Never gonna give you up.

(above: today's lunch)

Day 4ish... All is well! Grains are def. more difficult for me to give up than dairy. I love cheese and all, but I'm what you might call a "cheese snob". I only eat really good cheese (which is pricey), so my indulgences are few and far between. Grains are everywhere, but I love a good challenge so BRING IT! A friend of mine, Lynn Fish, (<--- check her out) is a wonderful encouragement to me. She lightly suggested I check out the Paleo eating style. It has given me lots of insight as to how our body processes different crap we shove in our faces and, for the most part, I could see myself adapting this "natural eating" lifestyle. I will NOT, however, give up my beloved legumes. I LOVE beans. They are good for me. They are from the earth. I am not a huge meat eater, so they are my major form of protein besides eggs.
I'm really enjoying taking care of myself. Health and Nutrition was ALMOST my major until I realized I would have to take more math classes as a result. No joke.
So... so far, so good. I'm still not consuming a large variety of foods, but I am looking forward to trying a couple new recipes a week that incorporate my local farmers market. Stay tuned.

know what makes me happy?

PLUS

ON ICE
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that is all

Dim the house lights...

My 5 followers can relax. I'm back.
I am fixin' to let you all know how I handle cutting DAIRY AND GRAINS for the next 3 weeks.
It hurt me to think about it, and it even hurt me to type it.
In a nutshell, my body is mad at me.
My innards don't feel like they are up to par.
I recently had a full physical and all is well. I'm even "remarkably hydrated with great immunity"!
Who knew?
After chatting with friends that care about their bodies and researching some credible websites, I have a sinking feeling that dairy and (GOD FORBID)/or grains are the culprit.
This brings me to today - DAY 2 of neither DorG. Can I just call it that? You will catch on soon...
How do I feel? Eh. Can't tell yet. No positive or negative effects except for the fact that I CAN'T
STOP thinking about cheese, crackers, or beer. I feel as if these 3 things are the reason for my existence. Obviously, they are not. But the fact that I feel SO deprived is REASON #1 why this is a GOOD thing for me to do. Not attempt... DO!
Reason #2?... well, I just want to feel AWESOME. Not "ok" or "good". So tired of saying that. I'm ready for my body to be all that it can be. I'm strong and active and ready to investigate why I'm just not as awesome as I should be. ;-)
"What have you been eating, Laura?" Good question, Laura! I'll give a little recap:
Eggs, Boar's Head Chicken, veggie salads with bals. vin. and EVOO, Krab, lots of beans, cut up veggies on hand, smoothies made with frozen fruit and almond milk...
I will be more specific with my meals in later posts. I went to the library and found lots of good reads with some great recipes. I can't wait to share my journey with you!
Dreams of feta and hops,
Loo

United "States of Laura"

I'm only gonna back it up so far... guaranteed I will get "happenings" waaay out of order if I try to pull memories farther than say... oh... the holiday season. 40 is right around the corner, and you know what "they" say about short term memory... "They" suck. (and I'm really not very close to 40)

I digress... (strong personality trait of mine, not to be confused with "blonde")

I think once I get back on track again with my blogging schedule, not like I ever had one, there will be themes, or subjects, if you will, to my online story-telling.
Please bear with my rambling. It's good to get to know the author. Creates a connection. A bond.

Christmas was nice. I'm not going to give it much more than that. I get really (really) hyped up for the holiday, but when it gets here, I'm usually not all that impressed. This years theme was Legos and DS's. Tall orders, but we made it happen. We also made THIS happen:

















Happy Birthday, Jesus.

Speaking of Jesus... (terrible segway, my apologies)
Our church, Genesis, HAS A HOME!
I know a church is not a building, don't get me wrong, but SHOOT it's been a long, Exodus-like, 10 years!
From cafeteria to cafeteria to THIS:
















Our first service in our new-but-really-old building was last week. It was so great. If I can get my hands on the video (that really explains this super-cool transition and also made me cry...) I will be sure to post it! If you happen to stumble across my blog, don't already go to Genesis, and live in the area... STOP BY! (and PLEASE, track me down if this happens! I would be SO excited!)

Okay, so more about me. Come on, it's my blog, and I don't get to talk about myself much. Don't ask my husband, he would disagree...

I got my hairs cut a bit, and threw in a little more blonde. (why not?)
















Apparently I feel the need to take pictures of myself while wearing my dirty gray zip-up... or, I just wear it so much that it's no shock it's in most pictures of me. Irrelevant.
This slight hairstyle change makes me feel a little more sassy than the dishwater-blond-non-layered me.


























Okay, okay... perhaps it was the contents of the Solo cup.
Back off. It was New Years Eve... and the children were ASLEEP! Gosh.

New Year, new me? Nah. I'm pretty cool with me...
ALTHOUGH... I do plan on continuing my quest to be a healthier ME all around -

Financially:














Take that picture literally. Cash. In envelopes. God give me strength.

Physically:














See her? Down there? I'm very uncomfortable about our relationship. I want to hate her so badly, yet I come back for more. The girl knows her sh...shhh-tuff! But, you WILL cry. And yell obscenities...
BUT LOOK AT HER ARMS?!?!? Ok... I'm done.



















Mentally:

Eh.
I don't want to overload myself.
Besides... what kind of stay-at-home mom would I be if I had it ALL together?
People would just want to punch me.
(Don't pretend like you don't know what kind of blogger I'm talking about...)

Okay, that wasn't nice.

Happy Twenty Ten. That's how I'm going to say it.

whattya mean?

So... I hear that when you update a blog every 5 months, it tends to lose momentum.
Yup, that's what happened. Good thing I'm not relying on this as a source of income! (seriously, have you SEEN some of those blogs out there?) I can only dream.

First, I owe you an apology. I'm sorry. (Don't take that apology lightly! It's hard for me to say I'm sorry.) *now I'm singing*
Second, answer the question, "What the heck have you been up to?"

Super, over-generalized list of WHAT'S UP'S! ~ ~ ~

* barely finished up the (home)school year (read: we just kinda stopped because mom reached a burnout of epic proportions!)

* bought a pop-up camper!

* threw a 60th surprise party for my daddy

* took the camper down to KY for a family reunion

* got the younggins registered for public school in the fall

* cried

* planted a garden

Wow. That list doesn't even scrape the surface of our crazy fun lives! ;)
I will use subsequent entries (promise) to elaborate on the above, afterall, I know the 7 of you are DYING to know how many of these things came about/went down!

Let's stay in...

More often than not, especially with the current economy, we choose "in" over "out". Whether it be carry out, chillin' with the pals or movie watchin', it's only a matter of time before couples butt-heads in the decision making process. I can't help you decide which friends to have over that you both MUTUALLY adore, and I am currently researching games that kick-ass across the gender gap - but - just in time (like, by the skin on my teeth) for Heart's Day....
Here is a list of CHICK FLICKS THAT MEN ENJOY!
I'm going to have to strongly agree on over half of these movies, but then again, I think my man just might enjoy the romantic comedy more than me! Gotta love him!

10. Titanic
9. Ghost
8. Mean Girls
7. While You Were Sleeping
6. When Harry Met Sally
5. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
4. Moulin Rouge
3. Pretty Woman
2. Bridget Jones' Diary
1. Love Actually

I have to expand on this list and say that pretty much any movie with Hugh Grant should have made the list. That being said, The Holiday should replace Love Actually for the numero uno slot. I also have to say that I was sorely disappointed that Dirty Dancing did not make the cut? Men?... you've GOT to agree with me on this one!

a day in the life

First, let's just start off by taking a look at my kitchen counter. What's so special about it?... YOU CAN SEE IT. I figured I'd better archive such an accomplishment because it will not be this way in, ohhhh, 3 hours!

The kiddos didn't put up much of a fight this morning. They were quite on task (hence, "clean" kitchen). There was the usual goofing around and me threatening to separate them into different areas of the house... but overall, we got the job done.

Let's just take a minute to "ooo and ahhh" at the marvels of IKEA. Storage solutions like these actually make it so that I can tolerate my kitchen ALSO being a school room! I already have plans for a cubby unit along the backside of the kitchen counter. We're very cramped for space, so every trip to IKEA makes a huge difference! (like, my justification here?)

Sorry, Tess... math can't ALWAYS be fun! She loves schoolwork. I think it's because it all just comes easy to her (and I really should put her ahead but don't want her to WAY overshadow her big sister academically... ugh.... that's for another post...). But when the girl gets stuck on something she gets really frustrated. I need to be close at hand before she starts tearing at her page or writing angry notes in the corner!

All the while, Parker chills on his "reading pad" and plays Starfall on the computer. He's making his way slowly through the "Learn to Read" section. He spends most of the time clicking on the characters to see what cool things they do rather than actually learning to read. But... hey... every bit of exposure counts!

... and we finally finished decorating the Valentine Tree.
It's our goal to decorate this sad little tree for every upcoming event. We'll see how disciplined I can be with this! Next up, St. Patty's Day/Daddy's Birthday. They are already pretty excited about ways to display BOTH events on one tree!