I have been slack about posting.  I've been doing a lot it seems.  I am really enjoying my No Excuses Boot Camp experience.  I haven't really lost any weight yet but I'm exercising and enjoying it.

While I was pregnant with Nick I made some beet curry and I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about it, so I froze it.  I went to the Sustainable Midlands Holiday Festival on Monday evening and Rosewood Market had a table there with these amazingly good beet patties.  So I defrosted some of the beet curry and added some almond flour and attempted to make my own patties.  I didn't really have the right consistency to make patties but it still tasted really good.  I served it with lemon coucous salad (that is what they had at the festival), and some leftover celery remoulade that I'd made last night.  Yum yum yum!  Oh, I used the immersion blender to puree the curry.  Now I don't know what recipe I used for the curry but it was really tasty so I'm kind of sorry about that.

What else has been going on?  I've been doing some crafting and writing and thinking about things.  I wish that my financial situation was coming together as nicely as the rest of my life seems to be.  I know I am the only one who has the power to change that but it kind of sucks anyway.  Not to be negative or anything.  I'm going to work on that and succeed.  I have a lot that I'm thankful for and I'm going to make this 40th year of my life the best yet.

I am a really good cook.  I made a pear pie that turned out really well on Sunday.  Also I fixed spinach sauteed in garlic and oil, mashed potatoes, and tilapia.

I am trying to increase my milk supply because I think Nick is hungry all the time.  I am discouraged that I get so little from pumping although it's my "bad" side and I know pumping isn't indicative of actually milk supply.

I got accepted as a Pay it Forward member of the No Excuses Boot Camp, which is super exciting to me.  Eight weeks to develop good habits to promote health and energy!  A lot of the philosophy seems so in line with mindfulness so I'm happy about that.

I am trying to remember that I don't have to do everything perfectly and it's okay that I started on a Tuesday.

Okay, Nick is waking up already.  This does not bode well for my getting a good night's sleep.  I'm so very frustrated by his not sleeping!  He was doing so well and now it all sucks again.

I am late getting my novel out.  I will be working on that but I haven't really been accomplishing much lately.  I kind of feel like I'm treading water.

I did, however, fix a delicious meal tonight.  It needed a green vegetable to go with it but I am really happy with it.

Italian Sausage and Mashed Rutabaga and Potato Casserole

1 lb Italian Sausage
1 Rutabaga
3 Yukon Gold Potatoes
8 oz sharp cheddar
1.5 T butter
3/4 c. heavy cream

Peel and cut rutabaga into chunks, and then cook in boiling water for 40 minutes.  Meanwhile, peel and dice potatoes, and after the 40 minutes, add to rutabaga and boil for another 20 minutes.  During that 20 minutes, cook the sausage.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Drain potatoes and rutabaga, and put in casserole dish (I mashed mine right in that dish, adding the butter and the cream).  Add cooked sausage and 1/2 the cheese and mix together.  Top with remaining cheese and bake for 30 minutes, until top is browned.

I'm not really crazy about Italian sausage because of the fennel, but this dish was really good.

This week I also made an onion cheese tart, but it needs tweaking, and also a pear pie, which also didn't turn out quite right but I'm going to try a different recipe tomorrow.  I think it just didn't cook long enough.  The new recipe suggests using brown sugar instead of white and that sounds intriguing.

I  decided to start swaddling Nick again because he was waking up too frequently.  He's doing much better now.

I have been neglectful of my blog, and also not very mindful lately.  I will blame the election, ha ha.  I will be really glad when it's all over, though.

I am busy working on fiction.  I'm doing NaNoWriMo this month and I'm releasing the first part of my serial novel tomorrow, or possibly early Wednesday.

It is hard work having a baby and a 5 year old.  I kind of lost it today because the baby WILL NOT SLEEP.  He is soooo frustrating.  He is really good but he is not sleeping and I need sleep.  I am so tired and I also had a migraine last night so was not in the best place today.

I'm going to go to bed pretty soon and I'm going to be busy busy busy tomorrow.  I want to not disappoint myself.