Quick Update

Happy Sunday, friends! I hope everyone survived the week back to school and the warming temps.

It was a crazy week here with the two day delay, Jack starting his new school, two co-workers out with surgery and I have had a nasty sinus infection for about 4 days now.

Pile onto that our clothes dryer dying and having to put our dog of 14 years down, it has been an very exhausting week.

On the up side, Tom was able to fix the dryer with a $31 part and we know our pup is in a better place. Teddy, our 11 year old lab/shep mix seems to be enjoying the extra attention he is getting and doesn't seem to notice that Molly is not always barking at him. Or maybe he does notice and is relieved she has passed.

I spent $60 at Aldi and $40 at Meijer on Friday with the intention of getting thru about 3 days but I will be able to stretch that into at least Tuesday. I am going to stop at Subway today to get the boys subs for this weeks lunch (we cut them into thirds so you get three lunches for $5. Way cheaper than school lunch). I know shopping at Meijer has been cheaper than Giant Eagle, even though I miss the fuel perks.

Today may wield a trip to Walmart: Griff needs either new basketball shoes or a pair of tennis shoes to wear to school. He only has about a month of basketball left but his shoes are losing tread. I think we will get him a new cheap pair of basketball shoes and he can wear his old ones to school.

Jack needs pants, too. His new favorite thing to do is slide down the stairs on his knees. You can only imagine how many times it takes before the holes start showing up.

Laundry on tap, taking Teddy for a walk, football and crockpot french dip sandwiches for dinner. Sandwiches are a great, inexpensive dinner item. Pair it with a salad and chips or fries and you have a meal that makes everyone happy.

I am praying this week brings some normalcy and NO SNOW. I hope you all have a great week!!

Cat

What I've been up to....

The kids and I have been off a ridiculously long amount of time.

Really long.

Like, I don't remember what I am supposed to do at work when I go in tomorrow.

That's a long time to be away.

But as promised, here are some snap shots of the cooking I did yesterday:

Greek salad for lunch

Soup on the left is tomato and corn, soup on the right is noodle soup for the kids

Honey and balsamic roasted chicken thighs. Used the left overs to make chicken salad for the rest of this week

Tom, Jack and Teddy. Making the most of the cold

I am so glad we are all going back to school tomorrow. Tomorrow is Jack's first day at his Autism school and I am hopeful that this will be a major bonus to all of our lives. He is capable of so much, hoping we found a place to tap into that. He is excited so I am excited for him.

And really nervous, too.

I hope you all are staying warm. Be sure to check on your neighbors, too.

Here's to going back to school and new starts for all of us!

Cheers,
Cat

Shopping trip number two

With the pending White Death Storm of 2014 heading our way, I moved up my Aldi shopping trip by one day to Saturday. I guess it was a good thing I did but boy, the shelves were bare and I have NEVER seen so many people in there at one time.

I spent $56.04 which brings my total to $119.88 for a family of 5. With the weather being so cold, and the kids and I are off today and most likely tomorrow, I am going to do a thorough pantry and freezer sweep. I am hoping to not go to the store until the end of the week like I usually do.

I hope you are staying warm and safe where you are. This has been one heck of a winter that started in October for us here in Central Ohio!!

I'll post some pics on my blog about what kind of creative meals I have made with what I have on hand. Going to keep it simple.

Happy Monday Friends!!

Cat

2014: Will it and it will

Happy 2014 Friends!!

I hope you all had a great Holiday and a wonderful New Year celebration.

We did something very uncharacteristic of our family: we traveled over break. 

More specifically, we went to Chicago when they had the worst snow of the century.

Danger is our middle name.

We made it there and back ok, though the getting back was the hard part.

But, I think the whole experience is one the kids will never forget:

First cab ride

Seeing Soldier Field, Trump and Tribune Towers, going to Shedd Aquarium, deep dish pizza, seeing the city streets raise to let boats thru.

These are all big experiences to kids, especially when you live in the Midwest.

Next time we go will be a summer trip. There was so much we didn't do because of the weather, but it was a trip none of us will forget.

I don't do New Year's resolutions, do you? I used to but it seemed like I was putting so much pressure on myself to do something that was quite possibly unattainable (lose  100 lbs in 4 minutes, climb Mt. Fuji). You get the idea.

Of course this year I will continue with my effort to lose weight (I really made NO effort last year, though I didn't gain any, I sure didn't put my health first), eat cleaner and help my family enjoy more fresh and less processed foods. 

With the above notion, I am switching up the way I do my grocery shopping. I was killing myself to make a weeks worth of menu's for all three meals and snacks and it always seemed liked I had a lot of food left over. I go to the grocery store what seems like every day now anyway, so I am going to make my lists based on three days at a time, with one big Aldi's shopping day on my way home from work on Sunday's. 

I am going to keep track of how much I spend and if it I am spending more this way, not wasting as much food, etc.

So here's my receipt from today

Went to Meijer for this trip. My total was 83.84 but I am going to subtract $20 from that bcz I had to buy a new coffee maker, ours died New Year's Eve morning.

So, first total is $63.84

We'll see how it goes.

I will post every time I go to the store. Aren't you lucky?

Have any meal planning tips you want to share?

I got an immersion blender for Christmas, so there will be a lot of soups in our future, and maybe smoothies if I can get the kids to drink them.

Right now soup sounds good, crazy cold here.

Ok gang, you all take care. I am off to get on the elliptical for a bit. I have a trial of Netflix and I am hoping watching something while I am on my elliptical will take the sting out of my workouts. If it does, it is worth the $8 a month!!

Happy New Year's and thanks for reading!

Cat

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