kevin and jenna [dot] com » Getting Greener

Glucose update

Jenna — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:11:51 +0000

I went in for my 3-hour glucose test on Thursday, and I was really nervous, considering I “flunked’ my 1-hour test… by 71 points… So, after all the help you all gave me, I could see that I needed a major diet change. My goal was not to try and trick the test (if that was even possible), but to make sure that I was eating the absolute right foods for me.

When I went in, my baseline glucose reading (after fasting) was an 88. A normal reading is somewhere between 90 & 100, and if I had had between 90 & 100 in the 1-hour test, then I wouldn’t have had to take the 3-hour test. Then I drank the lemon-lime-sugar-coma-inducer… Last week I chose the orange-crush-of-death… and after an hour, my glucose level was at 151, which was better than the 165 level I needed to stay under. And after 2 hours, my reading was down to 130, and they were looking for me to be under 145. So, I passed, with flying colors.[insert big sigh of relief]

So, what was my ’secret’ for eating better? I majorly cut back on sugars & grains in my diet. That little step was so much harder than I ever thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong, I still ate 1-2 things per day that I considered “no-nos”, but for the most part, cutting back on those 2 things was my secret. And the best part? I had more energy than most days when I was pregnant. I didn’t snap at the kids as much, because I wasn’t always crashing on sugar highs or lows.

The day of my glucose test, I made these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with the kids (they were super yummy!) and had no regrets about eating a few. I could definitely tell, after not eating things with flour and sugar all week, that I didn’t want to eat too many, for fear of the sugar high. ”Everything in moderation”, right?

And what do I eat the most of? Meat. Veggies. Nuts. Cheese and plain milk, even though most people who follow this plan might cut dairy out completely. I’m not even tired of salad, and we’ll have an entire garden bed of lettuces, spinaches (sp?), and swiss chard in a month.

Now, I think my challenge is convincing the kiddos that this change is a good thing… that we can eat healthy foods that don’t have sugars and still enjoy them. Any tips?

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New Year’s Resolutions 2011

Jenna — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 06:16:53 +0000

And now, I’m going to make public my NYR-11. I don’t think I’ve ever made resolutions public before, but it will be interesting to see if I can keep up with all of these or if I’ll need to set my sights higher in June.

This is a list of things I would like to get done; a sort of long-term “to-do” list.

1. Backyard Garden – take better care of it and be more involved with the planting and care = weeding, watering, etc. (This has been Kevin’s job, but I’d like to do more of it since I’m home more.)
2. Front Yard Maintenance – also take care of it better and involve the kids in the weeding and sweeping and throwing away of yard refuse. (They are able to do these jobs and would like to do so more.)
3. Build a Deck on the Back Patio – looking to Kevin for assistance on this one. And, considering our recent purchase of wood for burning in our fireplace, we need some more room up there.
4. Build an Outdoor Shed in the Back Yard.
5. Buy and Put in Kids’ Playscape/Playground. This will be their combined birthday present this year.

And now for my own personal goals:

1. [after my foot heals, which should be 2 more weeks!] Work out 3x/week. This could be at the gym, running in the neighborhood or at the park, doing a workout DVD, or a combination of all. I might need to re-set this goal if I’m continually hitting 3x – might need to be 4x.
2. Freeze More Meals – especially breakfasts. I’ve done well in freezing dinners and getting those on the table, but for breakfast my kids are stuck in a frozen waffle rut. They are okay with that, but I really don’t like frozen waffles, so I’ll tend to skip breakfast and just drink coffee, which leads to a grumpy Jenna. This makes me neither productive nor affectionate, and I lose points with everyone that way. I’ve been loving the book Fix Freeze Feast (you can buy it on Amazon) for making dinner recipes and then freezing them, and I’ve tried a couple of their breakfast recipes but the kids aren’t crazy about them. So, if you have any ideas, send them my way.
3. Meet once a week for mentoring/prayer. I’ve been trying to meet with Kelsey and Addison (our newest adopted Aggie) once a week but something has gotten in the way. But now I’m realizing accountability doesn’t just have to be with them, it can mean coffee with other friends too – although I’d like to be more stable with K&A.
4. Do something fun once a day with the kids. We’ve been doing Tuesday as movie night this month – we’ve gotten so many free Redbox or Blockbuster kiosk rental codes! With foot surgery and being sick and my dad in the hospital, this is one area where I feel like I’ve failed and/or need major help. Hence the goal. Here’s some ideas of mine: Library time, Reading a Story time, Park playtime, Outside playtime, Cooking with Mom time, Science Experiment time, Computer playtime, Dress-up time, Wii-playing time, Art project time, Acting out a story-time…. Also would like for the kids to pick their activities.
5. Take Kevin on 2 trips this year – one in-state, one out of state. Nuff said.

Organizational Goals: I had to make a separate category for this one, because I might just get all excited about organizing my house. I love to organize, and I found this blog called iheartorganizing. ”Inspirational” is not the word I’d use to describe her – I’ll say she’s my creative muse. Wow. the things she does are so pretty. I do heart them, and I’ve been trying to do my own organizing projects around the house. But one thing she says is to start small and choose one project per month. So, here’s my 12 (13?) goals for organization this year, and I hope to have pictures of finished projects up soon, because some of them are DONE!

1. Laundry room
X 2. Wrapping paper & gift bags
3. Kitchen Pantry
4. Colby’s Room
5. Kennedy’s Room
6. Carlee’s Room
7. Master closet
8. Office/Kids’ Art Supplies
9. Entertainment Center
10. Back Patio
11. Night stands
X 12. Kitchen drawers
X 13. Master Bookshelf

So, I haven’t paced myself that well, because I do like to cross things off my list. BUT I will say that it is so good to get organized and I can’t wait til you see what I’ve done with not much time and even less money. Hopefully that will encompass many of the posts on my blog in the near future.

Did you make any NYR?

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Jenna. Dec 6. Swiss chard, part 2.

Jenna — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 03:58:42 +0000

Here’s the last pic I took of our [picked] swiss chard. And here’s today’s pickins. (not a before and after; 1/2 is in the sink and 1/2 is on the cabinet).

I cooked all of this in a tiny bit of olive oil and then added some brown sugar and butter. I sauteed the stems separate from the leaves, to make sure the stems weren’t still crunchy. It tastes a lot like spinach but not quite so spicy, more like turnip greens. Next time I’ll add more sugar and more butter for Kevin’s tastes, but I really enjoyed it.

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Jenna. Oct 13. Swiss Chard.

Jenna — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 03:46:14 +0000

So, this is part of our garden bounty. We ate this as part of our salad tonight. So pretty!

Anybody got any good swiss chard recipes?

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Jenna. Aug 29. Winter Garden.

Jenna — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 02:57:39 +0000

We’re taking the plunge! Kevin [along with 2 very helpful 12 year-old boys] built an 8ft. by 8ft. box. Today he planted broccoli, cilantro, tomatoes, lettuce, 2 kinds of green beans, & okra. I’m so excited to eat what will grow in our back yard!

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Jenna. Aug 7. Tuh-mater plants.

Jenna — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 05:00:55 +0000

Bought these at the Farmer’s Market today. Hoping they’ll make this late in the year.

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Jenna. Mar 23. Being [Green].

Jenna — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 04:38:07 +0000

Since [green] week was left to our own interpretation, I wanted my last [green] week pic to address something our family tries to incorporate: Making conscious choices to be [Green]. I’d hate to throw the label “environmental” on this, but we are trying to use less, conserve more, and re-purpose whenever possible. [Your basic Reuse, Reduce, Recycle philosophy, just maybe toned down a notch. We do what we can.]

And, speaking of “can” – we are discovering how much less it costs and how much less packaging we use to make orange juice from a can (in concentrate), rather than buying it already made in the store. Wow. I’m headed to Sam’s tomorrow to grab OJ in bulk. [Like any decisions, we weigh the pros and cons, and there are some times when buying the juice in the carton is perfectly acceptable - particularly if I have a great coupon.]

Here’s Colby posing with the OJ he helped me make today. He really loves seeing himself in the camera so he will hardly hold still while I’m capturing the shot. He’ll make a great photographer.

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Jenna. Mar 16. Saving [Green].

Jenna — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 02:58:01 +0000

It’s Green week on the Project.

I took trips to CVS, Walgreens, & Target. I bought:

- 1 roll CVS Paper towels
- 1 Aussie Shampoo
- 2 boxes Kashi crackers & 1 box Kashi granola bars
- 3 Cadbury eggs
- 2 5 lb. bags of Gold Medal flour
- 2 NyQuil & 2 DayQuil
- 1 box Electrasol tabs (dishwashing detergent)
- 2 tubes of Colgate toothpaste
- 2 tubes Neosporin
- 1 box Band-Aids
- 1 box Puffs tissues
- 3 Scotch bubble mailers
- 1 Johnson & Johnson Buddies Bar
- 1 Clorox Toilet Wand

You are looking at $100.58 worth of groceries. I spent $15.40. I saved 84.7% of my [Green] money.

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Green Mom Finds

Jenna — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:06:27 +0000

This week I found Green Mom Finds. So far they have been enlightening me about the ability to recycle athletic shoes and buy organic underwear. Okay, so I’m not so down with the underwear part, they don’t have any in my size, but the recycling shoes part is really cool. Subscribe to them, even if you’re not a mom, and learn something useful.

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Did you know….?

Jenna — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:19:53 +0000

Today I went shopping at Kroger’s and used my super cool Chico bags! (I love them, by the way, and they’re going to be incredibly handy for the Christmas shopping.) Anyway, the checkout lady asked me how many (Chico) bags I brought in. I didn’t really know why she asked, was it just out of her curiosity or was there a limit? None of the above; she said, “You know you get a credit for bringing in your own bags.” A What? I just wanted to save the planet, but I’m all for coupons too.

Kroger’s takes 5 cents off your shopping bill for every bag you bring in. I was credited for 12 bags so I saved 60 cents today.

I bought the bags for $2.50 apiece. This means the Chico bags will basically pay for themselves within a year (1 trip per week x 52 weeks in a year x 5 cents = $2.60) And then they’ll pay me back after a year! I think it’s great for business; I’m sure those plastic bags cost a lot to make.

Do you know any other systems like this?

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