Day # 7

YAYYYY!!!

We have made it one week!

Disclaimer: I am extremely tired so please excuse any spelling errors. I am too tired to pay that much attention to this post. Hopefully it makes some sense.

Well, today was a different day! My poor hubby has been having BAD back problems lately. So bad to the point that he could not take this Sunday. It was his turn to preach but he was in so much pain that he could not do it. He couldn't even pick up his guitar. Well...That means it was me up. Now I need to mention as well that it was discovered only this morning that the pain was that bad. Which means that gave me an hour to plan a service. I want to say that God came through!!! He pulled a beautiful service together for me and we used iworship because we do not have a worship team. All in all, it worked wonderfully. Even the kids time flowed with the service! Praise God!!! Today could have been a stressful day but instead we trusted in God and worship today was wonderful!

Another praise report: Amidst the possible stress, our eating was not affected! **Insert thumbs up here!** Now I have decided that I would like one day a week where I am not cooking. So Sundays it is! We rely on leftovers and eating out. Today we went out and I believe we did well in choosing our meals. I had crab legs (no butter), some stuffed (with cheese, rice, broccoli) shrimp (which I couldn't eat all of because it was too rich and greasy) and instead of choosing mashed potatoes or fries I asked for some broccoli. It also came with a tossed salad but I forgot to ask for the dressing on the side. I found that I couldn't eat all of the salad because it had so much dressing on it! I actually dug to the bottom for some "fresh" veggies :). I found that when I eat out, I am less shy about asking about alternative choices such as having a veggie instead of potato. I have also learned that most places are accommodating and with no extra cost. Now, I do have to say that coming home after eating out, I have a BIG headache. I have been drinking water to help and I know that I have met my quota so that is not the cause of the headache...I have to wonder if it is because we ate out. I am thinking so! Hmmm...

Also another great report: My family and I were driving by a McDonald's and we have this game where we would point out the restaurant and then say "EWWWWWW!!!" Our little one would sometimes say "Nooooo!" but today when we mentioned McDonald's she chimes in with the resounding "EWWWWWWWWWWW!!!" It was GREAT! :)

When I look at the picture of my paid for meal...I can't help but think that what I make looks better!!! This is good news! Well, I did some walking today but no real exercise...I can't wait to do it tomorrow. As for you: When you go out to eat, don't be afraid to ask for healthier choices. The worst they can say is no. Happy eating.

Day # 6

Almost a whole week has passed on our new lifestyle! I can hardly believe it...It has seemed so easy, I wonder if it will only get easier from here? I get to have another week here to form the good habits before I am off to Officer's camp for 4 days where we will be at the mercy of someone else's cooking...Even though the cooking is good, I am now used to eating nothing processed or full of salt or sugar. I intend to go to the closest town and grab some fresh fruit for snacks and some veggies too. We will survive!!

So yesterday I gave Megan the choice of what to have for supper for today. I was impressed with her choice. She said "May I have spaghetti and meatballs please Mommy?" She also kept adding to the requests with asparagus and garlic toast (that is the impressive part). So off we went to the store to find some ground turkey/chicken for the meatballs. She picked orange pepper, celery, broccoli, cauliflower and I added to it onions and fresh garlic for the sauce. The garlic toast is homemade bread (my moms). For dessert (our first this week) we had baked apples. I made a yummy mix of oatmeal, cinnamon, raisins, chopped almonds, and maple syrup for the middles of apples. It was sooooo GOOD! Well that is all I have for you tonight. Here is your challenge: Make a dessert but instead of using sugar try some pure maple syrup...just be sure to use a little less then the recipe calls for! Let me know how it is!

RIDERVILLE

Hi Blogger Friends!

Could you do me a favor? Could you go to the link below and on the right hand side of the page find "fan poll" and vote for Weyburn? The community is going for this title and it will help out the local football teams get some funding for the club! PLUS it would just be cool to be known as "Riderville"! Please vote everyday beginning tonight until the the 31st! Any help is GREAT! Thanks!

http://www.riderville.ca/

Day # 5

Day five already! Feeling strong! I am TIRED! I just finished using my Wii for exercise tonight. I played the game "Just Dance" it is so fun! You sure get the heart rate up as you dance.

The supper you see on the right was our "other white meat". A family in our church bought a pig from a local farmer here and their family is the size of ours with the kids being the same age so they decided to share their meat with us! What a blessing! Let me tell you how great it is knowing where your meat has come from. It was all prepped and butchered locally which is AWESOME! It is SUPER fresh and lean. It tasted so good. You will also see some raw carrots, swiss chard and beet tops. I must say I have been trying to think of more creative side dishes...I am getting tired of plain rice. So this rice has more veggies then rice in it (fresh snap peas, onion, garlic, corn, yellow pepper, spinach, carrots)...I think I am missing one or two! Oh well. It was all sauteed with about a tablespoon of soy sauce. It was good! My family could eat rice every day so I need to get creative with it for my sake. Today was a great day! Still feeling good! How are you doing? :)

Day # 4

Well, I have a confession to make. NO I did not "cheat" or "fall off the wagon"...Know why? Because I can't cheat or fall off anything I am not on! I LOVE that! See I am so used to diets where you can fail, but my family is not on a diet. We are living a new lifestyle. I think it just hit me today really. I know I have said it but it just sunk in today when Mike said, "Do you think we could have this or that?" and my response was "Yes!" We are not on diet. As long as it not processed and it is wholesome then we can have whatever we want! We are enjoying it! Anyhow, that was my revelation today!

Alright, a quick update on today: Breakfast was yummy. Pancakes and fresh fruit. Lunch was eaten out and I had a great salad. NOW...I want to tell you that I was NOT happy with the color of my supper tonight. I almost didn't want to show you. (It is basmati rice, cauliflower with homemade cheese sauce, salmon, a tossed salad in a corn tortilla). I was SOOOOO tired that I didn't get the red peppers sliced or raw carrots cut to go along with it as planned. Also I planned to pick up fresh salmon but we don't have it here apparently. It was frozen and took overnight to thaw. Opps! I should have checked the store sooner. Like a good girl, instead of skipping the fish meal, I decided to use what was left in my freezer (M&M Meat salmon in dill sauce). NOT my first choice. Fresh would have been better. Oh well, at least it was not fast food or from a box so YAY me!

I DO have good news! The reason I was so tired was because Mike and I took some time together after lunch to go to our outdoor pool to swim! Mike did something he never has before...He swam in the deep end! That is HUGE for him! We swam laps and just enjoyed some time together without a kid...SHOCKING! We had a wonderful time getting some exercise and connecting again. So this lifestyle is not only benefiting our physical health but it is benefiting our relationship. Anyhow, I have learned that I have to watch and see how tired I am because that will affect the color of my meals. Sounds goofy but color to me is BIG. If it looks appealing I will enjoy it better and it looks yummy to my family too. Today I also realized the importance of prepping meals. I didn't really look over the meal last night. I just decided to have fish and this is what happened. Now I know...

ANNNNDD a funny from my lil one: (sitting at the breakfast table about to put pure maple syrup on her cakes):

Meg: "Mom may I have some of the other syrup?"
Mom: "No, that has chemicals in it."
Meg: "But I like chemicals!"
Mom: "You don't even know what chemicals are."
Meg: "Oh, what are they?"
Mom: "Some stuff that could hurt your body."
Meg: "Oh." She ate the pure stuff! I did let her have a little of the other stuff too mixed in just so I could use it up.
(I must say, I don't think there are chemicals in it really but I couldn't think of a good word that early! LOL!). I could have said it's not pure...Oh well, mornings!



Have a good night all! If you can, eat some fish sometime this week! You don't have much time left! Let me know if you did or not!