http://www.jesser.org Matt and Jess share their world of cooking, crafts, projects, travel, photography, dogs, art, and fun. Mon, 30 Aug 2010 06:08:00 MST 360 http://www.jesser.org http://www.jesser.org/images/rss_title.gif 100 36 It was a nice weekend. We:

• picked raspberries from our own garden (again!)
• took a long walk
• made lasagna cupcakes (no frosting involved, just lasagna in muffin tins)
• went for a 10 mile (!) run in really hot weather
• played Bunco (well just me)
• had yummy brunch out
• said goodbye to our friends at the gym, and the gym itself (boohoo!)
• spent great time with some good friends
• and made a new friend
• cleaned the house (again)
• did about 10 loads of laundry (do our clothes mate while we sleep?)
• went shopping for deals for next summer and new clothes for the fall
• did NOT run a race
• won a $20 gift card
• made peach sangria
• had a wonderful time]]> http://www.jesser.org/index.php?pid=1614 http://www.jesser.org/index.php?pid=1614 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 06:30:00 MST http://www.jesser.org/index.php?pid=1614
So we joined. And we were all happy. Matt and I were happy because we had awesome facilities to workout in. We had tons of cardio machines with their own TVs. We had great classes and instructors. We had immaculate locker rooms and steam rooms that didn't skeeze us out to use. And the kids were happy because they loved the giant kids facility with its tons of toys, jumpy castle and AMAZING staff.

In the winter I went at least 4x/week and usually more like 6x/week. And this summer we still made it there at least 2x/week even though we were outside much much more. The kids practically begged to go.

And then this past week, disaster struck. I found out on Friday that they are closing down our beloved gym on Tuesday (yes, the one that is a mere 2 days away). We are shocked and really really upset about it.

Turns out they've had problems with their landlord all along. The landlord defaulted on his contractor and our gym had to pay some subcontractors out of their own pocket to get the place open. It has only gotten worse from there. The landlord hasn't paid taxes since 2008. I don't know all the ins and outs, but they are concerned that the county might close the buildings up any day now and all of us are left out in the (soon to be) cold. Overall, I feel like the corporation could have handled the situation much better. This has been looming big for some time and we had little warning. We also all feel like they could have been more proactive about finding some sort of solution to the problem (such as moving a mile down the road to the empty supermarket front, something they apparently considered and dismissed since they didn't want to have to explain the reasons to their members or something like that).

Of course I feel terrible for us. We are going to have to make a whole new routine. This gym has been a central part of our family life. And now we have to figure out a new place to go. But I'm really bummed for the great people who worked there who didn't ask for this and who are getting the worst end of the deal. Lots of them are in school and trying to just make ends meet. There are lots of single moms. It is terrible. Today we went to say goodbye, in particular to some of our favorite people at the childcare center. We're all really bummed. There's a very small chance they may be able to open again somewhere nearby, but it is months away at best.

So for now we'll be running outside and enjoying the fall. We'll be Shredding with Jillian and maybe trying out some p90x. And I'm sure, eventually, we'll find a new gym. But we are BUMMED. ]]> http://www.jesser.org/index.php?pid=1613 http://www.jesser.org/index.php?pid=1613 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:19:00 MST http://www.jesser.org/index.php?pid=1613
Breakfast
I almost always eat breakfast at the office, so my breakfast starts the night before when I pack it to have ready to grab on my way out the door. I go through cycles of breakfasts. For a while, I had a green monster smoothie and a piece of toast. For a while it was toast with peanut butter and banana on it. In the winter, I'm partial to oatmeal (Kashi heart to heart apple or homemade, using steel cut oats, done in a big batch over the weekend). Right now I'm really into toast and yogurt. I have a sandwich thin with some brummel & brown on it and plain yogurt with something to stir in, most typically fresh fruit or in a pinch, all-fruit style jam. I also love a good cup of tea (or two) in the morning. Green tea with mint is the choice right now. The weekends are a bit more scattered for breakfast. We tend to be racing around and frequently feed the kids an organic all natural POP TART on the way out the door or a bagel or something like that. Occasionally we'll have more leisure and we make eggs or oatmeal.

Lunch
Lunch is also made the night before. I will most frequently take leftovers from whatever dinner we've recently had. When there are no leftovers to be had, I make a sandwich on Sandwich Thins, with Laughing Cow and lunch meat. No matter what I eat, I almost always have a green salad with my meal. I mix around dressings and toppings (strawberries with blue cheese and poppyseed dressing, craisins and almonds with shittake vinaigrette, tomatoes and mozz with Italian, kalamata olives and cucumbers, no dressing needed). I have a special plastic container for my salads with a dressing dispenser. I try not to go out to lunch very often.

Snacks
I'm not a big believer in snacks. I don't really get or follow the 6 small meals thing because I'm sure for me they'd turn into 6 big meals. I do occasionally have a Fiber One bar, hummus and carrots or pickles for a snack, but I definitely try to avoid snacks!

Dinner
We make it a priority to have a home-cooked dinner most weeknights. Of course, being human if we have a particularly hectic night or a lot of errands to run or something, we may pickup or go out. Sometimes I get all ambitious and double a recipe to freeze with the theory that we can heat it up on a hectic night, but in practice, we are not great about actually using these up and so I don't do this a whole lot.

During the week, I tend to stick to mostly easy family favorites. I am happy to try a new (easy) recipe on a week night, but mostly, it's the ones we know well. I save most new and/or complicated cooking for the weekend, Fridays and Saturdays when we have friends and family over (and I don't care, I will experiment on my dinner guests - we have the pizza place on speed dial if it all goes terribly wrong!) or Sundays which are our (comparatively) slow day. I strive for at least one new meal and one meatless meal per week. I try not to make myself crazy with my own expectations, but it is a struggle on some days ... I am a bit too type A for my own good.

A few links:
• My favorite cookbooks on GoodReads
• Annie's Eats
• The Kitchn
• Everyday Food
• Cooking Light
• Dinner a Love Story]]> http://www.jesser.org/index.php?pid=1604 http://www.jesser.org/index.php?pid=1604 Wed, 25 Aug 2010 07:43:00 MST http://www.jesser.org/index.php?pid=1604 Yesterday, an awful thing happened.

This charming little guy,

with these absolutely cherubic curls,

got a haircut!!!

Overall, he did pretty well, especially with the help of some lovely distracting bubbles.
But mama DID NOT!

Now the curls are all gone and he looks sooo grownup. *SOB!!!*
Where did my little boy go?
Didn't we just get him like yesterday?]]> http://www.jesser.org/index.php?pid=1612 http://www.jesser.org/index.php?pid=1612 Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:20:00 MST http://www.jesser.org/index.php?pid=1612
I have been having too much fun making these custom white boards

The one on the left is our brand new menu board (which fell off the kitchen counter and smashed after I finished transferring all those teeny tiny letters!!!) and on the right is the one I made for a new college student for her dorm room.

Totally simple ... just frame, scrapbook paper and vinyl letters, cut by the Silhouette, of course. ]]> http://www.jesser.org/index.php?pid=1610 http://www.jesser.org/index.php?pid=1610 Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:12:00 MST http://www.jesser.org/index.php?pid=1610