One more down

Finished David Copperfield last night!

Oh Dear...

**warning, this is a long post**

So... we have 6 months and counting until the big 3-0, so we're supposed to be on about #15 right?

HA!

Okay, I have been busy, but since I have only documented up to #3 (that's right, three!), let's see if we can check some more things off the list!

Okay, so one of the biggest things I have wanted to do/become before I turned 30 is to eat healthy, cook healthy, and feed my family healthy stuff so that we can all do all the things that we need to do.  I have always had an interest in this, but, let's face it, there is an ocean of misinformation out there and every little magazine you pick up at the Dr. office has advice on nutrition.  It IS difficult to sort through all this information and find the truth, which is why I've never really done it before.  It takes TIME!  (and who has time these days?)

But when it got to the point where it was affecting the health of my family, and my energy levels in trying to be pregnant and take care of the craziness that has been our life for the last few months, it was necessary.

So...I started with reading.

Shayla's item #4

Pretty much The-Best-Book-I-Have-Ever-Read-And-It-Changed-My-Life... 'nuff said.  I recommend it to anyone, whether you have kids or not.  It's just good information on how to live a long, healthy, disease free (including cancer free, diabetes free, asthma and allergy free, heart disease free, etc.) life and have the energy to get the most out of it.  Maybe I was just ignorant before, but I've always thought that cancer especially was not anything you could control whether you got it or not...such a stupid idea.  The book is very research based and it's almost frightening what we do to ourselves with our "western diet".  It gave me the kick start to get in gear and initiate major changes in our lives, and we've already seen some great results.  It has a lot of recipes in the back too.

We've been working with a specialist who has been saying a lot of the same things that I've been reading, so I asked him for some book recommendations.  He recommended the next 2 books.

Shayla's item #5

The specialist we've been working with warned me about the language of the book, but he thought the content was good enough to recommend.  I think he was right about most of the content. Obviously, they were marketing it to appeal to a certain type of person... and that person is not me.  So I didn't LOVE this book.  Good information, yes.  Bad language, yes.  And let's just say, not everyone is interested in eating healthy to have a sweet a**.  I just want to live a long and healthy life... so I don't necessarily recommend this book.  Also, there was a huge section of the book that was about animal cruelty, and while I think it is an issue, I don't think you have to scare people into not eating meat any more.  People are smart, and we can make informed decisions.

Shayla's item #6

This book was also recommended by that specialist.  It had a lot of really fantastic information, but it was not very well written at all.  It has a lot of information how hydrating your body properly actually can take care of a lot of common illnesses like colds, migraines, etc. and can help with bigger issues like diabetes, etc.  It jumped around a lot and read a lot like a medical journal in some parts, but again, good information.

Shayla's item #7

This also goes into the category of The-Best-Book-I-Have-Ever-Read-And-It-Changed-My-Life.  And I'm not even finished yet.  Why is this information not public knowledge?  If it was...I can't even imagine how life would be so different.  So good!

And I still need to get to:

and

and

So, I have been challenging myself to learn about a new kind of healthy food (or actually use a food I already know to be healthy) and use it in my meals.

Shayla's item #8

Quinoa.... a super food and one of the best protein sources on the earth.  I have had some mild success with this.  I made a good pesto quinoa tomato salad and it was pretty good as a hot cereal in the morning, but I need to continue to work on it.  I just found some good looking slow cooker recipes for it.

Shayla's item #9

Kale...Dr. Fuhrman's website sells a bumper sticker that says "Kale is the new Beef".  I thought it was funny, but I'm not sure I'm buying it yet.  But, I did make a Kale-apple smoothie this morning that was deelish.  Click here for the recipe.

Shayla's item #10

Bran...I've found some good recipes for this and need to keep experimenting.  The best so far has been homemade raisin bran. yumm.

Shayla's item #11

Flax seed...I know a lot of people that are really good about putting flax seed in everything, but I've never known what to do with it before, nor why it was so important, though I've bought it a few times.  So now, ground flaxseed goes in everything at our house.  Everything.

Shayla's item #12

Agave...meaning 100% raw organic agave in place of white sugar.  We have not used any white sugar at  our house in 2 months and already seen huge improvement.  Cory had 2 sebaceous cysts that have almost disappeared completely.  And yes, I've read the debate about agave.  I'm still doing some research and looking into stevia and other natural sweeteners.

Shayla's item #13

Almonds... I always knew they were good for you, but I've been trying to eat some almonds every day.  I put them in all smoothies I make and you can't even taste them.

Shayla's item #14

okay, this isn't really incorporating a new thing, but eradicating an old thing.  We haven't used a stitch of white flour for a few months and I gotta say, I don't feel like we're missing anything.  good riddance!

Shayla's item #15

Lentils...I just made the best lentil soup the other day.  I've been trying to incorporate a lot of other types of beans too, especially black beans.

Shayla's item #16

I'm just going to throw all of the little changes we've made into one.  Things like Almond milk instead of Cow's milk.  Raw peanut butter instead of the "regular" kind... plus this provides entertainment too: Jocelyn loves watching the machine smash the peanuts.  Our snacks are now mostly nuts and seeds and raw fruits and veggies.  I'm trying to buy organic more than I used to when affordable.  No cheese, etc.  Just little things that have added up.  And I'm not even going to count our failures... that's right, homemade brown rice milk IS as disgusting as it sounds, as is Burger King's Veggie burger (puke).

I'd love to start incorporating avacadoes, kefir, buckwheat, millet, amaranth, rye, barley, kamut, and spelt more... but line upon line, I guess.  Also, I need to be a lot better about when we eat away from home.  At this point, we are eating really well when at home, but when at others' houses and at restaurants, it's been harder to stick to.  Let's face it, I've always disliked those people who, when then come to your house, look down on your food and ask "well, what's in it?". 

So... there you have it.  A journey towards better health that will continue.  And if any of you have any great healthy recipes, send them to me, please!  I am starting to build our repertoire little by little (the first month we pretty much ate the same thing over and over)

 And...I'm caught up!  Here's to the next 6 months!

Moving right along do do do do do

Our relief society lesson today was sharing and discussing our wards goals that were set by our ward council.  There were several that have been running around in my mind for a while, but now I'm ready to commit. So here are some goals:

• #6 Family History and/or indexing four hours each month
• #7 Community service project at least once a year
• #8 Give a Book of Mormon to someone once a year

Check! on #8.  I gave one to a friend I work with who asked me some questions after seeing Mormon Tabernacle Choir CD's in my collection. It's the first one I've ever given away so I was pretty proud of myself!

One of my friends is using the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants about having a house of God.  119^aOrganize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a ^bhouse, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;

So this month we are working on:

• #9 Becoming a house of prayer - this means we are trying to say morning and night family prayers.  Mornings are hard for us, so we are really trying. 
• #10 I'm also trying to step it up in personal prayers - I'm pretty good at praying with Paul and Jared, but don't always take the time to pray myself.

Also, Shayla gave me the Deceptively Delicious cookbook, that you puree fruits and veggies and use them in kid-friendly recipes.  Because you have to plan to have the purees ready, I decided I'm really ready to plan my weekly meals.  I already use Cozi.com as my calendar, so I just have started planning a week at a time.  What my goal  is to 

• #11 Get to the point where I have a month worth of recipes, and can simply change they day they are on.  I have included ingredients in the notes section so I can include them on my weekly shopping list.  I have done one week so far.  

I'm excited to go part time next week (I hope!) and will do better on getting my goals done.  I have seriously slacked on the playing the hymns, so I need to get some headphones and do that while Paul is napping. So, there you have it.  Time to step it up!

Cheating doesn't work

Well,  I was hoping to "borrow" some of Shayla's goals and make them my own.  So far, though, cheating doesn't work. Since my choreography skills are about the level of the Macarena, I will not be attempting that.  Since I got a Kindle for Christmas and consequently don't have to haul David Copperfield around to read it, I may try that as well.  Maybe cheating will pay this one time.

• Goal #3 Read David Copperfield

My next goal comes from the fact that the craft section of my closet overfloweth with unfinished projects.  I am super good at starting projects.  Something always happens.  I run out of money to finish the project, I forget how to do it, it takes a lot more time than I think, blah, blah, blah.  So my

• Goal #4 Finish all my crafts in my closet before I start another one.
• Goal #5 Get my 72 hour kit together

So, there we go.  One goal down, 29 to go. 

Copperfield... check! (Shayla's item #3)

I finished David Copperfield this morning!  I am so glad I read it.  Here is my goodreads review below.  Be warned that it contains a huge spoiler...



** spoiler alert ** This was a phenomenal read! I loved the whole thing. Usually, when reading a larger book, I become more obsessed with how much I have left to really focus on the story, but I was engaged the whole time.

I had mentioned to my friend, Ashlee, that I was struggling with Dickens because I had just read Great Expectations and it just did not sit well with me. She suggested that I give this a try and I am so glad I did. I love the language, the characters, the clever little phrases, the morals behind all of the plots and sub-plots. It was a great study on humanity and human relationships... no wonder it was Freud's favorite Dickens' novel! And the chapter where David and Agnes finally become engaged was so very romantic... I also kept thinking about Dickens own life throughout reading this (he said it was semi-autobiographical).

My only critique is that Dickens was very obviously paid by the word in writing this. What he could have said in one page went on for many. But on the flip side, that was part of the charm of the book too. It was nice to not be hurried and to enjoy some delicious description and language that only Dickens can make so interesting.  Not to mention, my vocabulary was quite improved with reading this book!

I Recommend it wholeheartedly.

The clock is ticking...(Shayla's item #1, #2 and #3 in progress)

Okay, okay, I'm here at last.  So sorry... too bad I wasted 2 months of the time I could be getting things done for this project.  Or did I?

Actually, when Amanda and I first talked about this when we turned 29 in September, I actually wrote down 28 things (I need to find 2 more still, and I kind of wonder if the rest of my 28 things are actually do-able in one years time considering the pace of life)  So let me see, have I actually accomplished anything yet?

Create 2 new pieces of choreography...check and check!

  I didn't think this would be happening as quickly as it did, but due to the fact that I spent all my budget for my ballet company on costumes (which we desperately needed), I had to come up with all the choreography myself for the concert we had last month.

It was insane, and I feel intensely drained and like I need to go hibernate for a month to recover, but hey it's worth it if I can check something off my list, right?  and I got two checks from that one, even better!  (I'm a little type A, I know... remember when getting a sticker was enough incentive for you to do something as a kid?  Yeah, that will probably still work on me... just sayin')

#3 on my list of 30 things to do before I turn 30 is to read David Copperfield... in progress!  To be honest, I don't think I would have started it if I had realized that it's almost 1,000 pages long, but I'm on Chapter 18 and making good progress, and it has redeemed Charles Dickens standing in my eyes... I loved Tale of Two Cities and who doesn't love a Christmas Carol, but the last Dickens I read was Great Expectations (No disrespect intended, but what was the point, really Mr. Dickens?)

So, onward with David Copperfield and on to my 4th item on my list...

Music to my ears

Since Shayla is super busy with being amazing, I thought I would post my second goal.

• Play each song in the Hymn book for at least 10 minutes before my birthday.

Why, you may ask? I am often asked to play the piano in relief society and it would sure be helpful if I had played the song they are requesting.  Even if it's only 10 minutes, I am at least then semi-familiar with every song in the Hymn book.  I'd like to also have the Primary Songbook under my belt, but I'm not sure I can commit to that quite yet.  So there you have it, goal #2 - although this won't be accomplished for awhile.