Food Rules... READ IT!

Sorry for the delay in entries here.  Not only were we swallowed by all things Christmas, but January has been The Month of Sick.  I would seriously like to cut that crap out.  We've been in a vicious cycle of sharing that simply HAS TO STOP.  We even had to take X to the ER-- turns out he has RSV, a double ear infection, AND he's cutting two molars.

Needless to say, I'm exhausted.

Now for my cut the crap stuff.  For those of you who don't know, I work for Pearson (specifically eCollege).  Pearson is literally one of the biggest publishers on the planet (heard of Penguin, Anyone?).  As a company, we try to strive for excellence in every area, and this year we're promoting health on a larger scale than before.  When I say health, I mean the health of every individual.  As a gift, each employee received a copy of “Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual,” by Michael Pollan.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to cut the crap.  It literally breaks through all the mumbo jumbo out there and says - in a nutshell - what I've been promoting in this blog: CUT THE CRAP.  Get rid of the preservative-laden foods and eat what's natural.  

Now that we're already two months into our New Year, I need to get off my butt and practice what I preach.  For starters, my children are eating fruits as snacks.  I have a huge basket on my table that I try to keep filled with bananas, oranges, apples, and anything else I can find.  Second, I'm converting to 100% real juice when quenching our family's thirst.  Drink mixes are usually full of aspartame (which btw causes cancer) and don't taste as good anyway.  We have very little preservative laden foods in our cupboards, but I do have a LOT of canned veggies.  Frozen veggies are quickly filling up our freezers, too.  


With all of that, I think we're off to a good start for our New Year.  Let me know what you all are doing to cut the crap out of your lives! 

How do we teach our kiddos to ask for less?

This is cool site for kids... comics-rrr | greenplanet4kids.com I really need to impress upon my almost-six-year-old to get rid of her crap and NOT ask for any more. Maybe I can start here? This year's Christmas season has prompted many conversations about just how good she has it... and she's still not getting it because she keeps asking for MORE.  I've told her I'm going to help her go through her toys for donation purposes, and she seems pretty open to that.  She's pretty keen on selling things, too, to earn money so she can purchase other things.  So here's my question to you parents... how do we get our kids to ask for less?  How do we encourage them to be happy with all the wonderful things God has already given them?  How do we teach them to be good stewards?

I think in 2011 I'm going to give her "experiences" rather than "stuff". This will be yet another ongoing thing for me to chronicle here. I know. I know. I haven't been too good about chronicling all that other stuff I told you about. Hahaha! I'll get there!

Delays Delays Delays

So, I haven't done much cutting of the crap.  At least not this week.  I stalled out at 10k words for my NaNoWriMo aspirations, and that was because I COULD NOT cut out distractions; the month of November passed without me reaching my 50k word goal.  Sad.  However, in the past month I did a huge purge from all the crap I had in my cubicle.  What was the reason, you ask?  Our offices changed locations, and I had to get rid of stuff.  HAD to.  They wouldn't move everything, and I didn't feel like lugging a huge box of personal crap from the old office to the new one. 

So... what went with me to the new office?  All of my Project Management stuff.  The books.  The manuals.  All the personal self help books are in a box now and will come out AFTER the holidays when I need them... and they'll come out at home.  All of those little chotchky (sp?) things have been seriously weeded out.  I now keep only a few things my daughter gave me, because, well, those have special meaning.  So my desk has less clutter than the one before, and I like that.

However, this past week has been a mess for me, and my desk reflects that.  So that brings me to some spiritual questions... like how much does my inner state reflect on the outside?  My desk is certainly evidence of the clutter I have in my head right now.  Is is possible for me to keep my desk clutter-free if my head is decidedly NOT?  and vice versa?  These questions have inspired me to clean my desk.  The result?  I actually FEEL BETTER when my desk is clean.  Now that explains a lot about my state of mind when I get home and see the mess my two little Tasmanian Devils have created.  Their dad loves them and plays with them most of the day.  That's what they need.  My house's appearance suffers, I think.  LOL  Still, I think I now know why I get grumpy when I get home... what to do to make that better, though?  I can't afford a maid.  Something has to give!

To have or not to have...

I keep looking at the bottom of my empty tea cup and keep contemplating whether or not I want more.  I have a plethora of tea in my cubbie here at work, and thanks to my wonderful Sri Lankan teammates, I have the really good stuff: Uva, Dimbula, Meda Watte…  I can drink whatever I’m in the mood for at any given time.  My question is this: do I really need another cup?  All the extra caffeine probably wouldn’t be a good idea, despite my lack of sleep last night.

Some have told me that I should cut caffeine out of my diet altogether.  My only caffeine intake is a daily cup of tea, and no matter how you spin it, tea is NOT crap.  I will not cut it.  J  However, I can keep my intake to a minimum.  

Dilemma solved.  I will not have another cup.    

McDonald’s Happy Meal resists decomposition for six months | The Upshot Yahoo! News - Yahoo! News

McDonald’s Happy Meal resists decomposition for six months | The Upshot Yahoo! News - Yahoo! News

Talk about cutting the crap! I definitely do NOT want to eat at McDonalds ever again, and I do not want my children to ingest this stuff!

30 Smart Time Management Tips and Tricks - Yahoo! Finance

I've been on an article-sharing kick lately about ways to cut the crap. Sorry if it's not as fun... I'm convinced no one is reading this blog anyway, so it's all good. I'm writing this for me, and if someone else happens to read it... well... then that's gravy.

So yeah, we all need to better manage our time. There were some very obvious tips on this list, but some of them were things I want to try. So... for the rest of October, I'm going to try out these time management tips and report my progress to you. I encourage you to do the same. Let me know what you think!!!

30 Smart Time Management Tips and Tricks - Yahoo! Finance

Cutting out your bank? Could you live without that crap?

I hate banks as much as the next person, but I found this author's experiment to be an eye-opening one. I'm convinced that financial institutions are out to get our money any way they can. All of them.


Living without a bank: Fees and confusion galore - Yahoo! Finance