My Mundane Musings

Hope you all had a wonderful day celebrating the freedoms that we have here in the United States of America.

We’ve spent a great day with family and are getting ready to head out for the fireworks. We’ll find a place out in the cornfields, kick back and relax and enjoy the show before coming back to do our own.

Our schedule is so full packed right now that I feel as though one more thing added to it will simply send me straight to the funny farm! The month of June is in the books and we were ALL home in the evening exactly ONE time last month!

July looked to be a bit better for us. We’re done with tball and softball now. Our anniversary is at the end of the month and we’ll celebrate a wonderful 12 years of marriage. I was starting to formulate what we could do for our anniversary. We need some time together by ourselves. And as I looked at my calendar all day yesterday, I pegged July 28th (the day after) as the “perfect day” to celebrate.

So, when Chip came home with the mail this morning and handed me a summons for jury duty, I’ll admit that I yelled at God at a bit! It’s not that I don’t want to fulfill my civic duty. I’m all about America and helping out my country. Even if I do think the judicial system is severely broken.

But if God is God of everything, then surely He could have intervened and made me start even one day later. 24 hours would have made all the difference in my attitude.

I’m still learning that whole praising God regardless of the situation or circumstance thing. God is good whether my schedule is full or empty. God is good ALL the time. And I’m just a work in progress…

So, yesterday was a tumultuous day. I ended up eating less than 1200 calories when all was said and done. When I’m stressed or upset, I just can’t eat. And if I do eat? Well, it’s not pretty.  I want to binge on things that will make me feel worse. Ice cream being the biggest thing!

And oh how I’m missing my ice cream. I love it. Absolutely adore a good ice cream treat. My favorite is Ben & Jerry’s Vermonty Python - coffee ice cream with cookie crumb swirls and little chocolate cows! Excuse me for a moment while I dry the drool off the keyboard!

Anyway - I knew that if I didn’t figure out some sort of healthy alternative, I was NEVER going to make it through my month of healthy eating. Ice cream would be my downfall. I could eat it EVERY day and not miss a beat. Well, not until I was too big to actually walk to the refrigerator to get it. But isn’t that what kids are for?

Ok, I know, I have issues.

Anyway, yesterday, we bought grapes. And these grapes are AMAZING! The perfect amount of juiciness and the perfect bit of tartness. I took half of them and promptly put them in the freezer.

After my walk this morning, I wanted something cold. I wanted ice cream. I was seriously contemplating a popsicle. But then I decided I would try some frozen grapes!

Oh my word! DELICIOUS!!! They satisfied that craving for something cold and sweet. AND it was good for me!!!

The thing about summer that plagues me the most is the fact that we just don’t eat much. I honestly think the kids and I could live on cold cereal and/or peanut butter sandwiches! Right now I’m not even missing our oven (it broke a little over a week ago - the stovetop still works).

One of our favorite summertime meals is Italian Beef in the crockpot. I love it because I can put it on first thing in the morning and forget about it. If we have a ball game or something, it’s waiting for us when we get home. Normally we have it with fresh garden veggies and potato salad the first night. And then finish it off the next day (or two if it’s a big roast) as sandwiches! YUM-O!!!

Rebekah’s Italian Beef
1 large BEEF roast (I so do not like pork roast - too much fat)
1 head of garlic - minced (or half a jar of the already minced stuff)
4-5 pepperocinni
1/2 cup of water

Throw it all in the crockpot on low for 10 hours (or until it’s falling apart) and then pull apart. I pull it apart and then leave it in the juices in the crockpot so it’s super moist.

And now I’m off to add this to my menu for next week!

What’s your favorite 5 item or less recipe?

 

Well, it’s finally here! I’m going to tackle that monster called weight loss. I had 4 kids in 8 years and never lost all the baby weight with each kid I had. I hate to exercise. But I’m getting there. I know it’s one of those things that once I start, I’ll enjoy it. But getting started is such a pain. I kicked off a “pre-diet” a couple weeks ago (because I knew I was going to do this starting today) and didn’t want to DIE because I made changes to drastically. Guess what? I lost 5 pounds on the pre-diet!!!

So, today I kick off my healthy living challenge. I’ve decided to set realistic goals. And I’ve only got four - 

The ones that are going to trip me up the most are numbers 2 & 3. I do not like to exercise and I really do not like to drink water!

This week is tricky for me. My oven is broken. It is the week that I start my 31-day Healthy Living challenge, and we also have family in town so I’m completely unsure of what our schedule will look like. Mercifully, we only have 2 ball games this week. So, these are my best guesstimates of what we’ll eat…

Monday - Old Spaghetti Factory in St. Louis

Tuesday -  Turkey Stroganoff

Wednesday - Grilled pork with sweet potatoes

Thursday - Spaghetti, cottage cheese, salad

Friday - ??? I am completely unsure what we’ll have (or be doing) for the 4th at this point.

Saturday - Grilled chicken

Sunday - Tacos (or maybe taco salad)

Hopping Henry to be exact! He lives under the ramp for the church. Or maybe behind it. Wherever he makes his home, he comes out to play with my kids quite regularly. I’ve decided that he must enjoy being caught because the silly thing keeps coming back for more.

When he first made his appearance, none of my kids would touch him. They’d scoop him up and put him in a shoebox. It was all very Michigan J. Frog-ish. I even had them convinced that if they were really sneaky, maybe they’d catch him singing and dancing. I’m going to have to YouTube that to show them what I’m talking about. Because I’m pretty sure they all thought I was a bit daft.

But today, Seth was brave. He saw Henry and scooped him right up. Carried him over and put him in the box. I guess it was just a matter of time before one of them picked him up with their hands. I am a mom of three boys after all. (Oh dear Lord, please, please, please don’t let me find a frog in a pocket! That will definitely be more than I can handle! Amen!) And boys like frogs. And toads. And all manner of creepy crawlies!

So, meet Henry…

We’re off today to Kait’s last softball game and then back to drop Seth off for a sleepover at Grandma’s (he’s still afraid of the fireworks so he’s going to sleep there instead of coming with us) and then off to Celebration where we’ll partake in all kinds of things that will throw off my Gyminee account!

So, what are you up to today?

 

For the last year or so, I’ve made the switch to organic cleaners for our house. The smells bother most of us because of asthma related issues.

However, with warmer temperatures FINALLY here, my kids have been in and out of the house more often. And a lot of times they are dripping wet as they run into the kitchen for a snack, or a drink of water (because they are forever banned from having cups in the yard), or just passing through to ask a question. And it’s wreaking havoc on my light colored kitchen floor. It’s not too bad on the hardwood, but the floor in the kitchen has been absolutely disgusting the past week. And since the car accident, I just can’t down on my hands and knees and clean it much anymore.

But, since we have company coming this weekend, I knew that cleaning the floor in the kitchen was a must. Because these are out of town company after all. And while I know they are coming to see us and not the floors, it’s been bred deep into me that when company comes, you clean the house.

And because it was so gross and my normal organic cleaners don’t clean quite as easily as the chemical based cleaners, I decided that for just this one time, I’d pick up some Mop ‘n Glo while we were at Target.

I was oh so very wrong, y’all! So very, very misguided in my thinking.

The smell didn’t bother me at first. I had just cut Chip’s hair in the kitchen and since I was already sweeping and because we may have the first wave of company tomorrow already, I figured I’d bite the bullet and just get it done. I did a quick squirt and went over the kitchen and then went back and did it all again. And it SHINES so nicely right now.

Unfortunately, it also sent Elijah and I running for our inhalers! Because the smell was so bad. So strong. So very full of chemicals.

And I’ll take breathing over a clean floor any day!

Or maybe I’ll have the best of both worlds and just switch to a different organic cleaner (mine has been discontinued by the company). Anyone have any suggestion?