Seizing My Day

What on earth is a green smoothie???  Sounds disgusting, eh?!  NO!!  Don’t let the spinach fool ya!  It really isn’t disgusting or even that bad tasting ~  I really LIKE them!  Yep ~ I like them!  Most days I would rather sip, slurp or chug my green smoothie than eat a salad!  Sound crazy, maybe!?   Don’t mock it, until you try it!!!   So for those of you who ‘think’ it sounds gross – just try it once!  Your heart will thank you!!  It is one of my favorite – low calorie, low fat, heart healthy snacks!  😉

This is what you need:    a few handfuls of baby spinach, a banana, berries (I LOVE blueberries and blackberries in mine) and liquid.  My liquid choice is usually 2% milk or vanilla soy milk (must look at sugar intakes!) I also LOVE adding a berry extract called Acai berry.  It is expensive ~ so that is a treat to have it!  You can shake up the fruit you use, and change out the greens too… but this is my ‘favorite’ way to make mine!  But it all in a quart size jar – blend a few seconds with a hand blender – and viola! Yummy green smoothie… good for weight loss and the heart (as long as you are watching sugar in take too many fruits increases sugar!!!)   I PROMISE the Monkey did NOT drink it!!   😉    I drink them at least 3-5 times a week!  Cheers  Ladies!

I love words.  I am crazy about words!  I love word games.  I love making up my own words.  I love clever words.  I love learning new words.  I love things made with words.  I craft with words!  (I have a sweet valentines day craft/teacher gift idea with words coming up!)  As I have blog hopped around in this wonderful blog world I have noticed some clever use of words! Being new and all… I did not take note of which blog I was on when I was blissfully enjoying these word posts!  So if I mention your blog… Please make a comment and claim your fame!!  oh- I love rhyming words!  I love teaching my children words!  I even have a day on my blog dedicated to words!  I guess you could call it a quirk!  My mom loved words and word games too…  I love that I am like her in this way!  anyway… focus… (another great word) … Early in my blogging adventures (2 weeks ago) one wonderful blogger had a post about Beautiful Framed Photography Words… What a wonderful idea!  It is a company in Canada that sells Word Art.   Visit www.Alpahbetphotography.ca to see for yourself!  Two other great bloggers used scrabble letters in their posts…. I am crazy about scrabble and use the letters for crafts, art, gifts, etc. myself!  Brilliant!  (another great word)   I am allowed to be a little crazy here aren’t I?  You won’t judge me, will you?!   Recently one clever blogger posted a list of words that started with the letter “B”… the list was mostly words that I love using – it made me smile – it gave me unexplainable joy (I am a word Nerd)!  I need to find her again and ask for permission to copycat (love this word too) !!  There is a great pre-kindergarten show on PBS called Word World… I love it!

I could go on and on for hours about this silly obsession of mine!  😉

Yes – I even play word games on Facebook!

Can you find the secret word of the day…. I laughed when I pulled up this word for my post today!

Do you have a favorite word??
I really wanted to end my post spelling out with scrabble letters…

Have a Fabulous Day!

(alas this mommy duties are callin! see ya all later!)

MamaM. from My Little Life is having this fabulous birth stories blog hop today! I love birth stories!  Here I am… Late!!  (I am always late!!) Morning has come and gone (I had a root canal yesterday… not my best morning!) 3:00 pm Westcoast time is still enough time to join the fun!  right?! Its a long story… pictures are at the end!!

My “Not So Favorite” Birth Story is yep –  ‘my story’ !

A little over 9 years ago… After 9 full months of nausea, puking, flu like symptoms 24/7, high blood pressure, high sugars, yada, yada, yada!  Carrying my babies was worth it… but not as ‘blissful’ as I had dreamed!  not really blissful at all!  So…

3 weeks before I was due… at a typical doctors visit… my blood pressure was taken and we were sent straight to the hospital… Yikes!! Doctors were waiting to induce me right when I got there!!! (thank goodness my hubby was with that day!)  My blood pressure was 160 / 96?   I was close to my due date…but anxiety rose and blood pressure rose a bit more!

At the hospital I was hooked up to IV, given pitocin and huby was sent home to ‘rest’ for the night… They told him I would probably take ‘a while’ …  After 6 hours of pitocin and nothing happening to my body.. pitocin levels went up. 6 more hours and nothing still!  Next was a ‘gel’ to get my body to cooperate.  The side effect makes you feel … um… ‘raw’ inside after they use it down there… LOVELY…So, I was at a teaching hospital!  At first I was ‘nice’ and let ‘trainees’ look and (yep) touch – no shame after having birth – I tell ya!  1-2 hours later – 1st check after the gel… can you say … OWE… I made it very clear after that – NO ONE who didn’t NEED to touch would be touching anything!! Raw indeed!  Hubby is back … we are a good 12-16 hours in… I am having contractions – slightly painful… baby was not going anywhere NEAR the ‘hole’… so absolutely NO dilating was occurring!  Really?!  (Remember I am already weary of a flu-like feeling pregnancy for 9 mo… these were not pretty moments for me!)  The NEXT step was to place a ‘balloon’ inside um… “there” … a mock baby head… Remember ladies… I am feeling a little ‘raw’ down below… OUCH does not even describe how I felt!  and nope… no pain meds allowed!  ugh!  1 more hour & in goes the balloon! Contractions are painful now…  they faithfully check me every hour? and NOTHING… barely 2 centimeters? weary weary weary! 24 plus hours in… I am weary, exhausted, sick, raw, in pain, begging for meds or a c-section.  CRAZY!  I have seen 2 doctor/nurse crews come and go… countless people looking at and touching my body… I was SO done!  Still… no sympathy… none!  You see the c-section rate was high that year – so doctors were encouraged to pursue natural child birth at the weary expense of us poor helpless laboring mommies!  So they made the balloon bigger and increased the pitocin again!  The end is near – I promise! 30-36 hours in I was having giant contractions with NO break and NO dilating!!!  Can you believe it?! The worst, most embarrassing part… I flipped out… I was literally trying to crawl out of my own skin!  In and out of bed… around the room… up and down off the floor… I was crawling the walls… trying to get out of my own body!  Insanity was close at hand! I remember seeing my husbands face … and the nurse… they didn’t know what to do … within minutes 6 -7 people were in the room and I was being started (FINALLY) on the spinal nerve block… This was comical…. Doc. “Can you feel this poke” … Me. “Yes” … Doc. “You can feel the poke not just pressure”  … Me “Yes”… Doc. “here on your arm this is poke and this is pressure… are you sure you feel the poke” … Me.  “YES – I feel the head of your needle pricking on my skin” the spinal tap did not work!!  ( I am having this conversation with him while in pain with my giant contraction that would not stop!) Untrusting, he moves on to the ‘ice trick’ …we went through the entire conversation again with ice … cold vs. wet feeling… I am not sure how long it took me to convince him to pull it out and do it again… oh… maybe it was since I could still use my legs!!  ha ha!  OK… 40 hours into horrible, awful, painful, induced labor … all for …um… nothing!  Kid you not… the spinal caused the babies heart rate to drop!  After 40 hours of torture…and only minutes with pain relief… !!!… I was rushed to Emergency C-section … and in 3 minutes flat there was MY beautiful baby!  The doctor held her up and said to my husband who was sitting at my head… “tell your wife what it is…” moments passed while she was holding a slippery baby up and Nothing came out of his mouth!  Then a few moments later he said… ‘I can’t tell” ~  Laughing my doctor told us it was a girl!  (she was a little swollen!)  Priceless!  Here are the after pics… I wanted nothing to do with cameras during the ‘torture’ phase!!  Amazing how all of that still gives me shudders.. yet the minute she was out … it was PURE BLISS!!!

Whew! Aren’t you glad that is over!! I sure was!! 😉 I am sure you guessed what kind of labor I decided to have with baby #2! yep… Cut it out!! don’t even think about putting me through That again! The only blessing of having had a c-section… is choosing not to have labor the next time !

I love these photos!

After 40 hours daddy was weary too!

What a blissful moment ... the moment I met my first baby!

As precious as a rose!

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I always ask for paper bags at the grocery store… I love paper bags!  They remind me of my childhood, they are definitely more earth friendly than plastic bags, they are less germy than reusable bags and they are easier to lift/carry when you are a wimp like me… ( pregnancy made me very wimpy – it is a very good thing I only birthed 2 kids!)   Besides brown paper bags stand up well on their own when you use them for garbage and recycling.

What on earth I am talking about Brown Bags for anyway you ask??  Good Question!

You see… I live a very ‘piled’ life.  Piles of papers (evil, evil papers), school work, bills, books, magazines, piles of toys, laundry, items for sewing & mending, crafty things, kid things, grown up things, cat things, dog things, things to do, so many many things! When the piles are in my way … I relocate them… eventually some things get sorted while others find their way into bins, shelves, and counter tops, table tops, desk tops, railings, window sills… They are everywhere!   Some piles are hidden from them, those, the others that come into my house … and some are  …um… out in plain sight for all to see!  How embarrassing!  I keep telling myself … it is hard do everything when you are already a less than perfect housekeeper, and you home school one child with vision challenges, while running the other one to and from school and social events, and have had 2  puppies in one year  (yep… 2  in one year… all for another blog day!) etc. etc. etc.  Excuses, excuses, excuses!   I am one of the best less than perfect housekeepers!   Whew!  Now that you all know this about me we can move on to why I am talking about Brown Bags!  Here is my plan.

28 days in February.  28 Brown Bags. A bag a day.

I am going to fill at least one bag a day.  With donations, sell items, recycling and garbage.  I am going to purge my house and my life one brown bag at a time for a whole month! I think I will need to buy more groceries in order to complete this task!   Wanna know a secret?  (I do this a couple times every year!  Yes I am that messy! )   Come back next Monday to see where I went with my brown bags… and what ‘treasures’ I unearthed in my messy house!  Wait til you see my bedroom… I can’t believe I am going to let you see it!  Peter Walsh would love to “visit” my house!  (Peter if you are reading… Please come to my house… I need your organizers and decorators to work magic!)  OK..

I have my bags for the week…let the ‘winter’ cleaning games begin!

Jenn~

PS.  I am having a root canal today… Oh joy!  So I cheated and got started this weekend already!  I am so motivated!  😉

We are sending encouraging mail to Kayla today….

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I recently read this post over at Serendipity Is Sweet.

It is about a little girl named Kayla. Her family has been pushed to the limits with illness.  2 years ago, just days before Christmas they got the news that daddy was ill with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Then 3 days later, they find out their little girl, who was all of 4 years old, was also sick, with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. This was reality for the Gronley’s. For the past 2 years, they have battled cancer with two loved ones. They have a blog if you would like to follow– Adventures in Mommyland.

Many fellow bloggers have made a decision to try and make a positive impact in Kayla’s life. Since much of her current life is spent in hospitals and not in school or making friends – Kayla is very lonely. We asked Sandra what we could do to help Kayla. Sandra said that Kayla loves getting mail, that she loves getting a card in the mail…..

Cards For Kayla
Maybe you have a child that could draw Kayla a picture, or give her some stickers. Maybe you know of a class that could send Valentines Day Cards to her– Just something little to brighten Kayla’s day, to keep her occupied while she is in the hospital.

If you need some ideas on what your kids can draw, Kayla loves: the movie Hocus Pocus, the colors pink and purple, Animal Planet, any animals {cats especially} and Disney Princesses

Send Cards for Kayla to:

Kayla Gronley
P.O. Box 5634
Blue Jay, Ca 92317

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Blessings ~

Jenn

I love Five Question Friday too – so I am giving this one a try at the same time as Aloha Friday!!! I hear it is “The hip, fun, zany, happenin’ way to meet and greet your fellow bloggers!” and I need to meet fellow bloggers…. 😉 I found this on Mama M.’s ~  My Little Life blog!

Mama M. ‘s Rules:  Copy and paste the following questions to your blog post, answer them, grab the MckLinky code, and link up! I would love ya, if you’d link back to me! I hope I did this right – it is my first 5 Question Friday! I hope to meet some amazing fun bloggers today to follow and be followed by!! Let’s Link Up! here goes!

1. Would you ever vacation alone?

2. Do you go the speed limit?

3. Why did you start blogging/following blogs?

4. Where do you shop for yourself?

5. What was the song that you danced your first dance with your spouse to at your wedding…or…what song would you like your first dance to be to?

1. Would I ever vacation alone ?

nope … I am a chicken… “bock bock” (imagine me pretending to fluff my wings!)  I love spending my ‘alone’ time with someone I love!  😉  I need people!

2.  Do you go the speed limit?

I um – uh – I drive ‘close’ to the speed limit!   10 over isn’t so bad on open roads, is it?!  In a neighborhood or school zone … I am a good girl!   😉

3.  Why did you start blogging/following blogs?

I didn’t even know what a blog was (really!) until last fall!  Inspired by Tammy at Tammy’s Two Cents, a few media plugs, and of course Julie and Julia!!  I decided it sounded like a great opportunity to have something for ‘me’  … a place to be a grown up … to be funny, encouraging, inspired and inspire, share, laugh, support and connect with all you amazing people… so link up with me already!  Please!  😉  well… ok… and for the contests, give aways and maybe some advertising bonuses!  (maybe)  😉

4.  Where do you shop for yourself?

Eddie Bauer Outlets – love that place- one day I want to have a blissful, beautiful country life like the women in the Eddie Bauer add have – that’s real – isn’t it?!   and Macy’s … love Macy’s clearance sales…  My mama taught me to appreciate a good sale!!  😉

5. What was the song that you danced your first dance with your spouse to at your wedding…or…what song would you like your first dance to be to?

Dance – ? – I don’t dance people – and trust me – you don’t want to see me try!  😉   Good thing I married a non-dancing kinda fella!  Now if one were to have married an amazing ball room dancer like you see in the Jane Austin movies… then I might consider it!!  I did teach my daughter and her friends the “Achy Breaky Heart” dance at her 9th birthday!  SO cute – and so fun!

Have a great weekend ! I hope I did this right!  If not link up through My Little Life on my ‘blogger list’ ;)!

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In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that they take it easy and look forward to the weekend.  Since I love Hawaii ….  on Fridays I will take it easy from posting along with Kailani from Islandlife808.com.   I’ll ask a simple question ~  Please join the fun and tell us your answer to the question!   I am a baby blogger & I hope to connect with you amazing encouraging bloggers!  Please join me on my new blogging journey ~ comments and followers are encouraged!

Coffee!  I LOVE my coffee… sweet and creamy……  since I was a little girl   (no kidding.. my sister &  I fought over dad’s thermos regularly!)  At 17 I became a ‘coffee snob’…  I was introduced to a local roaster that makes the best coffee … buh bye  Denny’s ! Shamefully,  coffee is required to wake me… required!  I had a few roommates who handed me coffee in bed to wake me every morning (including my Hubby!)  Spoiled, yes, they found it less obnoxious than listening to me snooze my alarm all morning!  How embarrassing! Then I met the Latte!!  Pure Bliss in a Mug!   When I was pregnant … once I could hold down a coffee… I learned how to order a ‘high maintenance’ latte… decaf, sugar free, low fat, no foam, grande hazelnut latte please… whew!   Who knew ordering a coffee could be so complicated!  I almost feel guilty that I know how to order a ‘high maintenance’ latte!  My obsession with coffee has earned me two regularly used titles over the years… ‘coffee addict’ and ‘coffee snob’….  I can live with that… can you?!    My drink of choice is a grande, 2 pump, 2 %, hazelnut latte with no foam please!

How do you order your coffee??

Aloha! Jenn~

Monday I bought Turkey Breast Strips for the first time.  It is a heart healthy meat so I thought I would give it a try.. and hey… I didn’t have to cut it up.. .it was already cut into tiny stir fry strips for me!  Love it!  Since I LOVE Thai Peanut Sauce…I thought that would be the best way to try the new ‘meat’.  It was delicious!!   Here is how I cooked it!

You will need:

1 lb. of Turkey Breast strips – (Jenni-O)

1/3 cup Top Foods Brand – Full Circle – Organic – Thai Peanut Satay Sauce.  Yummy!

3 carrots

3 celery stalks

1/2 red pepper

1/2 purple onion

usually we use ‘baby’ corn in the can – but we were out! sniff!

and 1/2 cup cashews (we were out of those too – NUTS! are the best part!)

2 cloves of garlic

oregano, sage, thyme … any yummy herbs!

Chop all veges ahead of time I like them sliced thin… as they cook faster!  Turkey is already chopped – yippie!  Start rice – I used Brown Rice for the grown ups (45 minutes) and white rice (20 minutes)  for our picky kids!  So timing is everything… I started the brown rice – gave it 15 minutes before starting the white rice.  Once the white rice is started … then Satay the turkey in a drizzle of olive oil and herbs until pink is gone.  Cover and set aside.  Satay veggies, garlic and cashews  in a little olive oil to desired crisp or softness.  Place turkey back on to reheat – in my house I remove some plain turkey for the kids now as they don’t like the sauce YET – then add Thai Peanut sauce to turkey strips and heat for 2-3 minutes.  I serve the kids only the veggies they will eat (celery, carrots, corn and cashews) Then I mix the turkey and veggies together… serve over rice … and enjoy!  We used to love adding a little crushed red pepper to it as well… spice is not always my friend these days… so I left that part out!   OK.. I am going to add a few VERY unprofessional pictures of our dinner – remember we were out of nuts and baby corn which would have made the dinner and pictures more yummy!   It was still delicious … I will use those turkey strips again… they are not too expensive $5.99? and turned out to be a great dinner!  Ah yes I forgot to say … my kids love honey or maple syrup on their meat! This  Recipe feeds a family of 4.  What is your favorite Satay or Stir Fry???

Top Foods Organic Brand

The Kids Meal (minus corn and cashews)

Man sized portions! (I should eat half this with a salad!) ~ 'should' 😉

Yep –  its Wednesday… I failed to post yesterday (sigh)!   I did have a few inspired ideas that never came to pass… my day was ‘discouraging’ to say the least!~  I hate those days!  Oddly enough,  I seem to be having more discouraging days than not since Jan. 1…..  I am struggling to keep my mind on the positive things!  There are so so many things I am thankful for…yet my mind wants to be discouraged!   It is my choice to seize the power of positive thinking.

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“Thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord Thy God hath given unto thee.”  Deuteronomy 26:11

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in ALL circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”   I Thessalonians 5:16-18

“Do not be anxious about anything…. Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable; if anything is excellent or praiseworthy~think about such things.”   Philippians 4:6, 8

“The joy of the Lord is your strength.”   Nehemiah 8:10

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God has used these verses regularly with me… along with a few others I will share another discouraging day!    Now ….these verses automatically come to my mind when I struggle with my attitude or with life’s seemingly endless struggles!   These verses encourage me to find my joy…  to redirect my own thoughts to the things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable and excellent.  I can go through the things in my life and say… My life is good – true.  My children are lovely.  My husband is excellent.  My intentions are pure.  My God is noble.  My friends are lovely.  My ‘job’  (a stay home mommy & home educator) is right. People in my life are admirable (not perfect).  My life is excellent.  God calls me to him… it is my choice to go.   God loves me… it is my choice to accept it.  God offers me peace … it is my choice to accept it.  God does great things in my life – even in the things I see as hard – it is my choice to see His blessings in the midst.  Thank you God for the reminder to actively seek you and give you Thanks – even when I feel discouraged!  I plan on spending my day redirecting my thoughts to those things which I am thankful for … and not worry about the things I can not change.   Hm…. I think I get discouraged when I worry!?

How   do  you  grasp  the  power  of  positive  thinking   when  you  are  feeling discouraged ?!!   Comments are always welcome ~  🙂

Good Morning !  I am currently laughing at myself … my blog name ‘Seizing My Day’… is very motivating to me… however… since I have entered the learning curve of blogging… my days are not as ‘easily’ seized!  Bear with me a few more weeks and I think I can live up to my name a little better!  Like having my posts up and running the night before waiting to be automatically posted for the morning!  (wish me luck!)

3 Heart Healthy Things I do Everyday:  Drink Water, Walk & eat Breakfast!

Every day I fill 3 16oz. water bottles so I know how much water I drink.

Every day I walk the puppy 2-3 times a day … for at ‘least’ 15 minutes!

Everyday I eat Yogurt and a whole grain for breakfast.

Can I just say…. I love Dr. Oz!  He is one of my main sources for heart healthy lifestyle changes.  If you have never been to www.realage.com you should check it out!  Real Age offers great heart healthy advise!   One of today’s tips is to eat Yogurt 3 times a day to loose weight!!!  I don’t like yogurt that much… but I might try 2 times a day!??   Yoplait Lemon Delight is currently my fav… YUM!   I also like Dannon vanilla diabetic friendly yogurt.  I signed up for the real age tips to be sent to my email daily… and they even have a blog!

Alright… confession time… I “need” to  be  on a ‘heart healthy’ diet plan.  1 year ago I was diagnosed with ‘extremely’ high triglycerides/cholesterol.   I tried to be ‘good’ I tried to  lower my sugar intake, I tried to eat less bad carbs and I tried to add more beans and greens.  Alas, I failed!  6 mo. later my levels were actually a little higher.  Honestly, now I am  on the right train! My health means I have a better chance of sticking around to enjoy my kids as they grow up.  I am not all that much overweight… nor do I ‘sit around’ all day… perhaps genetics and little bad habits have lead to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high triglycerides and a little more weight/fat than my body needs.  I am in the ‘heart attack waiting to happen’ category – who knew!!!  I don’t think I look unhealthy!!

Help Me Kiss My Belly Goodbye!!   Join my heart healthy adventure!

As I journey through this life style change … I hope to share food and exercise tips and recipes with ya all… and I hope ya all will share with me… encouragement and knowledge is always welcome!!

You all have Great Blogs ~ I am enjoying this new blogging adventure !  Please take a minute to say hello and consider becoming a follower!

One last thing (I know I ramble… thanks for staying!)

Have you had your cholesterol checked lately!!??   I would have never guessed mine were SO high!   Take the time to check your heart health!!

Blessings to ya all!    Jenn~