Wishcasting Wednesday

Jamie Ridler at jamieridler.ca/wishcasting-wednesday-march-30 asks:

What do you wish to accomplish?

I wish to accomplish what I have writing about most recently.  I wish to live a healthier, more creative, and active life.  The weather here in New England, just north of Boston has made things really difficult.  We have had so much rain and flooding and lack of sun, that I just lose my motivation.  We have had some unbelievably awesome weather in between all the rain we have had which had replenished my motivation, but then the horrible rains came and my motivation disappeared!  We are starting to get back to good weather again starting tomorrow and the weekend should be fabulous!  Hopefully we are on the road to sun and warmth.  I know that this will help me to keep my motivation on living healthier life, being more creative, and more active.  

The being more active part as well as the health part are going to truly be a good thing to share with my children and my husband!  I have started some seeds and they are actually starting to grow even with the lack of sun that we have had.  This is part of the being healthier change in my life!  It will also play into the more active part also.  I plan of having a small vegetable garden, a herb garden, and also a butterfly garden!  I am hoping to grow some flowers that I can press into dried flowers and can use in my card making and my scrapbooking.  There are so many things that I want to accomplish and I am hoping that I can accomplish the things that I set out to do.

Amy

Truly Living the Life I Want

I am truly lucky to be living the life that I have wanted to.  I am married to the best man ever, have my graduate degree in Social Work which is something that I wanted in the past, have the best 3 children, am am able to stay home and raise them myself.  There are somethings that I wish that I was doing to really live the life that I want.  I need to ensure that I set side time to be creative, time to read, clean my house, cook healthy food for my family, exercise/meditate, live as much of a green life as possible, and I'm sure that there are other things that I want to do that I can't think of right now.  I do all of these things sometimes, but now as regularly as I would like to.  Now that the weather is getting warmer (hopefully), I can get outside with the kids and play, take them for walks, go to places like the zoo and other animal places, go to farmer's markets, grow my own food and flowers, etc.  I need to realize what I want out of life and ensure that I consistently as possible do the things that I want to be doing!

Amy

Healthy Eating

So I know that I don't have a huge following, but I thought that I would blog about Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.  I was totally amazed and disgusted by how we eat and feed our kids here in the US.  BAck when I was in grad school, I had to write a grant.  My group wrote a grant to bring inner city kids to a farm in Maine  to show them where food comes from and how to eat healthy.  I was interested back then and that project got me even more interested in healthy eating.  Slowly, I have been learning about different ways of healthy eating. Most recently, I have started to totally decrease the amount of meat in my diet.  I would love to become a vegan, but I don't know if I could.  I am just happy with the fact that I very rarely eat red meat or even meat at all.  I still have eggs and dairy and sometimes eat salmon, but this is much more healthy than I have eaten in the past.  The biggest thing that I need to work on is eating less starchy carbs.  What I would love to do is go on a vegan/gluten free diet.  This is a difficult task for me as I am a self proclaimed crab addict.  I need to eat more fruits and veggies and less bread and fats.  I no longer drink coffee.  I drink tea and not that much.  I am loving my no coffee life and maybe if I can get to discontinuing bread from my life I'll feel the same way about bread as I do coffee.  Maybe I just need to do what I did with coffee, give up bread.  I may need to replace it with something else like I replaced coffee with tea.  That being said, I need to ensure that my kids eat healthy and that I teach them good habits.

My goal is to learn how to have healthy eating habits and plan healthy meals for me and my family.  I need to incorporate this into my lifestyle as well as the other healthy habits that I want to incorporate.  More on that in another blog.

Wishcasting Wednesday

Jamie Ridler at jamieridlerstudios.ca asks:

What do you wish to take a break from?

I wish to take a break from television.  This may seem like a simple thing to take a break from, but sometimes it takes so much time away from all the other things that I want to be doing.  Lately, with all the rain here in New England and before that the cold weather, the tv and the computer were my best friend getting me through the day with 3 little ones.  I would have more time to clean and do laundry (not fun, but necessary), to craft, to sew, complete projects, read, plan and start my garden, playing and learning about herbs and aromatherapy, and so much more that I could write about, but I just can't think of all of them.  Most importantly I would be spending more quality time with my children and be a happier person all around.

Growing up we were never allowed to watch too much tv.  After school we got a 1/2 hour while we had a snack, then it was time to play, do home work or anything but tv.  I don't know when things changed, maybe college, maybe just regular adulthood, but I now watch tv more than I read or do anything at all.  The only other thing that I do more is play on the computer.  That is the other thing that I wish to take a break from.  It is almost as bad as tv if not worse.  

I wish to allow myself a certain amount of tv time and computer time so that things that I want to accomplish can get done.

Amy

Spring Time!

It's officially spring time here in New England.  Last week, we had a nice tease of 70 degree weather.  It was so nice to be outside with the kids, playing at the park, not having to bundle them up, going for walks. it also means that it is getting to start thinking about our garden; flower, herb, and vegetable.  Last year, we started going to farmers markets in the area.  It was so nice to have fresh produce that was grown in a smaller size farm vs some large farm that doesn't care about the food they produce, only about the profit that they are making for the huge companies.  The other big thing is that I want to teach my children about good food and where good food comes from.  Even though the kids are really too young to understand this now, I want to start feeding them good food and get them out in the dirt.  So now I have to decide what I want to plant in our garden.  My plan is to plant a veggie garden that will provide food for us, an herb garden that will provide fresh herb for food, teas, and even flowers, and finally a flower garden that will provide a place for butterflies, hummingbirds and other creatures that love flowers, provide cut flowers for the house, and provide a calm place for me to sit and spend quiet time.

I love the spring and fall.  I think I am going to start to even like the summer now that I have kids.  I love the sun.  I love the fresh air and I love when it is not too hot.   I love getting out and playing with the kids.  I love going for walks.  I love being in nature and I want to ensure that my children grow up to enjoy and respect the world in which we live.

I have been eating way less meat.  That has been a huge goal of mine and I seem to be moving in that direction.  I could do better, but I am moving in the right direction, forward not back.  I did have some read meat this week and I have to say it didn't agree with me as much as I thought it would.  I am happier and feel better when I don't eat a ton of meat.  I plan to continue to move toward a meat free diet, but I am not giving it up totally, I am just eating more fruits, veggies, beans, and grains.

Wish me luck on my garden planning and planting and pray that the weather here,  north of Boston, gets nicer and stays nicer.

Amy

Getting Crafty

On my http://thiscrazylife-amy.blogspot.com I wrote about my love of creativity and my desire to get my kids involved in being creative.  The biggest problem I am finding right now is trying to find the time to work on my projects.  I think I will either have to schedule a specific time for my projects, say when the kids are napping or in bed for the night.  I think this will make things a little easier or I will just have to put off projects until they are a little older.  I do try to make sure that I do creative things that need to be done instead of taking the easy way out, say making Thank-you cards or if I can remember in time, birthday cards.

I am hoping that now that the kids are a little older, they can start doing crafty things too.  I know that the twins are probably a little too young, but I think maybe I can start them out with something like finger painting with pudding?  I think Michael may be old enough to start to use crayons a little.  Maybe if I start working with them now, when they are a little older, I can create along with them.   Then I can get some projects of my own completed and we can start doing things together.

I am hoping that the kids are going to enjoy being creative as both my husband and I enjoy this.  I have too many loves to name all, but I love paper crafts, knitting, sewing, making jewelry, and so much more.  My husband is a shop teacher and a woodworker and I love that kind of stuff too.

If anyone has any suggestions for a craft kit for little ones, please comment your suggestions.  Also if there are projects that have worked for you or that you or your kids enjoyed, please comment on that also.

Amy

Making Changes

I wrote yesterday's post about things I wanted to say no to.  Today, I've been thinking about some of the things that I wrote about.  One of the biggest things that I've thought about was saying no to foods that are bad for me and saying yes to foods that are good for me!  I haven't made the best choices today, but it is never a good idea to just say "I screwed up, so let's continue to screw up!".  I had a piece of birthday cake that was way bigger than it should have been and now I feel like crap.  I should never have eaten it.  I wish my husband had taken the cake to work instead of leaving it in the fridge.  I am making black bean soup for dinner.  It's part of the South Beach Diet.  As much as I know it will be difficult, I know that I need to stop the unhealthy carb addiction that I have.  I know that is one of the things that is keeping me from losing the weight that I want and need to.  Can I do this?  Can I stop eating starchy carbs for 2 weeks so that I can get my body and mind back to were it should be?  I know that there are lots of people that think that I am crazy and I know that there are lots of diets out there that are crazy diets.  I just know that I need to do something to change this craziness.

Amy

Wishcasting Wednesday

Jamie Ridler @ http://jamieridlerstudios.ca/wishcasting-wednesday-march-10 asks: 

 What do you wish to say no to?

After reading a couple of people's posts on other blogs, I decided that I wish to say no to things that are bad for me!

1) I wish to say know to the nagging thoughts of wanting bad food, food that I know will make me feel horrible and say yes to the foods that will make me feel good!

2) I wish to say no to the negative thoughts about things in my life ie: my ability to create, my self opinion, my ability to cook, and on and on.  I want to say yes to trying new things and allowing myself to believe in me!

3) I wish to say no to excuses for not exercising.  I start out with the best intentions, but something always makes those intentions go far from the front of my mind.  I wish to start exercising and be healthier for me and my family!

4) I wish to say no to watching too much tv so that I can find time for other things that are more important for me to spend time on.  I wish to start watching less TV and start doing more of the things that I love!

5) I wish to say no to staying up too late so that the next morning and the next day, I am too tired to really enjoy spending time with my children.  I wish to listen to my body and allow it to get the rest it needs.

6) I wish to say no to the craziness that I can control.  I wish to say no to things that I know that I can't do because I just don't have the time.  I wish to allow myself to have permission to say no to doing things I don't have time for!

7) I wish to say no to the negative thoughts that make me think that I am doing something to make people not like me.  I need to realize that not everyone likes everyone and that it isn't necessarily me.  I wish to believe that I am good enough to have people like me for who I am and that I contribute needed things to a friendship!

I thought that I would have a hard time with this, but I didn't.  I ended up putting something positive or something that I wanted to say yes to so that there is also a positive spin to this post.

Thank you again to Jamie for making me think!

Amy

A Healthier Me: body mind and spirit

So, recently, I have been writing about becoming a vegetarian.  Like most things in my life, I start out doing great and then, I get lazy, forget the drive I initially had and way too many other excuses.  Then, I see something, read something and it gets my drive going again.

My husband has been struggling with some health issues like high blood pressure and weight issues, and others.  Granted his life over the last few years has been quite stressful and finally things are slowing down.  He is finally sleeping, enjoying his job, enjoying life.  Now, we need to start eating better.  He is doing a much better job at it than I am.  I started off planing dinners, decreasing our meat intake and increasing our bean intake and our veggie intake.  He bring his lunch to school every day and it is usually something healthy, which I should eat, but at home I have too many thing that tempt me and with 3 kids 2 and under, sometimes I give in to temptation and cravings way too often.  I need to lose weight and exercise so that I can be a lot healthier than I am right now.  I had pregnancy induced hypertension that took a long time to go away and even now, even though it is stable and I am no longer taking medication, I still need to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle.  That includes, eating healthier, exercising, practicing stress reduction, and going along with stress reduction, being more creative.

Given that I live in New England I am very much looking forward to spring coming and getting out with my kids.  I think getting out in the fresh air is going to be helpful all around, helping me be a healthier me:body, mind, and spirit.

Amy

Wishcasting Wednesday

Jamie Ridler @ http://jamieridlerstudios.ca/wishcasting-wednesday-march-2 asks:

What do you wish to make time for?

I wish to make time for creating.  Now with 3 kids, almost 2 and 13 1/2 month old twins,  I have very little time to do one of my true loves, being creative!  I am very fortunate that I am able to be at home with my children and I love every moment I am able to spend with them.  What I need to do is stop watching so much TV.  Then I would have more time to create, read, exercise, making things for my family, clean the house etc.  I never used to watch TV.  I would read, walk, ride my bike, hang out with friend, etc.  The I got older and lazier.  I guess I need to start decreasing the amount of TV that I watch so that I can do more of the things that I love including more quality time with my family.

Thanks for making me think Jamie!

Amy