My Day Off #2

The 2^nd of January I started the no added sugars challenge. It was a 2 week challenge. I modified it to fit me. The first week I stayed completely away from sugars, all added sugars. The second week I continued to stay away from added sugars but I had some honey. I was proud of myself! The day my challenge was over I went to a friend’s birthday party and ate cake, ice cream, white rice, macaroni and cheese, pork, and everything I had not eaten in 2 weeks. It was good. Delicious. So yummy! The way it affected me after 2 weeks of avoiding those foods was unpleasant. I couldn’t eat as much as I normally would. When there is a celebration, I EAT! I love party food J then I was so extremely bloated and uncomfortable after. So weird how our bodies do things.

After my little 1 day break I continued my sugar-less journey. Its now been two weeks again. During these last 2 weeks I have been more relaxed. I have eaten honey with no hesitation. And tasted a few things here and there. Yesterday was my “day off” It was actually because we were going through our freezer to de-ice it. We decided to use up the last of some pizza bites and popcorn shrimp. I just hate when food goes to waste. I feel like it’s some sort of evil thing when I just throw food out. Even if it’s not the healthiest food. Probably from childhood, old school thinking and parents making me not let anything perfectly fine to eat go in the trash.  So we ate the pizza bites and breaded shrimp. I had the feeling like I had to drink like a gallon of water cuz I was so thirsty after. I like the detoxing of these foods that aren’t so good for me.  Today a friend gave me some food she had bought but the kids weren’t a fan. I had a few pot stickers and they were okay but I ate like 3 a felt like I didn’t want anymore and I feel like vomiting, ughhh never again. 
Could this be my mind and body changing? :D or maybe its just mind over matter?

Juan got some ice cream today from the local G’s dairy. I had a lick. It was scrumptious.

My next goal is to go 3 weeks  without the foods I don’t need!

I will still let Noah have his snacks and hot dogs and whatever else he wants. I don’t know how or where to draw a line yet for kids. Still figuring this out since most food are convenience for him. Noah is pretty good about eating anything and everything. He ate a ladybug once. And he loves fish and chicken and raisins and broccoli. Thanks goodness for a non-picky kid!

Elijah is 5 months and exclusively on the boobie. He eats whatever I eat, I think. I give him little tastes of what I have and he’s always happy about that.

Bragging moment: I love that Noah is 4 months away from being 3 years old and he does not know what McDonalds is. He has been there, of course. I never gave him the toy that came with the happy meal right away. I always took it out before he saw it and give it to him later. And sometimes I’d even forget about it and give it to him days later. So he doesn’t associate the place with the happy meal toy, there are no whines when we pass by it. I’m happy about that. I don’t know how long that will last but I’m enjoying the now J

Food Stamps & junk food. Sheeesh I have read so much about this, especially people saying junk food on food stamps should be banned. I do think it is silly that we are able to buy tastycakes but not vitamins, anyone else feel that way? But anyways, in my honest opinion I feel guilty if I buy junk food with the money that is given to my family to help us get by. I have bought junk food with it and I got the feeling of guilt. This money is given to those that need it to help feed and nourish them. We should be spending it wisely and being as healthy as we can with it. That’s it. Simple. I don’t always practice what I preach but I do TRY.

This week we miss about 3 days of insanityL.

I’m still at my 2 pound weight loss!

We de-cluttered some more and got the carpets cleaned yesterday. 

I am happy.

Hugs!

My "Mama Bear"

So Noah and I were at a play date. It was a fun, I love play dates! You get adult conversation and the kids get to play with other kids. What’s not to love? Noah is four months away from being 3 years old. We have had a ton of play dates and not much has ever gone wrong.

This time things went wrong.

I yell at another person’s kid. Yup I crossed that line.

I felt so bad. I’m not the kind of person who yells that other people’s kids. I’m not the kind to parent someone else’s child. But I had become that person that day.

Here’s what made me snap on this little boy:

Noah is 2 years old and can be an annoying little bug sometimes, even to a 4 year old. And I usually will be the first to put Noah in his place. But this time the little boy was being mean to Noah. Just directly mean. Not letting him have toys and then it came down to the taunting & teasing. We were getting ready to leave and Noah was not happy. He was crying and just so sad. The boy was in front of Noah telling him about how he gets to stay there. Imagine in a mimicky singsongy teasing way.

I about had it. I told the kid that he was mean and to stop and that I wasn’t bringing Noah back ever. Imagine in a mean stern mama bear way.

My mama bear came out. I had a bully in kindergarten. There was this mean little classmate that would take my bag of chips and crush them up. Everyday. Now that I’m 23 years old, I still remember it.  It hurt my feelings. It doesn’t seem like anything big but I was a child and it affected me. 

I have since apologized for the way I reacted. I will not accept my child being bullied and will correct another child if I see fit but I don’t want to cross the line. That’s not okay.

Be kind to others.

Our New Minimalist Journey: Giving away our stuff

We gave away our couch!

Just gave it away on Sunday.  

Here's how and why we came to the big conclusion to give away our couch:

I don’t quite remember what we were talking about but let's assume it was about living with less. I was sitting on our sofa and asked Juan if he thought we could live without furniture.

Could we be happy without furniture? Having a couch is something that you are expected to have in a home. When people walk in they expect to see stuff like that. What would they say when they see our home?

Well we decided that we should try it. So we got rid of it. Very impulsive and crazy decision making right there! Totally not what is expected. We did it. When we told family members and friends we got a plethora of reactions(and insults!) A few family members were just angered about us deciding to give away our couch, as if we had told them we started doing drugs! Our friends were confused but really accepting. Most people who know us know we are a little more than crazy anyways :) that’s just Juan and Nicole <3 one friend told she can’t wait to have an “Indian night” so we can all sit on the floor and eat Indian food! J love without judgment makes my heart happy!

Surprisingly if you google “living without a couch” or “living without furniture” not much comes up. The few websites and blogs that I did find were amazing. There is a label for people who live without furniture they are called Minimalist. All about living with the essentials, the bare minimum, only what you need to be happy. Most of these people spend their lives traveling and living in small apartments. And they are happy with barely any material possessions! This lifestyle appeals to me simply because want to travel (India!) and I hate feeling tied down. I like being free. The more stuff we have the less able we will be to just get up and go. Clutter makes me stressed out and less patient. Weird?

When deciding to get rid of things I originally wanted to sell them. Juan wanted to give them away free. We spent good money on our things! But while explaining this to a lovely yogini, she taught me that those things, even though we spent our money on them, have served their purpose now its time to let go. Non-attachment to material things is another thing I’m working on. I’ll expand on that later. I’m having a tough time letting go of my cookbooks even though I haven’t touched them in a long time..

Since Sunday we have given away our couch, recliner, about 4 huge bags of lots of belongings to DI & the family crises center. We still have to go through the boys room and 2 of our closets and bathroom, oh and the shed.

It feels liberating.

There is something about doing things just because you can. Right now in this moment in time this makes us happy. We are living how we want because we can and we want to even if no one else understands it. Just cuz ;) 

the first thing we did after we got rid of our furniture was run around!

There is so much more space for activities!! I feel like I can do yoga all day! And we are always down on Noah’s level. He seems happier too. Elijah wouldn’t know the diff. I haven’t been inclined to sit and watch things online and Noah hasn’t watched as much tv either. The pros have outweighed the cons. This may not be the right things for everyone but for now its working for us. And if its making my family happy, I don’t have time to care what people will say when they see our home. It’s a happy home.

You know what we have realized? We can be happy without furniture(and lots of other things)!

if you are curious minimalism check out these cool sites :
http://www.becomingminimalist.com/
http://www.everydayminimalist.com
www.missminimalist.com/

Peace friends 

First Blog Post & New Year’s Resolutions!

We finally did it! We have a blog! We have so much that has gone on in our lives and I figured that since I stopped writing in my journal, I should probably start blogging or I’m gonna start forgetting things! I’m excited to start writing about our days J

Well, here we are. New Year and new goals! Or maybe the same goals just restarting. Whatever. I love New Year’s resolutions. They make me feel like I have a goal that I’m working toward and a newfound motivation to get my butt in gear! 

I have quite a few goals for this year & I’m going to list them (not in any particular order):

      

1. Complete insanity workout (60 days)

2.  Attend yoga class

3. Spiritual study & meditation

4. Be more peaceful and patient & happy

5. Do something with Noah and Elijah everyday (one on one & together)

6.  Eat more clean, healthy and whole foods & Cut down on processed foods and red meat

7. NO fast food

8. Complete the no sugar challenge @ thegraciouspantry.com

9.Complete the 14 weekly pledges @ 100daysofrealfood.com

10. Simplify

11. Learn, research, study something in depth: My choice? Yoga!

I know I have more that I am forgetting but I’ll remember and list them later. All of these goals started on January 2^nd 2013. I feel these goals will impact my life for the better. That is why I am trying to accomplish them. Because I love a challenge and I love myself. Juan is doing most of my goals with me and I appreciate that more than anything. It helps motivate me and keep me on track.

So far I have completed a modified no sugar challenge. I did one week without ANY added sugars. Then the second week I did natural added sugars. Hormones kicked in and I needed some honey stat! I also completed week one of the 14 weekly pledges. It wasn’t difficult. We eat fruits/veggies with every meal anyways. We don’t have any unhealthy junk food in the house. We weren’t really that into it anyways. After 

I had Elijah I was all about the unhealthy stuff! But then my cravings kinda died. I like that Noah is so young that he goes along with whatever we do. We don’t have chips? Fine, he’ll go grab a rice cake or some raisins. We still have fruit snacks and goldfish crackers and twizzlers. Those are Noah’s most favorite snacks! Both Juan and I are excited for this new healthy clean whole eating journey we are on and we are extremely grateful for the friends who support us! Yesterday my beautiful vegetarian friend Pam brought us some brownies made out of black beans. I can’t wait to make them myself, they were delicious!

That is our first post! What did you think? Leave comments porfavor

Namaste friends