Bein' the tree - again

I worked on being positive last week, and it didn't go as well as I thought it should. I will continue on that, but a baby step that I think will help me is to remember to be flexible.

It is a realization that I came to earlier this week when it was a particularly stressful and exhausting day. Taking a cue from nature, I am going to focus on being more flexible (or rather, less uptight) and hopefully, that will reinforce my habit of being more positive.

Oooo, I think I feel it working already - some things I love, or that make me feel "positive"-

Laying in the grass, skywatching
weed therapy
the Cucumber Bandit, look out, she might leave you some-

These 3 together: breezy nights, sleeping with the windows open, white sheets

summer fruits
my gang
this guy
no seriously, this man
this dr.
this treat
listening to, but not watching this

Have some things you'd like to make a part of your life? Try weekly habits and accountability. See Lara at the Lazy Organizer for other habit ideas.

Tomato Grilled Chicken and Roasted Veggies - Yum!

We are going strong on our kids' cook nights, but I need a little work on my cooking nights. After all, dinner is kind of important - especially for my hubby, who has been working all day. He thinks I pretty thoughtful when I cook for him. You can really only eat cereal so many nights, right?

I was suffering from recipe fatigue, but my friend Tammy (and also Elizabeth) came to the rescue. Recipes and pictures of two of my new favorite dishes are at the bottom of this post.

My other habits this year:
Kids' Cook Night - great!
Exercise - will shoot for 3 times again this week
Strategizing - needs more work, I tend to do it all on one night
Flossing - HABIT
Meaningful prayer - always working on this
Scriptures w/kids - HABIT
Going to bed early - way awful - no other way to put it
No Soda - got better the week Lara's computer died and then not so good this last week, yeah, uh my reason is right here
Drinking water - HABIT
Making dinner - need to reinforce
Medical papers - oops, w/o chemo every 3 weeks and the accompanying mountain of paperwork, I have let this one slide off the habit wagon
Journal - HABIT (100% year-to-date, a first)

See Lara at the Lazy Organizer for other habit ideas

This recipe is one my friend Tammy gave me, and it's a perfect summertime meal.

Sun-Dried Tomato Grilled Chicken

1 bottle Kraft Sun-dried Tomato dressing (it is similar to Italian dressing)
desired number of chicken breasts
Roma tomatoes, 1 per chicken breast, diced
Grated parmesan cheese, 2 Tbsp per breast
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese (we like to use a 6 cheese italian blend)
Fresh or dried (2 Tbsp) basil

Place the chicken breasts in a ziploc bag or covered container. Pour 1/3 -1/2 the bottle of dressing in for 4 or less breasts. Marinade all day in the fridge, turning periodically.

Heat the grill when ready to cook. Sear the chicken 6 mintues each side on high. Prepare a piece of tinfoil large enough to place the chicken on and still tent over the top. Spray it with a non-stick cooking spray.

Turn the grill to low, put the foil on the grill. Place the chicken on the foil and sprinkle the diced tomatoes on top. Put one to two tablespoons of Parmesan cheese on each breast. Then cover the chicken with mozzarella. Place desired amount of fresh basil leaves on top or sprinkle the dried basil evenly.

Tent the foil over the top and cook until thickest part of the chicken reaches 170 degrees - or about another 10 minutes (it will appear pink on the outer edges from the coloring in the dressing). Remove and eat!

My kids don't love tomatoes, so I just left them off of their chicken.

We love to eat this (or a Sunday Roast) with this next recipe also from Tammy.

Tammy's Garlic Roasted Vegetables

1 lb baby carrots (or fresh carrots cut to baby-size)
4 red potatoes, quartered
4 yukon gold potatoes, quartered
12 garlic cloves, peeled & smashed or cut in half
1-2 walla walla onions, peeled & quartered
butternut squash, peeled and seeded cut into large chunks (will cook quickly)
red pepper, seeded & cut in half then quartered
fresh green beans (throw in the last 20 minutes)
1/4 c. olive oil

Toss all vegetables in large bowl with olive oil until coated. Pour into 9x13 pan. Salt and pepper to taste and cover with foil. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. Your house will smell amazing as you cook this. Tammy says she loves to use whatever vegetables need to be used up at the end of the week. This will make mountains of veggies, but they are so good you will eat them all!

Tammy is working on a cookbook. I can't wait until it's done, she is one of the best cooks/bakers I know. She also has incredibly good decorating taste and sewing ability. Pretty much whatever she touches turns to gold.

Was that last one over the top? Try these recipes and tell me what you think.

I before E and all that stuff - also, Fridays are for libraries

A big fat TA DA! Finally, something small enough that I actually did it 100%. The great thing is that even though flossing is a small habit, it will pay off big time. Another two weeks and I'll safely call this a habit again.

For this week, I need to work in some daily planning time. I am going to start with 15 minutes. I want to use this planning time specifically for this year's upcoming schooling adventures. You know what they say about failing to plan...

I want learning to be fun for the kids (& me), and that means lots of hands-on activities and fieldtrips and great books. We are hoping to visit Washington, DC next Spring (although I'm still campaigning for Hawaii) so I'll be planning the year around that (Colonial America, US Govt, American History in general). Let me know if there are some great resources you think I shouldn't be without.

If you have some habits you'd like to work on and want to play along, visit the Lazy Organizer and learn more.

My other habits this year:
Flossing - 100% (I knew I could do it)
Meaningful prayer - still working on it
Scriptures w/kids - pretty good
Going to bed early - All miss this week (in fact, let's not & say I never did)
No Soda - Hah! no wait, double haha (2 for 7)
Drinking water - HABIT
Making dinner - except for the nights we ate out - great
Medical papers - HABIT
Journal - HABIT (100% year-to-date, a first)

I love going to the library (w/o a baby sometimes) and just perusing the shelves to see what stands out to me or looks interesting. Can you tell which sections I browse in?
This month's libary checkouts:
The Healthy Hedonist by Myra Kornfeld
Good Green Homes by Jennifer Roberts
Creating the Inspired House by John Connell
Designing a Home With Wood by Heather E. Adams, et al
Raising Self-Reliant Children in a Self-Indulgent World by H. Stephen Glenn & Jane Nelsen
Fascinating Womanhood by Helen Andelin because I thought I was picking up this book (oops, I'll let you know if it's any good).
and....
The Hobbit - again. Because for some reason we are still only half-way through it.
I also picked up a 300 page guide to the trees in our state and regional area for $1.50.
While I was there, I filled out a requisition form for
The Articulate Executive by Granville Toogood and it looks like they will be getting it.

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Flashback Friday & Smart Habit Saturday

It has been an interesting week. Ty has done well at the hospital.

As far as habits go, aye yi yi yi... Let's just pretend it didn't happen. I'm calling a do-over for this week. This time I really mean to do it.

But, I am going to have to use Lara's habit.doc to pull it off.

If you have some habits you'd like to work on and want to play along, visit Lara's site and learn more. How am I doin'?

Meaningful prayer - working on it
Going to bed early - Hit and miss
No Soda - I have got to come up with a strategy for when I'm at the hospital and so close to the fizzy stuff - at home it's no prob.
Drinking water - Very nearly a habit
Making dinner - meh...I know - Cereal doesn't count
Medical papers - Totally awesome, completely current
Journal - HABIT


And now for a FLASHBACK..........
Here's a picture of Ty and Spielberg when Speilberg was just a week old. I snapped a picture of this old picture. Notice the white scuff marks - This photo (and the box it was in) somehow jostled its way off the pickup truck during a move. My sister and I spent an afternoon gathering over 300 scattered pictures from either side of the Interstate.

We never would have known about it had a passerby not stopped to investigate the "moving blanket" on the side of the road. It was really a quilt from the Philippines - a rather nice one. He looked around some more and happened on a page that had ripped out of my Engagement scrapbook. He found my maiden name and started calling all of them in the phone book.

I answered the phone when he called. Unfortunately Mr. Triumph was working on our house (4 hours away), so my sister and I headed out there to scavenge what we could. Just a little tip: Never, and I mean NEVER put the box with your pictures, album and negatives in the back of an open bed pickup truck. They should be in the cab because otherwise, you're just asking for disaster to strike.

Also, I don't advise picking up pictures from the side of the freeway. It is better to be alive and try to remember how cute your baby looked and how skinny you were on your wedding day. Sigh.

Alright, here is my testament to finishing up the insurance papers. I am done. At least until the mail comes on Monday.
Maybe it doesn't seem very impressive, but keep in mind these are only for January-mid May.
And to finish off, here's a little cuteness.

You may be wondering why all these pictures look like they are taken at night. No? Well it's because I can't hold still (thank you hyperthyroid levels) long enough to produce an unblurry picture so I have to use the auto-focus w/flash.
And that's the truth. (Insert raspberry here, ala Lily Tomlin on Electric Company ;)

Smart Habit Saturday

Each Saturday, I pick a habit to reinforce. Sometimes it works great, other times - yeah, um... I....

Well, at least there's this week.

This past week I wanted to focus on more meaningful prayers and some quiet time for listening to the Spirit. Let me just say this week I've had a constant prayer on my mind because everyone but Mr. Triumph and Ty went a few rounds with the stomach flu (or else we were the victims of some seriously bad Pizza, Pizza!)

I am going to add daily scripture time back in to my list of habits. We used to be so good at this and with all our trips to the hospital - and summer nights - we have gotten off track. Taking this week to focus on daily family scripture is just what we need to get us back in the *groove*.

If you have some habits you'd like to work on and want to play along, visit Lara's site and learn more.

So to sum up:
Meaningful prayer - work in progress
Going to bed early - Does it count if I say I went to bed *early* in the morning every single night, uh, I mean morning? Later, dudes.
No Soda - Had to tip back the flat Coke to settle the tummy and it was all downhill from there...
Drinking water - Very nearly a habit - (just couldn't do it when the flu bug came to visit)
Making dinner - Okay (although not many of us felt much like eating this week)
Medical papers - Tonight, tonight (I mean uh - morning)
Journal - HABIT

S.M.A.R.T. Habit Saturday

Each Saturday, I pick a habit to reinforce. Sometimes it works great, other times - yeah, um... I well, at least there's next week.

Going to bed earlier, what was I thinking? So I knew this wouldn't happen, I'd like it to - but apparently, not badly enough. Instead I used plan b which was Making Dinner. I even used my crock pot. I was right, less pressure = more results for me. Maybe it will work on going to bed earlier.

Saturday - pizza
Sunday - Puck's Chicken
Monday - Steak
Tuesday - BBQ Spare Ribs
Wednesday - Minestrone Soup (I know it's June, but it was a cold day)
Thursday - Crispy Chicken and Cheesy Potatoes
Friday - Leftovers
On the menu for tomorrow - Pork enchiladas

This week I'm going to focus on more meaningful prayers and some quiet time for listening to the Spirit. Ty has some big medical days ahead of him. I would like to make sure that I am doing everything I can to feel right about the decisions coming up. And since Ty will be back at the hospital this week I wanted a habit that I can work on no matter where I am.

If you'd like to play along, visit Lara's site and learn more.

So to sum up:
Going to bed early - Hah! Not even once. On hold
No Soda - 100%
Drinking water - Awesome!
Making dinner - Every night this week
Medical papers - not so much, again
Journal - habit

SMART Habit Saturday

Thanks to Lara at the Lazy Organizerfor this motivator. I encourage you to click on the link to the left and participate. There are prizes involved, people.

I did great for me. I was sucking up the Dr. Pepper on a daily basis until last Saturday. I only had one this week and I already owned up to it. I know I can make it 100% next week - I just have to have my water handy and getting to bed earlier will help too.

Which brings me to my new habit. Getting to bed earlier, and for me this would be 11 pm. I've been averaging 2-3 am so 11 really is early for me.

So to sum up:

No Soda - 6 out of 7

Drinking water - pretty good

Making dinner - on hold

Medical papers - not so much

Journal - habit

SMART Habit Saturday

Thanks to Lara at the Lazy Organizerfor this motivator. I encourage you to click on the link to the left and participate. There are prizes involved, people.

Dinner was pretty much a wash. It will happen eventually though. I used to shop and plan for two weeks' worth of meals and then actually prepare them. I guess that's one way I'll know that things are getting back to normal usual - once I get back to that.

I must say I rocked at drinking water this week. Only 2 days that I didn't get all 100 ozs in. I believe I will follow Jenny's lead and take it up a notch to "cutting out soft drinks".

I think I have been surviving on Dr. Pepper these past few months. Yes, I know it's cancer-in-a-can, but you can only get along on 5 hours sleep for so many days before you fall asleep in your dinner (that you didn't personally make, btw). Ty is no longer on IV antibiotics in the wee hours of the morning so I think this is a doable habit for me. Thanks for the inspiration Jenny!

So to sum up:
Drinking water - pretty good
Making dinner - on hold
Medical papers - pretty good
Journal - habit

S.M.A.R.T. Habit Saturday

Thanks to Lara at the Lazy Organizerfor this motivator. I encourage you to click on the link to the left and participate.

This week I was going to work on making dinner each day. Well, I stunk at it, and I only made it three days out of seven. I did make some smoothies, but that's not quite dinner is it?

I think that habit will have to go on hold as Ty is going in to the hospital on Thursday - I suppose I could try for 5 out of 7 first though.

This next week I'm going to commit to drinking more water. I haven't been drinking anywhere near the amount I should be. I'll be trying to drink 100 ozs a day. I'm not going to be drinking just any water, but "base" water. It is water with a ph of 8.5 or 9. This is an effort to make my system more alkaline and less conducive to the cancer that seems determined not to vacate the premises - which is my neck.

So to sum up:
Making dinner - hah! this week will be better
Medical papers - pretty good
Journal - habit

S.M.A.R.T. Habit Saturday

Thanks to Lara at the Lazy Organizer for this motivator. I encourage you to click on the link to the left and participate.

I did pretty well on my habit this week and was 5 for 7 days. Although I spent 2 1/2 hours on Monday just trying to make sense of all the varied medical papers. As long as I'm home, I shouldn't have a problem keeping this up.

My new habit to work on this week is to actually make dinner - that is, if we don't end up at the hospital again. Ty has only been off his antibiotics one day, and he is trying to have a fever. He is at 100.3. I'll keep checking him over the next hour and if it stays there or goes above that, we'll likely have to go in for some blood cultures, labs, and observation. He has been very agitated today; something is clearly bothering him.

So, my plan B habit to work on this week - if we end up at the hospital again - is to study (really study) 1 hour a day and annotate my readings.*
***
What habits are you working on?

S.M.A.R.T. Habit Saturday

Thanks to Lara at the Lazy Organizer for this motivator. I'm going to work on the stacks of medical claims that have piled up in the last four weeks. Three of those weeks Tyler has been at the hospital and one week I took the other kids to visit my sister Stacy in Arizona.

***

I encourage you to click on the link to the left and participate. The one goal I have set and done this year is to write in my journal everyday. Prior to that, it was always hit and miss.

*

So, my habit this week is to work 20 minutes a day on the medical papers: organizing, paying, and filing! I will reclaim my kitchen counter(s).

***

What habits are you working on?