Showing posts with label Sugar Fast 2016. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sugar Fast 2016. Show all posts

Saturday, March 26, 2016

The Lion's Tales: March edition


I've been quiet around the blog-o-sphere the last few weeks, and it just means our family has been doing lots of things and I've still been doing lots of reading! If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you've seen that those have been updated a lot more frequently. :)

Here are some of the highlights of the last few weeks. Look for a March reading recap next week!

Monday, March 7, 2016

Sugar Fast 2016 Update

I was looking at the calendar last night and realized I'm over halfway done with my sugar fast -- 3.5 weeks in, 3 weeks to go!

Overall it's going better than I expected. There are definitely some moments where it's SO hard to say no to something sweet -- donuts at church on Sunday, sneaking a bite of the girls' morning cereal, every night scooping ice cream for Rocky.

I didn't even allow myself to share in the snow ice cream
I made for my family on last Tuesday's snow day! 

Saturday, February 27, 2016

The Lion's Tales: February 21-27

Inspired by Sadie's Saturday 7 and Jessica's Weekly Ramble, this weekly recap is where I blog about anything and everything from the past week. It could be about books, my kids, my garden... Random things in my life that don't fill enough space for their own post!
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1. I'm going to my first ever freezer-cooking workshop today. I LOVE the idea of cooking and prepping things in bulk, but the only freezer we currently have is the small one above our refrigerator. So I'm usually limited to things like bags of grilled, sliced chicken or packs of hamburger that I've separated into 1-lb packages. In the next couple years we will hopefully move, and once we settle into our more permanent home we'll get a deep freezer -- but we don't want to get one now and have to move it. 

Friday, February 26, 2016

Quick Lit: February 2015


My 2016 Goodreads goal is 36 books -- 3 books a month -- after not quite making that goal last year.

(This doesn't count the books I read to/with my kids -- I try to post a few times a month what my kids are reading too, click here to read those reviews)

I'm more than a month ahead! [for now...]

Saturday, February 20, 2016

The Lion's Tales: February 14-20

Inspired by Sadie's Saturday 7 and Jessica's Weekly Ramble, this weekly recap is where I blog about anything and everything from the past week. It could be about books, my kids, my garden... Random things in my life that don't fill enough space for their own post!
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1. I ran my first ever Usborne Book Fair this week! It was at my daughter's preschool, and the church that I attend and work at part time. I had both cash & carry and an ordering table. I had SUCH a great time! I met a lot of people, sold a lot of books, and got some reading done during the downtime. :) It was 2.5 long days (setup Tuesday night, and 8:30-5:30 Wednesday & Thursday), but it was worth it.


I like the balance I'm finding with Usborne. I'm not really searching out too many opportunities for parties and booths, so I'm not earning the monthly awards, but I'm okay with that. I could push harder, but since there are no quotas to meet I'm really just pursuing things when I feel like it! I love the flexibility of this company.


2. Does anyone have any tips for finding cheap airfare? In July I'm going to be heading to Montana for the Annual GEMS Leadership Conference, and all of the round-trip flights I'm finding are $500-600+. The conference itself is $400, and while I'm getting some financial support from my club, I'll definitely have to pay quite a bit out of pocket.


3. My Sugar Fast is going alright. I'm 10 days in, and while physically I'm not feeling any different (no change in weight or energy), emotionally my cravings will either be non-existent or nearly unbearable. Mornings are pretty bad, and I'm thankful I've allowed myself to naturally sweeten my coffee with honey or maple syrup. Evenings are the second-worst, my girls are allowed one piece of Valentine candy if they finish their dinner, and Rocky still has ice cream every night while we hang out before bed (watching a show or playing a game). We have small group tonight, and I volunteered to bring dessert so that I can make something without refined sugar. :)

It's not very exciting, but here's my log for the week:

Day 4 - Saturday Feb 13
Coffee with heavy cream and maple syrup
Breakfast: Homemade granola (contains honey and maple syrup) with milk
Lunch: Leftover homemade pizza
Snack: Handful of cashews
Dinner: Homemade "hamburger helper" - burger, pasta, spices

Day 5 - Sunday Feb 14
Coffee with heavy cream and honey
Breakfast: Homemade bread (honey) with butter
Lunch: French toast with butter, strawberries, and maple syrup
Snack: Coffee with heavy cream and maple syrup (I tried doing just cream, it was flavored coffee, and could only drink a little bit. Maybe eventually I'll get there, but not yet. Added a little syrup.)
Dinner: Pan-fried salmon (first time cooking it!), homemade alfredo sauce on heart-shaped noodles from Aldi, broccoli, french bread

Day 6 - Monday Feb 15
Coffee with heavy cream and maple syrup
Breakfast: Homemade granola with milk
Lunch: Leftover salmon, alfredo, broccoli
Snack: Strawberry fruit strip, handful of cashews, homemade chai tea latte (Celestial Seasonings chai, with honey and cream)
Dinner: Tomato soup and grilled cheese/bacon sandwiches

Day 7 - Tuesday Feb 16
Coffee with heavy cream and maple syrup
Breakfast: Green smoothie (spinach, coconut water, pineapple, mango, banana)
Lunch: Cheese, summer sausage, crackers
Dinner: Beef enchiladas with rice, cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, lettuce

Day 8 - Wednesday Feb 17
Coffee with heavy cream and maple syrup
Breakfast: Shredded wheat cereal with milk
Snacks throughout the day (ran a book fair): Cashews, cheese, pretzel chips, strawberry fruit strip
Dinner: Spaghetti with homemade meat sauce (no sugar in the tomato sauce)

Day 9 - Thursday Feb 18
Coffee with heavy cream and maple syrup
Breakfast: shredded wheat cereal with milk
Lunch: leftover enchilada
Snacks (throughout the book fair): Blueberry Larabar, cashews, pretzel chips, black coffee
Dinner (8:30pm...) Fried egg and buttered toast

Day 10 - Friday Feb 19
Almond-flavored coffee with heavy cream and honey
Breakfast: Homemade granola with milk
Lunch: Roast beef, cheese, lettuce, bacon, mayo wrapped in tortilla
Snack: Cashews, strawberry fruit strip, coffee with heavy cream
Dinner: Concession stand pizza at basketball game




Saturday, February 13, 2016

The Lion's Tales: February 7-13

Inspired by Sadie's Saturday 7 and Jessica's Weekly Ramble, this weekly recap is where I blog about anything and everything from the past week. It could be about books, my kids, my garden... Random things in my life that don't fill enough space for their own post!
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1. Both of my girls had school Valentine's parties this week. It's nice that they're both in semi-small schools, so I could buy a box of 32 Valentines and a bag of candy and it was enough to cover both of their classes. :) I did start my Sugar Fast on Wednesday (more about that in a point below), and my eyes went wide when our counter exploded when they dumped out their bags of candy after school. At least I'm not tempted to sneak a Tootsie Roll whenever I walk by like I usually would be...

2. The opportunity came up to go see my all-time FAVORITE musical (not to mention my favorite movie :)  professionally performed last night. Ohhhh all the feels.... The casting was perfect, the sets were gorgeous, the singing was flawless. I was wiping away tears when the lights came up at intermission ("Climb Ev'ry Mountain"... nuff said!).

A photo posted by Carrie Roer (@carrieroer) on

I was quite the shy kid in school, and I definitely played up my introverted-ness (though people thought I was "breaking out of my shell" at church and in 4H - I still remained quiet at school). And when many of my friends were part of the school play each year and they told me I should try out too, I always refused. I remember going to their performance my senior year and sitting in the audience thinking "why didn't I do this??". But after high school there aren't many opportunities for drama/theater unless you want to pursue it professionally. Oh there are some local theater groups, but everything takes time. Maybe someday I'll look into it, or maybe I'll just go on dreaming about performing as Maria...


3. I started my Sugar Fast this week. I'm trying to be really conscious about as much as I can, but won't beat myself up if I miss something. I've been a label-reading fiend. I'm keeping track of what I eat, and am debating whether to have one big post/page with everything or not (like Jessica Fisher's Sugar Fast page here). If nothing else, I'll recap here weekly to keep myself accountable!

Day 1 - Wednesday Feb 10
Coffee with heavy cream and honey
Breakfast: Shredded wheat cereal from Aldi (the ONLY ingredient is wheat), milk, banana
Snack: Hard boiled egg with salt
Lunch: roast beef (seemed to not be sugar cured), provolone, lettuce wrapped in a tortilla (lots of tortillas and bread contain sugar, but the tortillas I had on hand didn't!)
Snack: Strawberry fruit strip from Aldi (basically dried fruit - if I had a dehydrator I'd make these myself) and handful of cashews, coffee with heavy cream and honey
Dinner: Scrambled eggs with leftover sausage and ham, cheese, wrapped in a tortilla, with orange juice

Day 2 - Thursday Feb 11
Coffee with heavy cream and maple syrup (yum! a new favorite!)
Breakfast: Homemade granola (contains honey and maple syrup) with milk
Lunch: No-sugar peanut butter from Aldi on toast, with a banana
Snack: Lemon Larabar and handful of cashews
Dinner: Grilled hamburger with cheese, mayo (sugar was one of the last ingredients but the label said 0g), mustard, dill relish, lettuce on a bun (didn't check the bun, I'm sure it does have sugar though. I wasn't too concerned). No ketchup, the second ingredient was sugar. I wish I'd had a tomato.

Day 3 - Friday Feb 12
Coffee with heavy cream and maple syrup
Breakfast: Shredded wheat with milk and banana
Lunch: Leftover homemade jambalaya (rice, chicken, ham, smoked sausage [didn't check the label], tomato sauce, chicken broth, seasoning)
Snack: Handful of cashews and Aldi strawberry fruit strip
Dinner: Homemade pizza (I make my own crust and leave out the sugar anyway, and use homemade tomato sauce and add my own seasonings for the pizza sauce. Didn't check the labels on the meats, but this is a meal I'm not concerned about)
Snack: Bluberry Larabar (see point 2, the musical didn't start until 8:00 and we were still on the road at midnight when my stomach started growling...)

So far so good. It's definitely easier during the day when it's just Ellie and me. Rocky and Abby have mid-winter break this weekend, so they were home on Friday and will be on Monday too. At least I'm not at all tempted to have fruit snacks with the kids, or ice cream with Rocky at night. The "sweets" that are obviously off-limits are the easy things...



Have you ever been in a play/musical/drama
in school or as an adult?