Conclusion

I like too many things.  I can't focus.  I like being a mom.  I like reading.  I like homemaking.  I can't read enough or keep what I like to a minimum.  Someone always wants me.  I can hear the baby calling right now.  I want to write awesome long posts but never find the time but I can find loads of time to play packrat.  I get mad at myself and then I hope I can clean the kitchen.  I want to see Austenland but I don't know if it is playing in any theaters near me and am too lazy to check right now.

Five Minute Friday with no real subject- it might as well be 5 min every day rambling and no one I know wants to read that.  I can not schedule this no matter how hard I try.  I want to write and write even though I am not good at it.  I don't have the patience to learn the writing skills from others but I hope I have the patience to learn the homemaking skills that I am so envious of.  Mommy!  MOMMY!   This would be a little easier to do if I didn't have to go to the bathroom.  I love you mocha frappuccinos but you are making me fatter every day.  Oh do not get me started on being fat!  I think about it all the time!  Dear LORD, please help me get to a healthy weight- whatever that is!  Or just help me push it from my mind so I can focus on your love.  AMEN

Challenge Fizzle Out

Well I had made it to day 15 of the challenge on the blog.  I tried a few other new smoothie recipes in between the mini-vacation and all the work of getting back into a schedule.  Plus we ran out of money to finish the challenge completely.  All in all I thought it turned out well.  Didn't loose any weight but now I feel like I have options for all the times I want to eat sweets and carbs- I am talking to you Sunday BBQs.

I don't get to write much.  I am busy just trying to stay cool in a house with no AC will try to be more consistent but I am making no promises.   

Day 12, 13, and 14 Love Your Green

Mother's Day was the 12th.  I am plum tuckered out.  We spent Saturday doing more things than we usually do in an entire month, I think.  I am a pretty boring person when it comes down to it, but I am okay with that.

Here is a picture of my mom!  I don't get to spend time with my mom on mother's day so I miss my mom on Mother's Day.  I sent her some flowers and chocolates.  I know she will love them.

Sunday's smoothie was extremely filling.  It was filled with so much stuff I had to wait for it to thaw a bit before I could get it all blended.  Here is the recipe for Tropical Get Away- almond milk 2 cups, kale and spinach mix, 6 strawberries, 1 orange, 1 cup of pineapple, and 1 banana.  So thick and so satisfying.  I have to remember this one when cravings hit.

Monday's smoothie was good, but turned brown.  It was Strawberry Bliss smoothie.  I think I just used water but I might have used almond milk not sure, kale and spinach, 2 cups of frozen strawberries, 1 frozen banana, 2 tsp of vanilla, and 2 TB of honey.  Yummy!

Today's smoothie was a disaster.  First of all I didn't do what the rules told me to do, which was make up my own smoothie, but at the same time it posted a recipe so now I had a dilemma.  Play by the rules or don't worry about the rules because the rules told me to bend them?  For a rule follower that is almost the ultimate dilemma- seriously!  Well I ultimately decided to stick with the given recipe though I had not frozen any of it and was out of bananas.  The only bananas I could get on short notice were not ripe and the apples were not frozen.  My blender does not blend ice well and I don't even think I had ice.  So the smoothie was pretty gross and kinda warm.  I don't blame the recipe, I blame myself.  I tried to put it in the fridge but it was just too frothy.  I drank it but choked it down.  Also there was chard in it and I think a little too much of it.  This is the recipe in case I want to try it again the right way- Apple and Banana Smoothie: 2 cups water or liquids (I think it would have been better with soy or almond milk), 2 handfuls of greens, 1 apple (diced), and 1 banana.

Also some victories as well as set backs on eating this week in general- I was not tempted by anything sweet on Mother's Day.  It felt wonderful to be full and satisfied.  But somehow and possibly not food related I was SO tired Sunday night and almost all of Monday I was really grumpy.  I didn't want to make any food which also causes me to gain weight because I either snack or put on some kind of stress weight.  Any way Monday night was just full of carbs because that is how my husband cooks.  I was just so tired and hadn't planned well.  It was just frustrated.  I ate too many snacks today as well- crackers- why must you torture me with your convenience?  But I did find strawberries for .99 cents a pound!!!  That was the highlight of my day.  My husband has also started making his own green smoothies.  Yeah!  We will all get healthy yet!

Weight is the same- 148 lb even anyone cares.  I need to find a fun workout video.  Nothing is cutting it for me. 

Day 11 Love Your Greens

What a fun day!  This was the first time we have had the smoothie at a different time of day and also using almond vanilla milk.  The whole family went to breakfast at Neufeldt's.  We went to the Salem Saturday Market and bought my mother-in-law a bouquet of flowers.  We went to LifeSource for the food fair.  I probably shouldn't have had such a big breakfast because there was a lot to sample at the food fair.  The kombucha was delicious.  The grilled tofu and beet and carrot salad were excellent as well.  It was a hot day and hard to wait in line but we did it.  Plus we made a stop at Trader Joes for some chia seeds, flax, and almond milk.  I am starting to sound more like healthy hippie food nut every day.  I had a gift card or else I would have passed on chia seeds for another time.

Today's smoothie we made in place of dinner salad.  It was an apple cinnamon smoothie.  It had me at cinnamon.  I knew this one was going to be delicious and it was.  Here is the recipe I used- 2 cups of almond vanilla milk, kale and spinach mix, 3 apple pieces frozen, 2 1/2 bananas, and 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon.  It tasted like a apple pie milkshake.  It might be my most favorite. 

Day 10 Love Your Greens

This was the first time I have tried regular milk in the smoothie.  Before this greens challenge I had never had a green smoothie.  I don't think I ever would have considered having one before this.  But things change and you grow and learn.  It has been fun retraining my taste buds and really challenging my narrow minded views on food. 

So the original recipe called for chia gel but I failed to get that, but besides that pretty much stuck to the recipe.  We mixed whole milk and water (2 cups), spinach and kale, 2 cups frozen blueberries, and a tsp of vanilla (and you count to 4 and you never get your filla! smoothies so sweet and taste, smoothies don't be too haste! smoothies! smoothies! smoothies! smoothies!)  Sorry!  I couldn't resist the My Little Ponies plug.  Any way... to quote Hermione, "It tastes like a healthy vanilla milkshake!"  She was right.  We also had to doctor this one up a bit.  It was pretty sour when we first poured it so we added a bit of honey.  That perked it right up.  

Day 9 Love Your Greens

We have been dared to try dandelion greens but I am going to wait till I can get to LifeSource because I know for sure they have chia seeds and they are having a food fair on Saturday.  What a great excuse to get out of the house! 

For those of you who may be curious LifeSource is a locally owned health food store in Salem, OR.  It is probably comparable to Whole Foods but a little smaller.  I use to work next door to it- at the party supply store.  I wish now that I would have taken time to learn more about health and nutrition but alas I was a very poor college student who lived off of Top Ramen and bummed food off of friends which was usually pizza or spaghetti or burritos. 

Any way, on to the challenge.  Today will be a short post.  I thought I had run out of pineapple and was seriously thinking of going into the nearest town to get a fresh one, but I could justify the gas.  So to the dinky Aumsville Market I went for some canned stuff only to come home and realize I put the pineapple  in the box I keep the next day smoothies in.  Silly me- being all prepared.  The kids liked having extra pineapple any way.  The smoothie today was called Tropical Orange Heaven.  Here is the recipe- water, spinach and kale mix, 1 mango, half cup of pineapple, and the juice of 2 oranges plus I went a little off the recipe and added 5 slices of frozen oranges.  Very yummy!  After butchering the mango I had to Youtube how to cut one up.  I felt like an idiot because that is how my mom cut them up all the time.  I just didn't realize there was a reason- there is a huge pit inside!  I also looked up how to cut a pineapple whenever I decide to get a fresh one.  For right now I will stick the with the canned or frozen in the bag variety. 

Oh I will post this just because:
Weight- 146.5

Day 8 Love Your Greens

A big dose of honest- I do NOT want to weigh myself today and I am not going to.  I had a little bit of a set back today.  I didn't binge on carbs and sweets but I know I over did it in the fatty meats department.  I was cooking a pork roast today and the crunchy fatty bits said, "Eat us!  We are deee-lii-cious!"  It was torture.  I was so hungry.  The roast took 4 hours to cook.  I ate the fatty bits.  They were good, but now I regret it and feel yucky.  It is time to start the ab challenge along with the greens challenge.  When there are days like this when I don't even feel like this is my body, I need a change.  

I ran across this today on Facebook.  I think it could be something I could do that would not require my medication.  I will let you know how this goes too.

Well update on the original challenge- The novelty of making smoothies has worn off for Ariana.  She didn't want to help make one today even though Hermione wasn't here to hog up all the helping- not that she does but sometimes there are fights.  But Ariana did drink this one and it was a pretty neon green color a lot like the first one we made.  I have been waiting to try this particular smoothie after I saw it posted on Unconventional Kitchen.  It is called Pineapple Bliss- 1 cup of water, 1 cup of coconut milk (my first time with this ingredient!), spinach, 1/2 cup of pineapple, frozen pear pieces (hoping for at least 2 small pears worth), and 1 banana.  Even though this one had banana I could barely taste it.  It was yum and I had 2 because- surprise, surprise- my husband asked for one for lunch!  We will get some greens in his diet yet!  I also made extra for Hermione as a snack for after school.  I still love making and preparing the smoothies even if one of kids doesn't show interest.  But now I am out of pineapple.  I hate making special trips just for one item but I want to do this challenge right so I will probably be off to the store tomorrow trying to find a pineapple and dandelion leaves (we were challenged to add those- I could probably get them at Lifesource but that is downtown, hum, the only other options are Safeway and Roth's- let the hunt begin!). 

Well after all that greasy meat I need a shower and a good show to unwind my day and maybe some crunches, though I think I would feel better if I started that tomorrow.