No-Bake Energy Bites

I saw this recipe I wanted to try last month and forgot about it until my BFF reminded me today. These are delicious bite-sized granola bar substitutes that are natural, healthy(er) and full of goodness. Oh, and they're ridiculously easy to make.  I messed with the recipe a bit to fit my pantry items and  eliminated the fridge time, due to my sense of urgency for them to be done in time for Kaylin to get off the bus.

1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup flax seed meal
1/2 cup M&Ms (or chocolate chips - I'd use mini ones next time)
1/4 cup cocoa (optional)
1 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients. Either refrigerate dough for 1 hour and roll into 1-inch balls OR (if you're lazy, like me) scoop with a small cookie scoop and refrigerate on a wax-paper covered plate. I was impatient and didn't wait to refrigerate them...they were delightful at room temperature, thankyouverymuch!

Yields: 2 dozen

When Inspiration Strikes, I Organize

While preparing to pack for our vacation last week, I realized that our "Kids Closet" downstairs was a disaster.  Not only was it unsightly, but there were too-small shoes mixed in with shoes without mates, not to mention that I was having a horrible time finding matching socks to bring on our trip.

If you look at the floor, you might be able to see why I was so overwhelmed. Beneath the heaping piles of nothingness, there were 6 baskets: 1 sock basket per child and 1 shoe basket per child. What a mess! 

I immediately started tearing it apart.

Within 30 minutes, the task was complete. I pulled out dozens of shoes to sell or toss and a gazillion lonely, matchless socks. 

I realized that the shoes in the baskets weren't getting worn, they were just getting buried and scuffed from stuff thrown on top of them.  I gave the shoe baskets their own shelf and put play shoes in them, leaving the door cubbies for everyday and nicer shoes. There were so many extra pockets, I even put a few of my own shoes in there.

This made me want to rip apart other closets in the house, but I was too consumed with packing  five people for an eight day trip.  You may see more Spring Cleaning before and after pictures from me over the next few weeks, as inspiration strikes...!

January Goal Update

photo credit

My goal for January was to end the month at the same weight as when I made my list of 12 Goals for 2012.

In short, I failed.

To be honest, I didn't expect to achieve this goal. But I couldn't bring myself to write, "Only gain 5 lbs by January 31st." 

The goal was set on the 6th, then I proceeded to spend 12 of the remaining 25 days of January on vacation.  First, on a business trip for a FOOD company and most recently on a pre-paid, all-you-can-stuff-into-your-face cruise.  Not gaining weight was a lofty, but unrealistic, goal.

I ate and drank to my heart's content on my business trip, returning home 4 lbs heavier after merely 4 days. That week, I worked out like a crazy woman and ate modestly, losing all 4 lbs before leaving for the cruise.

Then the first few days of our family vacation were a joke: I didn't drink any alcohol (I can't imagine how many calories that saved me, considering my drinks of choice are all sugary, fruity concoctions) but I helped myself to more than my fair share of second helpings and desserts. By day 3, my pants were already snug and I felt disgusting.

So the latter half of the cruise, I was much more careful. I ordered egg-white omelets with veggies and oatmeal for breakfast and stuck to fish and salad for dinner. But I couldn't resist the desserts...they were heavenly! And I knew I was going to deprive myself once I was home, so I indulged.

I found a scale in the ship's gym toward the end of the trip and it said that I gained 15 pounds. I almost choked until my brother in law said that the scale weighed him as 20 lbs heavier than his pre-cruise weight, so I didn't take it too seriously.  Regardless, it made the actual 5 lb weight gain much easier to accept when I got home to my own scale.

I hope to get a pound or two down under my January 6th weight by the end of next week, just in time to go on yet another business trip, where we'll be taste-testing all of the new food products for our upcoming catalog. That way, maybe I'll be even when I get off the plane on the 12th.  It's warped logic, I realize, but it's keeping me from ballooning up from all of this travel in a short period of time.

I've already lost a couple pounds of water weight since Sunday, so I'm not too depressed about not meeting January's goal. I will end the month 3 lbs more than I'd hoped, but my diet is already substantially better than it has been and my body is craving more healthy food and regular exercise again.

Someone asked me recently how I don't fluctuate in clothes sizes. I gain and lose a few pounds here and there all the time, but the truth is: I only have one size in my closet.  I'm comfortable in my own skin when I'm a size 10, so I got rid of all of the size 8s (I can dream, but I have to work too hard to stay that small) and the size 12s and 14s (oh yes, I was busting out of 14s during my college days).

The bottom line is this: if I only have size 10 clothes in my closet, I am forced to get serious about my food choices if they become snug.

So there you have it!  I failed to meet my January goal, but I'm totally fine with it.  Now to reset my body clock to begin getting up early to successfully accomplish February's goal tomorrow.  No more vacation mode for me!

I'm ready for a vacation from my vacation!

This evening, we returned from an amazing, week-long cruise to the Mexican Rivera.  I just went through 231 new emails, returned 10 voice mails and a dozen texts, not to mention unpacking five suitcases and two backpacks, starting the first of many loads of laundry and giving my kids a proper bedtime routine for the first time in 10 days. My house is filthy (I was too overwhelmed last week to clean) and my car is a disaster. The car wash is calling to me.

(Does anyone else feel like you're rocking back and forth?  No...?  I think something's wrong with my office chair.  Maybe I need to put on my sea bracelets one more time...just for tonight...)

This cruise was initiated as a 40th birthday gift to Mike from his parents.  They treated our whole family, including Mike's brother, to this trip.  Pretty incredible, right?

Some quick observations before sharing pictures:

- Cruising is an amazing way to travel!  So much better than flying. 

- Not everyone loves cruising.
- Not everyone loves cruising with small children.
- Cruising without small children is significantly more relaxing than cruising with small children.  Especially when they are your own children.
- Cruising with small children will make certain husbands realize that they do not wish to cruise with small children ever again. And that our children's next cruise experience will not be prior to the 2020 decade.

- Not everyone loves the "intimate" cabin size of each room on a cruise ship...especially when productivity is required and antsy children are confined to this small space.

- Separate rooms for the kids (or separating an adult with each child) is a must.

- A baby monitor, specifically a video monitor, is a huge bonus while traveling: Naptimes can continue without an adult in the room. Halla!

- It is impossible to eat healthy portions on an all-you-can-eat cruise. Maybe not impossible for you, but it is seemingly impossible for me. And I have the new waistline to prove it.

- Escargot tastes fine when floating in butter and covered in bubbling cheese.

- Frog legs taste like chicken.

- 24 hour ice cream availability is dangerous for the Roose family. Myself excluded...my weakness was the Melting Chocolate Cake, which was only available once per evening. So I got one every. single. evening.

- Dessert after breakfast is a daily occurrence on cruise ships.

- Doing the Elliptical while on a moving vessel makes makes me want to vomit.

- Jogging while on a moving vessel makes me want to vomit.

- Walking at a steep incline while tightly grasping the top of the treadmill makes me queasy, but not fully nauseous.

- Experiencing the post-workout headrush on a moving vessel also makes me want to vomit.

- Talking about vomit while my head still thinks it's on a moving vessel is not a smart idea...I now feel nauseous.

- Jason doesn't like having strangers take him to the bathroom.

- When Jason is at Camp Carnival for an extended period of time, he will pee his pants if he is not taken to the bathroom.

- If you put a diaper on Jason while he is at Camp Carnival, it will be dry at the end of the day.

- If you try putting underwear back on him the next day, he will pee his pants again.

- Take more underwear than you think is necessary when traveling with a two year old, otherwise he will spend the last two days of his vacation in diapers.

- Camp Carnival is more fun after kids have made friends.

- After kids have made friends, they refuse to leave Camp Carnival.

- When kids refuse to leave Camp Carnival, they do not go to bed until 10:00pm.
- Kids who go to bed at 10:00pm are very sleepy the next day.
- Sleepy kids are cranky kids.

- Being out of our routine made me realize how dependent comfortable my kids have become with predictability.  They love fun, new things, but until Type-A Mom and Dad have their bearings, excitement gets squelched.  Which is not fun for anyone.  Thankfully, it only takes this Mom and Dad a couple of days to settle down in a new environment.
- Traveling with 3700 strangers is a great way to catch a cold.
- Eating poorly is a great way to decrease your immune system so your body can't fight the germs from a cold.

- Taking a picture of the date written on a piece of paper seems ridiculous at the time, but is invaluable when sorting through vacation photos after a trip. (idea stolen from Becky Higgins)

- Even after all of the chaos that erupts from family vacations, the fun memories are what linger in my mind.
- Vacations are great, but sometimes getting back to life as usual is pretty nice, too.
- Tomorrow I have the enormous task of deprogramming my kids from vacation mode.
- There truly IS no place like home.  As Ryan said tonight, "I walked into the house and took a big sniff and was so glad that it smelled like home again!" 
- I can't wait to sleep in my own bed tonight.

And now...for the visual explanations of our experience:

This was the best. salsa. ever. Made {literally} by hand, right before our eyes.

Proof that I tried escargot!

ice cream makes everyone crazy

frog legs

I am hoping to get back into my routine tomorrow. I miss homeschooling. And my friends. And blogging. And vegetables. And proper exercise. And food that isn't drowning in butter and cheese. I do not miss laundry. Or driving in traffic. Or dishes. Or cleaning. And I only slightly miss cooking, but don't worry...that will be cured in a day or two!

Ahhh...it's good to be home.

Meal Plan 1/30/12

Monday - Ravioli with Balsalmic Brown Butter Sauce
Tuesday - Salmon with quinoa and veggies
Wednesday - Tacos
Thursday - Spaghetti Carbonara
Friday - Beef Stir Fry
Saturday - Crock Pot Chicken Burritos
Sunday - Rice, Bean and Cheese Casserole

Ready to Pay It Forward

I am glad to be back after my four-day, media-free Tastefully Simple Leadership Conference in San Antonio, TX.  It was the longest I've been away from my whole family in...well, since I started a family!

I left on Thursday with the painful realization that I would not know a single soul. My roommate was a stranger, no one on my team was attending, I was really only going because I'd earned the trip for free. This all occurred to me as I packed last week.  What was I thinking...going to a conference with 500 strangers?!?!

My sweet mom prayed with me on the way to the airport, but butterflies still crept into the pit of my stomach. 

As I boarded the plane, God reminded me of the power of prayer.  I passed several center seats, choosing to sit in between two ladies. (Less likelihood that they would smell stinky or attempt to flirt with me - can you tell I've had fun experiences when flying solo?) I sat down, got situated, and pulled out the book that our founder and CEO wrote.  The gal on the aisle immediately asked my name.

"Katie Roose," I said, searching her face to see if she looked familiar. Her face lit up as she said, "I know exactly who you are!  I'm Melody - you're on Jen's team, right?"  

There were a total of three Phoenix-based consultants flying in to attend this 500++ attendee conference. And I sat by the ONE rep on my flight?  Seriously God?  You are hilariously ironic.

After two hours of chatting, Melody and I swapped cell numbers and she seemed willing to let me follow her around like a puppy. I was thankful (so thankful!) to know someone...a familiar face in a sea of people who had most likely attended these events in the past.  

I didn't realize how thankful I was until I turned around at some point, later that afternoon, and Melody had vanished. She went back to get her water bottle in the room we'd just left and I found myself feeling awkward and alone. When she appeared again, I made sure she knew just how glad I was that we met on the plane!

We didn't hang out every moment of every day of the trip, but being able to text her to say, "Heading down to breakfast," was such a comforting feeling for my (suddenly) insecure personality. Especially since most of the people at the conference knew someone...or a dozen...or 50...

I left on Sunday afternoon promising myself that I'd make a conscious effort to look for people who might be traveling alone in the future.  This conference pumped me up and I plan to attend many others, hoping to bring girls from my team with me, but I'm excited at the possibility of being someone's Melody next time.  In fact, I plan to pray that God would lead me to just the right person (or people) who might be feeling lonely and insecure.

We get so caught up in ourselves and in our own comfort level, being around certain friends or getting to know certain people in social situations that too often the quiet ones get lost in the crowd.

Are you willing to step out and help bridge the gap for someone in your next social situation? Whether at school, church, work or at a neighborhood pot luck...keep your eyes (and heart) open for opportunities to make a new friend.

My lifelong friend, Michelle, drove out from Houston to visit me on Saturday.  We ran into "George Jefferson" on the Riverwalk outside of the Hard Rock Cafe.  Most of you, dear readers, are probably too young to even know his character from the 70s! But we were excited to have a momentary brush with fame...

Meal Plan 1/16/11

Monday - Chicken Enchilada Quiche
Tuesday - {Crock Pot} Minestrone Soup
Wednesday - Turkey Tetrazzini
Thursday - leftovers
Friday - {Crock Pot} White Chicken Chili
Saturday - Chicken Parmesan

Bringing Back Q&A Wednesday with Kay-tay

What ever happened to Q&A Wednesday? Somehow, I stopped answering questions from the comments this Fall. But it's time to bring it back.

So this post has two purposes:

1. Please feel free to leave a comment with a question you'd like me to answer.

2. If you would like to see more posts on a certain topic (it feels like I rarely post new recipes anymore) - leave a comment with that request, too. 

I know I have a few new homeschoolers following my blog, yet there are some old faithful readers who couldn't care less about that piece of my life.  I guess I've just been wondering what you'd like to read about.

Crafts?

Organization?

Cooking?

Goals?

Parenting ideas?

My boring daily life...?  (that was for you, Mom)

Please take a minute and leave a comment with your thoughts.  Thanks!