Fasting During Lent

As a Catholic, I am required to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. On Ash Wednesday this year, I had a medical excuse but that is no longer true and today is Good Friday. Fasting is always VERY hard and it usually takes a week before my body learns to like food again. However, fasting is not supposed to be easy. Every time we feel hunger, there are prayers to say. I don't have these prayers memorized but I think about why I'm doing it. Today is the day that Jesus died on the cross for us. He made the ultimate sacrifice.

The rules of fasting are no meat (although you can still have eggs, milk, and things like chicken broth) and you can only have one normal sized meal. The other two put together should not equal a meal, simply snacks. You do not do it for weight loss reasons or anything like that. You do it to make you stronger spiritually and bring you closer to God.

Lazy Days

Every so often (okay realistically about once a week), I have a lazy day where I just mope around the house. I feel like I deserve one of these because I work hard the other days or I'm not feeling well. My husband is very supportive and he understands this, even though he doesn't get any lazy days because he has a regular job that requires him to work hard every day.

I don't have kids so I'm sure I won't have time for lazy days once I do and I understand the moms who can't do this but I feel like at this point in my life, they are important for my mental health. I can feel very overwhelmed having a house that is in never-ending construction and all the dust and dirt that comes with it. My house never seems perfect, no matter how much time I spend cleaning so I need that one day a week to just unwind and not to feel overwhelmed by everything.

On these days, I'll still make my husband's breakfast and lunch and I'll cook dinner. I also still do my workout and whatever cleaning I feel like doing (such as dishes, making the bed, or picking up clutter). I just don't make my to-do list and I don't feel like I have so much to get done before my husband comes home.

I'm sure some people don't agree with this and think that because I don't have kids yet, I should have a real job but this is what's right for me.

How I Save Money at the Grocery Store

I already wrote a post about how much I love grocery shopping but if you aren't careful, it can get expensive. Here are tips I use to help keep costs down.

1. Buy at the right time. This applies to buying produce in season and buying the special of the month. Every month, grocery stores sell specific items cheaper. For instance, March is frozen food month. So this is a good time to buy frozen foods.

2. Clip coupons. Yes, it's dorky and another thing to remember to bring to the store with you but it can be so worth it. I have saved over 10 dollars in a single trip just because of coupons. They really add up, especially when they're for products you are already buying.

3. Stick to your list. Impulse buys are always expensive because that is money you weren't planning on spending. Plus, if it isn't in your weekly plan (see next tip), then it's going to be harder to work it into your meals.

4. Plan ahead. Make a meal plan for the entire week. If you need to, make it super specific. I don't have to do that. I just make a list of things I want to make that week and make sure I have the food to make it before I go shopping. This way, you never let things, especially produce, go bad or expire.

5. Buy generic. Most of this is a mental thing. We have been conditioned to think that name brands taste better. For some things, this is true but for most things, it's the exact same product. Sometimes, it's even made by the same company as a big name brand.

6. Buy in bulk. This has two meanings. The first is that most of the time (but not always so be sure to check), buying a bigger box of something will be cheaper (per ounce). The second is that when something is on sale, you should stock up a little bit, especially if it's a staple in your pantry, so you don't have to pay the regular price next time you want it. For a lot of things, you can freeze them (bread, butter, most produce,...) so this will help keep things fresh when you stock up.

7. Stay away from processed foods. Sometimes you can justify buying these items but for the most part, they aren't good for you anyway and they're a waste of money. If you stick to the outer edges of the store (produce, refrigerated, deli...), you will have a healthier diet and save money.

That's all I have for now. I'm constantly trying to save money and stretch my dollar farther so if you have any other ideas, feel free to leave them in the comments.

Tuna Salad

I love tuna. I've only ever had the canned kind (I'm sure I'm missing out by not  having the steaks) but I use it all the time. I add it to macaroni and cheese, rice and pasta dishes, on top of spinach salads, etc. I can't get enough (but you do have to be careful how much you consume, especially when pregnant, because of the mercury content). Today I made a new tuna salad. I normally do tuna, mayo (well technically miracle whip), dill weed, and cheese. I wanted something with more protein and vegetables so I looked in my pantry and came up with this.

New Tuna Salad (serves 4 generously)

2 cans of tuna (the 5oz kind), drained well
1 can of white beans (I used great northern), drained well (and rinse if you want to reduce sodium even further)
1 can diced tomatoes (you could use fresh but I didn't have any), drained well (I used the no sodium added ones. Plus this is the first time I've EVER drained a can of tomatoes but you really don't want the juice in there)
dill weed to taste (I used about a tablespoon)
green pepper (use as much as you want.  I really liked the crunch it gave. You could substitute in celery or something too but I just had green pepper on hand and used pretty much the entire thing)

So after you drain everything super super well (I drained all the cans and then I still put it in a colander and drained some more and it STILL came out a little more watery than I would've liked), you mix everything in a bowl and serve however you want! On top of bread, in a wrap (that's how I ate mine), or even just by itself, it all tastes good.

Definitely leave a comment if you have or are in need of some good canned tuna recipes. I'm chock full of them but always looking for new ideas!

Is Spring Ever Coming??

5 days ago was the officially the first day of spring. Not only do we still have snow on the ground, we are still barely above freezing (and have had negatives overnight since the first day too)! I liked when daylight savings came and we got more sunlight at night but now I'm ready for another change to tell me that winter doesn't drag on all year. I live in the midwest so winter is pretty much from the middle of October (or sometimes earlier) to the end of March (so I guess we still have some time). That is almost six months! Does that sound extreme to anyone else? I know the obvious answer is to move out of the midwest, where I will probably never see snow again (and be perfectly happy) but I doubt I could ever convince my husband to move plus we would be leaving behind our amazing house and both of our families. I'm sure everyone is grumbling right now about winter being so long this year when last March we (literally) reached 80 degrees. I just had to get my two cents in too.

Taking a Break

My mom and little brother came last night and are staying through Sunday. I'm going to be busy spending time with them so don't expect any posts until Monday or so. Just thought I'd let everybody know!

Brown vs. White Rice

My husband totally saw this post coming. Last night, he worked late (like 3 hours past dinnertime late) so I found a recipe that was really quick and easy that I wouldn't need his help with. It called for instant uncooked brown rice. Then it said that you simmer the mixture for 10 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed. Okay cool. We mostly have white rice at our house but we actually had bought a bag of brown rice we hadn't opened yet so I was excited to have the chance to use it. It wasn't instant though but somehow I didn't find that word important. I put it on the stove and ten minutes later, the rice wasn't even close to done. Well, that's okay. Our white rice bag says 15 minutes but it's really more like 20. Maybe I just need to give it another 10. So I did. At this point, we are starving (and actually split a tv dinner just so we don't pass out from hunger) but we figure it's only another 10 minutes. Then again, we taste it. Still not cooked. What is going on? I tried to take the cover off, thinking that would help. Nope. I put it back on. Nope. We get to talking and finally I look at how long the bag of brown rice thinks it should take. 45-60 minutes! WHAT!?!? Why does brown rice take so much longer than white rice??? Needless to say, we had to wait another half hour for dinner.

But really. Brown rice is supposed to be healthier. Healthier doesn't mean cook for 3 times as long! I could rant and rave about this all day (and sort of did last night) but...I just don't get it. This is like a sign that I shouldn't use brown rice anymore. It's health benefits can't possibly outweigh the fact it takes so darn long to cook! Ugh!

Cleaning for Company

My mom and little brother (who's not that little anymore) are coming to visit for the next few days. They will be staying here instead of a hotel so I need to make sure everything is extra clean. Of course, they'll understand construction mess and even regular house mess but I would like to make an effort. They'll be staying in our library/makeshift guest room. (When the house is done, we'll have a real guest room until we have kids.) So then I need to make sure everything is in order and there are new sheets on the bed and such. Company is always stressful and I'm not sure if it's more or less stressful when it's your own family. Generally, we get along so I would think less stressful but I also feel like they might expect more from you.

So anyway, everyone has a different way of cleaning for company. Some people only clean what they'll see (and then can stuff things upstairs or in closets) but my family will see the whole house (part of the reason for coming is to see progress) so I can't really do that. I have to scrub the kitchen and the bathroom, make sure I leave out extra towels. I've never had to share one bathroom with four people before but I guess we'll see how it goes! My husband will still be going to work and my sister lives not very far from here so my mom will be spending some time with her too.

Okay I feel like this post is a big ramble and I'm not sure any of it makes any sense because I'm distracted by my handful of a bunny, Cocoa. Bottom line: You should be cleaning your house like company is coming every day. Then it will actually end up presentable.

Dining Room

I painted the dining room today. All by myself, too. That's a big job! But anyway, we had picked a color called Sheffield Grey. When we decided on it, it was a dark grey that would compliment our light grey bathroom nicely (you see the bathroom from the dining room). Plus we wanted a dark dining room to make it more formal. Well yesterday, we brought up the paint can and we noticed the splotch on it was more blue than grey but we figured we'd paint it and see how it goes. I opened the paint can this morning and all the swirls were very obviously blue and even once I mixed it all in, it was still very blue. I painted it and when it was wet, it was a very nice grey but now that it's drying, it's turning into a blue. I don't even know how to describe the blue. It's not bright, it's dark but not navy. I'm not sure. I'll have to see what David thinks when he gets home from work because I'm totally undecided. I either love it or hate it and I can't make up my mind. You would think that color swatches would be almost exactly the color of the paint but it doesn't seem to be the case. There's no way we got the wrong color. Believe me, I checked the can. I still just wonder. We did pick out the paint almost a year ago now so it's hard to remember exactly what you pick. Well, we'll just see!

New Couch

First of all, I just want to say we got a lot done this week. We painted the downstairs bathroom (still needs a second coat though) and we primed the dining room (which I'll probably paint tomorrow)!! We are also close on the living room; that will probably be done in the next couple weeks.

So anyway, David and I were on the way to the grocery store when we passed a furniture store that was advertising a close out sale 80% off! We went in on impulse (just like all of our other big purchases..oops..) and after over an hour we finally decided on an L shaped couch for the living room. We had actually gone in to look at chairs for our kitchen table or (now that our dining room is pretty much done) a dining room table and chairs. But then again, not only do we need those things, we need for furniture for the living room (which we now have), chairs for our library (which technically we have but they're off Craigslist so they could use replacing), and furniture for our loft. It sounds like we have nothing but really our house is just too big. When we got married, David had lived in an apartment previously so we have furniture from that (but an apartment is pretty minimal) and I had rented out a room in a house so I only had bedroom furniture (bed, desk, bookshelf, dresser) so really we didn't have a lot of time to collect furniture. Now we have the time and motivation but unless that room is already finished, it's going to be hard to keep it clean or find a place to store it until it is (if you need a refresher on  how dirty construction can be, see my previous post because no room seems to be safe from sanding dust no matter  how far away it is from the sanded room and no matter how much plastic you put up).

We're so excited! This is our first piece of real, expensive (although 80% off...) furniture!

Dirty House

Our house is a big, huge, dirty disaster right now. Everything in our kitchen is covered with dust, our dining room pretty much is only dust, and upstairs never got undusty. Sanding (after plastering) is the messiest thing. We have plastic up and yet that dust finds a way to get on every surface of your house. I can't tell you how many times I have to clean our island to keep up with it all. I'm getting to the point where I don't even want to clean it anymore because in 5 minutes, it's just going to be dirty again (I assume this is also true when you have kids, not just construction workers, in your house). I have dusted and cleaned everything about a million times since we moved in and nothing can stay clean for longer than a day. It's especially annoying on surfaces that aren't really cleanable such as fake flowers and the outsides of my suede shoes. I'm totally ready to give up cleaning until our house is done but that's unrealistic. I can't go very long looking at dust and dirt before I get stressed out and start to go crazy. Of course, this doesn't bother my husband at all but I think guys are like hard-wired to not see dirt or something. (He can walk over a laundry basket without taking it downstairs while using the excuse he didn't see it. He walked over it!) So if anyone has any ideas how I can keep my sanity during this process, tips would be much appreciated. Until then, I'll just clean obsessively and rip my hair out.

Cocoa Update

I haven't written about Cocoa (our bunny) in a while so I thought I would update everybody. She continues to love ripping up her phone book (and eating the pages). We may have to get her a new one soon. Also, I would HATE to see what she can do to a real book. Maybe we're teaching her to destroy libraries like this.

She also tried to jump the fence again two days ago. She got stuck on the top with two of her feet on the people side and two of her feet on the bunny side. Good thing I was here to save her. That's the first time she's done that since we expanded her area.

Cocoa continues to scoop her litter out of her box and proceeds to poop and pee in the empty box. This drives me crazy because then it smells and we go through litter a lot faster. She used to do this but then we switched her litter and thought she liked this one better but I guess not.

She's still growing. When we first got her, she was so little and cute and now she's big (but still cute). She's a mini rex so she's not going to be as big as some bunnies but I would say she has doubled in size since we got her.

She has been such a menace lately. In the mornings, she's usually kind of lazy like me but these past couple days she has been SO energetic. We aren't sure where she's getting all the energy from but of course then she needs to be watched more closely and requires more attention. That's not exactly what I want to do first thing I wake up.

Cocoa is still the cutest bunny in the world whether or not she's causing trouble. And she is still the softest thing you will ever touch.

Cocoa posing (sorry for the red eye)

I Bought a Sewing Machine!

I have been doing all my sewing by hand, which is rewarding but makes the job goes MUCH slower than if I had a machine. I don't know too much about sewing machines and I didn't want to jump in and buy one until I was sure that I was serious about sewing and that I would actually use it. This past weekend, David and I were at Goodwill and we saw two. Both older but in good condition. I picked the one that was half off, meaning I just got a sewing machine for $12.50! What a bargain! But wait, does it work? We went to David's grandma's house and she showed us what to look for and everything and yes, it works! It's a really nice machine. It's a Necchi-Alco 509-2. It weighs about as much as a car because it's cast iron, not plastic. We don't have a manual for it but we are looking online and trying to find one. I am so excited to use it! It'll make my projects go so much faster and I can get more done! Now the problem is finding where to put it since I don't have my sewing space yet.

Parade of Homes

This weekend, David and I went to the parade of homes and walked through about 25 houses (boy what a workout that was, with all those stairs!). We got lots of great ideas for decorating our house and we are excited. We even bought an electric fireplace (on sale) because we liked them in the homes so much! A lot of these houses have almost full walls of windows because they are all in neighborhoods still being developed. Windows can make any house look amazing with all that natural light and the beauty of whatever is outside. When our house was redone, we actually took some of the windows out and changed it to wall because we didn't want to be staring at our neighbor's house all the time. So unless you're secluded (like most of these houses were), it's kind of hard to have a lot of windows. However, some houses had really odd placement for windows such as this one house had a huge closet window that faced the front yard. Anyone could see you getting dressed in the morning! Isn't that strange? I'm happy with our layout of our house but sometimes it's hard to see the potential until everything is painted and decorated. We are getting there though. We're almost ready to paint the downstairs bathroom! Progress is progress. I'll take it!

Baking in Winter

I love to bake but in summer having the oven on for that long and opening and closing the door makes the house really warm (we don't have air conditioning either). This means, I do most of my baking in the fall and winter. However, I have hardly baked at all this winter and now spring is right around the corner! I'm thinking I should bake a loaf of bread. Pumpkin bread is good for fall, banana bread is good all the time (but bananas aren't exactly at their cheapest right now), chocolate chip zucchini bread is also good (but again, zucchini isn't cheap yet). I think this leaves me with scouring the internet for a new recipe or making apple cinnamon bread. I love apple cinnamon bread and it seems like a perfect way to warm up on a cold day but my husband doesn't like the little hunks of apple in it. I wonder if I could make a variation of it using apple sauce or something to give it the right flavor. I also was thinking I should bake a LOT these next couple weeks and then freeze everything so we can enjoy baked goods in the warmer months but I'm not sure how long they'd last in the freezer. Anyone have any good tips?

Getting More Vegetables

Lately, I've been trying to eat healthier by watching my portions and add more vegetables. I'm more trying to be healthy than trying to lose weight (although if that happened, it'd be nice too). I always do really well at the grocery store and buy lots of fresh (sometimes frozen) produce but then I lose momentum and don't always eat it. Well, I have found more ways to get more vegetables in my diet.
1. I use a calorie tracker to help me stay on track. So since I always have the best intentions, I find that if I log my day ahead of time, I can put in all these vegetables I want to eat and then I actually eat them!

2. Sneak them into foods you already like. This would include smoothies, sauces, omelettes, mac and cheese, etc. I rarely eat macaroni and cheese just plain anymore. On good days, I'll add either broccoli or peas and then a can of tuna. Even when I add (vegetarian) hot dogs to it, I'll still add peas.

3. Cut them up once you buy them at the store (this would be like peppers, carrots, celery) so they are ready for snacking. If you have to do all the prep work when you're hungry, I find that it'd be easier to grab cookies or something since they don't take any work.

4. Try a new vegetable or try an old one prepared a different way. My mom always says that it takes something like 11 times to try a food before your body knows if you actually like it or not. Maybe you'll surprise yourself and like the new one.

5. Buy them. You can't expect yourself to eat them if they aren't around the house. Produce (when in season) isn't as expensive as everyone makes it out to be. Or if that sounds too scary, you can buy canned or frozen. Then they're really easy to add to anything (see step 2).

Of course I'm not perfect and I don't always get my 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day but I certainly get more than I used to back when I wouldn't actively try. Just try to get a rainbow of vegetables every day and realize there are more ways to eat them than just salads.

Motivation to Clean

I haven't been getting very much done around the house these past couple days due to my back but now that it's doing okay, I need to catch up on my housework. You think this would be motivation enough, seeing dishes piling up, clutter taking over the couch, garbages overflowing. But somehow, no.  I still find myself thinking "Do I HAVE to?" like a little kid. So I have come up with a few ways to combat this.

1. Set a timer. Even if it's just for 2 minutes (although the higher you can go, the better), it'll still help you get stuff done. Maybe if those 2 minutes go okay, you could manage 2 more. You can get a surprising amount of stuff done in 2 minutes.

2. Think about the finished product. Won't it be nice when  your counter is free of dirty dishes? Or when you can actually find the couch? It can't take that much work. You can do it.

3. Start small. Sometimes, we have it in our minds that we have to clean the entire house and it seems overwhelming. Just pick one small thing like the kitchen table or your dresser or something. When you finish that, you can move on to the next thing but look! You already accomplished something!

4. Put on some music. Most people wouldn't go exercising without music so why should you do chores without it? Hook up your mp3 player or turn on the radio and find something that makes you want to get up and move. Not only will dancing while working burn more calories, it'll make it more fun.

5. Think about why you're cleaning. Is company coming over? Can you, like me, just not take the mess anymore? Are you tripping over things? Can you not ever find what you're looking for? Cleaning can solve all these problems (and probably whatever else you're thinking too). When you're done with the job, you know that these things won't happen and you can relax.

6. Buy some new cleaning supplies. Of course you want to test these things out, don't you? It's always fun to have new stuff.

7. Check out my cleaning tab for more help cleaning!

Happy cleaning everyone! Spring cleaning is just around the corner...

Static in the Dryer

My back has been doing better so I think I'm going to get some laundry done. Especially in winter, I always have a lot of static in my clothes when I take them out of the dryer. It seems to stay with them, even while I'm wearing them. It's really annoying and I have been looking for ways to eliminate the static because I am fed up. Looking around online, I found a lot of people who put a lightly crumpled piece (about the size of a sheet of paper) of aluminium foil in their dryer. When it comes back out, it will be fully crumpled but you can just undo it and use it again. I haven't figured out how many times you can  use it but after about 3 loads (in my experience), it gets smaller and smaller and too crumpled to be worth it to uncrumple it. You just throw it in with all the clothes and it's really as easy as that. It's not perfect (maybe my size is too small? maybe I crumple too much?) but it's definitely a LOT better. Let me know if you guys try it and what you think in the comments.

Green Smoothies

I love smoothies; I even have a previous post about them. So I have been trying to be more adventurous with what I put in them lately and I have to say, I am a huge fan of green smoothies. They are an easy way to get a couple servings of fruits and vegetables. The green color is a little off-putting but if you can get over that, then you should definitely give these a try! Some people say that it's more filling to eat your vegetables in their regular form but not everyone enjoys the taste. With these smoothies, I promise you cannot taste the spinach at all. You are welcome to experiment with whatever fruits you want. I use strawberries (I buy the pints in bulk and then cut them up and freeze them so I use a whole pint at a time but you probably don't need that much), yogurt (I use regular but lots of people prefer greek) any flavor, orange juice ( I don't have this on hand, nor do I have oranges so I use sunny D), and half a bag of spinach (or a couple handfuls. You'd be surprised how much you can  use without even tasting it). That's it! Of course you could add flax seed or protein powder or anything you want. I love that smoothies are so versatile and so easy to make!

Grocery Shopping

Grocery shopping is my absolute favorite part of the week. I go with my husband (we're newlyweds, what do you expect?) and it is in no way a chore. I love going through the ads and clipping coupons and comparing one product to another to find out which one is the better deal. I actually don't really like retail shopping, like buying clothes or that kind of thing but I love errand shopping. I feel like I'm probably not by myself but I can't see most people liking it. Let me know about you guys! Do you like it? Hate it?

Back Injury

I guess I can't be healthy all at once. Last night, out of nowhere, my back started hurting. It wasn't too big of a deal and I thought maybe it was just sore. However, I woke up multiple times during the night and no matter what I did, I could not find a position that didn't hurt. This morning I woke up and the pain was worse than ever. I was crying and screaming and I said to my husband that there is no way birthing contractions could be more painful than this. I could barely walk or stand. Sitting was just as uncomfortable. I tried heat and ice. Due to other medications, I can't take any pain medicine so I waited it out. I laid the most comfortable way possible (but still in pain) and I am slowly getting better. I am now able to walk a little bit but it still hurts. I looked it up and it's my sacroiliac joint, which apparently also controls your legs (which explains their pain too). Wish for a speedy recovery of whatever caused this because I would love to get back to my life!

Physical Therapy

Today I graduated from physical therapy! I still have to do the stuff on my own but I feel SO much better seeing how far I have come and how I don't have to keep shelling out money every month (we have a high deductible). I had been going for three months now for a shoulder injury (with no real cause) that has pained me the last 2 and a half years. It's a bit of a complicated story as to why I didn't go so long ago but I don't want to get into that. I'm just happy I'm done! I'm stronger and better for it. I can lift my arm over my head now! (Three months ago, I could get it maybe halfway up and even that hurt.) I'm just so excited! Have any of you overcome things like this? It sure makes your day, doesn't it?