Last week we mostly ran errands every night. We did end up planting lettuce, spinach, chard and radishes in 3/4 of the bed we built around the pear tree. The other 1/4 of the bed is filled with strawberry plants. The strawberries seem to be doing well and the pear tree is blooming. Hooray for spring. Hopefully, the weather stays calm and above freezing so we get some pears this year.
This weekend was our monthly family dinner so we didn't get a lot done around the "farm" with all the visiting.
Saturday, we cleaned house for most of the day and then went to my grandmother's for the dinner.
Today, we cleaned house again (it had been a little while since we had really cleaned) and got some cuttings of my grandmother's fig tree for ourselves and my uncle. We planted four fig cuttings and hope they will do well. We had Sunday dinner tonight for my mom and her mom. We had balsamic glazed chicken, stewed tomatoes and onions, steamed broccoli and a mocha ricotta creme for dessert.
Our diet has gone well so far. I'm finding it easy to stick to but Matthew has had some trouble getting enough to eat for lunch while he is working all day but I am continuing to tweak his lunch and snacks. I have had a lot of energy...a lot more than I've had in a long time. This coming week will be our second week on Phase 1 and we can start adding in some fruit and carbohydrates after next week. Here is our meal plan for this week.
This week we are still working on our garden fence. Matthew has been researching the best way to build the fence. We are planning to pull up some of the sod to give to my grandmother to cover the bare spot where she had a septic system put in. Once we have the sod pulled up, we can till the ground, then we will put up the wire for the fence (at least, that's the way I understand it).
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
South Beach Diet
We started the The South Beach Diet
on Monday. So far, it has been very easy to stick to and I haven't been hungry and I haven't had any wacky cravings even though I am on the two-week Phase One that is somewhat restrictive (no fruit and no bread at all, for example). Matthew has a more physically demanding job than I do so he's had more trouble with being hungry so I've been tweaking his lunch and snacks every day.
It's much better than the crazy diet I was on two weeks ago with a coworker. With that I had no energy and was constantly hungry even though I lost 9 pounds in a week.
So far, since Monday, I've lost 11 pounds on South Beach.
on Monday. So far, it has been very easy to stick to and I haven't been hungry and I haven't had any wacky cravings even though I am on the two-week Phase One that is somewhat restrictive (no fruit and no bread at all, for example). Matthew has a more physically demanding job than I do so he's had more trouble with being hungry so I've been tweaking his lunch and snacks every day. It's much better than the crazy diet I was on two weeks ago with a coworker. With that I had no energy and was constantly hungry even though I lost 9 pounds in a week.
So far, since Monday, I've lost 11 pounds on South Beach.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
A Productive Weekend
Saturday started with a bang. Not quite as big a bang as last Sunday when we had a busted pipe but a bang, nonetheless.
We went out to the truck around 7:30AM or so to start running our errands and Matthew noticed a bunch of feathers around one of our chicken pens. They looked like tail feathers from a rooster. Further inspection showed a dead hen in the large pen, a hen with a broken wing and a hole dug under the fence in the back of the pen (with a dog footprint nearby). We are not sure whose dog it was and probably won't ever know but there are a few dogs around that run loose almost all the time. We (hopefully) fixed the problem by filling in the hole and topping it with some 1 foot square concrete pavers butted right up to the fence.
We also got five of the posts set up for our garden fence and Matthew cleared out a wild rose/honeysuckle tangle from the natural area that runs down our property line.
Today, thankfully, started out uneventfully. We finished tilling the area for my strawberry bed. After we tilled it by hand, we cleared as much root and plant matter as we could, then lined it with old newspapers and a layer of compost. We went out and bought some ever-bearing strawberries (8 plants total) and have mulched them with the pine straw we raked up from my Grandmother's yard this afternoon.
This week, we are starting the South Beach Diet (I lasted a partial day trying to get back on the diet I was doing with a co-worker. It was too restrictive and I had no energy at all at the end of the day) and have a menu planned that I'm pretty excited about. Matthew is going to do this one with me so that will make life easier.
We are also planning to finish the garden fence and will probably also plant some lettuce and maybe start some beansprouts. Next weekend, my mom will be in town but I plan to can some of the chickens that we processed a couple of weeks ago so we can free some space in the freezer.
We went out to the truck around 7:30AM or so to start running our errands and Matthew noticed a bunch of feathers around one of our chicken pens. They looked like tail feathers from a rooster. Further inspection showed a dead hen in the large pen, a hen with a broken wing and a hole dug under the fence in the back of the pen (with a dog footprint nearby). We are not sure whose dog it was and probably won't ever know but there are a few dogs around that run loose almost all the time. We (hopefully) fixed the problem by filling in the hole and topping it with some 1 foot square concrete pavers butted right up to the fence.
We also got five of the posts set up for our garden fence and Matthew cleared out a wild rose/honeysuckle tangle from the natural area that runs down our property line.
Today, thankfully, started out uneventfully. We finished tilling the area for my strawberry bed. After we tilled it by hand, we cleared as much root and plant matter as we could, then lined it with old newspapers and a layer of compost. We went out and bought some ever-bearing strawberries (8 plants total) and have mulched them with the pine straw we raked up from my Grandmother's yard this afternoon.
This week, we are starting the South Beach Diet (I lasted a partial day trying to get back on the diet I was doing with a co-worker. It was too restrictive and I had no energy at all at the end of the day) and have a menu planned that I'm pretty excited about. Matthew is going to do this one with me so that will make life easier.
We are also planning to finish the garden fence and will probably also plant some lettuce and maybe start some beansprouts. Next weekend, my mom will be in town but I plan to can some of the chickens that we processed a couple of weeks ago so we can free some space in the freezer.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Oh my! What a weekend!
Friday night, I was super run down from this diet that I'm trying to do with a co-worker. I've lost 9 pounds but have no energy to do anything because the diet is very restrictive and very low calorie. I fell off the wagon hardcore on Friday night and never really got back on all weekend. I'm going to try it for a couple more days and if I don't have the energy to do the projects I've set for myself this week, I'm going to move on to something else.
Saturday, Murphy went back to the vet to get his stitches checked (he was neutered two weeks ago) and to get his last vaccination. He was quite happy to get his E-Collar off (see pictures of him in his E-Collar). In the evening, we went to my uncle's birthday dinner at my grandmother's house.
Sunday, as I was getting ready to get out of bed and start some house cleaning, my other grandmother called to say that our yard was full of water and hers wasn't so she really didn't think it was rain and, rather, we had a leak somewhere. Matthew and I (and mostly Matthew doing the dirty work) spent almost all day trying to locate the leak and fixing it. So, I didn't get any of the cleaning or cooking done that I needed to get done and I didn't get to work on my gardening projects. I was planning to work on the bed I'm going to plant strawberries in but it was part of the yard that was very flooded. We did get the garden mapped out and we have most of what we need to fence the area in.
Last week, I did exercise 6 out of 7 days. I just missed exercising Sunday because of all that was going on but I really think walking back and forth across the front yard to turn the water off and on for Matthew to test the pipes counted.
This week, I plan to come home and work on my strawberry bed so that I can hopefully plant this weekend. Then I can move to the area where I want to plant blueberries. We are also hoping to get the garden area fenced in and maybe get seeds started for summer crops. Hopefully, we can rent a tiller next weekend and get started planting.
Saturday, Murphy went back to the vet to get his stitches checked (he was neutered two weeks ago) and to get his last vaccination. He was quite happy to get his E-Collar off (see pictures of him in his E-Collar). In the evening, we went to my uncle's birthday dinner at my grandmother's house.
Sunday, as I was getting ready to get out of bed and start some house cleaning, my other grandmother called to say that our yard was full of water and hers wasn't so she really didn't think it was rain and, rather, we had a leak somewhere. Matthew and I (and mostly Matthew doing the dirty work) spent almost all day trying to locate the leak and fixing it. So, I didn't get any of the cleaning or cooking done that I needed to get done and I didn't get to work on my gardening projects. I was planning to work on the bed I'm going to plant strawberries in but it was part of the yard that was very flooded. We did get the garden mapped out and we have most of what we need to fence the area in.
Last week, I did exercise 6 out of 7 days. I just missed exercising Sunday because of all that was going on but I really think walking back and forth across the front yard to turn the water off and on for Matthew to test the pipes counted.
This week, I plan to come home and work on my strawberry bed so that I can hopefully plant this weekend. Then I can move to the area where I want to plant blueberries. We are also hoping to get the garden area fenced in and maybe get seeds started for summer crops. Hopefully, we can rent a tiller next weekend and get started planting.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
A New Year. A New Diet.
I started a new diet with some ladies at work on Monday. It's a very strict diet that one would likely not be able to stick to long term but it is only a four week program (unless you fall off the wagon, in which case you have to start over) so we are starting it as an experiment and to jump start our weight loss. After this, we plan to create a sensible meal plan that will continue and maintain any weight that we've lost in this four week plan.
Today for lunch, we were supposed to get 1 tbsp. of fat free cheese, a piece of toast and as many tomatoes as we wanted. Thinking that was a little dull, I decided that we should turn the toast into cheese toast and eat it with homemade tomato soup garnished with fresh tomato. In my brain, that sounds much more satisfying and tasty.
I don't like canned tomato soup, I never have. So, I created my own recipe that was healthy and also tasty (at least to me).
I will have one "cheat day" in Week 1 so I will have to start over next week. I can't give up the cake that my Grandmother is likely making for my uncle's birthday on Saturday. I'm not a saint :)
Today for lunch, we were supposed to get 1 tbsp. of fat free cheese, a piece of toast and as many tomatoes as we wanted. Thinking that was a little dull, I decided that we should turn the toast into cheese toast and eat it with homemade tomato soup garnished with fresh tomato. In my brain, that sounds much more satisfying and tasty.
I don't like canned tomato soup, I never have. So, I created my own recipe that was healthy and also tasty (at least to me).
I will have one "cheat day" in Week 1 so I will have to start over next week. I can't give up the cake that my Grandmother is likely making for my uncle's birthday on Saturday. I'm not a saint :)
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