Trim & Healthy-one step at a time-Week 1

So, here on my blog, there are a few different Trim Healthy Mama (THM) recipes and related posts. In July of last year I gave several good reports of what THM was doing in my life with pictures. I reached my lowest adult weight by the end of the summer last year......

Then something happened. I let stress take over my life. It started off with holiday stress, but that rolled into just life stress, and I felt like I couldn't get a leg up. I couldn't find my groove again. I would set a start back date, just to allow the daily stresses in my life derail me halfway through the first week or first day. I kept hearing things like, just start over in 3 hours, but I couldn't get rolling with it. I cooked a lot of THM meals, but these little off plan snacks and drinks would find their way home with me, and I would devour them. 

I found myself dealing with a "last meal" mentality regularly: "I'm going to pig out today, and then I'm back on plan starting tomorrow." THM offers wonderful satisfying meals and desserts. When I was faithful to it, I never felt deprived, but for some reason, I couldn't get the sugar/bad carb taste out of my mouth, and the mountain I have been trying to climb to get back to following the THM plan has been like trying to get to the top of MT. Everest. 

Meanwhile...my weight has steadily climbed, and now I have to lose the weight I lost before, all over again. I'm sad about that, but not about ready to give up! I've spent the last several months, finding myself, so to speak. We drastically reduced our belongings, relieving, I would say, about half of my stress. I've simplified my life and confirmed what my priorities are in life. I've come to the realization that I am not meant to conform in ways I thought I once had to. I'm finding my joy, and my style again. While I wear modest clothes and mostly dresses for a reason, that does not define my style. I'm not a penny loafer, dress suit wearing, church lady, not that there is anything wrong with that, it's just not me. I'm a boots and converse wearing, denim skirt and t-shirt wearing gal. That's how God made me, and I'm giving Him my best, when I'm being the person He created me to be. Unique....I'm letting go of all these ideals I thought I had to conform to, and getting a hold of a few main principles....Love Jesus and others with my whole heart....Be who God made me to be, and do my best at it, and live a simple and Jesus focused life! 

With all that dealt with, my stress is almost gone....I'm a mom, so a stress free life is not always a possibility, but with these things dealt with I can now handle the little stresses SO.MUCH.BETTER!

So that brings me to now. I need to take a slow-one step at a time-approach to getting back to this sugar free, low carb, lifestyle way of eating. Going whole hog, does not work for me. It overwhelms me. So I decided to break things down a bit, and take some baby steps. Removing one bad habit at a time, and replacing it with a good habit. Facing one small part of this plan, one meal, one snack, one drink, at a time. Even dealing with exercising eventually. I'm praying that this will help me to detox a lot slower, to not be overwhelmed by all the different meals/snacks I need to plan for, and make the cravings a lot easier to deal with. 

Here's my plan for this week-

For for my first week, I'm going to focus on drinks. Drinks, can be a big source of empty calories, if you are drinking the wrong things. I am a serious Dr. Pepper addict. Major empty calories. I have and can live without it, but getting over the initial cravings is tough for me. So, this week, I am eliminating all sugar laden drinks from my life, and drinking only yummy and healthy THM drinks and other healthy drink choices. While I don't plan on focusing on other aspects of THM right now, we often eat meals that are on plan. But I won't be stressing if that off plan peanut butter cup sneaks into my shopping cart at the store, for now :)

Here's how I'm preparing for my first week-

-Making sure there are no off plan drinks in the house. My husband still likes his tea sweetened with regular sugar, but that is not a temptation for me. 
-Making recipe cards for all my favorite drinks to have on hand. 
-Going shopping and making sure I have all the ingredients for my favorite drinks. 
-Buying some carbonated water for fizzy drinks, for when those soda pop cravings hit. 
-Putting some stevia in my purse for when I'm out and about and want something to drink, like unsweetened tea or coffee.
-Knitting or crocheting a quart jar cozy for my drinking jars.
-Buying a new coffee mug 

All of these things aren't absolutely necessary, but they will certainly make the transition easier for me. 

Here is a list of some of my favorite drinks-

-Good girl moonshine-The original, as well as most of the variations. My favorites are caramel apple, fruit punch, and cider pop. 

-The Shrinker- Original and the shrinker latte that I created. 

-Singing Canary-This one always gives me a ton of energy!

-Trimmaccino-I love all these variations! Including using the recipe with tea or making hot chocolate. I'm also really looking forward to making the healthy version of the pumpkin spice latte . Coffee in general is my favorite thing to drink, after Dr. Pepper. 

-Sips-The pumpkin and apple pie sips are delicious! 

-As well as the too many to mention drinks and shakes you can find on pinterest....and not forgetting just plain water and tea. 

I LOVE that most of these drinks are made with just basic ingredients. Stuff that I already have mostly on hand or can get easily here in town. Just some ACV, a few different tea variations, some spices and extracts, butter/oil, almond milk, cottage cheese, cream, some stevia, and a couple of less common items (that always last forever, and well worth the money-gelatin, mct oil, etc). 

So, what works for you? Baby steps or all or nothing? Are you having trouble getting back to healthy eating? I'd love to hear how others deal with getting back at it! 

Have a blessed week!
sara

Simplified Principles for Keeping a Clean Home

I've tried it all...every cleaning/organizing system that there is to try has passed through my home, some with a longer stay than others. A couple of particulars that stayed around longer than any others was the beloved Flylady...who while teaching you to declutter just 15 minutes a day, manages to bombard you with too much visual and inbox clutter. But I have to give her props, because she got me rolling with a system in a system-less home. She saved my sanity more than a few times. But I was eventually just too turned off by all the sales promos for junk I didn't need, and email reminders for everything. 

More recently, I used the system in Large Family Logistics, and while her system has been a great help to me in the last few years as I've grown into having a larger than average family....I still just felt like it wasn't working for me as well as I'd hoped. 

Then something happened that just made things completely clear to me.... I realized I wanted to cultivate relationships, and not "stuff". Stuff in our homes was taking over and wearing us down. We spent all our time cleaning stuff and organizing stuff, and not paying attention to what was really important, when what we really needed to do was GET RID OF OUR STUFF!!!!

So over the last couple of months, we set out to get rid of at least half of our belongings. I honestly didn't think it was possible, but as I got started, it became almost addictive. I really became in tune with what was TRULY important in my life. I want more than anything to live a life wholly devoted to the Lord and realized the way we were living was far from that. Our focus was more on material things, not heavenly things and relationships with people. 

A couple months ago, my family had a HUGE yard sale and afterwards took everything, at least 2 van loads, and 3 small truck loads to our local resale shop. Since then, amazingly, I keep seeing MORE STUFF to get rid of, and have taken at least 2 more van loads.

Once the clutter was gone, I really wanted to figure out how to make the most of our lives...There's still cleaning and laundry to do. We are a larger than average homeschooling family of 7. Needless to say...food prep is a multiple times daily occurrence.  But I wanted so much to really s-l-o-w down and enjoy the day to day moments of life, and stop letting them just keep rushing past us.

I started really questioning what "system" would work best in our family for maintaining order while still slowing down and enjoying life. And the answer came loud and clear, the same as it did, when I questioned what methods would be best for homeschooling my children, and feeding my family......the most natural method. 

Throughout life there is always a sort of cause and effect to life....a natural rhythm to daily living. Bills need to be paid, you earn a paycheck, you pay the bills. I started looking for those natural rhythms throughout our home life, and came up with a few principles and ideas for keeping a clean home. 

1. You can NOT organize clutter.

Get serious, and ask yourself what really matters in this life, and then get rid of the stuff that doesn't line up with those beliefs. Keep what you love and use, and get rid of the rest. 


2. Put up what you get out. 

Really, this is the foundation of keeping your home clean, and the first rule kids need to learn. If you make a mess, clean up your mess before you move on. period. 

3. Make it a family affair. 

One of my fondest memories as a child was after mealtime was over, watching as all the women, and some of the men, got up, and worked together to clean up the mess that was made from eating. There was no questioning of who's turn it was to do the dishes. No whining. It was just DONE! And not only that but done completely. And even more importantly, the conversations that were had during that time, were always the most precious. The laughter, the camaraderie as people worked together towards a common goal. This goes for the whole home, but is especially fitting after meals. 

Get rid of the dishwasher (GASP!) Fill up your sink, and slow down and enjoy the conversations that flow, while just doing the mundane of doing dishes!  

4. Follow the natural rhythms of your life.

You get paid on Friday, pay your bills on Friday. The farmer's market is open on Saturday, make that your errand day and get your shopping done. Wash your laundry as it fills up a basket load. See something that is no longer useful or beautiful in your home, keep a bag of go away items handy to fill up, and then load the bag in your car when it's full to take out on errand day. Do you enjoy starting the weekend or the beginning of the week with everything clean and shiny? Make it a point to give the house a thorough dusting, sweeping, and mopping that day. See a mess, clean it up. 

5. Make a list. 

There may be things that don't just have a natural flow....a cause and effect. Maybe there's things that you see that need to be done, but that you don't have time for right now, or need to remember to do later. Maybe you realize you need to spend some extra time in an area of your home decluttering more, or doing more in depth cleaning, or want to do some sort of home improvement project....make a list of these things. And I have just two words for you.....

Bullet Journal.....This system has honestly been a game changer for me. It has simplified and helped me to grow in ways I never could have imagined. If something pops into my head, such as " I really need to send a card to my Aunt Gracie" or "I need to paint the front door soon.", I can go to my bullet journal and jot it down. If something special in my life happens, such as my baby girl takes her first steps, and I want to remember the moment it happened, I can write it down. If I want to just journal my day and what happened, I can do that. It's a free form, but organized way of dealing with the millions of "open tabs" in  your brain....lists of books you want to read, lists of projects you want to complete....it all goes in. I can not tell you how much I LOVE my bullet journal. 

And you are not just jotting a random list down somewhere to get lost in the piles...you are putting something in a select place, and dealing with it. Moving it forward or if it's no longer necessary, striking it through. You can make it your own, however it works best for you! Pinterest is a great place to see how others use their bullet journal! It's an amazing tool!!

One thing that I do is under my daily entries, I keep a checklist for dailies- that includes making sure the kitchen gets cleaned a couple times a day, at least one load of laundry is done, and a quick pick up. Then I put under my to do list, stuff that I would normally get done on that specific day, like pay bills on Wednesday, all those regular things that come up in a natural rhythm during the week, and after all my regular to do's, (which is usually only one thing on a few different days of the week), I list 5 other projects I want to work on. This varies from day to day, and is not a commitment to get them all done, nor is it all I may do, just a starting point. If something comes up, and I can only do one thing, I can either move it forward to the next day, or save it for another time. If I have a bigger project that I'm working on, then I only put one little part of it on there. For instance, my homeschooling shelves need to be gone through, decluttered, and organized. It's a large cabinet, so I have on there for tomorrow to only work on one section. My projects may be organizing something, deep cleaning something, or working on a craft, or some other thing I want to take time to work on. How do I choose what to do? Whatever catches my eye or pops into my head or whatever my husband may need me to do. Like I really need to wipe down the washer and dryer and clean the lint trap, or I need to spend some time filing/shredding some papers, or the bathroom cabinets are getting messy, time to get it back in order. So easy and uncomplicated. I don't have to follow a strict to do schedule. I just do the things that I naturally need to do during the week, and then add some things that I feel need to get done and that I have the time and energy for. If I have a day that I am just really not feeling well or low energy, or just want a break, I put some relaxing, fun things on there, like take a bubble bath, read a good book, spend some knitting, etc. 

Will this system work for everyone? Of course not, but it has greatly simplified my life and my family's lives! For as long as I can remember, I have been an unorganized, undisciplined, always struggling to just get the basics done, and for the last 3 months since getting rid of SO MUCH STUFF, my life has just slowly fallen into place. My house is clean, school is getting done with my kids, and I have time to spare! I can't wait to post more on the life changing things we have going on here!!!! 

Blessings, 
sara

Finding my way

I feel like I've been on somewhat of a journey over the last few months....a lot has happened to us and changed in such a short time. Nothing life shattering, I suppose, but I realized, I'm no longer the person I was this time last year...

When I think about how much precious time I wasted on what was unnecessary...how much more time I would have had to take in all the amazing riches that is my family....it makes me cringe. 

Simplicity is a process, and not something that one just suddenly arrives at. It must be continuously worked towards. Stuff creeps in...physical clutter, but mental clutter too. We let that busy bee mentality seep back in. And we have to force ourselves to just stop, take a deep breath....and let it all go. To turn back to what we've seen is truly important. God, our families, a personal relationship with life....not just through the looking glass...but a real one on one with life. 

Over the past few months, we've let go of more than half of our belongings. HALF. It was scary. As we began to filter through our home...letting go of what we deemed no longer worthwhile or really meaningful, something happened. The void where the stuff we thought was so special once lived, began to be filled. With laughter, with love, with beauty......with life. I no longer had to spend my time managing our stuff. I had time, guilt free time, to do what I pleased. The chores that I thought were neverending...came to an end....at least for a while. The piles of laundry that once littered our home, are now gone. 

I am able to have my cake and eat it too....a clean home, and no guilt for not spending extra time with my children. We read, we color, we play. That's not to say that my life is trouble free. Who's is? The last few days, trouble has come in the form of a fussy, teething baby, who alternately has a knack for climbing....A 5 year old testing his limits....and teens and pre-teens with biting tongues towards one another. But as I sit here, another day in the books, I think back to where I was this time last year. I felt like I was drowning, with not enough time to do all that I felt was necessary, and what I knew was important. I'm so grateful for where God has brought my family. 

This journey is certainly not over. Really, it has only began. We're still finding things to continually whittle away at to bring the calm and the joy...the simplicity. Facebook was recently one of those things removed. It was such an odd feeling to have something so superficial leave such a strong feeling of loss when I finally decided I was done with it. It had become an idol in my life. I've seen more quality of life in the last week than I have in years. I had no idea how much it had taken over my life...my thoughts.....my priorities. 

I'm looking forward to more change as we continue to work towards the common goal of living a life that brings honor and glory to the Lord. Simplicity, at the root, is little more than a life wholly focused on living for Him. 

Blessings, 
sara

Finding the Simple in Simplicity

It's been a little bit since I've found myself here. I guess you could say I've been working on finding my way for a bit. I don't plan to ever be a blog for profit blogger, though I see nothing wrong with that. And I also don't intend to apologize for when more important things take me away from here for extended periods of time. But I do enjoy blogging, when I feel led to, and when I have time for it. 

Over the last several months, I've found a longing desire to truly seek out the simple life. For a little bit I thought that couldn't be had from where I'm sitting. I thought it meant I had to have a home in the country, but it doesn't mean that at all. God has planted my family where we're at for a reason, and if He is calling me to simplify my life, so that I can focus more on Him and His desires for my life, then I can do it from wherever I'm at right now. 

Life has grown too complicated. There's more stuff and less happiness. More screen time, and less face to face real interactions. More doing, and less being. People are so caught up in their busy lives, that they have lost their focus on what God truly wants from them. 

Slowly but surely over the past months, God has been calling our family to deny ourselves and to take up our cross and follow Him. Does that mean that we're going to get rid of all our belongings and live out of backpacks while we reach the lost. Not at all! But for us, for me, it means it's time to let go of these earthly things that hold my family and I back from doing what God truly wants of us. 

It's time for me to step out of my comfort zone and start letting go of not just physical clutter, but mental clutter. My dear friend over at Country Hick Homestead, summarized Five Rules for her family to live by. And I've come up with my own list as well. 

Love Jesus, and share Him freely with all who will listen....

Love others unconditionally......

Serve others in whatever way you can......

Give More, spend less.......

Live, speak, and eat minimally, simply, and wholly

That's where I'm at right now. I'm working at taking some steps in that direction to put these rules in my life into action..... Over the next 21 days, my family and I are hoping to drastically reduce what we have in our home by half or more. We are having a do or die yard sale on June 28, which means, if it doesn't sell, it goes to charity. 

Also through the month of June, our family will be finishing up some prior commitments of "busyness", and in July, we will begin to slow down and find out what it means to savor each moment. July is going to be a month of starting over with a new way of living. A slower, more intentional way of living and doing so with less stuff. I am so anxious and ready to make these changes for our family, so that we can spend our time focused on Jesus, and His will for our lives! 

So, what does that mean for blogging? I don't plan to make any commitments of blogging daily or anything, but I will be hopefully sharing the changes that are going on here as I have time. A time of transformation for our family. For years, I have held the blog name of Blessed Simplicity. I think it's time to seek that lifestyle out, and stop just talking about it!