Followup on my Challenges

Challenge #1 - Sugar
I broke my sugar rule last Sunday.  It was Heather S's baby shower, and a special occasion with cupcakes and whatnot.  I couldn't be rude!  Other than that, I haven't had any problems with keeping my resolution this week.  I don't seem to crave it as much anymore and I have found a lot of great substitutes.  With the beautiful weather, I am coming home only to change, so I am not tempted by the treats that are still sitting in our cupboard.  I just come in, put on barn clothes, grab an apple and head out the door.  The core becomes a perfect treat for Bentley too.  It usually lasts me long enough to be nice and hungry for 7 when I come home for dinner.  I am also not looking at dessert as a necessity, which was a big part of this challenge!

Challenge #2 - Growing my own vegetables
On Sunday, after Mona passed, Lee and I decided to do some positive retail therapy.  We went down to Rona and shopped for plants and seeds.  I cant think of a better sort of shopping spree to have.  Ask me a year ago, it probably would have been clothes, but my priorities have been changing a lot and I am so happy with it.  We found large tropical plants on clearance sale to turn our living room into a jungle, and also these very nice ceramic pots on super clearance.  Perfect for herbs.  Also bought about $40 worth of seeds.  A packet of everything, and 2 packets of lettuce.  I like to take whole heads of lettuce to work and make my own fresh salad for lunch every day.  I can leave all the ingredients there and not worry about lunches for the week.  That was my reasoning behind 2 packets.

Well I probably should have read the instructions and label better, because each packet of lettuce contained 1200 seeds.  I think that's more than enough for me AND my rabbit.  Haha.  Oh well, hopefully they don't expire. 

Sunday night, after the baby shower, I started my planting.  Herbs in the indoor/outdoor pots, and veggies in those compostable mini planters.  The big mistake I made was not labelling them.  oops!  Well I guess I will figure out what they are when they produce!  This is what I seem to remember planting:
Pots:
Basil
Rosemary
Chives
Some other herb...... hmmm what did I plant again?
Chili peppers

Planters:
Lettuce
sweet peppers
cucumber
some sort of squash (came free with the lettuce seeds)
Broccoli

Still to plant (directly outside as per instructions)
Carrots
Corn
Green Onion
Beans
Some other things too... I will have to check again.

Last night, Lee took a look at my seedlings and behold!  The Lettuce is sprouting!  This is very exciting for me, I am usually so bad with plants, but I have been trying so hard, it feels like quite the accomplishment.  Here is proof:

Not a great photo, but the best I could do at night with my phone.  I am still waiting on the others to sprout, but the packets all said 7-14 days so the fact we have lettuce already is astounding.

Update: as I write this, Lee sent me another picture.  They are growing fast and it looks like we have some new sprouts.  Now if only I could remember which was which.

(click for larger image)


Challenge #3 - NEW! Get running
This is two challenges rolled into one.  The first half of it is to start running.  My Garmin is all charged up and ready to track my mileage.  I am hoping to increase distance and speed a little bit every day, starting with walking.  Not sure exactly what my goals are yet, but I think I can dedicate about 1/2 an hour to it, so we will start with that.  The second half is finding that half hour of spare time.  I'm going to try and start waking up a little earlier every morning until I can eventually fit my run in before I leave for work.  That's the plan at least.  Right now the snooze button gets well used.  Wish me luck!