The start of a new week…I couldn’t be happier 🙂  Last week was brutal with the never-ending flu. It got really bad for a bit. I had to have Justin stay home to take care of the kids. I could barely stand up. I was on the verge of going in for an IV…but finally started to turn around. It’s been over a week since my flu started, and I’m still not 100% back to normal. At least I’m getting there.

Needless to say I did not do a whole lot around the house last week. I’m starting to dig us out of the mess that accumulated and the bathrooms have been scrubbed. Yesterday I did finally get our craft area organized. I’m so excited about that. I think Rebecca is too. We also had three days in a row of evenings out and late bed times. So I didn’t have evenings to get things done either. We’re all hoping to take it easy today and get ready for the week.

Tomorrow morning I am having a gall bladder ultrasound. We’ll see if that shows anything. We’re looking forward to trick-or-treating on Wednesday. Thursday I have an appointment with my psychologist. I’m anxious to report back to her our findings from the various meetings we’ve had lately (all positive stuff :). This is also a Mom Break week. Hopefully we can go this time.

My to-do list is pretty similar this week to last week since I didn’t get much done. I want to make pudding, toothpaste, deodorant, something sourdough and roast beets and squash. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll actually do some sewing this week…maybe.

With the flu my tummy was all over the place last week. I went from one extreme to the other. I was in a lot of pain. My diet was poor because I was just trying to get anything down that I could stomach (like pizza, pop and powerade…eek). I learned that I for sure can’t do egg whites. Let’s just say I was not happy after breakfast on Friday. I was tempted to have Justin come home again because I was in so much pain and couldn’t stand up. Thankfully it eased up a little by the time Abram woke up.

So for the last couple days I’ve been trying to give my body a little break. I’m kind of doing a modified GAPS intro for a few days. I’ve been living on chicken broth, white rice and pureed winter squash. After the flu everything was so inflamed and unstable. I just had to hit the reset button. I can’t say things have been perfect since then. But they have been much calmer. I re-read the GAPS intro diet. I’m kind of following it except I’m also eating rice. I need something more solid in my tummy or else it starts to get spastic.

You may wonder if I’m doing GAPS again now. No. I’m not. This is not a huge change where I’m modifying my diet for the next year. This is a very temporary thing. I just need to give my body a break for a few days and hopefully experience some much needed healing. I’ll move through the stages over the course of a few days. I started with just rice and broth. Then I added squash. Maybe today I’ll add egg yolks and avocado.

I’m still reading about yeast/candida and histamines. I’ve been avoiding foods with those for a few days as well. It’s been a lot easier this time around doing GAPS intro. Knowing it’s so temporary makes it so much easier mentally. The hardest part is figuring out what to have for snacks. I haven’t been perfect. But I still feel like I’m doing my body a favor by giving my gut a rest and some easy-to-digest nourishment.

On to the menu for this week. The first couple days I’ll be making regular meals for the family but sticking to GAPS foods myself. Then I’ll start expanding my diet. I did try to plan more GAPS-legal meals this week to keep helping my tummy. I’m also re-doing last week’s “Take it out Tuesday” and doing grain/nut free. We’ll see how it goes.
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S (prep lunch, church, make pudding, prep smoothies, decorate pumpkins)
  B – pancakes, fruit
  L – cp beef roast w/ potatoes, carrots and onions
  D – grilled pb and honey sandwiches, beans, butterscotch pudding

M (make toothpaste, make deodorant, GB, PS, clean)
  B – smoothie, fruit
  D – loaded baked potato w/ spaghetti sauce, cheese, broccoli, home canned applesauce

Take it out Tuesday – grain/nut free (chop veggies, prep breakfast, strain kefir, skim cream, make mayo, make ice cream , KM, CCS, prep squash)
  B – baked apples w/ vanilla yogurt
  D – gf salmon cakes (w/ coconut and bacon), roasted cauliflower, home canned applesauce

W (bake/freeze squash, roast beets, cook lentils, PS, makehot fudge, T-O-T)
  B – smoothie
  D – (easy clean up) – stuffed squash w/ bacon, lentils, peas and cheese, custard

Th (bake muffins or sweet bread for MB, prep dinner, Dr. V., WT, prep breakfast)
  B – baked apples, muffins
  D – (prep ahead) – cp roast chicken (make broth), beans, scalloped potatoes

F (organize or sew, prep food for MB, MB, PS)
  B – crockpot pumpkin custard
  D – bacon cheeseburgers, sweet potato fries, broccoli

S (organize and/or sew, clean, orchard?)
  B – bacon, toast, custard
  D – chicken nuggets, peas, roasted squash

We made it through another day/night. The flu has gone through our house…and doesn’t seem to want to leave. Abram had a very mild case last weekend. Then Rebecca got it on Wed. morning. I came down with it Thurs. evening. And Rebecca and I are still not over it. Fever, aches, chills…then you feel a little better for a while…then it comes back…over and over and over. It’s pretty miserable. Rebecca had to miss her first field trip, and we couldn’t go to MomBreak. I hope it’s done soon so we can get on with life 😛  We’re too busy this week to be sick.

In addition to our usual activities, we’ll be meeting with Rebecca’s teacher to see how things are going. We’re having dinner with our host family from church (a chance to get to know some people better). We have Bible study. And we might stop by the PeaceLab open house (the place I take yoga). We’ll see if we need to make another trip to the dentist. Rebecca knocked a tooth loose last week, so we’re watching it for now. I would like to make a trip to the orchard and Heffron Farms soon, but I don’t think it’ll happen this week.

Since we were sick half of the week I didn’t get a whole lot done. I’ll try to make up for it this week. I want to keep working on organizing the house. If time allows I can work on sewing. In the kitchen I’d like to roast beets, bake squash and make yogurt, toothpaste and deodorant.

I’ve decided to make Tuesdays my “free” days. This week we’ll be doing grain and nut free.

Last week I had a check up with my colon surgeon. Turns out I don’t have the problem I thought I did/that I had a few months ago. So we’re trying a new treatment. So far I haven’t noticed any profound improvement. I’ll give it a week or so and call back if it’s not working. He said it’s kind of trial and error. I did set up a gall bladder ultrasound. That’s next week. I’m curious to see if that shows anything.

Aside from that I’ve been doing more research and trying to listen to my body. Last week I had some pretty severe headaches again. It could have been from the flu, but it felt more like my typical die off headache…and it came after one week of using a little sour cream every day. It was also when I ate sourdough bread for a couple days. So I’m not sure which was the bigger culprit. But I’ve determined I can’t eat sourdough 🙁

I’m starting to learn that my body is so sensitive to fermented and cultured food. I thought they were supposed to be so good for you…but they always seem to make me feel rotten. So as always I did some more digging. I ran across something called histamine intolerance. I’m wondering if avoiding foods with a high histamine content would be helpful.

I’ve also been researching candida a little more. My friend was nice enough to send me her prescribed candida diet. Interesting information. I found it very fascinating that her instructions say to avoid ferments. And I learned that dealing with candida is largely about avoiding yeast and fructose. Not an easy task. I’ll have to look at my base diet (what I seem to tolerate at the moment) combined with low histamine foods and foods without yeast or fructose. I’m not sure there would be much left 😛  Sometimes it seems that all of the things I’ve been doing for so long that are in general so  healthy (ferments, cultures, only using honey for a sweetener (pure fructose), etc.) just might be the problem for some people, like me.

I have heard that glandulars can be helpful in dealing with candida. So I’m looking into that as well. I already take medication for my thyroid…but it is synthetic. I wonder if glandulars would be more helpful.

Lots to think about. I’ll keep researching and experimenting. I’ll see what comes of the gall bladder ultrasound. And go from there. I might see a new doctor…the same one my friend goes to.

On to the menu and plans for the week. Hopefully we’re all feeling good enough to keep up.
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S (cook beans, prep lunch, church, prep smoothies) (sick)
  B – leftover waffles
  L – cp meatloaf, baked sweet potatoes, beans, biscuits w/ jam
  D – (separate) – pita bread w/ hummus, 

M (milk, ps, teacher mtg, prep squash) (sick)
  B – smoothie, tbd yogurt, zucchini cake
  D – pork chops, scalloped sweet potatoes and apples, corn

Take it out Tuesday – grain/nut free (bake squash, roast beets, make yogurt, skim cream?, km, prep squash, prep smoothies) (SICK)
  B – yogurt, granola
  D – bacon cheeseburgers, sweet potato fries, beans order pizza

W (bake squash, make toothpaste and deodorant, meijer, ps, co-op)
  B – smoothie, tbd english muffin
  D – (separate) – stuffed squash (with bacon, peas and navy beans), pears spaghetti

Th (make yogurt, make toothpaste, make deodorant, EJ, host dinner)
  B – yogurt, muffins
  D – w/ friends

F (sewing, ps, open house, Bible study)
  B- yogurt, fruit, granola
  D – scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, peas, bananas nachos w/ avocado bean dip, sour cream, salsa, olives, cheese

S (clean, dinner w/ family?)
  B – pancakes
  D – spaghetti, carrots out to eat or TBD

Apples, apples and more apples. That was my week last week. I made and canned applesauce four days in a row. Then made dried apples the next. Instead of doing a bunch of different projects I decided to just keep going until I worked through our big stash of apples. I now have 52 jars of applesauce in the pantry (a combo of quarts and pints…some are still leftover from last year) and a big bag of dried apples. Turns out that Abram loves dried apples. Before I could even put them away he kept coming into the kitchen and grabbing them off the dehydrator tray, two at a time. I may have to make another batch soon. Now I have just a handful of apples left for some baking.

Aside from apples I did squeeze in a batch of pesto, soaked graham crackers, yogurt, ice cream and bagels (our best batch yet…I think that Rebecca is a better bagel maker than I am…I may have to have her always help me :P). And Rebecca and I got a second Mommy/daughter date at a local ballet company seeing Cinderella. What fun. I also finally got to go to a Mom’s Night Out! A much needed night to chat with other adults. And I tried some of my new Norwex products. Wow!!! I may have to do a separate review on them sometime. Maybe once I’ve tried all of the ones I got. Best cleaning products ever and so safe. All you  need is water 🙂

This week has our usual activities. We were supposed to see my family today to celebrate my (baby;) brother’s 30th birthday, but Abram’s been sick so we’ll have to skip it. Happy Birthday, Dan!!!! I go back to my colon surgeon this week. Fingers crossed that I actually get some help. I haven’t seen much improvement since I talked to him last. So we’ll see what happens…if he suggests other tests, other treatments or maybe even surgery. Who  knows. If time allows I’d like to do some shopping. I’m in serious need of fall/winter clothes.

Since I focused on apples last week I had to skip some of my other work. We’ll see if I can get to it this week. I want to bake and freeze squash, roast beets, bake with apples (maybe a tart), sew, make pesto, make something sourdough and possibly wheat thins and/or vanilla wafers. I might try a soaked version. I also still need to make toothpaste and deodorant. I did do a little cleaning/organizing this morning. I want to continue that project, but I need to get some storage bins. Maybe next week when I go to the store.

I had an up and down week. Abram is winding down with nursing. He’s mostly down to just at night. So my body is trying to adjust. Hormones go a little crazy. And my weight even went up a little for a few days. I realized that for over two years now my body has had to provide nourishment to another person. That’s a lot of work! All of a sudden I don’t need quite as many calories to mostly just nourish myself. The whole process is exciting (a bit more freedom 🙂 and sad.

I’m still trying to figure out diet stuff. That never ends. With some of the recent developments/information from my psychologist I wonder about both my diet and Rebecca’s diet. I keep wondering about GAPS again. But not the same way as before. The first time around I didn’t really know what I was doing. Now I know what my body needs and some of the big mistakes you can make. For now I’m trying to focus on high carb/non grain foods. I still eat small amounts of wheat and white rice, but not a lot. I was bad about broth last week. I need to get some out/make more and keep up with that. And for food focus on squash, pumpkin, beans, honey and some dried fruit. Lots of vegetables. I ate white beans four days in a row last week! And both Abram and I did fine. So exciting!!! I love beans, but I’ve had to avoid them for so long. I want to try to have them on hand more often now. Bring on the hummus! I also want to try coconut flour again and see if we tolerate it better now. That would be helpful to have a few coconut flour baked goods once in a while. It helps with my carb intake and keeps me from wanting tons of wheat products. I would also view GAPS as a very temporary diet. Not a two year thing. At least to start and see how things go. I’m definitely not ready to start GAPS at the moment. But I’m going to try to eat closer to full GAPS, focusing on what I know works for me.

I’m getting started with Village Green Network. I’m very excited. You’ll notice a few blog updates. It’s still a work in progress. Let me know what you think/if you have any suggestions.
On to the menu. I had to throw it together yesterday and haven’t updated it since we figured out we weren’t going away today. So I’ll try to adjust it and may update things as the week goes on.
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S (clean/organize, church, birthday celebration, prep smoothies)
  B – english muffin, grapes
  L – (light) – crackers w/ ham and cheese, peas, chips, fruit or leftover cheeseburger cups
  D – stuffed french toast, apples, bacon

M (prep dinner, make pesto, roast beets, PS, DENTIST, prep squash)
  B – french toast, smoothie
  D – cheesy pesto chicken, garlic noodles, peas / make broth

T (skim cream, make sc, bake/freeze squash, freeze broth, prep dinner, prep breakfast, make pudding, KM, Dr. L., CCS)
  B – granola, yogurt, fruit
  D – (prep ahead, soft foods) – cp meatloaf or pork chops, baked sweet potatoes fresh pea squash broccoli soup, cinnamon raisin swirl bread

W (bake w/ apples, make sd muffins, Field Trip, soak flour) (sick kid)
  B – smoothie, sd muffins
  D – sweet and sour meatballs over squash, beans misc.

Th (sewing, freeze peppers, prep breakfast/lunch, soak flour, make wheat thins and/or vanilla wafers, prep squash) (sick/sick kid)
  B – sd bread, fruit
  D – TBD soup, soaked biscuits sweet and sour meatballs over squash, beans, rice

F (make biscuits, make toothpaste and deodorant, bake/freeze squash, MB) (sick/sick kid)
  B – biscuits w/ honey, fruit
  D – quiche, biscuits, peas

S (sewing, hooping?, shopping?, Critter Barn? make ice cream) (sick)
  B – sd bread, fruit
  D – salmon, roasted potatoes, broccoli

A chilly fall morning here. Perfect morning to have leftover soup for breakfast 🙂

We survived a busy weekend with out of town family. Everyone had a great time. We got to meet our future sister-in-law and celebrate my father-in-law’s birthday (with special dairy free cupcakes with homemade frosting). This week should be a bit more “normal” now. We have our usual activities. I might go to a Mom’s Night Out. I go back and forth because it’s hard to find just about anything I can eat at a restaurant. But I do enjoy a rare opportunity to socialize with other adults once in a while. We might be joining a small group at church. We’re still waiting to hear about some details. And there is a fall festival at church on Saturday. No farmer’s market anymore. Last week was the end of ours.

I have quite a bit I’d like to get done in the kitchen this week. I need to make more yogurt, pesto and soaked graham crackers. I also need to get going on more applesauce. I need to use up the apples we have, plus my father-in-law brought a bunch more. He also brought lots of squash, so I’ll be baking/freezing that too at some point. I would like to do a baking project with Rebecca this week – either soft pretzels or bagels. I want to work on some of my organizing projects and possibly sew. I also want to make toothpaste and deodorant. This may be way too ambitious. We’ll see how the week goes.

I had a good appointment with my psychologist last week. We talked quite a bit about what I was doing to take care of myself…hmmm. My doctor says I need to take some time for me. Like take an evening to just go do something by myself or with some other ladies once in a while. I know I could use a break…and it really is good for my sanity/mental health. It’s just hard to do. But I will try…and hopefully Justin will help make it possible. We did talk about some other stuff that is a bit overwhelming. Maybe I’ll touch more on that in the future when we have more concrete answers. For now I’m just researching and praying.

On a more exciting note, our Mom Break speaker on Friday was from a neat place called Family Tree Therapies.  I really think they will be a great resource for us. I hope to take Rebecca there someday in the near future.

One other exciting thing is that I was asked to join Village Green Network! It’s a network of Real Food bloggers. I’m very excited for this new opportunity. And I think there will be some blog changes in the future. I’ve got a lot of work to do!

So on to this week. Here’s what’s on the menu for now. Today we have lots of leftovers to use up from our weekend of hosting. And we’re going to Rebecca’s Restaurant for pizza tonight 🙂  Our “free” day this week will be gluten free.

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S (organize office, church, make pizza dough/sauce, prep smoothies, soak flour)
  B – sd pumpkin muffins, zucchini bread, muesli w/ milk and yogurt, fruit, smoothies
  L – leftover roast beef, carrots and potatoes, baked beans, beer bread
  D – RR – made to order pizzas (chx sausage, peppers, onions, olives), milkshakes

M (make yogurt, make pesto, make soaked graham crackers, milk, ps)
  B – smoothie, soaked baked oatmeal
  D – ham and pesto pasta w/ homemade noodles, peas, garlic toast

T (skim cream, make/can applesauce, km, make ice cream, CCS)
  B – muffin, zucchini bread, grapes
  D – stuffed peppers, corn, pears

W (make/can applesauce, Meijer, ps, WT, soak flour) (Gluten Free Day)
  B – muesli, yogurt, fruit
  D – hot taco rice

Th (make/can applesauce, make bagels, MNO)
  B – muesli w/ milk
  D – (me – out to eat) – cheeseburger cups, beans, applesauce

F (make/can applesauce, Bible study)
  B – bagel w/ pb
  D – leftover cheeseburger cups

S(organize closet/shelf, Fall festival)
  B – TBD
  D – croque madame

Good (yaaawwnn) morning. I think Abram finally went back to sleep. He’s been up for about the last 3 hours 🙁  Time for another round of sleep training I think. He’s at the point where he doesn’t fall asleep when he nurses. So he has to figure out some way to self sooth. Hopefully it won’t be a long process.

Last week was a bit draining on me since I didn’t get a lot of sleep (for obvious reasons :P) and I did not feel very good (honestly I felt completely rotten). But I managed to get the necessities done. I only did one batch of applesauce. I also made brownies (Justin needed a dessert for work), apple crisp, yogurt, ice cream and  my niece’s baptism cake. Rebecca and I also made crayons (post to come), set up a restaurant and did some leaf rubbings.

This week will be busy with family stuff. Today we will be visiting my whole family for the baptism. Monday is preschool. Tuesday is farmer’s market and kindermusik. I also have an appt. with my psychologist. Wednesday is preschool and Mommy and Me night for Rebecca’s class. I’m excited to meet the other moms. Thursday I need to make a quick trip to Meijer for fresh produce for the weekend. Friday we have MomBreak in the morning and preschool in the afternoon. Then Justin’s parents will be coming for the weekend. Saturday Justin’s brother and his fiance will be here. We’ll spend a good portion of the day with them at a picnic lunch and dinner at our house. We’re excited to meet Haylee for the first time! Justin’s parents will go to church with us on Sunday as well. It’ll be a busy weekend for sure.

So most of the stuff I do this week will be in preparation for the weekend. Cleaning, baking, etc. I’m hoping to make pesto, sour cream, muesli, cupcakes and maybe a pie. I also need to get fall decorations up. I think Rebecca will enjoy helping with that.

Like I mentioned last week was pretty rough. My body is going through another bad round of die off from using apple cider vinegar as a digestive aid. Unfortunately it works so well that now my body is trying to get rid of lots of junk…but it doesn’t know how. So that leaves me with digestive problems, cystic acne (not really acne…more like fluid filled bumps mostly on my face and scalp that look and feel awful), fatigue, irritability, headaches, bloating, swelling/joint/muscle pain, sores in my mouth, burning tongue,…lots of unpleasant stuff. I think I’m on the upswing, but I’m still struggling. It usually lasts two weeks. This is week two. Hopefully I can still feel ok for our party today. And hopefully I’ll be doing better by the weekend. Nothing like hosting family/overnight guests/meeting new family when you feel rotten :\  Hopefully I’ll have enough energy to get done what I need to. I’ve been really dragging the last few days. I’ve had to force myself to keep moving.

I’m still trying to figure out what (if any) supplements are helping. And I’m researching candida. Sometimes I feel like my body is full of toxins/yeast/bad bacteria that I need to get rid of. But then again some people don’t even think candida is real. Every time I add some kind of cultured or fermented food to my diet I have more die off. So it seems like something is in there causing problems. Even just eating some yogurt and sour cream with lunch a few days this week seems to have made things flair again. It’s all so confusing still. I just keep praying and trusting that God will meet my needs each day. He has a plan, and He is in control of this crazy roller coaster I’m on.

Here’s what’s on the menu this week.
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S – (prep dinner, church/baptism/family party, prep smoothies)
  B – zucchini cake, banana
  L – at party
  D – RR – mac ‘n’ cheese, corn, applesauce, chocolate milk

M (make hot fudge, make pudding, ps, make mayo)
  B – smoothie, zucchini cake
  D – fried chicken, peas, roasted potatoes

T (skim cream, make sc, prep dinner, freeze peppers, fm, km, Dr. V.)
  B – soft boiled egg, toast
  D – (prep ahead) – cp tomato soup, grilled cheese

W (make decorations, make muesli, chop vegetables, ps, m/m, wt)
  B – smoothie, muffins
  D – (light/easy clean up) – pork chops w/ apples over rice, carrots

Th (make cupcakes, clean, Good Will, Meijer, make ice cream)
  B – english muffin, yogurt
  D – pan white fish, baked potatoes, beans

F (soak beans, soak oats, frost/decorate cupcakes, MB, ps, Voogts, prep smoothies)
  B – cold cereal w/ milk, banana
  D – cp beef roast w/ vegetables, sd muffins, applesauce, cupcakes, ice cream

S (soak flour, prep yogurt, make beans, Voogts/picnic)
  B – soaked baked oatmeal, yogurt, fruit
  L – picnic (bring baked beans)
  D – (dairy free) – squash/chx soup, beer bread, peppers and carrot sticks, cupcakes

Sun (make biscuits, Voogts)
  B – soaked biscuits w/ butter/jam/pb/ab, smoothies, muesli w/ milk, fruit

Good morning. Hello fall! Yep, it’s officially here…and it feels like it. The heat is on in our house. I’ve added blankets to our bed. Brr. And we can add to the list of fall fun…colds for both of the kids already. Hopefully they will be short lived. At any rate, the kids and I won’t be going to church today.

This week will be another busy one. Tonight I’m going to a Norwex party. Monday is milk pick up and preschool. Tuesday is farmer’s market, Kindermusik and a filling for me 🙁  Wednesday is groceries and preschool. The rest of the week is actually free. Friday is Grandparents’ Day at school…so there is no preschool.

I’ll be busy in the kitchen trying to make a couple more batches of applesauce (I did 2 last week). I’ll also be making my niece’s baptism cake. I’m not sure I’ll be doing a lot more than that. Probably yogurt. Maybe ice cream. Nothing major.

Last week I finally made it to a West MI Bloggers meeting. It was so much fun to finally meet in person some bloggers I “know” and to meet some new people as well.

I also ended up going to my regular doctor for a pain in my arm. Turns out I have tendinitis (golfer’s elbow). So I’m using an arm band, icing, doing exercises. I hope it heals quickly.

After watching an episode of the Dr. Oz show I was reminded of how important it is for me (my body type) to keep working on getting a high enough ratio of carbs to fat and protein in my diet. It is such a struggle for me after telling myself for so long that grains are bad and living on meat and fat. I’m not always a big fan of Dr. Oz. He’s smart and has some good things to say. But some things are just bologna 😛  Anyway, he was talking about metabolism types. Nothing new for me. But it just reminded me to keep working on bumping up my carbs and lowering my fat. He said 70-80% carbs, 10-20% protein, 10% fat. I know I’m not even close to that carb/fat ratio. But I’ve been trying to improve this week. I think it helps. I just have to get rid of the mental stigma I have about eating a larger serving of grains and not covering them with butter or coconut oil 😛  And I have to be sure I’m not just getting carbs from sweets. I seem to do well with wheat and white rice. So I’ve been eating quite a bit of them. Add in a good portion of vegetables. Then a little protein and fat.

I got more new supplements on Friday. I’m starting them today. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll also be getting a magnesium supplement on Tuesday. I’m anxious to try that. And I started the medication from my colon surgeon.

That being said, I’m doing so-so right now. Still frustrating some days. But I’m trying to just keep pushing. And I know that last week wasn’t the best due to major lack of sleep. Rebecca and Abram were both up a lot in the night from their colds. So I didn’t get much sleep at all. And I could really tell in my mood. Wow. Even I didn’t want to be around me 😛  I could hear myself and feel  myself being so moody/impatient. But I felt like I didn’t know how to change it. It showed me just how important sleep is. That’s something I still need to work on…really need to work on.

One last note…I think we might start the potty training process with Abram this week. He is young (16m), but he totally understands it. He knows when he’s wet or dirty. And if you ask him he’ll nod yes or say no. If you talk about being stinky he says “pa, pa” (potty) and grabs his diaper. And he’ll grunt. It’s quite comical 😛  Anyway, we might give it a go. Knowing him he’ll do it right away. Since he was born he’s wanted to be able to do everything his sister does. He keeps up with her running around the house. He climbs on things with her. He eats in a regular chair like her. He won’t touch baby food (hasn’t for a LONG time). So who knows. Maybe he’ll be much easier to potty train than Rebecca.

On to the menu.
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S (prep lunch, church, prep smoothies, NW)
  B – leftover sausage, pancake muffins, fruit
  L – “favorite casserole”, broccoli, garlic toast
  D – leftover cheeseball w/ graham crackers, tortilla chips w/ salsa, beef snack sticks, carrot sticks, grapes

M (make/can applesauce, milk, ps)
  B – smoothie, TBD from freezer
  D – cheeseburgers, baked sweet potatoes, peas

T (skim cream, make yogurt, fm, km, dentist)
  B – hard boiled egg, toast
  D – (prep ahead) – leftover casserole

W (make/can applesauce, Meijer, ps, make ice cream, Justin out for dinner)
  B – smoothie, TBD from freezer
  D –  Rebecca’s Restaurant

Th (make cake deco, bake cake)
  B – yogurt, granola, fruit
  D – butternut squash risotto, beans, fruit

F (bake cake)
  B – cold soaked cereal with milk
  D – grilled “cheese” sandwiches, squash, fruit

S (crumb coat/frost cake, decorate cake)
  B – cinnamon sugar toast, fruit
  D – salmon cakes, herb rice, peas

We made it through our first week of fall chaos. I think we all survived. Although Rebecca was so worn out by the end of the week. Friday she went to her room for a little quiet time before dinner. I called her at dinner time…and got no answer. She was out cold 😛  This is my girl that NEVER naps. Poor thing. We’re still adjusting to the school routine, but Rebecca loves going. That makes it easier on everyone.

I had another good appointment with my psychologist. We have some new things to try with Rebecca now.

I also had some fun in the kitchen. And I have quite a few recipe posts to catch up on.

From here on out we’ll be very busy I think. Justin is getting more involved with music at church, and he’ll be starting orchestra rehearsal soon too. I’ve also got some extra events coming up.

Today is church. Monday is preschool. Tuesday is farmer’s market and Kindermusik. And possibly more nutritional testing. Plus I’m finally going to a West MI Bloggers meeting! I can only stay for the first hour, but I’m looking forward to it. Wednesday is preschool, co-op pick up and Justin’s first worship team rehearsal. Friday is our first day of Mom Break (formerly MOPS). I’m not sure how that will go since Abram still does not really handle nurseries well. We’ll see. We also have preschool.

I have a lot I would like to do in the kitchen this week. Plus on top of all the stuff I had planned we went to the orchard yesterday and stocked up on apples and some squash. So now I have to work on canning and freezing that. Here is my list of things I’d like to make. I’m sure I won’t get to all of them, but I’ll give it a try: yogurt, fermented punch, smoothies, kefir, sour cream, homemade noodles, broth, sd english muffins, bagels, cookies, cream cheese and graham crackers. Plus make and can applesauce and bake and freeze squash. I didn’t get as much sewing done last week as I had hoped. And from the looks of it I won’t have much time for it this week. I really would like to keep working on it (I’m finally at the fun part…the actual sewing!) but it’s not a priority.

Not too much to report on myself. I tried a new supplement…and stopped it. It didn’t seem to be helping. I’m taking note of some more acute sensitivities. I’m realizing just how sensitive I am to nuts…even a small amount…even pureed (a little almond butter sandwich last week was not the best choice :\ ). Boy was I in pain the next day. So it must be the composition of the nut and not the texture. For me nuts = severe inflammation of my entire body. I’m also noticing that I can’t have anything with soy lecithin. I know I react strongly to soy. I don’t make anything with soy, and we don’t eat much packaged food. Just little things here and there. I guess even that little amount once in a while is tough for me. The only two things this really makes me sad about are chocolate chips and ice cream cones. I really need to find a good source for quality cocoa and chocolate chips that don’t have soy. And I need to keep working on perfecting homemade ice cream cones 🙂  New project…

I’m also becoming more and more suspicious of egg whites. Which is so sad. I LOVE eggs. But I’m wondering if I have a hard time with the whites the same way I do with muscle meats. It’s a tough protein to break down. Thankfully I think I still do well with egg yolks (especially raw)…which is the best part. But we eat egg dishes all the time. And I don’t want one more thing I “can’t” eat. But every time I make quiche or egg casseroles I have a hard time. And was always confused since eggs were on my good list. There wasn’t anything I could think of really that would cause problems except maybe the milk. Then we had poached eggs on Friday…and Saturday morning already I was not doing well. And there are no extra ingredients in those…just eggs. I can add 3 or 4 yolks to something I’m eating and do just fine. But if I have something with the whole egg it doesn’t go so well.

I’ve also been thinking back and trying to remember if there was ever a time that my digestive system functioned well. The only time I can think of is high school (I say “well” in relative terms). The major dietary difference I had back then was that I ate extremely low fat. I don’t consider a low fat diet to be a good one. But knowing that I likely have gallbladder problems I struggle with digesting fat. So I’m going to try to tone down on it a bit. I want to clarify that I’m not planning to eat low fat. I just need to cut back since my diet in general is very high in fat. See if that helps at all. I may also try switching to refined coconut oil instead of unrefined. I think that maybe be bothering me too.

On to the menu for this week. I’m sure some things will change as I figure out what I do and don’t have time for. And I might try to swap in a Rebecca recipe.
———————
S (make yogurt, prep lunch, church, make ice cream, prep smoothies, make kefir)
  B – cinnamon rolls
  L – cp bbq chicken and sweet potato corn medley
  D – leftover cream cakes, leftover pea soup, veggies, fruit

M (soak beans, bake/freeze squash, prep dinner, PS, make applesauce)
  B – smoothie, granola bar
  D – cp roast chicken, rice, roasted brussels sprouts and cauliflower

T (skim cream, make sc, strain/freeze broth, prep dinner, can applesauce, FM, KM, NT?, WMB, soak flour)
  B – yogurt, fruit, granola
  D – (separate) – cp chili, crackers w/ cheese

W (make sd muffins, make noodles, PS, co-op, WT, make cream cheese)
  B – smoothie, tbd
  D – (eat whenever) – chicken noodle soup, sd muffins

Th (make bagels?, make cookies?, make applesauce)
  B – sd english muffin
  D – taco cheesecake

F (can applesauce, MB, PS)
  B – bagels
  D – yogurt, pancake sausage muffins, fresh fruit, peas

S (make graham crackers, make cheese ball, clean)
  B – pancake muffins
  D – chocolate chip cheese ball w/ graham crackers, sausage, fresh fruit, beans

Last week was kind of slow and long. We were home all day the last couple of days. And now that Abram has decided he only wants to climb on things and has mastered climbing pretty much every piece of furniture in about 3 seconds I can’t leave his side. If you step out of his line of vision he thinks he’s cleared for making trouble. So it’s been a bit draining. Plus the usual stuff with Rebecca. And Justin had to work late a couple nights and go in to work Saturday morning. So no breaks. At least I did manage to get a lot of organizing and cleaning done yesterday. And I got my articles for Real Food and Health sent off. So I can get back to playing catch up on my blog. Now I’m trying to enjoy my few moments of peace and quiet. I know it won’t last long.

One big thing did happen last week – we had Rebecca’s preschool open house. It went well. And we are very excited to start…tomorrow! But it also made me nervous. I’m not sure I’m ready to let my little girl go 😛  I have so many things that I’m anxious about/curious to see how they will go. Things that probably most parents don’t really have to think about. Oddly enough the least of my concerns is her academics. I hope she enjoys learning Spanish and picks it up quickly. Knowing her she’ll have it down in about a week 😛

We also saw family for the holiday. We had a great time with everyone!

So this week will not be boring for sure. Today is church and a fall kick off potluck. Monday is milk pick up and the first day of preschool! I hope we can get our schedule/nap time, etc. worked out ok to get Rebecca dropped off and picked up on time. Tuesday is farmer’s market and the first day of Kindermusik! Wednesday is groceries and preschool. Thursday I have a psychologist appointment. Friday is preschool. Saturday Rebecca and I are going to an American Girl tea party at a local church for our mommy/daughter date. I hope Abram does ok with all of the coming and going and fitting into Rebecca’s schedule.

I did get started on a sewing project last week. I still need to finish cutting out the fabric. After that I think it will come together pretty quickly. Hopefully I’ll have time this week.

I’m not planning to do too much in the kitchen this week. I want there to be as little mess and stress as possible for our first week of school. If I’m trying to do a million things it will make us all stressed…not what we want. I would like to make a new batch of soaked graham crackers and pesto. Maybe some more sour cream. I did not get around to making cinnamon rolls last week since I had to bake for the potluck. So maybe this week.

I hear my peace and quiet quickly coming to an end 🙁

I’m doing ok. My friend and I are going to start experimenting with supplements since the nutritional testing isn’t proving to be too effective. I do think it pinpointed some areas of concern. But it’s not showing which supplements will work best for me. There are a few reasons for that. Anyway, I’m hoping to start some new supplements soon when I can get together with my friend.

I did figure out that I am very sensitive to anything fermented. I’ve always had a strong reaction to alcohol. One small sip and my whole body tenses up. I realize now that my body does the same thing with anything fermented – fermented punch, vinegar, etc. It even does it if I use much vanilla in something! I don’t know yet what it means, but I’m researching. I’m curious if it’s related to my ability to absorb things.

I’m also looking more into gallbladder stuff. The nutritional testing showed that as an area of concern…and it’s not something I’ve ever really looked into. But I really think I need to. I know I have troubles digesting fat (even though I know it is so healthy!) and I’ve had some sharp pains in my right side lately. I want to get this figured out soon if there really is a problem.

I better get on with the menu. I spent all week chipping away at my articles when my kids would allow. So I had to throw together a menu plan yesterday. Here’s where it’s at for now. It could change depending on how our week is going. It does have one Rebecca recipe. We’re still working out the kinks/trying to figure out what she means 😛

————————-
S (prep eggs, church, potluck, prep smoothies)
  B – leftover egg cups
  L – potluck (bringing deviled eggs and brownies)
  D – goulash, corn, garlic toast

M (sewing, milk, ps, soak flour)
  B – smoothie, TBD from freezer
  D – beef stroganoff, beans

T (skim cream, make graham crackers, soak flour, sewing, fm, nutr. testing, KM)
  B – yogurt, granola, fruit
  D – fried fish, peas, roasted red potatoes

W (make pesto, make graham crackers, meijer, ps)
  B – smoothie, TBD from freezer
  D – zucchini, pepper, chicken stroganoff

Th (prep dinner, make ic?, sewing, Dr. V.)
  B – oatmeal
  D – (prep ahead) – split pea soup, soaked soft pretzels (from freezer)

F (ps, make sweet roll dough)
  B – TBD
  D – poached eggs, toast, roasted vegetables

S (clean, make cinnamon rolls, tea party)
  B – TBD
  D – RR – “noodle cream cakes” – chicken sour cream cake w/ noodles and bread crumbs on top

The start of a new week. And I’m glad. We did have a lot of fun last week (2 trips to the zoo, played at the park, a visit to the library, lots of time outside/playing in the sandbox)…but I also had my share of mishaps. I may or may not have broken my toe on Tuesday (it’s bruised and can’t bend well, but it doesn’t really hurt). I drank some bad coconut water and had some pretty severe stomach aches. I’m still trying to get my tummy back on track now. I smacked my nose into our steel kitchen door (more bruising and bleeding…thankfully it didn’t end up looking too bad). I also dropped a big pack of frozen breakfast cookies on my foot…and have a huge bruise from that. Colds for all of us. Plenty of little daily ups and downs. I’m ready for a fresh start this week.

Today is church. Monday we will be visiting family for the holiday. Tuesday is farmer’s market. Wednesday…it’s finally here…Rebecca’s preschool open house! She and I will be going to her class and meeting the teacher and half of her classmates for an hour. She starts school next week. No other major plans this week. I’m glad we have a little down time before everything starts up next week.

I was crazy lady in the kitchen again last week. I finally started canning, I made a batch of buster bars (updated recipe to come…involved making a batch of chocolate cookies, cream filling, ice cream and fudge sauce) and a REAL cheesecake (updated recipe to come…involved making cream cheese and sour cream). Plus yogurt, kefir, pesto, sd brownies, froze beans, made/froze broth, froze zucchini and made scones.

I think I need to take it easy in the kitchen this week. No more desserts 😛  Hopefully I can spend a little time starting some sewing projects this week. I also really need to organize the kids’ closets and drawers. Hopefully I can get started on that today. I’m not sure what preservation needs to be done this week. Maybe none. Maybe I’ll bake/freeze some more squash. I will likely make more yogurt as well. I’ve been wanting to make cinnamon rolls for a while now. So I might give that a try this weekend. I’ve made them before, but not in a few years at least. We’ll see.

I’m still adjusting to my new supplements and trying to figure out if they are working. I can’t say I’m experiencing any significant improvement at the moment. We’ll see how the week goes.

On to the menu. I haven’t asked Rebecca for much input yet, so one of the meals could change. But she did request waffles, so that is on the menu tonight.
———————-
S (prep lunch, make smoothies, make kefir, church, organize rooms)
  B – banana yogurt, sd blueberry muffins (from freezer)
  L – pork chops w/ dried fruit, rice, squash
  D – waffles, bacon, milkshakes

M (Crossroads)
  B – smoothie, leftover waffles
  L – picnic
  D – grill TBD, fresh beans

T (skim cream, make sc, make yogurt, fm)
  B – oatmeal
  D – zucchini carrot soup, bread (from freezer)

W (sewing, open house)
  B – smoothie, TBD from freezer
  D – hot dog fries, peas, homemade fries

Th (sewing, make ice cream)
  B – sd breakfast cookies, fruit
  D – fried fish, broccoli, baked potato wedges pan seared salmon, rice, peas

F (soak flour, sewing, make mayo, make hot fudge)
  B – yogurt, granola, fruit soaked cereal, fruit
  D – soaked egg cups, carrots, fruit TBD eggs, veggies, fruit

S (make cinnamon rolls, clean)
  B – cinnamon rolls
  D – sloppy joe cups or cheeseburger cups, beans, chips, fruit

The last week of August. The last free days before school starts. Only two more weeks to have my “baby” girl home with me every day. We’re trying to make the most of it.

Last week ended up busier than we had expected. I had a psychologist appointment (doctor had to reschedule) and more nutritional testing (decided to change supplements). We did make it to the zoo and finally got to see the new area that will be the home of tigers in 2014. Can’t wait for that! I went to a more advanced yoga class. It was great! I also had some unexpected kitchen work. Rebecca decided she wanted to try making homemade oreos. And I forgot I had ordered a bunch of broccoli from our co-op. So I had to freeze that. I also froze a bunch of squash from the farmer’s market and more beans from our garden.

This week we have some errands and some fun stuff. Today is church. I’m not sure yet if Abram and I are going. We’ve all had colds the last few days, and Abram hasn’t been sleeping that well…which means I haven’t either. Monday is milk pick up. Tuesday is farmer’s market, and we might go to the library. Wednesday is groceries. Thursday we might go to the zoo again. This is the last week they are open until 6, and we want to make our membership worthwhile. No plans for the weekend yet. Maybe some shopping on Saturday.

We’ll see what I have time for in the kitchen this week. I might finally start some canning and do a batch of spaghetti sauce. I need to make more chicken broth. I’m not sure about other produce preservation. Some other potentials are yogurt, ice cream, cheesecake, sourdough brownies and funnel cakes or whatever else Rebecca comes up with. Really, we don’t live on sweets here 😛

Last week ended much better than it started for me. Going out for dinner and taking the wrong supplements (with soy and oats) just did me in. Thankfully I’ve gotten past that now (at least mostly). I did some more nutritional testing on Friday. So I’ve got a couple new supplements to help with my gall bladder and some general minerals. Last week I also finally tried coconut water. I think it’s my new obsession 😛  I mix it with a little bit of juice. It’s such a refreshing drink. It’s hydrating, and it’s packed with lots of potassium and magnesium. Plus other vitamins and minerals. I wish I had tried it sooner. I drink it throughout the day to keep a steady supply of minerals and keep myself hydrated. I’m still not ready for much fibrous foods. I tried a little this week…which just leads to pain. But on the plus side I did eat some navy beans without Abram having any problems. This is great news for me! I LOVE beans. But haven’t been able to eat them for about a year now. I’m already looking forward to trying some hummus 🙂

I mentioned earlier that I had another psychologist appointment. This one was a little more for Rebecca than for myself. It went well and gave us some good insight. I’m anxious for my next appointment when I can talk to the doctor one-on-one to discuss strategies about how to proceed from here. There may be more posts on this in the future, but not for now. At the moment we’re still trying to figure things out see how school goes.

So, on to another week. Here’s the menu. I’m not sure exactly how Rebecca’s recipe will go this week. She came up with “spaghetti buns.” Spaghetti (noodles and sauce) on hot dog buns. We’ll see.
———-
S (prep lunch, strain kefir, soak lentils, church, prep smoothies)
  B – leftover french toast casserole
  L – crockpot peppercorn steak, rice, carrots
  D – summer sausage, cheese, crackers, peas, fruit, milkshakes

M (cook lentils, bake brownies, milk)
  B – smoothie, TBD from freezer
  D – lentil burgers, roasted red potatoes, beans

T (skim cream, prep dinner, make sour cream, make yogurt, freeze beans, fm, library, make broth, chop fruit)
  B – granola bar, banana yogurt
  D – roast chicken, scalloped potatoes, broccoli

W (strain/freeze broth, make/can spaghetti sauce, freeze zucchini, Meijer, make scones)
  B – smoothie, TBD from freezer
  D – zucchini pesto quiche, squash white chocolate scones, peas

Th (soak flour, make chocolate cookies, freeze zucchini, chop veggies, zoo)
  B – scones, fruit
  D – “spaghetti buns”, corn

F (strain yogurt, make ice cream, make buster bars, soak flour)
  B – quiche
  D – soaked biscuits w/ gravy, leftover quiche, peas, fruit

S (bake bread, clean, make cheesecake)
  B – TBD
  D – BLTPs, squash, fruit OR grill tbd