Here is a photo collage....
(the 9 mo. pregnancy picture was taken 2 days before she was born)
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Dedication
Here is a photo collage....
(the 9 mo. pregnancy picture was taken 2 days before she was born)
Friday, February 22, 2013
Count It!
Just saw this and had to post about it.....
"If you want to feel rich, just count all the gifts you have that money can't buy."
When I read this quote, so many things came to my mind. Thoughts about my bad days, good days, and the "blah" days. Some days I find myself being bitter or complaining about the little things. I think it's human nature to complain, really. However, without the bad or "blah" days, we wouldn't be able to really appreciate the good things. I know this for sure. We tend to adapt and become used to the way life is going when it's great and we don't take the chance to stop and reflect on WHY it's so great. For instance, Vera was a very "difficult" infant. She was very rarely content and needed constant attention. Even after holding her, changing her, feeding her, and trying to comfort her, she still cried. In those tough infant days, I often wondered WHY every day had to be so difficult. Even now, at almost two, she is a very emotional toddler. She is moody and ornery. However, it seems that the days I need it the most, she finds a way to remind me that things aren't so bad. Even before I became pregnant, I realized that there was so much in life to be thankful for. Money seems to be an issue for many of the individuals I know. We've been there. We've all had those days where we just want to pull out our hair.
There's not a 100% fool-proof way to feel better, but that quote reminded me, once again, to focus on the positive.
What sort of things are you thankful for that money can't buy?
I will start.
I am thankful for the never ending love my husband has for me. He is always willing to help without a second thought. He NEVER complains about helping around the house or helping with his child. He is such a role model not only to Vera, but to me, and really, anyone else he comes in contact with. I count waking up this morning as a blessing.... a gift that money can't buy. A new opportunity and a new day. Precious moments with my daughter can not be purchased.... The love I feel from friends and family can not be bought. But mostly, the endless opportunities life has provided. Regardless of your situation, you are alive. You are breathing, if you are reading this. Those things can't be bought. If you want to be technical, I'm sure you could re word what I just said and make it about money in some form or another, but I choose not to. Today, I want to focus on the positive because it hasn't been the greatest day so far.
Count your blessings, even when nothing seems to be going right.
"If you want to feel rich, just count all the gifts you have that money can't buy."
When I read this quote, so many things came to my mind. Thoughts about my bad days, good days, and the "blah" days. Some days I find myself being bitter or complaining about the little things. I think it's human nature to complain, really. However, without the bad or "blah" days, we wouldn't be able to really appreciate the good things. I know this for sure. We tend to adapt and become used to the way life is going when it's great and we don't take the chance to stop and reflect on WHY it's so great. For instance, Vera was a very "difficult" infant. She was very rarely content and needed constant attention. Even after holding her, changing her, feeding her, and trying to comfort her, she still cried. In those tough infant days, I often wondered WHY every day had to be so difficult. Even now, at almost two, she is a very emotional toddler. She is moody and ornery. However, it seems that the days I need it the most, she finds a way to remind me that things aren't so bad. Even before I became pregnant, I realized that there was so much in life to be thankful for. Money seems to be an issue for many of the individuals I know. We've been there. We've all had those days where we just want to pull out our hair.
There's not a 100% fool-proof way to feel better, but that quote reminded me, once again, to focus on the positive.
What sort of things are you thankful for that money can't buy?
I will start.
I am thankful for the never ending love my husband has for me. He is always willing to help without a second thought. He NEVER complains about helping around the house or helping with his child. He is such a role model not only to Vera, but to me, and really, anyone else he comes in contact with. I count waking up this morning as a blessing.... a gift that money can't buy. A new opportunity and a new day. Precious moments with my daughter can not be purchased.... The love I feel from friends and family can not be bought. But mostly, the endless opportunities life has provided. Regardless of your situation, you are alive. You are breathing, if you are reading this. Those things can't be bought. If you want to be technical, I'm sure you could re word what I just said and make it about money in some form or another, but I choose not to. Today, I want to focus on the positive because it hasn't been the greatest day so far.
Count your blessings, even when nothing seems to be going right.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Water Challenge!
I have really been struggling with getting enough fluids in on any given day, lately. So, I thought maybe I would do some research, see how much I should be drinking. Hopefully the link below works.... but check it out, if you wish! I have a water bottle that has ounces labeled on it so I know how much I'm drinking. It seems to help!
Human Water Requirement Calculator
Human Water Requirement Calculator
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Do it for the Animals....
Brett and I watched another documentary the other night called "Forks Over Knives." It was so amazing, truthful, and informative. We are still talking about it days later! It is one of our most inspiring videos so far.
The film discusses that not only is a Vegan diet beneficial for the environment and for our animals.... it is SO beneficial to our health, as well. The movie goes through the benefits and what non-Vegan products are doing to our bodies. Even "healthy" things such as milk, yogurt, meat, etc. are harming our bodies. The movie also focuses on a sort of clean diet where you eliminate processed foods of any kind. We are adapting to the Vegan diet very well so far and will be working our way onto eliminating processed foods of any kind, as well.
An Example of one of our lunches. Salad with tofu, orange, celery, and a sweet potato. In the little containers is a tiny bit of salad dressing and the other contains peanut butter.
Just an update on the Vegan diet and how it is going for us....
Each morning we typically make ourselves a kale and fruit smoothie with soymilk. Then I usually go for some oatmeal or cereal (brands that are Vegan friendly)... For lunch, we have been having salads (sometimes including tofu, beans, etc.) and leftovers from dinner the night before. We also cram in there some celery and peanut butter for extra protein. Last night, I made home made vegetable vegan stew with home made broth made from absolute scratch (Brett made a huge stock pot of the broth over the weekend and we froze them in sections). I added peas, carrots, rice, black beans, celery, and I'm drawing a blank but I thought there was one more thing? Then I cut up a pomegranate and an orange for each of us. That was our dinner. Vera typically gets a banana and vegan friendly cereal for breakfast. Until our stash is gone, she gets yogurt and such throughout the day as well. We plan on speaking with her pediatrician before going off everything completely.
Monday Night, we had lettuce wraps with black beans, rice, and hummus. On the side we had home made granola (with almonds and cranberries), and kiwi.
Tonight, I will be making stuffed green peppers which will include: green peppers, tomatoes, rice, beans, and any other veggies in the fridge that needs to be eaten soon. For the rest of the week, I'd love to try my hands at some cauliflower garlic crust "bread" with spaghetti sauce on top and maybe some Vegan pepperjack cheese... baked potato chili bowl, and some zucchini lasagna! Super excited about all of these.
I forgot to add that some of the things we have been snacking on are raw vegetables with home made hummus, and chips with home made guacamole. DELICIOUS!
AND... for the most exciting piece of news so far with our Vegan journey,
Brett is now under the 200lb mark! He has been working on it for two years now and has lost over 30 lbs. Since we started the Vegan diet just a few days ago...he has lost 3-4 lbs already! Amazing? I think so. He hasn't been working out this week either so the diet is definitely the cause.
The film discusses that not only is a Vegan diet beneficial for the environment and for our animals.... it is SO beneficial to our health, as well. The movie goes through the benefits and what non-Vegan products are doing to our bodies. Even "healthy" things such as milk, yogurt, meat, etc. are harming our bodies. The movie also focuses on a sort of clean diet where you eliminate processed foods of any kind. We are adapting to the Vegan diet very well so far and will be working our way onto eliminating processed foods of any kind, as well.
An Example of one of our lunches. Salad with tofu, orange, celery, and a sweet potato. In the little containers is a tiny bit of salad dressing and the other contains peanut butter.
Just an update on the Vegan diet and how it is going for us....
Each morning we typically make ourselves a kale and fruit smoothie with soymilk. Then I usually go for some oatmeal or cereal (brands that are Vegan friendly)... For lunch, we have been having salads (sometimes including tofu, beans, etc.) and leftovers from dinner the night before. We also cram in there some celery and peanut butter for extra protein. Last night, I made home made vegetable vegan stew with home made broth made from absolute scratch (Brett made a huge stock pot of the broth over the weekend and we froze them in sections). I added peas, carrots, rice, black beans, celery, and I'm drawing a blank but I thought there was one more thing? Then I cut up a pomegranate and an orange for each of us. That was our dinner. Vera typically gets a banana and vegan friendly cereal for breakfast. Until our stash is gone, she gets yogurt and such throughout the day as well. We plan on speaking with her pediatrician before going off everything completely. Monday Night, we had lettuce wraps with black beans, rice, and hummus. On the side we had home made granola (with almonds and cranberries), and kiwi.
Tonight, I will be making stuffed green peppers which will include: green peppers, tomatoes, rice, beans, and any other veggies in the fridge that needs to be eaten soon. For the rest of the week, I'd love to try my hands at some cauliflower garlic crust "bread" with spaghetti sauce on top and maybe some Vegan pepperjack cheese... baked potato chili bowl, and some zucchini lasagna! Super excited about all of these.
I forgot to add that some of the things we have been snacking on are raw vegetables with home made hummus, and chips with home made guacamole. DELICIOUS!
AND... for the most exciting piece of news so far with our Vegan journey,
Brett is now under the 200lb mark! He has been working on it for two years now and has lost over 30 lbs. Since we started the Vegan diet just a few days ago...he has lost 3-4 lbs already! Amazing? I think so. He hasn't been working out this week either so the diet is definitely the cause.
Budgeting
Brett and I started the year off with a new budget. We have been REALLY bad about following our own budgets before so we decided to give it another try with the new year. So far, it's been great! It's hard to not spend over the alloted amount but we have already taken big steps to becoming debt free, which was our goal! Now if we could only start saving for retirement.... that is our next goal.
This is how it worked for us. We took the estimated average of our income, separately, and wrote it down on a dry erase board in our room. Since my income fluctuates a little, we took the least average amount I would make in a month so that our income was always more then that.
Once we figured out our estimated income, we wrote down our monthly bills and the amounts of each. These things included things like:
Electric
Car payment
house payment
credit cards (which we only have ONE left. yay!)
Student Loans
Savings account (we try to put around $500 in each month for taxes and emergency expenses).
Those bills are almost always the same.. so we put them in their own category. Then we wrote down a budget for the bills that fluctuate:
We don't necessarily budget for things like car and homeowner's insurance because they aren't frequent. However, we DO keep the extra money in our bank account from each month for those reasons.
groceries + misc. (cleaners, which I will begin making my own... and household items)
Gas (we ALWAYS over budget for this so we end up having more than we planned. YAY Hybrid!)
Eating out
And last but not least, spending money for each of us. We allow ourselves $50 each per month. We must NOT go over that amount. We can spend that money on whatever we want or we can save it for the next month and add onto it.
The final step is the fact that we keep a small notebook in the car and write down every single purchase. We write down the date, the amount, and where we spent the money. This also includes anything we buy online. What it doesn't include, are the monthly bills such as house payment, car payment, and such. We have an online log of that through our bank. Because we keep track of it, we can see where ALL of our money is going and it keeps us on track with our budget. It was a little ridiculous at first but now that we're a month and a half into the process, it's just natural to write it all down.
Every few weeks, we go through our expense log and examine it to make sure we are still on track. We then write the remaining amount on our dry erase board in our room so we know where we are. So far, we have not gone over and we are almost through our second month! The $50 we have each month is the most difficult with birthdays, weddings, etc. coming up but we are finding creative ways to deal with it such as using our cash back rewards from our credit card to purchase the lumber we need for a play house we will be building for Vera for her birthday. Since Valentine's Day was a few weeks ago, I chose the weekend before to babysit for some extra money to splurge for Valentine's Day.
These are just some ideas. If you would like some specifics as to how much we budget for each category, I'd be glad to share it. I just don't have the dry erase board at the moment to refer to.
Happy budgeting!
This is how it worked for us. We took the estimated average of our income, separately, and wrote it down on a dry erase board in our room. Since my income fluctuates a little, we took the least average amount I would make in a month so that our income was always more then that.
Once we figured out our estimated income, we wrote down our monthly bills and the amounts of each. These things included things like:
Electric
Car payment
house payment
credit cards (which we only have ONE left. yay!)
Student Loans
Savings account (we try to put around $500 in each month for taxes and emergency expenses).
Those bills are almost always the same.. so we put them in their own category. Then we wrote down a budget for the bills that fluctuate:
We don't necessarily budget for things like car and homeowner's insurance because they aren't frequent. However, we DO keep the extra money in our bank account from each month for those reasons.
groceries + misc. (cleaners, which I will begin making my own... and household items)
Gas (we ALWAYS over budget for this so we end up having more than we planned. YAY Hybrid!)
Eating out
And last but not least, spending money for each of us. We allow ourselves $50 each per month. We must NOT go over that amount. We can spend that money on whatever we want or we can save it for the next month and add onto it.
The final step is the fact that we keep a small notebook in the car and write down every single purchase. We write down the date, the amount, and where we spent the money. This also includes anything we buy online. What it doesn't include, are the monthly bills such as house payment, car payment, and such. We have an online log of that through our bank. Because we keep track of it, we can see where ALL of our money is going and it keeps us on track with our budget. It was a little ridiculous at first but now that we're a month and a half into the process, it's just natural to write it all down.
Every few weeks, we go through our expense log and examine it to make sure we are still on track. We then write the remaining amount on our dry erase board in our room so we know where we are. So far, we have not gone over and we are almost through our second month! The $50 we have each month is the most difficult with birthdays, weddings, etc. coming up but we are finding creative ways to deal with it such as using our cash back rewards from our credit card to purchase the lumber we need for a play house we will be building for Vera for her birthday. Since Valentine's Day was a few weeks ago, I chose the weekend before to babysit for some extra money to splurge for Valentine's Day.
These are just some ideas. If you would like some specifics as to how much we budget for each category, I'd be glad to share it. I just don't have the dry erase board at the moment to refer to.
Happy budgeting!
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Different
I woke up this morning feeling refreshed. Maybe it's because Brett packed my lunch for me and helped clean up. Whenever the house is clean in the morning, I can think a lot more clearly. I was thinking about how different I am than some other women and how thankful I am that Brett loves that about me. I know that with my strong opinions, I can be quite the challenge. I am thankful that he accepts and embraces that challenge.
I have so many passions that I feel strongly about. Being environmentally friendly. Focusing on the health and development of children. Breast feeding. Car seat safety. Feeding babies, and children in general. Eating healthy and working out. Being a great wife. All these things are SO important to me. Spending money is not. I LOVE finding great deals. I LOVE being creative and trying to find cheaper alternatives. I'm not the mani/pedi/massage/excessive tanning kinda girl. I get my hair cut around once a year, if that. I don't mind cutting it all off. I enjoy being different. It grows back. I spend $15 on jeans, tops. I don't cry during girly movies. I don't like country music. I prefer rap. I love coloring, at age 24 (almost 25). I love peas, brussels sprouts, and zucchini. I love making my own things and doing things myself. Most of our wedding items were made by myself. I don't mind not being fancy. Our wedding was nothing close to fancy and it represented us. I loved that. I love making things! I love doing home projects with my husband when we have NEVER done these things before. With no help. I love the joint effort and even the frustrations it brings. I love being independent and not needing anyone else. I love that my husband and I can do ALL things on our own. Financially, emotionally, and physically. I love sharing a birthday with my daughter. The most amazing birthday gift my husband could ever give me. I love rearranging and redecorating and trying to do it for an incredibly low price tag. I love thrift stores and garage sales.
I'm sure there are many others who love these things as well, but I love being ME. I love that most people can talk to me about anything and share their secrets and concerns. I love being trustworthy. I love that most people find me positive and inspiring. There's not much greater on this earth to me, then that.
My point is, go against the grain. Do some research. Do what makes you happy. Seek out those people in your life that make you feel good about yourself. Life is so short and time is too precious to be spent unhappy. Watch a documentary or two. Figure out what inspires you! Do something crafty, even if you're not good at it. Try a new hobby! I am going to be working on that one myself. Go to the library and just relax! Work out!
Be "different."
I have so many passions that I feel strongly about. Being environmentally friendly. Focusing on the health and development of children. Breast feeding. Car seat safety. Feeding babies, and children in general. Eating healthy and working out. Being a great wife. All these things are SO important to me. Spending money is not. I LOVE finding great deals. I LOVE being creative and trying to find cheaper alternatives. I'm not the mani/pedi/massage/excessive tanning kinda girl. I get my hair cut around once a year, if that. I don't mind cutting it all off. I enjoy being different. It grows back. I spend $15 on jeans, tops. I don't cry during girly movies. I don't like country music. I prefer rap. I love coloring, at age 24 (almost 25). I love peas, brussels sprouts, and zucchini. I love making my own things and doing things myself. Most of our wedding items were made by myself. I don't mind not being fancy. Our wedding was nothing close to fancy and it represented us. I loved that. I love making things! I love doing home projects with my husband when we have NEVER done these things before. With no help. I love the joint effort and even the frustrations it brings. I love being independent and not needing anyone else. I love that my husband and I can do ALL things on our own. Financially, emotionally, and physically. I love sharing a birthday with my daughter. The most amazing birthday gift my husband could ever give me. I love rearranging and redecorating and trying to do it for an incredibly low price tag. I love thrift stores and garage sales.
I'm sure there are many others who love these things as well, but I love being ME. I love that most people can talk to me about anything and share their secrets and concerns. I love being trustworthy. I love that most people find me positive and inspiring. There's not much greater on this earth to me, then that.
My point is, go against the grain. Do some research. Do what makes you happy. Seek out those people in your life that make you feel good about yourself. Life is so short and time is too precious to be spent unhappy. Watch a documentary or two. Figure out what inspires you! Do something crafty, even if you're not good at it. Try a new hobby! I am going to be working on that one myself. Go to the library and just relax! Work out!
Be "different."
Monday, February 18, 2013
Our Vegan Journey
About two years ago, a little after Vera was born, Brett and I decided to make a life change to benefit our health. We decided that we would do a mostly vegetarian diet. We cut out all beef products and chose only organic chicken, eggs, and fish as our "meat" protein. We ate chicken and fish once each a week or so. We began eliminating any sort of pre-packaged meals including anything frozen. Said goodbye to most boxed food as well. About a year after that, Brett figured out that he was intolerant to gluten. This meant that we said goodbye to processed pasta products, and most bread. Vera and I still eat bread occasionally but Brett does not. This also means that we no longer put breading on anything we eat. Farewell to pizza, as well. We do occasionally buy Gluten free mix that we can make our own pizza crust out of but we have only done that a handful of times due to how costly it can be. So what did we eat?? A LOT of beans, rice, veggies, and fruit. We also got some protein from nuts, peanut and hazlenut butter, and flaxseed that I have previously posted about. It was tough at first but it gets easier as time passes.
Just this past weekend, we watched another documentary after Vera went to bed. We were reminded once again, how animals are sometimes treated throughout the process in order to create a large portion of our food. This was the last straw for us and the motivation to participate in a Vegan lifestyle. Now, we don't really want to throw out all of our other food because that would be incredibly wasteful. However, we are looking into other options such as donating and giving things away. Vera is still allowed yogurt and cheese now and then because we want to speak with her pediatrician before we make this change. We, however, have been eating somewhat like this already. We made the switch to soymilk/almond milk a few weeks ago and have not missed cow's milk a single time. Vera takes daily vitamins to assure that she gets what she needs. Brett and I both have daily vitamins and purchased calcium pills recently, just in case. We are researching some other forms of protein as well.
The first day was tough because we had just purchased a large box of MILK chocolate.... and attempted to eat the last of our turkey hot dogs but couldn't take more than a few bites without feeling horrible. Cricket (our dog) enjoyed a nice, preservative free meal that night. We went grocery shopping and purchased 0 items that were pre packaged.... ALL fruits, vegetables, and a bakery run for mine and Vera's bread needs. Yesterday, we made a trip to Trader Joe's and bought Vegan friendly burgers, vegan chorizo sausage, and browsed the natural "soap" isle.... which we will be including in our new Vegan lifestyle once we are out of our others. I don't feel that throwing everything away is very nature-friendly. I will also begin making my own laundry soap, dish soap, fabric softener, and things like that once ours are out. I am SUPER excited for this new change! I am so glad my husband is so willing to give all these things up with me. I never would have imagined we'd get to this stage in our lives. It's something I have ALWAYS wanted to do, but when we first moved in together, he was a meat lover for sure. I am thankful that we are making our way to be more natural, earth friendly, healthy, and role models for our beautiful daughter!
I will begin sharing my journey here =] Follow along, if you'd like!
Just this past weekend, we watched another documentary after Vera went to bed. We were reminded once again, how animals are sometimes treated throughout the process in order to create a large portion of our food. This was the last straw for us and the motivation to participate in a Vegan lifestyle. Now, we don't really want to throw out all of our other food because that would be incredibly wasteful. However, we are looking into other options such as donating and giving things away. Vera is still allowed yogurt and cheese now and then because we want to speak with her pediatrician before we make this change. We, however, have been eating somewhat like this already. We made the switch to soymilk/almond milk a few weeks ago and have not missed cow's milk a single time. Vera takes daily vitamins to assure that she gets what she needs. Brett and I both have daily vitamins and purchased calcium pills recently, just in case. We are researching some other forms of protein as well.
The first day was tough because we had just purchased a large box of MILK chocolate.... and attempted to eat the last of our turkey hot dogs but couldn't take more than a few bites without feeling horrible. Cricket (our dog) enjoyed a nice, preservative free meal that night. We went grocery shopping and purchased 0 items that were pre packaged.... ALL fruits, vegetables, and a bakery run for mine and Vera's bread needs. Yesterday, we made a trip to Trader Joe's and bought Vegan friendly burgers, vegan chorizo sausage, and browsed the natural "soap" isle.... which we will be including in our new Vegan lifestyle once we are out of our others. I don't feel that throwing everything away is very nature-friendly. I will also begin making my own laundry soap, dish soap, fabric softener, and things like that once ours are out. I am SUPER excited for this new change! I am so glad my husband is so willing to give all these things up with me. I never would have imagined we'd get to this stage in our lives. It's something I have ALWAYS wanted to do, but when we first moved in together, he was a meat lover for sure. I am thankful that we are making our way to be more natural, earth friendly, healthy, and role models for our beautiful daughter!
I will begin sharing my journey here =] Follow along, if you'd like!
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