54 Years of STUFF

I spent the last couple of days in Omaha helping at Dave's Grandma Kate with her moving sale. Grandma Kate is a wonderful woman who has lived in her home for 54 years. She is 83 years old, she lost her husband Bill 12 years ago, and has continued to live in their home on her own since then. That house has shared a lot of memories with her and everyone in the family... and she has the stuff to prove it. Grandma Kate, who is also known as the "dish queen" has EVERYTHING.... and it's original box!  There were multiple things we came across that were wedding gifts, or gifts from 50 years ago that were stored in the original box, with the original tissue paper... the woman didn't throw away anything! She was able to tell a story about each and every thing in that house. It was so fun to learn about her life and to hear her stories. I had a mix of emotions this weekend, and it was an interesting experience...

1. Shock.... of all the stuff this woman kept! She has everything.

2. Amazement... to see the care that she took with each individual thing

3. Enjoyment... I love to organize and I love retail (must be the Meant to Be in me)

3. Sadness.... thinking of all the years Kate spent in her home, the memories she shared with loved ones, and now leaving it all.

4. Annoyance... of people who want to bargain down from $.25 - really people, its a quarter.

5. Curiosity... why did that 20 something buy a zip lock full of cocktail straws for $.25? Why are we selling a zip lock full of cocktail straws? Don't people buy straws new?

It was a great experience, I spent 2 days with wonderful women and got to visit with family. All the while, we were able to help Grandma Kate downsize and prepare for apartment life. At the same time, the experience has got me thinking so many different things, and I will leave you with my thoughts...

- Garage sales can make you some nice coin

- If you want to meet some interesting people, have a garage sale

- If you have a garage sale, make sure the outside has lots of stuff to draw people in

- Don't accumulate 54 years of stuff

- Don't let your parents accumulate 54 years of stuff

- If you minimize along the way, you will not be emotionally attached to a MILLION things when its time to detach

- Don't keep things thinking your kids will want them, by that time, they will be old enough to have enough of their own stuff that they won't want yours

- NEVER leave anything out of a garage sale... you have no idea the things that people will buy. For example, a set of 7 bar glasses with the works "the pussycat" printed on them, a zip lock full of cocktail straws, or a fake pink coral statue)

Last but not least... I love garage sales! 

Mini-Vacation

It is Sunday night and our mini-vacation to Lake Ozark has ended. While it was not exactly what we expected, it was a ton of family fun!

To start Dave and I took Thursday off so that we could leave early and get to town to go grocery shopping before the rest of the family got there. I spent a lot of time meal planning and created an all inclusive shopping list. I love to grocery shop, so I was really looking forward to it.


The drive from Des Moines to Osage Beach, MO. is about 6 hours.... unless you are married to Mario Andretti, like I am. When you marry someone, you soon realize that there are things that you just cannot do with your spouse. Seeing as you are planning to spend your whole life with that person, you try to avoid the things that just don't work, but sometimes it is unavoidable. Some of the things that Dave and I cannot do together:

1. Play on the same team in any team sport
2. Play on different teams in any team sport
3. Drive together in the same vehicle

I do realize that we HAVE to drive together, but if we can we avoid it we do. The first step we took was to stop car pooling to work, which usually ended with a slammed car door and someone having a bad day. Seeing as it seemed really unreasonable to drive separate cars to Missouri to avoid an argument, I was prepared for one. Add to that a potty-training toddler and you have a recipe for disaster :) No, it really wasn't too bad. Charlie was GREAT, and he didn't have any accidents. We stopped about a million times, and every time we did I would carry in his Lightning McQueen potty to use as a stool. I never realized how most public bathrooms are really not built well for young children. Every time Charlie and I head to a public restroom I turn into my mother, "don't touch anything" comes out of my mouth about 100 times!

So we got to our condo, which is owned by my some-day-to-be brother in law's family. When we arrived we punched in the code and surprise there were people there! It would have been a great surprise, had we known the people :) Turns out the property management company screwed up. So, while Nick and his wonderful father tried to figure out where we were going to stay, I started calling resorts. We ended up staying at Tan-Tar-A resort for the night. My mother approved because her and my father had been there before (probably sometime in the early nineties) and she remembers it being nice. Turns out it was EXACTLY what she remembered, nothing had changed :) LOL! But we enjoyed the night - Charlie and I swam at the indoor water park (which is not included in the $160/night price tag of the room- surprise!), we ordered pizza, and hung out as a family!

The next day (Friday) we checked out and having no where to go, spent the day at the pools on Tan-Tar-A. We had a blast, relaxing in the water, drinking, and visiting! Around 4:00 we headed to the property management company to get our keys (they found us a different condo free of charge due to the mix up).... and it wasn't ready yet, they were running behind :) surprise!

We made it to the condo all in one piece and once again took a step back in time, with flowered couches and all! The woman who owned the condo also had some sort of foot fetis and the entire condo was decorated with feet and shoes.... it was weird. Needless to say, I finally got to go on my grocery shopping trip. Like always we bought WAY too much food!

Saturday was fun on the boat, Nick is such a wonderful host and they have all sorts of fun stuff for the boat. Tubes, water ski's, floaties... everything you need to have fun on a lake. Charlie loved the boat, he even relaxed enough to nap...

The rest of the trip was pretty smooth sailing, we spent Saturday night in and had dinner to celebrate Dave's birthday! Which brings us to tonight... home, tired, and ready for the week to start! 

football and tofu?

Day 3 was tough... I am not going to lie. I almost quit like 7 times :) But i didn't.... but that doesn't mean that I am not going to quit tomorrow! It's hard. Not only because I am eating a strict diet, but it makes me think about food all the time... which makes me think I am hungry all the time. Which I am not.

Day 3 happen to fall on a Saturday, which is football day at our house. We always watch the Nebraska game and usually eat something not very healthy and drink! But today, I watched football and ate tofu... it didn't feel American.

I did however try a new recipe for apple chips... and Dave loved it! I never really know what he thinks of my cooking/baking because he always compares me to his mom... but this time he told me he liked what I made. The sucky part, is that I didn't like them :( oh poo.

Menu:
Breakfast - apple with peanut butter
Snack - spicy pumpkin soup
Lunch - tofu, acorn squash and a tomato with balsamic vinegar
Snack - mixed nuts
Dinner - "taco" salad with mushroom & black beans, lettuce and salsa
Snack - a few grapes, applesauce and a cup of tea

The good thing about this is that today I had at least 5 servings of veggies and 2 of grapes... pretty impressive. The hard part is that I miss crunchy, fake crunchy not veggie crunchy. I want goldfish & cheerios! :)

Tomorrow my family is coming to town... I am so excited to see them, but I think the "cleanse" will be difficult. I am going to try my damnedest, but I just might not make it.

Protein - Day 2

Day 2 was pretty o.k. I once again sat on my butt all day at a training. I realized just how hard it is for me to sit all day... not fun. And my gym was closed for Veteran's Day (which is cool - all service members deserve a day off) but it kind of stunk for me! The good thing about it was that I decided to take the time that I usually spend at the gym browsing Barnes and Nobel. I seriously could spend DAY'S there walking around, looking, drinking Starbucks (though I didn't have any this time). I also realized that I LOVE self help and health books :) loser... I know! I decided to buy "The 5 Love Languages." Someone in the training that I was at mentioned the book and how it changed all of her relationships... I'm excited to start reading.

Menu:
Breakfast: 2 slices Whole Wheat toast with Peanut Butter
Snack: apple and mixed nuts
Lunch: Broccoli, acorn squash & tofu
Snack: grapes and Multi Grain Cheerios
Dinner: Flax seed tortilla chips and slasa, Spicy Pumpkin Soup (pumpkin, corn, spices) - DELICIOUS

Not having a glass of wine on day 2 was a lot easier than not having a glass of wine on day 1. It is mostly just habit, and a little relaxing :) Tamra came over to watch Forks Over Knives.... finally I got to see it. It was really interesting... not as life changing as I thought it would be, but it really got me thinking. I feel really good about my decision to become a Pescitarian, however this documentary focused on a "whole food, plant based diet."

The studies done on the DAMAGE that animal protein does to our body, including diary, was CRAZY! Not only that it is not beneficial, but that it actually does damage. I am going to watch it again, and look more into a plant-based diet. I know this is not an over-night change that I can make, so I am going to do lots of research and make small changes. I will continue to avoid dairy, but I am not going to be too strict about it yet.

I do think that everyone should watch it though.... there is a lot of good information!

Can you drink wine while doing a cleanse?

Day 1 was pretty successful. The goal for today was: whole grains, fruit, veggies, legumes, and nuts & seeds. I was actually pretty impressed with myself, I was however a little lenient with what I considered a whole grain.... oops!

The only other downfall of today was that I sat on my ass literally the ENTIRE day. I LOVE learning & going to trainings... but I HATE sitting all day long. I thought all day about the articles that I have read about the damage sitting does to your body. One more day & I will be back to my standing ways :)

Today's menu:
Breakfast - oatmeal with raisins and cinnamon (did no have my usual honey)
Snack - banana and mixed nuts (almonds, cashews, and some nut I don't know the name of)
Lunch - La Mie (amazing place) veggie sandwich on whole wheat (red pepper, sweet potato, sprouts, mushrooms, hummus and pesto)
Snack - pumpkin seeds
Dinner - "tacos" (lettuce for a shell and our "taco meat" is sauteed mushrooms & black beans... yummy) with salsa and a few flax seed tortilla chips
Snack - Multi-grain Cheerios

Workout:
warm up
9 minutes running at 6mph (oddly hard)
21 minutes on elliptical (too easy)
15 minutes running at 5.5mph
cool down

My one question... and the one thing that I really missed today (don't judge) was my glass of wine! Can I have a glass of wine while doing a "cleanse"?

Getting ready for Day 1

Today I went grocery shopping. I decided to use my day off at the gym to go shopping with out my "little helper"... it makes it a lot more relaxing. I really do enjoy grocery shopping, but this was a little different, as I was preparing for my cleanse. I usually  buy a lot of fruits & veggies, but today I got a TON.

Here's what I got (I'm sure I won't remember everything, but I'll try)...

apples, bananas, grapes, tomatoes, acorn squash, mushrooms, peppers, sweet potatoes, avacado, broccoli slaw, lettuce, carrots, hummus, black beans and a few packs of frozen stirfry veggie mixes.

Tomorrow is day 1... I am so ready for it! Here we go!  

Count Down to MEXICO

As of today we have 25 days until Mexico. I have decided that my blog will now include my "getting healthy journey!" As many of you know I always try to find ways to be a healthier person, and as most women, I like to see a certian number on the scale. Lately, I have noticed that the number I am seeing on the scale, coupled with how I am feeling is NOT how I want to be feeling.

I have decided I need a little more accountability, and what better form of accountability than posting your efforts on a blog?!?!? So each day I will post how my day went, what new things I tried and my lovely menu for the day :)

Tomorrow I am starting a "mini cleanse" that will last 8 days...

Day 1 & 2: whole wheat, frutis, veggies, legumes, nuts & seeds

Day 3 & 4: fruits, veggies, legumes, nuts & seeds

Day 5 & 6: fruits, veggies, nuts & seeds

Day 7: fruits & veggies

Day 8 - veggies

Wish me luck...