Sunday, Monday

Okay, I missed a day.
Here's what we had Sunday:
Breakfast: Green smoothie (I will explain a green smoothie further down)
Lunch: Salad. I put the bean salad I made over some lettuce. I also added some chicken that we grilled the other night.
Dinner: Chicken Tortilla Soup, Here's the recipe:
Chicken (however much you want, it’s good without chicken too.)
4 oz. can chopped green chiles
3 cans great white northern beans
2 tsp oregano
1 can rotel tomatoes
½ tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbls. Oil
½ tsp salt
½ onion, chopped
14 oz. chicken broth
3 cloves minced garlic
3 c. shredded Monterey jack cheese
12 oz. sour cream.

1. Cook and dice chicken
2. Sautee onions and spices in oil until transparent.
3. Combine everything in crockpot.
4. Cook on low all day.
5. 1 hour before serving add cheese and sour cream, 1 c. at a time.

When I made it this time I reduced the amount of cheese and sour cream. I also used a bit more cayenne pepper, and I used chipolte chili pepper. It was really good.

Well, Eli is in Pocatello shadowing a doctor and visiting his mom and grandma. I sent him up with some leftover soups, salads, and fruits and veggies. I really am so proud of him for sticking to it and not complaining. It's harder for him because he really really really loves candy.

Yesterday I had:
Green smoothie for breakfast
bean salad salad for lunch
and Karen made this delicious soup, it's like the pasta faguli (sp?) at Olive Garden, but without the pasta. It was so good. I'm having it for lunch again today. It's full of veggies and hamburger and tomatoes and beans. MMMM!

So, let me try to explain a green smoothie. My sisters Ronda, Annie, and Alaina have been doing this for longer than me. I've only been doing them a few months. Basically, you have a fruit smoothie, but you just add greens. This is how I make mine: First I take a lot of spinach, kale, and flax seed, add water, and blend until smooth. Then I add a couple bananas (I make enough for Eli and I. I usually have 1 1/2 glasses, he has 1), and whatever other frozen fruit or fresh fruit I want. If you use fresh fruit be sure to add ice because it really is better cold. Greens are really important for people to eat, but we really don't get enough. This is a really easy way. The fruit you add masks the taste of the greens, which by themselves are not good. You can still tell that it is not a 100% fruit smoothie, but I really like them. Some of my favorite fruits to add are: peaches, kiwi (leave the skin on if you have a good enough blender and you'll get a lot of fiber), pineapple, and limes (Skin on too). Here ais a link to go to if you want to know more. Green Smoothie Girl and be sure to watch some youtube videos on it. Now that I've been on it for a while, I can always tell when I don't have one. I feel more tired and nauseous. It is really great for keeping things moving in your digestive track. Be warned that you'll be going to the bathroom more, but it will feel good!

So, that's all about all. Sorry this is not a very well organized blog post. I'm short on time today. I am also going to be trying out a lot of new recipes from the book, Dr. Gott's No Sugar, No Flour Diet. I'll be sure to post them.
I've been feeling great. It's been a week (tomorrow) and I've lost about 4 lbs. That's pretty cool.

More info

Okay, so I started thinking that I would be boring everyone, but I got a comment from my friend who told me to keep it up. Thanks for the encouragement Heidi, I will.
Yesterday was good:
Green smoothie for breakfast
bean salad, lettuce wrap, and other snacks like veggies and a fruit salad
grilled chicken (Eli had the one from the Indian market that's marinated in their spices, but I just had mine in a more basic marinade, I just don't really like Indian food that much) and grilled veggies. I'll list the recipe for some good things below.
Today has been good. Eli is working all day, but I went garage saling (is that even a verb?) with Karen and her sister. I got some good stuff, one lady was selling Avon stuff for less than 1/2 off! Then I got our oil changed (the Jiffy Lube on state street closer to the mall has the nicest people and service. I actually kind of like getting the oil changed because they are so nice), and went to Sunflower market to load up on veggies and fruit.

I kind of made up this recipe based off of my moms version of bean salad. It's good plain, and also really good as a salad with a cilantro-lime salad dressing.
Bean Salad:
Black beans (drained and rinsed), 1 or 2 stalks of celery, chopped small, little bit of thinly sliced onion, 1 avocado chopped, juice of 1 or 2 limes, chopped cilantro, 1 can of corn (drained) a couple tomatoes chopped, and a 1 can of green chili's. I love this bean salad. Oh, and it's good on a salad, like I already said, but with chicken too.

Tonight we're having omelets, full of cilantro, mushrooms, peppers, and the like. I really like this way of eating because it's kind of fun to challenge myself to make delicious healthy stuff. Well, I gotta go meet Cindy. We're watching the boys for them tonight so they can go to a party.

See ya later!

Day 2

Yesterday we had:
Green smoothies for breakfast.
Almonds, beans, carrots and hummus, and a piece of whole wheat bread for lunch.
Grilled steak and grilled mixed veggies for dinner. It was delicious.

I also got my pilates DVD in the mail and we did that yesterday morning. I forgot how much I love pilates. Maybe I'll become a certified Pilates teacher some day. I have noticed having more energy, but I think the withdrawls are giving me headaches, but those should go away in a few days. Eli thinks he's already starting to lose weight. I was stupid and didn't weigh ourselves before we started, maybe I should today.

I think tonight we might go on a hike to Stuart Falls. I don't know if that can beat last weeks date of dinner at Olive Garden (we knew it would be our last time for a while) and games at Nickel City Arcade (that was a blast!). I know it will be fun though!

We'll keep posting.

Experiment

So, as I mentioned in the last post, Eli and I are trying to go off sugar and white flour. I got the idea from the book, Beat Sugar Addiction Now! by Jacob Teitlebaum. I want us to be healthy. I am sick of feeling tired after I eat something. We're only going sugar free for a couple of months, to sort of straighten ourselves out. After that we'll only have it in moderation, and avoid most processed foods. Anyway, to keep myself up to the challenge, I have decided to post about what we ate that day and what else we did, and any differences I feel or whatever I feel like writing about.

So, today, here is what we had:
Breakfast: Green Smoothie (I forgot the banana's today. It was pretty gross without it.)
Lunch: Cuban Black Beans, lettuce-wrapped turkey sandwich, almonds, and raw veggies.
Dinner: Creamy Southwestern Chicken, which was delicious, and a salad with cilantro lime vinagrette dressing.

Today I have felt really good. And it's only the first day. I had a sugar craving after dinner, when I saw hostess cupcakes in the pantry. But then I remembered that I had just eaten dinner, I wasn't hungry, and I don't need it. Eli is doing well too. I can tell he's not that excited about it, but he's not complaining.

Well, we're going to the library now.
Goodnight!

One week late

Okay, so I promised a blog in a week. That has turned into two, but after a 5 month absence, that's not too bad, right? So, here is what has gone on in the past two weeks.
I have been working full time at Zachary Douglass. It's been good. It's definitley nice to have a job where I get to use my degree. The press release I wrote was published on a few websites and will be in three industry magazines in July. So, that's good. It's a good company with a good product to offer.
Eli's been working on his applications. They should be ready to turn in by Monday or Tuesday. That will be nice because at that point, we've done all we can do, then it will be up to the powers that be. He's been working more at Stonehenge. We've been keeping a pretty low profile lately. We had a fun barbeque at Annie's on Memorial Day. That was really nice, there was a lot of kids and even Elle May (the dog) made an appearance and ran off with Phoebe's hot dog.
Right now Eli is at work and I am at Annie's. She is using Karen's Cricut to make some vinyl letters to put on her laundry room wall. It's taking a long time, but we are getting the hang of it. Phoebe is being silly and tickling me. Later, I will pick up Eli and we'll work on his essays and personal statement tonight. Sounds like fun!
In other news, I am trying to be healthier. We have been doing green smoothies almost every morning for the past few months. I really like them. I notice the few times I haven't had them that I feel worse throughout the day. I just bought on amazon the book Beat Addiction Now. I perused it at a bookstore one time and I really want to get on a better diet, of eating more fruits and vegetables and less processed food. And I also got the Mari Winsor 20 minute workout. So, now starting every monday, wednesday, and Friday we will be doing Pilates if anyone wants to join. I'm just sick of being tired a lot. Especially now that all I do is sit at a computer all day. Phoebe is being really funny. Annie was eating some chocolate covered raisins, this is what Phoebe said in her funny Phoebe voice: "Hey! What are you eating? ... "Oooh, can I have some f those?.... Hey Mama! Give me one!" We'll end on that.

At Your Request

Okay, Cindy was right. It has been a long time. A really long time. I was even starting to notice. So, here is an update and a pledge: I will post at least once a week for the month of June. All right we'll start with the update of the big things. Now I'll feel like a lame-o because some big things have happened.
1. I turned 24 in February. Eli and I went to Tucanos and a movie. I had fun.
2. Eli graduated in April! I am so proud of him. He now has his bachelor's of Science in Neuroscience! That's a mouthful. We had a wonderful time. His family from Idaho came down for the graduation and we had a great party at home afterwards with my sisters too. He immediately stopped shaving, per my request (I really like short beards), and now he has a sweet beard. He is now finishing up his medical school applications, which are due in June, and working as a CNA. It was really cool at his graduation because his dad was able to hand him his diploma from BYU. It was a great weekend!
3. I am now finished with working at the elementary school. It was a crazy job and it had it's challenges, but I did enjoy it. Some of my favorite things that happened there were the fifth grade boys at recess who followed me around repeating everything I said (it sounds annoying but they were such funny boys), a sixth grade boy who asked if he could kiss me (I said no!), a girl in my class who reminded me so much of Eden who liked to talk to me at recess, the field trips I got to go on, getting to know a whole classroom of fourth graders, getting to sign a lot of yearbooks, and seeing some kids really improve their work because I helped them. I have learned a lot from it too. I think the school system has a lot of flaws, but basically it is full of teachers and administrators who genuinely care. I do think that if I ever have a child with special needs, I would not send them to public school because they are understaffed to deal with children who need individual attention all the time, but that's a post for another day.
4. I have a new job now that I am very very excited about. It is a new company called Zachary Douglass, zacharydouglass.com. The company, which is new, has designed and patented a photo editing software especially for funeral homes. It is an amazing technology and there are only three of us working there right now, but it is really taking off. I wrote a press release that was posted on a couple of industry websites last week and is going to be published in three trade magazines in July. I never thought something I wrote would be published at all, especially in a funeral home trade magazine, but I'm still really excited. I'm going to do more of their writing, and also the customer service and sales. I really love it. My degree is actually being used now. I thought that would never happen. I start full time this week and I think it is going to be a great job that I can keep for a long time, wherever we go, so that is a huge blessing!
5. We're still living with Eli's mom and step-mom and it is going so well. It's been such a blessing to stay here and save money for the applications to medical school, which is a very expensive process. It's been a lot of fun.
6. Eli's brother Josh graduated from high school last week. We're really proud of him. Even though I've only known Josh for a couple of years, he is really the little brother I never had. He even likes to tease and pick on me. Way to go Joshey!
I think that's about all. We're looking forward to the summer. We only have one trip planned so far, and that's a weekend trip to Disneyland with some friends in July. I'm really excited though, I've never been to Disneyland. We're also hoping to make it out to Missouri sometime this summer, and we're looking forward to seeing a lot of our family come out to Utah this summer in July. So, now that we've got the big things written about, my next posts will be more up to date and let you know more about our daily lives. I'm sorry. For a long time I did not feel like posting at all, but the time has come to start up again. So, keep reading!

NO MORE BURGERS!!!!

I have awesome news. I no longer have to work at In-N-Out! I got a new job as a teachers aide for a fourth grade class. I love it. My last day at In-N-Out was last Thursday. I don't think it's a big surprise that I did not enjoy that job very much. The people were really nice and it was such a relief to get a job after a long time unemployed, but I'm much happier working a job that I feel as if I am helping to make a difference rather than just getting people burgers. But, the smells of the place always made me sick. So, I really like the school. I'm there from 9-2:30 everyday. I help out in the classroom, do playground supervision for an hour, and then I help some students who need extra help with science. I really like it. It's only been my first week, but I think I'll really like it. So, I give thanks everyday for the new job, I've been really blessed. I feel like I can actually use my degree here, which is nice. I love the kids too. They're really funny, and they like me too, which is good. Well, I've got to go. I'm a temple worker on Thursday nights, which I love, so I have to go get dressed. Thanks everyone.