Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Hot Eats and PMS

This month, my PMS cravings have been intense.

I've craved everything from Sour Cream & Onion Chips, to Mini Oreos, or Little Debbie's!

Today, in MN, it was a bit on the chilly side. I actually turned on my heat. I know. Total wimp.

So, when another craving hit and I was freezing, the perfect combination came to mind!

Katie's Peanut Butter Breakfast Pudding

This is one of my favorite go-to oatmeal recipes. It takes care of those sweet cravings, while also being somewhat healthy and fills you up. Can't go wrong!

----

Another fun thing, that I'll leave you with, is that someone in our house has finally figured out how to feed herself!

Monday, September 17, 2012

Coconut Waffles

My girls have been eating like they have bottomless pits lately. Nothing seems to satisfy them. Until this recipe. These are light, delicious and yet filling and Endo-Diet friendly! Yay!

Coconut Waffles
recipe courtsey of Christopher Doan, San Jose, CA, Oct 2006, Better Homes and Gardens (I made a few adjustments to make it Endo-Diet friendly)
Yields 8 waffles

1.75 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour
2T coconut sugar, blonde + some for sprinkling
1T baking powder
sea salt, dash
3 eggs or egg substitute
1-14 oz can unsweetened coconut milk
6T Earth Balance soy-free or coconut spread
3/4 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened
1/2 cup chopped raw almonds

1. In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and a dash of sea salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture; set aside. In another medium bowl lightly beat eggs; stir in coconut milk and melted butter. Stir in coconut. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be slightly lumpy).

2. Pour 1/2 cup batter onto grids of a preheated, lightly greased waffle baker. Close lid quickly; do not open until done. Bake according to manufacturer's directions (about 3 minutes or until golden brown). When done, use a fork to lift waffle off grid. Repeat with remaining batter. Drizzle baked waffles with Homemade Chocolate Sauce (see recipe below), chopped almonds and sprinkle with a little extra coconut sugar. Serve warm.

----

Homemade Chocolate Sauce
Yields approximately 3 servings

2T Trader Joe's organic virgin coconut oil
2T unsweetened cocoa powder
10 drops liquid stevia, creamy vanilla flavor

Measure out your coconut oil in a bowl. (If it's in a solid state, throw in on the stove or in the microwave to make it liquid). Next add your drops of stevia. Last, add in your cocoa powder. Mix it all together with a fork until well blended. Enjoy!

Monday, September 10, 2012

I am a Warrior!

As you all know, I've been training for the past 8 weeks for the Warrior Dash. Well, this past Saturday was the big day!

It was sooo much fun!

Here are some pics...

Hubby and Me Pre-Race
Our Team Pre-Race
Mud Hills
Me, Splashing thru the Mud Hills
Mud Pits and Barbed Wire
Me, coming out of the Mud Pits
Crossing the finish line!
Hubby and Me Post-Race
We are DIRTY!
We are WARRIORS! :)
Race Recap:

The obstacles were a lot easier than I anticipated. But the running was tiring, because you were running on uneven terrain. I should've trained in more fields.

My goal was to complete the dash in 45 minutes. Actual time? "43:30"! That's faster than 857 other women in my age group! *happy dance*

Biggest Realization and Accomplishment:

You all know that I suffer from endometriosis. And at times, this disease is debilitating  Many women are in bed for days. So, for me to complete the Warrior Dash at all, let alone in my goal time, is such an accomplishment! I do have pain when I train, but I enjoy training. I enjoy working out. I enjoy taking care of myself. This disease has tried to take so many things from me and I refuse to let it take things that I truly enjoy. So, my stubbornness is what sometimes gets me through the workouts. I run through the pain. And it's worth it. And that makes me a Warrior far more than completing any kind of run!

To learn more about what it's like for someone like me, please please please take a minute to read the following article. It was written by an Endometriosis Specialist and will really open your eyes to what tons of women are dealing with. If you suffer from Endometriosis, I will warn you, this article will likely make you tear up.
 http://www.vitalhealth.com/blog/endometriosis/what-it-really-means-to-have-endometriosis.

For a quick recap of what the blog says, that directly relates to what I deal with, you can read this excerpt below...

"This disease can be like having tens or hundreds of excruciatingly painful blisters covering the inside of the pelvis...cyclic pain that can exceed the level of pain patients experience after major surgery...In this tragic situation, she is effectively held prisoner and tortured by her own body in broad daylight, with no one who fully understands her situation or who can effectively help her...Initially most days each month are pain-free, but the number of these days slowly decreases until there are a greater number of non-functioning pain days...You would most likely pass right by them in public, having no idea of the devastation they are dealing with..."


Next Goal:

I started to feel a bit depressed after the race. Sort of like, now what? So, I knew I needed to find the next goal. You know when something is a good goal for you, because you're a little scared to announce it. Kind of like I'm about to do now...

I am aiming at running in the Get Lucky 7K next March!

Reader Questions
What is your goal? Have you run in the Warrior Dash? Do you push through your endometriosis pain to still do things you love?


Tuesday, September 4, 2012

First Day of Kindergarten

I have a Kindergartner.


And as you all know, we chose to homeschool. So, today was our first day of school and my first day of teaching! To say we both were nervous would be accurate. But, I was so happy with how well it went. In total, everything took about 3 hours, but we took frequent breaks for various things.

This post is a look at what our homeschool looks like and what my Kindergartner learned her first day.

Enjoy!
----

8:15AM - Breakfast, Get Dressed

9:30AM - Bible

I read the story of How the World Was Made from Egermeier's Bible Story Book. Then we recited Romans 3:23 and listened to the track on this verse from Sing the Word: From A to Z to help with memorization.

9:30AM - Morning Recess

It was a beautiful morning and it's really difficult to try to do school with an active 1-year-old, so I tried to stick to only doing school during my toddler's nap times. I was reminded this morning, the very reason for why we chose to homeschool, when I captured this moment pictured below. It totally melts my heart.


10:30AM - Snack, Nap Time for Toddler

10:45AM - History/Geography


We read all about Dinosaurs from The Usborne Children's Encyclopedia and then went to several links online to do fun games, like "What Dinosaur Are You?"

This lesson took a bit longer than anticipated, because my DD really got into it and wanted to keep learning more and more. We probably could've spent all day just on dinosaurs, if it were up to her. The great thing about homeschool is that I could spend a bit more time on this with her. If it's something she's interested in, I don't want to move on and squelch that enthusiasm. I wanted to embrace it; who knows, maybe she'll be a Paleontologist one day!


I remembered that in our play room we had my DH's old dinosaurs and we had a book on our bookshelf titled, "100 Dinosaurs from A to Z." I pulled them out for our later free play time, so she could continue to explore the world of dinosaurs in a hands-on activity, if she wanted to. This wasn't part of my Sonlight curriculum, but that's the great thing about homeschool; you can supplement where you need to and cut things out when you don't.

11:15AM - Life Skills: Create-A-Calendar


My DD got to create her very own calendar. We said the days of the week, talked about events happening this week, counted the days until they happen and she colored in events that were happening. She wrote the days of the month on the September calendar boxes, reviewed the months of the year, discussed the number of days in September and added in holidays for the month.

This was a self-directed activity, so I started making lunch as she worked on it and helped out when she got stuck.

12:30PM - Lunch and wake up Toddler

1:00PM - Toddler Activity


I wanted to include some toddler curriculum in our day, so I took out a large pot with lid and a small pot with lid. The Kindergartner and I showed the Toddler how to put the lids on and take them off. Then we tried to trick her to see if she knew which lid went to which pot. She did. So, we hid a toy in the pots with the lids on and mixed them up, to see if she could follow where the hidden toy was. She knew. Smarty pants.

1:15PM-2:15PM - Free Play and TV Time

The rugrats had fun playing with the pots and pans, and with the dinosaurs, too. The Kindergartner is allowed to watch 2 cartoons per day, so when she got bored, I let her watch her cartoons. Plus, I had a phone appointment with my Dr at 2:20 and needed to keep her occupied during that time.

2:20PM - Nap Time for Toddler, Phone Appointment for Mom

2:45PM - Math


This is the subject we were both most nervous about. I am terrible at Math and unfortunately, hearing me talk about this caused my Kindergartner to be scared of the subject, too. Luckily, after watching Lesson One on the Primer DVD from Math-U-See, playing with the manipulative blocks and then circling the right answers in her workbook, she declared, "Math is my favorite subject!" She loved it so much, and caught on so quickly, that she would've done an entire week's worth of work in one day!

3:15PM - Chiropractor Appointments

4:30PM -  Phonics/Spelling

DD is a bit ahead of game in the phonics department. She's already reading. But, I purposely picked a curriculum that would be a bit of review for her, so that she wouldn't get frustrated right away in the school year and so that she can master what she's already learned. So, one of the activities was to make an "Ff" letter sheet, but she already did that last year in preschool. So, we just reviewed her letter sheet. Then we learned about how a dictionary is organized and browed through the "F" pages of My First Picture Dictionary.

Next, we started on Notebook Activities and Copywork. DD practiced writing her name, circled the letters she thought she did pretty perfect and learned about capital letters.


4:45PM - Handwriting


We will be using a program called Handwriting without Tears, which uses large wooden pieces to build capital letters. Today, we just got acquainted with those wooden pieces and learned what to call each piece.

4:50PM - Science



We read all about planet Earth in the Children's Encyclopedia again, did a few worksheets to test our knowledge of what we just read and then DD got to tool around on the internet watching a video about Earth and then building her own satellite.

Before Bed - Read Aloud's & Vocabulary

We've always read out loud to our kids before bedtime. So, we just decided to incorporate the read aloud stories from our curriculum as our before bed stories. Vocabulary is woven into the stories, learning what new words are as they come across them. In order to include Dad into the homeschooling process, he does the Read Aloud's and Vocabulary at night, now. Tonight, he read from The Llama Who Had No Pajama and The Boxcar Children. DD learned, "orphan" and "children's home" as her vocabulary words today.

I can't wait to see what we learn tomorrow!