slow

Archived Posts from this Category

August 6, 2009

No More Bricks

Posted by jvanvleet under Jo, high, slow
[3] Comments 

Don’t let the title confuse you, this WILL be a post about baking bread.
A book with the same name ‘No More Bricks” by Lori Viets was where I borrowed it from.
And as you will soon see, it is a most appropriate description of the goal you end up undertaking when you set out to learn the methods of baking bread exclusively with whole grain flour.

BoschMy initial bread baking journey began two years ago when Rob bought me this Bosch Mixer. I was able to mix up to six loaves of bread dough at one time in just 10 minutes. I would bake one or two loaves right away and then store the remaining dough in the freezer for later use as either another loaf of bread or pizza dough. It was so great! I vowed to try and never buy bread at the store again. It was somewhat more nutritious than store brought bread (no extra preservatives), super tasty, cheaper, and the baking process made your whole house smell wonderful!

nutrimill But I was still wanting more nutrition from our bread and using the refined flour you buy at the store just was lacking big time in any sort of health benefits. So this year, we invested in the NutriMill Grain Mill so that we could mill our own flour. With a grain mill, you take the whole grain and grind it up into fresh flour. That way you are able to use all the components of the whole grain in your baking. But whole grain flour is very different than refined flour from the store; and my first baking results were rather disappointing.

This is the picture of my first loaf of bread I baked using freshly milled whole grain flour.
brick or loaf of bread And what do you think it resembles???
Yes! A nice, rectangular, fairly edible, dry brick!! Rob was certain we could use my original loaves as lethal weapons because they were so dense and hard. Seriously folks, you could kill someone with these if you wanted to (and then with enough pb&j, you could just eat the evidence).

So my quest for ‘no more bricks’ began. And if you are really only interested in seeing presently how my baking is going, then you can just scroll down to the end and see the pictures that convey I am finally getting the hang of baking with whole grain flour. But if you have a bit more time and don’t mind some biology and agriculture, the middle part of this post will try to explain why I am even bothering with such an endeavor. The information on using whole grains is great (and convicting) and I can’t do justice to all the many facts that exist on this subject, but I’ll do what I can to make this worth your time; and I hope you find it interesting and intriguing. The main source that has truly enriched my knowledge on the matter is the book ‘No More Bricks” by Lori Viets . But because I cannot cut and paste her words on the pages to this post, I found a website that has basically the same information and is cut and paste friendly. So to give proper credit, I will use purple text when I am referencing this website.

So are you ready, here we go…
we’ll start with just a basic picture showing both some wheat stems (top)
and their tiny grains (bottom).
wheat
The heads of wheat hold the tiny whole grains inside their individual husks (chaffs).
Those whole grains (which have had their inedible husks removed) are made up of three parts which are shown in the image below.
whole grain diagramTo understand the benefits associated with milling grain, you need to understand what comprises a whole grain. There are three main layers: the bran, the germ, and the endosperm.

• The bran is the outer layer where all the roughage that helps move unwanted poisons and toxins through your system is found. The bran also contains numerous vitamins, minerals, and proteins.

• The germ is the health center of the grain, overflowing with vitamins B and E, as well as unsaturated fat and protein.

• The endosperm is the starchy white center.

Whole grains contain almost 90% of all the vitamins, minerals, and protein you’ll ever need. However, commercially milled products don’t offer you those nutrients. Why? Once milled, the oils found in the bran and germ oxidize and turn rancid within 72 hours. So for commercial purposes, both the bran and germ—and all the nutrients contained within them—must be removed in order to give products a shelf life. The endosperm is all that’s left of the original grain. So you’re basically eating gluten and starch when you eat products off the shelf. For PR purposes, you’ll see breads and cereals claiming to be “enriched with vitamins and minerals!” Don’t be fooled. The fact that a product needs enriching is a sign of how much of its health value has been diminished. Usually only 2-4 of the missing vitamins and minerals can be replaced anyway, and nothing can be done to replace the fiber and protein.

So when milling your own flour, you’re able to mill only the amount you need, so nothing goes to waste and you are left with fresh-tasting, chemically unaltered flour.

There are so many other more haunting facets of eating flour that is NOT from whole grains that I think you will find it beneficial to investigate. And if you are really interested in more, I can provide you with lots of resources.

But listing all the benefits of whole grains doesn’t give anyone insight as to why whole grain flour will produce bricks if you don’t alter a normal recipe and process. It is because when you are milling grains (of wheat, barley, millet, rye…) and try to bake with all three parts of that milled grain, you are working with the added weight and sharp texture of germ and bran. That means the yeast has a heavier load to rise and the bread needs extra help at holding it’s rise. There is an art to this process which is what I am slowing learning which involves lots of trial and error. I am glad I have a family (and some friends) that didn’t mind consuming all my outcomes even when they were still on the hard and dense and sometimes crumbly side. Again, the book ‘No More Bricks” by Lori Viets is the teaching tool I am using in this learning process and I highly recommend it to anyone interested!

The book has taken me from my first brick above to a few loaves that look like this
bread 1
which were still lacking lots of rise but not completely flat on top.

And then finally to fairly consistent end results that looks like this. Voila!
bread 2

From start to finish, the milling process all the way to a freshly baked loaf of bread (or 6!) takes right under 2 hours with only about 20 minutes actual hands on attention. Every other Monday has been my baking day. Two loaves are baked that day, one is given away, and the rest of the dough is divided into fourths and frozen for later use.

I still have much to learn in this process and once I master this whole wheat oatmeal recipe I have been using, I will move onto other grains. I have always loved a great pimento cheese sandwich baked on rye bread; so rye will be the next grain I start buying.

Milling your own flour is not just for the Amish! Many families are starting to do this in their homes as well because of all the great benefits. And you can too!

Here are just a few more reasons to consider…

Taste
After eating bread prepared from grain you mill yourself, there is no going back. Commercial products will taste stale, even if they’re “fresh” off the shelf. Freshly milled breads are lighter, moister, and can have a variety of taste depending on which grains you chose to mill.
There’s fun in experimenting with different grains in your recipes. Try adding or combining buckwheat, spelt (good for people with wheat allergies), oats, rye, wheat, quinoa, millet and many other grains for a never-ending variety of taste.

Time
Does milling and baking your own grains take a little longer than grabbing a loaf off the shelf? Yes. But not that much longer, and the payoff in taste and health benefits more than makes up for it. Don’t let yourself be intimidated by the thought of milling your own grain. These days, grain mills come in a variety of sizes, are simple to use, and are adaptable to the average household, meaning you can buy big or small units depending on your needs. Plus, they eventually pay for themselves in money saved on buying commercial products.

Getting Started
Today when we struggle to find time to fit in the laundry, walk the dog, get the kids to baseball and soccer practice, the suggestion we mill our own grain may sound far-fetched. But today’s grain mills make the process easy, and the benefits associated with milling your own grain are tangible and ongoing. Investigate different types of grain mills, or find a friend or co-worker who owns one and ask to give it a whirl. Experiment with a recipe or two, and you’ll quickly understand why so many people are choosing to take the time to pamper themselves with freshly milled, home baked goodness.

 

April 27, 2009

Let Go & Letting Go

Posted by jvanvleet under Jo, Rob, family, slow
[5] Comments 

The phone rang on Wednesday with the news. It was only 4pm, but Rob had called in the afternoon to tell me he was coming home. He needed to tell me why and asked if I was sitting down. Even coupled with the awareness of the time of day (before he usually leaves from work) and the sitting-down inquiry, I didn’t clue into the feeling that something somber was lingering in the air. I should have sat down. “I was let go,” he said. A silent gasp came forth before I told him I was so so so sorry, then I held my breath as he proceeded to tell me more. In and out of my surprise this is basically what I gathered. The company had stressed their apologies but explained that with the current economy, the work available was not so demanding as to need all the project managers they had employed. Rob was the newer guy at the company, and even though he had a higher title than most, there were others who could be paid much less to do the same work; in essence he was low on the totem pole during this time of slow construction and therefore the one who would be let go.

My first few thoughts while I waited for him to get home were surprisingly positive and trusting. I didn’t immediately start praying to get out of this situation but rather my first prayers were that the Lord would give us the right attitude and response as we go through this. I kept thinking that this time of trial would definitely give us a truer perspective on what really matters in this world and I believed that God could grant us a more grateful heart for all we have to be thankful for, even without an income.

But that was day one; and the feelings and thoughts that filled my heart then are not remaining constant in all my turmoil of emotions now.

A recent sermon I heard had described the psalmists as schizophrenic; going from one extreme end of emotion to the complete other side, in almost the same breath (“I trust you God…why have you forsaken me God??) And that is what I feel right now. One moment I am excited to see how God will use this for His glory, I feel steadfast in my faith, and without wavering I fully cling to the truth that “… tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope…(Romans 5:4) ” But those are all things to come and I don’t know how long it will take to get there. So when I think about the present, I see that I am overcome with much sadness, I feel alone and uncomforted.

Yesterday’s sermon at our church couldn’t have been more appropriate for what we are going through (you can click here to listen: “The Good News of Recession”). I believe there is so much God wants to do in Rob and me through this ‘recession’ we are having to endure. I know this will be a great refining time in the life of our family and only good things (God’s good that is!) can come from it. But the burden of “suffering well” is weighing heavy on me. I have never been one to depend on others (even the Lord) for comfort and support in the midst of trials. I want to be strong and independent and just focus on the end outcome (sometimes it is just my belief in the Bible about the life to come and can easily be comforted with the sole truth that this is not my home…). However I am realizing that I can’t in this situation; the Lord won’t allow me to be on my own and not receive from Him what is available in the present. To receive His best during this time I have to give up much of what I want so much to hold onto, in terms of my ways of dealing with things. So I am letting go…

I am letting go of my usual dead-end perspective that concludes ‘life is not fair’ and to just suck it up and deal with it. I want to just say ‘it is just a job – no big deal’ and compare my circumstance to those who actually have the loss of a loved one to face. But reality is, it is still a loss and it is OK for me to grieve over it and be sad. God wants to show me His love and compassion for me during this time.

I am letting go of bitterness. I have absolutely zero bitterness towards God (amen to that!) but confessingly, I have much towards people. Even though I was not treating this as a true affliction that warrants tears and sadness, I was hurt when others we have told behaved like I was, like it was no big deal. My attitude was not fair towards them and it is something God will be working to remove in me. As I am wanting to see the love of others through this hardship, I too need to be demonstrating love as well.

I am letting go of my tendencies to wear a false-front and make it appear that everything is ok on the outside, when it is not so on the inside. God has blessed me with friends and family that want to offer tender words of acknowledgement and their time to listen and pray for us, and I know He wants to use them to help me through this time. I pray that I will receive them gratefully, that I will be vulnerable and honest with what I am experiencing.

I know there will be much more learnings in the days, weeks (maybe even months…) to follow. But this is my awareness now of things I believe God is teaching me. My prayer is that Rob and I come out AND go through this in ways that increase our trust in Him as a Heavenly Compassionate Father who wants more than anything else for us than to be formed into His image. May we be pliable in His loving hands.

 

April 26, 2009

maybe someday, but until then…

Posted by jvanvleet under Jo, family, slow
Leave a Comment 

someday…

I will have baby books for each and every one of my kids! And even though this desire came about before Halle was even born, my high hopes at being able to accomplish such a task have sadly amounted to absolutely NOTHING in six years of parenting : ( I wish I could blame lack of inspiration, but it wouldn’t be so. The majority of moms I know have actually taken the time and effort to put something of significance together and now have volumes (and sometimes volumes and volumes!!) of very lovely scrapbooks to show for it and I am greatly inspired. So I can’t claim to be lacking for ideas in ways to use photos and cute paper and quotes that would creatively portray, from birth to present, all the memorable moments of my children’s existence. Am I a slacker? Most definitely!! But in this case, I truly believe there is something else in the mix for putting this off. I have to face the terms that it is really just too daunting of a task for me. Wanting to be somewhat on par with the scrapbooks I have turned the pages of, I know I placed demanding standards on myself. And because of that, I really think I know why I procrastinate and shy away from even beginning one. It comes from the fact that deep down, what is at work in this case, is this innate inkling that often (but not always) controls my determination and leaves many desires unaccomplished; it is where I cowardly conclude “if I can’t do it well, I won’t do it at all.” Pitiful!

But even more pitiful is what I currently would have to fork over to my girls if they were to ask where their baby books are. Sadly, they would not get the pleasure of flipping through cute and inviting pages of whatever sources documented their first year (my poor little ones are not so fortunate and blessed). Instead, to learn about their early days, they would be handed a stack of dull yellow-lined, two-columned steno notebook pads where they would have to suffer through my daily entries of their recorded poopy and wet diaper counts, nursing start times and duration, food and drinks I consumed throughout the day, and what the clock said every time they were “fussy fussy fussy.” Any milestones and highlights (like smiling, rolling over, sitting up, sounds and words…) of their first 15 months of life are posted sporadically within the information I was so obsessive in keeping track of.

You see, my experience with babies was seriously lacking and I didn’t realize how much and often a baby could cry until Halle was born. It seemed to be WAHHHAHHH all day and all night long! I didn’t see other babies doing this. Was I the culprit somehow? I became so determined to know if there was a correlation to her constant crying and the way her body was handling breast milk; and thus this obsession with data came about!! (Did we already cover the fact that I have issues???) Anyways, after months of recording just about EVERYTHING for Halle it was pretty clear that I was not finding any underlying results other than the obvious fact that babies cry (and I need to deal with it) but I still continued anyways. Day in and day out, I jotted my usual bits down. There was something comforting about it. I received some sort of odd solace from knowing that, even if I couldn’t control Halle, I could at least control the data I wrote down.

When each child’s nursing days were over, I would retire their steno pads and put them in a safe place. But that love of recording things didn’t also get put to the wayside. It was put to another use as I tried to keep track of as many words and phrases my girls might utter. Once we got into the talking phase of life (especially from Halle), I found myself with quite an accumulation of noteworthy quotes being acquired all throughout my day-timer. Thus the notion followed that perhaps this type of ‘data’ (in comparison with my prized steno-pad material) might actually be appreciated, and maybe even adored, by others. Especially grandparents. A gift idea quickly followed! So for the last three Christmases, a new tradition has been going on where HALLEISMs spoken during the year previous have been given out as presents. These were little flip books where all the favorite sayings (I was the judge) were printed individually on cute card stock and bound together so that they would look nice displayed on a desk or table top of an appreciative grandmother.

Now I know this doesn’t solve the dilemma of my girls not having their own books to look at. And Dee and Gracie don’t even have their own CHILDisms books (bottom line is because most of the words/answers/questions I adore from their mouths’ and have written down just don’t have they same initial effect when shared with others). Still at least one child can’t claim I am guilty of complete negligence. Halle is not at a total loss for memorabilia because there are a few relatives who can enjoy some precious moments of her life, in nice little books, anytime they choose. Maybe there will be a glorious day when I will be brave enough to tackle putting all things together for my girls! (maybe!!!) But until then, the below will have to suffice.

 

March 13, 2009

thanks Dave Ramsey, we’re now debt free!!!!

Posted by jvanvleet under family, high, slow
[2] Comments 

Wait!! Before you get too impressed, I do have to preface that we still have a mortgage. But according to Dave, you can call yourself debt free if you have no other outstanding payments on loans or credit cards. And as of 3/9/09, when we made our last payment on the remaining balance of Rob’s loan for his Master’s Degree, we are able to finally share the exciting news of being in this category!!

The quest for this debt-free title started three and a half years ago when we went through Dave Ramsey’s “Financial Peace University” – a 13 week course at our church, back in San Antonio. We had been hearing nothing but praise about it and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. If the class truly could live up to its name, we knew that having a “financial peace” would be of huge benefit to our single-income family of five. And even though we never considered our spending outrageous (we didn’t have credit card payments) and the debt from vehicle and student loans we did have was fairly acceptable (in our eyes at least), we believed there was probably something we could do better in our money management. And if a class could really and truly help create a working budget (we had already tried and failed many times in the past), it was worth a shot to try it out.

Well…

You can safely conclude our opinions now on this class and on Dave Ramsey!! It wasn’t an easy process to get where we are today; a TON of changes in our spending was needed to be able to pay off more than $55,000 in 3 1/2 years. But we did it and believe others can too!!! I know we raised a few eyebrows and possible concerns with our spending habits as friends and families saw the “luxuries” we were doing without; however, I always felt like life was comfortable (we weren’t suffering) as we just slowly adapted to living under a lower (much much lower) standard of living than we were used to. And now, even though our “debt” is gone, we will still continue to apply (for always) all that we learned in ways to spend money more wisely. Dave does stress that ultimately, one main result of being out of debt is the ability to give more freely. And, even better, he encourages that you teach that principle to your children at as early an age as possible. What a different financial state we would be in now if we had this perspective on spending/saving/giving early on in life. A big regretful sigh!!! Better late than never, right? Anyways, as you can see, we are super excited about what this class enabled us to do!!! And we think that everyone (in debt or not) can profit greatly from Dave Ramsey’s material. I know that I do have apologizes to offer out there to friends and family; for probably speaking too much, too often on all this money/debt/budget stuff. I just knew how much we were benefitting (I mean tremendously benefitting!!) from the money management tools we had received, it was almost impossible to keep that news to myself.

So thank you Dave Ramsey! We will raise our glasses high, in your honor, when we celebrate this feat at Fogo de Chão on Saturday : )

 

January 21, 2009

an experiment in righteousness

Posted by jvanvleet under Jo, slow
[5] Comments 

20

I swore I would never become one of those angry moms who is constantly yelling at her kids. I had seen/heard too much of that growing up, so I vowed to always respond with calmness and patience to any frustration I might encounter in my own parenting. And I was able to claim victory and never falter with my pledge from that day forward. Until…

I became a parent myself!! And my declaration of what I would never allow to happen has now been reworded as a daily prayer to God, that He would help allow it stop from happening (because it is…) Ouch!

This hasn’t been the situation from the beginning. Because even in the early years of parenthood, I still considered myself a patient mother. Of course there were always moments where peace was lacking in our home due to little ones; bits of whining here and there, some refusing to promptly comply every now and then… But I like to think I took all those moments in stride and I honestly don’t remember responding with harsh tones or angry outbursts. However, as much as I would like to believe my behavior was some sort of self-control in grand display (HA! How I have learned that God humbles the proud!!), I am realizing that in those instances, the real fact was, my patience wasn’t truly being tested.

The testing really started to begin over the last year. Once whining, disobedience, poor attitudes, sibling rivalry, lots of drama all started showing up on my exams in unprecedented extremes, my straight As in patience became fleeting. The grades I was receiving began to decline first to “I” (In need of improvement) and then dropped down to an all time low of “U” (Unsatisfactory). My precious claim to patience became a thing of the past as I started to face emotions of extreme irritation (a.k.a. anger) on a daily basis when disapproving behavior in my kiddos began to surface in great abundance. I must clarify that I don’t claim having this emotion of anger is what leaves me with the failing marks. Instead, it is what I am doing with the anger that is keeping me off the “honor” role; as getting really really really loud (a.k.a. yelling) is far from an honorable response.

So what to do? What to do? I knew that I was upset for just reasons (it was at my girls’ poor attitudes and actions when my anger would arise), however, I wasn’t dealing with their conduct in a just manner. I would tell them over and over again that it is OK to be upset and sad, angry and mad, but they MUST talk about it and work it out in a gentle and kind manner. They must not whine and scream when they were disappointed with their current situations. It would drive me absolutely C-R-A-Z-Y when they did not follow through!! But what would I do in response to that? I would yell at them to stop whining. That is not very effective parenting! How can I insist they demonstrate self-control when dealing with their emotions when I am giving full vent to mine as I holler at them to do so?

I read this excerpt recently and agree very much that “anger is good for identifying problems but not good for solving them. God created us as emotional beings and those emotions provide insight into life” (the book is ‘Good and Angry – Exchanging Frustration for Character in you and your kids’). And after reading through the majority of this extremely insightful and worth-your-time book, I feel like I have gained a lot of head knowledge on the why and the how to manage my angry moments without yelling. I also have a host of Bible verses that I keep hoping will prompt my heart to change my inappropriate ways. But to really develop in me a character that handles my frustrations in a better way, I believe my greatest need is the discipline to exhibit restraint.

It finally occurred to me the other day that perhaps I need my own “rod of discipline” (from Proverbs 22:15) to help me with this. I have known for a long time that well administered consequences are indeed a proven tool in correcting poor choices and developing habits of good behavior. Parenting is the area that comes first to mind where this principle displays its effectiveness. But a completely other area is what ultimately triggered an idea that would help to drive away tendencies I have of venting in less-than-righteous ways. It was when I was answering Halle’s question about the doubling of traffic fines in work areas and speeding tickets that it hit me, “I NEED A TRAFFIC FINE!”

Knowing I would have to pay a fine for any yelling would definitely make me think twice about what comes out of my mouth. When the consequences are painful enough, I can learn to do what it takes to avoid them. So with this plan of attack in mind, I was excited to announce to my girls that we would start a “mommy’s yelling jar.” Where at any time, when we all agreed that I had yelled, I would put in a set amount of money that could be used at the end of each week on whatever they wanted. The car was instantly filled with echoes of joy and delight!! I wasn’t sure if that stemmed from a “yay -mommy is working on how she gets mad” or “yay – mommy is going to have to pay us a lot of money” but I was glad they were onboard with my approach. Halle even made the comment, “Now we can go to DisneyLand for sure!” Ahem… I hope we do get to go someday, but it had better not be an all expense paid trip because of my yelling! But, regardless of how much I do end up putting in the jar, I think this is a great opportunity to really teach and model for my girls that we all MUST learn how to respond appropriately to disappointment in life. They receive consequences when they don’t respond well and now, so will I. It’s only fair.

So equipped with my money jar and new verse (paraphrased in the JoAnna Van Vleet Version…), I feel I am ready to tackle this feat of doing away with yelling.

26
Mommy's Yelling Jar

As of today (three days after my proposal), the jar is still empty! For a gal who is such a miser with her *own (see note below) money, this might just be an experiment that works…

*Rob and I each get a small amount of “blow” money every month that
we can use at our own discretion. It is not much, so I definitely am
not willing to give up a percentage because of my yelling.

 

January 2, 2009

One New Year’s Resolution I know that I can always keep…

Posted by jvanvleet under Jo, slow
[9] Comments 

To NEVER make a New Year’s resolution!!!

This has only been going on successfully for the last two years now, and I want to add that it is very easy to do!! Don’t get me wrong; I am not against self-improvement, that is far from the truth. I have just come across (for myself) a more effective technique that isn’t prompted by the new year’s advent to help and motivate me improve my ways. History reminds me of years and years where I would start the new year off with all these lofty goals, only to realize that after just a few weeks into January, I had already failed at almost every ambition I had. As noble an idea of making New Year’s Resolutions is, it just wasn’t ever coming to fruition for me; I knew that a better approach had to be found where I could actually follow through with and keep my goals for the year. The old familiar saying of ‘it takes 30 days to make a habit’ has always rang softly in the back of my mind. But it wasn’t until February of 2006 that I took a first stab at this tactic. That was the month Rob and I started going through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace class and when we were challenged to make some serious financial adjustments to our spending habits. After working for two months to get our monthly grocery spending down to $360, focusing all attention on ways to shave off expenses, I was pleased to see that we had actually attained a goal. And even better, because of having two months to get used to minor adjustments in shopping and food prep, I could see that sticking to this new grocery budget was a realistic lifestyle we could abide by for years and years to come. Being March, the 3rd month of the year, I had already blown all my new year’s resolutions I had set out to achieve starting in January (I wasn’t surprised). But, after seeing the success of setting a goal for a new grocery budget and sticking with it in such a short time frame, I started thinking I could apply a similar approach of goal setting to all areas of my life that I wanted to see improvement in. Rather than starting off the year with a bunch of grand plans that I would most likely lose sight of and fail at in a matter of weeks (e.g., spending less money, working on a better marriage, not hollering so much at Halle, reading more classics, reducing coke intake – all things that can’t really be quantified and were without a true plan of action), I came up with a new resolve. To change just one thing each month. I would have 30 days to work hard and stay focused on just one thing, so as to have it adopted into my daily/weekly routine come the end of the month. And then at the end of the year, I could feel a sense of accomplishment over 12 little somethings rather than failure from a bunch of ambitious nothings.

So for this blog, I thought it would be fun for me to see over the last couple of years the permanent changes and improvements I have made in life. Some were for budget purposes, others for health reasons, and of course bettering my marriage and parenting are in the mix too. Some were super simple and didn’t need a month, but I still allowed all those days so as to be sure the change was a done deal. Every now and then, I would record the past changes I had made from the prior months. That way I wouldn’t forget what I had been working on and would be able to keep up the motivation to continue on in this manner. Because I don’t write down at the start of the month what I would be working on, some things have been forgotten. But beginning back at the grocery budget change, these are the majority of them.

**$360 a month for groceries
Our grocery allowance included all food, drinks, diapers (for twin toddlers), toiletries, and household cleaning items. This indeed was a huge adjustment for us. And in the early months of trying to not over-spend with our money from our food related cash envelopes, we would have to forego our $40 monthly dining-out money because we needed it for groceries. The plan for meeting this budget has had a lot of work and adjustments to it. In the early months of trying to adjust to the spending, we would often have many meatless meals of pasta; or eggs and tortillas were a guaranteed weekly fare for dinner. But over time, with other changes to cooking habits, small adjustments here and there in the types of food we buy, and learning the tricks of pharmacy shopping (I’ll get to that later), I feel we live very comfortably on a $90 a week grocery budget. This even includes wine and beer! We did have to acquire a taste for boxed-wine to make this work and I do ration the bottles Rob can have in a week, but we wanted to make sure we didn’t forego those pleasures.

**buy dry beans rather than canned
Since beans already provided an inexpensive way to eat healthy and could be used as a meat substitute to save money, I learned I could get even more from our grocery budget by getting into a habit of buying the dry beans, soaking them over night and then cooking them all day in the crock pot the next morning. It became a common site to see the crock pot out of hiding with some form of legume soaking or cooking on the counter.

**make oatmeal from the canister of rolled oats – no more individual packages
We (the girls and I) would eat a lot of oatmeal and this was another area I found out I could save money. I would usually make up a big batch of it early in the week and then could heat up a little bit as needed for breakfast. Sweeten with brown sugar and butter and it tastes just fine.

**buy only block cheese instead of pre-grated or pre-sliced
It has become so second nature to me now to get out our 2lb blocks of cheese and either grate them or use the cheese slicer for our meals. So much cheeper!!! I have found that monterey jack cheese is the best for being one of those cheeses that you can use across the board in all types of recipes (ones that call for mozzarella and cheddar)

**No more cokes
I was consuming way too much of those carbonated beverages a day! I knew complete elimination would be good for both health and budget. It was a tricky thing of daily resisting the urge, but by remembering all the health hazards of soda when I wanted a can of coke AND the money we would save by not purchasing them, my mission was accomplished. I can now say that since August of 2006, I have not had a coke or any other of its fellow soft drink buddies. Know that this will not be a decision I will ever make with wine. And although a ban on purchasing merlots, cabernets… may have serious benefits in the budget area, I will not give up the other benefits I appreciate from “mommy’s medicine.” Even if the medical world were to stop publishing studies on how it profits the heart, I would still hold out my Scriptural reasoning of heart benefits with words from Psalm 104:5 making it known that God makes ‘wine that gladdens the heart of man” : )

**No more items that are marketed as “reduced fat”
Any fat-free, reduced-fat, low sugar items in our house are only those that come that way naturally. Thanks to Rob’s sister who has her ND (a Naturopathic doctorate) I have become more and more educated in the area of nutrition. She introduced this book to me called “Nourishing Traditions” – The cookbook that challenges politically correct nutrition and the diet dictocrats. It states that “The premise of this book is that modern food choices and preparation techniques constitute a radical change from the way man has nourished himself for thousands of years and, from the perspective of history, represent a fad that not only has severely compromised his health and vitality but may well destroy him” Ouch! The basic theory is that our bodies were designed to recognize whole foods, and in the last century we have modified our food supply so dramatically that our bodies cannot recognize and therefore utilize much of the “nutrition” added to foods, or the nutrition found in genetically or otherwise engineered foods. With all the refining processes to make foods less fattening, the vitamins and nutrition are not as readily absorbed as their full fat counter parts. Now I must say that I was COMPLETELY overwhelmed when I read this book; I thought ‘I can’t eat anything ever again!’ But that is where the baby steps come in, one change at a time will add up for a healthier lifestyle over time.

**buy only organic whole milk
The book above also opened my eyes to a sickening reality when it comes to dairy products because of the hormones given to cows. I wont go into the details (it is pretty gross), but I am never buying non-organic milk again. I will eventually switch all dairy to organic. But this will be a gradual change and adjustment in grocery shopping (because it is so darn expensive). Milk just seemed the first place to start.

**no sugar substitutes
I wanted to reduce sugar intake, but not in an engineered way. No splenda, no aspartame, no Sweet’N Low, no NutraSweet. It was tricky at first to actually find items like juice, jelly, and applesauce that were low in sugar (only because they didn’t add it and not because of artificial sweeteners) but now I know what to buy and it is not much of an effort anymore.

**only serve home-made salad dressing
For budget and health reasons (and I discovered even taste reasons are an added bonus too). I have been able to find great recipes for all sorts of dressing types.

**Spend every weekday going through a chapter of the book ‘Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons’ at nap time with Halle until we are through
We started this in April of 2007 when Halle was 4 and life has never been the same since!!! Halle reads better than Rob and her nose is almost always in a book. I have to say that I know this book isn’t what afforded Halle to ability to read at such a young age. I think she just had that gift in her and this book provided the necessary tools to get her started. I KNOW FOR CERTAIN that Dee and Gracie will not be reading fluently at age 4 or 5 (or maybe even 6 or 7), but I will go through the same process with them, just without expecting the same results. An added benefit of going through that book was this. The little bit of discipline in spending scheduled educational time with Halle made the idea of home-schooling our girls seem much more doable. Once we finished the book, this was changed to getting Halle to read everyday (which is now even more important to her than eating).

**Serve Rob a glass of water each night, before I go to bed
I wanted something fairly easy that I knew I could always do for Rob each night, something that would be a constant reminder of my desire to work on our marriage. It seemed that getting a glass of water would be a simple enough act of kindness for me to carry out. Even if I was tired or slightly peeved, this was a small and selfless task that I could follow through with daily to help keep a proper focus. I didn’t tell Rob what I was up to and it went on for two months before he ever saw me putting water by his bed (I am still not sure why he never wondered how the full glass of water WITH ICE he was drinking at his bed-side got there????) Anyways, when Rob finally did take notice of my nightly ritual, I had to dispel his thoughts on the WHY I was doing it and share with him the real reasons (a funny story I’ll be glad to share non-publicly for those who might be curious and ask).

**make all our bread we eat at home
More than two years ago, I had a lesson in bread making from a friend and have never bought another loaf since. Once every two weeks, we make 3 loaves of bread. I bake one and throw the other two into the freezer to be pulled out later, either for another loaf of bread or for pizza dough. The whole house smells wonderful and I know we are eating healthier bread. The next step will be acquiring a grain mill. Then we can grind our own wheat!

**change my style of panties
Surprisingly, this came from several of my girlfriends that were very adamant that I make change in this area. Granny-styles could not be good for a marriage – that is what they argued. I won’t elaborate much more on this, but it honestly took more than a month FOR ME to get used to the change they insisted I make (the other person who would be effected by the change had no trouble adjusting…don’t think too hard on that one!)

**use honey as a sweetener when I would normally use a teaspoon of sugar
This was mainly for the girls. Even though it is more expensive to buy honey, it is a natural sweetener and I wanted to make more effort at reducing their sugar intake. We don’t say ‘no’ to sugar and this wasn’t an adjustment to baking desserts. We just now avoid it (at our house) as a sweetener for the kids. Plain yogurt and oatmeal are sweetened only with honey. Cinnamon toast, one of Halle’s favorites, is now made with honey, butter, and cinnamon. Like I said, this applies mainly to the girls. Because it may be well noted (and observed) that my daily coffee has several teaspoons of sugar AND loads of creamer (the full-fattening kind with all kinds of engineered unhealthy crap in it). Maybe someday I’ll make a change in that area. Maybe…

**figure out CVS shopping
Oh my!!! We have ONLY paid LESS THAN $20 out of pocket since March on all our diapers, toiletries, and household products by learning about Extra Care Bucks at CVS. Check out the money saving mom website for the how tos by reading ‘CVS 101′ it is so amazing how this works!!!

**buy only one carton of yogurt a month, make the rest on my own
We go through a lot of yogurt in this house, so the intent was to save money by making our own. But I was using the oven light to do this (the light creates just the right amount of heat for the yogurt process to take place) then Rob pointed out that to replace an oven light was very expensive and would not save us any money if I burned it out. But there are many other methods out there to making your own yogurt. I just have to find one that I will adopt into our schedule. I think that will be this February’s new goal… I did keep it up for 5 months though when I did think we were saving money.

**no more using plastic in the microwave
With all the talk on the dangers of plastic these days, apart from buying all new bowls and storage containers, this was one thing I could realistically do. It was an adjustment in getting used to taking contents out of leftover plastic containers and putting them in/on something glass before heating them up, but I am used to this now and don’t even notice the extra step anymore.

**give up JIF and only buy peanut butter that doesn’t have hydrogenated oil
Taste and budget definitely suffered : ( but I know we weren’t profiting anything with the junk that was being put into our old favorite. We are slowly but surely getting used to the taste and consistency of peanut butter that has well, just peanuts in it. And even though I am not tempted to scoop out spoonfuls to snack on like I used to, I am finding that when served with apples or as a PB&J sandwich, you don’t really notice.

**Read from a Bible to the girls everyday at breakfast
We were already reading from the Jesus Storybook Bible fairly regularly for many many months at this point, but I wanted a ritual of “daily bread” to go along with our morning meal. This has been nothing but a joy to me!!! Dee and Gracie will often throw out the fact that “we’ve already read this one.” Well, we’ve already eaten cereal before too haven’t we? That is what I reply back with and then add the next few lines. But we still do it every day, right?, because our bodies need it. The same is true with the Bible. Now I think they make their comments regularly just to be silly and to hear me compare other daily tasks we do over and over again to the need for reading Scripture over and over again.

** have one-on-one time with each daughter before their nap time
I do have to confess that I was getting selfish with the downtime-for-mommy I was afforded by the girls’ daily nap time. I would hurry to get the them all down so that I could have some alone time. But in exchange, I realized I was missing an opportunity for some great (never to be received again) quality time with each of my girls. So I started spending just a little bit of time with them, individually, before they would go down for a nap. I usually start with Gracie (who naps in the guest room) and read her a book. Then I go to Dee in her room and do likewise. Halle is last and it is sad that it seems she is the one making the sacrifice, because in reality it is SHE that lets me read to her (she would much rather me skip the whole process so she can get on with her own reading). But I assure her this time is special and she humors me while I read several pages from a chapter book to her. Right now, we are halfway through ‘The Princess Bride’. It will take us awhile to get through because she says I can only read two or three pages at a time. But sometimes I am able to sneak in several more pages… it is just so good!

**only buy Fair trade coffee
This was decided at Christmas time. With all the coffee we drink, it just seems like the least we can do. And I am surprised that it is not so readily available. It even took me searching at several stores before I could find a whole bean decaf variety. But this is a change I want to make – and if you are interested, you can read more about our reasoning for wanting to buy more fair trade products here

So that is my list! This isn’t all I have accomplished in the last two years (at least I hope not!). But these are for sure the changes that I have stuck with and not gone back on (except the yogurt – but I just needed a new method). I share all these only to give encouragement to any others out there who (like myself) were never successful with keeping goals. This method might work for you too! Slow and steady. Just think how many lasting things can be yours to claim when you are 50, 60, 70!!! On a side note, I should probably add ‘flossing everyday’ (or even once a week) to this list SOON; that way my teeth will last as long as I do! And I have been wanting to officially add ‘**no more products with high fructose corn syrup’ But until I can find ice cream (and the good flavors flavors like peppermint and key-lime pie), I can not commit to this! Oh and I can’t find lime-aid (for making margaritas) that is free of this either. So apart from those two items, all other food items we buy do not have this ingredient in it.

****
at this point my word count is above 3330 and I am wondering how many blog-skimmers there are who just glanced over the words in bold and then hit ‘mark as read’ on their google reader page. I’m ok with that! I know I am wordy and long- winded; so kudos to those who actually read everything, you’re a good listener as I ramble on!!

 

September 2, 2008

just the facts, Ma’m

Posted by jvanvleet under Dee, Gracie, Halle, family, slow
[2] Comments 

September 2, 2008

Our first day of homeschooling started today!

I am sure I could write forever about this. I would want to include why we are homeschooling, my preference for the classical education, all our curriculum choices and on and on. But I think most family and friends just want the pics and to know if all went well. So to honor that, here are “just the facts.” Some pictures, a video clip, and some photo captions. We all had a great time!!!

We started off with the Pledge of Allegiance (turn up your volume to hear Halle recite it).

The girls with their school bags from Gammy:

Tia sent flowers for Halle’s big day!

When I did split Halle up from the girls, Dee and Gracie worked on puzzles

Halle is loving working at her desk. This was her math time.

And I set a record for MY shortest blog : )

 

August 25, 2008

If I can’t win, I won’t run

Posted by jvanvleet under Jo, low, slow
[4] Comments 

When I first heard those lines, my immediate response was this. “How arrogant! That guy has some serious pride issues!” My heart never skipped a beat nor did I allow that remark to strike a chord with me as the rest of the dvd, ‘The Chariots of Fire’ played on. I had heard there were some great quotes concerning running and faith in the script and I thought this movie would be perfect to watch before running a half marathon. I was hoping for some extra motivation; some positive mental reserve I could call on in the final miles to keep my spirits up and help me finish strong. And while watching the film, I certainly didn’t think the olympic sprinter, Harold M. Abrahams, who confessed, “If I can’t win, I won’t run” to his leading lady would be the one to challenge me and inspire me. Because honestly, I had never considered myself competitive (with others), I am not one who believed it is important (with regards to others) to be first at things, and the idea that actually winning anything (even 1000th place) in this half-marathon (with 6000 others) was absolutely inconceivable. So what could I possibly have in common with this pretentious character who has this complex of needing to win and be the best? No, this line DID NOT apply to me! Or so I thought… (if you are getting the vibe that “jo eats crow” would be a fitting title here, then yay for you. You have the gift of foresight to see where this is going)

With the first half-marathon, the experience was a positive one, at least in my summation. But instead of just being excited that I had run farther than I ever had run before (that detail got lost in my “non-competitive” mind), I focused only on my completion time. And because I wasn’t disappointed with the results, I now had a determined mindset that ALL future marathons HAD to be finished with my average pace falling in a certain range. Anything less would not be acceptable to me.

That first race was so fun!! Lots of people cheering, music, a completion medal & t-shirt, food, and (I love this next part) it was perfectly acceptable to drink a couple of beers before 10 in the morning! It totally had me fired up to try again for another half. It was very doable and I had a great time. But could I push myself even more? I didn’t really care, no time to think about that. I seemed to be content just knowing that I did what I already knew I could do (a little bit sad when you think about it) . And I still believed attempting a full was out of the question. But at this point, I never allowed myself to wrestle with “why?” I felt that way.

So the night before the second marathon comes along, we host a pasta party with other fellow runners. They are all running the full 26 miles, I am the only one running 13; so I begin to feel a little bit of ambition tugging at me. But I didn’t really toy around with that possibility. My focus was still set, only because I felt certain I could, to keep my time for this half within my acceptable pace range. Little did I know, or admit to myself, that I was labeling this goal “acceptable” because I would consider the race a loss in my book if I didn’t meet my completion time standard (some might say the opposite of lose is win, yes? And “win” is in the title of this blog. See…I am still trying to help you out with the foreshadowing here)

Ten miles into my second race, the half-marathoners split up with the full-marathoners. The folks in my group finish up running a “measly” (I’m using that word in comparison terms only here…) three miles while the latter continues on with another 16. I do begin to feel rather mediocre. But I press on, making sure I don’t suffer defeat with a speed slower than my goal. Thankfully the big stop watch at the finish line assures me that I made it; wahoo! another personal victory (yes, there is sarcasm there). Because when I succeeded with that, it just wasn’t as satisfying as I had hoped it would be. I think it was due to the fact that, secretly, I had already believed myself capable of attaining the pace I wanted (and what is so noteworthy about that?). I was starting to realize there was this side of me that only sets out to try new things that I feel certain I won’t fail at.

Whatever happened to give it your best and have fun?? I don’t know, that wasn’t in my realm of reasoning. So questions were pondered. Am I shying away from attempting to run a full because I think I have to do it with a certain pace? Shouldn’t it be fair to say a self-victory of finishing a full-marathon for the first time is indeed “winning”? Or do I think “winning” involves keeping the same pace as my half-marathons and focusing only on the speed. For me, it was the pace thing : ( And so I had to come to terms with the reality that I too was in essence saying, “if I can’t win, I won’t run.”

But in the movie, Harold’s girl Sybil very wisely counters his comment with, “If you don’t run, you can’t win.” How true!! And yes, while my first desire would be to know that maybe, just maybe, I could run the full distance with my ideal pace (and that I won’t know unless I try); it is even more important for me to own up to the fact that I need get over this personal pride issue. If I am going to be teaching my children to be brave and try new things, giving it their best, and to enjoy themselves no matter what the results (because isn’t that what true “winning” is all about?); I need to be able to be someone to model that behavior to them. “Do as I say, not as I do” doesn’t work here.

Wow, sorry I am looking up through all these words and realizing this is very long! I’ll try to wrap it up. So all said and done, I made up my mind that for better or for worse, I need to do this. In March I signed up for the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Antonio marathon . The big day is November 16th. And “low” and “slow” are the categories for this blog; for many reasons.

Low: Well, I had to learn how prideful I was. That is a low feat. And sadly, I am STILL of the mindset that I will not learn my lesson soon enough. Just knowing how my brain works, I still believe I will be sorely disappointed if my time doubles my half-marathon time by more than just a couple of minutes. I desperately want to get over that goal and just be proud to know I attempted such a long run and that I gave it my best (regardless of what that clock at the end says). But I am sure it will be a long drawn-out process in getting myself to wise up in that area. I know that I need to redefine in my mind (and heart!) what success and winning are really all about.

Slow: This is a time-consuming training and slow-going process, with many more weeks to go. I won’t be ready, mentally or physically, overnight. And, with the last long-training run I did on Saturday, I am seeing glimpses of just how “slow” I might really be when it comes race day. That little virtual runner on my garmin forerunner quickly ran off my screen with the pace I gave him; and I never did catch him. I’ll get him next time! Oh wait. I can’t admit that, I forgot I already claimed that am not competitive : )

So stay tuned and see how I do. Do I learn my lesson? Can I actually survive all the training AND then the actual 26.2 marathon miles? I hope I can write about saying, ‘yes’ to all of them!

 

August 20, 2008

Polly in the Polly

Posted by jvanvleet under Dee, Gracie, slow
1 Comment 

When it comes to the speech development of our little ones, we never seem at a loss for entertainment. And though I would never have suspected that the simple word “potty” would take a hit and suffer injury in the enunciation of our three years olds; it did and in a rather humorous way. This poor verb/noun has had to forego its “T” sound in exchange for an “L” as Dee and Gracie are learning not only how to go “poTTy in the poTTy” but also how to correctly communicate this big-girl action as well.

After our first not-so-successful day in potty training 101, it was quite a feat trying to figure out WHAT exactly I could use as a motivator. I needed something (anything) that would stir in their minds a desire to want to try and experience (even if for just brief moments) the joys and glory of a life without diapers. But nothing I would offer or say had any positive effect. In our desperation, Rob and I even sank to a new level of LOW in our parenting. We offered Halle a bowl of ice cream and as we also enjoyed eating from our own bowls, in front of Dee and Gracie, we proceeded with slightly snide and coaxing comments like these. “We All went potty in the potty today.” “Ice cream can be something YOU TOO can have, but… not until you go potty in the potty.” “I really hope you get to have some soon, it SURE is yummy.” But we were unconvincing. A tilt of the head and a long drawn out silly sounding surely-you-can’t-be-serious reply of “n-o-o-o-o-o-o…” was the shared response of Dee and Gracie.

Sigh…

Days and days would go by. Still, Dee and Gracie had no desire to try at home. But, oddly enough, it was when we would go to the pool (and the girls would be in their swim diapers AND in the water) that Dee and Gracie would inform me they needed to go poLLy in the poLLy. Off we would go to the public restroom and sure enough, they did! This happened with such regularity that a new thought came to my mind. Let’s wear the swim diapers during the day at our house!! A quick note to mention that these aren’t your typical disposable swim diapers. I bought them on ebay with this description. “Swim pant made from waterproof material. Snug fitting around the legs and waist. Reusable. Machine Wash Warm. Certified UV protection.” Can’t beat that!

So with all that being said, I am pleased to FINALLY say that the girls have been very agreeable to wearing these super cute ruffled (leak proof) panties in our potty training; and we have been having many successes in the bathroom. Yay for these swim diapers!

Going “poLLy in the poLLy” has been fun for all!!

 

July 23, 2008

Potty Training 101

Posted by jvanvleet under Dee, Gracie, slow
1 Comment 

Every kid takes this learning course.  Some parents enroll their kids at an early age, like when they turn two.  But I had a very positive experience with Halle of “holding her back” a year till she was three.  And I was hoping for the same manner of quick graduation and enrollment in potty training 201 (no diapers at night) with Dee and Gracie.  But after this morning, those hopes are no longer with me as day 1 did not go as I had hoped… 

Because the girls turned 3 on Sunday, I decided it was time that we would officially start our first day of learning how to use the big-girl potty.  Some very flowery-princess-heart panties were picked out and put on.  Then each girl was given an m&m (those chocolaty treats were my learning incentive with Halle and I wanted to acquaint D&G right away with what would await them when they go to the bathroom in a potty and not their diapers).   But not two minutes had elapsed from sitting on the potty and swallowing their M&Ms, before I was interrupted in my breakfast-prep by this tiny sprinkling sound on the tile floor.  Uh-oh…Gracie!  Even though I was quite reassuring towards her that it was ok and not to worry, she was still sad and wanted a diaper on again.  Dee wanted to press on and in just minutes following, actually pee-peed in the potty.  Yeah for Dee! High-five, girl!!! You get an m&m!!! Of course, now Gracie wants to try again.  And because she HAD JUST WENT, I thought it would be safe to dress her with some new panties. The timer is set for 30 minutes and I am back to breakfast things. Interrupted again.  This time  it is Dee telling me ‘gracie got my arm wet.’   I swallow hard because I know they are not in the kitchen (on the tile) waiting for breakfast, they are in the den (with carpet and fabric-covered things that do not wipe clean).   Wondering what damage I will find, Dee leads me to the crime scene.   It is a hit and run incident because I see that the accident is on the couch but Gracie is on the floor, appearing oblivious to the fact that she had accident number two in less than 10 minutes of class start time.  What to do???   

After much deliberation about how I should proceed with the day, I decided to post pone the “official” start day for another time.   And it is typing this out now that I remember I didn’t put panties on Halle when I first started potty-training with her.  The timer was set for 30 minutes and each time it went off, we would take the DIAPER off and let her try on the potty.   OH! So that is why I remember having so few accidents!! It was because Halle had many successes of using a potty BEFORE we switched to panties.  Oh well…details details… And just like I will have many purchases that I am likely to call “the last box of diapers” before huggies and pampers are a thing of the past, there was never a chance that I would only have one “official start date.”

So the diapers went on, encouragements are offered for future success, and live goes on.  We’ll start again this weekend. Rob will be home and that way he can get a good glimpse into a new feat we are trying to achieve.

 

Next Page »