BigDaddy = Superhero

We heard it. The music. We froze. We heard it again. ICE CREEEEEEEEAAAM!!!!!!!

Go! Go! GOOO! Outside children! BigDaddy grabbed the kids and ran into the yard. I raced into BigBoy's room to raid his piggy bank (he's the only one with the big cash stash.) We all managed to get in our drive-way, money in hand, in about 5 seconds flat.

And then it happened. The ice cream man went past our street. Oh NO you didn't Ice Cream Man! BigDaddy looks at me, "Get my keys!" I ran and got his truck keys, he threw his cape behind him and dashed into his DadMobile and went off to apprehend said Ice Cream Man.

BigBoy was crushed. Instant tears. He ran into the backyard and wouldn't look at anyone. I explained to him that Daddy was going to get the Ice Cream Man. Really. It would be okay. I see our Babysitter Extraordinaire walking home and invited her over for ice cream, if it ever came. So there we were, all huddled on the drive-way. BB had calmed down at this point. Our babysitter has this effect on him. SassyGirl was dancing, "Mama the ice cream is singing!!" At this point, I felt like the music was mocking us. We could hear it, but it wasn't in view.

And where the hell did BigDaddy go? We then see him drive past our street, actually fly around the corner, but we still didn't know what was going on. And then it happened. The yellow "singing" truck appeared. ICE CREEEEAAAAM!!!!! BigBoy is jumping up and down, we're frantically waving our arms- like the Ice Cream Man could miss up NOW? BigDaddy was just in front of him. The kids were giggling and bouncing non-stop. The fun was not even spoiled when we found out that the ice cream man was out of BB's first choice of the tasty treat. Note to Ice Cream Man: tell your customers that you're out of something before the 5 y.o. stares at your picture menu, contemplates the crucial decision of what ice cream bar to get and after 5 painstaking minutes, decides on the very bar you are out of.

We found out that this particular ice cream truck comes by every Tuesday evening and that our street is part of his regular route, he exits out on our street. THANK GOD. BigDaddy ended up catching up to the Ice Cream Man and flagged him down from the truck, I think. Asked him if he was planning on hitting our street. He was. yada yada.

BigDaddy saved the day nonetheless. BigBoy freaked out, but the fact the BigDaddy raced off during the frenzy made everything better. Daddy would make everything okay. He knew that. That damn ice cream man would come by our house come hell or high water.

As we sat on the newly constructed monster swing set, we enjoyed our overpriced, slightly melty ice cream bars. Our kids had chocolate eclair aftermath all over their smiling little faces. The weather was perfect. BigBoy looks over and says: "This has been the best day of my life!"

I can't wait for summer.

Owning it.

I've been walking the fence for a while now and it's time to make the jump and just own it. As in, my semi-secret blog. I'm taking the next step: owning up.

I knew this day would come. It really hit home when I won a contest on a sister site to Roni's Weigh; www.skinnyminnymedia.com (her techie blog) It was to join her in Baltimore for a blogging conference. Yep, a full day of blogging goodness! So that's crossing the line, right? Making this all the more real. And this also means I leave the kids overnight. (Can I get an Amen Sista!?) I'm also staying with a family friend in BAL (like my parents are hosting her brother's graduation party since they all moved away type of family friend.) Which means the moms will know what's up. BigDaddy alone with the kiddos just does NOT happen unless there is a really, really good reason. The 'rents will all be in the know. I'm a Blogger.

Note to BigDaddy's friend; He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named who spilled the beans to The Boss' Wife- This Does NOT mean I am advertising my blog to all people in general.

I share my posts on FaceBook and the trickle down theory was gonna bite me in the butt. I can feel it. Friends of parents hanging around, family "FB friends" that I don't ever really see, but my parents do. hmmm.... this creates quite the conundrum doesn't it? It's hard to have a semi-secret with all these leak-holes. So it's time. I added my last name to my profile and everything. Can I BE any more official? BTW, I'm NOT a concert pianist nor am I the CEO of Staffing Plus. Just in case you were wondering.

I'm not sure why I've never mentioned it. I guess I wasn't sure what This really was. I've tried blogging before and it didn't last very long. I'm not a niche blogger so If someone were to ask me "so, what's your blog about?" I don't even have an answer. And what if it's lame? At least I have the loyal 7 that think otherwise. And as some of you know, this started as my diet and daily food journal. Not too exciting, unless you're into reading about how I ate a Sandwich Thin ham sammie with Laughing Cow cheese and Spinach for lunch again. Which I am into, but I digress.

With my now public announcement (I'm emailing family a link to the lunziness)I think I need to create some user guidelines for FaceBook as that will now be my only private slice of cyberworld. If you match my demographics- you're in! We're Friends! If you are a student at BigDaddy's work- you're out... until you graduate. If you are the same age as my parents or are friends with them or are them- you're out. Sorry AARPers, this includes you. If you all can figure out Twitter, you are more than welcome to join me there.

So here you go world... I have a blog. There I said it. If anyone needs me, I'll be in my cardboard box again.

Whatcha Doin'?

I've had a few friends ask What exactly are you doing? Or How do I get started? Or What does all this mean? etc. I don't really know what to say to that. I think "getting healthier" "eating naturally" "Going Green" means different things to different people. I can tell you about what I did, give a few tips, but I'm by no means an expert. And what might work for my family, might not work for yours. So here goes. The non-doctor is in:

Getting started.
This can seem sooo overwhelming. There's so much information out there. So where to begin?

I suggest really looking at your lifestyle and figuring out what you don't like about it. Do you eat out too much? Are you eating too much junk, processed, sodium/sugar heavy stuff? Do you need to pack a lunch for work? Set some guidelines and make a family plan. For me, the start was learning how to cook about 6 years ago. We decided to go on Weight Watchers before our wedding and I bought a WW cookbook. Started making real food- NOT Pasta Roni with canned meat.

I got preggo and started to really monitor what I was eating. (Get pg was a snap for me and I truly believe part of it was how healthy my body was.) When BigBoy was born I started to get crispy (just barely crunchy) and tried to incorporate more healthy options since I was nursing. This was now not about me but about caring for my babe the best way possible. I used cloth diapers, made my own baby food and also started looking at all the chemicals we had in our household and bodies.... (The Mothering Magazine community was a HUGE source of info for me. Lots of knowledgeable mamas ready to help with info)

So at this point we already ate a ton of whole grain, no salt added, low sugar, foods due to WW. We weren't on the program anymore, but those habits stayed in our diet. We don't eat out much because honestly, we don't have the money. It always seems to disappoint me anyway, mediocre food and tired kids.

The next big jump happened here, when we moved to VA. We had a yard, a big one at that! BigBoy started getting interested in the world around us. He was totally into the Presidential election and Inauguration and aware of what was going on in the Big Picture. He started noticing what "helping the environment" meant and was fired up about gardening. We were recycling again on a large scale thanks to curb side pick-up. Between that and composting we have very little actual trash now!

I really can't pinpoint what happened next. We decided to make changes in our diet again to lose weight for this summer, which got me thinking about our diet in general. The Great Recession started REALLY effecting people and I began to examine our overall lifestyles. I felt bloated in all areas. Plus, I'm a project person. If I can assign a task to something, I feel like I'm moving forward. It was time for a major overhaul- our diet, our finances, our environment. I highly encourage you to include your kids if you decide to make major changes like this. We had a family meeting and I really think it made it all click. BB makes comments all.the.time. about being healthy and doing things to take care of the Earth. He ate FOUR apples yesterday as snacks since he "wanted to be healthy." He doesn't freak out if I make something "healthier" he actually gets excited and asks questions about what I'm doing.

We decided on doing a garden, start composting and lessen our carbon-footprint. We turn off lights, use windows, turn off the water when brushing our teeth, and now use the clothesline that came in our yard. We borrow books from the library. I bought canvas bags for grocery shopping. Little things that add up and really can be baby steps when you feel ready to move onto the next task.

I went though our pantry and looked at what we were eating. It really wasn't all that bad, but a LOT of processed crap: cookies, crackers, frozen dinners, LOTS of preservatives and additives (due to my love of WW type products.) But I remember hearing Dr. Oz of Oprah fame talking about food. The 5 Ingredient list (items to avoid in packaged foods) including: hydrogenated oil, sugars, high-fructose corn syrup, enriched flour and bleached flour. He also commented that it's better to eat REAL food since your body knows what the heck it is. Butter? Recognizable. Margarine? WTH?? This makes sense to me. Use traditional foods. We use butter, real maple syrup, olive oil, etc. It tastes worlds better and you actually use less. I try to avoid anything I can't say. I try to buy organic when I can, but sometimes the price doesn't let me. My second choice is "All Natural" which means lots of different things to different brands, so I read, read, read the labels. I don't buy juice anymore, the kids have never had pop and we have are slowly buying less Diet Coke for the grown ups. Choices are milk, soy milk, chocolate milk in the a.m., or water. period. I also started meal planning. It makes a huge difference!

My next step: Making more at home. I have almost completely stopped buying crackers, cookies and other snacks. The kids haven't noticed much ("Oh, we're out, I need to get some more" works pretty well) and my shopping time and effort has dramatically decreased. I can skip full aisles now and pretty much perimeter shop (that's where the necessities are in case you didn't know that. Junk is on the inside, dairy/eggs/produce/meat on the outside) I've made some bread, but fine eating Oroweat/Arnold for now as it's free of HFCS. I know this type of shopping is more expensive (Organic/All Natural) but I'm skipping the processed foods so I really think it all evens out. I'm going to try to make some crackers, more baked stuff and try to batch cook more often.

I'm also trying out new food items like the Great Quinoa Experiment. Adding kale or spinach to dishes or sandwiches. Putting wheat germ into waffles. stuff like that.

I'm currently reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I love it. Again, it just makes sense to me. We have our Victory Gardens in place, composter going and heading into the big growing season for fresh produce. It's part of the slow food movement of eating in season and NOT eating what isn't in season (ie "fresh" tomatoes over winter) This is a good time to start. I'd love to use all free-range meat. I would. But that's the next step. In order to do that, I need to use less meat, which means finding more recipes to try that uses meat as an extra instead of being the main act. I'm not there... yet.

So where does this leave YOU? If you eat out a lot, try making dinners at home more (the crock pot is your best friend!). If you already eat at home, try getting local produce and making new recipes. If you buy a lot of processed foods, use Dr. Oz's list and only buy stuff that isn't full of junk. Buy ONE canvas shopping bag. Go to your local farmer's market or join a CSA. Plant a salsa garden or container garden. Use a new ingredient. Remember this is all totally do-able is you consider it a Process. It won't happen overnight and I don't recommend trying to. You'll get overwhelmed and totally give up. I will also say this is probably easier than you think. We shop at Walmart and sometimes Target. I live in the kinda country. We don't have a Whole Foods or Trader Joes anywhere close by. I have started going to the regular ol' grocery store that sells more items that are natural, organic and has bulk bins (Martins or think Ralphs/Marsh- nicer upscale but not speciality) but that's only been in the past few weeks. We live on one income (that's not huge to begin with.) Prioritize and then take the first step. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me-- The Non-Dr. is available. :)