End of an era

Not only am I out of my 20's, but there is now a whole year between me and that stage of my life.  To commemorate this momentous occasion, I have planned my Daniel Fast diet to end.  This morning I had eggs and waffles and milk, all of which are outlawed on the diet.  It was a great experience, this fast.  I really enjoyed trying new foods and developing a new relationship with food, in general.  Losing 10 pounds was definitely a plus.  I really needed that jump start and it got me to a really big weight loss milestone for me.  I have made a few resolutions on this very significant day.  Today is the day I embark on a new way of eating, almost as if I'm coming out of a 21 day food rehab and now I have to learn how to live each day with my new perspective and resist temptation among all the choices out there.  It is also the day I was born and the day I became a mother for the first time.  My oldest son, Craig, turns four today.  So, here are the things I am resolving to do.  Since this is a record for myself, mostly, I might be adding to this list off and on as I think of things.

RESOLVED:

1.  I will not weight myself today, April 30 2012.  I do not want anything to make me feel disappointed today.
2.  I will appreciate the size I am now, because I know six months ago I would have given anything to be here.
3.  I will eat smart and get plenty of activity, but I will not worry about whether or not I lose weight.
4.  I will not gain weight.
5.  I will not think of myself as "old" since in ten years I will look back and think how young I was and how I wasted time thinking I was old.
6.  This year, I will receive my teaching credentials.
7.  I will be an example of calmness and clarity to my children.
8.  I will remember that even though Craig is getting so big, he is only a little boy.
9.  Today, I will let Craig play Mario Kart until his heart's content.  Or until we go to the store.  Whichever comes first.
10.  I will take pictures.

Rag rug

I have an Easter post still in the works.  I promise we did celebrate Easter.  There are a few pictures on  one camera and a few on another and never have the twain met.  Yet.  I have several projects I've been working on, though.  One is this rag rug I saw and repinned on Pinterest.  Here is the link for the tutorial I followed.  I had a bunch of scrap fabric and sheets, an empty entryway floor, and a new sewing machine.  All the pieces seemed to be coming together so I tackled this project.  It was fun, but kind of time consuming.  On the other hand, it was a good project to pick up and work on here and there.  Also, ripping the strips and braiding them was a good activity to do anytime, anywhere with the kids playing, watching T.V., or anything really.  Now it's done, I like it, and I am on to the next.

(Craig wanted to be in the picture.  I can't believe my baby is going to be four in two days!)

Things are going well with our Daniel Fast. I've lost about five pounds and Robert's down 15! We've got about 13 days to go, I think. We've also had some pretty interesting revelations about Robert's health. For those of you reading this who know him, this will be more interesting. He's been steadily gaining weight ever since we've been married. Yeah, I know, a lot of guys do, but he's gained when it didn't make sense--like he was working 90 hours a week and hardly eating enough calories to maintain his weight let alone gain any, yet he gained. He's gone to doctors before and the attitude has always been, "Weight's a tough thing...eat well...exercise..it'll take some time," yada yada yada. Since we moved, we got a new doctor and Robert went in to get something non-weight related looked at but the doctor talked about his weight. And then came up the subject of Robert's frequent headaches, his persistent fatigue, and other random issues. (Might I mention mood swings? :)) Anyway, the doctor had some tests run (one we're still waiting to run for sleep apnea) and we got some eye opening results. Apparently he is severely (and the doctor stressed VERY severely) insulin resistant. It's a condition that is made worse through weight gain and made better with weight loss, but not solely caused by it. His body has always had a hard time using insulin properly and it only gets harder the more weight he gains, but he gains more weight because his body doesn't use insulin properly. I only put all this out there so if someone reading this thinks to themselves: "That sounds like me/my husband/my mom/etc.," then maybe we can help them with our discoveries. This condition could lead to diabetes, but is not necessarily a standard precursor. If this goes untreated, the pancreas could give up entirely and quit. THAT would then become diabetes. I am just so grateful that we finally found a proactive doctor who doesn't just brush Robert off as one of "those overweight Americans" and we are now on our way to (hopefully) some changes. This doctor also discovered that Robert has a hormone imbalance, which contributes to the weight gain and the low energy/headache issue (might I add mood swings?), so he is on a hormone replacement regimen.

In other news, I just realized I forgot to post about Easter. This last semester of classes really kicked my bum. I've had a hard time getting back into the swing of things. But I've been getting a lot done around the house and spending a lot of time with the boys. I've been loving working in the yard, taking the boys on walks and bike rides, going to parks, playing with their toys, and dancing to the demo song on my keyboard (over and over and over). I am working on a rag rug for our entryway and have plans for a tiled mirror, once I get some more decorating money together. Grant's been sick yesterday and today and having a sick baby always makes for a less-productive day. But that's okay. Now I have the time to be less productive. And read some books. I'm starting with Daughters in My Kingdom (the Relief Society book) and then I think I will move on to either Heaven is Here or the first book of a young adult series Robert got me for Easter (called Embrace, I think). And then, we'll see what the summer brings.

The Daniel Fast

I am going vegan. Temporarily. I found out about a cleansing diet called The Daniel Fast. It all started when some people decided they wanted to eat like Daniel did when he was fasting for 21 days in the Old Testament. You can eat any fruits and vegetables you want, as much as you want. You can also eat any whole grains (nothing leavened, though) and you can use any plant-based fats, like olive oil and peanut oil. You do this for 21 days. I've hit a plateau in my weight loss so I'm hoping this will get things going again. We started this today (Robert and I...the kids of course are eating like normal) and so far I am really excited and loved what I ate today. I got some awesome recipes from a blog called cheekykitchen. She's a vegan so there are some adjustments I have to make. She uses some sweeteners (not allowed), leavening, and white breads, but they're easy enough to work around. I made a creamy basil pasta today with coconut milk and black bean tamales. Of course there's also hummus with baked tortilla chips, tapenade, salads, soups, and lots of other options. I love it! I might stick with something like this longer than the 21 days, but we'll see how it goes. Not that I've sworn meat and dairy off forever, but I am firm believer that the word of wisdom emphasizes meat sparingly and good, whole grains as well as fruits and vegetables. Wish us luck!

The best way EVER to dye Easter eggs

I had to post this. They look way better in person. This was probably the best crafty idea I have ever come across online. I searched homemade ways to dye eggs. I found this AWESOME method where you wrap eggs in onion skins (yellow and red), tie them up in white fabric with some string, and boil them as you normally would. You can even put grains of rice, blades of grass, leaves, pine needles, herbs, or anything inside the onion skins. They turn out so awesome! I love the marble effect. But the best part is when they're done and you get to unwrap each one. It's like Christmas. Well, not quite, but still...it's a lot of fun. I highly recommend this. I think this will be a standing tradition. I'm thinking next year, I'm going to use white onion skins and put some diced beets in the water. Oh, and one last tip: to get a lot of onion skins just go to the onions at the grocery store and fill a bag with the skins that have already come off.

This and that

These are just some pictures that I was finally able to get off the camera. For some reason, the desktop won't read the pictures off the camera anymore. I had to use the laptop to get them off. Just one more proof that our ancient (four year old :)) desktop might bite the dust some day soon. Anyway, here's a little this and a little of that.

I finally got around to blowing up this ducky tub for Grant. I've used it since Craig was a baby, but it's beginning to lose air quickly. They just look so cute in it. :)

This was so funny! Ethan is our sleeper. He'll even put himself down for a nap sometimes if he's tired. I found him in bed the other day at 9:30am. :) Today, we were eating lunch at the kitchen table and Grant woke up from a nap. I got up to get Grant and change his diaper really quick. When I walked back into the living room, I found Ethan like this. I was gone for literally one minute, at the most. He was completely out, too.

This was taken a couple weeks before we moved. Ever since Craig and Ethan started sharing a room, Ethan has taken to Craig's habit of getting up at 5:30 in the morning. I can usually manage about another hour of periodically interrupted sleep and they play or watch T.V. They handle it well, for the most part. At their best, they play quietly in their room until I get up, at their worst they've pulled the stuffing out of the couch cushion and scattered it around the house like a light dusting of snow. The morning I emerged from my room and took this picture falls somewhere in between.

Ethan took this picture the other day. Letting him take a couple of pictures of me was payment for me taking a picture of him wearing nothing but a hat, gloves, my slippers, and a diaper outside the other day when it was pretty darn cold out. I kind of like how it turned it. This is the first picture of the outside of our new home, actually.

For the time being...

I've been having trouble getting some pictures off our camera, so until I can get more stuff uploaded to post about, these cuties will have to do. You might recognize one I made into the big picture I hung in our room.