And The Adventure Continues!!

So my week so far has been good.  Got my invites done for the party-I'll put some pics up later of them.  I am also done scanning all my parents paper photos! woohoo on that on!!  No more sneaking around to take photos and bring them back while my parents are on vacation.  I have also started stuff for selling on etsy. I have some photo cards made, and i made a few sets of decopage (sp) clippys!  I'll let y'all know when the store is up and running.  A big project i have to start is a photo book that I need to finish by early june so i can get it made up.
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On the vegan/vegetarian food eating front, I have borrowed a few books from the library that look very promiseing.  I am starting as of today to try a week eating vegetarian/vegan.  I tryed a while back i know...hopefully this time it will be better.  My reasons for choosing to do this is because of the animal cruelty fact and really that meat is really not that totally healthy for you.  Also, this will not be a "new" "diet" or something. I will be writting what I eat still, and staying within a lower calorie guideline.  Also am going to restart(I know...we wont go there) the walking program. I really actually enjoyed walking and haveing some me time.  When I started the walking originally I TOTALLY dreaded it!  I remember walking with my mom when I was younger and always upset that I couldnt keep up with her!  I do not have timeing goals with the walking - just completed or not completed.  I am gonna start small again since I havent walked in about a month(yes  yess - hush now I know I have strayed!) 
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So I have been totally researching the whole vegetarian/vegan thing to get myself prepared. I am also following QUITE a few veg blogs.  One of the blogs directed me to a documentary film about animal cruelty. It was NOT produced by PETA-wich was good in my book since peta is a hypocritical orginazation. If you dont know what I'm talking about google em.  The documentary is called Earthlings. It is about all the aspects of animal cruelty, very very interesting. I say watch it!!  Although-dont eat aroung the time you watch it-you may loose your lunch!  Also not children friendly at all.  But very informative for the average consumer.  Another warning-it has been called "The vegan maker" movie.  So link is provided to site. On the top there is a thing that says watch movie. you can actually watch a low quality version on line.  Again-very worth the hour and a half of you time it will take to watch!! http://www.earthlings.com/
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Not much else really going on.  Planning to blog about my week eating veg.  I started out today with a vegan oatmeal raison cookie panuffin-yummo!  comment if ya want the recipe!!

Ahh... I am relaxed and Rejuvinated...and I have alot on my mind at the same time...

So, today I got back from an awesome women's retreat!! I liked the previous years retreats, but for some reason I really really enjoyed myself.  I got to see a good ole friend of mine. I went to HS with this girl, and she has recently (within the last two years) turned her life to Christ. I don't have many friends at all and often dont see them as often as I'd like, so it was really nice to spend a small part of the weekend with her, and giggle like how we used to.  Also, we had a great speaker! We studyed the story of Joseph, his teen years, his 30's and later. It was good.  The part that really "hit me" was when we talked about the waiting rooms in our life. I totally feel that way... Again, yes I'm going there, so leave now if you dont want to read!  I feel at a total crossroads right now. I guess I dont know how to put it.  God has a plan laid out for us all, whether we know it yet or not.  I feel that we (I) am in the waiting room of "here I am Lord, I'm married, now what? Where are the kids that we are wanting?"  Waiting for the path to be laid out.  I really struggle with that, and have been since EVERYONE (ok well maybe about 6 people) we know are either pregnant, had a baby recently, or are thinking they could be preg. since they havent had a period in XYZ days. (sorry if that is tmi for some!)  I know this is a test from God, but seriously-does it have to be this hard? Well ok, guess that went better than I thought it would be.  A good thing out of this whole weekend, is Kevin and I talked and he knows how my heart is and how I am feeling about all this.  Also, in case any one doesnt know, he doesnt really truly believe in God, he goes to church, but that is it!  So I got motivated from my good friend I had at the retreat, to start a go through the bible in a year plan thing. Kevin is gonna do it to!! yeah!! I am happy.
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Ok, so on to other things, the diet has been WAY on the back burner...I know I know...   I plan to for sure start back up on monday. I was really hit in the face again today as why I need to loose weight, I am out of breath after walking up a flight and a half of stairs-seriously... sad...   I know how I got off track, so it wont be to hard to get back on track. But sticking to it...thats were I fail...alot. 
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I have alot of "goals" for this coming week.  I am gonna finish my invites for a party we are gonna have mid june. I made them on photoshop with digiscrap elements and am getting them printed in photo format.  Also, I am very serious on making photo cards to sell on etsy.  I am not expecting to make alot of money, but I really enjoy taking photos with my SLR, and want others to experience my view through the lens in a card they can mail to a friend.  Oh yes, and working on the diet. Those are the main goals for the week.   Oh also, one HUGE goal was completed!! woot!! I finished scanning all of my parents paper photos!! woo hoo!!   ok night all!!

Bibile passage mentioned yesterday

Hey folks-just a super quick post about the bible reference mentioned last night regarding our current church.  Check out the verse for your self.  If you have questions let me know!

Hebrews 5:11-14
Warning Against Falling Away


11We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
 
Ok thats it for tonight!

Pupusa's, Panuffins and more!!

Well if that title doesnt get you intrigued, I dont know what will!!  I cant believe it has been a week and a half since I last posted-seriously slackin!! So needless to say I have been somewhat busy working on my goals.  I have arranged all my digiscrap crap so I can find files super easy now. Also chose photos for the book.  Now both of these projects have semi similar due dates. I want to get the party invite done SOON!  I want to send them out the first week in may.  The photo book surprise needs to be done by the first of june so I can send it in to Blurb.com and get it made.  So I am busy. Also I have borrewed A LOT of cooking books from two local librarys (6 books) for vegetarian dishes.  I am so serious about eating in a more vegetarian way, but i know there will be times when meat is what I will crave. So I am going to be more of a flexitarian than a vegetarian.
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So what is a pupusa you ask?? Well it is a cheese filled pocket thingy. the pocket or dough is made from mesa - the same thing corn tortilla's are made from. These are a staple food item in El Salvador.  So I got really interested in these from a food network show.  Since I dont know of any El Savadorian restaurants by us, I chose to make my own.  I found a recipie onlone, got my mesa and made em.  I failed...  Well sorta.  I cant do the cool hand flipping thing, so i had to improvise by press with hand then flip, then press and flip again until i had a decent size.  I put some shredded cheese in it and then repatted it out and cooked em in a very little bit of oil.  Well they cooked up somewhat fast. Kevin and I devoured them and my reveiw is just meh.  I am not a corn tortilla lover, so thusly thought it was a little to corn tortillay!  Also needed more cheese somehow.  Probably will make it again, but add beef and maybe seasoning or something-who knows!!  Here are pictures of the pupusa's. 

Pupusa before Cooking.                      Pupusa's after cooking.

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So now that I explained one weird word, lemme explain what panuffins are!  It is a made up word. A mix between pancake and muffin.  Some people call it a pizzert.  Mix between pizza and dessert.  But seriously -this is one great breakfast treat. Easy to do and quick cooking!  And-this is a totally vegetarian item!! Woohoo! I even topped it with vegan buttery spread. (a margerine like spread made from vegetable oils and soy.  Earth Balance is the name. It is actually pretty good - a little salty tasteing for me, but good.  Also has non hydrodgenated oils in it.)  I made a blueberry muffin panuffin, but plan to make a cinnamon roll version soon!!  Here is a picture!    The recipie was quit simple and ingredients easy to get.  The reason I named it a panuffin is because the recipie makes enough for two serving. You can put in a muffin tin or put it in a cake pan. When you do that it will look like a pancake.  I will update with a recipie for this tommorow!! Enjoy the pictures for now!

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So some other things that I am going to talk about is how I have been trying to live a greener lifestyle. I am saddened by all the plastic that has ended up in the ocean.  Talking about plastic brings me to my topic. Is Seventh Generation really that "Green"?  My opinion-heck no.  Their products still have a large enough footprint.  Yes there products are environmentally friendly and dont have toxic chemicals in them.  But what are they packaged in? PLASTIC! Yes it may be something like 75% Post Consumer recycled plastic, but still it is gonna end up in the ocean.  Also, they are supposidly so green, why the hooey do they sell DISPOSABLE PLASTIC DIAPERS??      Hello-pollutent or what.  It is said that 92% of all disposable diapers end up in the lanfill.  Most people do not properly empty the poo out of the dipers, so you have a landfill with millions of diapers with poo in them-lovely huh??  Also Seventh Generation uses a chemical in the diapers that is rather toxic, but then again all diaper makers in the us put this chemical in.  There are SOO many alternatives to plastic and to disposable one time use everything.   I have never been so concerned with the environment until the last few years.  I urge you to watch this youtube movie. Please inform yourself!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLrVCI4N67M&feature=related  Ok so that is hopefully the end of that rant!! lol!!  On a note about us and recycleing, we try to recycle everything we can, but we still buy things made of plastic because of its at the moment convenience.  But I try. If our condo would allow it I would probably have a small countertop style compost bin. But alas our condo board is not as environmentally friendly. But talking about the board is a whole other topic for a different day.

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So I mentioned on FB that I found a new church!! Kevin isnt sure what he believes so I am usually the church finder goer person. He does come with, but if he was able to stay home and play WoW instead, he wouldnt go.  So anyhow Kev and I started going to Crossroads about four years ago. We got married there as well.  It is a wonderful family of people. They really are great. But the service feels like baby food.  I dont know how to explain it better. There is a verse in the bible about new beleivers and not being able to live on baby food forever, and you need to eat meat and potatoes.  Another explanation, I feel very much like I do at catholic services. Repitition, repitition, repitition. I guess my explanations suck! lol! Also it is hard because we live further away than we did when we originally started going.  So I looked up on the web non denominational churches in the oak creek area. And found a smallish church pretty close to us called Harvest Community Church. It Rawks!! OMG!! I love the P&W time!  Songs I havent heard before, but pull at your heartstrings.  THe message was very relatable and totally not fill in the blank like crossroads is.  I used to go to a church similar to Harvest and really liked it.  Also I love that Harvest is big enough to 1) Have three services, one saturday night and two on sunday, and 2) to have many small groups to choose from. I love small groups. Harvest has a young couples type group-wich is totally cool.   I am sad that we will be leaving crossroads within this year, but I am excited for what my future with Christ and this new church.  I want to slowly fase out of crossroads.  But it will be hard I know.  I will miss many of the people when we do eventually leave.  Alot to think about.  Ok well I better go!  Got to go to Crossroads tommorow morning early!! We have AV duty!!   Tommorow is WI, so I will be posting a blog regarding my weight loss over the past few weeks!!  Night y'all!!

Mid Week Check in & a recipie!

Hey y'all, just here to write a quickie.  Havent had much going on around here since easter.  My food eating/excersizing hasnt really picked up-still have a head cold and hacking away every few minutes-yeah...!  So on my two biggie goals that I have been wanting/needing to work on, I sorta have. I have been working on preliminary stuff, organizing my digiscrap files, and just general computer decluttering. I have been on the look out for really good cook out graphics that would work.  I still have to filter through my scanned photos and decide wich ones to use for the book, and I have to scan more photos. I am going to sneak over there late this week and grab another paper size box. My mom will be out of town and my dad wont know better - he isnt as anal about the photos as my mom is!! lol!! 
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On a different front I baked/cooked something new! lol! I made whole wheat flatbread like things.  I altered a recipie that called for whole wheat and white flour.  I put in regular whole wheat flour and whole wheat pastry flour (finer ground) and water of course. It was good, a little tedious.  Also they were a bit bland, would possible add spices or garlic or something next time. but they are good sammie flatbreads. 
Recipie is
-1.5C Whole wheat pastry flour
-1.5C Regular whole wheat flour
-pinch of salt
-1.25C water

Add water to flour and salt mixture.  Mix with a spoon or spatula until loosly combined. then use your hands to combine thoroughly.  Knead dough for a few minutes. Cut dou into 16 equal peices. Form each peice into a ball, then flatten by rolling or with your hands.  should be a thing round when done rolling/forming.  Place one at a time in a heated skillet on high  heat.  Once in pan peirce a few times with fork. Keep in pan for a few minutes per side.  They should appear light brown with specks of brown /black when done. Flip and cook for a few more minutes.  Do this with all peices. Enjoy!!

So yesterday I had a PB and banana sammie on the flatbread.  I like em. I entended to make them for a chicken taco like thing, but we ended up going out last night so later this week we will make em! thats it for today!!
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Today I am thankful that I am learning how to eat good foods for really a first time in my life.  I have been on ww-but i always resorted to processed foods that were within points that i could eat.  Now I am really reading labels and seeing if the light version is really better than the regular version. 

Mondays Blog

So I started to post a blog yesterday, but got involved with something, so i forgot to finish! lol!!  So here I am today finally bloggin. So this week, i forgot to weight my self. I was busy, we had the mil sleeping over on saturday, went to church early sunday and then all day at my parents for easter celebrations.  So havent done it yet, also forgot this morning. So hopefully I will remember to weight myself tommorow morning and then i'll record it.  My week diet wise has been a little off, we (kevin & I) have been sick with fairly bad head & chest colds that we think we got from someone at my nephews birthday party.  But i also havent gone overboard food wise-i have just kinda reverted back to my old ways of not eating enough food.  I naturally am not as hungry as most people/dont eat as much as most people.  We did go out for dinner a couple times like I stated last post, but really the only sit down was thursday with mil. It was a greek place and I had one cabbage roll and mashed potatoes and cheesecake dessert.  The rest of the times we went out to eat was to cousins or subway for a sub, wich isnt  super great, but better than a burger place or sit down place most likely.  Also I havent done any additional walking this week-well i did my walk on monday and tuesday last week i think. But other than that nothing excersize wise-grr.  Hopefully I will feel better soon and start walking again, even if it is just a mile at one time. Something is better than nothing excersize wise.
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So goals that were accomplished (yeah!) are taking a roll of film on slr camera a month.  I was A BIT late on taking the photos-oops!!  I finished the roll today. Took some leave bud photos and some cherry blossom bud photos.  Spring is so beautiful, especially with the budding of leaves and flowers.  Going to get them developed sometime this week. I know I still have to scan and upload feb photos, and now adding march to that.  Cant wait for the buds to bloom!!  Also working on the creating a garden in my grandma's name-i think that is a goal of mine??!  I am not going to do flowers at all this year-especially after the bees and all last year.  So it will be all veggies this year! I have started the germination process for seeds. It is giving my brown thumb a bit of a helping hand.  When I plant em, they will have already sprouted and will take easier to planting!  Other than that goals are not going as fast as Id like, Still &#%*^@$ reading book four on my list- i just havent set time asside to read it. I am half way done with it, but still havent finished-grr!   I really want to work on my vegan meals/no white sugar/no refined flour, but it is really hard because i dont know were to turn for affordable alternatives.  I have wheat flour, but still there are alot of gf alternatives I want to try.  I really want to make a go at being vegetarian for more than a day, but again hard for me to do.    I really think eliminating meat is important with loosing weight, but do to my raising it is hard for me to like meat alternatives.  If I did turn vegetarian it would most likely be lacto/ovo vegetarian.  (eat milk prod. & eggs).  I just am not sure where to turn for resources for it, and I have gone to many veg sites.  Oh well, if it is meant to happen it will. 
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So, thats about it for tonight.  I am starting to work on a biggish graphic project (making our own cook out invites) and then I will also be working an a very big (in my opinion) photo book project for a family members anniversary.  I hope to accomplish work on these goals this week!  
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Tongiht I am thankful that Tylenol Cold was invented! It has helped tons with my cold.  Also thankful for my husband. Thankful that he isnt pressuring me into getting whatever job possible to help us financially.  I am also really thankful for my church family and power of prayer. 

Week 3 on plan

So week three on my eating plan is coming to a close. I am not sure if i will loose or gain this week. I have been sick with a head cold since tuesday, so I havent gotten much excersize in this week.  Also, havent eaten totally good. We have gone out for food the last few days. The only bad day going out wise was thursday.  I had cabbage rolls with mashed potatoes at a local greek restaraunt.  So alot of meat and starch.  So hopefully next week is better.
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On other news, Kevin and I did AV at church tonight for good friday. A really good service.  The mood was somewhat intamite, quiet, calm. The lights were set low, music was good, and message was good.  Also they had a nailing your sins to the cross segment-pretty cool.  Also had the Lord's supper. Altogether a good service.    So, it's friday, but sunday is a comin!  Watch the video peeps!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naajYZSbWdw

Also another super cool vid of a skit based on Lifehouse Everything song. Very cool!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyheJ480LYA 
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on other news, not much is happening goal wise :(  I still havent finished book four-grr!  I did get some postcards from postcrossing this week. Plan to send more this coming week.
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Easter weekend plans are going to be busy!  We are having Kevin's mom sleep over on saturday, she will come to church with us on sunday then go with us to my parents house for a fun day of festivities!! woohoo!!  I just hope she doesnt talk about us seeing the repro endo-my parents dont know we went to see the doc.  So, also on that note this week I have been alot better stress and emotionally about the whole deal.  It is still hard to see/hear people talking about their babys or pregnancys.  Oh well I am sure that will pass in time.  So we plan to start pursueing adoption, but I think we still need to inform my parents of our planes for the future.   So I hope every one has a safe and happy easter! 
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Thankful item:  I am thankful that I got to spend time shopping for myself today!!