It’s not fun anymore...

We have been changing our habits for almost 2 months now. Just like with most things in life...it’s fun to start! There was an excitement in the beginning, got our little blog going, cleaned out our cupboards, read books and started our exercising. We have had some real accomplishments over the last two months to be stoked about, that is for sure, but it’s just not that fun anymore. The real tough bit of keeping going after the excitement has worn off is just that....tough. 

We have lost weight, we have felt results in our bodies, muscles and minds. We have created new habits and given up a lot of bad ones. There is a ton to be happy about and celebrate. A lot of good has come from this, for us and our families and that is awesome. 

But, it's still not fun anymore. I started loving salads again, got excited, then started hating them again. Same with working out, I thought I hit a stride and got over the hill of hating it, but then it came back. Up and down. We love to blog, then loose the desire to blog. Highs and lows. I know this must sound like a big complaint, maybe it is, but I’m just trying to be honest about how this journey has been for me...us. We are so grateful we started this and all the good that has and will come of it, but it’s tough. Certain things have gotten easier, that is true, but overall it still feels like a slow battle to keep these habits in place. Slow and steady is not always the most fun route but its the one we are on. 

With all that said, I must admit I’m incredibly encouraged that we are still going. We have committed to a certain period of time to journal this adventure and we are sticking to it. Even if Brianne and I are the only ones reading this blog, we press on even when we don’t desire to. We hate it most the time but we are still working out 5 times a week with rare exceptions. We still get crazy cravings for a candy, a box of cookies or full loaf of bread smothered in butter...but we resist with few treats here and there. We still hardly ever go through drive thru’s and are still cooking healthy meals at home. I’m still learning to cook and we both are still off of caffeine and taking our supplements!

So, its NOT fun anymore. The hype is over ... but we are still truck’n along and trying to push through the lows. Not giving up when things loose excitement and feel hard is something I always want to refine and mature in. I’m grateful this adventure is doing just that. I’m doubly grateful to be doing this with Brianne..she is the perfect balance of understanding and accountability I could ever ask for. 

 If you're right where we are, don't give up! 
If you haven't started yet... START!

Kristin

Trying Not To Get Sick(er)

Tonight is one of those night I just don't feel up to blogging.  I can tell I'm fighting getting sick and I'm so tired because of it!  I'm a mom, and like most moms, I'm pretty much always tired... but now even more so.  So instead of trying to come up with something new to share I thought I'd let you all in on how I'm trying to fight this bug.  First off I always like taking lots of vitamin C when I'm fighting sickness, I also like to take it when I'm traveling so that I don't get sick while we're trying to have fun!

Now for my new addition to my home readies… a couple weeks ago my box of young living essential oils came in… never in a million years did I ever think I'd be using essential oils.  I've heard such great things from friends that use them but I'm still new at it and trying to figure out how everything works.  Last week I had a headache, put a little peppermint eo on my thumb, and held it to the roof of my mouth for a couple minutes and it was gone.  Seriously!  So crazy!  To help with fighting sickness I've been diffusing Thieves EO in the air (a mixture of cloves, lemon, eucalyptus, cinnamon, and rosemary) and I just started applying it to our feet too.  Apparently Thieves is said to "help interrupt the life cycle of bacteria and also interferes with the ability of viruses to replicate".  Sounds good to me!  I'll keep you all posted.  I'm definitely a skeptic so we'll see if they can win me over.  So far I've been so surprised by how well they've worked. 

I hope everyone is getting through this flu and cold season.  What do you do to fight getting sick?

 

Having a hen and her fresh eggs...

We have one Hen and her name is Patty. She is a spicy Rhode Island Red that I love dearly. I have found chickens to be the quirkiest animals and I love quirky. Her sounds, personality and the way she moves her head cracks me up. We've had her since she was a wee chick and now she is almost 3 years old... i think.

Patty started laying eggs when she was around 4-6 months old and she lays about 6 eggs a week. Every now and then she out does herself and I'll get two a day for a few days in a row. Hen's usually lay eggs into their teens. Isn't that amazing!? That is a fine amount for our small family, but if I ever felt we needed more, we can get more chicks! 

It is so exciting to go in her coop and grab her egg each day. It never gets old. It's good to keep clean straw or shavings in the laying box to help keep the eggs clean. Egg shells naturally have a coating on them that you don't want to wash off until you are going to use them ( if you buy them in the store, this coating is already washed off and is why they need to be refrigerated and go bad quicker). We keep them on our counter in our kitchen for weeks! I have read the general rule is under 3 weeks on the counter. Something super cool about eggs is that you can easily check them to know if they are too old. Here is how:

I can't tell a huge taste difference from store bought eggs but others swear they do and could never go back. They do look different to me...the yoke is very vibrant and plump. They are quite pretty actually. 

I am very blessed to have a handy hubby. He designed and built this coop from scratch for us. Its adorable and just the right size for our backyard. There is room to have a few more hens in there if we ever desire. There is a full size door opening on the right side to be able to go in and out and there is a small door on the left side we can open to gather eggs. If you don't have a handyman around and on a budget, I would suggest finding one on Craigslist. 

Me and the girls have enjoyed Patty so much, ever since she was a chick, that it is not uncommon that she ends up in our house. I clean her feet and put on her..........leopard print chicken diaper. Yup. You read that right. She can be in the house for a couple hours if her diaper is on. She is hilarious to have about.... she likes to follow the girls, peck at any crumb on the floor, hop in baskets, lay on the bed and other quirky things. She cracks me up. 

I would say her only downfall is that every now and then she is loud. It's random and I'm not sure why she does it. You are not allowed to have roosters in our city because of sounds so I thoughts hens weren't loud at all except for a few squawks when laying their egg. Its not every day and its over pretty quickly. The only time I really mind it is when its earlier in the morning to where I think it could bother my neighbors. I'm also not sure if this is a Patty thing or a hen thing in general. She's not perfect...but pretty darn close :)

Taking care of her is not a lot of work. We just need to make sure she has water, fill up her food dish with "laying mash", collect her eggs and clean out her coop every now and then. 

Between her being hilarious, low maintenance and giving us fresh eggs... I think Patty is the bestest. 

Kristin

Some Favorites

There are many things I eat because they're good for me but I don't necessarily enjoy.  Today I thought I'd share 3 additions to our eating/cooking that have stuck around and now I downright love them.  First up is Dandy Blend.  I know, I know, we've mentioned this about a dozen times now but that's for a good reason.  When you give up caffeine, sodas, and a good amount of sugar finding something that is good to drink becomes increasingly exciting.  Enter Dandy Blend…

I drink it daily and look forward to it.  I can drink it black (which wasn't even an option with coffee), but if I'd prefer to spice it up that day I'll add a little coconut sugar and cream.  I spoke with the company and they said they offer free samples for anyone who is interested! Send them an email and try it out, maybe you'll enjoy it as much as we have.  

Next up is coconut oil.  I don't even know where to start with this one since it can be used for almost anything!  I now have 2 jars of coconut oil in my house, one for cooking and one for skin care (and other non-food uses).  It's great for cooking, skin issues, diaper rash cream, mental alertness…  It's one of those foods that sounds too good to be true.  Here is a nice little list of 101 uses for coconut oil, try some of them out for yourself and see how you like it!  I know I've been impressed with the results from using it. 

And last but not least is quinoa pasta (pronounced kinwa).  One of the hardest things I've noticed with all of these dietary changes is the lack of a hearty, satisfying meal.  Every once in a while I really want pasta, but these days when I eat pasta I feel like I ate a ton of bricks, and may even feel bad for the rest of the day.  Quinoa pasta has been the perfect substitute.  I enjoy the I cook with it about 2 or 3 times a month and love it every time.  Make sure you cook it in plenty of water and whatever you do don't overcook it since it will turn into mush. 

I hope that some of these items help you make healthier choices too.  Any suggestions you have for other good and healthy alternatives would be wonderful!  I'm always looking for new things to try. 

-Bre

Backyard Garden

Let me be clear I am an amateur, if even that, when it comes to gardening. I have some friends that have educated themselves quite well on their back yard or community gardens, so I just pick their brain! I can't tell if thats lazy or resourceful? Ill go with resourceful :)

My husband built our raised garden boxes years ago...I love them. They are so simple but its all we really need for our stage of gardening. He also put in gardening wire/fencing at the bottom of each box to keep the gophers from destroying our garden again. Pesky little fellows are really good at what they do and killed our veggies time and time again till my hubby did this. We also have a couple large barrels we grow things in, right now one has a dwarf orange tree and the other has strawberries. You can google for your location and season to find what is best to plant when...if you should do seeds or starter plants, etc. Or just mooch, I mean, be resourceful and ask a friend who already knows :)

My girls and I replanting our garden last week! 

Oh and thats my hubby building our girls a sweet little nook. 

Our garden has been pretty empty for a few months but eating at home gave me the boost to want to get it going again. Growing your own food is kinda magical. No doubt its work, weeds, watering, etc...but when you can go in your yard and pick lettuce for your dinner salad or grab some herbs to sprinkle in your sauce its totally worth it. You know exactly where it came from and its fresh!

We are currently growing spinach, cabbage, 3 types of lettuce, peas, radishes, strawberries, broccoli, rosemary and thyme. I planted a bit late in the season so I did all starter plants but planting from seed is so fun too. It takes longer but going outside and seeing tiny sprouts starting to pop up is something to be giddy about.

Peas

Growing some of our own food is a great little addition to our health adventure! If you live in an apartment, we had friends who had little balcony boxes that produced a fun little amount of goodies. If you don't have a yard, my sister got lots of pots and two garden boxes and put them right on top of cement and grew her garden on her front porch. I have a couple friends that rent plots from their city community gardens! There are a lot of clever ways to have a garden if you want one :) Pinterest and Google it!

Having a garden is great for feeding your family pets too!

Bountiful

Today the mail brought a very sweet gift from one of my photography client/buddies. Its totally beautiful and is filled with recipes inspired by gardening. How thoughtful and well timed. Thank you MARY!

P.S. Next Ill post about having a chicken and fresh eggs :)

Kristin

Workout Woes & Popcorn!

I'm working my way through week 2 of Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 dvd and hating every moment of it.  Okay, okay "hate" is a strong word lets just say I detest it… strongly.  I told Kristin that working out is like having to go to the dentist everyday, I know I should do it but I dread it and I know it's going to hurt.  Something about this week of the video is particularly hard, so hard in fact that I haven't done my planks challenge in several days because my legs are sore.  Even though I'm not enjoying the work outs much this week I'm sticking with it and hopefully I'll enjoy weeks 3's work outs a bit more.  On a more positive note I have noticed improvements in my muscles and feel much stronger.  Below is a photo of my work out set up, computer goes on my bed, 3 and 5 pound weights, and my workout mat.  I really love that about these workouts, no crazy equipment or need to go to a gym it's always right there waiting for me. Easy peasy!

I still put most of my efforts on our eating habits and the quality of the foods we're eating.  I've noticed that we've talked a lot about exercising over the last few weeks but I never want the focus to be taken off of what we consider to be far more important.  It's amazing how much my desire to eat out has diminished over the last couple months.  My body and tummy are so much happier eating at home and I'm enjoying knowing exactly what we're eating.  Even my daughters are on board with all of these changes.  The other day my 8 year old came to me and said "Mom, where's the coconut oil I want to use it to brush my teeth".  Part of me was so proud of her and the other part of me cringed because that was so granola of her to say. Ha!

My girls really wanted popcorn this week and since we no longer buy microwave popcorn I just made it for them on the stove.  It was super easy and really quick to make.  Oh yeah, it also tasted really, really good.  I can't remember who posted this recipe on Instagram, but whoever it was I sure am glad they did!

3 Tablespoons organic coconut oil (get a coconut oil that says it's good for medium heat)
1/2 cup organic popcorn kernels
2 Tablespoons melted butter (my favorite by far is Kerrygold Irish Butter)
Salt

Over medium heat melt coconut oil in large pot along with popcorn kernels and a couple good pinches of salt. Put a lid on your pot and shake it back and forth until it stops popping. Pour the melded butter over the popcorn and enjoy!

A bit off track...

These last few days were filled with circumstances that got me off track a bit with my eating and work out routine. Unexpected plans, inability to get to grocery store and not feeling the best. I got a very discouraging peek into how easy it could be for me to fall back into a ton of bad habits. I thought I was at a point in this journey where I couldn't see that being a possibility...but it is.  The truth is, it is much easier not to work out, to pop into a drive through and not care what I'm putting into my body. I constantly have to remind myself why I am doing this! Let me tell you, if it was just to be skinny, I would have given up. That is a desire, but not a strong enough one to get me back on track. I have GOT TO stick with this and make it my new way of life.  I have created new habits and given up old ones but they are not deeply ingrained yet... I now know.

I was in my pj's relaxing on Sunday evening and knew I had zero groceries for the next day. I knew I would not make a good decision about what to eat without having options. I got up, got dressed and went grocery shopping at 9pm. That was my attempt to kick this funk in the buns. It helped a lot. I got my fridge full of good options (which I'm always so incredibly grateful to have the ability to do that) and we woke up the next morning with a good start to the week.

My last post I said I don't loath working out anymore. I changed my mind. Today I did. I'm learning that when I'm on track with consistent work outs 5 times a week, which is what Ive been keeping up with till last week, I don't loath it. But this week when I only worked out 4 days, i lost my groove and hated it again. Ha! My goal is to work out 5 times a week and I clearly need to keep that up to feel motivated. I'm learning so much about myself and the little triggers that throw me off or keep me excited.

So, this last week learned that my habit to give up when things are hard is still quite alive. I learned that going back to my old ways is a total possibility if I don't keep pushing forward. I learned that when I feel myself starting to waiver I need act immediately before I slip another day or meal.

P.s. I love my new weight set. Brianne posted about it here!

Pressing on...

Kristin