Sunday, March 2, 2014

Just not feeling it

So, I have been MIA the last couple weeks.  I just haven't felt like blogging...honestly really haven't felt the need to blog.  This is what happened last time...no one reads the blog so it's like what's the point.  I shared the link on my facebook when I first started...but maybe I'm just not writing interesting posts, I don't know.  Kinda hard to write something interesting when I don't have any followers.  So, I think for the time being I'm going to disable the blog.  Idon't think I'm going to delete like last time.  I am working on some craft projects that I hope I can start selling.  If that's the case, then I will get it back up and running.  And hopefully, draw in more readers.

So, until then....

Monday, February 17, 2014

A little about me

So I figured that it would be best if I did a little introduction about myself. I think most people that read know me but in case I happen to get any new readers (which is my goal).

My name is Carol, I am wife to Jason and mom to three beautiful boys-Schyler, Andrew, Samuel.  While I am originally from Georgia, I currently reside in Eastern North Carolina.  I am a stay at home mommy and wouldn't trade it for anything.  I love being able to get up with my boys and get their breakfast and lunches.  And I love being here when they get off the bus to help with homework.  I do think I want to get back into the working world one day but right now I am enjoying my time at home.

I love reading and being outdoors with my family either walking or taking them to the park.  The last couple of years we have gotten into kayaking.  The last time we went I was about 4 months pregnant.  And since the baby is only 10 weeks old, I'm not going to be kayaking for a while.  But, we also like to fish.  There's a nice little spot down from our house that we were going fishing at practically every weekend and sometimes a couple times a week after the boys homework was done.

I hope to learn how to knit and crochet.  I got some instruction booklets for Christmas but having a newborn kinda makes it hard to get anything done when it comes to that.  I also trying my hand at cross stitch.  I did it when I was much younger and want to get back into again.  I also want to learn to sew better.  So, I have quite a bit I want to learn to do!  We'll see how it goes.

So that's a little about me...I'll have another post on how the title The Life of Five came about!


Monday, February 10, 2014

Trying Something New

There is a local dance studio in our town and they offer a couple workout classes for adults...Zumba and PiYo.  Now, I have done Zumba before a couple years ago and I loved it.  I loved it so much I got Zumba for the Wii but I was a little disappointed as the Zumba in class wasn't truly authentic.  The instructor incorporated newer dance music and dance moves with traditional Zumba moves.  And the Wii Zumba was more traditional moves and music.  It was still fun though.  I have not ever taken a PiYo class--which is a mixture of Pilates and Yoga and there's some cardio thrown in. 

What I like is that the first class you go to is free to see if it's something you are going to like or not.  And then if you come back, then it's only $5 per class.  I would only be able to go to the evening classes which would be 2 evenings a week.  I'm hoping they work out for me becuase it's something that I can do for myself.  Even though I will miss being at home it's only for an hour and it's going to benefit myself.

As much as I love classes, I always hate the first couple.  I am always self conscious and super shy.  When I did Zumba before I always hoped I didn't look stupid doing the moves.  And I never really talked to anyone.  I'm hoping I don't make a fool of myself at these classes especially since it's been a couple years since I've been to a class.

The Zumba class is tonight and due to having other plans, I doubt I'll be able to make it to tonight's class.  We are expecting some snow/ice Tuesday so I don't know if I'll be able to do PiYo Tuesday or not.  If not, then I'll start next week.  Either way, I'll be sure to check back in and tell how my experience was. 

I think it's going to be good for me to get out and learn to get out of my comfort zone and try something new.  I urge everyone to try something new and something for yourself...even if you are out of your comfort zone!

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Success!

Sunday night was the final night of our 21 day sugar detox.  We had slip ups here and there but overall we stuck to it.  Over the 21 days, I lost a little over 3 lbs and Jason lost a little over 4 lbs.  While weightloss was not the goal of this, it certainly doesn't hurt to lose a few pounds either!

We both feel better and can definitely tell a difference in our taste buds.  Yesterday, I had a cupcake--if you remember that was one of my vices.  Well, it was way too sweet-like sick on your stomach sweet.  When we eat store bought ketchup, we can taste the sugar in that.  It truly is amazing how much sugar is in products.  These past three weeks have definitely been an eye opener for us.  We are not really continuing the detox but we are.  This weeks meals are completely out of the detox book and detox cookbook.  We are going to be very careful about the foods we add back in.  As we were telling our kids this is not a diet, it's a lifestyle.

This past weekend we went to Whole Foods.  Let me just say I love that store!  If I could max out a credit card without having to pay it back, I totally think it would be there.  Crazy right?!  It's just so expensive to shop there and we have to drive over an hour just to get to one.  It's definitely not somewhere we'll shop every week becasue it doesn't fit into our budget.  But, I think it's something we can do at least once a month to get items we'll need.  This trip we got a few things that we needed so I could make a paleo dessert and a few things just to have on hand to ue in other recipes. 

During our shopping trip, we also picked up some kale chips.  Now, I tried making kale chips not long ago and it was a disaster.  Something that is supposed to be completely easy to do, I somehow screwed it up.  My one inlaws said they'd show us how they do it when they visit next.  I didn't really care for the kale chips...maybe it was the flavor, I don't know.  But our middle son absolutely loves them (he's taking them in his lunch today).  One thing we picked up that we all liked were some cookies from Go Raw.  They're dehydrated and considered a raw food which is supposed to be much better for you because cooking doesn't destroy all the important enzymes and nutrients.  I got a raw foods cookbook one year from my husband.  I don't think he realized until I started going through it that we needed a dehydrator to be able to do those recipes.  So, we really need to get one or need to start using our oven to dehydrate the foods so we can try some of the recipes.  In the mean time though, I would be interested in getting some of the stuff from Go Raw.  If their other items are anything like the gingersnap cookies we got, we'll be happy for sure.

While in Whole Foods, Jason decided he would get a kombuch tea.  His parents make it and I believe he tried it at their house before.  I am not going to start drinking it just yet since I'm nursing.  I probably could drink it but several sites I've read said if I had been drinking it all along then it would be ok but probably don't want to start if I haven't been drinking it.  So, I think I'll just wait for the time being.  When his parents come for a visit, they said they would show us how to make the kombucha.  I guess that will be cool to be able to do your own flavors.  And I'm sure much cheaper too!

**I know some people receive compensation for trying products, etc and giving their opinion.  That is not the case with the sugar detox or the Go Raw food products.  My opinions are simply that...something I tried, liked and wanted to share.

Friday, January 31, 2014

Finally Outta the House

Today is the first day since Monday that I've been able to get out of the house since we got hit with the snow storm on Tuesday.  I was so excited to get snow because it's been a few years since we have had any.  Living in east North Carolina, we don't get snow that often so I always enjoy it when it snows.  I don't however enjoy the ice that comes along with it at times.  Overall we got about 1 inch of ice and then 4 inches of snow on top of the ice.  My boys had a blast playing and throwing snowballs at each other and of course being out of school all week is a plus too.  I had a blast taking pictures of them and watching them have fun in the snow.  But, as much fun as the snow is, I am glad that it has decided to leave.  It's no fun being cooped up in the house days on end.

We were a little "bad" during this week and didn't stick to a strict sugar detox meal plan.  But overall, we still ate very well.  I do know what triggers my bad eating habits--the ones where I want bad carbs and overload of sweets.  It's boredom...I have noticed during this week and being stuck inside that I have wanted to snack and munch on the bad stuff.  On my normal days I am at home with just the baby and so busy with him and house stuff and it's easier to stay on track.  Weekends aren't as bad because we are out and have things to do.  So I can keep my munchies in check.  But during this week it was bad.  So, I'm goin to have to figure out how to redirect my attention during these times.  Once we're officially done with the 21 days, I will have a follow up post on the whole experience. 

I have plenty of things I can do to redirect my attention, it's just getting it out and doing.  For Christmas, I got a learning to knit, learning to crochet, and two cross stitch patterns.  I also had a friend send a pattern for making baby bit patterns.  I'm not big on sewing and actually haven't sewn much in my life.  But, I'm hoping I can practice and eventually turn it in to something I can do for extra cash.  It doesn't hurt to try right!

Saturday, January 25, 2014

A Whole Lotta Updates

Been MIA for the past week and I do apologize...life got busy and I wasn't feeling the best this week and I have been playing catchup on dishes.  I hate doing dishes.  I try to cram as much as possible in the dishwasher and then what's left over gets washed by hand.  But I find that I'm using dishes almost as fast as they're being washed.  Chopping and prepping all the foods and then cooking and my kitchen is a disaster area.  So, that gets cleaned up and kitchen is all nice and clean and it starts all over again (usually just breakfast and/or dinner) since lunch is typically leftovers.  But I think I'm all caught up...at least until tomorrow!

Jason and I made it the whole week on the detox.  We had 2 slip ups and I can say that I can totally tell a difference when we did.  I'm not going to go into detail about everything that we ate this week but it was good food...except our slip up days.  On Thursday, I was not feeling good.  I had a headache and throat just was feeling a little weird like I might be coming down with a cold.  Totally caved and we ate McDonald's.  That was a horrible idea.  It didn't taste good at all--in the past, it would have been great.  I got a sprite to drink and yuck, it tasted like syrup!  Friday morning, got back on track with breakfast and lunch.  I was in bed almost the whole day just with a headache and still feeling like crap.  Schyler and Andrew were awesome and helped me out alot.  Thankfully they are old enough to fend for themself when I'm not feeling well and do spend alot of time in bed.  Samuel  of course depends on me for food so he hung out in bed with me.  When Jason got in from work, we talked about dinner and it was supposed to be this cabbage wraps with pork and shrimp and veggies.  But, I just was not up to getting in there to help him prep.  So, we ordered Mexican and I wound up eating a taco salad with grill chicken, peppers, onions, cheese, lettuce, sour cream.  Which would have been fine but I ate the shell.  So today, day 13 of the detox, we got back on track.  I didn't eat breakfast because I didn't get a chance to cook but I did eat a sweet potato.  Then finally about 1:30, we got in the kitchen and did the cabbage wraps.  They were great except the shrimp--I'll get into that.  Dinner tonight is going to be breakfast--think we're going to do some kind of Mexican frittata. 

So, shrimp...I love shrimp.  Maybe I should say loved because I don't know if I'll be able to eat it anymore.  Several months into my pregnancy we ate Mexican and Jason got shrimp fajitas.  The waiter came around the corner and I could smell it and started gagging...it was gross.  Ok, no big deal, I'm pregnant and this will pass.  Nope, it hasn't.  I'm only 7 weeks postpartum so hopefully it will all get better.  If it was going to happen, why couldn't it have been something I didn't like or didn't need to eat?!

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Made it 7 Days!

I wasn't sure if I could make it this far but I did...Jason did too.  We went shopping earlier to get ready for our second week of this.  I'm loving trying all the recipes.  But, they do take a lot of prep work.  I'm not really craving too many sweets...of course I could always eat a slice of cake or a cupcake but it's not taunting me like at the beginning.  The only thing I am craving is something to drink besides water.  I tried a couple smoothie drinks but they just didn't taste good.  I was told that since it was still in my first week they probably wouldn't and to try it later on in the detox.  But, I think we'll stick to our own smoothies...we're thinking almond milk, banana and almond butter.

So, here's what we had to eat for Friday, Saturday and today.

For breakfast Friday, Jason fixed some scrambled eggs and tossed in the leftover sausage and rice.  We ate breakfast so late that we just snacked for lunch.  For dinner, we had the dish that was like a shepherd's pie only the topping was butternut squash.  We had 1/2 cup of rice with it as well as a salad with green apples, beets, carrots, and cucumbers with a lemon type dressing.  The salad was pretty good.

Saturday for breakfast was a hash with bacon, carrots, and parsnips.  I was a little iffy on this but of course we wanted to try it.  We had it with some scrambled eggs and I have to say, it was pretty good.  Andrew loved the hash which surprised us.  This was also a meal that it was so late when we ate that we just snacked for lunch.  Dinner was some Asian style meatballs with some rice.  These were good and definitely a keeper.

Today's breakfast was some fresh sausage, rice and scrambled eggs (we are going through eggs like crazy).  Again this was a meal we ate late so lunch was just snacks of nuts/cheese/jerky.  Dinner was supposed to be some burgers with this cauliflower recipe I found.  But, we got a late start on grocery shopping so we picked up some burritos in the organic/gluten free section.  We checked the ingredients as best we could...it probably was a little bit of a slip but for the most part it wasn't bad.

I'm looking forward to trying even more recipes this week.  We are going on a trip with the boys tomorrow, so I'm interested in seeing how well we'll do because I'm sure we're going to have to grab something out to eat.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Made it through day 4

Well day 4 is drawing to an end.  It's just after 10 pm and I'm exhausted. Enjoying an herbal tea (yes I'm allowed to have it, just no sugar) and getting ready for bed.  No cheats today...yay me!

Breakfast started out with leftover sausage patty and some rice.  Since we're doing level one we're allowed up to 1/2 cup of rice a day.  Lunch was the dinner we didn't have last night.  Tonight's dinner was supposed to some Asian meatballs with a bok choy salad.  But we went and grabbed a rotisserie chicken and salad instead.  It was good and I needed a night of no cooking!

I got rather sleepy close to noon and when the baby ate and napped I did too.  I was not ready to get up!  Once I did though, I was fine.  But right now I'm exhausted and as soon as I finish my tea, I'll get the baby fed and head to bed too.

The cravings weren't as strong today as they were previous days.  I was able to be next to the cake and not be tempted to just devour it.  Unlike yesterday when I could have put the rest of the cake away.  Maybe it's getting better?

I know I need to be exercising as well...even just walking.  But, it's been too cold to walk outside with the baby.  And I have not felt like putting on an exercise dvd.  Maybe next week I can try to get some in! 

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The 21 Day Sugar Detox

As I said in my last post I would like to lose weight and get in better health.  I am already below my pre-pregnancy weight but Samuel did weigh a little over 8 lbs and I only gained about 16.  Who knew pregnancy was a good weightloss plan?!  So, to get into my ideal weight range, I should lose about 40 lbs.  So, I got this bright idea with the new year to do a sugar detox.  Yea, crazy I know...I love sugar.  I have sugar in my coffee, sweet tea, honey in my hot tea, cookies, cakes (especially with icing), candy...yea, this was going to suck.  My big weakness is cake with icing, seriously I can eat a slice a day if I could.  When I was pregnant and craving it, it just didn't hit the spot so I didn't buy cake that often.  Once I had him and tried cake again, the cravings came back with a vengeance.  I have been having cake/cupcakes and other desserts almost every day for the past few weeks.  So, I read up on The 21 Day Sugar Detox (DSD for short).  I talked to Jason and got him on board and we ordered the book and cookbook.  Going through and looking at all the recipes, I was like how bad can this really be...this food looks great and there are some "treats" in the recipes that we can have. 

This is our first week doing the detox--and this isn't like a juice detox or anything crazy like that.  It's eating whole foods, clean foods, and avoiding sugar and those foods that turn into sugar-breads, pastas, etc.  And also the high sugar fruits.  We are allowed green tip bananas and green apples as fruits.  We took a quiz to determine which level we should start at, level 1 is the most lenient, level 2 a little stricter, and level 3 the strictest.  Jason and I could do either 1 or 2 so we decided we'd start with 1 and if that went well then we could try 2 and then eventually 3. 

Monday was our first day.  I got up and cooked a quiche of eggs, bacon, and carmelized onions.  It tasted good except it was way too salty.  When we bought sea salt, Jason picked up the coarse by mistake and I didn't realize it until I dumped into the eggs.  I tried distributing it but it didn't help.  Lunch we had a salad with some turkey and homemade balsamic dressing.  Dinner was lamb burgers with avo-ziki.  We ate it over lettuce and topped with red onions, cucumbers, and the avo ziki...yum!  Even our kids liked it.  Day 1 wasn't so bad except I was very hungry.  The book says that if you're hungry to eat as this isn't a diet...just to eat the foods on your "yes" list.  But I think my hunger pains were more I was craving foods I couldn't eat.

Tuesday-day 2-I woke up not hungry.  Started the day with my usual cup of coffee with half and half (which we're allowed) just no sugar.  Breakfast was leftovers from the morning before and lunch was leftovers from dinner.  Dinner Tuesday was a chicken adobo that was done in the crock pot served over a garlic cauli-rice.  The chicken smelled great but I think I got a piece of chicken fat or something and it ruined it for me.  I couldn't finish it.  Jason got the chicken out and off the bone, threw it in the skillet with the cauli-rice added some chipotle powder and kinda did a stir fry type thing.  It actually tasted pretty good.  Since I'm nursing, I can have certain other foods like sweet potatoes to make sure I'm getting the right amount of carbs so I don't lose my milk supply.  So, he threw in a couple potatoes so I could have them if i wanted them.  Day 2 was bad, Andrew's birthday cake I made was calling my name and I could have ate what is left over and not felt guilty at all.  But I resisted.  I also feel alot more tired than normal too.

Day 3, today...I woke up feeling not as tired.  I had to cook breakfast which this morning was sausage with green apples.  Jason peeled and diced the apples up last night so they'd be ready.  With this we were supposed to have almonds and raw carrots...but decided we'd have an egg instead.  I was a little iffy on the apples being mixed in with the sausage but it actually was pretty good.  The boys ate the same except Andrew did have peanut butter toast-that's off limits for us but we're not as strict on the boys.  Lunch was leftovers from dinner and the sweet potato.  Dinner was supposed to be something called a beef and bacon cottage pie--almost like a shepherd's pie but the topping was made using butternut squash.  The prep took forever and I should have started earlier in the day but as I read through the recipe I didn't think it'd take that long.  But Jason and I had to get a few thins from the store tonight as well.  Then of course I burned the bacon--who burns bacon?  It was black and ugh.  Thankfully I had another pack so I started all over.  I figured it out that we wouldn't be eating dinner until close to 7:30 which is way later than normal.  I told Jason that we could always "cheat".  So we decided to get Subway.  It was the healthier option and instead of getting meals with drinks, we would just get subs so the only thin we cheated with is the bread.  So, not too bad.  Cravings have still been there but they usually only hit in the afternoon.  And of course I'm exhausted.  Some of the exhaustion comes from having a 6 week old of course but some of it is also not having that sugar giving me a boost. 

I've read the first 3 days are the worst--so we'll see if that is true or not.  I'm thankful to have Jason doing this with me.  He helps me prep the food and cook and it's good to have each other to talk to about this.  And most of all to support each other as we do this.

This is a little off topic of the post about the detox, but while Jason and Andrew went to get dinner, Schyler stayed to help me as I was still cooking dinner.  And Samuel was fussing and ready to eat.  So, he held the baby until the baby just couldn't hold off anymore.  So, then Schyler took over cooking.  He did a good job finishing up dinner--which wasn't much but doing the veggies and adding the meat and season and cooking the meat.  But, it was a huge help to me and it made me happy when he said "this is fun"!  Proud mommy here!

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Long Absence

A few months ago I deleted my old blog "Carol Ann's Ramblings".  I hadn't posted as often as I wanted and it was hard to keep up with it-working full time, being a wife and mommy things got hectic and I put blogging on the back burner.  And honestly, I really didn't know what to talk about.

I didn't have many readers before but I can do a quick recap.  In March 2013 (it was actually Easter Sunday) Jason and I found out we were expecting baby #3...complete and utter shock.  We had talked about having a third and the one month we tried it didn't happen.  So, we decided to take some time, me lose weight and then we'd try again.  Without going into detail and getting too personal, I was having some issues and didn't think I would or could get pregnant.  But, lo and behold there was other plans in store for us.  On December 5 we welcomed baby Samuel and our family of four was became a family of five...and I'm surrounded by boys!  No, seriously, the only other female in our house is our cat Olivia!

So, here we are in 2014 and of course we all make resolutions.  I'm horrible at making these because I always have the same one--lose weight, get in shape, blah, blah, blah.  This year I did make that same resolution but I have a different mindset about it.  I don't want it to be a diet...I want it to be a lifestyle.  So, Jason and I have embarked on a 21 day sugar detox.  We bought the book and cookbook written by Diane Sanfilippo, read through, and we started.  I'll have a separate post about the first couple days of our journey on that.

My other "resolution" is to just be the best wife and mom I can.  Since I'm not working at the moment and I don't know if/when I will go back to work, I want to enjoy my family more and make a ton more memories that my kids will have to look back on.  So, here's to 2014 and all the memories that it will bring!