Busy, Busy, Busy!

To say life is a little bit crazy would be an understatement! So many exciting things happening that I want to blog about but who has time to log on to a computer anymore! Let alone take pictures while I'm doing things with an actual camera. 

We are going to Disney in 4 days!! Can't wait, Alexis is going to love it!! I am trying to find time to do a few Disney DIY.  Wish us luck it will be our first time flying with kids... yikes! 

I started an instagram for my hobbies if you want to follow me @abrams_homestead 

Cloth Diapering- First Day Recap!

I wanted to share my thoughts after finishing my first day of cloth diapering so as my opinions evolve, everyone is up to date! 

I need more diapers... Stat! I bought 5 diapers and 10 inserts from a mama friend, not nearly enough.  With 5 I would have to do laundry at least every day or supplement with disposables. 

Poop?... I was nervous about my first poopy diaper, lets face it this is the least appealing thing about cloth diapering! But it was not bad at all, Hunter is at the stage where most of his poop is actually turd shape so none of the poop even ended up on the diaper it just rolled out when I pulled his diaper down. 

Cloth diapering is much more time consuming, at least right now it is.  I think the more I cloth diaper the better my system will be worked out the more efficient I will be. 

The brand diaper I am using right now is Coolababy. Hope this helps you guys! Let me know if you have any questions! 

Getting Organized!

I am pretty sure if I wasn't organized I would not survive day to day.  I came across free printables on diy home sweet home that I have been using and so far have been making my schedule easier.

 

 

I made the comment to Chris the other day that we needed to work on our budget, so I am adding that to my to do list. I've been reading up on Dave Ramsey's methods and he has some really good advice! Lot's of motivation to get out of debt and stay out of debt and live a financially free life.

 

So far emeals has been amazing! They send out a new meal plan every wednesday and as long as I can get to the grocery store (or Chris can, cough, cough) we are good to go.  Last night we had clean sloppy joes that were really good, only took 20 minutes to make and I had plenty of leftovers to bring to work today.

 

Being super busy and taking all of this on has its good days and its bad days. I was so excited to have a free night with my cousin, Mandy this past wednesday to find out the night before that Chris did a switch and had to work at 9p... I was heartbroken to say the least. Of course I held it in until the next day and then just cried all day but whatever.  I got that out of my system and now on to the next task. I just hope all this hard work on my end pays off.  

Emeals

Something cool I found that I am giving a try, I just signed up for it so I don't know if I like it yet or not but all the reviews I found sound good.

They send you weekly meal plans (with whatever diet you are on- clean eating is an option!) and they send you everything broken down with meals and directions and then they send everything all together with a grocery list. There is even an app for it, which as far as I can tell so far is awesome!

 

If you decide to sign up, use the link above so I get credit for referring you.
Also, I used coupon code School15 and got 15% off :)
Hope I like it because I committed to them for a year! (its only $5/month)

Recap week 1 clean eating & back to work!

Week 1 was defiantly a learning curve for me but a good learning curve! I was able to get my meals planned and grocery shopping done for the week prior to my first day back to work. Having everything planned out went great! The only mistake I made was I only planned meals up until my last day off and not my 3 days off so that combined with my Scentsy open house and Scentsy team party I fell completely off the track. I did notice a change in how I felt!  Bring on week 2!  

I sell Scentsy!

& I love it! But I really didnt make this blog to talk about Scentsy.  I am going to limit my Scentsy posts to once a month unless something REALLY exciting happens and I am too excited not to share!

September's Warmer of the Month- 10% off!

 

September 1st brought the NEW Fall/Winter catalog! amazing! If you want a catalog let me know! How cute is this new scentsy buddy! If you host a party in September you have the option to order it and a book that goes along with it!! I am so excited to read the book with Alexis!

 

 

September brings 10% off all Velata products too!

Great time to stock up for all your special occasions this fall!

 

My websites:

ChristyLipscomb.scentsy.us

ChristyAbrams.velata.us

ChristyAbrams.graceadele.us

 

Clean Eating: Where to start?

I am still learning about clean eating but what I have learned is it means something different for everyone.  If when you look at the ingredients list on the package and you can't pronounce them and have no idea what they are you can't have it.  If it doesn't have a mother or come from the ground you don't want it. Less CRAP, More FOOD.

 

Where does cheese come in to play? I found an article on The Gracious Pantry that explains it pretty well.  Basically cheese isn't clean unless your buying it raw from the Amish which is illegal. I think if I was at the phase of just needing to drop a couple pounds I would try a non-dairy alternative but for now I am just going to stick with what we have been doing, and that's drinking skim milk.

 

If you have been interested enough in clean eating to hit up the healthy food aisle at the grocery store it was probably a whole lot of mumbo jumbo you didn't understand.  My first clean recipe had non GMO frozen corn in it... what the heck is that and where do I even buy it!? Here is what I've learned so far about the health food lingo.

 

Non-GMO: Genetically Modified Organisms, basically plants and animals created by a scientist. Check out the Non-GMO project if you want to learn more.

 

Organic: Most people have heard of this its ingredients grown without the use of fertilizer/pesticides/etc.

 

Natural: Food can only be labeled clean if it contains no artificial ingredients or added colors and is minimally processes.  This does NOT mean clean! Read your ingredients!

 

Gluten Free: means not derived from wheat, rye or barley.

 

That's all for today, if you want to learn more about food lingo check out this post I came across.  

 

I am also interested in buying produce in bulk if anyone knows how and where I can do that and is interested in starting a co-op with me let me know! I looked into it a little bit today and I know that Richardson's in White Marsh sells wholesale to the public in "everything" apparently. Just need to know if anyone is interested in splitting the produce with me!

Water!

My friend gave me the idea of getting a liter water bottle to bring to work so it's easier to keep track of how much I'm actually drinking.  So far, so good 1 liter down all before 9a! 2 more to go to reach my daily goal.

Thanks Chris for running to the store and getting me a water bottle last night! 

Welcome Friends!

Hi friends! Most of you are probably reading this because I just texted you the link! lol some of you know what I have been up to, some of you do not. I originally made this blog just to have somewhere to put all my thoughts and to keep me accountable for all my new goals but I figure since this is part of my life now I my as well invite my friends in! Don't worry nothing crazy but it's a lot! Biggest thing is eating clean, if you are a Pinterest addict you may have heard of it before- you see all those inspiration posts "eat clean- train mean" basically what it is, is a 100% natural diet. If it doesn't come from the ground or have a mother you don't want to eat it, if when you look at the ingredient list and have no idea what half of them are you can't have it. I don't think it's a diet, I just find I need to do more research before I eat and find different recipes for our meals and meal planning (<- that's a huge one!) You're also not suppose to drink alcohol... Lets just say I'm not 100% committed to that minor detail! But other then that I'm pretty dedicated, I'm doing this for me and the kiddos, I want us all to be a lot healthier!

Along with clean eating I am going to plant a garden in the spring and can things from my garden to last all winter. I bought cloth diapers (yeah it's THAT serious) from one of my mama friends the other day just waiting for them to come in the mail and then I am taking that plunge.

All of this while Chris is taking paramedic class, both of us working full time & part time, and raising our amazing kids.  I know it's not going to be easy but I am VERY excited for this new adventure! One reason I am sharing my blog with you is so if you want in on any of my adventures or want to know any of the details they will be here.

What I've learned in my first week of clean eating:

- meal planning is key! Without it I find I am making not clean choices

- you have to drink a LOT of water... And I mean a lot! I read 2-3L a day or half your body weight in ounces every day.  This is still a work in progress for me!

-SUPPORT!- you need it; you can't do it alone (part of the reason I'm sharing with you in case your interested) and HINT HINT Chris!

- this is a learning curve; everything isn't going to be 100% clean and turn out perfect... Which leads me too...

- I am a horrible cook! But I am dedicated so I have faith I will pull this together.

- & every time I have to get my hands dirty Hunter WILL need something.

With everything going on I know it will be easy to forget about this blog but I am going to do my best to keep it up to date with my day to day adventures. I apologize in advance for my spelling/grammatical errors... I'm a dispatcher what can you really expect from me haha. I added a spot on the side where you can sign up for emails and you will get emails (not sure of its every time I post or once a week) but that's a good way to keep up with this blog if you want too! Oh, and one last thing if anyone does any projects; recipes etc that you want yo share with the world (Pinterest and what not) you can be a guest blogger on The Abrams Adventures :)

Wish me luck everyone!

Grocery Shopping- Round 1!

Today we went to Wegmans to find some things that are not available at my local grocery store.  Grocery shopping went great! I found everything I had on my list... Once I got home things didn't go as planned.  The ground beef I was going to use for my first clean recipe wasn't any good. So I used ground turkey, turned out okay.  I think it would have been delicious with ground beef!  Lex seemed to like the burgers so I will take that as a half win!

Once the kiddos were in bed I attempted to make clean salsa... One word SPICY!!! I couldn't even eat it! I'm hoping that when Chris gets home in the morning he will know how to save it. (Edit- we saved it! Just added more tomatoes)

Other then that I bought the pot I need for canning and a recipe book I am looking forward to reading.   Oh, and I'm adding Cloth diapering to things I want to try! Call me crazy but I bought some today!

Crunch time!

Maternity leave is coming to an end :( It is back to work for me this Monday coming up. I keep adding things to my to do list before I go back to work and its time to get those things done! It's going to be a busy few days but I'm optimistic and up for the challenge :) Tonight I found a few simple clean recipes and tomorrow I will be going grocery shopping and then I'm diving head first into this lifestyle! I keep saying lifestyle rather then diet because that's honestly how I feel. This is a huge change for me but I don't feel like I'm giving up junk food I just think I'm finding healthy alternatives to all my favorites. Ahhhh! So excited!

This adventure we call life!

I started this blog awhile ago as a way to document our lives but then I never posted anything. After having my second child something changed for me. I all of sudden wanted to makeover my life and be the best person for myself & my children. I'm starting the clean eating life style, I plan on starting a garden in the spring and I want to can some of what I get from my garden to have to eat through the winter. All this while working full time, working Scentsy part time, my husband working full time & part time AND taking paramedic class, raising two amazing kids and keeping my house in working order. I know it's not going to be easy but I am more then ready to start this adventure!