So I’ve been having a bit of fun with our food budget lately. I’ve started a quest to eat super healthy, but to also keep our food budget as low as possible. Yesterday was payday, but I didn’t get to the bank to refresh our food money envelope and I also didn’t get to the store so come mid morning I was scrounging for something to put together for lunch. I am super impressed with myself. Check it out.

So I pulled out a recipe for “The Easiest 100% Whole Wheat Bread Ever” from the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking Book and got that going early this afternoon. This recipe is like a quick bread, so you mix up the dough and throw it in the baking pan, let it rise and pop it in the oven.

Humm, now for the meal. Well, I checked out the pantry and noticed I had a can of garbanzo beans and a can of black beans. I also had a can of some crushed tomatoes. I looked in the fridge and pulled out some random stuff. So I got ready and just went with it.

Scrounging soup: I Sautéed a diced onion and some garlic. When it was nice and sauteed, I added some wine and let it sizzle and cook down (we keep a box of cooking wine in the fridge, I bought it a year ago and it just sits there). I added some oregano and sage that I picked last week at Delaney Farm (our CSA). More sizzle. Then I threw in the two cans of beans plus a half can of kidney beans I had in the fridge. In goes the tomatoes and a box of chicken broth. I tasted it and it was boring so I added several spoonfuls of crushed sun dried tomatoes (packed in oil kind, sits in fridge), and salt and pepper. Yummier. Still lacking. Oooh, I found a bag of spinach that I got from the CSA last week and hadn’t used, in that went, along with some handfuls of frozen corn from the freezer. Ummm, just right.

In the end I couldn’t believe what I came up with at the end of the pay period. Troy walked in the door and the house smelled like fresh baked bread. There was a sizable pot of soup ready for a post work snack, with some nice whole grain bread.

Crafty Scrounging!

Today was kick butt gardening day! Annie and I headed over to my friend Hillary’s house to garden and make up some tomato cages. The kids were so cute playing together and Hil got this great shot of them together in the wagon! How cute and opposite are they??

I was able to plant up my zuccinni plant at her house. It was so nice to have the use of a backyard for gardening, that’s the one thing I really miss about apartment living. Hillary made this great pasta for lunch that I have to get the recipe for, it had fruit in it and was totally tasty. I think her and I have similar tastes!

Patio Zucchini plant

When I got home I tried to get Annie to take a nap since she fell asleep in the car…but no go, I just ended up falling asleep while she piled stuffed animals around me. I finally decided to get up and finish my garden on the patio. The tomatoes now have cages around them, and the zucchini plant has a spot on the balcony. Here is a shot of the two tomatos and the zucchini.

And lastly a shot of my garden in a galvanized tub. There is a tomato plant in the middle, basil around the front, cucumber in the back, and green beans from seed around the back.

Happy Earth Day! I hope you are doing something friendly for our land today. Today is a great day to put some thought towards your current lifestyle. Do you do some things that you know are wasteful? What can you resolve to do this year to cut down on your energy consumption, or the waste you create?

In celebration of Earth Day I used some of Troys shirts that were headed for the Goodwill to make some reusable shopping bags. I simply cut a square out of the collar area, cut the sleeves off and sewed up all the cut edges including the bottom. I got the idea from the BaggyShirts booth at the Sustainability fair this weekend at the Denver Botanic Gardens. This would be the perfect first sewing project if you are new to the sport!

Another great idea is to plant a garden. Local homegrown produce is unbeatable in terms of taste and environmental consciousness. Even apartment living is garden-able. I currently have an herb box, a lettuce box, two tomato plants, and two snap pea plants thriving. You don’t even need a balcony, just some sunny windows! Check out my new garden pictures.

If you are in the Denver area, Tattered Cover is offering a free book bag to anyone who purchases a book at any of their locations today.

Also my friend over at Crunchy Domestic Goddess posted about a great free coloring book for you kiddos that you just have to print.

Have a wonderful Earth Day!

So, Annie gave up naps, and it’s thrown me for quite the loop. When do I blog?? I have yet to answer this question! Sorry about the apparent lack of a Mental Monday…it may be a Mental Friday (if you are good).

My friend Hillary asked me yesterday how I balance it all. Training, cleaning, cooking, child raising. I was very flattered, because that must mean that somebody sees me as having it all together. Ha! But then I thought a little bit and realized that yes, I do keep it togheter, quite well given my circumstances sometimes. However, I also thought about my mom friends who work and train (Michelle, Lindsay). Now they REALLY have it together!

As I thought about it and wrote up a detailed brain dump response I realized that besides all the help and support I get, a big reason I can keep all the balls in the air is due to our levels of consumption. We have made A LOT of changes over the past two years and EVERY single one of them has added value to our life. Each change we made was made one at a time. We would take one step in what we thought was a forward direction and then we would look around cautiously. We would assess, run the numbers, and slowly would realize that we had created a little more time for ourselves, or a few more resources. With that time, or those resources, we would have the clarity to look for the next step.

The downsizing that we went through as a family started with the need to get into a smaller residence so we could afford for me to stay home. Hence the move from a 2,400 square feet home to a 1,000 square foot apartment in July 2006. It was out of need but it freed up commuting time, and mortgage money. We felt a little more freedom. We then further realized that we were wasting money, earth’s resources, and time on the two trucks we owned and downsized to ONE reliable used Subaru in February 2007. Then came the de-junking of the garage to try to fit the new (to us) car into it. Lots of craigslisting, lots of passing along no longer used STUFF to those who could use it (boy did that warm our hearts and clean our garage at the same time). Some stuff moved from the garage up to the apartment, so then the apartment needed de-junking…more craigslisting, more warm fuzzy feelings. We sold our wine cellar to a guy who was using it to hibernate his turtles! I still think about those happy hibernating turtles all the time. I cleaned out my closet and donated or gave away all the clothes that were too small or too big. It felt so good to be able to give away clothing that others could use. A big Ah-hah moment for us was realizing that rather than keeping something because we MAY use it again, we got more pleasure out of giving it away or selling it cheaply to someone we knew was going to use it. Stuff started flying from our home after that realization. Major Ah-Hah.

Lastly came the de-junking of our finances in December 2007. Troy and I wanted to have the money to do what made us genuinely happy and therefore our monthly expenses had to be lowered. All the frivolous spending had to go out the window. Our debt needed to go, our Credit Cards needed to be cut up, we needed to find a way to be financially secure for the rest of lives. To have a purpose with our money and FIRST and FOREMOST to make sure that the people we give our money to (through our purchases) are the kinds of people that do the right thing with it. This was a major ah-hah and has made our marriage so much stronger. In order to pay off our debts rapidly, save properly for future prosperity, and finance our passions, we now live on less that half of what Troy brings home. But, we are now truly rich!

So what did all of this de-junking and simplifying do for us? It changed our lifestyle and it created TIME. Time for each other, time for projects, time to sit and talk, time for play, time to exercise. You see, both your TIME and your MONEY are an opportunity. You have the opportunity to spend your time doing what you love, and rather than seeing our purchases as just spending money to get what we want, we see it as putting our money into the hands of people who will use it responsibly and in a manner consistent with our values. Your money is an opportunity to share your finances with others who share your values. For us, this is the golden ticket!

Uh-Oh. I got the crafty bug last night! For several weeks I have been wanting to make something called a Wheat Bag. It’s exactly as it sounds, a bag full of wheat. Rather than choosing fabric from the store I got the idea from Eden on Your Balcony to procure used fabric in the form of thrift store skirts. I had a huge pile of clothing from Troy, Annie and I that was headed to the thrift store so we all pulled items from there.

The idea of a wheat bag is to warm yourself rather than your house. Turn down the thermostat and pop your wheat bag in the microwave for five minutes. When I brought this up to Troy, he totally wanted one too. Am I embarrassing him by saying that? He picked out a old fuzzy green Cabelas shirt from the pile and I’m pleased to say his turned out the best. We hung out with ours last night and we are hooked! We even crawled in bed with them after letting the heated bags lay under the covers for a few minutes while we brushed our teeth. I made one out of an old tie-dyed shirt of Annies that was my favorite and I never in my dreams imagined how much she would love it. We heated it up just a tiny bit and sent it to bed with her. Total happy clam!

The wheat I used was from Whole Foods and it was Cracked Red Wheat Berries. It was 57 cents a pound and I bought 16 pounds which filled all three of our bags. I just cut up the fabric and put right sides together and sewed around all sides, leaving a hole to put the wheat in. Then I stitched up the slit. They are that simple! I made all three of them while we watched a movie last night!

Then I woke up this morning, still in the crafty mood. I was hunting around the web and I found these awesome directions from Not Martha on how to make a skirt from an old pair of jeans. I remembered that I had an old pair in the goodwill bin so I pulled it out and threw this totally fun skirt together. Here is the front of it.

Here is the back of the skirt.

I love projects like this because they are quite willy nilly. You don’t really have to follow the directions, if your crafty, you just go at it until your done. These jeans had holes in the knees and I sewed them up all funky as the last step. I completely LOVE LOVE LOVE the back. I used old fabric out of my scrap fabric bin. If you are interested in a shorter skirt, you can wing it for that too!

Usually the crafty bug is like a 24 hour thing with me, so I’m sure it’s almost over! Ha!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to introduce to you an AWESOME new company that I am going to be doing some product testing for. Core Concepts Clothing. Their products arose out of Idaho from a fundamental desire to get outside and play whenever time exists to do so. They have bridged the gap between function and style and I can’t wait to get to wearing their base layers. Core Concepts will be releasing their 2008 women’s line in Fall 2008 and you can bet your bananas that you are going to want to be first in line to pick up some of their hot-chick clothes (especially after you have to trounce around with me all summer wearing their cute new stuff).

Like check out the Spellbound Soft Shell. You just don’t find technical jackets using Wind-proof Schoeller-WB400 fabric that look this hot on a girl. It’s like totally P-Coat style.

What excites me even more about Core Concepts is that they have taken the challenge of environmental consciousness seriously. They contribute to 1% for the planet which can be super tough for a newer company. Also, they use Bamboo and Recycled Products, along with purchasing bluesign products. All of us outdoorsy folks know that when you buy a piece of technical clothing it’s a very conscious decision. The folks at Core Concepts take your decision very seriously.

I will be reviewing some of their products throughout the summer so I urge you to come out and hike, bike and run with me to check them out too.

My good friend and fellow blogger Crunchy Domestic Goddess tipped me off to Earth Hour. Last year the people and business of Sydney Australia turned off their lights in order to take action on climate change. This year the movement has gone global. On March 29th (Saturday night) I will be joining hundreds of thousands of other like minded folks and turning off the lights from 8pm to 9pm. If you would like to join me, head here to sign up.I like the idea of having a dark hour every week. I really like the idea of incorporating Annabelle’s evening routine into it as well. bath, stories and nightime routine by candlelight sounds just delightful. Climbing into fresh starched nightgowns, cuddling on the couch for a little while and crawling into a warm bed for peaceful sleep would surely result.Can you go without power for one meaningful hour? Try it with me!

I got a treat in the mail today! A new Nike Triax Speed 100 Watch (in Black/Pink). I have been running without a watch for awhile now ever since mine broke in a snowshoe race at the beginning of the season. A new friend had this one sent to me and I would like to send her many thanks and hugs! You sure made my week! Now I’ll actually know how fast I am running!

Also in the news, Annie is weaned from the bottle! While I was in Utah Troy, Marla and Roger got Annie off the bottle and onto the sippie cup! She no longer drinks milk at all, which I hope we can add a little back, but she drinks watered down juice from her sippie. Annie was quite the bottle addict and we could never go anywhere without it. I thought we would have a tough time but it looks like Troy, Marla, and Roger got her 100% weaned while I was gone. I’m so glad she won’t be taking it to Kindergarden with her! I’m thinking that when we leave in April we should have Roger and Marla potty train her. Ha Ha Ha…just kidding!

Also some good news on the veggie front. We found a CSA to join here in the Denver area. It’s called DeLaney Farm and is part of the Denver Urban Gardens. Yesterday Annabelle and I biked (okay I biked, she rode) out to the DeLaney farm via the Highline Canal Trail to see how far the ride was. It was 15.5 miles each way, so definitely doable on Monday evenings this summer. I figure riding our bikes will save us about $4.50 cents in gas a week or $81 over the growing season, just from riding to pick up our veggies. I’m so excited to be a part of this farm, and to live a bit closer to our food!

Lastly, I had my first herb harvest this week! The herbs were doing well enough to pull some off and use them in my cooking. I used some Rosemary to make a great Spinach Soup with Rosemary Croutons, and then used some basil in the Savory Orange-Roasted Tofu & Asparagus dish I made. It was a little sad cutting things off my plants, but I think I will get used to it. They just feel like such a part of the family now. I guess now that they have been eaten, they are literally part of the family, strange thought!

My friend Hillary and I visited the Denver Botanic Gardens this morning for our 2008 inaugural visit. We had the kiddos in tow and toured for several hours. As nice as I’m sure it will be once everything is in bloom, there was a certain beauty in the resting plants. You could tell that things are starting to happen under the soil, and some of the bulbs are just starting to make their spring time appearance. We will have such an appreciation during the throws of spring and summer since we have seen the gardens in their current state.

I seem to be melding into my environment lately. There is so much going on under the surface, yet a confidence that everything will come in due time. Today the gardens reminded me how nature can miraculously bring you back to the now, the present, and can at the same time teach you to anticipate the future. That’s how I feel right now about life, anticipating, but constantly reminded to enjoy the now, enjoy the process.

How much sweeter does your food taste when you grew it yourself? How much sweeter is a PR when you trained rigorously for an event? Delayed gratification is so sweet. When you watch something, or yourself, or your children, grow and learn it’s the process that is so beautiful, not the outcome. The outcome is sweet, only if the process was memorable. Nature does it effortlessly, part of the cycle of life.

I can’t describe how nice it is to have my dad around. The last 6 years every time I spent time with my dad it was vacation or a quick trip home. It feels like ages since we’ve spent nice, long-term, comfortable time together. Just knowing he’s been in the same state as me for the last month and a half has made a big difference. I’m not ready to let him go back to California any time soon! I’ve been trying to convince him to move here…my poor mom.

Dad and I get along really well. The nice thing about having him around a bit more long term is that we get to go run errands together, and talk about life, and he gets to teach me things. Last time he was here we bought a thrashed sewing table off Craigslist and refinished it so I would have a nice computer table.

Well, I’ve been talking to him this time about gardening. He is a terrific gardener and loves to raise (not grow) heirloom tomatoes. He also grows squash, lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, green beans, raspberries, and maintains an extensive herb garden. I myself, would like to live a bit closer to the food I eat (I was doing a better job at this several years ago…pre kid…pre triathlon). BUT, ONE BIG PROBLEM. I am a bad gardener (I’ve got to stop saying that). I lack experience in successful gardening (how’s that?). Dad has been telling me that I can definitely grow an indoor herb garden and so today we took the first step.

We headed to the garden center and spent 30 minutes picking out the right pot…then another 45 minutes picking some herb plants (two kinds of Basil, Parsley, Thyme, Oregano, Rosemary, and Sage), then organic potting soil and fertilizer (Happy Frog), then chatted, then wandered, then picked out a different pot, then wandered some more, chatted some more, and finally checked out!

Dad helped me pot all my new herbs in this wonderful planter box that we picked out. It really wasn’t as hard as I though, although I did have A LOT of questions. I think Troy is taking bets on how long I can keep them alive, but I’m staying positive. I learned how deep to put them, how much to pack the soil down (not much), and how much to water (not much). I learned which ones like more water than others. I also got the whole run down on how to grow the plants from seed, which I think will be my next endeavor, if (I mean when) I am successful with my garden.

It was great spending some time together, as well as being productive, and learning some new skills. I really want to join a community garden this summer, but I am scared to death that I won’t know what I am doing. That, and I don’t know HOW to join one…needs more research. Any tips? Recommendations? I also have a few emails into the lady who coordinates the CSA for Delaney farm.

So here are two pictures of my first garden. How do you like my trellis…it keeps the parsley from crowding the basil?