Flaxseed, and Soy Beans, and Omega 3 - oh my...

Care to know what I ate for breakfast?

"Trader Joe's Soy & Flax Clusters"

And I quote: "A sweet and crunchy bland of Flaxseed Clusters, Flakes & Soy Nuts containing 6g of Fiber, 7g of Protein and 650mg of Omega-3's Essentail Fatty Acids"

*cups hand to ear* Ah yes, I hear your thunderous applause." *bows* "Thank you, thank you very much..."

Quite different from the Captain Crunch that you were expecting, no?!

On March 16th I met a gal that has potentially changed my eating habits for the long-term. I was at a women's retreat and I met a 39 year old gal who had open-heart surgery just months before. Apparently, her left artery (to her heart) was 75% blocked.

39.

39 years old.

As in: just a couple of years older than me.

Ok folks, stop the crap food train - I'm getting off. I came home and on Monday March 19th I decided to completely change my eating habits. Not just lose weight (which was something I had kept meaning to do anyway) but to deliberately eat foods that were heart healthy and avoid ones that weren't. I read up on the different kinds of fat: saturated, unsaturated (poly-unsaturated, mono-unsaturated) trans fats etc... And tried to not buy anything that contained corn syrup or hydrogenated oil. I quit buying beef and starting buying buffalo (bison) and ground turkey instead. I discovered "No-Pudge" brownie mix at Trader Joe's which makes ZERO fat brownies (and oddly enough, they are better than the scratch brownie recipe I have been using for 12 years! But you have to slightly under-cook them for them to be perfect!!) I also made the suprising switch to Coke Zero - which after buying a can of every diet soda I could think of and conducting a massive taste test - is the only diet pop that doesn't leave a vomitous after taste.

Wanna know what I learned? I always thought that Diet Coke was the coke recipe with the sugar swapped out for artificial sweetener. NOT SO! It's a different recipe entirely. Which explains why I loathe it. However - Coke Zero IS the coke recipe with the sugar swapped out for equal. Fascinating, no? I EVEN (and those of you who have known my husband for any length of time will be shocked by this) got my husband to switch to Coke Zero - and he LIKES it! BIZARRE I know! This is the man who LOATHES and DESPISES the very idea of diet soda.

Anyway - I bought flax seeds to throw in my salads. I am eating Ezekiel 4:9 bread which is a flourless sprouted grain bread. My new tortilla chips of choice? "Spicy soy & flaxseed" from my good friend Trader Joe, of course. I EVEN made the switch [which I swore to never do] from regualr mayo, sour cream and cream cheese to the "light" versions of all of these and much to my surprise, I have lived to tell! I even switched to Frappuccino "Light" drinks which, when I tried one a couple of summers ago - I had found disgusting!

I also quit buying chicken nuggets, fish sticks and corndogs for the kids. Although that has seriously limited possible lunch choices! If it weren't for the expense - I would buy the veggie chicken nuggets and corn dogs but they are are like 300% more expensive, even at Trader Joe's. So, I haven't made that jump yet. Perhaps I will make my own from scratch and live off the land. I did switch from all beef hotdogs to turkey dogs (which I personally find vomitous) but the kids all like them better. [Not that ANY hotdog isn't a death sentence!]

I haven't ground our own peanut butter yet - we are still working through the Costco-sized JIF containers. Perhaps this will be the next phase - we'll see. I have also NOT bought bacon in 2 months. Although, when we were at the zoo yesterday we were looking at a large pig and before I realized it, I was wondering out loud, "I wonder which part is the bacon..." Eric glared at me and motioned at the kids. "Ah yes - zoo ettitquette! Let's not discuss eating the zoo animals in front of the children..."

Oh yeah - I am eating brown rice - BROWN RICE, PEOPLE!!!!!! And weird or all weirdness - the kids even like the brown rice! So far they haven't rejected any of the new foods - which has surprised me.

If you know me in real life - you are probably just regaining consciousness. My bad - I should have told you to sit down before reading this!

The result of all of this has been a 16 pound weight loss! Granted, I have been eating smaller portions, but I have only "worked out" twice in the last 2 months [not that I'm proud of that, I keep meaning to exercise.] But it's really all just been about eating moderate amounts of healthy foods. Gee, go figure that would make my body healthier!!

During all of this, some girlfriends and I did a weight loss contest for 6 weeks. Everyone put in $20 and the person who lost the most weight at the end of the 6 weeks - won the pot! Guess what? I won! They actually each bought me $20 Ross giftcards (at my request - so I wouldn't use the $ for groceries) instead of giving me cash so I do believe I will go shopping soon! We have just started our second contest - we are a week into it and I have lost 2 pounds. I have a feeling I may have to work a little harder this time - which is fine, my 20 year high school reunion is this year. It might be nice to lose another 30 - 40 pounds or so.

I must admit that even I am shocked that I am still gung-ho after 9 weeks. Usually, I am a fad person and I phase out long before that. Perhaps I really will stick with this!

I present to you: the new and improved heart-healthy, Trader Joe's shopping, flaxseed consuming Natalie!

I'm considering purchasing a dye-dye shirt, dousing myself with petuli oil and heading for the hills...

Go Blake!!

Cell phones charging?...CHECK!

Popcorn popping?...........CHECK!

TIVO set to record?..........CHECK!

OK, all set for the final American Idol! *sniff*

Eric is on a walk with the kids while I get popcorn ready and get the family room all set up for an evening of cheering and voting!!

Ok, I am trying to download "dial idol" which is supposed to continually speed dial your favorite idol's number. Let's see if I can get it working in the next 30 minutes...

Oh cool, I think it works! Groovy! Let's see if I can beat my former record of 518 votes in 1 night! Of course, I voted the old fashioned way that time - dialing 3 phones simultaneously till my little fingers nearly fell off.

Milk: it does a body good (?)

I OFTEN find cups of half-full beverages throughout my house - which causes me to pass judgment on all the members of my home. This past Monday I was in the kitchen shortly after lunchtime when I found a drinking glass that was about ¾ full of milk. I picked it up and the glass was lukewarm “You have got to be kidding me!! Milk is not FREE people! That is --IT--!! I am not throwing this down the drain. That man is going to drink this milk!!” I then opened the fridge, put the glass down on a shelf extra hard (for emphasis) and slammed the fridge door shut.

About 2-3 hours later, I was standing in the kitchen and Eric walks in and opens the fridge door. “Is this my milk?” (he asked innocently) *cue judgment* “Well, as a matter of fact it IS! You left it sitting on the counter to rot and I rescued it for you because it would not be wise for us to waste it, would it?!” He started to chug it down then suddenly stopped and ran to the sink and spewed out what he hadn’t swallowed, “THERE IS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH THAT MILK!!!” [My first response was to glance at my latte and wonder if the milk in that was okay.]

He dumped the rest of the milk in his glass down the drain and started gagging. I picked up the glass and noticed there was a weird almost cream-colored thick residue in the bottom. “That’s weird! This doesn’t look right. Could this be the soy milk that my sister brought over here yesterday?” He snatched the glass from me, stared at it and then yelled “This was your PAINT GLASS!!! This is the glass that you had your paintbrush soaking in!!!”

*cue look of shock and guilt*

“Oh no, you’re right!!! I must have taken out the paintbrush and forgotten to dump the water! I. AM. SO. SORRY. But boy, that looked like milk! ” [Earlier I had been touching up our oatmeal-colored walls and had soaked the brush in a glass of warm water!] Then he shouted, “I DRANK PAINT!!!! I HAVE TO INDUCE VOMITTING!” He then leaned over the sink and began to make some seriously primal gagging noises. At this point I was hysterically laughing. Partly over the noises that were coming out of his mouth but mainly over the irony that the whole thing had started with my mistaken irritation over his forgotten glass of “milk”.

I was soon laughing SO hard that I was crying and could hardly even see through my tears to navigate the stairs down to the garage so I could check the warning on the side of the paint can! After finding no warning - I decided I had better call poison control to be safe. I kept having to repeat stuff because the gal couldn’t understand me with my laughing so hard. She asked me, “What kind of reaction is he experiencing right now?” “Well, mainly severe irritation!!” By the end, she was trying not to laugh and said he’d be fine.

Needless to say - Eric is now sniffing his beverages before consumption...

A very "Blake-y" day...

Well, it was a FULL day in our home today...

We started out by watching an interview with Blake Lewis on our local Fox station when to my DELIGHT - he answered the viewer question >>>I<<< had emailed in. He even said my name on the air! *squeals like a junior high girl*

I. FEEL. SPECIAL.

At 10:30am, the kids and I drove down to the church office to meet up with my girlfriend (one of the other pastor's wives) and HER 4 children. We had one of the pastors drop all of us off at Westlake Center in the church van (that way we didn't have to park in downtown Seattle).

The concert was great, we were right up front on the side of the stage. We met some friends of Blake's and chatted with them for a while - they say he is quite a nice guy. The weather was perfect for the concert - beautiful sunshine. I switched back and forth from having Maisie and Dach on my shoulders. *For Mother's Day I'd like a chiropractor...*

I took a ton of pictures and video!! I feel like a bonafide groupie!

After the concert was over - Eric came and picked us up in the church van and we hung out at the church office for a while. By the time we got home, it was only 2 hours till the babysitter was coming! Eric and I went to Claim Jumpers for dinner with 2 couples that we are friends with from church and then we went to see Spiderman 3.

I tell ya - this girl is tired tonight. Too much fun for 1 day.

Here are some of the pics from the concert...

My girlfriend with 7 of our 8 children.

Westlake Center during the concert. I am right under the pink arrow.

A closer shot.

Blake getting ready to start the concert.

There he goes looking at me again!

Blake beatboxing.

A thumbs-up from my pal Blake.

Dach on my shoulders. *ouch*

A parade for me?? No really, you shouldn't have...

Ok, well it isn't really for me - it's for Blake! You know my buddy Blake Lewis from American Idol - seems like my can't-stop-voting-like-a-tween is paying off! He survived the cut last night and will be here (Seattle-area) doing a couple of local concerts and in a parade tomorrow. So much of me wants to go and see one of the concerts. And yet so much of me doesn't want to try to impossibly park the van, and walk with 4 kids in tow with thousands of love-struck fans only to spend the majority of the time trying to find a potty for Mr Pee-machine...

We'll see if I wake up feeling brave and with all of my memories of previous public excursions with children temporarily erased. If we go to the lunchtime concert then I have to drive to downtown Seattle, try to park and battle the crowds. If we go to the later concert, I have to battle rush hour traffic, try to park and battle the crowds. Hmn, tough choices...

Eric and I have plans tomorrow with friends for dinner and Spiderman 3, so we'll see how motivated I am to be out ALL day and night.

I had 9 kids here for an hour today. Guess what it sounded like...?!?!

Absolutely silent.

That's right! Neighborhood kids come from near and far to wisk my children out into the backyard for hours of play. It's like not even having kids - they all just run around outside. My house stays clean and they sleep well at night. *contented smile* The kids are so frantic to do extra jobs to earn playtime with their friends that my house is currently sparkling. Dishes? CHECK! Laundry folded & put away? CHECK! Rooms clean? CHECK! Floors swept? CHECK! Garbage/recycling taken out? CHECK! Bathroom clean? CHECK! Running out of chores for the kids to do? CHECK! CHECK! CHECK!

I actually removed my window screens and scrubbed the tracks in the windowsills today. I can hardly wait for summer when we don't have to spend those pesky morning hours laboring over homeschool. "Wake up kids - you only have 12 more hours to play outside!!!"

My riveting life...

Confessions of an American Idol addict...

My show is on soon - sadly, my life somewhat revolves around this fact! I'm embarrassed to admit that this 37 year old homeschooling mom - voted 518 times last week. Something IS wrong with me. No my laundry is not done but I have time to phone in 518 votes. In my defense - I had 3 separate phones going at once...it doesn't actually take as much time as you think it would...

So, can you guess which Idol is my favorite? Actually, I'm enjoying all of the people that are left but Blake Lewis is a stand out to me. Very polished, creative and fun. I say go right ahead and liven up EVERY song with a little funky beatbox! His style of music could not be more fitting to the style of music that I enjoy. I found Dach spiking up his hair with gel last Thursday morning while he "beat boxed" to himself. *More like spit all over himself, but he's getting there*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok, so in non-Idol news...

...homeschool, homeschool, homeschool...

Making up for those couple of months we slacked during the move and holidays.

When we aren't homeschooling, we have been enjoying this:

We recently purchased this patio set! I've been looking for one for over 6 months now and finally found one that I love. Now that weather has actually risen to over 60 degrees - we might be able to sit out there without our parkas!

Let's see...ah yes. My 4 year old is becoming quite adept at life these days. He is now able to cut open (without total destruction) an english muffin, toast it and butter it. Think of it this way - one less thing that --> I <-- have to do. Yes - I thought you'd be happy for me. Every little bit counts. Also - a couple of weeks ago he hopped on a friends 2 wheeler bike and decided it was time for him to ride "training wheel free". Much to our surprise - he did it on the first try. He is quite satisfied that at age 4 - he can finally lay claim to learning something earlier than any of the other kids. [The rest of them learned between ages 5-7.]

Well, the big excitement over here is that our dear, dear friends that lived across the street - just moved away. They were the ones that were responsible for getting us this house. We are very sad to see them go. The good news is that they sold their home to another family in our church that we are good friends with! They have kids the same ages as 3 of ours and our kids are living in LA-LA-LAND with their buddies just 30 feet away!! We also have some good friends from our old church that live about 5 houses away that also have 4 kids - so it is kid heaven over here! We have talked about block parties in the summer - so it sounds like it is going to be fun, fun, fun!

And with that - I must go watch American Idol...