Taking the bus - no one understands

I work on a university campus that has a few locations. They have buses that transport students, faculty, and staff between the various locations and it is a free service with ID. I live about a 1/4 mile from one of the campuses. Over the past few years I have ridden the bus randomly to help with the rising cost of gas but it helps the environment too, so extra bonus.

I enjoy riding the bus. I am not one of those people that get sick while reading in a car, so it is the perfect time to get some reading done and not stress about the commute to work.

I am not the perfect environmentalist and I have been rather inconsistent with my bus riding schedule in the past. Most of this is due to traveling for work and needing to leave my car at rental car places while I am gone. But I have made it to a point at my job where I no longer have to travel...(YAY!)...so I have had plenty of opportunities over the past month to get back into riding the bus almost every day. (I occasionally drive when I know I have a bunch of errands to do.)

Riding the bus has been great. It is a freeing experience. I enjoy my morning and afternoon walks to/from the bus stop. I enjoy talking to people on the bus. I like taking in the sights of the city I am soon saying good bye to.

What makes me laugh is how people can't seem to comprehend my taking the bus. People have offered to drive me to work, drive me home from work, etc. It is nice that they offer but that's not the point of my taking the bus. I live in an area that is quite dependent on individual transportation. Yes there is a bus system but most people I know have cars and prefer to drive themselves everywhere. Its seems like the only reason someone would take the bus is because they need to. People cannot wrap their minds around the fact that I am purposely choosing to take the bus. I have a car, it works just fine....I prefer to leave it at home and make use of public transportation, because I can.

Oh what an interesting world we live in.....

Am I a minimalist?

Miss Minimalist wrote this great post about "What is minimalism?" It got me thinking...am I a minimalist?

I would have to say...No, not really. I am definitely not one of those extreme minimalists or follow The Compact in any way. (Very basic definition here.) But over the past year or so, my hubby and I have made great strides to eliminate as much clutter (tangible or not) disappear from our lives.

It started when we were moving in together and realized that all of our "stuff" was not going to fit into one apartment. But since then it has become so much more than purging. It has become a way of life. We find ourselves asking "Do we *really* need this" before making any sort of purchase. We have gotten into recycling/reusing anything possible. And we are looking forward to the day when we have space to garden, compost, and (*fingers crossed*) raise some of our own meat.

I have enjoyed the simplicity. Not only have we gotten rid of "stuff" but I have also paired back on my Facebook "friends" list, blogs I follow, and TV shows that we DVR. We are finding that we have so much more time to do things and spend time together (which is great seeing as I travel a lot for work).

I helped my sister and her husband move last weekend and I was starting to twitch with the amount of possessions they have. It helped me to see what size moving truck we will need come June and it was confirmation that we are on the right track to simplifying our lives. I have no regrets of getting rid of the things that we don't need to hang on to. Life is about experiences, not possessions.

The urge to purge!

I know I haven't blogged in a VERY long time but I really haven't had much to talk about. When I started this blog I had a focus. It was to talk about the diet I was doing and realizations that came with the process. I am not really doing the diet anymore. I have managed to keep about 25 lbs off - not perfect, but I will take it. I am now trying to figure out the direction of the blog...

So what to write about?!

Over the past 6 months I have really gotten into reading blogs about being frugal, minimalistic living, paying off debt, saving money, home cooking/recipes, and just plain old simplifying my life.

And it couldn't have come at a better time. Work has been stressful. Friends have been stressful (whether they realize it or not). And now the hubby and I are officially relocating come June (or sooner for me if I get offered a job...fingers crossed I get the job I just applied for!)

The hubby and I have done a LOT of purging since we considered living together 5 years ago. We weren't married yet but he had a lot of stuff, I had a lot of stuff. It wasn't all going to fit in our new apartment. It got to the point that even after we moved in together one of us would get the urge to purge (oooh, I like that phrase, maybe I should copyright it before anyone else does! My luck, someone already has!!) every 6 months or so. Now we have done some major purging in the last year because the realization of moving all this stuff to the other end of the East Coast is just scary to think about.



This weekend culminated in the largest purge we have had in a long time. We took everything out of closets or hiding spaces and discussed whether we should keep it, toss it, donate it, gift it, etc. We spent most of last night posting things on Craigslist, Freecycle, and our virtual yard sale on Facebook. This stuff is going like hot cakes and it feels SOOOOO good!

Luckily, the hubby decided he needed a day off from work so he is home separating, organizing, labeling, and putting out things for people to come pick up. (Don't worry, I took care of him - bought him lunch from a new sub shop near my work. He loves this place and is so excited that it opened today!)

And he has also been busy doing laundry (I sure did score a great catch!). We upgraded our full sized bed to a KING over the weekend and it gets delivered on Friday...we are soooo excited. Plus we finally get to use all the bedding we registered for that has been taking up valuable closet space for the past 4 years! So all of that stuff needed to be washed.

We have 3 large closets in our apartment. After all of this stuff leaves our possession we could probably fit it all into 1.5 of these closets if we needed to. YAY!

It is such a great feeling. It is freeing. It is cleansing. It is amazing.

It's a Homemade Christmas

The hubby and I always try to make Christmas a thoughtful gift giving and make sure to spend lots of quality time with our families this time of year. (We also spend LOTS of quality time together - driving that is - since my family lives in Central Massachusetts <2.5 hours from us> and his resides in Northeastern Pennsylvania <3 hours in the opposite direction>)

This year we decided to take it a step further and tried our hardest to make as many homemade gifts as we possibly could. As you will see with the following pictures, I crocheted just about everyone on both sides of our families something special while the hubby prepared some pretty awesome cookie and soup mixes in a jar.

My family has already received their presents because we combined "Christmas" with the weekend in which we threw my sister a baby shower. My hubby's family will be receiving their presents on Christmas.


Here are the Choco-cherry cookie jars that my hubby made. He also made Double chocolate peanut butter cookie jars and a mushroom/lentil/pasta soup mix jar. He made a total of 24 jars and they will be/have been handed out to family members, co-workers and close friends. The cookie jars also had some fun Christmas shaped cookie cutters attached.


These are some pot holders that I made to go with some of the jars...mostly co-workers and friends will receive these. How fun right?!


I had no clue what to make for the boys in my life so most of them got some form of warm hat :-) My brother and father are avid hunters so I made them in Pumpkin Orange so they can stand out in the woods. I was going to make them scarves as well until I randomly found a pattern for neck warmers. They are meant to be worn like my father has his on in the picture but they also discovered upside-down might work too since their breath could be caught in the neckwarmer and keep their chins warm....interesting...hope it works!


My sister is modeling her brand-y new baby blanket that I made for herself and her hubby. They are expecting their first bundle of joy at the end of January and we are all ECSTATIC! First grandchild on either side of their families...this kid is going to be CRAZY spoiled! (Side note...yes she is 7.5 months pregnant here and you can't even freakin tell! I hate her! - I only say that because it is guaranteed that I will NOT look like her at all when I get pregnant!)


This is my mom's afghan. I really LOVE how it turned out. I decided to do something fun and join in a "Mystery Crochet-Along" that the Bernat blog sponsored. I started back in October (I think) and the blog gave you a clue each week for squares to make. By early December you had a complete afghan to keep for yourself or give as a present. I started off with the recommended yarn colors from Bernat with the intention of giving the afghan to Mom but the colors were just not her....so I went and bought some yarn in the color "denim" which is much more her style. I love the way it came out. The yarn was a bit thinner than the Bernat yarn so I had to use a smaller hook which made the overall afghan smaller than I would have liked but I am still happy with the result. She loved it! AND I still have the other yarn to make my very own afghan when I have some down time. I can't wait!


My other sister is quite finicky when it comes to homemade presents. I wanted to make her a shawl that she could keep at work in case she got chilly. I had a BEAUTIFUL pattern all picked out. I attempted it about 25 times and enlisted the help of another crocheter...it was not meant to be. I was quite disappointed but I really think the pattern was not correct. Anyways, this is a second pattern that I really liked and I was impressed with the finished product. I bought a really nice pin to go with it so that it would stay wrapped around her. It was a success...she liked it a lot (or she played it up really well so as to not hurt my feelings) :-)


Here's an up close shot of the stitches. The yarn I used went really nicely with the pattern and it was fun to work with.

So that ends my side...on to my hubby's side of things.


This afghan is one of my favorite designs. It is really easy to crochet in a hurry and it is a fun pattern. This particular one is going to a family that is friends with my hubby's fam. It is a single parent household and each year we try to give them a fun family experience where they can enjoy each others company. To go along with this afghan we are going to give them a DVD of one of my all time favorite Christmas movies..."Santa Claus The Movie" - not well known but great flick, popcorn and hot chocolate. I think they will really like it!


My hubby's bro is receiving this hat/scarf set. I think he is really going to like the colors and how warm it is. Making this set led to my making my hubby a set for his birthday and a hat/scarf/mitten set for me. I did not have the ear flaps or pom-poms on mine...purely because making pom-poms is NOT my most favorite activity in the world!


Ooooh this shawl is another one of my favorites! It will be going to my mother in law and I love everything about it! The color, the pattern, how easy it was to crochet. Not gonna lie, I bought some yarn and plan to make one for myself after the Christmas season is past us.


And last but not least here is a shawl for my grandmother in law. I am quite nervous to give this to her! I think out of all the presents, this is my best work...but it has to be...Lola was a life long crocheter until a couple years ago when she encountered some medical issues and no longer able to crochet. It is triangular in shape and super soft and super warm. I really hope she likes it!


Up close shot of the stitches.

So that is what I have been up to lately.

I am still trying to get something finished for my father-in-law but not sure I am going to complete it in time for the holiday. It is the first time I am attempting socks so I'm a bit nervous but socks are really what he would appreciate the most. If they turn into a miserable disaster and don't work out for Christmas - he will definitely get a pair for his birthday (which is early February...so no need to fret on my part...he will understand).

I hope you have enjoyed my pictures. I love looking at all the wonderful projects that have kept me busy since August. I have 3 other projects that I have been working on but I will save those for another post since this one is already a little overwhelming.

Happy Holidays!

So I made some bread...

I have been wanting to use this recipe to make bread for a while but have not had the guts to do it. It comes from a wonderful book called, "Made From Scratch" by Jenna Woginrich. She is definitely pretty awesome in my eyes. She is only in late 20's and already owns her own farm in nearby Washington County and has a great writing career. I'm not going to give detailed instructions but take a look at my journey on making homemade bread from scratch...

Start off with some active dry yeast.


Getting the yeast to activate is probably the most stressful part of the process.


Then you knead and knead.


And knead some more.


When you finally finish kneading, it goes in a buttered bowl and put aside to rise under a damp cloth for an hour and a half.


The anticipation is killing me and it has only been 20 minutes!


It doubled in size!


Then you punch out the air from the dough, knead it a little more, cut it in half and get it into some buttered pans. You have to let it sit in the pans for another hour.


It doubled in size again. It is now ready to go in the oven!


Fresh out of the oven...I can't wait to give it a try!


But it has to cool first...ugh...the anticipation is killing me.



FINALLY! It is definitely a hearty bread! Turns out I think I kneaded it for a bit too long so I will cut back on that next time. It was totally worth the wait!


Have you made bread from scratch???

Favorite time of year

My hubby and I went on an adventure with some friendly faces. I'm a "Big" for Big Brothers, Big Sisters and my Little and I enjoy going apple picking in the fall. Turns out my hubby has never been apple picking...we needed to change this so he decided to come along this year. Then my Little's mom, her boyfriend, and little brother decided they wanted to join in as well. We all had a GREAT time picking LOTS of yummy apples. I couldn't wait for 2 things to happen after the picking process:

1. APPLE CIDER DONUTS!

2. Making all sorts of yummy deliciousness out of the fresh apples.

This year I decided I was going to challenge myself. I have become an expert in making apple crisp. My hubby has gotten really good at applesauce. I have been trying to build my courage to try making an apple pie. The pie did not happen last year...I chickened out. That was not going to happen again this year. Especially since a co-worker gave me her award winning pie crust recipe. AND the crust was made especially for an "Apple Crisp Pie!!!" Are you kidding?! I make a great crisp and now all I have to do is put it on top of a crust?! I can handle that!

So I attempted it...



(Please disregard my filthy oven...but look at that delicious crust...yum!)

And here is the final product...



It's a little awkward looking on top, but that did not affect the taste. It was excellent! I have a few things that I would tweak for next time but I am happy with the way it turned out.

I love fall for so many reasons....what do you like about it?!

Back on Track

It's always hard to get back into a habit that has fallen by the wayside. I am trying to get back on track with my Medifast diet and it is proving to be a lot harder than I thought. "Special" occasions are popping up everywhere (convenient huh?!), "it's just a bite" comments are easy to justify, and the excuses just continue.

I am really trying to make it a priority though. I am trying to fight through the temptations. For instance, my hubby and I are going to a craft fair tonight (I am super excited!) and we could easily say, "Let's just stop somewhere on our way" but we are not. We have made the conscious effort to make dinner at home and then go to the craft fair. Another example is that this weekend is the first weekend where a local fire company holds its monthly pizza/wings night to raise money for the fire department. My hubby reminded me of this and wondered if we should get ready to order some of the delicious food on Saturday....I said, "No!" So we are going to put that off until at least next month.

It's the small steps that we need to overcome. We are also trying to build in more movement wherever we can. We did the EA Active last night and had a pretty good work out. I love how you can have a partner during the workout. We are hoping to do it tonight too.

The big obstacle we need to work on is Football Sunday's. My hubby roots for a team that doesn't get much play on the tube so we find ourselves having to go to a restaurant/bar to watch the game. I am hoping to limit that as much as possible, but we shall see how that turns out.

I have a few friends that have just started or working on restarting Medifast recently and I am wishing them luck in their endeavors. It is hard but I know we can all do it! I have faith.

What have you been doing lately to be healthy and stay in shape?