Food

Well hello there blog, it's been a long time.  Looks like the last time I posted I was running.  Heh.  Not so much anymore.  I got plantar fasciitis and then I think I have pretty much given up since then.  I've gotten fairly busy with my job and with my volunteer stuff at church, and I just don't have the time or commitment to keep "starting over" every time that I have some kind of injury.  I get shin splints super easily if I don't keep running regularly, so I've just found other things to do for exercise.  I'm not nearly as active as I probably should be, but oh well.

I've been busily working on some health issues, and I'm really hoping I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  We'll see though; I've been thinking I'm seeing the "light" for months now!  When I started adding in all my food restrictions (no white or red potatoes, nothing processed, no sugar- which also means no fruit, as much organic food as I can get) in addition to the things I already had, Jake and I really struggled to find variety in what we were eating.  Now, however, I feel like we've tried quite a few new good recipes and have a much bigger pallet.  I'm much better at trying new herbs and spices and have even eaten some fish.  I'm very thankful for my mom who bought me these cookbooks:

I have found some really good recipes in there.  In the 2nd one, I have an alternative to mac & cheese that is homemade and is the closest thing to the actual stuff that I have found (plus, it's much healthier anyway). :)  Makes me happy.  

I also fell in love with these.

Yum.  You cut out the seeds from a yellow squash, then add your toppings inside (I used mushrooms, red peppers, and sausage), add some pizza sauce, top with a few more toppings (I obviously didn't use cheese but I'm sure it would be even tastier that way), also put lots of seasonings in there, and bake.  YUM!  I like it even better than the eggplant pizzas I was making before using the eggplant as my "crust."  I still like those, but I'm not doing pepperoni anymore because I can't buy it un-processed, and sausage seems weird on eggplant, so I was really excited when I got this recipe.

By the way, I got that recipe above from this website http://www.5dollardinners.com/ I get the daily emails.  The recipes I can eat generally seem really great (and who doesn't like cheap?!).  Someday we'll live in a place where we can have a garden and then many of these recipes will be really cheap!

Well that's what I've been up to.  My life often centers around food right now.  It's really hard to eat out and we try to avoid it as much as possible.  But at least I've found some new yummy things that are fairly healthy!

Running

Today was kind of a happy day for running.  I have been running for 30 minutes at a time for the past three weeks.  However, it seems like I haven't really "settled" into running for that distance until today.

When I was training for the marathon, it seemed like I wouldn't really get into my groove until I was about 2-3 miles in.  So far I haven't really felt like I have been in any sort of groove, but today felt really good.  After 30 minutes I felt like I could run quite a bit further.  Longer runs might be trickier this time around because I don't think my stomach can tolerate gatorade or GU anymore.. so I'm not sure that I will be doing many races where I will need much of that anymore.

Here's what I'm thinking for races this summer.

Kael Man 5k in Ames, IA on June 29
race proceeds provide grants for adoptions
http://www.kaelman.org/race-details/

The Bix! in Davenport, IA on July 27
(I have a friend who is getting married in the QC on this day so I'm not sure if it will work perfectly or if it will interfere.  Also, it's been my dream to run this race at some point in my life.)

Prairie Fest 10K in Huxley, IA on Aug 24

I'm really hesitant about making final decisions about anything.  I'm not really sure why.  I'd really really like to do a sprint triathalon at some point in my life but I don't know if this year is the year or not.  Anyone know any other good races that I should do in case any of the above changes?

So, I haven't blogged since I started my job.  It's been a pretty tough (but good) transition.  I am still technically considered part time, but I am just under 40 hours this week and will likely get close to running over again next week.  I'm still not full time though because I have to consistently have 20 client hours per week.  I was at 15.5 hours this week, so I'm certainly close, but I know a few of my clients will be discharging within the next month or so.  It's been kinda tough lately because I have a 2 day training next week that moves all my clients to cram in the other days, and I still have to get my paperwork done.  Also, that training has a 10 hour prerequisite course that I have to do ahead of time, which I barely started yesterday.  We also have monthly meeting where we have to write up a report on how our client successfully (or unsuccessfully) advanced toward their treatment goals.  That meeting is on Monday, takes time, and I still have to finish those reports.  So all that to say I still have a lot of work to do in the next week.  But after that, it'll be my birthday, and I'm pretty sure I will be feeling slight relief from work!  So, in summary, I have been working a ton and adjusting to much paperwork has been stressing me out quite a bit, but it WILL get better and I will become more efficient as I get used to it.  However, I love my job!  It's a really great fit for me, so that's super nice. :)

I've also been putting a LOT of energy into getting healthy.  I have been having some health problems lately which has been effecting my food allergies and sensitivities (it feels like I can barely eat anything these days!), so I've been working hard on getting that all straightened out.  Jake and I have also been taking a Financial Peace class at church, which has generally been pretty good.  We now have even more strict budgets than we did before, but we each get a "blow fund" where we get to do whatever we want with that money (such as eating out, getting coffee, etc.).  As we were talking about it, I was struggling to determine how I would use my "blow money" because I can't really eat anything and the things I want usually cost tons of money (like a BlendTec).  I can certainly tell that I'm getting older because I'm starting to only really want practical things for birthday/Christmas.  Ya know how when you're younger you ask for toys, special earrings, other random girly things, etc.  But you know you're really an adult when your list starts looking like "I need a new crockpot, a steamer, I'd love a BlendTec,  I really need a new belt since my other one is falling apart..." I feel like an old woman my mom. HA!  Just kidding, I love you mom, and you're not old (but soon!...), but I really can see myself becoming her.

Anyway, I started that paragraph so that I could share this quotation from Jake that he said when I was struggling to figure out how to use my "blow money."

"I don't know; go to some organic allergic to everything place and get... oats or whatever it is you can eat."

JOB

So, I'm sure most anyone who reads this blog already knows, but I got the job!  I got a call within about 24 hours of my interview with an official offer.  My supervisor was the one who called, and after being formal, she mentioned being excited that she no longer has to be formal with me.  She seems really fun and very approachable, which was definitely something that I was looking for in a supervisor.  I've had a similar job to this one in the past and it was definitely not a good fit, and I think one of the main reasons was because of my supervisor.  She was pretty awful.

Anyway, I'm starting out PT (20 hours), but I could become FT fairly quickly if I want (they said someone started working there about a month ago and they are already FT).  Also, they are going to work with me so that I can get my license (LPC).  It sounds like I could probably get a temporary license since I have already passed the NCE and I graduated from a CACREP accredited school.  I'm especially excited because I will be working with families that have requested help- which means the parents will actually care what I have to say (to some extent ha)!  

Anyway, I'm very excited to finally be doing a job in my field that I am really excited about.  Jake asked me the other night if I have ever been this excited about a job and I had to say no.  I mean, I loved working with special ed kids and I have loved some of the people I have worked with in the past, but I always felt like I wasn't fully using my degree with those positions.  I kept wondering what I was doing working at a job that only requires a HS diploma.  I can fully see how God was working now and how all of my work history has led me up to this point.  I can potentially see me working with this organization for the next 5-10 years.  So, I think it's fairly accurate to say that I am happy! (I was also happy that I didn't have to finish filling out the app for the county that I had to do BY HAND.  It was horribly obnoxious.)

Honesty

Well, it's only fair that I be honest and follow up with the football post.

I didn't win.  Unfortunately the whole thing triggered a big disagreement between Jake and me, so we had an edifying conversation (that included lots of tears).  Marriage is really great because it challenges us and forces us to grow.  It's good, but hard.

I also had a really great interview yesterday.  It's always hard to share that kind of information because then if I don't get the job, everyone will know and public disappointment is hard.  However, I am very hopeful and am working to be a bit more transparent with the ups and downs of life.  I really would love working for this organization, so hopefully I'll hear some good news soon!

King vs. Queen

Enough with the food nonsense.  On to... football!

Every year Jake and I make football predictions for the season.  We pick who is going to win each division, league, superbowl winner and the MVP.  Then, whoever wins based on points gets to be king or queen for the day.  They get $50 to spend however they want, and they can ask their spouse to do things for them (fluff pillows, do the dishes, etc).  WELL, this year is it coming down to one game for us.

Patriots vs. Ravens

Jake is ahead of me on points right now, but I just have the Patriots left going for me.  If the Patriots win (which personally I will NOT be a fan of), then I get to be QUEEEN.  If they lose, then neither of us gains any more points, and therefore Jake will get to be king.  Jake has won the past 2 years, so I'd really love it if I won.  He's always been very nice to me though so I (probably) won't make it too hard on him if I win. :)

Wish me luck!

Day Nine +

Add back:
-Millet, tapioca, amaranth, and buckwheat
-Legumes, nuts, and seeds

Unfortunately on this day I had some leftover rice pasta and it definitely made me feel yucky.  I have eliminated all rice again and will try plain rice to see if I get a reaction, and also at some point I will re-enter the rice pasta and see if I get a reaction.  I'm a little sad because I want to be able to continue to eat rice pasta (and definitely plain rice!!), so I'm hoping for no reaction next time.

On day 10, I was officially considered "done," but have been reintroducing foods one at a time.  Here is what I have added back so far:
-Beef
-Chicken
-Eggs
-Poppyseed dressing (only new ingredient in it was sugar)
-Corn tortillas

I am anxious to get most food reintroduced quickly because on Feb 2nd Jake has a winter party for work and I want to be able to enjoy it! :)  I have also found it interesting to reintroduce food because I am looking even more closely at the labels before I decide to eat them.  I have found 2 things that I was eating regularly that had ingredients I was allergic to in them:

1. TACO SEASONING (milk)
2. CASHEWS (peanut oil)

How dare they do that!  I went to the grocery store and looked at all the taco seasonings and all of them have milk in them.  Rude.  Now we're going to have to find a different way to make tacos.  Also, none of the cashews at Walmart were made without peanut oil, but I did find some at Hy-Vee.  

Anyway, that was my experience!  I'm so glad it is (mostly) over.  I'm hoping in the long run it was worth it! :)

Day Eight

Gently add back fruits, vegetables, and white rice (only) to diet.
Decrease powdered beverage mix-2 scoops three times today.

This morning when I woke up all I could think was BANANA for breakfast!  I was so excited.  I was also really excited to have the leftover ratatouille again.  In addition, I also made something new (AND made a huge mess of the kitchen making it).

Sweet Potato Squash Delight

Man, if only you would have seen my kitchen.  I was very thankful to have Rachel's food processor for this one (also made me want a food processor in general!)  I tried the butternut squash and sweet potato mashed up at first and liked it.  Then I added the spices and it started to taste like pumpkin pie and I wasn't as much of a fan.  I'm kind of weird like that I guess.  Jake likes it though so hopefully he will help me eat the rest of it.  I was just so excited today to be eating things I hadn't had in a while.

Days Five-Seven

Continue eliminating foods listed for Days 1-4, as well as legumes.  Eat only those fruits and vegetables as listed below:
-Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, Brussel sprouts)
-Raw greens (red and green lettuce, romaine, spinach, endive)
-Fresh apples and pears (whole or freshly juiced)
-Bottled or canned apple and pear juice (no sugar added)

Increase powdered beverage mix-2 scoops four times per day

On day five I decided to try to make and eat kale chips for a snack.  They were horrible.  I almost "lost" my snack as they are super bitter.  I decided not to have those again. :)  Since I was already not a fan of cabbage or brussel sprouts, I ate a lot of steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and salad for meals.  I also ate apples and pears for snacks and breakfast.

Emotionally, I was fine with my restrictions from this diet and not having too many cravings until day 7.  I really like steamed broccoli, but there are only so many times I can eat it before I am sick of it.  Three days of only eating a few fruits and vegetables gets rough.  Here's one thing I did make.

Green Smothie

I've had green types of smoothies before, but not quite like this one.  This one contained: 

Kale

Parsley

Apple

Pear

Water & Ice

Could it get any healthier?  Sheesh.  It wasn't horrible in flavor; I just wasn't a fan of the fact that it didn't really get totally smooth.  I'm sure I could have made it smoother if I wanted to add more water, but that would have diluted the taste to the point that I wouldn't have enjoyed it.  Anyway, DAY 8 tomorrow: I can eat different food!

Day Four

In addition to eliminating foods listed for Days 1-3,
Eliminate all:
-Remaining grains
-Nuts and seeds
-Note: You now should be eating vegetables, fruits, and legumes only

Increase powdered beverage mix-2 scoops twice daily

I again ate a lot of leftovers and ate more carrot fries.  Yum.  In addition, I tried a new recipe for dinner which both Jake and Jaron both graciously ate with me as well.

Bean & Spinach Soup

I wasn't super crazy about it but it wasn't awful either.  Unfortunately my headache got pretty awful as I headed to bed and I woke up in the middle of the night cradling my head.  Jake sadly also woke up from my restlessness and rubbed my head a little.  He's so sweet.  I'm so grateful to have him through this thing.

Day Three

In addition to eliminating foods listed for Days 1 & 2,
Eliminate all:
-Wheat, rye, barley, spelt, kamut, and corn
-Note: You may continue to eat rice, tapioca, amaranth, millet, and buckwheat

Continue powdered beverage mix-1 scoop twice daily

I was thankful to be cooking less today and eating more leftovers.  I didn't really try anything new except I had a bit more variety in my salad.

I woke up with a slight headache so Jake and I went to the gym (so excited that we get that membership for free with our apartment!) and walked a bit, which did help.  I have been trying to walk more so that I can build up to running again; I would get shin splints if I just started to run now.  It was really nice to spend the day with Jake.  I always love when he gets home on Fridays and I can shout "it's the weekend!"  Man, we're getting old; I remember working jobs where it didn't matter if it was the weekend or not.

Day two

In addition to eliminating foods listed for Day 1,
Eliminate all:
-Dairy products and eggs

Start powdered beverage mix-1 scoop twice daily

Here's what I ate.

Rice Pasta and Beans

Minestrone soup (looks super cloudy but it was better than it looks here)

I didn't take a pic of my "milkshake" for breakfast cuz it didn't look (or taste) appealing.  For my mid-morning snack, I had carrot fries, which were super yummy.  For my mid-afternoon snack I had sliced kiwis and banana sprinkled with cinnamon.  Yum.

Sadly since I started taking the powdered beverage, some of the forewarned side effects of detoxing have kicked in as well (bad headache).  Oh well, it'll be worth it in the end. :)

What I've been up to!

So, here's what I've been up to.  We moved to Ames.  We traveled to the Quad Cities twice for the holidays.  We have been able to see family a lot.  It has been fantastic.

Now, I'm working on my health before I get going on the job thing.  I am doing a 10 day food elimination diet as recommended per my doctor.  I'm currently on day two.  Here was what I did yesterday.

Day One, eliminate all:
     -Refined sugars-anything with added sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, or alcohol (cakes, cookies,
     candies, pastries, beer, wine, liquor)
     -Caffeinated drinks (sodas, coffee, tea)
     -Artificial colorings, flavorings, and sweeteners (packaged and processed foods)
     -Flesh foods (beef, pork, lamb, poultry, fish, wild game)

Here's a few pictures of what I ate (most all of it is organic as well-expensive 10 days!).

I totally made that hummus from scratch.

Quinoa Salad

Ratatouille (my first time!)

I was pretty excited about my ratatouille.  I felt like I was on the movie or something.  I had no idea it's so good.  I also had a baked apple with homemade cashew butter for dessert but I forgot to take a pic of it.  I might have another one for dinner tonight if I have a sweet tooth because wowza, it was good.  All in all, I can't believe I've gone over 24 hours without eating any meat.  I'm kind of a hardcore carnivore.

Moving!

Um, probably anyone who reads this blog already knows this, but we are MOVING TO IOWA!  I'm pumped and horribly sad all at the same time...

So, Jake and I are thinking that our move date will be 3 weeks from today.  We have been semi-planning "eating out" our fridge so that we don't waste too much food.  Jake and I started communicating on gmail chat since he is currently at work.  Here is our conversation.  It was amusing.

Me: I just counted your string cheese.
Jake: Nerdiest statement ever written on the internet (and that's saying something): "I just counted your string cheese."
Me: I noticed you have more than I realized.  You have 40 left, and we only have 21 days left, so you should be averaging 2 string cheese's per day.  That should make you happy.
Jake: I just might eat non for the next couple of weeks and then gorge myself. :)
Me: No, then you will have constipation.  Grossness.  Constipation= more gassy.

Also, because I'm still grieving that this was our last fall in Colorado...

Shopping wins!

For $9 at garage sales, we got:

A Dave Matthews Band CD
A Jennifer Knapp CD
Sweet Home Alabama DVD
Unbreakable DVD
Orange County DVD
Jenga game
Create It Lego game (still in the plastic)

Then for $7 at Old Navy, we got:

Swimming trunks for Jake
A polo shirt for Jake
A pair of jeans for me

Boom baby!  At Old Navy I had $30 worth of gift certificates for using my Old Navy credit card outside of the store, and a 25% coupon.

I think I'm most excited about the Lego board game.  It's WAY cool.  I tried to look it up online and it seems like it's fairly difficult to get the game and it could be kind of pricy if you were to get it.  Score.  We paid about $5 for the game, and it hadn't even been opened.  Jake and I already played it twice and it's seriously awesome.  I'm sure our kids someday will love it too.

P.S. I looked at how much we would spend on everything at WalMart/amazon, etc. and I think our total garage sale purchases would have been about $80 total retail.  That's an 89% discount.  Good day.

P.P.S.Oh yeah, and I almost forgot to add in that at the garage sale where we purchased the movies and cds, they gave us a bag of mini peaches from their tree too.  How nice is that?

The end of the cleaners

Also, I have more to say.  Do you remember this post?  The whole dilemma with them is finally over.  Go ahead, check the date of that post.  It was a whopping 8 months ago when I took that dress to the cleaners.  I finally have deposited a check and made sure that it went through.  Here's the short story of what happened:

I took my dress in.  They ruined my dress.  They said they could fix it by cleaning it again, even though it meant that I wouldn't get to wear it for the event I was cleaning it for in the first place.  Cleaning it again did NOT fix the dress.  I talked with the manager, who insisted it wasn't their fault and they would send it in to the "lab" to discern where the stain came from.  She never called back, so I nagged for a while and she eventually told me they lost the dress.  How convenient.  Then she said she would replace the dress.  Then she wrote me a check for $30 less than the amount she was supposed to (it was a really random amount).  Then I told her I was going to write a certified letter to the owner and hoped I wouldn't have to take her to small claims court.  Then she talked to the owner and probably told him the truth and he wrote me a check.  The amount was the amount of the dress but they didn't refund me for the $2.50 I paid to originally clean the dress.  I decided that was probably the best I could get and didn't want to spend any more time with them.

The end.  My gosh.  The end.  There were so many phone calls in there and unreturned messages and lots of empty promises and lots of employees telling me how bad of a manager she is.  So much time to get money back.  This was the FIRST time I've ever taken anything to the cleaners.

My takeaway: never buy anything that is dry-clean only.

Moving soon...?

I've applied for so many jobs in Des Moines that I've lost count.  I mentioned to Jake how the last time I was really gung-ho about applying for jobs that I had a spreadsheet about which jobs I had applied for and when.  That could have been a good idea this time around so that I could follow up with people, but I kind of just don't care.  If they call me, then awesome.  If they don't and I forget about those jobs, then awesome.  I don't want to stress myself out about the ones that don't care about me.  I've already had multiple phone interviews and had multiple offers.  Just not good ones.  It does make me feel good though when I get offers within 10 minutes of the interview.  Too bad it's not for something I really want.

I also very much enjoy having phone interviews.  I mean, seriously.  How convenient is it that I live in a different state and can't therefore get dressed up and get all nervous and come in for an interview?  Yesterday I hadn't showered or put any makeup at all and was sitting at my computer while we chatted.  I had my resume right in front of me and a paper with answers to typical questions they may ask.  Kind of takes off pressure when I can just look down at the paper which has all of the answers I typically forget.  Boo ya.

I just hope that means that I will get a real offer and a real job soon so that we can move. :)  With me quitting a couple of jobs recently and needing to start the school year job, I'd really like to just not start and move to Des Moines instead.  Gonna be tricky though since I start my school year job tomorrow. Ha!  Well, hopefully soon... we technically have until mid-December before I start to wig for sure.

Cheap yumminess!

Btw, these are very yummy.  We had them for dinner tonight with some taco-seasoned chicken.  Cheap and delish!

Here's the link to the recipe. Burrito cups

Unsettled

Today was my last day at TJ for the year.  I'm not sure if I'll be returning next year (still waiting on the job front), so it was kind of weird saying "goodbye for the summer, but also maybe goodbye forever."  I'm supposed to officially start my summer job on Monday, so I have less than a week before it all starts up again.

Jake is waiting to hear about a job and if he is not successful there, then he will be continuing the job search.

This is totally not where I expected us to be at just under 5 years of marriage.  There's obviously a reason for the season that we are in, but I'm very ready to be settled.  The problem is, even if Jake gets this job it is only for one year and then we will be looking for jobs all over again.

Someday, oh someday, we will be settled in for the long haul.

Boys and Dogs

I haven't blogged in a really long time.  From the looks of my previous post, some of you might be hanging on the edge of your seat to know whether or not Jake passed his exam.

As if any of you didn't already know about 2 months ago, but he passed. :)

Also, for the record, I want this dog someday.  South African Mastiff, otherwise known as a Boerboel.  Other mastiffs don't look that cute when full-grown (most have really droopy faces), but this one is amazing.  Also, their personality and habits sound delightful.  (We're not just going for the looks; we've been thinking about this dog for about a year now.)

Also, don't tell anyone but there is a house we drove by one time that had a dog that looked similar to this one in their driveway.  We recently found the house again so that we could drive by and look for their dog.  We saw it again today.  I hope they don't start to think we want to rob their house or something.  It's just an amazing dog.