The Pirate Diet

Dear Rebecca,

Due to freezing rain in the middle of January in Alaska:

My menu plan has changed a lot since the other day.  It now consists of oatmeal, soup, and whatever I can find in the fridge until they get out there and fix up the roads.  For my schedule tomorrow I wrote down, "Lunch: Breakfast bars or pancakes?"  Or maybe some eggs... or RAISINS!!! 

The weather this year has been one of the main causes of my cabin fever for obvious reasons... you don't go anywhere and you're stuck with a diet of oatmeal and potatoes. (PIRATES!!)  

My husband found this picture on Pinterest and he says it reminds him of me. What can I say?  He knows me.  

Love, Marcie

A Meal Plan Post

Dear Rebecca,

I'm a chips kind of girl.  I can sit and eat a whole entire bag/box of chips/crackers in two twenty minute tv episodes.  Saltine crackers are my comfort food.  I once ate the Guinness World Record of 6 Saltine crackers in a minute without water.  I am not even kidding.  My sister timed me.  My boyfriend was convinced he could beat the record for eating ice cream so I had to win at something.  When I was pregnant with our children (twins), my husband (who was the boyfriend who ate ice cream... who couldn't marry that?) would make frozen pizza for dinner when I had "The Sickness".  I would take a nap in my bedroom and then wake up and eat the cold pizza after it had thoroughly cooled and the smell was gone.  And then if we went any where later that day I would BEG to go to Taco Bell for something with extra nacho cheese. (hallelujah.)  These are just the most prevalent of my bad eating habits.  I'm not even going to go into my raging mocha addiction and all of the batches of home made cake batter ice cream I've made over the years.  Personally, I think the worst thing about all of my bad eating habits is that through all of them I knew how to eat healthy and I didn't dislike to eat healthy... I just REALLY LIKE CHIPS... and cheese.  

But you know most of this, though.  I shocked you with the Saltine thing, didn't I?

So after children my husband and I had the first time parent shock of, "OMG, we eat horrible and we're teaching these habits to our children," we decided with the team support of my husband's awesome sister and her husband, to do a diet detox.  The Makers Diet.  I highly recommend it.  Through this diet we've completely changed our eating habits, where we go and what we eat when we do go out, how we prioritize what we buy when we're on a budget (no more ramen or mac and cheese... sometimes I still mourn those), and has seriously (with major props to the Lord, thank you Jesus) helped me step out of the shoes of a teenager and into the shoes of the wife, mother, and woman I was created to be.

My journey is not perfect.  Food is a hard habit to beat and so is laziness.  Our journey with food is definitely not the hardest and sometimes isn't that exciting... but slowly I find myself saying, "EW," when I see people load up a bowl of ice cream with ten different kinds of candy.  (It's just not appetizing anymore.)  And slowly I find myself getting sad when I hear other people's idea of healthy eating.  Sad because they think that  fat free sour cream, diet soda, and decaf coffee are better for you.  And very very slowly I find myself starting to be confident when I talk to people who know way more about healthy living than I do.  And the best part is that I'm slowly starting to develop my own personal conspiracy theories about what the government is doing to our food to slowly turn us all into aliens or animals?  That might be my favorite part.

This is the preface to me blogging my meal plans.  Meal planning is a very important role in our family's budgeting and road to healthy living... also my road to finding out how to make sure our kids eat more than graham crackers.  You always think you know how to take care of kids until you get 'em.

Meal Plan January 14th -20th

Sunday:
Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
From Scratch Shepherd's Pie allllll Day.  Because this girl don't like to work on the Sabbath, yo.

Monday:
Scrambled Eggs w/Avocado
Left over pie for Lunch
Kefir for snack
My take on 7 Layer Taco Dip (Filling and fressshhh)

Tuesday:
Mostly Green Fruit Smoothies (Girl's Fave)
Sweet Potatoe w/butter and cinnamon (another baby fave)
7 Layer Left Overs

Wednesday:
Oatmeal and blueberries
Veggie Stir Fry
Turkey Bacon and Veggie Quiche (I don't like eggs so mine are super duper full of veggies)

Thursday:
Left Over Quiche
Rice Noodle/Cheese-less pasta salad (Babies like this a lot!)
Gluten/Dairy free Chicken Pot Pie

Friday:
Eggs and Ezekiel Bread Toast
Mostly Green Smoothies
Chicken Pot Pie Left Overs

Saturday:
Gluten free Dairy free waffles with homemade Blueberry Syrup
Irish Nachos (Nachos only with potatoes! Delish!! and yes, we still eat dairy...)
Scratch Chili

Sunday:
Mostly Green Smoothies and Toast (something fast before church)
Chili, Chili, Chili

Love,
Marcie

Here's to Change

Welcome, 2013. I have big plans for you.

Back in 2012 (about two weeks ago) I got cabin fever.  Muppet style.

I decided after some therapy via text message with my husband that I needed to make a few goals.  I'm not usually a New Year's resolution person.  In fact, I have never made them.  This will be my first year.
 Last year was one of my most life changing years after adding babies into the mix. There has been lots of adjustment and some of it I haven't done too well with.  So I've decided that I will fill this year with learning.  I'm a little done with 'winging it.'  I would like to learn.  So  my goals may seem small, but they are things that I love and things that I would love to learn more about.

1) To make myself a yard I want to spend time in.  I love gardening and growing plants.  I look forward to it every year and after finally completing our house last September, this is the first year I will be able to plant things without fearing for their lives.  So I want to make a place that I can relax and our children can play.

2) To finish our girl's room.  I always have one or two rooms that I never get around to decorating.  Not this time.

3) To plant a garden and live off of what it provides.  With extra trips to the grocery store of course... you can't grow ice cream.  My family has recently changed our eating habits and it is like relearning how to cook and keep house all over again.  But as a wife and a mother, I choose to have my family be whole and healthy.  So I'm going to do what I can to learn to live as such.

4) To learn about babies.  It wasn't until I had them that I realized I know absolutely nothing about raising them.

5) Document all that I learn. This is actually really huge to me because it means I will have to finish what I start.  Here's to changing bad habits!  

And here's a big huge coffee to start the year off with a little more energy.

Love,
Marcie

Tis Finally the Season

Dear Rebecca,

Tis the season for eggnog, red glitter, pine, peppermint, generosity, and celebration.
I have been very very busy making many Christmas things. Black Friday is the day that I shop for Christmas decoration. I bought all decorations and two gifts. No socks. This Friday after shopping I finished decorating my house for Christmas, and made a little garland for my kitchen window. Yesterday I worked all day and finished knitting a present. Today I made glittery letters and healthy peanut butter truffles. Well... Mostly healthy. I'm going to eat them with my coffee and then sew a little.
This week I'm planning a Christmas party at my house. I'm soooo excited. Having people over is my favorite and the more the merrier. Too bad you had to decline my invitation!!! It's alright. So far I'm cramming around 15 people in my tiny house and it's going to be legendary! I know I should stop inviting people but I just can't help myself! Well be mostly sitting down anyways.
Alright, I'm going to go eat those delicious truffles!!
Xoxo!

Beaded Collars and Broken Cups.

Dear Rebecca,
So this is the blog that I told you about. The one where I show you all that I've been working on because mostly you're the main person who cares. Some of the things I'm making I can't post right now because they are Christmas presents. But I will post how I wrap them because that is one of my favorite parts about giving presents... You get to wrap them!

So to get things started, I've been experimenting with beading. I found some pretty amazing beaded collar necklaces on anthropology but the were $300+ so like the silly person I am I decided to make my own. So I bought the cheapest beads I could find and started winging it. I have never beaded on clothe in my life so half of the time I was trying to figure out the smoothest stitch. The other half of the time I was realizing why they charge my life savings for these things. The worry about measuring right is killer.

So my plan with this baby is to finish the beadwork (whatever that may look like), apply interfacing to the back to secure the threads and add structure, attach a chain to the back for closure, and then sew on a lining that is also interfaced to cover it all up. I have it all thought out but I'm afraid that the beading will be uneven. Oh well.

Today I went to the bathroom for literally 5 seconds and when I came back my darling children had pulled down my coffee cup, spilled coffee all over the carpet, and broken the handle off of the mug. 5 seconds. That said, its really hard to bead with a couple of one year olds running around.

Stay tuned because I plan on making my own snow globes and decorating for Christmas!! Squeeeeeeee!!!!!