August... I'm coming for you

I kind of accidentally took a summer break from the blog. Oops. But now that I sweat every time someone opens the door, I've sent in L's new school year forms, and I'm getting about 40 "start the school year off right" spam emails a day... It must be August. I also hadn't backed up my iphone since Mother's Day. 956 pictures and videos later, time to get back on track.

Speaking of summer, if you live around Houston or are visiting soon, go to the Museum of Fine Arts and see the Soto Penetrable. It's amazing for all ages and it leaves early in September. That's just one thing I was doing while I was not blogging. 

Sometimes your child asks to take of their shoes in public places and you don't realize until you see pictures that you must have said yes. Entering the penetrable.

  If you're following along on instagram you know that things have not slowed down much. The pace that requires a photo or two per day was right up my alley. Here's a quick catch up:

• I am still only doing refined sugar one day a week. I love it. Best decision I ever made after the month long cut out. The weight has stayed off and I feel SO much better.
  
• I just finished another 30 day green smoothie challenge (one green smoothie a day) and after three months, I am fully converted. Smoothies are just a part of my day now. I don't even have to think about it.
  
• We have a one year old! Officially. After mama and dada, his third word was his sister's name. Landon sounds more like man-men when he says it, but it's a hard name for a baby and I was VERY excited. It's his new favorite word.
   
• The new one year old has spent the entire summer teething. He is the proud owner of 10 teeth. I am the proud owner of large black under eye circles. His top molars are STILL COMING IN. Help me lawd. 

 And... that's about it food and kids wise. 

Now that I'm at a healthy place with my sugar, and my breakfast smoothies are going strong, it's time to work on a few things for August. The first thing is LUNCH. My possible problem meal. When I'm at work I usually have the chance to get away and get something real food & healthy. When I'm home I'll graze on whatever I'm cutting up for the kids (which is good food) but then pull out something with lots of cheese or that I can make quickly and shovel it in while I zone out for a minimum amount of alone time. Turns out I like naps more than my 3 year old. 

MY GOAL: Prepare a lunch for myself that I would be comfortable serving to a guest. Prep it, plate it and (what might be the hardest) sit down at the kitchen table and enjoy it. No phone, no tv, just me and my food. And maybe a magazine... maybe. OH, and a ten minute timer to make sure I am chewing and enjoying. I started this today and it was honestly wonderful. Looking forward to lunch this month.

My second goal for August is kind of simple, but really hard for me to do every day. When I was breast feeding drinking enough water was a no brainer. My anxiety about a drop in supply caused me to constantly be drinking water. Since then I just cannot get enough water a day and I know how much better I will feel if I'm hitting those big water intake numbers. 

MY GOAL: Every day in August I'm aiming for a minimum of 80oz of water a day. There are a few reasons this is going to be tough. One of them is peeking her head around my office door right now. During nap time. The other one is actually sleeping. Not that I'm picking favorites (today). Another reason is bathroom breaks are hard to come by when you are at home with two kids, or having to find a bathroom in public with two kids. More water = more bathroom breaks. My last obstacle is my memory. I always start the day with great water drinking intentions. I try to have a glass of lemon water first thing before my smoothie. And then.... life happens. And at lunch I see a half full glass of lemon water sitting on the counter. 

So here's to August! We've got lots planned. There is a cool front coming!! TO HOUSTON?!?!  In August. I KNOW. We're taking our first family of four flight (more to come on that one) and school is back. Hey there August... I'm coming for you. 

RT

Using the Word Hate and Fooducation

Hate is a four letter word. Have you heard that before? In our recent culture of terms like "fml" it seems that no one takes words very seriously. A friend I follow on facebook who lives off of her trust fund and is constantly circling the globe doing exciting things once had a status update that said "stuck in traffic AGAIN. FML." I'm pretty sure she was just being dramatic. If you don't know about FML, click here and ignore the first definition, although it is semi hilarious.  Now that you know how being dramatic works, I want to talk about how much I hate whole wheat bread. 

The Drama.

So, I hate whole wheat bread. In the same ways that I hate cardio and the ways that I hate that chocolate, wine, cheese, nutella, and Hawaiian rolls are not the five major food groups. I eat whole wheat bread (begrudgingly) and tell myself "this is bread, you should just be happy to eat it and shut up." But I'm not happy. I long for the oh so bad for you plain white bread. Preferably wrapped around a ham and cheese sandwich or a PBJ. 

Recently I had an awakening. I follow the blog 100 Days of Real Food. While I am not 100% real food eater, I find their posts on food interesting and like to read up. The originator of the blog and website was also a lover of white before starting to eat clean. She said she always hated wheat bread because she only ever had the typical store bought kinds. When she had real whole wheat bread it was a totally different experience. So I was on a mission to find a good whole wheat bread that was light on the ingredient list. At Whole Foods I picked up their "Basic Whole Wheat." Checked over the ingredients and took it home. 

Basic pic from a basic internet search.

I was making Landy a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch and took a bite of this bread and WOW. It doesn't taste like cardboard, or dirt, or particle board, or any of the other tastes I associate with wheat bread. I will now have to recall if  I have ever actually eaten any of those things. Hopefully not. This bread was a revelation. I would eat this with just butter or with peanut butter. It is a life changer in my bread relationship. It's kind of like bread and I just got engaged after going through an amicable divorce. We just fell in love again guys. Sometimes you can't escape your fate. 

Some food rules are easy ones to stick to, others are tedious. I know that the less ingredients listed on your food, the better, but I also don't have time to look up ingredients that I am unsure about. Here is where I change your world.... There is a free app called Fooducate. The basics of Fooducate are as follows: you enter in some personal info, sign up, activate, and then you can scan barcodes of food items and Fooducate will give your food a grade to let you know where you are heading health wise. You can also set it up to alert you about GMOs. It's my new best food friend. Not to overshadow my new fiance, Basic Whole Wheat.

Speaking of healthy eating, I wonder if the six pies I am making in the next two days would receive passing grades? I knowingly chose to not acknowledge the answer. At least they are made from scratch.

Keep Calm & Pie On,

- RT