three month break ... whoops! what's happened in the interim, since september? a lot!
on the matson front:
- he started eating solids
- he started crawling
- he started standing up
- he started taking steps (only while holding onto something, so far)
- he started seperation anxiety (yaay)
- he started jabbering a lot more and saying "dada" constantly (pretty sure he doesn't know what it means yet)
- he discovered his love for christmas lights
- he started taking showers with daddy instead of baths, which is basically as great as a water park when you're 8 months old
on the me and scott front:
- scott finished his first semester of his mba - hooray! he just finished last night and doesn't have his final grades back yet, but i'll be pretty shocked if he didn't get straight a's. so proud!
- scott went to men's retreat for church, which meant he was gone for a whole weekend. which means that i survived a whole weekend with mats on my own!
- we got our first artificial christmas tree. the weather was too bad to go cut a tree the weekend we had set aside to do so, and i decided i was tired of paying for an overpriced lot tree on the years we couldn't go to the forest, so we found a nice fake tree on craigslist.
- i finished my first "semester" at mops and women's bible study and am loving both so far.
- i made myself take a break from saver's - it's just too easy to find so many things to buy there! for the time being, i can only go when i have something concrete i need to look for (personal favorite: picture frames).
and what's happening with us now?
- scott just finished his semester last night at about 10:30pm (online test), so we celebrate! we're going to look at christmas lights with goo and her boyfriend, grant, tonight. scott is very excited to have a poker night tomorrow. christmas party at a friend from nourish's on saturday. and $5 movie and a fancy dinner out (via a giftcard that scott's first boss left in his desk when he left the company, which a coworker found when cleaning out the desk, and then gave to scott because we live way closer to the restaurant than do she and her husband - very generous!) on sunday evening while mats hangs out with the macauleys.
- finishing up christmas shopping and wrapping so that i can get gifts shipped out asap.
- flying out to illinois to see my parents for christmas.
- re-doing our kitchen! scott said that we can look at updating our kitchen as our christmas present to ourselves (which we've been wanting to do since we moved in), so just yesterday i started looking at all of that. the cabinets themselves are still nice, but i want new cabinet doors. i'm debating painting the cabinets vs leaving them wood, and looking at all kinds of counter options - mostly corian vs laminate at this point. (granite's out because it's so non-renewable and it makes me sad when we're out hiking over granite boulders to think of people stripping those away from the ground.)
and more immediately:
- i need to paint a bunch of picture frames. i'm bummed that i slacked on this last month when it was still nice out, because it's chilly enough outside now that i have to clear out my laundry room, lay out tarps, and spray paint inside rather than in my back yard.
- i finally bought myself a sander and need to start using it! first on the list: refinishing our chipped up cheapo coffee and end tables. next up: refinish a cool old dresser that i got on craigslist and put wheels on it - sideboard for the dining room that can easily be wheeled 10 feet over into the kitchen as a moveable island when needed!
- finish washing matson's diapers.
- go grocery shopping. i resolved to not buy meat the month of december so that we can start using up some of the 1/4 cow of grass fed beef that we have in the basement freezer, and the pounds upon pounds of chicken breast that i've been stocking up on all fall since it's been so cheap - $1.67/lb some weeks! i bought chicken wings last weekend per scott's request because we had a friend over to watch football, but other than that, so far so good!
- figure out why the little man is squeaking rather than sleeping.
Showing posts with label fall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fall. Show all posts
enough self-reflection already
with tomorrow beginning september, summer is basically over. i kind of can't believe it, and i'm a little sad that matsy's first summer is gone so quickly! but, in true marisa-style, i am making myself realize that the end of summer is the beginning of fall, and there are SO many fun things to look forward to with fall! my parents are coming to visit (yay!), football season (and while i'm not looking forward to the incessant games, i am looking forward to football parties), sweaters, changing leaves, weather cooling off and letting me open up the house and wake up to fresh air. and, perhaps best of all: SOUP. yes, soup. i realized this year that i really love soup. you just can't make it too often during the summer since it's, by nature, hot. like so many things, though, now that i can cook really good soup from scratch, the canned stuff just tastes kind of yucky and way too salty to me now. alas. but, without further ado, my favorite soup recipes in no particular order.
- baked potato soup
- roasted chicken and wild rice soup
- ham, corn, and white bean soup
- white chili
- tortellini soup (which has been a favorite to bring to friends with new babies this year)
- homemade chicken soup
happy first day of fall!
happy first day of fall, friends! no, it's not technically the first day of fall, and yes it did hit a high of 87* today ... but it IS the first day of september, which begins fall in my book.
i think that overall fall is my favorite season. you have the pretty colors on the trees, the mornings and evenings start to cool off, so you can wear sweaters with your jeans and flip flops, and i think the nerd in me is still linked to the school calendar and just feels so many possibilities at the beginning of a new school year. and, even though i unfortunately don't really like football in practice, i love the idea of it and the social aspects of it, and football comes with fall.
this weekend, scott and i are off to a cabin in the mountains, and i'm so looking forward to it. it's the same cabin at the base of mt. elbert that we stayed in for a long weekend last summer and i have high hopes for a refreshing and relaxing weekend. in case you forget the details, this cabin is surrounded by aspens to the extent that their quaking is all you can see out the windows, a creek runs right behind the cabin with a private fire pit on the creek, and hummingbirds flock the feeders in droves. sounds lovely, right? our plans include hiking along the twin lakes and possibly renting a canoe or paddleboat, but that will depend on pricing - i found one place's prices listed online, and it was $60 for two hours! we'll also do a daytrip up to aspen along the independence pass to see the maroon bells. there's no tv in the cabin, which is unbelievably relaxing, but we are planning to bring a laptop and the last two "lord of the rings" dvds from the library - we watched the first movie again a few weeks ago and it was SO GOOD!
anyway, one more day of work for me, then we're off for a four day weekend of sleeping in and sunshine!
i think that overall fall is my favorite season. you have the pretty colors on the trees, the mornings and evenings start to cool off, so you can wear sweaters with your jeans and flip flops, and i think the nerd in me is still linked to the school calendar and just feels so many possibilities at the beginning of a new school year. and, even though i unfortunately don't really like football in practice, i love the idea of it and the social aspects of it, and football comes with fall.
this weekend, scott and i are off to a cabin in the mountains, and i'm so looking forward to it. it's the same cabin at the base of mt. elbert that we stayed in for a long weekend last summer and i have high hopes for a refreshing and relaxing weekend. in case you forget the details, this cabin is surrounded by aspens to the extent that their quaking is all you can see out the windows, a creek runs right behind the cabin with a private fire pit on the creek, and hummingbirds flock the feeders in droves. sounds lovely, right? our plans include hiking along the twin lakes and possibly renting a canoe or paddleboat, but that will depend on pricing - i found one place's prices listed online, and it was $60 for two hours! we'll also do a daytrip up to aspen along the independence pass to see the maroon bells. there's no tv in the cabin, which is unbelievably relaxing, but we are planning to bring a laptop and the last two "lord of the rings" dvds from the library - we watched the first movie again a few weeks ago and it was SO GOOD!
anyway, one more day of work for me, then we're off for a four day weekend of sleeping in and sunshine!
the treadmill ...
remember the pioneer woman? turns out she has a has a cookbook coming out later this month, and is doing a book tour. book tour? as in traveling to different cities to talk and sign books? yes, friends. i merrily clicked on the link to her book tour page to find out when she'll be in denver ... and found out pw will be in town on a monday night, which is when i have whiz kids. blerg. i was thisclose. alas!
__________
we've been working out at the rec center near us for the past year, and i have to say that other than the few weeks that we did weights in 10th grade p.e., this is probably the first time in my life that i've actually enjoyed and looked forward to working out. i'm glad for that, because a few years ago i really despaired that i would never enjoy exercising but felt like i should do it anyway.
along with enjoying working out, i'm also enjoying the benefits of working out - not that i've lost any weight (which doesn't really make sense to me), but that i'm definitely in better shape than i was pre-workout era. i remember the first time i used the elliptical, i lasted like 10 minutes and was huffing and puffing the whole time with a ridiculously high pulse rate; now i have to remind myself to get off after 25 minutes so that i can get some stretching and weights in before scott's done with his workout. the first time we rode our bikes last spring, i think we rode for a grand total of 20 minutes and my legs felt like jelly afterward; our last few rides of the season, we were out for close to two hours and went home because it was pitch dark out and we have no bike lights.
the point of this storytime, though, is that i very proudly reached a new milestone in my workouts last night. the past few times at the gym, i didn't feel like i was coming away feeling as pushed as i used to, so i decided to step it up a notch and hit the treadmill. the treadmill. i have only used a treadmill one other time in my life, when we lived at our first apartment out here that had a mini-gym in the community building. i think it went well, though. i spent about 25 minutes on there, half each running and walking, split up into several minute segments. the gym does have an indoor running track, too, and maybe i'll venture up there eventually; for right now, stepping out of my elliptical comfort zone within the safety of the cardio machine section is enough. when we got home post-gym last night, i realized that after spending an hour at the gym, i actually felt energized rather than ready to collapse. my legs (and ribs??) ache for sure, but in a good, i-pushed-myself-and-won kind of way. i guess getting out of your comfort zone every once in a while is a good thing.
_______
oh, and for dinner last night, i made stuffed peppers. they turned out well! i used a salt-free tomato sauce and felt like i added a ton of salt to the rice/meat mixture and that it was still bland, so i'll probably use a normal tomato sauce next time. and maybe add a few dashes of tabasco to the mix. i was skeptical, but one stuffed pepper each was really enough for us for dinner - scott did request that we have corn and/or beans on the side next time, which i suppose is a request i can accomodate. all in all, very tasty - i recommend it.
__________
we've been working out at the rec center near us for the past year, and i have to say that other than the few weeks that we did weights in 10th grade p.e., this is probably the first time in my life that i've actually enjoyed and looked forward to working out. i'm glad for that, because a few years ago i really despaired that i would never enjoy exercising but felt like i should do it anyway.
along with enjoying working out, i'm also enjoying the benefits of working out - not that i've lost any weight (which doesn't really make sense to me), but that i'm definitely in better shape than i was pre-workout era. i remember the first time i used the elliptical, i lasted like 10 minutes and was huffing and puffing the whole time with a ridiculously high pulse rate; now i have to remind myself to get off after 25 minutes so that i can get some stretching and weights in before scott's done with his workout. the first time we rode our bikes last spring, i think we rode for a grand total of 20 minutes and my legs felt like jelly afterward; our last few rides of the season, we were out for close to two hours and went home because it was pitch dark out and we have no bike lights.
the point of this storytime, though, is that i very proudly reached a new milestone in my workouts last night. the past few times at the gym, i didn't feel like i was coming away feeling as pushed as i used to, so i decided to step it up a notch and hit the treadmill. the treadmill. i have only used a treadmill one other time in my life, when we lived at our first apartment out here that had a mini-gym in the community building. i think it went well, though. i spent about 25 minutes on there, half each running and walking, split up into several minute segments. the gym does have an indoor running track, too, and maybe i'll venture up there eventually; for right now, stepping out of my elliptical comfort zone within the safety of the cardio machine section is enough. when we got home post-gym last night, i realized that after spending an hour at the gym, i actually felt energized rather than ready to collapse. my legs (and ribs??) ache for sure, but in a good, i-pushed-myself-and-won kind of way. i guess getting out of your comfort zone every once in a while is a good thing.
_______
oh, and for dinner last night, i made stuffed peppers. they turned out well! i used a salt-free tomato sauce and felt like i added a ton of salt to the rice/meat mixture and that it was still bland, so i'll probably use a normal tomato sauce next time. and maybe add a few dashes of tabasco to the mix. i was skeptical, but one stuffed pepper each was really enough for us for dinner - scott did request that we have corn and/or beans on the side next time, which i suppose is a request i can accomodate. all in all, very tasty - i recommend it.
lazy lazy weekend
oh my, what a lazy weekend. we had planned on going apple picking with friends yesterday, but then that fell through so scott watched the football game with the alumni assoc downtown while i hung out at home and did laundry and baked. (pumpkin chocolate chip cookies - they turned out very well, even if the recipe does make them a little bit fluffier and cakier than i typically go for. i stepped out to run errands later in the afternoon, came home to the overwhelming smell of baked pumpkin, and found myself craving turkey and mashed potatoes.) we had my office tickets for the nuggets pre-season opener vs. belgrade last night, and scott looked up insults such as "you suck" in serbian on my iphone before i took it away from him. i made up for it by cheering for them - they only had like 40 fans in the entire audience (shocker), so i felt bad. scott tells me that i'm going to be that soccer mom who cheers for the opposing team if they're losing. haha!
today i did even less than yesterday: sunday school, church, lunch with sunday school, then home for a 2.5 hour nap followed by sitting on the couch watching tv and reading john grisham's the innocent man. scott did take me for a walk just now which made me feel at least a little less slothful. aaaaaand, that's my weekend.
i think as an adult i like summer for the same reasons that i liked fall as a kid: it's when new things happen. by mid-summer, i really just wanted a week of doing nothing on my couch at home because we were so busy and traveling and doing new things and hanging out with friends all the time, but now that fall has hit and things are calming down to the point where i can basically spend an entire weekend at home doing nothing, i really miss our fun active summer. and yes, i really was that crazy kid who loved fall because i got to go back to school and see friends and play soccer and be busy. i'm pretty sure i even told me 5th grade teacher that i liked doing homework on weekends.
scott just finished doing his spiritual gifts survey for the application to do children's ministry (we're working in the nursery together once a month starting this fall!), so i'm off to make an evite for a bbq for our sunday school class next weekend. and in case you were wondering, my "spiritual gifts" are administration 89% and servant/helps and hospitality each 78%; scott's are leadership 89% and administration and teaching each 78%.
today i did even less than yesterday: sunday school, church, lunch with sunday school, then home for a 2.5 hour nap followed by sitting on the couch watching tv and reading john grisham's the innocent man. scott did take me for a walk just now which made me feel at least a little less slothful. aaaaaand, that's my weekend.
i think as an adult i like summer for the same reasons that i liked fall as a kid: it's when new things happen. by mid-summer, i really just wanted a week of doing nothing on my couch at home because we were so busy and traveling and doing new things and hanging out with friends all the time, but now that fall has hit and things are calming down to the point where i can basically spend an entire weekend at home doing nothing, i really miss our fun active summer. and yes, i really was that crazy kid who loved fall because i got to go back to school and see friends and play soccer and be busy. i'm pretty sure i even told me 5th grade teacher that i liked doing homework on weekends.
scott just finished doing his spiritual gifts survey for the application to do children's ministry (we're working in the nursery together once a month starting this fall!), so i'm off to make an evite for a bbq for our sunday school class next weekend. and in case you were wondering, my "spiritual gifts" are administration 89% and servant/helps and hospitality each 78%; scott's are leadership 89% and administration and teaching each 78%.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
