Facebook Freedom!

So, I officially have stuck to my first resolution for 2015!  I deleted my Facebook account and am not looking back.  It feels great; Audrey was right.

I feel less consumed by my phone and checking people's statuses, as well as thinking about the events in my life as "status-worthy".  It's been great.

Otherwise, my simplifying has been going okay.  I need to remember to take it easy on myself when I am implementing new ideas.

My next item up is:  make a volleyball decision:  to coach or not to coach, that is the question...  I am going to set February 1st as the date that I want to have that decision finalized by.

A Simpler 2015

So, it's early December and I am already thinking about my resolutions for next year.  I am a sucker for self-improvement.

My theme is one that I have used before in my life, but I am having a hard time sticking to it.  My theme this year is once again to simplify my life.  With two lovely little girls and a dear husband, my goal is to spend as much quality time with them as possible (and also with my extended family, which really just feels more like my immediate family.)

I also am exploring food and health again.  I find this is my most passionate topic as of late.  I want to grow, buy, and cook good food.

So, here's my list of ideas for my resolutions in 2015 with the overarching goal being simplicity.

1.  Delete my Facebook account- I will talk to Audrey about this more.

2.  Resign from coaching Varsity volleyball.  It takes too much time away from my family and teaching.

3.  Spend more time planning and preserving my garden this year- I need to CAN my fruits and veggies- I will talk to Joann and the Barbs in my life about this.

4.  Possibly downgrade my smartphone to a "dumbphone."  Save money and time.

5.  Increase my monthly payment on my last undergraduate student loan.  Perhaps pay off this year?

6.  Read more books from the library to myself and my girls.

7.  Cook more meals at home.  Meal planning system- Jill gave a good idea for this.

8.  Regular saunas.  I feel my SISU return in the sauna.


I need to choose all of these things, but will decide on which ones to focus before January 1st.  I think some of the big time suckers could really help me in the other areas.  It's all about the time.  My most precious commodity.

I might do some 30 day challenges with my resolutions to see if I can get many of them to stick?

Practicing Mindfulness: My Resolution

It's a frigid New Year's day, and I am home sitting in my fluffy blue bathrobe drinking strong coffee.  I just read part of my book, after savoring my yummy rice pudding for breakfast.  My family is sleeping in the bedroom, and my dog is sleeping below my chair.  This feels good.

My New Year's resolution for this year reflects my current mindset of simplification.  I have always been a proponent of simplifying in life, but sometimes I lose sight of this.  Like Emerson and Thoreau, I would like my commitments to be limited to a few, and ones that I've chosen, not ones that have been chosen for me.  Our lives are truly frittered away by detail. 

So this year, I have one resolution:  to be more mindful.  I want to consistently be aware of myself and make smart decisions about my time and actions.  If I sit back to think and feel more deeply, I inevitably come to the same ideas about what I want and need to do for my happiness. 

So I want to be mindful.  Pay attention to myself.  Be gentle with myself.  Be happy. 

Happy New Year! 

Life Without Wheat: So Far...

So, I have eliminated wheat from my diet over the last few weeks.  I normally struggle with an upset stomach, and think that wheat may be partially to blame.  Also, when I consume wheat products, I feel very much out of control in my eating, and like I can't stop. 

I have been eating no bread and rice-based pastas and cereals.  What I've noticed is that I feel much better.  I no longer have bloating or an upset stomach feeling.  I made some gluten-free, rice-flour chocolate chip cookies tonight though, and you know what?  I still wanted to eat more than one. 

My conclusion is that I still need to limit the amount of carbs I am consuming.  I feel like the wheat is a great start, because it is everywhere in food.  It also explains why I am in love with licorice.  Wheat is very addictive, and when I start eating licorice, I can't stop.  (I wonder if there's a wheat-free licorice?) 

I will continue to not eat wheat, and will also think about eating much fewer carbs all together.  Biggest Loser weight loss to date:  3.5 pounds!  I think the elimination of wheat has helped this, too.

Becoming a Bomber

I accepted a position to teach English at Barnum High School, which has been a goal of mine for a few years.  This is where my kids go to school, it's where I live, it's a great school.  I am so excited to teach there this year! 

I am also feeling very sad about leaving my last place of employment, Willow River High School.  I began teaching there in the fall of 2004, 9 years ago, just out of college.  I became a better teacher there because of all of the support I received from many people.  It's a tight community in that building, and everyone is looking out for one another.

What I will miss most of all are the people there.  The great kids.  The great parents.  The great staff. 

But change is good.  Even if it's hard.

Reflections

So, I've been home for 2 days now from school with the flu  (so much for the flu shot protecting me...) and I'll be gone again tomorrow for dentist appointments.  After the horrific school shooting in Connecticut, I've been thinking.  A lot. 

Mainly, I've been thinking that life is short, which I always try to embrace as a theme in my life, however cliche it is.  But really, it is.  And what I've decided is that I want to be more aware of the way that I spend my time.  I don't want to do things for other people if they aren't fulfilling to me as a person.  That sounds selfish, but really it's not.  I don't want to spend my time doing things that I "think" I should be doing if they aren't nurturing my soul or self in some way. 

So, onto how I want to embrace this.  Here are a few things I've been tossing around in my head for New Year's Resolutions for 2013.  This list will likely be pared down to 3 items next week.

1.  Read more.
2.  Snuggle and play with my kiddos more.
3.  Eat more whole foods and less (much less) sugar and refined, processed crap.
4.  Do more yoga.  I feel the best about myself when I'm regularly practicing yoga.
5.  Get outside more.  Snowshoe.  Ski.  Walk.  Run.  Be. 
6.  Be more intimate with my husband.  Talk to him more.  Listen to him more. 
7.  Sauna once a week at least.  I believe that my recent illnesses are partly due to the fact that my sauna taking schedule has been reduced.  This is not okay.  The benefits of sauna are many. 

So, these are my thoughts right now.  I'm off to eat a grapefruit and then head outside for some fresh air.  Gotta start somewhere. 

Easy Tomato Sauce- (Come on, It's Labor Day...)

We have had an awesome crop of tomatoes this year.  I am seriously overwhelmed by it, though.  We had a Labor day picnic today and my sweet sister helped me pick a bunch of tomatoes, so the whole time in the back of my head I was thinking, "When am I going to get those tomatoes in the freezer in some form so they don't go to waste?" 

I have frozen tomatoes whole before, but I don't love the texture when you go to use them in a soup or sauce later.  They seem too mushy for me.

I've also made a homemade spaghetti sauce and frozen it before, but it required taking the skins off of the tomatoes and then boiling them down.  Too many steps for me this weekend. 

So, I Googled easy tomato sauces, and found one!  I am so excited that Al and I were able to get about 2 dozen tomatoes into a basic tomato sauce form and into the freezer.  I forced him (nicely) to help me and it was so much quicker. 

Here's to a few weeks worth of tomato sauce! 

Link to the recipe:
 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-rodale/new-and-improved-tomato-s_b_704740.html