Category: gardening

Sporting Flip Flop Tan Lines

Nina Chapman2 Comments

happiness

Hi there! Sorry I’ve been gone for a while… we’ve had a lot going on around these parts.

We had to celebrate Bridget’s 12th birthday a bit early because she was going to be out of town during her actual birthday. She was insistent that I be the one to make her cake so I opted to make a bundle of strawberry nutella deliciousness that I found on Pioneer Woman. (I probably shouldn’t even give you the link to the recipe because it so sinful… you’ll have to forgive me.)

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All of her birthday preparations were last minute so I cheated in order to beat the heat of the day. I bought boxed chocolate cake mix and stirred in mini chocolate chips into the batter to make it decadent enough for Miss Bridget’s Birthday standards. After the birthday celebrations were over we spent the remainder of the week making preparations for her trip. It was her first time flying alone and we were both nervous about it.

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I’m fairly certain Penelope is convinced that Bridget is still sitting on the plane as we speak because every time she walks into her room to see it empty she says, “Oh Sissy on plane to Gabba Gabba house.” We have since discovered that Gabba Gabba stands for Grandma Grandpa. Instead, Bridget is off  having the time of her life at her grandparent’s lake house along with her aunts, uncles and cousins.

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I’m trying my best to stifle my jealousy right now. What I wouldn’t give to jump off of the dock and into a nice cool lake at the moment. I was tempted to push her out of the way and take her spot on the flight but instead, I kissed her goodbye and watched her fly away while the sun rose.

Since it was such an early flight we had simply jumped out of bed brushed our teeth and rushed out the door. Penelope was not happy about the early morning wake up time or all of the sitting that was required, so after our excursion to the airport I took her to the park to play.

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#Uranus… heh

That’s when I discovered why she was so unhappy about sitting in her car seat. I found an infection that needed immediate medical attention.

The reason I didn’t write about this sooner was because 1) it was located on her butt and I didn’t want to have to write about any more ass issues. It’s just getting awkward at this point. 2) I write a freakin weight loss blog not a medical drama series, but you would never be able to tell that from the posts made during the past month due to the freakish nature our summer has taken. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with us?!

After spending the remainder of the morning at the doctor’s office it turns out that she has MRSA, a form of staph infection.  It was an emotionally exhausting morning due to the fact that I had to hold her down while they drained the infected area. The remainder of my weekend consisted of more draining (eew!), lots of epsome salt sits baths, strong antibiotics and a few bottles glasses of wine on my part. The whole thing was really gross and stressful. Gross because it required a lot of draining (again… eew!) Stressful because Penelope was in a lot of pain and I had made the mistake of Googling MRSA and what it can do to people.

This whole thing has kind of put me in a funk because I so desperately want to return to my lighthearted ways. All of these medical emergencies are seriously cramping my style this summer!

I have simply taken solace in the fact that my garden is thriving more than ever. I feel like I should change my name to Ethel and wear pants up to my navel because the only thing I’ve enjoyed lately is pruning my plants and watching them grow.

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I had no idea baby cantaloupe were fuzzy!

I haven’t even begun to think about weight loss since the surgery. A part of me doesn’t even want to know what the scale has to say because I’ve drowned all of my sorrows in junk food. This of course has just left me feeling crappier than ever. Another part of me is also emotional about not knowing I was pregnant during my whole six week weight loss challenge. Any time I think about losing weight I think about it. Although, it does explain why I didn’t lose any weight during that time 🙂

I’ve gotten to a point where I just need to decide to get over all of my summer surprises (even if they do keep coming). I feel like I’ve been balancing on a tight rope. I can either choose to be negative about everything that has gone down or choose to be positive about it. If given the choice I’ll always choose the latter. Life is all about perspective and that perspective is based purely on how you choose to look at things. After all, things can’t be that bad if you’re sporting a flip flop tan line.

For the moment my plan of action is to go on early morning runs so that I can feel the cool breeze on my face as the day begins. I’m going to do more yoga because I could always use a little “Ohmmm” in my life. And I’m going to eat the yummy things that are thriving in my back yard because it makes me feel good knowing that without my hard work they wouldn’t exist.

toplantagarden

Living it up Dog Days Style

Nina Chapman2 Comments

So much of my blog is centered around taking steps to make a better tomorrow. In an attempt to do that I can sometimes forget to live in the moment. That’s why, every now and then, it’s good to take a step back and live life a day at a time. That way you can truly appreciate all that you have instead of focusing on what you don’t have. That’s exactly where I’ve been and what I have been doing lately…

Last weekend we had the pleasure of having my brother-in-law Bryce and my niece Neve come for a visit. Last year Bryce brought Ruby with him  (aka Roosky Littlemoney) but this year it was Ruby’s little sister’s turn for a trip out to Colorado!

Since they are only a few months apart in age, Penelope was especially happy to have her cousin come for a visit!

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As soon as we picked them up from the airport the first thing we did was head to downtown Denver for a cuppa of joe from The Market.. along with some goodies for the girls.

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We spent the rest of the weekend playing outside and eating popsicles. It was a blast!

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There were a few particularly hot days that were spent at the museum and a nearby park…

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This required refreshments in the form of ice cream and iced coffee, of course. We found an awesome coffee shop in downtown Littleton. Bryce loved it so much we frequented it three times in a 24 hour time span. It was bordering on obsessive, but we just couldn’t help ourselves!

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During the afternoons while the girls napped Bryce, Bridget and I would watch season 4 of Downton Abbey. I was too busy finishing up my grad degree during the winter to stay on track and I had been dying to watch it. Brent tried to crash our Downton Abbey party but got banned when he made fun of us for laughing too hard at semi funny one liners. When he’s particularly bratty we call him “Thomas”, which ironically is his middle name, so he doesn’t know that we’re actually insulting him. Then we laugh our snobby inside joke laugh, which I think would technically make us “O’Brians” but he doesn’t know who O’Brian is so it’s okay.

  Once the girls woke up they required mani/pedi’s. They had very specific nail color choices… with sparkles of course.

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Look at those hand models!

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There was also a lot of running round naked (not pictured) and jumping on the trampoline. The days were filled with lots of squeals and laughter followed shortly by lots of “mine!” and tears. It was everything we hoped it would be.

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The weekend flew by and we were all sad to see them go but Penelope was especially sad. For the first few days after they had left she would wake up every morning looking for her Nevey. (She still talks to her imaginary friend Neve in the backseat of the car.) Ruby, however, was super excited to have her little sister back when the trip was over. We’ll see them again shortly when we meet up for a family reunion at the end of summer. I can’t wait to see all of them!

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After Bryce and Neve left I decided it was time to get back into the swing of summer. I had been thrown off since the surgery and was ready to get back to my dog days groove. So for the past week I have spent a lot of time outside cleaning up my garden and catching up on maintenance.

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 I was sad to see that one of my pumpkin plants had died while I was recuperating from surgery. It’s such a bummer because it had the biggest pumpkin on it 😦

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But the rest of my stuff is coming in quite nicely if I do say so myself! I think I can officially call myself a gardener.

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Penelope’s favorite plant is the “pickle plant” aka fresh dill. She’d sit there and sniff that sucker all day if I let her which makes sense because she is as equally obsessed with actual pickles.

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Bridget loves the raspberry bush by our front door and is so happy to see that the fruit is ripening before her two week trip to St. Louis. (She was afraid that she would miss them.) It’s seriously like having a candy jar by your doorstep. You wouldn’t believe how sweet the raspberries are!

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I was super excited about my first ripe tomato. I think it was the color that made me so giddy. Isn’t it pretty?!

Other than the lovely things that have been growing there have been some other magical things going on in the good old back yard as well. One morning I woke up to find two unexpected guests. We’ll call them dasher and Dancer. I’m pretty sure they were just as interested in my garden as I am…

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And on the super lucky mornings we see hot air balloons!

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The warmer the weather gets the lower they fly, which is awesome because it always looks like they might land right in our yard.

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In my attempt to get back into my summer groove I’ve gone back to blowing drying my hair via bike rides and spending my afternoons at the pool with my sweet girls. I haven’t been able to establish a workout routine yet but it’s the first thing on my to do list, that and eating healthier.

This summer definitely took an unexpected turn. I could easily spend my summer wallowing over what I’ve lost but that would be a disservice to myself and my family. I have so much to be thankful for. I felt like I just needed to take a little time to gain some perspective in order to truly appreciate it all… but now I’m back 😉

Summer Shape Up Week 4 Weigh-in

Nina Chapman4 Comments

choosehappy

I have been cursed…

Cursed with a flattering bathing suit that does a magnificent job of hiding my flaws. At least I think they hide my flaws. There could be flaws hanging out in the back somewhere that I’m not fully aware of and I’m perfectly okay with that. They can just chill back there along with the blue chinese tattoo of “courage” that is imbedded on the back of my shoulder displaying the angst of a once bored nineteen year old.

When I was in middle school and in the throes of self-doubt I would always ask myself if I would rather think I was hot when I was actually not or if I would rather actually be hot and think I was not. It’s a confusing question I know- it’s actually a really awkward question to word out loud as well. I guess it just illustrates the confusion of adolescence.

Anyway, when I was younger I always decided that I would rather actually be a hottie but think that I was ugly because that would eliminate the embarrassment of what people would actually say behind my back as I flaunted  my stuff in my delusional state of mind.

But as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to the conclusion that everyone can just suck it. As long as I think I look good they can smirk at my backside all that they want. They could go ahead and pucker up and give those dimples a little smooch while they’re at it because as far as I’m concerned the only opinion that ultimately matters is my own.

When I first started this blog it wasn’t the opinions of others that prompted me to want to change. It was how I felt about myself. I had crossed some invisible line that said, “Yeah, even you aren’t crazy enough to think this looks good.”

What I was looking for was some sort of balance, some kind of measure of health and even though I haven’t lost all of the weight that I need to lose I feel confident in the fact that I’ve found that.

Now…. the only problem is fighting through that level of complacency that comes with happiness.

Is it possible to be perfectly happy with yourself and still feel compelled to strive for better?

I’m seriously starting to wonder this because the only time I’m actually successful on the scale is when I literally hate myself and would rather crawl out of my skin then stay the same. For the past few weeks I’ve actually had no interest in stepping on the scale, not because I’m afraid of what the scale might say but because I am no longer desperate for change. This is unfortunate because I am a weight loss blogger. I am also in the middle of a weight loss challenge. But this is also great because this is the mentality I’ve been striving for all this time… I just thought I would be twenty pounds lighter when it came.

Why all of a sudden do I feel this way? I have no idea.

Would it do me some good to drop some more weight? Sure.

Do I feel like my happiness depends upon it? Nope.

So how do I push forward beyond good enough and carry forth to great? Beats me!

It’s a battle you know, being this awesome and still striving for improvement. (I’m kidding!) But seriously pushing past that place where you feel comfortable is difficult. When I started this journey it wasn’t only about losing weight. It was about my physical health but in a big sense it was also about my mental health as well and trying to balance everything out. I’ve got the mental part down now I just have to finish what I started on the physical front.

I stepped on the scale today and I weighed in at 184.4 I weigh .2 pounds more than I did last week. A part of me wants to apologize because I feel obligated to fake it in true blogger fashion. But I can’t because in truth I don’t give a crap.

Why don’t I care? Because I have that damn green bathing suit that lifts my boobs just the way I like them and sucks in my tummy just right and hides all of my other unflattering qualities in the back so that I can’t see them. It’s a curse I say!

I was going to go ahead and take my pictures and measurements but my little photographer woke up with a tummy ache and requested to be sent straight back to bed. I started to do my measurements but found no change. So I’m not even going to bother.

Don’t worry, motivation will come in time. At the moment it’s all about doing what makes me happy and last night what made me happy was eating a s’more because I had just gotten done watching The Sandlot.

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At the moment, playing outside as much as possible makes me happy. Going on bike rides, swimming for hours and eating strawberries out of my garden with my little one make me happy too.

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(The trick is beating the squirrels and rabbits to the ripe fruit.)

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So when it’s all said and done things will balance themselves out. The key is to keep doing what feels good while I strive to be healthy. Don’t worry, by next week’s weigh in I will probably be a nut case again. I have another job interview and we’re starting potty training so I may become an alcoholic as well. Then you won’t feel quite as compelled to punch me in the face as I contemplate on how to handle so much happiness.

Have a good weekend everyone! And remember…

littlethings

The Giraffes Must Have Lost Their Magic

Nina Chapman6 Comments

Hi guys! Long time no blog…

I’ve been busy, you know, livin’ the life.

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It’s a hard life I lead. I mean, I go on at least three bike rides a day. This has turned out to be a sneaky business because Bridget hasn’t been able to ride bikes due to the full arm cast she’s been sporting this summer. Therefore, I have to wait until she is at a friend’s house or distracted by a book to go out and ride. The good news is she always has her nose in a book so I’m pretty much free to ride whenever I want. In fact, I’m pretty sure the amount of time she spends reading is entirely unnatural.

We’ve also been busy checking out all of the fun festivities that have been going on around Denver. This weekend’s adventure was the chalk art festival, which took place near my old college stomping grounds…

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Next week might just have to be this carnival that I saw advertised at the book store…

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 Now don’t get me wrong, it hasn’t been all fun and games around here. In fact, I’ve been hard at work trying to find a teaching position this coming school year.  I actually had an interview this past Tuesday for the school where my student teaching took place (which, I love). I was absolutely thrilled at the opportunity and was super hopeful for a positive outcome.

I even wore my lucky giraffe shirt for the occasion…

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But the giraffes must have lost their magic because I didn’t get the job.

I got beat out by a lady with 15 years experience so you can’t be too mad at that just coming right out of college. (Its okay, I still love my giraffes.) However, I was super bummed about the outcome. Apparently, I don’t take rejection very well because after I got the phone call I buried my sorrow in a bag of popcorn and a coke. The good news is the principal and the interview committee were still super impressed with me. (Their words not mine… well, they kind of are my words.) The principal gave me a few pointers for my next interview and offered to make some calls for me for any other schools that I may have applied for. I also got hired as a substitute teacher with the school district so worst case scenario I will be subbing part-time and staying home with Penelope on the days that Brent is at the fire station.

When I really think about it I can’t help but acknowledge that this might be the best of both worlds. Right when I reach my limit as a stay-at-home mom I’ll be given the opportunity to go to work and vice versa.

Anyway, on the same day that I got my rejection notice the whole family went with Bridget to her doctor’s visit to get her cast taken off.

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We were all super excited… you know, because of that whole needing to ride our bikes to the pool to swim thing.

Unfortunately, we discovered that in addition to injuring her elbow she had also fractured her wrist. We didn’t know this at the time because the nerve in her elbow was going crazy causing pain throughout her entire arm down to her fingers. Bridget was devastated to discover that she wasn’t quite home free like she had hoped she would be. She ended up walking out with another cast. The good news is this one doesn’t go all the way up her arm and is waterproof/removable.

After the doctor’s appointment Bridget and I were tempted to scrap the whole day and call it bad… but we had a better idea. We went to the book store instead.

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She still can’t ride bikes but she can participate in swim team which is good because she is signed up to do that three days a week for the summer.

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So, for those three days we have a new morning routine that involves making sure everyone gets a little exercise. (Everyone, except for Penelope, because she’s strapped into the stroller.) Practice is super early in the morning so on these days we walk Bridget to the pool and while she practices I take Scout and Penelope for a run. Then we come back just in time to pick her up and walk home.

Then we water the garden and go on whatever adventure the day beckons us to do…

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Which at this particular moment includes meal planning because as fun as all of this spontaneity is… I’m in need of a little organization in my life. I’ve been playing hard and I’m sure that burns a lot of calories but I need to do some planning in order to meet my goals. So stay tuned for another post of some yummy things I plan on preparing in the days to come.

goal

Yeah, yeah, yeah… We get it Pinterest motivation board. I’m on it!

Six Week Challenge Week one Weigh-in

Nina Chapman7 Comments

Vintage+Photos+of+Ladies+with+Bicycles+(1)85

It’s weigh-in day… an official one.

This is the first week of the Summer Shape Up Six Week Challenge and I started off weighing 188.2. Today I stepped on the scale and weighed in at 185.4. That’s a total of 2.8 pounds so far.

I haven’t done this in quite some time. I’ve sporadically told you how much I weigh but I haven’t had official weigh-ins since before I did my student teaching. (In fact, my weigh-ins and measurements page needs a serious makeover.)

I’m feeling pretty good about the progress. It turns out I deadlifted my body weight the other day when I was lifting with Brent. The most I’ve deadlifted was 215 but that was when I was lifting weights every week, so I felt pretty good about that number considering I haven’t lifted anything for the past 4 months. My goal is to keep losing weight on my body and adding weight on the bar. I’m actually surprised at how fast your body can change. I’ve noticed this phenomenon during the holidays when the sudden change isn’t a good one. But I’ve never acknowledged how fast positive changes can happen too. I guess I’ve always just been too impatient to notice.

In just the past two weeks I’ve already begun the journey to building my strength back up again. I can tell a difference in the way I walk even. Running has gone from a struggling feet dragging plod to a confident smooth stride. I even did sprints with my husband yesterday and I wasn’t too far behind him in time. In fact, it felt really good to push myself and run as fast as I could. It reminded me of my old soccer days.

I’ve gotten exercise in one form or fashion every day this week. The weather is still a bit cool but that hasn’t stopped me from going on daily bike rides with the girls. Bridget and I, both write fiction stories and we have chats about our characters and where our stories are going while we ride our bikes. We’ve made a pact to have one story completed by the end of the summer each. Before we know it we’ll have ridden around the neighborhood for an hour chatting it up and peddling along. Penelope just rides along randomly shouting… “Bird!”… “Kitty cat!”… “That way!”.

We also have the neighborhood gardeners mapped out. I’ve been stalking their yards to see when they are planting their pumpkins and tomatoes. I had serious garden envy last year when I had planted everything by seed and had to wait for my plants to mature while they were already plucking fresh produce from their vines. That won’t happen this year. I’m just chomping at the bit to plant the rest of my warm weather plants.

I feel like I’m in a really good place right now. A lot of the time when I’ve made a conscious decision to lose weight I’ll tend to start to obsess over the things I shouldn’t be eating. With summer coming around the corner and the prospect of an amazing vegetable garden I’m just super excited about all of the fresh veggies I get to eat and all of the fun I get to have outside.

I can’t even tell you how excited I am for the beginning of Summer!

How did your first week go? Did you feel good about it or did you have to fight off some mental blocks? I always find the beginning stages the worst part. I tend to fight the whole process justifying why I shouldn’t have to make changes in my habits. But once I just give in to the process things just tend to fall into place and it no longer feels like a challenge… it’s just my new way of doing things.