Bucket List updated

100 Things to do before I Die

Academics/Career:

1. Be a principal
2. Be either a superintendent/district administrator
3. sing/speak at a public event8th grade promotion May 2012/worship team for Tres Dias
4. Be a grade level team leader
5. Get my master's degree August 2, 2012
6. Get a doctorate degree
7. Teach a college class 
8. Start my own business/support my husband starting a business Epic fail with Mary Kay but at least I tried

Family:

1. take my daughter to get a pedicure for her first birthday
2. Make baby books every two months for the first year of my children(s)' lives.
3. attend a mother/daughter sleepover
4. go to grandparent's day
5. have ALL my children and grandchildren come home for Christmas
6. french braid my daughter's hair 
7. Be a mother-of-the-bride
8. watch Mike walk our daughter down the aisle
9. hold my baby in my home in her Aunt's blanket
10. offer my engagement/wedding rings to my grandson/granddaughter
11. serve on a Tres Dias weekend with my husband
12. speak to my grandfather about his experience in the Holocaust
13. Dedicate Kenzie at church 5/13/12
14. Adopt a baby with down syndrome

Personal

1. weigh less than 140 lbs
2. Have no need for contacts or glasses
3. come up with 100 items for my list
4. VBAC
5. Rectora/Head Cha
6. Own a black pug
7. Own a MAC/Ipad
8. get married 6/19/09
9. have a baby 10/14/11
10. buy a home
11. see someone accept Christ
12. become a member of my church
13. Host a bible study at my home
14. Write and publish a children's book
15. Write and publish a novel
16. Complete a pull up
17. Do a hanging sit up

Travel/World Experiences: 

1. Cruise to Alaska
2. Live in England for a year
3. Take the Lord of the Rings tour of "the Shire" in New Zealand
4. See my husband baptized in the Jordan River 
5. Meet a president
6. Go on the Disneyland Cruise
7. vow renewal in the church Mike's parents were married in
8. Visit the tribes of my Native American heritage
9. Live in a "Stars Hollow" town

DIY/Activities:

1. Collect all the Cinderella stores from around the world
2. Have an entire room in my home with floor to ceiling libraries
3. Own all the Caldecott winning books
4. take a drifting class
5. Make the hair bows for my daughter's sport's team (volleyball, cheer etc)
6. learn to hip hop dance
7. solve the rubic's cube in under 4 minutes
8. Read all of Jane Austen's book
9. Go to the midnight release of the final Breaking Dawn movie 11.16.12 Thanks Tami, Stacy, and Holly!
10. Complete a parallel study of the Gospels in progress with Jenn
11. Take a ride on the light rail- Thanks Joann!
12. learn to use a sewing machine 
13. trash the dress in water
14. relearn and "speak' sign language fluently
15. Shoot a gun Happy Birthday to David!
16. Learn to ride a sport bike
17. Learn how to do a fish tail braid 
18. Run a 5K 

Finances:

1. Eliminate all debt
2. Pay off all student loans
3. Learn how to invest 

Total: 69
Completed: 11

18.2 lbs in 5 weeks? Yes please!

I have blogged about how amazing and awesome the Simply Filling Technique is through Weight Watchers but I've decided to outline how and why. Spoiler alert: you could follow this and probably not even need Weight Watchers meetings, although I find their etools very helpful (for only $12.95 a month) and highly recommend trying it.

Let me start by saying that I did the tracking program through WW for over a year and lost 46 lbs...it works! Weight Watchers works! Let me continue by saying, using the Simply Filling program through WW, I've lost 18.2 lbs in 5 weeks!!!! Did I get your attention? Let's continue...

image from stackoverflow.com

What is Simply Filling? Simply put, Simply Filling is the non-tracking brother to the Points Plus Program through Weight Watchers. In WW, there are foods that are labeled as "Power Foods" and they are signified by a green triangle  in all of their program materials. Simply Filling works great for people who don't have the time or patience to track everything they eat. You make the majority of what you eat come from the Power Foods and only deduct points plus values when you eat non-Power Foods. Simply Filling Technique eliminates daily PPV (Points Plus Values) altogether and you are left with your weekly 49 PPV.They key is that you stop eating as soon as you are satisfied (Never Full)

Sooooo...what exactly are Power Foods? Without causing serious copyright issues because I do like to observe proper Netiquette, Power Foods are actually quite simple:

• all fruits and veggies
• lean meats (93% fat free or more, skinless, trimmed etc)
• nonfat dairy
• whole grains (actual whole grains, not processed, partial, or artificially inserted grains) It must say 100% whole grain and nothing else. 
• 2 tsp of healthy oils (olive, vegetable etc) daily

Um, don't I already kinda like eat that now? Yes we do but notice what is excluded from this list. Anything prepared, boxed, broken down etc. Now I admit that many non fat dairy products have been processed (fat free cheese etc), I get it. However, it is quite easy to drink fat free milk, use fat free sour cream, fat free cream cheese etc. This is different than eating fat free chips or something like that. There is not huge amounts of added chemicals. If you are concerned about it and really want to go healthy...add all organics to the list! 

What does this look like in a daily life then? I am so glad you asked! I have found some fantastic recipes to help me along my way. I shared the slow cooker pumpkin oatmeal made with steel cut oats a while back. You can grab that recipe here. I have found that I love plain nonfat greek yogurt for breakfast with just a sprinkling of splenda (yes I eat that crap) with a whole cut up banana. I snack on fruit like ALL DAY LONG!!!!!! Lunch is fun and quite frankly flirty salads topped with everything from frozen corn and black beans with salsa to left over grilled chicken, fat free feta, and a small handful of almonds (those have to be deducted). This week it is homemade bean dip topped with salsa, mounds of lettuce, FF cheddar over Tostitos baked scoops. Yum!!! 

But I want a glass of wine, is that a Power Food? Alas, it is not. However, you have 49 PPV to use for the week in any way you'd like. Enjoy a glass of wine (4 PPV for 4 oz), have some ice cream, include some real parmesan on your whole wheat pasta and homemade spaghetti sauce. Huge perk...not even joking- Grande Skinny cinnamon dolce latte at Starbucks is a Power Food. What!! 

How do I start??? Start by saying no to anything prepared in a box for you or prepared as a frozen meal. Make your meals and freeze them yourself to go to later in the week. Explore veggies and fruits that are seasonal because they are cheaper and usually taste better. This is the perfect time of year to try some new squashes. Stock up on fruits and veggies. Yes you will have to shop at least once a week because natural, non-processed foods just don't last as long.  I literally buy a bunch of 8 or more bananas three times a week. My daughter, husband, and I gobble them down like people catnip.

I have said it and I'll say it again, I have been so successful using the Simply Filling Technique through WW. You don't lose 18.2 lbs in 5 weeks not loving the program. I never feel deprived, I don't take any pills, I do my strength training with my physical therapist for my knee (for which I earn activity points and hence more food points), and I never feel deprived or starving. I enjoy a brownie if I want it and I don't hate myself afterward. Simply Filling is just that...Simple. 

Busy Weekend

My friend Leigh-Ann joked on Facebook this weekend that she as looking for the energy to do stuff around her house and I asked her to share with me if she found it...well, I may have stolen it. I was way more productive this weekend than expected, especially considering we have a sick baby too.

Saturday morning was mostly spent with Kenzie; poor thing is so congested but still very happy, which is surprising. Her nose is still both runny and stuffy but she's eating and sleeping normally so I'm not too worried. I went on a "Cook for the week" rampage Saturday afternoon. As I've been really digging into the Simply Filling plan through Weight Watchers (and seeing awesome results), Mike and I have committed to cooking/preparing our lunches to take to work rather than eating out. Typically we do this together (which I also love) on Sunday evenings. I started early...

I tried out three new recipes this weekend (and highly encourage you to try them as well):

Slow Cooker Pumpkin Oatmeal

I am not a huge fan of large chunks of pumpkin so I substituted with Honey Crisp Apples (yum!) and I decided to am up the flavor with Pumpkin Pie Spice instead of just the cinnamon and Nutmeg (highly recommend). 

Sweet Potato Pudding

This was for Kenzie- I used actual Sweet Potatoes rather than yams, which is clearly what is used here (the orange color). I chose the Rice Milk over the Almond milk just because I haven't introduced nuts to Kenzie yet. I doubled this recipe and added a little more milk than the recipe called for.

Baby Bolognese

I couldn't find the alphabet letters so I used Arthur shaped noodles from a box of organic macaroni and cheese from Spouts. 

Altogether, each recipe made 5 meals so I froze and stored them in containers for dinners for a couple weeks (the oatmeal made 6 one cup servings). It's true that Kenzie is also getting to the age where she can eat many of the things we can (for some crazy reason the kid loves Salmon!) but I don't always want her eating our meals because the meats can be tough for her (we love our red meat) and sometimes our spice or salt content is too much for her. I have noticed that keeping an assortment of roastable veggies and fruits make great combos for her at dinner time. She will plow through a couple bananas, half a roasted sweet potato and half a pear in a meal. 

I'm not ashamed to admit we are also prepared baby food people. We prefer the Plum Organics brand and are blessed with Grandma and Nonni who help supply Kenzie her yummy food. And of course we are not above all the Gerber snacks that Kenzie loves loves loves... like Puffs, Wheels, breakfast bars, fruit leathers, and Mum Mums. We keep all of those stocked constantly. I find myself in a content mix of making Kenzie's food and having some prepared stuff on hand. 

Today, I focused on meals for the week. For lunch I decided to take a break from my salads and embrace some lean sirloin with roasted onions and yellow peppers paired with steamed edamame. It's fun to keep things new and fresh. So Leigh-Ann, maybe I did steal your energy :)