Getting healthy

Today the hubster and I are on day 10 of a 15 day "reboot".  About 2 months ago I watched the movie, "Fat Sick & Nearly Dead".  I had seen a handful of friends post about it, and a few others actually begin to make their own juices.  After watching the movie, I was determined to try juicing myself.  I've kept more baby weight than I would like, and I love the idea of hitting a reset button so to speak for my body; cleaning things up so I can function better.

I found a Breville juicer on craigslist for HALF of its retail value, and used some birthday money to buy it.  After a few weeks of trying to get hubby's schedule to line up with mine, we finally found a 15 day window to try our reboot.  In the mean time, I tried a few of the bottled juices by Naked from the store.  They were good, so that gave me a bit more confidence going in to this.

We're following the plan outlined by Kelly at No Sugar Sweet Life.  She's a Christian momma from Colorado with a toddler!  Couldn't be more of a better fit for me.  She had great tips on juicing on a budget, being busy, and having to feed your little person, too.  You can find her posts about the reboot HERE under "How do you get started?".

Some of you have asked what juices we've tried, so here's the list.  All of these recipes are from No Sugar Sweet Life's blog, so hit her up and show her some love!

• Carbeeple
• Cucumber Melon
• Homemade V8 (we thought this one was pretty gross... it would more than likely be ok if you didn't add the onion)
• Mean Green (my hubby's favorite and my #2)
• Pink Kale Juice
• Sunset Juice
• Green Energy (recipe on reboot list, phase 2, my FAVORITE!)
• Sweet N Tart Citrus (good but TOO tart for me... also on reboot part 2)

We've also tried two tomato based juices from my juicer manual that were pretty good!

We don't have a scale, so neither of us knows how much we've lost weight-wise, but we can definitely tell that we've each lost a little. My jeans are looser for one thing, and I can feel my sit bones in the chair again.  Also, we both have more energy, and moving actually feels good!  The hubby has lost about an 1 1/2" off his waist.

If we were not heading to Colorado for the Thanskgiving holiday, I would be tempted to extend this juice-only phase a little longer.  Although I am not going to lie, I am SO ready to crunch on something!  (We treated ourselves to hummus w/ carrot sticks, celery, and snap peas during the football game and it was SO SO SO good to EAT.) 

I also noticed (while checking the kid's dinner for temperature for example), that other foods have more flavor now.  EVERYTHING is saltier, milk is richer, and over all fruit is sweeter.  I'm anxious to see how things taste once we're actually done with the 15 days.

I definitely plan to keep juicing regularly, at least a couple of times per week.  I also want to overhaul our regular diet to include more vegetables and smaller portions (and kale... I'm starting to really like it!  Who knew?).  I've always been a pretty healthy eater, but I'm excited to make more changes.  I've been so pleased with the benefits from the past few days (the increase in energy and weight loss) that I'd be silly not to keep it up!  I just feels GOOD!

Let me know if you have other questions.  I hope you'll watch the movie, it's streaming on Netflix, and try making some juices yourself!  You can find more information and TONS of other recipes at: www.jointhereboot.com

50 Years of Memories

This summer, both of my parents turn 50 years old.  (Sorry for spilling your age Mom!)  Their birthdays are just two weeks apart, so this has always made for the perfect opportunity to celebrate them together.   My parents have recently made yet another state-to-state move, and with my youngest siblings graduated from highschool now, they are embarking on some major transition.  I wanted to take the opportunity provided by this "big" birthday to remind them what a major impact they've had through out all the many, many transitions and changes they've overcome in the past 50 years.  I came across this fantastic idea on Pinterest, and took it and made it my own.

In mid-May I set out to contact as many people as I could.   Since it was a surprise, I could hardly ask my mom for all of these addresses out of the blue, so I spent a few hours cruising facebook and whitepages.com.  (Stalker mode: activated!)  I commissioned my sister to sneak into my mom's address book and email account to get more contacts for me.

Then, I sent out an email and a few letters asking people to contribute a memory they had of my parents in the past 50 years.  It could be anything they liked.  The range of responses was fantastic.  I received some hand-written, some typed, but mostly emails.  There were one-liners, narrative paragraphs, snapshot style memories, pages of the impact and impressions they left, or the lessons they had shared along the way.

I took each of the contributions and divided them into 100 envelopes, 50 for my mom and 50 for my dad.  

In the first envelope I placed the following letter:

Mom and Dad,

            You hold in your hands 50 envelopes; what I am calling “50 Years of Memories”.  I have asked as many friends and family members as I could contact without arousing suspicion to write a memory, an anecdote, or an impression you left on them in the past 50 years.  I have responses that range from your births to this past year.

I can’t tell you what a joy it has been to work on this project for you.  It has been a privilege to hear what people think of you and how you shaped their lives.  It has deepened my gratitude to have you as my parents and grown my understanding of who you are as individuals.  I have cried and laughed out loud over the range of responses.  I can’t wait for you to read them!
           

I hope this gift will be a blessing to you.  I hope that it will remind you how much you are loved, how much of an impact you’ve had, and what a treasure you are.  I love you so very much.

With all my heart,
Autumn

Proverbs 31:28

{Their} children arise and call {them} blessed

 (substitutions mine)

I ordered embellishments for the envelopes, decorated them up a bit, stacked them neatly, and sent them off.

Unfortunately, they did not get to open their packages together.   The decorations I ordered for the envelopes took longer than planned to arrive, and I had a few last minute additions.  I was not able to mail them before my mom headed off on a trip, but I was able to get them in their hands before she actually left the country.

I Skyped with each of them separately while they opened them, and they were very touched.  Mom cried of course!  (A sure sign of success amoung the women in our family.)

It really was such a joy to do this.  I loved getting to read stories from their childhoods and hearing other accounts I never would have heard other-wise.  It also taught me that sometimes the moments you share with others leave a far greater impact on their lives, and consequently the lives of their children sometimes, than you may ever realize.

In this crazy, technology saturated world, I hope my little project encourages you to take part in encouraging someone with your written words.  Let somebody know how much they mean to you, how they impacted you, or remind them of a great memory you have together.  The 50 text messages you sent in the past hour will fade away, but the impact you have on another person can last for generations.

"Not Same"

Lately I’ve been feeling “not same”.

    I began teaching my daughter sign language when she was 6 months old.  One of the words she learned later on is “same”.  You stick up your pointer fingers, as if pointing with each hand, and bring them both together so that your fingers touch.  “SAME”.   She is very good at this concept.  She points to the clock in a book then the clock on her wall and says, “Mommy!  Same!”.   When we learned colors she figured out that some things are “not same”.  Yellow pipe cleaner, pink hole.  Not same.

   This week I have been feeling “not same”.  I know in life there are lots of “preferences” that aren’t worth splitting hairs over.   Our pastor eloquently described these as “things written in pencil”, not things written “in blood”.  You split hairs and nations sometimes, over things in blood.  The things that make me “me”, are sometimes blood things, sometimes ink things, and sometimes pencil things.  I feel fairly supported on the blood things and a few of the written in pen things, but it is nice to feel that you have some of these pencil things in common with others, too.

   You see, I am a sorta crunchy but not quite hippy-dippy mama.  We plan to homeschool.  I breastfeed, sometimes cloth diaper (I did say “sorta”), prefer wooden toys that don’t flash, and like vegetables.  A lot.  We’re a poor, hubby-back-in-school-and-mommy-stays-home sort of family so I don’t get to do a lot of things I would like to do; like plant a garden in my 2-5 acres of land, buy organic meats, or keep chickens.  But my heart is there.

   I also like quiet.  I like simple.  My big dreams center on my family unit and enriching our lives together.  I see bigness in small things.  I don’t need rallies, causes, or marches on anything.  I need relationships.  I need one-on-one heart to hearts.  I need the freedom that comes from passing wisdom to another in a wrapping of love and understanding that comes from knowing.  I would rather sit and talk with a scared, young, pregnant mom than march on an abortion clinic.  I would rather share what little I have with a needy friend than run a food drive.  I shy away from sweeping, all-inclusive, lack of personal details things.

   Now, don’t misunderstand.  I know that causes and drives and marches have their place.  This world needs all types, and that includes the people who do “big”.  Lord knows there is a lot of hurt out there and it takes a lot of effort to address it even just a little.  But it also takes those of us who do “small”.

   Lately in my world I seem to be surrounded by people who think big, do big.  A. Lot.  I am overwhelmed by that.  Sometimes it makes me feel foolish in my smallness.  As if I am not doing enough, or being enough.  I feel that I have to measure up, do more to matter.  And other times I feel that I need to cry out to them not to forget the small things; that they are missing their very own lives in the midst of doing all this bigness.  I am “not same”. 

   Lately I am finding it hard to get time with other hearts like mine who sympathize.  I don't quite fit in here in this college town.  I feel old-fashioned and out of date.  I hate neon, the 80’s, wide-rimmed glasses, skinny jeans on men, and pretty much a lot of things in vogue right now.  I am also too “worldly” for the "other crowd" with my occasional glasses of wine and cuss words in some of my movies.  I hate the idea of so much structure and programming we lose Jesus, and simultaneously struggle with so much "coffee-house Jesus" we lose His holiness and dangerous wildness.  I find that I often fall between two extremes.  I am neither “traditional” churchy, nor “emerging” non-churchy.  I am neither hippy-dippy vegan, nor processed everything consumer.  I do not view God as far off, observing our behavior and dealing out good and bad marks accordingly.  Nor do I view Him as only mushy, lovey and out to make me feel good about myself.  He is both too holy and completely accessible all at the same time. 

   I am a think-with-your-heart person.  I am a tea and cookies in a china cup by the window person.   I am a Bible and a candle at dawn in the quiet person.   I am a stay-at-home and nourish the hearts of my babes person.  I am a home-educator who values truth and biblical world view as much as math or the periodic table.  I believe learning happens every day all day.  I am a hymn-loving, classic music dancing-to, fine art admirer who can also kick it to a mean country banjo.  I am a traditional values, Susie-homemaker, family-centered, wine drinking, mountain climbing, “crap” saying, Bible-believing,  Song of Solomon love life enjoying woman. 

   My mother just left for a foreign country for 5 weeks, my best friend is mid-move, and my husband is an hour and a half away making money to pay the bills all week.  I am lonely.  And I am “not same”.   I guess this is just one of those times to press further in to my completely holy, whispering in my very ear Jesus.

   Anyone else feeling the “same” as my “not same” lately?

A Storm is Coming

Stepping outside, my dog pulling on her leash, I can tell a storm is coming.  Even if I hadn’t just read it the latest weather update, I would know.  Nature was telling me.  Field birds are clinging close to our apartment building chattering as if in a panic, deciding where to hunker down later for the coming rain.  They dart quickly to a small tree branch and chortle their warning, as if to give their opinion to the gathered masses before they dart back to the cover of the porches.  A brisk, sharp wind blows bending the trees.  A line of puffy white clouds marches forward to the south of us, like guards in some great street parade preceding a coming monarch.  The sun shines a bit too brightly as if to force us back inside for shelter.  Yes, a storm is coming.  

The sun shines a bit too brightly

Birds darting to and fro

Birds gathered in the grass

The safety of the porches

A Thousand Gifts

So I've decided to jump in on the "One Thousand Gifts" challenge, or "The Joy Dare" as the author is calling it this year.  I saw this last year both on a blog I follow and on facebook quips from a fabric designer I like.  It was intriguing.  I considered doing it but never followed through.  Then it popped up again tonight on Facebook under the status of a dear, long-time friend.  That was that.  I decided to jump in.
I read the blog post, read the online book reviews, read Ann Voskamp's bio, and then watched the video.

The video melted my heart.  I have known since I was about 17 that those precious, fleeting moments are God's intimate, personal gifts to me.  A first sip of coffee that is just perfect, sun beams filtering in through my curtains, the sweet sound of a violin, a sudden rain burst that was so needed in deep ways.  I have gotten busy the past few years and I've had to plow through a lot of hard things.  I've stopped looking as much.  But I have still felt those moments that are so heart-achy good you think you'll burst.  Having babies will give you lots of those kinds of moments.   Like the smell of newborns' hair, dancing silly jigs with your babe on your shoulder, and yes that first sip of coffee.  There's been lots of coffee.  Then this video brought it roaring back again that there is fullness and a sweetness I am missing out on.  It's time to look for more.
Going with my theme of being intentional this year (more to come), this seems to fit in.  Being intentionally grateful.  Seeing and focusing on the little joys all around me.  Opening my eyes and ears to God's daily gifts to me.  I have not read her book, nor have I followed this particular blogger before, but this concept speaks right to and out of my heart.

The challenge is to record 1000 things you are grateful for over the course of 2012.  She even provides you with prompts for each day of each month.  Just three things a day!  (Yes, you math whiz you, that is more than 1000 but why limit the goodness?)  Seems do-able.  Plus, I need to develop my self-discipline habits and a daily commitment that's simple and full of eternal reward seems like a good exercise for the heart.

So here we go.  Let's catch up shall we?

1.  Loyalty
2.  Tender-heartedness
3.  Passion
4.  Canadian geese in V-formation bursting over the rooftop just as I look up
5.  Soft, cushy pillows
6.  Much needed new "daily-use" dishes, and much wanted Christmas dishes
7.  My fantastic siblings
8.  Adorable new clothes given to my kids to wear
9.  The clarity and crispness of a Kansas January sky
10.  I Take Joy from my new hero, Sally Clarkson
11.  The soft, fuzzy yarn of a handmade baby gift
12.  "Cranford"
13.  Rocking my little one who doesn't feel well
14.  Budding friendships
15.  Affirmations


I'll try for some photos to go a long with from here on out, ok?