Summer

So I printed next year’s school calendar today and while noting the day they start… when breaks were going to occur…their last day, etc…I skimmed over the graduation dates for all three Moore schools because that is what I have always done when I print this calendar every year…and then it hit me! This date is MY baby’s graduation date from high school! It is not a date for the parents of the Seniors to note, as it has been in the past…this year…it’s mine to put in the calendar and it just about breaks my heart!! However premature it may seem…it is killing me!!

On a little less depressing note…I haven’t had time to post in a while, even though I have several things to share…so I will start with my not so little baby boy. This summer started out like always…baseball and basketball every day. And what was really awesome is that even though Caleb had a few rough games the beginning of the season…he started just lighting it up! And for us moms who stress and get sick every time our son’s up to bat because we don’t want them to feel disappointment in themselves if they are not perfect in everything they do…or maybe that is just moms with perfectionist children and with a little bit of those tendencies themselves…okay – another needed post…anyways…life on the bleachers is so much better when they are just rocking the ball!!



I have more baseball pics to post...at a later date...when I have lots of time on my hands...what-ev!


And of course you know when things are rocking along and going well that something is gonna have to happen...sounds kinda pessimistic huh? (...sooo, that must be where Caleb gets it :o) Andddd...during the first game of a double header last week, Caleb was stuffed on an inside pitch and instead of just turning into it and wearing it...he had visions of driving it down the third base line...only that wasn't to be...and the pitch caught him straight on the thumb...broke the bone completely in two...and because he played the rest of that game (batting two more times) and 4 of the 5 innings they played in the next game...the bone was displaced and we were sweating it because we thought they were going to have to do surgery...but there was a good news when the ortho doc said he thought it would go ahead and heal without having to do the surgery...and were we ever so glad! Caleb is now sporting a black cast for the rest of summer...which now has silver flowers and pretties all over it thanks to his good friend Rachel!

I still think he is trying to figure out how to make wakeboarding happen even with the cast...Lord...I am needing an extra supply of patience! Thank you and Amen!

How is the eating more healthy going you ask?

Well let me tell you…I must say I am proud of both Dave and myself...if I do say so…which I do. We are really making an overall effort to be more conscience of our decisions concerning what goes into our mouths and you know what…I feel better…I am sure that Dave does too but I won’t speak for him as I am sure he wants to blog about it himself. Really? Noooo – not really :o)

Anywho…there have been a few issues I have had with our new way of eating… 1) I am not a meat lover…but in order to get the balanced meals we need and also the protein and so my husband does not go out in search of a new wife that will provide meat for him at his meals ;-) …eating meat is basically essential to my success & marriage, soooo I eat meat. I do try to find different ways to prepare it and that has been fun. But I have also dabbled in the world of veggie meat! As the rest of my family would say…EEEWWWW! But the funny thing is…I have liked it for the most part. I love the California burgers because to me, they taste like egg rolls. I know a lot of people don’t like egg rolls but I love them. And when I was comparing frozen egg rolls you buy at the store…I found they were almost identical in nutrition as the veggie burgers…I was pumped about that because I love them and I feel like I am getting to eat bread so it makes it even better. Of course, I just heat mine up in the microwave or the oven…sorry…no frying.

2) I don’t let myself eat hardly any bread…although I did buy some all grain bread in hopes that I can allow myself a slice or so per week…I really have been surprised at myself as to how I have been able to just walk away from bread…it was a large portion of my life people. But as I have said…it is my evil nemesis and therefore must be destroyed. Especially potato bread…I mean come on…I know that all the gyms and trainers of the world got together and invented potato bread in order to make sure they had never ending customers…I mean we don’t have enough carbs in bread or potatoes by themselves…noooo…we need to add them together! But have you tasted a piece of fresh potato bread??? Well enough thinking and talking about that!! If I don’t think or talk about it…it just doesn’t exist. Right? Everyone please nod your head! Thank you for understanding!

3) I love desserts and I do miss them tremendously! I not only miss eating sweets but I miss finding new recipes and experimenting…and also sharing my finds with others so they get that…’I am a slave to sugar too look on their faces’…makes me feel better about myself…not so alone but just a bigger part of the sugar freaks anonymous. So, yesterday, we went out with Steve and Jeannie Simpson…friends from college who live in MO now and whom we hardly ever get to see. (Miss you guys and had such a great time getting to catch up!! Caleb is already trying to plan which game he is coming to see :o) We decided to go to Orange Leaf (formally Orange Tree.) So here is a place where my children & friends frequent often and also a place I have avoided like the plague. But…friends are in town…we want to go out for ice cream…okie dookie…so off we went…while we were dvr’ing the Lost finale…which we all watched after we got home at 10:30…yes we did not go to bed until after 1am on a school/work night…okay…that’s a different post… Short and simple…peanut butter frozen yogurt…with bananas…with granola…with some caramel topping drizzled just so so…well my heart almost could not bear it. I have not had any dessert (well I did try to make cheesecake out of some weird healthy stuff and while it wasn’t like gaggy to eat…it wasn’t categorized as dessert by any stretch of the imagination and was pretty much all thrown away…) for over two months and I will just come out and say…
Hi: My name is Kristy & I am a sugaroholic. I have admitted myself back into the 12-step program and will be attending counseling sessions in order to block out the memories of what I believe to be the absolute yummiest frozen yogurt I have ever tasted!!! (Did I say I haven’t had any dessert in 2 months…okay…just making sure I clarified that :o)

So with that being said…I will leave you with this…yes I ate frozen yogurt this weekend (not to mention all the Starbuck visits…hey!! ~ all made skinny and with splenda…geesh…let me live a little will ya?) and NO…I did not do one bit of exercise outside of sitting my tail end on bleachers for most of the weekend. No I do not feel guilty in the least…because I did not get on the scale this morning therefore, there is nothing to feel guilty about. Thank you for not judging me…

Prom 2010

Well I haven't blogged in a while because life tends to get busy :o) But I also have guilt that Caleb's grandparents had to look at prom pics on Dave's phone...so I am going to post a few of the 400 pics I took :o)

This is the first one of them together at Lindsey's house. They're such cuties! And bless Lindsey's heart...and her mom and dad...she is an officer and therefore not only planned the whole prom with the other Jr officers but also had to be there to set it up and take it all down. Her parents and grandma were there for the setup and take down too...they are such troopers!!

At Lindsey's house before they all went to Jake's. It is really nice that Lindsey lives right around the corner...especially when it came to breakfast time :o)

Everyone meets at Jake's to take pics...their house and landscaping is so beautiful!

This picture makes me laugh...they were such sport for letting me play :o)

I rarely get Caleb to smile like this! He had such a fun night with Lindsey and all their friends. After prom, they all went back over to Jake's and had an after-prom party.

This is my most favorite pic!!

Caleb being Mr. Coolio

Before getting in the limo.

And then there was breakfast...at 4am...oh my geez! Ashtyn and I actually had gone to bed around midnight so were able to sleep a couple of hours. Greg and Lisa (Lindsey's parents) were such troopers because they actually were at the Cowboy Hall of Fame cleaning up prom at midnight and then came home and got all of the food ready for the crew. Ashtyn felt bad because she wasn't home to take pics before with Caleb and Lindsey so she told me that she would get up to help with breakfast. I thought...sure you will...but she did and didn't even go back to sleep afterwards. Not me...I went back to sleep after breakfast...no problem. But of course, it probably had something to do with the Rock Star she drank!


This is the last pic of Caleb for the night. I had bought him a case (4) of Monsters to drink so he would be able to stay awake all night. I don't usually like them drinking them but I also knew he would be a bear...and even though they did keep him awake...he was definitely done when breakfast was over...I think that was pretty much the concensus all around. They are such great kids and I am so glad they had a great night!

Injuries

So Ashtyn's track season was plagued by injuries...mainly due to basketball :o) (And you wonder why the track coaches discourage additional sports during track and xcountry season.)
She actually started track season with a sprained ankle and was not able to practice during the first of the season. Once she was able to start running again, she played in a weekend basketball tournament and pulled her quad muscle. That pretty much put her out for the second half of the season.


She was able to start running a week and a half before their conference meet. Only running in time trials the week before, she ran one event in that week's meet.

The following week was Conference and her first race in the meet was a 4x8. That is 4/800's - relay. Ashtyn ran the second leg and the girl had a 50 meter lead on her...by the time they finished their leg, Ashtyn had about a 100 meter lead. She created such a substantial lead, the coaches had the other two girls slow down who ran legs after Ashtyn, in order to save energy for the races to come. So WM girls started out strong and took first place in the 4x8 as well as a couple other short distance races early in the meet. Ashtyn also ran another individual 800 where she got 5th. The race was only a couple races after the 4x8, so she had little recovery time. I was worried she would be upset because if you know Ashtyn, you know she does not deal well with not medaling :o) But she was good because she knew she had put everything into that first race and for someone who hadn't basically trained all season...she had a great conference meet. The coaches also put her in a 200 meter race on the fly as well in order to try to obtain more points to secure the overall win. She placed 3rd! And even better...the Westmoore girls ended up winning the overall Conference!!! So proud of those girls!

Here are some pics of the season:


This is the Moore War meet!

Talking to coach Taylor. These three girls and Rylie who runs shorter distance during track season, have an awesome chance at winning State in high school cross country! They are beasts at long distance!!!

Conference Meet!

Nerves before her leg of the 4x8...

Just got the handoff...

This is where she catches the girl who had the lead and pulls ahead on the 4x8. So proud of her!

It's over? Really?

Room Redo

So about three years ago, we redid Ashtyn's room. It was fun but in order to put up the wall paper, I had to sand off all the texture on the bottem half of her room...and let me just say...I will never, ever, ever! do it again. Did I say never? First off, I didn't even think about covering the vents to her room and...well let's just say it was a mistake that I learned greatly from. Anywho...three, very short in my opinion, years later...Ashtyn is convinced that her current decorations are just too young for her. And guess what else..."I really want texture back on my walls too mom"...blink...deep breaths..."Do you remember what I went through to get the texture off your walls???" "Sure mom...but I need something that will look good if I want to antique over the paint..."which gave me another moments pause before I said..."go to time out!" Okay! So that doesn't work with a fourteen year old...fine!! Then I'll just go to my own time out!!!
So after much time spent in my personal "time outs" and about 30 eye rolls later...not Ashtyn's, mine!!...every time the subject came up...I relented and allowed her to start picking out paint. And while Dave was away, we started pulling down wall paper. (We have to plan major redo's to coincide with business trips...it is the secret to a long and happy marraige!

So here was the old...makes me a little sad...

And down comes the wall paper...what a messy job...border is easy...its the rest of the wall that gets ya. Border just pulls off all together...the bottom...you pull and get an inch and a half strip and you think how long is this gonna take if it comes off an inch at a time. Luckily we found better remover but I always remind myself during these projects that I am hiring out next time...yet somehow I forget the frustration and am ready to tackle another project in no time. I think women are made that way...the whole forgetting thing...or else we would never even dream of having a second child after what we go through with the first...it's the forgetting trait and it allows us to also believe our children when they tell us that redo'ing their room won't be hard at all...

I had to go ahead and take some pics of the decorations as they are all going...it's nice to have memories of what was...and this sign pretty much sums it up about Ashtyn. Her brother will confirm if there are any doubts.

This is one of her dressers...isn't it fun what a little paint and a sharpie marker will do?? I have no shame...if a sharpie marker will do the job...that's what I use :o)

That is what is fun about do it yourself furniture...you can pretty much do whatever you want and not feel bad about it....

Side view...

After all the wall paper was down...kinda sad!

And here is the new progress....

Yes...as you can see, she went from a hot pink to a now....RED RED RED.

Stay tuned for the finished product...

Eating Right...

So...we have been on a serious 'change your eating habits' at our home...and when I say change...I mean...I have not had any type of bread for the last month and a half...nor had any starchy foods come near...that includes potatoes people! The only sugar I have eaten has been from fruit. And can I tell you??? My happiness at times directly relates to the food that enters my mouth...and every category I have just listed are those that make me the happiest! Which is the scary truth of it all!

There was a time several years ago that I actually got too skinny...I look at pictures of myself and think that was just not very attractive as you can see below and not to mention...I was very unhealthy in my obsession with it all. It ruled my life! And that is also not a happy place to be...



But in my struggle to let that go...as well as blowing out 2 disc in my lower back due to my obsession with exercise and weight... I have swung back the other way where I don't take as much time to care about what goes into my mouth. So I have gained weight. And that is not a happy place to be either.

Don't get me wrong...I still love to run and exercise! That is not where the problem lies. The problem is the food that goes in my mouth. My body does not process breads and starches well. I can eat a 1000-1200 calorie diet and still gain weight. It is no lie...but the minute I cut out bread/sugar/starches...the weight comes off.

I know this but yet I don't want to live by it. Know what I mean...we know things are not good for us but we want it anyway. When I was diagnosed with Graves disease, there was a period of time when they killed my thyroid that I gained 30 pounds in about a 2 month time frame...what did I do?...cut out the above and guess what...I had lost all the weight in about a month and a half. So as I continued to see the scale rise again in the last couple of years...I have been forced to look at my lifestyle and know that if I want to be thinner...I have to choose.

I love to cook and that is the hardest part of trying to be healthy. But I know that at some point once I get back to where I need to be, I will be able to reintroduce "some" of those foods into my life but at the same time, I also know that I just can't eat those things. For me...it is just easier to cut them out completely.

The good news is...you do get past the point that you crave those carbs the way you use to. The harder part is to get my kids to eat that way. That is the hardest thing for me...I want my kids to want to eat healthy but at the same time, it is on me as to why they don't. They did not take themselves to the grocery store and buy all the processed foods and sweets they have been use to their whole lives. Of course I would always make sure they had some fruit and veggies along side their pizza rolls or lunchables. (??!!) So funny! that it actually made me feel better about the awful stuff they were eating by throwing in a few slices of apples. What are we doing to our kids when we teach them that all this stuff is alright to eat? Please don't get me wrong...I am not Mrs Organic...I would love to be able to say that I am but I am just gonna be honest...it is hard to pay 2 and 3 times the cost for organic food. I also am setting here with a diet a&w cream soda sitting next to me. No...I am by no means close to where I want to be. But that is the point! I want to be better! And I want my family to want to be better. Even if that means taking it a step at a time.

Maybe it is age...maybe it is because I want to help my children understand that taking care of our bodies is so important because we only get one. Maybe it is because I don't want to continue to take for granted that I am always going to have my health and flippantly treat my health as something that is a God-given right. Maybe because it is important! So I strive to try to change some of our habits and in the process have also embarked on a mission to try to be creative and use my love for cooking to find recipes and invent some new healthy favorites for our household. It is not easy! But we are going to keep going. As we keep going, I will try to post some recipes we find along the way.

Dave has been playing tons of raquetball and has also commited to this change in habits...he is down 25lbs and guess what...so am I :o) It is worth it. It may not seem like it at first but I refuse to be a slave to food!! Its purpose is to provide nourishment to our body...not fill our spirit! I want my spirit to be filled by the One who provides everlasting nourishment!

Spring!

Spring is very busy! I have spent a lot of it at basketball and baseball games but a large part of springtime is always devoted to the garden. And can I just tell ya? I am worn out! My shoulders all the way down to be fingers were aching so badly when I got out of bed yesterday morning! Oh well…much needed exercise for tank top season!

This year I think I have gone a little crazy in the pepper department…probably 8 jalapeno plants and countless types of bell peppers…I planted yellow ones, red ones, green ones and even purple ones this year! Even trying some poblano peppers as well. We’ll see how all the different types do in the Oklahoma weather. I haven’t really experienced too many problems growing peppers.

I have around 15 tomato plants this year which is pretty close to what I usually do…and is way too much for my family of four but I love it!! I really wanted to start canning last year but I get too overwhelmed by it and then don’t do it. How I wished my grandma were still here so she could show me how. I have read about it and I know that it all sounds fairly straight forward but to then go and buy what I need to get started…well, I simply sit there in the store and stare at all the stuff on the aisle and think…I totally have no clue what I am doing!

This year I am also trying eggplants, which is a whole new thing for me. I bought two different varieties so we will see which one does better. Of course I put in two more raised beds in addition to my garden space, which I cannot say my husband is thrilled about, but he will be happier once there is produce…maybe:o) I have to say in his defense, the beds are at the side of our house which is the side for mower access to the rest of the back yard. I did leave enough space for the mower to get through…but let me tell you…it just fits through! Less space wasted means more veggies for us…[ :O / ] that’s Dave’s…do what you want, you’re going to anyway face… They are totally dedicated to cantaloupe and cucumbers…and speaking of cucumbers…I just took this pic last night. It is the first of the cucumber plants that just popped through.

I so get a kick out of seeing these plants start from just a little seed and then grow and grow and actually produce food that we use to nourish our bodies with! Such a God thing! No other way for me to look at it!

Here are my precious strawberry plants that come back year after year…I think that is why they are so special to me :o)

And this is the first little bell pepper emerging to meet the world! Hello little pepper!

And here are the first flowers on my beloved tomato plants…didn’t even see the spider there until I looked at the pic on the computer with it enlarged. Fun or ewww! I love spiders outside eating all the other bugs but I hate them crawling on me...just can't deal, sorry~ it's my girl side that I let out every once in awhile.

Ok – here is quick run down of the rest…Radishes, 3 different types of lettuce, squash, zucchini, also cherry tomatoes as well as a variety called jelly bean tomatoes…suppose to be little bitty but sweet, sweet, sweet. I have never even heard of them before so we will see how it goes… basil, oregano, cilantro, lavender, dill, sage, parsley, tarragon, chives (which also came back from last year) and I know there are a couple more spices but I’ll remember you when you start growing :o) and also some green beans (those didn’t do too hot last year but I think I planted them too late for the spring planting and too early for that late summer planting so we’ll see what happens.

Now to attack the rest of the flower plantings…much work on the front end but so much pleasure in the months to come. Also – I will try to do another blog here pretty quick about Ruby’s. It is the greatest nursery! And their prices are so reasonable…I mean like .50 to.99 cents a plant on most veggies and single qt flowers!!! (Walmart and Lowes were selling veggies from $4-$6 a plant!!! Are you kidding me??) If you live close to the City and you still haven’t got your seeds in the ground, they are excellent to buy from!

Happy Spring All!!