One day to start...

Tomorrow is whole 30 day!

Today we went to Costco and loaded up on fresh veggies and chicken breast and other random necessities.

Steps were not a problem today - I hit 5000 soon after we got home...

And this girl?
I do love her :) Can't believe she turns 9 next week.

When we got home I cooked off several pounds of chicken. Made a white alfredo sauce for homemade pizza (last supper!) and cooked off a huge skillet of peppers, onions, mushrooms, and sausage - when that finished cooking I divided it into smaller containers so that in the morning I can heat a container, cook two eggs and put them on top of the veggies/sausage and one meal will be done for the day :)

I wanted to get more done but I was beat from the long busy day in town. I thought it would be quiet but apparently everyone shops on New Year's Eve - note to self for next year!

Okay - tomorrow is the day!

Whole 30 in the New Year

Yes, I am going to join the thousands of other hopefuls -ringing in the new year with big diet plans.

This portion of my blog will be quite boring to most, I won't be offended if you don't come back this month as most of my posts will be about food, exercise, and likely a lot of complaining :) But it's okay - this is for me. And somehow if I record it here it makes it more real for me.

So - I'm attempting the whole 30 which I attempted one other time and failed after about 2 weeks.

They ask you to set 3 goals and mine are:

Lose 15 lbs by the end of the 30 days
Drink 2 gallons of water each day
Walk 5000 steps each day

This is today's steps. I usually only average about 2000 steps even though I'm on my feet all day. Although I'm not starting until the 1st, I thought it would be good practice to do the steps today. I looked at my fitbit around 4:00 and discovered I was indeed just around 2000, so I took on a few outdoor projects that I'd put off and sure enough I was able to get over 5000 in less than a couple of hours.

I have a Whole 30 Pinterest board going which you can see here.
http://www.pinterest.com/simpler1773/whole-30/

Besides what I've laid out above the rules for whole 30 are as follows;

NO SUGAR
NO GRAINS
NO LEGUMES
NO DAIRY
NO ALCOHOL
NO CHEATING

There is also no snacking between meals, no eating before bed, and no weighing yourself during the 30 days.

Fun right? Well, oddly enough I'm looking forward to the structure. I feel I need to do something serious to break bad habits, heal old scars, and break into new beginnings. 30 days...

Time marches on

When I look at the tag line for my blog " because nothing stays the same", I have to chuckle. So very true, life has changed so much since I started this blog.

The shop keeps me very busy, while I have 2 days a week off, those days are quickly sucked up by appointments and house maintenance. Sometimes we are running for supplies or just grocery shopping for the house. And time marches on...

I'm working 55 hours a week, at least 25-30 hours involves having the bean at the shop doing her school work in the office, however I find unless I'm sitting next to her her productivity is not what it should be, sometimes we spend an hour or more in the evening doing "homework". But I have to remind myself there are vast improvements from last year at this time and that is the important thing. She is learning and maybe more importantly she's learning HOW to learn.

The bean had several friends move away this school year and she's struggling to find new ones. She does go to power and grace at least 3 or 4 times a week and Sunday School on Sundays so the exposure is there. Thankfully she has many friends that are older and younger than she is and will randomly stop by the shop and take her places for outings, she's pretty spoiled that way :)

I am just working on finding a balance for my life, between home, family, friends, work, and my own personal need for quiet time, it seems like there are not enough hours in the day but I recognize my lack of organization and once I can get that in order I think things will flow better. You would think by 40 I'd have that worked out but apparently not!

Coffee Shop

 Pictures of the outside of the coffee shop before doing anything to it. We've done extensive work inside but so far, nothing outside. Did I remember to take before pics of the inside? No. Therefore I'm posting before pics of the outside :)

I love reading...it's like TV but in your head.

     Rebekah - age 8






 

 

 

my morning

I think perhaps one of the hardest things as a Mother is not being able to hold the hand of your child when she's hurting.

Rebekah: We need to buy some underpants for my Barbies

Mom: Don't they have underpants painted on, or like a pattern where the underwear would be?

Rebekah (looking): Oh yeah, look at that. I always thought that was like goosebumps on their bums since they wear dresses all the time.


Priceless :)

Yeah...it's been awhile. So much has happened that sometimes it seems like too much and I feel like throwing in the towel on blogging. But whatever...I still come back from time to time.

January 2013 hit us hard. Flu all around, pneumonia for Grant, a miscarriage for Ashley and Colin. Heart ache. Not the way you want to start a new year. Thankfully God's grace is new everyday, and this too shall pass.

Today we had a rare glimpse of the sun, and Grant said we needed to get out of the house (I do not want to admit how intimate I have been with the house these past 2 weeks...we are BFF's right now). So we drove over to Westport to take in the scenery and have a little lunch.

We ate at a little cafe we'd never been to called The Blue Buoy , it was delicious in that down home sort of way. Grant and I shared a bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup and a plate of fish and chips. Rebekah had the grilled cheese and fries. Good coffee too!

After lunch and a little (!) walking around, we drove down towards Raymond through the back roads. A relaxing day, but still I was wiped out when we got home. This flu has zapped any stamina I had.

After playing a few games of Uno, it's time for bed in our house - another riveting Friday night! But the blog update was overdue, and so there it is!