Weekend Reading: Fall Fun

Breakfast is one of my favorite meals.  I like to go out for breakfast best of all meals.  I thought this slide show interesting on what other countries eat for breakfast.

I don't know why I feel compelled to build up my ready prepared foods in the freezer.  I know it's convenient to have a few casseroles tucked away.  This slide show had some ideas.

Since I seem to be all about slide shows this week (and food!) how about desserts you can make in your slow cooker?

I like these fantasy retirement locations...I love to watch International House Hunters, too.  I have this dream of being foot loose and fancy free and live abroad in Europe.  Then I think of my grandchildren and children and settle myself right in my own home, an arm chair traveler at best.  Still, of these particular choices, Valencia seems like a great place!

Frugal Friday: Wishing and Hoping and DOing

   I've  been enjoying sunrises and sunsets of late.  While this is an old photo, they are still one of the best 'shows' I get to see.  Each day's viewing is different and lovely and full of marvel. 

Saturday:  I didn't have a real meal plan today.  I took out a roast to thaw and planned to put it in the crock pot and there my brain stopped.  John suggested I make sandwiches, something I typically would not do twice in a single day but today we did.  We lived.  I have a good bit of roast leftover.  Enough to have sandwiches and another meal or two.

We had leftover chicken rice soup for supper.

Made John's work lunch for tomorrow.

Pulled grapes out of fridge and sat them down next to John and I.  This meant we ate them instead of letting them languish in the fridge.

Washed a full load of dishes.  I used a shorter cycle.

Sunday:  Sent John off to work with a good breakfast and his packed work lunch.

There's a reason why we set the manual clock alarm...because sometimes John's phone alarm and the clock radio alarm fail to go off.  No clue why.  The clock radio has become a useless piece of equipment in our room really and I should just toss it.  However, we needed that manual alarm clock this morning and so we were up on time, since nothing else was on the job this morning.

Washed a full load of laundry on short cycle.  Hung  all to dry.

October Goals

I did very well with my September goals and so I thought I'd share my October ones.  The incentive to finish up September goals was so strong courtesy sharing my list last month that I feel it's very worthwhile to share.

It should be cooler this month.  I hope to get quite a bit of work done outdoors:  No to every item on this list.  I cleared the pots of dead plants, trimmed some roses.  It's been hot and not in the least cool.

Purchase more block and finish up the one flower bed I couldn't quite finish for September.  I had all the mulch needed but I fell woefully short on the landscape edging blocks. Should be able to buy blocks this week to finish that up.

Start next area (South end of the house).  I'm working my way around the house at present.  At the very least I want to buy some materials.  Not this month!

Move the iris next to my shed to another spot now that John needs that area cleared.  It's too dry to move the iris and all the other plants I'd hope to move.

Move the lantana from the rose bed.  If no one volunteers to help me, I'll likely just cut it back and try to kill it off.  I usually can uproot enough to move elsewhere and establish it.  We'll see.

Take cuttings of the forsythia to try and root.

Try to root cuttings of the New Dawn rose.

Plant pots about house for fall/winter months.  There are plants that do very well here in the cooler months: parsley, pansies, evergreens, mums, snapdragons.  Also if it's mild enough I can plant lettuces but it's supposed to go into the 40's twice this weekend.  That's November temps for us...

Plant the bulbs I bought: grape hyacinth and daffodils.

Indoors: I hope to get the house settled once more after the flooring is done.

Paint wainscoting and cabinetry in bathroom. 1 cabinet to go in the bathroom...will do this one this week

Find paint for that fourth dining chair and get a proper coat on it.

Paint inside back door...Preferable to do this before new flooring goes in.  too late...but John says I must have a roller with a deeper nap on it to do the door properly.  Will try to pick one up this week.

Start painting kitchen cabinets.

Refinish the table currently between mine and John's chairs.

Get Pantry and freezer cleaned, organized and inventoried.  Hopefully this last week of October.

Other:
Pay off medical bill that came in late September. Paid 1/3 of it.  Plan to pay rest this next pay period.  I don't have quite enough to pay it off this pay period and it's due now so I'll send what I have, but I'll only owe $15 on it next pay period and will pay it off then.

Get John's Christmas ordered.

Plan all upcoming holidays from table settings to menus to decorations.  Start gathering things to make it happen. Planned Thanksgiving for two.  Need to do trial run of table setting.  No...realized I'd donated the plates I'd meant to use.  I'll have to rethink that Thanksgiving table.

Plan fall outfits starting with what I have.

Purchase pajamas, robe, underthings, slippers. And 1 bra...I have money set aside to shop with.

Do all I can to try to pay off house insurance in full when it renews next month. So far I've about 1/3 of the money needed to pay in full.  I don't know if I'll make this goal or not but I'll pay all I can on it.

Eat Health Part II Carbohydrates: Energy Powerhouse Foods

 

Carbohydrates are necessary foods in any diet.  That is why you've never heard of a NO carb diet.  No, you might well eat lower carb foods but you will eat some form of carbohydrate.  When it comes to carbohydrates it's what you eat and when that is key to sound nutrition. 

Carbohydrates produce energy.  The body does this by converting carbohydrates food into one of two forms: starch or sugars.  Starch is produced when you eat grains, cereal, pasta, rice, bread and some vegetables such as potatoes and winter squash.   Sugars are produced from the natural sugar content of the foods you eat: most leafy greens, peppers, tomatoes, carrots, beets, fruits and dairy and from those items which contain additional sugars such as baked goods or soda.  Even meat products have a low carbohydrate count.  Nearly all the food we eat does.

 Many of the carbohydrate rich food items also contain something else that is of major importance in a healthy diet: fiber.  Fiber can be found in raw fruits and vegetables and whole grains and to a lower extent in canned or cooked fruits and vegetables.   Fiber not only helps make us feel full when we eat, it also promote healthy intestines and flushes out unnecessary fats.  It soothes systemic inflammation, balances levels of healthy bacteria  to aid in digestion, removes toxins and excess estrogen to thin bile from the liver and will slow the absorption of glucose, controlling blood sugar spikes and decreasing the risk of diabetes.

Recommended daily allowances  of carbohydrates in a healthy eating plan varies.  It depends upon many factors: activity level, how often you eat, medications, blood sugar control and cholesterol levels.   Most people require between 30-75 grams of carbohydrates per meal and 15 -30 grams per snacks.   There are no rock hard guidelines.  It is a balance each individual must find for himself.  A good place to start is with 45-60 grams per meal and 15 grams per two snacks daily.  Some people find it easier to count carb choices.  The right number of choices can be between 2 and 5 servings of carbs per meal and 1-2 servings per snack.    Either method works just fine. The key is to find the right number of carbohydrates for you.  The right number of carbohydrates will result in better blood sugar balance and neither weight gain nor loss.  Obviously if you must gain or lose weight then you'd adjust your caloric intake overall and increase or decrease carbohydrates and proteins.

Briefly the recommended foods required for proper carbohydrate intake are: 2-3 servings of fruits per day and  3-6 servings of vegetables daily. 

Eat Health: Why We Need the Foods We Eat

One of the things I've learned over the past year or so of studying nutrition and dietary needs is that all foods act together for a healthy body.  You can't cut out a whole food group and remain healthy.  All parts of the food groups are as necessary as all parts of the body working together.

A nutritionally sound diet consists of Proteins, Carbohydrates and Fats.  Over time, our vision of a nutritionally sound diet has changed.  Look at the following images, in the order they are given and just see the changes from one to the other.  Both are US Government recommendations, one based on what our parents were told was a healthy diet and one based on what the government studies reveal is now healthy?  Why the change?  For one thing, the availability of foods overall has changed.  For another, we've moved from a nation that was formerly one in which people worked long hours at hard physical labor.  With industrialization and the elimination of manufacturing and agricultural jobs, our calorie requirements changed considerably.   

You may left click and open any of these images in a new tab.  They will appear slightly larger there and be more easily read.

You'll note this first chart relies heavily on carbohydrate rich foods.  Those were very necessary for energy and endurance.   And from my readings of 1930's and 1940's magazines I can tell you honestly that often those 2 servings of protein daily were sketchy ones.  Look at the current recommended dietary needs as portrayed by myplate.gov

Seed Faith, A Penny Ann Poundwise re-post

I had  this post from September 2009 up to post in mid-August.  I decided to hold it until September and so here it sat, waiting for edit.  In the last few weeks, we have again had reason to study 'seed' and the principles of  seed faith.  As we learned this time, John requested that I 'name our seed' when I wrote out our usual tithe check.  I did.  I named it 'New Flooring'.  That was during this last pay period.  Three days later we were informed we would be receiving a  monetary gift..  I don't consider it coincidence.  God is the provider of all we have and I love how often he likes to 'remind' us of how he can and will do so.

There was a little frame of time when we could have doubted we'd get new flooring after all.  The first quote we received was roughly double what we'd been given!  We went right on packing up boxes and someone at John's work recommended a guy who lives in our county.  He came out and measured and gave us a quote that was well within our range and we're getting better products.  As always, we're overwhelmed how God blesses us.

From September 2009, Penny Ann Poundwise

                                              photo source: lunaticpoet

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I were given a wonderful gift of a few days in a cabin in the mountains.  Each morning  we went out on the big screened porch to eat our breakfast and spend time in study and prayer. Each day we spoke of the blessing we'd been given and prayed for the woman who gave it.

One morning as I prayed, my attention was captured by the trees surrounding the cabin.  I noticed first the huge old pine tree that stood just inches from the screened porch.  Then I saw at the foot of the pine tree lots of smaller pines, some only 6-8 inches high.  I found myself completely absorbed in the wonder of those trees.  I felt in my spirit that God was trying to reveal something to me, some essential that I'd missed, but I never quite captured the thought.  I looked at the pinecones on the larger tree and wondered how old the small trees would have to be before they too bore pinecones.

In my mind, I saw the young pines on a piece of farmland near my home, trees no taller than I with their spires of  blooms.  Were they of age to bear pinecones?  I pondered the trees for quite a while  but still I felt I was missing  what God wanted me to understand.   I took a scrap of paper and wrote down "Pine tree" and tucked the paper into my Bible.  I even took  a picture of one of the tiny pine trees.  I wanted very much to know what God was trying to impart and so I tried to make sure I had reminders of what he'd tried to teach me that morning on the porch. 

In My Home This Week: Dreaming of Things to Come

In my home this week...

I am contemplating the changes new flooring will bring.  I've been looking at pillow covers today on Amazon (hard not to consider them when they will cover existing pillows for under $5), that will bring more colors into the room.  I am discussing a custom piece of artwork with Katie for the gallery wall.  Changes, changes, changes.   Gracious there's an air of change here!

I didn't get much done in the house this past week. It is staying so very clean of late.  I am pretty sure it's because it's simply hot here still.  I am so looking forward to cooler air! I don't want to move too much indoors and haven't done a thing outdoors.   But it's more than that hot weather.  We are not messing the house up very much at all.  I'm not sure quite what that is all about.  It may be because John keeps moving things away from the wall and cleaning under them.  He bought more of those handy furniture gliders this week. Now every big hulking big piece of furniture we have has them permanently under their feet.  We have spare sets to put under the smaller pieces we can easily lift.  These things are so very handy!

Anyway, the need to not do housework left me plenty of time to finish up some posts last week.  Hopefully this means I'll have a bit more content up for the next few  weeks.  I stayed busy enough  just the same.  I don't seem to have gotten very much done in the leisure department, but I did get a haircut.  I spent a lot longer than anticipated in a new salon getting my hair done.  Oh the joy of having your hair come out exactly right!  I told John it was so fun to hand the stylist the photo I wanted my hair to look like and then I watched it take shape on me.  I felt as though I could have floated out of the door.  I managed to finish another creative project, a short table runner that is fall inspired.  I am waiting until we're done with all the moving before I put it out.