Abandon Ship!

This past weekend we ventured up to our lake house with the intent of getting our boat from the marina. Sometimes plans don't pan out. 

My husband, father-in-law, and two brother-in-laws went to the marina. While they were there they discovered that the battery had been stolen and our steering cable had snapped. Oh what fun! 

Apparently they caught the person that thieved all of the batteries from the marina and surrounding neighbors. It was a kid who had a father with a tremendously long rap sheet. I guess this particular apple doesn't fall far from the tree. 

The steering cable snapped when they put the boat back in the water before my family arrived at the marina. This put a hitch into our weekend plans but I suppose I should look at the positives. I am positive I would have freaked out if I went to the marina and received all of the wonderful news. I am positive I would have freaked out if the steering broke while I was on the boat. I am also positive that I would have freaked if I had to paddle a 28ft pontoon boat back to the marina after said steering broke. I am just glad I wasn't there and didn't have to deal with it.

All in all it wasn't a bad weekend even if we didn't get the boat from the marina. I had a wonderful time with my family and can't wait to go back to enjoy time on the repaired boat!

Homemade Almond Butter

This past weekend I decided to try my hand at making my own almond butter. The process was very simple and the result was amazing.

I did two batches of almond butter, one raw and one roasted. The only difference was for the roasted batch, I roasted my almonds in the oven for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees before throwing them in the food processor. I did have to use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl to allow everything to be processed. I added a little salt once the butter started to get to the creamy stage. 

The raw butter took a little longer around 15 minutes. The roasted almond butter took around 12 minutes. All in all it was a very productive day. This will save me about $2 per jar and I know exactly what ingredients are used! I can't wait to try it in my protein bars.

Going "Nuts"

I somewhat recently discovered that I cannot eat peanut butter. PB & J was my go to sandwich all through elementary school. I don't have a severe reaction to it but I do tend to become nauseous. Enough so that I have to take something and hope I don't see it a second time. It took several times of ingesting it before I realized it was the culprit. The pain that had me in the fetal position on the couch no longer controls me.

My favorite candy bars tended to be ones with chocolate and peanuts or chocolate and peanut butter. Needless to say I was pretty disappointed when I found out. Granted I don't need the candy and it's probably the best thing to ever happen to me. Since I can't eat my favorite candy anymore I have started making my own granola type protein bars. This helps me in 2 ways. One, I have something to eat for breakfast that is quick and easy. Two I have something to eat as a snack that is healthy and quite delicious. It satisfies my sweet tooth without destroying my nutrition goals.

With that being said my protein bars use almond butter instead of the dreaded peanut butter. I am not sure if you know this or not but almond butter is fairly expensive when compared to peanut butter. I checked out a recipe book from my local library and in it there was a recipe for making guess what, that's right, almond butter! Let me tell you I was so excited that I did a little dance. I have not had a chance to make it yet but I have no doubt that it will be just as delicious and just as flavorful as the stuff I buy at the store.

As a side note, I do a good portion of my shopping at Sam's Club and they have a 3 pound bag of whole almonds for about $10. I have been buying them to chop and put in my granola bars but now they will have a whole new purpose: making almond butter which will also be used in my granola bars.

You may be able to tell how excited I am about making my almond butter by now since I have dedicated an entire post about it. I hope to have time this weekend to give it a whirl. I will keep you posted!

Hidden Clutter

The other day I decided I was going to run some errands all by myself. I know, big step, right? I knew Tim wouldn't mind because he usually hates shopping. 

I started off by running to the grocery store and got ingredients to make some homemade protein bars. Then I ran to the auto parts store to get some new windshield wipers. I can now see out of my windshield and I don't have to worry about the weather. Then I ran to Target and got some baskets. Which leads to the rest of the story....

My downstairs bathroom closet has been bothering me for weeks. I got several baskets to organize it some time ago but I needed more baskets. The hodpodge of baskets and cut up cardboard boxes was driving me bonkers. While my husband was out I ripped out everything in the closet and reorganized it my newly acquired baskets. 

I had some leftover basic cardboard boxes that were also helping tame the clutter. They weren't the prettiest things in the world so I grabbed my spray paint and doused them in matte black. They actually look like they have some purpose and style now which is not saying much for my closet.

I didn't necessarily get rid of anything but I at least hid it in pretty containers. I won't be as closet-conscious

when someone takes a peak without me knowing.

All in all, I have to say it was a fairly productive day. My protein bars were quite delicious too.

Spring Training Part 2

So it turns out that I can't run the half marathon I was planning on. I was a little disappointed when I realized I had a wedding conflict. I was also relieved at the same time. I have never trained for something this quickly. 12 weeks doesn't seem that quick but I haven't been running very long which leads to many, many sore muscles.

I am taking this opportunity to reassess my goals. There is a 5K in May that I am planning on running and possibly a 10K in July. Once I hit these goals I may re-think the idea of running a half marathon. My legs are thanking me as I write this.

It's not that I don't want to run the half marathon. I was actually looking forward to trying to run 13.1 miles, to stepping outside of my comfort zone to accomplish something very different.  I guess I was just excited about the opportunity to run with my sister. We ran the Thanksgiving Day race a couple times in the past together but it has been a long time since I have been in running shape. I told her the news yesterday. We agreed to try to find another race to run together. Got to love family bonding!

Since I will be dialing back my training regimen I can start cross training again. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to handle both and I hated the idea of sacrificing my resistance training. I was beginning to miss the soreness from one too many squats. I guess I don't have to worry about that anymore.