Now listening: Alabama Shakes

I'm sure that I've shared these guys and possibly even this song but I don't care. It's my jam today and totally talkin to my heart.




Also, because this is probably my favorite photo of all time and he has a choke hold on my heart.

I mean. Really, son? Please stay this awesome forever.

Workin on my fitness

Well, I did it.

After 29 days, literally 29 days, of setting my alarm at 5am and telling myself tomorrow is the day I'm going to start running and then hitting the alarm so I could get an extra 30 minutes of sleep, I did it. I ran.

You know that feeling when you haven't exercised in a while and the first three steps you say to yourself "sweet mother of pearl, I am friggen jiggly as shit. When the hell did this happen?!"

Yeah, that was me this morning. With every step and pounding of the pavement I could literally feel my saddle bags begging for mercy and my thighs clapping together cheering me on. How disgusting is that?

I seriously haven't run since before I moved to NYC, which means, before I had The King, which is literally, two years ago.

Oh my word.

But you know what, I cranked out a short mile, uphill both ways mind you, and walked another 1/2 home and called it a morning.

...Then I broke out in hives and thought my lungs might burst.

It hurt so good though. I can already feel the burn.

It's amazing what a little 20 minute-ish workout can do for your body and mind. I didn't do anything mind-blowingly difficult but I already feel great and it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be to get up and get going.

So my goal with this post is to hold myself accountable because I'd at least like to do this three times a week. I think that's realistic. I might even set a target goal of 30 miles for next month and maybe even sign up for a 5k in my hood at the end of September. If you've been to my hood, you know how ridiculously hilly it is and how hard it will be. If you haven't, know that it's like the Rocky Mountains and a 5k will feel like a marathon for me.

I also thought maybe I'd inspire some of you to wake up a few minutes earlier, strap on your shoes (mine are older than my house by the way, so you can't use that as an excuse) and get your booty movin! I downloaded the Nike run app to track my progress, look me up if you want to share!

Big thanks to all of my lady friends out there who share their daily exercise routines and totally guilted me into getting back on the horse. Hopefully my legs will look like yours some day!

xxoo
ma

You put the lime in the coconut

A little birdie just shared this website with me for all of the magical ways you can use coconut oil to cure your ailments and cook. Odd.

101 Uses for Coconut Oil

My mom has a massive tub of this stuff and I actually laughed at her when she told me a story about how she recommended someone put it on their eye to help with dryness, and it worked. She's a weirdo but I guess it's legit.

I better pick up some of this stuff and hope it helps with all of the wrinkles that are about to own my face in a few years.

Wear sunscreen kids.

My heart is full

Happy Monday friends!!

Seriously. Its not very often that I am happy on a Monday morning but today my heart is totally full. What a wicked good weekend!

Two of my awesomest, bestest friends from college and a sweet little girl came to visit and we had such a great time. 

My friend's daughter is 2.5 and such a kind, polite, little nugget. Its unreal how well behaved and well mannered she is for her age. She and The King had so much fun together. There was no whining, crying, fits or fighting. They played, wrestled, danced (seriously), gave each other smooches, picked berries and chased animals. They were so stinking adorable! 

At one point, Kayc was driving the kiddie tractor with Kingy sitting in the trailer and I thought my heart might burst from the cuteness. They are seriously the best of toddler friends. 

The grown ups had a hell of a time too. We ate awesome food all weekend, caught up, drank adult beverages, not to excess which was weird because that was our jam back in the day, we laughed and played with the kids. We went "out" on Friday night and were home, exhausted, by 10:30. Cheers to growing up!

It definitely makes me sad that I can't see them more often but we totally kick long distance's ass. We really don't go more than a few months without getting together which is pretty darn awesome. We were already setting tentative play dates for next month. 

It's really such a good feeling to get together with friends who know and love you. You know what I'm talking about? You just feel whole. 

Hope everyone had a super fun weekend too!!

Weekend Ended

I'm on coffee number two if that tells you anything about my weekend.

I totally kicked my house's ass this weekend and am feeling it everywhere today. I was so ridiculously productive, I don't know how I mustered the energy to do it all. It kind of feels good to be this tired and sore when I accomplished so much though.

Friday night Uncle Drew and Sarah came over to help us with the garage. By us, I mean, Uncle Drew and Papa Bear sweated bullets putting the place back together while Sarah and I played with The King and made dinner. We went with those yummy BLT's again and I made some cookies, out of store bought dough. Nothing fancy but we were full to the brim and totally satisfied. 

It's so nice to have people over. I realized this weekend that I absolutely LOVE feeding people. Something about happy people, rubbing their bellies and talking about how full they are makes my heart full. I wish I could entertain more, it's so fun.

The Gingers ended up staying over that night so Saturday morning I cooked an enormous breakfast and we all hung out sipping coffee and chasing animals and The King. I found some yummy recipes this weekend and I'll share all the goodness on a separate post. 

Unfortunately or fortunately, I don't know which, Papa Bear was called into work all weekend so after our guests left, I got busy with the chores.

I cleaned up all the trash from the garage project and loaded up the trailer with other scraps that have been laying around The Farm, waiting to go to the dump. I reorganized all of our fencing and garden tools, cleaned the pheasant cage, straightened out our decks full of toys and lawn furniture and went grocery shopping. 

Then my parents came over for dinner so we grilled and ate a bunch of left overs which also made me realize how much I love sort of "recycling" food leftover from the night before. It feels good not to waste.

I also made a raspberry rhubarb pie and raspberry peach ice cream . All I can say is, Oh. My. Gawd. They were so mother freakin delicious!!!! I can't wait for Papa Bear to have some after work tonight. I actually sat down with the entire pie last night and ate a bunch. I didn't even bother cutting a slice. What a pretty sight I was, disheveled and shoveling pie into my face.

After my parents left Saturday evening I did some more gardening, watered the plants, cleaned the kitchen and play room and called it a night.

Then came Sunday. 

We started the day at Target and picked up some toys and fun stuff for this coming weekend. I have two wicked sweet and awesome friends coming to town and one is bringing her daughter. I can't wait for the kids to play together and to sit around with my old friends. I miss them so much.

We stopped by Home Depot and picked up some shrubs and succulents too. They were a total steal at 50% off, I couldn't help myself. The King was hilarious, pretending to shoot ducks throughout the store. He's such a goon.

Once The King took a nap, I got busy. I scrubbed base boards, cabinets, floors, toys, dusted, mopped, vacuumed, laundry, bathrooms, yard work, mowed the lawn, fixed the chicken coop, weeded my flowers, planted succulents and straightened out my room.

Whew.

That paragraph alone is enough to be done over three days, forget 12 hours, most of which happened when The King was sleeping. I try not to do chores when he is awake because the weekends are the only real quality time we get together. Sometimes it's just not possible and I end up cleaning the kitchen or something while he plays. 

Have I mentioned being a mom is hard as hell?

Also, the amount of food on my walls was kind of disturbing. Toddlers are so messy. 

We squeezed in a trip to the playground and caught a bit of a baseball game too. We sat in the grass and Kingy stood behind me with his arms around my shoulders while he watched, pretty intensely. He even started throwing rocks and pretended to swing a bat. It was so, so cute. 

I doubt any of you even care about all of this but thanks for reading if you've made it this far. I was thinking last night that I needed to write everything down so I could actually comprehend all that I accomplished and could figure out what else needs to be done before my buddies come to town.

I feel like I should be bummed I had such a busy, un-fun weekend but I'm totally not. I worked outside a ton so I feel like I got to enjoy the weather and most importantly, Kingy and I played outside a bunch.

Here's the weekend in pictures.

Raspberry fingers

Blueberry pickin

Someone didn't want to leave the playground.

Hope you all had a wicked awesome, fun weekend!

Tacos!

Happy Almost Friday Day!

I made the flank steak pineapple salsa tacos last night and got a thumbs up from Papa Bear. 

Holla for small cooking victories!!!

I get so nervous when I cook but trying something new takes it to another level. 

Anyway, the review: they are pretty darn spicy but super good. 

Next time, I would add honey to the steak marinade, to cut the spice and squeeze fresh lime juice once they're put together. I also added avocado because we love it and I knew they were going to be hot. The pineapple salsa was really, really good and added a little sweet too. I thought about adding corn to the salsa but got lazy and threw the cobb on the plate instead. Ha! I also used flour tortillas because corn are just too hard. I still grilled them though. 

Also, under cook the steak, otherwise it could be wicked tough. We like ours medium rare and I pulled it off the grill pretty rare. Make sure you let it sit for ten minutes or so before you cut it. Makes it juicy.

To top off that they are awesome, it took me 30 minutes tops to make these suckers! Definitely recommend for a quick, weeknight meal. 

Beware, kids definitely won't and shouldn't eat these though. The King had a bite and went running for his milk. Literally. He likes hot stuff so we let him try. It was kind of funny. 

Good luck! Let me know if you try them!

Booze Cruise

I can't get this song out of my head and I hate to admit, I'm kind of ok with it. I may have even purchased it on iTunes last night...

It's a ridiculously stupid song but it's so catchy. It also reminds me of our beach party days, way, way back in the day. These Blackjack Billy boys may be onto something.

Blackjack Billy - The Booze Cruise


I'm also going to include some other wicked awesome summer jams for you, because I'm nice like that.

Chris Young - Aw Naw

I strongly disklike the official video.

Dierks Bentley - Summer on Fire


Tim McGraw - Truck Yeah

I know it's old but I still like it.

Florida Georgia Line - Round Here




I just ate a massive lunch to make up for my awful breakfast so things are totally looking up for me.

Happy Hump Day peeps!

xxoo
ma

Now listening: Guess Who

LT this one is for you!

Morning mayhem

My mornings are starting to get a little out of hand.

They typically look a little something like this.

shower, make lunches, clean up, quickly get ready, wake up The King, get him ready, make him breakfast, change a few diapers because he's into taking a morning poo lately, chase dogs, chase chickens, wrangle The King, feed chickens, change clothes because the wild animals and child without fail manage to get me dirty, rush out of the house with no breakfast, drop off Kingy, arrive to work barely on time. Chug coffee.

It's starting to become a joke.

This morning while I was watering/trying to save my dead flowers, Grace, the lab with endless amounts of energy and no brains, was so happy to see me she body slammed me.

Fine. She's not big enough to take me out and I know I'm her favorite person so I've come to accept it.

Except this morning, she decided to go for a little swim and was covered in mud and soaking wet.

Insert curse words.

Vinny, our house guest, almost followed suit but I dodged him and ran back inside before he could get me. I managed to salvage my pants with a wet towel but realized when I arrived at work my shirt has smudged banana all over it.

Awesome.

Three chickens were loose and helping themselves to the garden.

Oh no they didn't.

The King was a whining beast. I think he caught my cold. Which just makes everything so much easier and enjoyable in the morning.

And I haven't eaten because I didn't even have time to throw a bagel in the toaster.

So right now I have a scowl on my mug, banana on my shirt and a completely scattered brain. And I'm wicked freakin hungry. Hopefully I have a close to expired yogurt waiting for me in the work fridge.

Here's to hoping things turn around, quickly.

Dragging

I don't have much to share today friends. I'm back into the daily routine and totally dragging my feet, still sick. I can't seem to shake this cold.

Papa Bear did manage to rebuild the wall on the garage, in like eight hours, yesterday. So that's a positive. He may deserve the title of Super Dad. For real. He is seriously so handy. He's always fixing or building something for us on the regular. If he were a yuppie that project would have easily cost us a few thousand. Thank God for handy men!

I have my heart set on making some flank steak tacos. The pictures of these puppies look delish and I bought the meat on Saturday but have been too sick to get any ambition and make them. Here's the two recipes I'm considering. I'm leaning toward the pineapple.

Chipotle Flank Steak Tacos with Pineapple Salsa

Grilled Flank Steak Tacos with Feta and Oregano Salsa

Keep your fingers crossed they don't turn out like my infamous quesadilla des camarones fiasco...

xxoo

Ma

Gross Kid

Happy Monday.

I managed to get sick on Saturday and have been laid up ever since. We're talking three rolls of toilet paper, vomiting, don't leave your bed sick. Lame.

Seriously, who gets sick in the summer?

We also have a wicked awesome project going on at the homestead. Papa Bear took down the gutters in anticipation of putting on a new roof in the next week or so and to his surprise, found that an entire wall of our garage has rotted from water damage. 

Heck, that's even better than being sick when its 80 and gorgeous outside. 

We had a good Friday at least?

Moms

Remember that video I shared a while back, "passin along a pep talk"?

Well the Kid President has a whole slew of videos on youtube and I just happened to stumble across one addressed to moms yesterday. It was definitely made for Mother's Day but seeing as we're mom's every day, 24/7, I thought we could all use the pick me up.

Be warned, I watched it twice and found myself almost a blubbering mess at my desk. Seriously. Then I sent it to my BFF and she said the same thing, she nearly lost it too.

I can't pinpoint what exactly hit home with me. I think it's just that I find myself saying "being a mom is hard" a lot lately and it was a nice little reminder that all of the struggle, stress, and just plain frustration, isn't for nothing. That the poop, boogers, fits, flying food, messes and up all night sessions mean a whole lot to that little person. Even though they can't always tell us.

So cheers to being a mom and having the hardest job on the planet. If you're not a mom, tell your mom you love her and appreciate those days back when she wiped your ass and all the other awesome stuff she does for you now.

UPDATE: Fixed the video but just in case Youtube - Kid President An Open Letter to Moms

 Have a wicked awesome weekend peeps.

xoxo
Ma

FRIDAY

It took way, way too long for Friday to get here. I think that's the after effects of a long weekend/vacation.

I also realized we're about halfway through the summer. How the hell did that happen? I need to start crossing stuff off my summer bucket list, pronto.

Bandwagon

Jumpin on Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Here chicken chicken chicken

Y'all.

The chickens escaped.

I don't know why but as soon as Papa Bear leaves the property, the animals get a wild hair and do crazy things.

Always before we get in the car to start our day. And always when I'm alone.

The King and I have a lovely morning routine. It involves a lot of getting ready for the day, food, music, dancing and ends with a visit to give the chickens a treat, saying hello/goodbye to them, the bunnies and dogs.

No, we didn't get another dog, we have a visitor. And yes, they stay outside.

Anyway.

We went about our routine this morning, lugging all of our bags to the car and then stopping at the coop to give the girls and Whitey Bulger (the rooster) their treat and say hello.

Normally, this goes off without a hitch. Wicked easy. Wave hello, throw in the food. Say goodbye and walk away.

Except today. Every single one of those shits decided to jump up on the fence post and hang out.

Nothing good can come of flying chickens sitting atop their cage.

Let me back up a bit and tell you about my relationship with the chickens.

I am the chicken lady. They LOVE me. As soon as they spot me or hear my voice they come running. I kind of love it too. I demonstrate my chicken calling ability to Papa Bear every night.

He thinks I'm nuts.

And no, it's not because I bring them food. It's because they love me. Chickens have feelings, ok?

We have two that I'm especially fond of, Ruthie; the hen that lays turquoise eggs and my new favorite I've recently named, Emmy-Lou. Emmy-Lou is special. First, she survived a Grace attack so that makes her awesome. Second, she is just plain ugly. She's white and has this weird tan color that makes her look all dirty and gross but she's not. She's like the ugly duckling. She also happens to be the smallest so that makes her likable too. She is always the first to run to me and she lets me pick her up whenever I please.

Which is not very often because, well, she's a chicken and they aren't cuddly.

SO back to the escape story.

The chickens are all hanging on the fence, thinking they're so cool and then they spot us with the food. They all jumped/flew down and came sprinting over to us. Happy chickens.

Well. Not all of them successfully hopped down and stayed IN the pen. No, no. Two brown girls that don't have names flew OUT of the fenced area and ran toward us.

Super. This should go well.

At least they weren't running away?

I have The King on my hip and a giant bowl of scraps in the other so I put them down and grabbed the first hen, who definitely wanted me to catch her. She never even put up a fight.

Success!

The second.

Not so freakin much.

That little shit took. off. She was running all over the place, trying to dive under the fence to get back in. Clucking at us, trying to eat the food in the bowl and the bugs in the mud at the same time. Girlfriend didn't know what she wanted.

Just picture it people. I'm in my work clothes, trying to calmly catch this mother freakin hen, stay clean and keep The King from spazzing out. Last time something like this happened, Peanut Butter the bunny escaped he had a crying fit, clinging to my leg and I couldn't catch her.

Well wouldn't you know, I look over at Kingy and he's just staring at me, standing in place, patiently watching me and Bandit play tag like a bunch of six year olds on the playground.

Except I was "It" and couldn't touch the damn thing. It also didn't help that the hen wasn't scared of him so she'd just run by him without any hesitation. Even better.

Until suddenly, he gets it. He starts chasing the hen too!

Now it's me and Kingy, chasing this damn hen back and forth like a bunch of fools. He is yelling with his arms out and I'm slowly trying to corner it to get a good grab or lifting up the fence to scoot it back under.

Meanwhile, Whitey Bulger, the rooster, is on the other side of the fence squawking up a storm because he's pissed off we're chasing his lady friend.

I make a few more lame "dives" at the bird and just barely miss.

Every. single. time.

Did you know chickens are fast?

I look up and she's heading for Kingy now. Straight at him. I think great, he can block her off so I can sneak up behind and grab her.

And what do you know, that little bugger of mine makes a dive at her too!!!!

I'm so proud.

But he misses. Followed by a big "UUUUGH" type grunt.

And I just lose it. This is too funny and ridiculous.

I can't stop giggling. He's still yelling. The hen is still loose, running all over the place. Bulger is pissed. And I still haven't figured out how to catch the damn thing.

I wish, oh how I wish we had a camera. Or someone was there to see all of this.

After a few more feeble attempts, she finally gives up and let's me gently place her back in with her peeps. She acted like nothing happened and went right about her business of eating breakfast. Cute.

The King and I high-fived and jumped in the jeep to head off to start our day.

I'm still giggling.

I'm also a little scared they're all going to escape again and demolish our garden. Here's hoping they stay put!

Happy Thursday friends. Tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!!!

Now listening: Hoooooootie

Oh yeaaaaaaaaah

Toms + Zulily

Remember that website I shared a while back, Zulily?

Well they're having a sale on Tom's today and I know people go bananas over those things. For good reason, I just have boat feet so I don't dabble.

Anywho, I'm guessing they'll be sold out soon so hurry on over!

Bacteria and Meat. Awesome.

Yep. Just another reason to stop eating grocery store meat.

A recent study found that bacteria in the noses of livestock that are routinely fed antibiotics, you know, the livestock in your local grocery store chain, can be passed on to humans causing Staph and MRSA.

Read that last bit one more time.

MRSA currently kills more people in the US than HIV/AIDs.

Umm. For real?

That same bacteria was not found in the noses of animals raised without antibiotics. Meaning organic.

What does that tell you?

Read the full article here

Nasty.

Now listening: Kacey Musgraves

She's growing on me.

One Kings Lane

Super cute "country" sale going on over on One Kings Lane people.

And Gap has lots of cute new arrivals if your in the market for some summah clothes.

I might be dabbling in some online shopping this afternoon.

I should unsubscribe to these emails.

Zucchini

I bought too much zucchini at the farmers market this weekend. It was only $.75. How could I not buy three?

So before they all went bad I got creative.

First, muffins. They are really good but a tad dry. I cut five minutes off the baking time and it just wasn't enough. Maybe try baking them for 17 minutes? Don't tell Papa Bear they sucked. He still hasn't tried one.

Zucchini Muffins Recipe

For those of you who prefer to use oil over butter, be my guest (use 1 cup vegetable oil instead of the butter) but I have to tell you, I've made these both ways, and the butter version just tastes better.

Add to shopping list

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups grated fresh zucchini
• 2/3 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• Pinch salt
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup walnuts (optional)
• 1 cup raisins or dried cranberries (optional)

METHOD

You don't need a mixer for this recipe.

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). In a large bowl combine the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the grated zucchini and then the melted butter. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir these dry ingredients into the zucchini mixture. Stir in walnuts, raisins or cranberries if using.

2 Coat each muffin cup in your muffin pan with a little butter or vegetable oil spray. Use a spoon to distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups, filling the cups up completely. Bake on the middle rack until muffins are golden brown, and the top of the muffins bounce back when you press on them, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a long toothpick or a thin bamboo skewer to make sure the center of the muffins are done. Set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the tin let cool another 20 minutes.

Note, if you are including walnuts and dried fruit, you will likely have more batter than is needed for 12 muffins. I got about 14 muffins from this batch, and that included filling the muffin cups up as far as they could possibly go (above the surface of the muffin tin).

Yield: Makes 12-14 muffins

I also made some roasted veggies on the grill. I used whole carrots (cut down the tops) and quartered squash and zucchini. Toss them in some olive oil, pepper and salt. Throw them on the grill until they're at the texture you prefer. When they're done, toss them again in a lemon/garlic vinaigrette. I used two cloves of minced garlic and probably three or so tablespoons of lemon. The King and I loved them.

Summer. Yum.

Redneckonize

The title of this post has nothing to do with anything. I just thought you should all be aware that it exists.

In other news, our bunnies were doing it like they do on the discovery channel this morning. Which means one of two things...they're gay or we're going to have BUNNIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm hoping it's bunnies.

I'd totally be ok if they were gay too, it's just that bunnies would be preferred for obvious reasons.

Case of the Mondays

Anyone else feel like they need a vacation from vacation?

I might also need a serious detox. Whoa.

Hope everyone had a blast celebrating 'Merica. It's safe to say I'm going to be taking today nice and easy. 

Here's our crazy long weekend

We skipped out of work/daycare early on Wednesday. Best decision ever. See below.

Refreshing?

"Show me your teeth" face

I died.

We did a lot of coffee drinking on the front porch. Perfect.

First boat ride! (Yes, those were all buckled before we got going.)

Chillen.

This is what Papa Bear looks like in every picture because he doesn't like "selfies"...?

We went to the fair. The King ran around like a maniac.

Oh yeah, we got our hair cut.

We went to the farmers market. He eats all of the cream cheese and then the bagel.

We wanted salad for dinner so I went outside and cut lettuce from the garden. Wicked awesome.

Sleeping: Nanny, Grandpa, Papa Bear, The King and The Devil Dog (not pictured). I should have joined them.

Big boy is officially over the high chair. Boo.