Simplify

A friend shared this post with me. It is called 7 Things I'm Doing to Simplify My Life. It is worth reading.

One Change Per Month

Alright, so when I wanted to make some lifestyle changes, I did this simple little thing called "One Change Per Month." So simple. Each month I made a goal. And you know what, shhhhh, don't tell, but some months we didn't even make any changes. But most months we made some sort of change. A month gives time to adjust and make a change feel normal. And if a month isn't long enough, there isn't a rule! You can take another month to keep working on a change.

One month my goal was to drink more water. For some people maybe drinking any water at all is a major change. For other people maybe the change is in drinking only water except for one meal a day. There is no race or competition. And maybe this change isn't something that is at all interesting or appealing. That is fine too! I will share my ideas, you use what is helpful, skip what isn't and share your own tips and ideas.

To consider:

What is a doable first change for your family? What other changes would you like to make? What changes feel easy and what changes feel more challenging?

One Of Those Days

This was written last Friday.

Ever have "one of those days"? Of course, everyone has them, but when we're in the midst of it...it feels frustrating and...lonely. Today has been one of those days. The bread refused to rise and by the time I noticed it, it was too late to make more. There are currently stressors that I am not blogging about right now. As I was writing this post, somehow half of it was deleted. I am not sure why. Maybe I accidentally pushed the wrong button? I am not sure, but it was there and then gone.

And then there are the kids, whom I love, whom I would give my life for! But, sometimes, parenting is hard. It is especially hard during the times when kids aren't obeying well and then are cranky when talked with about their disobedience. Hey, kids, just FYI, it isn't fun for me either! It isn't enjoyable to be the parent in times like this. It isn't fun or easy to talk with your bad-attitude self in a patient manner, about the things you failed to do. And you know what? No one tells me "good job" for using a kind tone of voice or pats me on the back for getting all my chores done. And, honestly, that isn't want I am after. But on hard days, on days when it takes so much effort, it is exhausting to be the parent.

These are days that shape our character. These are days that feel overwhelming, like running through waist-high water. At the moment it just feels like survival takes all the available energy and effort. But, then I consider this, Hebrews 4:15&16 "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Know Your Goal!

Know your goal! For our family, I decided, about 3 and a half years ago, to make purposeful goals toward living a healthier and more environmentally responsible lifestyle. Up to that point, I had all these ideals that I wanted to reach. They felt out of my grasp and random. Then I set some goals for change. Other people may not give a hoot about the environment. And that is fine. Define your own goals and work toward them. Or, if defining goals is not working, then start making a few changes and over time maybe your goals will define themselves.

Sometimes making the changes we want can seem to be too expensive. I want to break down some changes our family has made, not just relating to food, but also changes relating to a more environmentally responsible lifestyle. I want to share how and why we have made some of these changes. Again, not because everyone has to make these changes, but because I know how it felt when we first started. It felt huge and expensive and overwhelming at times. So, this is for other people who may want to make some lifestyle changes, but want some input on what that can look like. I think that as we look at the growing health ailments and the numbers of people on prescription medication and our healthcare system...it seems wise to consider improving our diets. I have heard it said before that you pay for healthy foods now or you pay for medical visits later. That certainly isn't always the case, but sometimes it is the case. Many, although certainly not all, of our health concerns can be reduced or maybe even eliminated by healthier lifestyle choices. This is an area that I still have so much to learn about. By making small changes, over time, it has helped us to be in a better place than we were a few years ago.

To Consider:

What goals do you have? If you don't have any defined goals, what are some ideas you may have about what your goals might be? Are there health concerns that run in your family that, you believe, could be helped by an improved diet?

Start Where You Are At.

My purposes in sharing about making healthy food choices are 1) People have asked me about this on occasion. 2) I enjoy writing and sharing about food. 3) I learn a ton from others, so comments are very welcome. 4) Food choices are very personal. We all want to do the best we can for ourselves and our families, but, let's face it, making changes in diet can feel super overwhelming. I hope to share how we have made changes in our diet and lifestyle. For the most part it has been pretty painless. I will share how we made this happen.

And I must add that I don't think everyone should do things the way we do them. The key is in finding what works for you and your family. And remember that effective change happens slowly. Don't rush. Take some time to evaluate what the priorities are for your family and make changes that work with who you are and with where you are. By where you are, I mean to work within your budget and other limitations you may have. We will talk about how to make changes in a way that, hopefully, does not cause too much frustrations in the family. Family frustrations aren't the goal.

And I will get to talking about meat-less meals. I have been thinking a lot about Jen's comment on this post.

To consider:

What changes would you like to make? What areas, related to being healthy, do you want to improve? What areas, related to being healthy, do you feel like you are where you would like to be? What challenges to you foresee in making changes? What support you you foresee having in making changes?

Settling In

So we are settling and I am getting used to having another adult in the house. Another adult means that I am not the only one responsible for dropping off and picking kids up. It is amazingly freeing to not be the only one to do that! Not that I minded doing it, that sort of responsibility just goes with being a mom, but it sure makes me appreciate having someone else around to do that sort of thing. It is especially nice on AWANA night. I can tuck L into bed and M can go pick up the other kids. Some nights it was rough for L to stay up that late. I can also run an errand on the spur of the moment and there is someone home to stay with the kids. Having had M gone for so long reminds me to not take these things for granted.

Then, there are the other adjustments. Another adult in the house means I am not calling all the shots around here. In our home, M is very much the "head of our home" and when we disagree, I defer to him and to his way of doing things. Nope, it isn't oppressive or controlling, it is just the way we roll. And, really, it works out great. It challenges us both to communicate openly and respectfully and to be sensitive to the other person rather than just thinking about how to each get our own way. Even when M was gone, I sought to defer to him when possible and necessary and he graciously backed me up 100% on the decisions I made. We aimed for this even when we weren't sure we agreed with the other person's decisions. During deployment, trust is so essential. Actually, it is always essential,but it feels so much more essential when we are apart and communication can be delayed or spotty at times.

I realized that when M was gone I fell into a routine that really suited me in many ways. And that was fine. I had to do what I had to do to keep things running and sane and, ideally, happy for everyone. Plus, when I say "a routine that really suited me" that has to be taken in context. It was a routine that accommodated our 4 children, got the household chores done, made sure school happened and happened to suit me with what worked after those things were accomplished.

Now we are settling into a new, but well established, routine of togetherness. A routine that involves meeting daily tasks as partners who are sharing the same space and who are responsible for the same children. A routine where the ache of separateness is replaced with battles of expectations. The battle now is to not be so selfish and annoyed when my agenda is confronted with another person who has other, perfectly good, ideas of how life should flow.

How Do You Define "Healthy"?

I dug in my archives of unfinished blog posts for this one. I have considered writing about food and nutrition, but I am certainly not an expert. I am just a wife and mom who loves food and aims to provide healthy meals for my family. As I have learned more about nutrition and healthy eating, I have realized that there are plenty of different ideas about what is considered healthy. Some people consider low fat frozen meals healthy. Others consider ice cream healthy, if it is made without artificial ingredients or preservatives. Some people eat only organic foods and others aim to eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables regardless of whether those items carry the "organic" label or not. Some people drink tap water and consider bottled water a waste, other people declare the ills of tap water. I could go on and on about different ideas on what different people consider healthy. And I am sure most of us hold ideas that change at some point in our lives.

To consider: How do you define "healthy"? Are there people that you consider to be healthy? What about their choices do you appreciate? What has shaped your definition of "healthy"? How have your ideas about what is healthy evolved?

Currants

Familiar with currants? I sure wasn't, until a few months ago. Since I like to try new foods, I figured we would test them out. They look like a miniature raisin or "baby raisins" as my kids sometimes refer to them as. The taste is similar to raisins. So far we have enjoyed currents as an afternoon snack, on cereal at breakfast time and baked in banana muffins.

Pool, Anyone?

I found these at our local thrift store. I love the colors, the aged look of them, and how they look in my wooden bowl.

He's My Muse

When M was gone, I had so many thoughts that rattled around in my mind. I had great hopes for getting in all sorts of time to write. Time to capture my intense feelings and work it out in words. Yet, it rarely happened. I tried, but it just didn't work. For some reason, when he was gone my emotions were deep and full, but the words to express it all were absent. At moments, I would write of these deep feelings and it seemed to come out all wrong. The words sounded forced and uninspired. I stopped writing so much. The joy of it was lacking. There were moments of writing inspiration, but mostly, it just wasn't there. Then M came home. I felt like I could write again. I wanted to write again. I felt like I could process my thoughts and feelings in writing once more. It is as if his presence in my life has sparked my ability to write and create once again.

Black Beans and Rice

I ♥ black beans. Add rice to the black beans and it equals a major comfort food for me. Lately I have been loving this one dish meal. It contains black beans, rice, coconut milk, curry, sautéed onions, some salt and pepper and some lime juice. I don't have amounts. I know that is completely unhelpful, but I just make it until it tastes right to me. I suppose chicken could be added, but I don't add it to mine.

I am not a vegetarian, I just eat like one sometimes.

For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed meals without meat. I also like meals with meat. Having meat in a meal does not make or break the meal the meal for me. Oh, and I am sorta picky about meat. I want good meat. As in, I prefer cows and chicken meat from animals that were raised humanely and without too many additives in their diet. If meat doesn't meet that standard, I tend to just skip eating it, unless it looks too delicious to skip. Then I just eat it.

Every once in awhile I receive a comment about my meat eating tendencies. These comments range from "Oh, are you a vegetarian?" when I order a grilled cheese sandwich at a restaurant to my husband coming up, putting his arms around me and asking, "Did you ever think about adding chicken to this?" First, nope, I am not a vegetarian. I have been asked this question for years when I order something that either does not contain meat or when I specifically order, say, a burrito "without the meat, please." I just tend to not like Mexican food with meat. It is just how I am. I have always loved a good grilled cheese sandwich. When I am ordering it, I am not necessarily avoiding meat, I just like grilled cheese. Second, no, I had not thought to add chicken. But that sounds great! I will toss some in there!

M, a definite meat-eater, is so gracious to me in this area. He never complains, only suggests meat if he happens to really want it or if I have not made a meal with meat for a couple days. I forget how gracious he is with this sometimes. I recall one time making a meal for some friends. It was pasta loaded with cream sauce and veggies. Yum! As they were eating, the husband, declared, "There's no meat in this is there?" Poor guy, he had probably been waiting for a piece of chicken to show up! It never did.

So, M and I, are both food lovers. But we love each other more. That means that he eats, without complaint, meals that don't contain meat. It also that means once in awhile he grabs a package of bacon that makes me cringe. Sometimes I tell him about the nitrates and how those pigs are probably raised and he sometimes just smiles at me and tosses it in the cart. When we get home, I cook up the bacon for him and add it to meals. I have to admit it does taste pretty good! And it motivates me to remember to buy the non-nitrate bacon when I see it.