5 things I am loving right now

I love it when people tell me what they love (or hate) as it gives me a little help which as a busy mom, I can always  use.  So here are some of the things I love right now.

1.  Peas and Thank You Cookbook

What can I say about this book?  It not only has great recipes but it is a hilarious read.  I read it as a book the first time around.  The stories she tells will have you laughing out loud.  We have tried many of the recipes already.  We even made Santa Mama Pea's Sugar Cookies (and he loved them BTW).  Check out her book if you are in the market for a new cookbook (or even if you are not).

2.  Garmin 305

I have not been running as much as I would like to right now, but I got this for my birthday a few years back and I wonder how I lived without it for so long.  It is so nice to just leave your house and start running.  If I want to run 6 miles, I can just leave in any direction and after 3 miles turn around and head home.  I don't have to spend time researching routes.  And I am a numbers person so I love having the miles I ran with the time it took me to run it, etc.  Love, love, love this thing!

3.  True Nutrition Protein Powder

This stuff I have found to be the best as far as vegan protein powders go without costing me a fortune.  I couldn't find anything good at the regular grocery store (where I traditionally bought hubby's), so I ventured to GNC where I found this brand.  It was the only vegan protein powder they had, so I bought it.  It wasn't bad.  I think I paid $13.99 for almost a pound.  It was chalky and I could only get the vanilla, but I was fine with that.  I thought I couldn't do any better unless I wanted to pay a fortune, until I found True Nutrition.  You create your own combination of protein powder and it's very reasonably prices (I would say cheap but you have to pay for shipping).  I got myself a combination of 1/2 pea protein and 1/2 rice protein, vanilla flavored, and unsweetened (I wanted to be able to sweeten it myself).  I got the hubs 2 different whey proteins, chocolate flavored, sweetened with stevia.  I ended up getting us each 2 lbs. because shipping was only a $1 more if we doubled our order, making it cheaper per pound.  I was nervous when it came, but wow, it is not chalky at all.  The powder is much finer and I am very happy with it.  I got 4lbs for $44 (2 vegan and 2 whey).  The whey is much more expensive than the pea and rice, but still very reasonable.  I have only made smoothies with it so far, but I am hoping to do some baking (bars) with it soon.  Maybe this weekend. 

Why the combination you might be asking?  Well I hated to just get all rice protein powder when I had the power to make any combination I could possibly think of.  I think those 2 are the only vegan options I used them both.  We also got the powder in the free bags to save money, so I had to transfer them into containers when it got here.  I may have just ended my search for vegan protein powder. 

4.  The Big Bang Theory

I had never seen this show, but the hubs started watching it over Thanksgiving OnDemand (love OnDemand) and thought it was pretty funny (did I mention he has a PhD in biochemistry).  I slowly started watching a few and have since gotten into it.  They show reruns on TBS now, so we caught a few while wrapping Christmas presents late at night after the kids were in bed.  It nice to be able to watch so many episodes that I haven't seen before. 

5.  Running Log Books

Because not all my runs occur on the road (and my Garmin can upload to the internet), it has been nice to have somewhere to put all my runs down on paper.  I got one of these a couple years back and used it last year.  I specifically asked for one last Christmas and hubs said it was a lot harder to find then he had anticipated, so he had to order it and it didn't make it here by Christmas.  Oops.  I like to have that one place where I can put everything and then look back and see where I have come from.  I forgot to ask for one for Christmas this year, so I guess I need to try and find one.  It appears book stores do not carry them, so I could order again, or maybe a running store? 

Bonus Love:  This guy

3 days before Christmas, my little guy slept through the night for the first time.  Since then, he has only woken up during the night twice.  It has made my life so much better now that I am sleeping more.  I have so much more energy and can actually get through the day.  Thank you son for sleeping (it only took 9 months and 10 days but who's counting).

So this is what I am loving right now.  What are you into?

Looking for a treadmill for new home

I'm back! We have been in our house for about 10 days now and things are starting to look a little better. One thing we haven't tackled yet is the office/gym room. Of course, it's a not a room we need right away (like the kitchen or the bedroom), but I am excited about having a bigger house so we could have some room for workout equipment. Now I have never bought a treadmill, so I don't know what to look for exactly. All I know is that it is going to be used for running (not much walking on it) and we don't need one with a lot of bells and whistles. We would prefer a folding one just be more compact, but other than that, I don't know what to look for. I have no idea on brands or anything. If you have any advice, I am all ears.

On another note, I did my first 2 runs in the new neighborhood with Hope last week. Wow, it's a hilly neighborhood!!! It will be nice to have a change of scenery and will definitely help get me back into shape (didn't do much running while I was moving over the past 5 weeks).