February 14 in 2014

1. Eat {more} vegetables.

This month was a huge success in the vegetable department! I have heard over and over that roasting vegetables is the way to go, but I finally had a conversation (via FB) with Alisa from Family Meal Blog that motivated me to actually try it. At her encouragement, I roasted cauliflower with olive oil, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, and a tiny bit of sugar. I decided to roast some zucchini also because I knew I liked zucchini and if the cauliflower turned out gross, I'd have something to fall back on.

Well, of course, Alisa was right (we all should trust this gal when it comes to food!) and I LOVED the cauliflower and zucchini both. I roasted them at 400 for about 10-12 minutes, until the edges started browning. I actually had the vegetables as my meal that night because I was so focused on that project that I didn't really plan anything else. I did balance it out with some chips and dip though, so don't worry about me getting too healthy over here.

I also tried making Sweet Potato Fries for the first time this month. I put way too much oil on them, so even though I put some corn starch on as Alisa suggested, they were still way too soggy. I also didn't do a great job chopping them to be the same size, so the smaller ones got a little burned, but the thick and chunky ones were quite tasty. I definitely want to try these again!

2. Learn to drive a stick (again).

Not yet. Hopefully soon.

3. Read books.

I'm reading a really big book this month (500 pages) so it's kind of slow going for me. I'm really enjoying it, and it's not a difficult read at all. I just find myself falling asleep so easily when I read that I don't get very far before dozing off.

4. Print and make albums with the pictures I take in the year.

Nothing this month.

5. (Continue to) memorize the book of James.

You know what they say about the best of intentions... I had such a hard time keeping up on my daily Bible reading and that I got nothing accomplished here. The real solution is for me to watch less Netflix, so we'll see if I can make that happen in March.

6. Crochet a blanket for Kory

Nothing yet. 

7. Can 3 foods.

Still waiting for summer...though I'm getting more concerned that I might not have a garden (since I don't know where we'll be living), so I might have to can something from a local farmer's market if that is the case.

8. Do puzzles.

I'm still chipping away at this bad boy. It's going much slower now because SO many pieces look just alike. I wasn't feeling too great about my progress but then I looked at how much I had accomplished in January compared to now, and I'm feeling a little better about how it's coming together. I spent a lot of time working on it when Kory was gone to Guatemala for almost two full weeks.

January:

February:

9. Make my blog prettier. 

I don't really know what I want my blog to look like, which is part of my problem. I did get tired of it being so plain and white, so I added a cute background and updated a few font colors. I am not visually gifted at all, so I will probably need some outside help to get the blog to look really amazing, but the goal was "prettier", so I think I have accomplished that for now, at least.

10. Read through the entire Bible.

I didn't do so well in February. I feel like I spent the whole month playing catch up. About half-way through the month, I realized that it was real work to get through my reading each day and I wasn't really enjoying it at all. Job was quite a chore for me in January, and Exodus was proving to be the same in February. Rather than follow the "rules" of this plan perfectly, I jumped ahead many months to give myself some New Testament reading. My goal is to read the whole Bible in a year's time, so it doesn't really matter to me anymore if I do it in order, as long as I'm reading every day (well, 6 of 7 days a week) and have finished the whole thing come December 31, 2014. 

11. Eat more whole foods and, therefore, less processed foods. 

I had an epiphany recently that the best way to reach this goal was simply to cook from scratch. Duh! I know that might not be surprising to you at all, but it was a light bulb moment for me to realize that there were many things I didn't even know how to make from scratch, because I just always bought them in a can. This was the month to begin the learning. First up, I decided to make beans, as in good old pinto beans. I was going to do them in the crock pot, but then I got too impatient and just made them on the stove. I made a bean and cheese burrito with them and it was really good...homemade beans, hand-grated cheese, now I just need to learn how to make tortillas myself!


This has become one of my go-to foods lately: a Chipotle-inspired burrito bowl topped with Yumm! Sauce.

My favorite version includes chicken, rice/quinoa, black beans, tomatoes, cilantro, cheese, avocados and Yumm! sauce. It's definitely a good way for me to get some more vegetables in my diet and eat healthy, whole foods. 

12. Get my braces off.

Another month and another good appointment at the orthodontist. He doesn't plan to have me wear rubber bands anymore (thank goodness!) and he said things are looking good to get them off in the not-too-distant-future. The only other excitement in this area is that they got a new mint green color for bands and I'm really digging it!

13. Brush up on my Spanish.

I'm up to Level 5 on DuoLingo. I have no idea how many levels there are, but since I'm still practicing sentences like, "I read books", I have a feeling there are a LOT of levels to go.

14. Move out of our house.

Well, February was kind of a frustrating month in this department. We had a lock box with the front door key for realtors and a sign up in our yard for weeks, but the house still wasn't for sale officially. We had to wait weeks for the engineer to write us a letter ensuring the house's structural integrity.

Finally, right at the end of the month the house went on the market. We had a great initial response with 7 house showings in 6 days. No offers made yet, but at least people are looking. We'll take that as a win for this month!