Housework Still SUCKS

I’m not even gonna do the math on how long it’s been, but hi! I’m still here. Being a SAHM has become my whole world – and by that I mean I’ve been drinking copious amounts of caffeine and handling foot and shoulder pain while my spawn gets bigger and more willing to endanger himself by crawling up onto the table in search of a banana.

Finally, though, I think I’ve managed to come up with a housekeeping schedule that actually keeps my house clean. We’re a month and one nasty cold into the new plan, but so far it’s not too bad.

Yeah, check out that sweet screenshot action. Mmmh.

As you can see, I do EVERYTHING, but considering my husband earns all the money so I can spend the day in comfy pants and not dealing with retail customers (and his bad back makes mowing impossible) I consider it a good trade. Most days.

The first week was the hardest because everything was SOOO gross in the kitchen and nothing was tidy to begin with. Now, though, I’m usually done by lunch time and free to play with the baby all afternoon. A quick clean up after dinner and once the kiddo is down leaves me a good couple of hours for LOTRO or Sims before bed. The other night hubs and I actually got in a movie before shuffling off to bed.

Now, I promise not to go all Happy Homemaker on you, because I’m gonna start a new site for that, but this schedule means I can hopefully return to doing more than binge-watching Midsomer Murders while the spawn naps.

This kid is a victim of Moana-itis.

Oh yeah, baking! Or… frying, as the case may be.

Gulab Jamun

Our first foray into making dessert for the week has been one of my choices, Gulab Jamun. Or, as my “Betty Crocker’s Indian Home Cooking” book calls them, “doughnut rounds in rose syrup.” I think I prefer the proper name… It sounds less like fried hush puppies in syrup.

To begin with, the recipe and instructions.

Ignore my poor handwriting.

Yeah, I’m that lazy. I didn’t even scan that shit in. Phone camera, baby!

So, as you can tell from the handwritten notes, things didn’t quite go to plan. To begin with, we made a double batch which necessitated an emergency run to the store for more dry milk. We were about a quarter cup shy. So, while the hubs made the run, I started on the syrup. It boiled, but I think it should have maybe boiled for a minute or so before I followed the recipe’s order to turn it down to medium.

Also, we used rose water instead of rose essence, because that’s what Wegmans had. I am not hunting through Baltimore and DC for rose essence. The recipe said to use 1 tsp rose water per ½ tsp of essence, but I just used ½ tsp of the rose water… because I didn’t notice that instruction (on the picture page!) until after everything was done.

Hubs got back with more milk, a different brand and texture, but whatevs, and we mixed up the dough. Dry. Crumbly. Impossibly tiny balls. A single batch makes twelve. I managed twelve with a double batch, then divided each shooter marble-sized ball into normal marble-sized balls.

I also didn’t have quite enough veg oil, so in went a few tbsp of cooking veg lard. Good ol’ Crisco.

No, I didn’t paint the kitchen avocado, despite my use of Crisco…

I was delighted to discover that they puff during frying, and puff further while soaking up the “essence” syrup for three hours. By the time all was said and done we had delicious Gulab Jamun the size of ping pong balls in golden rose scented syrup. We’ve kept ourselves to three per night to keep from overdoing them, and with a night out last night, we just might make it all the way to Friday! Maybe I’ll actually make Indian food on Friday for our last night of this dessert.

Mmm… Tikka masala.

Et voila! Our Gulab Jamun.

Oh, yeah. We made those! Go make your own!

So, I’m still here…

Holy crap. A year. It’s been a year since I posted and it’s amazing how much has changed.

This motivational shit ain’t how it went down.

So, a month after my last post I discovered I was WITH CHILD! I’m barely bouncing back from the foot issue and suddenly I’m pregnant. So long, dreams of running 5k. So long, dreams of work. So long, staying awake! I didn’t suffer the sitcom-esque morning sickness that I know many women are afflicted with, but man was I tired. I slept like a teenage boy on summer vacation. So much sleep.

Compounding the discovery of my impending spawn was the decision to purchase a home. We literally closed on the house the week we found out, and suddenly what seemed like a logical next step for housing became ADULT STUFF. The stuff grown ups do. House, baby, property taxes, escrow!! All those words you associate with mom jeans and ties for father’s day…

Who are these people? Why are they so happy? Why are they so white? Is someone forcing them to wear pastels? The longer I look at them, the more I’m sure there’s someone off camera forcing them to smile at gunpoint…

Now, a year after my intended list (so much for that shit), I live in my own home. I have a three month old sleeping in his bassinet as I enjoy a morning cup of decaf (darn boob juice) and bake some banana bread for breakfast while listening to jazz. And oh, the posts that are coming.

On your marks.

Get set.

BAKE!

This show is just the best. Seriously. Mary Berry is a fucking treasure and Paul Hollywood haunts my bread…

No, I’m not in the tent. First off, I’m American. Secondly, the commute each weekend would kill me! But, I am engaging in my own ten week baking challenge (with other stuff thrown in here and there.

The hubs and I have each chosen five dessert recipes that we will make for the coming week. Interspersed with these challenging sweets, I will be baking other recipes and documenting their success, challenge level and possible failures here. Woot! So, pull out your treadmills, dust off your ellipticals and re-lace your gym shoes. It’s baking time.

You didn’t really think you’d escape a picture of my spawn, did you? BASK IN THE ADORABLE!

 

Summer is coming!

So…

How are you?

How’ve you been?

Been a while, huh?

I’d love to say my absence was due to something awesome like fighting space nazis on the moon, but the truth is that I am boring and turned into a couch potato. On the upside, I maxed the leveling for my character in Mass Effect on 1 and 2, and am now working on 3.

Okay, so stuff did happen. I moved out of MD and am now living in CA. Yay! We’re too far north for truly hot beach weather, but it is pretty here when the fog isn’t obscuring my view of the ocean. Plus, wild turkeys everywhere.

I broke my ring finger in November, but it’s healing well. I can’t play volleyball again until July or August, but that just means I have time to focus on losing weight. I’ve seriously gained like 15 lbs since I last blogged. Yuck.

To help with the weight loss and strength/muscle gain, I’ve been doing strength training at the gym and running with the hubby, though I’m still only at 3k. Don’t worry. 5k isn’t far off. I also decided to start swimming again. I haven’t done that with any regularity since I was a teenager. I don’t feel comfortable rocking a 2-piece, though, so I bought a one piece and it’s fab!

Esther Williams!

It’s one of those rare finds that was totally worth the money. My biggest problem with swimsuits is the fit. My girls require a bit of support, and my upper torso doesn’t quite match my hips (which are definitely Italian childbearing hips), but this beauty works wonderfully! It’s also a quality make, so I don’t have to worry about busting a seam for the next couple of months as I work the flab off my butt (not pictured here).

So as soon as Aunt Flo heads back to Reno I’m heading to the pool!

Couch to 5K

For those of you who don’t know, my husband is a runner. I’m not a huge fan of running, but since I spend a majority of my time home alone I realized I needed some form of exercise.

I was playing pickup volleyball for a while at a gym north of my town, but because of the time it started and the cost to play it was rather prohibitive. Six bucks to play, an hour there, starting at six in the evening and driving home between nine and ten at night… Yeah, rough.

If I fail to get some exercise, the penalty is Inui juice.

Anywhoo… I ran across a program called Couch to 5K. It starts you off slow and eventually works you up to running a 5k (just over three miles). There’s the original C25K program and then the podcast 5K101 with music and the dj cheering you on and announcing intervals for you. Week one of the C25K starts you with a five minute walk to warm you up and then intervals of running for 60 seconds and walking for 90 seconds. This goes on twenty minutes then use the walk as a cooldown. Week one of the 5k101 program is roughly week three or four of the C25K program.

Ryan has been working on the first week with me, but with the hurricane my schedule was a bit off. As a result, I’ll be redoing week one, but since Ryan goes back to work on Monday I’ve realized there’s no way I’ll be able to run and watch a clock at the same time. To help myself until I get up to the 5K101 week one, I created my own weeks one through three with countdowns to listen to on my run.

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

If anyone’s interested, I’ve posted them here. I’m not sure if downloading is possible, but if not then let me know and I’ll email them to you.