Or not....

Hello friends!! I hope you are all doing well. I have had a great weekend of hanging out with friends, watching Emily run in a Cross Country meet, and working.

Maybe that last part wasn't "great" but I am always glad to help out when I can.

I am tired so I am going to make this blog brief. I read a couple of things this week that have literally changed my life.

The first being, I am reading a book called "The Paleo Coach" by Jason Seib. I following him on Facebook and am always willing to learn more about nutrition and exercise. But just a few days after I committed to running the Jingle Bell Run in Dec, I read this passage:

"Traditional running, like distance running, as opposed to walking or sprinting, tends to be perceived by the body as stress, which increases cortisol, thus breaking down more muscle and storing more fat. In other words, fat loss gets really tough unless most of your muscle mass is emaciated first".

Go ahead, look up emaciated, I will wait...

So a couple bells went off in my brain when I read this:

1) I have never lost weight by running. Even when I ran 7 or 8 miles each weekend day and some during the week, I never lost any weight (I know this is true for ME , you may have a different story and I respect that).

2)I hate running.

Yay!! I have a reason to not run anymore. I will gladly walk the Jingle Bell Run with my friend and just enjoy it. For me, my greatest weight loss comes from aerobics, squats, push ups and healthy eating.

Not running. Ever. Unless being chased.

The second thing I saw was a movie called "Fat, sick and nearly dead". It is about an Australian man who was over weight and decided to come to America and do a SIXTY day juice fast. You can watch it online for free and I really recommend you do. It is about an hour, forty in length, so pick a rainy day. Well worth it. The second half of the movie is about a man he met along the way and how he changed his life. Can't get thru it without Kleenex. Warning you now.

As a cook, drinking my meals is totally foreign to me, but once you see all the science behind it, you get roped it. My lovely neighbor offered up her juicer for me to try and I got the kids involved. They loved watching the fruits and veggies go in and come out juice. I know I could do a breakfast juice every day of fruits because I do not like to eat fruits but seem to have no problem with them in liquid form.

It is the veggies I have an issue with. I eat plenty of veggies and feel like I could skip this aspect.  I am going to try for a week and see how breakfast goes before I totally commit to a juicer.

I warned Griff not to go to school and tell everyone we are "juicing". I don't need Social Services at my door!

We took Jack off all medications, hoping to clean out his system and start over. I don't feel like he has improved at all this year so there must be another component I need to look at. He is my little guinea pig and I feel for him though I love his ability to try anything!

That's it from here. Lots of Paleo cooking going on and juicing, too. Hope you all are well and I would love to get one more follower for an even 16.

I am a little OC that way!!

Best wishes to you. 

Cat 

It's Jacktober!!!

Hey Friends! October is here, or as we call it in our family, Jacktober!! Yes,the baby of the family is the only one who gets a whole month named after him, but the names of the other kids month's would not be so fluid:

Emuly

Grarch

You can see why Jacktober has prevailed!!

Our Fall weather has been nicer than our entire summer but it still causing the leaves to fall. This is my favorite time of year as I see Fall as a chance to reset and make things right.

In that vain: Tom and I have taken on what we call our "October Smackdown". Our youngest will be 10 on the 20th and we really feel like there should have been a cut off on keeping the "baby weight". Ten years is a bit much, yes??

So I have been running again. My neighbor and I are signing up for the Jingle Bell Run which is 4 days after my 44th birthday. I needed a kick in the pants and this is it. Two days of running remind me that I am not 30, let alone 40 anymore, but I know I can do a 5k. RIGHT???

Chaos reigns supreme most of the time in this house since school started. Em is learning how to drive. Griff has more homework than all 5 years of Elem combined and Jack is just trying to deal with what life throws his way.

Tom and I are in a good place, thankfully. Summer seemed hard on us and I think it was bcz we didn't go to the pool as much and everyone had a lot of extra energy. We are working as a team more and talking a lot more about the kids stuff and what each of us need.. If you can't talk to your main squeeze, who can you talk to?

He did say something that made me laugh for a really long time today. We were talking about something and he told me that he was the "Total Package".

I feel for those of you who don't know my husband. His lot in life is to make me laugh and he hit BIG on this one. Tom is a wonderful man and I love him to death but to put that statement out there, was pretty bold. Even for him. But thinking about it, for me, he IS the Total Package.

And yes, I know I used all of our real names in this post and I will continue to. I am fairly sure all 15 of my followers are peaceful!!

Run like the wind and enjoy Jacktober!!

Cat

The Great Wave of Organization

Happy Labor Day, Friends! I hope you are all enjoying this long weekend, I know I am. I spent the last day and a half organizing some critical parts of our house. The reason for the bee in my bonnet? Snacks. Well, not the snacks themselves, the need to HIDE the snacks so the kids don't eat them all at one time. The threat of "You will have nothing to pack in your lunch this week" is not working, so I need a place to hide them so I can ration them.

Yep, this is what it has come to!

My organizing started with the back closet

I moved all my larger kitchen appliances in there, added the old tv stand as some shelving and have a place to hang bags of snacks, as well as freeing up space in my pantry. See that rice cooker on the top shelf? That made some valuable room in my hutch...

I put a lot of wine and beer glasses we rarely use down there. Easy enough to get to if I need them. I moved them out of my cabinet so I could do this...

I put our bigger coffee cups on the top shelf so I could move the more kid friendly (read plastic) onto the bottom shelf so they could reach them easier. I am nice like that.

Then I decided to tackle my cook book cabinet. This is the before...

Kind of wonky and not at all easy to get to anything. This is the after..

Much better!!!

Two more projects to go. The fridge and the front book case... here are the before and afters...

Finally, the book case!!

No more little kids books allowed, only chapter books. I am putting some of the classics in a tote that will go in the basement. Maybe someday my grand kids will read them. Or not.

For those of you who don't know, I broke my thumb on Monday night and have been in a splint since then. Has made my cooking life a challenge to say the least and I have a huge blister on my thumb so I am going without the splint for a couple hours. May try bandaging it without the splint, just to keep it still.

I have also kicked butt on the weight loss front this week. I was at 153 at the beginning of the week and this morning I am 148.5. Lots of eating well, no alcohol, and getting about 14k steps in a day. No hard core exercise bcz of my thumb but am making sure I exceed my step goal.

I have to get the upstairs cleaned today and the downstairs done tomorrow and I will feel like I made the most of my time off. Not to worry, there has been plenty of kite flying, cooking and napping going on.

Have a great rest of your long weekend!!

Cat

The Summer of Self Knowledge

Happy Saturday, friends!! I hope this blog finds you all doing well and for those of you who had kids start back to school this past week: Hallelujah!!! I started back to work and my kids start back this coming week. I am so glad to be back to work and off the couch. 

I spent a lot of time on that couch this summer and over the course of the 10 or so weeks I was off, I learned a few things about myself. Thought I would share.

1.Though I tell myself at the start of every summer that THIS is the summer I am going to work out and get the last couple pounds off, it's not going to happen. I have learned and accepted that being on my feet for 6-8 hours a day for 9 1/2 months warrants me laying on the couch for a couple weeks. And any weight I may gain (this summer it was 3 lbs) I will burn off the first week of work. And I did.

2. I have become a master at the art of what I like to call "conversation redirection". Having a child who is ADHD and Autistic has really honed this skill and he put me to task all summer. Question to parents out there: is it normal for 9 year old's to want a new toy EVERY SINGLE DAY??? Or is this an obsessive thing he has going on? And when he does get new things, it is never good enough, he always wants something else. Here is where I have become the master of redirection. He wants everything NOW and I have learned that if I tell him no local stores carry the item and it will take 7-10 days to ship, he drops wanting it. So if he asks you why local stores don't carry any toys......go along with it....please.

3.If I am going to ask someone for advice, I best be prepared to hear things I may not want to. This is a hard one to swallow but I am working on it.

4.Punching a punching bag is really good therapy. You can picture anyone on there and pound away.

5. I have some really wonderful friends. I mean, I knew this anyway, but was reminded quite often over the summer. My bestie, Beenie Weenie, gave me the best advice ever about relationships: In a marriage, though you are going thru the same things, you will both react differently. This really has made me look at how my hubby and I react to things, and there really is no wrong way to go thru a difficult time. And a shout out to Mighty Mouth for being there for me for the past 14 years. You are a keeper. And to my neighbors, nothing but love and summer nights on the porch. 

6. Sometimes, medication is the best way to go. After three years of trying to deal with youngest's ADHD thru diet and herbal medications, we have decided to try medication. So far it is going well and if it helps him be successful in school and friendships, then it is the right thing to do for us.

And lastly....

7. I have my hands full with my three kids, work and starting my new business. Most of the time I feel like none of these gets enough of my attention, but at the end of the day, I feel like I did my best. And I am thankful to have a husband that loves and supports me to a ridiculous degree. Again, I knew this but was reminded over the summer.

As far as the FitCat part of my life, I am running again on the weekends. I don't wear my watch, I don't time it and I go as far (or not) as I feel up to. Week days I am doing a program that my hubby put together that goes like this:
3-5 minutes on the elliptical, full speed
a few minutes on the punching bag
a few minutes high knees on the mini tramp with arms over my head
back to the punching bag
back to the elliptical and do another round.
Takes about 13-15 minutes and kicks my butt!!!

I manage to get over 10k steps in every day between work and after work activities, so all is good in that dept.

Are there things about yourself that you are surprised to learn? I think the best thing about life is learning new things. I am always asking people, sometimes strangers, questions. You would be surprised by what people know.

Have a great weekend. I hope to post more since I feel more in a groove with being back to work. 

Cat

No more laying down

Hi Friends!

Last time I posted, we were back from our vacation and I am happy to say we are back from a mini vacation!! We were fortunate for our whole family to be invited on a friend's trip to Kalahari Water park for an over night and then a day at Cedar Point on Sat. Kalahari was a lot of fun but no joke, I think it was SNOWING at Cedar Point. The wind was blowing so hard and the rain was freezing, the kids waited in the down pour to ride one ride and then we went back to Kalahari for the afternoon. Despite that, we had a great time and are grateful for the chance to go.

There have been some heavy things going on in my life but instead of laying down and dwelling on them, I am choosing to lift myself up and enjoy the good, silly, fun things. Here are a few:

My new business, Great Gatherings, LLC is up and running. For those of you who don't know, I provide assistance when you are having a cookout, graduation party, baby shower, etc. I can help you plan your event and I help set up, maintain food and beverage service, and clean up. It is a great way for you to enjoy the event you are hosting. I am doing Holiday's too. We could all use a stress free Holiday in our lives.

Enough tooting my own horn.

I entered a contest on Diet Bet a month ago. You put in $25 and have 4 weeks to lose 5 or 10% (this is how much I am in the contest, I don't even know the rules!) of your weight and whoever does this and exceeds their goal, wins the pot. I thought this would be good motivation for the miser in me (I hate throwing away $25!) but alas, I do not think I will be the Biggest Loser or the Diet Bet Winner tomorrow come weigh in time. The good news is, despite wearing nothing but elastic shorts all summer, my weight has remained the same. Roughly. Meh.

My only daughter turns 16 on Weds. I hope when I grow up I am like her at 16. She is the best person I know and I love her too much to put into words. If you know her, consider yourself fortunate. She is a true beauty.

I still fill in at the Assisted Living Facility. I truly enjoy my time there as they remind me of what is important. I start back to work in THREE weeks. Looking forward to it but need to get my butt in gear and find a week for child care for the boys. Hoping Daughter can do some of the days but she is so busy (again, BIG LOVE to her). It will all work out, it always does.

Here is my latest challenge that I will be posting on FB: In an effort to clean out my freezers and pantry, I am not going big food shopping for as long as I can. I am challenging myself to come up with all meals from what we have on hand. I want to get it all cleared out before I go  back to work so I can stock up, cook what I need and get things ready for another school year. Each day, I will post a pic on FB of what creative thing I made for a meal (or two) with what I have on hand. I may have to make a milk run but that would be it, until I can't make anything else.

I feel like I need something to focus on that takes my focus away from the not so pleasant stuff. I feel like this summer has been a big waste and a lot of that has been my attitude about everything. There were days when I wouldn't get out of bed till after 10am bcz I just didn't want to deal with life. Depressed much? Yep.

Something in me snapped this past weekend and I am not going to take life laying down anymore. I have a renewed, albeit exhausted spirit and I am going to give my best to all I do.

I will post this and then post a pic of our dinner. Have a great week!!

Cat

Vacation

The Webster definition of Vacation is:

A scheduled period during which activity is suspended

Webster has never been on vacation with my family.

Despite a rocky first day, our 5 days at Lake Norris, TN were really nice. We had the added joy of Daughter's bestie (who is moving soon. can't think about it or I will cry. again) with us and the boys loved to torture them endlessly.

I learned a few things on this trip that I want to share, to help you have a successful "vacation" this summer.

1. Less really is more when it comes to all things vacation. Pack your bag and then take half out. Pack your lake toys and then toss them all bcz the best time the kids had was the afternoon, into evening, when they did jumping off the dock contests. No floaties needed.

2. Go with people you can stand in close quarters. I was lucky to go with my folks and my brother and his wife and son. I don't think too much about this combination, but over drinks one night, my dad pointed out how lucky we are that our family gets along. Too many people we know are estranged from their family. I can't imagine not liking my family, they have gotten me thru so much.

3. Meal planning is key. Talk with the people you are traveling with and make sure the main meals are covered. Oh, and bring a griddle. Made lots of grilled cheese on it for lunch!!

4. Take lots of pictures and be sure to have them printed. I plan on doing an album for Daughter and her friend for her when she moves. Though her brother's bugged them endlessly, they will never forget how fun it was to push them off the dock.

This summer is going too fast, as usual, but I am happy we had a good vacation. Sets the tone for the summer. Hoping the rain lets up soon so we can go to the pool more. Ok, I don't really wish this, but if I can get to the library and get a good book, I may look forward to it more.

Lots of new things coming my way and I am excited to share them with you. I am back to eating a lot less processed food and actually scheduling my workouts on my calendar. Have lost 5 lbs in 5 days since I have been home from TN. 

Tomorrow is Middle child's championship baseball game. Please note, they were in 11th place out of 13 teams, so this is a BIG DEAL!! I am really excited for him. Rec league has been good for him. I work Sunday morning at the Assisted Living Facility and I am really looking forward to it. I miss them and can't wait to see them again. I am fortunate to be able to work when they need me.

I hope Summer is treating you all well. This can be a tough time of year with boredom  and the kids driving us nuts. I find myself in time out a lot. Seems to work.

One last shot of vacation, love everyone in this pic. Dad took it but I love him, too!!

Texting/Facetime and your kids

I was trying to think of a witty way to bring this up, but honestly, there isn't really anything funny about it and I am just going to put it out there:

If you have kids that text or use Facetime, please let them know you will be checking their texts and restricting Facetime.

We have always checked Daughters texts and made sure we know all her contacts. So far so good, have not had a problem yet.

My concern stems from texts that my Middle child is getting from girls and stories from friends about texts and/or Facetime incidents.

It's not even the content so much that concerns me, it is 1)the time he receives these texts and 2) how if he doesn't respond immediately, these girls get pissed.

It had gotten so bad that I sent an "all recipients" text to his address book clearly spelling out his rules with the cell phone. 

Want to know them? Here they are: 

His phone is turned off and handed to me at 10pm.

We check each and every text he sends and receives.

He cannot access links to anything, so don't even bother.

If I find anything inappropriate, the senders parents WILL be notified .

I don't think this is excessive and of course some of his lady friend recipients had some choice names for me but you know what? I don't give a crap. There is NO reason 11 year old girls need to be texting my son after midnight, then demanding to know why he isn't responding.

I wish these girls would realize that their daily happiness is not dependent on some boy, their worth is not based on how quickly a boy texts them back, and that they don't have to be so damn demanding to get a boy's attention.

Girls, that turns the boys off. 

I never would have thought having boys would be harder than having a girl, but man oh man, this is way harder than I would have thought.

The morale of my rant is this: Parents, please set clear rules on the phones/itouches and make sure you follow thru. They may be annoyed but we are the rule makers here, not them.

Cat