The Saturday Six

 

One.

Ryan and I absolutely love making a quick breakfast for any meal of the day. We almost always have all the staples on hand for two or three variations on breakfast for when we need something in a hurry - or when we're just not feeling whatever was on the original menu plan. I saw this scrambled egg recipe on Skinny Taste last week and wanted to share it, because we actually make almost this very thing quite often. Scrambled eggs with mix-ins of whatever we have on hand is super easy and so filling! This recipe features eggs, cheese, mushrooms, and spinach. We have used all those things, but we are also known to throw in onions, bell peppers, or anything else we have on hand! And also...feta? Better in scrambled eggs than you might think. I was skeptical, but I tried it at a restaurant a few weeks ago, and it was excellent! 

Two.

I love iced tea, but I have never been a great hot tea drinker. I can do it, but it's just not my first love. HOWEVER! Many years ago, when I was single and lived in Marion, I made friends with a couple of young ladies who were living on campus for the summer. Our friendship started because I walked by their apartment every night on my way to the athletic fields for my exercise walks, and they were usually out on the porch, enjoying the evening. One night they invited me in for tea, and it was the first time I'd ever learned about tea that didn't come all ground up in a black powder in the grocery store aisle. They had all kinds of leaves and petals and herbs and I do have to say...it was an intriguing and memorable cup of tea. I thought of it when I read this post. A whole tea GARDEN???? I have a feeling if I could live next to this blogger, I'd be a tea drinker. 

Three.

I'm going to share this post because I find it fascinating, but I will be completely up-front and say I really don't think I could do this. The writer eats a plant-based diet and the post shares recipes and resources for doing just that. I have known some really admirable people who have chosen to change their diet (and I use the term diet to mean way of eating, not a fad to lose weight) to accommodate health concerns or allergies, and I think it's courageous. I'm sure some (many? all?) have gotten to a point where they are willing to do whatever it takes to feel great again. Perhaps if faced with those same choices, I could be braver than I think I am, and I could try all plant-based. But I am a thorough meatatarian, and I am just not sure I could give it up entirely! Having said all that, the possibilities of what you can do on a plant-based diet really do intrigue me. 

Four.

I grew up on good old all-American food. My dad wasn't (and still isn't!) a fan of any style of food that didn't fall into the classic meat and potatoes food groups. No pizza, no tacos, no Chinese take-out...none of it. So as an adult, I've discovered the joy of cooking other flavors, and I really like most of them! Ryan and I have a handful of recipes we like that have a Greek flair to them, and this recipe is going on my to-make list. We like everything listed in the ingredients, with chickpeas being the bottom of that particular list for us. They're okay. They're not my favorite. And I had to look up radicchio. I didn't know that I knew what it was! But isn't this such a pretty salad??? So colorful! 

Five.

Do you like fruit-infused water? Here's a random fact...I actually don't. I have tried it several times as an adult (it was a crowd favorite when I worked at the station) but I just don't like it. I love water, but not fruit-infused water. But if you do, here are some recipes for you to try! (Also fun fact...she talks about how water was the key to her weight loss and how it helped her kick cravings and a bunch of other things that I have ALWAYS heard to be true about water. I adore water and drink even more per day than she says she does, but it does NONE of these things for me. How did I miss out on all of that???)

Six.

And rounding out the list this week is the recipe for roasted vegetables we ate one week ago today...which led us to trying roasted beets for the first time! We declared that while we find ourselves unlikely to ever crave beets, we did like how they tasted roasted, and we also liked the color they added to the plate. Fun fact: Ryan was in the ER twelve hours later with a kidney stone and after some research, we learned that beets can actually aggravate kidney stones. Hmmmm......

Snackin'

 

You've seen the memes, right? "I'd like to cancel my subscription to 2022. I've experienced the 7-day trial, and I am not interested."

Is that you today? Done already?

I feel like, two weeks in, we've reached the point where people are becoming discouraged, because they haven't been able to keep up with all their resolutions. (Maybe there were just too many resolutions?)

I also feel like many resolutions people make in January have to do with eating habits. While I hardly imagine myself to be the poster child for snacking imitation, I did think I'd share with you some of the things I enjoy snacking on these days. Maybe you'll come up with an idea or two for yourself that might pull you away from...a Snickers bar?

* Ryan and I are pretty committed to our afternoon smoothies, which I shared the recipe for a little over a year ago. (I actually didn't realize we'd been drinking them that long!) Ryan has started adding beet powder to his for a little extra boost, but I stick pretty closely to what the recipe says. Sometimes we use this for breakfast if we're on the go and can't sit and eat yogurt. 

* I also often have a later evening snack of a Honeycrisp apple dipped in all-natural peanut butter. I did not like all-natural peanut butter when I first started using it, because I liked the firmer texture of regular version. But I actually like the all-natural version now and find the sugar in regular peanut butter kind of startling!

* Ryan and I found a trail mix at Aldi that we really like. Now it isn't the healthiest form out there, because it does have chocolate chips/white chocolate chips in it, but it is tasty, and we don't eat it by the ton. I find it really helpful if I have a long day of meetings with no time for a bigger snack in between. Gets me through the day!

* While I still enjoy my homemade granola on my yogurt, there have been some mornings where I just don't feel hungry enough for a whole serving of yogurt and granola. I've snacked on plain granola instead, and I really like it that way too!

* Ryan eats these more than I do, but he is really loving the little peanut butter filled pretzel bites from Aldi. We almost always keep some on hand and he likes having a handful of those when he's hungry.

* I haven't made these in FAR too long, but we both love these energy balls. I always make them when we go on vacation, but I fear I would just eat them all in one sitting if I kept them around on the regular. 

We're doing better about not keeping cookies, peanut butter cups, and sugary cereals around the house. We love them and can't stay out of them! :) 

How about you? What do you enjoy snacking on? Maybe you can inspire us with some healthy ideas?

Turns Out...I Can't Stop

Between yesterday's blog comments and private messages you've sent, it turns out I'm not allowed to stop posting about Lexi just yet. So while I do promise not to make this a dog blog, I guess I'll start keeping that promise next week. ;) 

Pupternity leaves really should exist. But they don't, so we are going to be the new parents going back to work TODAY. Little nervous about that, actually, because we've devoted the last two days to tons of hands-on training and habit forming, and now we'll have to divide our time a little more. But we had lots of fun adventures yesterday, so I thought I'd let you peek at a few of them!

She slept pretty well again for her second night. Woke up a few times in the night, whimpering, but I told her she was okay, and she went right back to sleep. (The whimpering and whining doesn't bother me...I know it's all part of it. But I really do try to make sure it doesn't impact the sleep of others in the building. After all, they didn't ask for a dog. So we try to get it under control fairly quickly.) 

Ryan got up with her first and when I wandered out a few minutes later, she was crazy wired!!! Clearly she feels safe and at home here now! The trembling and timidity of the first night are all gone! We are thankful she loves all her toys so much. (We purchased several different kinds, and she loves them all equally.) We rotate them in and out. Chew toys, tug-of-war toys, chasing toys...a little bit of everything. So we spent the morning playing...

Annnnnnd napping.

We're also working on getting her to like her bed and working toward being able to be apart from us. (She is NOT A FAN of separation.) Ryan had the audacity to move to the other side of the barrier this morning to make eggs. Travesty. 

We did a little bit of leash training for when we go on walks. She is so funny, because when anything is new to her, like a leash - or like food textures - she pounces and prances. So we saw a lot of that yesterday, with a variety of new textures and toys and trainings!

And then there was just general cuteness that had to be photographed. (In the first picture, the last location she knew the treats to be was on top of the coffee table. So she checked for them. They'd been moved.)

My sister Marco Polo'd me and I sent back a video of Lexi. She observed that our rug is Lexi camo. True story! LOL!

We are working on socialization in small doses so every day, we take her out to interact with whoever is here at the time. It's mostly been Sean and Sarah so far, but tenants too, now and then. She had a lot of fun with it yesterday! She was pretty proud to show off how she's learned to sit for treats. They took turns quizzing her. 

I think the highlight of her day was that she got her very first mail! Apparently she gets as excited about mail as I do. She was all up in my lap, inspecting each gift, and then she sat and played with her new toy bone while she listened to me read the letter. It was PRECIOUS.

It was her first rawhide, and she didn't know what to do with it first, but then she went crazy over it!! 

She actually wore herself out chewing on it, and Ryan was worn out from working so hard on all the training, so they conked out together!

Braeya is still deciding how she feels. She has full control over how much or little interaction she wants to have, and we're letting her take it at her own pace. She's not scared and she doesn't hate Lexi. She's just taking her time, and that's fine. Just because she's not in as many pictures right now doesn't mean she's neglected. I promise! 

The First Day

I promise not to turn this into a Lexi blog. But she's sort of the main event right now, and I really do think this world could use more puppy pictures. So hopefully you'll be okay with it? 

Ryan and I were off work yesterday and we were SUCH FIRST TIME PARENTS. It was embarrassing, really. All the puppy clutter and toys and food and treats and such. But we made it through the first whole day! We spent all our spare time watching more training videos and learning even more things about what we need to do to train her well!

The first night, she slept from midnight to 7 a.m. We thought that was pretty good - and we are aware that it was a gift we may not receive again in the near future!

We were off work yesterday, so we came out to the living room and got busy training. 

And that just wore us all out!

Possibly one of the least attractive photos I've ever posted, but loooooooooooooook!!!!!

And the whole rest of the day was a mix of playing, potty training, and naps!

We are letting Braeya take things at her own pace. Today she elected to have minimal contact, but she did wander through a few times and take some sniffs and ganders. 

We have a ton of work ahead of us, and we know it, but she's just so stinkin' precious. 

She's Home and We Love Her!

 

What a difference a day makes! After spending the first half of Sunday in the emergency room managing the pain for Ryan's kidney stones, we had a MUCH better day yesterday. Thank you so much for the kindness and love you shared on yesterday's post. He did have to take some pain meds after we got home from the hospital, but he was a brand new man yesterday. No clue if he still has the stones or if he's passed them, but he feels better, and for this, we are grateful. 

Yesterday afternoon, after we got off work for our weekend, we headed to pick up our baby girl! She's home! She's ours! And we only took two million pictures. :) Maybe two and a half. Maybe today is more of a photo essay sort of blog day. Can you handle some cute puppy pictures?

They took this of us before we left. Of course the chalkboard had to make an appearance.

She had just gotten a bath when we arrived, and they'd given her a potty break, so between the cold, the damp, and the excitement, she shivered for a while. But she nuzzled right in and snuggled me forever.

We brought her home and introduced her to Braeya. I was so happy that it went well. She and Braeya are actually about the same size right now, and Lexi isn't loud or fast, so she doesn't scare Braeya. There was no hissing or batting or anything in that first meeting. Braeya seemed content to sniff, and they've coexisted in the same spaces for the whole first evening! 

We did some training exercises with her, and they went very well! She likes treats. (Much like her mama.)

She met Sean and Sarah - and one of our tenants, and they're all smitten!

And then it was play time!

And then she was all worn out. For a minute.

She's the sweetest! And by the time you read this, we may have gotten NO SLEEP! Here's to our first night! 

Welcome home, sweet Lexi Grae. We love you so!