Bad Habits Die Hard

I started out the year, like most people, with the intention and desire to cook healthier, eat healthier and be healthier. My life has been a whirlwind since the beginning of the year and we have gone through many changes. I could use those changes as an excuse for not following through but the truth is that the only person who can control this is me and I allowed things to get in the way.

So I am trying to get back on track. We are getting settled into the new house. We are getting back to some kind of normal routine...as normal as you can get with three kids and four cats ! Seriously though, things are going really well. The house is turning out to be everything we wanted and more. We are getting to know more and more of the neighbors and they are all very welcoming. Nathan has not only adjusted to his new school but loves it. Larissa is finishing out the year at the school she is at and will switch for the next school year. With all that being said, things are falling into place and it's time to get myself back on track.

All this packing, moving and unpacking had us eating more fast food than I care to even admit on here. I guess it was a choice but it was the best choice at the times I was faced with it. I have started cooking again and remembered how much I love cooking. I have already tried some new recipes but they are not healthy ones. Don't get me wrong, they are not unhealthy but they don't have any veggies and they are loaded with calories. I am sure however, that is still better than grabbing fast food. So I will begin the search for healthier recipes that I know the family will eat.

I am going back to making meal plans too and trying to incorporate more veggies again. I will continue to buy whole wheat when possible and try having more healthy snacks on hand. The long term goal is not just to get myself healthier but also the whole family. So wish me luck as I try to get back on track with my goals to get healthier this year. It is never too late to break old habits !

Pics of the new house !

I know that many of you have been asking and waiting patiently for pics of the new house. So here are some that I have taken with my phone so please excuse the quality. I also want to make it known that I am not done unpacking, far from it. I am trying to pick the better pictures to show you since obviously, that is what I want you to see...lol. I will try to update pics as I get things done. The dining room is filled with my mother's stuff that came to new house by accident. So that wall of boxes will be gone and that alone will make that room so much better. I don't have curtains up yet, not even the rods actually...lol. But I still wanted to share with you all what I do have so here it goes.

This is my front porch where me and the girls got to hang out on Sunday afternoon. Thanks ladies, I had a great time !



Here is the bathroom. Nothing special really. Not even sure that I like the black after I got it up but it is staying for now cuz I have way too much to do already.



Here are a few pics of my kitchen. If you remember (if not you can search through my old posts) I wanted to use the pic of the retro kitchen as my inspiration and I think that it is already taking shape. I love to spend time in here. The boxes piled up next to the stove also belong to my mother by the way and I am trying to get all her stuff to storage but there is so darn much !





This is my dining room. As I mentioned, that wall of boxes behind the table all belongs to my mother. Hopefully we can get all that out by this weekend and then I can take more pics.



And last but not least, here is my living room.




I have pics of the kids rooms but they are awful and I decided not to share them until I can do more work on them. I also for some reason forgot to take a pic of our room that is much on it's way to being done. I will get more though and post them later on this week. I hope that you have all enjoyed looking at our new home and I hope that all of you get to see it in person !

Read this, loved this and had to share this...

Mommy Bloggers
I miss the days when Martha Stewart was the only woman who could make me feel like a slacker. Martha, with her perfect hair, her effortless style, her brilliant ideas, her ability to find a use for everything and give everything a use. Between her estate gardens and her glue gun acumen, she was my go-to gal for inspiration, ideas and instruction.

I knew I could never quite accomplish her amazing feats of craftiness, but that was okay. After all, no one can really be Martha. She has personal assistants, stylists, gardeners, wealth. I could laugh at my attempts to "channel Martha" and just have fun.

Now, however, I've discovered a rabbit hole of blogging mommies who make Martha Stewart look like she spends her day watching soaps and eating bon-bons.

No nannies.

No assistants.

No stylists.

Uniformly, they are cute - slender, stylish, trendy. They have the ability to look at a dress in a thrift store and restructure a work of art suitable for a black tie party. They create their children's clothing and sell the patterns. They are creative enough to make every birthday party, every holiday look like something out of a magazine. Their photography is professional, their writing is interesting, their interests are complex and varied. They recycle, reuse and look fabulous while doing so.

I love them.

I hate them.

I so want to be them.

I think it's time to go back to Martha. My self-esteem can't handle the collective creativity.

Unpacking

It's official. We are in our new home. It is so wonderful. I have so much to unpack and so much to do. I think that even with all the wonderful help that we had, and we had a lot (thanks everyone), this was one of the hardest moves that I have been through. I have a ton of unpacking to do and I still haven't put together the boys dressers yet so the clothes is all over the place too.

I know what you are thinking...we have only been in our new place for a couple of days and I can't expect to get it all done so quickly but yeah, I did expect that...lmao. I hate having things all over the place and not knowing where things are. I really should have taken some time out of work to do this but I didn't so I really need to dedicate time to get things in order. I may be crazy but I don't like it when my house is crazy. :o)

So I just wanted to let you all know how happy we are in our new home. We already got invited to the neighbors house for drinks. Life is good !

Tomorrow is our big day !

This is it! The day we have been anxiously counting down to. Tonight will be our last night sleeping in this house and tomorrow night will be our first night sleeping in our new house !

I am beyond exhausted. I did the family room from top to bottom, the playroom is ready to go even though I had orignially planned to do it tonight. CJ was cooperating so I went with it. We took apart our bed and took out all the garbage...it was garbage night.
Tonight we have to drop off Nathan at boyscouts for a BBQ. Then we have to run to Bj's to turn in our water bottles and get vouchers for after we move and one water bottle. We have the water system in the car already and we are going to the house to drop it off after work so that tomorrow we at least have cold water for everyone to drink.
Then we have to finish packing the kitchen, which is just the few dishes we have been using, the pantry and the refrigerator. We have to finish our room, which is mainly just bagging up clothes (and not throwing them out...lol). And that is pretty much it I think. Jose is going to take apart the computer tonight so that it is ready to go too !

I hope that the rain holds off until we are done. Keep us in your prayers if you are not helping out tomorrow. I will send pics of the new house for sure !

Cooking...Back to Basics

Saturday is our big day. Finally the much anticipated day. I am hoping that the predicted rain for the evening really does wait til the evening. With this move and all the packing and madness, it has been forever since I have cooked. I miss good old fashioned home cooking. So starting Monday (I hope), I am going back to cooking dinner again.

I have been doing lots of research on cooking meals and freezing them and having prepared meals for days when the time to cook is just not that great. Right before everything went bazerk because of the packing and moving, I was getting stressed with being away from the house three nights out of a five nights during the week. I hated not being home to cook dinner and sitting with the family. Being able to leave instructions for Nathan and Larissa to take something out of the freezer and put it in the oven would be ideal and much more yummy than the crap that we have been eating non-stop. Although they like to cook too, it gets hectic with their schoolwork and timing so I don't want to put that on them every night. I will still dedicate each of them a night though because it keeps them involved in the responsibility of things in the house and they really do enjoy cooking too.

Do you know that there are tons of websites and blogs dedicated to spending one whole day a month cooking for the month? That is crazy. I don't want to do that, I like variety and randomness sometimes. I do want to go back to planning out the week though. Planning for the week has always worked for me. It allows me to know what to buy at the store instead of buying everything. It stops the kids from asking over and over again, "what's for dinner?" and it stops me from having to go crazy on my way home trying to figure out what I am going to make. Although this is my plan to jump into right away, I am always looking for other options.

I am actually also trying out a cooking co-op. I am just "trying" it because I am not convinced that it is for me but I am willing to give it a shot. You are probably wondering what it is exactly, well this is the description that she sent to me:
Everyone brings 4 recipes of things they would like to cook to our meeting. The group then decides together which 2 dishes each person makes. They then make enough for each family, and the next month each family gets one dish.
For example, our group used to have 5 women. The largest family was 6 people, all others were ok with 3 serving dishes. So say I am to make baked ziti and Minestrone. I will make 10 3-serving dishes of baked ziti and 10 3-serving dishes of minestrone. When we swap the food, every woman receives 2 3-serving dishes of baked ziti and 2 3-serving dishes of minestrone.
I also receive 2 3-serving dishes on what everybody else made, so at the end of our swap I end up with 20 3-serving meals (10 different dishes) in my freezer, ready to be prepared.


Like I said, I am not sure that it will work for me. I have no idea what the other dishes will be and if it will be things that my family will like to eat. Buying in bulk is def cheaper so it's gotta be worth the try at least. The first meeting is on the 28th and I will have to keep you all posted as to what happens and how it comes together. I have actually always wanted to try something like this so I guess this is a great time. I just don't know how much I will enjoy making that much of one dish but maybe the rewards of all the other different dishes will balance it out...lol.



Ok...enough about my cooking escapades. I really do miss cooking and can't wait to have everything in it's place so that I can get back into my normal routine ! Talk to you all later.

Chapter 36

Wow ! I am 36 years old. As Bethany put it, I am closer to 40 than 30 now. It's all good though, I love life. I have had a pretty bumpy life, but seriously, who hasn't?
I have laughed and I have cried. I have loved and I have lost. It is all what life is about. It is all a learning experience. My life is not about how old I am but the things that I have experienced, the things that I have seen and the things that I have done. All this and more is what has shaped me into the woman that I am today. Being strong, loving, independent and strong is what it is all about for me and I don't believe that you can't have it all.

I have the most wonderful man by my side. I had to kiss many, MANY frogs to get to my Prince Charming. It proves that all good things come to those who wait. I also don't think that I would appreciate him as much as I do if I hadn't been through all that I have been through. Just more proof that everything happens for a reason. Of course it helps that we just fit together so perfectly. I never thought that relationships could be this amazing and wonderful until I met Jose. I thought that all relationships involved fighting and hurting each other and learning to live with things. What I have learned instead is that relationships are about trust, respect, understanding and compromise. If you have all that then it really is simple. Don't get me wrong, we have our arguments, our situations and our altercations but we resolve them peacefully and without hurting each other. Since we have met, we have never sworn at each other and we have never puposefully said anything hurtful to each other. If I didn't live it myself, I wouldn't believe it either. It's true though and it wasn't always easy either...lol. We are oppposites and we have had to learn how to deal with each other. I am a talker and he is a spacer. I talk about everything, it makes me feel better, it helps me to understand the situation. He needs space. He likes to think out the whole situation before saying anything and once his thoughts are all together, he comes to me to talk. This hasn't been the easiest thing for me but we compromise. He comes to me now and tells me that things are ok but he just needs to clear his head. I feel better and I wait. If you had told me ten years ago that I would be in a relationship like this, I would have laughed and told you that you were crazy. But it is how things are and I am the luckiest woman on earth to have him.

I have three wonderful children who drive me absolutely insane. Children are so amazing. They are innocent and funny and twisted and deceitful all in one bundle. They make me laugh and they make me cry. Having lost a child, I know how precious they are and what a miracle life is. Being a parent is one of the most thrilling, emotional and frustrating things in the world...lol. I give so much credit to stay at home moms. I know that I am a working woman but that doesn't mean that I love my children any less. I personally, am a better mother because I have time to be myself during the day. I look forward to going home and seeing them. I love how CJ comes running to us when he sees us. I like finding out about Larissa and Nathan's day. I like coming home to wonderful home full of love.

Which leads me to my next thing...we are blessed to be moving into a home that we are in love with. A house that we will call home now. A home that we will fill with love and memories. A new beginning for Jose and I. A new stage in our lives. Always adding to the previous stages that has made our lives whole. Another chapter in our lives and only God knows where this will lead us. All I know is that together and with God's help, there isn't anything that we can't get through.

My faith stands strong ! It has been over two years, maybe even three since I have attended a church or a mass. With that being said, my faith is the strongest that it has ever been. My faith is what has gotten me through some of the most difficult moments in my life. This past year has had it's trials and it is God that carried me through them. It is my faith in God that guides my life.

I can't even begin to list all of my wonderful family and friends that have been a huge part of my life. You have all been there for me through the good times and bad times. You have been there for me through laughter and tears. It is relationships like this that keep me strong and allow me to give back.

So as chapter 35 of my life came to an end, chapter 36 begins. A new chapter to be written in any way that I want. A new chapter that I get to write. Stay tuned, you never know what will happen next !