 I decided this year would be the one I get back on track to lose weight and meet my goal weight (140 lbs). Losing weight isn't easy, but I have been less active and eat whatever I want. So I'm trying two new things: be more active and eat on a meal play. Every day, I make a menu for myself with what food I will eat. They're not always a hard plan, but I do my best to keep to the food allotted to me. This has helped me not over snack. I'm also trying to include fruit, vegetables, whole grains, protein, and healthy fat in my menu each day. During this COVID pandemic, I'm teleworking at home, which means I am cooking a lot more than I normally do. I have been making healthy changes to my cooking (whole wheat lasagna noddles instead of regular noodles). I made my official decision to start this weight loss journey on April 1, no joking on that. I lost 6 pounds my first month.
To go along with eating better and more portion controlled, I am also exercising a lot more. I bought myself a Fitbit Inspire HR (meaning it takes my heart rate). I love it, and it is doing a great job tracking my exercise, reminding me to move every hour, and motivate me through challenged with friends during the work week and weekend. Have you been using this extra time for losing weight too? What are some tips you have for weight loss?
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 My husband and I will be celebrating our eighth wedding anniversary (as well as nine years together) this month! These verses were read at our wedding, and I want to encourage everyone as they read them. While people generally think of these verses related to love, marriage, and romantic relationships, Paul actually wrote these words as an encouragement of love for all. This kind of love is how you are supposed to love everyone (so much easier said than done). In this time of crisis in the world, I pray for everyone to remember what love is. It is kind. Use words that will bring others up. Love is patient. Even with the world in chaos, be patient with one another during this time. Be patient with all forms of government, pray for them to seek and receive wisdom. Do not envy others during this time and be thankful for what you have. Count those blessings every day and keep the focus on them. Protect those you love and yourselves, trust God to bring you through this, persevere through this pandemic with grace, and bring hope to your family and others instead of fear. God is love, and Love never fails. God bless you and yours always!   Mysterious Warriors: Unity by T. N. Hayden
"Princess Rachel Colville still couldn’t believe how grand her thirteenth birthday ball was."  I have a precious little girl, my library baby. She is teething right now, getting molars. She already has eight front teeth. She loves chewing on everything, even her new Bristle Blocks (bought on Amazon https://amzn.to/35iBEJb) She is a funny little girl, 15 1/2 months old, and she loves books. My husband and I both work in a library, so she is our Library Baby. She is learning to eat on her own as well.  She is getting great at feeding herself with a spoon! Mmmmm... Loaded potato soup. Library Baby wants to say thanks for visiting Mommy's blog with a big kiss!  Share pictures of your kids below!
For those who know me in person, most will say I am a ridiculously picky eater. I will not deny that. However, I have been eating more food I don't like, and I have been trying new food as well. There are some foods I will not eat (onion, spicy food, mushrooms, etc.) but I have been trying to eat things I don't like. For example, there's a salad pack I've been getting that includes green onions and purple cabbage, both of which I am not a fan. BUT, I eat the entire salad without picking them out! Once a week, we've been having soup and salad, and my husband has picked the soup for us to share as well. I ate all of my soup last week, and it had cooked peas, carrots, and celery in it. *shudder*
I have been cooking a lot more during this COVID-19 stay at home order. It's been a great experience for me to experiment with different recipes. My favorite site for recipes is delish.com. My favorite recipe is for Chicken, Spinach, Artichoke Lasagna. I've made variations of this, including my latest one. I have a lasagna pan with three sections, so I can make different lasagna in the same pan. My last lasagna included three different ones: spinach, chicken, shrimp, artichoke, and bacon whole wheat Alfredo lasagna; spinach, chicken, shrimp, onion, and mushroom whole wheat Alfredo lasagna; and spinach, chicken, shrimp, artichoke, bacon, onion, and mushroom whole wheat Alfredo lasagna. My mother-in-law, who lives with us, husband, and I finished off the lasagna in a few days. We all loved our section of the lasagna. You can find the recipe here: https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a45592/cheesy-spinach-and-artichoke-lasagna-recipe/ What is your favorite recipe? Do you have a favorite site for recipes? At the beginning of this year, I made a goal to read a book a week: 52 books for the year! After a couple of months, I realized I was blowing that goal away, so I changed it to 10 a month: 120 books for the year. Earlier today, I finished my 63rd book, so I am pretty sure I will blow this goal away as well. I don't plan on redoing my goal, but I am excited to keep track of how many pages and books I've read this year. (over 16,000 pages so far this year)
I am an audiobook reader. In fact, 60 of the 63 books were audiobooks. I listen on 2.0 speed, something I worked my way up to. This helps me complete a 10 hour book in 5 hours. As a slow reader, this makes me feel like I'm a super fast reader! My new favorite authors for the year are: Kit Morgan, Kelly Oram, Kristi Ann Hunter, Karen Witemeyer, and Yesenia Vargas. I also finally started the Harry Potter series, and I am really enjoying J. K. Rowling's writing. My favorite authors I've listened to already are: Melanie Dickerson, Jody Hedlund, Johanna Lindsey, Tracie Peterson, Marylu Tyndall, Tamara Leigh, Gail Carson Levine, and Jenni James. Follow me on Goodreads at: https://www.goodreads.com/tnhayden Who are your favorite authors? What book are you currently reading? I am so excited to be writing again! I have been doing a lot of work for marketing as well on the site Canva, which a coworker at my library introduced me to.
I will be publishing multiple books a year once more, and I am very excited to be getting back in the rhythm of writing, editing, and publishing. This year, I will publish a few short stories, together called Child of Secrets at the end of May. Then, later this year, I will publish my ninth novel: Child of Magic (book 5 in the Prophecy Series). I will also be editing book 6, and then I will start writing more books and novellas. I plan to publish something in May and November every year for the foreseeable future. I have a lot of ideas in mind. Prophecy Series has 8 novels planned. I also have 10 more novels set in the same world as Prophecy series that aren't related to the eight. Mysterious Warriors is the first of 6 quartets planned in the world of Erde. So I have 20 more novels set in that world planned. I also have a Christian Vampire novella series called Legend of the Cross of 7 novellas. And I have a Christian Regency Romance series called Charity's Circulating Library planned of 9 novels. That's 48 novels and novellas planned, plus a special book called Finding Her Way Home. Those should keep me busy for the next... dozen or more years, right? I'm very thankful I took time off writing to get two degrees, pursue my librarian career, and become a mother. And now, I am putting writer back into my normal life.  I have three college degrees. I graduated from high school in June 2006. I didn’t want to get a college degree; I just wanted to write novels. After five years of being a full-time student, dropping out, and then completing my Associates Degree as a part-time student, I graduated in June 2011. In Summer 2013, I decided to get a Bachelors Degree in English from SDSU to become a professional editor. I applied and took the final three English classes I needed in Fall 2013 & Spring 2014. I was accepted into SDSU for Fall 2014, but I started working for the library in January 2014 and decided against getting the degree. A year later, I decided to become a librarian, which meant I needed a Bachelors and Masters Degree. Fall 2015, I started my undergraduate degree as a part-time, fully online student at Clarion University of Pennsylvania (living in San Diego, California). I graduated Summa Cum Laude in December 2016 with my Bachelor’s Degree. I started my Masters program in Summer 2017, and I graduated in May 2018 with a 4.0 GPA. Going from college drop out to top 10% of the school, I was glad I did everything for me. When I was going to college for my parents, it didn’t work. When I went for me, I rocked it! Who are you making life decisions for? I hope you make them for you!
 I’ve been blessed to have enough milk for my baby girl with more to spare. After consulting my doctor who pointed me to a laction consultant who pointed me to Mothersmilk, I started the process of donating on March 11. Today I sent in my first donation: about 245 ounces of frozen breastmilk. I already have over 210 ounces frozen breastmilk still in our freezer and my parents’ freezer (who will be helping take care of my baby when I go back to work), so I’m hoping to send in another donation soon. If you or someone you know has a surplus of breastmilk, I would urge donation. The milk saves lives. The video on this page definitely made me cry because it is so powerful and true. http://www.mothersmilk.org/donate
I really enjoy the show The Big Bang Theory, and as a new Mom, there are a lot of episodes in which Bernadette was written so well as a new Mom. The episode after her daughter is born, Bernadette has a hard time getting her baby to calm down and sleep. There’s a line she says to Howard (her husband, for those of you unfamiliar with the show) where she says “Why does she hate me?” As a new Mom myself, I totally related with the feeling and tears. My first several weeks, I didn’t know how to help my baby girl (and get her to stop crying), but it just took time. Bernadette was also apprehensive about returning to work, saying it was harder than she had thought it would be. I return to work on Monday, and I know the feeling. I love my job, and I love my baby. I’m glad I’m part time. I am ambitious and want to promote in my career, and I want to enjoy every minute I have with my baby girl. Do you have a TV character you relate to st certain times in your life?
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