Monday, September 21, 2015

Weekly Steps Forward...and Back Sept 12 to Sept 18

As long as we take more forward than back, I'm happy...and even the baby steps count. 





















Home
I rearranged L's room. It now feels more spacious with more floor space for playing and more room for his toys and books. He's happy about it.

I hung up some wall art - slowly but surely, things are getting less barren around here!

I turned down water heater temperature to save money on electricity. The water previously got scalding hot, which is not safe and just not necessary.

I made a batch of my all purpose cleaner.

I hung 3 loads laundry to dry on the clothesline instead of using the dryer.


Food



I made a Peach Crisp, a loaf of bread in the bread machine, and a batch of mini applesauce muffins. I made them mini because 2 are the perfect size to throw in a lunch box. My husband and son ate a few this week (I'm off gluten, sugar and dairy), but I froze most of them to pull out later for snacks.

I  bought a giant bag of reduced bananas for $1 at Walmart. They were ripe so I left out a couple but froze most of them for smoothie fodder. When I do this, I'm always reminded of a phrase I read in Economy Gastronomy that 'smoothies are sad fruit made happy'!


Family and Kid Stuff

 

It was a very rainy Sunday around here and we felt like doing something fun as a family. My husband, a history nerd, suggested that we visit the Diefenbunker, a 1960's nuclear bunker that served as a top-secret military base as well as where the Canadian government would decamp to if the country had been hit with a nuclear bomb if the Cold War turned hot. I wasn't entirely convinced at first that this would be a fun outing for the 3 of us, but it was really interesting. I wish we had had more time to explore but hunger struck! At 4 underground levels totally 100 000 square feet, there's a lot to explore. Above is a typical hallway as well as the War Room (which was pretty cool, replete with all the 1960's tech). 

My husband and I watched a movie that I took out from the library one evening called Jiro Dreams of Sushi. It's a documentary about an 85 year old sushi chef in Japan who has dedicated his entire life to perfecting his craft. It was a thoughtful and interesting watch.


Personal





















A bought a new winter coat. This purchase was a huge splurge. Huge.

So why is this in the accomplishments rather than steps back section? Well... I needed a new very warm winter coat since my old one is done (and I'm also a bit frightened of my first winter coming up in Ottawa!) and after a LOT of research -- I think I made the best choice for me. Tracking down my size also turned out to be a feat! I chose a coat by Quartz Nature. After looking at a couple of other competitors, I chose this one because it's really high quality and should last I think at least 8 years, it's a Canadian company and made in Canada, it uses sustainably sourced down, it was the only one that was waterproof, and the only one that was machine washable. Seriously, machine washable is huge. A parka costs between $80-100 to dry clean and at once per year at minimum, that adds up to whole other coat over its lifespan. Time will tell, but right now I'm happy with choice!

While I only got in 3 workouts this week (I am for 4), they were 3 good ones where I really pushed myself so I'm counting them as step forwards.

Steps Back

We are already over budget for eating out this month....way over. :(

I caved and ate ice cream and pizza -- so  much for week one of my diary, gluten-free, and refined sugar free diet!


Is there something that represents a splurge for you that paid off in the long-run? 











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