I don't normally make a New Years resolution and I'd say the same for 2014,  but I did make some goals that I'd like to work toward.

My first goal is to be a better diabetic.  I was a great diabetic while I was pregnant because I had a high risk pregnancy.  But once my sweet baby girl was born, I kind of fell off that wagon.   I have been a slacker in the blood sugar checking department for quite some time now.  While I was pregnant I checked my blood sugar 10-12 times a day.  Now I'm lucky if I check 4 times a day.  My last A1C was a 9.  An A1C is a 3 month blood sugar check the doctor does.  Sugar adheres to red blood cells and stays there for about 3 months.  They can tell an average blood sugar by how much sugar is on the cells.  A A1C of 9 roughly equates to a blood sugar of 250.  And my doctor wants my blood sugar to be 90-120.  Oops.  Must.  Do.  Better.

My second goal for 2014 is to start exercising more.  Once again it all goes back to when I was pregnant.  I used to run daily.  And then after I worked out, I'd take the dogs for 2-3 mile walk.  But throw a baby in the picture and all of that went out the window.  I am going to sign up for the Georgetown to Idaho  Springs Half Marathon again.  That race is in August so it should give me plenty of time to get back into running shape.  I just feel that I need to be more active especially with a 3 year old.

So both goals are totally attainable.  Both goals are great for my health.  And I'd like your help to keep me on track.  I am doing this for myself and for my family, but I feel that if I have a third party to report to, I might make more of an effort, ya know what I mean?

After the race we came home, I tried to take a nap, but it just didn't take.  This past week the cleaning and organizing bug hit me.  I've re-done the laundry room which also doubles as my office and crafting room.  Bryan and I have also started re-organizing the downstairs living room.  We decided we have too much stuff so we wanted to simplify and de-clutter.  Plus Corrine's school is doing a fundraiser when school starts.  Basically any items that you would donate to Goodwill or ARC they will take and the school gets a percentage of the weight of everything the school turns in.  So I started to go through our stuff.

I was pretty sore on Sunday.  I've been worse though so I was kind of prepared.  I had a date with a slow treadmill and the foam roller at the gym.  I rolled for about 15 minutes.  Boy did that hurt.  But if felt good after.  I could feel the stiffness in my hips and the sides of my thighs melt away.  Then I walked on the treadmill for 15 minutes at a slow speed just to keep the stiffness from coming back.  I can actually go up and down the stairs now.  Which is good because I continued to clean and de-clutter.

A friend of mine is having a bake/art sale this coming weekend as a fundraiser to raise tuition for her fall semester in school.  She is an artist but on disability so this is how she can pay her tuition and buy the supplies she needs.  I volunteered to bake goodies for her bake sale.  On Sunday I made cookies.  I plan to make some sort of zucchini bread and a banana blueberry bread.  And if I have time something with rhubarb.

So.  Did anyone else do something crazy over the weekend?  Hope you all have a good week.

Did I sign up for the half marathon that I said I was going to sign up for?  No.  Have I been running?  Kind of.  I'll run for a couple of weeks and then something will come up.  Like get sick.  Or work.  Or out of town guests.   Shouldn't really be any excuse, but I totally use it as one.  And then I ended up not running for a couple of weeks and then I'm starting all over.

The Bolder Boulder is coming up on Memorial Day weekend.  I'll run that one.  Because I run it every year.  I even ran it last year after I hadn't run in a year and I had a brand new baby.  That is my goal now.  6.2 miles.  How funny.  I have to train for that!

Saturday night I went to the December food swap of the Mile High Swappers at the Savory Spice Shop in Boulder. The theme for this swap was soup. And what a perfect night for soup. It was about 20 degrees out and it had snowed earlier in the day. Of course you could bring anything homemade or homegrown to swap.

I took Broccoli Cheese Soup to trade and brought home a jar of Delicata Squash Soup, a jar of Butternut Squash soup, a container of Mulligatawny Stew, a container of homemade chicken stock, and a bag of dee-lish cheese crackers. Corrine had the Delicata Squash soup for dinner the other night and loved it.

The idea of the swap is to bring homemade items (tasters are good), mingle and check out what others have brought. Then "bid" on what you want to trade...my soup for your soup. At the swap moment you can begin trading to get your hearts desire. Cash is not allowed...all items must be traded.

The first swap I attended was in October. I took my homemade tomato sauce, tomatilla salsa and some jams. I came home with a plethora of goodies...jams, pickles, and salsa. Oh and some Bourbon Salted Caramel Sauce! Dee-lish!

Here's a picture of the Redhead's jams!
On another random note...I haven't been running in about a week. I got sick again. I'm not sure, but it might have something to do with standing outside for three hours in 20 degree weather.

We are all still feeling the effects of this head cold that is going around. I did manage to make it to the gym twice this week. I jogged on the treadmill for two miles and then was so winded I had to walk another mile. At least I tried, so it's not the set back I thought it would be.

On the other hand, I did have time to work on the felted handbag I'm knitting for a Christmas present. It is the first time I've felted anything. I love that it is knit on big needles. It knits up so much faster which is good considering I've got 168 rows total to knit and Christmas is rapidly approaching! We'll see how it turns out. I'm pretty excited about it.