Lordy, Lordy, Jerry is 40!

Way back before COVID turned the world upside down, I started thinking of plans for Jerry's 40th birthday this year (today). I wanted to do something that I knew he would love--a very cheesy, romantic getaway for the two of us. Somewhere tropical. Basically, the opposite of something I would choose! Haha.

I was thinking of the types of resorts on The Bachelor--the types of trips that I make fun of because of the corniness. I asked Becky for some ideas and I started researching destinations. 

And then there was COVID. I had no idea that this quarantine was going to last so long, but I knew that the plans for a trip (or even a large party) were out of the question. My second idea was to have a "roast" of Jerry with our friends--he would LOVE that--but again, a large gathering was out.

I gave him an early birthday gift (the beer beverage refrigerator for the man cave). But I am SO SO SO ashamed to admit that I actually forgot it was his birthday today. I didn't realize it until around 2:00 in the afternoon when his mom called to wish him happy birthday. I started crying and apologizing and I just felt horrible.

He honestly didn't mind, especially considering all that I've been through this week, but I have NEVER forgotten his birthday before. So I am hoping this blog post will somewhat make up for it. This is going to be long--lots of pictures!--but only short captions.

In honor of his 40th birthday, here are 40 of my favorite photos/moments of Jerry:

I wanted a little garden and got this idea to use a kiddie pool from my friend Hilary. I hated the way the dirt smelled (fertilizer?) so Jerry did the planting for me. I was so grateful!

Jerry and Chandler. Jerry adored Chandler, who was the most loyal cat ever, and still talks about how he misses him.

After I ran my first marathon (in Cleveland, 2012), I had a black toenail and another that seemed to be falling off. Jerry asked me if he could paint my toenails. He was pretty enthusiastic about it! 

This was shortly after Jerry completed Insanity (a truly "insane" workout plan). I couldn't believed how defined his muscles were! He didn't even realize it until I showed him this photo.

Purina invited me to a cat adoption event about an hour from my house, so I took the family to check it out. They had people there giving massages and manicures. So, Jerry and the kids each got a manicure! I love it :)

I find this picture so funny because I think Jerry's face goes PERFECTLY in the painting!

I love this picture because of Jerry's shirt. He designed it before he went to San Diego to visit John. It says, "I'm Jerr-ific!"

Jerry grew to love Mark almost as much as I did, and Mark really loved Jerry. Sometimes after we visited Mark at the nursing home, he'd pull Jerry down to whisper in his ear, "You got to hold on to her! She's a good one!" <3

Jerry and I CRACK UP whenever we see this photo... I have no idea why it is, but his head looks enormous and his neck looks ridiculously long. We think it's hilarious.

When Noah was a toddler, he absolutely LOVED to watch the garbage truck go by. There was a Hispanic man who drove it, and he didn't speak more than a couple of words of English. But he would see either Jerry or I holding Noah on the porch every Monday morning to watch for the truck. He learned that Noah loved to watch, so he would drive back and forth a few times and dumping the big bucket into the back, then crushing the garbage. Noah loved it! 

This picture was just moments after Eli was born in January 2006. Jerry adores babies, and the second Eli was born, Jerry was by his side.

This is a day when we took the kids to see Thomas the Tank Engine at Greenfield Village. (Whoever came up with that show... UGH!) While Thomas was the most boring show ever, the kids loved riding on the train. And I love this photo because of how much Jerry and Noah look alike!

We did the Warrior Dash in 2010 in Joliet, IL, and when we got back to the hotel, Jerry took a hot bath while wearing his viking hat. I just thought this was a cute picture!

For Noah's birthday in 2010(?) he invited friends over to go on a nature walk in the marsh across the street and then have a party in the back yard. I love that Jerry took the kids on the walk--they loved it!

Jerry was on a co-ed softball team for work called "Chix N Sticks" (haha) and I loved the pink shorts and socks he wore! 

Jerry desperately needed a haircut, and he decided to let the kids give it a try with the clippers. It was so much fun! This is what it ended up look like before I finished it off ;)

This was Jerry's very first time eating a Big Mac... can you believe it?! He even worked at McDonald's for a few years when he was in high school!! (He loved the Big Mac, by the way, and I think it's his go-to at McD's now.)

This is one of the sweetest things Jerry has ever done for me. He knew how much I LOVED my old scale. I'd had it for the longest time and it was the most reliable scale ever. I'd tried other "fancier" scales, but always went back to this one. Until one day, it wouldn't work anymore. I was really upset about it, so Jerry (not know what he was doing at all) tried his best to fix it for me. He wasn't able to, but the fact that he tried so hard meant a lot to me.

We went to an aquarium in Tennessee and saw these fish--we couldn't stop laughing at the "faces" on them!

This was right after Jerry and I got married. I hadn't seen this picture until much later, but I love it! Clearly, he was thrilled to be hooked to me for life ;)  (He had no idea what was in store for him, haha)

I took the kids to a fountain to play on a hot day while Jerry was at work, and he somehow got out of work early. He surprised us by showing up at the fountain, and without hesitation, he jumped in with all of his clothes on. The kids thought it was hilarious.

My friend Stephanie took this photo of Jerry during a photoshoot she was doing for me (when I was at my goal weight). Jerry was looking really good, too, so I wanted some pictures of him!

This is how excited Jerry gets for Christmas! Literally. And Jerry was particularly ecstatic during this Christmas because my friend Caitlin, who lives in Boston, managed to get her hands on a bottle of Utopias, a beer that is only made once every two years by Sam Adams. It's $200 for a bottle! Jerry loved being able to share a little with his friends when they came over for a Christmas get together. (It's meant to be sipped in a very small portion because it's VERY potent.)

This picture cracks me up because of these ridiculous "chairs" that Jerry and I have. They are basically like beach chairs, but they don't really have a bottom (just a piece of canvas to sit on). They allow you to sit up or recline. We use them in bed once in a while, but mostly just when we go on a picnic or something. They're pretty hideous, though!

In this photo, Jerry was in one of the happiest moods I'd ever seen him. He was SO excited to visit Fenway Park in Boston, and it was the highlight of his trip.

I love this photo of Jerry teaching Luke how to make the "Jerry face" for pictures!

I love this photo of the two of us--peas in a pod--when we were up north at Jeanie and Shawn's place. We sat and had coffee in the hammock and it was super cozy. It gives me warm fuzzy feelings to think about it :)

As you know, we love quoting from Forrest Gump. This was our, "I'll lean back against you, and you just lean right back against me. This way we don't have to sleep with our heads in the mud." --Bubba

I lecture him about sunscreen ALL THE TIME and he still ends up looking like this sometimes:

Jerry's senior photo :)  (He used to have a mole on his cheek, which he had removed in 2002. In school, he was teased for it--people called him "Chocolate Chip" or "Holy Moley!"

This was when we were waiting to get the Certificate of Occupancy for our home in 2003. We were so excited to move in to our first place together!

Jerry may have been slightly high on morphine when I took this photo, but he was telling me to take a selfie with him in the background "looking all sick" so that my haters could talk about what a horrible person I am to be so vain--bahaha!

And of course I love this photo... I'm so jealous he shamelessly asked for a selfie with "Ian Gallagher" at a Star Wars event. He told him that he wanted the photo to "make his wife jealous". 

One of the only photos we have of Jerry when he was little. Remember when it was popular to have the photo-in-photo like this done? haha!

Again with the Forrest Gump reference. Jerry was trying to sit like Forrest was when he was waiting at the bus stop.

Of course we had to get his picture with the "J. Foster Jewelers" sign :)

Totally in his element in Seattle. A flight of beers!

This was just moments after Noah was born. 

Jerry got so emotional when Noah was born that everyone in the room thought he was going to pass out! (That's my friend Sarah in the background, clearly finding it amusing.)

Finally, I picked this one because I thought it was funny--we were playing Guesstures (similar to charades) and Jerry was acting out one of the clues. I don't remember what the word was! 

And there you have it! Forty pictures for forty years. And as a bonus, I'm going to include two of my very favorite videos of Jerry:

Continue Reading...

Ideas for Cookies Fall Challenge...?

I think I have the plan for my Cookies Fall Challenge. I have a few ideas, but here is what I've come up with so far:

1) A checklist of items to complete in a run or walk, very similar to the Cookies Summer Challenge.

2) I will form teams of people to accumulate mileage and compete with other teams. Sign up for a team, and I will make the teams as fair as possible, and then log your miles. It will be a competition to see which team logs the most miles.

3) A "Fall Hard" challenge--very similar to "75 Hard"--where I will have "rules" (a little more flexible than the 75 Hard rules) to follow through the end of fall. I've already thought up the rules for this, and here they are (like I said, they are VERY similar to 75 Hard):

*Follow a diet of your choice--write out your "rules" prior to starting the challenge. You cannot change them midway through, so make sure you choose rules that are challenging but not so hard that you will quit.

*Exercise 60 minutes a day, with a minimum of 30 minutes outside. You can split the workout into two workouts maximum or just do it all in one go. They can be very tough workouts or very easy--your choice--and you can decide these on a day to day basis. You cannot add up steps throughout the day to count them as a workout--the workout needs to be deliberate and done in one or two goes each day.

*Drink 64 ounces of water a day. You can add a squeeze of lemon or lime, but coffee, tea, flavored waters, etc, don't count. 

*Read 10 pages of a book (any book you'd like) every day.

*Write in a journal once a day--even if it is just one sentence. I love my "Some Lines a Day" journal! (affiliate link)

*Take a progress photo once a day--a mirror selfie, or ask someone else to take one for you. Preferably a full-length photo. You don't have to share these with anyone; they are just for you.

Does anyone have strong opinions on the challenge ideas? I wanted to do something different than the summer challenge, but when I asked on the Facebook group, there were several people who really liked the checklist. 

I also wasn't sure if I should keep it to just exercise (running/walking) or to expand on that and make it more about self-discipline (the "Fall Hard" challenge).

Anyway, I plan on doing something like the "Fall Hard" challenge for myself. I've really liked doing 75 Hard, even though I eventually modified my rules a bit after learning that I wasn't doing them 100% correctly.

I wish I hadn't looked into the podcasts to see which was "correct" and which was "incorrect" as far as the stupid rules go. I was so confident for weeks while doing 75 Hard until I learned I might not be doing it correctly, and then I didn't worry so much about whether I was "right" or "wrong". 

This week didn't go nearly as well as I'd hoped. I can't even describe how stressed out I was. With the kids starting school (and nothing going as planned) and all of the stuff on my "to do" list, I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. I even had a few panic attacks this week, which hasn't happened in a LONG time. 

My weight hasn't gone up, but I don't see a difference in my comparison photos, so it's a bit discouraging. 

I haven't really solved anything that I was stressed out about (except that I got my printer working this morning!)  but I am sure I'll figure it out. I was talking to Jerry and I think I might even order a couple of nightstands on Amazon instead of building them myself. I would love to build them, but lumber is VERY short right now and it's hard to find what I need. It would be one less thing to worry about.

If you plan on joining in on Cookies Fall Challenge, please let me know what sounds best to you! I plan on posting the "rules"/sign-up sheet next week. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by! 

Continue Reading...

Overwhelmed - Just One of Those Days

I don't have a photo for today's post, so here is a funny one of Joey, Chick, and Duck!

As expected, I am extremely sore today! All the pulling out bushes and weeds and plants from the landscaping has my upper body feeling like I was hit by a truck. Even my hips hurt this morning when I went for walk.

Today hasn't been a good day (mentally). I feel drained and still so overwhelmed. The kids' schooling is at the top of the stress list, but I am also worried about getting the porch done before the weather gets too cold. A lot of stores are sold out of the lumber I need, and even if I DO find it, I don't have a way to get it home. This is when I really wish we had a truck.

I'd also promised Noah that as soon as the garage was ready, we would build his corner desk. Again, I don't have a way to get the supplies home from the store.

Like I wrote yesterday, the landscaping is a mess. I have to thoroughly rake through all of it, getting out all of the roots, rocks, mulch, etc, as well as kill all of the grass, in order to get it prepared for new plants. 

This all sounds so silly if you look at it individually, but each item on my "to-do" list adds up and I get so overwhelmed that I don't even know where to start. I know I need to focus on one thing at a time, but it's nearly impossible with the amount of things that need to be done in a timely manner (like the kids' school work and the porch).

On top of this, I want to refinance our car. Since COVID, the interest rates have gone WAY down, so I want to refinance as soon as possible. I've never done anything like this before, so I'm not sure what I'm doing, but the savings will be totally worth it.

This morning, I had a bit of a breakdown. I had all of the porch and desk plans typed up and ready to print on my computer, along with a list of supplies that I'd need to buy. When I clicked on "print", nothing happened. My printer kept showing errors and I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out what was wrong. I've tried everything! 

After an hour of messing around with it, I just started crying out of frustration. The kids need the printer for school, and I do a lot of printing myself. I did all of the troubleshooting tips and I still can't get it to work.

Despite getting upset today, I managed not to turn to food to escape reality for a moment. My walks have actually been a nice respite to break up my day. 

(I honestly don't mean for this post to sound whiny. I was feeling so stress-free for a while and then all of these seemed to happen at once and I feel so much pressure to get it all done.)

Speaking of walks, I've been trying to come up with a Cookies Fall Challenge (like the Cookies Summer Challenge) and was wondering if anyone has ideas. I could do another checklist, but I think doing a mileage/distance challenge might be fun. Just something to keep us motivated to walk or run through the season. 

I'm thinking of splitting people into teams of about 10-12 people and having them combine their mileage (competing against the other teams). This way, if someone doesn't want to do their walking or running, they would be letting their team down in a way. Nobody wants that, so I think that would be a good push to keep going.

Or another idea would be to combine the mileage to "travel" from one place to another--say, New York City to Chicago--simply based on miles. It could be a race between teams. We could use a map to draw lines each week to see who is in the lead.

So anyway, those are just a couple of ideas. If any of you are interested and have input, please let me know. I really need to get it posted by next week, because fall is coming up so quickly!

Continue Reading...

Landscaping Pains

I'm already anticipating how sore I'm going to be tomorrow. My whole body aches!

I woke up super early this morning (5:00), and I laid in bed with Duck for a little bit (he still likes to drape himself across my neck). I read a little of my book, trying to kill some time before the kids had to get up for "virtual" school. Finally, I decided that I was going to head out for my walk at around 6:00. It was still dark outside, though, and I hate walking/running in the dark!

It's one of the items on the Cookies Summer Challenge list, so I thought it would at least be a good opportunity to check that off the list. I dressed in my reflective vest and my headlamp, and headed out for a dark walk with Joey.

It felt SO nice outside--the temp was in the 50's! I still wasn't thrilled about walking in the dark (a lot of people let their dogs wander, and I'm always afraid of coming upon one of them). Joey and I walked my favorite route, and it was nice to be done just as the kids were getting up for school. 

Once the kids were started with school, I started writing up plans to build a desk for Noah. He wants a corner desk for his bedroom, and I told him we'd make one together once the garage was finished. I went in his room to take measurements, and then I realized that his current desk would be good inspiration for the nightstands I wanted to make for Jerry and me. 

I can tell that his desk is handmade (my mom bought it at a garage sale) and I really like the way the drawers were done. I figured I could make just the side with drawers, modifying the size and drawer sizes, and turn it into a nightstand. Then I spent way too much time measuring and planning out the nightstands as well as Noah's corner desk.

I'd like to make it shorter (and not as deep) and have all three drawers be the same size. 

I'd planned to go to Lowe's to pick up supplies for the porch and Noah's desk, but before I did that, I wanted to start tearing out the landscaping so that I can be sure about the porch plans.

This is why tomorrow I'm going to feel like I got hit by a bus. I spent the next few hours removing all of the landscaping... I took out a bush and a few hostas. Then I searched for and removed all of the roots from the three huge bushes/tree things that we'd removed. This is what it looked like a couple of months ago when Jerry removed the enormous bush thing...

He removed the stump, but none of the roots! There were two other bushes just like that one (only one of them was round and only about three feet tall), but I don't have a photo with it in the picture). That's the one I removed today.

Right now, it looks terrible because I'm not done yet. I wanted to start completely fresh with the landscaping--so I tore out everything. We are going to kill the grass as well, and then have the landscaping go right to the sidewalk. 

I also removed the railings from the porch. It already looks better without the railings, which were totally falling apart! But we need to replace all of the deck boards because they are curled and warped. The porch is 17 years old and was built very cheaply, so it definitely needs to be redone.

The problem is that the lumber for decking is extremely hard to find right now! I'm going to keep looking, and I desperately hope we can find what we need before it gets too cold.

Removing the roots from the bushes was the hardest work for sure. The bushes had been there since we moved in here in 2003, so they were REALLY long. I was very proud when I pulled them all out, though. It's so satisfying to pull a root and have it go 10 feet across the landscaping, haha.

And Jerry was thrilled, because he hurt his back at work and he was dreading having to remove the bush and hostas today. Next, we have to kill all the grass, weeds, and literally everything where the landscaping goes. And then start fresh!

In addition to my two 45-minute walks today, I actually went for a third walk (only about 15 minutes)... I was feeling irritated this evening, and rather than go looking for something to eat to take my mind off of it, I went out for a short walk. It wasn't intense or anything, but it was nice to get out of the house for 15 minutes. I'd like to keep that in mind for the future! It sounds so easy, but when I'm in "a mood", it's hard to remember ;)

Jerry is off work tonight, so we're going to play Codeword Duet! Have a good night :)

(By the way, if you haven't seen The Social Dilemma on Netflix, go watch it right now! I'll try to write about it soon. Just trust me, it's worth watching.)

Continue Reading...

My Walking Stats: Notables of Exercising Twice a Day

I am SO glad to see that I'm not the only parent struggling so hard with the distance learning for my kids' school! Thank you so much for commenting and sharing your struggles with it, too. I was feeling SUPER overwhelmed yesterday and really disappointed in how things are going. (Eli was marked "truant" from two classes today--I was there when he signed in!) Like I said, I hope that they are just working out the kinks now and things will get better in the next week or two.

While I was walking today, I was thinking about how familiar all the routes are around my house (there are only so many streets to walk). And it got me thinking about my walking stats, or just interesting things about my walks (things I've seen, money I've found, etc.) So I decided to write a post on it!

I started 75 Hard on July 20th, so I'm halfway through Week 8--I'm on Day 53. Here are some notables from the last 53 days of walking 45 minutes twice a day, every single day. I haven't missed a single workout! (I've done a few bike rides in lieu of the walking, but for this post, I'm just focusing on the walking.

Numerical Stats:

• Earliest walk: 5:03 AM (this was on the treadmill right before we left for a 10-hour drive up north)
• Latest walk: 7:23 PM (again, on the treadmill--likely, I was procrastinating)
• Longest distance walk: 3.66 miles (this was a walk/jog on the treadmill; my longest of simply walking was 3.34 outdoors)
• Shortest distance walk: 2.22 miles 
• Longest duration walk: 1:08:17 (3.34 miles)
• Shortest duration walk: 45:02 (2.57 miles)
• Highest average heart rate: 146 bpm (this was during my fastest walk)
• Fastest average pace: 14:17/mile
• Fastest mile: 13:55
• Slowest average pace: 20:37/mile
• Slowest mile: 20:56
• Average number of miles a day: 5.3 miles
• Average number of minutes a day: 94:02
• Total number of miles walked: 261.93 miles
• Total duration walked: 3 days, 5 hours, 35 minutes!

One of my favorite parts about going for walks is finding money. I pick up every coin that I see--it's like a treasure hunt! Since July 20th, I've found $3.25 while out walking. Whenever I find a coin, I tuck it under the shoulder strap of my sports bra, haha. 

The most I've found on a walk since I started 75 Hard is $0.63 cents. It was kind of funny... I was walking along and saw a bright shiny quarter in the middle of the road. Score! I love finding quarters. Then a street over, I saw another shiny quarter in the middle of the road. This actually made me wonder if perhaps somebody who lives nearby is doing my Cookies Summer Challenge and left quarters out for someone to find. Hmmmm?

I've seen lots of animals: the usual cats, dogs, rabbits, squirrels, etc. I've seen groundhogs, muskrats, deer, bald eagles, hawks, cranes, and other birds, snakes, turtles, frogs, geese, ducks, and even a black bear (the bear was up north). And the most unusual to me--something I've never seen up close in the wild--a bat! Unfortunately, it was dead in the middle of the road. While it may be gruesome, I took a photo of it because I found it so interesting.

I've been rotating through shoes--up to four pairs at one point! (Clockwise from top left):

Saucony Triumph 4.0 (newest)

Brooks Ghost 9 (second oldest)

Saucony Triumph 2.0 (oldest but with very few miles)

Altra Escalante (second newest)

I'd been wearing the Ghosts model for YEARS, but when I stopped running and was wearing Converse Chuck's all the time, I thought I'd better find a more neutral shoe with less support when I started to walk. I bought the Altra's, but those are zero-drop (which is a big change from the Ghosts) and I started alternating them with the Saucony Triumph 2.0 shoes that I got in 2016 and rarely wore.

I discovered the Triumph's were super comfy and minimized my ankle pain, so I looked online for more. I couldn't find the 2.0 version ANYWHERE in my size (10), so I bought the 4.0's on eBay (new in box). They are very cushiony, but I don't like them as much as the 2.0 version, which is a bummer. They are tighter on my heels and if I don't rotate shoes, they give me blisters.

I've worn out my Ghosts, pretty much, and will probably need to drop those soon. The Triumph 2.0's are toast--the bottoms have gotten totally worn out. So now I'm down to the Altra's and the Triumph 4.0's. And those have quite a few miles on each of them already. I didn't realize how quickly the miles would add up as I started walking.

Finally, here is a very long calendar with all of my walks (and a few bike rides) on it. I didn't include the bike rides in the totals.

It's fun to see all of this in one place. Especially looking at all the workouts on the calendar like that!

And no, I'm not done. I'm going to continue for a total of 90 days, so I'm more than halfway done now.

Continue Reading...

The School Year Nightmare

Even though summer technically isn't over for a couple more weeks, it feels like it's officially fall now that the kids are back in school. Yesterday was their first day. (Eli is on the left, Noah is on the right)

I can't say anything other than that it felt... weird.

I didn't feel the slightest bit prepared because of everything happening with COVID and the different school schedules--going to school 2-3 days a week and learning from home 2-3 days a week.

(Yes, Eli is taller than Noah... and if he wanted to, he could be a BEAST if he started working out. The kid is solid muscle.)

It was Eli's first day of high school, and I feel bad that it wasn't "normal", or even fun. There were only about 10 freshmen there! (Some kids are learning from home full-time, and the rest are divided by days of the week.) He said that he doesn't have any friends in his classes.

Noah's taking college courses now, so his day gets over at 10:55! Still, he said his first day back "sucked". Apparently there are two classes that are the same course but at different times and he went to the wrong one. He sat through the entire class before he realized what had happened.

I hoped today would be better, but it was kind of a disaster. Neither of the kids had to go to school today, but they did have to attend their classes online. Eli has a class every hour, so he had to sign into a new class every hour. However, the new system is using Google Classroom, which I didn't even know was a thing.

The teachers clearly aren't familiar with it, and it's new to the kids and parents as well. I assumed the "online learning" would consist of a live stream of their teachers lecturing, and then an assignment of some sort to do at home. However, Eli only had two teachers "attend" the classes, and it wasn't an online lecture. They took attendance and posted an assignment and that was it!

Eli's assignments consisted of a WORD SEARCH (he's in high school!) and a math worksheet with equations like "-6 + 2= ?" I'm hoping that his teachers are just using those as a way to test out the system and not as a learning tool...? Eli was sitting at the dining room table all day long at his computer and for what? To "learn how to retread tires"? (Forrest Gump reference ;) )

I'm certainly no computer genius, but I do know how to do quite a bit due to my blog. And it still took me a good hour to figure out how to have Eli do the word search online. (We eventually had to take a screenshot of it, open it in Microsoft Paint, and then highlight the words from there... ugh!). I'm also a Mac user lover and having to use the school's Chromebook was another learning experience. 

I know this isn't the teachers' fault--they are as new to this as we are. But I can totally see this school year being a disaster. I'm a stay-at-home mom with a relatively decent knowledge of computers; what about the kids who have parents that both work full-time and don't know about computers?

I know that I'm not the only parent feeling this way, but today I felt SO overwhelmed and just generally upset. Noah is doing fine with his Zoom classes (I wish Eli's school would do the same!) but I feel like it's up to me to make sure Eli gets through this mess. 

He had a Spanish I assignment but he hasn't learned any Spanish yet! Thankfully, I took four years of Spanish and I can at least help him with the basics, but how can kids be expected to do assignments without having lectures?

I wish I could say that I handled this graciously, but I did not. I had a small tantrum (and then I wondered if I was possibly being live-streamed to Eli's class? Haha! Not that I used any curse words or anything... ahem) and then I bought a bag of chips from the convenience store and ate them repetitiously. For no reason other than the fact that I was overwhelmed and stressed out.

I had been doing SO good at breaking the bad habits, but the emotional eating is something I'll probably forever have a problem with. I don't even know why I did it--I felt bad about it the entire time I was eating the chips. 

I still did my walks today, though. It's funny--I've really started enjoying them to the point that I look forward to them. (Yes, that's a big deal for me!) They're an escape, of sorts. I hope that someday, I will feel that they are a better escape than Dill Pickle Lay's, but for now, they are a close second.

I even took Joey with me for my second walk--it was a misty day and I knew the asphalt wouldn't be too hot on his paws. (I don't usually take him in the afternoons--not only do I enjoy the time alone, but I also know that it'd be hot for him.)

I cleaned the garage this morning (after Emily and I worked on her Little Free Library, it was pretty messy) and right after I finished, my brother Brian came over with Luke and Riley (my nephew and niece). I asked his opinion about the front porch because we really need to do something about it soon, so he helped me figure out a plan for that. And then I showed them the garage. I felt proud when Brian complimented the windows that I'd framed in :) 

For the rest of the day, however, I wore sweats, sans bra, and read a book. I was interrupted occasionally to help Eli with this online stuff, but other than that, I just wanted to forget about "real life" for the time being.

I'm hoping that this week is just about working out the kinks in the online learning, and that next week will be smoother. I know that I'm not the only parent feeling overwhelmed, and I know that Eli's not the only student feeling lost, so at least there's that. 

Tomorrow, I've decided, if I am feeling overwhelmed, I will go for a walk instead of eating chips (or whatever else). I've been working too hard for the last 50-something days to screw it up now by stuffing my face for emotional reasons.

For any other parents (or teachers!) going through the same thing right now, I feel for you! <3

Continue Reading...

RECIPE: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

This is the pie that my friend Emily and I made over the weekend. Years ago, she ate it at a restaurant called Red Ball Jet Cafe in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and she loved it. She thought it was so amazing that she begged for the recipe before the restaurant (sadly) went out of business. And they were so kind to pass on the recipe.

I met Emily in 2016 (a blog reader turned friend!) and she's mentioned the pie several times. Each time we planned to make it, we got busy doing other things (like making dozens of jars of homemade jam!). Anyway, this pie is delicious! It has three layers: an Oreo crust, a chocolate ganache, and finally, a whipped cheesecake-like peanut butter layer.

(Hey, I never said it was healthy...)

This recipe actually makes two 11-inch pies, which is an uncommon size (most pie plates are 9 inches or so). Emily and I used store-bought chocolate cookie crusts, which are smaller than your typical pie crust--and it actually made three pies!). So, depending on how much pie you need, you may want to cut this recipe in half for one good-sized pie.

Here is a printer-friendly version!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Crust:
    5 cups Oreo cookie crumbs
    7 oz. butter, melted

    In a medium mixing bowl, combine the crumbs and butter until uniform and press into pie plate--bottom and sides. Bake at 340 F for 5 minutes.

OR you can use pre-made pie shells--they sell chocolate cookie ones similar to graham cracker crusts.

Chocolate layer (similar to ganache):
    1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
    12 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

    In a small sauce pan over medium-low heat, stir the condensed milk and chocolate chips together until the chocolate is melted. Spread the mixture along the bottom and sides of the pie crust(s).

Peanut Butter Filling:

    4 cups heavy whipping cream
    12 oz. cream cheese
    2 cups powdered sugar
    3 cups smooth peanut butter
    1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

    In a mixer, beat the heavy whipping cream until it forms soft peaks (the consistency of Cool Whip). Spoon into a metal bowl and place in fridge.

    Beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until fluffy. Add the peanut butter and vanilla to the cream cheese mixture and beat until well combined. Mix in whipping cream to peanut butter mixture until uniform. Spoon over chocolate layer in pie shell. Chill for a minimum of four hours before serving.

Continue Reading...