March goal review

Sewing-

1. Finish ribbon chevron top – border. Back? Nope and nope
2. Work on I spy quilts for nephews. I cut the tumblers for one. Still haven’t gotten the swap back for the other.
3. Plot and sew rainbow twister quilt. And start twisting, if I get that far Haven’t even touched it.
4. Bento Box Strips are cut
5. Finish and hang the fabric hoops for the kidlet’s room. GAH. In a pile in my sewing room. Not done.
6. Finish and send 3×6 blocks. All but one finished. None sent yet.
7. Finish cleaning and reorganizing sewing room Nope.
8. Put my sewing table together – Want this done! YES!

Cleaning-

OK. Here’s the thing with the cleaning. I did a TON of cleaning this month, but very little of it was the cleaning I put on this list. Instead, I basically did a deep spring cleaning on my downstairs. I had a long list of deep clean projects and did most of them. My sunroom windows still need to be done, my wood floors could use some attention, and I didn’t vacuum the furniture. Other than that, I did everything. Considering that’s more than I have done in all the time we have lived here, I think that is pretty good. Moving forward, I am going to try to focus on a room a week or month and “spring clean” the upstairs either in that focus period and/or do a marathon in the fall, like I did downstairs this month. I also used natural, non toxic cleaning products throughout.

1. Finish office bookshelves Haven’t even thought about it.
2. Work on garage on weekends with hubs NO
3. Get the baby’s swingset installed! Want this done for spring Nooo. Hopefully next month.
4. Closet Still no.
5. Hang photos I hung most of them…. I think there are still three over there leaning against the wall to be put up. The hammer got swiped for putting together the table. And a few more that I need to get frames for before I can hang them.

• Weight loss I am maintaining well. No loss. Though GS cookies and cadburries may have something to do with that. I am thinking about another smoothie fast after my birthday, then I will be staying with my mom for a month, which will be a primarily vegan diet. Hopefully I can knock a few more pounds off before summer.
• I have a lot of dr appts to make. Oh My God, I didn’t! Not one! This is so bad….
• Read read read! I’ve read a couple of books that I can think of right now…

  

• Green focus on the kitchen again this month – there are still a couple things I need to tackle.
• Reach out to a couple friends – must do
  I did. I emailed I think 6 friends:
• One in town friend got right back to me, and we set up a date for next month.
• One out of town friend emailed me right back, and I found out all kinds of things going on in her life I really should have been aware of.
• One out of town friend emailed me back to tell me that she was going to respond when she had more time, but I haven’t really heard more from her.
• Nothing from the rest… which of course makes me wonder why. Were they busy? Are they mad? Do they not care? Am I annoying or intruding on them… And so forth. It’s the anxiety I live with. But at least I tried, right? But then I am left with all the questions and the annoying limbo of what to do now. Do I keep pestering? Wait a while and try again? Leave it be? Oh well. I made the effort.

Green Smoothie Challenge

So, I have been desperately wanting to do a juice fast for a couple of months, but we don’t own a juicer. After going a little overboard at the holidays and buying plane tickets for our vacation this summer, we are kind of trying to take it easy on the big purchases for the next couple of months. So, other than scouring craigslist for juicers, I am kind of stuck.  Then my sister put me on to a green smoothie challenge from a blogger she follows. It is a similar idea, but not as strict, and with a blender rather than a juicer.

I could go on and on for pages about my relationship with food, my weight history, my philosophies and circumstances. I will try to sum up. As I have been increasingly concerned with how I and my environment impact each other, my family has been equally concerned with how food and their health impact each other. While I am the heaviest member of my family, I am ironically the healthiest. I am sure that won’t last forever… And I did lose my gallbladder at 22. However, other than that and chronic migraines and sleep problems, I am relatively healthy. Even my pregnancy, which I was terrified about due to family history, went perfectly until the last hours. My 90 pound vegan yoga instructor sister has a heart condition, was on lipitor for years, and has a host of other issues. My mother, who, like me, has lost and gained thousands of pounds, has diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and on and on including bottles and bottles of pills. My sister and BIL went quietly vegan a couple of years ago. Once it was more well known in the family, my mom, the most vocally opposed, suddenly shocked us all my deciding to do the same. All have experienced improved health benefits. In addition, my mother has lost 40 pounds without even trying. And with no exercise whatsoever. Many medications have been reduced or removed entirely.

I don’t really aspire to be vegan. I have no problem eating vegan, and have quite a bit, but I cannot see myself being exclusively vegan. I can, however, certainly change my eating habits to be more healthy. While maybe for the first time in my life my main goal is not weightloss, I can certainly stand to lose quite a bit of weight. I hope between detoxing my environment as well as my body something will help with the headaches I am plagued with. I hope to have more energy to for my increasingly more active child. I hope to feel better. And, in the back of my head, while I logically know what happened with my labor was in no way my own fault (not a story I can handle sharing, sorry. Just typing this sentence is making me cry), I can’t help thinking if I had been healthier or thinner maybe it would have gone differently. I have been poultry only for almost 19 years. I have aspired to be vegetarian. I think my goal was to eventually phase into vegetarian. I guess that didn’t happen. After being with my family and opening my eyes a bit (and essentially being vegan for months at a time as I have stayed with my mother and seeing it can be done) I was hoping to break my juice fast with vegetarianism. So, now I hope to go from the smoothie diet to a juice fast to vegetarian. LOL We will see how that plays out.

So, anyway, we headed out to the international farmer’s market this afternoon. My husband, who has been doing very well on his own low cal diet, has been somewhat… unsupportive, let’s say, about all of my things. But we went, and he was excited by all the unusual options as well as the good prices they had there. He ran about fetching the items on my list as I entertained the baby (who was SUCH a good boy there). See, my other challenge is that I don’t cook. My knowledge of cooking is limited to boiling water and using my microwave. I have always been a believer that it shouldn’t take longer to make than it does to consume. So, I am somewhat dependent on others to feed me. This is part of why my husband is… entertained, let’s say, by my plans to alter my diet. I am kind of on my own. I have a lot of learning I guess. So, I pulled out the cool smoothie blender my sister gave me for my wedding (how’s that for foreshadowing?) and am about to plan out my menu for tomorrow.

And, because I feel I owe you a picture (I couldn’t take any at the farmer’s market – the baby had my phone) here is what will be the absolute hardest part of this whole thing. Going cold turkey. OMG. I want to cry already.