Sunday, May 19, 2013

Winter gone, Spring evaporating, Summer ACK!

So here we are, another birthday gone (37 for me!) and it's rapidly turning into summer here in the hills of PA. I do not really know where the time has gone! In three weeks, #1 son will be done with school and my pool is still not open. #2 son turns 5 in a few days and my spring cleaning is still not done. #1 daughter (#3 spawn) is 2.5 years old and still not potty trained...although neither one of us feels particularly motivated at this point. Those are only a few things on the to-do list, and does not include special projects like organizing the kitchen cabinets, the dining room, cleaning the hall closet, or interior house painting. Or diet and exercise, for that matter. So here's what I have been doing INSTEAD of diet and exercise:

My Mother's Day gift from the 3 spawn, for mucking around in the garden.

We completed a refinance to save some money, and treated ourselves afterward!

I added paint to the master bathroom. Still no color in the bedroom.

Spring sprung up all over outside. These are the bleeding hearts the boys bought me last year and planted for Mother's Day!

Painted daughter's room, along with both of the boys' rooms (this being the girly pinkish lilac color chosen by my gal).

This used to be a fire place! Very inefficient, so we reformatted for a wood stove and covered the bricks with stone. LOVE!

Hubs built me a few raised garden beds as additions to the one we had already. I slapped on the boots and got planting! The amount of time and care is not so bad once everything is in the ground but then again the weeds haven't started...

Happily married for 10 years! Out on a fondue date with my parents.


So the scale today said 217.4, and there were dimples in places where there ought not be dimples, at least after 4 years old (and fo shizzle not at my age, dammit). I had a brief burst of exercising in January/February but my low hemoglobin didn't let me get anywhere so I did something about it, started taking iron, etc. It's been about 6 weeks now and I am thinking I should try again. Needless to say we have not been just sitting around during that time either. Hopefully I will be able to start making headway on the exercise front now that I have 2 school-age children!

The next step, our diet as a family, is going to hopefully be greatly augmented by the foods we grow and pick ourselves, with a few supplements at the farmer's market. I have been making a few runs at baking bread as well, with some success. Here is a list of our garden contents:

  • basil
  • broccoli
  • butternut squash
  • cabbage
  • carrots
  • cauliflower
  • chives
  • cucumbers
  • eggplant
  • green beans
  • green peppers
  • lettuce
  • onions
  • potatoes
  • spinach
  • strawberries
  • swiss chard
  • tomatoes
  • thyme
  • watermelon
I have never grown some of these things, and no idea on the proper amounts to plant so it's a big experiment but seeds are fairly cheap so why not? And under that same heading I had no success last year with carrots or melons, limited success with potatoes, a pumpkin (needs too much room) or tomatoes (topsy turvy was dumb!), and whole bounty of cucumbers. Right now I am just happy to see the seeds sprouting and the plants flourishing. Will be even happier when the potatoes start to shoot up too!

We will likely be supplemented by habaneros, zucchini and yellow squash from the dear MIL, tree fruits from my bestie, and whatever else we need from local u-pick places as desired for canning projects.  Not sure if we are going to purchase part of a meat source this year or not, since we still have abundant deer meat available. Right now we are deciding if we would like to raise chickens or ducks starting possibly in the fall for eggs and the occasional poultry.

This past year I have been refining my personal goals a bit. I don't know how likely it is for me to be down to a size 12 again (let alone maintain it!), but I could be happier with improved cardiovascular health. I could be thrilled with a smaller grocery bill. I could be ecstatic to harvest fresh food right out of my back yard! And speaking plainly, I will be wearing a swim suit whether people want to look at me or not. I have three kids, and a busy life, and things will come together when they come together. In the mean time I hope I can improve our family health and well-being with these few small steps. And hopefully document it along the way.

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