Well, hello there :)
I'm back into the blog world again. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. We did, but we had some difficulties. I won't go into details, but we were all sick with a cold or virus or flu, however much of it lifted by Christmas Day. We had to call off the Swedish smorgasbord because my 85 yer old grandmother ended up having pneumonia, and need to be hospitalized!
But, all in all, we had a lovely Christmas. My sweet husband made savory crepes Christmas Eve, it SNOWED!!!!!!!!!!! That never has happened in my entire 27 years of life! I made the house as pretty as I could, we ate, drank sparkling grape juice in wine goblets (big treat for the kiddies), opened their 1 present (pajamas) and took pictures in them, hung stockings, set out cookies and milk, and after they went to bed Santa Clause came :)
What did I get? Well, I got a BEAUTIFUL amplified Bible. I really wanted one. I really like studying the Hebrew/Greek of the scriptures, but don't always have the time to do it on my own. The amplified does some of the work for you. Last night I was laying on my bed with that Bible and the King James, just looking up favorite passages.
I also got my own little toolbox! Great idea Matt, and we have used it a lot already. It's a small lightweight one, filled with wire cutters, a flashlight, a small hammer, screwdrivers (both kinds and in two sizes each) and some nails so I'll hopefully ditch the thumbtacks! I also got Samantha's birthstone girl to add to my necklace- I'll I have to take a picture of that one.
Oh, there was also a 25lb bag of wheat under the tree...hmmm....this was explained later at my mom's house. She got me a grain mill! I've been wanting one forEVER! This is the kind that fits onto the kitchenaid mixer. I used it this morning and even on the finest setting, the flour is more coarse, but I can mix it with unbleached flour.
My girls also got their own radio flyer scooter and they're doing great with them. The fold up easily, are lightweight, and they can use them in the house without driving me nuts :)
Saturday was Alexa's 6th birthday. We spent it eating McDonald's for lunch, going to see the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks Squeakel, getting ice cream and bringing flowers to my sick grandmother.
It's always kind of sad to me when Christmas is over. The build up is for over a month, and then just like that, it's done. My favorite part is Christmas Eve- the anticipation and making everything special. Yes I do enjoy the opening presents part too, but still, now it's done! I am going to take down some of the decor, but leave most of it because I am still having the smorgasbord for New Years.
Okie doke, I just wanted to say that my blog is going to take a different turn for awhile. I happened on some information about diet and health (yes still Nourishing Traditions) and I'm going to a deeper level here.
In the future I will post the links of where I got all the info, but for a quick overview here, this is what I found.
The whole basis of Nourishing Traditions is off the work of Dr. Weston A. Price, a dentist in the early 1900s. He traveled the globe searching for people who had never had much contact or any contact with civilized man. He found healthy, robust people with straight teeth!
One of the groups of people were the Inuits, or Eskimos. Well, what did they eat? Seal oil. Fish. Wild game. FAT! And, he noted, that during the winter, especially the women, ate a lot of food and yet they hardly moved at all. You'd think that someone eating all those calories and not burning them off would be fat. But he said they were almost to the point of being too thin.
Wow. So there was some more research done by another man I'll tell you about later, and basically this is the thing. More people exercise now, in their free time, than back in the 70s, yet we as a people are like 40% fatter than we were. Why aren't we thinner? It's all about diet. We now consume more sugar, processed oils, and corn products than in that time. Read labels! Corn syrup is everywhere!!
So, it's not that I lay around and eat all day that I'm on the fat side. Cuz I'm usually running! The last week I've barely been eating for lack of appetite. I'm not gorging. It's the quality of food!
So, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to eat a lot of good fat and see what happens. I'm ordering some fermented fish oil (supposedly much more nutrient dense), buying raw milk, making butter from it, buying the best meat I can find and am going to have at it.
In the beginning, I won't be able to be perfect in this. I don't have grassfed beef and free range chicken yet. I'll get there eventually. Yes it costs a little more, but I have an article and a chart that costed out the regular food and this food and it wasn't much more at all if not less than typical supermarket food!
I created a meal plan that will work for us and that will be my focus for awhile. Food, clothes, dishes, kids and family, God. Not in that order :) I can't explain how relieved and excited I was to see that it wasn't totally my fault that I was overweight. My only fault was pregnancy and being on bedrest and all the food went to me not baby, then we kept having babies...honestly, that's the truth. My body has just stayed where it is for some reason.
There will more info and science to back this up, but that's what I'm doing. I did this before, but it's getting kicked up to a new level. I didn't worry so much about the quality of meat and fat and stuff before, now I realize that's very important.
Gotta go!
December 28, 2009
December 23, 2009
REally fast...
Fixin' to make gingersnaps, cherry thumbprint cookies, rolled sugar cookies, peanut butter ritz chocolate candies, white chocolate fruit bark, homemade crackers and Swedish limpa rye bread! Oh, and wrap the rest of the presents, finish whatever shopping that needs done, and somehow clean the house!!
Fixin' to make gingersnaps, cherry thumbprint cookies, rolled sugar cookies, peanut butter ritz chocolate candies, white chocolate fruit bark, homemade crackers and Swedish limpa rye bread! Oh, and wrap the rest of the presents, finish whatever shopping that needs done, and somehow clean the house!!
December 21, 2009
Christmas Plans
Merry Christmas early!
I am so happy it's finally down to the last few days before Christmas. That's when it gets exciting and we get to do all the fun stuff. All the school parties and extended family things are DONE and I can concentrate on my family now.
Last week I mentioned something about our Christmas Eve tradition. Well, I am working on making it a tradition. My husband, Matt, is half Swedish. His father is full blood and his great-great grandfather came from Sweden in the 19th century. I think this is absolutely wonderful because 1. being Swedish is uncommon and cool and 2. I have no idea what my family's heritage is. The records got burned up in the Civil War and we just have no idea. I do know there is some Native American and German mixed in, but that's all.
So I have thoroughly latched on to his family heritage and have made it my own :) I want the girls to know where they came from as well. Swedes have some really neat Christmas traditions and I have tried to replicate that here in Texas. Our real Christmas tree, as pictured below, is decortated with handmade traditional straw ornaments from Sweden, plus the ones I made in the colors of red and white. In Sweden you don't put the tree up till Christmas Eve, but they celebrate Christmas far into January.
Also, they have the Christmas Eve Smorgasbord, which is the massive FEAST they like to have at all celebrations. The Christmas one is the biggest though. A typical menu is mammoth in size, but I will make ours VERY simple. They also like lots of pickled fish and tongue, and well, uh, that's definitely not on the menu here :)
So, our much simplified plan is this:
homemade rye bread
homemade crackers (hardtack or knackkebrod)
assorted cheeses
sardines (for my dad)
chicken liver pate (I am experimenting with this one)
smoked salmon (if I can find it) and dill sauce
swedish meatballs
small red potatoes, boiled and served with melted butter and chopped onions
pickled beets (storebought)
dilled cucumbers
pickles
rice pudding with an almond hidden inside
ginger cookies
sugar cookies
coffee and glogg- spiced wine
Now, I tend to get freaked out and try to make everything perfect. I was going to do a ham, but unless I find an amazing deal I'm cutting that one out. I was also going to cook my own beets, but now I'm not. Anyways, hopefully today I can make the bread and crackers and freeze them, then the day before I can do cookies, mix up the meatballs and do the pate.
We'll see..
Also, I am doing an experiment that I'm really excited about and plan to blog about this week if possible. It has to do with diet and weightloss.
Maybe I'll post some recipes as I'm cooking them too :) But you know how that goes with me...
I am so happy it's finally down to the last few days before Christmas. That's when it gets exciting and we get to do all the fun stuff. All the school parties and extended family things are DONE and I can concentrate on my family now.
Last week I mentioned something about our Christmas Eve tradition. Well, I am working on making it a tradition. My husband, Matt, is half Swedish. His father is full blood and his great-great grandfather came from Sweden in the 19th century. I think this is absolutely wonderful because 1. being Swedish is uncommon and cool and 2. I have no idea what my family's heritage is. The records got burned up in the Civil War and we just have no idea. I do know there is some Native American and German mixed in, but that's all.
So I have thoroughly latched on to his family heritage and have made it my own :) I want the girls to know where they came from as well. Swedes have some really neat Christmas traditions and I have tried to replicate that here in Texas. Our real Christmas tree, as pictured below, is decortated with handmade traditional straw ornaments from Sweden, plus the ones I made in the colors of red and white. In Sweden you don't put the tree up till Christmas Eve, but they celebrate Christmas far into January.
Also, they have the Christmas Eve Smorgasbord, which is the massive FEAST they like to have at all celebrations. The Christmas one is the biggest though. A typical menu is mammoth in size, but I will make ours VERY simple. They also like lots of pickled fish and tongue, and well, uh, that's definitely not on the menu here :)
So, our much simplified plan is this:
homemade rye bread
homemade crackers (hardtack or knackkebrod)
assorted cheeses
sardines (for my dad)
chicken liver pate (I am experimenting with this one)
smoked salmon (if I can find it) and dill sauce
swedish meatballs
small red potatoes, boiled and served with melted butter and chopped onions
pickled beets (storebought)
dilled cucumbers
pickles
rice pudding with an almond hidden inside
ginger cookies
sugar cookies
coffee and glogg- spiced wine
Now, I tend to get freaked out and try to make everything perfect. I was going to do a ham, but unless I find an amazing deal I'm cutting that one out. I was also going to cook my own beets, but now I'm not. Anyways, hopefully today I can make the bread and crackers and freeze them, then the day before I can do cookies, mix up the meatballs and do the pate.
We'll see..
Also, I am doing an experiment that I'm really excited about and plan to blog about this week if possible. It has to do with diet and weightloss.
Maybe I'll post some recipes as I'm cooking them too :) But you know how that goes with me...
December 16, 2009
Normal lady is back
Well, since we're being honest here, Scrooge left. Part of my problem is I am like a little kid when it comes to Christmas- I want the last week before Christmas to get here and not have to go through the whole month before we get to the good part :) Those last few days before Christmas Day are the best and most anticipatory :)
Also, Aunt Flo, or our monthly friend did come and it's like a big sigh of relief in my body. Being a woman is HARD! I am in no way wishing the season to be over at all. The contrary- I want to prolong it because it's flying by. I did manage to get some presents wrapped today. I planned out the Christmas Eve smorgasbord menu, which we'll get to in another post. I'm a little nervous that I have no presents for my husband, niece and nephews or my parents. But I know that dh doesn't have any for me yet either :)
I snapped these the other day, but didn't get to it yet. Yes, here are our decked out halls. I wanted a more natural look this year. Decorating is very important to me. I can't explain it exactly, except that it has to do with the memory of being a child and being enthralled with all the Christmas decor and being SO excited. I try to generate the same thing into my daughters. I guess I think everyone is like me :) My grandparents were so crafty, so that's where I get that from, because I spent SO much time with them.
Here is the front door. A fake wreath, a cheap red bow, some pinecones and red berries from the woods.
Here is our real tree with mostly homemade ornaments. It smells wonderful.
The back wall. This was a grapevine wreath that I just stuck cedar twigs and red berries from the dogwood trees on it.
The snowman collection that someone started for me :) Somehow I keep getting snowmen. They aren't my favorite, but they make it out every year.
This is the Christmas village my grandmother gave me. It certainly could look better, but I can't keep little hands from rearranging :)
My kitchen. I couldn't get a good picture, but there are lights up above the cabinets and I nested cedar branches in among them.
The kitchen tree :)
The window above the kitchen sink.
The stockings I made, but haven't hung up yet.
Also, Aunt Flo, or our monthly friend did come and it's like a big sigh of relief in my body. Being a woman is HARD! I am in no way wishing the season to be over at all. The contrary- I want to prolong it because it's flying by. I did manage to get some presents wrapped today. I planned out the Christmas Eve smorgasbord menu, which we'll get to in another post. I'm a little nervous that I have no presents for my husband, niece and nephews or my parents. But I know that dh doesn't have any for me yet either :)
I snapped these the other day, but didn't get to it yet. Yes, here are our decked out halls. I wanted a more natural look this year. Decorating is very important to me. I can't explain it exactly, except that it has to do with the memory of being a child and being enthralled with all the Christmas decor and being SO excited. I try to generate the same thing into my daughters. I guess I think everyone is like me :) My grandparents were so crafty, so that's where I get that from, because I spent SO much time with them.
Here is the front door. A fake wreath, a cheap red bow, some pinecones and red berries from the woods.
Here is our real tree with mostly homemade ornaments. It smells wonderful.
The back wall. This was a grapevine wreath that I just stuck cedar twigs and red berries from the dogwood trees on it.
The snowman collection that someone started for me :) Somehow I keep getting snowmen. They aren't my favorite, but they make it out every year.
This is the Christmas village my grandmother gave me. It certainly could look better, but I can't keep little hands from rearranging :)
My kitchen. I couldn't get a good picture, but there are lights up above the cabinets and I nested cedar branches in among them.
The kitchen tree :)
The window above the kitchen sink.
The stockings I made, but haven't hung up yet.
December 15, 2009
Feelin' like Scrooge
I've been avoiding the blog.
Yes, because I can't seem to NOT write about my honest feelings or NOT be real and write fluffy stuff when I don't feel fluffy.
So, what do you do when the thing you want to happen isn't, and the things you DON'T want to happen, is happening? You feel disappointed and maybe guilty.
My situation is December is flying by. I did NOT want our holidays to be so crammed with activities and events and just stuff to do that it was a burden. The one main thing I wanted to do was put out lots of lights outside in our front yard.
Didn't happen. It rained for three weekends. The whole month of December got filled up by the the 4th! I feel obligated to do these things, because a lot of it is family, yet it feels unfair. I didn't hardly get to enjoy decorating our home because it was so rushed. I had zero time before Thanksgiving to do any Christmas prep as far as decor and gifts go, because I was hosting Thanksgiving and family. Then before you know it, there it is and now we're on December 15th. So much for making that Advent calendar!
Now, I have a child that has to stay home from school and miss all her fun stuff until Thursday because she came down with strep throat and bronchitis. I have two parties to attend and bring food and gifts to, make presents for teachers, make the rest of the homemade presents, make at least two more shopping trips and somehow get my children to see Santa Clause because they REALLY want to. This isn't what I wanted.
What did I want? More TIME! Time to make those neat cinnamon/applesauce ornaments I've been wanting to do for years. Time to make an advent calendar so that instead of asking every day when Santa Clause is coming, they can look at how many days are left on the calendar. I wanted time to enjoy carefully and slowly decorating the house and tree, time to enjoy making crafts and presents, and time to plan ahead with the baking and cooking. Time to read the Christmas stories, watch the Christmas shows and spend time with the kiddies.
I wanted all the other daily chores to do themselves so I could focus on other things :) Who wants to do laundry and plan meals when there are so many other things to do? Yet, here I am in the middle of a PILE of kid laundry, needing to make a pot of soup for the sick one, figuring out how to find time to bake cupcakes for school and just overall feeling bad because I don't want Christmas to be suddenly over before I'm ready.
Then I wonder, why do I feel like I have to make things perfect. Why do I feel that no one will be happy with a good try? I can't remember if the house was clean or the laundry done on Christmas morning. I don't remember if there was clutter or paper piles or if the floor was vacuumed or if the bedrooms were in order. I don't remember casting a judgmental eye at my mom for not looking or doing things perfect or spending time making crafts and gingerbread houses. In my eyes, they way it was, WAS perfect. It couldn't get any better- we had the BEST Christmases in my opinion.
So how do you make yourself chill? I don't know...I get into this mode and haven't figured out a way to let it go yet. I guess I need to prioritize better and make sure the most important things are covered and not sweat the rest. Maybe I'm just tired and dealing with hormones. Maybe I need a drink, ha,ha :)
Maybe it's because I don't think there are many Christmases left before Jesus returns, and I want to make the most of the ones we have. I don't want to be remembered in my children's eyes that mom was mean and stressed at Christmas.
I wish I could start December over.
Yes, because I can't seem to NOT write about my honest feelings or NOT be real and write fluffy stuff when I don't feel fluffy.
So, what do you do when the thing you want to happen isn't, and the things you DON'T want to happen, is happening? You feel disappointed and maybe guilty.
My situation is December is flying by. I did NOT want our holidays to be so crammed with activities and events and just stuff to do that it was a burden. The one main thing I wanted to do was put out lots of lights outside in our front yard.
Didn't happen. It rained for three weekends. The whole month of December got filled up by the the 4th! I feel obligated to do these things, because a lot of it is family, yet it feels unfair. I didn't hardly get to enjoy decorating our home because it was so rushed. I had zero time before Thanksgiving to do any Christmas prep as far as decor and gifts go, because I was hosting Thanksgiving and family. Then before you know it, there it is and now we're on December 15th. So much for making that Advent calendar!
Now, I have a child that has to stay home from school and miss all her fun stuff until Thursday because she came down with strep throat and bronchitis. I have two parties to attend and bring food and gifts to, make presents for teachers, make the rest of the homemade presents, make at least two more shopping trips and somehow get my children to see Santa Clause because they REALLY want to. This isn't what I wanted.
What did I want? More TIME! Time to make those neat cinnamon/applesauce ornaments I've been wanting to do for years. Time to make an advent calendar so that instead of asking every day when Santa Clause is coming, they can look at how many days are left on the calendar. I wanted time to enjoy carefully and slowly decorating the house and tree, time to enjoy making crafts and presents, and time to plan ahead with the baking and cooking. Time to read the Christmas stories, watch the Christmas shows and spend time with the kiddies.
I wanted all the other daily chores to do themselves so I could focus on other things :) Who wants to do laundry and plan meals when there are so many other things to do? Yet, here I am in the middle of a PILE of kid laundry, needing to make a pot of soup for the sick one, figuring out how to find time to bake cupcakes for school and just overall feeling bad because I don't want Christmas to be suddenly over before I'm ready.
Then I wonder, why do I feel like I have to make things perfect. Why do I feel that no one will be happy with a good try? I can't remember if the house was clean or the laundry done on Christmas morning. I don't remember if there was clutter or paper piles or if the floor was vacuumed or if the bedrooms were in order. I don't remember casting a judgmental eye at my mom for not looking or doing things perfect or spending time making crafts and gingerbread houses. In my eyes, they way it was, WAS perfect. It couldn't get any better- we had the BEST Christmases in my opinion.
So how do you make yourself chill? I don't know...I get into this mode and haven't figured out a way to let it go yet. I guess I need to prioritize better and make sure the most important things are covered and not sweat the rest. Maybe I'm just tired and dealing with hormones. Maybe I need a drink, ha,ha :)
Maybe it's because I don't think there are many Christmases left before Jesus returns, and I want to make the most of the ones we have. I don't want to be remembered in my children's eyes that mom was mean and stressed at Christmas.
I wish I could start December over.
December 10, 2009
Cool easy crafts
My little brain is about to pop! I have stumbled across such NEAT ideas for making toys etc. for children that I want to do it ALL!!! But, realistically, I can't spend the next two weeks at the sewing machine or in a constant state of creating something. There are chores to do you know... they have been rather neglected lately however.
I just made a CUTE tutu. Yeah, no sewing involved. It took me less than 45 minutes too.
I got my directions at www.makeitandloveit.com This lady has some awesome ideas, many of which I plan to try later.
I'm also in the process of making 5 crayon rolls. What's a crayon roll? Here's a picture from the blog, www.skiptomylou.org
EASY hair barrettes! Here
Baby shoe pattern...
Homemade baby toys
And more to come !
I just made a CUTE tutu. Yeah, no sewing involved. It took me less than 45 minutes too.
I got my directions at www.makeitandloveit.com This lady has some awesome ideas, many of which I plan to try later.
I'm also in the process of making 5 crayon rolls. What's a crayon roll? Here's a picture from the blog, www.skiptomylou.org
EASY hair barrettes! Here
Baby shoe pattern...
Homemade baby toys
And more to come !
December 8, 2009
Snapshots of the Wild Weekend
Still working on the house pics/video...but here are some from the weekend.
The hayride to get the tree.
Trying the get the perfect picture in front of the perfect tree. Sarah isn't wanting to cooperate.
She just needed a good tickling.
Better..
Still better...
Great! oh, we're missing some kids...Alexa took this picture! (she's almost 6- wow)
The most popular guest at the Christmas party.
Dessert! That's their friend Shelbi.
Samantha loving Granna's glittery snowman.
Twirling Sunday morning in their fancy dresses.
The hayride to get the tree.
Trying the get the perfect picture in front of the perfect tree. Sarah isn't wanting to cooperate.
She just needed a good tickling.
Better..
Still better...
Great! oh, we're missing some kids...Alexa took this picture! (she's almost 6- wow)
The most popular guest at the Christmas party.
Dessert! That's their friend Shelbi.
Samantha loving Granna's glittery snowman.
Twirling Sunday morning in their fancy dresses.
December 7, 2009
Christmas plans
Thanks so much for the nice comments about my weight. Most of the time I'm ok, but occasionally I get really down about it because it seems SO many things are against me. I have thought the same thing about the people on the TV show The Biggest Loser- some of them are so pretty/nice looking even though they're heavy. For me, I want to be able to buy normal clothes and not have to go to the 'woman's department'. Or even just find something second hand that will fit.
I had an outrageously busy weekend, and have been snapping pictures of my home and such, but, I'm not done and I have my niece today AND I'm doing birthday stuff for my best friend. SO, it will be later rather than sooner. I made all the stockings and they turned out very cute. I still have some decorating to do, then I MIGHT, might, MIGHT do a video :) Don't hold yer breath though.
Saturday morning was the coldest morning of the year so far. We got everyone bundled up and headed to the town Christmas parade. It was ok, nothing wonderful. The kids got some candy and saw Santa. Then we drove to the Christmas tree farm and picked out the perfect, expensive tree :) They are all approximately $40, so we went ahead and got a big one :) We drank hot chocolate while they got the tree ready, then stopped at a store to get gift bags for the Christmas party and some extension cords, came home, made lunch, got the girls down for naps, got the tree up and partially decorated (this is MY tree, they have one with all of their things on it, therefore I did most of the decorating with this tree because I wanted it to look a certain way)the tree, then got everyone GUSSIED UP for the church Christmas party, drove to our old town to a restaurant, got there late, had dinner and a fun gift game, went to walmart to get some necessities, came home, got everyone un-decked out and in bed by 9:30, Samantha was wired up, so I laid on the bed and played with her while dh picked out some Christmas music and played it on the guitar. She finally went out!
Sunday, we got everyone dressed up in their new Christmas outfits, including myself, got to church, took pictures at my mom's house, ate lunch there and visited, came home and cleaned up the house, Matt made dinner, we ate and got the girls bathed and in jammies, made homemade popcorn and hot chocolate and watched The Polar Express! After that, and after the girls went to bed, we stayed up and looked at Christmas present ideas on the computer.
WOW- that was the long version, hope it didn't tire you out.
This month is filling up FAST with lots of stuff to do. It was frustrating me at first, but then, I have 4 children and family and friends who love to get together- Christmas is bound to be busy. I'm going to do my best and not stress about perfection and just go with the flow.
This weekend is a birthday party and we still have outdoor lights to put up, next week is a special week dedicated just to my second daughter, called Marvelous Me, in which I have to make a poster of pictures of her, provide snacks, and provide cupcakes for the class for her birthday which will be over the break. They both have Christmas parties with gift exchanges next week, and I'm supposed to make a gift for the teachers :) Then, there is family gathering a few hours away, plus the Christmas shopping and gift wrapping and card making and mailing and going to the mall to see Santa Clause, and making the Swedish smorgasbord...after Christmas, my two oldest daughters have birthdays!
It's the most wonderful rushed time of year huh?
Well, I'll be around.
I had an outrageously busy weekend, and have been snapping pictures of my home and such, but, I'm not done and I have my niece today AND I'm doing birthday stuff for my best friend. SO, it will be later rather than sooner. I made all the stockings and they turned out very cute. I still have some decorating to do, then I MIGHT, might, MIGHT do a video :) Don't hold yer breath though.
Saturday morning was the coldest morning of the year so far. We got everyone bundled up and headed to the town Christmas parade. It was ok, nothing wonderful. The kids got some candy and saw Santa. Then we drove to the Christmas tree farm and picked out the perfect, expensive tree :) They are all approximately $40, so we went ahead and got a big one :) We drank hot chocolate while they got the tree ready, then stopped at a store to get gift bags for the Christmas party and some extension cords, came home, made lunch, got the girls down for naps, got the tree up and partially decorated (this is MY tree, they have one with all of their things on it, therefore I did most of the decorating with this tree because I wanted it to look a certain way)the tree, then got everyone GUSSIED UP for the church Christmas party, drove to our old town to a restaurant, got there late, had dinner and a fun gift game, went to walmart to get some necessities, came home, got everyone un-decked out and in bed by 9:30, Samantha was wired up, so I laid on the bed and played with her while dh picked out some Christmas music and played it on the guitar. She finally went out!
Sunday, we got everyone dressed up in their new Christmas outfits, including myself, got to church, took pictures at my mom's house, ate lunch there and visited, came home and cleaned up the house, Matt made dinner, we ate and got the girls bathed and in jammies, made homemade popcorn and hot chocolate and watched The Polar Express! After that, and after the girls went to bed, we stayed up and looked at Christmas present ideas on the computer.
WOW- that was the long version, hope it didn't tire you out.
This month is filling up FAST with lots of stuff to do. It was frustrating me at first, but then, I have 4 children and family and friends who love to get together- Christmas is bound to be busy. I'm going to do my best and not stress about perfection and just go with the flow.
This weekend is a birthday party and we still have outdoor lights to put up, next week is a special week dedicated just to my second daughter, called Marvelous Me, in which I have to make a poster of pictures of her, provide snacks, and provide cupcakes for the class for her birthday which will be over the break. They both have Christmas parties with gift exchanges next week, and I'm supposed to make a gift for the teachers :) Then, there is family gathering a few hours away, plus the Christmas shopping and gift wrapping and card making and mailing and going to the mall to see Santa Clause, and making the Swedish smorgasbord...after Christmas, my two oldest daughters have birthdays!
It's the most wonderful rushed time of year huh?
Well, I'll be around.
December 3, 2009
Thanks
Aww, thanks for the sweet comment from everyone.
I admit, I did hit a low last night. It's difficult because I've wanted to get back to what I was for about 8 years now, and it just seems so far beyond my reach! I do realize that 1) I just had a baby, 2) it's holiday time, 3) life is much busier because we have 4 children and all the stuff that goes with family.
I'm just SO ready to get there! Slow and steady isn't what I want, instantaneous is what I want :) Don't we all?
Well, I am taking pictures of my revamped Christmas decor. Yes I already had it up during Thanksgiving because we were doing Christmas presents with the grandparents because they live so far away and won't be here. I knew we would be getting it all out in a week anyways, so we just went ahead :)
The month of December is filling up FAST!!! There aren't a lot of free weekends...this one is full of going to the tree farm, putting up house lights and then the first Christmas party of the year :) Now that I have school children, there's all kinds of projects, activities and parties coming. I've tried to simplify it as best I can, but the best thing is just to accept that this time of year is busy and go with it.
Gotta go- bed time for girls.
I admit, I did hit a low last night. It's difficult because I've wanted to get back to what I was for about 8 years now, and it just seems so far beyond my reach! I do realize that 1) I just had a baby, 2) it's holiday time, 3) life is much busier because we have 4 children and all the stuff that goes with family.
I'm just SO ready to get there! Slow and steady isn't what I want, instantaneous is what I want :) Don't we all?
Well, I am taking pictures of my revamped Christmas decor. Yes I already had it up during Thanksgiving because we were doing Christmas presents with the grandparents because they live so far away and won't be here. I knew we would be getting it all out in a week anyways, so we just went ahead :)
The month of December is filling up FAST!!! There aren't a lot of free weekends...this one is full of going to the tree farm, putting up house lights and then the first Christmas party of the year :) Now that I have school children, there's all kinds of projects, activities and parties coming. I've tried to simplify it as best I can, but the best thing is just to accept that this time of year is busy and go with it.
Gotta go- bed time for girls.
December 2, 2009
Pictures
Thanksgiving Day at our house with my family and Matt's parents. See the fatness??
Me working with baby- my sister and brother-in-law were visiting. Major fat pic!
Ouch! Wake up call now...New baby Samantha pictures...she is about 4 months old now, trying to sit by herself, prefers to stand but also loves her playpen, is eating much better from the bottle and is loving food from the spoon as well. She really resembles my husband in these pictures, but then she looks different too. Hard to tell who she looks like the most.
It's working
Yesterday went very well too. I drank some herbal tea with coconut oil in it (weird, but tastes fine) and it seemed to keep my energy and mood even. For dinner I ate about 1/2 cup soaked cooked brown rice with stir fried veggies and natural soy sauce. Wow it tasted good! I ate a large salad and then ate some more veggies.
Oh, I stole a bite of pumpkin pie, just to see if it was still good. It was, so I fed the rest of it to my daughters for a bedtime snack and threw the rest out :)
Today I ate fruit this morning, and since I was out shopping and it's freezing, I drove through McDonald's and got two grilled chicken wraps. My plan now is to make wise choices (grilled vs. fried), portion control, and confuse my metabolism. See, I ate a very low amount of calories for 2.5 days, so it's like what the hey? This evening I'll eat some chicken and potatoes and salad, and really confuse it! Tomorrow I plan to fast till dinner, which will make it confused again. It doesn't have time to get used to a certain amount of calories so it'll end up burning more.
Long term plan? 6 small meals a day of well combined protein, carb and fat, focusing the carbs on vegetables and fruits and one big ole cheat day.
I believe in good fats and animal foods, but for someone like me, I need to moderate it until I lose enough. I'll post some recent pictures soon.
The good news is I lost between 3-5lbs (scale isn't too good) and my shirt is looser.
Crazy to do during the holidays but this is the exact time period I did it before, a whole 8 years ago!!!! I made it then and lost around 35lbs, so I'm sure I can do it again.
Oh, I stole a bite of pumpkin pie, just to see if it was still good. It was, so I fed the rest of it to my daughters for a bedtime snack and threw the rest out :)
Today I ate fruit this morning, and since I was out shopping and it's freezing, I drove through McDonald's and got two grilled chicken wraps. My plan now is to make wise choices (grilled vs. fried), portion control, and confuse my metabolism. See, I ate a very low amount of calories for 2.5 days, so it's like what the hey? This evening I'll eat some chicken and potatoes and salad, and really confuse it! Tomorrow I plan to fast till dinner, which will make it confused again. It doesn't have time to get used to a certain amount of calories so it'll end up burning more.
Long term plan? 6 small meals a day of well combined protein, carb and fat, focusing the carbs on vegetables and fruits and one big ole cheat day.
I believe in good fats and animal foods, but for someone like me, I need to moderate it until I lose enough. I'll post some recent pictures soon.
The good news is I lost between 3-5lbs (scale isn't too good) and my shirt is looser.
Crazy to do during the holidays but this is the exact time period I did it before, a whole 8 years ago!!!! I made it then and lost around 35lbs, so I'm sure I can do it again.
December 1, 2009
How it went
Yesterday went really, really well.
I really didn't feel hungry in the morning, but I ate an apple and some grapes, lots of water and pure cranberry juice.
At lunch I had a salad with homemade dressing (oil and vinegar) and a banana later in the afternoon.
Supper was a salad with a homemade ranch type dressing and straight vegetable soup.
I did cave a little at night and ate the inside of a tart apple pie and some tea, but I really just wanted the apples! Oh well...
The verdict: this was easy. I had no cravings at all, not even for coffee! This morning the UTI was in full force! But I CANNOT take antibiotics- no way.
The only bad thing that happened was last evening around 6pm, it had been awhile since I ate anything, and I was in a mental FOG trying to make dinner. It was like my body was in slow motion and couldn't concentrate. I also had a sudden feeling of fear- fear that I had done so well, but what if I couldn't keep it up? What if I just stayed fat forever? Silly, but it passed after about 15 minutes. I actually preferred the taste of my salad than the cooked soup. The soup was tasty, but the salad tasted better.
Today I didn't crave anything at all. I didn't even get hungry feeling till 11 am. First thing I was drinking loads of water and cranberry juice because of the pain of the UTI. Later I ate half a grapefruit, a few grapes, and later an apple.
Lunch was a large salad with avocado, tomatoes, green onions, carrots and 1 boiled egg and homemade dressing. The egg didn't taste as good as I thought it would. Bummer.
I will probably have some fruit this afternoon, and supper will be stir fried veggies (carrots, bell peppers, onion, broccoli and Bragg's Liquid aminos instead of soy sauce) brown rice and a salad. I may slice up some leftover steak and add it to the stir fry so it isn't wasted.
I'm not sure how I will proceed. I'm just kind of going with how I feel. The hard part is that it's cold today and I am cold and want something hot. I may heat up some leftover soup later.
My husband is doing this with me and the kids are doing fine too. They didn't seem to mind just eating simple vegetable soup and salad and some crackers. We'll see how they do with tonight's supper. I am considering starting my weightloss blog again with pictures (yikes!).
I am getting lots of inspiration from youtube- there are many people that post their weightloss journeys on there with pictures. Also I watch the Biggest Loser program. I could be on there- that's how bad it has gotten. I would be on the small side, but still.
On to Christmas stuff- I am planning to try making some pomanders and the ornaments you make with applesauce and cinnamon and bake. Hopefully I can sew some stockings too- time we all had one that looked similar instead of random mis matched ones, especially since our family is 'done' :)
I really didn't feel hungry in the morning, but I ate an apple and some grapes, lots of water and pure cranberry juice.
At lunch I had a salad with homemade dressing (oil and vinegar) and a banana later in the afternoon.
Supper was a salad with a homemade ranch type dressing and straight vegetable soup.
I did cave a little at night and ate the inside of a tart apple pie and some tea, but I really just wanted the apples! Oh well...
The verdict: this was easy. I had no cravings at all, not even for coffee! This morning the UTI was in full force! But I CANNOT take antibiotics- no way.
The only bad thing that happened was last evening around 6pm, it had been awhile since I ate anything, and I was in a mental FOG trying to make dinner. It was like my body was in slow motion and couldn't concentrate. I also had a sudden feeling of fear- fear that I had done so well, but what if I couldn't keep it up? What if I just stayed fat forever? Silly, but it passed after about 15 minutes. I actually preferred the taste of my salad than the cooked soup. The soup was tasty, but the salad tasted better.
Today I didn't crave anything at all. I didn't even get hungry feeling till 11 am. First thing I was drinking loads of water and cranberry juice because of the pain of the UTI. Later I ate half a grapefruit, a few grapes, and later an apple.
Lunch was a large salad with avocado, tomatoes, green onions, carrots and 1 boiled egg and homemade dressing. The egg didn't taste as good as I thought it would. Bummer.
I will probably have some fruit this afternoon, and supper will be stir fried veggies (carrots, bell peppers, onion, broccoli and Bragg's Liquid aminos instead of soy sauce) brown rice and a salad. I may slice up some leftover steak and add it to the stir fry so it isn't wasted.
I'm not sure how I will proceed. I'm just kind of going with how I feel. The hard part is that it's cold today and I am cold and want something hot. I may heat up some leftover soup later.
My husband is doing this with me and the kids are doing fine too. They didn't seem to mind just eating simple vegetable soup and salad and some crackers. We'll see how they do with tonight's supper. I am considering starting my weightloss blog again with pictures (yikes!).
I am getting lots of inspiration from youtube- there are many people that post their weightloss journeys on there with pictures. Also I watch the Biggest Loser program. I could be on there- that's how bad it has gotten. I would be on the small side, but still.
On to Christmas stuff- I am planning to try making some pomanders and the ornaments you make with applesauce and cinnamon and bake. Hopefully I can sew some stockings too- time we all had one that looked similar instead of random mis matched ones, especially since our family is 'done' :)
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