And the winner is…..

I am down and out with a nasty little tummy issue today.  It seems that I have developed most of the side effects to the meds I have been taking for the shingles.  I have anti-viral meds, two tablets, five times a day for a total of like 4000 mg of crap going through my body!  No joke they are 400 mg tablets…..

Of course the side effects are nasty ones:

• dizziness
• nausea
• throwing up
• loose stools/diarrhea
• severe abdominal/intestinal pain
• headache

I know, I know it sounds like a little tummy virus too.  I have been told that all morning, but I always have fever & body aches when I have a little bug.  This does not feel like a little bug.  I am hungry and want to eat, but so yucky feeling that I do not want to eat.  Oh and I have had some variation of these symptoms for a couple days so no I seriously do not think it is a virus.  So please keep me in you thoughts and prayers through the weekend.  I have stopped taking the meds at this point, I can’t see taking them for another four days if they are bothering me so bad!

But for better news the lovely winner of my blog giveaway is…….

FARRAH @ Fairy Healthy Life

Congratulations!  I will have your little package in the mail to you soon

Happy Friday – 15 more days til summer break!!

Let’s Chat

Did you know that I consider all of you guys my friends?  Well I do!  That is why I have this little blog where I share so many different areas of my life.  Trust me I wouldn’t share unless I considered you, my readers, my friends.  So today we are going to have a little chat.  Mind you at first it will be mainly one sided – my side, but as you guys read this today you know you are always welcome to comment.  So let’s chat

Like I do with my friends that I see daily/weekly, here is your lovely glass of wine for out little chat.  Come on did you think I wouldn’t offer you anything?  I am a very gracious hostess, which is why I have offered you both red and white varieties

I also as your good friend will have to tell you that this little chat will get kinda serious.  I very seldom speak of politics, religion, etc on the blog.  Not because I am afraid.  I am not afraid to give my opinion, speak of my faith, or simply give facts no matter how hard they are to speak or hear.  Just ask people who know me personally.  I have no filter.  I usually do not speak of such things because I respect that everyone has their opinions.  I do not want my readers to feel attacked, questioned, or belittled.  I also do not want this blog to become a site of debate or attack from outsiders.  However, I have no problem with speaking out occasionally.  So sit back with you wine – let’s get started!

My heart is heavy lately with all that I have had to endure.  Now I am talking about the bad news as well as the personal issues like shingles, but last night I was reading something that completely tore at my heart. 

The Pentagon has released a statement confirming that soldiers could be prosecuted for promoting their faith: “Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense…Court martials and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis…”.

Read more: breitbart.com

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/wnd_video/military-may-court-martial-soldiers-who-share-christian-faith/#KYugWQWR01uJq3mB.99

 

My first response to this was disgust!!  My heart breaks everyday when I read more and more reports of prayer, faith, and the act of speaking about Jesus is being suppressed by the very people that we share our great homeland with.  These people are suppose to be our leaders???  I was furious to see this!

When you are asking a person to put their life on the line for you, (and yes we all do this daily because as Americans we all depend on the military) you totally do not have the right to suppress their faith! 

My second response was to cry.  As a public school employee I know to well what it feels like for “those people” to suppress your faith.  We are no longer allowed to speak openly in the schools about God, Jesus, religion.  We can not read out bibles aloud.  We can not pray in school unless it is to ourselves in private.  I mean we have been called out for students bringing home coloring sheets that certain people felt were dealing with religion.  I know what this feels like!

Thankfully I work for a wonderful principal that believes in Christ and the power of prayer.  We have prayer once a week before school, we meet to pray after in trying times, we openly ask each other to pray for us.  She doesn’t try to suppress our faith, if anything she empowers us!  So it is times like this that I feel truly blessed to work with and for her

So today I am openly speaking out on my faith.  I do believe in the one true God.  He is great and wonderful.  He has paved the way for my life, and I am truly humbled by his love.  Today I am asking God to come into my heart, to move in my life so that I can follow the path and plan he has for me.  I ask him to take the hatred/anger out of my heart, and to show me the way to deal with my feelings.  For without him I am nothing.  I am undeserving of his love.  I am undeserving to have an eternal life with him, but for his love I thank him!

He knew how the story would end.  He penned the story.  He breathed life into man whose sin  would one day nail him to a tree.  He created the plants that would one day be his cross.  Why?  Simply love!

how to get the family to eat healthy

I am going to do something a little different for this WIAW post.  Instead of sharing with you meals from a day, I am going to share with you various things that I eat very often, and talk about how to feed a family while staying healthy!

I very often get questioned about the way I eat.  Usually people are curious about it, but occasionally I get the “why would you want to eat that way” with an attitude.  Followed by “I like food and will eat the way I want to no matter what!”.

Breakfast has been either oats cooked with egg whites topped with nut butter or cookie dough cereal.  For the boys I make the oatmeal with a little sweetener and really creamy for their tastes.

To those I usually say that’s fine, I will eat the way I want to eat as well no matter, what and I want to eat clean, healthy foods!  This doesn’t mean that I never have anything with sugar, oils, fats, etc.  I still live life to the fullest!

Snacks have been a lot of yogurt bowls or luna bar if I am on the go.  My kiddos love yogurt as much as I do.

After that questions I am always asked about how I feed my family.  If I make them eat the same foods that I eat, if I let my children have snacks, and how the hubster feels about my way of eating?

Dinner over the weekend was taco salad with brown rice & cauliflower – for the boys I wrapped their mix in a tortilla shell.

Yes, I feed my family the same foods that I eat for the most part.  Do I often make something different for them?  Yes and no.  No I do not cook separate meals for us, we all eat the same base foods for our meals, but I do add things like quinoa, millet, hemp seeds, etc. to my meals that are not added to theirs.  If I cook a meal with rice we all eat brown rice.  If I cook pasta we all eat brown rice or wheat pasta.  I usually always have a bread for the hubster/boys because they love bread, I just chose not to eat it. 

Classic plate in my house – can get fruit in their little bellies by pairing it with favorites such as pancakes/sausages.

My entire family loves veggies for the most part.  Now the boys a little pickier with this.  They have certain veggies they like and ones they do not.  This is usually the case with all kiddos.  I just make sure to cook something that I know they will eat so they have dinner, and on occasion when we have something that I know they will not eat due to spice or strong dislike, then I always have some kid friendly quick foods available for them.

Dinner was grilled tilapia, turnip greens, and pasta salad – thanks Farrah for quinoa pasta!  The boys love fish as well.  I give them some pasta mixed with a little butter/coconut oil and a sprinkle of salt & pepper.

Of course the main trick to getting the family to eat healthy is to still cook family favorites with healthier and cleaner ingredients.  I very often take a favorite food and “clean it up” so to speak.  That way the family still gets to eat their foods, and I can stay on the healthy/clean path!  It is a win, win situation

A classis example of this would be sloppy joes.  My kiddos and the hubster love sloppy joes.  There is just something about that can that brings them running, but I do not want to serve them sloppy joe mix from a can.  While I have often made my own sloppy joe sauce, one way I get them to eat their favorite meal is by putting a spin on it!

Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes

• 1 lb. lean ground meat (we use venison)
• diced onion
• diced green bell pepper
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1/4 cup steak sauce
• provolone cheese
• toasted bread w/ coconut oil

1. place ground meat, diced onions, and diced peppers in a pan brown half way (yep sounds crazy but trust me)
2. add beef broth and steak sauce to pan, simmer until liquid is gone
3. spread coconut oil on bread slices and toast in pan
4. top bread with meat mixture and slice of provolone

Such and easy and tasty dinner that they love!  The meat is flavorful, healthy, and makes for the perfect quick dinner on a busy night.  Throw some Alexia potato puffs in the oven while cooking the meat mixture, and you have a perfect kid friendly meal

It is small changes like this that make feeding my family healthy meals easy.  I always follow a basic recipe and just substitute the unhealthy ingredients with healthier ones. 

HN weekly menu & happenings

Let the countdown begin!!  I am starting my last two weeks of therapy today for the 2012/2013 school year, and counting down the last 19 days of work until the summer break   Whoop Whoop!!

I tell you things are getting exciting around here.  They are also  a pain in the behind.  Like literally!

You see last week I had a random rash break out on the very lower, left side of my back.  It popped up as a tiny little spot on Sunday, was worse by Monday, and I thought what the heck come Tuesday!  That lovely little rash was irritating the dickens out of me.

It didn’t itch.  Nope not at all.  Oh but did it burn like crazy, and the position……yeah right where the panties/pants hit.  So it was brushed against all day long.  I was thinking I picked up some random yuckiness from the tanning bed (yes I know that is bad for me), and decided not to finish my week out.  I was convinced that a little cortisone cream and time out of the heat would do the trick.  So I made my last workout on Wednesday for the week…..

I ended up at the walk in clinic Thursday afternoon.  Still convinced that it was a bad reaction to something I just needed relief from the burn.  Well that yucky little rash that I was convinced came from the tanning bed didn’t come from that at all.   Oh no, I have an atypical case of……..wait for it……….wait for it………the shingles!!

WHAT?????

Yep, the shingles.  So here go the questions –

1. Did you have chicken pox as a child?  Yes.
2. Have you had a recent cold?  Yes. 
3. Have you had any signs of fever blisters?  Yes.
4. Have you been under any stress lately?  Uh why yes of course.  I work with special education in the school system, it’s the end of the school year, I am adjusting still to my hubster’s crazy new work schedule, and I am a single mom for half of the month…..

TOTALLY STRESSED!!

Now I am thinking….what in the world does all of this have to do with my dang shingles?  Well those bad boys as you know are a result of the chicken pox virus that stays in the body after you have had them.  For the rest of your life, but not just anywhere in your body.  It lives in your nerve cells.  Which is why the shingles are painful.  So basically between the stress and cold I have no immune system, put that back on top of more stress, and I break out in the friggin shingles!

Things are just peachy  burning around here!

So needless to say I am in no mood for exercise.  I am in no mood to be in the kitchen.  However, we all must eat so I have come up with an easy breezy menu for this week!

• Monday – philly steak sloppy joes w/ tator tots
• Tuesday – tilapia with pasta salad
• Wednesday – stuffed backstrap with greens & roasted potatoes (hubby cooks)
• Thursday – boiled shrimp & salad (hubby cooks again)
• Friday – crockpot chicken cacciatore
• Saturday – tuna sandwiches
• Sunday – lasagna

It is the hubster’s long work week so I will have to cook over the weekend in order for him to have “lunch” to take with him to work.  We unfortunately have eaten out too much this past weekend, and on top of that I have been eating really crappy snacks lately so this has got to stop.  With things being so busy, adjusting to everything, I have been grabbing things to eat on the go which are not healthy options.  Let me tell you my body can tell and is showing the difference.  I have to start being more conscious of my snack and drink choices.  Those lovely little granola thins that my friend passed on to me because she didn’t like them must go! 

I am also determined to get some exercise in this week regardless of the crazy shingles epidemic.  Taking in extra calories while burning none is a complete disaster for this chic!  It is amazing how horrible you feel when eating whatever with no activity when you are so use to a healthy lifestyle.

• Monday – two mile+ run (maybe more depends on how I feel)
• Tuesday – lower body and cardio of choice
• Wednesday – two mile+  run, upper body
• Thursday – rest day/wine tasting
• Friday – upper body, run
• Saturday – rest day
• Sunday –  lower body, cardio of choice

I really need to get back into my strength training.  I use to strength train a minimum of four days a week, I can’t tell you the last time I followed that schedule!  It is hard to fit it in lately with our crazy schedules.  I know that is no excuse…..I just need to purchase some weights and things for home.  You see on nights the hubster works I have to fit my workout into  a one hour window…..seriously!  I get home at 3:45, change, give boys a snack, and leave.  I am usually at the gym around 4ish, quick workout then race back home to make some sort of dinner so I can wake the hubster up at 5  to eat before he leaves for work at 6!  So literally I have very little time.  Since my kiddos aren’t old enough to really leave them at home I have to work with what I’ve got!

If any of you have any favorite products/workouts for at home I would love to hear from you

p.s. don’t forget to enter the giveaway, winner will be chosen on Thursday!!

Throwback Thursday

Quick update for those that are interested – the area schools are now off of lockdown, the shooter was captured yesterday.  He returned to the home to wait for more family members to come back surely with the intention to shoot again.  The police escorted some family members to the home yesterday to gather a few things needed, and upon entering the house they noticed things out of place.  A sweep of the house was immediately ordered, the boy was found hiding under a bed.  The police asked him to show his hands, at that point he pulled the gun out so the officers had to shoot him to disarm him.  He was taken to the hospital for treatment, but thankfully he is now in police custody.

Thanks for all of your prayers and encouraging words over the past two weeks with all of the crazy events that have made my posts somber!  You truly are a great group of readers……

Now for a little throwback time!

So what is up with the whole Care Bears are starting gangs thing lately??  That is just ridiculous………do not make fun or corrupt one of my favorite childhood toys!

But maybe a giveaway will brighten everyone’s day   In the mix:

• Essie nail polish
• Target makeup removing wipes
• purse size bottle of lotion
• surprise item

What do you have to do to enter?

1. Mandatory – leave an inspirational message in the comments that can be shared to brighten up the day!

Additional entries:

1. follow me on Instagram – leave a comment that you are following
2. follow me on Twitter – leave a comment that you are following
3. follow me on Facebook – leave a comment that you are following
4. subscribe to the blog – leave a comment that you subscribed

Here is to brighter days!!

WIAW – the good and the bad

Hello my friends, how are you guys this week?  I am hoping that your week is going great, and that your hearts are lighter this week.

It is another Wednesday, which means another WIAW party!  Of course you guys should pop over to Peas and Crayons to check out all the links.  I love to go through them for meal inspiration

Oh and let’s not forget to follow Jenn on Instagram – she has the cutest pregnant belly EVER!!

Unfortunately for the people in my area it is another sad and gloomy week.  Of course it is storming today, but I like to think the weather reflects everyone’s mood.  We had a very sad situation in a little town that is right next to the one I live in.  To make a long story short – the high school in the area was on lockdown yesterday due to a shooting.  A young girl’s mother was shot and killed by her (ex?) boyfriend, and as a precautionary measure they put the school on lockdown due to not knowing the boys intentions as far as the young girl was concerned.  Apparently it was a heated situation because the mother placed a restraining order on the shooter several weeks ago.  He has yet to be found and taken into custody, my heart is breaking for this young girl!

I hate turning the new on these days.  It seems all you hear about is murder/death.  I can’t even imagine what it will be like to continue to raise my children in a world that so many have turned so ugly.  It is heartbreaking that you can’t send your kids to school, run in a race, go to work, or even just walk your dog anymore without fear of what could possibly happen.  I am so sorry to dampen the mood on here, but with so much heartbreaking news in the past two weeks one can only pray for peace in life.

I am also having to deal with typical middle school drama this week with my oldest son.  I hated the idea of him going to middle school because I use to work at one.  I hate that kids go from a young innocent person with no prejudices into a place where others are so mean.  I know how mean kids can be these days

   

So I am hoping that things start looking up really soon.  This little mama can surely use some sunny, happy days soon!

HN Meal Plan

How happy am I today about this weeks meal plan?  Super ecstatic!  Why? – there is so much produce available at our little market this time of the year, and I know it is only going to get better

I was lucky to score a HUGE head of cauliflower yesterday for like two bucks!  I mean this thing is big enough for at least two meals.  On top of that I was able to get zucchini, tomatoes, sweet peppers, onions, apples, bananas, grapes, corn, and a loaf of bread all for 20$!  Super impressed, and with summer right around the corner I know m0re is coming my way.

• hamburger steaks with onion gravy, potatoes, corn on the cob.
• grilled chicken, roasted cauliflower, turnip greens
• lasagna, salad
• make you own taco (salad)
• pizza per hubsters request

Things are pretty low key on the food front this week.  Nothing super exciting as far as new recipes go.  I am trying to be more conscious of my meals in the sense of eating a larger variety of veggies/fruits.  I tend to get in a food rut around this time of year since we are limited to veggies during the winter & start of spring.  I eat veggies daily, but I usually stick with the same two or three every week.  This week I feel pretty good about my produce.  When I look in the veggie bin I can see white, green, red, orange, and yellow.  I love seeing my fridge so colorful!

As for the workouts this week:

• run two  miles, stretching
• lower body, cardio
• run two+ miles, stretching
• upper body, cardio
• run two+ miles, stretching

Now I have a confession……I didn’t complete my planned workouts last week   I started with my run on Monday, but I could feel a pull in my outer thigh area.  I am not sure the name of the exact muscle.  I just know that I had to push myself for the first two miles, then alternate walk/run after that so I stuck with just the elliptical for cardio.  I didn’t want to chance a major injury.  I am really not sure what happened as far as if it was due to improper warm up/stretching, the way I was running, or what?  Considering that I had so much on my mind with all the horrible news lately I know I wasn’t as conscious with my workout form.  I am pretty sure this is what is causing the issues.  So this week I have decided to spend more time stretching after workouts.  I always stretch, some days more than others, but since I have been wanting to start practicing yoga I figured actually listing it as part of my workout would get me closer to an actual yoga practice.  Well, at least that is the plan!

A moment of silence today…….

To honor the victims, runners, and spectators involved in the Boston marathon bombing………

Whirlwind

What a week this is turning out to be!  I am only just scratching the surface of things to do to close out the school year, and it is already C-R-A-Z-Y!!  I hate to see what May will be like.

As for work it is filled with meetings, paperwork, therapy sessions, more meetings, more paperwork, more therapy sessions…….that is just the basic stuff.  It doesn’t include all of the meetings and paperwork for evaluations that are being closed out at this time of year!  Then we have to close out files, progress reports, file, pack up rooms for summer cleaning, etc.   I tell you it is a joy ride, you guys should come and help me out!

Luckily I have been eating lot’s of oat bran for breakfast to help power through the busy days!  I usually stick with my basic bowl cooked with mostly water/little milk, and top it with some peanut butter and fruit.  Which lately has been strawberries since they are in season.  Now the other day I had to have a little treat so I made banana whipped oats topped with chocolate dreams and one of Farrah’s super delish protein cookies crumbles on top!  Now that is a power breakfast!!

 

Lunch and dinner I will lump into one category because I usually have leftovers from dinner for my lunch the next day.  If I do not have any leftovers I typically throw a salad together or order out.  Which is almost always subway since I am limited to my options near work.  I have had some awesome dinners/lunches lately.  Now I almost always have a salad on the side of my dinner, but the main dishes have been the stars lately!  I told you guys last week that I was trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals into my diet in an attempt to get more veggeis/nutrients in.  I haven’t eaten all vegetarian meals, but I have had a couple that were awesome!

The other day I was in the mood for enchiladas.  No apparent reason other than I just darn wanted one!  So that is what we had for dinner.  I made two pans (one for the boys, one for me).  My pan was made using Mama Peas roasted sweet potato and black bean enchiladas……holy yum!  They were amazing.  The best part – I only made half of the batch since I would be the only one eating them so I have the other half in the freezer for another day

Now this little plate is actually a picture of my lunch, but I had the same for dinner.  Sweet potato fries, fruit salad, and the best BBQ tofu ever!!

• 1 15 oz. block of tofu, drained, pressed
• 1/2 t. garlic powder
• 1/2 t. onion powder
• 2 T. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 T. soy sauce
• 2 T. water
• 1 T. ketchup
• 1/4 t. dry mustard
• 1 t. lime juice
• 1 T. liquid smoke
• several drops of stevia

1. In a large bowl, whisk together garlic and onion powders, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, water, ketchup, mustard, lime juice, liquid smoke, and stevia.
2. Add tofu and gently stir to coat.
3. Allow the tofu to marinate in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.
4. Preheat the broiler. Place the slabs of tofu on a baking sheet that was sprayed with cooking spray.
5. Place your baking sheet under the broiler.
6. Broil tofu for 5-6 minutes, then carefully remove the pan from the oven, flip the tofu, and place it back under the broiler for an additional 5-6 minutes.

Now I like to serve this on salads, in a stir fry, or just with a dipping sauce of your choice.  My typical go to dipping sauce would be spicy mayo made by mixing mayo with hot sauce.  I had all intentions of making this with the sriracha sauce that I received from Farrah, only to forget to mix some up before eating   Oh well gives me another reason to make another batch

  

Now my snacks have really been random lately with no plan, rhyme, or reason.  I usually like to plan my snacks as well as meals in order to avoid over snacking or poor snack choices.  However, with things so busy this week I haven’t taken the time to do this.  I have tried to keep them to a healthy level, but I have to be honest that some easter candy, gummy bears, and graham cracker snacks have made it’s way into my diet.  Not the best but not detrimental either. 

    

I have mostly been snacking on the wonderful cookies that I have from Farrah lately, and I have to admit that I will be sad today because I will have the last one with my morning snack   I am actually surprised they have lasted me this long, lol!

Of course my weekend treat had to make it’s way into my life – frozen yogurt!  I love frozen yogurt, but I still try to save it as a rare treat.  The boys and I haven’t had any for a while so we went to get a much deserved treat on Sunday afternoon.  I had the chocolate cake mixed with coconut……OMG so good!  Topped with blueberries, coconut, a few cookie dough pieces, and some really yummy granola.

Unfortunately I haven’t followed my exercise plan like I had hoped to this week so that will have to be adjusted.  I was short one mile on Monday’s run and didn’t make it to the gym yesterday.  In my defense I had the hubster with me Monday which was fun.  He is not a runner, has only begun working out in the gym (he had a physical job before the new one so he didn’t work out), so we stopped at two miles.  He did great keeping up with me the two miles as it was so I didn’t want to push him to hard since he doesn’t have the endurance built up for long runs yet.  I am sure he will pass me soon if he continues to run with me! 

As for yesterday, I promised a friend that I would help her shop for decor for her baby girl’s 1st b-day party.  We had plans to go over the weekend, but something came up in her schedule so we had to go yesterday after work.  I opted to use this as an unexpected rest day, so I will have to just go with it.  Beside it was just to much fun to pass up shopping for a baby girl!!

So there is what I ate in my whirlwind Wednesday for this week.  I hope you guys are having a great week.  I have only one more day to work, taking off Friday, so I am excited for a long three day weekend.  I would like to thank Jenn for hosting the party, and remember to head over to her site to see what everyone is up too!

Two for Tuesday – cleaning

So why am I talking about cleaning today?  Well simple!  I need to “spring clean”.  I know this really doesn’t make sense to many people.  I mean how does this tie into two for Tuesday?

Well because this is my goal for April, you know my one personal goal that I want to achieve.  You see I usually always clean my house on my spring break.  I’m talking walls, base boards, cabinets, the whole dang thing.  I didn’t do it this year.  I was too busy having fun!  So I decided to break it up room by room and finish the task within the month

And since we all need a little motivation to do things that we do not like to do I figured finding something like this would do the trick!  Now if only I could figure out how to actually get a hot guy to scrub my floors, lol!

So here is to cleaning, happy spring!!