Day 182 - Pedaled my Mt Bike to a Trail and Rode Down

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” 
― Ernest Hemingway

Today was the first time I have even pedaled uphill to a trail!  In fact, pedaling up was easier for me than coming down.  For whatever reason I had major brain block on the downhill and had to walk a couple spots.  I just raised my seat up and have a harder time getting down so I'm thinking that's what caused me to second guess myself.

But isn't this view amazing.

Day 181 - Ride a Scooter

“What is real and what is not is for your heart to decide and for your heart to know.” 
― Colleen Houck

Rode a scooter today.  What a blast!!!  Coasting down a hill feels like flying.

6 Month Recap

Six months ago I was depressed, sad, and gloomy.  Let's face it, I was an Eeyore.  This depression had been going on for almost a year, and finally in November I decided to ask my Dr for some anti depressants.

What followed was the worst experience of my life.  This were the same prescription I had used after my second child, but for what ever reason my body reacted so badly differently this time.  I was seeing Neon, hallucinating, shaking…I felt like the purple minions in Despicable Me 2.

Twelve hours later the medicine was out of my system and I was so terrified I was not going to try another anti depressant.  Honestly, I don't know how people take drugs!  Determined not to try another anti depressant I needed to come up with a solution.  I decided my problem was that I was not excited to wake up in the morning.  Each day seemed the same gloomy place to me.  The same gloomy routine.

My solution:  Do one thing every day that is a 'first' for me.  I set my guidelines.  Created a starting list of 'firsts' and began.  The list had small things, because lets face it.  I'm a mom with three small boys at home and I have a budget.  A tight budget.  But I also needed big things too.  Things I could really look forward too!

I was going to start on my birthday, but I couldn't do it.  It took me until Thanksgiving Day to start.
The first month went by.  My firsts were so lame, and I remember asking myself if this was worth it.   Even my 1 Month Recap shows that I still wasn't convinced this would work.

Six months later my life is completely different.  My marriage is so different.  My husband tries new things now.  Our family life is so different!  My boys want to try new things!  I'm sure my dog would tell you he wanted to try a new thing too if he could talk (yes, even my dog is a boy.  I'm surrounded my testosterone). Everything about my life is a complete 180.

My firsts aren't big.  In fact to look at some of them you would think they were weird.  But the important thing was that in the past six months I have started LOOKING for firsts.

I think as women we are very good at piling on the guilt and the "I can'ts" and the "I don't have time".  We get rooted into being a mom, being a wife, etc.   Then one day we wake up and ask ourselves, "Is this all there is to life?"

Life is out there.  We've just got to make up our mind we're going to join it.

Day 180 - See a Great Horned Owl, Falcon, and a Hawk

“If you can develop this ability to see what you look at, to understand its meaning, to readjust your knowledge to this new information, you can continue to learn and to grow as long as you live and you’ll have a wonderful time doing it.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

I took my kids to the library for one of their family programs.  Hawk Watch was there and they had a Falcon, which was smaller than I was expecting.  A hawk, that had these amazing deep brown feathers.    Then they pulled out a Great Horned Owl.  SO COOL!  I have never seen an owl up close like that before.  We have tons of owls in the trees around our house and we can see them at night flying overhead, but to see one up close!

The details of the feathers was amazing.  Their feathers are spread out, like if you took your fingers and spread them out and then clapped with just your fingers.  See how quiet it is vs if you close your fingers and clap with just your fingers.  And…it turned its head 180 degrees.  SO COOL!

Day 179 - Baskin Robins Ice Cream Cake

“Do whatever comes your way to do as well as you can. Think as little as possible about yourself. Think as much as possible about other people. Dwell on things that are interesting. Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

I don't remember if I have ever had a Baskin Robins Ice Cream Cake.  But cake and ice cream together-Yumm!

Day 178 - Memorial Day BBQ

“Never be bored, and you will never be boring.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

Some of my husband's friends invited us to a BBQ at their house.  I've meet the wife only briefly once before, at a motorcycle race or something.  So this was a first for me and I wasn't even nervous, like I usually am when going to someone's house for dinner.

By the way, she served this really yummy chocolate pie.  I've got to get the recipe!!  First I better get her phone number or email address.

Day 177 - Make Beef Gyros

“Today is the oldest you've ever been, and the youngest you'll ever be again.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

Let it be known, I hate to cook.  If I could I would serve cereal for dinner.  But alas, tis not my fate.  Cooking in the crockpot is the easiest thing for me so I'm always on the lookout for a good crockpot recipe.

Today's dinner was Beef Gryros.  My family LOVED them.  OH YEAH!  Sorry, no pics.  But here is the recipe

BEEF GYRO

Meat:

2 lb roast

packet of Montreal Steak Seasoning

2 beef bouillon + 2 C Water

Cook at least 6 hours

Sauce:

1/2 C plain yogurt

1/3 C shredded cucumber (drain excess water)

dill weed

sprinkle of dry italian seasoning

salt & pepper

lemon juice

(I did all this to taste)

Tomatoes

Lettuce

Onion

Chewy Flour Tortilla

Day 176 - Learn a New Lullaby

“What counts, in the long run, is not what you read; it is what you sift through your own mind; it is the ideas and impressions that are aroused in you by your reading. It is the ideas stirred in your own mind, the ideas which are a reflection of your own thinking, which make you an interesting person” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

I love the quote that says something like, 'will the world be ruled by sounds of gunfire or from the sounds of lullabies'.  I totally butchered that quote, but you get the idea.  I try to sing one song a night to my boys, but I've sung the same songs for so long I needed a new one.  Which brought on a new first, learn a new lullaby.

I am learning Golden Slumbers.

Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,

Smiles await you when you rise.

Sleep, pretty baby

do not cry and I will sing a lullaby

Cares you know not,

Therefore sleep,

While over you a watch I'll keep

Sleep, pretty darling,

do not cry and I will sing a lullaby

Day 175 - Vanilla Sprite

“Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual you have an obligation to be one.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

Went to my favorite Noodles and Co for dinner.  They had vanilla sprite.  I swear those new soda machines offer a new first every time I see one.

Day 174 - Flat Tire while Mountain Biking

“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

I wish I could bike uphill without dying.  Today when I started back downhill I must have burped air out of my back tire, because I had to ride down with a flat.  At the bottom, in the parking lot, a guy saw I had a flat and had a pump that would work with my tire-thank goodness, otherwise that would have been a l-o-n-g walk home.

Day 173 - Go to Hale Theater with my Sisters

“To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

Arsenic and Old Lace was a movie we loved when we were teenagers.  We loved the crazy brother that yelled, "CHARGE" every time he went up the stairs.  How the 'panama canal' was in the basement and was also the 'cemetery' for the old ladies.

My favorite line of the play was when Mortimer tells the aunts they have to stop poisoning old, lonely men and the aunts respond, 'We don't stop you from doing the things you like.'

This is a play or movie you have to see for yourself to believe.  If someone tried to explain this to you you would wonder if they were on something.

Day 172 - Picked up Garbage at the Park

“If you want a world ruled by law and not by force you must build up, from the very grassroots, a respect for law.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

The local park is a beautiful park.  After having recently been to another park that had a lot of garbage on the ground, and noticing how people were not as respectful of the park, when I saw garbage today I was quick to clean it up.  Honestly, I hadn't ever really thought about it until seeing the difference in parks so strongly.  It makes me want to do what I can to help keep my park clean.  People are more courteous when the area is clean.  

Day 171 - Ran 2.5 miles in 25 minutes

“Nothing has ever been achieved by the person who says, It can't be done.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

Yeah!  Such a high for me!!!

Day 170 - Dig up a Sprinkler Pipe

“If life were predictable it would cease to be life,and be without flavor” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

So I have another broken sprinkler line.  Had to dig it up.  Luckly we found that one because there was water gushing up from the ground.  Sadly that will not be a pretty water bill.  Boo Hoo!

Day 169 - Learn how to Find a Leak in a Sprinkler Line

“Your life is your own. You mold it. You make it. All anyone can do is to point out ways and means which have been helpful to others. Perhaps they will serve as suggestions to stimulate your own thinking until you know what it is that will fulfill you, will help you to find out what you want to do with your life.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

I have one station that does not have a lot of power.  So I learned that if you cap the sprinklers from the last to the front you will eventually find where the leak or problem is.  Who knew!

Sadly, it was a gopher that ate all our funny pipe and we had to replace almost a whole zone.  This is gopher war!

Day 168 - Watch the Power Company Replace a Pole

“Nothing alive can stand still, it goes forward or back. Life is interesting only as long as it is a process of growth; or, to put it another way, we can only grow as long as we are interested.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

Watched the Power company replace a power pole today.  Those guys have to have strong arms.  They hold them up or out for hours.  And the patience to take down the power lines with the long poles they have to use…I would get so frustrated.

It was pretty amazing to see a pole assembled, installed in the ground and then to see how they move the lines and cut down the old pole.  One part of an old pole fell and got snagged on another power line… SCARRY for me.  Those guys acted like it wasn't too big a deal.

You would have to be patient and calm to do this job!

Day 167 - Monday Night Date

“If life were predictable it would cease to be life,and be without flavor” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

My husband and I have somehow turned Monday night into a quick date night.  We just go out for a treat, but it is something so new for both of us and so easy and quick that we quite look forward to it now.

Day 166 - Picnic with a Friend

“A great deal of fear is a result of just “not knowing.” We do not know what is involved in a new situation. We do not know whether we can deal with it. The sooner we learn what it entails, the sooner we can dissolve our fear.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

Went to the park with a friend today, for a picnic.  I honestly don't know why I haven't done this before.  This was so out of my comfort zone a year ago, but it seemed perfectly natural now.  And it was.  See what trying new experiences makes of a person.  You really do learn to live.  To see things in a different/healthy light.

We could not have asked for nicer weather and the kids played and just let us talk.  It was really fun!

Day 165 - Bread for a Bargain

“Success must include two things: the development of an individual to his utmost potentiality and a contribution of some kind to one's world.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

I love bread.  Warm bread right from the oven.  Bread toasted with butter and jam.  Bread is my serious comfort food (next to chocolate).  So here are my bargain finds for bread.

Monday morning if you go to Great Harvest all their bread is half off.  Total Deal!

Dunford Bread is only $1 on Monday's only.  You can find their bread at any 7-eleven.

Day 164 - Answer a question I have always wondered about

“It is a brave thing to have courage to be an individual; it is also, perhaps, a lonely thing. But it is better than not being an individual, which is to be nobody at all.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

I found out what curds and whey are and have come to the conclusion…that Little Miss Muffet was disgusting!

See for yourself.  Does that look like something you want to eat?  I will answer for you.  NO!

Day 163 - Make Cheese

“I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

I made mozzarella cheese today.  I was a bit intimidated, the instructions looked like a bear.  But I took a deep breath and started with step 1.  Then went to step 2 until there before me was mozzarella cheese that I made with my own hands!  So Awesome!

Passed the kit along to a friend that is now trying to do a first every day too.

Day 162 - Field Trip

“The most unhappy people in the world are those who face the days without knowing what to do with their time. But if you have more projects than you have time for, you are not going to be an unhappy person. This is as much a question of having imagination and curiosity as it is of actually making plans.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

My oldest son misses out on me going on field trips with him, so when I can I will join the class.  Today we joined him at the park where they were having a field trip.  Super fun to watch him run around with the kids in his class.  It's as close to being a fly on the wall as I think I could ever get.

Day 161 - New Favorite Book, The Rent Collector

“You can't move so fast that you try to change the mores faster than people can accept it. That doesn't mean you do nothing, but it means that you do the things that need to be done according to priority.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

My computer has been down and then add on top of that that I am not a great blogger and you get almost a month of missed days.  So my blog will read like a list again.

A friend suggested reading The Rent Collector.  Absolutely loved it!  It is my new favorite book.  I had to read it twice and I still have so many things I re-read because the truths are so beautiful.

Day 160 - Deals to Meals

“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

My friend was telling me about Deals to Meals.  So today I signed up.  I like the weekly meal planner and the food storage planner.  And I like that Walmart price-matches everything.

Day 159 - Read something I typically wouldn't Read

“Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

This is a great challenge for me to complete.  But when I went to the Library and saw all the types of books I normally wouldn't read…well.

Poetry-BORING!
Sports-not really interested
Computers-no
Then I found a list of Action Thriller or Adventure Thriller, I can't remember which, that the library had put together.  I'm reading The Columbus Affair by Steve Barry.  It's very good!

I have another book to try that I normally wouldn't read either.  I'll use that as another first.

Day 158 - Count my Sugar Intake

“No matter how plain a woman may be, if truth and honesty are written across her face, she will be beautiful.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

The American Heart Association recommends 24g of sugar for females.  I'm not sure if this is added sugar, because an orange has 12g of sugar, and apple has 19g, which that alone would put you over your daily limit.  Milk has sugar, bread has 1g, cereal has sugar, oatmeal….everything has sugar.  So I feel like natural sugars don't count, but the added sugars are what they want you to watch.

So, aside from the chocolate cake I ate today, I didn't do too bad.  Try it and see what you come up with.  It's kind of amazing how much total sugar is consumed in one day-aside from chocolate cake for lunch.

Day 157 - Make my Own Butter

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

I poured my whipping cream into mixer and beat it for about 10 minutes, until I had buttermilk and butter.  Warning:  This will slosh out so you need a towel to wrap around the bowl or it will be all over your walls.

Let it drain a bit.  Then press the buttermilk out of the butter and rinse with cold water until the water comes clear.

My butter looks a little melted because it is.  I transferred it into a bowl that was still a bit warm for the dish washer before the blond moment passed and I realized I needed a room temp bowl.

I didn't salt my butter, because I like to use unsalted.  All in all, this was super fun!  Super easy!  and about what butter costs anyway, so totally worth it for a new experience!







If you want to make your own butter check out this wonderful website.  She has great instructions!
http://toriavey.com/history-kitchen/2013/06/homemade-butter/

Day 156 - Spot It Tournament

“Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

Played the Tournament rules to Spot It.  So fun!  If you have not played this game before try it!

Day 155 - Go up to the Dimple Dell Track

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” 
― Marcel Proust

I have seen the track at Dimple Dell a few times, but until today didn't really give it much thought until sitting there I realized, I don't know how to get up there?  So I went on an exploration and found two sets of stairs and an elevator.  I didn't even know they existed.  It was exciting discovering something new or rather, seeing it with new eyes.  Seeing it differently and giving it enough thought to be curious about it.

Day 154 - Discover a New Music Artist

“Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

Music, music played on a radio, was not a big part of my life until I meet my husband.  I grew up on a dairy farm in Wyoming where we never listened and if we did it was country music.  So I am a slow learner when it comes to music and even slower when it comes to remembering band names.   In fact, my friend during college once told me she was listening to Alice Cooper.  I innocently asked who she was.  My friend's face looks like yours probably does right now.

My hubby is really into music and my son is getting into it more.  So I better get on the bandwagon.  Today I am listening to Blues music to see what I think.  I like it.  I can't remember who I just listened to while I was writing this but Three O'clock Blues with B.B. King and Eric Clapton are really good!

Day 153 - Lemon Sugar Face Scrub

“Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

Today my friends and I made a Lemon Sugar Face Scrub.  It smells so good I want to eat it.