The walk

I have been walking each day for the last few weeks and am enjoying this perfect fall weather.  I know that eventually I will have to move my walking inside to the treadmill or a Leslie Sansone DVD, but in the meantime, I love being outside here at Willis Creek Ranch.  I have a 'loop' that I walk a few times a day and I find that I am becoming more aware of even these very familiar surroundings.  This goes along well with the boys Biology class this year which has an emphasis on nature walks and observation.  I, myself, am becoming more observant of the nature right under my nose.

Here are some photos I took recently on my walk.  I plan to take more photos throughout the year to compare.

Pretty sunflowers by the fence

I love looking out over the field full of wildflowers, grasses (and weeds!)

so pretty this time of year

Ah, my old nemesis... ragweed

hay bales ready for the horses this winter

They didn't pay any attention to me...   :)

One of my little 'finds'... the driveway that I zip up and down all day long.  From my busy car I never notice this small burst of beauty amidst the gravel...

stubbornly blooming where it lands - even in a most difficult location

turning onto the main road

heading up to my sisters house

Julie has a green thumb for sure... her native wildflower beds are lovely all year long.

I love these grand old trees in my parents front yard.

I do not have my sisters green thumb.  THIS is what my front flower bed looks like...  :(

something else I noticed for the first time....

Can you spot a deciduous tree growing in there?

Look here - two trunks!  The pine is on the right.

looking up into the trees - intermingled

I'm going to have to take my tree book out there and try to get a good look at the leaves to determine what kind of tree it is.  I think it might be an ash...

So, what does that mean?

(quick note... this post was written, for the most part, several days ago - although I am just now posting it to the blog.)


I mentioned in my last post that I am now 'living as though I have had Lap Band surgery'.  What does that mean?  What have I learned and how am I putting that into practice?  None of these ideas are new in the universe... but they are certainly new to me in practice.  And they are working.  That is the point.  I have lost 5 pounds in the last 2 weeks.  Never before have I been able to say that.  Hallelujah!  Here are the things that I am doing that are helping me tremendously.

Put your tennis shoes on first thing in the morning.  You will be far more apt to take advantage of that 'suddenly free' 15 minutes in your day if you are prepared to just walk out the door.

Make yourself do 15 minutes minimum of exercise/activity per day.  I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but it is SO important.  In 15 minutes I can walk almost a mile.  That gives me a true sense of accomplishment, which pushes me on.  I usually do more than that and while terrific, it is that FIRST 15 minutes which inspires me.  Likewise, if I skip a day and do no activity, I can get so down on myself that I feel like a failure, which does me absolutely NO good.  DO that FIRST 15 minutes, NO MATTER WHAT!

Use smaller plates.  I have always known this, but rarely did this.  Doing it every single time is key.  I am visual and want to see an attractive plate - and an empty plate just always looks so.... empty.  I am currently using a bread plate which is only about 7 inches in diameter.  But, it looks SO nice covered with food and makes me feel like I am eating more than I am.

Chew everything a ridiculous amount of times.  This may be the #1 most important point.  Forgive me for getting gross for a second, but I learned that after Lap Band surgery you must chew your food to a paste in order for it to go through the band.  That seriously takes a lot of time and attention.  I about wear myself out eating a piece of toast!  BUT, it also allows for my mind to catch up to my stomach and recognize that I am satisfied.  I don't really WANT any more food.  So this means no more eating as I cook dinner or grabbing a quick bite as I walk out the door or in any way eating mindlessly.  That is a surefire way to take in far more calories than you intend and the worst part is, you probably won't even remember them!  :)  So you surely weren't getting a whole lot of enjoyment out of them!  At least that was the case with me.  Now I fill my pretty little plate and go sit down at the table and chew, chew, chew.  And it always turns out to be 'enough'.

Take small portions.  Again, the pretty little plate helps immensely with this.  But, I am truly trying to measure my food.  I had to learn how much 2 oz. to 4 oz. per serving was and after I picked myself up off the floor, I determined to at least give it a try.  Again, it is enough - IF I follow the other guidelines already mentioned.  Honestly, I don't need a lot of food for my body to run efficiently IF I am choosing high quality foods.

Which brings me to the next point - choose high quality foods.   ha!   :)  Lots of protein, veggies, dairy, whole grains and fruits.  Pretty much in that order, too.  Good food fills you up faster and makes you feel better overall.  Although I have certainly enjoyed (more than) my fair share of Lindor White Chocolate Truffles,  :)  they don't satisfy me.  I still want more.  Trade that quantity in on quality food and I simply don't need as much.

Take each day as it comes.  Deal only with THAT day.  I can easily overload if I start trying to think about next week or imagine the next Mom's Night Out.  But, today was an example for me that I truly CAN manage the unexpected.  (circumstances required that I eat lunch at Hardees and I truly only had a side salad - and even removed about 1/2 of the cheese from it!).  One day at a time....

Along those same lines, don't beat yourself up.  If you don't get your exercise in on a day or if you go over your food allotment in a day, try to think through the circumstances, see if you can learn anything from them and then go to bed having 'forgiven' yourself.  No good can come from self defeating thoughts.  Tomorrow is a NEW day.  One day at a time...

Drink your water.  I have always had a glass of water by my side so this isn't a tough one for me.  But, I am now learning to specifically go drink water if I feel hungry but don't think I really 'should' be.  (I've eaten recently, etc.)  Typically, drinking water will help curb that hunger pretty quickly.

If you have hunger pangs grab something that you have prepared ahead of time.  Remember, sometimes when you think you are ravenous, time can be your enemy.  You want something RIGHT NOW!  My favorites are to slice up carrot sticks and cabbage and keep it in baggies in the fridge.  I know exactly how much is in each baggie (so I can keep track of calories) and they are fast and easy to grab.  Chew, chew, chew and it fills that hunger.

Take your vitamins.  I have always been a big believer in vitamins.  I can definitely feel when I am not taking them regularly.  And since I have cut down on my food intake so drastically, I believe it is even more important than ever to be consistent with them.  Every morning I have a protein shake and take my vitamins.  It helps me feel productive right off the bat.  :)

Tell your friends.  I am realizing that will be important.  I must tell people.  (thus these blog posts!)  I have been fat for so many years now that my new habits are really going to stand out.  And, I need to tell my friends about my goals so that they can help me by not offering me chocolate or pizza or... whatever.   :)  I am so grateful for the love and support of my family and friends and know that I am supremely blessed.

As you can see, these are life changes.  Will I ever eat cake again?  Most certainly!  Will I have pizza or a ronza?  You'd better believe it!  BUT, I won't eat 2 slices of cake or an entire ronza.  I'll eat a small portion following the guidelines.  I also expect to eventually get my daily caloric intake back up closer to 1800-2000 calories per day.  That will be maintenance level.  That will be like Christmas.  :)  I don't expect to ever be as skinny as I was in college, but I do expect to feel good about myself and get rid of the dreaded 'W' behind my clothing size.  :)

Thanks for listening...

A new direction...

Well, I have been working on this post for quite some time now.  I finally decided that it was just time to finish it, post it and move on.  :)  A lot has been going on with me this summer that I have kept close to home.  Nothing truly earth-shattering (so don't worry) but honestly, quite a roller coaster ride for me, personally.  And while I realize that none of this counts as a 'crisis', it has been pretty tough emotionally - moreso than one might think.

Last spring I began contemplating having Lap Band surgery.  Lap Band surgery involves putting a fluid filled rubber band of sorts around the top part of your stomach, thereby making you unable to eat as much quantity and causing you to feel full.  I know some folks who have had it and have been hugely successful.  I struggled with the decision all summer long and just couldn't quite make up my mind to do it.  I definitely wanted the 'results', but I was a bit fearful of the process.  I spent months researching, thinking, praying and talking to other people - then finally came to the decision to go for it.  I honestly thought THAT was going to be the tough part....

I called the doctor here in town who does that surgery (and who had operated on my two friends) and was told "his practice is on hold".  What?  I couldn't imagine what that even meant.  I asked if I could at least set up an appointment or attend a seminar for the surgery and was told that nothing was happening at all until he 'figured out what he was going to do with his practice'.  Strange.

So, I regrouped and decided to go with a surgeon from out of town that I was aware of.  I knew about the surgical group he was in (because of a previous surgery that Marvin had) and felt comfortable with the practice.  I signed up for the first seminar (a requirement in order to actually see the doctor) and exchanged several emails and even a phone call with the practice to be sure my 'ducks were in a row'.  I mean, I had made my decision... I was READY to get going on this thing.

I counted down the days until the seminar (about 2 weeks from sign up) and dutifully filled out all 17 pages of paperwork.  I also contacted my insurance company and determined that although they do cover the surgery, I didn't qualify under their stipulations.  (they require a person to be 100+ pounds overweight)  Although I briefly considered that a goal I could meet  :)  (not really!)  we decided that my long term health was important enough for us to take the 'Self Pay Option', meaning we would pay cash for the surgery and NOT file for our insurance.  (by the way, I DO meet the qualifications for the surgery - 35+ BMI.)

The seminar was early on a Saturday morning and out of town, so I went down the night before and stayed at a hotel.  That morning, scared, anxious and excited, I headed to the seminar ready to begin this new journey back toward health.  My very first interaction with the lady there was when she called me in to be weighed (joy) and I handed her my paperwork.  Because I am a true 'fill in the blank person' I had written my insurance company in the space provided, although I also wrote in that we would not be filing, we would be paying cash.  The lady took one look at that top page and then turned to me and said, "I'm sorry, we can't help you.  You have TriCare insurance."  (Let me state here that TriCare insurance is our military insurance.)  I took a moment to try to think and decided she must realize that I didn't meet the criteria for our insurance to cover the surgery so clarified that we were planning to pay cash, NOT file insurance.  She said again, "I'm sorry, we can't help you."   What on earth?  I seriously didn't understand what she meant.  I was dumbfounded.

I was confused by the thought that even though we didn't want to file our insurance that I couldn't pay cash.  It just didn't make sense and I thought I must be totally missing something.  But, our conversation just went round and round like this for several minutes...  Finally, she said I 'could stay for the seminar if I liked' but that they wouldn't be able to help me in any way.  I was near tears, but decided to stay for the stupid seminar that I had gone to so much trouble to attend.

All through the seminar I thought over the crazy conversation and just couldn't figure out what on earth I had missed.  I determined to try to talk to her one more time after the class.  It went no better.  She just kept telling me that even though I didn't want to file TriCare, they couldn't accept my cash either.  I finally gave up and left, called Marvin and tried to explain the whole scenario.

Marvin was just as confused as I was and said he would call on Monday and set it all straight.  We began to wonder if she had incorrect information about TriCare and Marvin even pointed out that they had no trouble with TriCare back in May when he had his surgery through them.  (which still wouldn't explain why they wouldn't take my CASH!)  But, we thought surely it would all work out.

On Monday Marvin tried to call the lady repeatedly, left messages and never received a call back.  He started back in on Tuesday morning to no avail.  Finally, he called another number that we had from his surgery back in May and was able to talk to a different person in the office.  THAT person finally confirmed that what she had said was true.  They could not help me.  They do accept TriCare insurance (as we knew from Marvin's experiences) but not on this particular surgery.  And since I had told them I actually HAD TriCare insurance, they wouldn't accept a cash payment from me, either.  Marvin, my mild mannered, sweet husband who never gets mad, made an analogy.  "So, if I break my car windshield and decide not to file it to my insurance but just to pay cash to fix it, you wouldn't fix it because I HAVE insurance?"  She also stated to Marvin that if I had walked in and said I was uninsured, they would have operated on me.  Crazy...

Sooooo.... at that point we were totally confused, pretty disgusted and I was feeling pretty low.  I was also beginning to doubt everything I had decided - which caused me to feel like my character was flawed.  How could I be so certain of something then have my determination crumble after a mere set back?  At that point, my dear friend Jim said to me, "I think God and Rev. Jim just don't want you to HAVE this surgery!"   :)  I began to think that 'God and Rev. Jim' might be right....

For whatever strange reasons, the final result is that I made two serious attempts to have Lap Band surgery and both fell apart for reasons that I still don't quite understand.  I felt thrown for a loop and angry, but decided to harness that anger (and all the research I had done all summer) and try a new direction.

That new direction is that I am now 'living as though I have HAD Lap Band surgery'.  I had psyched myself up mentally for all the changes that I would have to make and was prepared to move forward in those ways.  I realized that I could STILL move forward in those ways even without the 'tool' of the Lap Band.  And I was just mad enough to fuel my motivation.  :)

So, two weeks ago I began living as though I have HAD the Lap Band surgery.  And I have lost 5 pounds so far.  Amazing.  My mindset is strong; I feel determined and focused.  I am moving forward and looking ahead.  And I am content.

Black Beans and Rice

Yummy!!  Very flavorful dish!!  I would bet you could saute some smoked sausage or kielbasa to go along with this very nicely, but I loved it all by itself.

Black Beans and Rice
Original Recipe Yield 10 servings/serving size:  1/2 cup


Ingredients
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup uncooked white rice (I used instant brown rice)
1 1/2 cups low sodium, low fat vegetable broth (I used 4 chicken bouillon cubes and 1 1/2 cups water)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I actually put in about a Tablespoon of Tony Chachere's seasoning, but that may be too strong for some.)
3 1/2 cups canned black beans, drained  (this worked out to two cans)

Directions

1. In a stockpot over medium-high heat, heat the oil. Add the onion and garlic and saute for 4 minutes. Add the rice and saute for 2 minutes.
2. Add the vegetable broth, bring to a boil, cover and lower the heat and cook for 20 minutes. Add the spices and black beans.

Nutritional Information 

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 140 | Total Fat: 0.9g | Cholesterol:0mg

Baked Chicken in a Sweet BBQ Sauce

I made this for the first time tonight and all enjoyed it.  However, I will probably decrease the amount of Cumin the next time around.  I liked it, but the rest would prefer to not have that strong a flavor of Cumin.

Baked Chicken in a Sweet BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup prepared barbecue sauce
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 cup water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Whisk together the barbecue sauce, soy sauce, red wine, maple syrup, chili powder, dry mustard powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and cumin in a bowl until thoroughly combined.
3. Place the chicken breasts into a 9x13-inch baking dish, and pour the sauce over the chicken. Turn the chicken pieces over in the sauce to coat both sides.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until the chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear, about 40 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a breast should read 160 degrees F (70 degrees C). Remove the chicken from the baking dish, and keep warm.
5. Pour the remaining sauce into a saucepan, place over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Whisk the cornstarch and water together in a small bowl until smooth. Whisk the cornstarch mixture into the sauce; reduce heat to a simmer, and allow the sauce to thicken, whisking constantly. Return the chicken to the dish, and pour the thickened sauce over the chicken to serve.

Nutritional Information 

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 275 | Total Fat: 3.8g | Cholesterol:61mg

Pan Fried Brussels Sprouts

LOVE these!!  Of course, I am the only one in my house who will eat them, but that is okay.  I make enough to have the next day - they are even good cold.  :)

Pan Fried Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons crushed garlic
• 1/4 white onion, chopped
• 1 (16 ounce) package trimmed Brussels sprouts
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• garlic powder to taste

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in a cast-iron skillet over medium heat until the oil shimmers, and cook garlic, stirring often, until golden brown and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Stir in onion and cook until soft, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add Brussels sprouts to the skillet and cook without stirring until the undersides of the sprouts turn golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir to turn sprouts over, and cook other sides until golden brown, another 5 to 7 minutes. Season with salt, black pepper, and garlic powder.

Nutritional Information 

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 87 | Total Fat: 3.7g | Cholesterol:0mg

Pumpkin Cookies 2

I have another recipe for pumpkin cookies that uses my freshly ground wheat.  These are almost interchangeable recipes, but I thought I would go ahead and post this one, too.  Just for the record.   :)  

These are wonderful with the icing, but honestly, they are quite good even without.

Pumpkin Cookies 2

Ingredients

• 2 cups shortening
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 cups canned pumpkin
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 8 tablespoons milk
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup packed brown sugar

Directions

1. Cream shortening, white sugar and pumpkin. Add eggs and mix well. Sift together the baking soda, ground cinnamon, salt and flour. Add to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
2. Drop from spoon to cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3. To Make Frosting: Cook butter, milk, and brown sugar until dissolved. Cool and add confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Spread over warm cookies.

Hearty Cream of Vegetable Soup

Slice up your veggies as desired.  I like to use potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion.  I actually love to put cabbage in as well, but the fellas don't like it much.  Put a little butter or olive oil in your stock pot and toss in the potatoes and carrots first.  Then toss in the celery and onions.  Saute all veggies until slightly crisp/tender.  Stir in a few tablespoons of flour (or to make gluten free, use corn starch later in the process) and cook for a few minutes.  Add chicken bouillon cubes (about 4) and 2 cups water.  Pour in about 8 cups of milk (more or less to taste).  Add salt, pepper and garlic (lots of garlic!)   :)  Let simmer for awhile.  Shortly before serving I add in a bag of frozen corn and sometimes about 1 cup of shredded cheddar jack cheese.  If you want it thickened more, you can use a little corn starch mixed with a bit of milk.  YUMMY soup!

SCM Picture Study Portfolios

We have always tried to incorporate picture study into our homeschool.  Some years have gone better than others.  :)  Over the summer I discovered a new product from one of my favorite companies, Simply Charlotte Mason.  It is so simple, but I knew it would help us to be more consistent with our picture study since all I have to do is pull the materials off the shelf.  :)

SCM Picture Study Portfolios include full color works by the artist of your choice in coated card stock.  I was truly impressed with the look and feel of these reproductions.  At 8.5" x 11" they are a nice size, too.  You also receive a handbook with biographical information about the artist, recommended reading lists, several 'how-to' tips and much more.  We enjoyed the biographical information more than I expected.  I have to say I expected a typical bio that we have read in other compilations, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that they have used excerpts from an out of print 'living book' called Stories of the Painters by Amy Steedman.  Good stuff!

I truly think I would have paid the $14.95 (about $20 with shipping and tax) just for the 6 full color prints.  Having the handbook included makes this a steal!  We started today on Rembrandt and have already placed an order for Turner.  I look forward to using even more in the future.

SCM reproduction of Night Watch by Rembrandt