Thanks, Nika and piper! 🙂 I appreciate your kind words. We are heading into the weekend and I expect it to be a busy one. I’m filling in quite a bit at the library this month, because everyone wants a day off here and there around the holidays. I’m very fortunate – I’m the only trained substitute out this way who can be left in charge and do opening or closing, so I get first dibs on all the available time. They also let me bring my daughter along as needed, which thrills her to no end – the library is a second home to her.

Last night I threw together mushrooms and onions with some herbs and used it for filling in enchiladas. It’s much leaner/lower calorie than meat, and I adore mushrooms, so that’s a win-win. I have lots left over, so I will use it different ways – with eggs or quinoa, perhaps. I like to cook and experiment, so I’m looking forward to trying some recipes from the cookbook too.

I went to the Asian market yesterday, and decided that each time I go, I’m going to pick up one new vegetable to try. I went there for bean sprouts, won bok and raw peanuts, and my new-to-us vegetable is some baby bok choy…a specific variety (Saigon, I think?) that the produce guy says is a good one for starting out (hopefully on the lightly bitter side, so my family won’t mutiny). We blanch bean sprouts and dress them with sesame seeds, a little sesame oil and soy sauce (and green onion for the grownups)…won bok is for making kimchee and I’ll make Husband some boiled peanuts for Christmas, with star anise (yum!) I think the baby bok choy will go into a stir fry or a noodle bowl – or some of both. I had expected it, but I was still sad to see the Sriracha shelf empty. They closed one of their manufacturing plants and warned of a shortage, so I’ll have to ration it to myself a little, hee hee.

Sorry go to on about food. :-/

I have a meeting this morning with a pastor from church. I’ve been seeing him for several months, sorting out some childhood stuff, trauma, etc. It’s been a huge blessing to me, and we’ve even managed to become friends, separate from the therapy part. I have errands, and a few hours at the library too. (Husband is off work on Fridays, so I do some running around and Daughter is with him.) I have been away from walking this week because of a hip injury, but it’s feeling pretty good, and I plan to spend a little time on the treadmill too. I also need to make a LOT of granola and fill jars for Christmas for our neighbors. I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

-catinhat

Thanks, Nika! I meant to get back here sooner than tonight, but the weekend was over-booked, really. I worked all of Saturday at the library, came home and helped throw together supper, we did some family stuff, and then Sunday was church in the morning, a couple of quick errands, some chores and tasks at home and then menu for the upcoming week and some grocery shopping. Somewhere in there I also made caramel popcorn and granola for some of our neighbors’ Christmas gifts.

My goals related to FastDiet for this coming (Christmas!!) week are to go through the cookbook and choose some recipes that I think would work for our family, and then to look at what our schedule is going to be like for the new year. Daughter is starting piano lessons in January, and the pastor mentioned above is starting a new training that will likely change the time I see him. Couple that with school (we homeschool, did I mention that?) and some upcoming work projects I have, and I need to figure out which days would be the most logical as my steady fast days.

As for life in general, I need to get myself back walking. My hip was really sore this past week (car accident when I was a child) and it seemed to get worse when I’d hop on the treadmill, so I took some time away, and I feel logy from it. That, and I need to get more dedicated to drinking water and do Salad in a Jar again. It’s easy, especially since I like salad. 🙂

That doesn’t sound like a lot, but there is Christmas preparation too, dropping gifts with neighbors, and my house is cluttery. I do love Christmas dearly, but I think I bring out more decoration than my eye is comfortable with, hee hee.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! For those who celebrate it, Merry Christmas, and whether you do or not, hugs all around! 🙂

-catinhat

Thank you, Stef, and apologies too. I will try to remember to write as if every day were a fasting day, out of respect for the process!

I’m trying to put the house in order today. I’ve got an hour to get a few things done, then I think we’ll be off to distribute gifts in the neighborhood. I hope everyone has a great day!

Merry Christmas!
-catinhat

Y’all are so sweet. Thank you for your kind words. We have been busy with preparations and then today, celebration of Christmas. Daughter, who is 8 years old, signed up to be in the Christmas program at church…and she signed up as a sheep! I mean…that’s fine, but all the other sheep were a good bit younger. To be fair, we have only been at this church for a few months, and I think she’s still finding her way. (I know I am.) It’s a much larger church than I’ve ever attended. There are big benefits to that – more people to help with any given project, more people to meet – but I feel lost in the sea of people sometimes. Anyway, the program was Christmas Eve, and my husband even came to it. (He doesn’t go to church, and has decided he doesn’t believe in the ways the church teaches….more on that some day.) Anyway…the three of us did that and it was very nice. She was an adorable sheep, and the program/service was just lovely. My pastor/therapist was there too, which I didn’t expect – he’s an associate pastor and lives a fair distance away, so I was happily surprised when he came and found me, just to say hi and Merry Christmas.

I’m writing this Christmas night, and it has been a lovely day. Daughter was up at 4:45, and she and I cuddled and talked and giggled in her bed for a while. I had hoped she’d go back to sleep, but she was too excited, so I had her do a couple of morning things, comb her hair for pictures, etc., whilst I got Husband up and going. She was thrilled with her presents and has spent most of the day happily playing and reading. After the early festivities, I decided to take a quick nap and slept the morning away…oops. It was good, though, because I had prepared food the day before, so it didn’t set us behind. We kept things very simple and snack-y. I cook from scratch all the time, so it was a bit of a break for me too. There was ham from Husband’s employer, raw vegetables, tangerines, a big salad and all the little sweets from the day.

Late afternoon I helped Husband put together one of his presents. We built a garage a couple summers ago, and it has a workshop across the back of it. The storage pieces he wanted for the workshop went on sale at Christmas, so he picked out the things he wanted and ordered them. We got the big cabinet together last week, but just got the work bench and small cabinet yesterday, because the order was late. The table is really nice….the small cabinet is seriously damaged, so we have to return it and wait for another one. He and I had a chance to talk some about plans for summer projects, so that was good. I told him I’d get the bikes out of the garage if he’d get the barn empty of ‘garage stuff’…because then the chickens can go to the barn and I can use the garden shed (where the chickens are now) for garden supplies and the bikes. It’s the start of a plan, anyway.

We live literally thousands of miles from family, so it’s just the three of us here. We called two of the sets of grandparents and talked to them, and I’ll have Daughter call her biological grandparents – the one set that we know – tomorrow (she is adopted, and I knew the birth mom from before she was born).

My goodness, that’s a lot of information. Sorry to babble on. I did decide a couple of things today. One, that I think I’m better off with my fast days being a water-only fast rather than planning to eat. At this time, at least, eating seems like a bit of a slippery slope for me, so I think it’s better if I just resign myself to a couple days’ rest from eating. It will be good for my spiritual life too, I think. I’m also thinking about a focus word for the coming new year. I think it will be ‘connection’. More on that when I haven’t babbled on so incessantly.

Merry Christmas, and love to all. 🙂

-catinhat

I’ll be honest, Stef, I think the morning eating is the part that messes me up, and I won’t beat myself up over a light supper, if that’s how it goes. Before I ever, ever read this book, I’d sort of fallen onto the realization that on the days when I had EMDR therapy in the afternoon, I got more out of it on days when I hadn’t eaten…but afterward, I did sometimes have something light that evening. It seems like once I’ve had breakfast, though, I’m ‘primed?’ to have something through the day.

Am I reading this right that you finished writing a book? What’s it about? I’m dying to know. Am I corresponding with a famous author without even knowing it? I’ve done a little editing work here and there, and written pieces for a life coach, but nothing more than that, really. I have a blog, too, but that’s just me babbling on about the stuff I like to babble on about! Do fill us in, please about your book!

I love coming back here and finding discussion – thank you for visiting! 🙂

I have had an OK day, I guess. We had to return one of Husband’s gifts because it was damaged. Since we had to go to town for that, we did a couple of errands, and then I worked this afternoon. There is a lot I would like to get done in the next week or so, but I feel really tired lately. It seems like my days go by without me getting as much done as I’d like.

But no need to whine – I just need to be a little more disciplined. How are you doing with life in general?

I’m down another pound this morning and very happy about that! We are finally back into our everyday routine around here. I think the lack of routine, coupled with the holidays, was a less than ideal situation for me.

We have friends coming over this afternoon, so Daughter is getting her school work done and I’m going to go through our fabric and find some to share (that is why our friends are coming by). Other than that, I expect a fairly average day, with a walk, household stuff, etc.

I need to call the excavation guy and find out where he is – we were expecting him sooner than this to do some dirt work and put in gravel for our driveway. I’ve also got a few other calls to make about this and that. If I’m not forgetting about something, it sounds like I might have some time to sew today – I’ve got two quilt tops I need to get pieced, so I’ll likely work on one of those.

I hope everyone has a lovely day!

-catinhat

Thanks for your notes, ChrissieinBrittany and toms mantis! Two cords is a lot – do you have to cut it down as well? I have many memeories of cutting firewood in the snow as a child (my dad is a last-minute kind of guy), and I’m grateful that now, Husband and I get our wood early on so it’s at least here before the cold weather.

Toms mantis, my mother does a lot of quilting – she pieces quilt tops to stay busy, I think. The tops I need to get pieced (there are two of them) are for church – simple rows of squares. The church takes donated material and uses it to make quilts for those in need and/or affected by some sort of hard times. Another group knits and crochets – baby blankets, prayer shawls, etc. – so there are a lot of people working at different projects year-round.

It’s colder today than I was expecting, but I still want to get my walking done outdoors, so I’m going to bundle up and head out soon. Have a great day!

-catinhat

Toms, I was typing whilst you were posting. That sounds like a nice size garden! What sorts of things do you grow there? I think you already mentioned berries, yes? We have a small orchard and a few berries here, but we also have very hungry deer. It’s an ongoing battle.

It sounds lovely, Toms Mantis. I garden, and it brings me a lot of satisfaction. We have a small orchard too, mostly apples, but also some pears, cherries, apricots, peaches, plums.

🙂

We went out for lunch today, which is fine – it was not a fast day or anything, but I feel kind of bleh, probably just from different food – maybe also from getting about 3 hours sleep last night. I was up journaling, and it was worth it, but I’m sleepy today, that’s all. The therapy I’m doing is going well…it can be exhausting though. I’m learning a great deal about myself, and understanding things differently.

We were in town because my daughter had some mid-year evaluations to do for school, just to see where she’s at. She’s a 2nd grader, and scored 100% on the 6th grade level. That is as high as the test goes, so we don’t really know her actual abilities based on the evaluation, but still – good for her!

These days we’re pet sitting for two families, so I’m caring for a sweet yellow lab, a paint horse and two barn cats, in addition to our own crew. It’s fun, and it gets a little extra walking in for me most days, since these are neighbors, and I hate to drive for such a short distance.

I’m roasting some winter vegetables for supper tonight, with herbs and some olive oil. I’ve got some herb seasoned chicken to go with, along with fresh apples. It will be a nice dinner – things we like – and I think tomorrow might be a fast day for me. I often do them on Fridays before therapy, but I hope to meet a friend for lunch. I like the flexibility of this plan. It’s good for me.

I hope everyone is doing well!

-catinhat