Breaking News...

Hey Hey Hey! It's February 21 and I have some huge news.....Are you ready for this????

My Christmas decorations are finally being taken down!!! (Did you think that I was going to tell you we were having a baby??? haha...fooled ya! No baby here! I need a job first!)  I was off work today and after a rather lazy morning filled with Pinterest and blogs... I attacked my house and the mess of what was still left of Christmas... It's no where close to being done, but it's getting there. The tree is still standing, covered in lights, and there's miscellaneous junk all over the floor that will need to find a home again.... but it's getting closer to being done! It's not my normal packing style, but I'm so over it this year that I don't care. I usually inventory all of my boxes---sorted by color and labeled with the list of contents.... This year, it's just getting stuffed in boxes, mixed with other colors and it's all lucky to be in a container. I'm so over it. I'm ready to start living in the present.

Speaking of which, this week, I've felt the most like myself than I have in the last 6 weeks. I dream of grandma frequently, have short outbursts of crying many times a week, and miss her every day....but I'm starting to feel human again. I'm not having to fix the tense of my sentences about her as much any more... The past tense comes out more fluently now....  And I finally bought and put up a 2013 calendar. It's not much easier on my heart yet, but my head is accepting it better. When we are together as a family, there's just a piece missing. A huge piece. Our rock.....but now she's our angel. :)




In other news, I've been trying to clean up our diet, after reading and studying about eating clean, I've decided that going completely clean is not going to be realistic to our lifestyles right now. I don't know how to cook, we aren't completely fond of many vegetables, we don't get to eat dinner together much because of Cam's work schedule, and we enjoy some take out occassionally.... BUT....eating better is definitely going to happen! I studied some more before my first "eating clean" grocery shopping trip and had some what of a game plan. I want to make subtle changes to our diet, a little at a time, so that we adjust to it gradual instead of doing it for a week, hating it and giving up on it.... I plan to try a few different things a week, to be budget friendly.

I bought skinless/boness chicken (this is the kind of chicken we already bought, I just got more of it), multigrain tortilla chips, lettuce, mixed raw veggies, soft wraps, turkey, Mrs. Dash original, Cajun chicken, bananas, Greek yogurt, and spray olive oil.   Nothing boxed, nothing too processed (I know, lunch meat isn't that good for you...) and nothing that's made in the microwave. I also bought Vanilla Silk (SO much better than Original---not sure why it's not in the picture??) and a jar of salsa....(the bag ripped as I was getting it out of the car and the jar broke....but it has been replaced!)

That night, I had a chicken, bacon, ranch wrap with cheese and lettuce (see, small changes... I still want bacon, lettuce and ranch, so I did it in small quantities) with raw veggies for my dinner. It's confirmed that I hate brocolli as much as I thought I did.... It tastes like I'm eating a leaf, even with ranch to dip it in. Not sure I'll learn to love that one....

Today, I had a salad with cajun chicken mixed into it and greek yogurt. I had Oikos Traditional Strawberry.....and it's actually very good. I'm picky about yogurt and usually only eat the custard style, but this is the consistency of pudding with just tiny chunks of fruit, so I can handle it.

A few changes that I'm looking at making are: mixing veggies into dishes like mac & cheese, pasta, meatloaf, Hamburger Helper (call us crazy, but we could live on that stuff!), making some smoothies with veggies mixed in, eating some stir fry meals, making our own hamburger helper instead of store bought, utilizing our George Foreman grill to grill some foods like asparagus and chicken, and trying foods like mashed cauliflower or cauliflower crust pizza... Like I said, I'm looking for little changes to make the transition.

Here's another big one--- I haven't made a special trip to McD's for a tea since last Tuesday! I've had tea with meals, but not just to treat myself... and ya know what....I'm surviving!  I'm investing the money that I'm saving from not getting a tea every day into going to Zumba once a week!

I hope your week is going well and you're not getting the ice like we are here in the midwest!
Until Next Time...
Krista