I can eat crunchy vegetables again! My diet this last week has, um, not been good. Mostly starches with a few softer proteins. But after a huge ordeal, I can finally eat regular people food again (with the possible exception of sharper crunchy foods, like crackers). I ate strawberries and toast for breakfast, chicken noodle soup and toast again for lunch (it’s a Julieanne week, and she’s recovering from a stomach bug, so I wanted her to eat foods gentle on the digestive system), and now I am craving a pear and cheese snack. Feels good to be off the potatoes and chicken nugget diet. Also don’t have to worry about swelling, so I am back to exercising this week. 
My current goal is to exercise more. I don’t want to overdo it, but I do want to do at least 15 minutes 6 days per week. We’ll see how it goes!
So my root canal turned into a two day event that didn’t get completed, and wound up having to have minor surgery on it. The result is that I’ve spent this week trying to remember my own name and how many of those Vicodin and Tylenol 3’s were I supposed to take?
Despite sleeping 20 hours in one day and snacking on my own drool, I’ve managed to be fairly good in the eating department, at least considering I had to eat soft, lukewarm foods all week. Pancakes are not the healthiest things in the world, but they beat cake. I have lived on pancakes, potatoes, and oatmeal for the most part. I did eat some ham yesterday. But crunchy fruits and vegetables? None. Applesauce=good, apple=very bad. Until the stitches come out on Tuesday, don’t really know what all I am going to eat. I am getting tired of starchy foods.
But somehow, I have managed to exercise. I did 30 minutes on Tuesday and rushed through 15 minutes on Wednesday before the surgery. I want to do some more, but I have to be careful as my mouth is still pretty swollen.
I have a ton of volunteer work to do this weekend. I don’t want to do it! I feel like crap and my house is a disaster. I won’t be able to take my lovely vicodin because I’ll have to drive. And I’m not supposed to smile. But I work with Make a Wish and we’re doing a wish granting, so somehow, I’ll have to figure out a way.
I did pretty good today! I woke up and headed for the freezer to make pancakes, but Steve pulled me back in bed. Snow and ice covered the road, so I couldn’t get Julieanne on time. I fell back asleep (oops!) and missed breakfast.
After picking up Julieanne from her dad’s house, I made us a lunch of chicken noodle soup (canned), multi-grain crackers, and milk. It cost about $1.50 for both of us. After her nap time, I ate a snack with her to make up for not eating breakfast. I don’t usually snack, but I felt hungry. We split a pear. She ate a handful of whole grain, non-sugary cereal with hers. I ate about 1/4 cup of it myself and about an ounce of cheese with it. A very tasty snack! I could have eaten it for breakfast or lunch, too. Since it was a larger snack, it would have cost more; about $1.50.
Dinner consisted of spaghetti and leftover meatballs. They were a little dry, so I cooked them in the sauce. We had some garlic bread to go with it. Overall cost (not including the meatballs, since I would have counted the whole thing when I first made them) was about $5. (If anyone cares very much about the exact cost, let me know and I’ll try to be more exact. These are all just estimates.) I was going to do a salad, but Julieanne doesn’t eat enough of it to make just one, and I won’t be able to eat it until tomorrow when I get my tooth fixed.
So the total cost of the day was about $8, though that does not include whatever it was Steve ate for lunch. None of it took much time at all. Dinner took about 30 minutes, lunch about 5, and snack about 5. Total cook time is 40 minutes. Taste was good. Not gourmet, but then, I’m not a gourmet kind of girl. I like spices and fresh foods. And junk food. 
I still like the soap I bought, but it sure is disappearing fast. I am not sure it’s cost effective to use as fast as it’s going. I think I may try to make my own to save some money. The aluminum free deodorant, I am not so sure of. It feels kind of thin going on and I don’t think it works as well. Not sure if it’s the brand or the lack of aluminum. I like the smell, though. I think I may stick with it for day time, but not for days when I will be moving around a lot or exercising without a chance to jump immediately into the shower. We shall see. If all else fails, I can just use baking soda and lemon juice. (Kidding!)
I will be heavily sedated tomorrow. I am sure I will sleep through most of it. I have no idea what will go into my mouth. It will be an adventure! 
Since I had so much fun using natural products last night, I tried some natural, frugal things like making my own ketchup (yum!) and my own cleaning fluid (my hubby appreciates being able to be in the house with me when I clean, as the harsher chemicals give him migraines. I used to have to wait until he was at work to clean) today. I also made extra whole grain pancakes this morning and froze them for quick breakfasts. While those were cooking, I had a pot of red beans and rice simmering. Tasty and cheap. It costs about $3 for the whole meal, and when it’s just Steve and me, I’ll make it for lunch and we’ll eat leftovers for dinner. Not bad for $3!
I felt really nervous tasting homemade ketchup, but surprise! I really liked it! I liked it better than store bought ketchup. Here is the recipe I used. It’s a little cheaper since I just recycled the last ketchup bottle we used, but not very much cheaper because high fructose corn syrup is cheaper than the brown sugar I put in mine. However, it is a bit cheaper, tastier, and better for you.
I combined a few all purpose cleaner recipes I used online to get this one:
1. Heat about 4 cups of water.
2. While the water is heating, put 1 T of Borax and 4 T of white vinegar into a bottle. (Watch out if you use a plastic bottle: don’t get the water very hot. If you are using glass, heat it to boiling.)
3. I added about 25 drops of orange essence, but you don’t have to do that. (I am glad I did, though, because my kitchen smells nice and orange-y.)
4.Add the water and shake.
And you’re ready to use. This costs just pennies, even less if you don’t use the orange essence. My kitchen smells great and is really shiny. I am surprised because I thought it might smell better and not give Steve a migraine, but it also seemed to work better. I sprayed some on the floor and mopped, and it worked really well. I had fun cleaning with it. You can breathe it in all you want and it’s not toxic. I think it’s good to have around babies and small children.
I spent about 30 minutes this morning working out to a dvd. I have been rather industrious today! It’s snowy and pretty.
Who am I and what have I done with lazy me? Off to finish some cleaning and putting the Christmas tree away!
I decided to make my own laundry and dish detergent to save money. As I perused the ingredients, I thought perhaps the reason my skin is always so dry is because of the harsher ingredients in my bath soap. I’m pretty sure Julieanne has some eczema problems, so I decided to try some oatmeal soaps. I decided not to make my own bath soap at least the first try, instead settling on an oatmeal/aloe soap for Julieanne and a bar of rosemary mint soap for me. And while I was at it, I decided to try an aluminum free deodorant, too. I’d read awhile back that it might help with some problems I have, and while I remain very skeptical, I thought what the hell.
I’ve never had an interest in these herbal kind of products before, but I have to admit the soap smells heavenly. When I finished bathing, Steve sighed and said, “You smell nice.” I like that it doesn’t smell good chemically, but still naturally refreshing. My skin felt clean, but not tight when I stepped out, either. I loved it. I don’t think I’ll go back to Dove. While I used a different soap, I decided to try a baking soda paste instead of my normal face cleanser. I also thought it felt nice. My face feels clean, but not too tight. I have really dry skin, so in the winter, these are definitely my new wins. I feel fresh and clean for much less money! Next, I will try some natural shampoos, shaving cream, and lotions, but I doubt that will save me money unless I can make them myself. We shall see! More exploring to do! I never thought I’d like this stuff, and it is probably because I remain skeptical over their main selling point: the lack of chemicals. Everything is a chemical, and they aren’t all necessarily bad. However, the sulfate free products do work nicely on my dry skin (and probably Julieanne’s, too).
I’ll update on the laundry detergent when my ingredient arrives. I couldn’t find one in stores, so I had to order it. Dish detergent will have to wait as I just bought a new box last week.
More to come!
A few things:
1) I am no longer sick. Well, I don’t feel sick. I still have a lingering cough, but that’s it.
2) This blog is boring. It’s boring to read and boring to write. Who cares about what I eat everyday? Recipes are nice, but I am not a cook. My recipes are not exactly gourmet–they are cheap, easy, and healthy, and without a good camera, I can’t even make them look all that appealing. So while I have been incredibly busy with the holidays and my other blog, so I have taken the time to reflect on how I could spice things up a bit over here. After 2 weeks of hard pondering . . . I got nothin’. I’ll continue to post, but my apologies for the dullness. I am hoping that it can evolve a bit to become more interesting.
3) I have decided not to weigh in all the time. Instead, I am going to take weekly pictures and weigh in every month or two. The scale screws me up. If I did well for a week and didn’t lose any weight, I lose it. If I do lose weight, I relax. If I throw the scale away, I think, “Yay! Freedom!” and run right off track. So what’s a girl to do? I ate some healthy meals this holiday season, but the Junk Food Addict attacked as well, and I ate a TON of junk food. So much for almost being ready to lose the label! The point is, however, that I am ready to get back to work, and I am going to get back to work without getting discouraged over numbers.
4) Until Monday, I am eating mashed potatoes and soup. In case you haven’t guessed it by now, I am poor. I grew up poor, and I am poor now. The result of years of poverty is bad teeth. I have thousands of dollars of dental work that needs to be done. I went to the dentist when I was 13 or 14 and not again until I was 22. I couldn’t afford everything that needed to be done then, so I did a few things slowly. Then I got divorced and things came to a halt. My parents help me out with emergencies as they are now in a better financial place, but they just got there so they can’t afford to help me out all at once. So a year ago, they helped me with my wisdom teeth, and now they are helping me out with a cracked molar that finally broke yesterday. Sigh. Back to the dentist on Monday. Until then, soft foods for me.
I hate the dentist. I’ve always hated the dentist. I have dentist-phobia. I finally read an article about a year ago about redheads and pain. Whatever genetic mutation that gives people red hair also makes them more susceptible to pain, and pain medications don’t work as well. One of the things they said is that redheads tend to hate the dentist because the standard dose of pain med doesn’t work on redheads. This makes sense. I had a dentist once that said I had a cavity so small that I shouldn’t need Novocaine. It was agonizing as he drilled into my tooth. Even when I did have pain numbing measures taken, it still hurt. I’ve never had the gas. When they knocked me out for my wisdom tooth, I loved it. If they knocked me out for every dental procedure, I’d probably be just fine!
So until I get my tooth fixed, know I am eating mashed potatoes and soup. 
I have been sick for weeks, since before I fell off the wagon. But then I got quite sick. Between that and doing a ton of work on another blog of mine, this one has suffered.
I ran into the problem of “how do you eat healthily when you are sick and exhausted and the only cook in the house?” Answer: you wing it. It’s been a lot of chicken noodle soup and just whatever I can grab that isn’t TOO bad (though I did scarf down some pizza tonight, sigh). I have not been good. But at least I am eating three meals per day and have regained some control over the holiday candy scarfing. I think it may be January before I get fully hold of everything again. I don’t like that: I think you should be mostly good throughout the year. But if it’s January, I will forgive myself, because that will give me a year of practice before the next year’s holiday rolls in to town.
I skipped my weigh in post, but I did weigh in. Somehow, I managed to not gain anything through my crazy horrible week last week. I hope that I can say the same for this week, since it’s been several days of not exercising, And since I haven’t exercised either, I’ve realized how much I hate exercising. But I have a plan! To be continued when I am well enough to implement it. That’s when I’ll be back, too. Until then, chicken noodle soup and lots of rest!
So I said in my “about” that I may fail, even for weeks at a time. Well, I am failing big time. I started this blog when life seemed to iron out a bit. I have been through a LOT in the last couple of years, and they tell you not to try to undertake a huge project like losing weight when you’re under the pressure I’ve been under. And the more stressed I am, the more likely I am to fall into old patterns. That’s my number one goal when it comes to healthy eating: not just to lose weight, but to change those patterns so when life gets stressful, I don’t revert.
But while I’ve made progress, I’m not there yet. I’ve had a BAD, BAD week, and my eating definitely reflects that. I would not be surprised to learn that I’ve gained everything I’ve lost. My downfall came with the Christmas candy I bought for Julieanne and our gingerbread house. I had the money last week and wasn’t sure I would this week, so I bought it early.
BIG, BIG MISTAKE!!!!
I love the show Home Movies. In it, a character named Jason is a total junk food junkie. In a few episodes, he kicks his junk food habit, only to go completely nuts by the end. This week, I am Jason. Candy, candy, candy!
So I am going to pick myself up, dust myself off, and try again. It may be twenty years, but I am DETERMINED to get it done.
