Project Life Week 20

Wow – week 20 already! I have been doing this weekly for almost a year and a half and I still love it.

I don’t love this week or how it came together but I don’t have any time to tweak it so I am sticking a fork in it and calling it done. It won’t matter to me in a year or two that I just could not decide on a background paper that worked with the photos. Click to see it larger and to read the journaling.

A summary of our week for those who don’t want to read the whole thing:

• Great Mother’s Day with my mom in Hope.
• First fast food for me (in months!) They have a low carb punch out on their boxes at Carl’s Jr – for the bun-less burger
• I ate a sandwich with my low carb bread – yes this was a big deal for me!
• Alarm system installed in the house
• Kendall stuck in 1985
• Backyard done – just waiting for grass to grow
• I voted in the Provincial election
• My house is a disaster zone as I am never home to clean it

Linking up with The Mom Creative on Tuesday for Project Life Tuesday.

Project Life Week 19

The words that come to mind are “busy, busy, busy”. Just like the evil magician in Frosty the Snowman when he tells Santa he will be off to write his lines. Yes I am making references to Christmas movies in May but for some reason that scene of the movie came to mind.  In case you don’t remember the character or the scene

Santa Claus: Now you go home and write “I am very sorry for what I did to Frosty” a hundred zillion times. And then maybe – just maybe, mind you – you’ll find something in your stocking tomorrow morning.

Professor Hinkle: Like – a new hat, maybe? Ohh, yes, sir! Goodbye, everyone! Sorry to lose and run, but I’ve got to get busy writing. Busy! Busy! Busy!

I love Frosty the Snowman Anyhow I seriously digress! Here is week 19 condensed down to two neat and tidy pages.

A summary of our week:

• Had Rose and Nico over for dinner on Sunday. BBQ’d a lot of extra salmon, sausage and chicken which fed us until Wednesday night. So great to have pre-cooked meat as we are so busy!
• Jessica had a  baseball tournament in White Rock on Saturday (love that city!). I put sunscren on my face but not my scalp and ended up getting a burn on my head. My arms are also still quite “pink”. One of those sneaky sunny/cloudy days!
• My cedars are in – planted 20 of them myself and then was told I did it wrong  and they were too close together – sigh
• My body (back) was SO sore from planting trees I could not do it again. Called Ben (Marvin’s nephew) to pull them out and re-do it. He is 18 and strong!
• Busy with yard work. Eliminating a garden, moving a couple of bamboo trees and adding more grass.
• Marvin bought a new car – yippee! I dropped Jessica off at baseball and zipped over to the auto mall to talk numbers with the car dealer. He got a really great deal on his new car. It isn’t the car he really wanted but it is practical.  Goodbye Mazda 3. I am seriously not impressed with Mazda as both our Mazda vehicles died WAY before they should have Won’t be buying that brand ever again!
• The usual acting,  dance, cadets, baseball and piano for the kids
• My soccer team finished 2nd overall for the first half of the season. Of course this means we are playing the  best teams for the second half – lol.
• I even included a “selfie” of me so I could add in a progress report on my new lifestyle. So weird to see my face on a page!

Products I used this week are below. I tried to include most of them.

           

 

Linking up with The Mom Creative  today. So many great layouts there!

Low Carb – Two Month Update

Two months have passed since I radically changed my diet. I have stopped eating:

• all processed food (chips, crackers, cookies, candy)
• all pasta
• all bread
• all rice
• all grains/legumes etc
• all sugar
• most fruit that is high in sugar/low in fibre

I was never really a drinker so I did not have to give that up. I think I have had four glasses of red wine in the last two months and that is it for alcohol. Have I had a cheat day or a bad day? Nope. I have had a couple of jelly beans here and there – and I mean just one for the whole day. I have avoided chips (which were my downfall before) even when Marvin is eating them right in front of me. I have even made it through PMS without needing chocolate of any sort! I am stronger and more determined than I thought.

It was hard to pass up the Cadbury Mini Eggs – damn those little things are so good! I did not even eat one because I am not sure I could eat just one of those!! Other than that the only junk food I miss is licorice. Cherry Nibs and Twizzlers. I need to find a substitute for those – maybe dried cherries?? Although high in carbs they are still better than sugar and corn syrup!!

I know that this eating plan sounds restrictive and it appears like there is nothing left to eat. Nothing could be further from the truth. A really good summary of how I am eating can be found here.  A typical day in my life looks like this:

This example was actually a super high carb lunch day as I ate a lot of bell peppers in my Greek salad at lunch. I am not worried about those kinds of carbs. I am not really concerned about calories – I am only concerned about carb intake and keeping it to around 30 net carbs per day. This app counts calories which is sort of annoying but I am getting used to it AND I have modified my daily carb limit manually as they think I should be eating low calorie – high carb food by default. Notice the lack of snacks? I could have snacks if I wanted them but I am NOT hungry between meals – not at all. Some days I will grab an ounce of almonds or a piece of cheese but that is not the norm.

There are some great bloggers out there that make delicious low carb food and share their recipes! Carolyn at All Day I Dream About Food and I Breathe….I’m Hungry have become two of my favourites. I also visit Kalyn’s Kitchen quite a bit.  Lucky for me I love vegetables and meats like salmon and chicken. I am not the biggest fan of eggs and actually did not eat them for years! I am back to eating Omega-3 natural eggs because they are SO good for me and very filling. Low carb and high protein (and fat) = good food. Because I enjoy cooking and experimenting in the kitchen I am enjoying the new experience of cooking with butter and cream rather than skim milk and margarine (yuck).

I still have to wrap my head around the fact that I am eating butter and cream and all things high fat. Olive oil, coconut oil, grape seed oil, full fat cheese, full fat yogurt AND losing weight. I seriously still have to pinch myself because I cannot believe it works. I have become a low-carb zealot. Seriously. I see friends struggling as they eat low calorie and count points. They are frustrated that it is a lot of work and that they are hungry. I want them to really listen to what I am telling them. I hope that my improved health/weight loss will get them interested in changing their eating habits as my words are not working. I have to remember my new favourite quote from Pinterest.

The best part of eating my new way is that I am not ever starving-hungry. Ever. And I don’t feel deprived. I could never, ever go back to eating low fat/diet food. I spent way too many years eating low fat and being HUNGRY.  Buying stuff that was supposedly good for me but actually filled with crap to taste good.  I refuse to put artificial food in my body. That low fat/diet stuff has to be MADE to taste good and they do that by adding salt and sugar. I do use sugar alcohol (erithritol) for baking but that is it.

I am thrilled that my family is doing this along with me. Not my kids but Marvin is trying. Of course he is still eating junk but he is getting better and is watching his sugar/junk intake way more. My mom and dad have seen great improvements in two months as well. Dad has lost over four inches on his belly and over 20 pounds! This is really helping him manage his diabetes too. Oops – there I go preaching low-carb again.

In the back of my mind I still keep thinking about heart disease and cholesterol but enough studies have been done that show that those are NOT linked. I actually just finished a great book on this called  The Cholesterol Myth. There is so much research backing eating a high fat-low carb diet. I know that problems CAN happen if people eat a high protein-low carb diet but that is not what I am doing.

My breakdown per day usually looks like this

• 55% Fat
• 35% Protein
• 10% Carbs

Yes the fat content is super high but it mostly comes from good fat like eggs, salmon and oils.

I was describing my coconut macaroon cookies and explaining how good they were and a friend of mine asked me why I was spending so much time finding ways to still have cookies and treats. She told me I should just cut those things out all together and focus on food and not snacks. Really? Maybe I could do that if this were a temporary diet but this is how I plan to eat for the rest of my days and I certainly do NOT want to live the rest of my days without cookies or treats!! Let’s be realistic here people.

It is funny how your taste buds change when you are not eating junk. I really do love almonds more than chips now. Especially the wasabi soy sauce ones from Blue Diamond!

I can definitely say I have more energy. This isn’t a good thing all the time though as I find it hard to actually go to bed at night.  I know that sleep is important and that even though I have energy and feel wide awake that my body needs to sleep. Thankfully I can fall asleep really fast when I finally do get to bed around 11 at night. I am aiming for at least seven hours a night right now. I was out with my ladies’ club last week and we all were up at around the same time that morning (6:30). They were ALL tired by 10 PM and I was still going strong – SO much energy it is amazing. I told them about my energy levels and they all said “no kidding!!”

I may eventually get back to eating whole grain/flax bread and things like quinoa in moderation but I am not ready for that yet. Some of my co-workers doing this with me are staying in ketosis and that is their goal as they don’t really need to lose weight. They are not having and never plan to have any sort of grain ever again. I am not sure I could do that?

The scale has not moved radically in the last month (two pounds per week) but that is okay. This isn’t supposed to be a rapid weight loss thing. I am down 28 pounds in two months so that is good. The only part of my body that got smaller this month (according the the tape measure) is my hips. All other areas stayed pretty much the same. Time to get exercising for sure!

On to month three – adding in some more cardiovascular exercise and some weights this month!

Project Life Week 18

My mom informed me that I forgot to post this to Facebook last week so I am making sure I don’t miss this week

It seems that every week around here is getting busier. How is that even possible? I know that I start to look forward to everything being OVER by the end of June right about now each year. 

I didn’t start working on this until Saturday night and that is rare for me. I like to have photos ready to go and at least some idea of what template I am using during the week. Seriously I was just too busy this week to sit at the computer. I even considered putting a layout up and saying “sorry – too busy to record this week” on it – lol. I am doing this for my mom – I know she looks forward to seeing the craziness that happens around here. She is still keeping me accountable!!

Summary of this week:

• digging a trench and getting ready to plant cedars. Yippe for a private yard!
• Marvin’s car needs a new transmission. Not worth fixing. Borrowing mom and dad’s ’89 Corolla for the week until he has time to buy a new one
• Marvin’s brother Russell was taken by ambulance to the hospital on Friday night (after a fall). He is okay now!
• Marvin “celebrated” 25 years at Save-on. Cruising to retirement and he is only 43
• Jessica had her dance photos done – got a glimpse of a few years down the road when she starts wearing make-up
• The kids’ dad got married (actually happened last weekend but included this week)
• Beautiful weather around here!
• Still eating healthy
• Lots of soccer games (me) and baseball games (Jessica)
• plus lots more!

I loved using the #hashtag cards this week. I recoloured both of them (shocking I know!). They are from Traci Reed and free right now when you sign up for her newsletter here.

The title card is from Sweet Shoppe Designs. The frame and words around the layout are from Heather Johnson. Her digital PL pages are my favourites. So fun and such great photography. 

Linking up with the Mom Creative again this week. I keep posting my layouts there and I have good intentions to actually spend time checking out what other people are doing. Sadly these last two weeks have been a zoo and I haven’t had time to check out what other people are doing.

 

Project Life Week 17

 

 

 

Weeks like this one make me so very happy I live across the street from where I work. Being away all week and not being able to go home for lunch really put me behind around the house. I am used to going home, doing laundry, making lunch, starting dinner etc. Missed all of that. The only plus side is that my lunch breaks this week were really “breaks” which was nice.

Kendall and I are going to see Alice in Chains on Canada Day – very excited about this!! They were my favourite band back in the late 80′s and early 90′s. I have a grunge-era music loving kid so she is super PUMPED to go to the show. Of course she would prefer to see Nirvana but sadly that isn’t ever going to happen and the Foo Fighters is as close as she will get.

Kendall also got accepted into Science 10 honours this week. I truly hope that it challenges her academically! The rest of the week is recorded below – click on the picture to enlarge and read the stories.

 

 

Linking up with The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday.

If you want to know where something in the layout came from please ask. I am sorry I did not have time to list everything this week!

 

Project Life Week 16

Quick and simple this week just to get it done! We had a super busy weekend with baseball Saturday and then a sleepover with Jessica’s friends on Saturday night through Sunday afternoon. Not a lot of time for sitting at the computer and putting this together.

Products used:

• Week 16 card from Sweet Shoppe Designs
• Calendar is a freebie from Kimberly Kalil here (recoloured)
• Here’s the story is also from Kimberly Kalil here (recoloured)
• The blue paper and the background paper are from Chelle’s Creations (this month’s Daily Digi downloads. A kit called Bluebird on My Shoulder) here

Vitamix (I am in LOVE)

Seriously people – I am in LOVE with this thing. The best kitchen appliance I have ever owned. The love affair is new (we just bought it a few weeks ago) but I am hoping that our relationship lasts for years. It was not cheap ($500US) but it does come with a seven year warranty and people I have talked to say that theirs has lasted forever so I think it is a good investment overall.

I love it as a blender and it makes the smoothest smoothies ever! My Breville blender which was NOT cheap (around $250) was making things way too frothy for me. Half smoothie and half foam = yuck. That and the fact that it had a hard time blending frozen fruit and it was time to say “toodles”. We also had to remove the blade from the bottom to wash it after every use – that was a royal pain in the a$$. I made a smoothie for dinner last night with one cup of almond milk, one scoop of protein powder, one cup of frozen raspberries and one cup of frozen peaches. I had a smoothie in seconds – seriously!! Actually it was more like ice cream and I ate it with a spoon. I would have had to add more liquid for a true smoothie. Yes, I know it was high carb in terms of sugar but I still ended up with about 40 carbs for the day so that wasn’t bad.

Even more than a smoothie maker -  I love it as a soup maker. Fresh soup on my lunch break in about as much time as it would take me to open a can (gross) and heat it on the stove. So far I have made a vegetable/turkey sausage and a tomato/cheddar. Both were delicious and steaming hot in about seven minutes.

I know for a fact that produce is never going to go bad and be thrown out around here again. Today I found some grapes that were getting soft – perfect for a smoothie sweetener for Kendall (not for me as they have too much sugar!).

I haven’t experimented much with making juice but it sure turns celery and carrots into juice really quickly. Yes I know it isn’t true juice because it retains the bulk but that is better for you anyhow because of the fiber I suppose. I did make apple juice for Jessica last week when she was sick. I ran two apples through the machine and then strained it for her before she drank it. We ended up with fresh apple juice and the pulp was just like apple sauce! If I had been more organized I could have baked something with it.

My best invention so far was peach ice cream. Cottage cheese, frozen peaches, whey vanilla powder, splash of almond milk and ice. It had the texture of a DQ Blizzard and was salty/sweet at the same time which is a perfect dessert for me.

I haven’t had time to really experiment with it yet. I will be using my friend Google to search out more fun things to make when I have more time

Project Life Week 15

Week 15 is done!  I seem to have a really good system down now for keeping on top of this every week and I am finding it takes less and less time each week to get it done (even with all the recolouring of elements I do). I am so glad that there is so much inspiration out there for this project. Having read that others used Dropbox to gather images from their family members to include on their pages I started doing this at the beginning of the year and it is working great! I just remind everyone what week we are in and ask them to put photos they are taking up on Dropbox so I can use them.

Click on the photo to see it larger and to read the stories of the week.

A summary of the week for those who don’t want to enlarge it to read the details:

• eye follow-up post surgery (one year later)
• Jessica was sick and missed a few days of school
• I am LOVING my new Vitamix blender
• Nico celebrated his 3rd birthday
• new soccer boots for me (after discovering a large tear in my old ones!)
• blown away by Candace on American Idol – have loved her from the start and still do

For some reason I seem to be in a blue and orange pattern lately. Even though I did not use a kit this week it still went together super fast. Happy about that as I did not start working on it until Friday night.  As per usual I have included stuff from all over the place on this layout.

• title card from sweetshoppe
• “remember this” and “seriously”  cards from the Rain Project Life kit (Daily Digi download for April)
• “hello sickness” card originally from ?  said “hello cranberries”. I downloaded it last fall and did not make a note of where it came from.
• “totally love this” card (recoloured)  from Kimberly Kalil at This Kalil Life
• “favourite song” from Suzy Q Scraps
• “dude really” is a free download from Cathy Zielske

 

Week 14 Project Life

This was definitely a super busy week and I seriously CANNOT believe we are 1/4 of the way through the year already!  Because I do my layouts Sun – Saturday our Easter dinner was included on this spread. Marvin asked me where the photos of family were – oops! I did not take any photos of the family at all. Terrible for sure!  I have to get better at remembering to take group/family photos.

We also spent some time hanging with family and friends and the rest of the week was filled with sports. Jessica had two baseball practices plus three basketball practices and one game. I had two soccer games with no practices and I paid for it. I was NOT ready for soccer and my shins were very sore for days (shin splint city). Hopefully they will fare better this coming week as I have two more games scheduled.  Some of the food I have been making/eating also made it into the layout this week. I thought the difference between my commute home (two minute drive) down a beautiful tree-lined street and Marvin’s commute home (45 minutes on the freeway)  was worth including. He definitely wanted that included this week and because this is a family project I moved some stuff around to fit it in.

I sort of stuck with one kit this week and I think that is the first time ever! It is all mostly Rain from Becky Higgins and it was part of the Digi Files this month from The Daily Digi. So happy I subscribed to them a few months ago. Using one kit really did make things go faster – I might try it again

The calendar is from cnewman @write click scrapbook and I  recoloured it to match (no shock here!)

“Favourite Memoriess” is a new freebie from SuzyQ Scraps at the Scrap Orchard. Also recoloured to match the Rain kit.

The numbers are from Weeds and Wildflowers (back from 2009).

Week 14 is from September Blue

Linking up with The Mom Creative  So many great layouts over there to see.

Project Life Week 13

Week 13 is in the books. A week of sports with my soccer team practicing, Jessica playing basketball every day this week and then a baseball practice on Friday. Spring has definitely arrived as we now have sports four nights a week and baseball tournaments on some weekends.  I managed to get sick this week with bronchitis and it seriously came out of nowhere. One day I felt fine and the next I was wheezing when I tried to breathe. Sigh. I am mad seeing as I am taking so many vitamins I figured my immune system would be stronger. Perhaps my vitamins and supplements will take a bit longer to work? I also experimented in the kitchen with some new low carb recipes. The lemon cake was so good (recipe on the layout) and the bread was delicious too.

After a bit of struggle I really like how this week turned out. With all the photos being all over the place I decided to recolour most of the elements so at least they coordinated. I think I have a recolouring addiction! I even recoloured the background paper so it would match the mat colour I used. I learned how to use the colour picker to change just one shade on a whole page of different elements – gotta love learning something new in Photoshop Elements  When I first put it together the background papers did not line up at all – then I realized that I could rotate the background paper so it matched the facing page. Why I have never thought of that before is beyond me. I am going to go back and fix a few other pages that don’t line up correctly so when I send this book to be printed it will look right. Yep, my OCD self is coming out.

 click to see it larger and read the journaling

Items used this week:

• Title card is from Wild Olive and was a free printable. I recoloured it to match the layout as the original was red. I also added the calendar.
• The “This Week” card is from Sweet Shoppe Designs
• The “plant” card was a freebie from Smitha @ Smiling Colours 
• “Favourite Songs” is a new freebie from SuzyQ Scraps at the Scrap Orchard
• The “Take Note” and the card with the sunshine card are from the same source but I did not record where they came from

Lots of photos were snapped today at Easter dinner and with my nephew on his egg hunt. Perhaps a pastel theme will be in order next week