Whelp, I did it...

I started a fitness blog. Now this starting of the blog did not come easy. For some reason losing weight is not something that people like to talk about and honestly it kind of makes me uncomfortable knowing that there are people who I haven't seen in years that read this blog. I'd like everyone to just think I'm tall and skinny and what have you. Well I'm not, okay so I'm still tall, but not so skinny anymore. I'm working hard to get there though!

I started this blog in conjunction with a challenge from another blog I like to read. I decided it was just time to do it. Who knows, maybe it will help someone... at the very least it gives me one more blog to forget to update frequently!

So here goes! http://c25kchick.blogspot.com/

I know, I'm horrible...

Okay, I've been a bad blogger! I'm one of those people that when something starts overwhelming me I just put it off and put it off. I knew I had a ton of stuff to put up here and as that list grew longer and longer I procrastinated more and more. So to get over the hump I'm going to do a quick flash by of all of the recent events and someday I'll upload the corresponding pictures!

Here goes:
- Went to my grandfather's funeral. It was an emotional event, but very touching. My cousin Katie read a wonderful story about him that touched us all, and I don't think we'll ever get the song "On the wings of a snow white dove" out of our heads. Not to be forgotten, Bruce definitely let out a big fart right in the middle that had the whole family section cracking up... he also ate practically an entire container of puff's just so I could keep him relatively quiet. Despite the fact that we were there for a funeral, it was nice to see all the family and tell some of our great memories of a man who has left a big impact on this family.

- Bruce went on his first airplane ride to Colorado. He did marvelously! He slept the entire time...granted he was under the influence of Benadryl. He was horribly congested and I was really worried about him on the airplane so the pediatrician told me to give him Benadryl 30 minutes before take off.

- Bruce got kicked out of his first casino! We went up to Black Hawk while we were in Colorado just to take a look around. Bruce being under age and all, got escorted out along with his parents and grandparents. After that, we went on down to the blue collar gambling also known as Central City where Bruce hung out in the restaurant with his grandparents while Greg and I played some nickel slots. Fun times! I love Wheel of Fortune slot machines!

- Bruce went to his first of hopefully many Sing Songs in Abilene. For those non ACU'ers, Sing Song is an annual student production that is way too hard to describe, so maybe I'll put a video up someday! Again, he did beautifully and slept through the whole thing!

- Next, I got a text from Bruce's babysitter saying that she suspected teeth within the next week. She was correct! After 2 weeks of horrible sleeping, I was about to lose it. Next thing you know, Bruce has the beginning of a tooth popping through the bottom. We're still on only one tooth, but ever since that tooth has popped through Bruce has slept through the night! Woo hoo! Especially now with daylight savings time, we've had even more success with him sleeping until around 8:00!

- Bruce then got to spend the night at his Francie and Pops' house while mom battled the stomach flu. Greg had gone on the Survivor retreat with our youth group, and I couldn't handle the little one all by myself while being so sick. So we both got to spend the night. It was nice to have a mom take care of you again!

- Bruce went to his very first birthday party. His good friend Skyler turned two so he went to help her celebrate. He was the only non-family invitee so he felt pretty darn special. He also got his first sampling of cake, and was a BIG fan.

- And Bruce being so lucky, now gets to have his Colorado grandma all to himself all week. His babysitter is on vacation in Cali with her daughter, so Bruce's grandma came in for the week to watch him. He's had lots of fun going on walks, baking pies, and helping unload the dishwasher!

Okay, that's about all folks! Someday I'll upload pictures, we got some really cute ones in Abilene along with some cute videos of Bruce's "tricks". He's currently up to three words: Mama, Uh oh, and Up. He's a cutie!

He's just not that into you...

I'm really excited to see this movie. Who am I kidding, I'm excited to see any movie! (although I am going to the movies with a friend tomorrow...woo hoo!)

From another blog I read (cough, cough, bachelor recap blog, cough, cough) I came across this video. I thought it was pretty funny, so I'm sharing the love!

Economy troubles...

I'm a nerd...we could just stop there, but we won't.

Here we go again: I'm a nerd, and the economy very much interests me. My morning ritual includes going to fox news and seeing what the day looks like.

This article is really interesting: http://tiny.cc/uahZU

I've always considered myself to be a pretty good "deal seeker." Albeit a kind of lazy one, but a deal seeker none the less. When I put effort into it, we can keep our grocery bill exceptionally low, when I don't put effort into it... well, we just eat out! I can get to the checkout line at the grocery store and usually tell you what my total will be before it rings up.

I find it interesting that everyone is so on board with being frugal (finally!) because of this uncertain economy that now we are hurting the potential regrowth! That being said, go out and spend people! Just kidding, who am I to talk? We just paid off our car! Woo hoo!

I have pictures of our time in Lufkin that I'll get up here at some point, that is when I locate my camera... hey I can tell you the total at the cash register, can't that replace some of the judgement on my lack of organization?

Random musings by Allison...

So as I was making my nightly chocolate milk with soy milk and sugar free Nesquik I had a random thought. When do you become "grown up" enough that you don't just wipe off the spoon you used to scoop out the Nesquik and put it back in the drawer? I mean, maybe some of you already are, but to me that spoon was perfectly clean...only I can't imagine/remember my mom ever doing that. Along those same lines are drinking the milk out of your cereal bowl and making your bed. Maybe I'm alone and am the last 27 year old, married mother of one that does those things... oh well, drinking my cereal milk makes me happy! (don't worry dad, I don't do it at the table, only in the kitchen)

Another random musing, though not quite as light-hearted: Death doesn't really make sense at any age. My grandfather died Sunday. While he was old, the fact that he died two days ago was a surprise. It hasn't really sunk in. We are leaving for east Texas for the funeral and I kind of feel like we're just going to visit them. Like we're packing up for one of our typical family trips. Growing up is strange. You wait your whole life to do it and yet when you're here there are so many times I'd rather go back to being a kid.

I have so many good memories as a child hanging out during the summer in east Texas. My grandparents owned a country store/gas station that was on the property next to their house right off route 69 in what I lovingly refer to as "Podunk, TX." The water tastes funny, the air is thick, the humidity is crazy, the whole place smells like a wonderful mixture of fresh dirt and pine trees, the dirt is red, life is simpler, it's a magical place to a child. We spent our summers making pottery out of the red clay, running through old deserted saw mills that backed up to my grandparents property, wandering through pine forests collecting pine cones, running back and forth to the store to get cokes, ice cream, and pecan pinwheels, learning to sew, playing with cousins, and most importantly: watching satellite TV! :-) What a life!

My grandfather is one of the holiest men I have ever known. With a limited education he was not one of those PhD Bible scholars. He was Dail McGuire, faithful servant and follower of Christ. He could quote almost any verse in the Bible. He had STRONG faith. While I didn't always agree with his extremely conservative view points, he was always willing to listen to my opinions. He would tell me how he felt, but never straight out tell me I was wrong. About two years ago, my sisters and I took a trip out there by ourselves. I spent over six hours sitting in the living room discussing the Bible with Grandaddy and listening to his life story. He told me all about growing up, how he didn't really realize they were poor, how he dropped out of school to work, how he met my grandmother, how he became a Christian later in life. It is one of the best memories I have and I will treasure it forever.

Losing him this week has made me miss my granny that died right before Bruce was born. It makes me so sad that Bruce won't get to know either of them. They were both wonderful people who I look forward to reuniting with in heaven again someday.

If you've made it this far in my novel, please pray for my family. While thankful that my grandaddy is no longer suffering, it's still hard for his family left behind. Thursday will be an emotional day. I'm not completely sure what my grandmother will do now.

I make homemade yogurt...

Who does that surprise? I just thought I'd post on here how I do it. It's really really easy and WAY cheaper than buying it. I started making it a while ago, and now that Bruce has started eating it, it's a skill that's coming in handy even more. All of the baby yogurts are loaded with sugar, and I like to feed Bruce organic foods. The whole milk organic yogurt is OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive for the small quart you get!

So here's what I do/have done. I now have a "yogurt maker" which is a pretty big misnomer since it doesn't do any of the "making." Basically the yogurt maker I have is just an incubator, but I've made it in the past in the oven and in the crock pot.

The "recipe" is as follows:
4 cups (1 quart) milk (I use whole/organic milk for Bruce's yogurt and skim milk for mine)
1/2 cup instant dry milk powder (helps make it thicker)
1/2 cup PLAIN yogurt (you can either take some from the previous batch you made, or buy it at the store, just make sure it has live, active cultures listed in the ingredients.)

Instructions:
- In a pot, combine the dry milk and milk and heat on medium to just below boiling. Basically when you start to see all the bubbles and know the boiling point is right around the corner. Make sure you keep stirring it to keep anything from burning to the bottom.
- Remove from heat and either put in a bowl of ice water or in the fridge for about 10-20 minutes to bring the temperature down to luke warm. (you want it to be cooler than 100 degrees or else it will kill the active cultures, but still warm).
- Add in the 1/2 cup of yogurt

Then you can do 1 of 3 things:
1) put it in your yogurt maker and let it sit for 4-10 hours depending on how firm/tart you like it. (it will continue to thicken when you put it in the refrigerator)
2) Pre-heat your crock pot on low heat, unplug and let sit for about 20 min to cool down a bit. Once you've done the above steps, pour in crock pot and wrap in a towel for insulation. Let it sit for about 8 hours away from drafts so that the inside stays warm.
3) Preheat your oven on the VERY lowest heat setting. Put a lid on the pot from above, wrap it in a towel and put it in the oven on a cookie sheet. Turn off oven and make sure the door stays closed for at least 8 hours. (MAKE SURE THE TOWEL IS NO WHERE NEAR THE HEATING ELEMENT!)

And there you have it...

To make it sweeter you can add sugar, artificial sweetner, or honey (no honey for babies though...).

To add flavorings you can add: baby food (even for the adult yogurt!), fresh fruit chopped or put through the blender, vanilla extract for vanilla flavored yogurt, cinnamon, or anything else you can think of!

6 of 6: Finally the end! Christmas Morning

NOTE: There are SIX new blog posts here...feel free to scroll through them all or ignore, but they go back to Thanksgiving because that's how far behind I am!

Bruce's first Christmas morning. There are more pictures on my parent's camera that show him by Santa's cookies and milk and some other classic shots, but those will have to wait. I'm sure I'll get them posted by next Christmas!

Pops holding up his present. Matching South Aftrican rugby shirts for Big Bruce and Little Bruce.

Bruce posing in his McGuire cap that you can't see. No the picture's not sideways, he's laying down.

Bruce took a nap for a little while Christmas morning and when he woke up all that was left was his "big" present. He got a leapfrog activity table that he's a very big fan of!

Phew! I'm done! That's all for now folks... I need to quit these marathon postings! But why be organized about this, it's not like anything else is. Might as well run my blog the way I run my life...by the seat of my pants! :-)