Forcing Myself Out of My Comfort Zone

I took the plunge and joined a gym this week.

When I walked in to take a tour and the techno dance music was pumping I felt like running for the door, when guy giving me my tour used the words "it will really pump you up" I felt like running for the door and when that same guy tried to pressure me into signing up for a membership on the spot without even trying the gym out I felt like running for the door. Everything at this gym is just so shiny and new, including the members.

I like music with a good beat and I know that fast paced music with heavy base can be very motivating for people while they workout, but my first impulse when I walked into the gym and heard the thumping music echoing around the place was to roll my eyes. How cliche, so typical really.

Do I look like a 300 pound body builder? Why in the world would someone say anything about pumping anything up to me? Well, unless someone wants to pump up my bank account and then we can talk.

I am that shopper that doesn't even want to be acknowledge while I shop, I see you eyeing me salesperson waiting right inside the door to pounce the moment I cross the threshold and trust me if I need anything I will come find you but until then I'm fine thank you, leave me alone. I don't like pressure. So when this guy tried to sign me up for the membership before I had even had the chance to use a trial pass and check things out on my own it was a major turn off.

Even with all this I didn't run out the door. I stayed and got my trial membership. I knew that it would be all too easy for my shy and insecure side to take over and send me running for home with my tail between my legs. I get so self conscious in a gym setting I knew I was letting myself get worked up over little things to try and talk myself out of it, after all I had been trying to talk myself out of a gym membership for a couple years with much success.

I wasn't going to let myself sabotage this attempt at being healthy. I had already battled myself far enough to get my body in that door to take the tour. I couldn't lose now. I was going to force myself out of my comfy little shell.

There might be a list of cons for why I shouldn't have a gym membership, money, time, scheduling. There is also a list of pros and those pros are pretty hefty. Health, and time out of the house are are finally outranking my cons list.

So after giving the gym a few trial visits and making sure that Monkey likes the kids club I signed up.

I am actually loving it. Love.ing.it.

Did I mention that they have TVs on the treadmills with lots of channels to choose from including Food Network? Oh how I love Food Network working out.

This doesn't mean that my insecurities have left me. I am still feeling those familiar feelings each time I walk in the building. I am just trying to build up my muscle so I can beat those feelings down little by little until maybe one day I will walk in the door filled with confidence.

Orange Halibut Steaks

Mmmm. Halibut is my favorite fish and I love citrus so this is a special treat for me.

Orange Halibut Steaks


1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1 cup fresh spinach
4 quarter pound halibut steaks
1/3 cup orange juice
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
Salt and pepper

Saute garlic, onion and spinach in olive oil for 1-2 minutes. Add halibut, orange peel, orange juice and tarragon to pan and bring to a simmer. Cook fish flipping once for about 12 minutes. Fish is done when it flakes easily with a fork or when it reaches an internal temperature of140 degrees Fahrenheit.

Other Evolving Mommy recipes you might enjoy:

• Hotfish- (Spicy Tilapia with Spinach and Tomatoes)
• Soy Garlic Marinade
• Tangy Citrus Shrimp

Practice

I am relearning patience at the hands of my two year old. Here I was thinking that after my 26 years of living I already had a pretty good handle on patience and how to use it, then Monkey turned 2. Suddenly every day is a whole new lesson in staying calm, cool and collected.

Where did Monkey's sudden need to dress herself from head to toe come from? I have no idea but I do know that although she can do some of it by herself she usually just ends up screaming at her pants, and her shirt, and her socks, and her shoes out of frustration.


It is not unusual for getting dressed to turn into a half hour (or longer) event. Here is the kicker though, she gets so so frustrated with her clothes when they don't do what she wants them to do but she will not let me help.

At all.

Taking a half the morning to simply get dressed is not a huge deal unless of course I am just trying to get us out the door to go somewhere. This is when my patience boot camp takes place (or at least part of it).

It takes patience to try to talk a scream toddler down.

It takes patience to not just get in there and Put. Her. Clothes. On. Her. Myself. (all said through clenched teeth).

It takes patience to even begin the process when you know what is coming your way after you pull the clothes out of the dresser drawers.

I know this is all a part of Monkey growing up, testing her boundaries, learning to be independent and self-sufficient, and I know that this will pass ( at least I am hoping this will pass).

Knowing these things and reminding myself of them are one way I can keep my cool. That and chocolate. Oh, and beer sometimes too.

But seriously, some days my patience wears a little thin and I get a little tired of getting reprimanded and told some form of "I do it all myself Mom!"

Last I checked I'm the mom little miss.

Which basically means I have to keep practicing my patience and letting her teach me over and over how to remain calm. When it is all said and done it is my job as a mom to let her find her own way, I just wish she would let me help her a little bit. I am pretty sure I will be saying the same thing during her teen years too.

One Way Ghosts Can Be Completely Adorable

Monkey and her best friend Boo are reaching the age where they not only enjoy crafting but they also can follow directions and think creatively so we have been working on little craft projects here and there. Two 2-year-old girls armed with glue, paint and paper basically means big messes but also lots of fun and adorableness.

Last week we made adorable footprint ghost Halloween cards to send to friends and family.



Here is what you need to make your own:


Black paper
White and Black Paint
A larger paint brush or sponge
a few Q-tips
Newspaper to cover the floor

Cut the black paper in half so that you have 2 long pieces (like a hot dog not a hamburger), and fold each piece into a card with the fold on top and the opening along the bottom. Depending on the size of your child's feet you may need to adjust this.

Cover the floor with newspaper. Pick one of your child's feet and cover the bottom of it with white paint. Once the bottom of the foot is covered have him or her step down on the black paper. The heal of your child's footprint is the "head" of the ghost and the toes are the flowing bottom of the ghost, so make sure that keep that in mind when having them step on the card.

Wash feet off and let the ghosts dry a bit. Once the white paint is dry add eyes and a mouth using the Q-tips and black paint.

We glued squares of white paper inside and wrote notes to the people we are sending the cards to. A cute keepsake to help remember little toes and a nice way to say hello.

Oh, and did you know my good friend Mommy-Momo has cool toddler friendly crafts featured every Monday and you can join in?

Quick and Easy Sausage Hash

How about those Mondays. Yikes it sure is a moody Monday in my house today. I will give you one guess and a hint: I am not the moody one and neither is Luke. So yeah I get the feeling that moody toddlers are like moody teenagers. Terrible communication, fits being thrown left and right and Mommy loosing her mind. Yep I think today is a part of my training for when Monkey is a teen.

So it is safe to say that by the time Luke gets home from work I am probably not going to feel like putting much effort into dinner. Cue the Sausage Hash. Quick. Easy. Flexible. No measuring and very few dishes. A moms dream. Well this moms dream today, at least. 20 minutes and I will be at the table eating dinner with my family.

Add and subtract veggies to suit your families tastes. Sometimes I like to add a diced tomato or some sliced squash. I love ketchup on my hash, it reminds me of when my parents used to make their version of this dish when I was a kid, and Luke likes hot sauce. See I told you flexible.

Quick and Easy Sausage Hash

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion chopped (any variety you like)
2 garlic cloves diced
2 medium potatoes cut into thin 1 inch squares (any variety you like)
1 Kielbasa Sausage, sliced into 1/4-1/2 inch slices
1/2 red bell pepper chopped
1/2 green bell pepper chopped
1 cup corn

Heat olive oil in large saute pan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and potato and cook until potatoes begin to soften. Add Sausage, peppers and corn to pan. Cook mixture until potatoes and sausage are cooked through. You can test potatoes by poking them with a fork, if the fork comes out easily the potato should be done.

Serve with ketchup, hot sauce or salsa.

Other quick and easy Evolving Mommy recipes you might enjoy:

• Hamburger and Veggie Slow Cooker Stew
• Chili Mac
• 10 minute Tuna, Tomato and Spinach Pasta

Go Go Go

Today is my good friend's baby shower and I am in charge of decorating. It is going to be adorable, I promise I will have pictures to share later but for now I am running around like a crazy woman getting Monkey ready for the day, loading the car, making sure Luke has everything he will need for his day and picking up last minute things.

My main reason for dragging you over to Evolving Mommy on this fine Saturday morning is actually to drag you over to Evolving Mommy Reviews so you can check out my latest review and *giveaway*! I mean seriously who doesn't like new music? Now Go Go Go over to Evolving Mommy Reviews and check out Brandi Carlile.

Does This Mean I am Anti-Social?

I have become sort of a homebody lately. While pregnant with Monkey Luke and I decided to sell one of our cars and go down to one car to save money. We knew that we wanted me to stay home with her but we also knew that in order to do that we would need to cut costs in every possible way.

We cut out TV, we put ourselves on a tight grocery budget, we sold what we could on Craigslist and we sold a car saving us money on maintenance, gas and insurance. The car we sold was paid off but it was a 2 door and not a practical family car so we still had a car, but even with a car payment we still saved a lot of money.

When Monkey was first born we lived in a part of town where really the only thing within walking distance was a park that was really more suited for older children. Luke and I decided that in order to keep my sanity I would pack Monkey up and we would drive Luke to work one day a week. We choose Wednesdays so that we could also go to a playgroup that was meeting up on Wednesdays. Even after moving to a home where we can walk to the library Monkey and I still got the car on Wednesdays.

Wednesdays quickly became my favorite day of the week. I loved getting out of the house and socializing with the great moms in our playgroup, running errands, and seeing the outside world. I loved packing up my little baby and spending time out and about with her.

Lately though I have been craving long days at home with Monkey. I keep having these strong homebody urges. Despite enjoying seeing our friends and playgroup and more than our tiny neighborhood I find myself just wanting to stay home. The idea of having Monkey all to myself with endless craft, play dough, and painting possibilities is all so tempting. Quite days to shower attention on my daughter without any distractions are what I crave, well that and I like the idea of not rushing around in the morning to get everything ready for the day so that we can get Luke to work early in the morning. She is growing up so fast and there just aren't enough minutes in the day.


I am not sure this is normal. I just know that as much as I like getting out of the house I have really been enjoying laid back days at home with my daughter. It seems like every week lately I actively debate even having and using the car on "our day." Does this make me sound anti-social?

Cute, huh?

Several of you asked to see what this beautiful guilt bag of mine. I really do love it, but the is no way my stomach could have handled paying full price for it.

I appreciate that you all have decided not to judge my purchase, because I am not sure I could part with it now after using its wonderful pockets to carry all of my essentials (which are generally Monkey's essentials). Its sheer size makes me a little giddy.

A Pretty Bag and A Bad Feeling

I have always been a handbag admirer. I have coveted other women's adorable purses, and shoes. Up until recently I have also always been tight with my money and not wanted to spend much more than $25.00 on a purse, which of course means that usually my new purse literally falls apart in a matter of months.

Sometime in August I decided I was going to just take the plunge and spend a little more money on a handbag, and hopefully find a bag that would last me more than a few months. In fact I was thinking that if I were to spend a bit more money a higher quality purse would last me for at least a year or more, so in reality I would probably even save some money in the long run.

So I set off on a search for "the" bag. A bag big enough to hold my things as well as the random things a mom has to carry around (you know sippy cups, boxes of raisins, half eaten apples, a change of clothes/new diaper, a book of stickers...). A bag that was structured and not too trendy because honestly trendy means 1 of two things to me... ugly and/or even more expensive because it just needs to be replaced more often to "keep up" with fashion. Said bag needed to have more than just one huge pocket, because it drives me crazy to have to dig through everything in my bag to find my sunglasses or keys. And to top it all off this bag needed to be a shade of brown. Not tan or cream. Not black or burgundy. Brown.

I spent the better part of a month scouring every online retailer I could think of along with all of the stores selling quality purses in a 3 city radius. After weeks of looking I finally found a bag that was as close as I was going to get without spending a half a mortgage payment on a bag. Bleh, just the thought of a bag that expensive makes my stomach turn.

It just so happens that all this purse shopping happened around my birthday so this new bag was my birthday gift from Monkey and Luke, which is one of the only reasons that I finally broke down and got it. So now I have this bag that I really like, and I can tell it is going to hold up for a long while and fits all my needs, but there is one thing that is bothering me.

I know how much I paid for it. I feel like other people see me with this bag and automatically think I am in a different social class than I am. (I mean come on, even though I took the plunge and bought a pricier bag, I still bought it on sale from an outlet store.)

I know that I rarely spend money on myself.

I know that my family lives on a pretty strict budget and I write my grocery list planning how much I will spend to within a few bucks every week.

And most importantly I know that it was gift and not an every day purchase.

I'm starting to feel show-offy or something. I know times are tough right now and it makes me feel like a "typical" young America to have spent that money on something so superficial and unnecessary. But I like my bag.

Am I crazy to feel this way? I know it doesn't make me a bad person to splurge on nice things every once and while but why do I feel like others are looking at me with judgement in their eyes?

Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkin Mufins

I love pumpkin. I think I drive Luke a little crazy this time of year with all the pumpkin that comes out of our kitchen. I also love cream cheese, so really logically the next step is pumpkin muffins filled with cream cheese, right?

These muffins are a nice way to mix it up a bit and do something different. I think they would be a great addition to a nice brunch or even just a good cup of hot tea. They are good cold and at room temperature but if you pop them in the microwave for about 10-12 seconds the cream cheese filling gets nice and soft and warm. Mmmmm.


1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups white flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups fresh pumpkin or 1 15ounce can of pumpkin
3 eggs
1 cup yogurt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup apple sauce.
8oz cream cheese
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons powder sugar
toasted pumpkin seeds (optional)
mini chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease muffin tin.

In medium bowl mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg.

In seperate bowl mix pumpkin, eggs, sugar, yogurt, and apple sauce. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix thoroughly.

To make filling using hand mixer blend cream cheese and powder sugar until cream cheese is smooth and sugar is fully incorpoated.

Add 1/8 cup batter to bottom of each muffin cup. Place 1 teaspoon sized ball of cream cheese on the center of the batter layer. Place one tablespoon of batter on top of cream cheese layer making sure that the cream cheese is covered by the batter. Divide any extra batter between the muffin cups. If using, sprinkle chocolate chips or pumpkin seeds over the top of the muffin.

Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes. Makes roughly 3 dozen muffins depending on the size of your muffin tins.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow....

We did it, we not only pulled off a rainbow party for Monkey but we survived it all too!


Why a rainbow theme you ask? Well, I was inspired by the idea of making rainbow cupcakes and it all sprang from there.


Add in a a bunch of ribbon, paper in all the colors of the rainbow,



rainbow colored snacks,

window markers and balloons and we had quite the colorful shindig.
I had so much fun making clouds to hang from our rainbow ribbons with Monkey and colorful flag banners to hang all over our house with Luke. I did my best to not go overboard but still plan the party that I had in mind.


Monkey had a ton of friends and family come to her party.It was great to have so many people, from all over, fill our home to shower love on our daughter. One thing is for sure, there is nothing like a birthday party to remind you how many people love your child.

Just a reminder that you can win a Temple Touch Thermometer over at Evolving Mommy Reviews. It is easy-peasy to enter and the contest ends tonight so hurry on over and put your name in the hat.

Oh and while I am on the topic I should point out the "What's New At Evolving Mommy Reviews" area on the far right sidebar. The most current reviews are listed in that section so check it regularly.