Staycation

 Life is so funny.  I had this post all perfectly set up with my "plan" for our staycation week. All the fun things I was going to do, meals I was going to cook, etc.  HA! There is reason it never got published. 1) It was stupid and 2) It didn't happen.  What sense does it make to schedule you time off?  Our normal routine requires us to abide by a schedule each day and I just didn't want to do that. 

We kicked our staycation off with a pajama day last weekend. It was a rainy day which worked out beautifully. We played games, kids took long naps, and watched the World Cup. Go USA! We also bought a newer, bigger kiddie pool which the kids are loving.

During part of our staycation we participated in Vacation Bible School at our church.  It was awesome!  And because my church is just oh so amazing both of the kids were able to participate.  They each went to their respective classes and I was a leader for 3/4th grade. Fun was had by all. I will sorely miss the morning singing and dancing when I return to the office next week.  Maybe I can convince my grumpy co-workers to sing a few verses...ok probably not! :o(  Back to VBS, we were home each day by about 1PM which was past Leia's normal naptime.  It took a little convincing but I was able to get them laid down most days which allowed me to rest. 

After naps, we headed outside for outside time in the pool or playing in the yard.

And sure I did cook some but not every meal, my kids ate a packed lunch at church so really it was mostly dinner. Breakfast was cereal, cereal bars...gasp! Oh and one morning I did make chocolate chip pancakes.

So no fun playdates, no coordinated trips to local attractions just plain old living at our house. And I am so happy it turned out that way. I think the kids were too.

A day in my hometown

 

Yesterday, the kids and I went for an outing to Old Town Manassas. The town was hosting the Heritage Railway Festival.  Along with the festival, there were vendors, the regularly scheduled farmer's market, and tons of food vendors.  Honestly, leaving my house I wasn't really looking forward to going but Emory LOVES trains so I wanted to go for his sake if nothing else. Boy did my attitude change when we got there! We took time to explore the vendors and I found a vendor selling organic body products. The owners were there and more than happy to talk about their products, chat with the kids, etc.  For a crunchy mama like me, that was heaven.  I ended up picking up a few items though I wanted them all! I purchased the peppermint astringent spray, the natural deodorant, the tick repellent (good for dogs and people), and the bug spray.  I have been debating making these myself but these kind folks has them all ready to go for me.  We had a nice conversation about natural deodorant which I can revisit in a later post. If you are interested, check them out at  http://easthamfarms.com/.

One of the other vendors was Whistle Stop Toy and Hobby (check them out on FB).  Again, the nicest people! More than willing to talk about the trains they were selling.  I made a on the spot decision that this precious boy that loves trains more than anything else would be allowed to get a train set that day. You should have see his face! He was so excited even though I told him we would have to wait until we left to pick it up.

After checking out the vendor row, we went to the farmer's market. We picked up some amazing summer veggies; beets, cabbage, kale, summer squash, onions and small potatoes.  Now we will have some great veggies to accompany our meals throughout the week. The best part was watching Emory picking out the veggies for me and Leia's excitement over the fresh kale. She is a addicted! We also stopped at a Mt. Crawford Creamery's tent selling milk. We talked about their milk and a little about the fact that Leia has to drink lactose free milk. At this point my cash was running low so we opted for the half gallon of chocolate milk (Hey, if I am going to have dairy mind as well go all the way!) but I know we will be back for the whole milk. http://www.mtcrawfordcreamery.com/index.html

Our final stop was under the big pavilion where the model trains were set up, there were amazing.   But what was more amazing was watching my sweet boy's face as he walked from each different set up.

Unfortunately, it was too crowded for us to eat in the town yesterday. We took our bags of goodies and headed back to the car to find a lunch spot. All of this fun activity right in my hometown. I felt good that our money was spent supporting local small businesses that care about relationships more than the dollar.

Whole30 turns into Real Food

So 8 days into June and I can say without fear that I stopped following the Whole 30.  It is great plan and has some many benefits but the extensive restrictions were making me stressed!  The whole idea was to do something for me to care for myself not be stressed.  That being said, I have not gone back the Standard American Diet either. I found such benefits from eliminating junk food, integrating more veggies, and planning my meals that I do not want to go back to the way it was before which was my ultimate plan. So I am creating my own lifestyle plan that I think will work with my life and accommodate cooking for our family as well.

1) Still limiting sugar. Nothing artificial for sure and no high fructose corn syrup.  For now, I am trying also limit things like agave, maple syrup, and honey.  In time out  of necessity this items may comeback into the plan.

2) No processed carbs. No white pasta, white rice, and only sprouted bread. I am still deciding about oatmeal. I love it so much but may abstain for a little longer.

3) Limited to no dairy

4) Legumes. I think beans on the whole are great for you but after eating lentils the other day the bloat was so obvious and painful. I am going to look at soaking and sprouting these items before eating.

5) Keep Moving!! I have worked out 4 times over the past 8 days and it feels great!

From just the past week and watching the things I put into my body, I have had more energy and less reliance on coffee! I am a little less grumpy too. The bloat is gone. I am also reassessing my views on food all together. From this few strong themes have emerged. 1) As a follower of Christ, I believe I was given this body by God and it is my responsibility to care for it well not abuse it. 2) I have become overly obsessed with food. 3) Eating well should not be hard. We are blessed to live in country with great access to a variety food and are far more wealthy than most of those around the world. I am keeping those around the world on my heart from now on as I make my food choices.

Sometimes taking things away as in a fast, can make you understand yourself better. The wheels are churning here people so stay tuned!

Whole30

For quite some time I have seen the postings of various people claiming the amazing difference they seen from taking on the challenge of the Whole 30 diet.  Of course the disclaimer is that it isn't really intended to be a diet in the traditional sense because the focus is not on weight loss. It is not intended to be a permanent way of eating either, you follow the rules for 30 days and then you start the process of reintroduction. The focus is on good quality meats, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and healthy fats.  No grains, legumes, or dairy. You limit processed ingredients in the sense of not eating things with multiple ingredients of the label but you can still use some canned and jarred products like olives, tuna, diced tomatoes, etc.  You may even partake in a emergency Lara Bar if needed.  So I am doing it!  I am tired of the energy zap I feel after a day at work and family.  Quite frankly most days my stomach is a bit of a wreck.  And overall my intake of junks has increased.  I worry about how that example impacts my kids and to a certain extent my husband.  But more importantly I am doing this for me. I love the section of on the Whole30 website that talks about owing it to yourself the whole 30 days.  It also talks about about it not being "hard." And the truth is, it is just food. Food that is intended to fuel your body not be an obsession, not something that impacts your healthy detrimentally.  To me this is not only a physical challenge but a spiritual one. I recently did a bible study on the book "Seven: an experimental mutiny against excess" which takes you through a series of fasts including food which is the area I stunk at the most. I will be using some of the tools learned through that study to help me through.

Here are few things I am hoping to get out of this 30 days:

1) Better eating habits...duh :o)
2) More energy, particularly stopping the crashes at  2:30 and 8:00pm.
3) A more regularly digestive system (less bloat, gas, and irritable bowels)
4) A reset of my taste buds. I really love good food but I also like cheese fries, Dr. Pepper, chips...you get the idea
5) More recipes ideas
6) To get my littles and Nick (shhhh don't tell him) to eat better. Luckily for me Leia is more than on board with this plan. She loves salads, fruits, etc. Just the other day she was dancing for a kale salad...no joke!

I spent some time over the last few days stocking and meal planning for the week. I am have tons of produce and a well stocked meat supply. I also am lucky to have a sweet friend who is taking on this challenge with me. It will be nice to share our meal ideas, frustrations, etc.

So here we go, this Puerto Rican girl who was brought up on beans and white rice is avoiding those along with dairy for 30 days.