Trim Healthy Mama eating plan

I have been struggling with my weight for quite some time. Actually since I had a hysterectomy and was then in surgical menopause. I have tried lo-carb, weight watchers, myfitness pal & other ways to drop some pounds. Things just aren't working!

So, my SIL introduced me to TRIM HEALTHY MAMA! She had lost 20# in 3 months. I thought I would try it and see how it goes.

Well, three weeks in and I have lost 10#. And, not only that I have so much more energy! I don't hit a wall at 3pm. I eating and I am FULL. I am so excited about this new eating plan.

There is a lot of info online but, I recommend buying the plan book & the cook book to start.

Click links below to order via Amazon.

The recipes are easy to prepare. My family is even enjoying the supper time meals with me as well. I will be posting more about this fabulous new to me, eating plan! 

No sew Christmas tree skirt!

I had issues finding a tree skirt that I really liked. After searching online, Then I found this TUTORIAL so I could make one instead of purchasing one. 

I purchased this FELT on Amazon, which is no longer available. Here are several other options on Amazon. 

I made my flowers a bit larger and then coated them with shimmering paint. It was super easy and I LOVE the way it turned out!!

The blog where I got this tutorial is awesome, with so many fun ideas! Be sure to check her out!!

LIVE LOVE DIY

Fall Leaves Printables

I have been searching online for about an hour for the perfect printable leaves to add to my fall banner!! I FOUND THEM!!! via 

http://www.intimateweddings.com/

LOOK AT THEM!!!

Link here:

http://www.intimateweddings.com/blog/diy-printable-leaf-place-cards/

She has a tutorial on how to make them into place cards! Neat idea!

I am going to use them for a banner for my mantle. (I will link later)

I just had to share her site because I am so excited about these dang printable leaves! :)

I hope you visit her site and see what else she has! I am already married but, there are some fabulous ideas on her site!

RED BULLETIN NORMAN REEDUS GIVEAWAY!!

Find how you can win via my TUMBLR account

http://wouldnormanreedus.tumblr.com/post/126877127973/the-red-bulletin-featured-norman-reedus-on-the

Rayna Sunset - a story of love & heartache

On June 30th I became a grandma or Gigi as I like to be called. It was a day of great joy for our family. Then almost a month later I received an email from our church that described a different outcome of a day that should have been the same joyfilled day as we had. For whatever reason God called this little girl home. We know that God's way is perfect but, that doesn't do anything to ease the pain we experience. My heart goes out to this family. I am sharing the mother's post (with permission) about her sweet angel in the hopes that it will help others dealing with the same heartache.

Our lives forever changed two weeks ago. On July 25th, while visiting my family in Iowa, I wasn't feeling our normally very active baby moving. We then went into the hospital as a precaution, where we found out our baby of 33 weeks did not have a heartbeat. After being induced into labor, we delivered Rayna Harlan Lindberg on July 27th at 9:26 am. She was 4 lbs 7 oz and 17 ¾” long... tall like her daddy and as beautiful as her mommy (according to Nick).

She is named Rayna because she was a ray of sunshine in our lives. Before we went to the hospital, there was an amazing sunset on the farm. Looking back, we think this was Rayna saying goodbye to us. Now, every time we see the sunset, we think of our Rayna. She was born in Harlan, IA, at the same hospital I was born in. We were blessed to have so many family members nearby, and many small town (and small world) touches made it clear that if our little girl had to die, we were in the right place... hence her middle name.

The past couple weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions, each day bringing its own set of challenges. Nick and I are parents now, and we will always treasure the time we had with Rayna, and we want to talk about our daughter. We are also aware we are not alone in having lost our baby before she could take her first breath, that 1 in every 160 pregnancies ends in stillbirth. We hope sharing our story can be of help to others.

Our ask of you is:
1) Pray for the two of us and our families so we may find comfort in the midst of our grief
2) If you know someone who also has gone through this, give them a hug, send them an email, say a prayer for them... you never know how much you might be helping
3) Take pictures of sunsets and send them to us or post them using ‪#‎raynasunset‬ to help us remember Rayna's brightness.

A mutual friend posted this on the mother's FB wall and it was so touching I had to share 

(with permission, of course)

There were swaths of bended colored sky

The day baby Rayna said goodbye.

Clutch your heart and look up high

And warm your face til your tears are dry.

‪#‎RaynaSunset‬ From Toronto Island. From our hearts to yours.

GM Diet

I have been in a rut with my weight loss. I am eating better, working out and walking with NO results! Ok, some results but the scale isn't moving! VERY frustrating. I did some research and found that 'rebooting' your system may help. I found the "GM" diet and again did more research. It is extreme but at the same time I found a lot of good info about this program.

So, I am here at 3:30 on the first day. 

I have eaten cantaloupe, strawberries, cherries, grapes and a nectarine. And, so far drank tons of water. Luckily the bathroom at work is downstairs so I have gotten in A LOT of extra steps just running back and forth to the restroom!

I always hit a wall about this time and today is no exception. I only had a bit of coffee this morning instead of the pot I usually drink so that may have something to do with it :)

If you don't know what the GM diet is GOOGLE it or search it on PINTEREST. Or read my  interpretation below:

Day 1 consists of ONLY fruits, no bananas and tons of water

Day 2 consists of a baked potato w/ 1 pat of butter in the morning and then veggies for the rest of the day, again with tons of water. 

Day 3 veggies and fruits all you can eat and WATER
Day 4 up to 6 bananas and 3 cups of milk and super soup (recipe to follow)
Day 5 beef & tomatoes & soup
Day 6 20oz beef & veggies
Day 7 Veggies, rice & fruit juice

Day 1
So, as I said above day one was all fruit. I ate and ate and felt guilty for all that I ate! By evening I was really wanting a hot meal instead of cool fruit. So, I got creative and grilled a nectarine. I brushed it w/ some honey, figuring natural sugar is natural sugar! Right? I did consume about 12.5 cups of water this day.

They say if you eat mostly watermelon & cantaloupe for the first day you can lose 3#. Well, I can't stand watermelon so that wasn't an option for me! But, maybe you can do that!

DAY 2
I weighed in and didn't lose any. But, I wasn't sure that I would anyway.
This day was hard for me. I am not sure if I just wasn't creative enough or if it was the fact that my daughter was in labor for my first grandchild! :)
This day started w/ a baked potato and 1 pat of butter. I was excited for this...but, it turns out, I am not a baked potato for breakfast person. I LOVE baked potatoes but starting my day out this way wasn't good for me. I ate as much I could tho.
I packed zucchini and carrots. And, I sauteed some cauliflower, mushrooms, onions, zucchini, carrots in some water and added Mrs. Dash for flavor. DELISH!
I was really struggling for things to eat on the go today. I went to the store and found low sodium V-8. It was surprisingly satisfying. I know tomatoes are a fruit but I figured it was loaded w/ other veggies and would be fine. I drank two of these today.
I really didn't eat a lot this day because I was in and our of the hospital all day. But, did consume another 12.5 cups of water.

Day 3
I weighted in...down 3#!! woot woot
Today is all the veggies & fruit!
I had fruit for breakfast.
For lunch I had a meeting and was worried I wouldn't find anything I could eat. Luckily it was a locally owned organic eatery. I ordered a kale salad and it had strawberries & grape tomatoes. I used raspberry vinegar for dressing. This was delicious! I would have preferred some other greens in w/ the kale but I ate this was full.
I snacked on raw fruits and veggies.
For supper  I had more of the sauteed veggies from yesterday. Mrs. Dash is definitely a good friend during this diet!

Day 4
Bananas & Milk! I am not a huge fan of either so I was dreading this day! BUT...I sliced up the bananas and put them in the milk for breakfast and pretended I was eating cereal! Not to bad. Then I had a thought...I can have black coffee AND milk...coffee+milk=latte. So, I frothed a 1/2 a cup of milk made some strong black coffee and boy was this a treat!!
Today you can also consume some of the super soup.
I wasn't able to eat 6 bananas but I did eat 4 (2 in the milk) and had two of my lattes and 1 bowl of soup. I was surprisingly full this day!
Also 12.5 c of water.

Day 5
Weighed in...down 5#!!!
Today is BEEF & tomatoes. BE CAREFUL if you have acid reflux. I ate a lean burger for breakfast. I had a steak and 3 tomatoes for lunch!! OUCH! I was in so much pain! I drank a lot of water before and after to try and reduce the acid...but it didn't work! You can eat soup this day and I read that watermelons can take the place of the tomato...but, remember I don't like watermelon!!! Just be cautious! I had another lean burger for super. More water this day!!

Day 6
Down 6#!!!
My mom was in town and we did get a latte at my friends coffee shop. But, only two shots of espresso and milk in the smallest cup...NO SUGAR!!
All the beef you want and veggies! Veggies for breakfast. We went out for lunch so I had a salad w/ vinegar and oil dressing. And chicken breast. (I read that you could substitute chicken for the beef)
Lean burger w/ broccoli for supper.
I have to admit, I cheated!! I needed something sweet so bad! I stopped and bought milk duds and ate 10! It was so satisfying! :)
12.5 cups of water

Day 7
HOME STRETCH
No weight change this morning.
Today is one cup of brown rice, veggies and fruit juice. I also read you could eat fruit. So, that is probably up to you. I started out w/ 100% orange mango juice and a cup of black coffee. Drank mostly fruit juice this day but, still a lot of water. Had a salad w/ vinegar and oil for lunch.
Made a kind of fried brown rice w/ veggies for supper.
At the end of this day my whole family made ice cream sundaes! I caved...I ate one too! :)


Day 8
I weighed in just to see and still down the 6#. So, i feel this was a success for me. Even tho I did a few things differently than I read about it worked for me. I didn't ever really feel hungry. I didn't feel exhausted during this week (and it was a busy week around here)

Things I learned about myself and my eating:
I don't need to drink pop.
I can drink more water than I ever thought I could :)
I do much better with a structured meal plan.


SOUPER SOUP RECIPE

64 oz water
2 pkg onion soup mix
Whole head of cabbage, chopped
6 green onions
1 lg white onion
any veggies you want, except potatoes or corn
fresh garlic
herbs & spices of your choosing

I put everything in a soup pot and brought it all to a boil, reduced the heat, covered it and cooked for about 45min.
It is my understanding that you can consume this soup any day of the diet. I only did it days 4-7.
I also found recipes that added tomatoes so you might try that.


It is recommended to wait 3-7 days before doing this same plan again. I will not have to time try it a 2nd time this month. Too many trips and overnight guests.

*****This is only information. I am not saying anyone should do this diet. I am not professing that I know anything about nutrition. I don't need to hear any negatives about trying something like this, you aren't my mother! :) I did this for me and no one else. If you don't like the info here click the X in the top right hand corner. If you have tired this  diet, please, share your stories in the comments.
I would LOVE to hear your experiences!  If you have any questions post them in the comments as well.

don't forget to:

WALK THE MOON - Shut Up and Dance (Movie dance compilation) with listing of movies featured

Who doesn't LOVE this video!? It's amazing! Up-lifting! 

I was curious about all the movies. I knew most of them but a few I wasn't sure. I found this listing online.

0:04 Silver Linings Playbook
0:06 Reality Bites
0:08 Something Borrowed
0:12 Love Actually
0:15 Charlie's Angels
0:17 Dirty Dancing
0:20 Big
0:23 Reservoir Dogs
0:25 American Beauty
0:27 Happy Feet 2
0:29 13 going on 30
0:31 Slumdog Millionaire
0:33 Save the Last Dance
0:37 Alice in Wonderland
0:40 Kick-Ass
0:42 Pulp Fiction
0:44 (500) Days of Summer
0:46 Flashdance
0:48 This Is the End
0:51 Grease
0:53 Intouchables (French movie)
0:57 Tangled
1:00 The Replacements
1:02 Pride (UK movie)
1:05 Blue Valentine
1:07 The Wolf of Wall Street
1:10 Grind
1:11 Ted
1:13 Beetlejuice
1:14 American Pie
1:16 Blast from the Past
1:17 King of New York
1:19 Clerks II
1:21 The Mask
1:23 Mamma Mia!
1:25 New Year's Eve
1:27 The Proposal
1:29 American Pie: The Wedding
1:30 Footloose
1:32 Magic Mike
1:34 Get Smart
1:36 West Side Story
1:38 Ferris Bueller's Day Off
1:39 Scary Movie
1:41 The 40 Year Old Virgin
1:44 Hitch
1:47 Risky Business
1:49 The Breakfast Club
1:53 Penguins of Madagascar
1:55 Mermaids
1:57 Nothing to Lose
2:01 Billy Elliot
2:04 Shall We Dance
2:06 Hairspray
2:08 Napoleon Dynamite
2:10 Puss in Boots
2:12 She's All That
2:14 The Heat
2:16 Rush Hour
2:19 West Side Story 
2:21 A Night at the Roxbury
2:23 Burn after Reading
2:25 Step Up
2:27 Dirty Dancing
2:28 The Sound of Music
2:30 Silver Linings Playbook
2:32 The Ugly Truth
2:35 Scent of a Woman
2:38 Beauty and the Beast
2:40 Pretty in Pink
2:42 Grease
2:43 The Perks of Being a Wallflower
2:45 Along came Polly
2:47 White Nights
2:49 Cry Baby
2:51 Tropic Thunder
2:53 The Blues Brothers
2:55 Mary Poppins
2:57 Footloose (2011)
2:59 Friends with Benefits
3:00 The Sweetest Thing
3:02 Coyote Ugly
3:04 Saturday Night Fever
3:06 Center Stage
3:08 Rock of Ages
3:10 Little Miss Sunshine
3:12 Disaster Movie
3:14 Bring it on

255 calorie pizza! That was NOT a typo!

I have been diligent about counting my calories this year. One thing I have avoided is pizza! Oh, that cheesy goodness, loaded with veggies and sauce. I have tried alternatives that just didn't make the cut! Until I found the Flatout Rosemary & Olive Oil pizza crusts!

These crusts are only 120 each! 

Take one crust and place on a baking stone.

 Add 1/4 c of pizza sauce.

 Add veggies (i like mushrooms, can you tell?)

I also added a few banana peppers.

Add 1/4c mozzarella cheese

I forgot to take a picture of the pizza after baking.

Trust me it was so good!

Below are the nutrition facts. 

Nutrition Facts
Servings 1.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 255
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 7 g	11 %
Saturated Fat 4 g	18 %
Monounsaturated Fat 0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 20 mg	7 %
Sodium 975 mg	41 %
Potassium 300 mg	9 %
Total Carbohydrate 33 g	11 %
Dietary Fiber 4 g	16 %
Sugars 5 g
Protein 17 g	34 %
Vitamin A	10 %
Vitamin C	8 %
Calcium	22 %
Iron	12 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

Disclaimer: I was not paid for this blog post. I did it out of the goodness of my heart. And also because I LOVE pizza and had to figure out a way to eat it w/ minimal calories! :)

Thoughts from my Haiti Trip 2015 - Part 1

The photo below is of my work gloves after the week of work in Cap-Haitian, Haiti. The ladies painted the outside walls, windows and trim of the current living quarters while the men started constructing a new two story living quarters that would also house toilets and showers. It was a week of hard work, fellowship, meeting new people and serving my God who covers me with so many blessings.

I have so much that I want to share about this trip. I will try to keep on topic but I do tend to ramble. 

You can't imagine how poor these people are. Everything is a luxury to them. While we were painting we would find little things like razor blades, sewing needles, rubber gloves and even q-tips. These things were hidden in between blocks and cracks in the building. They hide them so no one else finds them and because they don't have more to replace them. Things we take for granted and throw away such as disposable paint trays or even paint rollers, they would take them out of the trash and clean them. They do not understand our wastefulness. I would see them look through the trash and shake their heads wondering why these crazy Americans are throwing so much away. We spilled some paint on the 2nd floor near the outdoor 'kitchens'. Some paint spilled on one of outdoor cooking grills. We were trying to clean up the floor as best we could and I looked over and two ladies were trying to clean the paint off of the grill...they were using a wrapper from some type of food item, something we would have thrown away. I gave her one of our paint rags and she looked so grateful. Later we saw that rag in her laundry basket! As silly as it sounds, it made me happy to see she would continue to use that...probably until it falls completely apart. 

One of the days must have been wash day! There was laundry hanging on anything that stood still. The most heart breaking was all the laundry laying on rusted sheet metal roofs. Not only did they have to wash by hand but then they didn't even have a line to dry them on. The same day was also bath day for many. I don't know this for a fact but I wondered if the same water was used for bath and washing clothes. I was painting on the 3rd floor and could see down behind one of the homes. There was an older man bathing outside. He was standing there in only his underwear which were much too large and very worn. I felt so bad that he had to be outside to bathe where all of the people in the upper levels of housing could see him. He wasn't the only one. I could see many people bathing outside. Luckily it is warm in Haiti and yes, it is good that they do have some water to wash. But, how would you like to bathe outside? I surely wouldn't want to.

Below are photos of people we encountered during our stay in Cap-Haitian. Some I met last year, some I just met this year. What a blessing to serve God by helping those who need it.  

Prayer Request Printables

I am finally getting my act together with my lovely planner. My daughter covered it in duct tape for me. It is really cute.

See my previous blog post for the printables:

http://coffeecraftsandcornfields.blogspot.com/2014/12/getting-organized-for-2015.html

The next thing I decided to add is a prayer request sheet. This way I have one spot to write down the requests I get throughout the day.

These are some others I created. 

{feel free to print these for your own use}