Veggies Smeggies! Why are some of the best foods for us gross? Well 'gross' might be a little harsh...but seriously, veggies are not very exciting. My list of veggies that I actually get a little excited about is VERY short...like 2...maybe.
The number of vegetable servings recommended per day, is about how many I have every two weeks. I don't even know what the number is...but considering I eat about one veggie a week (sometimes), I'm guessing it's close. Okay, I just checked..according to choosemyplate.gov, I should eat 2.5 cups per day...eek...maybe it's closer to every three weeks that I eat that many veggies. Yikes! That's pretty bad, huh.
Here's the deal. So I know we are supposed to eat for no other reason than to fuel our bodies...but seriously, I need to feel at least a little satisfied after a meal, and veggies are definitely not going to do that for me. I will eat a salad here and there for lunch...but then I immediately grab a handful of m&ms or a small dish of ice cream to wash it down with. Today I made a conscious effort to eat a bunch of veggies at lunch (I bought the vegetables on Tuesday with lots of plans for them for the week, and here it is Friday and I'm just now getting to them). I had to choke down my meal...and to be honest, I only ate half of it. I tried to just dice and sautee a bunch of veggies and eat them with pasta....I chose bad pairing of veggies and needed some sort of sauce/dressing on my pasta. Fail! I had a scotcheroo (or 2) afterwards to make me feel better. And last night Rylee wanted mac n cheese, so I decided to try throwing in some tiny pieces of broccoli with it for myself...I ate it all...but it totally ruined my mac n cheese...I was bummed!
I need help! How can I eat more veggies without feeling like I'm eating veggies?? I read a few good websites early this week with great suggestions...but I think the only thing that will work for me is if someone else makes the food so I don't know it's in there. Ha. Here is the list of veggies I like or can tolerate:
Carrots (not cooked)
Broccoli (sometimes)
Zucchini (I actually really like this one)
Green Beans (my other fav)
Peas (only from a can)
Onions
Bell Peppers (cooked and in my food)
Any leafy greens
Corn (I guess there is argument whether or not this is a vegetable)
Avacado (not plain)
Cucumbers
Veggies I do NOT like...don't even recommend them to me....
Celery (unless it's diced small and cooked and in my soup)
Cauliflower
Sweet Potatoes (REALLY wish I could like these)
Tomatoes (I can eat them pureed in sauces)
Squash
Asparagus (I could probably eat it if I had to)
I just looked at choosemyplate.gov's list of veggies...I've never even tried half of them...or know what they are. Oh boy, I'm pathetic!!! Eek! Rylee eats even less veggies than I do, which is really really bad and part of the reason I want to cook with them more. She ate all of the pureed veggies when she was a baby (as does Wyatt). I made a lot of my own baby food and would try new veggies as I was making them for the babies...but never found any new ones I liked. I'm not sure if there is hope for me in the veggie world....but I'm going to try...even if it means having a bowl of ice cream afterwards.......wait a second....yes, that will be my motivation for eating more veggies!! Ben&Jerry's, here I come (actually I buy the cheap stuff)....I mean, Squash&Celery, here I come!
Friday, February 28, 2014
Monday, February 24, 2014
12 Loads Lighter
About 4 months ago, I wrote about de-cluttering as I had just finished a book on Minimalism that inspired me to do so. I received several messages from friends that it inspired them to do some de-cluttering of their own. I thought I would give an update on my progress in case anyone else needs some motivation for spring...er winter..cleaning.
I have just finished my 3rd book on minimalist living and am addicted to the thought of living with less. Whether or not I can actually get there is still unknown, but I'm on a good start. I have taken 12 car loads of stuff to Goodwill. You know the large white tubs you unload your stuff into at Goodwill....I have packed at least 12 of them! It feels SO GOOD to get rid of stuff!!! I get in moods where I just want to pitch anything in my way...and so far I haven't missed anything I've gotten rid of. It's very freeing!
Friends have asked me, "What are you getting rid of?" and "How do you have that much stuff to get rid of?" I have always been a sucker of the marketing world and loved to go shopping (I'm using the past tense as I hope to change this habit). Pretty, bright colored things always found their way into my shopping cart and hitched rides into my home....where I then had to find a place to put them and then maintain them. What I've learned through my readings and 12 trips to Goodwill in 4 months is that most of those things aren't worthy of taking up space in my house or my time that I have to clean them. I have gotten rid of things that I just recently bought and felt the stab of "why the heck did I waste money on this???" Most of the things I have bought aren't worthy of my money either. Darn marketers!!! I know they will never go away, but I can change the way I think about marketing. I'm already doing a lot better at just leaving the pretty things in the stores to be viewed there only. Knowing how much time and energy I have spent (thus time away from my kids) getting rid of things helps me say "no" to something I have my eye on.
When de-cluttering, it is recommended that instead of pulling things out that you want to get rid of, you should instead pull everything out and only put back in what you want to keep. I tried this method with my clothes and with my bathroom linen closet. It worked wonders!! Previously I would have maybe pulled out 5-6 shirts in my closet to get rid of, but using this method I got rid of 15. I first put back in the shirts that I knew I had worn in the last couple of weeks and then put back those that I wear occasionally and do like. Everything else....gonners. Now, everything in my closet is actually worn and it's so much easier to decide what to wear, because I truly love everything in my closet and know that it fits me and is comfortable. And before I went through my linen closet I wrote down the items that I thought were necessary to have in there, and then I only put those items back in. The rest of it got a hard interview to determine if it was worthy of being kept or not.
I finally got rid of all those items that I kept saying "I might use this someday" or "I might wear that someday". If I couldn't remember the last time an item was used, I got rid of it...no matter how much I liked it. If it isn't useful to me on a regular basis, it's not worthy of space in my house and my time to maintain it. I also thought hard about the realization of organizing. Too many times I have organized a space and felt so much better about it.....only to have to reorganize it again later. Organizing isn't de-cluttering and inevitably you will have to touch all of those items again at a later date for another round of organizing. If we instead just get rid of the items that don't truly need to be in that organized space, we won't have to touch them again later.
Why is living with less so interesting to me?? Minimalism is deeper than just de-cluttering.
It is understanding what is truly important to yourself and ridding your life of those things that distract you from that. I want to focus more on family time and less on dusting, cleaning, organizing, etc. I want my family to spend more time outdoors than in the living room. I want our home to be just a space where we eat, sleep, shower...the necessities. There are so many great things in this amazing world to experience and spending so much time in our house doesn't allow us the opportunity for learning about our world. Some lines that I highlighted in my readings regarding minimalist living are:
"the more stuff you own, the more your stuff owns you"
"living life is more enjoyable than managing and organizing stuff"
"there is more joy to be found in owning less than can ever be found in organizing more"
"minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we value and the removal of everything that distracts us from it"
"minimalism values relationships, experiences, and soul-care and in doing so, it finds life"
"minimalism slows down life and frees us from this modern hysteria to live faster"
"our possessions rob us of precious minutes every day by being required to be cleaned, organized, maintained, fixed, removed"
Something I have been saying recently that I never thought would ever come out of my mouth is "my house is too big!". When we were creating our floor plan for our house 4 years ago, I wanted there to be a spot for all of our stuff. Anything that didn't have a "spot" in our old house, was going to get itself a spot in our new house. What I didn't realize at the time is how much I was giving our stuff priority. We all think we need a bigger house because all of our stuff is suffocating us...but what we really need is less stuff! The reality of a house is that it provides shelter, a true basic necessity. It's nice to be comfortable in our houses as we spend quite a bit of time in them...but no one really needs as big of a house as they think they do. All it does is require more of your time to maintain and allow you to acquire more things that you do not need. If I could, I would empty all of the contents of my house onto my yard, make a list of true necessities and items used regularly and bring only those things back into my house. If it was just me, I would honestly do this...but I have 3 other lives to consider too. Which brings me to my next thought....
Getting rid of unnecessary items and turning our attention to what's really important in life seemed like such a great thing to start now while our kids are so young and untouched by marketing and peer pressure. The book I just finished is about living with less with children. There are so many great points that the author highlights about teaching our children what's really important. He discusses some of the greatest gifts we can give our children, and none of them are bought in a store. One of my favorite things he says is, "Allow children of all ages to dream bigger dreams than cozy homes, cool cars and white picket fences."
I let Rylee help choose which of her items she wants to keep and which to get rid of. The interesting thing is that when I ask her to find some toys/books/etc to get rid of, she instead picks out the things she wants to keep -- which is exactly the way you are supposed to do it, according to my readings. What I like about this is that not only does she have all the control over what she keeps, she has the ability to pick out those items that are really important to her and see the rest as "no big deal" to get rid of. We are on the right track with her I think. She likes the idea of giving things to other kids (which is what I tell her we are going to do with her stuff she doesn't play with).
I've said it a million times and I'll say it again -- I'm SO READY for spring to get here so we can get outside and enjoy nature and all of the outdoor activities we haven't been able to do in months. My husband and I just recently agreed that TV is doing nothing good for us and we need to turn it off and spend more quality time together...all 4 of us. This will be a challenge, but one I'm definitely ready to take on (after this season of The Bachelor is over of course..and I will still watch Nashville..but the rest can go).
If you are interested in reading more about minimalism or just want some more motivation, the books I read and would recommend are:
Miss Minimalist: Inspiration to downsize, declutter and simplify.. by Francine Jay
Clutterfree with Kids: Change your thinking, Discover new habits .. by Joshua Becker
The Minimalist Women's Guide to Having It All .. by Meg Wolfe
The first two listed were the most in depth and inspiring to me. Read them and then spend the last few weeks of winter (I hope) getting rid of stuff that doesn't make you happy so you can enjoy life in the beautiful weather to come!
Have a great week!
I have just finished my 3rd book on minimalist living and am addicted to the thought of living with less. Whether or not I can actually get there is still unknown, but I'm on a good start. I have taken 12 car loads of stuff to Goodwill. You know the large white tubs you unload your stuff into at Goodwill....I have packed at least 12 of them! It feels SO GOOD to get rid of stuff!!! I get in moods where I just want to pitch anything in my way...and so far I haven't missed anything I've gotten rid of. It's very freeing!
Friends have asked me, "What are you getting rid of?" and "How do you have that much stuff to get rid of?" I have always been a sucker of the marketing world and loved to go shopping (I'm using the past tense as I hope to change this habit). Pretty, bright colored things always found their way into my shopping cart and hitched rides into my home....where I then had to find a place to put them and then maintain them. What I've learned through my readings and 12 trips to Goodwill in 4 months is that most of those things aren't worthy of taking up space in my house or my time that I have to clean them. I have gotten rid of things that I just recently bought and felt the stab of "why the heck did I waste money on this???" Most of the things I have bought aren't worthy of my money either. Darn marketers!!! I know they will never go away, but I can change the way I think about marketing. I'm already doing a lot better at just leaving the pretty things in the stores to be viewed there only. Knowing how much time and energy I have spent (thus time away from my kids) getting rid of things helps me say "no" to something I have my eye on.
When de-cluttering, it is recommended that instead of pulling things out that you want to get rid of, you should instead pull everything out and only put back in what you want to keep. I tried this method with my clothes and with my bathroom linen closet. It worked wonders!! Previously I would have maybe pulled out 5-6 shirts in my closet to get rid of, but using this method I got rid of 15. I first put back in the shirts that I knew I had worn in the last couple of weeks and then put back those that I wear occasionally and do like. Everything else....gonners. Now, everything in my closet is actually worn and it's so much easier to decide what to wear, because I truly love everything in my closet and know that it fits me and is comfortable. And before I went through my linen closet I wrote down the items that I thought were necessary to have in there, and then I only put those items back in. The rest of it got a hard interview to determine if it was worthy of being kept or not.
I finally got rid of all those items that I kept saying "I might use this someday" or "I might wear that someday". If I couldn't remember the last time an item was used, I got rid of it...no matter how much I liked it. If it isn't useful to me on a regular basis, it's not worthy of space in my house and my time to maintain it. I also thought hard about the realization of organizing. Too many times I have organized a space and felt so much better about it.....only to have to reorganize it again later. Organizing isn't de-cluttering and inevitably you will have to touch all of those items again at a later date for another round of organizing. If we instead just get rid of the items that don't truly need to be in that organized space, we won't have to touch them again later.
Why is living with less so interesting to me?? Minimalism is deeper than just de-cluttering.
It is understanding what is truly important to yourself and ridding your life of those things that distract you from that. I want to focus more on family time and less on dusting, cleaning, organizing, etc. I want my family to spend more time outdoors than in the living room. I want our home to be just a space where we eat, sleep, shower...the necessities. There are so many great things in this amazing world to experience and spending so much time in our house doesn't allow us the opportunity for learning about our world. Some lines that I highlighted in my readings regarding minimalist living are:
"the more stuff you own, the more your stuff owns you"
"living life is more enjoyable than managing and organizing stuff"
"there is more joy to be found in owning less than can ever be found in organizing more"
"minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we value and the removal of everything that distracts us from it"
"minimalism values relationships, experiences, and soul-care and in doing so, it finds life"
"minimalism slows down life and frees us from this modern hysteria to live faster"
"our possessions rob us of precious minutes every day by being required to be cleaned, organized, maintained, fixed, removed"
Something I have been saying recently that I never thought would ever come out of my mouth is "my house is too big!". When we were creating our floor plan for our house 4 years ago, I wanted there to be a spot for all of our stuff. Anything that didn't have a "spot" in our old house, was going to get itself a spot in our new house. What I didn't realize at the time is how much I was giving our stuff priority. We all think we need a bigger house because all of our stuff is suffocating us...but what we really need is less stuff! The reality of a house is that it provides shelter, a true basic necessity. It's nice to be comfortable in our houses as we spend quite a bit of time in them...but no one really needs as big of a house as they think they do. All it does is require more of your time to maintain and allow you to acquire more things that you do not need. If I could, I would empty all of the contents of my house onto my yard, make a list of true necessities and items used regularly and bring only those things back into my house. If it was just me, I would honestly do this...but I have 3 other lives to consider too. Which brings me to my next thought....
Getting rid of unnecessary items and turning our attention to what's really important in life seemed like such a great thing to start now while our kids are so young and untouched by marketing and peer pressure. The book I just finished is about living with less with children. There are so many great points that the author highlights about teaching our children what's really important. He discusses some of the greatest gifts we can give our children, and none of them are bought in a store. One of my favorite things he says is, "Allow children of all ages to dream bigger dreams than cozy homes, cool cars and white picket fences."
I let Rylee help choose which of her items she wants to keep and which to get rid of. The interesting thing is that when I ask her to find some toys/books/etc to get rid of, she instead picks out the things she wants to keep -- which is exactly the way you are supposed to do it, according to my readings. What I like about this is that not only does she have all the control over what she keeps, she has the ability to pick out those items that are really important to her and see the rest as "no big deal" to get rid of. We are on the right track with her I think. She likes the idea of giving things to other kids (which is what I tell her we are going to do with her stuff she doesn't play with).
I've said it a million times and I'll say it again -- I'm SO READY for spring to get here so we can get outside and enjoy nature and all of the outdoor activities we haven't been able to do in months. My husband and I just recently agreed that TV is doing nothing good for us and we need to turn it off and spend more quality time together...all 4 of us. This will be a challenge, but one I'm definitely ready to take on (after this season of The Bachelor is over of course..and I will still watch Nashville..but the rest can go).
If you are interested in reading more about minimalism or just want some more motivation, the books I read and would recommend are:
Miss Minimalist: Inspiration to downsize, declutter and simplify.. by Francine Jay
Clutterfree with Kids: Change your thinking, Discover new habits .. by Joshua Becker
The Minimalist Women's Guide to Having It All .. by Meg Wolfe
The first two listed were the most in depth and inspiring to me. Read them and then spend the last few weeks of winter (I hope) getting rid of stuff that doesn't make you happy so you can enjoy life in the beautiful weather to come!
Have a great week!
Friday, February 14, 2014
Where Should We Go?
As everyone is taking the "which state do you belong in" quiz on Facebook today, I have been watching the results and haven't seen anyone with "Iowa" as their result. By the way, I got Alaska...gag me! Snow is pretty -- in the month of December ONLY! Also, my mood is so much better on sunny days and I need more than a few hours of sunshine each day!
I know I'm not the only one complaining about winter weather, as evidenced by my Facebook feed. So what I want to know is, why aren't we all moving?? Ha! Every winter I say I want to move south, but I never act on it. Every winter my Facebook feed is full of people hatin' on the weather, but they never move away either.
We don't move because our family and friends are here. But, if we all moved together this wouldn't be holding us back anymore :) I'm pretty sure my mom wouldfollow come with me if I moved, so I'm at least safe there. So...where are we all going to go??
I'm thinking Tennessee. I've only been there once (drove through it, is more like it), but I'm thinking it's a good spot for the following reasons:
1. Far enough south to have a milder winter (possibly still get to see snow randomly)
2. Not too far of a drive from Iowa
3. Closer to the gulf shores and the east coast (head to the beach for the weekend, anyone?)
4. It's pretty (mountains!)
5. It's #4 on the list of friendliest states (Iowa is #5)
6. Hello? Nashville!!! Live country music!
So, who is coming with me?? Anyone?? I promise you'll get over missing snow real quick -- you can come back to Iowa at Christmas time to get your snow fill. And come back to Iowa for the state fair in the summer -- I'll come with you!
Okay, there's probably a lot I would miss about Iowa, but I do envy those who are able to leave and experience life in other parts of this beautiful country. I'm probably too much of a homebody to leave Iowa....but let's be honest...if ya'll wanna move, I'll go too :)
Spring, HURRY UP and get here so I will remember why I live here!!
I know I'm not the only one complaining about winter weather, as evidenced by my Facebook feed. So what I want to know is, why aren't we all moving?? Ha! Every winter I say I want to move south, but I never act on it. Every winter my Facebook feed is full of people hatin' on the weather, but they never move away either.
We don't move because our family and friends are here. But, if we all moved together this wouldn't be holding us back anymore :) I'm pretty sure my mom would
I'm thinking Tennessee. I've only been there once (drove through it, is more like it), but I'm thinking it's a good spot for the following reasons:
1. Far enough south to have a milder winter (possibly still get to see snow randomly)
2. Not too far of a drive from Iowa
3. Closer to the gulf shores and the east coast (head to the beach for the weekend, anyone?)
4. It's pretty (mountains!)
5. It's #4 on the list of friendliest states (Iowa is #5)
6. Hello? Nashville!!! Live country music!
So, who is coming with me?? Anyone?? I promise you'll get over missing snow real quick -- you can come back to Iowa at Christmas time to get your snow fill. And come back to Iowa for the state fair in the summer -- I'll come with you!
Okay, there's probably a lot I would miss about Iowa, but I do envy those who are able to leave and experience life in other parts of this beautiful country. I'm probably too much of a homebody to leave Iowa....but let's be honest...if ya'll wanna move, I'll go too :)
Spring, HURRY UP and get here so I will remember why I live here!!
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
"Mommy, play with me."
I just started following the 28 Days of Play series http://www.youplustwoparenting.com/category/28-days-of-play/ as seen on the Today show this week. The focus of the blogs in this series is how parents have trouble playing with their own kids.
It was such a relief for me to see that I'm not the only crazy parent who can't get into playing with my children. Don't get me wrong, I do play with them, but I'm always trying to find an excuse to get out of it. Rylee will ask me to go downstairs to play with her (where most of our toys are) and I just cringe, but I go. I tell myself, "you can handle 30 minutes", and after what seems to have been 30 minutes, I tell Rylee I have to go back upstairs to (insert chore)....and then I see I was only downstairs for 12 minutes and I feel really bad.
It's not that I don't like to play with her, but I can't connect with my inner child (do I even have one of those??) and play imaginatively like she does. I have read numerous articles that recommend letting your child take the lead at play time. That seems easy enough...until she asks me, "what should we do?" My first answer to that question (in my head of course) is, "unload the dishwasher" or "put laundry away". I always go for the easy answers, like "play a board game" or "read some books"....neither of which require me to be creative. Of course, she always has other ideas...like making pretend muffins or taking her babies to the pretend park, or going to the pretend store. Eek! I do what she wants, but it's just motions and I feel silly and worry that she thinks I'm a terrible playmate....which I'm sure never even crosses her mind and I should just have fun with it.
Whenever Wyatt is napping and Rylee is awake, I do try to make the most of my time with just Rylee and I always offer to play with her. A lot of times I will suggest an activity first that I don't mind doing so that I can enjoy the time with her. We will play a game, read books, color, paint, dance, bake, etc. I also try to play with Wyatt as much as possible when he's awake and Rylee is sleeping so that he has one on one time with me as well. He's a little easier because he doesn't care what we do.
I know there will come a day that my kids stop asking me to play with them and I will wish I could have a "do over". I try to remind myself of that each time Rylee asks me to play with her, but it still never helps me get into character with her. I will continue to play with her though, and Wyatt too. I know that no matter how ridiculous I feel, it's the attention I give them that they will remember.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm being summoned to "go downstairs and play". Wish me luck :)
It was such a relief for me to see that I'm not the only crazy parent who can't get into playing with my children. Don't get me wrong, I do play with them, but I'm always trying to find an excuse to get out of it. Rylee will ask me to go downstairs to play with her (where most of our toys are) and I just cringe, but I go. I tell myself, "you can handle 30 minutes", and after what seems to have been 30 minutes, I tell Rylee I have to go back upstairs to (insert chore)....and then I see I was only downstairs for 12 minutes and I feel really bad.
It's not that I don't like to play with her, but I can't connect with my inner child (do I even have one of those??) and play imaginatively like she does. I have read numerous articles that recommend letting your child take the lead at play time. That seems easy enough...until she asks me, "what should we do?" My first answer to that question (in my head of course) is, "unload the dishwasher" or "put laundry away". I always go for the easy answers, like "play a board game" or "read some books"....neither of which require me to be creative. Of course, she always has other ideas...like making pretend muffins or taking her babies to the pretend park, or going to the pretend store. Eek! I do what she wants, but it's just motions and I feel silly and worry that she thinks I'm a terrible playmate....which I'm sure never even crosses her mind and I should just have fun with it.
Whenever Wyatt is napping and Rylee is awake, I do try to make the most of my time with just Rylee and I always offer to play with her. A lot of times I will suggest an activity first that I don't mind doing so that I can enjoy the time with her. We will play a game, read books, color, paint, dance, bake, etc. I also try to play with Wyatt as much as possible when he's awake and Rylee is sleeping so that he has one on one time with me as well. He's a little easier because he doesn't care what we do.
I know there will come a day that my kids stop asking me to play with them and I will wish I could have a "do over". I try to remind myself of that each time Rylee asks me to play with her, but it still never helps me get into character with her. I will continue to play with her though, and Wyatt too. I know that no matter how ridiculous I feel, it's the attention I give them that they will remember.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm being summoned to "go downstairs and play". Wish me luck :)
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