Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Whole30 Day 24

Just another day.  Nothing exciting.  I was up most of the night last night with a coughing bug and I REALLY wanted some yummy coffee this morning.  Black coffee just didn't cut it.  I'm not sure why anyone chooses to drink it black.  Blech!  So I had about a half a cup of black - because I really needed the caffeine to function.  I don't use a lot of creamer in my coffee but sheesh, really.  Black is just BLECH!

Breakfast was the usual eggs and almonds.  Fruit for a mid morning snack.  Lunch was some tomatoes and mustard wrapped in turkey meat, fruit and more sweet potato chips with guac.  

 {lunch}

I've had this little things before, and buggy really enjoys them, but I saw them again at the store and snagged some up.  Basically just all natural applesauce with some cinnamon.  Yummy.  A good sweet snack that is nothing but healthy!

 {yummy snack}

{nothing but good-for-you-stuff in here}

I wasn't too hungry at dinner time, I think mostly because I am so ridiculously tired.  So I had some fruit, painted a bit more of Bug's rocking chair and am now heading to bed.  I really missed some flavored coffee today.  And I think I'll just try some almond milk after Whole30 - I don't need a lot, just a little flavor.  Well either that or to NOT have to get up at the butt-crack of dawn and go to work.  And since that doesn't look like it's gonna happen anytime soon, this girl needs some cream in her coffee!
24 down, 6 to go!!

Monday, January 30, 2012

Whole30 Day 23

Just.Another.Manic.Monday

I dislike Mondays very much.  They always come too soon and always drag on and on.  Monday should be a day off.  If I had any power in anything I would change Mondays to a day off.  Ok so enough of my Monday rant.  Not too much going on Paleo wise.  Eggs and almonds for breakfast - weekdays that's really all I have time for.  Lunch was a salad and some fruit.  Dinner was grilled chicken, veggies and sweet potato chips with guac.  I did take a picture since I have been so slack about that lately!
{dinner - grilled chicken marinated in homemade citrus vinaigrette, veggies, sweet potato chips & guac.  looking at this picture can you tell i had been craving the chips ALL day!?}

23 down, 7 to go!!!

Laundry 'Room' Paint

I want to document all of the before's and after's at the new house and in a past post I stated that the first room to be painted was the dining room.  I was incorrect.  I totally forgot that I had painted the laundry 'room' back before we had officially moved all the stuff in.  I came across some pictures of it before and remembered I hadn't documented the change.  So here goes!

 {before}

 {after}

I had a pint of paint in a creamy coffee color (I'm not sure where it even came from) and I thought it would warm up this space a little bit.  I definitely had to eek out the last bit of the pint to finish the room but I did it.  I'd still like to get rid of that icky white plastic shelf but until I can this will do!  I just hide some of the not-so-pretty things in pretty baskets!

 

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Whole30 Day 22

Today was just so so.  I'm really craving some pizza.  Good old fashioned cheesy, greasy pizza.  Even before Whole30 pizza wasn't on the menu very often.  Because I know it is truly terrible for you.  Every now and then we indulge though.  Other than that craving I did ok.  Eggs and some fruit for breakfast.  And the rest of the day I mostly just snacked.

I spent ALL day painting Buggy's room, painting a few items to go in her room and patching the 1,000's of holes (this is NOT an exaggeration!)  The previous owners must have been picture/shelf hanging happy because there were seriously 1,000's of holes to patch - and that was just in Bug's room.  I can't even begin to describe the playroom where there are about double that!  But needless to say when I get in the zone of getting things done I tend not to stop to eat anything that takes a lot of time.  So just mostly snacking.

Go figure since I was bragging a few posts back about not having any headaches that I go ahead and get one today. It is possible though that I may just have inhaled too many paint fumes and that is where the headache originated from.  I still have it now although it's not quite as bad as it was earlier.  I'm not going to take anything for it unless it gets REALLY bad.  I want to see if it's just the paint or maybe my streak of no headaches is over.  We shall see.

Onto another work week.  Blech.  I hate that Mondays come back so quickly.  I have too much to do at home right now to be bothered with work.  Seriously.

22 down, 8 to go!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Whole30 Day 21

A good day indeed.  I woke up feeling not too hungry, which so far this the first day that I have woken up not hungry.  Most mornings I'm definitely ready to eat when I get up!  So breakfast was a fruit smoothie with coconut milk.  It was yummy and kept me satisfied until lunch!  Oh and lunch.  Leftover Plaza salad.  SO good!

 {lunch - see i told you there was a lot of chicken on this salad!}

On to the most exciting part of the day!!  Dinner was the highlight of my day!  We had dinner tonight with new friends.  Although I did not technically meet Jennifer through our blogs (I know her hubby through work) I feel like we've gotten to know each other so much through our blogs! Jennifer is the author of The Offbeat Housewife.  Through reading her blog and talking to her husband I knew Jennifer and I had tons in common and it seemed only logical to meet up and see what happened.  For anyone who knows me at all you know I am extremely shy and have a VERY hard time with meeting new people and being myself and comfortable with them.  Not the case at all with Jennifer.  Because we have written a bit on Facebook and I have read her blog and she has read mine, it was almost as if we have been friends for a long time and just hadn't seen each other in a while.  I was able to be myself and we had lots of great conversation!  Jennifer wants to cook healthy for her family so we talked a lot about Paleo and other healthy ways of living.  I absolutely LOVE that she went out of her way to cook a Whole30 friendly meal for me - and it was SUPER YUMMY!!  Not to mention her table was just GORGEOUS!!!  I am in awe of her creativity.  

 {dinner - grilled chicken & tomatoes marinated in homemade balsamic vinaigrette, steamed broccoli & a spinach & romaine salad with tomatoes, green apple, pecans & homemade citrus vinaigrette - oh and look how refreshing the citrus water looks - it was SO delish!} 

For 'dessert' we had a fruit salad of strawberries, blueberries, pineapple and kiwi.  By far the best Whole30 meal so far!  I'm sure it helped to be in good company - company with which I hope to keep lots more in the future!

 {Jennifer's daughter Jessie & the Emma Bug enjoying each others company}

In other news - I started the painting process today of the stripes in Emma's room.  I knew this would take a while but I was reassured of this fact after starting.  Because I am painting over a color, two coats will be a MUST.  That darn drab pink shows through the new purple just enough to not look nice.  So I got the one corner done today.  Let's see how long the stripes will take - and then it's on to the top portion of the walls! 

21 down, 9 to go!

Friday, January 27, 2012

Whole30 Day 20

Yep so I wasn't getting sick.  Apparently I just needed some sleep.  Which I got last night in a great amount and woke up feeling a LOT better.  I mentioned in my earlier post today that I had some eggs and almonds for breakfast.  For lunch I got a grilled chicken salad minus the cheese from The Plaza.  So yummy and I hadn't had one in FOREVER.  It pretty much filled me up and I didn't eat much dinner.  Just some eggs.  It was so nice to have an appetite again!  I should have taken a picture of my salad - it's so good - and probably has at least 3 chicken breasts in it.  In fact it's so large I have some leftovers for lunch tomorrow.  Yum, yum.

Oh and since I haven't mentioned it in a while, I am still not having any headaches.  Not since Day 2 when I had the serious sugar withdrawal headache.   Since then, nada.  And I'm loving it.  Who would have thought I could go from headaches every day to none?!  I'm anxious to slowly re-introduce things into my diet to find the culprit - dairy, grain, sugar - whichever one is the bad guy you will be gone for good!! Life is so much better with out a headache!

20 down, 10 to go!

Buggy you're turning into a blueberry!

i.am.not.getting.sick!!!

oh no no i am not.  i slept from about 6:30p until moy usual 5:00a this morning and woke up feeling like a new person!  although i still don't feel extremely hungry, i was able to eat my usual egg and almonds this morning - Buggy wanted to share with me though so i maybe only ate 1/2 of an egg.  but better than yesterday for sure!

so in my not feeling well, icky, can't wat any food mood the last 2 days i forgot to mention a cute buggy-ism that occurred.  wednesday after i picked her up at school we stopped at Aldi to grab some fruit for the girls night i didn't get to attend.  :O(  i grabbed oranges, strawberries, apples, blueberries and 2 pineapples.  and lemme tell ya - the strawberries and pineapples were only 99 cents each!  thank you again Aldi for being so awesome to my budget!  ok now Bug was riding in the back of the cart and started munching on the blueberries.  then we checked out.  she wouldn't give up the blueberries.  then i'm putting the groceries in the back of the car and she said she wanted to have them with her.  so in the carseat they go with her (i know scary right, thinking of the stains that could have happened with blueberries inside the car in the control of a 2 year old!)

so as we are driving she is still munching.  i joking said - well dang looks like you're going to turn into a blueberry.  funny thing is about 5 minutes later she's saying 'all gone mommy' and handing me up the empty container of blueberries!  

picture proof:
{don't worry, we were stopped at a stop sign when i took this!}

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Whole 30 Day 19

Blech.  That pretty much sums it up. I woke up today feeling like I did throughout the night 2 nights ago.  I cannot get warm, feel like I haven't slept in days and don't feel quite right in my stomach.  All I have eaten today is a banana - and it was pushing it to get that down. 

It's 6:30 and I'm going to bed.  And I'm missing a girl's night.  :O( Boooooooo!

i.better.not.be.getting.sick!!!

19 days down, 11 to go!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Whole30 Day 18

Starting around 1am this morning I started get a sick to my stomach feeling.  Somewhat nauseous.  Needless to say I was up most of the night going to and from the bathroom (luckily it's not too far) just in case I needed it.  Not fun.  And led to an extremely exhausting day.  By mid afternoon I could hardly keep my eyes open.  I also felt very thirsty while I was up - oh and I never did actually get sick - so I drank a ton of water.  When I had to get up to face the day I woke up still feeling not quite right in my tummy and also very thirsty.  So no breakfast this morning.  Just a tall glass of cold water.  I packed a nice lunch of turkey, tomato and mustard roll ups but I never ate those either.  Instead I ate some grapes, an apple and some raisins and almonds.  I just wasn't ever hungry enough or feeling right in my tummy to eat them. 

By the time I got home from work I was hungry but not hungry - I know that makes no sense but it's the best way I know how to describe it!  Shawn made some swordfish that we found this past weekend on sale at Lowe's Foods and honestly I wasn't looking forward to it at all.  I figured any kind of fish would make me nauseous again. But I did eat it - and it wasn't fishy at all, more like chicken.  But of the picture below that's all I ate, well and a few pieces of broccoli.  It's all I could get down. 

 {dinner - swordfish, broccoli & almonds}

Even now as I type I feel very ick.  And exhausted from not sleeping much at all last night, and thirsty again.  Oh and I'm FREEZING!  So although it is not even 8p I am going to bed with Buggy.  (remember that 8 o'clock bedtime?!) 
2 more days until the weekend!

18 days down, 12 to go!

A 'tag-fest' and some blog love!

Anna at Caranci Chronicles tagged me for this fun little game.  And since I can’t pass up getting to know other bloggers even more than we already seem to know each other from our blogs, I happily oblige!  Here goes -

The Rules

1. You must post the rules. (and link up who tagged you)
2. Post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you've tagged.
4. Tag however many people you want
5. Let them know you've tagged them!

The Facts:

1.     My toenails are ALWAYS painted – they may not be the prettiest all the time but they are never ‘naked’
2.     I never thought I would be a mom, although always good with kids and the neighborhood ‘babysitter’ I just always thought of myself as a career woman.  Funny thing is now that I have both I want to be more of a stay at home mom that I do career woman.
3.     I LOVE LOVE LOVE to bake and decorate cakes – more decorate than bake – and I really wish I had more time to be at home and play around with different techniques.
4.     I love to read.  And pretty much any kind of book.  And once I start a book I won’t put it down until it’s finished!
5.     I like to express myself in the colors of my nail polish – I have every color you can think of!
6.     I am a ridiculously huge animal lover.  My dream is to have a house with LOTS of land so I can rescue animals that truly need it.  None would be turned down.
7.     I’m from Ohio.  Where it’s very cold and snowy and the roads are horrible to drive on.  I am a Cleveland Browns fan by default because of where I was born.
8.     I used to watch a lot of tv.  Now I prefer to read, blog or look at other blogs.
9.     I love getting dressed up fancy to go dancing.  I never do this anymore and I miss it. 
10.  I am a bit OCD.  Everything has a place and that is where it should be.  I am not content until it is there.
11.  I am a good friend when given the opportunity to be – I am extremely shy and therefore sometimes taken the wrong way but once I get to know someone you can clearly see the true me!



The Questions:
  1. Favorite pastime or hobby?  Watching Buggy play, I could kill hours doing this
2. Favorite vacation spot or dream vacation spot?  Paris, I’ve been there once in HS and would jump at the opportunity to go back.  Something about the city of love, hustle bustle yet also so peaceful
3. Favorite childhood memory?  Feeding the ducks with my Papa
4. What day would you say has been the best of your life so far and why?  Bug’s birthday.  Nothing tops that, and probably nothing ever will
5. Favorite movie quote?  “It won’t last forever, nothing does”
6. Favorite board or card game?  Cranium
7. What is a unique name you always wanted to name your child or pet?   I always wanted to name a daughter Starr – instead I named my Jack Russell Marlei Starr!
8. Favorite character from a book or movie and why?  Liz Gilbert from Eat.Pray.Love.  She takes a chance to find herself and creates wonderful memories and meets extraordinary people on her journey
9. Favorite place to shop?  A place like Friendly Center – I like being both outside and inside oh and Target of course!
10. Favorite fruit and veggie? Strawberries & Broccoli
11. What is something you have always wanted to do, either a hobby or a one-time thing that you haven't done yet?  I want a tattoo that stands for my Buggy.  I am just too chicken to deal with the pain. 
.

New Questions:
1. If you could do one thing different in your life what would it be?
2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
3. Favorite book and why?
4. What is your favorite smell?
5. If you had an extra hour in each day what would you do with it?
6. Favorite season?
7. Do you like watching movies in the theater or at home better and why?
8. What is your dream job?
9. If you had a million dollars how would you spend it?
10. What is the furthest you’ve lived from your original ‘home?’
11. Who is your best friend and why?

Who I tagged!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Whole30 Day 17

I'd describe this day as neutral - neither bad nor good.  No pictures again because I didn't eat anything new or exciting.  I did notice today that for the first time ever I'm not going through my day thinking of the 'goodies' I will get to eat or thinking how hungry I am.  I go through the day doing whatever it is I have to do and worry about eating only to fuel my body.  First time for that! 

I had some fingerprinting to do after work today at Shawn's work and since we were all in HP late and until we would have gotten home it would be hard to cook - we like to try and have Emma in bed by 8 - we stopped at East Coast Wings.  I had 10 plain wings.  I can't say how they were prepared of course but I did pretty well considering I LOVE the homemade chips there.  Normally in a similar situation a fast food chain would probably have been on the menu and I would have just eaten whatever was cheaper - and def NOT good in any way.  I know I could have done better than the wings (since I didn't prepare them myself) but I'm still proud of myself for having such good self control on the other items I so easily could have eaten while there.  

Breakfast was eggs and almonds and lunch was leftover walnut crusted chicken.  I snacked on some fruit and nuts throughout the day too.  Another thing I've noticed is that I'm not nearly as hungry as I have been.  The last few days I'm been pretty content all day. 

For today's workout I did 1/4 run 21 thruster 21 sumo deadlift high pull 1/4 run 15 thruster 15 SDHP 1/4 run 9 thruster 9 SDHP 1/4 run 3 thruster 3 SDHP.  I completed the whole thing in just shy of 16 minutes.  This to me seemed really quick.  I've been getting a lot better with my running - I'm now staying consistent at 6.5 speed on the treadmill and am completing a 1/4 mile in rough 2-1/2 minutes.  Major improvement from just a few months ago.  But I never expected to finish a WOD with a mile run and exercises in such a short time.  I'm not sure if it's more energy or what but I do feel like my workouts are improving. 

*yesterday I did a lot of man makers - check out this youtube link for a quick video link - and although I was dead at the end and today my whole body aches (in a good way of course), I was more concerned with the soreness in my hands from the constant gripping of the dumbbell.  So that's good.  I'm pushing my body a lot more and seeing great results!*

17 days down, 13 to go!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Whole30 Day 16

Not too much to say today.  I'm really not feeling it at all.  And we may have another unexpected financial situation we have to take care of.  So...I'm def bumming.  I'm doing my best not to give in and get a Coke.  Really doing my best, and it's really hard.  It's been a pretty cruddy day - tough times with the Bug, possibly got frost bite in my toes this morning out at the range, coming home to Addison limping from some random little injury - things keep hitting me.  And when things hit me I have a Coke - or a root beer, mmmm root beer!

No pictures today because I didn't really eat anything too exciting.  Breakfast was eggs and almonds, lunch was left over chicken from last night's dinner and dinner was pork chops and sweet potato chips and guacamole.  But to be honest I only ate one bite of pork chop.  I wasn't really hungry and didn't want what we were having.  I tend to do that every now and then regardless so I'm used to it.  And I'm still not very hungry.  I'm sure I'll be ready for extra eggs in the morning though! :O)

Nothing else to report for the day.    Bleck, bleck Monday.

16 down, 14 to go.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Whole30 Day 15

Much better day today.  Started out with eggs and a banana for breakfast.  No surprise there.  Then about mid morning I got a bit hungry so I snacked on some almonds and raisins.  I had also found some sweet potato chips while grocery shopping at Aldi *I LOVE Aldi, I'm telling you if you don't shop there you should at least give it a try, save some money and find some awesome foods* that only had natural ingredients.  So of course since I could eat them, in the cart they went.  While having this mid-morning snack these chips were opened for a taste.  Let's just say that they were so good between the three of us in the house we just may have eaten an entire bag.  Yep.  Really, really good.  Plain and with salsa.  Both good.  I went out and bought another bag so that when my avocados are ready I can make some guacamole and try them with that.  I'm thinking they'll still be good!  Just a hunch!

{thank you Aldi for being so awesome, and only $1.99/bag, when you don't eat a whole bag at once that's a pretty affordable snack}

Because I snacked on so much, I really didn't do anything official for lunch.  Just a little bit more snacking.  For dinner I made some walnut crusted dijon chicken.  I had seen a similar recipe in Everyday Paleo for pecan crusted chicken.  Since walnuts were cheaper (Aldi again, big bag $3) I chose walnuts instead.  And the recipe called for spicy brown mustard and honey.  I left out the honey for Whole30 and used the Dijon mustard I already had in the fridge.  Then I covered the chicken breasts in the mustard then covered that with the walnuts - oh I had crushed the walnuts into smaller pieces using my handy rolling pin and a Ziploc bag.  You're supposed to put them in a food processor, I was just too lazy for that.  So it wasn't a fine crush, our chicken had some crunch to it.  I will definitely make this again.  Really, really good.  Really, really juicy.

{dinner - walnut crusted Dijon chicken with green beans & strawberries}

This dinner really filled me up.  I still feel full.  Yep it's gonna be lunch tomorrow.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it!! :O)

On another, yet similar note, I saw two friends this weekend who I haven't seen in a few weeks and they both made comments that I looked like I had lost weight.  My intention with this isn't to lose weight and only to feel better so l have been being extra cautious to be sure I'm eating enough and not losing too much.  

15, 15 - on the down slide now!

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Whole30 Day 14

all i can say about today is eh.  lots of good food choices.  i had and i made good choices.  however i am sitting here now and i'm really hungry.  and i ate a lot today.  and i just had dinner less than 3 hours ago.  so i'm not really sure what is going on with that.  i was doing a lot better with that part until today.  well until now.  i don't think i've felt as hungry as i do right now this whole time.  in fact i was pretty much asleep (yes super early i know) and my stomach growled so loudly it jostled me out of my almost sleep.  really?  i mean really?  so i had to get up out of my warm bed to go downstairs and get some almonds.  so i'm not really happy with that.  if i'm not eating enough then good gracious i don't know what enough is!  and this is where the financial part comes in.  we stocked up on fruit yesterday and it's nearly gone - ok that is an exaggeration, but only slightly -it def will not last much into the week.  :o(

so let's recap what i ate. (no pictures again because nothing really exciting and lots of repeats of prior days meals) eggs, almonds and lots of fruit for breakfast.  more fruit for a snack.  lunch was grilled chicken with tomato and spinach.  basically a grilled chicken sandwich minus the bread and lots of fruit.  my friend also bought me a coffee this afternoon (we had a play date with Bug's bestie Sophia who drove down from VA).  and i drank it black.  having coffee always tends to make me full for a while.  and today was no different.  took me a while longer to drink it without any creamer but i did.  and it was nice and warm on a cold, rainy day.  dinner was a steak, more fruit, more almonds, broccoli, carrots and cauliflower.  i also had one several of the natural fruit roll up things from Aldi.  i love their sweetness.

and that brings us to now.  i just ate a bunch more almonds.  my tummy seems to have stopped growling now.  although i still feel like i could eat a lot more.  i don't like this feeling.  and i've taken Jennie's (Easy Paleo) advice and always eat when i'm hungry.  today is just the first day that i have eaten, and eaten, and eaten some more and STILL haven't felt full.  i haven't cut out any meat and have eaten a good amount of protein all day.  so.....i really don't know.  the only thing i can think of is that i didn't have any kind of snack this afternoon.  just coffee.  but i wasn't hungry then either.  so who knows.  but all of this has caused me some crabbiness.  which i really don't like.  feels like a continuation from yesterday.  although i def agree with Jennie that when i don't have good food readily available it becomes hard for me.  today i did have good food available.  so i'm back to i don't know.  *sigh*

i will apologize again for the negative post.  i'm hoping just a 2 day funk.  really hoping. 

14 days down, 16 days to go! 

Friday, January 20, 2012

Whole30 Day 13

well i feel really crappy and crabby right now and i really want some m&m's.  it's been kind of a cruddy day and that's what i always turn to - chocolate comfort.  for breakfast i had eggs and almonds.  then i was so busy at work that i really didn't eat any lunch.  i just snacked on almonds, raisins, baked apples, prunes and grapes.  i had packed leftover grilled chicken i just never had time to sit down and eat it.  i don't think i sat down much at all the whole day at work.  and certainly not in the afternoon.  which was good on one side because i wasn't thinking about food.  but bad on the other side because i didn't really eat.  for dinner i had some wings and a salad.  and i didn't take pictures of anything.  eh.  that's just the kind of mood i'm in.  i'm planning on going to bed soon just so a new day can begin. 

i know this *ick* feeling will pass.  i feel like i'll sleep it off.  but my new concern is the cost of maintaining the Whole30.  we've spent a lot of extra money - i think mostly because it makes you eat SO MUCH MORE, a lot more than we're used to.  i want to be able to continue on this 30 day journey but at the same time i don't want to cause the household any more financial stress.  i suppose that is a double edged sword.  so at the grocery store tonight i stocked up on fruit, veggies and meats - as much as the wallet would allow - and i'm hoping a lot of it will carry us through at least 2 weeks or so. 

i'm sorry for this bleak and bland post.  but i told you i'd tell you the good, bad and the ugly.  and i will.  today just happened to be on the uglier side of things.

13 down, 17 to go!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Whole30 Day 12 - and a Quick Bug Blurb

Ok first thing's first!!  Today is the first day in days weeks months as long as I can remember that I did not have to deal with a single Buggy tantrum!!!  As you know terrible 2's hit hard around 18 months and have continuously gotten worse.  I really saw no end in sight.  But today has given me hope.  From the time she woke up to the time she fell asleep there was no major (or even minor) meltdowns.  We enjoyed a pleasant morning, she let me fix her hair with something other than just a clip or a pony, and were dressed and ready to go early enough that we could even have a little 'photo shoot' - she was willing and eager to play along which is very, very rare in the wee hours of the morning.  There were no meltdowns at bath time or even while brushing out teeth.  Wow.  I'm still amazed at this day.

{showing off her outfit from Grandma Kim}
 {she was 'cheesing' so hard her eyes stayed closed!}

 {being a silly Buggy for the camera}


Now onto Whole30.  Today was another really good day.  I was away all day at the Special Olympics Kick-Off Conference in Hickory, NC and was worried about lunch.  I packed lots of snacks but wasn't really able to pack much of a lunch since I wasn't driving and had no idea where I would be or what the accommodations would be like until I got there. Lunch was provided and was actually whatever we wanted at J&S Cafeteria.  At first glance I wasn't sure if I could eat anything.  And lemme tell ya about the SCHMORGASBOARD of desserts I was faced with. I mean really ridiculous the amount of choices.  I started my way through the food and realized I could choose from lots of fruit and different kinds of salads. The only grilled meat they had was a grilled chicken sandwich, so I got that and took off the bread.  There was only one type of veggie that didn't involve breading or cheese so of course that is what I chose - green beans.  Although I cannot verify how they were cooked I feel like I did a really good job making choices in a relatively tough situation.

 {lunch - grilled chicken sandwich sans bun, spinach salad with salt & pepper dressing (there was tomato and hard boiled egg in the salad too although you can't see them in the pic), green beans & pineapple}

Oops, I skipped breakfast again.  Eggs and almonds.  Yup.  Ok, moving on.....

I snacked during the afternoon on almonds and raisins and felt really full from about 3p on.  Even when sitting down for dinner I wasn't really hungry.  So I just nibbled a few bites of dinner until I was satisfied.  

 {dinner - grilled chicken, broccoli & a tangelo - i probably ate half of what you see on my plate}

I sat down tonight to make my grocery list for the upcoming week and realized I have not been inside a WalMart since a week or so before starting Whole30.  There just really hasn't been a real reason to go in there.  Lowe's Foods, Aldi and the Farmer's Market have been perfect for food and Target works for the non-food items.  No wonder there has been a lot more peace in my life - it's been WalMart FREE!!!!

12 days down, 18 to go!



Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Whole30 Day 11

today was a good day.  i really surprised myself at how good I actually was, see i definitely don't give myself ANY credit.  i am a safety coordinator at work and every month i attend a luncheon/training where lunch is provided.  and it's always really yummy food.  and there is always dessert. like red velvet cake, or chocolate brownies with chocolate frosting, or banana pudding.  you know the things i go weak at the knees for.  well not today!  take a look at my lunch. i chose no bread, ate no baked spaghetti and bypassed dessert!!!  holy moly mark this day on the calendar.  it was right there and i chose NOT to eat it! that really never happens.

 {lunch - grilled chicken & a salad with only salt & pepper for flavor}

{i even painstakingly removed all the cheese from the salad & brought my own drink (water) instead of partaking in the sweet tea}

oh sorry, i skipped breakfast.  can you guess????  you're right, eggs and almonds with a banana later once i got to work.  i know boring.  moving on.....

for dinner i tried the meatloaf from the Everyday Paleo book.  only i used ground turkey instead of beef.  i'm not sure if i just wasn't all that hungry or i just don't like meatloaf.  see this is the first time i've made it AND the first time i've eaten it.  just not that appealing to me.  the flavor was good but the consistency was not so much.  this is the first time trying something new with this challenge that i haven't liked - well aside from the pancakes but that i think was more something i did wrong in the recipe rather than not liking the finished product.  i do plan on trying them again.  so anyways.  meatloaf and me will not be having a relationship.  i'm sorry meatloaf - i just don't think i like you.

{dinner - meatloaf with sauteed onions & broccoli, carrots & cauliflower}

11 days behind me, 19 ahead of me!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Whole30 Day 10

1/3 of the way to my goal!  On this day I took no Paleo food pictures.  I had eggs and almonds for breakfast - I know, I know, big surprise right?  Lunch was leftover lasagna from Sunday night and dinner was leftover chicken from last night.  We had lots of leftovers and what better way to not waste food than to eat it!  I snacked today on almonds, raisins, prunes and some of those apples I made.  I also had a tangelo for that sweet, juicy afternoon pick me up.

As crazy as it sounds I feel like my tummy almost deflated today.  Yesterday there was a lot of what we'll call 'flub' and now today it doesn't seem to be there.  Yes, I may be delusional, I realize this.  I'm just simply stating the way I feel!  Haha.  I'm still going without any headaches too.  That to me has been the most amazing part of this process.  I have gone from having a headache everyday to not having one in 8 days (since the initial 'give me sugar now' headache on Day 2.  I feel pretty energetic and have been completing my workouts and feeling really good afterwards.  And where I used to be extremely hungry after a work out, now I feel good and can actually take time to heat up my food instead of just inhaling it!

The next 2 days will prove challenging.  I will be away from work, well the comfort of my office, for 2 days for lunch.  Tomorrow I know what is for lunch, because I am on the committee that plans the meetings and the lunches, so I will be perfectly fine so long as I stay away from the bread and the dessert.  I will also be back at my desk after lunch and can eat something I have packed. Thursday I will be traveling to Hickory to the Special Olympics Kick-Off Conference and I have no idea what kind of food choices will come by way.  I plan to come stocked full of yummy snacks to get me through the day, just in case there isn't any food offered that I can eat. I tried to plan my Whole30 during a time when not much was going on to tempt me.  However, I feel this temptation is good.  It forces me to make choices I wouldn't normally make.  It also forces me to hold myself accountable in a room full of people.  Peer pressure and all.  This will be good for me and I know I will succeed!

10 days down, 20 to go!

Buggy Update & a Photo Dump

I know it has been a while since I've done an update on the Bug so get ready.  Mostly this one will just be in pictures.  Pictures in no particular order whatsoever!  Sorry again for my randomness.  But there are a few things I'd like to mention in her growing up process  before we get to the pictures. 

She is starting now to form complete sentences and it's more like having a conversation with her rather than just a few words here and there.  Her new word is 'because' - if you ask her anything she says "because" and if you ask her 'because, why?' she just continues with her answer of "because."  Cracks me up, really does.  She is still not sleeping in her own room or even her own bed, that is my cross to bear with her, but she eats like a champ.  She in genuinely a great kid to be around - despite a few cranky mornings and the oh so dreaded 'time to wash your hair' in the tub!  She likes to use a 'big girl' fork when she eats and will try anything at least once.  She even surprised me a few weeks ago by eating sushi - yea she didn't get THAT from me! :O)  The potty training is a slow go.  She likes to sit on the potty but nothing happens.  Just this week though she has started saying when she needs changed - so that is a step ahead for the potty training. We bought some big girl underpants this weekend too.  And she's interested for sure (she actually keeps calling them Mommy's since that's what I wear) and we will try those out in the near future.  Each night when I am writing my Whole30 blog she sneaks up and attempts to 'type' her own words.  Slyly looking at me because she knows she not allowed to touch the computer.  Adorable.  And she recently has begun recognizing things like which Disney princess is which and will tell us what movie she wants to watch.  I love watching her grow into something wonderful.  I know the path ahead with her will be windy and rocky but the journey is going to be remarkable!

Here comes the photo dump of fun:
 
 {I attempted to take some cute pics of her in some dresses she got recently, although not professional she's still my doll baby!}

{she loved this dress, just not so much for posing pretty in!}

{remake of the Christmas card pic}

{no girly posing for this Bug - this is typical of her demeanor - always moving & shaking}

{thank you Aunt Mel for this adorable dress from NYC - her punk rocker boots paired nicely!}

{pretty dress from Miss Laura - she loved it.  please excuse my wrinkled sheet backdrop - I tried this at the beginning just to say I tried, but never again}


{diapering station for her babies, she is a fanatic about wiping them before putting on the new diaper - she will be a good Mama one day}

{posing before school one morning, gotta love that little hip pop}

{new footie jammies from Grandma Kim}

{Thomas the Train set from Santa for Christmas}

{she found my old work boots & had them on with her footie jammies.  Ridiculously cute!}

{this was at dinner one night - and it's now the background on my computer - such pure innocence right there}

{I'm not really sure what was going on here, but this face is classic Bug, so it made the photo dump}

And we did have a few rough mornings in the last few weeks:

{"Mom - don't you dare take my picture - I will not allow it!"}

{"Can this day just be over already?"}

Happy Tuesday.  4 days until the weekend!

Monday, January 16, 2012

Whole30 Day 9

Today was another average day and for that I am glad!  No cravings too strong I couldn't overcome (even when Bug was eating M&M's, I'm so proud of myself!)  I was a bit worried since today I didn't have work and would be home all day without the structure of my usual schedule.  But I did it!  Go me!  So no breakfast picture, eggs and almonds again.  They're just so easy and so good!  I crave them in the mornings.  Then Bug and I didn't really do lunch.  We got involved in our craft project (see below) and just kinda snacked for lunch.  We had lots of fruit, almonds, dried apples and these things:

 {I *heart* Aldi}

I found these yesterday while at Aldi.  I love Aldi and especially the Fit & Active brand.  So when I saw these I checked the ingredients and was super happy to discover they were Whole30 approved.  They even had beet juice for color instead of some nasty dye.  Yea I was pretty excited about my discovery.  Oh and when I had my first one today I was even more excited to discover they are very sweet and 'candy' like.  Def good for when the cravings creep up!

Since I was home today I figured I'd make some easy chicken in the crock pot that would also equal leftovers.  (I love the crock pot but since we are gone for 10+  hours during the day it's really hard to find recipes that won't over cook in that time).  So that cooked all day making the house smell very yummy.  The smell made me think of my grandma, which in turn made me think of her dumplings.  And then I had to overcome my first non-chocolate or sweet craving (those are my real weakness, the other things I'm pretty good with).  It's a good thing I didn't have the ingredients to make them!  

 {dinner - crock pot chicken, broccoli & a banana}

I definitely pigged out at dinner to make up for the poor 'lunch' I had.  I ate more than is in the picture.  It was so daggone good.  I love when chicken gets flaky like that.  Just melts in your mouth.

9 days down, 21 to go! 

Now on to some non-Whole30 fun.  Today was also Mommy and Buggy day.  Although the school was open, since I had the day off from work I chose to stay home with Bug and have some quality time.  The days are so few when it's just the two of us.  Since I like to keep her occupied and learning new things as much as possible I planned a craft that would help her with counting (we counted the measuring cups as we measured out ingredients) and also her motor skills.  We had to knead the dough for this project for 15 minutes and also had to roll it out flat!  She loved it!  And the best part was after we rolled out the dough and I put it on cookie sheets and then put the cookie sheets on the floor for her to step on!  She looked at me like I was crazy when I told her to do it.  Gotta love those moments.

 {salt dough - nice & smooth after lots of kneading}

{Buggy feet prints in giant hearts of salt dough}

{my favorite project of the day, Buggy hand print inside a Mommy hand print}

These are currently hardening more after baking in the kitchen.  Once they are completely dried we'll finish them by painting a little poem on the back and adding some 'sparkle' to the front.  Then we can add some ribbon through the holes and they can be hung.  These will more than likely become gifts for some special people so I won't post pics of the finished project until the gifts have been given.  
 
 {this Bug never runs out of energy!}

Although I got nothing done at the house today and Bug never did take a nap so I could enjoy a few minutes of reading - and how she is currently jumping around on the bed with no nap I will never understand, if only I had a quarter of her energy - we had a great day!  Days like this really make me wish I could be home more with Bug.  I cannot see myself staying home full time, I don't think it would suit me or the Buglet, but I would really like the opportunity to work part time and stay home part time.  I think I would be happier at least.  So in my daily prayers that is usually a constant.  Maybe one day...... 

So with that being said, it's back to work tomorrow.  Bring it on!