P.S Did I mention I LOVE Pepperplate? It's an ap for your phone too. And I recently discovered pintrest, which just eats at my time some days, but I figure I do that anyway so why not share it with everyone.
In conclusion: I've been on a diet for 4 weeks now. Last time I checked, I had lost about 3.5 lbs. So I've been actually just focusing on counting calories, which has helped me in the past. Then I started reading this book about dieting and it kind of scared me about bleached sugars and flours. I also have felt a real drain in energy lately, probably due to the weather and other things, so I started looking up ways to boost your serotonin levels naturally. Consensus being that certain foods release chemicals in your brain, and processed foods make you feel yucky.
This all has a point I promise.
SO! On days when I go over my caloric intake (usually because I ate something heavily caloric and processed out of the vending machine) I usually rely on salads. I've been using meals off of EatingWell.com...which BTW I love, it's like a healthy spin on Epicurious.com...which I also love.
So I've been discovering making my own vinaigrettes for salads. They are lovely! For instance, yesterday I had a blueberry walnut vinaigrette for my spinach and Blueberry steak salad with fetta cheese. And currently I'm having a strawberry and spinach green salad with a maple pepper vinaigrette. And the other day I made a spinach blueberry salad for my friend, Jax. Vinaigerettes are super quick to make, somewhat healthy and so much more creative than your bottled french dressing. (Though Newmans Own Dressing is to DIE for.) Different flavored peppers from Trader Joes help to switch it up too!
Sooooo I haven't posted on here in FOR-Ever....and you know what?! I realized something on Friday, I realized I'm a lot more productive when I'm happy. My house gets cleaned, I don't skip showers.... And lately I have been getting out of my funk, (besides my smelly funk :P) and I'm feeling a lot happier these days. A new chapter in my life is about to start. God is good, and all is as it should be, and Sarah is creatively cooking again. She also set her kitchen on fire, and she is now speaking in the third person....but that's a story for another day.
Moving along.
So tonight we have our first gospel community since before Christmas, and we are having a pot luck dinner. Two of the guys were bringing main courses and I asked them what they were bringing so I could coordinate a side dish accordingly. Brian said he was bringing "Caribbean Jerk Meatballs" sounded good. But I had no idea what that was and couldn't find a recipe. So I figured I'd go with the word "Caribbean" and see what I couldn't come up with...and wouldn't have a ton of ingredients because yet again...I'm pretty broke....come on pay day!!!
I found a recipe for Caribbean Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup. I read the recipe...seems simple and inexpensive enough...but then it suggested side items, and I just went a little over board with that and ended up with Soup, Sides with Tortillas and Caramelized Pineapple and Coconut with Caramel Macadamia Nut Frozen Yogurt...whoops! And I wasn't even sure how the soup would turn out based on the reviews on epicurious.
Well the Epicurious site was down, and I was desperate for the recipe. Rachel Ray had a similar recipe online so I ended up kind of sort of combining the two and then adding my own spices. So it ended up being the Original Recipe with tomatoes and Cayenne Pepper with a dash of red pepper flakes and pink salt and pepper to taste. I think it turned out pretty good. Not what I'm used too....but I could get used to it. It's pretty yum! Will post pics soon!
Forgot to buy milk....was running all over the place during lunch. But otherwise everything was yummy. Lunch was about 600 cal. Breakfast 400 I'm not sure how much dinner was, but I just had a bowl of soup so I think I'm good for today. I got home late tonight and I left my awesome lunch box at school....sad day.
So there is a list in this book for September that lists a whole week of school lunches. Normally I am accustomed to eating the frozen lunch with grapes and pudding, but I'm game to try a full week of Vintage packed lunches in my fabulous metal lunchbox.
I'm kind of curious to add up the calories...the last time I did this I consumed SOO many calories and gained like 5 lbs.
Monday: Chocolate Milk
Cottage Cheese and Nuts
Egg Salad Sandwich
Apple
So I've been diligently working on Septembers assignments while having a frenzy of information go through my mind (maybe "bevy" is a better word?)
First, I would like to share my new door dec. I made for my front door today. I think it's super cute it says "Blessings Fall" OR "Fall Blessings" Whichever way you look at it. I love sparkleys for the holidays, but my tastes are becoming increasingly sophisticated and I'm not using Orange in my home decor anymore....until Halloween anyway. I also am becoming more convicted that the word of the Lord should be written all over your house. Some of my friends from church write scriptures and frame them. I'm working on incorporating Gods word into my home decor. Deuteronomy 6 4 “Hear, O Israel: dThe Lord our God, the Lord is one.25 You eshall love theLord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.6 And fthese words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 gYou shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 hYou shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 iYou shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Anyways...so Hobby Lobby was having a sale and I found the acorns and Leaf for 40% off and the ribbon was on super clearance. I bought a paint pen and wrote Blessings Fall, I thought that was rather clever since everything in the store said "Fall Blessings" What the heck IS a fall blessing? and how is it different from any other kind of blessing? I had a heck of a time trying to figure out how to attach it to my door. so I ended up sewing a loop to the back of the bow that allowed for the back end of the wreath holder to loop into it.
The other "crafty" thing I did in the same regard was a vase I found at peir 1 imports for super clearance as well. I keep it in my bedroom. I wrote Psalm 4:8 on it.
It doesn't look as great in photo as it does in person...and the surface was kind of difficult to write nice font in...but I like it.
Anyways on to Sept. assignments.
"Cultivate a sense of appreciation. Love your work, trust your work, keep in touch with today. Teach yourself to be practical, up-to-date and sensible. You cannot fail." ~Henry Van Dyke
" Appreciation is the key to knowledge, the key to art, to literature, to good work. Without it, beauty is not seen nor understood and perfection is never acquired...We women hurry all too rapidly through the days, forgetting how big they are and how many times we could touch hands with real happiness if we would but appreciate the opportunity." -Mary Brooks Picken
One of my complaints from last year was that I didn't feel like there was enough time in my days. But I am beginning to realize there wasn't enough day in my time, and not enough relationship in my day. When I spend time with other people, or spend time alone with God, or doing something I really truly love, my days seem like the last forever, in an incredibly good way. However, when I am totally unproductive, checking facebook, watching movies/television shows playing dumb computer games, my days go back SO fast and I wonder where my day has gone to. Sometimes I am SO tired at the end of the work day that I don't WANT to do anything else. But this semester I've booked myself solid, with spending time with friends, taking classes, auditioning for shows, and church related activities. While work still leaves me exhausted and rather grumpy, I enjoy my life a little more now.
I came across an article by Fredrica Mathewes-Green. I heard it referenced in a sermon I was listening to, and I went to look it up. The article is entitled "Three Bad Ideas for Women" She makes this statement:
Though I use the term “careerism” to identify this value, I don’t mean that women shouldn’t have careers. I mean rather a half-conscious ideology which holds that the most important thing in life is the rank conferred by a place of employment. It’s as bad for men as it is for women.
Careerism is a foolish idea on many levels, not least because only the most fortunate, and elite, people get to have careers. Most people just have jobs. When I was a young feminist mouthing off about how I was going to be out in the workplace and not stuck at home, my dad gave me a few wise words that, improbably, sunk in even then. He pointed out that most of the people in the world don’t get their fulfillment from the thing that gives them a paycheck. They get their fulfillment from other facets of life: faith, family, hobbies, literature, music. For most people, a job represents only the hours they must spend each week to earn the free hours in which they can do the things they really care about. Careerism is the misguided notion that work trumps everything else.
Which I think is so true! I have been living, and I believe have been aught to live like work trumps everything else. Which sucks!!! A) Essentially we're trying to search for fulfillment in our jobs, which really isn't there, or if it is, its there temporarily. Only Christ can fully and eternally satisfy. At some point our jobs are going to let us down and B) When our jobs trump everything else, it trumps family and relationships. I know I've lived like this for...well the majority of my life. When really, I COULD have a job that paid the bills, was less than 30 hours a week and gave me time to spend with friends and family. I just...didn't. I didn't make that choice before. I thought my "career" was the most important factor in my life; I had to prove that I could support myself, be responsible and independent.
I've been keeping kind of an ongoing "goal" collage and one of the sentences I clipped out was "The thrill of choosing which way to go." As opposed to "knowing" which way to go, "knowing" isn't very thrilling...I don't think. Knowing doesn't cause me to step out in faith, or change, or do bigger and better things. Knowing isn't a choice, it's a duty.
We were made to help each other out and part of helping out is taking care of the home, and passing down the word off God to our children. Journeying together through life to ultimately come to the fullness of Christ. You can't "Journey" in stagnation. You can't cease to stagnate when your days consist of waking up: going to work: cleaning the house: cooking dinner: going to sleep. But quite frankly, when your career becomes who and what you are, that's really all there is. The same phenomenon would happen to someone who was barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. I have met more and more intelligent, incredibly capable amazing women who have chosen to stay home and take care of their children, and its truly a shame that the majority of american society looks down on them.
I was reading this other article I heard referenced about why men don't grow up, or the Peter Pan syndrome. Can I survive on my own? Yeah. I can, I can make enough money to support myself, and I'm responsible enough to get the trash out before it starts smelling. Do I WANT to? No. No I don't want to do it by myself, and more than that, I believe that God called us to help each other out, as iron sharpens iron. (Prov 27:17)
Assignment #1 Orange and Peach Jam
I've made Jam before: Strawberry Jam...I don't think I was patient enough with it, because it turned out a bit too fluid. This is my canned version. I'm afraid to open it. I can't remember when I made it, and I'm afraid it is probably nasty inside.
but today I made Orange and Peach Jam....which is why I'm up so late. It took me longer than I expected it would. I put it in a jar marked "not for use in canning" so I'm not "canning" it...I'm "Jarring" it and it's going directly in the refrigerator when it cools off, so I'm pretty sure it should be okay. The recipe in the book was a little vague and complicated all at the same time. So I followed another recipe and kind of combined the too. That seems to be a pattern in my cooking lately.
Peaches/Oranges and Peels/Water and Sugar Boiling
Finished product cooling off (jam all over the stove)
Jam on Beer Bread I made yesterday.
Assignment #2 Cross Stitch
I almost completed a cross stitch. I'm out of string of one color, but after that I'm finished. I haven't done a cross stitch since I was like 9. I think most cross stitch patterns are stupid. But I found this cute one for an apron. It goes with my kitchen perfectly!!!
Cute Cute!!!
My next project is to make an apron, I'll have to get some fabric for, and to make a week of "nourishing" lunches. 5 more days until the month is out...I've been pretty productive this month....do you think I can make it?
I'm beginning Septembers Blog Mid August, because August is almost over and I'm getting very excited about fall. Not to mention that school USED to start in Sept. so Amy Barrickman's book focuses on school for Sept.
For those of us who wish to make progress, no matter what our aims may be, there is no better teacher than a child. If a child wants to know about something, he asks a lot of questions. If something happens with which he is unfamiliar, he demands an explanation. Of course, the child looks to his parents for answers. But what a fine example he is to all who want to learn. "If you don't know, ask!" Ask somebody else, or ask yourself an then answer yourself be consulting the proper authority, be it a person or a book, But ask! Don't stifle your desire to learn Be as a little child, and ask. -Gustave L. Weinss
I find that God has this habit of speaking to me through movies and plays, and books that I am reading, people I meet or engage in conversation with, that just begin to align, pull at my heart, and form my thought process. I have a tendency to process things very slowly. I am beginning to learn that leaps of faith and prayers that consist of "Lord, I have no idea what I need to pray, but my heart is full, so send your holy spirit to speak to you in my behalf" tend to lead me into fantastic adventures, and change me from the inside out. It's important to ask questions, but sometimes we are in positions that nothing but your own heart can provide the answer for.
