Many use the new year as a fresh outlook on the challenges and goals ahead. We managed to jump start the change and goal part around October 2012 when a doctor's appointment enlightened my better half's eyes to the thought of starting the South Beach Diet. The title just makes me cringe every time I say it because it sounds so gimmicky but we discussed, researched and took the plunge.
While we didn't eat terribly before, there was massive room for improvement - lots of eating out on weekends, occasional fast food and some processed food additives - I got lazy and started buying jarred pasta sauce. This is a huge morph from the way I used to live off of the land where summers were spent stacking wood and canning the harvest. To this day, I won't eat a beet because of the summer Grandma planted extra due to the previous year's failure....and they all grew. No! More! Beets!
Ahem....Tiny tangent there....
The SBD is pretty concise although some of the books are laid out in a funky way. Through thrift store purchases and library sales, we've now gained three of them for our collection. We also have the app installed on the tablet and I find that's my favorite as we can do a full meal plan a week at a time without trying to keep track of what recipe in is which book. Looking ahead is mandatory and I can honestly say you will not succeed if you don't care for planning. Even in the "simple recipe" book, there are many steps and/or ingredients that aren't going to just be hanging around in the refrigerator or pantry for a few weeks at a time. Despite being on this program for almost threeish months (taking a bit of time off for the holidays), I do still reference the recipe for each dish just because of the measurements, calculations for portion sizes, etc. I have to admit I miss just being able to whip up a meal without major mental faculties but that's the trade off - that which is easy to prepare isn't necessarily the healthiest for you to eat. Before the diet, we'd easily get stuck in a particular dish rut (fall back = chicken!) but diversity of the has certainly come with the SBD and we now rotate through a new meat or fish each meal now!
This blog has gone neglected due to life stuff taking over but I hope to corral that issue and nail it down to sharing our journey on this path, crafts and house projects I've got going and the occasional sweets recipe.
Thanks for visiting! :)
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Monday, December 31, 2012
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Post Holiday Apocalypse
So sorry to have lost touch with ye olde blog here in the past months. It's been a challenging path of traversing those life bumps in the road but I'm committing to documenting some of the new changes coming in our world in 2013!
After a year of decluttering, unpacking boxes stored for many a'year and sorting deceased family member's household goods, we declared this a "low-key holiday".
We are fortunate in that the family members we exchange gifts with are at the same point in their houses/lives - they're working on projects or goals and have little need for new gadgets to collect dust. Although it seems like a gift card hostage exchange, we were able to mix it up a bit with handmade items and additions to board game collections. Admittedly, it doesn't quite look the same with mountains of gifts under the tree, but I feel like we're being kinder to the Earth in producing less waste of wrapping paper and plastic packaging from toys.
With these decisions, I'm going to downsize this year from three upright wrapping paper holders to one. It may sound silly but I really debated over this one as I love the look of the different patterns and prints mixing together but, it's time. (Adult! Decision! <whimper>)
To compensate, I'm hoping to work on some reusable fabric gift bags throughout the year. If I can accomplish 2-3 per month, there should be a nice stockpile by the beginning of next season and a handy use of fabric scraps!
We are just going to decompress a bit in the remaining days of this year. Despite being a disastrously messy cook (seriously, the kitchen looked like a rocket hit it last night), I produced a wide variety of food and the extent of cooking in days to come will involve opening Ziplock and Tupperware containers. You want something really fancy? Fine, I'll open the microwave door....
Hoping everyone had a fantastic and safe holiday!
After a year of decluttering, unpacking boxes stored for many a'year and sorting deceased family member's household goods, we declared this a "low-key holiday".
We are fortunate in that the family members we exchange gifts with are at the same point in their houses/lives - they're working on projects or goals and have little need for new gadgets to collect dust. Although it seems like a gift card hostage exchange, we were able to mix it up a bit with handmade items and additions to board game collections. Admittedly, it doesn't quite look the same with mountains of gifts under the tree, but I feel like we're being kinder to the Earth in producing less waste of wrapping paper and plastic packaging from toys.
With these decisions, I'm going to downsize this year from three upright wrapping paper holders to one. It may sound silly but I really debated over this one as I love the look of the different patterns and prints mixing together but, it's time. (Adult! Decision! <whimper>)
To compensate, I'm hoping to work on some reusable fabric gift bags throughout the year. If I can accomplish 2-3 per month, there should be a nice stockpile by the beginning of next season and a handy use of fabric scraps!
We are just going to decompress a bit in the remaining days of this year. Despite being a disastrously messy cook (seriously, the kitchen looked like a rocket hit it last night), I produced a wide variety of food and the extent of cooking in days to come will involve opening Ziplock and Tupperware containers. You want something really fancy? Fine, I'll open the microwave door....
Hoping everyone had a fantastic and safe holiday!
Monday, July 2, 2012
Vintage and Moolicious Thrift Finds
Tacky or Too Funny, this cute cow step grabbed me. She needs a little paint, good scrubbing and wood filler to bring her to a full milking glory but I think the effort will be worth it!
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Vintagey goodness in the form of card suit cookie cutters:
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Vintagey goodness in the form of card suit cookie cutters:
Thanks for visiting!
Friday, June 22, 2012
The Wood Patch that Rocks the Cradle
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I found this on my latest digging expedition to the thrift store. I hope to patch the corner but it's going to take some research to repair that corner (as pictured). If it turns out, the cradle's destination is for resale in the booth. If it doesn't turn out, there's always the yearly - quickly escalating to bi-yearly - garage sale!
$3 investment into the cradle
I'll post the results, good or bad, once it's finished!.JPG)
Edited to update: Linking to Thrifty Things Friday party!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Heritage of Aliens
No time to blog today...we're off to meet co-workers of better-half's for a viewing of Prometheus. Being pop-culturally stunted, I watched Alien last night for my history lesson. I've seen bits and pieces on clips or when it's shown for network TV but it's astonishing to sit down and watch a movie of that era and realize how far movie technology has come!
Ready for my walker phrase: this generation is truly spoiled when it comes to props, quality and the overall movie viewing experience!
Ready for my walker phrase: this generation is truly spoiled when it comes to props, quality and the overall movie viewing experience!
Friday, June 15, 2012
Fresh for Friday
Yesterday was frustration in a non-thrifted bottle. One of those days that you realize a little too late (I just typed latte - maybe THAT would have fixed things!) that your feet just shouldn't have hit the floor that morning.
The South, even the Not-Deep-South, is not somewhere a liberal should be during election season. No, wait, don't leave....this isn't a political post, I promise. I'm not even going to detail the experiences, it essentially boils down to strengthening my resolve of running a successful online business so that I can work anywhere anytime. That means really committing to making thrifting and crafting work financially.
Today is a fresh day, my headache that's hung around for the past week is gone (woohoo!), I finally have no pain from the dental work ~ yes, it's amazing how pain affects the human body ~ and I'm ready to tackle the day of crafting, sorting, selling and strategizing.
I need to do some patching/painting on items I've thrifted for my local booth as my goal is to swap all of the stock out early next week. The display there is a large baker rack size and I pay a $50 monthly rental. Including fuel/expenses, it's probably closer to a $65 rent as the store is a bit of a drive but it's really the only store of the nature in the area. Up for sale now is a manly man grouping of items - vintage tool boxes, military themed bookmarks, sports themed Saturday Evening Post glasses and you get the idea. While great for the holiday shoppers, the clientele is primarily female - though from observations while I've been restocking, there's quite the age variance (20's to 80's) which is why I try to keep a pretty wide variety of items available. Next week's inventory will include bird house themed items, ragged flower pins and some new milkglass or hoosier glass finds I scored last week. I'll post next week on sales after the revamp!
For today's thrifty finds share:
Huge metal tray ~ I originally thought it was one of the old style TV trays that snapped onto legs because it's so large but it's just a simple tray. I'm going to try cleaning it and see if some of the scum comes off - I'd like to keep the vintage-feel print but if not, I'm thinking pink and white polka dots.
Edited to add: Linking to Thrifty Things Friday
The South, even the Not-Deep-South, is not somewhere a liberal should be during election season. No, wait, don't leave....this isn't a political post, I promise. I'm not even going to detail the experiences, it essentially boils down to strengthening my resolve of running a successful online business so that I can work anywhere anytime. That means really committing to making thrifting and crafting work financially.
Today is a fresh day, my headache that's hung around for the past week is gone (woohoo!), I finally have no pain from the dental work ~ yes, it's amazing how pain affects the human body ~ and I'm ready to tackle the day of crafting, sorting, selling and strategizing.
I need to do some patching/painting on items I've thrifted for my local booth as my goal is to swap all of the stock out early next week. The display there is a large baker rack size and I pay a $50 monthly rental. Including fuel/expenses, it's probably closer to a $65 rent as the store is a bit of a drive but it's really the only store of the nature in the area. Up for sale now is a manly man grouping of items - vintage tool boxes, military themed bookmarks, sports themed Saturday Evening Post glasses and you get the idea. While great for the holiday shoppers, the clientele is primarily female - though from observations while I've been restocking, there's quite the age variance (20's to 80's) which is why I try to keep a pretty wide variety of items available. Next week's inventory will include bird house themed items, ragged flower pins and some new milkglass or hoosier glass finds I scored last week. I'll post next week on sales after the revamp!
For today's thrifty finds share:
Huge metal tray ~ I originally thought it was one of the old style TV trays that snapped onto legs because it's so large but it's just a simple tray. I'm going to try cleaning it and see if some of the scum comes off - I'd like to keep the vintage-feel print but if not, I'm thinking pink and white polka dots.
Edited to add: Linking to Thrifty Things Friday
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