Mi Vida Loca!!!

My crazy life - it's the name of the game.  I don't know what I'd do if it wasn't crazy - and crazy busy!!

I am homeschooling Scrappy this year, and probably the next few years, because of his Cystic Fibrosis.  We are on Week 3, although we don't have a super strict schedule right now since it is canning season.  And canning we have been!! 

Scrappy doing his vest treatments

Salsa!!

Peeling apples in between swimming

Just this last week, we did 27 pints and 14 quarts of applesauce, 21 quarts of whole tomatoes, 4 quarts of tomato juice, and 55 pints of salsa.  I still want to do another batch of applesauce, which I was hoping to do this weekend, but now I'm not so sure about.  I have all next week too..

School starts on Tuesday for Beau.  We decided it was better for Scrappy to start a little earlier than everyone else because he's going to get a couple weeks of for spring break, which Beau only gets a few days.  But once our new little bundle of joy arrives, I'm going to need a little break from home school.

Yup, that's right! We're expecting!!  We originally figured my due date to be March 27, but Dr White said I'm measuring a little bit small, putting my due date closer to April 10.  I have an ultrasound coming up on Sept 24 and she thinks we'll have a better idea then on my due date.  Unfortunately we've already found that my blood sugars are running high again, which means a bunch of finger pricking and changing eating habits.  I guess it's not so bad, since I lost weight once I got on track last time, but it's a huge change away from the pasta-based meals that are so easy to go to and depend on.  So my next series of recipe posts will be diabetic friendly ones.

My business has also launched.  Mama's Gift Corner is all about homemade, hand made gifts.  Since I've been canning, I haven't been doing as much work as I had before, but it's only for a few weeks.  I want to get my inventory built up before the fall craft shows start so I can hopefully get into a few and start selling!!

Well, I need to get some breakfast.  Have a great day!

Surviving

I survived the weekend.  It was very difficult though!  At TOPS I was down 3 pounds this week, which is encouraging.  When I see progress on the scale, I have more motivation to keep it up.  I've been trying to push myself to get more motivated and exercise more too.  

And now that I have the motivation to go to the gym, I can't.  They are closed for remodeling until Wednesday :(  And I've also found out that a friend of mine goes to the same gym, and we've been missing each other just by an hour out there.  We're going to try coordinating to go together for accountability and motivational purposes.

I have a confession to make.  I had been down a total of 27 pounds not too long after we had lost Baden.  But because of the stress and depression I've been fighting with, I have gained almost all of it back.  As of last weigh in, I am a total of 5 pounds below my starting weight at TOPS, which is my highest weight ever.  And I'm not happy about it.  I do know that being on the 'diabetic diet' does have significant weight loss effects just from when I was on it when I was pregnant.  However, unlike when I was pregnant, I have been able to incorporate exercise into the mix.

Hitting the gym has also helped to deal with more of my stress too.  All the pent-up energy from being angry or frustrated I redirect to my workout.  Since the weather is a bit cooler now, I'm going to try to get out walking in the neighborhood.  Unfortunately I won't be able to multitask and do my reading while I'm walking, so I'll have to make up for that somehow.

I've been trying to plan out my meals to help with keeping my carbs in check.  Saturday I had class and packed a lunch of stir-fried veggies and a little rice to take with me.  For supper we were invited to the campground to eat with my parents and family.  Unfortunately most of what was being served was not on my menu.  I brought my own pork chops and a summer squash since, in addition to the low carbs, the dietitian said "low salt and low fat."   They were serving ribs, corn, potatoes, and cornbread.  I can have potatoes, but I didn't realize they were being served in a creamy gravy.  I took some anyway and scraped most of the sauce off and also had a half ear of corn.  I did take a little bite off of my husband's cornbread, just so I could have a taste.

I'm very proud of myself for not giving in and breaking down.  I did it again on Sunday for lunch when we went to the family reunion too.  I'm still amazed I was able to peel off and give up my crispy chicken skin (my FAVE!!) to my husband.  A few tablespoons of tater tot hotdish, some applesauce, some musk melon.  Like I said, I'm surviving.  It's amazing how easily I've been saying no to some of the things I really love.

The hard thing to give up is my Coke.  If I don't have any, I end up with a horrid migraine.  So I've allowed a compromise:  I use one meal's carbs toward one can of Coke, usually in the morning because I have that and some eggs for breakfast.  My doc has suggested that giving up caffeine will help with my fluid retention problem.  But fall is coming and I love my coffee. I just can't bring myself to drinking decaf.  I think I should be OK as long as I don't add a bunch of carbs in sweeteners/creamers to it.  I'll have to check my Coffeemate, since I have 2 bottles of it.

I suppose - I need to try to get motivated for the day.  Scrappy has preschool orientation tonight and starts preschool on Thursday.  I need to get some laundry done, maybe throw him in the tub, and I really should get my house cleaned up and catch up on dishes.  I can't wait until we start (and finish!) construction so I have a place to actually PUT things!  And I can't wait to get my new office since our contractor has decided to put another room on the 2nd floor!!  This just isn't moving fast enough for me :(  Oh well, good things come to those who wait, right?  Right?