Monday, September 29, 2008
Writing for associated content
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Advertise On Modern Traditional Wife
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Review of Product
Post just to review your product or service or site
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Reviews are posted weekly, on Fridays, which is also when Giveaways are announced, so it's a heavier traffic day.
I can't honestly review your product or service or site without being able to use it, but cost of product or service is usually exchanged for the review. So, if you have a site that one needs to pay to use, I'll need a minimum membership. If you have a product or service, I'll need the opportunity to use said product or service, but usage will be agreed upon prior to writing of review, so it's fair to both of us. Preference is given to family owned businesses. To discuss a product review, email me at SprtDrmr at aol dot com with product review in the subject line.
All ads are placed from the first of each month until the end of each month (January 1-31, etc) and must be paid for by the 20th of the prior month, to give me time to get the ad ready. If, due to family emergency or active working fire, I am unable to get your link up by the first, but able to do so before the fifth, I will refund 50% of your ad rate. If I am unable to get your ad up by the fifth, I will refund 100% of your ad rate and still put your ad up for the remainder of the month.
If you wish to continue your ad, and your ad space is available, you must notify me prior to the 10th of the month in which your ad is running. Continuing ads are billed at a 10% discount. In other words, if you book ad space for January, I will hold the February spot open until January 10. If you see a great response and want to rebook, you will have first right to that spot until January 10. After that, you will need to wait until the next available spot.
Why should you advertise on Modern Traditional Wife?
If you sell products or services for families, children, babies, or coupons or gardening stuff or stuff for country living or survivalism or preparedness or stockpiling, my readers may be interested in what you sell. My readers are typically mothers, who have disposable income but are smart with it, who work or who stay at home, who have children at home, who enjoy bargains and who do a lot of cooking. They typically have Christian viewpoints, but are outspoken and free thinkers.
Really, how stupid are we?
Well, by Wednesday, the friend of a friend of a friend had disappeared (as has, I fear, my verbally agreed upon $100). I went ahead and took the littles to daycare on Thursday, hoping that the client would show up or at least contact me by phone. Things happen, I understand, when you work at home and have children. Spent the day investigating domain names for a copy writing business to do on the side, putting together some articles for Associated Content, and contemplating that whole post I wrote yesterday.
By now, of course, I know that she isn't going to show up, but the middles have their heart set on going to daycare now. See, Miss Megan has this huge yard with fruit trees, and lots of cool outdoor toys-a big change from the yard in our apartment complex. So I take them up on Friday morning, and walk by the store on the way home to get some powdered donuts (hormonal craving) and some yummy lunch for Aimee and I. Since we never get to spend time just the two of us, I decided we'd at least have a good lunch together. I picked up some frozen lasagna that we could cook in the oven.
So I walk into the kitchen to put the lasagna into the oven, and I check the package to make sure I have the oven set on the right temperature, and here is what I read:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (check). Do not exceed 350 degrees (umm, OK). Remove tray from box (really? do I have to?). Remove film cover (check).
2. Assorted cooking instructions, which are logical and sensible.
3. (In bold print) Using potholders and both hands, carefully remove baking sheet with tray from oven and...(seriously? Seriously).
Is there someone out there so stupid that they won't protect themselves from the heat of the 350 degree oven, fling the baking sheet carelessly about, and then finally throw it across the room, hoping it will land on the dining room table?
Well, apparently there must be, as they felt the need to point out the need to not do so right there in the instructions.
Oh, and, by the way...I used a single clean kitchen washcloth, held in one hand, to remove the baking sheet. No one got maimed, burned or impaled, and the world didn't implode.
Phew!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Am I Still the Modern Traditional Wife?
It’s a crisis probably no different than the one going on with thousands, if not millions, of families in America today. We need more income. My wonderful husband works hard, but there’s just not enough money to do what needs to be done.
Now, I have long been an advocate of cutting down on your bills and changing your lifestyle to make it possible for one parent to stay at home. It doesn’t necessarily have to be mom; although in many marriages dad has the higher earning potential, that is not always the case. There have been times when I have worked that I have made more money than my husband. If this is not going to cause issues within the marriage, it’s perfectly acceptable that mom work and dad stay home. Having someone be home with the children, whether it’s home all day with smaller children or available to see the children off to school and be there when they get home, it’s essential, in my belief, that someone be there for the children. Further, when you figure the cost of both parents working, it can be economical for one parent to stay home, between clothes, commuting expenses, and child care.
In our case, though, and I suspect in a lot of other families, we can’t cut expenses any more. We don’t have cable or satellite TV-in fact, we currently only get one channel. We live in a three bedroom apartment. While we have two vehicles, only one of them is running, and it needs a new transmission. Aimee needs new glasses-and we can’t afford to replace them. Our budget currently does not allow for the purchase of one important basic: food.
Now, we’re not starving. I have a lot of food stocked up, because I am a prepper. So what we actually have to buy is minimal. But those supplies won’t last forever. We have beans at least one night a week, and we’re limiting our meat consumption as much as possible.
So the bottom line is, I have to work. There has to be more income brought into the household. To that end, I have accepted a job that starts October 1, as the administrative assistant for the fire department. Yes, the same one that I dispatch for. I have been doing various administrative tasks since I started dispatching, because I’m here all week and our current AA is only here two days a week, and it was a universal decision that it would be sensible to offer me the job. Larry and I discussed it, and prayed about it, and decided that this was the best option for our family.
We were lucky to find a great daycare that is within our price range and will take Roan and Aria part time. Should something come up, she will take Saren and Nikki as well. I will be working 20 hours a week for the fire department. After daycare expenses, I will be adding about $560 each month to our household budget. We won’t incur additional gas costs, because I will walk to daycare and work. We may need to get rides if the weather is especially cold or if the ground is too muddy. I can budget $10 per week for this-far less expensive than it would be for me to drive to Trinidad to work. I will need clothes, but we do most of our shopping at the thrift store, so I don’t forsee a large clothing expenditure. A few weeks ago, we went to the thrift store to find Saren some pants, and they were having a bag sale; I got 4 pairs of pants for Saren, two for Aimee, a few odds and ends for the other children, and several work outfits and jeans for me-all for $30. I need to be dressed nicely, but certainly not in the most current fashions. I understand that it is necessary in some professions to be dressed in expensive, or at least expensive looking, stylish clothing-in my job I can make due with several pairs of slacks, the 4 long skirts I already own, and an assortment of nice blouses, and be set for three or four weeks of work outfits. I do need a few more blouses, and I could use one more pair of black elastic waist pants for “those” days, but other than that, I am good to go. I have an entire work wardrobe for $20, and I’ll only need to spend a small amount more to fill it out. While replacing clothing will be necessary, I will be looking to do that while thrift store shopping or on ebay.
My schedule at the fire department is flexible. If I can’t work a particular day, I can simply switch it for another day, as long as it doesn’t happen too often. I can even permanently switch the days I’m there. I’m allowed to do eight hours of the 20 I get a week from home. So once the littles are in bed, I can do things that can get done on the computer.
But what about that Modern Traditional Wife? Traditionally, the wife doesn’t work. The Proverbs 31 wife created commerce at home, while still managing the home and raising the children. Well, I’m not so sure about the raising the children part. The Proverbs 31 wife would have had staff in her home; specific mention is made of her providing for her maidens. Certainly, she would have been managing her home, and been paramount in the raising of her children. A commentary by Matthew Henry suggests that the Proverbs 31 wife would have been doing work proper for her-women’s work, he says.
But what does that mean in modern times? How do we reconcile being traditional with needing to provide an additional income for our household? For me, being modern has usually meant, well, now that I’m typing it, I don’t know. I have worked in the past, outside of the home, out of necessity; but my life was much different then. I wasn’t a Christian, and while I believe that even then I fit most of the ideals of the Proverbs 31 wife, work was important. My career, as it was, was important to me. Not more important than my family, but I enjoyed the identity of being a working woman.
Of course, I’ve enjoyed the identity of being a Godly woman as well. But are being a Godly woman and being a working woman mutually exclusive? I feel genuinely conflicted about stepping outside of my role in my home. Enjoying my identity as a working woman just reeks of pride to me. Something that I’ve tried very hard to put aside, in my quest to be closer to God.
So, I guess that’s a question I’ll have to figure out along the way. Maybe find a few people wiser than me to ask. I will let you know how I fare on that one.
In the meantime, I guess the sphere of my blog will be changing a bit. Trying to find the answers to questions like the ones above, trying to balance working and still maintaining my traditional role at home. How the kidlets are faring. Stuff like that. Hopefully I’ll figure it out along the way. I hope you take the journey with me.
Friday, August 8, 2008
And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...
Well we have been running like crazy lately.
Mid to late summer around here is usually like that.
We went to pick up Saren near the end of July. That went well and I am so glad he is home.
The weekend before that we had Aguilar Fest-Saturday was our garage sale, which went OK, and then Sunday was the Mud Race, which was a lot of fun, even if I got sunburned.
I spent two days the last week of July filling in for the administrative assistant for the fire department, while she went on vacation. When I sat down with the kids to discuss how things would go that day, it was kind of funny to realize that this was the first time I’d left the house to work since before most of them were born. There wasn’t a lot to do, as to do the incident reports I’d need training, so I put together a directory of different phone numbers I may need as a dispatcher. I already need to update it LOL. But it has already proven itself useful.
Then, we had an inspection. Now, I have discussed before that we currently live in government housing. Living in “the projects” doesn’t have quite the, umm, stigma attached to it that it does in a big city. For one, we have a small complex of 18 units, and mostly elderly and families live here. We don’t have drug problems, or people driving brand new cars while living off of welfare. In fact, I don’t think any of the families are living off of welfare. We do have one family here on disability, but it’s really a disability. We ended up here after some choices that, looking back on, we’d probably not have made. Not necessarily bad choices, more like no other choice choices.
See, we were living in this cute little house on about 1.5 acres, across from the school. We were renting it. We couldn’t get financing to buy it because, like many homes here in Aguilar, it was over 100 years old, and the foundation was cracked. There are lots of arroyos here, and when many of the older homes were built, those arroyos were filled with cheap fill dirt, which has settled over the 100 years, so the foundations have cracked. We have a lot of vacant homes in town, simply because they can’t be sold due to the foundation damage. We certainly couldn’t afford to buy the house outright. But the owners were perfectly willing to have us continue to live there for as long as we wanted.
The school district, however, had other plans. Our school was old, and funding was finally secured to demolish and rebuild. Once that was done, the school decided they needed a parking lot. They made an offer to buy the house we were living in, intending to demolish and build a parking lot. The owners weren’t interested. The owner’s grandfather built that house, he wanted it kept standing. After about a year of back and forth wrangling, the school threatened to use imminent domain. That means they can have the house condemned (again, that foundation damage) and buy it for fair market value. Again, a lot of back and forth-and if the imminent domain was granted, we’d have about 30 days’ notice to find a new place and move out. So, facing the prospect of homelessness, we quickly rented a house in Trinidad, about 30 minutes away from here, and moved out of our happy home.
Living in Trinidad was a nightmare, in more ways than one. Long story short, we ended up coming back to Aguilar, where we really wanted and needed to be, and living in a cabin on a friend’s property. We were about 30 foot from said friend’s house, so we had access to running water and electric, even though the cabin itself had neither. But then I got pregnant with Roan, and we decided cabin living wasn’t such a hot idea with a baby. So we started seriously looking for a house. Not a lot of rentals here, so we moved into the apartments. Rent is determined on a sliding scale. We’ve usually paid full rent, except for when Larry was in school.
Now, when you live in government housing, there are certain things you have to live with. First of all, there’s not a lot of soundproofing between apartments. I’ve lived in apartments before and understand that there are some things you have to accept, but in our little town, not a lot of people have, so there are a lot of issues among neighbors about travelling sound. Then there’s the privacy issue-again, not a lot of it, which is hard to get used to after living away from people so much as we have. Then, there’s the inspections.
Once yearly, the director comes in and inspects your house for cleanliness. They look at stuff that, while on the chore list, often gets ignored for more visible stuff. Stuff like the floor and wall underneath and behind your stove and refrigerator. The floor of your closet. The hinges of your cabinets. Now, they do this for a few reasons. The first is maintenance issues. Like, say the track for your closet gets broken. It’s something you can live with, so you don’t call maintenance about it. Well they want to fix that type of stuff. The next is because, being a government entity, they don’t have a lot of money to replace stuff like stoves and refrigerators, so if you are trashing their stove and refrigerator, they want it dealt with. And, of course, there’s the stigma of living here-if you’re living here you must be trash of some variety, so you have a messy house and need the excuse of doing a deep cleaning once a year or being threatened with eviction.
Now, I must clarify, that the last statement does not reflect the attitudes of our current executive director, or the attitude of many executive directors. However, the policy was put in place by HUD many years ago, so someone had/has that attitude. I am on the Board of Commissioners here (that will be a separate post) and have heard people in leadership positions of other housing authorities say “The maintenance staff is told to keep an eye on the people when they go to fix stuff, and see if they are keeping house.” I myself have had issues with maintenance staff (another separate post). Now, I can understand monitoring cleanliness to a certain degree-after all, apartments are problematic in ways that houses aren’t. If one person/family attracts pests such as mice or roaches, they will quickly spread to other units, no matter how clean they are. But making people feel like they are scum because they don’t mop every day or because they couldn’t physically move their stove to clean under it is pretty uncalled for, in my opinion.
Anyway, in addition to the yearly inspection (ours is in November, when it’s nice and cool for cleaning), you have another inspection every two years, by HUD, for safety issues. That inspection is more of a look at the entire property-are your sidewalks wide enough to be in compliance with ADA, can people quickly escape their apartments in an emergency, but they also randomly look at several units just to check. Our next one is coming up in January.
And then this year, we had another inspection by HUD. They came down to look at some other stuff in the office, and also wanted to randomly inspect a few units. So another large deep cleaning, at the hottest time of the year. THAT was a pain in the butt. But, the good thing is that it’s done, so it will make everyone’s chores easier. It’s much easier to pick up and put away a few things than completely clean a room. Of course, ours has never been hit by a random inspection, but we have to do the cleaning just the same LOL.
And then we’ve had fire issues. We are in a drought, so even a few days of soaking rain doesn’t do much to mitigate fire danger. At this point, a few days of soaking rain just makes the fuel grow more, and then it dries out again and becomes more efficient fuel. In the last week, we’ve had nine events. Most of them weren’t fire, but still, busier than usual. But a neighboring district had a really large fire, 300 acres at last count.
So, all in all, a very busy few weeks. However, things are back to our normal level of chaos now, so we should be able to post more regularly!
I’m still working on August menus. How sad is that? LOL. I’ll get it posted as soon as I’m done. Tonight is chili cheese hot dogs and some sort of potato. I’ll use up the tater tots in the freezer if it’s cool enough to use the oven. The good thing about soaking rains is that it usually means I can use the oven after 6-8 weeks of not being able to. That adds some variety to our meals and treats.
Monday, July 14, 2008
It's the middle of July...
So what have we been up to?
Soon I am going to be launching our new online business, Little's Things. We are having a huge clothing sale here locally, to coincide with Aguilar Fest, which is our small town's annual festival. Games, rides, overpriced food, and a mud bog, which is always a LOT of fun.
Dispatch is going very well. Slower right now, thankfully, because I need to concentrate on pricing clothes for the sale.
The kids, well they are just awesome! Aimee is in her last week working at the camp. She went to the Renaissance Fair last weekend, and had an awesome time. Saren is getting pretty homesick, but they are going on a big vacation next week so I'm hoping he'll have a better time then. We'll probably go get him afterwards. Nikki has been such a huge help over the summer months. Roan is cute beyond belief, last week he asked me to buy him some "big boy panties". So we did and he promptly peed through four pairs in a little over an hour LOL. So we're going to do some fairly aggressive potty training this week with him in pull ups. He's mentally ready, I just don't think he's quite made the full connection yet, so we'll see. By aggressive I mean taking him to the potty every 30 minutes or so, not like beating him over the head with the cast iron skillet. Thought I should clarify! Aria is singing. Singing to every little bit of music she hears. It's wonderful. Haven't seen much of many of the add on kids, except Big Jessica and her daughter Jamie. Spent some time with them last night. Big Jessica has some things going on so I went over to their house (they just moved, small house, but perfect for the two of them) and just listened and hugged. I hope it helped.
Dinners this week are of the quick and easy variety, to facillitate all the sale stuff I have to get done. Saturday I made a pot roast in the CP, so we had that, last night we shredded the pot roast, toasted up some sourdough with swiss, and then put the warm shredded pot roast on it. Was yummy. Today I'm going to make spaghetti sauce, and have that for dinner tonight, and tomorrow we will somehow finish off the pot roast leftovers. Maybe just simple over mashed potatoes and bread, thickened up. Not sure, though.
OK, I can hear Aria stirring, so off I go.
Have an awesome day, and thanks for reading this little bit of my life!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Having Food Available for when I'm Working
Now I don't know a whole lot about OAMC. I do know that it is based on the book Frozen Assets by Deborah Taylor-Hough, which I just ordered through Ebay. While I won't be doing the traditional Once A Month Cooking, where you prepare a month's worth of meals all in one marathon session, I will be doing a continuing series of mini-sessions, which will give me both lunches for DH and ready to eat meals that only need to be heated. I created an inventory sheet, so that I can make sure the meals get used before their tastiness expires. I'm guessing, in a few months, I'll have a week or so each month where the dinner menu is superceded by the frozen meals that need to be used up.
Now, the theory behind OAMC is that if you concentrate all of your efforts into one or two days' worth of work, you can spend more time with the family on a daily basis. Bigs and middles would be helpers during the time you are preparing meals. I don't, however, know if this would work for most large families. We, by society standards, are a large family. But by large family standards, we are small, LOL. However, I don't see my freezers fitting 30 days' worth of meals, and I'm sure larger families would have the same issues. Plus, there's still considerations to be made. In attempts to freeze food when it was bought on sale, and for DH's lunches, I've learned a few things: Some foods just don't freeze very well, and, without a microwave, some foods don't reheat very well.
There is a yahoo group for OAMC (there's probably more than one, but I was already familiar with this one. There are some good recipes in there, and some mini sessions in the files. If this is something you're interested in doing occasionally, this group is a great place to start.
So, what I'm going to do, is put together several mini sessions. We will be shopping for two weeks at a time, and on the day I'm not shopping, I will be cooking instead. I'm going to do this instead of the food assignments mentioned in the chore lists. DH will be here to play with the littles, so Aimee, Nikki and Roan can help with the food prep, which they enjoy doing anyway. Each week, I will buy another pan or two so that I can bake several things at a time. Right now I can do 30 muffins at once, two loaves of bread, two large casseroles and two smaller ones. I have several cookie sheets, and one pie plate. I simply line them with aluminum foil, cook what I'm going to cook, let it cool, put the pan into the freezer, and let it freeze completely. Then I pull it out, turn it upside down on another piece of aluminum foil and let it "fall out" onto the other piece of foil. Then I can wrap it and stick it back in the freezer. Of course this won't work for stuff that would go into a microwave, unless you're going to thaw it first. But with stuff like bread, or smaller portions, those would be packaged differently anyway.
So as I get my mini-sessions put together, I will post them here.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Master Breakfast and Lunch Menus
In that attempt, I have created a Master Breakfast Menu and a Master Lunch Menu. These will rotate-and be much easier to manage once we get a microwave. They can, of course, be switched about. Yesterday my plan was to make granola cereal as I was making dinner, and that just didn't happen. See, I have about four days a month where all my body wants to do is sleep. I fight that the best I can, but sometimes, I lose that battle. Yesterday, I lost the battle, but I got extra sleep last night so I'm hoping for a better today. So today I'll have to substitute something.
The Master Lunch menu is superceded by leftovers. I cleaned out the freezers last weekend, well, two of them, sharing quite a bit of food that was going to be too icky to taste good pretty soon, throwing some away, and then feeding the birds with several bits of bread. So, today, instead of what the menu indicates, we'll have chicken salad sandwiches that I made Sunday with bits of cooked chicken that needed to be used up.
Master Breakfast Menu:
Pancakes
Pumpkin Bread
Granola Cereal
Muffins
Cinnamon Breakfast Bread
Malt-O-Meal
Whole Wheat Apple Raisin Bread
English Muffin Bread
French Toast
Banana Bread
Oatmeal
Peanut Butter Bread
Fruit Salad
Cinnamon Toast
Quesadillas
Cornmeal Mush
Master Lunch Menu
Hot Dogs, Mac N Cheese
PBJ and Fruit
Sloppy Joe
Bean Burritos
Macaroni and Tomato Sauce
Ham and Cheese Wraps
Chili Mac
Quesadillas with Meat
Beans and Hot Dogs
Spaghetti
Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
Turkey, Bacon and Cheese Wraps
English Muffin Pizza
Taco Salad
Stuffed Hot Dogs
Thursday, July 3, 2008
A Story of God's Provision
When DH decided to go back to school, way back in August, I was hesitant. I've lived on student loans before and know how hard that is to do. I respectfully told him that he needed to try to find a part time job to do while in school, and then I supported him wholeheartedly.
Of course, he could'nt find a part time job. Being unwilling to flip burgers (which I really do understand), part time jobs were few and far between where we live. When we'd get student loan payments, I'd stock up on food, we'd pay a few month's bills, and go forth. Between loans, a private loan, DH's fire department incentive check (paid out yearly) and our tax return, we managed to stay afloat. Our stimulus payment actually made a huge difference for us.
When DH started this class, the class was told that our local utility company would be taking the top five graduates. As the year progressed, that number dropped, but as DH was in the top two, he felt assured of getting a job once he graduated.
Well, he didn't get a job in that field when he graduated. Oh, we could have had a job if we'd have been willing to move, but we're not. Week after week DH would drive into Trinidad and job search, spending precious money on gas. We did not budget for additional time off work. Teach ME to count my chickens before they hatch!
So we tightened our belts a little more. Kind of hard to do when you're seemingly on the last notch, but we did it. DH finally found a job, making far less than he would have in the field he just graduated school in, but money is money. He started on the sixteenth. They pay every week, so his first payday is today.
We're pretty much down to no money. The child support I'm supposed to receive has been sporadic, but a garnishment order was put in place last month, but we were pretty behind already by the point that I started receiving money, so that was pretty quickly spent. We had a disconnect order on our gas/sewer/water. Trash wasn't picked up yesterday, cause we haven't paid them since April. Electric company wants some money.
Last night, I used the almost last potatoes we had. I have enough to cook for tonight's meal. While looking at that pile of potatoes, I realized-God had given us JUST ENOUGH to make it to DH's first actual payday in 10 months. JUST ENOUGH.
Not only does DH get paid today, but I got more child support money today. We have payment arrangements made on gas/sewer/water. Trash will be paid off. Electric company will get a big chunk of money. Not paid off, but enough (they don't do payment arrangements) that we won't be in danger of getting cut off. We can make a payment on our phone bill. And we can buy some much needed groceries. WE have enough credit built up with the landlord that we can use that to pay July's rent.
Ahhh, God is good!
Monday, June 30, 2008
"Take these dispatches and..."
Sometime back (I think before Aria was born), I had offered to dispatch for our local volunteer Fire Department. DH was leutenant at the time and said he'd talk it over with the chief. Long story short, because the chief was in town during the day, we didn't need a dispatcher, he could do it.
Three months ago, our chief was medically retired. DH is now Assistant Chief. The chief came to him and asked if my previous offer was still good.
Well, at this point, I have a two and a half year old, and a one year old, and I'm babysitting a four year old child who is very high needs. I tell DH I will think about it. One night, they get some kind of call right before dinner time, leaving me to deal with kids, walking the dog, and doing the things that are normally his responsibility in the evening, plus cook dinner and bathe the kids etc (you ladies know the drill). My DH is a wonderful helper at home and I'm quite frankly spoiled by that! So that night I "pretend" that I'm also having to handle dispatch, and realize that it's not such a hot idea.
Fast forward to Monday the 23rd. Right now we have fifteen firefighters on our roster. Usually, however, it's the same three or four guys who go out on almost every single call. Most of our guys work traditional day time schedules, so there aren't many people here from about 7ish am to about 6ish pm, cause the jobs are all 30 or more miles away. I get a phone call from the Sheriff (the actual guy, not a deputy or one of his underlings) and he's ticked off. Seems there's a fire in our district, and he's been toning us out for the last hour and no one has responded. He tells me I'm the first live person he's gotten and can I please find him some firefighters and get him an updated call sheet. "Yes, Sir" says I, a little intimidated (to which my husband would be shocked). So I pull the call sheet off the fridge and start calling firefighters and get four on the scene. I tell DH "I guess you better get me a radio."
So he brings me a radio and dashes out the door with a half frozen turkey sandwich. I start listening in but no one calls. No big deal, because I have no idea what in the world I'm doing!!!
So I call our administrative assistant. She does the office work for 2 days a week, and is assistant chief and back up dispatch for the neighboring district. Tell her the Sheriff needs a call sheet and I need dispatch lessons. We agree to talk after she fixes dinner and I get babies down. She gives me a crash course in dispatch.
Now, the entire reason I turned down dispatch is because of my "worst case scenario." Dinner is being cooked, babies are fussy cause they're hungry or whatever, I don't have any bigs here to help, and something major happens.
So Tuesday dawns, and I actually get to get on the radio, to ask the guys who are watching for flare ups from Monday's fire if they are going to need to refill the water trucks, so the town can make the extra water available. I take care of that, and do my normal mommy stuff. Do it more efficiently and at a faster pace because I have no idea what may happen down the road.
DH comes home a little early, so he can get on the scene of the fire and do an assessment, so I put dinner on early-something easy because I don't know what is going to happen with the fire. I made spaghetti sauce earlier in the CP and bread in the machine, all I had to do was deal with the meat and pasta.
Now, Aria, now 15 months old, is teething, so she's been fussy all day. Roan is moderately fussy, mostly due to his being 2 and wanting his way all the time. I'm walking into the kitchen to drain the pasta, and the radio goes off. So I'm in the midst of cooking dinner (and risking icky overcooked pasta with not enough to replace it if I ruin it), dealing with fussy babies, the dog needs to go out, it's raining, and I need to dispatch a smoke report. It's my first darn day on the job and already my worst case scenario has happened!
Well, I did it. Not only did I do it (thankfully it was only a smoke chase, it's hazy cause we have three fires nearby) but I did a pretty good job, according to my DH and the lady who trained me, who called to tell me I was doing an awesome job. The oldest kid I have at home right now, Nikki, who is 7, stepped up and did a great job at helping, too!
So I guess I'm a working mommy. Still home, but working. I'm trying to get things done earlier, because I never know when the radio will take me away from that stuff. But if I have all the dinner prep done early, it will save me time in the evenings. Also planning on double cooking a lot of things and taking a day a month to put some extra food in the freezer so I can just pull stuff out if something happens near dinner time.
There are some benefits-#1 is that with a local dispatcher, my husband will be safer. The other guys as well, but of course, my primary concern lies at home. I'll have life insurance, and we get a small incentive bonus for every call we work on, so every call I dispatch I will get a small amount of money for, paid in one check in December. Plus DH gets a "recruitment bonus" for me "joining" the FD. That will help our family out a lot. Life insurance for me has been a concern in our family-if something happens to me, DH would have to pay childcare so he could work. Now that huge need will be taken care of.
So now to figure out how to juggle all of this LOL.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes...
Life has been...strange. But strange in a good way.
I have been posting over at Mrs. S., and my next several posts will be copies of what was posted there.
All I know right now is that God is indeed good.
Read on, dear friends, and enjoy the ride...I have been.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Quick weight loss notes
I'm absolutely thrilled with the state of my weight loss so far, except that I haven't gotten to do much actual exercise. Of course, we are all adjusting to new schedule with Larry finally working again, new chore lists and two of the kids being gone and doing other things. And that energy sapping heat that we normally get in July has started full force in June because we had such a dry spring. I try to get on in the mornings but just haven't made it a habit yet. Getting there, though.
I am slacking on portion control, so this is something I also need to work more on. I have been doing really well on not eating late, though.
As I've stated, this is not a diet, it's changing our lifestyle. We already cook mostly natural, home made foods, and we try not to put processed foods into our meal plans. This is done both for cost and health reasons. For example, even though we have carb heavy meals due to our budget issues, we don't have overweight children. This is due partly to lack of "junk" foods, serving of plenty of fruits and veggies (they may be canned, but it's better than junk), and also to not having a lot of inside play options. Instead of a playstation, TVs or computers in every room, my kids are out riding bikes and playing Star Wars outside.
But we, as all families do, still have some tweaking to do. We can always find something more to do for our health, and the changes we are making here are definitely a step in the right direction.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Amish Bread Link and Uses
Recipe: Hobo Hash
Hobo Hash
1 c. diced onion
1 lb hamburger
1 c. uncooked rice
6 potatoes, cubed
1/3 c. diced celery
4 cans red kidney beans (not drained)
8 c. water or beef stock
4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
4 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Brown hamburger with onion, garlic, celery, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce.
In crock pot layer cubed potatoes, kidney beans, rice, and cooked hamburger. Pour water or stock over all. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
Recipe: Sweet and Sour Chicken
Sweet and Sour chicken
| 4 | lbs chicken pieces (I use thighs, take the skin off |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | oil (for frying) |
| 2 | green peppers |
| 6 | stalks celery, chopped finely |
| 2 | medium onion, chopped |
| 1 | cup crushed pineapple (undrained) |
| 1 | cup ketchup |
| 1/2 | cup brown sugar |
| | vinegar (just a splash) |
- Preheat oven to 350° Chop all vegetables.
- Coat chicken pieces with flour, salt and pepper.
- Brown on all sides in oil.
- Place in a baking pan.
- Mix together all remaining ingredients and pour over the chicken in baking pan.
- Bake one hour.
Recipe: Cheesy Chicken Shortcake
CHEESY CHICKEN SHORTCAKE
4 slices bacon, cooked
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup chopped green peppers
1/2 cup chopped red peppers
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups milk
2 cups cubed cooked chicken or cooked turkey breast
1 cups shredded cheddar cheese or monterey jack pepper cheese
Saute onion, green and red pepper until soft. Add flour, chicken broth, nutmeg, pepper and milk, cook and stir until sauce thickens. Turn heat down to low, add crumbled bacon, chicken and cheese, stirring until chicken is heated through. Serve over toast, biscuits, cornbread or rice. 8 servings
Recipe: Crock Pot Nachos
Crock Pot Nachos
2 Lbs Velveeta
2 Small Cans of Rotel
16 oz Sour Cream
1 lb cooked Ground Beef
Dice the cheese, then add it and all other ingredients in CP. Cook on high for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally. Serve over chips or with tortillas.
Recipe: Creamy Ham and Cheese Salad
Cheesy Ham Salad
16 oz elbow macaroni
4 c. cubed velveeta
1/2 c. milk
1 c. ham, cubed
1 c. celery slices
1 c. Miracle Whip
4 Tbsp. green onion slices
Recipe: Crockpot Ranch Chicken
Crockpot Ranch Chicken
3-4 boneless chicken breasts
2 packages dry ranch dressing mix
1 large can cream of chicken soup (or use broth and thicken on stove at the end)
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1/2 cup milk
Combine all ingredients in crock pot. Cook six hours on low, shred chicken, serve over rice.
Recipe: Garlic Roasted Chicken and Potatoes
Garlic Roasted Chicken and Potatoes
8 chicken thighs
4 lbs diced potatoes
1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves -- crushed
1/2 teaspoon peppered seasoned salt
6 cloves garlic -- minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
2 cups Chicken Broth
Put potatoes in bottom of CP. Take skin off chicken thighs, and put them on top of potatoes. Combine all other ingredients, pour into crockpot. Cook on low 6-8 hours.
Recipe: Chicken with Garlic and Basil Sauce
Chicken with Garlic and Basil Sauce
2 Tbl. olive oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
Pepper to taste
Sauce:
½ c. lemon juice
10-15 garlic cloves
3 cup chicken broth or water
2 cup fresh chopped basil or 3 1/2 tsp. dried basil
Salt and pepper to taste
Place chicken in crock pot. Sprinkle with pepper to taste. Mix all other ingredients in bowl, pour over chicken. Cook on low 8 hours. Shred chicken, return to sauce. Serve over noodles, rice, or roasted new potatoes.
Recipe: Chicken Burrito Casserole
Chicken Burrito Casserole
2 cup onion, chopped
4T. butter
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 4-ounce can green chili peppers, chopped
2/3. butter
1/2 cup flour
5 cups chicken broth
2 cup sour cream
3 cups shredded cheese (6 ounces)
12 6-inch tortillas.
Saute onion in 4T butter until tender. Combine in a bowl with chicken and green peppers. In same pan, melt 2/3 cup of butter, add flour to create a roux, then stir in chicken broth, cook until thick. Stir in sour cream and 1 cup of cheese. Grease crock pot. Add small amount of sauce to bottom, then layer tortillas, chicken mixture, small amount of cheese and sauce. Finish with sauce and top with remaining cheese. Heat 2 hours on low.
Recipe: Beef Taco Bake
Beef Taco Bake
1 pound or so of cooked beef (I use leftover roast for this, brisket works, of course hamburger, too)
2 quarts (minimum) of beans (you can add more, if you need more)
1 Green Chile (can use a can, I have frozen ones which get stronger in flavor, if using fresh you probably want two)
½ cup Red Pepper, diced
¼ cup Green Pepper, diced
1 ½ cup salsa
1 onion, diced
1 quart beef broth (or use water with boullion)
16 oz sour cream
12 6 inch tortillas
2 cups cheese of your choice (cheddar, jack, Colby, pepper jack, combo)
4 tbsp vegetable oil
Saute onion, peppers and chile in vegetable oil until onion is soft. Stir in beef, salsa, and broth, let simmer for about 15 minutes, then stir in sour cream. Grease crockpot. Layer meat mixture, tortillas, beans, small amount of cheese in CP, then cover with remaining cheese. Cook on low for 2 hours.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
This week's weight loss report
That's awesome considering that I kind of blew my diet this weekend. I had these hormonal cravings and was so tired and generally had the attitude of "It's the first few days of my cycle, it's early, I'm crabby and hormonal, yes, I'll have extra mashed potaotes!"
Not the best attitude, but again, we're talking lifestyle changes. These will not happen overnight, and hormonal attitude changes are probably the hardest to change.
If I can expect that for two days every month my diet will get a little wonky (just like I have to accept that for two days every month only the bare necessities will get done around the house) then I can prepare for it and do a bit of extra work a few days before and after.
I truly believe that cutting so much sugar out of my diet is really leading to positive changes in my life. I have more energy, the weight loss of course, and my skin is looking better. I calculate that by gradually cutting the amount of sugar in my tea in half, I'm saving over 10000 calories a week over what I was consuming before I started this.
I did have a blood sugar crash yesterday, but I truly forgot to eat breakfast. I made the kids oatmeal for breakfast, planning for myself to have a piece of chicken. Was feeding Aria, then getting ready to walk to the store so we could do it before it got too hot. Walking to the store was fine (downhill all the way). Immediately upon the walk back up I realized what I had done when I started getting that icky feeling. Made it home, had some juice, and was doing OK by lunch time.
My exercise bike arrived late last week. I've been on it twice and plan to get on when I get done here. Right now I'm doing three miles a day. Takes less than 15 minutes, start to finish. It would take me hours to walk three miles with the kidlets in tow. It's old and ugly and the timer doesn't work, but it does the job. With this being garage sale season, if you need something like this, now is a good time to look. Add walking to run any errands you can, and those become "bonus miles".
Everyone have a great week!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Things I've Learned This Week
Naptime + Roofers = Fussy Kidlets
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough is tempting, no matter what
Roofers make you happy when Friday at 4:00 gets here
You can get a LOT of cleaning done in a messy room with 15 minutes of uninterrupted time
My Dear Husband is so the man
I’m OK with Aimee going off to work for five weeks this summer-which means I’m OK with her growing up. In fact, I’m learning to love the glorious woman that she is becoming. What a joy to see our children transform, before our very eyes, into wonderful, responsible adults
There has been a coup! Nikki is no longer the Drama Queen. Aria has taken over, forcibly wrenching the crown from Nikki’s hands-that’s either a sign of Nikki’s continuing maturity or a sign that Aria is going to be, well, a handful
Trying to clean out the refrigerators before the trash truck gets here is often an exercise in futility
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
June Dinner Menu
June Dinner Menu
Sunday June 1 Pork Chops
Monday June 2 My version of six layer casserole (CP)
Tuesday June 3 Crockpot ranch chicken (CP)
Wednesday June 4 Hobo Hash (CP)
Thursday June 5 Garlic Roasted Chicken and Potatoes (CP) (Make Small Broth with additional thighs)
Friday June 6 Meatball Casserole (CP)
Saturday June 7 Salad with ham chunks
Sunday June 8 Sweet and Sour Chicken (CP)
Monday June9 Cube Steak Casserole (Brown additional round steak for steak and guiness pie and refreeze)(CP)
Tuesday June 10 Cheesy Chicken Shortcake over rice
Wednesday June 11 Pork Roast and Gravy over mashed potatoes
Thursday June 12 Beans and Rice
Friday June 13 Hamburgers and Hot Dogs on Grill
Saturday June 14 Roasted Chicken (CP)
Sunday June 15 Beef Roast
Monday June 16 Ham and Fried Potatoes
Tuesday June 17 Beef Stroganoff
Wednesday June 18 Chicken Divine (CP)
Thursday June 19 Beef Taco Bake
Friday June 20 Brats on Grill
Saturday June 21 Chicken with garlic and basil sauce served over fettucine
Sunday June 22 Smothered Steak (Brown additional steak for stew meat, refreeze)
Monday June 23 Steak and Guiness Pie (CP, serve over mashed potatoes)
Tuesday June 24 Salad with ham chunks
Wednesday June 25 Cattlemen’s Beef and Beans (Use two jars of beef and broth, strain cooked meat out and add at the end)
Thursday June 26 Chicken and Gravy over stuffing
Friday June 27 Polish Sausage on Grill, Macaroni and cheese
Saturday June 28 Teriyaki Chicken (CP)
Sunday June 29 Pork Roast (CP)
Monday June 30 Chicken Burrito Casserole (CP)
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Random Thoughts on Weight Loss
First, many thanks to Joyful Dreamer who suggested that I snack on protein instead of saltines and applesauce. I appreciate your thoughtfulness, and will be implementing your suggestion.
So, last week I cut 1/4 cup of sugar out of my tea. I drink a lot of tea-as discussed earlier, our water is flavorful, LOL, so there we go. Tea is a better option for me to stay hydrated. And it's actually fairly weak-two tea bags per gallon. We live in the high desert, so even just hanging around the house, hydration is an issue. The air sucks every last bit of water out of you some days, so we try to drink a lot. Anyway, but cutting out 1/4 cup of sugar, I cut out 3 1/2 cups of sugar. Just doing that, I consumed over 5000 LESS calories than the week previous. I cut out another 1/4 cup this week, and added an herbal tea bag for flavor (peppermint). Didn't even notice the loss.
I also instituted portion control. When I started, this was working fairly well for breakfast and lunch, not so much for dinner. But last night at dinner, I got about 1 cup of casserole, plus a small amount of bread. And, following my rules, had to wait at least 15 minutes before going back for more. Well that 15 minutes turned into way more because kidlets started finishing their dinners and had to be cleaned up, and, well, the long and short of it is that I didn't need more. Now, this morning I'm ravenous, but that's OK. That means my body used up all of the food I consumed, that I digested well because I didn't eat anything too late.
Exercise, well, that area has lacked a bit more than I wanted it to. I think I've walked twice this week-but once was pushing kidlets in the stroller plus 40 pounds of potatoes in the basket (on sale). About a mile there, 1/2 of it pushing the potatoes home. DH went with me and offered to push several times, but I made it all the way home. Was useless the rest of the day, because it was hotter weather than I usually walk in, and I didn't drink enough while walking. And my arms were sore the next day. My stroller needs a front end alignment! The second walk was an hour or so through Trinidad. The bigs were invited to a birthday party in town, and DH had some stuff to do, so the littles and I took the stroller and played tourist. We have lived down here for seven years and I have never walked the main street of the beautiful historic town that we live 30 minutes away from. It was nice. I found this gorgeous little shop tucked away on a side street and spent a few minutes there, admiring all the pretties.
I did not, however, do much more exercise than that. There are various reasons, but I just didn't get it done. Time is a factor. Going on a walk takes about 40 minutes total prep time. In the mornings I'm doing other stuff (including sitting here way too much!) and doing any kind of workout during the day means I have kidlets crawling all over me. Ever done crunches with a 2 year old bouncing on your stomach? It's an adventure! But, on the bright side, we are getting an exercise bike from a friend who got a new one. So I can dedicate some time to that every day and then jump on whenever I have a few spare minutes. Will be much easier to dedicate 20 minutes than an hour for a walk plus 40 minutes of prep!
The biggest benefit I saw this week was increased energy. We slept late on the weekend, instead of getting up by the alarm. Huge change for me. But I got 8 hours of sleep for the first time in probably three years. Of course, Sunday night, the baby was up a lot, so I got maybe 4 hours of very broken sleep (I think she's teething). But Monday I had ENERGY. I didn't need a cat nap. I got my entire to do list done (possibly due to our new chore lists). I was amazed that I had so much energy on so little sleep. Last night I got my normal sixish hours and can't wait to see everything I get done! I really think that cutting out the sugar helped, as I didn't have as many sugar crashes. Well, I never got to feeling shaky and wobbly-because I was consuming less sugar, I didn't have as much of a sugar high to come down from.
I was NOT cranky or crabby (except for a bit of PMS-so we'll say not OVERLY cranky or crabby). But I firmly believe that implementing changes slowly is the name of the game. After all, I am trying to change a lifestyle here. We all know that dieting doesn't work. Curbing your eating habits for a few days or weeks or months and then going back to what you were doing before just means you're going to gain the weight back. You have to make life long changes, and that is what I'm trying to do. And if you try to do those quickly, you get really frustrated and often give up. If there is a medical emergency, and you have a doctor telling you that you have to do this or die, well, that's a bit motivating, but I don't have a medical emergency. I'm changing my lifestyle BEFORE it gets to that point. Then I don't have to do it fast and hard.
So, on to the bottom line. How much did I lose? Honestly, I don't know. I don't have a scale. I weighed myself at a friend's house last week, and haven't had the opportunity to go back. I will get a scale as soon as we are financially able, but right now that is a luxury item (DH is still job hunting). But, I lost half an inch around my waist. I don't know if that is a lot. I don't know if that is a little. But, it's something. It's encouragement. I lost something! I guess, if I carry that out over the time of my goal, I will lose seven inches by September 5. That is more than 10% of the inches in my waist. Again, I don't know if that's good, but it will certainly be a positive weight loss. In a quick search this morning I can't find a correlation of how many inches you should lose in a week. I did find a study that showed people lost an average of 2 inches over a four week period, so it looks like my half inch is decent, according to that article.
Have more to write, but have to go fix breakfast and such.
Thank you, God, for the strength to make these healthy changes for our family!
June Lunch Menu
Sunday June 1 Lunchmeat Sandwiches (Amish Bread for church)
Monday June 2 Quesadillas
Tuesday June 3 Hot Dogs, Mac and Cheese
Wednesday June 4 PBJ, Fruit
Thursday June 5 Macaroni and Tomato Sauce
Friday June 6 Sloppy Joe
Saturday June 7 Ham and Fried Potatoes
Sunday June 8 Lunchmeat Sandwiches (chicken and Stuffing Casserole for church)
Monday June9 Grilled Cheese
Tuesday June 10 Spaghetti
Wednesday June 11 Bean Burritos
Thursday June 12 Hot Dogs, Mac and Cheese
Friday June 13 PBJ, Fruit
Saturday June 14 BBQ Pork Sandwiches
Sunday June 15 Lunchmeat Sandwiches (Crockpot Nachos for Church)
Monday June 16 Quesadillas
Tuesday June 17 Macaroni and Tomato Sauce
Wednesday June 18 Sloppy Joe
Thursday June 19 Grilled Cheese
Friday June 20 PBJ, Fruit
Saturday June 21 Creamy Ham and Cheese Salad
Sunday June 22 Lunchmeat Sandwiches (Amish Bread for Church)
Monday June 23 Spaghetti
Tuesday June 24 Grilled Cheese
Wednesday June 25 Burritos
Thursday June 26 Macaroni and Cheese and Hot Dogs
Friday June 27 PBJ, Fruit
Saturday June 28 Tuna and Ham Salad Sandwiches
Sunday June 29 Lunchmeat Sandwiches (Chocolate Cake for Church)
Monday June 30 quesadillas
Monday, June 2, 2008
June Breakfast Menu
Sunday June 1 Biscuits and Gravy with Sausage
Monday June 2 Pumpkin Bread
Tuesday June 3 Muffins
Wednesday June 4 Cinnamon Breakfast Bread
Thursday June 5 Malt O Meal
Friday June 6 Whole Wheat Apple Raisin Bread
Saturday June 7 French Toast
Sunday June 8 Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, Toast
Monday June9 Banana Bread
Tuesday June 10 Oatmeal
Wednesday June 11 Peanut Butter Bread
Thursday June 12 Fruit Salad
Friday June 13 Cinnamon Toast
Saturday June 14 Quesadillas
Sunday June 15 Ham and Fried Potatoes, Biscuits
Monday June 16 English Muffin Loaf
Tuesday June 17 Cornmeal Mush
Wednesday June 18 Pumpkin Bread
Thursday June 19 Muffins
Friday June 20 Cinnamon Breakfast Bread
Saturday June 21 Malt O Meal
Sunday June 22 Biscuits and Gravy with Sausage
Monday June 23 Whole Wheat Apple Raisin Bread
Tuesday June 24 French Toast
Wednesday June 25 Banana Bread
Thursday June 26 Oatmeal
Friday June 27 Peanut Butter bread
Saturday June 28 Fruit Salad
Sunday June 29 Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, Toast
Monday June 30 Cinnamon Toast
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Chore Lists are Done
Friday, May 30, 2008
Weight Loss
I need to lose weight-badly. I currently weigh 266, with a BMI of 48.6.
Posting this on my blog is hard for me. I know I'm setting myself up for negative commentary, which will be self destructive. But I'm also hoping I'll see some support from this, which is something I greatly need. I need help, God, and I'm hoping I'll see some from here.
I've always struggled with my weight. ALWAYS. Childhood pictures show a chubby little girl with an awful haircut. While I was active in my teen years, which did help me to lose some weight, the only time I was really "skinny" was when I had a drug problem. Yes, I am an addict, with 17 years clean and sober.
I was still fairly thin after I gave birth to Aimee. I knew I needed to lose that baby weight, and went jogging with her dad one night. I didn't make it far, and he laughed at me. Yeah, that's cold and insensitive, but he was 18, so I give him a break for that. But it did harm my self-esteem. I did lose some weight, but not all of it, but that was OK. My weight stayed fairly reasonable for several years. I was overweight, but still not obese.
I don't think I lost much of my Saren baby weight at all, and then I got pregnant with Nikki when he was just 15 months old. I didn't lose much of her weight, either.
Now, I didn't gain a lot of weight while pregnant. With all of my pregnancies, I have actually lost weight. Doctors and midwives have all agreed that healthier eating, paired with more exercise to prepare for birth have contributed, and as I had lost, babies had gained. My midwife with Nikki did get worried at one point, because part of the problem with her was that even putting something in my mouth such as a bite of food, would trigger nausea. I had a LOT of protein shakes with Nikki! But in the end of each pregnancy I would finally gain weight-and never lost it. I had some good nursing babies, and that still didn't help with weight loss.
I also had Aria and Roan very close together, they are 17 months apart.
Pair that with a job, working at home, in which I sat, all day, in front of the computer. Oh sure, I got up-to get something to drink or to go to the bathroom. My weight slowly increased, through time and pregnancies, to what it is now-which is, interestingly enough, less than I weighed when I got pregnant with Roan.
As with any life issue, you have to be ready, really and truly ready, for it to do any good. Well, I am really and truly ready, and here's why:
I have frequent blood sugar crashes throughout the day.
I am 35-and not getting any younger (despite my original typo that said 25)
I am at risk for diabetes, heart disease, and a myriad of other health issues.
I want to be around to play with my grandbabies.
A friend of Larry's, who had recently had a huge weight loss over the last year, and was really getting in shape, went into the hospital for a minor issue-and had a heart attack during treatment. He's getting in great shape, losing weight, doing everything right, and he still has a heart attack-at 35. Thank God he was in the hospital at the time.
So here I am. Committed to weight loss. I'm hearing all over the place that decreasing your body weight by just 10% can cut your risk of diabetes by as much as 58%. So that gives me some interesting thoughts. Wanting to lose 100 pounds is HUGE. It seems unattainable. At a steady loss of 2 pounds per week, that's a year. And I actually need to lose at least 120. So that's MORE than a year. That's HUGE.
But...
But...
If I set smaller goals, it seems much more attainable. For example, my current goal is to lose 27 pounds by September 5. That, I can handle. It's reasonable, it's not some insurmountable mountain of FAT. It's a small mountain of fat.
And the bonus is this. If I lose those 27 pounds, I will weigh 239. My NEXT goal will be only 24 pounds, which will take LESS time to achieve. Being able to reach goals in shorter amounts of time will help to keep me motivated. 14 weeks for my first goal, but only 12 for my next one, 11 for the one after that, and so on.
So, how am I going to do this?
1. Lower the amount of sugar in my tea. I drink a LOT of sweet tea-like 2 gallons a day. Yeah, I pee a lot LOL. I had been doing 1 cup of sugar per gallon of tea, but I've already cut that down to 3/4 cup, and will cut out more each week. I will add mint to my tea, to make it taste sweeter without as much sugar.
2. Lower the amount of tea I drink. I will be making it a priority to sub some of my tea for water. Now, I drink a lot of tea because our small town water has a funky taste. So, to sub the tea for water involves buying bottled water. So that will be slow, until DH finds a job, but it will get done.
3. Portion control. I have already started out this week, measuring my food. It was pretty sad last night, looking at half a cup of mashed potatoes on my plate. Portion control has worked for breakfast and lunch. Dinner, not so much, so when I eat dinner, I finish my plate, then sit for 20 minutes before I can get seconds. That way I can make sure I'm actually still hungry before getting more food (and I have to REALLY want it if I'm willing to eat it cold, LOL, we don't have a microwave).
4. Better food choices. I hate eating my veggies. I'm awful at it. But I'm doing it, and must finish my veggies before getting seconds.
5. Eating when I'm hungry. Yes, eating when I'm hungry. Back before the days of refrigeration, world wide shipping, and nearby supermarkets, we ate what we had available or could find. That meant that sometimes, you went hungry-if you didn't save enough food until next harvest, or butcher enough meat to get you through until you could hunt or butcher again. When you saw that your food reserves weren't going to hold out, you started rationing food. So you existed on less. So your body learned to hold on to any existing fat cells in times when it wasn't fed what it needed. That continues in our bodies today. If you don't eat, your body goes into starvation mode, and won't let go of those fat cells that it believes are necessary for your survival. so I will take a few bites of applesauce or have a couple of saltines when I'm hungry.
6. Moving more. As you other busy moms know, working out is something we know we need to do, but most of us don't get to do. You'd think that chasing kids and carrying laundry and doing the dishes would be moving-and it is. Every hour of housework counts as 1 mile of exercise. But, you've in all likelihood hit a plateau. Unless you're doing heavier than normal housework, you're not moving enough to lose weight. I know that's my problem. I do try to go on walks. I plan to go on a walk every single day. But it takes 20 minutes to get everyone and everything ready and load the stroller, and another 20 minutes to get everything packed away when you get home. So an hour walk takes up almost 2 hours of your day. That's time a lot of us don't have. but, a friend of ours who is moving has GIVEN us his exercise bike. Well, we don't have it yet, which is OK, cause we don't have ROOM for it yet, but we'll have it. So I can bike whenever I have a spare moment, and for a dedicated 20 minutes a day, without having to load up everything and everyone to go. I think this activity will have a HUGE impact. I can FIND 20 minutes-I can't find 2 hours every day.
7. LOTS of prayer. Prayer to resist temptation, prayers of praise for when I do resist that tempting little cupcake, prayer to hold me up when I'm having a hard time of it-and I know that will come.
Larry is being very supportive. A few weeks back, we were discussing my need to lose weight, and he said "Babe, you're not fat, you're pleasantly plump." Well, that was sweet. It said to me that he doesn't care about my weight in terms of appearance. He loves me even when I'm fat-and I so love that about him. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it. But, it also doesn't address the issue. I told him "I'm not pleasantly plump, I'm morbidly obese and if I don't lose the weight I'm going to die." Flat out, no BS. I told him how much I appreciated him saying what he said, that it gave me a very positive image of myself in his eyes, but that I need to lose the weight for my health. Not to look better, but FOR MY HEALTH. He then realized what I was saying. I don't think he had ever previously even had a concept of life without me. I would always be there. And for that mindset to continue for him, he needs to be supportive of my weight loss. I may not always be here, but he needs to have that mindset in his head-it grounds him and gives him strength. He needs that. Ahh, but I'm digressing again. But the closer I come to a healthy weight, the more likely it is that I WILL actually be here 40 years from now, when he's a dirty old man in a wheelchair trying to get nurses to sit in his lap and I'm denying that I need glasses to read a book.
But last night, I mentioned that I hadn't had any blood sugar crashes since I started this, on Tuesday. I think both cutting some sugar and eating when I'm hungry have contributed to that. And he said the sweetest words I could hear coming out of his mouth: "I'm so proud of you!" That makes me feel even more warm and fuzzy. We, as wives, need uplifting from our husbands just as they need uplifting from us. We need reality, but we also need uplifting. That support from him meant just as much to me as it possibly could have. Ahhh, what a man I've got!
OK, it's late and I need to get some breakfast and get the kids up.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Once A Month Master List
Once A Month
Dining Room
Wash Boys’ Blankets
Wash Girls’ Blankets
Wash Mom and Dad’s Blankets
Wash Living Room and Kayla’s Blankets
Straighten, Wash Hoosier
Wash Top of Fridge
Sweep Back Porch
Kitchen
Food Assignment 1
Food Assignment 2
Food Assignment 3
Food Assignment 4
Prepare Next Month’s Menus
Print Next Month’s Chore Sheets
Dish Drain
Move Stove, Clean Underneath
Move Fridge, Clean Underneath
Baseboards
Kitchen-Oven and Racks
Wash Trash Can
Wash Top of Fridge
Wash Outside Kitchen Cabinets
Wash Walls
Wash Doorframe
Wash/Organize Shelves
Living Room
Wash Trash Can
Sweep Back Porch
Hallways
Mom and Dad’s Room
Wash Windows
Straighten Aria’s Dresser
Straighten Larry’s Table
Wash Baseboards
Wash Walls
Wash Doorframe
Straighten Mom’s Table
Straighten Desk
Straighten Headboard
Straighten Desk
Bathroom
Wash Walls, Door, Doorframe, Baseboards
Wash Trash Can
Girls’ Room
Wash Windows
Boys’ Room
Wash Windows
Organize Roan’s Clothes
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