A Modern Hippie

Weekend Wanderings 11.13.11

2011-11-13T08:30:00.001-06:00

Hope you are enjoying the gorgeous weekend. We ended up turning our heat on Friday afternoon, even though I was fighting it, because the low for that night was 30-something. The great thing is it is a little chilly (cold for these southern people) in the morning and warms up to the 60's or 70's by early afternoon. I love that I have had my windows open for weeks. Most of the time in Kansas there are not many weeks that allow for the windows to remain open all day and all night!

Enough about the weather! Here are some posts I have found over the past few weeks I thought were worth sharing.

Christian Yoga? It's a Stretch : Not sure how I feel about this article but I thought I would share it. I participate in yoga classes. In the recent boot camp class I took we did yoga out by the lake early in the morning. It was a beautiful, cool morning. It was great to see the beauty of God's earth while stretching. I'd love to know what you think of the article.

Modern Alternative Mama: 31 Real Food Baby Steps This is a great post on things you can start doing to eat more real food. Transforming your eating from processed to real food does require baby steps, it will not happen overnight.

Healthy Home Economist: Video Introduction to Traditional Eating. Sarah shares her video introduction for a series she worked on for the Dr. Weston A. Price Foundation.

The Dr. Weston A. Price Foundation is a great resource for eating a more traditional/real food diet.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Thoughts from a Military Wife

2011-11-11T20:35:00.001-06:00

Source: beliefnet.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

A friend recently sent me this poem and I thought it was fitting to share it on Veteran's Day.

Military Man's Promise
written by Megan Williams of To Love a Soldier

I cannot promise you every night of my life.
I cannot promise to be beside you for every difficult moment, every trial, and every hardship.
In truth, I can promise you that I will not be with you for most.
I will leave you at inconvenient times.
Any special date to us may be tainted with the anniversary of the death of one of my friends.
I will ask you to take over whatever life we have built together for months and years at a time.
And will then crash back into that life that you have used your sweat, your tears and your heartache to keep together, and try to take it back as I knew it before.
I will shut you out at times because it will be the best way for me to hold it together at that moment.
I will lie to you.
I will tell you I don't know things when I do.
I will not always tell you where I am going, when I will be back, or who I am with.

I may not call you for weeks and months and you will not be able to call me.
You will ask questions that I won't answer.
You will know answers to questions that you will hope you never need.
I will share things with my brothers that you will never understand.
They will know things about me that you never will.
They will be a support to me in some things that you cannot be.
I will miss birthdays.
I will miss anniversaries.
I may need time to process things that seem natural to everyone else.
It will seem that someone - or something - will always take precedence over you.
I will uproot you and ask you to re-establish our family anywhere in the world, in any season,

at any time - over and over again.
Sand and mud will be tracked through your halls from the boots I am too tired to take off.
I will leave you when you beg me not to. I will stand at attention while you cry beside me.
I will not turn my head and I will walk away.
I will knowingly break your heart.
And I will do it again - and again.
I cannot promise you all of me.
I cannot promise you much of anything.
But if you will have me, I can promise that as I march away from you,

it is not without sharing your heartache.
I promise you that every time I break your heart I will be breaking mine.
Every time that I cannot answer you I will be protecting you.
Whenever you want to call and you have no number to dial, I will be wanting to do the same.
I will protect everything that we have created together with every fiber of my being

while you do the same back at home.
I will honor you in everything - every moment that we are apart and every moment that I am with you.
I will fight harder and push further knowing that I do so for you.
And I will carry you with me in everything, until my boots once again sit just inside our door.

Being married to B the past 9 years has allowed every word of this poem to become our life. Military life does not allow us to plan ahead, the days and nights leading up to deployments are always filled with too many emotions to process, knowing he has experienced & seen things he will never tell me, going weeks without talking when he is away, and spending countless holidays without him by my side are all things I knew when I married a military man. I would not trade this life for anything, even with all the things a military family endures.

On this veteran's day remember all the men & woman that have fought for our freedom. Fly the American flag proudly and thank a soldier & their family for the sacrifice they make allowing us the freedom to live in the USA.

I had to share one video with you also that I just love.

Random Thoughts Tumbling Around My Brain

2011-11-02T20:49:00.000-05:00

I have so many things I have been meaning to blog about that this will be a random post.

I finished boot camp last Friday and on Saturday I ran the Spooky 5k. It was a tough run with hills and wind. It is rarely windy here and of course it was blowing pretty good they day of the 5K!


Before leaving for the 5K.

After 5K with a Vanilla Latte. B was a sweetie and came to cheer me on (not sure if he did any cheering!) and had a latte waiting for me at the finish line!

Some of the girls I ran with in the 5K. The third person from the left is my trainer!

I had my followup appointment with the naturopathic doctor last week. My hormones are definitely not where they should be. In an effort to get them back to normal I'm taking 4 supplements, taken several times throughout the day. To help me remember I had to download a vitamin reminder app on my phone! I will take them for the next two months and then have another followup. I am hoping and praying it works so we can have a baby Merrigan!

I went to my first Zumba class last night and really wished I had a pair of these instead of my running shoes! These are definitely on my list to find his weekend. Zumba is really fun and I recommend it to anyone that wants to sweat alot, burn calories, have fun, and shake those hips!

I wish I was going to the Wise Traditions 2011 Conference. Maybe next year I can make it and meet some bloggy friends!

Well that is all I have for today. Check back tomorrow for a couple of recipes.

Till next time,

Menu Plan Monday 10.31.11

2011-11-01T07:45:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween everyone! I am being a scrooge and not handing out candy tonight! I just didn't want to spend money on sugar, but now that I hear kids throughout the neighborhood I am having second thoughts.

I am trying something new with my menu planning & grocery shopping. I have always planned for one week at a time and shopped every Saturday. I hate spending my weekend running errands when I should just be enjoying the weekend off doing things I want to do, which is not menu plan or grocery shop. So this week I have my menu planned from for almost two weeks. I will make a trip to the store after work one evening towards the end of this week to get everything I need for next week's menu. I may have to go one time next week to stock up on produce and milk.

My challenge will come when I need to go to the commissary (basic pantry items like bread and the few organic items they have in stock), Publix (buy all my meat and organic items here), and the health food store (everything I can not get at Publix). This may take some time to figure out how to work it into my weeknight evenings, especially when I have to drive at least 20-30 minutes for Publix and the health food store!

I added a column to my menu sheet that includes prep work to be done the night before. I find this helps me get dinner on the table quicker. The prep work never takes long and can usually be done while dinner is cooking.

Here is my menu for the next two weeks.
Menu Planner 10.31

Click here to print

I will be sharing the recipes from above in the days that follow, so check back for some great recipes!

I am linking up with I'm an Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday and Keeper of the Home's Plan It Don't Panic Challenge.

Till next time,

Weekend Wanderings 10.30.11

2011-10-30T11:21:00.000-05:00

I just typed up an entire blog post and lost it somehow, UGGGGHHHH! So let me try this again and hopefully I wont forget anything!

Kelly the Kitchen Kop: Farm to Fork Dinner Fiasco (Your Jaw will Drop). This is a story about what government is doing to local farmers. It is a long read with several videos but very worth your time! I find this to be sad that America is more concerned with what local farms are doing, growing healthy local food and feeding local families, rather then spending time and effort on MUCH more important issues that need attention. This is just one small story but these things are happening all over the US. I encourage you to start shopping local and support local farmers. Check out the Eat Well Guide (see look up tool on my sidebar) and Local Harvest to find local farmers markets, CSAs, co-ops, and much more!

Simple Bites: 25 ways to use up Pumpkin Puree. Great ideas!

This Shine Project: Saturday Giveaway. I never win giveaways but maybe this one I will win since it includes a Starbucks gift card!

That is all I have this weekend. Hope you are having a great weekend.

Till next time,

Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkin!

2011-10-29T12:19:00.001-05:00

Source: frugallivingnw.com via Andrea on Pinterest

Fall is my favorite season! I have always said that if there is a place on earth that has fall like weather ALL year I would live there. I haven't found that place yet, but I'm still looking.

Fall in Alabama is so much different then Fall in Kansas. Kansas has a crispness in the air and the trees all turn gorgeous colors. I have not smelled that crisp air in AL yet and the trees do not all turn beautiful colors. So it is hit and miss on seeing beautiful fall tress with the deep reds, oranges and yellows. It also is not a cool fall, as most days the highs are in the 80's. I am definitely not complaining, I am enjoying the warmer weather here in the south!

Another part of fall that I love is pumpkin! Here are some of my favorite pumpkin inspired things.

Source: number17cherrytreelane.wordpress.com via Deanna on Pinterest

Source: kerryspapercrafts.com via Jill on Pinterest

Source: allrecipes.com via Stefany on Pinterest

I will be sharing my favorite pumpkin recipes in the coming weeks, so be ready with lots of pumpkin on hand!

What is your favorite season and why?

Have a wonderful Saturday. See you tomorrow for Weekend Wanderings.

I'm linking up for October Follow Fest with Casey!

It's Friday!

2011-10-28T10:46:00.000-05:00

Source: happythings.tumblr.com via Andrea on Pinterest

I am so glad today is Friday! My work week has dragged on VERY SLOWLY even though I have way more work then I can cram into my week.

I'm excited about my weekend plans....Haunted Hay Ride tonight (B is working the event), 5K run on Saturday, possibly a date night with B at the drive-in theater, corn maze, house cleaning, laundry, Etsy shop preparations, and SOOOOO much more!

Have a fabulous Friday and a great weekend. What fun plans do you have?

Fall Fun

2011-10-27T19:49:00.000-05:00

This past weekend we headed out to a heritage festival for a day of fun! B is not a fan of these types of things but he was a great hubby and went along with me. Thanks babe, you were a great sport! It was a beautiful Saturday to enjoy being outside. The festival was at Landmark Park in Dothan, AL and focused on life in Alabama a half century ago.

We stopped in for a malt at the drug store/soda fountain

A in the doctors office. Some of those devices looked scary!

Old cash register in the drug store. My grandpa had an old cash register like this in his barber shop. How fun!

Wash tub over fire pit. Can you imagine having to wash clothes outside over a fire like this? I should not complain about doing laundry!

After washing the clothes they would have a separate basin for rinsing. After rinsing they would pull the clothes through a device that helped get the water out before hanging it on the clothes line.

The things that look like plungers are actually what they used to help wash and rinse the clothes. While the clothes were in basins of water they used the plunger looking thing to swish the water around the clothes using the same action you would with a plunger. Behind the line of plungers are all the different types of "washing machines" they could have built and used.

I hate to iron and actually refuse to buy any clothes that require using an iron. If I lived back then I believe I would feel the same way!

If I could go back in time this would definitely be the era I would choose! Heck, I already make my own soap so I have that skill to help me!

I think we are going to the drive-in and a corn maze this weekend. Do you have any fun plans for the weekend?

It's Not Chilly Here....

2011-10-24T20:30:00.052-05:00

...but we like our chili during the fall and winter months. I'm skipping Menu Plan Monday this week since we failed miserably last week with our menu. So I carried over most of our meals from last week and hopefully this week turns out a little better!

Instead of a new menu this week I am sharing my chili recipe. We have had a tradition since we were first married to make chili every Sunday night during the fall and winter months. It is a quick & easy recipe to make after a busy weekend.

Here is my famous chili recipe, well maybe not famous but we like it!

Start with 1 lb. of hambuger. Chop and brown in skillet.

When hamburger is cooked, add a few dashes of onion powder and garlic powder. Now I normally use fresh garlic, but I prefer garlic powder in this recipe but you could also use fresh garlic. Cook a few minutes. Then add chili seasoning and cook a few more minutes.

Add tomato paste and 1 cup of water. Combine until tomato paste is incorporated with water and hamburger.

Add can of beans and final cup of water. Mix together. Cook until boiling then turn down and simmer for at least 10-15 minutes. The longer it simmers the more the flavors infuse.

Serve with your favorite chili toppings and enjoy!

I make my own chili seasoning so you could use your favotie in place of my seasoning. Although I am planning to sell it in my Etsy store once it is open! If you are interested in the seasoning before my shop opens just email me.

This chili recipe is very flexible and you can make it your own. Experiment and add ingredients you and your family would like. Here are some options:

Onions

Green Peppers

Diced Tomatoes

Variety of beans (sometimes we use both kidney and pinto beans)

Toppings are also great on top of chili, here is what we like on ours:

Cheddar Cheese
Frito's
Onions--I put onions on top of mine since I can not cook with onions (B is allergic).

Andrea’s Homemade Chili

To print click here.

What do you like in your chili? Hope you enjoy the recipe!

Weekend Wanderings 10.23.11

2011-10-23T16:04:00.000-05:00

Source: inspiredbyawish.blogspot.com via Shelby on Pinterest

Don't you just love Fall?! Hope you enjoyed a nice fall weekend. We had a great day yesterday learning about life in Alabama over a half a century ago. I will post details and pics later.

I am starting a weekly post, Weekend Wanderings, which will have links to things I have found throughout the week that are worth sharing with you.

Eating Rules: Bee Safe! A Tale of Tainted Honey & How to Avoid It. Great post about commercial honey. I have bought local honey for several years and will never go back to buying honey in the big box store!

Simple Organic: Getting a Spouse On Board with Natural Living. Our journey definitely began with me, but slowly B has accepted the changes I have made!

Our Best Bites: Maple Bars. B's favorite donuts is a Maple Bar. After seeing this post I have decided that I will have to try this recipe out as soon as I get a little fryer. I have had my eye on one but it is a little expensive!

Enjoy the reading and check back this week for some yummy recipes, freezer & pantry inventory, and more!

Are you following my blog yet? If not I would love to have you as a follower! You do not have to have a blog of your own to follow me. Want to learn more about following blogs, check out my Blog 101 post.

Menu Plan Monday 10.17.11

2011-10-17T20:03:00.000-05:00

It is that time of week again Menu Plan Monday and I'm actually posting it on Monday!

Here is what we are having for dinners this week:
Sunday: Chili. When the weather cools off we have chili on a weekly basis. I will be posting my recipe next week!

Monday: Ham & Beans. We ended up eating leftovers more evenings then I thought we would last week so I did not make this last week.

Tuesday: Pulled Pork Sandwiches. We just had this a few weeks ago, but I have the other half in the freezer so I thought we would have it this week. I am trying a new recipe this time.

Wednesday: Tacos. Again, we did not end up having this last week so we will have it this week.

Thursday: Biscuit & Gravy. Bacon.

Friday: Enchiladas

Saturday: Black Beans & Rice. Again, did not make this last week.

I will be sharing recipes for this weeks menu throughout the week, so check back if you are interested in the recipes. I will also be sharing a homemade creamer recipe and iced coffee recipe later this week....yummy!

I am considering starting The Makers Diet by Jordan Rubin. I have heard several good reviews on the diet/book. Have you tried The Makers Diet? What do you think of the diet?

I am linking up with Keeper of the Home's Don't Panic Plan It Meal Planning Challenge. Check out her post for suggestions when you are in a meal planning bind. I'm also linking up with I'm an Organizing Junkie Menu Plan Monday.

What are you eating this week?

Pregnancy & Infant Loss Rememberance Day

2011-10-15T11:25:00.000-05:00

Today (Saturday) is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Tonight at 7 pm women from all over the world will light a candle in remembrance of their loss and keep it lite for 1 hour.

Source: stilllife365.blogspot.com via Danielle on Pinterest

As most of you probably know, we have experienced at least 2 miscarriages in the last year. Read about our experience here. I have been to a naturopathic doctor here in Alabama and she is in the process of running tests to determine what is causing me to miscarry. We already did a hormone test and I got the results in the mail a couple of weeks ago. Even with my VERY limited medical knowledge it appears I do have some hormone imbalances. I have a follow-up appointment with her in 2 weeks to review the results.

I think of my miscarriages on a daily basis, and I probably always will. Some days are still rough and I find myself getting angry, sad, frustrated, jealous, and many other emotions. It is just amazing something so tiny can leave a big hole in my heart!

Random things seem to spark my emotions. I was in Target last week waiting in line at Starbucks. I looked over at a family with two girls who were enjoying their drinks. The mom was NOT happy and from the look on her face she was very annoyed with her girls. Her body language was definitely saying, "I do not want to be here!" When I see things like this it just makes me angry. The thought I always have go through my mind is "they need to be thankful they have kids and enjoy every minute they have with them." Don't get me wrong, I know kids can be frustrating and exhausting at times. But when a 30 something girl like me cant seem to have kids, she does not want to see parents upset and annoyed by their kids they have been blessed with.

There are several things I have stumbled upon in the last few weeks that relate to infant loss & miscarriage, so I wanted to share them with you.

Laura over at Splendor shared her story of Sweet Mementos she received both times she lost her babies. See her story and learn about Threads of Love here. She is starting Project Hope "to reach out to and minister to other moms in the moments of their greatest loss" which is a collaboration with Threads of Love. She is taking donations of various gifts and in return advertising shops/blogs on her site for free. For more details click here and here.

Earth Mama Angel Baby Organics is a store filled with "Gifts From Earth for Your Gift from Heaven." Check out the website for gifts and resources. They have a Healing Heart Comfort Kit that is great for moms that have experienced loss.

I am a strong believer that everything we do has an impact on our body & health. If we do not take care of ourselves there is an increase in sickness, emotional issues, weight issues, fatigue, sleep problems and the list goes on and on! I can often be heard saying "you are what you eat" and lots of times I say it in a joking manor but I truly believe it. If we eat an unhealthy diet we are going to feel unhealthy in every area of life. God created our bodies and we should take care of them!

Kelly the Kitchen Kop, one of first blogs I started following, is having a giveaway for Kristen's Beautiful Babies e-course. I'm crossing my fingers I win this giveaway! We already exercise regularly and eat a whole food diet 95% of the time, but I there are so many more things that I can learn to help my body be as healthy as possible. For more information on the e-course and the giveaway, check it out here. The giveaway closes Monday, so hurry on over to enter for a chance to win!

Thanks for listening! Have a wonderful weekend.

Til' next time ya'll,

Virtual Coffee Tuesday 10.11.11

2011-10-11T21:04:00.000-05:00

Source: google.com via Rachel on Pinterest

I have not linked up with Lucky Number 13's Virtual Coffee Tuesday in a few weeks and I miss doing these so I thought I better join this week. Grab your favorite beverage and join me for an evening chat.

If we were meeting for coffee in person I would be drinking water, as I am hydrating a lot today to recover from Yoga this morning. I'm still in the boot camp class and today was relaxing, as we did Yoga on the beach of Lake Tholocco here at Fort Rucker. It was cool, cloudy, and the view was amazing! The poses were uncomfortable and tough, but breathing through them while taking in the view was worth every minute.

I would also let you know that I have been failing on Menu Plan Mondays the past few weeks. For dinners this week we are having:
Monday: Mac & Cheese with Ham. Veggies. B told me at dinner last night that he thinks this will be one of the recipes our kids request. I guess that means it is a winning recipe!

Tuesday: Homemade Cheesy Hamburger Helper. Veggies

Wednesday: Tacos. Fruit

Thursday: Black Beans & Rice. Fruit

Friday: Ham & Beans. Cornbread. Veggies & Fruit

Saturday: Leftovers or Grilled Chicken. Veggies.

Sunday: Chile. Veggies.

What are you having on your menu this week?

I booked my plane ticket home for Thanksgiving. B will be in survival school and will not be home or have contact with me for 4 weeks or so. I didn't feel like spending Thanksgiving alone so I forked over the money to fly back to Kansas! I'm excited to go home and see family & friends. What are you doing for Thanksgiving?

I realized that several people have had trouble posting comments to my posts. Thanks to Natalie I figured out there is an issue with how I had the comments set up. I have changed some things so hopefully this will help those that could not comment. Email me if you are still having trouble!

Has anyone enjoyed picking pumpkins or become lost in a corn maze yet this fall? I hope that we can enjoy a corn maze in the next week or two. If we had kids I would feel more comfortable doing things like corn mazes and picking pumpkins. I feel people might think we are strange for going to activities like that with no kids. B's response to that would be, who cares what people think. Got to love that guy!

That is about all the ~~interesting~~ boring news I have for the week. Do you have anything fun planned this week?

Til' next time,

It's only Tuesday....

2011-10-04T20:36:00.000-05:00

....and it has already been a crazy week. I did not have a chance to post my Menu Plan Monday yesterday so I decided to have Menu Plan Tuesday!

I started boot camp yesterday. I do not get back till 7:40, so to get a shower before I need to work at 8 has been crazy. I am lucky that I do not have to look presentable at work since I am just sitting in my house.

Last night we had a social with the FRG to get to know the others in B's class and their significant others. We had to leave very soon after 5 so I had no breathing time between work and the social. We got back home around 7 and I did not feel like doing anything, so I enjoyed a few hours of Netflix and called it a day!

Back on the boot camp subject, I.AM.SORE. Yesterday we did one of the obstacle courses. The worst part was a big wall/ladder type thing that was tilted. You had to climb up to the top, go over the top, and then back down the other side. Climbing up the underside of the wall required you to pull yourself up to each level and then use your body momentum to get over the top. Getting myself over the top was the hardest part for me, both mentally and physically! I'm scared of heights but I'm also stubborn and not a quitter. So when I want to conquer something I usually do...that is the only thing that allowed me to get to the top and over the other side. I successfully made it over the wall both times we had to do the course.

Today was kickboxing. As of tonight I am struggling putting my arms above my head. No pain, no gain! So enough about boot camp, here is our menu for the week. I decided to do a couple crock pot meals this week to save me time in the evening.

Menu Planner 10.3.11

Printer Friendly Version Click Here.

Click on the links below for recipes:
Black Bean Soup

Chicken Taco Bowls--this was on our menu last week but I realized I was missing some ingredients so it got moved to this week.

Pulled Pork Sliders--we are just going to eat these are regular sized buns.

Healthy Chicken Nuggets
Cinnamon Rolls--I am making a batch and freezing what B does not eat. Since I am not eating baked goods this month I am going to try really hard not to eat one. B has been asking me for weeks to make cinnamon rolls so I have to do it!

This week I also have on my schedule to make apple butter with the apples I have from our last two weeks of CSA boxes. I hope to do that tomorrow, it will be in the crock pot all day and then I will can it after work. Luckily I have two crock pots so I can have dinner in one and apple butter in the other. I have a feeling I am going to want to eat all day from the smells in the kitchen! I will post the apple butter recipe next week, after I know it is a winner.

I know I promised I would share my inventories this week, but they are still a work in progress. I hope to finish them up this weekend. I will share as soon as it is completed.

I'm linking up with I'm an Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday and Keeper of the Home for Plan It Don't Panic menu planning challenge. Check out both of these blogs for great recipe and menu ideas.

Til' next time,

Fall is in the Air

2011-10-02T20:48:00.000-05:00

We have had the windows open all weekend and I love it! I have heard the birds singing, wind-chimes ringing, and felt the breeze coming in the windows. I love everything about fall--weather, decorations, food, trees changing (although they are not changing here in AL yet). The one thing I don't like about fall is that winter is on the way. Although I am hoping being in the South that means it wont be as cold as a KS winter!

I do not have very many fall decorations so I decided that I needed to add to my collection this year. I decided to make a fall wreath for the front door. I used this tutorial for the wreath. Here is my new fall wreath.......

On another topic I am participating in October Unprocessed Challenge with eating Rules.

The challenge is to avoid processed foods for the month of October. For the most part we already eat real/whole food and not processed foods. Although some evenings we cave and order pizza or go out to eat. So for this challenge this month we will try not to eat out at all. I am also going to avoid sugar (except for the honey I put in my morning coffee). This means no Starbucks, no baked goods, and no candy corn! This will be the toughest part for me, as I love Starbucks and candy corn!

This is a great challenge for this month because I am also starting a month long boot camp tomorrow. It is 5 days a week for the month of October. I'm excited for the physical challenge and having a jump start to getting in shape. I have a feeling I will have a hard time walking and sitting this week!

Hope you all had a great fall weekend. What is your favorite part about fall?

Til' next time,

Menu Plan Monday 9.26.11

2011-09-26T21:22:00.000-05:00

I am back with Menu Plan Monday! I have been MIA for the past week or so because my living room has been full of decorating projects. It was my main focus after dinner every night to finish up the many projects I had going and get everything hung on our walls. I will post pictures later this week of our decorated home so you can see what I have been busy with the last two weeks.

I am participating in a challenge hosted by Keeper of the Home. This is the first official week of the Plan It-Don't Panic Challenge. This is a six week challenge to start menu planning (if you are not already) and to hold others accountable to planning and following through on weekly menus and. I already plan our menus on a weekly basis, but that does not mean I am perfect at following through on my planned menus! I am always amazed at the people that can actually get away with not planning a menu and can get dinner on the table. If I did not plan we would eat out way to much!

I am participating in this challenge because I struggle with breakfast, lunch, and snack plans. I have become much more aware of what and how much I eat since working with my personal trainer. She has me keep a food journal and reviews it every once in awhile. My problem areas consist of not eating breakfast, not eating enough protein, and not eating enough food overall throughout the day. I am really trying to work on these areas and hope this challenge will keep me accountable to these struggles.

Do you menu plan? Would you like to menu plan? If you want to be challenged I recommend you join in on this 6 week challenge. For more information on Plan It-Don't Panic, read about here.

Here is my menu for the week. I put it in a format that you can print if you are interested.

Menu Sept. 26

To print menu click here.

Recipe Links from my menu:
Home Made Mac & Cheese
Chicken Taco Bowls
Homemade Sloppy Joes

I am currently working on an inventory for my freezer, spice cabinet, and pantry. I will be discussing these further in the weeks ahead. Do you know what is in your pantry and freezer? Do you have an inventory for your pantry or freezer? Are you interested in learning how I am doing this, the benefits of having an inventory, and how to keep it organized? If so, stay tuned in the coming weeks for information!

I am also working on one of the baby steps on our real food journey--using dried beans instead of canned beans. I'm excited to share with you more details on this and much more!

For more menu ideas check out the links for the Plan It-Don't Panic Challenge.

I am also linking up to I'm an Organizing Junkie Menu Plan Monday. This is another great place to find menu ideas.

Til' next time,

Virtual Coffee Tuesday 9.13.11

2011-09-13T20:03:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Virtual Coffee Tuesday, a time when we can sit down with our favorite beverage and chat. I wish we could be catching up in person, but we can not always have what we want in life!

I have been busy working on several craft projects for home decor. I did not decorate the last two houses we lived in, mainly because we were renting and I did not want to put money into decor that might not work in the house we eventually buy. Since we are in another house we do not own I decided I should just decorate!

We have a modern style to our furniture and I wanted to keep this look in the decor since we both like the simplicity of it. I have found it tough to find affordable decorations that fall into this category. I have ordered a few items from Etsy, framed some family portraits, and created several art pieces. My brother definitely got all of the "artsy" genes but I try! Once I have everything finished I will do a post that shows you our decorated home.

What is your home decor like? Modern, country, vintage, shabby chic?

In other news I am still working on plans for my Etsy store. Along with that adventure I am working on another related project that I hope will bring in some extra money. I'm excited to get everything finalized so I can share with you what I am doing. Do you have an Etsy business or home business? If so, what is it?

On a more serious note I am going to a doctor tomorrow that specializes in natural medicine. Her focus is treating people and conditions using natural, God-designed methods. I am hoping she can give me some guidance into my infertility issues. If you could be praying for us, as both REALLY want to start a family but it just has not worked for us.

My home office looks out onto a community playground. Many afternoons there is a group of moms & kids out there. It is tough to watch them, as they are doing what I wish I could do. B walked in last week while they were outside and said I wish we had a little kid so you could be out there with them. I just looked, wishing the same thing, and shook my head while holding back tears, as I was getting ready to get on the phone with someone at work! We are not sure when to start pursuing other options, especially with the next two years being very intense for B (career wise). At this point we are just taking it a day at a time.

On a much lighter note, my tomato plants got devoured by about 10 green caterpillars. Last Monday I went to check on my plants and discovered that I had no leaves or buds left on the two plants. After closer inspection I discovered that there were caterpillars ALL over the plants. I looked online and discovered that they are caterpillars that eat tomato plants and eventually become a large moth! It recommended taking them off the plant and throwing them into a wooded area. I just could not make myself touch them so I asked B very sweetly to do it for me. He agreed after I reminded him that I kill spiders for him! I figured there was no hope of anymore tomatoes, but I looked this morning and there are already leaves and buds popping back out on the plant! I might actually get to can some this year, as I have not had enough produce yet to can anything.

Look how sad they look!


See the leaves?

Well that is about all the news for this week. I would love to know what you have been doing the past week.

I'm linking up with Lucky Number 13 for Virtual Coffee Tuesday.

Menu Plan Monday 9.12.11

2011-09-12T20:48:00.000-05:00

Good evening friends & family. Tonight's post is going to be quick because I am in the middle of some projects that I need to finish up so our living room does not look like a tornado hit!

Keeper of the Home is hosting a menu plan challenge in a few weeks and I'm excited to participate. Check out the challenge here. I encourage you to take the challenge also, even if you dont have a blog. Menu planning is the only thing that saves our budget from eating out. It takes the guess work out of making lunch and dinner.

Here is what we are having this week.

Sunday
    lunch: Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese. We tried Amy's Organic Tomato Soup. I thought it tasted a lot like my homemade version but B just cant handle any brand except Campbell's Tomato Soup.

   dinner: Bacon Ranch Chicken. Sweet Potatoes

Monday
    lunch: Leftovers
   dinner: Grilled Polish Sausages. Garlic Mashed Tators.

Tuesday
    lunch: On our own, probably leftovers.
dinner: Corn Chowder

Wednesday
    lunch: leftovers
    dinner: Homemade Pizza

Thursday
   lunch: leftovers
   dinner: Healthy Sloppy Joes

Friday
    lunch: leftovers
    dinner: Homemade Hamburger Helper. One note for this recipe is that I do not use dry milk, this is definitely not the healthy way to drink milk. Instead I just use whole milk.

Saturday
   lunch: leftovers
   dinner: Chicken Taco Bowls

Sunday
    lunch: Waffles, Bacon, and Eggs
dinner: Taco Salad

What are you eating this week? Do you menu plan?

I'm linking up with I'm an Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

Til' next time,

Being Random

2011-09-09T15:36:00.002-05:00

I had great intentions on doing several posts this week but just did not get around to it. I have been waiting all week to link up with Ashley at The Shine Project for her random facts posts. I'm going to share 15 random things about myself that you might not know about me.

1. I had two weddings and the same groom for both! Check out our story here.

2. As soon as my alarm goes off in the morning my brain starts going 100 miles an hour.

3. I do not like taking naps. I took naps in college, but that is probably because I stayed up until the early morning hours.

4. I do not like balloons or popping balloons. I get uneasy when I am in the same room with someone that has a balloon.

5. If you don't know me very well you might think I only have 1 brother, but I have two! I have an older half brother.

6. I started running a little over a year ago. I had never run before and now I love it. I cant believe I waited till my early 30's to start running. Thanks Jill for getting me started!

7. Candy Corn is my one sweet weakness. And of course I have already purchased my first bag for the season! I love eating candy corn alone, but it is also VERY good on top of iced sugar cookies.

8. In high school I had a trampoline accident which resulted in loosing my two front teeth. I had to go to my freshman year of college with a retainer and fake teeth attached to the front. I felt like I had a Chiclets smile, not good for the self-esteem but I made it through. Fortunately I was able to get my implants put in during that first year of college.

9. I can NOT sing, just ask B. I sing in the house and in the car and it drives him crazy.

10. I wash my face with sunflower oil. If you haven't heard of the Oil Cleansing Method check it out!

11. I own every season of Friends and have almost every episode memorized word for word. I first starting watching Friends in college with my roommates and we were hooked!

12. I grew up doing gymnastics and then started ballet when my joints could not handle anymore of the impact from gymnastics. I would love to get back into ballet but would have to get in MUCH better shape.

13. I want a kitten but I think I'm too OCD to have one in our house.

14. My high school graduating class was only 4 people, including me.

15. I didn't eat much meat growing up. When I went to college I was basically forced to start eating meat due to not having many vegetarian options.

I would love hear a random fact or two about you. Please share in the comments!

Til' next time,

Blog 101

2011-09-05T08:06:00.000-05:00

I decided to put this little post together to show you around my blog. I meant to do this months ago when my new design was rolled out, but just never got around to it. This post is for everyone new to the world of blogs or just unsure how to navigate and communicate in the blog world. For those that are experienced feel free to move on and come back tomorrow, or just stick around and comment if I missed something important!

Keep In Touch
I will start by going over the column on the right side of my blog. The first section is the "Keep in Touch" section.

This has two options right now, Twitter and email. If you are not following me on Twitter, feel free to click the "t" button to start following me. I would also love to follow you so this will allow me to return the favor!

The second button is to email me. If you ever have any questions or comments I would love to hear them. This could also include suggestions for blog posts. If there is something you would like to learn more about just let me know!

I am in the process of setting up a Facebook button for "A Modern Hippie" Facebook page, be looking for this in several weeks. This button will be added to this section and allow you to follow me on FB.

Search This Blog
The next section in the right column is the "Search This Blog" section. If you remember seeing something on my blog but can not find the post, just enter a keyword and search for it! It will pull up a list of blog posts that include that key word.

Grab A Button!

This section is for those with a blog. It allows you to copy the code and put my button on your blog. This allows readers from your blog to find my blog!

Followers

This little section allows you to follow my blog through Google Friend Connect (GFC).

I just added this to my blog last week and as you can tell I need some more followers! You may be wondering why you would want to follow my blog or other blogs. Following blogs (whether through Google or other means) gives you one location to view all the blogs you follow. This allows you to interact more with my blog and others following my blog.

Once you are following my blog through GFC, it will be added to your Google Reader. The Google Reader is a spot that allows you to read all the blogs that you follow. Think of this as your list of bookmarked blogs.

So now that you have an explanation of GFC it's time to learn how you can follow me!

To follow me through GFC, just select the "Join this Site" button (see above screen shot). When you select the "follow me" button you will have several options to log in, unless you are already signed in. See the below screenshot for the options you have to login for GFC. After you sign in you will be following me!

As I said about, by following blogs through Google Friend Connect you can go to one location and see all the blogs you are following. You may be wondering what you do now that you have joined GFC. All you do is go to Google and select the "more" button at the top.

Then select "Reader". This takes you to your reader page which has all of the blogs you subscribe to. You can read the blogs you follow in your reader without having to go to that specific blog. Just remember that it is not the "entire" blog, just the text and pictures.

One of the things you can NOT do through the reader is leave comments or see other comments that have been left for that post. To leave a comment just click on the post header and it will take you to the actual blog to post a comment. I will talk more about comments later.

There is a huge amount of things you can do through your reader. A couple of the options include sharing a post that you enjoyed or emailing it to someone you know would like the post. If you currently use the reader, what do you like most about it?

Blogging Buddies

This section is a list of blogs that I visit on a daily basis. I highly recommend all of these blogs! Just click on the name of the blog and it will take you there.

Eat Well Guide

This is a great place to find local food! Just enter your zip-code and hit search. It redirects you to the Eat Well Guide site. There is an abundance of information on this site, go check it out!

Topic Pages
Hopefully I haven't lost you yet and I still have a few newbies with me! Now lets move back to the top of my blog.

You will see these four links at the top of the blog (under my header). Just click on these and it will take you to a separate page which features past blog posts related to that topic.

Comments & Sharing
The final section I will walk you through is at the bottom of every blog post.

Think of the comments section as your way to communicate with me and others that read my blog. It also is a way to show me you enjoy the content of that post. So I encourage you to show me some love through comments, concerns, questions, or just complete random thoughts!

If others have left comments you can also read them and/or respond to what someone else already said. As you can see below, Jodi left me a comment on a recent post, and her name is a link. If you click on her name it will take you to her blog. I love finding new blogs through comments!

Under the link to post a comment are several icons. You may be wondering what some of those are so I will explain a few of them.

If you click on the "M" you can email the specific post to someone. If you read something on my blog and know someone that would enjoy reading it, go ahead and email it to them!

If you click on the "t" you can tweet about this specific post. Again, if you read something that you would like to share with your twitter friends, share it!

If you click on the "f" you can share the post on Facebook.

That wraps up the tour of my blog. I hope you learned a few things and will be able to start using some of the features I talked about.

Enjoy a wonderful Labor Day! It is still rainy here from the tropical storms, so we are staying inside.

Til' Next Time,

Real Food Wednesday 8.31.11

2011-08-31T20:24:00.000-05:00

I'm linking up with Kelly at Kelly the Kitchen Kop for Real Food Wednesday. I have been wanting to link up to this for months and finally decided to go for it!

I spent most of my weekend in the kitchen cooking & baking since I had a lot of produce to use. I have had to get creative in how I use our produce since B doesn't eat much of it, and it is too much for me to eat in one week!

I had 1/2 a watermelon and another type of melon that I have no idea what it was. It tasted like a mix between a cantaloupe and honeydew. Maybe a cantalodew! Sorry folks, long day at work.

There was no way we were going to eat up all the melon before it went bad, so I had to find something to do with it. I found a recipe online for watermelon popsicles that sounded fabulous.    When I cook from recipes I usually make changes to it before I even try the original recipe, that is just how I roll!

So I took the watermelon popsicle recipe and made some changes. I removed the sugar because fruit is sweet enough by itself.   Since I had more then just watermelon to use I mixed in the unknown melon and some frozen mixed berries.   Here is the recipe:

Minty Watermelon-Berry Popsicles

4 cups seedless watermelon

2 cups melon

1 cup mixed berries (frozen or fresh)

1/4 cup chopped mint leaves.

3 tsp. lemon zest

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Dash of salt

Peel and cut up melons. Puree the melon in food processor until smooth (about 30 seconds to1 minute). Pour into bowl. Puree mixed berries. Add to melon mixture. Chop mint leaves in processor. Add to fruit mixture. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt. Mix together.

Pour mixture into or ice cube trays (or popsicle molds). Place filled trays in freezer. Freeze for about 3 hours or until frozen. Insert popsicle sticks in half way through freezing. I inserted them after about 1 hour of freezing.

Once frozen, remove from trays and store in storage container.

**Click here to view a printable version of recipe.

Here are some photos of the popsicles

All the ingredients mixed up and ready to be put in the ice cube trays

Ice cube trays filled and ready to put in freezer

Ice cube trays with the little popsicle sticks stuck in (you can find the little sticks at a craft store)

The finished product....so good!

This recipe is very flexible...so be creative and enjoy making your own popsicles. They are MUCH healthier then the ones sitting in the freezer isle of the grocery store.

Be sure to check out other real food Wednesday posts here.

Til' next time,

Virtual Coffee Tuesday 8.30.11

2011-08-30T19:53:00.000-05:00

Welcome friends & family, I am so glad you are joining me for an evening cup of coffee so we can catch up. I have been cooking like crazy since Saturday, so tonight was leftovers for dinner! It was nice that dinner was done and kitchen clean by 6:15.

If we were sitting down together for coffee......

I would share one of my chocolate chip cookies, as I am working on baking the first batch right now. It is a new recipe I am working with, I can never keep from changing a recipe! I will be sharing more about my recipe later this week.

I picked up my produce boxes tonight and have a lot of peppers to use. I am going to be roasting and freezing them later this week so I can use them this winter. I also have cucumbers, okra, and cantaloupe in my box that we get to enjoy this week.

Last night I sat down to sketch out what I want do do for our wall hangings around the house. I also ordered a few things on Etsy. So excited to get them in the mail! Part of my plan for decorating includes several craft projects. I am taking Friday as a vacation day, so I have a 4 day weekend to work on my projects. I will keep you posted in the next few weeks and share with you my projects.

B's birthday is tomorrow. I'm making him burritos (his step-mom's recipe) and chocolate sheet cake. He told me last night that his step mom used to make burritos for his birthday, so I hope he enjoys his birthday dinner tomorrow night. I just have to figure out when I can make the sheet cake...I guess that will be what I do over my lunch break. But then I have to work all afternoon smelling the wonderful scents of chocolate cake!

I'm linking up with Lucky Number 13 for Virtual Coffee.

Til' next time,

Lattes & Careers

2011-08-29T20:08:00.000-05:00

I stopped by Starbucks this afternoon to get a Vanilla Latte so I could make it through the rest of my Monday afternoon! While I was waiting for my drink I overheard a man say, "The objective on my resume states 'fulfilling career.' I don't just want a job the rest of my life, I want a job that means something." I smiled to myself and thought, "I totally agree and this will make a great blog post"

I dream of doing something I love and not just something that pays the bills. I'm not complaining about my current job, but it is just that, my "job". It does not allow me to fulfill my dreams and passions. I often times have this quote run through my head during the day:

Source: etsy.com via Margit on Pinterest

I can honestly say that I am not doing what I love and I have to ask myself why. Tonight while I was complaining to B about something from work he said "if you are not happy with your job do something about it or quit."

My first thought was "I would love to quit and go do something that I would enjoy" This thought was quickly followed by "we want to get out of debt so I need to keep working at this job." I'm not sure what is stopping me from getting a different job, except that I can work from home and have reasonable hours.

I feel torn because we do need to work on paying our debt off, but I think I should also enjoy what I do since I spend 40 hours+/week at work. The selfish part of me would love to quit and work on my Etsy store, scrapbook, and cook! I know this is not possible, but a girl can dream right?!

While looking around on Pinterest I found this and thought it was very fitting for what I have had on my mind:

Source: shop.holstee.com via Slim on Pinterest

Does this make you think about your life and what you do with your time? It sure makes me ponder on things! What do you love to do? Are you actually doing what you love? If not, what holds you back? I think fear and being comfortable hold me back from jumping out of my comfort zone and doing what I love...well that and some financial backers for my coffee shop & bakery business!

I am working on getting my Etsy store up and running and dreaming about what I can do beyond Etsy....local stores, other selling sites, farm markets, and so much more! I hope to have it open by the end of September. Without telling you to much, my store will involve lots of flour, sugar, and spice! Can you guess what I am up to???

Stay tuned later this week for some more details. I also will be asking for your input and advice!

Til next time,

Pickling Around

2011-08-28T16:10:00.000-05:00

As I have mentioned in several prior posts I am learning how to can things so we can have local grown produce year round! While I was at my parents house we canned tomatoes. I was shocked at how easy it was and excited to try canning some other things while I wait on my tomatoes to ripen.

My CSA box included pickling cucumbers this week. B immediately said, "you should make pickles with those!" I jumped at the idea and spent Thursday evening in the kitchen. I did not spend much time looking for a recipe, as I just needed to get them canned before they were too ripe. I found a recipe on Simple Bites and decided to use it. She does a wonderful job at explaining the process. I am not going to post the actual recipe here, so check it out here.

The only thing I did not like about the recipe was how long it took to prepare the jars for canning. The preparation of the cucumbers and other ingredients did not take long, the longest part was waiting for the water to boil to prepare the jars. Not sure if this is a necessary step, as I have found some recipes that do not include this step. I have read that the oven method of heating jars is no longer recommended, so maybe this is the only option. Any advice from those that have canned pickles or should I say cucumbers....?

Here are some pictures I took of the process. My pictures are never that great because I only do these projects in the evenings which does not offer the best light!

Cucumbers ready for overnight soak

Supplies

Cucumbers covered in canning salt

Cucumbers, salt, and water. Soaked about 24 hours.

Dill soaking in water to make sure there are no bugs

Jars in hot water, waiting for it to boil.

Jars of cucumbers with all ingredients ready to boil for 15 minutes

Finished product, we have pickles!

As soon as we try our first jar, in a week or two, I will let you know how they turned out. I am crossing my fingers they crisp!

Have you canned anything this summer? I just found a recipe for roasting and freezing bell peppers and plan to try this sometime this week since I have several peppers that will be ready to harvest!

Til' Next Time,

To-Do List Exhaustion

2011-08-27T07:31:00.001-05:00

Source: etsy.com via Andrea on Pinterest

I live by my to-do lists. I am even one of those people that if I don't happen to have it on my to-do list but it is something I have completed I jot it down on the list and then cross it off! I know, you can call me crazy!

Since starting our whole food & natural living journey several years ago my lists have become longer and much more time consuming. Sometimes this leaves me exhausted and wondering why I try do everything I do. I often times dream of what it would be like not to have a 40+hour/week job and all that I could accomplish. Even though I work in a home office, I still do not get much done outside of my office during work hours. I may start a load of laundry at lunch, but it is usually still sitting in the washer when I finish up work that evening!

Several weeks ago I talked about my real food journey.   If you haven't already read the post I encourage you to check it out. Along side my journey of changing our eating habits to more whole foods we have also become more "natural" or "green" in the other areas of our life--hygiene, laundry, cleaning, and the list goes on!

Just like the real food journey we have taken baby steps in our natural living. These two areas basically go hand in hand--if you are doing one you are probably focusing and working on the other. Even with the baby steps in this journey it can become overwhelming, especially with my personality! Once I have an idea in my mind I am annoyed with it until it is complete. This can be exhausting and annoying.

Since I only have a few hours in the evening and my weekends, I usually have a jammed packed to-do list. The items include both house keeping tasks (laundry and clean toilets) and the baby steps I want to work on for natural living . Many of the baby steps take planning and preparation, so they usually are on my list for several weeks and possibly months! There is always so much I want to do, just not enough time to get it done.

You may be wondering what kinds of things keep me up at night and what wish I had more time to do......here are a few things I have on my master "to do" list. This is the list of my thoughts and ideas of things I would someday like to get complete:

Start Composting
This is a great thing to have with a garden. This is going to take lots of research because I do not know much about the art of composting. If any of you compost or have any recommendations please share!

Have a "real" garden next year
This year I only planted tomatoes and peppers since I was packing and moving during the time I should have had plants already growing. I have them planted in pots since we are living on post and they would not mow if I put a garden in the back yard! Growing them in pots work great, but I would love to have a section of land to actually plant other things like beets, potatoes, onions, lettuce, cucumbers, pumpkins, and the list goes on! I am so excited for next year because there is a community garden on post which I plan to use. I need to start the planning process of what I will grow and how to grow them. Again, if you have any gardening tips or suggestions please share.

Perfect my bathroom and kitchen scrubber recipe
I am not 100% satisfied with it and would like it to have a little more scrubbing power!

Get my home business up and running
I have always had the "entrepreneurial mindset" and dreamed of owning my own business. I discussed some of that here, check it out if you are interested. Since we can not dump money into an actual storefront I am pursuing my dreams of owning a business by opening an Etsy store. I am in the research & testing phase but hope to have it rolled out in time for Christmas shopping!

Read my big stack of books
I always have a big stack of books in the living room that I want to read. Unfortunately, I always put off reading to work on other things. I am trying to read a little ever evening which is helping get my stack of books smaller. The books in my stack right now include What to Eat by Marion Nestle, Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, Vegetables in Pots by Deborah Schneebell-Morrell, Your Farm in the City by Lisa Taylor, and Friendship for Grownups by Lisa Whelchel. What books are you reading right now?

Find a local source for milk, meat, and eggs
This one is at the top of my list right now. I had no idea how lucky I was in Salina to have a wonderful food co-op that focused on food that was local, chemical & hormone free, and grass/pasture fed animals. I'm struggling finding local farmers or a food co-op to purchase food. Any Alabama people have good connections to local farmers or food co-ops?

Canning Tomatoes
I canned tomatoes while I was home a couple weekends ago. Now that I know what I am doing I plan to start canning as soon as I start getting red tomatoes on my plants!

Find and make a recipe for dish washing soap.
This is about the only cleaning type product I still buy that is commercially made. If you have a good dish washing soap recipe I would love to have it!

I have actually been working on this post for a few days and yesterday I came across a post at Simple Organic discussing this topic! This post has some great tips on what to avoid so you do not become overwhelmed while trying to live naturally.

Til' Next Time,

Virtual Coffee Tuesday 8.23.11

2011-08-23T21:11:00.002-05:00

It's time for another Virtual Coffee Tuesday. I have been looking forward to doing the weekly Tuesday post since I had to miss a couple weeks because I was traveling for work. If we were meeting for coffee in person, I would tell you about my travels the past two weeks. Since this is Virtual Coffee, sit down with a warm mug of coffee, tea, or whatever you enjoy sipping in the evening, and read about my travels.

Source: today.msnbc.msn.com via Kelley on Pinterest

My two weeks of traveling was fun, refreshing, long, exhausting, and frustrating. My trip started with missing my first flight. This was totally my fault because I did not arrive at the tiny airport, with ONE terminal, an hour ahead of time. For the record, I arrived 30 minutes ahead of my flight and EVERYONE was still sitting in the lobby and had not even gone through security! Even though I was ~~mad~~ RED FACED ANGRY, they re-booked me later in the day. Unfortunately the re-booked flight had multiple delays and I didn't leave Alabama until 10:30 that night (original flight time was 6 pm) making me miss my connecting flight in Atlanta by several hours. I stayed in a ~~lovely~~ gross and rather scary hotel the airline provided for me and got a flight out to KS the next morning.

I was really looking forward to getting to KS Friday afternoon to hang out with my dad that afternoon. On Saturday we had plans to go to the farmers market and can tomatoes. We ended up not doing much that weekend since I was exhausted from my travels.

On Monday I headed to CO with my supervisor to visit the three offices in CO. The week long trips to CO are always crazy busy and exhausting. We work non-stop and usually only take a break for lunch and dinner. This time was no exception, as we worked most evenings till 9:30 or 10!

The weekend after CO I went back to my parents house to can tomatoes, make salsa, visit the farmers market, and just relax. It was a great weekend to catch up with them and enjoy being at my 2nd "home."

Last week I was in the KS office working with two new employees. It was a week of frustrations for me which I wont get into here. The short story is I am not doing what I love or have a passion for, so the frustrations I experience at work are just not worth it! The week in KS really helped me to start thinking about what I really want to do--be my own boss. I've always wanted to have a coffee shop and bakery but without having the resources I need to open one I have to put that on the back burner for now. Anyone now of any investors that want to put there money in coffee??? Just kiddin' (kind of)! While that dream simmers on the back burner, I am researching things to get my Etsy store up and running. I have MANY ideas for the store and even ideas outside of Etsy, it is just being brave and doing it! I will talk more about those ideas in the following weeks.

Fortunately my flight home was uneventful and it was WONDERFUL to be home again. Two weeks away from home, living out of a suitcase and in hotel rooms, is a long time!

What have you been doing the past few weeks? I would love to hear from you. What dreams do you have? What one thing have you always wanted to do but never actually been brave enough to do?

For more Virtual Coffee Tuesday check out Lucky Number 13.

Menu Plan Monday 8.22.11

2011-08-22T19:02:00.000-05:00

My weekend was not long enough and I am already counting down the days for next weekend. I traveled back to AL on Saturday and it was uneventful compared to my trip to KS a couple weeks ago. This left me Sunday to get my things unpacked, ~~laundry~~ think about doing laundry, make a menu, grocery shop, and spend some time relaxing and catching up with B. I'm impressed with my menu this week since several of the meals are recipes I have not ever tried.

I'm linking up with I'm an Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday. Check out other great menus here.

Monday: Out to Eat. Had to go get grass fed beef and eggs at local health food store off post. They close at 6 so I always have to go as soon as I get off work.

Tuesday:Sloppy Joes, Salad, Watermelon.

Wednesday: Beef & Black Bean Taco Bake, Salad, Watermelon.

Thursday: Sausage Quiche, Cantaloupe (from CSA box this week). Quiche recipe to follow later this week.

Friday: Macaroni and Cheese with Ham, cucumbers (from CSA box this week), whatever fruit we still have in house

Saturday: Grilled Chicken, veggies and fruits (whatever we have in the house still)

Breakfast will be oatmeal and smoothies. Lunches will consist of leftovers. Snacks include oranges, cucumbers, pistachios, and who knows what else.

B requested I make this cookie recipe this week. I hope to have time tomorrow evening to make them.

The other items in our CSA box this week include eggplant and okra. So I need to figure out how to incorporate those into our menu. I may have to move one of the dinners to next week to use the okra and eggplant. If you have any good recipes for these veggies let me know!

Til next time,

Ready to be home

2011-08-18T22:12:00.001-05:00

Wow I am ready to be home! I have been traveling for the past two weeks for work. Last week I enjoyed a crazy busy week in CO. While in one of the offices I walked out back to call B for a few minutes. I looked up and about 6 feet away from me was a deer laying under a bush. It was so weird to be that close to a deer. The only time I see deer in KS is when they bolt in front of your car on the highway!

While at my parents last weekend my mom and I went to the farmers market, enjoyed a pedicure, and made salsa. My dad taught me how to can tomatoes so I can go home and start canning! I just have to figure out what to do with all the green peppers that my plants are now producing. Any ideas?

This week I have been in KS working with two new employees. I have gone out to eat with friends while I have been here and I have so enjoyed getting to see all of them again. The next few days is filled with seeing a few more friends, massage from my wonderful massage therapist, haircut with Casey at Shine Salon, and a trip to The Spice Merchant to get spices I have run out of since moving. Even with all these fun things ahead I am ready to be home because it has been a long and frustrating week.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Til' Next Time,

There is no place like home...

2011-08-04T23:04:00.001-05:00

Just like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, I'm clicking my fun ~~red~~ hot pink shoes shoes and going home to Kansas!

Source: tumblr.com via Tanya on Pinterest

I just finished packing my work clothes that I have not worn in a couple of months, a few of my fun heels (including my hot pink ones like the ones pictured above), and my running clothes. It was fun to dig to the back of my closet and pick out some outfits I used to wear to work every week. The best part was to get the heels out of their shoe boxes and narrow it down to TWO sets for my trip. It was a hard decision, but I finally picked my basic black and my hot pink ones.

I already have lots of plans while I am home, other then working. I'm canning tomatoes and salsa with my parents, seeing my brother and his kids, going to lunch with several people, making a quick trip to CO for work, getting a massage with my WONDERFUL massage therapist in Salina, having a haircut from my AMAZING hair stylist in Wichita and much more!

I'm off to finish packing. Hope you have a wonderful Friday and I will check in later this weekend.

Til' next time,

Virtual Coffee Tuesday 8.2.11

2011-08-02T22:11:00.000-05:00

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I'm linking up with Lucky Number 13 again this week for Virtual Coffee Tuesday. If we were sitting down in person to catch up and enjoy a drink, I would love to be at Starbucks sitting on one of their comfy couches drinking a Decaf Vanilla Latte with cinnamon and nutmeg sprinkled on top....yum! But since this is a virtual coffee meeting, I'm sitting on the couch in comfortable clothes with my legs up on a yoga ball since we don't have one of these.

Source: habitat.co.uk via Andrea on Pinterest

Yes, I'm hooked on Pinterest. If you haven't heard about this yet you have to check it out. Just watch out, you may spend a couple hours looking at amazing furniture, recipes, and much more!

I'm needing your input on what to do with our broken dinning room table. It broke a couple moves ago and we still have it! The top broke off and we lost it in our most recent move. I don't really want to keep it since it is broken but I cant stand to put it on the curb or list it on Craigslist. Here is a couple HORRIBLE pictures of the chair. The top portion is what is broken off....

Any ideas to remake this into something or just fix it back to a comfortable chair to sit in? If you have a great idea please share, you might even win something!

Have you checked out my post where I told you my Whole Foods Journey? If not, check it out here. I would love to know what you think, if you are working towards eating more whole foods, or if you have any questions.

I'm flying home on Friday for a few weeks to do a some things for work. I am SUPER busy this week getting ready for meetings, classes, and trainings I have scheduled for the two weeks I will be there. I am definitely working more then a 40 hours this week. This makes it tough when I have to try and get laundry done, pack, do a quick pedicure ( I cant go with gross feet!), do my normal chores around the house, and exercise! But I will make it and the reward will be to see everyone back home. So with that I better wrap this up. I have an early morning run tomorrow, so I need to get to bed.

Til' next time,

Menu Plan Monday 8.1.11 {Freezer Edition}

2011-08-01T20:32:00.000-05:00

This is the grilled chicken and veggies we grilled this past week. The recipe I linked to last week for kabobs was outstanding! The strawberries we also deliciou.

This week's menu was planned around wanting to freeze food so Brenden would have some options while I am away from home for 16 days!

Sunday
Lunch--on our own
Dinner--BBQ at friends house. We were there till 1:30 am so this post might be interesting!

Monday
Lunch--Salad
Dinner-- Summer Vegetable Chowder (I am omitting the hot dogs and adding meat mixture I had left from enchiladas last week)

Tuesday
Lunch--leftover soup & salad
Dinner--Homemade Chicken Nuggets and Potato Wedges. The leftover nuggets will be frozen for B to enjoy in coming weeks.

Wednesday
Lunch--Leftover soup & salad
Dinner--Calzones with homemade crust. The leftover calzones will be frozen for B to enjoy in the coming weeks.

I will make the pizza crust on Tuesday evening. Everything will pretty much be ready to put this recipe together quick because I fried the bacon and sausage, cut up the ham, and cheese will be shredded on Monday.

Thursday
Lunch--Leftover soup & salad
Dinner--Teresa's Burritos. I will freeze the leftovers for B to enjoy in the weeks ahead. I fried the hamburger Sunday so that would be ready. I will post this recipe next week.

Friday--leaving on a jet plane for Kansas!!! B will be fending for himself the next two weeks. I will return with another Menu Plan Monday on August 22.

On Sunday I also made breakfast sandwiches for B and they are already in the freezer. Check out this post I did several years ago about how I make these. The recipe mentions I use American Cheese, but we have since removed that from our kitchen since there is no nutritional value! Instead I used cheddar cheese.

I also had some bananas that were VERY ripe. I only eat green bananas, so when they get ripe I either make banana bread or mash them up and freeze to make bread at another time.

To do this you just need ripe bananas, a bowl, and a masher. I use the Pampered Chef Potato Masher.

Step 1: Have ripe bananas

Step 2: Peel bananas and put them in bowl

Step 3: Mash the bananas to a consistency you want for banana bread

Step 5: Smile while mashing the bananas for your wonderful photographer. Thanks B!

Step 6: Put in container for freezing

Mashing is done and now it is time to put in a container that is freezer safe. You could use plastic containers, glass containers, or plastic bags. Just make sure that the lid on the container has a good seal. I failed to get a picture of my finished product before i put in the freezer and I'm too lazy to get one now. I used a small glass container with a lid. I poured the banana into the container, put lid on it, and then stuck it in the freezer for 20 or 30 minutes. I then pulled it out and placed saran wrap directly on top of the banana, put lid back on container, and stuck it back in the freezer. The saran wrap on top helps seal it better and prevents freezer burn.

This post is linked up with I'm an Organizing Junkie Menu Plan Monday. Check it out for other great menu ideas.

Til' next time,

My Whole/Real Food Journey

2011-07-31T09:06:00.001-05:00

I thought I would share with you how my whole/real foods journey started. It did not start as a day on the calender that I go back and reference, but as a gradual shift in my thinking towards a whole foods lifestyle and away from the Standard American Diet (SAD). My journey will never end, as it is a daily process of learning and trying new things. I am definitely not an expert, still have baby steps I need to take, and still have a huge amount to learn. Although, I hope that as you follow me on my journey you will learn and grow with me, and even offer me your input and/or advice!

As I talk to others about the foods we like, why we like them, what we ate growing up at home (which usually becomes our "comfort" food) I find that I ate different then most. The majority of people my age grew up on highly processed food that came out of the industrial revolution--boxed foods, canned foods, sugar cereals, and pop just to name a few. I did not grow up eating a huge amount of this type of food, we did eat some but it was not the norm. The normal meal in our home was made from "scratch" on the stove or in the oven, not the microwave. We even went a lot of years without a microwave till my older brother couldn't figure out how we lived without one and bought one for my parents! To this day I still use the stove and oven over the microwave, but more on that in another post. I was not allowed to have pop till we were in high school, before that is was only for VERY special occasions. I also did not grow up eating sugar cereals. I remember looking forward to camping because we were allowed to have all those fun cereals the few days we were at the lake. I have to always shake my head when I go to the store and watch as moms send their kids down the cereal isle to pick whatever they want, which is usually filled with food dyes, sugars, chocolate, marshmallows, and who knows what else because that is the only types of cereal at a kids eye level. I'm not placing judgement, I just find it sad that this is what the American food industry comes up with for kids food, especially since breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Many parents seem to fall into the trap of it being ok since the box says it includes whole wheat and vitamins. Sorry I got off the subject!

As I moved to college and started cooking in my apartment where I lived with 3 (sometimes 4) lovely woman I realized how different all of us ate. I tried to cook things from scratch, but with college being crazy I started picking up frozen and boxed foods here and there to save me time. Although, I never strayed away from my roots of good home cooking. I have many memories of all of us cooking in our smelly moth invested kitchen, using recipes we grew up--homemade egg noodles, soups, lasagna, and many more! In college I also found my love for Dr. Pepper and Pepsi, one love that I will never forget but that is usually not a part of my daily life anymore! Needless to say, college brought about a lot of unhealthy eating habits that I still struggle with today.

I believe that my parents began instilling a "whole foods" thinking in me before I even knew what that was and I will be forever grateful for that. Because of this I started with a good foundation for moving to a whole foods lifestyle.

Several years ago I discovered several blogs that got me started down a course of changing how B and I eat. I haven taken baby steps, with B dragging his feet sometimes and other times being a great participant, and I think he is slowly seeing the benefit of whole foods and not missing his processed foods as much. We still have lots of progress we can make in our eating, but as I said it is all about baby steps! Through these blogs-- Kelly @ Kelly the Kitchen Kop, Jo-Lynne @ Musings of a Housewife, and Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship I started learning what real and whole foods are and why they are so important. I also have read several books that have helped me in my journey--Real Foods by Nina Planck, Real Foods for Mother and Baby by Nina Planck, Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, Ph.D. Another great resource for information is the Weston A. Price Foundation. There are many other books on my list that I hope to get to in the coming months, ones that I will share with you once I have read and know they are good resources.

In the coming months I will share with you what baby steps I have taken over the past several years in hopes you will both learn and be encouraged to start eating more whole foods. Some may think I'm crazy and think the changes I have made in our eating is too expensive and not worth it. I know some of my family, including B, has thought I was a nut at times. But I truly believe that our bodies our temples the Lord gave us and we need to take care of them. Eating is a huge part of our lives (5 small meals/day in mine), it is how all of our body functions continue to work and how we have energy to do things throughout the day. Being conscious of what we eat helps our bodies run and operate more smoothly.

If you have questions please leave a comment, email or FB me. If you are currently working towards a whole foods diet I would love to know what you are doing and what baby steps you have taken. I look forward to hearing from you!

Til' next time,