Need to rant

So we don't exactly have optimal foodstuffs growing conditions where I live. It's a short season because of the long winters and this means a severe lack if local produce. Everything is shipped from the south and by the time it arrives it has often all gone to shit. Or it is picked too early so it won't go to shit and that just makes it shitty in a different way.

Enter the farmer's market - the one ray of light in our otherwise cloudy food shopping experience. Used to be I could walk down there this time of year and stock up on all the tasty veggies grown at a farm I could actually visit. The farmers sold the veggies and always had a fresh baby carrot on hand to give to my kid. Fantastic.

Two bad growing seasons in a row and the farm is no more. There is virtually no produce at the market this year. And there is no help whatsoever for the local farmer. You see only farms producing large quantities of few or single crops are eligible for crop insurance. So local producers who attempt to provide a small northern community with a variety of tasty options are shoved out so we can once again be forced to eat Mexican or eat nothing at all. This is good for us government? It makes no sense and the only explanation is that this shit is lobbied all to hell.

It's not like the market is totally dead. The awesome bread is there (can't eat it), there are cupcakes (ummm..,sigh), the fruit will be up from the Okanagan at some point, and there is local bison, ostrich, chicken and eggs. But man, I am missing those veggies!

Weight: 145.2
Cheated on the diet last week and feel like crap. Back on it starting Sunday.

Things are tough with baby right now. Going to keep tasks simple: order kids clothes for summer, work on older daughter's birthday party plans. We need to make invites and find a teddy bear cake pan this week.

Everything Free

So I've started my anti inflammatory diet. Dairy free besides plain yogurt, gluten free, red meat free, corn free, soy free, peanut free, unnatural sugar free...am I missing anything else? Oh yeah. Nightshade free. You know what those are? Family Solonaceae (from my archaeobotany days). This includes tomatoes (meh), peppers (no Mexican???) and potatoes. Mother effing potatoes. Sure I can still eat sweet potatoes but I'm sorry, they just aren't the same. A baked sweet potato is meh. But maybe it's good because if I could have a baked potato then I'd want sour cream and bacon.

The food is good so far. I really like the mindbogglingly expensive everything free bread. One tiny slice with some almond butter and I'm stuffed. I get to eat lots of Japanese type stuff so I'm jazzed about that. Tonight is cilantro chicken, quinoa and mixed greens with a lime vinaigrette. Maybe this will become a sort of anti inflammatory food blog.

Oh yeah. Weight yesterday was 148.2. So close to pre-second baby weight! And I actually don't feel like a blob anymore. I finally rewarded myself with a hair cut and colour. So I'm a redhead now and I am LOVING it. Super confidence booster. I felt so good after the hair change that I went and acquired some super bright blue skinny jeans. Trenderific!

Around the house: we are sick of clutter. So we picked out some play room storage furniture. We have a trip to Vancouver coming up in a month so we can hit up IKEA. Should make a huge difference in the basement.

This week's challenges:
-fifteen minutes of declutter everyday in all the hot spots
-get rid of baby stuff we don't need anymore
-order some contacts and glasses with the right prescription
-stick to my diet! and maybe share some recipes

Oops

Well I haven't been around in a while. We went on holiday. That was pretty fabulous. Nephew squish! And then of course there was Easter. I'm not religious but I like a good egg hunt.

Here's what's up with me: I have had a huge flare of joint pain in the past few weeks. My knees are particularly bad and I am pretty sure I have some sort of arthritis. I know, go to the doctor. I have to psych myself up for it because of how nasty they were when this first came up almost 8 years ago. One can only be told she's crazy so many times before she actually does go crazy.

In the meantime I'm going to start transitioning to an anti-inflammatory diet. This will eventually mean veganism, but not while breastfeeding. I just need animal product right now. This month I will work on dropping coffee. Next month I will nix tomatoes (not a problem for everyone, but definitely for me) and start phasing out dairy. This pretty much blows, but if I see improvement in pain then it's worth it.

On the money front things are going well. I just want to keep saving to pay off a student loan in the summer. Definitely on track.

On the home front we need blinds!!! It's making me nuts. And now that littlest lovely can amuse herself for a few minutes, time for a cleaning schedule. That will help me feel better too. Small jobs are easier than doing everything at once.

So this weeks challenges:
-coffee only in the morning
-heck, let's do another: red meat only once
-order those freaking blinds
-start back with the flylady program for cleaning

Sigh...

You will notice I have not weighed in a while. Well. This morning I was 152.6. So since I started this thing I have lost .2 of a lb. Awesome. I blame this on feeding a cold and a certain little thing called "brownie pie". STAY AWAY FROM THE FOOD SECTION OF PINTEREST. See the problem is I go there for household organization tips and end up getting fat.

Things have not been too swell around here (aside from my little visit from a good friend last week). I have been sick. The husband has been sick. The kids have been sick. I can't tell you how many times I've been vomited on in the past few days. But we did manage to do something. We hung pictures! The couch that we've had for 10 months now has pictures hung to go with it rather than the old couch. And our older daughter has pictures on her bedroom walls that have been lying in the closet since September! Thank goodness the younger one isn't old enough to know that her room is still a glorified storage closet.

Oh, and good news on the financial front! It looks like I will pay off one of my student loans this summer and the other one next summer, unless something crazy happens.

Also must add that freezer meals are rocking my socks.

Goals this week:
-Make lists of things remaining to be done in each room and make a timeline to finish them (this will be loooong term)
-Get back on MFP (that's my fitness planner) and log those meals to avoid consumption of brownie pie
-Family evening walks whenever the husband is in town (and even when he is not so long as the snow is gone...please will the snow be gone soon?)
-Book freaking hair appointment

Colds are for chumps

Holy moly. What a week. I ended getting really ill so my picture projects were put on hold. The good news? I still managed to drag myself to Costco to pick up all the food for The Big Cook. Costco. Shudder. Bad enough at the best if times. Really bad with a toddler screeching for a snack every time you pass a sample person.

Am I the only person who feels sorry for the people with the lame samples? This week in the baked goods section there was a woman with pain au chocolat (best food ever) and a man with toast. He actually looked sad. The toddler isn't picky though, so he had one happy customer.

So that was yesterday. Last night I did some prep work and today I just cooked. I started at 7am, went to 5 and stopped only for an hour total to feed myself and the baby. It was nuts. My ankles are swollen. I have a headache from squinting (really looking forward to the optometrist). But I don't have to cook for the rest of the month! You're jealous, right? You should be. Favourite dishes were the Guinness stew, chicken enchiladas, and the breakfast sandwiches. Hey, maybe I should link some recipes? I'll eat them first. Stay tuned!

Sniffles

We all have colds here. This has stalled some of our plans but it's all good. I managed to paint some picture frames and we will be hanging stuff tonight. I have another side project that I am also VERY excited about:

Once a Month Cooking!

Normally I love to cook. The husband and I are aspiring foodies. We don't eat anything out of a box. But you know what? The whole process loses its charm when your baby is screaming the whole time. So the plan for March is to cook once, fill the freezer and then just reheat for the rest of the month.

Technically it won't be the whole month because I'm cooking this weekend. We are away at the end of the month and I plan on cooking a proper meal for my husband's birthday on the 26th. So I figure we will need 18 dinners. There will be some repeats. I have picked out six simple dinners, shopping is Saturday, chopping is Saturday night, cooking is Sunday.

Today I need to put together my shopping list and tomorrow I need to make up my game plan for Sunday. I hope this works!

Week One Is Done!

Woot! So how did I do? The dog seems happier. There's been a bunch of new snow that's kind of putting a damper on things in that regard. Somehow I wasn't really up for doing the stroller push through a pile of new snow on two hours sleep. But I think we are definitely more in a dog walking habit here.

I have a meeting with a financial planner on Thursday. I think this is going to bring about the biggest change. I want to go somewhere warn and sunny next year so hopefully buddy can make that happen.

I have an optometrist appointment on March 6th! Seeing is good! Oh and by the way Costco optical centre - you should answer your phone. You lost a customer.

I have no naturopath appointment! That was deliberate. I was thinking with financial planner, vision, dentist, visit from Miss Megan, baby immunizations and a holiday this March we are pretty booked up. So I made a note in my appointment file to call in April.

Doesn't seem like much but at least I accomplished something. So what's on the menu this week? Pictures. Specifically the hanging of them. We have a picture over the couch that is positioned for couches we haven't had in almost a year. It looks ridiculous. I have pictures in frames leaning against walls all over. The kids' pictures for their rooms are stacked in closets. This should make a big difference to the appearance of the house. Also - eat more baked potatoes. Just because.

About those phone calls..

Because that was the whole point of this week. No, I haven't called anyone yet. You know I'm a procrastinator right? I set deadlines just so that I have a last possible second to do things. Without a deadline the last possible second becomes the end of time. So the calls will happen tomorrow between 4 and 5 pm.

But the good news is that this effort to hang out with the dog has forced me to get up and moving every day. I've been dressed more than not this week! Today we didn't go for a walk, but we did run around in the backyard. I think Kallie had a good time, at least until a sinister crow showed up to spoil the party. Baby Annie enjoyed herself too!

Here's a random bit of self-improvement: for years I have been baking potatoes all wrong. I feel so much shame because I am usually in the know when it comes to food things. But I was unaware that you shouldn't bake potatoes in foil. I hope somebody besides me also didn't know this. You are supposed to scrub, rub with olive oil, rub again with a bit of sea salt, poke some holes with a fork and put them right on the rack in the oven. So many years, so many wasted potatoes. So I am going to eat one every day for the next month to make up for it. Nom.

Mmm...pancakes...

Breastfeeding is my favourite form of exercise. It takes about an hour a day, you just have to sit on the couch and it burns hundreds of calories. I think I'm going to keep feeding this kid until she leaves home just for the burn.

Anyways, the really grand thing is that it allows you to indulge once in a while. As you may know, I am super religious so I observe this thing called Shrove Tuesday. You are supposed to eat pancakes that day. I don't know why. I tend not to ask questions when I'm told to eat pancakes.

So I had blueberry pancakes for lunch and they were awesome. Tomorrow is this thing called Ash Wednesday (because god wants you to give up smoking for Lent?). I am going to do my usual and give up Christianity until Easter. I am really serious about this depriving stuff though so I also give up Christianity from Easter to Christmas. I know, right?

So that's what I did today. I made pancakes. And did some laundry. And cleaned the upstairs bathroom. And fulfilled my daily appointment with the dog! Have not missed one yet! I see a potential problem with my plan though. I like to walk around 10am because it puts the baby to sleep. Unfortunately the old ladies with the unleashed dogs also like to walk at this time. These dogs are small and mean. Take a couple rabid rats, glue them together, throw on a scraggly wig and there you go. They attack anything that moves. A confrontation is coming and I don't know how my dog will react. She generally likes other dogs but so do I and I want to kick these little critters in the teeth. Sigh.

Ah well. Freja is enjoying the extra outside time so that's a bonus.

Weigh In Monday!

I was doing this on Fridays but I think that was just encouraging me to eat like a pig and sit on my ass for the weekend. So back to Mondays it is.

152.8! A couple weeks ago it was 155.4. And at the new year I weighed 165. 130s by 30, here I come! And I have a new appointment to make. I promised myself a salon visit for the first 10 pounds lost this year.

Off to a decent start! The dog enjoyed her appointment anyways. If anybody is looking for a way to shed some pounds in the winter:
- invest in a heavy duty double stroller
- fill the stroller with 50lbs worth of baby/toddler or choice of baby/toddler substitute (pile of bricks in a snowsuit?)
- push through fresh snowfall for 45 minutes

Week 1: Pick Up The Damn Phone

I suck at making appointments. I haven't had a haircut in two years because I forget to call. But you know, some things are more dire than a bad case of split ends.

Challenges this week:
1. Call a financial planner!
2. Call the optometrist!
3. Call the naturopath!

I also need to make appointments with my dog. Poor bugger has been cast aside since Annie was born. So Kallie, I'll be seeing you every day for an outing. This should benefit the weight loss too!

The beginning

I am a notoriously bad blogger. Actually I am just bad at keeping anything up at all beyond the very basics of survival. So now I am going to attempt to use this thing that I'm bad at to fix the other things that I'm bad at. Good luck?

So don't screw what up? What's it? It = everything. Life in general. Since having my second baby four months ago I've really noticed that things around here just don't get done. We are all fed and relatively clean, but I want more than that. I want good health, organization, financial strength. I want to enjoy every day.

I don't expect anyone to read this. It will probably be boring. But hopefully the mere thought that someone might see it will be enough to keep it up.

Sooo...things I need to fix:
Health: I have fibrolepsy (that's fibromyalgia and epilepsy). I see doctors for neither of these conditions. So clearly I need to find a neurologist. This will hopefully put me on the path to driving again. I need a naturopath for the fibromyalgia. Maybe said NF can also help with figuring out what do about my food intolerances.

I need to be less fat. I have 23 lbs of baby weight I'm still hauling around. Blah blah you're breast feeding and shouldn't worry about it. Unfortunately there is a part of my brain that translates that to "you can eat two dozen peanut butter cookies this weekend".

I can't see properly. Yeah.

My teeth are cavity prone so I need to crank up my dental routine.

Financial: I know you aren't "supposed" to talk about this stuff but if I don't share I won't change. My husband makes a nice six figure salary and we have next to no savings and are still in debt (car and student loans). This seems really stupid to me. So fix that.

Organization: The house is a cluttered mess. I can't even remember to hang a picture on the wall. We don't have a will. No seriously. Two kids, no will. Because I always forget about it. The mail is everywhere. I don't even know what happens with the bills.

That's the basics. So I'm going to do weekly challenges to try and make some changes. Wish me luck!