attacked!

attacked!, originally uploaded by frogverde.

this week in my kitchen

9/21 – 9/25

Weeknight Dinner Menu

MONDAY: Pork tacos, black beans, corn tortillas w/zuchinni & broccoli

TUESDAY: Beef Stew w/ potato, onion & carrots

WEDNESDAY: Toasted English muffin ham & cheesewiches w/ broccoli & cauliflower

THURSDAY: Rice and beans & collard greens

FRIDAY: Leftovers

Breakfast

• English muffins & Cream cheese
• Cereal & Milk
• Smoothie
• Fruit
• Yogurt

Lunch

• Sandwiches
• Leftovers
• Fruit

Healthy Snacks

• Apples & graham crackers
• Cottage cheese & oranges
• Cheese squares & crackers
• Almonds & dried cranberries

Treats

• Rootbeer floats
• Chocolate chip peanut butter cookies

fall is here

My Journey Back To Health - Part II

I was beginning to get excited for the Cubs game my son's class won at an auction. It was to take place in May. About a week before the game, I started to feel really tired and sore. My body ached like I was getting the flu, but without all of the other symptoms. The next day, I started to feel this subtle nerve tingling throughout the right side of my body. It felt as if an electrical current was shooting through my body at a very low voltage. It seemed like the 'current' wanted to exit my body but it didn't know how to leave. It would go up and down and try to exit at my joint areas. My ankle, knee, elbow, wrist, shoulder, neck, everything ached and began to burn. The 'voltage' grew worse as the day went on and continued in severity until I had to lay down and sleep. I remember waking up on a Friday and having the 'burning' localized to my back.
Sure enough, when I looked, there was a rash that looked like a chicken pox/ blister conglomerate on my lower back. The electrical current in the rest of my body didn't subside either. It made everything I did, from sit, to walk, to breath, painful. I thought of it as my skin being peeled back and someone blowing air onto my exposed skin.
Unbelievable!!! I knew I had shingles!
Huh?! you say, shingles? Isn't that an older person's problem? That doesn't happen to young 30 year old healthy women.
Well, it did and I was the lucky recipient.
The doctor (yes, I succumbed to the doc for this one) said it was brought on by stress and a weakened immune system. It's just plain bad luck.
I received my anti viral and painkillers and retreated back to the couch for the next 5 days.
You know, being on the couch for that long gives someone a lot of time to think, and think I did.
(For the record, I did miss the Cubs game but was happy that daddy got to go enjoy it with his son)
I really evaluated my life and where I was at, during my stretch of couch time, and was enjoying working through my spiritual, mental, physical health.
One of the things that struck me was the way that I was taking care of my body.
I wasn't in a regular exercise routine, I was eating all the foods I knew were bad for my body and I really wasn't managing my stress very well with home and work and all the pressures working mom's have to manage. I think it is known by now that everyone who lets stress get a foothold in their life is setting their physical well being up for disaster.
Well, I was my own disaster and needed to do something to fix it.
yikes!!! It looks like I will need one more day to bring the story current...
Stay tuned tomorrow...

This week in my kitchen

9/14 – 9/18

Weeknight Dinner Menu

MONDAY: Steak w/ baked potato & Broccoli

TUESDAY: Pork Chops w/ brown rice, zucchini & peppers

WEDNESDAY: Mini pizzas w/ carrots

THURSDAY: Spaghetti w/ alfredo sauce, chicken & broccoli/ cauliflower

FRIDAY: Leftovers

Breakfast

• Bagels & Cream cheese
• Cereal & Milk
• Smoothie
• Fruit
• Yogurt

Lunch

• Sandwiches
• Leftovers
• Fruit

Healthy Snacks

• Apple sauce & graham crackers
• Cottage cheese & peaches
• Cheese squares & crackers
• Almonds & dried cranberries

Treats

• Ice cream
• Blackberry granata
• Wafer Cookies

My Journey Back to Health

I am embarking on a whole new adventure in my eating and lifestyle. No gluten, dairy, eggs, HFCS, sugar, processed foods or fried foods... well, at least for the next 7 days.

Here is my story:

Back in November 2008 I took a blood test to find potential allergens. I was having several allergic type reactions to foods I was eating and unless I went on an elimination diet, I didn't feel better. I wanted to pinpoint what foods were causing me problems and when the results returned, it was confirmed.
Wheat
Dairy
Eggs
Yeast
Kidney beans
Pinto beans
The doctor said it is a small list, and the sensitivity number didn't come back as high as he had seen on other patients, but for me, it was the beginning of a whole new journey.
Now finding out these results in November posed a problem for me knowing that Thanksgiving and Christmas were right around the corner and it would be really difficult to refrain from eating the foe foods. So I watched it, and suffered a bit, but managed to get through the holidays armed with the knowledge that at least I knew the reason why I was feeling so bad all the time.
After the holidays, I did an 8 week elimination diet, excluding all of MY problem foods. I felt great, my problems, which we mainly digestive in nature, seemingly went away without a hitch. I was feeling so good about my problems, that I began to let the foe foods creep their way back into my life. Slowly at first, but with more frequency and quantity.
Before I know it, I had a rash around my neck, a ring, that would not go away. It started under my favorite chain, sterling silver, which is not supposed to cause reactions in people, but this rash got bigger and it burned and itched. Nothing I did would take it away so i resorted to one of my nemisis in life, the conventional doctor. Friendly enough, yes, but before I could finish my "I'm fine, thank you," retort to his, "Hello, how are we today?" He had two prescriptions written for steroid creams and was out the door.
Reluctently, I filled my steroids and dutifully applied my cream, know how bad it was for my body but not being able to face the rash one more day. Within a week, it was cleared up and I went on my life again without a hitch.
That lasted until May, when my body brought me back down in flames.

Stay tuned for the conclusion tomorrow...

Wordless Wednesday - all you need is love

see any resemblance?

didn't think so!

1st day of school

The boys went back to school today.

Jimmy gets picked up by the bus at the school Payton attends.

That means we have to go to the school 2x within an hour. What fun!

We're going to have an interesting transition getting back into a routine this year. Since Jimmy gets picked up an hour before Payton, the whole house is up by 6am, which means I need to be up by 5:30 to get everything in motion before they get moving. Yikes! It was a treat all summer to sleep until 7am. I guess all good things come to an end but it will be good to be up and in an early routine again. We should be pretty tired by the end of the night, going from school, to homework, to dinner, to football. Showers, a book and bed will be welcomed after a long day.

Have a great day boys~ B will miss you today.

(or will she???)

you are loved

just a little reminder that when you feel small and insignificant, don't.

your not.

people notice you and God loves you.Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

1 Timpothy 4:12

Fear vs. Worry: Are they the same?

My question today is: Is fear different than worry?
I feel like I have the worry thing down. I am able to cast aside my worries and freely give them to God. Occasionally, I think of something I might have forgot to do or tell someone and for that moment, I worry about the consequence or the reaction I will receive. But I am able to put the worry of the problem itself aside, pray about it and let it go. but fear, that's a whole other emotion for me. It's where I am stuck. I am afraid. Not afraid to live my every day life, not afraid to do things with my family or afraid to take chances, but I have fear. It's almost a surreal feeling to me because I can mentally tell myself that I am am afraid, that I shouldn't be afraid and I should stop being afraid, but my heart is still fearful.
and of what? what am I afraid of? a few things I can think of are spiders, heights, loss, rejection. these things, both external and internal are real heart punding, breath catching, adrenaline rushing things that cause my body to sweat, my heart to pound, my muscles to tense and my throat to burn. But why? Why do I have fear when fear should be as easy to give to God as worry. I have always found comfort in the verse Philippians 4:6-7.

Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

I am so comforted by the fact that it is the wholeness of God that comes over me and calms me. That I don't need to worry because my prayers to Jesus takes the place of me having to worry. By knowing this and believing this, I think is the reason that I don't worry. I know I am taken care of and everything that happens in my life is coming together for good. (even when I don't see the good, I know it is part of His plan).
So now I ask, is fear just another extension of worry? Can it be given to God in prayer and removed from my life as a burden? Or is it something else that is different and needs to be dealt with in another way?
I'm not sure, but I want to find out and face my fears head on. I'll let you know what I find out as I go...

wordless wednesday - my baby

Accept the Loss

school starts in 1 week!