7 days in...

and it's already time to be real. With myself. With you.

My January goal of Whole30 has fallen through, even after several attempts to restart. Yes, in 7 days (technically, 5 not counting today and because I was planning to start on the 2nd), I have failed miserably. And you know what? I am okay with that. That is the truth.

Saturday was Jackson's birthday, and we were visiting Jason's family for the afternoon and evening, while also picking up Ethan and Alex. We ordered pizza for the birthday boy's dinner and of course there was cake and ice cream. I overindulged, eating several slices of pizza - obviously not Whole30 - and a small piece of cake and ice cream. That's fine. It was a birthday with my family!

Fresh start on Sunday! I did okay Sunday and Monday following Whole30, but my patience has been thin, and cravings high. It's hard being a girl sometimes :( (sorry if that's TMI, it is what it is). Yesterday, Jack and I had to stop at the store for a few little things, including an immersion or hand blender, and he asked if we could get a small bag of mini donuts. Sure. I won't have any, I'm having eggs when we get home. 10 mini chocolate-frosted donuts, and an empty bag later, I started rethinking what to do. Dinner last night was good though. We had slow-cooker beef roast, and garlic mashed cauliflower, with fruit for the boys also.

This morning, I went in to my January goals and reevaluated my personal goals. After reading posts the last few days on the FB group I'm a member of, and realizing that maybe a super-strict Whole30 right now isn't the best choice for me - it's also a bit more expensive trying to feed 5 of us that way - I have decided that we are still going to try and eat paleo at most meals, especially dinner as a family. I am going to make a conscious effort to make healthy choices at other meal times, while probably not strict Whole30, most likely leaning toward paleo. Meaning meats, veggies, fruits, and healthy fats still, but maybe some dairy like butter or a little cheese. Still going to avoid as much added sweeteners outside of honey or 100% maple syrup as I can, and if I have a pop during a dinner out, that's okay too.

My healthy has to start with my attitude towards food. My biggest enemy is myself. I let myself overeat. I let myself choose junk food because I am tired, or stressed, or bored, or whatever.

Still, I'm going to continue reading It Starts with Food, because there is some wonderful information in it. A lot to take away and introduce to our life. Even in the book, if I remember right, it says somewhere about Whole30 not be something you do ALL the time, you have to eat what's right for you. And we all know junk food in general isn't good for anybody.

Besides all this, some things have had positive gains already!

Menu planning happened for the first full week of January and I linked up to MPM at I'm an organizing junkie. I also have 3 scheduled posts for the rest of the months menu plans, although I do need to go in and fill in most of the actual recipes. Ha! But it's a start, and having them scheduled will keep me on track to do them.

We have tried 3 new recipes already.

1. Easy slow cooker chicken verde - which we had on Monday night - turned out awesome! I put the chicken thighs and salsa verde in around 1:30, and after choi, we came home and were able to eat a delicious dinner together. I had mine in a bowl with guacomole, shredded lettuce, diced white onion, tomato, and black olives, while everybody else had it with refried beans, cheese, lettuce and whichever toppings they chose on tortillas. Jason even made some tortilla bowls for the boys and himself with these little pans we have just for that purpose. We will definitely make this meal again.
2. The Easiest and Most Delicious Crock Pot Beef Ever from last night was pretty good. I think it was a little overcooked. The recipe says 8-10 hours on low, and it was in the crockpot for just over 8 on low, and then on the warm setting for an additional 30 minutes or so while I made the side dish. It was a little on the dry side, but the flavor was good. We skipped the Worcestershire sauce because we were out of it, and it's not Whole30, but I think next time I will be sure to have some. The reviews were good enough to try it again, maybe cooked for slightly less time.
3. Garlic mashed cauliflower from Nom Nom Paleo. They were ok. The texture is definitely different than mashed potatoes. The flavor was good, especially with the garlic, salt and pepper. Also I used coconut oil for the added fat, instead of ghee, because none of my guys like the flavor of ghee. I had to use my rice/veggie steamer instead of a pot with a steam insert like she says to use, and so it took quite a bit longer to get to the right tenderness. I used my new immersion/hand blender to mash them, which worked alright. Once they start getting cold, they aren't as good as mashed potatoes, in my opinion, and we didn't have any type of gravy. Our oldest, who doesn't like mashed potatoes, didn't like these any better but ate them out of love for mom ;) Not sure I will try making these again. 

Yoga! One of my Christmas presents this year was a set of yoga DVDs. My loving husband bought them for me because it was on my (very short) list of wants. The only problem is, as I was trying to do the one DVD, he and I both quickly realized it doesn't seem ideal for a beginner. Some of the moves need much more upper and lower body strength than I have, such as balancing on one arm/hand and the side of one foot with the other foot/leg lying on top of it, and other arm pointing straight up. Think of laying like a T, but then get on your side and do  it with just your hand and side of your foot touching the ground. Um, this mama is definitely not ready for that. I tried, mind you, I tried. I even did some of the easier moves, and stretches and got in about 20 minutes on Monday. Today is day 2 of three this week and I will try the other tonight.

31 days of Declutter: Slight edit on this as well. We (I) missed a few days, but will be thrilled as long as we still get 31 "bags" of trash/donate/storage taken care of. Even if we have to double up. So far, my tally is at 2. One was a desk, and the other a bunch of junk from the fridge and one cupboard. Time to hit it hard, and I'm thinking our closet and bedroom may be the place to begin.

I will have a separate 365 Happy Days Growing post with the last two weeks of pictures on Sunday, but if you are following @growingintome on Instagram then you may have seen our recent additions to this. This has been by far the easiest goal to reach.

No updates for the boys or family goals yet, but it's early still. Getting back into the swing of things with school and extracurricular activities has been all-consuming. Homework two days in a row, choi once this week, and some down-time reading, watching cartoons or playing a little MineCraft after has been our evening routine the last couple of nights. Jackson and I did make it to the library yesterday morning to return some books, and check out some preschool books for him and I to read. We also got 3 kids' craft books to look for some fun ideas to do for our family crafts. Tonight all 3 boys have choi, and after a dinner of leftovers, we will sit down and scour the books together, each picking out something we want to do, Jack choosing with a little help from me or Jason, of course.

Enjoy your Wednesday, everyone!

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