Days 2 and 3

Yesterday was day 2 of being sugar-less.  I had the half of a donut and that was the only slip for that day. Today I had a whole donut (will power, I have none).  I didn't eat anything with added sugar after that.  I'll get there, my week long trial may just have to be extended until I can go 7 days without eating something loaded with sugar.

Day 1

Day one of my sugar-less week has gone by. Yes I did give in a little and ate a snack cake.  I had no sugar in my coffee and no added sugar in anything else.  I bought some greek yogurt so I could eat one and one for trying to make some yogurt(it sounds incredibly easy and so much cheaper then store bought).  I also got some coconut oil because I read it helps with sugar cravings ( I really should of had a bite of it this morning instead of half a chocolate glazed donut).   It's a lot of trial and error and I'm looking up some recipes that use honey and stevia and dried fruit instead of sugar as sweeteners.
Anyway, here's to day two. Even though I slipped a little, I think I can still save the day.  I'm doing this to be healthier and set an example for my family.  I have to keep all that in mind when I want to give in to a craving.  Last night at the store my middle son made the comment to Hubby "Mom will eat any kind of candy."  Hubby had stopped at the candy bin Wal-mart has and looked but in respect to me trying to avoid sugar this week didn't pick up anything.  My son was trying to get him to buy some.  I guess I should sit him down today and explain to him what I'm trying to do and that Dad is trying to help me.  My kids understand that mom wants to be healthier, but I don't think they quite comprehend what it takes to be healthy.  I'll get there though and I'll take them along with me (probably kicking and screaming).

Spring Fever

I have it, and todays high of 64 degrees at the end of January isn't helping any.

I am going to start planting some next month. There are a few cold weather veggies I can get into the ground. Such as kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, mustard, onions, peas, spinach and maybe some cabbage, and radishes closer to the end of the month. So today I'm going to go outside and mark out and plan my garden spot. I'm just making one(maybe two) smallish plots. Probably about 6x4 or so. Last year I was able to better keep up the ones I had. This year instead of making a plot for hubby I'll just let him plant his tomatoes wherever. He wanted a plot and a tomato bed last year and I couldn't keep up with what he wanted and what I had as well. So this year I'm going for maximum yield out of minimum space.

So far so good on being sugar-less. Given only thing I've had so far is one deviled egg and one 20 oz. cup of coffee, neither which had sugar in it. It's going to take some getting used to drinking coffee without sugar. After the first dozen sips though, it's a lot easier. I like the bitter taste, but I'm used to a sweetness as well and miss it a bit. Well going to look up some snack recipes/ideas for the week. I'm going to have to plan this week out or I'll give in and eat one of hubby's Little Debbie snacks later.

BBQ Deer(sorta) and Trying to be Sugar-Less

Last night I tried something new with this deer meat we have in the freezer. I took some that hubby had cut kinda small and we labeled minute steaks, added bacon, jalapeños and barbecue sauce and made dish that was surprisingly good.

I was inspired by this recipe however my "steaks" were too small to wrap around a jalapeño and the only jalapeños we had were the pickled ones. So I sorta of deconstructed it into this:

(I apologize for the sorry looking pictures. I used my phone's camera to take them).

First I took 4 slices of bacon and laid them in the bottom of a med to small sized baking dish. I then took the deer meat and layered it on top of the bacon and added jalapeños on top of that. I sprinkled some seasoning salt, thyme and pepper over everything. I didn't measure the seasonings, just went till it looked like enough.

Next I took two slices of bacon and cut them in half and layered on top. Then I placed in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes I poured some barbecue sauce over everything. I just used original recipe flavored sauce.

After another 10-15 minutes we have the finished product. It was good and didn't have a gamey taste like deer can have. Can't say it's the healthiest product with all the bacon but it came out (according to the recipe thing on Loseit.com) to around 330 calories a serving for the six of us.

Starting this weekend I think I'm going to see if I can have a sugar-less week. I'm going to try to go a week without putting any added sugar to what I consume. I'm also going to try and half the sugar in the foods I make for my family this week and see if they say anything.

So far my professors seem interesting. My accounting professor seemed asleep/drunk/hungover/stoned or some combination. I'm not sure I comprehend how he is going to run the class. I'm guessing it's a combination of online homework and lecture but he seemed vague on the lecture part. I'm half afraid he's just going to show powerpoints every class. The statistics course is going to be great. It's and independent course. You only go to the scheduled class time to ask questions or take a test. You can take one test every 2 days so it's feasible to be done in about 5 weeks. To make an A in the class you just have to make an 80% or higher on 10 tests. My History teacher is just back from 5 years active duty. He said he returned from Iraq in September. He has a sense of humor and will probably be fine once he gets into a routine. He said they changed the book since he was away so he has to redo notes and lectures but it's History so everything is pretty much still the same. My Chemistry professor says "okay" after every few words. His last name is Li and English definitely isn't his first language so that's probably why he has that habit.

No classes on Monday because of Martin Luther King day. I have my first lab session on Wednesday and then the following Monday is my Intro to Dietetics class.

I'm hoping my oldest son comes closer to passing the pt test in his C.A.P. meeting today. He is passing the online tests okay, he hasn't been practicing/exercising at home so I'm not sure he'll pass the requirements yet. Hubby and I have been telling him to do even just a few sit-ups and push-ups everyday so he can gain strength. I guess we just need to keep pushing him to try just a bit harder.

Okay we had snow, so does that mean winter is over now?

Pretty please? I'm tired of cold, gray skies. Everything is just so neutral. I'm ready for vibrant colors, heat, humidity. The kids have missed two days of school this week because of Sundays snow. So far they are going tomorrow. I had to miss my middle sons iep meeting because of school being cancelled yesterday. Now I worry about when they'll want to reschedule it, because after Thursday my schedule will make it difficult for me to attend and I want to be there.
Today was better with getting the kiddies to all do chores. I took and made a very short list of things that had to be done in 6 areas (bathroom, kitchen, den, living room, dining room, laundry). I wrote these on small pieces of paper of equal size folded and put them in a bag for everyone to draw from (me included, hubby got left out due to being at work today we decided he gets to draw on weekends). Then we all spend 20 minutes on our drawn areas, if we complete our tasks before time ran out then we had to go and help someone else with theirs. Whoever had laundry had to help between waiting for dryer/washer and folding/putting away clothes. The kids agreed to the rules and we went on and did what chore we had drawn. When 20 minutes were up the kids actually wanted more time so they could complete their lists. I told them that it didn't matter that they didn't get it done. All that mattered was that they worked for 20 straight minutes. Eventually the rooms will get done enough that the tasks will all be completed in less then 20 minutes. I was proud of them today.

Motivation...or the lack of

There is a big lack of motivation in my household. Starting with me. I've got so much I want(ed) to do before the semester started. So far the only I've accomplished the past 3 weeks is getting my druid from level 78 to level 83(almost a 84 woot). While this is a sort of accomplishment it's not really one to be super proud of. I wanted to have my desk organized (I cleaned most of last semesters leftover papers off of it), I wanted the laundry caught up, house nice and straight. Classes start Thursday so most of this is not going to be happening. I want to start running, but cringe at the thought of going outside to do it. It's not the thought of exercise, it's the cold and the idea of looking goofy while the neighbors peer at me through their windows. I'm having trouble getting the get-up-and-go needed to get stuff done.

The rest of the family seems to be having similar problems. Kids are avoiding chores (like going outside to play when they are told to do dishes). They are spending too much time in front of t.v. and video games(yea I'm not much of a role model in that concept lately...you did see the part where I've been leveling a toon). My oldest son is in the Civil Air Patrol...has been since October but has yet to rank, and has only passed one of the tests. He enjoys the meetings but getting him to do the work so he can do the more advance stuff is full of hair-pulling frustration. So hubby and I are trying to get him more motivated to do the little bit of work required to excel. It's not much a few sit-ups, push-ups some running to pass pt. A small amount of reading/studying to pass the quizzes and the quizzes are mostly common sense. Hubby has stuff he wants done around the house but he doesn't usually feel like it when he's home. The cold has a lot to do with that too, he works all day in it 5 days a week. He doesn't really want to work all weekend in it as well.

Spring is only a few weeks away(about 11 ugh) and so hopefully the rest of winter will fly by and warmer weather will be here and everyone will perk back up and start getting stuff done around here. Doesn't help we have the depressing thought of snow coming tomorrow night. I can't stand the stuff. It's cold, wet, makes the ground super mushy. About the only thing I can thing it's good for is filling the aquafiers so we have plenty of water for drinking, plants, etc. Which is really important so I guess I can deal with it for a day. I'm just really grateful for a neighbor with a tractor with a plow who is generous enough to plow our driveway and the street.