Day 6

So we are 6 days into 30 day elimination-type diet, and I have to say, it's going better than I thought it would. We are eating mostly raw fruit and vegetables during the day and meat and veggies for dinner. I have been really good about trying to make sure I eat something every 3 hours, so that I can keep my metabolism moving, and so I don't over-eat at dinner. The hardest thing for me to stay away from is the nuts and cheese (I don't know why.) We cook with coconut oil instead of vegetable/canola oil and you can't even tell a difference. You would think that all of your food would taste like coconut, but it didn't. Just in case you are wondering, here are the things we can not eat for 30 days: Arrowroot, Gourd, Green Bananas, Chestnuts, Jicama, Kohlrabi, Okra, Parsnips, Plantains, Sweet Potato, Taro, Tapioca, Yams, Yucca, Eggs, Dairy (of any kind, including butter) Seeds (including spices made from seeds), Nuts (of any kind), Cocoa, Coffee, Potatoes, Tomato, Eggplant, Peppers (including spicy and bell), Gluten (wheat, rye, barley), so no bread at all, Rice, Pasta, Beans (of any kind), no soy (of any kind), which means no tofu, no alcohol, no caffeine, and no sugar (unless it's naturally in the food), so that means no soda :o( I have to say that I already feel tons better. My stomach doesn't hurt, my headaches are going away, and I'm not having any digestive problems. I just feel healthier... Here are some of the things we have had for dinner this past week (not in any particular order). This is Cinnamon Beef Braised with Buttenut Squash. It tastes WAY better than it looks in the picture...

We had it with Braised Kale (the one with the mushrooms). Bouchet and the boys loved it and I liked this so much that I have made this,(the kale) for lunch almost every day this week.

This is Chicken Pad Thai. It was made with a Broccoli Slaw, instead of noodles. And let me tell you this was by far my favorite dish of the week. The flavors were amazing. This is probably going to be a go to for us because it was so easy to make.

We had the Pad Thai with Ginger-Garlic Cauliflower Rice. This is by far better than any rice I have ever eaten. The flavor of the cauliflower gives so much to this dish. A perfect match up.

This is Crockpot Honey Apple Pork Lion. Sorry, I don't have a picture of it cooked. This was also really good and one of Bouchet's Favorites.

We had the pork with Bacon Braised Brussels Sprouts. Now I have to admit, that I was a little skeptical about this one. I have never had Brussels Sprouts before, but had heard that most people don't like them. But the picture looked too good not to try. And I'm glad we did because they were awesome!

Friday we had Egg-Free, Tomato-Free (Hidden Liver Meatloaf). This was not one of my favorite dishes. I just am not a meat-loaf kinda girl. A little too much meat for me. The flavor was good, Bouchet and the big boys tore it up. I will probably make it again, because Meatloaf is Bouchet's favorite food, but next time, I am not putting the liver or the fennel in it.

We had the meatloaf with Mashed Cauliflower. It was slammin. Again, this was just as good as mashed potatoes. I put some of the juice from the meatloaf on top of the mashed cauliflower, and it was really good. Didn't even miss the gravy... (we also had a side of steamed broccoli with it)

We had so much food this week, that we were able to do a night where we just ate main-dish leftovers (there weren't any veggies left over). I don't think we had to throw anything away. Hoping the next 24 days go as smooth as the past 6...I will do a post sometime next week explaining why we are doing this diet and what we hope to gain from it. Ps... I didn't take the pictures, I copied them from the websites that I got the recipes from.

A Birthday Letter

Dear Nan and Papa, So I know that you are in heaven right now, and you'll never be able to read this letter, but hopefully it will make me feel better writing everything that I'm feeling, down. So here it goes... So as you know, today was Mom and my birthday. She turned the big 5-0 and I 31. We had a little get together for mom last night, at her new house, and it turned out fabulous! It really was great. Everyone had such a good time. I think she felt really blessed. You guys would be so proud of mom if you were here. She had made it her mission, for her birthday, to bless a family in need. Troy's friend's dad passed away unexpectedly 9 days ago, leaving behind a wife and 3 sons ranging in age from 2 to 12. So mom's made it her mission for her birthday celebration to do any and everything that she can to help this family out. She has such a big heart, and is such a great person. Even though we may have our differences, I really am proud that I get to call her mom. And I know that you were both proud to call her daughter......................................................... So, for her birthday, mom wanted Robbie, Troy and I to sing her a song. In front of everybody. Did I mention that we are not singers? There was a time, long ago, that I really could sing well, but I don't know what happened. It's like, I grew up and my voice just stopped working. I miss it. Oh don't get me wrong, that hasn't stopped me from singing in the shower. And in the car. And with the boys while we are cleaning the house. They don't care that I can't sing well. They just love singing with me. Anyways, so we (Robbie, Troy, the boys and I) got up in front of everybody and sang "Put A Little Love In You're Heart" by Mary Mary, from the movie Stuart Little 2, one of mom's favorite movies. I think that you guys would have been so proud of us. Proud of the fact that, even though we were horrible, (and none of us really wanted to do it), we sucked it up and sang our little hearts out, for mom, just like she wanted. Everybody loved it. Not the fact that we sounded like dying cats, lol, but the fact that we cared enough to do it for her. I was sooo nervous. I was shaking so bad, and I almost couldn't remember my lyrics, and my hands were shaking so bad I couldn't read my paper. LOL. We were a hot mess :o) And you should have been there for the "Barn Tour". I think you guys would have loved it. I don't think anybody that heard the story and saw the mural left without shedding a tear. It was just beautiful............................................. But now I'm sitting here today, on our actual birthday, and the house is quiet, the boys are sleeping and Bouchet is in bed. And I should be happy because I had an amazing birthday today. I have so much to be thankful for. We had such a good time wine tasting, and going out to eat. But all I can think about is the both of you. It's just not the same without you here. And I am overwhelmed by how much I miss you. My heart is aching, and I can't stop crying and I feel like there is this huge hole in my heart, that will never be filled. Like part of it is going to be broken forever, like I'm not ever gonna be whole again. I can't even put into words how bad it hurts right now... I never realized how much I would miss the cards I got in the mail from you, Papa, every birthday, anniversary and Christmas. The holidays are so empty without you. And I never realized how much I would miss spending the night with the boys at your house, like we used to do, Nan, before you got sick. We used to have so much fun. It just breaks my heart to know that the boys will have to grow up with out you guys. They miss you so much! I know they didn't have a lot of time with you, but my biggest fear is that they will forget the time that they did have with you. Because that time was so special... I couldn't have asked for better grandparents. I didn't matter that our family wasn't always picture perfect. All that mattered was that we loved each other. There is SO much I would give up, just to spend one more day with both of you. But I know that it's impossible. And I know that in time, it will hurt less and less. But I don't know if, or how even, I can ever go through another birthday without crying for you, because you both meant everything to me. Words will never be able to express what a profound impact the both of you had on my life... Well, I guess it is time to dry my tears. There are only 12 minutes left until my birthday is no more. And I know neither of you would want me to be sad on my birthday. You would want me to be as happy as one could possibly be. Just know that I love you both, and I think of you often, and that remembering the good times usually outweighs the sadness of losing you... I don't really know how to end this letter. I don't want to, nor can I say goodbye. So I guess I'll just say: Until I see you again. I love you both to infinity and beyond. -Tiffany-

Definitely Bigger Than A Spider

Our dirty laundry had started to take over our house and garage, so when I woke up this morning, I decided that I couldn't put it off any longer and started moving it all into the garage. Now, I have learned from previous experience, that you always check the washing machine before you start throwing clothes into it. (I once found a mouse in a pile of laundry that I had just pulled out of the washer and had to rewash the entire load). I glanced into the drum and saw what seemed to be a wash cloth at the bottom of the drum. No biggie. I reached inside the drum to pull the wash cloth out when all of a sudden, I realized it wasn't a wash cloth. OH SHIT! I screamed at the top of my lungs. "Babe, you have got to come check this out" I said. "Is it a spider, because I don't wanna see another spider" he replied. "No, I replied, it is definitely bigger than a spider". The boys came outside and peaked into the washer, than hubby came out and peaked into the washer. What The F... ! Was his surprised reply. Inside our washer, was this:

A BABY DOVE!!!! I asked the boys to bring me 2 plastic bags (it may be cute but who knows what kind of diseases it may be carrying ) and a shoe box. After some discussion, we decided to put it in the box and let it go out front. If for whatever reason it couldn't fly away, we would take it to the SPCA. I grabbed the baby bird, and carefully placed it in the box. Hubby put the lid on it and took it out front. We carefully lifted the lid, and...

It just sat there... I snapped another pic with my DSLR and lifted my phone up to take a picture with that too. I must have scared the baby bird when I lifted my hand because all of a sudden, it flapped it's wings and flew away. And just when it got over the neighbor's fence, another dove flew down from the tree to guide her baby to safety. One more picture of our bird:

Isn't she cute?

Getting Rid Of The Clapp

So for those of you that don't personally know us, or don't know us very well, my husband is addicted to Craigslist. No seriously, I'm not even kidding. It's like an obsession. If they had a Craigslist Anonymous, he'd need to be the first one to sign up. If he's watching t.v., he's on my laptop browsing Craigslist at the same time. His home screen for the desktop computer, Craigslist. He even downloaded a Craigslist app for his phone. So now he can browse Craigslist, while we are going to bed, driving in the car, at church, at the doctor's office, while eating dinner (in a restaurant or at home) and even on the toilet. Yes, I went there. And he didn't just browse for himself either, he browsed for other people as well. You mentioned in passing that you were looking for a washer, 10 minutes later he had 5 saved to his favorites to show you. You were thinking about buying a new car in 3 months, by the end of the night, he had sent you pictures of 50 cars and called everyone of them and could tell you exactly what might be wrong with them and why or why not they would be a good/bad purchase and exactly what price he had talked the seller down to. Now, while I knew he had the Craigslist app on his phone (which unbenounced to me, was placed directly on his home screen) One day, I mentioned that I needed to find something on Craigslist. He offered to find it for me, but I politely declined and said that I wanted to look for myself. I asked to use his phone and he (grudgingly) handed it over. I swear I spent 10 minutes trying to find the Craigslist app on his phone. I couldn't find anything that remotely looked like it might be an app for Craigslist. I finally gave up and asked him what it looked like. He grabbed his phone and pointed out an app that had a peace sign as it's icon. Now underneath the peace was the word, CLapp. I started laughing so hard that I had tears running out of both my eyes and snot coming out of my nose. He apparently didn't see what was so funny and was getting really frustrated. He asked what the hell I was laughing at. I was like, really!?! Really, Bouchet, you did not realize that your Craigslist app was called clapp. CLAPP! (*Sidenote: for those of you that don't know, clap is the slang word for Gonorrhea, which is an STD.) Apparently he didn't find it so funny. But I continued to laugh. So for the next 6 months or so, every time he was on Craigslist, I would make some comment about HIS clapp. If I needed to use his phone to look for something on Craigslist, I would just ask if I could use his clapp. (No, the joke never got old for me). Fast forward to today. We dropped our kids off at VBS (vacation bible school) and decided that since it was Friday, it was relatively early, and we didn't have anything else to do, we would hit up a couple of garage sales. We found a couple in our neighborhood, bought some books (well I did), and a thingy you put lawn fertilizer in and you push it around and it fertilizes your grass. I wasn't seeing anymore signs for yard sales, so I asked him to look it up on the CLapp. He mentioned to me that he upgraded his Craigslist app, but I didn't really think anything of it. We couldn't find anymore garage sales, so we proceeded to the local hardware store to buy some fertilizer for our new fertilizer thingy. While at the hardware store, he again mentioned that he updated his app for Craigslist. I asked what it looked like now and he showed me. It was the same picture of the peace sign, but underneath, instead of CLapp it simply said Craiglist. So there, in the hardware store in front of God, the workers and everybody else, I started dying laughing and congratulated him on finally getting rid of the CLapp. Which he didn't find too funny :o)

Back To Blogging...Again...

I haven't blogged for a while. 527 days to be exact. Wow!?! Has it really been that long? It doesn't feel like it's been that long. But I guess time has a way of passing by faster than we realize. Kids are a perfect example of how that happens... One day you are in the bathroom peeing on a stick for the first (but surely not last) time in your life and the next day you have 3 kids with the oldest getting ready to start 5th grade, the middle getting ready to start 3rd grade and a hyper-active 4 year old that is both the love of your life and the biggest pain in your ass. I originally started this blog for fun. It was a good way to be able to express myself creatively. I really do love to write. I have been and avid reader/writer since I was a little girl. Granted, I may not have been so into reading and writing as much if I hadn't spent a lot of time growing up, grounded. I tend to have a lot of personality, and usually don't have any problems expressing my opinion, even when other people don't want/need to hear it. Ok, yes. I was a smart ass. I always had something to say, and I always had to have the last word. And that kinda got me in trouble...A lot. Who am I kidding. It still does. Haha Blogging was also good way for the people that I love, that don't live close to us, to be able to keep up on what is going on with our family. It's nice to be able to share funny stories with people that you love, because really, whose kids are funnier, or more special than mine I'm totally joking). Especially when you are not being limited to 140/420 characters and the grammar mistakes that you have to commit to be able to fit what you have to say in that limited amount of space... Ahem. Now the problem I was having with blogging, was that I was feeling like I was writing for everyone else and not for me. My life isn't always cupcakes and rainbows (gasp!). Sometimes it's brussels sprouts and tornadoes. I was spending far too much time being being worried about what everyone else would think. And not enough time writing what mattered to me. So my pledge to myself here on out is to start writing about what I am truly feeling. If I am having a good day, my posts will probably be happy, with lots of smiley faces. If I'm not having such a good day, than my posts are going to reflect that. And if people don't like it, than I need to be ok with that. So there you have it. For better or worse, love me or hate me, this blog will truly be about the world inside my head.