Hits of my Heart

I have a "bucket list".

It's not a complete version, but it is a work in progress. For now it is mostly musical, people I need to see live before I die...Dwight Yoakam, Bob Seger, Steve Earle... these boys are getting older and I feel like my window of opportunity, to be right there in the same room as them pouring their heart out on stage, is closing.

These men wrote the music of my childhood. They are not just songs, but moments in time, real feelings, and true emotions. Music that someone wrote with pencil on paper... for a reason other than making money. Written and played by the hands of men and women who were taught or inspired by even greater musicians than themselves, who worked at their craft until their fingers bled. I just love it, I totally get it, I feel it, I can't get enough... 

Don't get me wrong I enjoy and am "entertained" by modern music.... but I LOVE me some oldies, they get to me in a way the so-called hits of this day and age never will. I love the way good music makes me feel, I want to feel that way all day long... I hope my kids feel this way about music, that they don't fall for the "disposable" music that comes and goes, but they feel their way to the hits of their heart, whatever they may be. While we're at it, add that to my bucket list... teaching my kids to know the difference!

What goes in is what you get out...

I have been giving it about 70% effort on my resolution to lose weight. I was trying to create a photo diary of my eating habits, I am so absentminded and for the most part forgot to take the photos, but here is what I did get, and basically this is how my diet has been going this week.

For breakfast I have been having smoothies I change up the ingredients a bit day to day, but these things are a constant. Vanilla yogurt, frozen blueberries, chia seeds, flax seeds, hemp hearts, pineapple juice. Sometimes with spinach leaves, banana, frozen mango.... I really like the smoothies, and find it easier to drink my breakfast than to eat it.

Lunch has been home made salad rolls, made with rice paper, Cole slaw mix, green onion, radishes, chopped roasted peanuts, imitation crab, and prawns, the sauce is hoisin sauce, sweet and sour sauce, honey, sesame oil, and a few of the chopped nuts. I love these, and have had them almost everyday for lunch...to the point where I need to take a wee break so I can loop around to loving them as much as I did the first day I made them!

For dinner, I eat what I make for everyone else, except I try to portion mine out differently, less starch more veg! I am trying to cut starchy carb foods out of my snacks, I can't live without them, but I can cut back, and only eat the ones I truly love. So a small portion of protein and veggies or fruit have been my snacks...most of the time ; ) I also ate pop corn, a few candies/chocolates, a bacon and egg bagel, had some wine, cheese and bacon mashed potatoes... I am sure there is more my mind is omitting, but I am trying to keep myself honest.

Now if I can say this is how I ate all week long religiously, I would most likely be reporting a weight loss for the week. But I am still hovering around 183 depending on the time of day. But I feel better, and have been fighting of most of my junk food cravings, I made a healthier pear crisp as a sweet snack for the times I am really dying of a sweet treat, but in all honesty it wasn't very good, and didn't satisfy my sweet tooth, but I did manage to use a tiny bit of inner strength to avoid eating something else to please it. I also realize that I'd be better off having a small portion of the not so good choices I love, than a larger portion of the things I wouldn't even feed to my dog...

Anyway that's where I am at. One decision at a time...Trying to ramp up to 80% effort this week....wish me luck!

Feeding my Soul

     The crazy holidays have come and gone, and with them a few rounds of the stomach flu and awful long lasting colds... that part I will try to mentally omit from my memories of Christmas 2011. I had a really great time, but I am glad it's over!     
  

     Moving into the year 2012, I see a clean slate, a year full of empty pages to fill. My list of resolutions is long, and really seems to be just a renewal of all the things I have always wanted to be or do, lose weight, be more organized, be a better mother, live greener... starting a new year just helps me to see the big picture more clearly. Every moment of this life counts, from the ordinary to the extraordinary, so I am planning to soak them all up accordingly.

     I received a beautiful little guitar for Christmas from Mike, and it is proving to be the best thing he could have ever given me. My calloused fingers are proof that I whole heartedly love "playing" it, or rather learning to play it at this point. It is feeding my soul... and I can't get enough. I hope I never lose that enthusiasm for it, and don't plan on it.

  
      I am all about saving money and conserving our funds this year, coupons and discount days are my new best friends, also shopping where the best prices are, as opposed to one stop shopping. I have the time and energy while the kids are in school, so might as well do it, no more laziness driven overpaying!

     I am going to focus a little time on posting photo food logs for the week on here, as another form of accountability and motivation, I'll be able to make a connection between what I am eating and how I feel, and I think that might help me in the long run, and if the weight comes off like I hope, I can look back and see what I did right! So I am starting out at 183 lbs today Jan. 4, 2012. See you in a week!