Hello everyone!
K, so I was playing Chutes and Ladders with my cute five year old this morning….
AND, can you believe I landed on the slide with the girl who ate too many cookies and got a stomachache TWICE in a row!??!?!
Um, ya. That game hit a little too close to home for me. Ha ha.
I’ve actually done a very good job of staying away from sugar the past week and I can definitely tell a difference! The “diet” plan I’m following right now is so practical and doable. I love it. It might just become my “norm” from now on.
I’m basically staying away from all sugary stuff and am just trying to focus on healthy, clean foods. However, I’m not being mega super strict. I’m still having bread from time to time (usually Ezekiel or Dave’s Killer Bread), I’ve had cereal a couple of times and I snagged a few fries the other day.
BUT, I haven’t had ANY sugary treats! In all seriousness, I can resist most junk foods like chips, pizza, burgers, fries, processed foods pretty easily. Yes, they’re tempting, but AS LONG as I’m mentally committed, it’s not too hard for me to stay away.
However, SUGAR is a whole ‘nother story! Once I start eating sugar, I want to eat every single sugary thing in sight!
I’m definitely an addict.
So, I do much better when I just cut it out completely MOST of the time. Since I haven’t had anything sugary for the past 10 days, I no longer crave it. It still sounds good, but I can resist it pretty well.
I do SO MUCH better once I get it out of my system!
For example, my sister invited us up to her house for dinner on Sunday. She fixed a wonderful dinner of spaghetti and spaghetti squash with marinara, meat sauce and Alfredo sauce. We also had a yummy salad and garlic bread. Everything tasted wonderful!!!
After dinner, she pulled out a bunch of yummy desserts! Dun, dun, duuuun…..
Seriously!!???! Those brownies were hot and gooey; fresh out of the oven. They smelled and looked so good!
BUT, I stayed strong and it really wasn’t too hard to do. However, my brother-in-law did his best to get me to cave.
Yes, I called him Satan. In fact, I think he bought the Peanut M&Ms just for me! He knows I love them! He told me I should just “give in” and rename my blog “Happy Being Hefty.” Ha ha!!!!
Yes, that would sure make my life a lot easier.
Sugar is so freaking good and I love it so much, but I enjoy it SO MUCH MORE when I don’t eat it mindlessly. It really is so much more rewarding when I PLAN a sugary treat/treat day, look forward to it and eat it on purpose.
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We went on a quick overnight trip to Idaho over the weekend. We went up there for our nephew’s wedding and it was a lot of fun! I only took ONE picture and here it is….
We got Subway sandwiches on the drive up there and they tasted so good to me! I would much rather feed my family Subways instead of pretty much every other fast food out there.
Case in point, on the way home we stopped at Del Taco. We were in the middle of nowhere, everyone was starving and the only restaurants open were Del Taco or McDonalds.
We all chose Del Taco.
Now, I hate to rip on companies/stores/restaurants, but MAN, Del Taco is just not good! I got myself one of their Fresca Bowls (sorry no pic), which was really pretty decent, but none of my kids enjoyed their food and they usually don’t complain when we go out to eat!
My daughter and my 5 year old didn’t even finish their food and two of my sons said they felt sick afterward. My poor 11 year old threw up a few hours later! I don’t think it was the flu because he felt perfectly fine after he threw up and didn’t act sick at all.
Weird???
Soooo, I don’t think we’ll be going back there any time soon…..ever again.
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My sweet doggie, Jimmer had his fourth birthday yesterday! The kids all wanted me to make him a cake, but I think it was more for them instead of Jimmer (obviously!) So, I decided to make something that Jimmer would actually like….I made meatloaf for dinner and I made Jimmer his very own little one…
It ended up being kind of huge (he ate about 1/3 of it), but he loved it and was in heaven!
I used Kev’s mom’s meatloaf recipe, but I subbed ground turkey for the meat. It was great, but I think I’ll play with it a bit before I share it with y’all. Here’s my plate from last night…
I made sweet potatoes (for me!) and baked potatoes for the rest of the fam. I also made a yummy salad on the side (spinach, romaine, raspberries, cranberries, almonds and mozzarella.) YUM!
Everyone loved this meal and it was super easy to make!
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We had an interesting Family Night last night. FYI, we try to reserve some time on Monday nights to spend some time together as a family. We usually play games, read stories, talk about spiritual stuff or go on short family outings.
Well, last night we did this…
Ha ha. We talked about talents, working hard and learning new things.
Kev had just gotten back from a “freaking hard” class at the gym and he decided to share some of the moves with the kids. They had a good time trying to see what they could do.
It also made for a good laugh. Hee hee. Oh, and check out the baby in the corner. It looks like he’s “working out” too. Love it.
We also played “The Hot Seat” with the kids. I used to play “The Hot Seat” with my family when I was younger and I always loved it! We just put the ottoman in the center of the room and take turns sitting on it. Then we all say something we like about the person in the “Hot Seat.” It’s such a fun “game” and is really great at bringing the family together. It helps us all to focus on the positive and really appreciate each other. We all loved it.
Here I am on the “Hot Seat.”
Usually the person on the “Hot Seat” just sits by themselves, but my five year old and baby are my permanent sidekicks. My seven year old was just hugging the baby because he was being so darn cute.
Oh, and I’m dressed in my running garb because I went on a run yesterday…….AND it sucked. It was only five miles, but the last two miles were very hard for some reason. I’ve had some great runs lately, but I’ve also had some doozies.
I think yesterday’s was extra hard because I was worn out, it was hotter than I like (70 degrees) and I was in a hurry to get home to take my son to soccer practice.
Running is SUCH a mental thing for me, so things like heat, fatigue and time constraints really mess with my head. I’m planning on going on another run tomorrow and I hope it’ll be a good one!
Oh, and since this post is so random, I want to tell you guys about another random thing!
I was recently introduced to a new web filter that I’m really intrigued by! It’s called PYUR and it sounds fantastic!
I love the internet, but quite frankly, it scares the crap out of me to raise kids with all of the junk floating around in cyberspace. I talk to my kids ad nauseum about the dangers of the internet. We’ve tried a few filters before, but I haven’t been 100% happy with any of them.
PYUR sounds amazing because it works on ALL internet devices and it continues to work whether a device is on WiFi or 3G! Woah. That’s so cool! PYUR can also pair with a smartphone to give real-time updates on all online activity. It’s supposedly a “smart filter” that monitors a user’s behavior so it doesn’t block too much or too little.
I’m so excited about it!
I think the best way to keep kids away from harmful things on the internet is to TALK with them and INFORM them about the dangers of the internet. Because, let’s face it, if kids WANT to view inappropriate/harmful things on the internet, they will find a way. However, a great web filter can bring such peace of mind to a parent.
I will be trying out and reviewing PYUR in a few months and I will tell y’all exactly what I think about it! I can’t wait to try it out. For now, you can find more information here:
PYUR website, http://www.pyurweb.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pyurweb
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pyurweb
Instagram: https://instagram.com/pyurweb
Well, that’s all I have to say tonight folks. Have a great night! xoxo