Sweet Pickin

B and I took the boys to Emmet for some cherry picking. We missed the festival last weekend, but heard the cherries were still on for another couple of weeks. J wasn't feeling well, as he had been running a bit of a fever last night, but E thought it was great fun. He was very proud to pull the bucket around the orchard, even though it was almost as big as he is.

I hope to find a cherry pitter, and freeze some of our little bounty. A co-worker mentioned that her family enjoys frozen cherries -- popped like candy, or in a smoothie. I hope to give that a try.

I think they would go great on a spinach salad, or something. I always love fruit on a green salad, but have a hard time knowing what kind of dressing to use when I make my own. Please share your suggestions or recipes for adding fruit to green salad.

Simplify

I've decided to simplify my life. This isn't a small change, it is actually a really big change. I'm taking it one step at a time though. I want to live more simply. I want my sons to live more simply. I want our family to be more focused on, well, family.

I've started with decluttering our home. I only want to surround myself with things that I love and will be loved by and bless my family. I don't want to be controlled by the clutter in my home.

I'm also decluttering my online life. All of my blogs have been neglected lately, and since I don't actually have any readers, I don't feel to badly about it. I will be retiring Du Willie Design, or at least putting it on an extended sabbatical. Many Small Changes will be my blog. I'll continue to post about my weight-loss journey. But I'll also post about my life, my family, my hobbies, and what ever else I find interesting.

Success

My original goal was to be able to run in the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure, which happens on May 9th here in Boise. But I won't be able to. I just didn't get the training in that I wanted. Part of it was bad weather and bad knees. Alot of it was laziness ane excuses. So my plan was, I just won't do it. I'll forget the Race for the Cure this year, and maybe next year I'll run it. Then it hit me. How could I be so stupid. Just because I won't be able to run the whole 5k doesn't mean that I shouldn't at least try to run some of it, or even walk all of it for that matter. Giving up compleletly would mean failure, but participating will be success. So, yesterday, I went to the website and registered. I will be participating (probably walking) in the Race for the Cure this year. I'm actually excited about it.

I'm doing it on my own. Other 5K walks, I've had buddies or friends that I've walked with. This year, I want to set me own pace. Run some if I can, don't if I can't. I think it will be fun. I'm really excited.

Failure

I just gave up. I don't know why. One day, I just decided that I wasn't going to go for my walk. I think I was tired, or my knee hurt, or the boys were crying. I don't even remember. And it doesn't even matter. I gave up. I quit. Like I always do. Brett encouraged me, commanded me even, to keep it up. And I ignored him. Maybe I even resented him a bit.

I wish I knew why I continue to quit. It seems sometimes like it's the only thing I'm good at.

On my walks, I had been listening to Jillian Michael's pod casts, and she talks about set backs. Heck, everyone talks about set backs. Like everyone, Jillian says they are going to happen. And everyone says that when they happen, you need to accept it and move on. You aren't a failure if you have a set back, as long as you acknowledge it and you move on. You move forward again. They say you should move on the next day, or even the next meal or workout.

It always seems to take me a little longer, okay, a lot longer. But now, I'm moving on. I've accepted that I've made mistakes, that I'll never reach my goals if I don't continue to move forward. And I'm moving forward today. Starting now.

Vegetables, Again

I did a very poor job working more vegetables into my diet. I think I'll give it a try for another week.

I had been doing a great job of writing down everything that I ate. I was writing everything in my 'virtual' notebook on Google Docs. Then I found a website -- The Fat Secret -- where I started to record what I ate. I really like the website, but I was having a really hard time recording things like "a bite of Frosty" or "a drink of my husband's soda". Again, the perfectionist in me wanted to do it perfectly, but couldn't, so I stopped. I've taken a few days break from recording what I eat, but I'm going to pick that up again, just using the virtual notebook again. I don't count calories this way, but I'm trying to work more on why I'm eating than how much I'm eating.

Yuck! Well, maybe not.

We ate dinner at my in-laws tonight. My mother-in-law served asparagus, as she frequently does. For the first time, I cut some up for the boys. I thought, "Just because I don't like the green stuff, doesn't mean that they shouldn't be able to try it." And they loved it -- just like they love green beans and broccoli and peas.

Then, I thought that I had said that I would never make them eat anything that I wouldn't put in my mouth. In the spirit of that and eating more vegetables, I tried the asparagus. And I liked it. It's not that I had never eaten it before, I just hadn't tried it since middle school. I remember something much mushier -- like the canned spinach my mom made me eat once.

I'm actually kind of excited about it. I now have another vegetable to add to my diet arsenal.

Eat Your Veggies!

I added water, and I'm still doing pretty good with that.

I added exercise, and I've done really well with that -- I've only missed one day completely in the last few weeks and I felt so guilty about it, I'm sure it won't happen again.

I added fruit, and as long as I have it in the house, I eat it. My husband went on a banana kick, and we ran out of fruit before I made it back to the store.

I started recording what I eat, and that's gone okay. Nobody is looking at it but me, so I don't feel like I have much accountability.

My next change is going to be adding veggies. Like fruit, just one serving. I think this one is going to be hard for me. I don't really know many veggies to eat. I can't convince my husband that corn isn't a vegetable, and he is in charge of dinner right now. Carrots and broccoli just get boring. If you have some good ideas about how I can add more veggies to my diet, please share them. Otherwise, my fingers will be stained with the orange of baby carrots.