Busy busy busy!

We're starting Whole30 tomorrow!

Today I put away all the things we can't eat, and prepped all three meals for tomorrow. Whew!

Top three shelves: Whole30 friendly (notice how empty they are?), bottom two: all forbidden (crammed full)

Fridge is full of spaghetti squash with turkey tomato sauce, "protein salads", and spinach frittata
Also included: 5 dozen eggs, 2 whole chickens, 7 pounds of pork butt, 2.5 pounds of spinach

We're going to have to do so much prep. Yikes. I haven't even made a full meal plan yet, but we're going off what's in the book for the first week. I guess we'll play it by ear a little, but that's also stressing me out. I just know that how much we end up eating can be pretty variable, so I don't want to plan too many meals.

Speaking of playing it by ear, I know I promised you my one year revisions, but I'm going to leave those open, too. I think I'm in for big life changes this year with Hubster graduating and quitting my job, so I'd like to set myself up for success by having more options and not beating myself up if I change something late in the game.

I did send my first calligraphy birthday card today:

February is gonna be crazy!!

Updates? Updates!

They announced the nominees for the Best Animated Picture for this year. The bad news is I have to watch The Boss Baby. And Ferdinand. Yeesh. I also get to watch Loving Vincent and The Breadwinner, so that's okay. I've already seen Coco, so 1 down, 4 to go!

I've also been researching Whole30 foods and I found the blog Nom Nom Paleo and some others that have Whole30 recipes. I've also found shopping lists for a few stores, so I'm hoping getting a bit of convenience food will help things, too. This week I'm going to go up to Trader Joe's and load up.

I've been trying to get a few extra recipes in this month before we start eating whole foods: I've made 2 panna cottas (mugicha for the win) and 2 international recipes (chimichurri and plov - delish). I'll also have 2 Cooking with Dog recipes done by the end of the month.

I've been feeling a little overwhelmed with everything, but I've just got to make good plans and get things done. Getting things done!

Complete: 86. Collect 10+ new smashed pennies and clean and organize my collection

I took advantage of my day off work for MLK Day to finally finish my pennies. I had collected 10 new ones as of October:

1. Spokane Riverfront Park - World's Largest Radio Flyer Wagon
2. Silverwood Amusement Park - Tremors
3. Jelly Belly Factory
4. Santa Cruz Boardwalk
5. Yosemite Valley
6. Saguaro National Park
7. Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
8. Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival
9. Vernal Field Museum
10. Epcot (I got one for each country there plus a few more, so...way surpassed 10 with this one)

This site has been invaluable in finding penny machines.  Super shout out!

Having collected my 10, I went through my collection and cleaned the ones that needed it. I discovered the best process was first salt and vinegar, then rubbing it with a baking soda paste. A pencil eraser got rid of some things, too. Just look at the difference for this one:

Heck! What a beaut!


Having cleaned, it was time for organization. I wanted to find a way some novel way to organize them, but I finally determined chronologically is the best way to keep doing it.  I consolidated my folders and I'll continue to fill as I collect.

25 items done, wooooooo!

Whole30?

I'm looking to get item #62 completed soon: Follow an elimination diet to see if I have food intolerances

The more I learn about food, the more I realize just how much it affects our daily life and health, and the more I want to do something about it. I have a few health conditions that I think could be helped with diet, and I'm curious to see if certain foods are causing some symptoms, so an elimination diet is the way to go.

In researching different plans, I came across Whole30, which is fairly established. It focuses on creating a healthy relationship with food by eating mostly (you guessed it) whole foods. It also cuts out all possibly inflammatory foods for 30 days, and then you can reintroduce things a little at a time to see if they affect your body. 

We're talking eliminating sugar, grains, legumes, dairy, and junk food - including, worst of all, french fries. I might die. But it's only 30 days, right?

Hubster is a champ and is going to do it with me. I think having accountability and support will help. I also think if we can plan and prepare and have food ready to go, it will go smoothly. 

We're aiming for February (+ 2 days), so I'm doing my research and we're getting ready. 

Please tell me I'm not crazy. 

One Year Left

One year from today my list will be ending. Yikes.

I've gone through the list and decided to change #6. Send picture or video thank you notes for the duration of the list, since I've already failed this one. I sent the thank yous for one birthday and then I started feeling awkward about it by Christmas. Oh well! I still think it's a really good idea, just maybe not for every gift and maybe not for every gifter. I'll try to keep doing it on a selective basis.

I'm changing this one to Send calligraphy birthday cards to family and friends for one year, being this year, as it's the only year I have left. If you'd like to be included with a card, just let me know! I got all sorts of great calligraphy things for Christmas, and I don't want to lose my skills from class, so I think this will be a good way to keep it up. Bonus points for continuing in the spirit of the original goal. It also justifies continuing to purchase fancy calligraphy supplies. :)

I have a few more candidates for change, but I need to think on them a little more. December ended up way too busy for my liking, so I'll have everything finalized by the end of this month.

The good news is if I finish everything I'm on track for, even without changing things out, I'm set to complete 78 items. I did 75 on my last one, so that's already an improvement.

I'm excited to see where 2018 takes me. Happy New Year!