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1.3.12

We are going to talk about oatmeal this morning. Oatmeal is not very photogenic – I just want to get that out of the way up front.

I know in order for me to succeed at any weightloss effort it has to be easy. I can't be whipping up a salad with ten ingredients for lunch or standing over a stove first thing in the morning.

In order to address breakfast I thought I would get Trader Joe's frozen steel cut oatmeal to have on hand. I wanted to find out the nutritional information first (in case they were loaded with sugar or syrups) and while I was searching the interwebs I came across this blog post:

http://amy-newnostalgia.blogspot.com/2011/11/oatmeal-freezer-pucks.html

Now is that genius or what?

Basically you just make your oatmeal and then freeze it in a muffin tin. I made six servings of oatmeal and it divided up perfectly among the six muffins in a large muffin tin. I froze it over night and them popped them out of tin.

I have a Food Saver gizmo but if you are going to be eating them within a week I think ziplock bags would work just fine.

You can pull them out of the freezer when ever you want and heat them in a bowl in the microwave. I microwaved mine for 2 minutes 45 seconds (stirring after two minutes) but depending on your microwave it make take more or less time.

I used regular rolled oats (not instant) but you could do this with steel cut oatmeal as well.

(See what I mean – not a very glamourous food shot, is it?)

1.2.12

I hope everyone is settling into the new year nicely. We, as is our habit, celebrated quietly and with little fuss. The house was sparkly clean and denuded of anything Christmas related.

Our typical New Year's celebration generally is a lovely dinner, just the two of us. We rarely, if ever, stay up until midnight. I wanted to stay up so I could text our two boys a happy new year (calling is never productive because they have not embraced the quiet celebration and instead are generally somewhere where the decibel level does not foster a telephone conversation). I got all snuggled into bed and was watching the clock. At 11:53 pm I thought "Oh good. Only seven more minutes." Then the next time I looked at the clock it was 3:00am. Ah well.

Day 2 and I'm doing splendidly on my 2012 to do list. I decided on a language – French. German would have been the obvious choice since I started learning it as a child and took every German class our Jr. and Sr. High schools offered. But when I think of a language I really wish I could speak French it is. Oui.

I made thoughtful choices with my eating yesterday and even sprinkled some Chia seeds on my eggs this morning. I guess Chia seeds are the new wonder supplement of this generation. My parents' generation had wheat germ, we had flax seeds and now all the cool kids are throwing Chia seeds into everything. They are innocuous tasting. They look like poppy-seeds and add no dicernible flavor. They just add a teeny crunch to whatever you are eating.

I am going to buy a basket for my bicycle today. (I bought this basket – it can double as my shopping basket at the store) The excuse I keep giving myself for not riding it is that darned basket so today it is. Then I can ride my bike to the grocery store for our dinner makings, whilst conjugating French verbs and picking Chia seeds out of my teeth.

Sadly today is the last day of my vacation. Tomorrow it is back to work. I was really getting used to sleeping in until 8:00 every morning and having the whole day luxuriously stretched out in front of me with nary a meeting in sight. Sigh. It was lovely while it lasted.

12.31.11

Okay how is that for a discombobulated list of things to accomplish? A few personal improvement items, a few household improvement items, some imprecise goals, some very specific ones.

I have this vague feeling that if I publish this list publicly that maybe I'll have a better chance of accomplishing them. Power of intention and all that.

Actually it's more of a 'in sight, in mind' kind of thinking. My plan is to revisit the list once a month and check on how I am doing.

The organize linen one is kind of odd – but I have my linens in five different locations. I'd like to come up a more managable system of organizing them. So that goal may be more about organization in general.

A number of the items are things that I find myself constantly saying…"I sure wish I spoke French (or German, or Spanish)…" or "We should go for a nice drive…" or "this darn camera…"

The list is in no particular order. I have been jotting them down as I think of them over the past couple of weeks. I don't think of them as resolutions so much as the way I would like things to be. I just decided, to paraphrase a quote, to design the sort of life I want to live.

Happy New Year everyone. Thank you for reading this humble little blog and being supportive and kind and encouraging.

Friday’s Favorites

Flickr Favorites (please click link to see the source of these beautiful images)

Pretty, sparkly flats – lovely for a New Year's Eve party (listen – my days of towering heels are ovah! Flats for me!). I would get them in the grey. I've ordered from this site before (from the US) and it was a great experience. Free shipping
Speaking of New Year's Eve – wouldn't this be a fabulous backdrop for a party: Sequin Wall from Oh Happy Day
I think this is a clever way to save for something. A shadow box piggy bank with a picture of the desired object (shhh- I think you could DIY this super easily)
Pretty earrings! I can't decide which I like more – the drop earrings in crystal or the dangle earrings in green amethyst
I thought this was a fascinating story about the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel employees and how they comported themselves during a three day attack on the hotel in 2008. Everyone has the opportunity to be a hero. Everyone.

My goodness – where did the year go? My house has been undecorated (did that on Wednesday) but I still have some cleaning to do in order to have my sparkly clean house for the New Year.

I will do one more post before the year closes out – I want to share my To Do List for 2012. I figure if I publicly announce it that the items will have a better chance of getting done. Some are lofty goals, others are just ways to better myself.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

12.28.11

(Brace yourself for a series of scintillating pictures of my broom closet…)

One of my Old Year's traditions is to make sure the house is nice and clean when we greet the New Year. I like to start things off with everything neat and tidy and in its place.

On the surface our house already looks tidy and organized. It's not until you start opening doors and looking in cupboards the ugly truth starts to surface.

Exhibit A: My broom closet.

Seriously. Could I jam anthing else in there? It's a nightmare every time I open it up and try to pull out the broom. Eight other things come tumbling out with it.

The broom closet is in my laundry room which is between the kitchen/eating area and the garage. It has a door to the deck and is quite the thoroughfare.

Yesterday I pulled everything out and swept it (the irony is not lost on me). I went to the hardware store and bought eight different hooks. Four regular hooks and four the kind you hang long handled things (like brooms and mops).

The ironing board can go – we have a new one that doesn't fit in this closet. There are also 87 variations of the Swiffer mop. I weeded them down to four. A regular broom, a dusting Swiffer and two hardwood floor mops.

Now everything is off the floor and easy to retrieve.

Simple pleasures for sure but how nice to open that door and see everything in its place. Very Martha-esque.

I only wish I had time to tackle the garage before the 31st….

What about you? Do you have any end of the year rituals?

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