Snowbound

Hi there! Long time no blog, I know! Not much news to report. Yesterday, last night, and today we got OVER a FOOT of SNOW! EVERYTHING was shut down even the mall! Fortunately for me (or maybe unfortunately) I am able to walk to work so I put on my snow pants and headed out.

Last week I was really getting frustrated by my work. I totally should have blogged about it. I literally had this voice screaming in my head that said, "GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!" Yeah, you know it's bad when that happens. I can't quite discern why but I was fed up. I know that when you feel this way you are suppose to answer, "What would I really like to be doing with my life?" For a long time I didn't think I had an answer. I mean, this is my life. Since I was 17 I wanted to serve God and bring His message to young people. I am only beginning to realize that you don't have to do this only through ministry. I began to imagine what it would be like to just volunteer at a church rather than have all the responsibility this job entails. Plus I think  I figured out what that other thing I would like to be doing is. Fitness and nutrition. I was begriming to think this was only a pipe dream. I mean, there is no way I would go back to school for this. But there are a TON of certifications I can get to help me fulfill this dream if only at the YMCA and part time. Which might be a good thing. Last week at my weekly meeting with the priest and my other boss J the priest said he wanted both of us to list all the "things" we've done in Campus Ministry over the last 18months. He said we needed to look at what we are doing and reevaluate it AND reevaluate our budget and possibly our staffing....Uh Oh!

Honestly I've been saying this since I've been here we do not need a full time Campus Minister (J) and a part time Associate Campus Minister (me). One person could totally do what we do together as a full time job (does it sound to you like someone (J) might not be pulling his weight?). When the possibility of losing this part time position was presented to me I really felt quite

relieved. I mean, money would be tight and all but I could do other things. I guess you know your in the wrong place when you wouldn't be sad to lose you job. So, we meet again tomorrow. I'm sure nothing major will happen until next school year or this summer but it's good to be planning ahead. On the other hand J could decide to retire and I could be offered a full time position as Campus Minister......I'm not sure I would like that either.....oh dear!

Technorati Tags: ministry,snow,job loss

Got the Ball Rolling

Well, I did it! I called the Fertility Center at our clinic. I really called inquiring if they ever offered appointments after 4pm (they are open 7am-4pm and my husband works from 7am-3:30pm) Unfortunately the answer was no. Their earliest appointment is 7:30am and the last consultation appointment is at 2:15pm. I also found out that they send you a packet and then when they receive that back they call to set up an appointment. I asked them to please send that to me. I know we said we would wait until January to see a specialist but I figured we better get the ball rolling. We've actually been "trying" (meaning no birth control at all) for 16 cycles. 11 out of those 16 I charted every little detail of my cycle and my life and we tried to "time" things just right. The other 5 cycles we just took a break from charting to see what would happen. So, I'm back to charting, just so I have something to show the doctor when I come in. I really don't want to say this and of course I'm not certain but I don't think the problem is with me. Just based on my charts and OPK's it appears that I ovulate pretty regularly. Of course there could be something else wrong with me. In a way it would be easier (?) if the problem was with DH, I think (from what I've read) it's easier to "fix" (right?). Well, I guess we'll find out. I guess this is the next chapter in our journey. I'll try to keep blogging about more than just IF. I think I did a pretty good job of not mentioning it too much during the last 3 months...don't you?

Grinch

Well, I see I haven't posted in a long time. My previous post was filled with joy and excitement about teaching classes at the YMCA. After that it seemed it all go downhill. Thanksgiving was bad! I'm not going to go into details but let's just say I woke up the day after Thanksgiving at 4am and cried my eyes out before falling back to sleep. It's mainly family stuff.

The weekend slowly improved as I got to spend some time with my nieces. Then a couple we are friends with stopped by our house on their way home from their Thanksgiving adventures. We drank wine, played cards, and laughed until we cried.

I still haven't gotten into the Christmas mood yet. We've bought all our Christmas presents and I've wrapped a few but I have yet to get any decorations out. I usually try to do this on Thanksgiving weekend since my life gets crazy busy at work during this time but I just wasn't feeling it.

And today I found out I'm not pregnant again. I wasn't really thinking I was but I was beginning to entertain the idea of announcing it at Christmas in a cute way. I checked out the fertility site for our clinic. I guess that's the next step. I guess I do really want to find out what's "wrong" with us but it's kind of scary all the same.

I need to perk up though! I'm teaching Zumba at 4pm and then hosting a Christmas party for the college students!

Random Ramblings

Lot's to ramble about today. First eating. So, it's been 1 week since I quit Weight Watchers. I woke up feeling darn skinny. I've been doing Ange's Whittle My Middle challenge which involves core work 5 times a week for 6-10 minutes. My core felt tight, like a corset. I really wanted to step on the scale but I refrained. I felt good and I didn't want to let a number rule my feelings. I'll probably weigh in a month. I've written down every single food that has gone in my mouth every day for a week. I don't think I ever did that on Weight Watchers. I don't write calories or anything. It does make me stop and think. For instance, today I had a  small, decaf, skinny, pumpkin spice latte. All in all I know that is not that bad but it was a treat. I was going to crack a bottle of wine but remembered my treat from before and refrained!

Exercise. So, when I started working at the YMCA I taught group cycling every other Monday and once a month on Saturdays. So about 3-4 times a month. Then I got certified to teach Zumba. They didn't put me on the schedule regularly but I taught a few Saturdays and subbed when I could. Last spring I took a Cardio/Step certification which also  certified me to teach Group Strength (kind of like BodyPump). So I taught that on the Mondays I didn't teach cycling. I was totally going to give up my ZIN (Zumba instructor network) membership ($35/month) since I wasn't on the schedule. Well, this fabulous instructor moved to Chicago so I offered to pick up her Tuesday night and Saturday classes. I also offered to teach them for the Winter/Spring schedule. With my Wednesday mornings opening up I also offered to teach Cycling on Wed. mornings starting in January. Well, another instructor quit so I picked up her remaining Wednesdays. Starting in December I'll be teaching 3-4 classes per week! I just had my review with my boss at the YMCA and was told my pay was getting bumped up from $10 per class to $13 per class! I am super pumped! If someone would have told me I'd be teaching this much 9 years a go (hey even 3 years ago I'd tell them they were crazy! I really love teaching. It's a hobby I get paid for.

I only worked half a day and got most of Thanksgiving contributions ready for tomorrow. I'm making cranberry fluff, low-fat sweet potato casserole, and I made banana muffins to take to my parents when we watch the Macy's parade. I tried one and they tasted like crap! Even though I followed the recipe only substituting whole wheat flour for regular! Oh well!

Right now I'm snuggled in bed with the space heater cranked, the doggie by my side, and a cup of tea (husband is butchering a deer). It's glorious!

Technorati Tags: food,exercise,thanksgiving

Bragging

Sometimes I truly amaze myself. So far today (and it's 1:25pm here) I've stripped the bedding, washed it, dried it, and refreshed the bed, washed and folded two loads of laundry, went to church, hung around and chatted about the Deacon (future Father/priest) What-a-Waste (read exothermally handsome and charming) that was a guest today, shopped for produce at the Co-op, whipped up a batch of Gina's recipe for Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili (it's in the crock pot now) and a batch of Angela's Chia pudding  AND scrubbed and vacuumed the floors! Whew! Why all the scurry you ask? Well, tomorrow is usually my day off but I plan on working so I can take Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, AND Monday off. It's going to be GLORIOUS!

Yesterday I ran in our annual Turkey Trot. I ran it slower than usual because I ran with two of my students. For one it was her first 5K! The other was in a horrible motorcycle accident last and year. The doctors said she shouldn't even be alive let alone able to run. It was pretty fun day. Over 2,000 runners and tons of people I know in our community. Then I helped my mother-in-law make Lefsa. Lefsa is a traditional Norwegian food made out of potatos. I should have documented it and posted it here! There is quite an art to it. You have to have a special iron and Lefsa sticks. It was fun. She didn't give me the recipe. We just worked on rolling the dough extra thin and then cooking it. Next time I'll make sure to take pictures. Here's one I found on the Internet.

Source

Well, as a treat to myself I'm about to head off to the cheap theater to see The Time Traveler's Wife I reread the book this summer and forgot how sad it was. Hope I'm not too disappointed. I plan on sneaking a Globar in and ordering a glass of red wine!

Technorati Tags: Lefsa,busy,Globars

Some Thoughts

Well, my mostly Vegan day went pretty well. I guess in my previous post I didn't explain why I decided to participate in Vegan week. A lot of the healthy living blogs I read feature women who are vegans or vegetarians. A lot of what they write about in regards to why they eat how they eat really makes sense to me on health aspect. I mean our ancestors weren't able to run to the store and buy loads of processed food to supplement their diet. They had to live off the land. Since marrying my husband the great hunter, I've mainly eaten the food that he brings home. I didn't realize what a healthy (and cost effective) lifestyle this was. We do eat chicken and when we go out I would some times order beef or pork. Now, however I feel a better decision for my health and the environment would be to continue "eating off the land" so to speak. Again, like most health bloggers I'm not going to compartmentalize myself or label my way of eating. I thought trying to go without dairy or any animal products would be a good experiment. I don't think there is any way I could be Vegan. I mean I live in Wisconsin after all. I also found that I get a lot of my protein from milk and yogurt hence the reason I was so hungry yesterday morning. Any way it was a fun experiment. I now have some healthy butter I can use rather than the processed I can't believe it's not butter sprayed I've used most of my life since it had 0 "points" and some left over yummy almond butter I can use on my oats.

I really felt a strong desire to weigh myself this morning but I refrained. I just felt skinnier even after eating at the potluck. I've woken up a little hungry for two days in a row now. I'm just going to revel in this feel good feeling!

 

Not much on tap for the weekend. It's the start of gun hunting and my husband has a bunch of his cousins and uncles coming in to town. I am planning on running the Turkey Trot tomorrow morning with some of my students. Not for time just for fun and to get a T-shirt with a turkey on it! Then my mother-in-law and I are planning on making leifsa! I'm also planning on taking myself to a afternoon showing of the Time Traveler's Wife at our cheap theater. I'll sit back an enjoy a glass of wine all by myself...I actually enjoy this if you can believe it!

Technorati Tags: vegan,health,hunting

Vegan for a Day!

Now, before you think, "Wow! She really jumps from extremes don't worry I am not going full Vegan. I am participating in Vegan week! The challenge is to try and eat vegan for one day or at least one meal. You can read more at Katy and Mish's blogs. So here's what I ate today:

5:30am pre run fuel 3 energy bites. These are some home made goodies that our local food co-op sells made out of nuts and other yummy ingredients all vegan!

Breakfast: Green Monster with 1/2 c  vanilla almond milk, 1/2c water, spinach, 1/4c lemon juice, pinch of cayenne pepper, 1 pear, 1 frozen banana. I bought the almond milk specifically for today. I've never tried it before. It tasted really good plain but I must say my smoothie tasted a little funny. I definitely should have added ice since the milk was warm.

I was going to have a piece of high protein toast with Earth Balance butter but when I read the ingredients for my bread it said nonfat milk! Instead I had 1/2 C of oatmeal with the almond milk and boy was that yummy! You didn't even have to add anything else to the oats!

I was really surprised that I got super hungry at around 10:30am. I usually don't get hungry until 11:30am. I'm wondering if the almond milk has less protein then regular milk? I didn't have any Vegan snacks at work so that was bummer!

I didn't get to eat lunch until 12:30pm when I had a baked sweet potato topped with Earth Balance butter, sea salt, black beans and salsa. I also had a honey crisp apple topped with almond butter. I  was definitely feeling the need for protein!

Unfortunately I won't be able to eat Vegan for dinner. We are having our annual pre Thanksgiving potluck here at church and I don't know if I could accurately decipher what was Vegan....if there was anything! I will be focusing on making the healthiest choices possible and not going overboard! I did bring some afternoon snacks back to work with me, a few carrot sticks and one of Angela's Globars, Present! So those are my Vegan meals thus far!

My husband gave me a hard time when he saw my Globar because it had 210 calories and 8grams of fat. I tried to explain to him that all the ingredients were whole and healthy but he didn't seem to buy it. I give him a hard time when he buys the chocolate covered Quaker granola bars which are actually lower in calories. This is what will be a struggle for me. I'm use to eat low "point" granola bars with low calories and lots of fiber (which also give me a belly ache). These bars were usually 2-3 points. I figured out the points for Globars before I dropped Weight Watchers and they were more like 5-6. I'm trying not think about it. Also trying not to eat them unless I am truly hungry not just because they are there and good for me.

Another part of my "plan" is to write down what I eat but without calories and such, when I eat it, and how I feel physically and mentally when I eat it. I hoping this will help me learn to intuitively eat while making smart choices. I've also decided not to weightmy self for a month. This will be tricky as I usually weighed once a week if not more!

That's all for now, got lots of work to do!

Technorati Tags: Vegan,Globars,intuitive eating