Family Meeting

Tuesday I announced that we would be having a Family Meeting on Wednesday evening.  I couldn't believe how excited the kids were!

The main topic was to talk about the plan for the summer.  We explained as much as we could about what we know about the YMCA and what it might be like.  We talked about making all new friends and the new grown ups who would be in charge.  Then we got down to business.

Zach was up first.  We went week by week.  I would tell him what the theme was for that week at the Y Camp.  If it wasn't something he was interested in, we would choose Little Explorers.  Most interesting to me was at the end when he realized that he didn't have a Cooking theme and wanted to switch to Little Explorers for their cooking week.

Zach's summer:
Dinosaurs 
Get Messy 
Kids In the Kitchen
Safari
Art
Cowboys & Space (Buzz and Woody theme)
Superheroes
Under the Big Top
Let's Build It
Down on the Farm

I think it will work out well because he will do a couple of weeks at the Y and then go to Little Explorers and then back to the Y- it's a mix of back and forth.  He will have the experience of a new place and new people but will also stay connected to his school. 

One of my favorite moments was when we were discussing a theme offered by the Y called "Imagination Station."  Basically a week of being the Backyardigans... he had a hard time choosing between that and Superheroes- which we thought would be his hands down choice.  But as he put it, "Using my imagination is really important to getting smarter!"

Teagan's choices were all based at the Y but she had to choose between the regular weekly theme, the cheer or dance or tumbling weeks and the special enrichment offerings for some weeks.

Teagan's summer:
Cheerleading
Dance
Holidays
Where the Wild Things Are (animals in the wild)
Sea to Shining Sea (focus on America)
Tumbling
Theatre: Annie
Cooking
Tumbling
Cheerleading

I felt like this was a glimpse into what drives my daughter.  The week she was most excited about is the Theatre week.  Obviously they won't be doing a full production of "Annie."  But they will focus on theatrical skills and learn different songs from the show.  The week concludes with a performance for the parents. 

We finished the discussion on summer camp, doing our best to answer questions that we don't yet have answers for. 

I then brought up the next topic in our meeting.  A revisit to the rules of our household. 

Jeff and I have been frustrated lately.  Our family hasn't felt much like a team.  We go to work, the kids go to school.  The kids have fun, we work hard all day.  We come home and the kids immediately start demanding food and drinks and more.  So our last topic of business was a refresher on basic house rules- respecting each other.  Patience, respect, listening.

The most hilarious part of the night?  When we turned The Middle after the kids were in bed... if you watched it, just know that there are cameras hidden in our house because the first 3 minutes of the show had to have been stolen from our family!

Family meetings.  I have to say that it was a great meeting.  I got some insight into things my kids are interested in and the family had a chance to address the family dynamic in a non-confrontational way.

Discovering Food

As I work on getting back to a regular focus on healthy choices, I am discovering how much I love food.

You might think that the reason I got fat in the first place is because I love food.  But that isn't true.  I got fat because I was consuming food-like products.  I was eating fast food, I was eating convenience meals, I was snacking on junk.  Even in restaurants, the foods I was choosing were full of junk.

Not everything sold in the grocery store is real food.  The majority of things found in bags and boxes are coming out of factories.  These are items that are manufactured, not grown.  Food should be natural products.  If it grows, it's good.

I am currently reading Michael Pollan's "Food Rules."  I previously read "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and it gave me a lot to think about.  When I first committed to living a healthier lifestyle in 2010, my natural path took me towards "clean eating."  I didn't intentionally choose it, it's just what made sense.  Eating clean means eating real food, not manufactured and processed food. 

The best part of getting back to eating real food is rediscovering all of the flavors and tastes I love.  It's also exciting to find new and creative ways to enjoy these foods.

This past Friday night, I was very excited to have been invited to a friend's house for a cooking class/demonstration from Sunny's Chinese Kitchen.  Sunny is originally from Taiwan.  She came to the US to finish her education in the early 90's.  She then spent almost 20 years working for a pharmaceutical company as a scientist- including a lot of experience with GMO (genetically modified organisms).  When her son was diagnoses with Muscular Dystrophy and needed her more than ever, she knew she needed to make a major life change.  And she did.  She gave up the corporate job and dedicated herself to finding ways to keep her child healthy.  She also began teaching Chinese but her passion was in cooking healthy food.  Thanks to her science background, she has a deep understanding of how food works and how our bodies work. 

Sunny taught us how to make 2 entrees- kung pao chicken and shiitake rice noodles.  Because these were whole and natural ingredients and because the cooking method was healthy, each portion only came out to 3-4 points on Weight Watchers.

There is so much that I took away from this experience.  The first thing is that Sunny is the one who recommended reading "Food Rules" and I am so very thankful for that.  Some of the other things are things I am still learning about and processing so you will just have to wait.

For me, a healthy diet means eating real food.  It means whole milk over skim because it's less processed.  It means 4% cottage cheese over 2% because it's less processed.  It means avoiding words like "low fat" or "low cal" or "fat free" because that means the food has been messed with in a factory.  It means focusing on fruits and vegetables for meals and snacks.  It means being aware of where my meat comes from and how it has been raised. 

I can't make a huge overhaul all at one time and this isn't something I can do perfectly.  I'm not able to grow all my own plant foods and I'm not about to start raising chickens or beef cattle.  I'm also not ready to commit my meat buying to local farmers due to the expense- but it is a goal of mine by the time the Farmer's Market season rolls around.  I do rely on some conveniences simply because it's the culture I live in. 

But being back on a roll of my weekly produce bin from Green Bean Delivery helps.  Rediscovering some of the great options that Trader Joe's has to offer helps.  Weight Watchers plays a role, of course, because I am learning about portions and give-and-take. 

I also know that I am just on my third week back into this healthy lifestyle after falling very far away from it.  What I'm loving is that with the help of Weight Watchers, I am sticking to the commitment.  Because I'm committed, the depth of my rediscovery of favorite foods is deeper. 

Best of all, I have a community of people surrounding me who are also working on eating better food, moving their bodies more, and enjoying an adventurous array of foods.  Special thanks to my dinner companions from the Friday night demonstration- our host Mary, and our friends Anita, Ashli, Gail, and Victoria.  Special thanks to the women in my "Eat Smart, Move More!" group.  Having a group of people who want to share their struggles, successes, tips, recipes and who want to support others on this journey is a very important part of my success.  Special thanks to my friend Garret who included me in a group he formed on Facebook for people doing Weight Watchers.

Special thanks to my mom and my family who gave me a foundation of fresh fruits and veggies.  Even when money was tight and food wasn't always plentiful, my mom still taught me to love spaghetti squash and taught me how to steam and thoroughly enjoy an artichoke.  I see the passion for real food in her siblings and her parents through gardening and feasts prepared that include brussels sprouts and cauliflower and leeks and butternut squash lasagna and extra servings of mushrooms.

Most of all- special thanks to my husband who supports my efforts by bringing me my gym bag if I left it at home and who doesn't walk in the door with treats from DQ or a bag of McD's at night and who tells the kids "no McDonald's- the food isn't healthy and it's only a sometimes treat" and who appreciates the changes in my body and my energy level and who is trying to make some healthy adjustments to his own eating habits.



If you are in the Indianapolis area and are interested in having Sunny come to your home for a session on healthy Chinese cooking, go to her website and contact her about having your own dinner party.  Our host had purchased the event through Groupon but we all decided that we learned so much and enjoyed the food so much that we would eagerly split the cost to have another evening with Sunny.  For 6 people, the cost would be $25 per person and the information is truly invaluable and inspiring!  She also offers cooking classes and can be found at events throughout the year.

No Time!

I'm someone who, generally speaking, prefers to live in the moment.  Or at least in the current day, week, and month.

In my job, because I am involved in the planning of products getting to customers, I have to look ahead into May and beyond for some of the orders I cut.  Sometimes, it blows my mind that I am always looking 3 months ahead.

We keep a family calendar via Google and try to plan ahead as best we can for times when Jeff is out of town or if the kids have activities or my church and social commitments.

This morning, my boss sent out a memo asking all of us to turn in our vacation requests for the year.  That way we can start to determine coverage for the "big quested times."

This morning, as I was trying to gather possible need-off dates without the benefit of next year's school calendar actually being available- I realized I needed to get moving on determining where the kids will be spending their days this summer.

It's hard having the kids split up during the school year- Jeff drives Zach to other side of our little town, Teagan goes right up the road to her school.  I miss when they were both across town together- even if they didn't spend the day together, they took comfort in being in the same general place.  We took comfort in having 1 drive and 1 pick up.

It's not even the last week of February and I have to book out our entire summer.  I have to sit down with the kids and talk about what week of which camp sounds interesting and fun.  I have to take time off work to go check out the Y and become a member.  I have to figure out the scheduling of 2 kids for the entire 10 weeks of summer and will eventually have to figure out what to do with them for the week at the end of summer before school begins (Grandma Camp, maybe?).

One great thing about "living in the now," is that there is a lot more flexibility and ability to respond to changes in needs or wants.  Planning months into the future leaves too many possible unknowns that could come along and change things.  Planning months into the future, always focusing on the future plan, leaves me less time to just enjoy what is going on right here, right now.

How about you?  Do you focus on the now or get caught up in always looking ahead?

WW: Week 2

No loss, no gain.  Held steady.

Can't decide if I'm disappointed or if I'm seeing where I need to make adjustments.

It wasn't a perfect week.  And I think my biggest mistakes made were Sunday- and being the day before weigh in wasn't a good thing, either.

I'd had a big old allergy attack on Sunday and took a pill that made me drowsy but I was home alone with the kids so I couldn't pass out and sleep it off and I think making myself stay awake through that proved to be a baaaaad thing for my eating choices in the evening.

Food wise, I'm really doing fine (except for last night).

I have to up my activity level.  My workouts at the gym during the week need to involve more sweat and more muscle exertion.  I have to find time for activity at least once over the weekend.

I tried to take the kids and dogs for a walk on Saturday.  It was chilly but the sun was shining and the kids had energy to burn and I needed to move.  Got to the corner and the kids were fighting and complaining and demanding and I couldn't take it so we went back home.  With Jeff out of town, finding time and energy to workout was difficult and I chose to make it impossible.

My focus for the 7 days ahead of me is to make my workouts a priority and to make my activity count more.  I'm going to weigh in again this coming Thursday as a check in.

I also want to share my favorite recipes from last week.

Breakfast cups (2 points per cup)

I know others have done this.  I didn't follow a recipe- just went with what sounded good.  I entered the recipe into the Recipe Builder on the Weight Watchers website and was delighted that each Breakfast Cup is just 2 points!

A dozen eggs
3 wedges of Laughing Cow (I used light creamy swiss but plan to try it with other flavors like the Fresco and Chipotle)
5 fully cooked turkey sausage links (Jimmy Dean's)

Get out a muffin tin and preheat the oven to 350.  Cooking spray in each cup of the muffin tin.  Crack an egg into each cup of the muffin tin.  Take the 3 wedges of Laughing Cow and cut into 12 chunks.  Add a chunk to each cup and push it into the egg.  Take the 5 sausage links, slice in half long ways and then slice into chunks.  I placed 6 chunks into each cup.  I baked for about 25 minutes and the yolks came out thoroughly cooked through (like a hard boiled egg).  Then I let them cool on the stove in the tin for a few minutes, then transferred to a plate to continue cooling, and then stored in ziploc bags in the fridge.

Asparagus Sauté Rollup (7 points for 1 rollup)

1 Flatout flatbread multigrain with flax
2 TB Classico Vodka sauce
Asparagus sauté mix from Trader Joe's (or just chop up some asparagus, mushrooms and red onion)
real cheese- I used Trader Joe's Parmesan-Asiago blend with the cheese in big pieces.
baby spinach leaves (fresh)

Lay the flatbread on a foil covered cookie sheeet.  Spread the 2-3 TB of sauce.  *A note on sauce- I considered using a few TB of Alfredo because the points would have been about the same.  However, I was already using the vodka sauce on the kids' pizzas so I stuck with it.  Cashier at Trader Joe's- who inspired this meal- also suggested using Trader Joe's yogurt-kale dip as a pizza sauce.*

Sauté the asparagus, onion and mushroom in about a teaspoon or so of olive oil.  Place your fave parts of the veggies on the flatbread (save the rest for another day).  Place a layer of baby spinach leaves (still raw) over the veggies.  Top with cheese.  Bake on 350 until cheese is melted.  I then transferred to a plate and discovered the weight of my veggies made it impossible to eat as a pizza so I rolled up the flatbread instead.  The melty cheese held it together.

Goals for this week:

1. Focus on WHY I choose to eat.  If I'm not hungry, why eat?  I stayed within my points on Saturday and I made healthy choices but I still know I ate myself to the point of being stuffed with each meal.

2. Make my workouts count.  Might be time to break out the Couch to 5K program again.  Even when it felt like a crappy run, I was still getting a great workout for the day.  I know a big part of my weight loss 2 years ago was because I started running.

Fun Friday Fragments

Random bits of flotsam and jetsom

Ramble about my brain

Thankful for mrs4444

For making it clean again!

I am constantly impressed by how different and the same all of our stories are... while my experiences aren't the same as yours, so much of what I gain from my life experiences is similar to what you gain in your very different from mine life experiences.   Deeeeep.  Do you have any deep thoughts today?

*****

I am so very excited for tonight!  A friend from church is having a small group of women over to her house for a class on healthy Chinese cooking!  The small group class is offered by Sunny Chinese Kitchen.  Check out the website- I think this is really cool!  What's your fave Chinese dish?

*****

It's rare for me to pick up promotions that are offered to me.  I generally just scan past or delete the flood that comes into my inbox.  Part of that is because I'm not going to share something here that I don't truly stand behind.  Part of it is because I didn't get into blogging for promo business.  But I've been contacted on a couple of things in regards to health and fitness that I am excited to see where they lead!  Do you have fitness questions or workouts you might be curious about?

*****

On that same note, really glad Valentine's Day has passed because the offers I was getting on interviewing divorce lawyers and promo'ing adult toy and condom offers was really getting out of hand.

*****

Can't decide if I like this pic because they are cute together or if I find it stunning that my girl is getting so big and is so pretty.

Have a great weekend!

Praying with My Kids

My kids and I do not pray together every night at bedtime.  Our family does not pray before every meal.  For me, prayer is more intimate and more about my relationship with God, my conversation with God.  And that's what I teach my kids.  If they ask to pray at bedtime or before eating or anytime, I certainly facilitate their request.

Last night, we were getting ready for bed.  Teagan was reading a chapter to us from a library book.  Zach remembered that Teagan likes bedtime tea and asked me to make some for her.  Bedtime tea is chamomile vanilla and Teagan tends to forget about it until we have the lights out and are leaving the room.  But last night, Zach remembered for his sister so she was able to enjoy a small mug of chamomile vanilla tea with a touch of honey.

As the kids got into bed and under the covers, Teagan asked if we could pray. 

We folded hands and Teagan went first.  She thanked God for Valentine's Day and for the cards she shared and that were given to her.  Then it was Zach's turn.

Dear God,

Thank you for Valentime's.  Thank you for candy and for our house.  Thank you for me being kind to Teagan and I like when I am kind and I want to be kind to Teagan every month.  I just feel so great when I am kind and I like Valentimes and my fwiends and and my house and it's just so great and so good and all the time.

In Jesus name we play,
Amen

Then he informed me it was my turn.  I said "God bless Teagan.  God bless Zachary.  God bless Daddy.  God bless all our friends and family.  Thank you for this special day to remember the people we love.  My special prayer is for those who don't feel loved.  Please, God, help them to feel your love and come to know that people who don't even know them love them through you.  Amen."

Zach wanted another turn.  He liked my "God bless..." prayer.  So he put his own spin on it with "God loves me.  God loves Teagan.  God loves Mommy.  God loves Daddy."

Teagan asked for another turn to pray.  She prayed for her friends and she prayed about the joy she had after such a good day.

The cool thing about my kids praying out loud in this free form way is that I get a little bit of insight into their world and their hearts and minds. 

Teagan shared some stuff in her prayers about friends at school.  Zach shared his pride in having been kind in a special way to his sister.

I'm not going to change my style or try to coerce my kids into praying out loud every night.  But I am going to cherish the times they want to share that conversation with me.

February 14

Valentine's Day.  For an interesting read on the history of this holiday, check out this link from History.com.  Then get ready for me to slap you with a bloody strip of goat hide...

I don't have a lot of memories of angst or wooing for Valentine's Day.  I remember the collection of cards in school- the bulletin board decorated with a bag for each kid to collect their cards... and I've heard stories of kids being excluded, popular kids getting the most cards, and so on.  I'm thankful I don't have memories in that arena.

I see tons of Pinterest inspired Valentines floating around this year.  I admire my friends who are making fish bowl cards and treat bags with mini-shovels and making heart shaped crayons and more.  I'm not crafty, I don't have time, and I generally don't have the patience for that sort of thing.

My kids are very excited to be giving out Scooby Doo Valentines- including a Scooby pencil.

For Zach, being just 4 years old, signing his name to 18 cards was an exciting responsibility for him.  He liked writing his name and he is looking forward to the celebration at school today.

This year, Teagan took the class list and carefully wrote out the name of each of her classmates and signed her name to each card.  She filled out some special cards for her teacher, the head of the aftercare program, and one for the school principal.

Then she said to me... "Mommy, I need to do one more card!  I forgot about Kelly!"

I've never heard her talk of someone named Kelly from school.  I asked who Kelly was... and the answer filled my heart.

Kelly is one of the kids in the special needs program.  She spends some of her day a few times each week in Teagan's classroom.

To me, that is what Valentine's Day is really all about.