Monday Miscellany

Today's post is a hodgepodge. Just roll with me. 

We're still under the weather around here. Marshall's sad cough makes me ache. We tried a humidifier tonight, but somehow it made his cough worse? He started coughing every five minutes, and then when Terry sneaked in to turn off the humidifier the coughing suddenly reduced to once every half hour or so. What the heck? I thought they were supposed to help? Is our water (we use water filtered through the Brita) that bad? Any other suggestions for a little one's cough? We've done steam in the bathroom, warm chicken broth, extra breastfeeding, and saline solution/bulb syringe for reducing congestion. I guess now we'll just wait it out.

Thankfully, Marshall is still mostly upbeat and energetic, so we took a family break this evening to hit the park. Marshall got to show his dad how he climbs the stairs and goes down the slide at the playground!

...and then he licked the steering wheel on the fire truck thing.

Kids are weird.

I came across this post from 100 Days of Real Food about reducing waste at the grocery store. I have been trying to become more eco-friendly over the last few years and give myself a pat on the back for my efforts: reusable grocery bags, not buying stuff just for the sake of buying it (or accepting free stuff just because it's free), switching to cloth napkins at home, trying cloth diapers, etc. But this list is far more extensive--and it's all focused on the grocery store. I especially agree with numbers 7 through 9. Happy Earth Day!

Tomorrow is my amazing husband's birthday! I'll write up my usual sappy post tomorrow, but we're celebrating with a family dinner out (Marshall's first fancy restaurant!) and hopefully a clean bill of health all around.

Love that guy. And the little one, too.

Today I went to Costco to buy dates. I wanted to make my better-than-Larabars-and-maybe-sorta-kinda-getting-famous(-but-only-among-Terry's-coworkers)(-and-really-only-like-two-of-them), but Costco was out. Marshall and I wandered around and bought a pair of flip flops (Flojos for $9.99!) and two boxes of butter. 

By the way, the imitation Larabars recipe:

• 1 cup pitted dates
• 1 cup nuts (I usually use walnuts, but almonds have worked great)
• 2/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 teaspoon rock sea salt
• about a teaspoon of water 

Throw everything in a food processor. Process until all pieces are about the same tiny size. Roll tablespoonfuls into balls. If the balls are too crumbly, add a little water and process again. Store in fridge. 

Terry and I are obviously not working out while we're sick, but we've been talking about setting another running goal for May. The one we did in January (20 miles in 26 days) was fun, challenging, and just enough of a push to make sure we got active anytime we may have opted to skip the workout. This time we're thinking 25 miles in 31 days, which may be tough since it'll be a busy month. I also hope to increase my one-off mileage. I think my longest run postpartum is around 3 miles, so I'd like to be able to do 4 or even 5 (maybe without stopping?) by the end of May. Also, congrats to the Boston Marathon runners today!


Speaking of running, while my parents were here my mom forced me to go on a run with her, and we actually did really well! We tackled a HUGE steep hill (only ran up half of it, but still), and we felt pretty good about it. I'd say we were out for about 35 minutes and ran 15-20 of those. Not bad for two gals who don't run all that often anymore!

I finished my J.K. Rowling book! And I loved it. I'm excited to read the sequel, The Silkworm. But for now before bed I'm just rereading bits and pieces of Tina Fey's book Bossypants, which makes me laugh after a long day. 

Okay, it's 8:30 and I have important decisions to make: another (third) bowl of cereal? a different dessert? tea? These are my struggles at night. Wish me luck.

What book did you read last? Any recommendations? (Nothing scary--I need to relax when I read.)

Any fitness goals coming up?