The Saturday 7

1. I picked a terrible week to start dieting.

It's seriously been so cold I want to cry anytime I have to leave the house. But my tears would just freeze to my face, so I tough it out. And I know I was complaining last week because I couldn't leave the house. But there's a difference between taking the kids to the library at 1:00 in the afternoon when the sun is shining and getting all the kids in the car before 8:00 am when it's dark outside, the wind is howling, and the temperature is literally -10. #whiner #shouldhavechosenhomeschool

The problem with living so close to school and driving a beater vehicle is that my van doesn't heat up before we get to the pick-up line at school.

2. Anyway, back to the diet. As Lena would say, "This is the worst thing ever in my life!" I hate it so much. (Would you really expect any less from me?) Because I don't deal well with total deprivation (not to be confused with total depravity 😉), I'm trying to focus on the "just eat real food" fad. It's a little bit Whole 30/a little bit Paleo, but not 100%. Because let's be real - I'm not totally going to give up sugar, carbs, or dairy. I'm just focusing on cutting back on them and filling up on veggies and protein. I've been eating a lot of sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, eggs, and chicken. It honestly hasn't been that bad, except that I really miss snacking. (And I'm sorry but a handful of carrots or almonds does not count as snacking in my book.) Strangely enough, giving up Dr Pepper hasn't been that hard. I don't really even miss it. But I do miss gorging myself on chocolate and eating whatever the heck I want whenever the heck I want to - especially after the kids are in bed. That's when I usually break out a bag of chips or brownie in a mug or 35 mini candy bars. I have to talk myself out of quitting my diet every 30 seconds from about 8:00-11:00 at night. And tonight, I had Subway for dinner. Processed meat. Cheese. Full fat, preservative filled ranch. But I got wheat bread and I took the bottom half off. That counts for something, right? I'm going to keep trying. I haven't weighed myself yet, because it's only been 4 days. I'll report back next week. Until then, enjoy these food pics, because diets don't exist unless there are pictures to prove them.

Sweet potatoes, chicken, broccoli, parmesan

Spinach, romaine (no e.coli), chicken, hard-boiled eggs, homemade (almost Paleo) ranch - it was gross

Roasted sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and bacon. I'll probably just eat this every day until I lose 20 lbs.

3. We rang in the new year with our wonderful small group. We ate yummy food then spent 3 hours discussing the Bible and sharing prayer requests. (#holierthanthou) We watched "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" for about 4 minutes - long enough to wonder how Mariah Carey didn't get frostbite, watch the ball drop, and google "Is Dick Clark dead?" We were all shocked to learn that he died in 2012! Where have we been?? Then we stumbled home to bed. Not because we were drunk, but because we are old and it's hard to stay up til midnight these days. (I'm speaking for them. I stay up 'til midnight all the time reading. Lol.) 

4. Speaking of reading, I read 2 books this year to jumpstart my 2018 Reading Challenge. The first was a parenting book my mother-in-law got me for Christmas. (Be The Mom) It wasn't my favorite parenting book ever, mostly just because the author is so different than me (had a successful career before becoming a mom, wealthy, extroverted, people-person). Her struggles of taking on too much and being too busy and working too hard to please others don't really mesh with my struggles of sitting on my butt, ignoring my kids and to-do list. But she did have some good points about bonding with our children when they're young so we'll have a relationship when they're older. I've been trying to be a little more intentional about spending time playing with my kids - doing puzzles or Legos or playing games. It's sanctifying because it reveals how irritable and impatient I am. Lol. I need to read a parenting book about 5 times a year to remind me that what I'm doing is important and give me ideas on how to do it well. The other book I read was Blue Ridge Sunrise by Denise Hunter. It was cute, but nothing special. [affiliate links]

5. I started a new series on Netflix this week. A few of my friends finally wore me down and convinced me to try When Calls the Heart. I've watched 5 episodes in 2 days and am loving it so far. I appreciate that it's clean enough that I can watch it with my kids around. It's definitely going to be my new laundry-folding show.

6. I can't think of a 6th, so on to pictures . . .

This is the girls' shared closet. But it's still out of control.

I found this while organizing spices this week. It has apparently been in that drawer over 35 years. At this point we need to keep it, because it's an antique!

Christmas gift from my brother. (Not entirely accurate because I usually only have one cup a day, and I put so much cream in it, Lorelei would have a heart attack, but still a fun mug!)

Lucy finished her first hat on her weaving loom! (The one on the doll, not on the human.)