And a Few More of My Favorite Things

So I found out that Nike makes amazing workout clothes. I found this great pair of yoga pants at the Nordstrom Rack(NR) about a year or so ago and want to wear them every day. The problem with finding something at the NR you love is you will never be able to locate it again. After fruitless internet searches and checking the NR constantly I gave up. Luckily though I found these other GREAT Nike perfect Dri-FIT pants .



The style is called 'Perfect Fit' and they were 40% off. Slightly flared with small side slits. Great material and a bit of a band at the top, slight compression to hold your tummy in. I also love that they come in actual sizes instead of S, M, L to cover who knows what. I am not going to tell you I bought four pair and have been living in them ever since :)

The next item on my list is the Supermarket Diet Cookbook.



I LOVE this cookbook. The recipes are very healthy, most take only about 30 minutes, there is a large variety, and they taste amazing! We use this cookbook when we aren't dieting just for balanced easy meals. We all give a quick star rating (out of 5 stars) right on the recipe page so we can remember how much we liked each recipe. If you are looking for some new recipes seriously give this book a try and just don't think about the name.

My last favorite thing for today would have to be my little dog Huxley.

I had no idea how much I would love having a little dog around to play with and cuddle. I'm not going to lie--he is a lot of work. I think he has been really good for my depression though. When we got him late last year I was going to "tolerate" him for Braeden and Ryan's sake. I really was not that excited. I was completely wrong. He won me over.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Marvis Toothpaste:

This is a fun little luxury that makes me happy every day and night. While it seems a little on the expensive side, when you think about how long a tube of toothpaste lasts, it is totally affordable. I discovered Marvis toothpaste a few years ago and haven't found anything I like better. The cool retro tube with the handcrafted screw top makes leaving it out on the counter ok. The different flavors are great for mixing it up a bit.



My favorite is the Jasmin Mint (a little bit minty and a little bit floral), followed by a tie for Aquatic Mint & Classic Strong Mint. The only one I didn't really care for was the Ginger Mint, which surprised me because I am a bit fan of ginger. It was a little strong and burned my mouth a little bit. Beauty.com has free shipping on any order right now and you also get to pick 3 free samples. They carry the Marvis toothpastes regular size so you can get a full sizes tube for as little as $9 shipped!



Wii Fit:

While this is not really hard, sweaty workout material, it works for me. The games are fun and don't take too long. You can use it just long enough for a quick body test (about 5 minutes or less) to see how you are doing with weight, BMI, balance, etc. I really like the aerobics, the yoga, and the balance games.

It's also just a good place to keep track of your progress as you set weight loss goals. It graphs your progress so you can see how far you have come. It's nice because you can password protect your profile so no one else can see your actual weight and BMI (great when you have an eight-year-old who likes to tell the world things you don't want them to know).


I love how it asks the other members of your family questions about you when they are using it like, "how does micabee's posture look recently?"

Whole Foods

This year I have really enjoyed shopping at our local Whole Foods. The variety, consistency, and just beautiful food options just make me happy. I also like purchasing locally produced items when possible and this is a great place to do this especially during the colder seasons when the farmer's market is closed. ALL of the eggs at whole foods are free range and affordable. Also, the 365 brand (Whole Foods Private Brand) is a great value and you can buy almost anything in this brand. Whole foods believes in fair trade and humane animal treatment.



If you need a creative gift idea this season, this really caught my eye. Purchase a Feed 100 bag for $30. The next part is taken from the whole foods blog.

"The Bag
Designed solely for Whole Foods Market, the FEED 100 reusable bag is made of organic cotton and natural burlap and is produced with a commitment to ensuring fair treatment of workers, livable wages, overtime pay and safe, clean working environments. It is a lightweight, fresh white tote that collapses easily into its base, which is a zippered rectangular burlap pouch emblazoned with the FEED logo and the number 100. An eco-friendly fashion statement that helps educate people about hunger and what we can do to alleviate it. It’s perfect to use for your groceries and for about 50 million other things too.

The Good
Each bag purchased provides 100 nutritious meals to hungry school age children in Rwanda through the United Nation World Food Program’s School Feeding Program. In 1994, Rwanda lost 800,000 men, women and children to genocide; as a result, the nation’s economy and social structures were decimated. School feeding is one of the most effective solutions to stopping hunger and breaking the poverty cycle. Since 2003, the World Food Program has provided free, nutritious school lunches to Rwanda’s children in 300 schools in the most food-deprived areas. Each hot, nutrient-rich meal draws boys and girls to school, helps them learn, and may be the only meal they have all day. School attendance has grown from 63 percent to 93 percent, and to help close the educational gender gap, girls with good attendance may receive extra rations to take home to their families. Girls with just a few years of education have fewer children, have them later in life, and are better prepared to care for and educate them.

The Cost
When a Whole Foods Market customer buys a FEED 100 bag, $10 is donated by the FEED Foundation to the World Food Program’s Rwanda School Feeding operation, with the remainder going to cover the costs of making the bag and oversight of the program by the FEED Foundation. The bags are produced with high-quality, 100% organic cotton and natural burlap. All FEED bags are made as eco-friendly and fairly as possible in audited and certified fair labor facilities. To further help the initiative, Whole Foods Market is not making any profit on these bags – in fact many of our stores are offering this bag for a special price of $25 for the holiday season – kicking in our own donation to help feed hungry children. If you aren’t close to one of our stores, check out online ordering through FEED."

Stay tuned for more of my favorite things this year!

Punishment Soup

Braeden forgot his homework at school again today. His teacher is very chill about all things so it's not really a big deal to him. I really don't know what we are going to do next year though if he gets a normal teacher.


I have tried to not worry about it too much this year, but Ryan had had enough today when Braeden forgot it again. I decided that he would have to do something else so he found a book and he copied one of the pages in it with his best handwriting.

This is something we should probably do more since he completes his homework in 5 minutes because it is so easy for him. His writing definitely could use some work.

I'm always amazed at how he doesn't mind at all when he has to do something because he got in trouble. He just smiles and says ok and then does it without complaining. He just lets it roll right off of him. I think he likes getting in trouble more than not getting in trouble because he has the awful guilt like I have. If he can do something that he thinks remedies or is a punishment for what he did, he is happy to do it.

This can make life frustrating sometimes when conversations go like this:

"Go to your room"
"Ok, I was feeling like reading anyway"

"No reading"
"Well I'm pretty tired and need a little nap"

"No Wii for a week"
"That's ok, in 8 days I can play the Wii again, I think I'll just go play with the dog."

"If you complain so much about that for dinner, I'm making Punishment Soup (split-pea soup)"
"Mom, this is the most delicious punishment soup ever, can I have it again tomorrow?"

To this day he still talks about how much he likes "Punishment Soup"

With the frustration also comes something more. Something I can't explain that just makes me happy for him. Happy that no matter what comes his way in life he can turn Pea soup into a delicious meal.