Fall On My Face Homeschooling

I had a conversation today with some college friends, the Demmes, from https://demmelearning.com/ . Since having children and falling wholly off the blogging bandwagon, I somewhat reticently mentioned that I was thinking about blogging our very soon upcoming homeschooling adventures, but was afraid of falling flat on my face for all the world to see.

Cassie-Marie replied "maybe that's what someone needs to read."

She was so right.

I know my limitations too well as a parent, and I know that teaching my children will require skills, talents, and virtues that I do not currently possess. I'm not incredibly patient. I yell sometimes. I'm selfish sometimes. I'm not as disciplined as I'd like to be, nor up-to-date on curriculum design nor learning philosophies. I'm not flowing with cash to pay for really nice textbooks or online courses.

But I do love learning. I love sharing the things I'm learning with those around me. I love creating fun and stimulating environments. I also have the benefit of being thrown flat on my face in front of the world, where I have to receive with humility from God those things I lack.

So I'm dusting off the old MMDA and sharing with my readers. Watch me fall on my face now, before I even get started.

And, with any luck, I'll stay here.

--SP

Busting the Productivity Busters!

What holds you back from accomplishing your household tasks? As I was working today to catch up on some much-overdo tidying, I tried to notice the things that threatened my productivity:

That overwhelmed feeling. You know the one. 
I looked up from the bed, where my cooing little baby was happily playing next to me, and thought "the time is now...now where on earth do I begin?" Everything was in disorder, and the further I looked around the house, the more disorder I found. A week of contracting had meant a week of no cleaning, and all was chaos. So, I decided to do the Dave Ramsey Debt Snowball method...and pay off my loans...I mean, pay off my...er...clean my house. Hey, it got me debt free, so I suppose it could get my house clean, too. The idea is that you start with your smallest debt/room, and add momentum as you move to bigger jobs. So, I tackled the bathroom. If the mess gets overwhelming, I'll just go stand in the bathroom and breathe for a minute. This room is done. I can keep this up.

Breakfast
As soon as I got some momentum going, I felt like I was going to die if I didn't eat something. The fact that my toddler was happily munching away on a delicious looking and smelling banana didn't help. So, I worked on...with a peanut butter-coated apple wedge in the other hand. Crisis averted.

Photo Credit: http://livelearnloveeat.com/2012/02/03/apple-peanut-butter-sandwiches/

Now I'm on to my bedroom, and it's mostly clothes. We don't do much in the bedroom and the kids don't play in there much, so it's mostly used for dressing and sleeping. After the bed was made, the clothes were really about 95% of the mess. Then it hit me:

The urge to start a major reorganization project

My closet is great. It holds our clothes and junk well. The only problem with closets is that we only have about 12 feet of closet space in our whole house, lengthwise, anyway. So, I'm never satisfied with how they look. I'm dying to revamp our closet space and get rid of about 50 things that live there, but I have to channel my inner Aragorn and say to the closet, "There will come a day when the strength of man prevails. But it is not this day. This day, we tidy!" So, I stayed on task, until...

The baby 

This little guy is incredible. He crawls, he leaves a hurricane in his wake, and he yells at me when he feels ignored in favor of a pile of laundry. And he was tired, so he began the call. I heeded the call with attention and a moment of play, then went back to my task. The call resumed. Finally, I decided to set him a few feet from me on the floor with a blanket and a toy while I spent 3 minutes hanging up the last of my clothes. He yelled at me the whole time, but did not die. After 3 minutes, I picked him up and rocked him to sleep. Mission accomplished.

Screens

I don't have a cell phone because we live in a place where there is spotty service at best. We used our phone so rarely that even having it seemed ludicrous, but I know that most people are on their phone screens a lot. My screen weakness is my desktop, but thankfully the toddler was watching 45 minutes of animated vehicles being washed in a car wash. Zzzzzzz. Most days that I am doing housework, I may put on some quiet music, but otherwise, the monitor and the TV must be OFF. Otherwise, I'll get sucked in.

The Phone
I am an introvert. I don't call people, unless there's something I need to communicate or organize and it cannot wait any longer. I may make 1 phone call a day. I may still manage to spend 1-3 hours a day on the phone because of other people calling me (between work and family). That, surprisingly, wasn't an issue this morning, and I went nearly 4 hours without anyone calling in. It was a beautiful thing.

Once you identify the barriers to success, it's a lot easier to keep up that momentum and get to the place you need to be. What are you trying to accomplish? Figure out those barriers and get to overcoming them! 

What is Your Simplify Habit?

If you do a basic search on the word "declutter," you will find thousands of incredible ways to simplify your home, life, and mind. There are articles that have simple beginner steps, lifestyle changes, and boot camps to get all the accumulated junk under control. 

When I first discovered decluttering, it was like the heavens had opened and given me an excuse to finally release all the things I was holding onto and displaying simply because Great Aunt Thelma gave me that when I was 5. I remember Great Aunt Thelma fondly and am so glad that she was part of my childhood, but that thing...it doesn't hold any real value to me. It can bless another life and find love in another home. And all the books I saved from college...they won't be read in the next 20 years. They don't need to stay. 

I found that the more I released, the more I discovered that I had. I couldn't throw away, give away, put away fast enough to keep ahead of having two small boys and a treasure trove of hobbies. And heaven help if I tried to get rid of anything of my husband's. I made the mistake of listing his old ninja turtle stocking (after all, the man is 30) on a Facebook sell group for $3. Thank goodness no one bought it, because he was devastated and I later saw on Ebay the same item listed for $45. With shame, I tucked my head down and put the stocking back in the container labeled "David's Childhood" and learned a valuable lesson from the look in his eyes: be sure your decluttering mission doesn't infringe on someone else's heart. I had deemed something precious to him as worthless, then discovered it had value not just to him, but to others as well. 

In this journey to have less stuff, my motto has been, simply: decimate. The idea of giving a tenth is pretty biblical, but this is a bit more Roman in origin. When an army was conquered, occasionally a nice leader would line up this poor, beaten army and count off and kill every tenth man. It taught the army who was boss, in a way none of those poor surviving soldiers would ever forget. It's a bit brutal, but its impact is real. See, simply having less stuff doesn't really mean anything, just as having more stuff doesn't mean anything. It's that pull that stuff has on your soul. It's the energy you spend caring for, dusting, moving, organizing all that stuff, when it could just as well leave and make space for what informs your existence. So I decimate. When looking at ten things, which one goes? If I have 100 things to clean up, suddenly only being responsible for 90 is an improvement already. But to decimate means more than free space. It's a statement of who is in charge here, the stuff or the person. Taking control of all this junk is a mental thing, not just a physical one. 

But if you're not into slaying rampages (and I don't suppose I would blame you for that), there are a wealth of other great ways to get in a decluttering mindset. Here are a few that have been beneficial to me:

Flylady--Back when I had no kids and marginal self-control, her baby steps gave routines that would help me conquer the task of daily home maintenance. I don't agree philosophically with some of where this goes (FLY=fully loving yourself, the idea that you have to perform to value yourself is a bit off-putting to me, though I hope she means that you will love the you that is more disciplined) flylady.com

31 Days to Living Intentionally Simple--My friend Rachel is a pro at systematically decluttering and gave me some great tips as well as taking a month every year to drastically reduce clutter. http://intentionallysimple.com/31-days-to-living-intentionally-simple/

One In, One Out--This principle is simple and life-long. If you bring a new thing in, let an old thing go out. This keeps stuff on rotation and keeps it moving through your life.

-365 in 365--For one year, get rid of one thing per day. That's over 300 things GONE with only one thing per day leaving! This might be a great starting point for those who need big change but have no time to make big changes, or simply have a hard time parting with things.

Three Boxes--the 3-box system is great for on-the-go types. Label the boxes "Trash," "Donate," and "Relocate." Find a new place to put your relocate stuff, junk or give away the stuff in the other boxes. You can go section-by-section in your house, and this tool helps you to decide where all the stuff goes. Right now, I have a section of my bedroom and back porch dedicated to "Yard Sale" and I'm merrily piling those areas high with stuff to send to a yard sale. 

Systematic--Pick up your calendar and think of all the spaces you'd love to go through, organize, and declutter. You can go as big or little as you like. One day could be "Utility drawer" and another "Bedroom closet" or even "sock drawer." You could work for a week, or on days you have off, just be sure to systematically go through each space and claim it as your own. 

SO...what's the declutter habit that fits you? Which ones have I missed? Comment away!

Pro Tips!

Holidays can be a real pain for budgets. Those who budget but don't have an awful lot extra to spend on get-togethers and celebrations can also feel the pain that comes when everyone else is spending and it looks like they're having the good times. It's hard in that moment to feel ahead to mid-January when you won't have a credit card bill to stare in shock at. 

But here we are. It's January and time to look forward to tax season and the two next holidays are Valentine's and St. Patrick's Days. And I stumbled upon a moment of genius at the grocery store this month to get me through two more holidays of celebrating on da cheap. (photo from a google search)

Tis the season for the grocery store to get rid of their Christmas inventory, and this festive little critter was on sale at our Kroger for SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS A BOX. So, I bought two. The red half is in the oven to make a romantic red velvet cake, and the other half is staying in the box until March, for St. Patrick's Day cupcakes.

I scored a few other baking things as well. Cinnamon, chocolate chips, pumpkin spice stuff, all of it leaves the shelves as soon as its holiday is over. I paid half price for most of it. Keep an eye out a week or two after the holidays and stock up on baking goods then. It's also a great time to get inexpensive decor to put up for next year, if you have margin in your budget for that.

Commenters: What baking scores have you made in your after-holiday shopping? 

An Experi-Mint! Oh, dear, that horrible pun

I love mint. As a child, my grandmother would pick from the mint that grew like a weed in her front yard and would boil, sweeten, and ice it to make fresh, green mint tea in the summer. I now use it dried in my echinacea, mint, and lemon balm tea for when we have colds or sore throats.

Most people will tell you that it is super easy to grow, and tends to take over like a weed. I'd have no idea about that because I can't keep it alive. I have killed every single mint plant that has come into my possession. So, as a last-ditch effort, I'm going to try to root some from the cuttings you can buy at your local grocery store. I put a little rooting hormone in the glass with water, and have it sitting in a brightly-lit window. I put six more mature sprigs in the red pot with rooting hormone at the base of the stem, and fresh potting soil on it. That one will sit on top of the computer where it will be away from small child interest. I want to know if either method will work better, if any works at all. If neither, my local Lowe's is getting some business from me buying another set of plants, to see if I can keep them alive.

Comment with links to good mint-growing, mint-starting, and mint recipe websites. :) Good luck, and I'll probably edit this post with an update when I get some results.

****UPDATE****
The mint in the pot died, but the mint in the water grew beautiful roots within 2 weeks and transitioned nicely into the pot. It is sitting in the bright windowsill enjoying the sunshine with its new herb buddies: sage, thyme, and rosemary, all from a $0.99 "poultry herb blend" similar to the mint stash. I bought some more mint, but that had all been chopped into tiny pieces, so I'll just use it for cooking. I'll update again with those herbs' results. :)

When the gardening bug strikes early

I have a serious illness. I don't know the name of it, but it causes me to get the itch to garden every time the weather warms past 50 F. Since I live in Zone 7, that means mid-January. Mid-January is no time to be gardening. In fact, it is a better time to be doing things like drinking hot cocoa and preparing for our snowy season, which tends to start in February.

But we crazy gardening types have a recourse. You don't have to have a cozy day to start gardening planning and preparation. Pictured above is my garden prep so far, besides putting in my overwinter plants (onions and garlic and my echinacea seeds that I harvested last year).

I have a rough sketch of my space (Top Right) with all the plants in their spots. If you make a garden design plan, be sure to keep a copy for next year so you can rotate your crops, especially those nutrient-hungry legumes and potatoes.

I have my clothespins (Right Center), which will be snapped to wooden skewers and used as plant markers. In the big picture, you can see one of last year's survivors that I'm reusing. Because it is a pain to dig through a bag of those things while you're planting, I have snapped one to the seed packet that is relevant to it, and that should help me to keep up with them. The fading happens pretty quickly, but by the time the information has all washed off of the skewers, the plants should be recognizable.

All of this is coordinated through the planting guide (Bottom Right) that lists the types of plants, any companions they should have, and when to plant them. I highlighted early and late planters. I was so stoked that peas apparently are cool with being planted as early as February, which will give me something to do the next time the bug strikes. I will move the start indoors babies to the big garden after the soil gets tilled sometime in mid-to-late April. I share a garden plot with two other families, and I can't wait to fill the beautiful space with flowers, herbs, and veggies to cook, eat, can, freeze, and share!

This is what happens...

...when there is so much amazing that it encroaches on my sharing ability.

Our little home has been pretty busy lately, but I've felt that niggling feeling in my fingertips that I need to keep writing, if not to help me remember it all, then to simply give these thoughts expression. And the only way to make it happen is to simply write, if only for a few minutes while your sunny side egg and rice cools off. This is how the magic happens: on a new gaming keyboard with 6-key rollover and a cool little green light on the front. The clicky sounds are soothing and inspiring.

SO, today's gift to the world:

My mother-in-law introduced me to sunny side egg and rice when I was pregnant with Raiden. It sounded horrible, but tasted wonderful. For the pregnant/nursing mom, getting all the nutrition from the brown rice and the (preferably local, pastured) delicious eggs and dash of cheese was essential. All this not to mention how quick it was to make.

The key is to keep your rice on hand. Brown rice takes a long time to cook, so you want to make a big pot and keep the leftovers in the fridge. Then, all you have to do is fry an egg or two until the yoke is almost set, add a little cheese or beans for flavor, and you have a lot of protein very quickly. When I was pregnant with Raiden, I had this breakfast down to 2.5 minutes start-to-finish to make. I'd put the egg on first, then scoop about 1/2 cup of rice to heat in the microwave, flip the egg, add the cheese, get the rice, remove the egg, and be done. The protein curbed the nausea and the complex carbs kept me full longer.

*Note: if you're pregnant, make sure your egg is hot enough to kill any listeriosis critters that might be lurking about. Only about one in 6 million eggs are contaminated (if memory serves), but it's worth noting nonetheless. My OB told me to make sure the food was steaming hot.

Chicken and rice bowl

Got a cranky baby, zero time to cook, or just zero motivation? Here's a mostly guilt-free dinner on a budget that's quick (yeah, 10 minutes? I can do that), easy, light, and nutritious! It made enough to feed my 18 month old and myself dinner, and we have enough leftover for Daddy when he gets home.

Cook 1 c rice (this takes the 10 minutes)
Open 1 can chicken, drain
Cut up 1/2 head of broccoli, add to bowl with 2T water, cover with plate, microwave 2-6 minutes, then drain.
Mix it all together. Add cheese, butter, seasoning (Nature's Own or Mrs. Dash are good), and sea salt. YUM.

Maximizing a Minimal Toy Stash

A huge part of my "making do" is one I am honestly a little ashamed of sometimes. I hate whining about having very little space, when in reality, I live in a 2-bedroom apartment. It's the presence of work surfaces, crafting surfaces, clothes, books, hubby's video game collection, and other STUFF that informs our existence but also takes up our space. The reason for my twinge of guilt is that I know and I've seen how the rest of the world lives. Two bedrooms in rural Africa? Opulence. But even owning the hundredth part of what we own would be opulence there as well. However, I do have to be sensitive to the culture in which I live; and according to our culture's norms, we live a pretty simple life, relatively free of the bonds of our things. And I want badly to continue in that direction. Giving away, throwing away, and selling all are regular parts of our efforts to pare down and remove unnecessary junk from our small home. And the more we do that, the more breathable space is available, the more we can fill our home with what really matters, the more we can create an environment that is uncluttered and inviting.

Then there's the challenge of passing on that gift to our children. Much of the environment of the home is situated around Raiden's needs. He's almost 18 months old, so he can reach everything up to my rib cage, but doesn't yet have the control to be trusted with things like houseplants and crystal. That means I have to keep things in different places for both our sakes. He also requires stimulation through play, both with household items and his own toys. This is really where this post comes in. How do you make do with little space, few toys, and keep a sense of organization and plenty of opportunity at every turn for fun? This is what has worked well for me:

I love the concept of stations. Brightly-colored objects en masse are quickly overwhelming. A toy box begs to be dumped with no concern for any of the individual items. Besides, where would I put one? But if I set aside some small spaces and place a few toys there, then he has options all over the room that call for his agency and creativity.

SO, I'm going to show you ALL of my little boy's toys and how they're arranged on the rare occasion that they are in their places of belonging. Everything else he plays with is house-related.

This is where most of his toys are. Behind him is a pull toy and a popping push toy.The box has several small toys in it and the table has a xylophone, a soft toy, and two different stacking toys on it. The push toy is the only thing we have right now that is electronic. Everything else only makes noise if you make the noise yourself. 

Under the coffee table is where the mega blocks and the hot wheels go. He can pull them out and put them back at will. You can see that the "broom brooms" have already seen some action this morning.

I cleaned out one shelf and had some space in front of the books. The top shelf has two puzzles and the bottom one has about 18 different books. One is electronic, one is soft, and two or three are touch-oriented. 

This is his bedroom. There is one box of shapes and cutouts, a bowl of stacking toys turned into balls, and two exercise balls that double as toys. In the crib are two soft puppies that he sleeps between while under his puppy blanket.

And that's it. That's all we've got out for him. For rotation purposes, I keep a box of things hidden away in the closet, and every 3 months or so will trade out unused toys for new ones.

Making Crispy Hair Amazing on a Making-Do Budget

Yick! Every winter, it's the same story. My hair goes from glowing with health to crispy, breaking, and with split ends everywhere. After trim and trim again, I'm left feeling like all the work I've put into length has been lost.

What is the culprit? Well, I looked up some possible ones, and ranked myself on how mean I was being to my hair:

Hot air dryer (blow dryer): Nope. I use it once or twice a year. Air dry for me.
Curling/straightening irons: Again, super rarely. Not enough to explain this.
Shampoo with alcohol in it: Probably. It's cheap stuff, but I only shampoo the roots.
Shampooing daily: Nope. Two-three times a week, and again, only the roots.
Not conditioning enough: Haha, no. I condition (often deep condition) every time I wash.

Not trimming: Probably not enough. I trim every few months or so... when it gets scraggly.

Hot showers: Um, yes. I wash my hair in really warm, kinda hot showers. Not changing that.

Another thing not mentioned that I think might bear some weight: Pregnancy. My body oils are being re-routed as fat blobs on a certain tiny creature growing inside me. I'm not complaining, but probably should take some fish oil. Catholics and Lent means no wild-caught fish on sale for me.

SO, what's an amazing solution on a making-do budget?

Apparently, hair masks are easy, cheap, and quick to make yourself. Got any of these lying around?

Honey

Apple cider vinegar

Extra virgin olive oil

Almond oil or coconut oil

Avocado

Egg yolk

All these things are great mask ingredients! I used what I had on hand (avocado, honey, and olive oil) and made a thick goop to put on my hair. I clipped it up (not easy when hands and hair are covered in goop) and left it for at least an hour, then rinsed the worst out, braided it, and washed it the next morning.

The result: I still have split ends. Nothing will make them heal back, but my hair is no longer dry, crispy, or threatening to break off. It feels soft, thick, and healthy again. A trim will finish off the breaks that already are there, but this should stave off the new ones and allow the hair to keep growing through the last of this winter.  

OCTOBER DECLUTTER FEST!!!

Yup, it's about that time. Time for Christmas and all the stuff that comes in the house for it. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a nice, quiet month before Thanksgiving craziness set in? Oh, wait! There is! It's called October, and it is upon us!

SO, in addition to being essentially gluten free again (since I liked it so much), this month I will be following the plan from Rachel of Intentionally Simple and doing a nice little cleaning/decluttering challenge.

I'll be finally getting to do it with her. I wanted so badly to do this last year, but at this time last year, I was 1 week postpartum with my first baby and there was, to put it mildly, a snowball's chance in the center of the sun that I was going to be cleaning anything. Oh, and did I mention that we were only half moved into our apartment? Yeah.

So, this year, I'm happy to dive in! If you're with us, here's the link to all the days:

http://intentionallysimple.com/31-days-to-living-intentionally-simple/

I have each thing jotted down on my calendar. I'll probably be mixing up the days a little because of David's and my staycation and the company we'll be having that week, so I'm going to cross off each item on my calendar as I do it, instead of doing the days in the order they come.

Also, though I had forgotten that this was coming up, last week I  cleaned out the baby's closet (Day 18 and 19) and gave away the things I didn't need that were lying around there. I also got rid of the unneeded clothes in our closet, but didn't get to the storage above the clothes, so Day 6 will be a little more stuff focused and less clothes-focused.

I really feel like being neat and decluttered is part of how you make space for amazing to happen in your life. If you hold on to all the junk, then there's no room to make things that you really love a priority. Last month, that meant releasing some junk I'd been eating so that I could ingest more good stuff, and it payed off big time. Though I've already prioritized this process somewhat, it's nice to intentionally attack it in your home.

SO, look forward to my weekly posts, likely to happen on each of the 4 Sundays in the month, as well as an update on how we saved a boatload of money by not going to the beach this upcoming week (sniff sniff) but still (hopefully) will have an amazing week off.

Halfway There (oh OH...)

Well, the 15th has come and gone faster than I expected. Before I get my lazy carcass up off the couch to measure, I'll add a few notes:

I feel great. I have a little indigestion today, but that's because I had a stomach bug yesterday. It only lasted about 12 hours, but they weren't fun hours. This is here because it may also affect my size a little. Maybe not, but it's worth noting. 

People who know me well have noted that I look slimmer. This may be due to reduction in midsection bloat, but my MIL even said I look like I did when David and I were dating. I don't think I'm quite there yet, but it's nice to hear the compliment. 

The one difference I've noticed is a stark drop in appetite. I've gone from grazing a lot to eating small, snack-sized meals 4-5 times a day. Half a bowl of soup here, piece of fruit there, that kind of thing. I'm quite satisfied with the food I'm eating and am loving some of the GF bread mixes I've found and what they accomplish for me. Read: I ate pizza for dinner last night! Also, Chik-fil-a has a GF menu. This was a source of delight for me.

This brings me to the point I have reached. Really, if you have the time and resources to make it happen, there's really not much you can't eat. Cakes, pies, pizza, hamburgers, cookies--you may have to modify your favorite recipes, but if it exists, there is probably a GF version. In these 2 weeks, I really don't feel that I've given much up at all. I've made different choices, but I haven't gone hungry nor wanting. Though, I will say, I'd give the $5 I was unwilling to drop earlier for a box of GF mac and cheese right now. I'm kinda kicking myself for not buying rice pasta when I had the chance. 

Hip: 39 inches

Waist: 32 inches

Bicep: 13 inches

Sweet! I've gone down about an inch in the hip (the measurement I hated most, and about 1/2 inch elsewhere! For anyone's reference, I'm about 5 foot 7 in height and weighed 155 last week. 

We'll see if anything changes in the next two weeks. I'm pretty stoked to keep up exercising and eating healthy, wheat-free foods. I don't think this is a miracle diet or anything like that, but I am liking what I'm seeing and the choices I'm making with this new boundary. 

ONE WEEK DOWN, 3 to go!

Day 7                     Sunny Saturday, Chattanooga trip and chilling with my husband

Today was a great day to be gluten free! We went to Earth Fare and got some tasty GF foods—some cookies to dip in my tea (which were ok, but far too sweet) and some crackers, which were delicious! I can have my cheese and cracker platter for breakfast now!

Breakfast: Slept through…hooray!

Lunch: Chicken salad and California roll sushi

Dinner: More chicken salad, a plum, some crackers and cheese

Snacks/beverages: Hot tea, Moroccan mint green iced tea, water

Day 6 and We're Almost to One Week!

Day 6                     Sunny Friday, Groceries and evening at Ama’s!

Quiet day and almost one week into it! Though I’m still not eating much (really hot weather lately), I’m enjoying everything I’m eating. There are so many great foods out there that don’t involve gluten that it would take a long time for me to exhaust the list. In other news, my salad gave me a cold, miffed stare when I opened the fridge. I wasn’t there for it, anyway. So there.

Brunch: Leftover Banh pho with lots of avocado, green onions, and a fried egg in it. MMmmm

Dinner: Stir fry with kale, spinach, rice, and tatziki sauce

Snacks/beverages: Hot tea, dried figs, a chocolate, a couple of chips, a few bites of watermelon

Day 5 of Gluten Free and the Salads are Getting Antsy

Sorry this one's a few hours late! Forgot to post before bed last night.

Day 5                     Sunny Thursday, house cleaning, funeral

Today was encouraging—My MIL and SIL both noticed that the puffiness that they thought was weight had almost completely gone away.  Hooray! I’m losing that 40!!!

And the salad in my fridge had words to say to me when I finally decided to give it a try. My base was a 50/50 spring mix/spinach medley, and I didn’t realize that it included aromatic herbs. Yuck. I’m all for herbs in cooking, but fresh is waaay too overpowering for me. So, my salad returns to the fridge, feeling spurned and rejected. It may organize a revolt among the greens.

Breakfast: Um…I shared an orange with Raiden…

Lunch: Dismal failure of an herbed salad

Dinner: EarthFare! I got some California Roll sushi (no soy sauce, that has gluten) and shared a smoothie with Raiden and David.

Snacks/beverages: Hot tea, water, dried figs, banh pho with parmesan and garlic and avocado

Day 4 and the Tough Get Going!

Today was super busy. I was out of the house from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM, then went for walks with Raiden and did active garden work until 8:30, when I put Raiden in bed early and began chilling. I'm seriously considering hitting the hay at 10 tonight and leaving the dish washing until the morning. I hate that it puts me under stress to get everything together in time tomorrow, but I've about spent the last of my energy.

Day 4                     Sunny Wednesday, Going to Chattanooga for an errand excursion!

This morning began with my first foray into GF baking, and it wasn’t a disaster! Hooray! My MIL is also mostly GF because of a sensitivity to wheat…and yesterday was her birthday. Since I was seeing her today, I decided to fix a GF version of her favorite breakfast: biscuits, gravy, and chicken. I used this recipe and added an extra splash of milk:

http://www.glutenfreegigi.com/gluten-free-drop-biscuits/

They turned out a little dry still, but very good overall. The chicken and gravy covered up most of the ricey flavor and I’m sure they’d be delicious with butter and jam on them as well.

I will say, overall today I was a bad girl. Going out, I did eat GF and easily—the menu item I wanted happened to be GF. It also happened to be really fattening, which makes the whole toning up aspect of this whole scenario a little more elusive.  I’m sure I’ll get a salad in sometime this week.

Breakfast: Biscuits, a little gravy, and chicken (all GF and all delicious!)

Lunch: Asiago and crab dip with tortilla chips from Big River Grille

Dinner: Leftovers from lunch. Don’t judge me. It was staring at me from the fridge calling my name. The salad was oddly silent…maybe my rejection has hurt its feelings. 

So I'm off to wash up for bed. My husband has quite the surprise waiting for him when he gets home, seeing as my sunflowers and pole beans are now history. Goodnight!

Day 3 And the going gets tough...

Sunny Tuesday with a call from my boss and curry cooking

I almost messed it up today. Raiden has been pretty miserable with his teeth happening, so before he went to bed, I treated him to some Annie’s bunny crackers. When I went to clean up the mess, without thinking, I popped a few of the crumbs in my mouth. Thankfully, I realized what I had done before swallowing, so I spat them out and washed out my mouth.

I will say, today has been a little more difficult in that I am less interested in the many and varied approved foods I have available and more interested in ones that aren’t. My solution is just to eat a little snack and see how I feel about eating more later, when I’m actually good and hungry. I keep reminding myself, “it’s only for a month, and this is the worst part now. Hang tough.”

Breakfast: Leftover grits from yesterday, dolled up with some milk, cheese, and a slice of turkey bacon

Lunch: ½ a banana, some chips and guacamole. I meant to go back and eat a salad, but was too busy.

Dinner: Leek and onion soup with fixins (see Day 1)

Snacks/beverages: Hot tea, a little more chocolate (I’m spreading a small bar over 3 days), water, probably some chicken. 

Day 2 Gluten Free

Today I did a little research (read, about 30 seconds' worth) because I heard that going GF can give you withdrawals. This is what I found: 

"Some people experience withdrawal symptoms for several days or weeks after starting a gluten-avoidant diet, according to Wangen. These can include headaches, fatigue and powerful cravings for glutenous foods. Withdrawal symptoms should resolve within a few days or weeks..." (http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/expect-stopping-gluten-1075.html). 

Good to know! So far, none of that craziness, though I have been a space cadet today. I wore my shirt inside out for the first half of the day, misread something (and I'm a copy editor), and generally was a spaz. That may just be me, though. :-) 

Day 2                     Rainy/cloudy/sunny Labor Day Monday with laundry, dishes, and cooking salsa!

I think I’m less hungry during the day on hot days. I usually make up for it after Raiden goes to bed, when its cooler out. Hopefully I can come up with plenty of tasty options to get us through the week. There will probably be discount grillable foods this weekend on sale at the grocery store, so next week’s cooking will be a cinch.

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs topped with a smidgen of sausage, cheese, and grits

Lunch: Roasted green beans dipped in ranch dressing. Mmmm.

Dinner: Ummm....wow, I really was not hungry today. I'll try to remember to take my prenatals tomorrow so that I can get some extra nutrition. 

Snacks/beverages: Hot tea, a little chocolate, a taste of the salsa on about 3 tortilla chips, grape/pomegranate juice mix

AND, in case anyone was wondering, here is my salsa recipe:

A quart ish of ripe tomatoes (these were the ones with spots from my in-laws' garden)

1 onion

1 bell pepper (this is mild, use jalapeno and poblano for spice that bites back)

small bunch of green onions

small bunch of cilantro (why I didn't eat more of the salsa)

juice of 1/2 a lemon

at least 2 teaspoons salt 

leeetle bit of garlic powder

red and black pepper

Slice, dice and puree as desired. This would be great mixed with avocado to make guacamole! In fact, that may be tomorrow's snack, if the cilantro flavor doesn't get any more intense. 

Gluten-Free Month!

Big things are happening in the next couple of months at the Thomas house, and it's time to be prepared!

First off, we decided not to do a beach vacation because it would cost us 5% of our annual income to pull off the shindig we wanted, so instead I'm planning a fall staycation with apple picking, aquarium visit, and all sorts of things that don't involve busting a grand. That, I'm sure, will be the subject of future posts.

Second, the minja will be turning 1! I've got a tiny toddler on my hands, and each growth offers new ways to make things amazing. His is one of about 3,572 birthdays happening in the next month, and all in time for the holidays to show up, sooooo....

It is now time for me to finish off this baby weight. Any of you who know me well probably know I nurse Raiden and don't really plan to stop for a little while. Though things have definitely slowed some, the hormones really need about 3 months of no milk before it becomes easy to lose again. If it ever even does.

So, I want to take some "drastic" measures that won't hurt my milk supply. And since I spoiled it in the title, I'll go ahead and spell it out: no gluten for Jenny in the month of September. Today was Day One, and things are off to a great start.

I have my size measurements below, and I'll check again at halfway and at the end, to see if there's a change. I don't have a scale, so weight is not going to factor in. I also have eczema, and this will be a bit of a test to see if anything changes there, though I doubt it will. Mostly, I'm hoping to trim up that 40.

Waist: 32 1/2 inches
Hip: 40 inches (you see where the problem lies)
Bicep: 13.5 inches

So, without further ado, here's Day 1 of my Making Gluten Free Amazing challenge!

Rainy Sunday with afternoon trip to Ama’s to shell peas; writing the Fuel

Day one of my gluten-free month! I must say, though there are plenty of temptations around me, my excitement and my plan have held through pretty well. The plan is to have 3 delicious meals and a couple of snack options available. Then, when hunger comes, I know what options I have next. I hate meal planning long-term, so planning a day at a time gives me something to look forward to without making me feel trapped by a piece of paper.

Breakfast: Omelet with cheddar, ½ slice of turkey bacon, avocado, and green onion.

Lunch: Leek & onion soup with goat cheese, ½ slice of turkey bacon, balsamic dressing, and tortilla chips.

Dinner: Rice/veggie medley, chicken, baked green beans, Greek yogurt sauce

Snacks/beverages: Green grapes, shared orange, hot tea

If anyone wants my recipes for any of this, holla!!! 

My DIY Pedicure

I, like Jude, love to take a “sad song and make it glad,” so when my Friday turned out to be a bit of a boring bummer, I decided to take the plunge and enjoy my first ever pedicure.

If you can’t tell by now, I’m not much of a girly girl. The fact that I’m 25, have never had a pedicure, and am now doing my own at home with supplies I have around the house might cue you in a little more the extent to which this is out of the ordinary for me. But the baby’s in bed (still whining, so this might be a piecemeal pedi) and the husband is off playing his guitar as loudly as his heart desires somewhere besides our living room, and there’s no one but myself to hold me back from trying something new!

Step 1:

The soak. The website I looked at (http://www.womenshealthmag.com/beauty/pedicure-at-home-0) suggested some witch hazel, Epsom salt, and essential oils…and I had almost none of it on hand. So I opted for a lavender bath salt in warm water in the baby bathtub. Aren’t I a genius? My feet feel awesome already. 10 min.

Step 2:

Exfoliate! (Dalek voice) Sugar/salt scrub with some oil in it. Got it. Extra Virgin Olive oil and sea salt it is, then. Now my feet feel all nice AND slick. I also find it odd that I used the same critter to scrub my feet as I do to scrub potatoes before baking them. I hope Step 3 isn’t “bake at 375 until done.” 5 min.

Step 3:

Sand down the calluses. I have a tool that looks like a combo between sandpaper and a cheese grater, so that will be my go-to for this job. I think pedicures are the cure to Shylock’s problem. I hyperbolically shed a pound of flesh in 20 min. So, we’re up to nice, slick, and tingly. I haven’t had this much sensation in my feet since they both fell asleep.

Step 4:

Cut your nails. Mine were already cut, so whatever. Also, the phone rang at this juncture and I discovered that my in-laws are bringing me some tomato plants. Huzzah!

Step 5: Do your nails. I think I’m skipping this one as well in lieu of walking around outside in the dirt with no shoes on. Well, considering that my feet still feel like I’ve been pressing olives all day, I might opt for some shoes.

Some things I’ll do next time: finish out the actual pedicure by fidgeting with my toenails, light a candle, eat some chocolate, play some jazzy music, and get a towel to step on in between steps so I don’t slide across the house with oily feet. J Cheers! 

This was definitely a success. My feet feel really nice and I didn't fork out a single dime for it.