Library Day (Books Are Just the Best)

We make a weekly library trip and between three accounts we bring home a lot of books. Young fiction for Eli, easy readers for Cash, and storybooks for Stella. Here were mine and Stella's favorite bedtime stories from our last library trip.



Granny's Dragon by Lisa McCourt

A young girl visiting her grandma's house doesn't have many excuses to be afraid of monsters, as long as she has a guard dragon.

Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco

Another grandmother story. In this one, Babushka helps her granddaughter overcome her fears and make a yummy cake.

Ultra-Violet Catastraphe! or The Unexpected Walk with Great-Uncle Magnus Pringle by Margaret Mahy

This lovely tale was our favorite. Full of whimsy and silliness. These relatives can relate in a very different way.

Practical Paleo Review: Who Knew It Could Be This Easy?

Since December I have been toying with the idea of going Paleo. Or Primal. Whichever way you refer to it, it is basically a whole foods way of eating. We do this as a family unit already. We switched to an all natural diet after learning of chemical preservative, artificial flavoring, and artificial coloring sensitivities in one of our children. It's been nearly three years and since then we have just delved deeper and deeper into what real food is and just how food affects our bodies and minds. As I said, Paleo had been on my mind and I had tried really hard to make the switch. Basically, cut the grains, sugar, and most of the dairy. I was successful a few times for about 5 to 10 days then I would fall face first into some yummy french bread, amazing craft beer, or sugar laden dessert. Inevitably, I would feel sick bloated yucky. After a lengthy beach vacation this summer I decided that it was time to get serious because I was sick of feeling sick. In my mind I was ready but I just couldn't physically find the motivation. Then this happened.....

See this book? If you have ever in your life entertained the thought of trying the Paleo way of eating, this is where you start. I received a copy of Practical Paleo written by the fabulous Diane Sanfilippo, BS, NC to review. It was more than a pleasure to peruse this lengthy tome. This much information on a whole foods diet packed into one gorgeous piece of print? Simply amazing.

I spent a few days reading all the important stuff, then it was cooking time. I poured a big glass of kombucha tea in my special Ashley cup and got down to business with the offspring. I assigned each kiddo a part of the meal and then let them flip through the different sections of Diane's book and pick what we would have for dinner.

Cashman had the honor of choosing the main dish. He picked Nori Salmon Handrolls. Honestly I was a bit worried about this one. I tried to steer him toward some safer looking Quick &  Easy Salmon Cakes, but he was adamant about the handrolls.

Eli was slated to choose a side. He went with more of an appetizer. No problem because the whole family is addicted to bacon. We'll eat it any way. Call it an appetizer, a side, or dessert (which Diane has a recipe for). We just call it good. He chose Bacon-Wrapped Pecan Dates & Pineapple.

Sugarbaby here was super excited because she got to pick dessert! Moo-less Chocolate Mousse coming right up! I was leaning towards the Nutty Bacon Bark, but her sweet smile won me over. Plus I already promised she could pick.

 So I got to cooking. Luckily for me, they all picked extremely easy recipes. I might have finished off my kombucha and cracked open a bottle of my favorite red wine. Green Truck Organic Petite Sirah will always and forever be my favorite. No sulfites. Paleo friendly. Ashley approved.

The verdict? Warren, Eli, & Sugarbaby loved the Nori Salmon Handrolls. The child who chose the handrolls? Not so much. But he did devour the bacon wrapped everything. So did everyone else. I preferred the bacon wrapped pineapple. Yum! The chocolate mousse got two thumbs up all the way around. It was crazy good. I would have loved to include a picture of the mousse but it was eaten so quickly I didn't get a chance.

There is absolutely no question that Diane's book is the real deal. It includes over 120 recipes, several 30 day meal plans for different health reasons, and lots of tear out guides to make the Paleo switch as easy as pie. Um....except you won't be eating pie. At least pie in the traditional sense. But you will feel amazing! And isn't that way more important than pie?


You can preorder Practical Paleo here. It offically releases next week.

Rural Shopping

So I live in the boonies, right?

You know this if you've been a reader for any amount of time.

I also have quite the shopping habit. Also a well known fact.

Put the rural location together with the shopping addiction and well....you can see I spend a lot of time in Internet stores.

Good thing CSN Stores offered up a review so I could get my fix on early in the holiday season.

I've been browsing the numerous products at CSN's website and I think I've got a few ideas of what I might like to check out...

Maybe a air popper for a healthy snack?

Perhaps a cute kitchen scale to measure out those portions more accurately?

Or maybe just something to work off all those extra holiday calories since it seems I have food on the brain.

Whatever you are looking for I am betting that you can find it at CSN. Toys, patio furniture, exercise equipment, aprons, counter height stools, to the kitchen sink.

Literally y'all. The kitchen sink!

So be looking out for my review of a few CSN Stores products. I promise it won't be a sink review but if you're in the market....you know where to look.



I'm Not Perfect, But I'm Damn Close

Yesterday I received a "challenge" (they were adamant about it being a challenge and not a pitch) from a PR person for the book, The Perfect 10 Diet by Michael Aziz, M.D. The "challenge" being to follow the diet for 3 weeks and reveal my results.

I was intrigued, obviously. If you've been following my blog for any amount of time you know I've moaned about my weight, fought cravings, learned to love exercise (running specifically) and lost a significant amount of extra padding. About 25lbs to be exact. What's funny to me is that this "challenge" would have been so much more exciting to me 6 months ago. Now....well now it seems, not so exciting. The book claims you can lose 14lbs in the first phase or three week period. Dude, if I lost 14 more pounds, I wouldn't look very healthy. I would be skinny, sure. But probably a heroin chic looking skinny.

To put it simply, I am happy with my weight. I could stand to lose 5 more pounds, but that would about be it. Especially for my frame. Everyone is built different and weight looks very different on everyone. But I digress. I AM OKAY WITH ME RIGHT NOW. I feel very healthy. More so than I have ever felt. I can run almost 4 miles without a problem. I eat a very well balanced diet. Let's defer to a quick list of what is in my fridge right now:

• Lean protein- chicken breasts, round beef steak, shrimp, white fish.
• Strawberries
• Avocados
• Broccoli
• Bell Peppers
• Asparagus
• Spinach
• Fat free cream cheese
• Yogurt
• Skim milk
• Cheese
• And in the pantry: whole grain cereal, whole grain bread, wheat tortillas, tuna, beans, peanut butter and so on.

A typical day for me starts out with a choice of peanut butter on whole grain toast, or a bowl of Special K with skim milk, or egg whites with some combination of veggies mixed in. I then have a snack of fruit or cheese or granola bar. Lunch is either lean protein and veggies or a salad with lean protein and low fat dressing and lots of veggies. Sometimes a sandwich if I'm feeling frisky. Another afternoon snack of either fruit, cheese, or granola bar, but sometimes I just have an iced coffee. Dinner is basically a repeat of lunch just a different combo.

Everything is still very flavorful. I just watch my portions. I also track my calories using SparkPeople (because seriously that site has been fundamental to my weight loss). I still drink coffee and lots of it. I just use Splenda and skim milk. I order my lattes skinny. I still eat chocolate, but I eat it dark and only on my cheat day. I still drink alcohol. I just try to balance it in with the rest of my calories and I make sure to only drink wine or vodka and diet soda. Now that could be a problem this summer cause I am a summer wheat beer drinking gal. And rum and coke. But hopefully I'll be running more and putting in more outside activity to equal it out.

What I'm trying to say here is that I know that the diet I have created for myself is working and working well. I exercise enough to offset any diet mishaps I might have and I do have them. There was a night last week during a particularly rough patch of PMS and well, we'll just say some ice cream was involved and it wasn't pretty. But aside from that, I eat well, I eat healthy and once you find something that works, why change it?

I'm very curious to see what The Perfect 10 Diet is all about and I'll be sure to share what I find with all of you.

Glasses USA: One Satisfied Customer

I have to let y'all in on a little secret. I am blind as a bat. No joke. Can't see 6 inches in front of my face without the aid of contacts or eyeglasses. Now normally, I'm a contact kind of girl. I have a round face and of course I like to appear as slim as possible so I stick with contacts. Also...glasses are expensive! You know what I mean. The lenses, the frames, all that just adds up to a lot of hassle I don't have time for.

Enter GlassesUSA. The lovely people there offered me a pair of prescription glasses to try out. I'll admit I was a bit skeptical. What if I didn't like them, or they didn't fit? I mean seriously, like I said, I'm a contact wearing gal. But never one to turn down an offer as good as this, the glasses were soon ordered and on their way. Here is the pair I chose. Very geek chic, heh?



I was super impressed with how easy the site was to use. Their descriptions, pictures and reviews were all very helpful in choosing the perfect pair of eyeglasses frames for me. There are even articles on topics such as finding your style or choosing the right shape frames for your face. My only complaint was that many of the frames I loved were out of stock. That must mean these folks are busy and their prices are right on!

Another plus of the company, they donate all the returned eyeglasses to various organizations who pass them on to people who can't afford vision care. I can stand behind a company like that and I loved that I was able to pick out my frames from the comfort of my couch instead of settling on the first pair I saw because one or all of the three monsters were causing major havoc in the eye doctor's office.


I was so excited when my glasses showed up. They fit perfect and looked much nicer than my last pair. They came with a hard case and cleaning cloth and I'm now wearing them just as much as my contacts.

And as an added bonus darling readers, GlassesUSA is giving you 5% off your order with the code MOMMY5. It doesn't expire so keep it handy and check out GlassesUSA the very next time you need frames.

More Music For The Kiddie Set

I recently got a chance to review two new children's CD's and readers I tell you, you're in for a treat!

First off, Rebecca Frezza and Big Truck are back, with their newest album Rockin', Rollin' and Ridin' that releases November 10th. It's going to be available at a great price...only $8.99.

Great price you say, but is it good? Will my kids like it? Will I be able to endure it without wanting to rip out my hair by by its roots?

Yesiree bob! It's been in the CD changer in my truck for two weeks straight and I haven't flung it out the window yet! Rebecca's melodic voice and Big Truck's perfect harmonies make for musical perfection. It even has a special guest that we all know and love from Sesame Street. It's only 23 minutes long with eight tracks and my kids clamor to listen to it every day on the way to or home from school.

The boy's favorites are Hey-O and Superman. I have to admit that I've caught myself belting out Hey-O when the kids aren't even around. The whole album is groovy and feel good and you won't soon tire of it.

******

The second album we got to rock out to is Great Day by Milkshake.

The songs included put out a great message to children and are a real pick me up on a bad day. In fact my kid's faves include: Happy Place, Statue of Me, and Great Day. This one is also easy on the adult ears and is still in my car, being played in the daily rotation.

The gal and guys of Milkshake have their own unique style, in life and in their music. Lisa Matthews voice is distinct and soothing. Their music is perfect for the kids in your life, and lucky you, Great Day is available for purchase now!