So today I am in the mood to do a deep cleaning. I've been organizing the stockpile after buying groceries last night. It really needed it. I usually try to keep up with expiration dates of stuff, so nothing goes bad. I am pretty proud of myself. The only thing I had to throw out was 1 bottle of salad dressing that I had missed. Everything else has 6 months or more. Now I'm determined to get my desk area, and my husband's desk area cleaned up today. In a few weeks, *God willing* Jacob and I are going get new laptops. We have had 2 computers crash in the past year (including Hannah's ancient one) and are down to mine and an older laptop given to us by a friend-which is what I mostly use. It was given to us for Jacob to go to back school, which he did for a semester. He was going to go back in the Fall too, but he got a new job and had a lot of training sessions to do, and we weren't able to get him ready in time. I'm hoping he'll go back this Summer. If not, then I just might! . Joshua and Hannah use mine to play educational games online, but the disc drive doesn't work, so when we get new ones, they will be able to use mine for school. Hopefully, Jacob will be able to fix the disc drive too. One thing we have missed was our online gaming. We played WoW and then Rift for a while on the pc, but when his pc crashed, there was no point in me playing by myself, and his laptop doesn't have enough memory to handle it.
......So I found my wedding band! I haven't had it for a couple weeks and I found it over here on my mess of a desk. Trying to sort out all this clutter over here, and get organized. Sifting through the trash, coupons, school stuff and random bills etc....I am NOT an organized person. We really do live in a kind of organized chaos. I really feel like I am constantly choosing between spending time with the kids, doing school, taking care of Jonah, spending time with Jacob, and getting the house clean....the house is always my last priority. I try not to stress about it too much, but every once in a while I have to go through and declutter because I can't stand it. ...be back later :D
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Resolutions
So I've made a few resolutions this year. Usually I attempt to make and keep some, but they rarely stick. I have always said that the best way to set yourself on the right path to starting a goal, is starting it immediately rather than saying "I'll start tomorrow" or "I'll start next week...". I have often said those things myself and I find that if I am truly honest with myself, the reason for delaying a start is usually that I am not that committed to the goal. I know that if I were truly committed, I would start right now because I know that I need to start right now not making excuses. If I start right now, then I will be able to overcome whatever obstacles I face by taking it one day at a time. If I have to have that one last indulgence before making a change, how does that teach me to resist temptations? Although, I do see some merit in (for some) making a plan and sticking with it before diving headfirst. I have done it both ways. I just know if I have to have my steak dinner with the loaded potato before I can go on a "diet" I am probably not going to last very long before I want another when the opportunity arises. I was thinking back, and the way I remember doing it before successfully was tracking every single thing I ate while I was out onto a sheet of paper, even if it was one cracker, and putting it to my food tracker when i got home.
The thinking was this: Say 5 crackers is a serving (who eats 5 crackers??? Seriously??) Anyways, if 5 crackers is a serving and you look at the back of the package to see the calories and fat etc. And you think, wow...for some reason these ritz crackers are really high in fat. I better just eat 1. So you open the package and eat 1. But it's so good you think I'll just have one more. 2 crackers is hardly anything, right? Then you don't eat any more and you go about your day. A few hours later your kids want a snack, so you spread some peanut butter on some crackers for them, and you have a lick of the pb off the spoon, out of habit, and that makes you want just a smidge more on a cracker. You decide to indulge yourself, it's only one after all right? Later on, after lunch, they request some cheese and crackers. (Sorry for the example...we really have been eating a lot of Ritz crackers around here lately, haha) You decide to make yourself just one little mini cheese cracker sandwich. A piece of low fat cheese (healthy, right?) sandwiched between two ritz crackers. By this time, you have completely forgotten about the other crackers you snacked on throughout the day. Now it's added up to a whole serving. At the end of the day, you are really craving a little frozen yogurt, so you enter in your foods you have eaten for the day, only to find out you are very very close to going over as it is and you have just enough calories and fat left for a small serving of frozen yogurt. Then it hits you. You forgot about all the crackers and little bits of snacking you ate throughout the day. It has added up. If you had tracked as you went about your day, you wouldn't have been let down just now, and probably wouldn't have snacked so much knowing that you it was all adding up. Now, is snacking bad? No!! And those 5 crackers are not a big deal. I am just using it as an example because I know it applies to me specifically. That has happened more than one. I lost nearly 50 pounds before I had Jonah through hard work, exercise, and eating right. But I gained it all back and then some when I got pregnant. I felt like being pregnant was an excuse to eat whatever I wanted, even when I knew that wasn't right. This time, I am stronger. I am praying for the strength to not make excuses, or be lazy. I won't lie. I do get out of breath from exercising each night. It's fun for a little while and then it becomes work. My whole family has been playing Just Dance 3 on the xbox and it is a great cardio workout. But it's tough for me. I am not coordinated and it's not easy for me to keep up with the choreography. I'm pretty bad out of shape. But I'm making an honest effort. I know that the more I do it, the easier it will be (and then I will have to push myself more!) and as I shed the pounds it will be much more normal to just get that exercise in as a part of my day. Right now it feels more like a challenge. The biggest challenge for me though is the food though. I LOVE cooking, especially rich southern cooking. Fried chicken strips, bacon, butter, LOTS of bread, etc....oh my goodness. I could spend all day checking out different recipes on Pinterest. I know there are plenty of healthy recipes out there too, and I will probably have to start researching those too....but it's just how I was raised. Eat that chicken, and then have a second helping. Did you get enough to eat? It's just ingrained in us, as a way to show we cared, to feed those we love with all these good tasting (horrible for you) foods. So those are the foods I love. I am going to have to work at cultivating a new love for healthier foods. I have no problem with veggies, as long as they are coated in butter, fried, or over salted! But I know that has to change. I know especially at our house, we have a tendency to have large servings and then go back for seconds if there is enough left. So what I've started doing is not making enough for that. I just make enough for everyone to have one normal size serving, and one extra for hubs for lunch the next day. That seems to be helping. Also, I need to try to work on the bread thing. We are bread lovers around here. Most nights I try to have some homemade yeast rolls ready to go with dinner. I guess that's one of the things we need to change! I don't see us kicking the bread habit any time soon (as I am not of the school of thought to cut out bread all together anyways). I do see us however, switching from homemade white breads to homemade whole grain breads. We already eat only wheat store bought sandwich bread. That sounds like something for me to do today....research healthier scratch recipes.
What resolutions have you made? Are you trying to get healthier too? What are you doing to get yourself and your family on the right track?
The thinking was this: Say 5 crackers is a serving (who eats 5 crackers??? Seriously??) Anyways, if 5 crackers is a serving and you look at the back of the package to see the calories and fat etc. And you think, wow...for some reason these ritz crackers are really high in fat. I better just eat 1. So you open the package and eat 1. But it's so good you think I'll just have one more. 2 crackers is hardly anything, right? Then you don't eat any more and you go about your day. A few hours later your kids want a snack, so you spread some peanut butter on some crackers for them, and you have a lick of the pb off the spoon, out of habit, and that makes you want just a smidge more on a cracker. You decide to indulge yourself, it's only one after all right? Later on, after lunch, they request some cheese and crackers. (Sorry for the example...we really have been eating a lot of Ritz crackers around here lately, haha) You decide to make yourself just one little mini cheese cracker sandwich. A piece of low fat cheese (healthy, right?) sandwiched between two ritz crackers. By this time, you have completely forgotten about the other crackers you snacked on throughout the day. Now it's added up to a whole serving. At the end of the day, you are really craving a little frozen yogurt, so you enter in your foods you have eaten for the day, only to find out you are very very close to going over as it is and you have just enough calories and fat left for a small serving of frozen yogurt. Then it hits you. You forgot about all the crackers and little bits of snacking you ate throughout the day. It has added up. If you had tracked as you went about your day, you wouldn't have been let down just now, and probably wouldn't have snacked so much knowing that you it was all adding up. Now, is snacking bad? No!! And those 5 crackers are not a big deal. I am just using it as an example because I know it applies to me specifically. That has happened more than one. I lost nearly 50 pounds before I had Jonah through hard work, exercise, and eating right. But I gained it all back and then some when I got pregnant. I felt like being pregnant was an excuse to eat whatever I wanted, even when I knew that wasn't right. This time, I am stronger. I am praying for the strength to not make excuses, or be lazy. I won't lie. I do get out of breath from exercising each night. It's fun for a little while and then it becomes work. My whole family has been playing Just Dance 3 on the xbox and it is a great cardio workout. But it's tough for me. I am not coordinated and it's not easy for me to keep up with the choreography. I'm pretty bad out of shape. But I'm making an honest effort. I know that the more I do it, the easier it will be (and then I will have to push myself more!) and as I shed the pounds it will be much more normal to just get that exercise in as a part of my day. Right now it feels more like a challenge. The biggest challenge for me though is the food though. I LOVE cooking, especially rich southern cooking. Fried chicken strips, bacon, butter, LOTS of bread, etc....oh my goodness. I could spend all day checking out different recipes on Pinterest. I know there are plenty of healthy recipes out there too, and I will probably have to start researching those too....but it's just how I was raised. Eat that chicken, and then have a second helping. Did you get enough to eat? It's just ingrained in us, as a way to show we cared, to feed those we love with all these good tasting (horrible for you) foods. So those are the foods I love. I am going to have to work at cultivating a new love for healthier foods. I have no problem with veggies, as long as they are coated in butter, fried, or over salted! But I know that has to change. I know especially at our house, we have a tendency to have large servings and then go back for seconds if there is enough left. So what I've started doing is not making enough for that. I just make enough for everyone to have one normal size serving, and one extra for hubs for lunch the next day. That seems to be helping. Also, I need to try to work on the bread thing. We are bread lovers around here. Most nights I try to have some homemade yeast rolls ready to go with dinner. I guess that's one of the things we need to change! I don't see us kicking the bread habit any time soon (as I am not of the school of thought to cut out bread all together anyways). I do see us however, switching from homemade white breads to homemade whole grain breads. We already eat only wheat store bought sandwich bread. That sounds like something for me to do today....research healthier scratch recipes.
What resolutions have you made? Are you trying to get healthier too? What are you doing to get yourself and your family on the right track?
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
New Year News!
Wow, it's hard to believe we are in the new year already! Christmas has come and gone and so has New years Eve! We had a great Christmas. My husband got to be off for a week and a half, starting Christmas Eve. Today was his first day back. We really enjoying having him home too. In fact, I had a whole list of things in my head that I wanted to accomplish with him being home, but we really didn't get much of it done at all. In fact, aside from our daily everyday things we had to do, we really just got to spend some quality time and enjoy the kids together. It'd been about 6 months or so since he had had any vacation time (maybe longer, can't remember). So we did some fun things that really made some memories with the kids hopefully. As for Christmas, we were really blessed. These kids had probably the best Christmas they have ever had, and I hope they never forget it. A "Secret Santa" even brought us and XBOX 360 and Kinect and left it on the doorstep! We ended up making ornaments out of salt dough and painting them to give to friends and family members. Hopefully they were just as happy with our homemade crafts as they would have been with storebought gifts. This way, all the kids were able to give a gift to everyone they love, to say thanks. Here are some pictures I took of the kids making ornaments.
We also baked some yummy Christmas cookies. Truth be told, these weren't the best cookies I have ever made, but hey, baking is kind of a trial and error with me. Mostly errors, but when I find a good recipe I will stick with it. I found the recipe on Pinterest and everyone was repinning the recipe, so who knows....maybe it was just me! Goodness knows I love to cook though, so I'm sure I will keep trying.
We also had a spurt of nice weather last week, got up into the 50's even. So we decided we'd take the chance to spend time together and go to the zoo. We even took the little boy that I keep during the week and he had a blast!We got to go around the right side of the zoo which was really fun. Normally we just go in and to the left immediately around the loop, and then about halfway through the kids are hungry, tired or some combination and we have to leave. This time, we got to go through the Teton Trek, which I have never been too. They had a this huge beautiful log cabin there. That is my secret dream, too. To live in a log cabin. But that's a post for another day. Mostly, because that's something I could go on and on about. But I digress...Back to the zoo. We got to see the polar bears, grizzly bears, animals of the night, flamingos and penguins, and tons of others. Oh, and I forgot to mention we treated the kids to pizza at Fazzoli's before we even went to the zoo. Pizza is always a hit around here!
We also signed up for a free trial of gamefly.com (so glad it was just a free trial!) and added some movies to our Q. Then we realized it wasn't like netflix where they had a distribution center here, and the nearest shipping center was all the way in Florida. So while it has been fun to have a couple games to try out, I don't think we'll be signing up. It took several days for them to ship the first game, and the second game (which was supposed to ship with the first) shipped several days later for some reason. I don't know whether it was the influx of customers for the Holidays or what, but it taking a week or more to get a game is not something we can afford to pay for right now. We have however had a couple fun days playing the games. We got Final Fantasy 13, and Just Dance 3. Hubby and I are into RPG's and I have really enjoyed seeing the storyline of the FF game play out. This was the first game for a console that I had really paid much attention to him playing. The only problem is we are WOW geeks at heart, and even though we aren't playing now,every time we play anything else, it just makes us miss it. We played it off an on for a good 3 1/2-4 years, and there are just things about it I haven't been able to find in any other game. We aren't playing right now because his computer can't handle it, and we can't justify the expense for us to play once or twice a month. When Jonah gets a little older and not so needy (not meant in a bad way at all. I just want to be able to give him my full attention now while he is a baby, while he needs my constant care/supervision), I'm sure we will be getting back into it at at some point.
So yesterday we started school back again. Some have asked why we didn't give them till Wednesday, when many other schools are going back. My answer is simple: because I get to make our schedule. We do not follow the county schools calendar, mostly because I want the freedom to deviate when we choose. We still have school the same number of days, it is just the days I pick! For example, all our field trip days count as school days, even if we don't do book work those days. Other times, school is in session and we aren't. We started our Christmas break a whole week earlier than regular schools. I am also leaning towards doing year round school. Since we stay home most days anyways, in the summertime especially, they get board staying indoors for hours on end. So yes, I can send them outside to play or we may go to the park. But when it gets to the 120 degree heat index, there is no chance we are trekkin it to the park! So what are we to do? Have school of course! That way, in spring time, when it is nicer outside we have more time to just relax and play on an extended spring break!
That is the plan anyways, but plans can always change. I have several goals for the new year, with regard to school and otherwise. Considering this is our 2nd year homeschooling, and our first year doing several subjects on a daily basis, the half way mark has been a good time for me to evaluate how I feel we have done, what we've accomplished, and where I need to do better (and Hannah too). One of my main faults is that I am NOT organized. At all! I have been doing good to save Hannah's work in a file folder, but to be honest, I have massively failed at grading things. That is one of the many things I want to work on in the coming year. I have started a new system that I hope will help things to run more smoothly. I'm calling it the daily work folder. What I am going to do, (and we'll see if I'm able to keep this up, because it takes a couple hours a week for me to plan ahead the next week) is this: plan all her assignments ahead for the whole week, day by day. Each day, have a list of the pages to complete in specific workbooks, activities to complete, stories to read etc. I sat down last week and worked on this and I think once I get in the habit of this, it's just going to make everything run so much smoothly and seamlessly. I get all her loose pages together, regardless of subject, and staple them to the assignment sheet for the day. Then I put each day's assignments in the same folder, along with a weekly plan. The weekly plan has our spelling words for the week, the math unit we are studying, info about the book(s) we will read, etc. That is more for me, to keep track. I think, at least for now, since Unit studies seem to be a big part of our schoolwork, it will be better to do each week's work just a week ahead. I will go ahead and type out my long time tentative game plan on the computer, but keeping it basic until closer to the time we do it. That way, we will be able to stay flexible. Also, I will be doing more focused unit studies based around literature. Last semester, I mostly allowed Hannah to free read (with a few suggested books, and books I read aloud to her or the kids mixed in). This semester, I am choosing classic literature and modern fiction books. The first book we are reading (just started yesterday) is The Secret Garden. I am typing up Vocab words and key people so she can refer back to it if she gets stuck. I have also encorporated questions each week, geography activities, and a Bible verse/discussion for each week. I think this is going to allow me to stay on top of grading, because as she finishes each week, I can go through the assignments and mark down her grades. I am still on the hunt for a good planner/gradebook though, so if you have any ideas/thoughts, Post Them Below!!!!! Also, I want to know what are your goals for the new year-even if it's not related to homeschooling. Share them in the comments too.
God bless,
Melissa
We also baked some yummy Christmas cookies. Truth be told, these weren't the best cookies I have ever made, but hey, baking is kind of a trial and error with me. Mostly errors, but when I find a good recipe I will stick with it. I found the recipe on Pinterest and everyone was repinning the recipe, so who knows....maybe it was just me! Goodness knows I love to cook though, so I'm sure I will keep trying.
We also signed up for a free trial of gamefly.com (so glad it was just a free trial!) and added some movies to our Q. Then we realized it wasn't like netflix where they had a distribution center here, and the nearest shipping center was all the way in Florida. So while it has been fun to have a couple games to try out, I don't think we'll be signing up. It took several days for them to ship the first game, and the second game (which was supposed to ship with the first) shipped several days later for some reason. I don't know whether it was the influx of customers for the Holidays or what, but it taking a week or more to get a game is not something we can afford to pay for right now. We have however had a couple fun days playing the games. We got Final Fantasy 13, and Just Dance 3. Hubby and I are into RPG's and I have really enjoyed seeing the storyline of the FF game play out. This was the first game for a console that I had really paid much attention to him playing. The only problem is we are WOW geeks at heart, and even though we aren't playing now,every time we play anything else, it just makes us miss it. We played it off an on for a good 3 1/2-4 years, and there are just things about it I haven't been able to find in any other game. We aren't playing right now because his computer can't handle it, and we can't justify the expense for us to play once or twice a month. When Jonah gets a little older and not so needy (not meant in a bad way at all. I just want to be able to give him my full attention now while he is a baby, while he needs my constant care/supervision), I'm sure we will be getting back into it at at some point.
So yesterday we started school back again. Some have asked why we didn't give them till Wednesday, when many other schools are going back. My answer is simple: because I get to make our schedule. We do not follow the county schools calendar, mostly because I want the freedom to deviate when we choose. We still have school the same number of days, it is just the days I pick! For example, all our field trip days count as school days, even if we don't do book work those days. Other times, school is in session and we aren't. We started our Christmas break a whole week earlier than regular schools. I am also leaning towards doing year round school. Since we stay home most days anyways, in the summertime especially, they get board staying indoors for hours on end. So yes, I can send them outside to play or we may go to the park. But when it gets to the 120 degree heat index, there is no chance we are trekkin it to the park! So what are we to do? Have school of course! That way, in spring time, when it is nicer outside we have more time to just relax and play on an extended spring break!
That is the plan anyways, but plans can always change. I have several goals for the new year, with regard to school and otherwise. Considering this is our 2nd year homeschooling, and our first year doing several subjects on a daily basis, the half way mark has been a good time for me to evaluate how I feel we have done, what we've accomplished, and where I need to do better (and Hannah too). One of my main faults is that I am NOT organized. At all! I have been doing good to save Hannah's work in a file folder, but to be honest, I have massively failed at grading things. That is one of the many things I want to work on in the coming year. I have started a new system that I hope will help things to run more smoothly. I'm calling it the daily work folder. What I am going to do, (and we'll see if I'm able to keep this up, because it takes a couple hours a week for me to plan ahead the next week) is this: plan all her assignments ahead for the whole week, day by day. Each day, have a list of the pages to complete in specific workbooks, activities to complete, stories to read etc. I sat down last week and worked on this and I think once I get in the habit of this, it's just going to make everything run so much smoothly and seamlessly. I get all her loose pages together, regardless of subject, and staple them to the assignment sheet for the day. Then I put each day's assignments in the same folder, along with a weekly plan. The weekly plan has our spelling words for the week, the math unit we are studying, info about the book(s) we will read, etc. That is more for me, to keep track. I think, at least for now, since Unit studies seem to be a big part of our schoolwork, it will be better to do each week's work just a week ahead. I will go ahead and type out my long time tentative game plan on the computer, but keeping it basic until closer to the time we do it. That way, we will be able to stay flexible. Also, I will be doing more focused unit studies based around literature. Last semester, I mostly allowed Hannah to free read (with a few suggested books, and books I read aloud to her or the kids mixed in). This semester, I am choosing classic literature and modern fiction books. The first book we are reading (just started yesterday) is The Secret Garden. I am typing up Vocab words and key people so she can refer back to it if she gets stuck. I have also encorporated questions each week, geography activities, and a Bible verse/discussion for each week. I think this is going to allow me to stay on top of grading, because as she finishes each week, I can go through the assignments and mark down her grades. I am still on the hunt for a good planner/gradebook though, so if you have any ideas/thoughts, Post Them Below!!!!! Also, I want to know what are your goals for the new year-even if it's not related to homeschooling. Share them in the comments too.
God bless,
Melissa
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