my mom's cookbook

With the new year resolution of cooking six nights a week, I've been looking through lots of recipes.  On my menu right now are all things that I can make without really thinking about it, but I thought that my family might like to have a little bit of versatility rather than having the same dishes over and over again.  I've been looking on the internet, mostly at kraft foods or spark recipes.  I have tons of cookbooks, but I rarely go through them.  They just seem so overwhelming.  Because I really don't enjoy cooking, I don't like to spend much time in the kitchen.  I think that it's a matter of getting bored.  With that in mind, I'm a little weird when I look at recipes.  If there are any spices that I don't normally use, I skip it.  If it has any instructions like saute or anything like that, I skip it.  I just don't want to have to spend any time on food.  I love my slow cooker.  I like my casserole dishes.  I do not like using the stove top.  You may call me lazy, and that's okay.  I would just rather spend my time doing other things than cook.  I really have to be in the right mood to do it.  I'm trying, though.  I recently got my mom's cookbook, and I've been looking to it for inspiration.  I know that she was a great cook.  I can't say that I actually remember anything that she made (aside from my sixth birthday cake), but I've heard stories from so many people.  I sat down and flipped through the pages for a while last night.  At one point, I broke down in tears.  I just wish that I could have experienced moments with her in the kitchen.  Would I have actually enjoyed the cooking experience if it equated happy memories with my mom?  I saw the splashes on the pages by the recipes that I imagine she must have used more often.  I wanted so much to find recipes that had her handwriting by them with alterations to tweak it to her specifications.  With a quick flip through, I found none; however, there was one recipe card in her script.  It's been 25 years since she's been gone.  The things that I remember about her could be counted only on my fingers.  I wish that I had multiple memories.  I know that I am more fortunate than my younger sister who has no memories as she was only three when mom passed.  I know that the events that happened were part of God's plan, and I'm okay with that.  I just really miss her sometimes.  I wonder about the type of person that I would be if she were still here.  I wonder if I would still be the person that I am today or if the events of my life would pan out the same.  I truly believe that things happen for a reason, but I'm often jealous of people who have their moms.   I am so grateful for who she was and the legacy that she left.  I guess going through the cookbook brought up some emotions that I really wasn't expecting.  I'm so happy to have it.  I know that my sisters would have liked it as well, so I'm grateful that they let me keep it, despite me being the one who really doesn't like to cook.

new year's resolutions

With the new year, I'm working on making some changes in my life.  I read the other day that the average person only keeps a new year's resolution until February 14.  Basically, a month and a half.  I'm hoping to go longer than that.  Braylon came home from school today and told me that he has a new year's "revolution" to keep his room clean.  He said he wants to keep it for ten days.  I couldn't help but giggle to myself.

So, what are my resolutions?

Cook at home six times per week.

   We eat out way too much.  In fact, we have gone through spurts of eating out almost every day.  It's ridiculous, I know.  Not only is it completely unhealthy (because you know we aren't eating a salad when we eat out), but it's also extremely difficult on our pocketbook.  Recently I made a list of meals that I can make.  I've always told myself that I'm not a good cook.  Of course, years of other people telling me that, I've believed them.  I am trying to tell myself that I'm not a bad cook.  It's hard when the boys come in and tell me that what I'm cooking smells disgusting, but after about a week of meals at home, they're getting better about eating it.  I also like it that we're eating as a family at the table.

Lose 40 pounds by September 1.

  I have so much more than 40 pounds to lose, but I think that this is do-able if I set my mind to it.  Our all school reunion is over Labor Day weekend, and I so do not want to go looking like I do right now.  I weigh entirely too much and do not like the way that I look.  I know that I can be skinnier because I have been before.  Jerad always says that I have a problem with my weight because I have been thin in the past.  He says that he's okay with the way that he is because he's always been big.  I think that eating at home in the evenings will definitely help with this.  I am also sticking with the Figure 8 plan from Arbonne.  I haven't incorporated exercise yet, but I plan to after a couple of weeks of sticking to the diet. I have the ten minute trainer that I bought last year but didn't use.  Maybe I should get my money's worth out of it this year!

Clear out clutter from the house.
  I've already started on the de-cluttering.  Jerad and I have both cleared out our closets, which equated to ten bags of clothes to get out of the house.  If it were up to Jerad, he would just throw it all away, but I know there are people who could use the clothes.  I realize that a lot of the clothes are out of style at this point, but someone may want them.  I really want to get them out of the house soon, hopefully, by the end of the week.  We also cleaned out all of the baskets that have been around our bed for the past several years.  It's ridiculous that I let it get to the point that it was.  We now have lots of space in our bedroom, and I don't feel like I'm in total chaos when I'm in there.  The next projects are the office and the spare room.  By the end of the year, I hope to have things in order around the house.

Make three Arbonne related calls per day.
   Over the past three years, I've worked my Arbonne business on and off, but I am determined to make it work this year.  If I can make three calls per day, that will be 21 people contacted per week.  That amounts to a lot if I can be consistent.  I'm really excited about the new calendar and system that they've offered us this year.  It's not about time management, but rather activity management.  I love that!  For so long, I've thought that I needed to put myself on a specific schedule in order to get things accomplished, but that really doesn't fit my personality type.  This system teaches activity management.  It really doesn't take long, if you just do it.  I need to remind myself of this throughout the year in order to stay on task!


So will I quit by February 14, as the average person does?  Heck, no!  I am not the average person!  Here's to a new year, with new possibilities and new habits to create a better me!

back to the grindstone

Today I finally feel like it's the new year.  With New Year's Day being on a Saturday and continuing Christmas celebrations over the weekend, I really didn't feel like it was the new year yet.  Today, it really hit me.  I feel like we're getting back into a schedule, despite the boys not being in school yet.  Tomorrow they will go back to their daily schedules of waking up early, or at least early enough to get ready for school and get there.  It's going to be tough to wake up early in the morning.  We've all been sleeping in until 9 or so.  In fact, I think that Jerad slept in until almost noon today.  We made sure that the boys were in bed by bedtime tonight to help us with the morning school day rituals.

Another wake up to the new year was getting the Christmas decorations down.  The living room looks big without the Christmas tree up.  The mantle looks bare and the tables empty without the random decorations that have been scattered throughout the house.  It makes me a bit sad to think that the Christmas season went by so quickly, but I guess that's the way it happens each year.  I absolutely love Christmas and look to it with such anticipation.  I'm excited for Christmas next year with the new trees that we have and the ornament wreaths that I've made.  I also neatly packed away the boys' ornaments that we've bought them each year.

Jerad and I have been working at getting our house a bit more organized and de-cluttered.  As part of that, we've cleaned out our closets, which I haven't actually used in quite a while because it's been full of clothes that I never wear anymore.  I've pulled out a massive amount of clothes, as has Jerad.  I just bagged all of those tonight, and I have 9 bags of clothes and a bag of shoes.  I'm hoping to get those out of the house this week.  It actually feels really good to get the house clean.  I mean, of course it does, but I just hate to clean!  I feel like if my house is in order, I can get other parts of my life in order.  I'm trying to get rid of the chaos that fills my life!  A little disorder is okay, but when it takes over your life, that's a completely different story.

Today was also the day that I started eating healthier.  I started out with my figure 8 shake and ate less than normal at lunch.  I cooked dinner for the family tonight and limited my sweets to a skinny cow ice cream sandwich that I picked up while I was at Wal-mart.  I need to increase my water intake.  I think that would help me out tremendously.

With the boys back at school in the morning, I'm going to try to stick to a schedule to get things around the house completed.  It's one of my many goals that I have for myself this year.  I'm determined to accomplish them!  What do they include?  I'll write more about that later.

lazy sunday...

There are some mornings that it's so difficult to get out of bed.  I'm not sure why it's so hard especially on a Sunday morning.  On the average morning, we're up and around before the time that we have to be at church, but Sundays for some reason are difficult.  Of course, we stayed up too late, albeit for a good reason.  One of Jerad's friends from high school came by to chat late in the night.  We had a good time catching up and meeting his girlfriend...actually fiance, since he just proposed yesterday.  So because we've been staying up way too late, it was really difficult to wake up.  In fact, I didn't wake up until 10:15 and with church starting at 10:30, I didn't think we would make it in time.  Instead, I chose to watch church online.  I love it that John Maxwell tweets when he's preaching a sermon that will be broadcast online.  I want to make it a point this year that if we don't make it to church to watch it online or on tv.  His sermon was about second chances, highlighting on Jonah and mentioning several others throughout the Bible who were given second chances.

We took the boys to the movie to see Avatar this evening.  Surprisingly, Brickman stayed awake for the entire (almost three hour) movie.  He falls asleep in practically every movie that we go to.  The most memorable time that he fell asleep was when he also started sleep walking and talking, thinking that he was playing with Riley and yelling at him to come to him.  Then he attempted to eat his bag of popcorn like a hamburger, bag and all.  The boys have been begging to spend the night at their grandparents over the Christmas break, and tonight is the last night of that, so we took them there after the movie.

I really am going to miss the boys when they go back to school.  I've enjoyed having them here at the house, despite the occasional fight.  We still have tomorrow, since it's an inservice day for the teachers, but it will be good to get back into a schedule on Tuesday.

the last Christmas of 2009

We finally had the last Christmas of 2009 tonight.  I know, it's already 2010, but we're late at celebrating.  We couldn't get together with the extended family until today.  By dragging it out, it made it fun for the boys knowing that there was still one more Christmas.  They were surprised the other day when Aunt Barbie called and asked what they didn't get for Christmas that they still wanted.  Both of the boys were excited to open their gifts.  Brickman got the double action light saber that he had really hoped to get at Christmas.  Come to find out, Aunt Barbie had forgotten it at home and had to go out to Walmart at buy it again.  I wish I had known because I actually had one in the closet just in case he didn't get it.  He also got a scooter that he loved riding throughout the house all evening.  I'm surprised that Nammie and Bumpa didn't yell about it.  Braylon got excited that he got a new Transformer and a Ben 10 game for his Nintendo dsi.  They'll have fun with their new nerf guns, too.  Even more fun to watch was Jace.  He loved every gift no matter what it was.  He can barely talk, but he had the greatest reactions.  We got him a horse in the box (very similar to the jack in the box, just with a horse) and some johnny tractors with a box to keep them in.

Nammie and Bumpa loved the family tree that I gave them.  I told them on Christmas Eve that I owed them a gift since I gave them a make-shift gift on Christmas.  I was pleased with the results of the family tree, but I think if I had spent a bit more time on it, I would have changed a few things.  I'll keep that in mind if I make another one.  I left room to add more leaves for the additional family members that may come along.  At the end of 2010, there will be one new addition with Joseph asking his girlfriend to marry him over Christmas.  They'll be getting married on New Year's Eve.

Aunt Barbie and the rest of the family will be staying until tomorrow afternoon so we'll still get to visit.  We don't get to visit often enough.  We should make it a point to do that more often.

happy new year!

I hope everyone had a fantastic new year's day!  It's the start of a new year, and the start of a new decade!  I'm so excited for what the next chapter has in store.  May God bless you in the next chapter of your life!  There's just something great about getting a new start!