Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
366
I have an idea. Don't get to excited, because I have a lot of random ideas, but I think this is a good one. Again, don't get excited because I tend to be pretty flighty and inconsistent. Okay, here's the idea. Are you ready? You sure? Now, let's remember that this is ONLY an idea.
Insert really dramatic drum roll here...
I want to document the year starting with January 1. I am going to start changing my life on January 1. During the coming year I will be making major lifestyle changes, homeschooling full time, consistently teaching hair classes, starting a Rite of Passage program for girls, and considering one for women. My goal is to document all of it to keep myself accountable! I am so excited about the things I have planned. I'm going to be really busy, but hopefully really happy. I am a teacher more than anything else and that is what makes me happy and lawd knows I need some happiness right now. What say you?
Btw 366 because 2012 is a leap year.
Insert really dramatic drum roll here...
I want to document the year starting with January 1. I am going to start changing my life on January 1. During the coming year I will be making major lifestyle changes, homeschooling full time, consistently teaching hair classes, starting a Rite of Passage program for girls, and considering one for women. My goal is to document all of it to keep myself accountable! I am so excited about the things I have planned. I'm going to be really busy, but hopefully really happy. I am a teacher more than anything else and that is what makes me happy and lawd knows I need some happiness right now. What say you?
Btw 366 because 2012 is a leap year.
Monday, November 28, 2011
$5 and no groceries
At first I was embarrassed to post this, but I think that it may serve as an encouragement to others at some point. We are not, in my humble opinion, truly suffering from the recession but we are feeling it.
Here's the story. I was ordering my veggies weekly from the organic delivery service. Well, that ran me about $50 a week. Sounds like a lot, but we were mainly only eating what came in the box which meant that my grocery bill was vegan, organic, and regulated for the most part. My husband suggested that we change to receiving orders every other week to save money. Even though I didn't like it I did it, recognizing that I can be a little spoiled at times. I am the only one that shops for grocery or cooks, thus, I am the only one that knows what it costs to feed the family. He, however, is the one that pays all the bills. This was a lesson for me in balance and learning to figure things out together. Last week was the off week. If not for Thanksgiving leftovers we wouldn't have had any food. So today I kept looking in my cabinets feeling discouraged and stressed because feeding my family falls to me. As I looked in my cabinet I saw pintos and boxes of cornbread. In the fridge I found 1/2 of a very large purple onion. I decided that I was going to make pintos, purple slaw, and cornbread. I didn't have eggs, cabbage, or mayo. Remember I had $5.
I went to the store and bought a small head of cabbage for $1.29 and then there was a problem. The smallest jar of mayo was $3. As I stood there trying to figure out what to do, I saw that there was a large jar of mayo that was 2 for $6 WITH A $.35 coupon!!! I took my two items to the front and with the coupon my total was $4.94. As I drove home disappointed about not having eggs for cornbread I remembered something wonderful!!! I have egg replacer!!! Basically it is a vegan way to replace eggs! It's a flour and basically you just use 1.5 Tbsp replacer + 2 Tbsp water to equal 1 egg.
Long story short, too late I know, the meal was delicious AND healthy. Unfortunately my husband, the one that I was most excited to impress, got sick to his stomach and didn't eat any of it. I was so disappointed. I still popped my collar a bit at my ingenuity.
Here's the story. I was ordering my veggies weekly from the organic delivery service. Well, that ran me about $50 a week. Sounds like a lot, but we were mainly only eating what came in the box which meant that my grocery bill was vegan, organic, and regulated for the most part. My husband suggested that we change to receiving orders every other week to save money. Even though I didn't like it I did it, recognizing that I can be a little spoiled at times. I am the only one that shops for grocery or cooks, thus, I am the only one that knows what it costs to feed the family. He, however, is the one that pays all the bills. This was a lesson for me in balance and learning to figure things out together. Last week was the off week. If not for Thanksgiving leftovers we wouldn't have had any food. So today I kept looking in my cabinets feeling discouraged and stressed because feeding my family falls to me. As I looked in my cabinet I saw pintos and boxes of cornbread. In the fridge I found 1/2 of a very large purple onion. I decided that I was going to make pintos, purple slaw, and cornbread. I didn't have eggs, cabbage, or mayo. Remember I had $5.
I went to the store and bought a small head of cabbage for $1.29 and then there was a problem. The smallest jar of mayo was $3. As I stood there trying to figure out what to do, I saw that there was a large jar of mayo that was 2 for $6 WITH A $.35 coupon!!! I took my two items to the front and with the coupon my total was $4.94. As I drove home disappointed about not having eggs for cornbread I remembered something wonderful!!! I have egg replacer!!! Basically it is a vegan way to replace eggs! It's a flour and basically you just use 1.5 Tbsp replacer + 2 Tbsp water to equal 1 egg.
Long story short, too late I know, the meal was delicious AND healthy. Unfortunately my husband, the one that I was most excited to impress, got sick to his stomach and didn't eat any of it. I was so disappointed. I still popped my collar a bit at my ingenuity.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
I'm fat...again.
I could really do without celebrating Thanksgiving or Christmas, but I LOVE my family and I LOVE getting together with them for ANY reason. Well, like most families, when we get together we do so across a food filled table. This is especially true during the holidays.
I have found that I have MAJOR problems eating well during the holidays. I have been miserably full since Thursday. For whatever reason I having problems realizing that I simply don't need as much food anymore. My stomach capacity is less than it once was.
In my usual form I am not going to complain without having a plan. I have started reading "Heal Thyself" by Queen Afua. What I have already gleaned from this is that I will cleanse/fast every month for my holy day. What is my holy day? The date I was born on. Will also cleanse with the seasons, but for this season it will start after Kwanzaa because I am trying to realistic. I might start after Christmas...I'm not sure. My husband is also blessing me with a Vitamix blender!!! YES!!! I AM GETTING A VITAMIX!!!!!! I am so excited!!! I am going to start with replacing one meal a day with a green smoothie, but my goal will be 2 times a day. For whatever reason I have an issue with driving to take an exercise class, but I know I need to do so to get myself back on track. I am going to go back to my African dance classes. I have also found a studio that I can take yoga for $5. So I may be able to get totally in shape for $66 a week. $50 box of food, $6 dance class, and 2 $5 yoga classes.
The other thing I am going to change is that I'm going to start keep track of my improvements. Usually I am totally anti-scales and measurements. Well, clearly that hasn't worked. I am going to take pictures of myself monthly and document my measurements and weight weekly. Hopefully, this will help because I really need to do something different. I am miserable AGAIN!!! This has got to stop. This is a family problem and if I want to prevent it in my children then I have to figure this thing out. If you have any suggestions, please let me know what they are.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Cancer, cancer, and more cancer...
I don't know if I ever mentioned this before, but my family has a history of cancer. A LOT of cancer and seems to start at every young ages such as 30s and 40s. It consist of just about every kind you can think of. Recently, my aunt went and got genetic counseling done and found that she carried a gene for breast and reproductive cancers. One of her 2 daughters got tested also. One daughter tested positive while the other tested negative. Now, of course, my mother wants my sister and I to go. I haven't talked to my sister, who btw has already had breast cancer. Wait, maybe she doesn't even have to go because she already had it. Anyway, I am a little leery about getting tested. If I don't have the gene it also means that my daughter is free and clear, but if I do have it then the saga continues. I have decided that I'm not going to have cancer because I'm tired of seeing what it does to people. My cousin is dying from it as I type. I'm full of regret, but it doesn't matter now I guess. The best I can do it glean from what she told me and move forward.
I feel more pressure than ever to dive into a vegan life style and eventually move toward raw. The problem is simple. I am petrified of what I see going on around me in my family. What do strong emotions do? They make me what to eat!!! Eat what? Starch.
I just needed to vent. I don't need any answers, not that anybody reads this. lol I have to find a way to preventatively heal myself and my family.
I feel more pressure than ever to dive into a vegan life style and eventually move toward raw. The problem is simple. I am petrified of what I see going on around me in my family. What do strong emotions do? They make me what to eat!!! Eat what? Starch.
I just needed to vent. I don't need any answers, not that anybody reads this. lol I have to find a way to preventatively heal myself and my family.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)