That’s what it’s been about at my house this past couple weeks. Hubby and I finally purchased our dream exercise equipment, after watching eBay carefully for the perfect deals. I’ve wanted a Gazelle Supertrainer for years, and he’s wanted a Total Gym…you know, the kind Chuck Norris endorses? Well, I couldn’t get to town to utilize a gym membership, so we brought the gym to me! And I’m loving it, especially when dh works out with me!

And all this exercising is really making me aware of the foods I’m eating. After all, who wants to spend 45 minutes burning fat to put it back on again during a ten minute snack fest? So I’ve been cutting my meals in half, and the first week I lost a whopping 9 pounds! I’ve lost two more since then, and it’s blowing my mind how much food I used to eat. In trying to analyze it, I think “eating more” during my years of pregnancy and breastfeeding (I bf my girls more than a year when possible) became a habit that I never realized. I’m not a big snacker, but I do love real food. In becoming cognizant of eating only until I’m satisfied–not quite full, but not hungry, I’ve noticed that I’m losing the familiar “urge” to eat more. It’s great stuff!  

I’ve also been reading helpful weight loss tips, some from magazines, some from the net, and have gleaned some from friends. Here are the ones I’ve found helpful:

Paul McKenna’s 4 Golden Rules

I knew nothing about this man before a friend began talking about some of his techniques and “golden rules” of weight loss. So I looked him up online and began reading his site, and the forum comments. Gleaned a bunch of goodies. I really liked his tip of squeezing the thumb and forefinger of your left hand together and thinking nasty thoughts about the foods you’re craving when those inevitable desires arise! It works! We ate at Pizza Hut after church this past week, and I opted for salad bar only…watching my family eat slice after slice was hard until I tried this and my stomach actually ceased growling at me! For motivation, and more on these ‘rules’, definitely visit www.mckenna.com.

The Maker’s Diet

My friend Deborah perked my interest in this one, and I immediately got my hands on a copy of the book. You can check Jordan S. Rubin’s book and testimony out at this link: The Maker’s Diet. It’s based on Biblical guidelines for eating, cleansing, etc. I just finished the book, and highly recommend it. Jordan Rubin was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and after seeing over 70 doctors and health practitioners, he looked like a concentration camp survivor…definitely at death’s door. He regained his health 180% by in-depth study of the Bible and following God’s prescription for diet and health. Fascinating reading! And an especially informative Appendix at the book’s end contains simple and delicious sounding recipes, resources (books and websites) for places to purchase organic foods, essential oils (Biblical ones!!), sweeteners, grains and flours, popcorn…non-toxic household cleaners and odor removers…it’s unbelievable what’s available out there. Informative read!

Don’t Get Distracted

Savor each bite. We’re aiming for chewing this a few more times (25-30 or more) than your normal mom-in-a-hurry bite-and-gulp routine. Concentrate on your meal, and on stopping when you feel satisfied. This has really worked for me. That and drinking a ton of lemon-water if I don’t quite feel satisfied when I’m determined to stop!

Get Distracted

Sometimes you just have to let a little time go by and your common sense will overtake those cravings. Get busy doing something else. I REALLY wanted one of the homemade biscuits I’d made to go with supper the other night. I reasoned that I’d skipped the mashed potatoes and gravy, and only had half a piece of the chicken fried steak, so one little biscuit wouldn’t hurt anything, right? Well, I put it off, thinking it would be a nice treat after we’d cleaned up the kitchen, but I kept eyeing the ziplock bag of leftovers, wondering if it was really worth it. By the time we finished clean-up, I was glad I hadn’t gone for it. There are still biscuits in the bag two days later, untouched by yours truly! (Can you tell I don’t feel at all deprived?)

Be Too Smart to Be Tricked

Foods with the appealing titles of “Home-style Fried Chicken” or “Grandma’s Sticky Buns” tempt us, saying that the food must “taste better”…nah, probably not. Think how long you’d have to work out to burn those calories that you’ll forget minutes after having consumed them!

Keep Track of What You Put in Your Mouth

I haven’t been doing this, but I think it’s a great idea to help us be more aware of how much mindless consumption we’re guilty of. One article I read advised to write down every food before you put it in your mouth.

I’ve never been a calorie counter either, but my Gazelle keeps track of how many calories I’ve burned and a 30 minute workout on there says I’ve burned 160-300 calories (depending on how fast and furious I’m going!) so I got online and started researching some of the foods I’d been eating at CalorieKing.com. Yikes! Go get educated…the bottom line is that most fruits and veggies have barely any calories, while the hamburgers hubby fixed for us the other night each contained 218 calories, plus the 70 calorie slice of cheese, the 1 calorie leaf of romaine lettuce, two slices of tomato at 3 calories each…equals an almost 300 calorie meal. I skipped the bun and ketchup, but had a little mustard at 0 cals. Think I’m obsessed? Well, it’s been interesting correlating the two, burning calories and consuming them. (Yeah, I’ve never seriously dieted before!)

Keep Healthy Snacks Around

I’m snacking more diligently to keep from “starving” between meals. Baby carrots, watermelon cubes, celery sticks, bell pepper, broccoli, two or three tablespoons of tuna fish with lime juice and garlic (as a veggie dip), 6 oz of V-8 Juice…things under 35 calories per serving. They’ve really taken the edge off.

Stay Away From Fat-free and Sugar-free Products

I just read a very informative book called Sweet Poison on the dangers of Aspartame. Really wanted to review it on the blog but ran out of time. If you or anyone you know likes diet pop, or diet/sugar-free/fat-free anything, you need to read this book. Really. It could save your/their life. Did you know that Aspartame is even in children’s Tylenol? It’s in most of the available yogurts, sugar-free gum (both things we consumed prior to reading this book), etc. The author’s  compelling testimony of being diagnosed with a fatal thyroid disorder, Grave’s Disease; she was about to have her thyroid destroyed by doctors (irradiated) when she did her own research and found that her devastating health problems (hair loss, vision problems, migraines, weight gainall tracked back to her daily diet pops and overuse of Aspartame. Within 30 days of giving up Aspartame products (de-toxing, essentially) she was back on the road to good health, and her doctor eventually announced her cured of Grave’s disease, which is uncurable. Anyway, visit the link, it’s much more convincing than I am! (My girls are mourning the loss of sugar-free gum…b/c we don’t chew gum otherwise!)

Well, there’s a lot of “thought for food” to keep ya’ll busy! I do want to stress that it’s not about starving yourself, it’s about moderation! There are SO many ways to cut back, as I’m discovering. I’d love to hear your favorite tips in comments!!

Sorry, Snoopy, had to steal your great line there.

Ran into problems tonight on my way home from our Monday night VBS workshop…thunderstorms and driving rain, that is. Not normally a problem if you have two working windshield wipers, but alas, hubby stole one of my windshield wipers in a pinch to use on his work truck and I didn’t realize rain was in the forecast when I chose our more-economical-on-gas-mileage vehicle, the Saturn. Couldn’t even make use of the one good wiper, as the other one’s metal base would have gouged the windshield!

Talk about a crazy drive home. What normally takes us 30 minutes took 55, easily. Picture me, nose to the steering wheel, trying to keep between the lines…trying to SEE the lines, especially when other traffic approached from either direction causing the wet pavement/road signs to glare everywhere. I kept thinking that I was so focused on the yellow and white lines that a deer could cross the road, or the road could be flooded, and I wouldn’t realize it till it was too late. Thank God we made it home.

You know me though, there’s a moral to this tale.

In the storms of life, keep your eyes on Jesus. My yellow and white lines kept me on the road tonight and gave me a shot at making it to the end in one piece. We had our moments of terror, panic, tears, anxiety, hilarity, of doubting that God heard our pleas for the rain to stop, or the oncoming traffic to be light, but I just gritted my teeth and didn’t let my eyes waver from that yellow center line down the highway. My worst moment came when a vehicle had been following me, unable to pass because of the curvy, hilly highway…his lights in my rear made the visibility even worse, and then ahead I saw another vehicle approaching. Boy, we thought we were goners for sure! And then my daughter said, “Mom! It stopped raining!”

And I could see clearly again. So hang in there through the ups and downs. God’s there, He’ll keep you between the lines…if you follow Him!

Sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies are packed up, ready to go, and I just got all my baking sheets washed and cooling racks in the dishwasher–it’s time to wake up my 3 year old and get a move on. But first, I wanted to get a quick post up to tell you all Happy May Day!

I told my girls a sure fire way to get company to drop in is for me to get outside and make a mess of myself scraping the house! I’m working on the exterior of our back porch and was covered with paint flecks when my sister and her kids showed up yesterday…then this morning, it was a good homeschooling friend and her family sneaking by to drop off a May Day basket!

What a treat, and it caught on! I’m so ditzy these days that when I flipped the calendar to this new month last night, I actually looked at the date and tried to remember what was special about May 1st. You see, I used to leave baskets at people’s houses every May Day, but kind of lost the tradition. Our Mom’s group even got together on May Day, bringing baskets and any little neat things we had around the house to use as fillers. Stick some home-made cookies or mini-loaves in a small basket lined with a dishtowel or bright tissue paper, tuck a few flowers from the green house in the middle and a devo book or a candle and you’ve got a good excuse to go bless your neighbors! Get your children involved, they can make the Happy May Day cards…

Your neighbors will be astounded, and what a great opportunity it is to reach out to those around us!

It’s not too late in the day, either! I’ve got to get a move on, we’ve got goodies to deliver!

(I’ll try to post a pic of our baskets later)

Today I’m posting over at Weekend Kindness, Give a Little Extra Love. Check out my list of easy ways to bless your spouse, and while you’re there, spend some time browsing–there’s some great posting going on over there!

Susan at High Desert Home is writing a wonderfully thought provoking series, perfect for those of you contemplating the wherefores of  the homeschooling adventure. I found her thoughts affirming, charming, and right on. An Inspiring Home For Learning, the first of ten posts. It just beckons you over, doesn’t it?

Once you get there, follow the links in Susan’s sidebar to read all the entries. She’s over halfway through, and I couldn’t not share it with you all. Let me know what you think.

Yesterday evening my two youngest and I met hubby’s truck and horse trailer down on the green across the gravel road and down from our front yard. Ten year old daughter and dh had been working at the ranch all day, whilst we three at home had been lazily grogging around after two of our busiest weeks so far this year. In fact, I’d been salivating over the very dream of having time to waste…and when I finally received an afternoon “off”, I slept it away! Couldn’t keep my eyes open…

Hubby unloaded two horses–Legend, a gray gelding, and Baby Lena, a bay. Both gentle, wonderful stock, still saddled and bridled, so our three girls spent the next half hour riding them around and around, giggling and just hurrahing the stillness of early evening.

For two weeks, we’ve had bursting full afternoons and evenings, places to be and meetings to attend, drop in company. Lots of rushing and late, late bedtimes. To simply stand there, arms wrapped around myself, comfy in my old navy sweatshirt and wind pants, mesmerized by my silly offspring’s love of country life–did you hear that pure sigh of contentment? Exactly what my spirit needed.

Off to the north, dark storm clouds built, heading our way. Lightning flashes and rumbles of thunder promised that the horsing around would soon come to an abrupt, possibly wet end. The trees started shaking their limbs at us, the wind grew cool and fierce. Finally, after putting it off as long as we dared, sporadic wet splats of rain chased us to the barn chores and eventually to the house.

We’re probably headed into the flooding, rainy season but I’m thinking I needed a good excuse to stick close to home (we live in a flood plain). I’m not ecstatic about mud, but the fresh cleansing of air, green grass and the filling up of all our favorite water holes sounds like a fair exchange. Awana is over for another year, we have one last square dancing class and then our homeschooling co-op will call it quits for summer break. One more Bible study session left with our small group. Four more Sunday School classes to teach. Don’t get me wrong, I love all these things, but I’m growing weary of trying to fit all the pieces together with homeschooling, etc. Anyway, I’m looking at a relatively quiet couple of weeks before things start filling up again. Graduations, weddings, Vacation Bible School, and camping trips.

By the way, our chicks are growing! Haven’t lost a one, yet. They are hopping flying out of their box, bad little things, and it’s perpetual springtime here with chirping birdies around every corner. We now have two Aldi boxes in the mud room/back porch, and a dishwasher box (Yes–I got a new dishwasher!) in the laundry room with five new baby Araucanas we just picked up this weekend. Yes, that’s three heat lamps, lots of feeders and waterers and plenty of fluffball handling going on at our house! (follow the Araucana link to see why these birds are called the Easter Egg Chickens!)

Well, anyway, I wish you all plenty of calm and no storms. But if they come anyway, just remember that sunshine is sure to follow…

God bless!

Mary

Healing Promises, book 2 in the Defender’s of Hope Series, is a fantastic romantic suspense by Christian author and homeschooling mom, Amy Wallace. Let me tell you it is TOP among my fiction faves this year! Just for fun, read my initial response to the book (emailed to Amy):

“Amy, this is as good a time as ever to let you know I devoured your book. I honestly am so impressed with your gift for not only a superb story, but one that is SO inspired by God! I loved every word of it, Clint and Sara were so real…I have such a greater appreciation of what people–married couples esp–must go through when facing cancer together. Wow. I especially loved seeing Gracie and (edited out so as not to spoil the Ransomed Dream experience!) continue their relationship to the altar (!!!) and am very anxious to read Hanna’s story! You have all the exciting elements my dear. I’m not gushing to build you up, I’m truly being honest here. I hope you take this as a compliment, you are up there with Karen Kingsbury in my favorites, and she’s always been at the top. I just love how she makes God so real in the lives of tragedy, and here you are doing the same thing. Thank you for following your calling, and keep up the awesome work! Do we have to wait till next April to read the third book??? ;O)”

As you can tell, this is a book I’m HIGHLY recommending you read and promote to all your friends!

Back Cover Copy:

FACING A NEW THREAT. When FBI Agent Clint Rollins tkes  abullet during a standoff, it might just save his life. But not even the ugly things he’s seen during his years working in the Crimes Against Children Unit could prepare him for the overwhelming powerlessness of hospital tests revealing an unexpected diagnosis. If only Sara weren’t retreating into doctor mode…he needs his wife now more than ever.

FROZEN IN FEAR. Sara Rollins is an oncologist with a mission–beating cancer when she can, easing her patients’ suffering at the very least. Now the life of her tall Texan husband is at stake. She never let the odds steal her hope before, but in this case, the question of God’s healing promises is personal. Can she hold on to the truth she claimed to believe?

FAITH UNDER FIRE. As Clint continues to track down a serial kidnapper despite his illness, former investigations haunt his nightmares, pushing him beyond solving the case into risking his life and career. Clint struggles to believe God is still the God of miracles. Especially when he needs not one, but two. Everything in his life is reduced to one all-important questions: Can God be trusted?

Read Ransomed Dreams first! (Visit this link to read my blog review of it)

IMPORTANT! Be sure and read Ransomed Dreams, Amy’s first book in the Defenders of Hope Series. Healing Promises can stand alone, but there are some spoilers in the first chapter that refer back to Ransomed Dreams, so keep that in mind. And you really don’t want to miss out on Ransomed Dreams, it’s a wonderful read! Curious? Go here to read the first chapter!

What makes you come alive? Think about this.

Last night at our weekly Bible study, this question was asked by the DVD host, John Eldridge…FYI, our small group is watching his series, Wild at Heart. John made the statement, “Don’t ask what the world needs of you–ask what makes you come alive?” The point being, if you are passionate and cognizant about pursuing your calling, you’ll be fulfilled by and effective at whatever God has for you to accomplish.

John addressed the fear factor as well, bringing in Abraham’s faith in leaving everything but his family behind to follow God across country. Most often, following our dreams means facing certain fears, going on total trust and obedience to whatever God asks of us. I was especially sobered by this passage that John read in Revelation 21:7-8:

“He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.

But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Notice the first group described in that list? The cowardly. Ouch. I know I’ve been content to swim the placid waters of my “small story” (as John put it) afraid to brave the rapids and waterfalls in my journey to the “big story” God’s inviting me to join…

Also contributing to my thoughts on this… Last week my hubby, girls and I watched a World View Weekend DVD featuring Mark Cahill, titled, Lukewarm No More! Listen to it here, if you want. (You can find the Biblical passage on the importance of being hot or cold, but not lukewarm in Revelation 3:14-22) Mark Cahill, as I shared in my post recommending his book One Heartbeat Away, is extremely burdened for the lost. In this DVD he shares that he knows a family whose children beg their parents to take them street witnessing on their birthdays. Anybody else’s jaw fall off at that one? He also mentioned that he queried the hotel clerk at the hosting quarters of a national conference for youth pastors, asking this person if they’d been working the desk all weekend…to which they answered “yes”…Mark then asked them if any of these youth pastors had shared the plan of salvation with them…and the answer was “no”.

I’ve heard that when polled, most Christians haven’t shared their faith or Christ with others in the last year, much less in the last month.

What concerns me, is how comfortable I am keeping my God-service within my church. How much do I do in my community for Christ? Not a whole lot. Well, that’s going to change.

What makes me alive? Reaching out to women…mothers and wives. I love to bake. I love to write. I love having women and their children over to spend the day. I long to encourage families. How can God use this in me to reach others? I’m thinking old-fashioned neighborliness would be a good place to start. I mean going beyond family and friends here. It’s when you do a kindness for a stranger that God’s love is profoundly felt. By the way, that’s a lesson I’ve recently learned out of my b&sil’s house fire. They knew that their family had their back, but the true impact came via the love and outpouring of townspeople/strangers giving their time, their possessions and their shoulders to cry on.

So what are your thoughts?

A loud cheeping and an Aldi’s orange box box have recently taken over my laundry room…this past Saturday, in fact. Twenty of the twenty-five chicks I ordered arrived and boy are they adorable!

See for yourself.

Keeping their water clean has been my biggest chore so far. Next time I’ll go with pine chips for bedding over cottonseed hulls…what a mess! Though it is really absorbent stuff. We have three thermometers in the box, one on each end and one under all the bedding…trying to maintain their habitat at 90 degrees Fahrenheit this first week. It’s been fun.

Had a nice surprise today. The girls were all geared up to hit the books hard at the kitchen table when my cousin called wondering if they could come spend the day and have lunch with us. We had a great visit, lots of catching up to do as she just moved back into the area. She brought four of her six children with her, and the weather was GORGEOUS…so we got some sun time in out on the deck while the kiddos played.

Leaving you with a cute bunny pic. Dh found this guy by our barn and brought it to the house to share the joy…never fear…he put it back after we’d loved on it a while!

What spring babies are your favorites? Mine are Holstein calves and wobbly legged colts…

No one has time to browse the 273 comments at my original Amish Friendship Bread post to find answers to their questions, so in an effort to put all my Amish Friendship info into one place, I spent some time yesterday copying and pasting all the best of it into this post. Read on for tantalizingly great recipe additions and helpful feedback, all from the best AFB bakers out there: my readers!

First, answers to the most commonly asked questions. Yes, you can most certainly…

• use non-fat milk or powdered milk
• substitute applesauce for the oil
• use 2 or 3 eggs per batch, your bread will turn out fine, just a different consistency
• use one large box of pudding OR two small boxes or no pudding at all, it doesn’t matter
• use fast-rising yeast–it will not affect the outcome
• use self-rising flour–it will not affect your outcome
• freeze your starter for up to a year (just note which day you were on when you left off, and pick it up at that same point once thawed)
• thaw frozen starter at room temp for three hours before carrying on with recipe
• skip a day of squishing with no problems
• forget to add ingredients or bake EXACTLY on schedule, a day or two off won’t hurt this recipe
• bake it in a 9×13″ pan for 35 minutes
• bake it in a Bundt pan, not sure for this one on baking times so just watch it and use the toothpick test
• bake it as muffins
• bake ALL your starter by simply dividing it equally between 4 bowls then add your ingredients. Each bowl should make 1-2 loaves. Give away the baked bread and good-bye starter!

Reader’s favorite recipe additions/combos:

• White chocolate sugar-free pudding (two small pkgs) with half a bag of white chocolate chips and a cup of dried cranberries
• Sugar-free cheesecake pudding and butterscotch chips
• Lemon pudding with poppyseeds, substituting lemon flavoring for vanilla (minus cinnamon-sugar topping)
• Banana pudding, mashed banana and nuts
• 2 cups fresh cranberries, 1 cup chopped apples, and 1 cup chopped walnuts (2 loaves worth)
• Chocolate pudding and 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• Butterscotch pudding and 1/2 cup butterscotch chips
• Pistachio with walnut (turns out a lovely green color!)
• Pistachio with Marachino cherries
• Cheesecake pudding with cranberry and walnut
• Dried apricots, cherry craisins, and chopped almonds
• Grated carrots, sunflower seeds, and additional spices
• Lemon pudding with either raspberries or white chocolate chips (Lemon w/choc. chips tastes like Vanilla Wafers)
• Blueberries with Cheesecake pudding
• Pumpkin-spice–half a cup pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, 1/4-1/2 cup grated carrots or raisins
• Savory Amish Friendship Bread - Omit cinnamon and sugar, add about 1 cup cheddar cheese and 3/4 pkg pepperoni, 1/2 flour and 1/2 cornmeal. 1 cup fresh corn. Serve with tomato sauce.
• Make one with half the sugar and add lots of savory herbs, some ground beef and a taco seasoning mix instead of pudding. Great with spaghetti sauce.

Regular or Belgian Waffle recipe (from Erika)

• 2 cups Starter
• about 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp. sugar (or less if you prefer less sweet)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda

Combine starter with enough flour for your preferred consistency. Add oil, eggs. sugar, salt and baking soda to the starter. Mix thoroughly with wooden or plastic spoon. Let the mixture rest for a little bit, maybe 10 minutes. Cook in your waffle iron. Serve with Syrup. Makes six fluffy Belgian waffles.

Website with recipes for cookies, biscuits, pancakes etc, all using Amish Friendship Bread starter

Mary’s original Amish Friendship Bread starter recipe (with all 273 comments)

Mary’s Easier Amish Friendship Bread recipe

Doesn’t it just make you want to get in on the fun? I’m on Day 6, and have BIG plans for my baking day! Please share your tips/recipe faves in comments!