May 2014 Resolution

I'm a little late to the game this month. I've been meaning to get my resolution out there. My goal/resolution for May!? Expand the garden! This would normally go on the green blog, but since it's a resolution it will start here.

My garden has slowing expanded the past 3 years my husband and I have been married. I am proud of it. No chemicals have touched my dirt. I have been able to grow more variety and produce more veggies each year. I have been able to feed my family and make a large amount of baby food, salsa, spaghetti sauce, and casseroles with the organic produce that comes from my back yard. Love it. Makes me happy.

Our garden was about 30x30 feet. It will now be expanded to 60x30. I have started: eggplant, habanero and bell peppers, and melons. These little seedlings are tucked away in my bathroom, by the only window that gets light in a spot that I can leave them out to grow. In the garden, I have transplanted raspberries, and planted new blueberry bushes and rhubarb plant. I have raked and raked to get ready for planting.

Cole and I have shoveled and shoveled and shoveled, getting 3 large stumps out. We have 3 left to go. All by hand but will be worth the effort; guaranteed. Plus, Cole gets paid a little for helping (as long as there is no complaining!)

So there it is! I'll post pre-post pictures when I get everything planted. Seventeen days to go!

April 2014 Resolution Summary

Did it!! I get up 20 minutes earlier every morning. I'm still exhausted but it makes the morning routine much, much more smooth. It's the little things, right!?

April 2014 Resolution

Morning routine: my husband gets up at 6:00, I get up at 6:30, Cole and Logan around 6:45. And we rush to leave by 7:30.

I am the calendar. Reminding everyone what the plan is for the day, after school, and the evening. I get ready in about 15 minutes, and my hair is usually wet when I get to work. I get mine and Cole's stuff ready.

Jeremy is the multi-tasker. Getting Logan dressed, making lunch, and his own stuff ready.

Cole wanders through the house until we leave... Logan cries because he has to get his coat on, just wait until we add shoes to the morning routine!

My goal?? Work my way up to a 6:00 wake up time by May 1st. Ugh!

March 2014 Resolution Summary

March
1 - Car ride to and from Grand Rapids to watch Cole play basketball. Was the best I've ever seen him play. I told him at least 10 times that he did an awesome job. I will be telling him all week!
2 - TV watching and relaxing with Jer. Book reading with Logan. Uno with Cole (I lost)
3 - A night home with my boys, nothing else but relaxing and hanging out!
4 - snuggled on the couch with the sad/sick/crabby (?) baby. Hung out with Cole and Jeremy when they got home late after practice.
5 - Ash Wednesday, pizza night on the way home. Logan won't make it through mass that time of night.
6 - Uno with Cole (I won!)
7 -  Not much time with the baby and husband. Shopping with Cole, always fun with just the two of us.
8 - Drive to Detroit Lakes with Cole to watch him play basketball. No distractions, nice drive:) Dinner with the baby and husband ending with a relaxing night at home!
9 - 2 hour nap with the baby. Amazing bonding!
10 - Life board game with Cole (lost, terribly)
11 - Didn't get to see baby at night :( Time spent with Cole in the car between activities talking about school and whatnot, and a wee bit of Target shopping!
12 - Religion night. Hung out with Cole while he did homework. No phones on the way home, nice! Didn't get to see baby at night :(
13 - Logan and Mama night! Cole and Hubby stayed in town for basketball and I got to come home and play for a few hours with baby-roo. Watched funny videos f Logan when they got home.
14 - Movie night!
15-16 - Family in town, and basketball tournament. Love to cheer on my boy!
Lost track! Forgot to put down what we did. There were lots of books, family movies (Frozen and Hunger Games 2), card games and car rides to basketball games. A great month making a conscious effort to spend quality time instead of quick time with my boys!

March 2014 Resolution

Time for a family month. Quality time is always wanted and needed but not always attainable every day. We are so busy with Cole's activities, my volunteering, Jeremy's work, and Logan being a busy toddler! 

March's resolution is one quality moment with my family, every day. The moment can be a compliment to my boys, an extra hug, better listening, lunch date with the hubby, or a movie night, card game or book reading time.

Jeremy, Cole and Logan are my VIP'S, I need to make sure they know it, every day.  I'm going to keep track and post at the end of the month what I remember best about each day. It will give me something great to look back on at the end of this resolution. (and I still get chocolate!!)

Jeremy, Baby Logan, and Cole-man

February 2014 Resolution - Summary

I decided to still eat bread for the month, just limited. Some store breads have the processed sugars in them so I went mostly with the homemade breads from the grocery store and bakery's.

Starting on February 2nd
Day:
1 - Sweets eaten  = grapes; cravings = everything sweet but grapes
I have always heard when you're craving chocolate your body is actually craving nuts. Whoever said that was lying. It didn't help that I had my period started the first day...
2 - I forget that sugars are in everything, opps! I had sweetened coffee creamer with my breakfast!
3 - Eating out is definitely harder but there are a couple local diners with homemade food. Splurged with a homemade pumpkin bar at lunch with soup!
4 - Bakery donut today because it was Cole's 13th birthday. His choice for dinner, pizza buffet... I had a large salad with minimal dressing before I plated anything else. Very hard!
5 - Regular non-sweet day with the exception of pizza at my mom's for dinner and a small piece of cake for Cole's birthday.
6 - Dinner at the in-law's, would have been fine, but I did have a small piece of cake for Cole's last birthday celebration! Not feeling guilty as I will be back to no processed sugar starting tomorrow through the remainder of the month.
7 - 14 - Bought Girl Scout cookies, had a couple but not as many as I would have...
I also found out there was sugar added to fruit in the trail mix I had been buying... ugh.  Why does sugar needed to be added to dried fruit!? Back to protein and fruit/veggie snacks instead of prepackaged.
15 -17 - Sucky. 
18 - Better- nuts and fruit combo. Fruit is still sweetened...
19 - 28 - Crappy

This was so much harder than I thought. I didn't do well with this month's resolution but have a continued need to cut out more sugar and processed foods. We don't eat 'out' much but this month I really ate homemade food more often which helped the wallet and the waistline.

I did lost 3 pounds but not sure that had anything to do with changing the diet...

February 2014 Resolution

January is done, on to February!!

This month might be busier than last so I thought about doing an easier resolution. I decided to do another health/fitness goal. My goal is actually starts February 3rd. I'm taking the weekend off because we have my son's birthday party and Super Bowl party together. Rather than be disappointed right out of the gate, I'll wait until the party is over.

I have been working out for the whole month, every day, something. I have not lost any actual poundage. Frustrating to say the least. But when I truly think about it I do know why I'm not.  My love of sweets has been an issue for me the past few years. Except when I had gestational diabetes, I am almost always in close proximity to sweets.

My normal treats, carbs and crap can range from these:

 

Ice cream with toppings, probably 2 servings worth each time

Swedish fish, sour patch kids, etc.

Candy bars

Skinny Cow brand chocolate treats

(fyi, they don't make you skinny!)

Homemade goodies

Donuts

Pasta

Sandwich bread and toast

Crackers

Chips

Croissants

Biscuits

Sweetened cereal

What is my goal then? All in all to try to rid myself of the crappy food I consume that is not fast food but kept around the house and work. Stuff that I make and buy that is just not good in large quantities, like every day. I was going to try to switch to a Paleo diet but I think I'll put that off until July or August, when my garden is in full bloom and I have fresh veggies; might make for an easier transition if I have these things readily available.

I'm going to try to get through the month of February without processed sugars or sweets. What I am I going to rationalize eating? Not sure yet. I'm toying with only homemade, Paleo or gluten-free treats. Really, any baked goods in my house end up eaten by yours truly so by starting to just not have stuff in the house will be the first step. I'll have to figure out this one as I go through the month. It will be a tough 28, I mean, 26 days!!

January 2014 Resolution update

I almost made it. There were a couple extenuating circumstances in our busy day-to-day life that made me stray from my January goal. I'm pretty excited though, three times is better than ten! There were a few days I had to eat out for lunch and opted for soup or breakfast food to keep the grease down.

'Fast Food' for January 2014

January 15th - Hardees Frisco Burger
January 23rd - Burger King chicken sandwich and fries
January 28th - McDonald's egg McMuffin and had brown
January 29th - Subway 6 inch  (not sure if I would normally count this as fast food, it really goes either way I think...)

Now, I realized a couple important things on the days I didn't stick to my goal. 1) There are healthier options to what I chose to eat. 2) I get a stomach ache from fast food. 3) I really didn't have a 'good' excuse to eating out instead of whipping something up quick. My husband ate out like normal for lunch, but I don't think he even realized I was giving up fast food for the month! Usually, if I don't eat with him, I have him pick me up something for work.

Things I'll do the same: I bought one frozen organic meal to have at work but didn't have to touch it. I have tuna packets and nuts at work, and brought fruit almost every day. Yogurt and cheese were usually in my lunch box. I also kept a sweet treat at work for if I was craving sweets but usually the fruit sustained me. 

Things for me to remember: I'm terrible at going to the first floor and using the microwave. Most days I need to plan to bring something I can eat at my desk without leaving the room.

What I will continue to use as my go-to lunch foods:
Sandwich (I add Mrs. Dash seasoning to the mayo to change it up a bit)
Oranges, apples, bananas
String cheese, sliced cheese, pepperoni, and jerky
Snack size chocolates, little fruit snack packs
Yogurt, cottage cheese
Leftovers (sparingly)

What I will start trying to substitute in:
Low-sodium or homemade soups (I hate cans, so not sure what brands I'll use)
Veggies: peppers, carrots
Berries, grapes, and other snack-type fruit

January 2014 Resolution

JANUARY 2014 - Resolution for Month 1

No fast food.

I try to eat healthy. I try to eat whole foods. I try to make food at home. Some weeks, some months I fail. I'm sick of it. Fast food is expensive, makes me feel icky, and really isn't 'food'. I've read countless articles on fast food and even got my son to give up chicken nuggets so why do I still eat it?!

For the month of January, no fast food for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. There will be no exceptions. I will have no excuses. In the amount of time I can go through a drive-through I can instead go to the local grocery co-op (2 block from my office) and get the ingredients to throw together a sandwich or salad, or both! I plan on saving money and calories. Two goals for the price of one!! Plus, I drive past a grocery store on my way to and from work, there is no reason I can't stop instead of planning to eat out the next day.

In preparation, yesterday we were home all day, so I made a chicken. I plan on making it into Chicken Wild Rice soup. (I'll post my recipe this weekend, it is amazing.) This Saturday will be dedicated to make-and-freeze meals in which I'll make, freeze and pre-portion spaghetti sauce, soup, chili, and dessert/snacks for lunch. I'm hoping to get the hubby on board too, as he is usually my fast food partner. We'll see how that goes!

Wish me luck!!

2014

Happy New Year!
2014 is going to be awesome for many, many reasons, I can just feel it!

Normally, I'm like most other people at the beginning of the year. I have an idea of what I want to do, change, start, or quit doing for the entire year. I've tried drastic and simple resolutions over the years. I am going to try something new this year, something I haven't tried yet.

Each month, a new resolution. One month of change instead of a year of wishing I had stuck with my resolutions. Each month, something to better myself (weight loss/fitness), my kids (quality time/play times), my family (less screen time/quality time), my environment (awareness), possibly even my community (volunteering), and my house/yard (organization). Each month, my resolution will be modified to fit that goal.

I'm SO excited! Twleve resolutions! Twelve months to do something good for myself.

January is going to be simple as we'll be busy-busy. January is one of my busiest months at work. Christmas decorations need to be packed away. Cole has many basketball games. Logan is transitioning to a toddler. We have family to visit with. My office Christmas party to attend. And hopefully a date night with the hubby. Our weeks and weekends are already filling up too fast (a goal for another month, to lessen to busy). Somewhat related, my fitness goal for the year is to become more active, and lose poundage. This goal isn't included with this project just because I need to make a lifestyle change, not just a monthly change in regards to weight loss.

I'm so excited to get this going!