Daily life » Hip to be Mom

First, the good news. This morning, I looked out the window and all the stars were aligned in the dawn sky. Tis the perfect day to head to the gym with Raine. We worked our butts off (literally), came home, rolled up our sleeves and started baking.

Within an hour and a half, we had the first 4 reasons to be excited. We were done baking 2 loaves of wholemeal bread and 1 carrot cake, and making the batter for pumpkin pancakes. Easy-peasy, right?

Oh, a friend brought us practically half a fresh produce sectionful of seasonal fruits and veggies from his farm. What were we going to do with all those carrots?

But apparently the carrot power was just a little too much for my fingernail and IT BROKE!! *sobs* That’s the bad news.

I hate, hate, hate breaking my nails, grrr! I had to rush upstairs, remove my nail polish right away and cut all my other nails short to match. Bummer! On the brighter side, surely that must mean I’m now qualified for the handicap parking spot (Reason #5 maybe)?

They say that everything happens for a reason. So I’m thinking maybe, just maybe, breaking my nail might have something to do with my spanking new iPhone 4S. Since I got it last weekend, I’ve wasted a few hours of my life rekeying all my phone contacts from scratch.

In the process, I’ve noticed how my long nail was getting in the way because now I have to use my fingertip instead of my fingernail to type. Yup, I’m sure that’s how I weakened my nail causing it to break today. Oh well!! Sometimes you ask for an orange and life gives you an Apple *shrug*.

Incidentally, these incredibly clear food pix were taken with my new phone (Reason #6) which looks like the billion other iPhones out there that a billion of you already have. So I’m late to the party again, huh?

Three days into the new year and I’m still expecting it to be Christmas next week. I wish! Either the holidays went all too quick or my internal clock is running slow. Gah! The reality is that it’s back to work for me today. Raine has a few more days to enjoy what’s left of the holidays and then it’s back to de ole grindstone… for all of us!

I’m so not looking forward to the insane traffic, the late lunch times and the long school hours my girls will have to endure. I’m planning to bake healthy snacks for the girls to take to school. It’s a bit more work but it will be more substantial than the recess food they usually bring. I just hope I can keep up with the baking.

New Year resolutions, I have none. I haven’t made one in a long, long time and I’m not about to start now. Making them is one thing, making them happen is a whole different animal altogether. I’m busy enough as it is so I can really do without a list of guilt hanging over my head.

Instead I’m going for some teeny-weeny feel-good goals. Can’t think of any right now. But nothing too ambitious. Nothing so critical that if I fall behind (which I’m sure I will) I can’t easily pick up again. Something I can humanly do in small steps that will give me some sense of achievement rather than lofty goals that leave me feeling like I’m never doing enough.

Over the holidays, our workouts have suffered. Since I’m not someone who’s motivated to exercise so I can pig out, I just went ahead and pigged out . But I do miss the endorphin and energy rush so I’m really looking forward to going back to a structured gym routine again with Raine.

The sandwiched week

Posted by Clairity Comments Off

Dec 292011

So Christmas is over. Just like that, huh? I’m feeling a little cheated this year because the lead-up to Christmas was so short and stressed (what with the semester ending in mid-December and all the crazy stuff that’s been going on around here) and Christmas was somehow gone in a flash and we only have one more box of leftover turkey and brown gravy to show for it.

We slept in on Boxing Day. Sleeping in is a rare luxury around here. We’re usually up at the crack of dawn but lately it’s been cold which makes it even harder to drag yourself out of bed. It’s easier to just slam down that alarm clock, let that annoying beep float over your subconscious state and roll lazily out of bed at 8:30 than be up at the stroke of 6.

Ten, eleven hours of sleep is great and all but it sure is disruptive on our workout routine. Tsk tsk tsk! This morning, we set 3 alarm clocks to get ourselves jumping out of bed into our gym pants. How’s that for motivation? That plus this… best thing ever!

Here’s to one amazing leftover turkey sandwich before a new year rolls in. Cheers!

One too many

Posted by Clairity 2 Responses »

Dec 272011

But what’s the holidays without an ice-blended caramel?

Slurp!

What have you been having one too many of this holiday season that’s wicked on your waistline?

The Hip Bakery

Posted by Clairity 3 Responses »

Dec 222011

I feel like I’ve just spent the last 10 hours trudging through a desert. Which I haven’t, of course, but it sure feels like it. I’m hungry, severely dehydrated and tired. It’s been quite a day. A story for another day.

But a promise is a promise. Before I hang up my feet, let me leave you with some photos to feast your eyes on. Feel free to drool… just not on my keyboard. I would post the recipes too but then I would have to kill you .

Here’s our wholemeal bread. So dense, so beautiful. I’m tired of paying for store-bought bread which is essentially air these days. We eat 3 slices of wholemeal air and we’re hungry in no time. We eat 3 slices of these and we’re good for a full 4 hours.

Just look at that gorgeous crust dusted with sesame seeds and almond bits!

Okay, you gotta look at this. My attempt at a retro shaped loaf. When you cut it, you get these amazing slices with the mushroom tops. So cool!

And here’s our fruit cake. My bad that it looks so crumbly. We were so eager to taste it I didn’t wait for it to cool completely before I sliced it.

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. You do not see any photos of my bread or fruit cake. That’s because they are still stuck in Raine’s phone waiting to be offloaded to my computer. But this has been another one of the Hip family’s believe-it-or-not days. Long story but let me just sum it up for you.

Raine’s driving lesson

Instructor shows up an hour late. No apology. Wasn’t expecting one.
He takes a wrong turn on the way to the practice grounds and wastes 1.5 hours getting back on track.
His car runs out of gas in the middle of the freakin’ highway!! How in the h … never mind, I asked the same question!!
Poor Raine has to push the car off the highway. Imagine that!

Practice grounds are in the middle of nowhere. Raine had had no lunch, no drink. She swears if she had eaten the food, she would’ve been poisoned instantly. And there was no way she was going to use their restroom either. Ew!
Lesson lasts 6 whole hours!

My work schedule

My college wants me back next semester. Yay!
I’m juggling my class schedule around Raine’s and Skye’s school hours. I want everything to line up snugly so we won’t have to be climbing trees. Easier said than done.
Rave teaching reviews from my last batch of students. It’s good to be loved .

In other news

Finally stopped procrastinating and changed my car tires. Ripped a freakin’ hole in my wallet too. Big tires cost more. Yeah, I know!
Eat. Drink. Laugh out loud. The holidays are here! I gotta start acting like it is.
I promise, those pix are coming. Wait for ~~them~~ it!