Hello and Goodbye

Hello, and goodbye to the 2025 Spring Book Fair! We did it!

I feel like my brain is a lot more clearer and I am ready to refocus on my health goals. There is still plenty going on around here as we plant up our entire garden in the next two weeks, and say goodbye to the school year with various events including my youngest’s preschool graduation.

I am hoping to gain more mental clarity and focus this week by waking up earlier, again. I started sleeping in until the last possible minute these past couple of weeks because my days were exhausting. I would crash immediately when hitting the bed, and sleep in until my kids woke up. That was definitely contributing to my mental fog. I went to bed running, and woke up running, and not in the good-for-you, “workout” kind of way.

While life is still busy, I feel like I have a little more room to breathe. I have decided to step down from my role as PTO secretary after this school year is finished, which is a role I have been in since 2022. This is my oldest daughter’s last year in elementary school and so I want to shed whatever is reasonable from my plate so that I can be more present for it. This is one of those things I will be releasing.

This was an easy decision once I had the time to think and pray about it. I am still going to volunteer with the PTO, but not in such a time-consuming capacity next school year. I thought it would be bittersweet to give that role up, but it isn’t. It feels like good timing as we have a whole new group of parents ready to run!

Hanging in There

We’re almost through book fair week, which drains me in a special but worthwhile kind of way.

I haven’t been taking care of myself very well. I have been eating without much regard and I am bummed that I put myself on the back burner again. I wish I had the strength to focus on my well being first, and then tackle all the things. It’s not what I tend to do when things get overwhelming, though. My default is to take care of all the things first and then take care of myself if there’s time, and spoiler alert, there hasn’t been any extra time.

Self awareness is half of the battle. Once things slow down, which will happen eventually, I can re-establish my health goals. Until then, I’m hanging in there.

Date Night at the Book Fair

It’s Friday and tonight I will be setting up the book fair at my daughter’s school! 

This will be my 6th book fair as the Scholastic Chairperson for our school! As stressful as it can be at times, it is such a privilege to be involved in this way! I also can’t say that I do it alone.

My husband and I love setting the book fair up together! We make it fun and consider it a date night. I usually get to the school early to start, then after Nick’s mom gets to our house to watch the girls, he picks up Mexican food and meets me at the school for dinner.

Last time we set up, he surprised me with a Bluetooth speaker and played music while we ate dinner on book fair boxes. This is the kind of stuff that makes my life so rich! These little moments are truly the big moments. God is so good!

It’s time to make another book fair happen!

What I Ate on a Snacky Monday

On Monday, I took a photo of everything I ate. It was a snacky and busy day. You’ll see what I mean…

Breakfast:

Snack:

Lunch:

Snacks:

Dinner:

Snack:

I couldn’t tell you the nutrition because I didn’t log it all, and I don’t really have the time to calculate it now. But I wanted to show you what a snacky day of intuitive eating looks like! I remember wanting snack after snack on Monday. Probably because I was so busy, but as you can see, I wasn’t too busy to sit down and watch Bubble Guppies with my youngest. 

I love this little life.

Planting Time is Here

Happy Wednesday! This week has been a whirlwind, just as much of the month is anticipated to be for us. I am going to try to keep up with blogging but I may miss the occasional day, just as I did yesterday.

Free time is not really a thing this month, but if it were a thing, it would be taken up by getting all of our seeds in the ground.

Most years I have my garden planned out in February. Not this year. It’s planting time and I still don’t have a plan, but I do know what has worked in the past. I’m just popping seeds in day by day and keeping track of where I planted what by taking photos. It’ll all come together!

On top of getting seeds in the ground, I also did a massive up-pot of all my tomato plants. I’m talking 120 tomato plants! 

We don’t keep them all, but we do keep a bunch. I’ll probably keep closer to 40 tomato plants for ourselves, and will sell or give away the rest. 

We have been canning diced tomatoes for years and it’s so rewarding to grow it all from seed. I mostly use the canned to tomatoes in soups, which are next level amazing!

The trick this week has been to get some seeds in the ground between the hours of rain we have been getting. I’m not complaining though, this is exactly the type of weather we need right now.

Since a lot of my focus has gone to planting season (and wrapping up the school year with PTO, Book Fair, field trips, Spring concerts, etc. etc. etc.) my eating has been more intuitive this week. I am not sure that I’ll see a loss on the scale but I am sure that intuitive eating will maintain my current weight loss, which is a win in itself.

Keeping Balance on Date Night

On Friday I decided to take photos of everything I consumed to show how I balanced out the day, knowing that I was going to be eating out for dinner.

I didn’t eat breakfast until I was hungry, which ended up being closer to lunch. Even then, I only had a protein shake because I wasn’t ready to eat.

For lunch, I made myself a burrito out of a 60 calorie wellness wrap and leftover taco meat. 

In the afternoon, I grabbed an apple and a sparkling water.

For dinner, my husband and I went to a pizza shop called Nights and Weekends in Ashtabula, Ohio. It was so good!

My evening dessert was a latte, as is customary for when we are in Ashtabula for date night. They have the best little coffee shop on the Habor. We also share a chocolate bar.

I was totally satisfied and made sure to drink a gallon of water throughout my day, as well!

Date night was so nice! After going out to dinner, we went down to the lake and watched the sunset. 

I am so glad that we live so close to the lake, and take these moments to enjoy it!

Friday Meal Planning

Happy Friday! On Fridays I meal plan and schedule my grocery pick up for the week ahead. I figured I’d share my meal plan for the coming week while I’m working on it.

Saturday - Egg Roll Bowls

Sunday - Zuppa Toscana

Monday - Cabbage Roll Casserole

Tuesday - Tacos

Wednesday - Chicken + Stir Fry Vegetables

Thursday - Fish + Feta Pasta Bake

Friday - OTE

Tonight also happens to be date night, which is something that we’ve been missing since before our family vacation. We’re very much looking forward to going out tonight!

On date nights I don’t track what I eat but I also don’t use it as an excuse to go overboard. I’m saying this as a reminder for myself :)

It’s May and It’s Busy!

Happy Thursday! It’s May 1st! I can’t believe it!

I was able to get my vacation weight gain off just in time. I’m back down to 229.5lbs and I’m ready to shake some more weight off this month! My weight loss goal for May is 5-10 lbs. 

I like to do a range of a weight loss goal because I know this month is going to be busy! School is winding down for both of our young girls. We have field trips, Spring concerts, a preschool graduation, the last book fair of the year, and more!

On the home front, I have an entire garden to plan and plant. I have many plants started under grow lights that need up-potted and a tomato plant sale to start. A few years ago I started way too many tomatoes and so I decided to sell them for $2/each to my friends and family. It was a big success and so I’ve been doing it ever since!

My husband and I also want to redo the garage roof this month. It’s not the best timing because it is such a busy month but my mom is getting a dumpster (for her own Spring cleaning and downsizing) and we’re going to use that opportunity to get the roof done while she has it! We’ll also likely clean out the basement and garage while the dumpster is around. So, like I said, lots to do this month!

Since it’s so busy I know that in order to lose weight, I’ll need a plan. I’ll follow up with that soon!