Gardening!

Ok, I've said goodnight twice already at the end of two different posts tonight, and here I am starting another one.  Oye.  I'm a mess!  But I have to tell you guys about the gardening we did or I'll forget and never get it down.  Ok, so Sunday was beautiful out!  We went to lunch after church with Sis' family and Mama and Daddy at Applebee's in Andover.  Applebee's is right next to Atwoods, which always puts me in a gardening mood.  So I asked Michael if we could go in and get stuff for me to plant and herb window garden.  I found a planter (that we intend to zip tie to the deck when it's warmer out, probably sometime in May) and seeds, which I never use because I don't have a bunch of luck with them, but I figure it might actually work this time...  Michael said he had potting soil in the garage, so we came home.  However, when we got home, he didn't have quite enough, so off to Lowe's we went.  During our various drives we discussed the garden and what we wanted to do with it this year, including adding manure to make the ground better for our plants.  Long story short, we want to Lowe's for a bag of potting soil and left with a bag of potting soil and a dozen bags of manure.  ;)  We came home and planted my herbs, basil, oregano, rosemary, and chives.  Then we headed to the back yard to begin work on the garden.  First we pulled up the fence.  Our little white picket fence was designed to keep the dogs out, but each season it leaned a bit more, and when the dogs realized they could jump over it (or almost), it leaned further until parts were literally layong on the ground.  We decided it was time to do away with the fence.  Michael used the rake, hoe, and shovel to clean up the dead grass, plants, and leaves that basically covered the entire garden.  I spread manure over my strawberry patch and cut holes in big sheets of cardboard for the strawberries to grow through, but hopefully not much grass or weeds.  We covered the cardboard with the leaves Michael cleaned up.  I filled in the rest of my asparagus trench and added manure to it as well.  I have to tell you, I basically LOVE having plants in my garden that will come back each year!  Makes me think I'm not such a crappy gardener afterall.  ;)  We haven't finished our work on the rest of the garden, because we wore ourselves out, but the plan for the rest is to till up (by hand, heaven help us) the rets of the garden and mix the manure in with the existing soil.  Then, when it's time to plant my garden, I intend to do what I did with the strawberries and lay out huge pieces of cardboard to keep the grass and weeds out, but cut holes for my plants to grow.  We'll see how it goes.  I've also done reading online about mulching your garden, so I may try that this year as well.  We'll see.  :)  Every Spring I get ambitious about my garden.  I'm excited to already have some work done on it.  I hope the nice Spring preview days, that are left this winter, come during the weekend so Michael and I can do some work outdoors (although I know eventually I'm going to lose his help in the garden to the crabgrass battle in the yard, suggestions to combat this horrible stuff are appreciated).  I guess with global warming I can expect Spring earlier and earlier each year.  *sigh*  Hope you're enjoying the warm weather as much as we are!  Enjoy it while you can!  Winter will be back before you know it.  (For real this time) Goodnight, All! 

Resolution and Goal Updates

If you read my post earlier in the month you may remember my New Year's Resolution: 130 by 30.  I want to get down to 130 lbs by my 30th birthday.  I haven't been down at 130 since I was on my way up, which was probably high school.  Last summer I got down to 133.6 in June.  It was the best I've looked and felt (in my opinion) my whole life.  But then, as it does, my weight cycle, fluctuated, and changed with the seasons.  Fall came and I put on 10 lbs, winter came and so did another 10 lbs.  :(  But I'm determine to get them all back off and a little more before (or maybe after, but hopefully before) my 30th birthday.  My 30th birthday is April 7th, so I have a little over 2 months to go.  I won't lie, it will be a steep climb, and there's a good chance I won't meet my goal and be at my ideal weight by my birthday.  But that's not going to stop me from trying.  :)  (Be positive!)  I started this month at 151.2 lbs.  My goal was to lose 7 lbs/month.  My weight today was 146.6, down 4.6 lbs.  Not as much as I wanted, but I'm not turning my nose up at weight loss!  Every day the scale goes down is a win!  My lowest this month was 146.4, then I went on vacation and didn't moderate myself and basically had to start over again.  It was a bummer, but has made me even more resolved to eat right and make these next 2 months count!  I have 16.8 lbs to lose in 2 months, which works out to 8.3 lbs/month.  Like I said, a steep goal, but I'm staying positive.  Wish me luck and help me succeed!!

If you'll also remember earlier this month, Michael and I made goals for each month of the year.  One goal focused on our financial health, the other focused on our physical health.  In January our financial goal was to look at our finances and review where we could make changes and make things work better.  As we looking through our spending, we found we spend a lot more money than we thought going out to eat.  Not a lot of large dinners, but several small fast food stops that add up over time.  That is one area we'd like to focus and change.  Simply being conscious of the problem is a start, but we intend to take it farther than that.  Our financial goal for the month of February is no eating out.  From fancy dinners (Goodbye nice Valentine's Day dinner) to coffee (Goodbye Sunday morning Starbucks) to fast food (Goodbye Michael eating lunch out with his coworkers), we're putting a (temporary) stop to it all this coming month.  Hopefully after February is over we'll be more grateful for the (few) times we go out later.  Another area we spend a lot of money is groceries.  We're going to see if we can't reduce our grocery bills by taking a week each month to eat out of the fridge, freezer, and pantry, with no additional groceries bought.  Heaven knows we have plenty of food in our house.  This should be an easy way to alleviate some of our grocery spending.  We're also looking for a new bank.  Our charges us an ATM service charge every month for using our debit cards as debit cards (instead of running them like credit).  This seems like a waste of money for the opportunity to use our own money.  If you have a bank suggestion, we'd love to hear it.  I was thinking Equity in Andover, Michael wants to look into a credit union.  Either way, something had to change and soon.  We have several other ideas to help our budget and intend on implementing a couple new ideas here and there as we adjust to others.  Wish us luck as we continue to attempt to be better stewards of our finances.

Our health goal for January was to stay positive.  I found, especially at the beginning of the month I was really looking for the bright side of things.  Towards the end of the month I got less intentional about it, but I have certainly been more optimistic the last week as I've made a final push to get my weight down for the end of the month.  I hope I'll continue to look for the good and positive things in life as the year continues.  :)  Our health goal for the month of February is no eating out.  Yup, that's right, our health and financial goals are the same this month.  We tend to consume a lot more calories when we eat out (although we've begun sharing meals when we go out, both to reduce calories and reduce cost).  We think that not eating out for a month will have positive effects on our weight and health goals.  My biggest concern with this goal is my mentality through a month of not eating out.  I use that time to catch up with friends, spend quiet time with Michael, and get out of the house for a bit.  I just hope those needs will continue to be met, even if we aren't going out to eat.  We'll definitely have to be more intentional in those areas and possibly call in favors to make sure those things are still happening.  I spend all day, every day with my kids.  Someone please take them away for a while so I can enjoy snuggling with my hubby or cleaning my house in peace.  Also, suggestions for things to do by myself out of the house and not spend a lot of money in the event Michael offers to babysit and suggests I go out, are appreciated. 

So that's where we are.  :)  I think January went well, but February is really stepping it up.  We want to make good financial and health choices and we're making steps to do that each month this year.  :)  Also, wish me luck with my diet the next couple of months.  I have a lot of work to do still.  I'm hopeful that the weather gets nice early and stays nice.  If it does, I'll get back on my Zombie Run app as well as working in the garden and flower bed.  (Speaking of which, Michael and I worked in the garden Sunday!  More on that later.)

Hope January went well for you and that you're looking forward to a lovely February!  Goodnight!

Lightened Up Banana Splits

I wanted dessert after dinner today, and I happened to have everything I needed to make banana splits!  However, I wanted to make them healthy, so here's what I put in mine:
1/2 banana
2 strawberries
1 tbsp crushed Pineapple (I already had an open can that needed used)
3 heaping tbsp vanilla yogurt (not Greek, that's nasty to just eat plain)
A sprinkle of semi sweet chocolate chips
A sprinkle of chopped peanuts (found in the ice cream topping aisle, but I already had some on hand)

Michael and I shared this little treat!  It was the perfect ending to my meal and sweetness after dinner to keep me from munching and wanting junk all evening.  Yum!  I'm thinking I see a smoothie recipe in there somewhere!  :D  Don't be surprised if you find me playing with Banana Split Smoothie recipes this summer when all my produce is in season!  :)

Hope you had a great Tuesday!  Goodnight!

Crockpot Chicken Tikka Masala

Ok, so if I didn't mention it before, I found a post on Pinterest about 30 days of crockpot meals (but it's actually just 13).  3 crockpot recipes/week for 4 weeks (an extra on the last week).  So I got through week one and loved all three recipes!  Today I began week 2 and Michael and I give it 4 stars!  Today we had Crockpot Chicken Tikka Masala.  I hadn't heard of it before, but was ready to give it a try.  It had a lot of our normal ingredients, chicken, tomatoes, onions, tomato paste, salt, and pepper.  But what made this recipe different was the Garam Masala seasoning and coconut milk.  That's all that went into the crockpot!  Pretty easy!  I served it over rice as suggested by the original author of the recipe.  It smelled really good all day while it was cooking!  The only think I'll change next time is that I'll shred the chicken instead of cutting it into chunks so it can mix with the sauce and into the rice better.  Seriously, at the better where it was all sauce and rice and little pieces of chicken, it was like comfort food at it's finest!  So yummy!  And Michael gave it two thumbs up!  Winning!  Also, the recipe called for 2 lbs of chicken, which I used, but next time I think 1 lb would be just fine.  The kids hesitated at first, but eventually came around and cleaned their plates (in anticipation of dessert, see next post).  And, good news, Connor doesn't appear to be allergic to coconut anymore!  No hives during or after dinner!  Woot!  If you want to try something a little different but still get that Cook comfort food stick to your bones feel, give this recipe** a try!
Toodles!

**Please note - There are 3 different recipes on that link, scroll down to the bottom for the one that coordinates with this post.**

Smoothie Fail

Well  not all of my recipes are a success.  Sometimes I choke things down for the health benefits, not because I like the taste (ie: carrots, celery, ginger, etc).  Today I added a smoothie to the list of things I ate for nourishment, not for taste.  Last week I posted a picture for a smoothie recipe.  It had another recipe on it as well.  I finally got the nerve to try the other smoothie today.  Blech!  I'm going to drink it because Michael and I agreed to try new things when we changed our diet, and agreed we could eat just about anything once,  and I paid for the ingredients already and went to all the trouble of making it, but it's not great.  :\  Oh well, can't win em all!  Hope you're having a great Monday!

Bananas

I got an email from MyFitnessPal that talked about bananas being the Ingredient of the Week this week.  I wanted to pass the link on to you guys because bananas are great!  As the article said, their portable, affordable, and a great overall snack.  Even if you don't want to make one of the recipes, you should give bananas a try.  We go through 2+ bunches/week in our family (Michael and I plus the 4 kids).  Enjoy a banana today!
Love and peace!
Jen

10 Actions in the First 100 Days

On The Women's March over the weekend got me amped up and excited to be a part of the change I want to see in the world.  Yesterday I ran across this website and thought it was brilliant!  Like I said in my post about the Women's March,  I haven't been really politically active in my life.  Lately, however, that has changed.  In 2008 I was in college and it exposed me to a lot of different viewpoints than what I had experienced before in my life.  My political affiliations began to change back then.  Michael and his roommates got basic channels on their tv, one of those channels was MSNBC.  It was basically all we watched during the 2008 election cycle.  It's no wonder I ended up becoming a Democrat.  To be fair, Sarah Palin was up for Vice President and she's about as whackadoo as they get, so it didn't instill much faith in the party I was already questioning.  Fast forward 4 years, I went to my favorite feminist's mom's house to watch the DNC.  Michelle, Nancy, Barry, Willy, Michael and I (plus a teeny tiny Avery) watched speeches and Obama accepting the nomination as the Democratic Party's nominee.  I'm ashamed to say I didn't vote in 2008, as I was away from home and never got my registration changed.  But in 2012 I voted in my first presidential election for Barack Obama.  I could not have been prouder!  I was so excited for Avery to be born during the era of such an upstanding president.  2 years later I voted after researching candidates for the first time in a local election.  Brownback still won.  I learned how to cope with political disappointment then.  In 2016, with the help of my sister and my husband, I got even more involved.  I donated to Bernie Sanders' campaign, went to his rally in Lawrence, and caucused for him during the primary.  I was disappointed when Hillary beat him for the party nomination.  I had been keeping an eye on the proceedings of the Republican party as well.  From what I'd seen in debates and knew of the character of each candidate, I liked Jeb Bush best.  I may have voted for him over Hillary, but I would never end up having to compare the two of them side by side.  His momentum never got going so I shifted to John Kasich,  hoping for a moderate (in my opinion, reasonable) Republican to be the party candidate, but it wasn't to be.  I can't believe they voted in Donald Trump.  I was even more shocked when he won the presidency, but what's done is done.  While he has a couple different impeachable conflicts of interest at the moment, nothing will likely happen under a Republican controlled house and senate.  So I will bide my time, keep praying for him, and hope that things will change in 2 years.  In the meantime, I'd like to make my voice heard (wow, that was a SUPER long intro to this website).  The movement that began during the Women's March is continuing by doing 10 different actions in the first 100 Days of Trump's presidency.  I am not sure I'll get all of them done, but I'm going to try!  And that starts with sending postcards to my senators.  I'm going to tell what I want and expect of them as my representatives.  Even if your views are different than mine, I encourage you to do the same.  How will they know how best to represent us if they don't know what we want or how we feel?  If you would also like to join me in doing 10 Actions in Trump's first 100 Days, feel free to go to
https://www.womensmarch.com/100
And find out what you can do to make a difference. 
Love and Peace,
Jen

Who Wore it Best?

Michael v. Rutherford B. Hayes

Fried Eggs and Avocado Toast

Yesterday's breakfast was so good I decided to make something very similar again today!  Fried eggs and toast are a go-to, staple breakfast for me.  The avocado toast is a variation that I discovered a while back,  but avocado is fickle on when is perfectly ripe,  so I don't always get it.  This week I got avocado for a couple different recipes,  so I'm echoed to use some food my breakfast too!  Today's avocado toast is seasoned with salt,  pepper,  and a bit of Parmesean cheese!  Yum!

You won't see a lunch recipe today,  we have a slew of leftovers in the fridge we need to get through.  ;)

Have a lovely Tuesday!

Crockpot Lasagna Soup!

Anyone who knows my hubby very well knows that one of his favorite meals is lasagna.  I, on the other hand, am not as crazy about the stuff.  Even with his dad's recipe I'm just kinda "meh" on it all.  I have tried some different recipes and found one in particular that I really like, Mushroom Kale Lasagna Rolls.  You'd never notice they didn't have meat in them!  I think the Ricotta Cheese makes a world of difference than using cottage cheese.  It just isn't the same.  But I digress...  Tonight I made Crockpot Lasagna Soup!  Yum!  Michael was super stoked!  It took just a bit more work than other crockpot recipes because I had to cook the hamburger first.  Otherwise, it was pretty well dump and leave it.  Towards the end I had to break up lasagna noodles, but that was super easy.  Also, if you wanted, you could definitely use any random pasta you have on hand.  I happened to have half a box of lasagna noodles on hand, so it worked out perfect!  Michael and I give this recipe 4 stars!  It made a TON of food!  We all ate, plus had 6 servings left over!  I probably could have made each serving a little bigger, but overall I think I portioned it out pretty well.  I think the recipe is supposed to serve 8, we managed 9 servings out of it.  I also made some freezer dinner rolls, which didn't finish baking until after we were done eating, but they were a very tasty after dinner snack slathered in butter.  ;)  Try this recipe out soon!  You won't be disappointed!

Egg and Veggie Bowl with Avocado Toast

Good Evening, Friends!  I wanted to share my breakfast recipe with you.  I got the idea from Pinterest where I found a recipe called a "Green Goddess Bowl".  Since it has eggs in it I plan to make it for breakfast, hopefully this week sometime.  In the meantime I improvised and made my own sort of breakfast bowl.  It started with me wanted to hit all my food groups (ended up missing fruit) and ended with me feeling full long past lunch time!  Win!  It ended up being 400 calories, on the top end, but still an appropriate breakfast number.  :)  It was really easy too!  I steamed a freezer bag of veggies, then added a little butter, salt, and pepper to them.  I fried two eggs over easy and topped the veggies with them.  I also made a slice of toast, and since I had a ripe one on hand, I topped my toast with mashed avocado instead of butter.  Totally tasty healthy fats!  For the win!  I stayed very full on this breakfast which was awesome!  Maybe it will inspire you to try something similar in the future!

No lunch recipe today.  I had leftovers of my crockpot teriyaki chicken recipe from a few days ago.  Dinner recipe to come next!  Michael was especially excited about this one.  ;)

Slow Cooker Pork and Apples

Good Evening, Friends!  The fam and I just finished a DELICIOUS dinner!  I recommend you give it a try some time soon!  It was Slow Cooker Pork and Apples.  It was basically a dump and go, one pot recipe, my favorite!  If I remember to buy more crock pot bags next time I'm at the store I'll seriously cook all our meals in the crockpot!  ;)  So, reasons I liked tonight's recipe:
1. Good flavor, I love pork!  Michael doesn't care for it as much, but if I shred it instead of leaving it in a chop, he's all over it.  :P
2. One pot.  Seriously, with the exception of a knife and cutting board for the apples and a teaspoon measuring spoon, it was all dumped in and left alone.
3. Healthy!  Yay!  Love tasty recipes that are healthy!  Just gotta watch that portion size.  That's why I make up our plates and pack away leftovers all at the same time so there are no temptations to get seconds or snack on more out of the crockpot.
4. Uses a lot of apples!  Totally remembering this recipe for the fall when we go apple picking!  We used 6, but could have easily used more.

The picture isn't that pretty, I scarffed down my pretty plate of food before I got a picture, so you get a picture of the leftovers headed to the fridge.  ;)  Seriously though, easy and tasty!  Love it!  Also feels like comfort food which is awesome in my book.  I cooked it on high a few hours and low a couple more, no issue at all.  Could do low all day if you aren't home to check on it.  Michael and I gave this recipe 4 thumbs up!  Hope you enjoy it as well!

Women's March

When I woke up this morning I didn't have any intention of going to the Women's March downtown.  We were up late with my sister last night and I was tired.  Not to mention, we have kids, Saturdays are our days off and we usually like to stay in all day and enjoy family time.  But, like most mornings, I got up and got on social media.  I haven't been on Facebook much since the election and certainly wasn't going to be on yesterday, Inauguration Day, because I was in mourning for our country and all the change and progress that has happened over the last 8 years and how it's already attempting to be dismantled.  I got on Twitter this morning, where I follow mostly celebrities and politicians and my feed was flooded with information about the Women's Marches being held across the country and the world.  I dug a little farther and found that one was being held in my own city of Wichita.  I asked Michael if we could load the kids up and just drive downtown, not necessarily march.  It just felt like a moment in history being made and I wanted to see it for my own eyes.  On our way downtown we talked to the kids and explained that people were walking to show the world that girls can do anything boys can do.  Our kids are two and four years old, that was all the farther this needed to be unpacked for them.  Avery went through a list of things that no one could tell her she couldn't do because she was a girl.  No one could tell her she couldn't clean her room because she was a girl.  No one could tell her she couldn't be a babysitter because she was a girl.  No one could tell her she couldn't be a policeman because she was a girl.  Now we're getting more to the point, but I loved listening to her process that information her way.  When we drove downtown the march had almost reached City Hall already, they started at The Keeper of the Plains.  I asked Michael if he thought we should go down and march a little and he agreed we could.  So we parked the car, unloaded our babies, and met up with the crowd.  I called my favorite feminist, my friend Michelle, to see if she was there in the thousands of people surrounding me.  She was and we quickly met up and stuck together.  She was thrilled to see our whole family out there!  We finished matching to City Hall where we gathered with others too listen to music and speeches, the kids did great and we stayed about an hour before they got tired.  Avery may vaguely remember this day, but probably not.  Connor definitely won't remember, long term, the events of today, but I'm glad we went.  Michael and I want to expose our children to the world around them, to make them informed, active members of society.  Today was just planting seeds and laying framework for several things.  1. You can make your voice heard, and you can do so peaceful and lovingly.  I never once felt my children or I were in danger, it was a very peaceful protest.  2. If something isn't right, you have to work to change it.  Don't assume others will take care of it, get out there and be the change you want to see in the world.  3. You can do anything and be anyone you want to be, Little Girl!!  Don't let anyone tell you you can't.  You can change the world.  I believe in you.  Throughout the day, since the march and rally I've been thinking about why I was out there, not just to set an example for my children, but why I aligned myself with these people and supported each of them, here's a few of the reasons that crossed my mind...
I march for my daughter, that no glass ceiling will stop her.  That she will never feel she can't accomplish anything she sets her mind to and works hard for because she's female.
I march for my son, to be a good, decent, loving member of society, with great role models, who values and respects all people, especially women.  That he will be a brave voice in defense of the helpless, especially when he hears "locker room talk".
I march for my parents who benefit from ACA and for the hundreds of thousands of other Americans who, for now, have health insurance through this legislation.
I march because denying someone healthcare because of a preexisting condition is wrong.
I march because pregnancy is not a preexisting condition and insurance companies should not be able to control when I choose to have a family.
I march because not everyone makes a choice to get pregnant, but everyone deserves a safe, non-judgemental place to make those realy personal decisions that will effect the rest of their lives.
I march because sexual assault is unacceptable and no celebrity of other person should ever feel entitled to do that to another human being, much less my daughter.
I march because my daughter, sister, aunts, cousins, mom, grandmas, and friends deserve to be paid equal to their male counterparts for doing the same job.
I march because some people don't realize there's a problem.
I march because I have a strong, confident, loving, husband at my side who empowers me to be good and do what's right and needs to be done.  He isn't intimidated by equality.
I march because I have amazing women in my life, who I love and care about, who differ wildly from me politically, but who deserve the world, out at least a fair shot at getting it.
I march for Avery, Sis, Mama, Delaney, Madison, Maggie, Linda, Grandma Heorman, Grandma Counterman, Michelle, Alli, Kaydee, Ginger, Nicole, Shelly.  These women inspire me, they give me hope, they give me boldness and courage to fight for the things that are right.

This got a lot heavier than I intended, so let me wrap this up.  I am not normally terribly politically active, but a lot has changed in the last 12 years of my life.  You and I may not see eye to eye, but I hope we're each granted the same freedoms and opportunities in life.  I want to do my part to make the world a better place for my kids, I think we all do.  I am fervently praying for our new president, that he, and thus this country, will be successful over the next 4 years.  I hope you'll join me in that prayer as well.

Peace and Good Night

Buffalo Shrimp Salad

When I make salad, I love for it to be loaded with toppings.  I don't eat salad for the tasty greens, I eat it for the fattening dressing, tons of toppings and feeling like I made a good choice.  However, those types of salads don't usually do much for my diet, so here we are...  This salad, however, is nice and healthy and tasted great!  It's got the feeling of having wings since it features celery, ranch, blue cheese, and a spicy protein.  I'll have to keep this tasty recipe in the back of my mind next time I'm craving wings.  :)  I made this during the day, so Michael hasn't tried it yet, but I'm giving it two big thumbs up!  I love shrimp, which was probably what drew me to this recipe in the first place.  I don't do a lot of spicy foods, generally, but this had so much flavor with the heat I didn't mind the spice.  Now, let me lay some truth on you.  The original recipe wanted me to add hot sauce to the ranch for the spicy ranch.  For those of you who don't know, "buffalo" sauces are heated with Tabasco.  I don't really care for the taste of Tabasco, so instead, I added Buffalo Wild Wings' Asian Zing sauce to the ranch (yogurt-ranch to be exact, still tastes pretty good though, and less guilt always tastes good).  ;)  So if you don't mind not telling my hubby that, I'd appreciate it.  :P  There's plenty in this recipe for him to like, I don't want him downgrading it for the Asian Zing sauce, which is perfect spicy and sweet and makes the dressing phenomenal!  :D  So go check out the link below and try this recipe sometime soon!  (And Mama, I'm sure it would be good with chicken too.)  ;)

http://womanista.com/wellness/2016/01/07/recipe-buffalo-shrimp-dinner-salad/

Crockpot Chicken Teriyaki

Good Morning, Friends!  I didn't get back around to blogging again last night because we hosted lifegroup.  When I found out we were going to host I spent the rest of the day cleaning.  I even skipped lunch!  (Not something I'd recommend)  When Michael got home he asked, "Other than cleaning all day, how was your day?"  I was all hangry and I took it out on him telling him I'd had nothing but drinks all day and I was starving.  Fortunately, I had a meal in the crockpot.  :)  And it turned out great!  I love crockpot meals, and this one was no exception!  Dump and cook, come back at dinner time and it's ready!  My kind of meal!  I saw this blog on Pinterest that talked about a month of healthy crockpot meals.  She has it set up for 3-4 meals/week, so it's a total of 13 meals (I think), so that you can have other family favorites, eat out, or eat leftovers in the other days.  I decided I'd give these recipes a try.  Yesterday was the first recipe, Crockpot Chicken Teriyaki, and it was awesome!  I served it with rice and a steamed veggie stir fry bag from Aldi's.  Yum!  Michael doesn't like teriyaki or much in the way of Asian food, especially the Sauces, but he really enjoyed this one!  Even put a lot of sauce on his meal!  That's a win in our household!  Michael and I gave this recipe 3 thumbs up!  It's quick, easy, and delicious!  We'll definitely have it again!  Check out this blog for the entire month of recipes and this post for the Crockpot Chicken Teriyaki recipe!

Also, there's no picture today.  I gobbled it down too fast.  :P

Nothing but Drinks

I've only had drinks today.  I started the day with a "detox elixir" (hot water, Apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, minced fresh ginger, and honey).  I saw these little detox things on Pinterest and thought I'd give it a try.  I'll try it for a week and see if it had any effect and let you know.  After that I had 16 ounces of water (remember, you need half your body weight in pounds in ounces of water, so I need 75 ounces).  After my water I had my smoothie from the previous post.  After my smoothie I had another 16 ounces of water (32 total).  Finally, I got to enjoy my first cup of coffee today.  I've been peeing like crazy, which usually happens when I stay properly hydrated.  Also, I feel full like my stomach is heavy with liquid, but also that I'm hungry for real food.  I don't think I'd rock a juice cleanse very well.  Although I'd be lying if I said I haven't been interested.  I usually lose interest when I see how much juicers cost.  Anyone have a juicer they aren't using they'd like to donate to my curious cause?  ;)  Needless to say, I'm looking forward to lunch!  A salad with shrimp!  Yum!  Review of this new recipe later (maybe...  Just found out we're hosting lifegroup tonight, so I may be intensely cleaning instead...).  Either way, have a great day!  :)

Dark Chocolate & Banana Smoothie

When we got back from vacation I didn't get back on the scale.  While the drive down there went well, once we were there we ate out a bunch and drank and I knew the calories were adding up, but on "vacation mode" I didn't care.  When I finally got back on the scale it said 150.0.  Ugh!  I'm still frustrated with myself.  Up 3.6 lbs from when we left.  Anyway, thinking positive, I got down to 133.4 before and I WILL get there, and lower, again.  This morning I was at 149.2, little by little...  Michael and I stayed up to late watching the office last night, and didn't fall asleep until around midnight, so getting up early to make his breakfast didn't happen.  Bad wife, party of one.  However, I think he dodged a bullet by letting me try this recipe first.  That's right, this isn't a rave review of a recipe.   :P  I've attached a picture of the recipe (I'm trying the other one later this week), but it needs some alterations.  For the record, I've successfully made several different smoothies, but this one didn't do it for me.  When I make it for Michael tomorrow I'll make the following changes:
-Less spinach
-Fewer Chai seeds
-Add 1 packet Stevia sweetener
I was seriously chewing this smoothie with all the spinach and Chai seeds.  I ended up adding Stevia to mine to stomach it, I'll definitely make sure to add it to Michael's version.  Now, in defense of the recipe, I am using green bananas because we went shopping yesterday and they haven't ripened up yet, so they aren't as sweet, so maybe the recipe would have been better with ripe bananas, but since the sweetness wasn't the only issue, I doubt it.  Needless to say, I won't be making this recipe again.  But, it did what it was supposed to and it nourished me, so at least there's that.  Better luck next time.  :\

An Apology for the Negativity

Good Morning, Friends!  Sorry for the negativity the last couple days.  Not what I wanted for  January.  Michael and I are reading a book, Love and Respect, together on Wednesday nights while the kids are in Kids Connect at church, before choir.  Last night as we were reading Michael said he thinks of my mood as peaks and valleys.  I get super excited about things, but I also get super down and upset about things, there are times I've considered seeing a professional or getting on medication to normalize my mood a bit more, especially the valleys.  Michael, on the other hand, is more even keeled, he may get a little excited or a little bummed, but for the most part his emotional range isn't as great as mine, for better or worse.  I think this also can be applied to our introvert/extrovert personalities and our tendencies for spontaneity.  I'm extroverted and love to be spontaneous.  Often these qualities come across as good things...  I like being around people, I feel energized by going out, being with people, hosting people.  I like do things spur of the moment, like buying a dog or a grill, I tend to act first and think later.  Michael, my introvert, my anti- spontaneous husband, is the exact opposite.  He thinks about things to the point that I think he over thinks them, he recharges by being home in the quiet, large social gatherings make him anxious, and aren't fun.  The amazing thing is that we check and balance each other.  Michael keeps me grounded when I get too excited or upset, and I get him, occasionally, to act on impulse and figure out the details later.  Tuesday was a good day to have Michael to balance me.  I was frustrated because the basement had a bunch of pee spots and smelled horrible, well, maybe frustrated isn't the right word.  I was furious.  I was crying.  I was discouraged and felt like a horrible housekeeper and pet owner.  I felt like I couldn't do anything right and our house would forever stink because I couldn't handle my job as the person in charge of our home.  I angrily saturated the floor in baking soda and vinegar until they ran out, then I measured the stairs and entire basement living room to get a price to recarpet.  I told Michael I wanted to get rid of the dogs.  He told me no.  I continued being upset, but with no more cleaning supplies I just cried and felt like a failure for hours.  Can you see yet the range of emotion I'm capable of?  When Michael got off work he went to Lowe's where he bought a black light.  Then he spent the entire evening cleaning spots, vacuuming the basement, and steam cleaning the basement.  Acts of Service, anyone??  He called me down and took care of things because I was so emotional I wasn't going to be of any use.  That's what life's like when you're married to me.  Bless my amazing husband for putting up with me.  So like I said, usually my extroverted and spontaneous tendencies are positive, but Tuesday it was good having Michael to calm and balance me.  I love him a lot, possibly in a way he's not able to feel for me based on the ways each of us feel emotion, but he loves me more than anyone else and that's amazing.  So anyway, sorry for being negative, I'll try to do better.  :\

Feeling Better

Well I spent a lot of time and 5 full sized towels working on the basement.  Then I ran out of vinegar and baking soda.  I was fed up and cranky, as you can tell from yesterday's post.  Michael got a black light on the way home and went to work on the basement.  He treated areas, let them dry, vacuumed, and steam cleaned the basement last night.  The basement smells much better now thanks to all the work we did last night.  Hopefully things stay clean for a while.  Michael and I are a little bitter towards the dogs now and they were both kenneled all night long.  Harlee started howling before 7am, so I got up and let her and Gabby out, but have no intention of letting them back in any time soon to mess up the basement.  So she's standing outside staring into the house howling at me.  Enjoy the cold and stop peeing on my floor ya dumb dog!  At least they aren't at the pound this morning...

Tough Choices

Vacation is over and reality is smacking me in the face upon my return.  Came home to a basement that REEKS of dog pee.  Felt the carpet, wet, but not soaked or warm, ie: it's been there a day or two without being sopped up.  I am at my wits end.  I hate that my house smells.  I hate that my dogs won't stop peeing on my carpet.  I hate that I spend hours upon hours trying to clean up these messes and get rid of the smell.  I am ready to get rid of my dogs and replace the carpet.  I am so over it all.  I used up all my vinegar and baking soda trying to clean up at least a dozen new urine spots in my basement with several left untreated.  I am on the verge of just sobbing.  I just can't take it anymore.

Sometimes You Just Need Chinese!

That's right, Friends, I ate Chinese food for lunch, and it was delicious!  Was it extremely healthy, probably not.  Did it taste good?  Absolutely!  I tried to exercise moderation and good choices as best I could considering what I was eating.  I scooped 5 or 6 tablespoons of chicken fried rice into my bowl, 5 pieces of sesame chicken, and 1/2 an egg roll.  I also grabbed all the broccoli that I found in the container, but as I was loading it into my bowl I thought it probably wasn't any good for my considering it was dripping in sauce, so I put back one of the pieces of chicken.  Best I could do.  I also snacked on some of Mama's veggie straws while I was in the kitchen after turning laundry (I've said before that Chinese food and snacks are my kryptonite).  I don't know how many calories the Chinese cost me, but the veggie straws were about 130.  Overall, I still think my day is going pretty well.  :)  We're off to Overland Park in the next half hour or so, I think we'll hit Ikea since Michael has never been there, then go to Nick and Maggie's just before bed, then back up bright and early to head to Minnesota!  More on that later!  ;)

Another Day Another Breakfast

Good Afternoon, Friends!  My times are going to be a little thrown off today because I have been getting everything ready for Michael and I to leave for Minnesota!  Tonight we're headed to Overland Park to stay with Michael's brother and sister-in-law, and tomorrow morning we'll drive up to Minneapolis to visit Nate!  I'm so excited!  Well, because I've been packing bags and packing things into the car, taking Dayton to and from school, and shopping for the last few items on my list, I haven't been sticking to the traditional time frames for meals.  (Another thing I wouldn't recommend, but sometimes life happens and you just have to roll with it.)  I didn't get my breakfast eaten until after 10 this morning.  So now it's 1pm and I'm not even relatively hungry for lunch.  *sigh*  So much for keeping normal food hours today!  Anyway, I told you yesterday that my breakfast was pretty standard for me.  I decided I'd show you my breakfast again today and you can see how similar they are and compare one day to another.

Today for breakfast I had a veggie and cheese omelette.  This is a go-to for me for breakfast or lunch because it's chalk full of veggies and the protein in the eggs keeps me full until lunch.  First I sautéed 1/4 of a yellow bell pepper, 1 green onion (I ran out of regular onions somehow, this nearly never happens here, I usually always have 1-2 lbs in mixed colors on hand), and 1/2 of a zucchini.  I estimate the calories for my veggies at about 35, they are also loaded with Vitamin C!  Fulfilling 170% of my daily needs!  Score!  No colds for me!  *knock on wood*  Here's all my breakfast ingredients:
Veggies - 35 cal
Egg x 2 - 140 cal (175 total)
Milk - 10 (185)
Cheese - 45 (230)
Toast - 45 (275)
Butter - 30 (305)

So that's my breakfast.  I sautéed my veggies first, then removed them and cooked my eggs in the same pan.  I added the veggies once the eggs were basically done and added cheese to the top before folding the omelette in half.  I love this meal because I can use up random veggies I have left over in my fridge.  :)

Love to chat more, but I have laundry to fold and finish and more cleaning to do before it's time to go.  Only 1 hour until naptime!  Glad my Mama is here helping today!  :D  Toodles!

Throwing Mud at the Wall

See What Sticks.

This was a phrase I used a lot with cooperating teachers while I was teaching.  We used it to describe behavior management techniques, comprehension strategies, even seating arrangements.  Today I used this phrase to describe what has become a daily (often twice daily) battle of wills at bedtime when my children are supposed to be going to sleep.  I feel like we have been fighting this battle for years, and when I think back, Avery was probably the same age Connor is or younger when these battles started, so I think I really HAVE been doing this for years.  My children refuse to go to sleep at night.  Little terrors will stay in their rooms just long enough to make Michael and I go to bed, and then, once we're comfy and cozy, they'll sneak out and play until all hours of the night.  Often we hear them, sometimes we go back and scold them and redirect them back to bed, occasionally we just ignore it and hope they don't destroy too much.  (So I guess we get what's coming to us when they really do...)  Their favorite activity is pulling the drain up in their bathroom sink, filling the sink with water, squeezing new tubes of toothpaste into the watery mess, pumping hand soap into the brew, sometimes conditioner is handy and they throw that in for good measure, then they use their solution to either brush their teeth, clean their toys, wet washcloths, hand towels, or regular towels (for costumes, of course), or simply to drip and splash all over the bathroom.  Needless to say, this has happened several times and Mommy isn't ever very happy about it.  But that's not the point of this post.  We are still trying to find the best method of keeping our kids in their beds at night.  The last week or so I have taken to sitting on the floor in Avery's room telling her to close her eyes every time she peeks until she finally falls asleep.  Without Avery leading the charge, Connor goes to sleep rather quickly in his own room.  This worked for a while, but Avery has gotten good at looking and activity like she's asleep so I leave, and soon she and Connor are playing again.  Often, when I leave assuming she's asleep, I believe Connor has already fallen asleep, but when she sees the cost is clear, I think she goes to his room and wakes him up to play with her.  They play more cooperatively together after 9pm than any other time of day.  Before we've tried locking them in their rooms (so we can get in but they can't get out), threats, bribery, routines, nothing seems to work.  So today I'm trying something new, another form of bribery, but tweaked a little.  I did something like this during their nap times when they were little, but tonight I decided to pull it out of my bag, dust it off, and give it another shot.  I put 5 m&m's in two bowls.  A pink bowl for Avery, a green bowl for Connor.  And I told them I was setting a timer for 30 minutes.  I warned them that every time they even opened their bedroom doors, I would eat one of their pieces of candy.  My hope is that in the 30 minutes of quiet, they'll fall asleep without getting a sugar rush right before bed.  ;)  Of course, I'm good for my word.  If they stay in, I'll take their candy into their rooms, even if they're asleep.  And if they're not, they'll still get the candy, because they earned it, and tomorrow night we'll try 35 minutes (although we won't technically be here tomorrow, so Monday night).  Right now they have 10 minutes left.  I haven't heard Avery in a while but Connor is still talking to himself.  Neither of them has stepped foot out of his or her room.  I'm pretty impressed!  Here's hoping that with this quiet time, even if they aren't totally asleep, they'll fall asleep quickly after their reward.  Wish me luck!  How much could 5 little m&m's hurt, right???  ;)  Night all!

Dinner

Good Evening, Friends!  Thought I'd finish today by telling you about my dinner and my total calories for the day.  Today has been pretty standard as far as the types of food I usually eat.  Some days I snack more, some days I have a heavier lunch and dinner (today my dinner was kind of light), some days I have to make good, low cal choices throughout the day because I'm eating out in the evening (and I might not know how many calories I end up eating while I'm out).  Every day is a little different, I just have to be conscientious of what I'm eating and be careful not to go overboard.  Here's how my food day ended.

Between lunch and dinner I had another cup of coffee (35 cal total).  For dinner I had a grilled turkey and cheese sandwich (approximately 310 cal total).  So let's total it all up...
Breakfast - 250
Morning Snack - 60 (310 total)
Lunch - 450 (760)
Afternoon Snack - 35 (795)
Dinner - 310 (1105)

As you can see, I didn't quite get to my 1200 calories today.  I consider anything from 1100-1300 to be a good day.  But I wanted to see where my total was before I indulged in a little dessert.  ;)  So now that I know I'm under, I'm going to enjoy the last Ding Dong in the box in the cabinet!  :D

Welp.  I take that back.  I made the mistake of looking at the back of the box.  I thought it was going to be about 150 calories, but turns out it's over 300!  So I decided I better not.  :\  Rats.  Darn good choices.  :P  Oh well.  Another time.  :)  Hope you guys had a good day and made good food choices.  Wish you all the best on your health goals in 2017!

Average Lunch

Good Afternoon, Friends!  I thought I'd continue what I started this morning showing what a typical food day looks like for me.  For lunch today I had leftovers of dinner from last night.  I do this for a couple reasons.
1- Food doesn't sit in my fridge long enough to go bad.
2- It's quick.
3- It's easy for Michael to grab leftovers out of the fridge and take to work, then I don't have to get quite as many meals prepared throughout the week.

Last night for dinner I went out with a friend, so I didn't actually eat this for dinner.  Instead, I ate a healthy grilled shrimp salad from Applebees (370 cal!  Woot!).  But this is what Michael and the kids had and there were leftovers for lunch today.

When I started changing the way I ate and prepared my food I measured and weighed my food to know the exact amount of calories I was ingesting.  I also used MyFitnessPal to log everything.  I highly recommend these two strategies to anyone starting to change the way they eat in order to lose weight.  It keeps you a lot more accountable when you can see how many calories are associated with every last thing you eat.  That being said, I've been at this for a year and a half and I don't keep as careful track anymore.  So I can't give you the EXACT calories that my lunch was today.  :\  Sorry.  But I ran some numbers into MyFitnessPal and I estimate the meal to be about 450 calories(ish).

Lunch:
Baked Chicken Parmesean
Buttered Brussel Sprouts
Whole Wheat Angel Hair Spaghetti

Again, sorry that I didn't weigh and measure everything to get you exact numbers.  If this meal looks good to you I recommend both recipes!  Try them out!

Have you checked out those calorie calculators yet?  Read my breakfast tips post from this morning and check them out!  (Links included!)

Healthy Breakfast Tips

Good Morning, Friends!  I ended up talking to two fairly random people about food and dieting yesterday and thought maybe I should begin blogging about such things again.  :)

I've referenced MyFitnessPal and their blog several times before, but one article really sticks in my mind for breakfast tips.  I remember reading this article shortly before I began eating healthier and it shaped the way I planned my meals over the last year and a half.  I was surprised to read that I wasn't eating enough and needed to eat more for breakfast.  Instead of trying to stay between 100 and 200 calories, I now aim for 300-400.  It sounds strange, but you really won't lose weight well if you eat too little.  I find my weight loss is at it's best when I eat right at 1200 calories/day, not much more or much less. 

This is the number that works best for me, but is not necessarily the number that works for you, be sure to consult calorie calculators like this one or this one or this one to find appropriate, healthy calorie ranges.  I like to consult at least three different calculators and average the results to find a number to stick to.  Your weight loss will be the best when you're eating just the right amount for your body.  You have to consider your activity level, starting weight, and how much you want to lose weekly.  Please do it the healthy way.  :)

Here's what I ate for breakfast today, which is a fairly regular breakfast for me.  I was under the 25-30% mark, so not long after I finished I ate a couple mandarin oranges to get my breakfast calorie total up.  I wholeheartedly believe (from experience) that one of the keys to healthy, safe weight loss is not skipping meals.  Eat every few hours to keep your metabolism going throughout the day.  Long periods without actually slow your metabolism which isn't going to help you in the long or short term.  Once again, do it the healthy way.

Breakfast:
Egg x 2 - 140 cal
Toast - 45 cal
Butter - 30 cal
Coffee - 5 cal
Creamer - 30 cal
Stevia - 0 cal

Total - 250 cal
Again, I added a couple mandarin oranges to get up to 310 cal for breakfast.  Surprisingly, I feel stuffed!  That will help me make it to lunch and not snack between now and then (when I get in trouble and forget to make healthy choices).

What did you have for breakfast this morning?  Was it 25-30% of your daily caloric needs?  Take some time today to try the caloric calculators and determine exactly how many calories are going to help you optimize your weight loss.  Try hitting that number exactly for a week and see how your weight loss goes.  :)  Happy Wednesday!

Relaxing Morning and Breakfast in Bed!

Everyone who knows my husband knows that he's a pretty amazing guy.  He takes good care of me and the kids and does a great deal to make sure we're all healthy and happy.  Today he went out of his way to make my morning great!  We don't have any plans for this weekend, so I didn't get in a big hurry to get up and out of bed this morning.  When the kids got tired of snuggling in our bed and started getting rowdy, Michael got up with them and took them out of our room so I could rest some more, something he does on a semi-regular basis on the weekends.  After some rest and checking my various social media accounts, Michael came back into our room with my new tray he got me for Christmas!  It's a serving tray with fold out legs that also works for breakfast in bed!  He had made me an egg sandwich, bacon, yogurt, and milk!  Later he came back with coffee too!  Complete with whipped cream and caramel drizzled on top in my new "Don't let the muggles get you down" mug that I got from Sis for Christmas (a few days late because it didn't come in in time).  The coffee was the eggnog flavored coffee that I also got from Sis!  It just tasted creamy with some additional spices, don't be freaked out by the eggnog coffee thing.  ;)  What a pleasant way to start my day!  And, to make it even better, when I finished my coffee I noticed words at the bottom on my cup.  My sister got me an even cooler cup than I initially realized!!!  The words at the bottom of my cup said, "You've just been poisoned".  I absolutely love it!  Needless to say, I'm having a pretty splendid day full of fun surprises!  I'm hoping Michael and I will get a chance to spend a good chunk of the day playing board games, but I think he's going to watch some of his new Star Wars movies (he got all 6 for his birthday).  We watched episode 1 last night before bed, it was the first time I'd ever seen it!  Hope you're all having a nice Saturday as well!

Love and Peace,
Jen

Resolutions Revisited

130 by 30

That's the goal, here's how the first week has gone: AMAZING!
-Down 4.6 lbs (water weight melts off at the beginning really easy, but I'll take what I can get)
-Went down each day this week except one (where I stayed the same as the day before)
-Continued to go down despite going out to dinner and dessert with Michelle, having cake and ice cream for Michael's birthday, and going out to dinner for Michael's birthday
-Under 150 again!  (Started at 151.4 on Dec. 31, now at 146.8 on Jan. 7)
-Only 16.8 lbs to go!  Exactly 3 months to get it done, need to average 5.6 lbs/month or 1.4 lbs/week
-Feeling a little thinner when I look in the mirror
-Not snacking as often
-Not drinking as much coffee
-Thinking positive (which is easy when the weight is coming off quickly and easily), January's Health Goal

As exciting as it is to give such a great report this week, I need to be realistic with myself and know that these types of results are limited to the first 7-10 days and I will see a leveling off in the weight loss to more reasonable numbers each week.  However, I do love the rapid water weight loss to give me motivation and excitement to keep going.  :)  Next week I would expect to see 2-3 lbs lost, and following that I would expect 0.5-2 lbs lost each week (if I stick to my appropriate calorie allotment).

Challenges coming up...

Next weekend we're going to Minnesota to visit Nate, that will be a decent amount of eating out plus "vacation" mindset.  Michael and I have already discussed a few ideas to help with road trip weight gain.  We talked about packing healthy snacks for the car, not just junk like we usually do: carrots, apples, tangerines, celery with peanut butter and raisens, babybel cheese, yogurt, beef jerkey, and granola.  I've gone out twice this week and still managed to lose weight, so choosing the right menu items will also be key.  I think being out and about will help as well.  I tend to snack a lot at home because I'm home all day and it's convenient.  I think not having snacks readily available (or only healthy ones) will be good.  The trip is really my biggest challenge coming up, I got through Michael's birthday week fine and the rest of January should be fairly easy.  I'm going out to dinner with Nate's girlfriend, Kaydee, who lives here in Wichita on Tuesday.  But after being successful at two dinners out in the last week, I'm feeling confident in my restraint and healthy choices.  Still, I'm going to try to gear us towards a healthier restaurant and check the menu ahead of time for a good healthy option.  :)

Hope you all have had a good first week in the new year!  Stay tuned for another post soon featuring a couple new Christmas presents and my relaxing morning.  :)

Happy Birthday, Michael!!!

Today is my sweet hubby's birthday!!  I love him sooooo much!!!  He is an amazing husband, a wonderful dad, and the best partner in life.  Today he turns 29, the last year of his twenties.  For a few months we're the same age.  ;)  Today is also the day we met, TEN YEARS AGO!!  It's hard to believe we've been a part of each other's lives for so long, but time flies by when you're with the one you love.  Michael's celebration is getting spread over a couple of days.  Yesterday he got free Starbucks for his birthday, I took it to him at work.  I baked his birthday (cup)cake yesterday afternoon and we had cake and ice cream after dinner with the kids.  This morning I got up early and made him pancakes for breakfast!  I tried to make the number 29, but totally failed.  There's a reason Michael is the birthday pancake maker in our family.  ;)  He appreciate the thought at least.  Tonight Michael and I are going out to dinner and the kids and I have a few presents for him.  It's not as much fuss as I usually like to make over someone's birthday, but that's why I made sure to do it up right in July when I surprised him with a half birthday celebration.  ;)  I love him so much and wish him the happiest birthday!  Make sure you wish him one too!

"Getting my 'dad' on"

My dorky husband just got up out of bed and tucked his t-shirt into his sweatpants.  I laughed and asked what he was doing.  He said, "Isn't it obvious?  I'm getting my 'dad' on!"  Then he laughed and went to send the kids to bed.  :P  What a nerd.  ;)  Hope he ends up having a wonderful birthday tomorrow!  :)

New Year's Resolutions

Good morning, Friends!  Hope 2017 is finding you all well.  I figured I'd get on here and share my New Year's Resolutions in order to keep myself just a little bit accountable or to have record that I made resolutions at all so I have something to look back on next year to assess my progress.

First off, on New Year's Eve, Michael and I wrote down several different goals and changes we wanted to make in our lives.  We focused on health goals and financial goals, choosing a new aspect to focus on each month (ideally building on the month before).  In January our health goal is to "Think Positive."  We both have some weight that we want to lose.  We went up a bit (over 15 lbs in my case) over the fall and winter and want to get back down to those ideal Spring and Summer weights and bodies.  However, starting to really hit a diet hard (especially in January) can be rough sometimes.  It's easy to get down on ourselves.  So this month we're being positive about our accomplishments, what we're already happy about, and where we're going from here.  Of course, making some dietary changes like more water and less snacking has been helping our weight and therefore making us more positive and hopeful for the journey ahead, but even in the times when our weight plateaus or we snack a day and end up going up a bit the next day, we're looking for positives each day.  Even if it's something as simple as the scale stayed the same but I look skinnier to me or my jeans fit a little better, that's positive.  Even if it's, the scale went up, but when I went out to eat with my friend I ate a salad, drank water, and did my best to make good choices, that's positive.  So in January we're not putting a big, strict goal on ourselves, we just want to start the year off in the right mindset.

Our financial goal for January is to sit down and assess our financial situation.  After the holidays things always seem to be a bit tighter.  Fortunately, we're be doing our taxes soon, and that usually ends up with a decent tax return.  We'll have taxes to pay for converting my KPERS to a Roth IRA, but we should still end up with a decent return.  Also, Michael and I are considering diversifying our retirement contributions, especially in June when Michael is due for his next raise.  Up until this point we've added more money to his 401k contributions at work.  Between what he's putting in and the company is matching, he's got 13% each month going to his 401k.  However, the company is only matching (1/2%) his first 6%.  So he's putting in an extra 4% each month that's not being matched.  While that's all fine and good, we're considering putting his next raise elsewhere.  Our guy at Edward Jones is great!  He's managing portfolios for Avery, Connor, and, like I said, a small Roth IRA for me from my couple years of teaching.  Depending on how big Michael's raise is in June, we'd like to put another 3-5% per month into another account with Frank to mix things up and diversify our retirement accounts a bit more.  Along with all those long term plans, Michael and I want to sit down and take a look at where all our money is going each month.  We live fairly frugally, but there are places we could cut back to keep our savings growing and keep our monthly bills from being so tight.  So that is another goal of ours this month, to assess where we are and plan where we can make changes to better our financial health.

Finally, I told Michael yesterday, if I narrowed my New Year's Resolutions down to one item, it would be: 130 by 30.  As I mentioned before, I put on weight over the fall and winter.  During the spring and summer months I stayed around 135 lbs, give or take a couple pounds.  September was a particularly bad food month when I went up nearly 10 lbs and then continued to trend up through the end of the year.  The last day of 2016 I was at (basically) an all year high for my weight.  In December I went over 150 for the first time in all of 2016.
**Sidenote: 150 was what I weighed when I got pregnant with Avery, so even at my highest for the year, I was at or below my pre-pregnancy weight.  So as far as thinking positive goes, even though I'm up, I'm still healthier than I was 5 years ago so I think that's a good thing.
Since 2017 has begun, Michael and I have tried to eat healthier.  I pulled out recipes from my healthy recipe binder that we already had the ingredients (or most of them) for, so we only spent $30 in groceries this week.  Today is only the 4th of January, but I'm happy to report that I am down 2.6 lbs!  I have 18.8 lbs to go, but I am trending down and have been every day so far.  Some days I go down as little as 0.2 lbs, today I was down 1.2 lbs.  I was especially excited this morning, because I went out to dinner (and dessert) with my good friend Michelle last night.  Making healthy choices when I go out to eat is a struggle for me, but I did it yesterday!  I ate soup and salad and they only cost $7!  Then, when we went to a hipster bakery for dessert afterwards, I only ate a little of my brownie and brought the rest home to Michael.  I was THRILLED when I got on the scale this morning and saw a number in the 140's for the first time of 2017!

Anyway, back to my resolution...  I turn 30 in a hair over 3 months.  It's a steep weight loss goal, but I would like to weigh 130 (or less) when I turn 30.  In June of 2016 I weighed the lowest of the entire year at 133.4.  My goal was 130 lbs and I want supposed to get my new clothes until I reached it, but we were going to Kansas City and I was almost there, so I went ahead and went on my shopping spree.  This year I'd like to hit that goal that I set for myself in June 2015, to get all the way down to 130 lbs. We'll see how it goes.  At the very least I'd like to hit 130 this year, but if I could do it by April 7th, that would be tremendous!  Time will tell.  2017 has started off well, I just hope I can continue to build on that momentum.

So those are my biggest goals for this year.  Pretty standard as far as resolutions go.  Stay tuned each month as I discuss different health and financial focus points each month this year.  February is a dual month, our health goal is the same as our financial goal, no eating out.  That means we'll be having date night in for Valentine's Day, but we're looking forward to these different goals each month and to see how they improve our health and our finances.  :)  Thanks for reading!  More later!  Love ya!
-Jen

Last Day Off :(

Well, my friends, the holiday season is at a close.  My favorite time of the year is over.  The best part of the year that I wait all year for is gone and the bleak winter is all that's left.  *sad face*

Today has been great!  Michael got the day off for New Years and we all enjoyed a nice quiet day at home together.  I'll have one more day "off" with kids tomorrow before Dayton starts school again.  It's been nice to spend the days at home without having to run to the school a couple times a day.  Oh well, summer will be here before I know it and then we'll be at home for the days again.  :)

With the holidays over, our regular craziness starts up again.  Mondays are gymnastics, Wednesdays are Kids Connect and choir at church, Thursdays are Life Group, and Sundays are church.  Then we try to fit in everything else in the spaces.  Craziness!

I'm having drinks with one of my oldest friends, Michelle, tomorrow!  Michael's birthday is on Thursday!  We're going to visit Nate, in Minnesota, in a week and a half!  And on the 18th Michael and I will celebrate 10 years together!  January is going to be plenty busy!

Hope you all are looking forward to a nice January as well!  Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Good Morning, Friends!  It's almost an hour into 2017 and I'm feeling optimistic and hopeful and thought since I'm not quite ready to sleep I'd blog a moment.

I wish you all happiness in 2017.  I wish you peace and love and joy.  I hope that you treat others with kindness the same way you'd want them to treat you and those you love.  I pray that we all give each other ample grace and patience and mercy this year.  I want everyone to give their beat and show their best and put their best foot forward.  I hope everyone rises to the occasion and this year is awesome!

I haven't been looking forward to this year for the last couple of months, but I hope that 2017 proves me wrong. 

I am looking forward to a few things this year, though!  In just a couple weeks Michael and I are going to Minnesota to see Nate!  It's been about 6 months since we've seen him and we miss him terribly.  We're excited to go see him finally!  Michael and I are planning a family vacation in March (if the dates work with our hostess) to Texas.  The kids did really well on our roadtrip to Colorado last spring, so we figure we'll push our luck and try for another family vacation this year.  In October Michael and I get to go back to Vegas for his biannual business trip!  So many fun trips to look forward to.

There's a lot more to look forward to that I'd love to talk more about, but Michael is tired and ready to turn the lights out, so I'm going to turn in.  Happy New Year, Everyone!  Love you!  Wishing you an awesome year!