On the Menu this Week

I made a schedule.  It is the mother of all schedules.  It is a plan.

If I follow the plan, all my wildest dreams will come true.

My new year's resolution is to follow the schecule, follow the plan.

Part of the plan is to have biweekly menu plans and only shop twice a month for groceries.  This will save me time for sure and probably money, as well.

Here is this coming week's plan:

Menu for Week of January 6

Sunday

                  Breakfast: Oven Peaches and Cream French Toast

                  Lunch:  Tomato Soup & Melted Cheese Sandwiches

                  Dinner: Chicken Pot Pie

Monday

                  Breakfast: CrockPot Eggnog Cranberry Cracked Wheat Mush

                  Lunch: Peanut Butter & Honey Sandwiches or Leftovers

                  Dinner: Puerco Adobo, Brown Rice, & Cole Slaw

Tuesday

                  Breakfast: CrockPot Apple Cinnamon Cracked Wheat Mush

                  Lunch: Sandwiches or Leftovers

                  Dinner: Taco Soup, Bread & Butter

Wednesday

                  Breakfast: Crock Pot Cracked Wheat Mush

                  Lunch: Sandwiches or Leftovers

                  Dinner: Freezer Raviolli, Alfredo Sauce, Steamed Broccoli

Thursday

                  Breakfast: Apricot Ginger Refrigerator Oatmeal

                  Lunch: Sandwiches or Leftovers

                  Dinner:  Chicken Enchilada Casserole, Green Salad & Ranch Dressing

Friday

                  Breakfast: CrockPot Banana & Coconut Milk Cracked Wheat Mush

                  Lunch: Sandwiches or Leftovers

                  Dinner: Quinoa Broccoli Casserole, Garlic Bread

Saturday

                  Breakfast: Applesauce Muffins

                  Lunch: Pasta Salad

                  Dinner: Garlic-Lime Chicken & Baked Sweet Potatoes

 

You'll notice that Sunday-Friday breakfasts are actually made the night before.  The crockpot mush recipes are actually steel-cut oat recipes from Monica at The Yummy Life.  I'm trying them with cracked wheat.  I think they'll work just fine.  Lunches are simple.  So that the Man-of-the-House can take leftovers to work for his lunch, Sunday-Thursday dinners are ones that reheat well.   If for some reason there are no leftovers, He'll get salad with cooked chicken added.

I do serve an afterschool snack to my kids each day, which will be
veggies & dip, strawberry yogurt, popcorn, oatmeal cookies & milk,  green smoothies, things like that.

At the beginning of every week I make a big green salad and a fruit salad and we eat those with dinner each night. 

I subscribed to the Grocery Shrink's Weekly Menu Mailer for about four months, and the biggest thing I learned was to plan food for every meal.  Previously, I have only planned dinners and bought the groceries for that plus eggs & milk.  I never had enough food in the house and my plans never worked.  I learned from Angela to plan lunches and snacks (especially on the weekend when everyone is home all day.) 


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Dyin' to be at Dianne's

This is my dad's little sister, my Aunt Dianne.  I've told you about her Cheddar Pear Pie before.  Which is delicious and also, it is delicious.

My family has our own Happy Birthday song that we tag on the end of the one everbody knows.  One of the lines is "May your birthdays be bright with cheer and delight."  Because my dad's other sister is named Chere, I always amended the song in my head to "May your birthdays be bright with Chere and Dianne."  It was like a birthday wish to get to visit them in the next year.

Well this year, I got to visit Aunt Dianne.  I and 9 members of my family stayed at her house for a few days when my bro Eddie got married in August.

 We drove about 20 hours, including through the night, to get there.



(I suppose I shouldn't say "we" drove, as my dad and bro Jimmy did most of the driving.  I did lots of talking to keep the drivers from getting bored.  I'm selfless like that.)

Anyways, I'm sure that if you've been on a long trip like that, you know that sort of nauseous bleck feeling you start to get after eating trail mix and celery sticks in the car for 2 days.  Even when you have your choice of 5 different kinds of peppermint gum (thanks, Dad) you eventually start feeling a little green.

We entered Utah valley at about 2-3 o'clock in the afternoon.  Dad offered to stop at Burger King, or something, but it was just an hour or so until Aunt Dianne's and we all voted to wait.  A Whopper might be warm and taste good going down, but then it sits there in your gut feeling oily and heavy--especially if you are already kinda bleh.  We were sure Aunt Dianne would have a better option, and she did!

We landed at her house, crowded in and somewhat bashfully admitted that we were starving and tired of car food.  Well Aunt Dianne told us to sit down and before we knew it, there was a huge pot of pasta soup and loaves of homemade bread and lots of sliced up cucumbers from her garden: all my favorite comfort foods loaded on one table.   The 10 of us plus a couple more who were already at her house gobbled down as much of that delicious soup and bread as we could hold and then we all had glorious naps on her many comfy couches.

This is the "Love Sack".  It is much coveted by all.

All that weekend, Aunt Dianne fed us delicious food and it all just appeared out of her cupboards and fridge like magic.  If we ate it all, more appeared, until we were stuffed.  Even the night that 70 aunts & uncles & cousins showed up to gab and laugh, she calmly produced food for us all.

And she had time to sit down and talk and be interested in what was going on in our lives and laugh at our jokes and loan us her stockings when ours got snags.

It was the most restful retreat I've ever gone too, and I felt like a new woman when I got home.  I got back the energy and enthusiasm for life that I'd been missing since my last baby was born.

part of that rejuvenation came from hanging out with these 2 amazing women.

This is the kind of hostess I want to be when I'm grown up.  The kind that can seemingly effortlessly produce food to feed a crown.  (I know it actually takes work and good planning too.)  The kind of hostess where everyone who visits feels welcome and at peace.

Until then, I'm lucky to have friends & family who are willing to come over and pretend with me that the food was great and the fun was seamless; even if there's a pot on the stove billowing smoke and I'm hastily scrabbling together the ingredients to something else and there's a pile of dirty dishes behind me.  One day, their faith and long suffering will be rewarded (I hope.)

Good Riddance 2011!

For New Year's Eve, we had a Good Riddance! celebration.

We each listed something we regretted/wanted to forget about last year.
We regretted the times we got angry with each other and shouted or called names. We regretted skipping homework and biting our nails. We regretted uncouth behavior like burping and tooting around company.

We sealed up our bad luck and sorrows from the past year in a box and burned them!

Good Riddance!

Then we looked back at our blessings and happy memories.

Now we are ready to make a fresh start in the new year.

We made some goals as a family- I was really impressed with the kiddie pies. They know what they need to do. Just like their mom, they need to translate knowing into doing.

I usually set a goal in each of what I see as the areas I have responsibility for in my life. Often, they are repeats from the last year because I do well in spurts-not the long haul. Sometimes I totally own a resolution--like 2 years ago when I decided to recycle all our metal cans. I pwned that one and it is a habit now.

Most of the time, I really have lots of goals in each area of my life--but I feel like I have to choose only 1. After reading my sister's blog today, I decided to free myself from that silly restriction and put down all the things I want to accomplish this year--because I can work on them one at a time and if some of them have to be on next year's list again, so be it.

Health Goal- Exercise a minimum of 3 times a week. My goal is to have good enough cardiovascular fitness that I can dance around the room to the Nutcracker Music with my girls for more than 3 minutes without huffing and puffing.

Drink a gallon of water a day-or as close to this as possible. Every time I crave something sweet, I will drink 20 ounces of water first. Then I will leave the kitchen.

Diabetic Eating Plan: for the last 2 months, I had to strictly follow an eating plan because I once again developed Gestational Diabetes. I successfully controlled my blood sugar levels by following my diet/eating plan. It was easy to follow a diet when somebody else's life besides my own was at stake. All I had to do was think of Baby Dumpling and I could say "no" to mashed potatoes and chocolate cake. It is harder to say no for my own health's sake. But I'm going to give it a try.

Mom Goal-
Establish the Children's Hour: each night at 7pm I will send the kids to get on pj's and brush their teeth. Then, until 8pm, it will be Children's Hour. I will read to them or even play quiet board games or just let them tell me about stuff. I am hoping this will improve their sleeping habits and help them feel loved. Often when they get home from school, I am so busy thinking my own thoughts that I'm not really paying attention to their stories. I want to actually "Be there" mentally for them.

Wife Goal- Not be sharp and cranky, ever. I haven't been sharp or cranky recently but that is because the Man of the House has outdone himself in helpfulness and sweetness. He's cleaned the house, done the laundry, taken care of the kids and is constantly asking what he can do to help me. I've mostly just sat around holding Baby Dumpling. It is easy to be pleasant. One of these days, I'm going to be tired and life won't be perfect and my pleasantness will actually be tested. That's when I can prove myself.

Homemaker goals-
*Stick to the budget better (by using the cash system) and save more this year than we did last year.
*Stick to the chore chart every day.
*Plan meals well enough that I only go to the grocery store once a week.
*Make plan for the week on Sunday evening & follow it!

Spiritual goals-
**Scripture study with kids every Sunday afternoon & write in scripture journals.
******Note to self: purchase composition notebooks for us all
**Read Book of Mormon every day. Planned time & place: at dinner table right after dinner.
**Have a general plan for Family Home Evening so it is easier to plan individual lessons.
**Go to the temple every other month. Pick day in February now!

Family Fun-
**Go on an adventure once a month: January's adventure is visit this new art museum on Martin Luther King Day

Happiness goals:
**Restart my gratitude journal
**Sew things!

Mary Kay goals:
**make a plan and work my business as if it is an actual job and not just a hobby!

Happy New Year's Baby

Just wanted to post this precious picture.

So far Baby Dumpling has shown herself to be a good eater. She knew what to do right from the start.

At three weeks old, she still mostly just sleeps and eats. She has about 2 times a day where she is awake and looking around. She has gained control of her eyes, and they work together now.

She does not sleep through the night yet--four hours is the longest she goes without eating. Last night she did not go more than 2 hours without eating.

I have many hopes and goals for the new year, but I know I have to take a new baby into account as I make my plans. Saying I will exercise every morning at 5:30 am (which is what I wanted to say) is ridiculous, considering I am likely to be feeding Baby Dumpling then, or unconscious from being up so much with her.

Book Review

I just finished reading The Fat Girl's Guide to Life by Wendy Shanker

"Why would you read that book, you're not fat?" DH asked.

Wasn't that sweet of him? The answer is, I read it because, while I may not be fat fat, I feel like I have no control over my size--which I'd like to be a bit smaller but I am waiting until after I am not pregnant to do something, obviously.

It's just that for the last 11 years I have been the amazing accordion woman, shrinking up and down in size to accommodate 6 babies. La Leche League will tell you that you loose weight breastfeeding and I have seen it to be true for some women. For me, my body hangs on to at least 10 or 20 reserve pounds until I stop nursing to make sure that baby has food.

It's not so much that I want to be skinny. I'd just like to be the same size for maybe a whole year or two. I feel a little delirious dreaming about being the same size for 5 years in a row. About 2 years ago, I gave up on the fantasy that I would someday be as skinny as I was in high school and right before I got married. The truth is, that wasn't a healthy weight for me and I had achieved it by not eating. So I just want to be a size and stick with it long enough to actually build one of those workable wardrobes that you read about that has a sensible amount of clothing that I can mix and match. Not a closet that has to have normal clothes, bigger size clothes, maternity clothes, post baby size clothes that I can still nurse in, etc.

But I've gotten off track.

The Fat Girl's Guide to Life blows some serious holes in the whole "you have to have a certain BMI (Body Mass Index) to be healthy" rule. I love it. It confirmed some things that I have often thought from my own attempts to lose weight and watching people I love try to lose weight.

I know lots of girls who carefully watch what they eat and exercise at least 3 times a week and yet do not lose weight. At best, they lose and regain the same 10 pounds over and over.

I know lots of skinny people who say that losing weight is a simple matter of caloric deficit and getting of your fat butt to exercise. If a "fat" person insists that they do exercise, the skinny person will insist that it must be the wrong kind/not enough exercise. Yet these skinny people will eat large servings of ice cream twice a day and rarely exercise more than once a week but will stay complacent in their assumptions that anyone who wants to be skinny can be skinny if they just do the work.

Did you know:
*A moderately active fat person is likely to be far healthier than someone who is svelte but sedentary. What's worse, American's (largely unsuccessful) efforts to make themselves thin through dieting and supplements are themselves a major cause of the ill health associated with being overweight.

NEWS FLASH! Dieting and Diet pills are BAD FOR YOU

* There is in fact no medical basis for the government's BMI recommendations or the public health policies based on them. The BMI range correlating with the lowest mortality rate is extremely broad, from about 18-32 BMI, meaning that women of average height can weigh anywhere within an 80 pound range without seeing any statistically meaningful change in her risk of premature death.

*In a decided majority of studies, groups of people labeled overweight by current standards are found to have equal or lower mortality rates than groups of supposedly ideal weight individuals.

*Large scale mortality studies indicate that women who are 50 or even 75 pounds "overweight" will on average still have longer life expectancies than those who are 10 to 15 pounds "underweight" aka fashionably thin.

*Numerous studies have shown that weight loss of 20-30 pounds leads to an increased risk of premature death, sometimes by an order of 700%

****
If you would like to hear some common sense and stop blaming yourself for all those failed diets, then this is the book to read. If you would like to stop feeling like the reason you are fat is because you are lazy, dumb, low on will power, and unable to delay instant gratification, then THIS IS THE BOOK TO READ.

Here is my favorite favorite quote from Wendy (who is 5'7" and weighs around 220 lbs. despite the fact that she spends an hour on a treadmill 3-4 times a week and lifts weights as well and sticks to a healthy, reasonable diet.)
"Think about how much time you've spent thinking about that poundage, and the time you've spent punishing yourself about that poundage. Then I'd like you to imagine NOT doing that. Instead, imagine the relief you'd feel if you could walk past a plate-glass window without cursing your reflection. ....
Now imagine if we all did it. The Fat Girls, the Skinny Girls.....all that free time on our minds that we aren't using to rip ourselves to shreds. All that money in our wallets that we're not going to spend on fat-free, sugar-free, taste-free sorbet. That's a lot of minutes and a lot of money from a lot of women who have a lot of brain power."

As I read this, I couldn't help thinking, we are doing exactly what Satan wants us to do. We are obsessing about something that isn't important. All of us intelligent, powerful women are using up our time stressing and worrying about whether we are fat and beating ourselves up about it. Think of all the good we could do if we quit worrying about fat.

So I have a new determination to not worry about what I weigh. I am determined to exercise moderately so that I can be healthy. I am determined to eat lots of vegetables so I can be healthy. But I am not going to worry about what weight comes along for the ride. I hope you'll join me. :)

Some Random bits of wisdom I gleaned from the Universe this Month

And some other things I've learned before, but were brought back again to me with power.

I will contend with him who contendeth with thee and I will save thy children. Isaiah 49:15

Exercising 2-3 times a week for 3 weeks will result in me losing 5 pounds-even though I wasn't great with the dieting part! WOO HOO!

Having someone chew you out for a couple of days is no fun, but you can learn from it.

Having people chew you out nearly every day for 6 weeks can make you wonder if you really are so mentally unbalanced that you didn't see all these problems yourself before someone else pointed them out.

[We should] Pray for guidance, Do our best, Act with confidence and God will guide our steps. (David A Bednar, April Conf 2011)

Working consistently toward a goal for 30 days is both rewarding and confidence building.

Finding out that you have to face something difficult is better than knowing something is wrong, but not knowing what it is.

Facing something difficult with someone you love is better than facing something difficult alone.

Laziness never was Happiness. (thanks sister)

If you have ever had a month when the 6 days that your baby was so sick with flu that she threw up every 2 hours for 48 hours and then couldn't keep food down for the remaining 4 days AND that week was so much easier than everything else you had to deal with that it felt like a blessing from God to just rest and take care of your baby BUT you still sort of complained about it because it was the only thing that wasn't so devastating that you could actually talk about it THEN you will have some idea of my feelings the past few weeks.

When we have a vision of what we can become, our desire and our power to act increase enormously. (Dalin H. Oaks April Conf. 2011)

The Future is as bright as your faith. Thomas S. Monson

New Exercise Program

This is Cutie Pie. She dressed herself. Who says you can't mix different stripes? Who needs pants when you have super awesome tights like these?

In other news, the Man of the House and I started a new exercise program. His goal: be in shape to max out his Army Physical Fitness Test in 8 weeks.

My Goal: lose 20 pounds so I can be healthy. I am at my heaviest weight ever, 175 lbs. I know you are all shocked because you picture me as skinny, gorgeous, and multi-talented. Hah! I have recently begun to suspect that the reason we have no new baby-pie's entering our family could be related to my weight. Not Cool.

Well I am getting up at 5 (okay 5:30) AM every morning and exercising. I'm also almost dieting. Which means I try to make healthy choices but I still eat cookies sometimes.

The Exercise plan that we are following recommends taking before and after pictures so you can see how super you did while following their plan. Seems easy enough, right? Except why would I want to take a picture of myself right now? The whole point is that I don't like how I look. But laying that aside with the self-assurance that it is a goodbye to the old GlowWorm picture, there is still the problem of the picture. See, all the examples in the book are Men in swim trunks and women in bikini's/sports bra and shorts. Now while I do actually own a sports bra and shorts, I would never ever ever wear them without a t-shirt over it all. Nor would I ever leave my house in that ensemble for any reason, except perhaps if a random fire started in the middle of my exercise routine.

So why would I take a picture of me like that? I would never show it to ANYONE. I would never post it even here for you my loving fans. Even if I make a miraculous transformation and the P90X people invent a $5000 prize for the best set of before & after shots, I wouldn't submit my picture.

A certain person really thought that I should bare my stomach for my before picture. Just the thought makes me feel slightly nauseous. No one needs a picture. I'm sure you all know what bread dough looks like after you let it rise once and then punch it in the middle. That's what my stomach looks like. The following are the compromise before pictures that I took. A certain person is concerned that I won't be able to see my progress without the bare tummy picture. I am quite certain that the fact that my jeans fit or possibly my skinny jeans or possibly new jeans (please bless it to be true!) will be all the proof I need.

The pictures don't look as bad as in real life---somehow the fat rolls that are clearly visible when I wear that shirt sort of faded into the shadows. Not sure how that happened.

Cutie Pie felt no qualms about baring her belly.

Persian Pickles

Did you know that ladies used to call Paisleys "Persian Pickles"? I didn't until I read a quilting novel "The Persian Pickle Club."
Loved it.

Since is is Monday and January 11, I am ready to make my New Year's Resolutions (oooh! did you ever notice before that the word resolutions is like "re" and "solutions"!!??) Well these are my solutions to fix my less than perfect self this year.



1. Exercise every day. --though I do hope to loose weight, I am not making weightloss my goal because I'm focusing on being healthy, not being skinny. Too much of my life has been wasted on worrying about skinny.



2. Have a morning devotional every day.--In which I read my scriptures and listen to God.

Since that takes care of my mind and my body, I should do something good for mankind or the planet or something* so...


3. Recycle my cans-- I found out my town has a recycling center for metal cans, but I have to wash out the cans and remove the lables. The old me would not want to take time to do this. But this is 2010 and it's time to take responsibility.

Most of all, this year I want to stop making excuses for myself. While I think that realizing my limitations is a good thing, I let myself off the hook way too often just because I get lazy. As friends, we often say to each other, "That's okay" or "You deserved a break/chocolate/binge/whatever." Sometimes it is just an excuse and I am tired of being disgusted at myself for not following through on what I promised myself/family I would do.

I have an amazing schedule worked out to allow myself to accomplish everything in my dreams. But I never follow it.

So, 2010 is the year of "No Excuses" I'll let you know how it works out :) <3 GlowWorm

*name that movie

p.s. You may have noticed that I changed my screen name (is that what it is called?) I had put "MarvelousThings" to go with my blog name, but the computer shortened it to "MarvelousThing," which always seemed very egocentric to me when I would stumble across myself online. "GlowWorm" is so much better on so many levels. plus it makes me happy.