The creepy pic that’s second down on the right (in the above montage) was a workout I did early in the morning last Friday before we hit the road to Edmonton. It’s super tiny print, so here’s the quick, but effective workout I managed:

4 tabatas (Tabata= 20 seconds WORK, 10 seconds REST, repeated 8 times for a totaly for 4 minues). I alternated between 2 moves for each tabata.

1: Jump squats/Jumping jacks with pulse squat

2: Pushups/Tricep dips

3: Fire Hydrants (alternating between L and R sides. link to video demo here.)

4: Russian twist/Lying weight press

So yeah, we went to Edmonton (about a 3 hour drive north of Calgary) for one night. It was a long weekend here, and everyone seemed to be getting out of town, so that’s what we decided on. Nothing glamourous. Just a chance to get away. We hit up the West Edmonton mall (ummmm they have an ice rink and an amusement park and a water park and SEA LIONS. Yeah, and lots of stores too) and found a nice spot for dinner, MKT. I decided to indulge and ate some foods I would NEVER order. Of course, my stomach totally paid for it, but I really enjoyed the evening with Tyler.

The puppies have been getting some outdoor time, too!

We hit our usual spot today. But I decided to take the four-legged friends up a bit of a hill just to see the view. (Just kidding, it was just to see how disastrous it would be to climb a hill with stairs with two dummies on leashes). It’s a bummer the photo didn’t come out as sweet as the view, but I tried..Maybe try clicking on it to enlarge it so you can see my stupid little write-up.

And to round off my ‘catching up’ post (although I’m sure there’s tons I forgot, so I’ll probably mention them whenever) I made a batch of muffins this morning. I had a ton of fruit laying around the house, and I knew I needed to use some up before it all went bad (already have tons in the freezer, too!) I used a recipe that I’ve used before, but adapted to what I had readily available in the kitchen.

Skinny Banana Blueberry Muffins (adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction)

2 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 c agave nectar
1/2 c brown sugar
2 large ripe bananas, mashed
1 T white vinegar + the rest almond milk to equal one cup
1 egg beaten
1 1/4 c fresh blueberries

* Check out the original recipe, linked above. I used agave instead of honey, 1 full cup almond milk (w/1 T white vinegar) rather than 1/4 c yogurt + 3/4 c milk) and whole wheat flour instead of white whole wheat flour. Just improvising with what I had!

Preheat oven to 325, spray muffin tin with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
In another bowl, mix agave nectar and brown sugar until fully combined- no lumps! Add the banana, milk mixture, and egg. Slowly combine the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Once fully incorporated, fold in the blueberries.
Pour batter into muffin tin. Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until tops of muffins are slightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the muffins come out clean.

What food/meal have you been loving lately?

Favorite place to get away…even if it’s just for a night?

DO YOU LIKE MUFFINS??!! (you don’t have to answer that)

Things I’m loving

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Today has been B to the USY! I spent a ton of time trying to complete an application for the immigration office, then when it came time to pay, their server was down so I had to go to the bank, have them issue me a receipt of payment, scan it to my computer and upload that in addition to the application. They are just trying to make this as difficult as possible for me!!

I got my credit card today! Ok, it’s really Tyler’s, but I got a copy with my name on it. HOLLA!

I bought more dog food, and a special pack of treats for Layla…they’re locally made!

I also finally stopped in Cobs Bread and got a loaf of Chia Whole Wheat Bread.

Grocery store for the essentials.

And I still have to finish the laundry, clean the kitchen, cook dinner and get to the gym.
Text conversation with mom this morning sums it up:

Let’s move on to things I’m loving this week:
1)Instagram

Follow me @nutcaseinpoint !!!

2) Walks with Layla all around Calgary

3) My left ring finger.

4) Weighted Split Squats.

Source

5) Benefit ultra shine lip gloss in nookie-nookie (thanks, Kysh!)

6) This commercial
Haha, honestly I can’t stop laughing at it. Please clink on the link to watch it. Maybe I’m on a guac n sals high, but it’s funny.

7) Saying “Boom Shakalaka” for no apparent reason.

What are you guys loving this week?

A little bit of this, A little bit of that

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

18-20: I used to hope and pray I wouldn’t get carded so that I could go out with my friends

21: I loved loved LOVED getting carded so that I could be all “hella yeahhhhh bitttchhhesss I’m legal nowwwwwww! SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS! EVRRRRRAYYYYBOOOODY!

22-24: Get carded here and there. No big thang.

25: CARD ME PLEASE, OR DO YOU REALLY THINK I LOOK THAT OLD?!!!!!

25 and in Canada: Bitch please, they don’t ever card here. Drinking age is like 2.

I grew up in the wrong country.

******

Took Layla for TWO (not one, but TWO) walks today. It was snowin’ and blowin’ out there today. Walk numero uno was cut short because I literally could not hold the poop bag anymore. The wind had its way….

Walk numero dos was much more successful. No doo-doo.

And of course, gurllll did her roly poly in the fresh powder..

It’s a good thing most of her roly poly moments are during the day time while everyone is at work, otherwise neighbors would gather at their windows and watch the madness. One dude did stop his car and she was a nut. Like mother, like daughter. It was a proud moment for me.

"What's that you say?!"

"Oh no, you di'int!"

Enough with the dog pictures, Jen! Alright, alright….for today.

Lesson #472 about Twitter: Ask (yourself) and you shall receive.

An hour later, and this delovely (delicious AND lovely) smoothie was to be had:

banana
raspberries
cranberries
pineapple
oj

Hit the spot.

(‘the spot’ being the smoothie section of my brain/belly)

******

This next thing I have asked for, and have yet to receive: Girl Scout Thin Mints. I just want one box people. 2 measly sleeves of those minty rounds of love. Put ’em in the freezer and break out a few every now and then to go with ice cream.

Here’s what I have done to obtain aforementioned cookies:

1)Facebook plea

2) Twitter war cry

3) General around-the-house humming and hawwing until cookies magically appear.

4) I have done my due diligence and Googled where the Girl Guides of Canada are selling their vanilla/chocolate cookies and I will ask them when I can expect thin mints to be on the menu.

I am running out of ~~hope~~ options.

Another story for you: I was a Daisy, a Brownie, a Junior, AND a Cadet. Cookie season was the Olympics. Except bloodier. Thank god my dad worked in San Francisco and had major hookups with lots of coworkers. He I sold the sh*t outta those cookies. I feel a little bit bad now that I think about it because he had to bring all those cookies on Bart on a dolly into the city. And really, what did that get me? A badge (‘we don’t need no stinking badges!’) a stuffed animal, and maybe a coin purse.

*Blah, blah, blah, it taught you hard work and perseverance pay off. Blood, sweat, tears and your father’s co-workers get you a coin purse. Sigh.

What’s your favorite Girl Scout cookie?

Where you a Girl Scout?

Are you sore?

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Any of you folks out there sore? Apparently I neglected to stretch after yesterday’s killer workout. Oy! The shin splints, however, are courtesy of the hilly walks Layla and I have taken the past few days. Without fail, I always get shins splints when I take her for walks. Whyyyyyyyy?! Ah well, it’s worth it. Layla gets her exercise and I get to creep in people’s windows (relax, it’s during the day so it’s way less creepy.)

What I have noticed on our walks is that a lot of people place their TV in front of their huge front window. People, I have news for you. If you need something to block your view or prevent peeping toms, buy curtains. There. Unless people find it design savvy to have passersby see your sweet TV hookups. I’m not going to look into it, I’m not that interested.

Oh, and I saw a house that looks almost identical to the one I was born and raised in in Irvine, CA. Not that you care.

Last night we had an impromptu fire. Tyler suggested it because winter’s practically over and he still has a lot of wood left (haha). What he really meant to say was “Jen, because I love you and I know how much you love fires, I’m going to start one for you tonight.” That’s what I heard, anyways.