Sunday, again!

Happy fall Sunday blog readers,

Where has the month gone?  We are already over halfway done with our Whole 30.  WOW!  And I am happy to report that I have not knowingly cheated!  I say "knowingly" because in the beginning I was not as good about reading those pesky labels.  My DH is not being as strict as I am about this round.

As you know, I am a Girl Scout leader.  In the fall, in our Council, we sell nuts and candy.  (Cookies are in January!)  I ordered a couple of items from each of the girls to boost their sales and was so excited to get my cans of Whole Cashews.  Then I read the label: Cashews, Salt, Peanut Oil.  Wait, WHAT?!?!?  Why would you put peanut oil on cashews?  Yesterday, I was at Aldi, and DH likes the Lightly Salted Almonds.  I read that label and there is peanut oil on those roasted nuts too?!?!  Who knew?  Well, know I know and sadly the can of cashews will be wrapped up for the bus drivers Christmas gift.  So, I guess that is a small win, as I won't have to decide what to get her.  😉

So, I think I told you all that DH borrowed the Whole30 book from his bus buddy.  I found a book store in my area that is sadly going out of business.  I got the last copy of the book!  Woo Hoo for me!  We gave Bus Buddy the new copy, since we are wearing the copy they borrowed us out.  I am loving everything that I have tried, except the mayo recipe.  I cannot figure out how to get it to emulsify.  I am pretty sure I added the oil too fast and now I have a jar of separated mess in my fridge.  I am going to try again, as I really want to make Deviled eggs for one of my Thanksgiving treats.

Was texting with my sister-in-law last night.  We are spending a few nights with them for Thanksgiving.  She has a son in college, a son who is a Sophomore in High School and an eighth grade daughter.  My brother, owns a farm and these kids help out AND are active in athletics and other school activities.  Add my three and we need to cook up a few feasts a day to feed this crew.  So, we laid out a meal plan.  I did tell her that DH and I are doing the Whole 30, so we will be bringing some of our own ingredients.  She suggested tacos/nacho bar for one night.  I just found this great recipe I want to try for Sweet Potato chips as your nacho chips.  If this works, I will be snacking on chips and salsa again really soon!

I love Pinterest.  For Thanksgiving, we will be going out to a restaurant to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary.  This will be our brunch/lunch time meal.  For dinner, we are all pitching in and bringing food to serve the masses.  I am going to try these stuffed mushrooms, I found them this morning on Pinterest.  I am also going to bring the Chicken Pot Pie soup I Pinned and my family LOVES!  And I will see if anyone is bringing a veggie tray.  I need to try the Ranch dressing from the Whole 30 book, so we can dip our veggies legally, if we want to.

Today is a Girl Scout meeting.  We are going to be finalizing the plans for the Winter Wonderland Brunch that is in less than 2 weeks.  Ack!  I have 8 registered girls, and I know that 2 of them are not going to be at the meeting.  We have a lot to do with so few girls in attendance.  Wish me luck.  And have a great week everyone.  Happy Thanksgiving, if I don't get time to blog again before then!  I have been thinking a lot about the new year coming and what that might look like for me and my family.  My son, needs to get a fire lit under him so he can rank up this spring before tennis and baseball season.  My oldest daughter needs to get started on her Gold Award project so that we can have it approved and work all next summer on it.  My youngest wants to earn her Bronze Award this summer before she bridges up to be a Cadet Scout.  Whew that makes me tired, but also makes me excited to see what the kids dreams are and where life will take them.  I will be having my meniscus repair surgery on December 21, 2017.  So, I hope to get on the road and actually run a bit in the new year.  We will see.

Off n Running,
AnnMarie

Day 7 - Morning

Good Morning,
What a week it has been at my house!  I am sorry I let you (my readers) down.  I really planned on sitting down at this computer every night to recap my Whole30 progress and here we are a week into it and I have blogged, what twice?!?!  SO SORRY.

My son, is a Freshman.  He was invited to earn an extra class credit this school year, by being in the Jazz Band.  The Jazz Band meets BEFORE school 3 days a week.  This cuts into my blogging time.  LOL!  My son is also a Boy Scout, and I mentioned he played for the school soccer team.  He intends to go out for the tennis and the baseball team this year, too.  Boy Scouts meet every Monday from 7-8:30.  He was lucky enough to go to the National Jamboree this past summer.  He met boys from all over our great nation.  He still Snapchats with some of these fine young men.  About a month ago, he was on a camping trip and got to see some of the Jambo boys again.  This is the price I pay to have well rounded kids!  LOL!

My oldest daughter, swam for the team at Sectionals on Saturday.  She got best times in both her individual events (200 Freestyle and 100 Backstroke).  She swam the last leg of the 4 X 100 Freestyle Relay, and swam a 0:59!  She is still in shock about that one.  She will be going to the State meet this weekend, as an Alternate for the Relay that qualified.  Then on Sunday, I am going to sit down with her and we are going to start working on her Girl Scout Gold Project!  I will try to blog about that another time.  If we are lucky we can get her schedule her presentation to the Girl Scout Council in December or January.  This will be her off season time, before she starts Track in the Spring!

And let's not leave out my baby girl.  She goes to a local gymnastics gym two times a week.  She LOVES gymnastics!  We were told that as an Xcel gymnast, there will be a National competition this year.  So, my PeeWee has set the bar high and is working hard to get there!  As a family we have never been to Tennessee!  Her Girl Scout troop is planning a Winter Wonderland Brunch.

I worked a bit extra last week on top of running these three superstars all over the place.  And I stuck to the Whole30 plan!  On Saturday, we were tempted to just go out for dinner after a long day at the pool.  I looked up a couple of restaurants on my smartphone and got to their menus.  We would be that annoying couple making so many substitutions, that we decided to just go home and make hamburgers.  I had those in the freezer!  I also had some potatoes, that I sliced up to make homemade fries.  I "whipped' up the "legal" ketchup recipe and we had a nice dinner.

Shoot - I have to go walk the dog, before getting my boy to Jazz band!  Check in with you all soon,

Off n Running,
AnnMarie

Whole 30 day one recap...

I made it through day one!  I had a massage client come in and hand me two Hershey Nuggets, "to recharge before your next massage".  How sweet, but I did not eat them!  Super proud of myself on that one!

I made the chili from the Whole 30 book for our supper one night this week.  I had a very long work day, so I did the crock pot version.  A few things I would do differently next time: 1) When I brown the meat, I will not crumble it so finely.  As leftovers, this is too fine!  2) If I am going to cook this all day in the crock pot, I might not brown the meat all the way, so that it can cook a bit more in the crock.  3) The recipe says to put the seasonings in the pan with the onions.  Again if crock potting this, I think I might just put the seasonings in the crock, because I can't taste any chili flavor!  The family has not really commented on this dish, so I am not sure what they thought of it.

For Day 1 Dinner, I made the Chicken Hash recipe.  This took WAY longer than 15 minutes prep!  I can see now that having a meal prep day is going to be key to stay on this program.  This dish was DELICIOUS!!!!  Everyone in the family loved it.

I had 3 eggs scrambled with some mushrooms and peppers.  For lunch, I had leftover chili.  I think I had more water to drink on Day 1 and that helped me feel fuller.

I will try to get photos and page numbers of the recipes for you next time!

Off n Running,
AnnMarie

Shaklee Life Plan - The Best, Most Comprehensive Nutritional System in t...

Baby its cold outside!!!

So, I have been staying in and doing some reading the past few weeks.  Today I am going to try to update you all on my list...

I have completed the whole 50 Shades of Grey series.  I enjoyed the story-line.  I read the series because of the movie being released.  I found myself wondering what Anna was thinking and comparing my relationship with hers!  Why do we keep going back for more?  Because we love them and know they need us!  I did skip over the sex scenes, and not because I am a prude, but because they didn't have much to do with the story after awhile.  

I had lunch with a friend last week. She read the series back when it came out.  We both agreed that we skipped over the sex parts in books 2 & 3!  I felt many probably read the first book because of the hype about the sex scenes. Those who saw around that kept on reading.  I read the series on my iPhone with the Kindle app.  I borrowed the books from my public library! I thought that was pretty cool to borrow library books to read on my iPhone!

I got into the 50 Shades and didn't finish The Fred Factor yet.  I am enjoying this self-help book.  However, because I have not been able to do my massage work I have lost interest in this book.  I do need to finish it up before next week so I can return it to the person I borrowed it from!

I have a stack of books from the library to get through  in the next day or so!  These include the following titles:

100 Days of Real Food by Lisa Leake  I found her blog one day, as I do many blogs, someone recommended it and I hit the search button.  I started this book at the introduction and was hooked!  She grew up eating like I did:  meat, potatoes, Oatmeal Cream Pies...  She decided to get healthier after she had kids and they had some health issues.  Hello, isn't that what we are all doing?!?!  I like her comparisons and how to read the label lessons.  I have made a few of her recipes.  I will have to blog about that another day.  :)  Check out her website too: 100 Days.

The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila  I flipped through this one, as it really is more of a cookbook.  I do not know if she has other books, but I love that she has a recipe for almost everything I buy for convenience.  I am drawn to the cover with the homemade toaster pastries!  I want to try her ketchup recipe and the toaster pastries.  LOL!

Suddenly Frugal by Leah Ingram

10 Day Smoothie Cleanse by Jessy Smith

The Best Homemade Kids Lunches on the Planet by Laura Fuentes

These I am considering self-help/personal growth books.  Would you?  I am learning a lot from them about cleaning up my diet and how to save money. 

For fun I read Swim the Fly by Dan Calame A Young Adult book series about 3 boys on a summer swim team.  It is light reading and funny.  Takes me back to high school days and liking boys and hoping they ask me out!  I really liked that it is the boys story for a change.  I hope that my son will read it to know his body is not the only one going through these changes!  I really liked this book it made me laugh out loud several times!

SO, that is it for now.

Off n Running,
AnnMarie