Green Acres!

So, my second goal is to go green! This doesn't mean that I will one of those people who boycott toilet paper and gasoline. What green means to me is doing my part to support local businesses, local people and therefore cut down our carbon footprint. My husband and I love this show we saw on the food network, back when we had cable, called 100 mile challenge. The concept of this was that you could only eat food that came from within 100 miles of you. Doesn't sound that hard but it is! Check your pantry, especially your spices. Do you know where your salt comes from? and how long it has traveled? What about your chicken? or beans? You name it, it probably has traveled a long distance. Which makes me wonder, who made it, who am i supporting?

Okaay, I know it is a little crazy to go that extreme, and i don't want to. But I love the idea of knowing who I am supporting and reducing the distance my food travels. Made in the USA! How often do you check your food to see if it's even made here. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with stuff from other countries. But I know that I shouldn't complain about the gov't supporting other countries if I don't do my part.

So, John and I have discussed how we can help. Some of the things we want to be a part of are csa's. Community Supported Agriculture is a program that gives you the chance to support your local farmers. You buy shares of a local farm and they give you product every week. You have to drive out and pick up your product, therefore meeting the farmers and getting to know them. You don't know what your going to get until you pick it up, although you pick the farm and they have lists of what they grow on the website. We also want to buy local beef and pork and chicken. Local eggs and honey.

I would also like to start my own compost pile, and attempt a garden of my own. I don't hold high hopes of this though because I have a black thumb.

We try and carpool as much as we can when we have to go into the city and eventually I would like to take Joslyn on bike rides for local trips.

As always I would love to hear your comments on how you help the environment. God made the earth in 6 days, lets try and keep it beautiful!

P.S. Tomorrow I am so excited to talk about my 150 adventures. be thinking of adventurous things. the picture is of my dog Sinnamon that is now in heaven, treasure every moment!

How will I ever do it?

150 pounds! That is what I want to lose. How will I ever do it? Well, I don't think that I have ever been more excited about this weight loss project, then all the times I have been on diets before. Mostly, because I am not going on a diet, I am going for a life change. What is the difference? Well obviously a diet is to lose weight, and a life change is to change my life. I just hope that weight is lost in the process. I have been on many diets and some of them work and some dont, but none of them I can stick to. So this time I am trying something different.

About a year and a half ago, my wonderful husband purchased the program The 6 week Body makeover by Michael Thurmond. I opened the package with mega excitement, did all of the preperations, and figured out my body type. We threw away all the food in the house and started over. The body makeover is a wonderful program, it has many great elements. First of all, you can't eat anything processed, meaning no dairy, I love cheese. No chicken nuggets, no barbeque sauce, ketchup, anything. Why, you say? Well, most processed foods have one common denominator, SALT! The main thing that this diet focuses on is sodium and the less you have the better. Secondly, the diet requires you to eat 6 times a day. That seems a lot, but it is very necessary if you want to boost your metabolism. These are great ideas! I lost 20 pounds in a month on this system and never gained it back. I mean still havent gained it back.

So, my plan is to start in 2 weeks back on this program, and I will do only this for 2 weeks. I want to get my body used to the eating 6 times a day, smaller portions, and the no sodium. Interesting fact, the first 2 weeks that your body goes without salt, everything taste very bland, but, after that anytime you taste a spice, it has more flavor than ever before. See we can't really taste the spices in their true form because of all the salt we eat. After, the 2 weeks are over I will slowly add in the things I love, like dairy, but stick with the portion sizes and 6 meals. The reason I want to do this is because, i got very bored with the makeover fast because I couldn't have the things I love. I know now that I can't fully give up everything I love or it won't be a true life change. Eventually, I will find a way to eat what I want and forget all that I have learned. I am so excited though, because I really want to start to enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables and this diet requires them.

Next, I plan to start walking. There are few things in life that are quite so easy, for someone like me. I like to complain about many things, but when I actually go walking I enjoy it. I really want Joslyn to start enjoying her surroundings, and this is a great way to make that happen. We live in a little community of trailer homes in which every member has 1 to 5 acres of land. I really love our neighborhood. It feels like a very safe place to be. Maybe our walking will inspire others to walk too. There are horses and cows, great sights for a little girl to see. Not to mention all of the other critters.

So, that is my plan and I hope that I can honor myself enough to follow through with it. After all, I am God's creation, and I am beautifully and wonderfully made. I hope that you will enjoy my trials and triumphs of this journey and that most of all God is glorified. Please feel free to comment with ideas and advice or positive thoughts. I have no room for negitivity in my life.

P.S. tomorrow I will post on some of my ideas for part 2 of my goals, going green! The picture is of a critter that lives very close to our land.

Learning a little about my past can change my future

Let me first tell you a little about me. I am a 31 year old stay at home mom, to a new baby girl who is 4 months old. When I got pregnant after 9 years of trying to have a baby with my wonderful husband of 10 years, I was very unhealthy. Being pregnant was a wonderful experience for me, not only did I enjoy every move and kick, but I was healthier then I have been in a while. No sinus problems, almost no weight gain, only 12 pounds, and I felt good. After she was born my husband and I made the decision that I would stay home with her. I had a great job but it was a no brainer.

When Joslyn came into the world I knew that she would change my life. I have always tried to help others as much as possible, but the one thing I never have been good at was taking care of my self. I spent so much time taking care of others so I would not have to take care of me and deal with my own issues of insecurity, codependency, and food addiction. I visited a local church and started going to Celebrate Recovery . It was a wonderful program and I would recommend it to anyone. After finishing the 12 step program, God soon blessd me with my wonderful child.

For the first few months of her life I began to notice certain things about my life that I did not want Joslyn to do. One thing for sure was the "me" attitude! I have some great friends, don't get me wrong, but certain people I love have the wrong attitude about life. It's not about us, this life of ours. God didn't put me on this earth for me, he put me on this earth to tell others about Him. Now, I get that most people can't stand the Bible beaters of this world. I can't either. But I would be lying if I didn't say that I love Jesus with all my heart! But I want people to wonder why my life is so different. I want mine and my family's hearts and lives to explode with so much joy that people can't help but ask.

Secondly, I went through a mini depression state when I had my baby, this seems to happen to me when something really good happens in my life. Chalk it up to my childhood, I have major abandonment issues. When things get good, I fear that they wont stay that way, instead of enjoying it. This is going to change. I am determined to enjoy life if it kills me, get it? since we all die anyways, I am going to attempt to give this fear thing a run for it's money.

I noticed that the kind of life I wanted was a more simple one. John and I were determined to get out of our slump, so we decided to move to the country. I know that this sounds crazy but for us it is working. I wanted to start enjoying my family, so we decided not to get cable. At the present time, we have no television at all. Don't get me wrong we have a tv, a couple of them, and we can only watch movies on them, which we do together as a family most nights. We also spend sometime looking at the stars, which are beautiful out in the country, and enjoying nature. I noticed that the more I was away from the advertisements, the more my need for the newest, baddest thing went away. And the more I loved and treasured the things I have.

I feel very lucky to get to share this life with those I love and maybe you can share it with me too. The pic is me 9 months pregnant.

Preview: tomorrow I will share some of the things that I plan on doing to make this change possible, stay tuned....