Monday, May 21, 2012

Kicking it slow style....by Jessica

Zack was concerned about my mental state when he found me in the backyard at 8am in my pajamas and rainboots doing some yard work.
"Why are you wearing your pajamas and rainboots and trimming trees?"
Good question.  It's because I knew that by the time I walked into the house and put on some more appropriate gardening attire, the mood to do some yardwork would have passed.  


The point of this story is that sticking to completing things on a list is not conducive to a person who's attention span doesn't allow them to take the time to put on a pair of decent pants to do some yard work.


With that said, I'm working on my list (slowly).  






1. Lose those pesky 15 pounds. (9 pounds down!  I'm almost there!)
2. Use reusable totes when grocery shopping (every time!) (I really am trying.  But it hasn't been every time I have to admit)
3. Take the kids to SF on the ferry and:
4. Go to the Fortune Cookie Factory.
5. Go on the cable cars.
6. Eat dim sum.
7. Walk across the bridge.
8. Train for a 5k, 10k, half-marathon.(Did I really write that?  Hmm.  Well, the 5k is done.)
9. Complete a 5k, 10k, half-marathon.
10. Take a creative writing class. 
11. For a short time (1 week? 1 month?) eat only foods grown locally (this will be done soon as I just started getting my veggie box and Zack has decided to go vegan.  Maybe next week.)
12. Cut back online time wasting (texting, FB, blogs, etc.) to a designated specific time frame (I have done SO much better! Thus the shortage of blog posts.)
13. Stick to grocery / household budget (each and every month). (so far I have!)
14. Plant vegetable garden. (lettuce, tomatoes, tomatillos, jalapenos, basil, cilantro, bush beans!)
15. Replace carpet on stairs / upstairs.
16. Focus on positive thoughts & encouraging words. (this is way too broad.  and after last week a miserable fail. my black mood was not focused on positive thoughts or encouraging words.  Ugh. I'm going to change this to something like go see a movie alone or test drive a mini cooper.)
17. Host a book club! (this is definitely a winter time thing.)
18. Volunteer in Anya’s classroom twice a month. 
19. Learn how to bake a pie. (winter thing)
20. Go to the sample sale in SF! (November!)
21. Host a family dinner more frequently. (this one should be easy, but why are we all so busy?)
22. Take a dance, tennis or swim class (all things I'm horrible at) (Ugh!  Gonna replace this one with get a facial or try every cupcake flavor at Moustache's)
23. See the Giant Sequoia’s (Zack’s wish)
24. Clean out, level and put walk path near vegetable garden on side yard. (I asked someone to come help me, so that's progress, right?)
25. Keep my purse clean and free of gum wrappers. (It's true!  It's clean 95% of the time!)
26.Ever see the "Eating on $1 A Day" Project? Gonna do it for a day. (Maybe 2 days?)
27. Break out of my clothing comfort zone (buy something not grey, black or brown) (this one is stupid.  who cares if I wear only grey every day?)
28. Get family pictures taken. (Trin are you reading this?  Get your goofy flash over here already.)
29. Take Anya horseback riding. (I called around on this the other day!)
30.Resolve kitchen countertop situation.


(And who else agrees that the other J's lists are so much more fun and interesting.  Eating on $1 a Day???  Keep my purse clean and free of gum wrappers???  Really????)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Zack's going vegan?! Someone broke my friend!

Jessica said...

He's gone completely vegan. No animal protein. Don't watch Forks Over Knives. That did it for him. I'm not going to watch it and enjoy my cheese.

Ruthie said...

Hey Jessica, any tips you have on keeping to your grocery budget would be great! I can't seem to ever do that.
And are you going to try going vegan with Zack? Joe and I are doing it (but we cheat a lot) and we both have really dropped weight despite that fact! In the first three weeks I dropped 6 pounds. I never thought That I would ever be able to cut out cheese and creamy sauces and soups, but after seeing the results and having more energy it's much easier! If you do, be sure to get the recipe book called "The Happy Herbivore" by Lindsay S. Nixon. Plenty of good stuff to eat in there. Hope you give it a go!!

Jessica said...

Ruthie, my biggest grocery budget tip is to stretch out the grocery shopping as long as possible. There will be times when it SEEMS like we have no food, but somehow there's still stuff to feed everyone. It might not be terribly exciting, but we're eating, right? I've also become more strict with the "if there is one bag of something open, you have to eat it all up before opening another bag of something" because then it extends the life of the snacks and I don't end up throwing away a half eaten stale bag of chips. This month will not be as budget conscious because Zack decided to go vegan and that means he went shopping with me and he thinks he needs more food then he does (sorry zack if you're reading this, but it's true. you do) I ate vegan with him last week and I did feel good, but I've also just finished up the 9 week boot camp contest and was pretty strict with what I ate, so I'm just enjoying food this week and then will probably jump back on the vegan bandwagon next week. Our meals have definitely shifted to less meat just because I can't make two meals. Tonight I'm making tortilla soup and adding grilled chicken to the kids. I will check out that book, and that is fantastic that you're feeling great and losing weight. Can you tell me maybe your top 5 easy vegan dinners that everyone will eat and enjoy?

Jessica said...

Oh! and write a list and stick to the list :)

Mirjam de Rijk said...

Tony got he DVD Forks over Knives from a client. He refuses to see it, every time we has a different excuse and decided he wants to stay blissfully ignorant... Yeah right... He is going to watch it one f these days...
By the way, I found some great raw vegan recipes in the book Raw Vegan for everyone by Alissa Cohen. You will need a dehydrator for some of the recipes. But for instance the raisin walnut torte is really easy to make and delicious: you mix an equal 2 cups rainsins with 2 cups raw walnuts in a food processor. This becomes a ball - sort of- and you put this in a 9 inch pie pan. Just spread it and push it firmly down in the tin. Top it with soaked dates put in the blender with the juice of a lemon. It is delicious, even hubby likes it.

Jessica said...

That's funny, I guess I'm like Tony because I don't want to watch it either! I will have to try that cake...it sounds like something Zack would like :)

Anonymous said...

We're not vegan but eat fairly healthy. For snacks we keep homemade humus & salsa in the house as a staple, as well as cucumbers. We make popcorn a lot too. That alone cuts our grocery budget. Then I shop for 2 meals; we cook on Monday eat leftovers Tuesday,repeat for Wed/Thurs. Then we see what we're craving(or have energy to cook)the other days. During the summer we practically live out of our garden. When we stray from this we spend way more & waste so much more food. Enjoy vegan Zack!
-m-