Raking

5 March 2012

What a gorgeous day. It had to be at least 65 degrees outside. I took the opportunity to begin raking up all the leaves from fall. The plan is to slowly work my way from the front of the yard all the way to the back, where my garden will be.

It was the first time I have taken Em outside to play since it has been winter since she has been able to crawl. She loved it! First I had her in her play pen with some toys, but after a while she wanted out, so I let her crawl around. She loved the grass and followed me around the yard cooing and babbling. It was so precious.

I took a break from raking and we took a walk around the block. On our walk I talked to Ra about why we were growing a garden. I explained that healthy foods have what we call nutrition. Nutrition comes from nutrients found in plants. Healthy, nutritious foods are things that are grown. This will hopefully be a good basis for discussion when it comes to meal times and food complaints! Ra will be able to decide whether or not she wants to eat the food based a knowledge of its nutrients, not just its looks. We have already previously discussed that healthy foods help keep you from getting sick and she understands and appreciates that concept.

On our walk Em fell asleep in the stroller she was so tuckered out from her first day exploring the outdoors. I put her in her crib, made lunch and then headed back out to the yard for more raking. The kids played around the yard, digging in the dirt, hanging on the willow branches, and making secret hideouts in the plum grove. When the hubby arrived home we started pulling weeds in the garden area, which is no small task considering our garden is 900 square feet and all weeds. We stopped about dinner time and while the hubby had the kids help straighten the house I made dinner.

After dinner we watched an episode of BBC's Top Gear on request from Ra much to the delight of the hubby. When the episode was over Ra read a few passages from Mosiah in the Book of Mormon then I read some of the abridged children's version of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table by Howard Pyle.

Nutrition and Girls Night Out

2 March 2012

My sister Rill is my dearest friend and confidant. She has had some health issues in her life which have caused her to do a lot of research on health. First because of her specific ailments and as she got further into her research she found so many interesting new facts about health and nutrition that she has practically changed her life because of it. She has shared with me along the way, bits of this vast knowledge she has acquired and I have always been interested in joining her in this new healthful endeavor, but it has always seemed that I have been too busy or too this or too that to follow along with her.

Being the wonderful sister and woman that she is, she has started a blog about nutrition and health to share with us her pearls of great price. That knowledge which she has labored in acquiring, she now gives to us freely on her blog! She also posts her meal plan for the week and the recipes! And for a small fee of $0.99 you can have it all in easy to print PDF format which also includes a shopping list! I am so stoked for this because it makes jumping on the healthy bandwagon a bit easier. I get to do this a little backwards from the way she had to do it. Rill made the changes in her diet one by one, little by little as she learned what things were and were not healthy for you as she dug past all of the preconceived notions about "dieting" and what is "healthy" for you. Now I get to enjoy the foods and the nutrition while reading her research on her blog.



In my religion, we often say that the Lord will not give us further scripture until we obey the scripture he has given us. The scriptures are the written record of a people and all the lessons they learned for generation upon generation. It is better to learn from the mistakes of others than to constantly be recreating those mistakes because we refused to learn them. There are so many things out there that this applies to. It is faster to learn from the knowledge of others than to have to seek it out on your own again. Why reinvent the wheel here? Yes, it is good to make sure those you are following know what they are talking about and have done their research. But too many of us go throughout our days without seeking to learn of the knowledge others have so painfully gained. This is also the basis of the TJEd philosophy, if not in so many words. It is best to learn about something from someone who is passionate about what they have studied or are studying. My sister is passionate about health and nutrition and so I want to know everything she has learned. This blog is the best thing she could have done with her knowledge (aside from applying it of course, which she does faithfully!) I am so proud of her and all her work I needed to share this with you all.


Now, on with the rest of my day. After printing off Rill's fabulous shopping list/meal plan/recipes We went grocery shopping! Ra read me the list and write down prices. We took our time finding everything as I was unfamiliar with a few of the items on the list. We spent nearly twice as long in the grocery store as we have in the past, but we are going to eat like royalty, healthy royalty.

At home we rushed to clean the house because the Activity Day's girls were coming over for a lesson. I wasn't the leader in charge of the lesson, I simply provided the house today. We had seven girls show up and they were pretty well behaved (for 8 and 9 year olds!). Of course, most of the time they have far more girls show. There are 14 girls in the group and a few of them regularly bring a friend with them. When they all show it is going to be a mad house. Today they played a Jeopardy game with gospel facts to see how well they knew some of the basics of the the scriptures and the prophets. They had fun, though I am not sure the teams were really a good idea. It seemed to me that the the girls split into their "cliques" and I don't like that kind of behavior. But it wasn't my lesson so I kept quiet about it and the girls said they all had fun with it, so oh well.

After the Activity Day's girls went home Ra and I got ready for a Girls Night Out we had been invited to by a mother/daughter in our church. We made Strawberry Soup (from the Tinkerbelle Books) and had a blast at the party. There were five moms and seven girls, (not including Em). We painted nails and did makeup and hair, talked, laughed, had treats and all sorts of girlishness ensued.

Again, we didn't get home until after bedtime so no story tonight. I'm getting a little anxious that I have "broken" my new habit so soon. We really need to get back on the ball with this.