Bye, bye sugar!

So I decided to give up sugar.  For a month.  I've had so many nagging health issues lately such as weight gain (yes, that's a health issue), back pain, rotator cuff pain that I had to start somewhere.   I was inspired by this gal, Diane Hopkins and her story.  She and her daughter have been sugar free for 1 YEAR!!! and have no plans to go back.   I recently caught up on her blog about homeschooling and decided I needed to give it a try.  I'll let you know how it goes.    

I tend to be one of those people that once I have a cookie, I eat 10.  My husband asked if I was going to have any "free" days but I thoughtfully replied "No".  I just can't have it both ways.   The same goes for me and TV.  We finally cancelled the TiVo recently (which was supposed to help us watch LESS and no MORE tv) and only have basic cable hooked up on a tv in the basement which required a password to turn on.  It's been sooo wonderful.  I see the boys playing together so much more, even though I really tried to limit their TV watching before.  

I know that sugar can cause inflammation so that is my primary motivation for cutting it out of my diet.  I generally do not eat a lot of wheat either.  If I have a sandwich or something I usually end up feeling very bloated.  Hate that feeling!

Other supplements I am currently taking are: Vitamin D3, flax oil, trace minerals, and liquid iodine (for my thyroid).  I'm noticing with consistency my mood swings are slowly starting to improve.  I assume a lot of that has to do with the D3 which a lot of people see improvement with no matter how much sun you think you get.    

Once in a lifetime...

That's what our opportunity to travel to Israel felt like.   My hubby's parents were inspired and generous enough to offer all of their children and their spouses to take a trip with them to Israel.  Charles's father felt impressed during a Sunday School meeting that he needed to do this for his kids and I'll be forever grateful that he followed that impression!

Charles and I went on the 2nd trip (the first trip was a cruise of the Mediterranean) which consisted of a bus tour around Israel and many of the religious sites mentioned in the Bible.   I can't even begin to tell you how different it is now to pick up the scriptures and be able to visualize places like the Sea of Galilee, or Jerusalem and the temple mount, or Mt. Carmel and the Valley of Armaggedeon (to name a few).   Or to take the sacrament and picture the Garden of Gethsemane at 5:30 in the morning like Savior would have experienced it.

An added bonus was, of course, getting to spend time w/ my in-laws (including a brother-in-law that was a Near-Eastern Studies major in college) and to meet so many neat people on our tour.

I so hope to be able to return one day.  But until then, I will study and learn and share all I can so that these pictures and memories stay alive in my mind!

Adventures in Applesauce

So, today was really like any other Saturday... except for the fact that I have approximately 100 lbs. of apples breathing down the back of my neck.  Oh, and did I mention my 17 yr old was writhing in pain with symptoms curiously similar to "Swine Flu"?....Or that my family was supposed to be watching General Conference for 4 hours today.  Yeah, more on all that later.  But, back to the apples.

I'm so grateful to have obtained these beauties from my parents farm who live 2 hrs north of us.   Yellow Delicious and Jonathan apples.  Perfect for apple sauce, which is what I managed to make today.  But in the spirit of frugality that's not all I made!!  No siree.  After slaving for several hours this evening just to get my 1st 7 quarts of applesauce (minus one that broke in the water bath...poo!) I was determined to make use of those beautiful, organic apple peels too!  I found a recipe on this group recipe site.  It was literally only one of two recipes that I could even find using apple peels (at least to my satisfaction).  The other one is for GF muffins but I haven't tried those yet.

Anyway, I used the recipe above to make some pretty decent apple butter.  If the truth be known, Amanda did it for me while I was rushing around trying to take care of the sickies in my house and get a few little ones off to bed.   Here is the way our version of the recipe would look:

Apple Peel Butter

orange, peeled and separated
4 C Cooked apple peels
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 C water
2 dashes Cardamon

1. Throw everything in Vita Mix (or other great blender) and let it go for a couple minutes

2. Cook on the stove until hot or enough liquid is evaporated.

Of course the recipe is very flexible but you get the jist of it.   Here's what it looks like.  Not the prettiest thing in the world but it's good!

Now I actually learned one more exciting thing about canning today.  I read it online several days ago and could hardly believe my eyes!  I decided to test it out just to be sure but it worked!  I reused my OLD LIDS from LAST YEAR and everything (besides the broken bottle, of course) actually SEALED!    The only catch is you have to boil the old lids for about 10 minutes first which rebounds the rubber under each lid a bit.   I boiled about 20 or 30 of them the other day and tried to pick out the best looking ones for this trial run.    I tell ya'....canning will never be the same

Something to Say...

So, I've kicked around the idea for a while to start a blog. Lots of motivation for doing so, of course. But mostly because I usually have something to say (as my kids and husband can attest to). And now I can say it to anyone who will sit long enough to stare at the the screen and read it. Of course I want to share all the goings-on of the family. I've never been a big scrapbooker (heavens, I'm waaaay to picky and it takes me too long!). So the journaling/record-keeping factor of blogging is a big draw (no die-cuts or cute stickers to ponder over w/ each posting...hopefully). But additionally, I've always wanted to share how an imperfect mom (myself) keeps plugging away at helping herself and her family grow a little more each day: emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Some attempts work great and some, fail miserably. It may not be reality TV but it will be real!

I look forward to sharing with you...