Shoutin’ from the Rooftop

As you know, I have kept my ramblings honest. Many times it even takes me some time to put my thoughts in to actual words. The thoughts were just whisperings inside my head and my heart.

I haven’t kept my struggles secret. It hasn’t been an easy road. Some of the struggles I brought on myself. Some of the struggles I didn’t want to battle. Some of the struggles were brought on. Period.

When I look back at the end of my Weight Watcher journey. All the way back to when I was a member. Back to when  I was working to my weight goal, I wasn’t quite to the place that I needed to be. I had some close friends (you know who you are), tell me that I was setting my goal too low for myself. Looking back, they were speaking some truth. I think the main reason they were right is that exercise was not part of my life in any form really. Not consistently. Not in my blood.  Now, I am consistent. It is part of my life. It is part of who I am. I am at the gym five days a week. Not if, ands or buts about it. That is how it is. I work my schedule around my classes at the gym. It is high priority for me. I feel better physically, mentally, and emotionally when I get my workout in. Do I always enjoy it? No! Do I always want to go? NO! Is it always worth it. Absolutely.

As I mentioned several times, I was working to figure out this new situation with insulin resistance. I started that journey back in February. I honestly got lazy several times along the way but always found my way back to the balance act between protein and carbs. If I don’t balance……I don’t feel well. No two ways about it.

Yesterday was a special day. I finally weighed in within 2 pounds of my WW goal. Yippee! Am I where I want to be in the end? Nope. But at least that monkey is off my back. Now I can focus on where my body needs to be to function properly.

All day yesterday I was continually reminding myself that I haven’t arrived. I am one choice away from slipping back down that super slippery slope. I woke up this morning reminding myself that it is all about choices. Reminding myself that food is not bad. It is eating when I am not hungry that is the problem.

Finally I am back on the right track headed in the right direction with the right goal in view.

Tags: honesty, struggle

OK. I procrastinated and procrastinated. The okra really intimidated me. All I could think of was slimy. Why would I want to fix something that would be slimy. So today while I was blanching green beans to put in the freezer for the winter, I decided to tackle the crazy okra. I wasn’t about to let the okra get the best of me.

I appreciate everyone’s suggestions. My sweet friend, Mary, even brought me several recipes. In the end, I took the okra by the horns and make up my own little dish. Since I didn’t have a large amount and I was home alone, I figured I would go simple.

I sauteed some onions in a few drops of oil. Then I added in the sliced okra (those little suckers are sticky), a fresh diced tomato and some chicken broth. I let that mixture simmer for about 20 minutes. It really was tasty. I think it would have been really good served over some rice but honestly I didn’t have time to cook any rice. I ate the mixture just like it was.

I might even go as far as to say that I would try okra again. Thanks for the suggestions!

I need help. Anyone have any good okra recipes. I will be honest. I have NEVER ate okra. I don’t know the first thing about okra. I figured I would ask you. I am off to search the internet. To be honest this vegetable scares me. Just sayin.

We are home from one of the best vacations ever. We visisted paradise.

This is a view of Trunk Bay on St Johns. This beach is part of a national park and it is amazing. I am not sure I have ever been to a place as beautiful as this. Crazy thing is this picture does not do the real thing justice. I wasn’t brave enough to take my camera to the beach. I have heard that white sand can do some major damage.

I will be honest, I was very nervous going on this cruise. We had never been before and all everyone would talk about is the food. Food this. Food that.  I will agree that the food was great but it was possible to have control and not go crazy.

I was determined to be as active as possible during the cruise to help counteract all that food. I had done my research and knew there was a nice gym on board AND they offered cycling classes. So I was determined I was going to cycling at sea. Not long after we were on board, I hurried down to the gym and signed up for the first day of cycling. I got the last spot for the day. (That was close)

I got to class and discovered I forgot my water. Ugh. So I raced to find a bottle of water. The class was ok. I was really disappointed. I guess I am spoiled by the great teachers I have at my YMCA. We didn’t do anything special. The class really didn’t push me. Plus I had to pay $12 for the 45 minute class and we ONLY cycled for 32 minutes! HUH? Are you kidding. Do I get a refund for the 13 minutes the instructor talked?

It was also bothersome that my bike was faced “backwards” and I was close to the windows. So it looked like I was cycling backwards the entire class. My tummy didn’t care for that sensation. Needless to say, I didn’t go back for another class. I attempted to go to the gym and get an elliptical. There was always a crazy long line of people waiting. Chris ran every day on the treadmill but one. He said that it was a crazy feeling. So I guess I am not too disappointed.

I was anxious to step on the scale after we got home. I was aware of what I was eating. I tried to be reasonable. I indulged some.

This was a molten lava chocolate cake. Oh my. It was like warm rich dark chocolate brownie batter. It was amazing and I had it several nights for dinner.

I said all this to say that you can go on vacation. You can indulge some. As long as you move more. You are aware of what you are eating and you aren’t mindless in your eating. It can be done. I am happy to say that I only gained 0.8 pounds. I am beyond happy with that.

Tags: cycling, mindless

One our my hopes from joining our CSA was that my girls would learn to like and maybe even love new veggies. This is Megan trying out peas. She does kind of look like she is in pain but she is enjoying it. I promise.

Sydney is so proud of our harvest. You would think that we actually had something to do with the growing of our vegetables. It is always fun each week to see how excited they get when we go to pick up our harvest. They are so interested in what we are going to get each week.

I cannot say enough good things about our experience so far with our CSA. The fact that my girls are trying more vegetables and enjoying them cannot be beat.

Tags: CSA

For those of you that live in the Muncie/ECI area, you know that last weekend, Muncie hosted an Ironman race.  My good friend, Molly, was in charge of all the volunteers. So you know what that means if you friend is in charge of volunteers? You become a volunteer and so does the rest of your family.

Molly was also in charge of recruiting families to host pro athletes.  There are pros that actually prefer staying in peoples homes instead of hotels. After I convinced Chris that it would be a great opportunity for him to talk to a pro, we said yes to Molly’s plea. I thought it would be a great opportunity for Chris since he is training for his first full marathon not to mention that he is running “The Goofy”.

I was excited to volunteer at the race but my expectations were totally blown out of the water.  Our group was assigned to bike aid station #3.  We were baptised with fire since no one in our group had volunteered at an event like this before.  The time flew by. We had an awesome time. We had great helpers. We had to take our girls with us since Chris & I both worked along with my Mom and her husband. The girls were awesome helpers.

We manned the first water table at our station. The girls would keep us each supplied with water so we could hand them off to athletes.

Chris is waiting for a hand-off. He is ready

There is a cyclist coming. I can feel it.

Almost there………

Will the cyclist hang on to it? It wasn’t uncommon for the transfer not to go smoothly. They were going at a fast rate of speed. We had to brace ourselves for the contact.

Success!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will admit that I was super nervous about our home stay with the pro. I was trusting my friend, Molly.  It couldn’t have gone better. Our pro, Nick, was a super sweet guy who spoke so sweetly of his wife and baby girl who is due in October. It was awesome to see a pro we knew on the course, cheering him on, and having the opportunity to hand off water to him. Talk about pressure. I had to make sure “our” pro was able to hang on to his water that I passed off to him.

Our girls especially thought it was cool to meet a pro and have him stay with us.

I would highly recommend hosting a pro if you ever have the opportunity to experience this gift. Chris even enjoyed it so much that he offered that our pro could stay with us next year.

I never would have thought I would justify having ice cream for lunch. Only ice cream. Nothing else. Just ice cream and water.

This is our thermostat inside at our house. Think our AC is out? Yep. One of the hottest days of the year so far and we had to have our AC unit replaced. It was miserable. Praying that it is fixed today.

A little history for you to fully understand the story.

I don’t feel like an adult. I feel like I have never grown up and am still somewhere between childhood and adulthood. I still do not feel like I am old enough to be a mom or a homeowner. Just telling you like it is.

I have been the same height since I was 10 years old. Sad. My Dad used to tell me that great things came in small packages. I know he was trying to make me feel better but it really didn’t sink in. Do you know how frustrating and embarrassing it is not to be able to reach the top things on shelves at the grocery? I am the person that is climbing up on the bottom shelf so I can reach the item on the top shelf. Just imagine when I was pregnant and had this huge belly sticking out. :::sigh::::

Since I never experienced that growth spurt and have been the same height since Miss Adderman’s fourth grade class, I really don’t feel like an adult……..until recently.

Growing up, my Mom had two pieces of kitchen equipment that were vital in her cooking and baking. A KitchenAid stand mixer and a Cuisinart food processor. I have many vivid memories of my Mom using these two items.

After Chris & I got married, we had so many duplicate wedding gifts that we were able to return all the duplicates and use that money to purchase a KitchenAid stand mixer. The mixer is still going strong 13 years later.

But that one elusive item has been a Cuisinart food processor. I have made it known to Chris on mutiplie occassions that I would like a food processor. I even ramped up my hints after we joined our CSA. I knew with all the vegetables, I would need a food processor. Yes. NEED.

Fast forward to Saturday evening. I was cuddling on the couch with the girls watching TV when a Cuisinart food processor flashed on the TV. The commercial happened so quickly that I am amazed that I even caught it. I made Sydney rewind the commercial. Thank goodness for TiVo. Macy’s was having a two-day sale and the Cuisinart 7- cup food processor was on sale for $69.99. Yes please and thank you.

 As soon as I got home and had that baby washed up, I whipped up a batch of homemade coleslaw with cabbage from our CSA. Super yummy! The family gobbled it up.

After I washed it a second time, I knew right away that I just had to make salsa from a blog I have been reading every day.  I just know this gal and I would be awesome friends. She loves peonies. I love peonies. She has the sweetest children that I just want to hug. And she loves salsa. Flower Patch Farmgirl rocks and the fact that we live in the same state makes me even more positive that we just need to meet.

I used the salsa recipe but adapted it just a tiny little bit

My Version of Salsa

1 large can whole tomatoes, drained

1 can Rotel

juice from one lime

1/3 c. chopped onion

1 jalapeno, seeded

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sugar

1/8 tsp cumin

3/4 cup loosely packed cilantro

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

Mix all in a food processor until desired consistency. Shannan was right, The salsa is much better the next day. We loved it!

Now that I own a food processor I feel like I am almost an adult.

Tags: CSA, salsa