Observations

  

Today, Greg greeted me when I got home from work (which I thought was very nice of him).  One of his first questions was "Why do you have an umbrella?"  I told him that it was raining earlier. I guess he didn't look out the window much.  Later on, I saw that he was wearing actual pants and not pajama pants like he generally wears when he's home.  I asked him, "Why are you wearing pants?  Did you go somewhere?"  He answered that he hadn't gone anywhere.  This wearing pants business while at home has bothered me a bit because it's unlike Greg...and I feel under dressed since I'm in pajamas right now... C:

Oh sugar.

   Part of the reason I haven't said anything about how my low white, refined sugar diet did in February is because I'm kind of depressed it didn't go better.  This week, I kept forgetting to make my own bread on my days off, so I kind of busted that part of my goal by eating store bread.  Ugh.  Goals are hard to keep!

  The biggest thing I didn't do well at last month is that I exceeded my sugar allowance a few times, however; I am able to recognize my weak points now.  First of all, being apart of gatherings where sugary items are in view is incredibly difficult place for me to be.  For instance, at one of the gatherings I attended, I had the hardest time because I saw so many different kinds of sweets!  I ended up grabbing a small cookie even though I exceeded my sugar allowance by doing so.  I don't grab a sweet right away, but I end up grabbing something towards the end of an event after I've argued with myself for the longest time about whether I should have that sweet or not.  I have to remind myself of some advice I received from a nutritionist I saw last year about buffets or gatherings which is (1)scan, (2) plan, and (3) scram.  Scan the food available to see what you really want, then plan or think about what you are really hungry for, and then leave the area with the food.  I think the last part is the hardest for me!  

  I was very good about making my own breads as well as eat plenty of fruits last months.  I'm excited for spring to get here so I can enjoy lots of berries and such.

I think I'll just remove the allowance for sugary things.  I think I had it so that I could enjoy food still and get used to having sugar on rare occasions, but honestly having this allowance just sets me up for a really bad time these past couple of months.  I had this in place originally so that I could have an easier time really giving up sugar, but honestly, it was kind of an excuse.  I think I will try to see how far I can go without white, refined sugar, and reward myself with $.50 a week.  Hopefully, I can get quality chocolate chips (which are like $5 a bag) or cocoa butter (kind of pricey, too) to make chocolate chips at home... C:

Life Update

  February was a pretty busy month for me mostly because two of my co-workers got to go on vacation during the same time which meant more hours available for me.  But I still had some slightly interesting adventures.

Winter Woes:
  Yesterday I heard a prediction that we wouldn't see spring until mid-April.  I cried a little inside.  The snow banks are melting away slowly now which gives me hopes of spring.  I have pictures from the beginning of February when we had a huge snow storm and the snow was piled up really high.  I have never seen so much snow, and as I've talked (more like complained, sorry!) with some of my Canadian friends that have lived in this area their whole lives, they've told me this is the worst winter they've ever experienced.  We've had more snow and (surprisingly) rain since this huge snow storm, but nothing too bad.  I'm sure most of us are sick of snow now, but I'd like to share some snowy pictures.

Hey! Where's the sidewalk?

The snow on both sides of the sidewalk is piled so high!  

Neighbor's backyard.  I couldn't get a very good picture of mine because of all the snow in the way, but their yard looks like my yard.  (The yard has a bit of a slope, but snow is sloped in their yard so dramatically because of the wind.)

Front door!  I can barely see where the steps are when we have a huge snow storm!

Me!  Note the amount of frost stuck to my scarf in front due to my warm breath.  It gets that cold here.

  

I've been a little bit sad by the fact the world is so white still, so I bought a couple of plants--a hyacinth and miniature daffodil for a couple of dollars.  

So pretty!  I love that the are blooming now.  The hyacinth smells wonderful. 

My Christmas cactus is still blooming!  So cool.  

Books and Hobbies: 

   I've read six books this last month: House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones, The Walk by Richard Paul Evans, The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley, Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke, and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (technically, I've been reading Little Women since August, but I read like 200 pages this last month, so there).  I am crocheting a gray and blue afghan, and I am knitting a blue hat at the moment.  I am not very talented with knitting, so the hat project is taking me a while to get through because I keep making silly mistakes like knitting when I should be purling.  I thought I'd be done sooner, but alas, I think I'll probably finish it after winter is over.  

Cooking adventures:
  For Valentine's day, I really wanted to make enchiladas, but the problem is I can't buy a big stack of corn tortillas up here to make enchiladas with.  I know you can use flour tortillas, but I was in the mood for corn tortillas.  Fortunately, I was able to buy a bag of masa harina, so I could actually make these tortillas.  I just didn't realize how difficult these things are to make.

This dough was super crumbly, but it enjoyed sticking to everything else!

UGLY tortillas!

I don't have a press, so I tried a rolling pin with plastic wrap on it as well as plates, however; the rolling pin worked much better.

I, unfortunately, did not make enchiladas as I hoped to do, so I attempted to make tostadas.  That didn't really look awesome, but we still had a good dinner. We didn't do much for Valentine's day because I had to work, but I bought much needed pillows for our bed and Greg got Chrome cast for Valentine's day. 

 I did have more fun making fresh squeezed orange juice.  A friend of ours gave us a bunch of oranges, but I didn't feel like eating them.  I decided to make orange juice using my food processor attachment.  I never tasted a juice this good!

A cup of juice... seven oranges later.  I had a couple of swigs of it, but most of it went to Greg who had another cold.

Also, I wanted to show you the Canadian packaging for butter.  You can pay an extra couple of dollars to get the fancy portioned butter, but since butter is already like $3.50 ($2.99 if you price match!), I will cut up my butter.  America has spoiled me. 

  

One last topic for this post.  

My laundry/storage room now is completely furnished.  I bought a plastic shelves to store my tools, laundry detergent, and food storage.  I like these shelves because they can be disassembled and moved easily. 

Doesn't this room look lovely with the pink walls?  (Don't worry; the insulation is covered  with a plastic sheet.)