My life of Faith, Family and Crochet

As you may have noticed, I haven’t been around here much lately. I think I’m addicted to the iPad my hubby gave me for Christmas in 2011. It has caused me to become very distracted! Don’t get me wrong – it passes the time quite nicely, but there are often times other things I should be doing than playing games and getting lost in Facebook. This past week I decided to put the iPad down a little more and it has been very freeing! Maybe I will be able to return to blogging if I put it down a little more! Right?!?!

Well, there has been a lot going on around here lately…

Back in October, Todd and I saw this movie called “Forks Over Knives” and it caused us to explore the vegan lifestyle. No meat, no dairy (no cheese – I thought I was going to die!!!), and no animal products. We would be living a plant-based, whole foods diet. That would mean no soda and no processed foods too! You can learn more about the movie and diet here. Let’s just say it was tough – for me anyway! – getting through the month (that was our first goal).

I will say it changed my outlook on food. I lost a couple pounds and felt lighter. I did experience a sort of “hangover” feeling where I felt like I was having withdrawals. I had a major headache for a few days until it finally disappeared. I don’t drink a lot of soda, but even if your body is used to having one or two glasses a day, the sugar detox is pretty harsh.

After our month was up, we made it through the holidays without eating too much meat. We allowed ourselves to be flexible. It’s not like we were eating as vegans because we didn’t want animal lives to be lost, although that did come into play after watching another movie called “Vegucated“ and seeing how animals we eat are so mistreated. But that’s another story!

Let’s fast-forward to today…

Todd is currently on a no/low carb diet to lose a few pounds. He’s definitely been eating meat and dairy products lately. Once he loses the weight he wants to lose, he’ll go back to the more vegan/plant-based/whole foods diet. He’s also been hittin’ the gym more.

I will also admit that I’ve been having lots of meat lately. I ordered a tri-tip sandwich for lunch today! Yikes! Talk about meat! Anyway, when I eat meat like that, the more I think about it, the more it doesn’t sound good. Meat just isn’t as appealing anymore. I haven’t cooked anything with meat in it since we started the diet back in October. Plus, last summer Ruby decided to become a pescatarian – which means the only meat she will eat is seafood. Since I don’t eat seafood – ever – I basically started cooking vegetarian dinners back in July. It’s so much easier and quicker to make dinner without cooking a meat!

Basically, I don’t feel like I’ve been eating very well lately, so I’m going to go back to a more vegetarian lifestyle. By vegetarian I mean I will eat lots of VEGETABLES! So many vegetarians just cut out meat and then carb-it-up all day long. Not good. Vegetables make you feel so much lighter!

The other thing I’ve changed in my life is that I’m exercising! At the gym! I know it sounds weird, but I was scared to go to the gym because I didn’t really know what I was doing. I had to push through and overcome my fear!

I joined a gym – for women only – to take off some of the pressure of a co-ed gym. I’ve only made it about once a week on average. Not a good average, I know! This week I’ve went twice and I will definitely be going again tomorrow afternoon. Three times in one week – it’s a record! Ha, ha! Also, I completed a great treadmill workout yesterday and so it pumped me up a bit! I’m hoping I can have an even better workout tomorrow.

I’ll keep you posted on our diet and exercise!

I love how well this scarf turned out that I made for my grandma for Christmas. I was a little worried that I wasn’t doing it correctly as I was following the pattern, but it looks like I succeeded!

I enjoyed making this twirly scarf using Lion Brand’s Homespun yarn. The yarn is thick, but still really soft. I think it’s a great yarn for a cuddly scarf. Hopefully my grandma will have fun wearing it too!

I haven’t made too many items in recent months, but I feel some crocheting is going to happen real soon! I need to figure out what I’m going to make next. I haven’t made a blanket in a long time and I really like making those, so maybe that’s what I’ll do next! Stay tuned!

Ruby has been taking ballet for a few years now. Although she’s taking tennis at school, she has remained faithful to her dance class.

A couple times a year they have recitals. The summer one is the biggie, where the dance company does a huge production. Last summer they did the Wizard of Oz. The winter recital is performed individually by each class. It takes hours to watch the entire thing, but you just go for the time slot your child is performing.

Ruby always handles the pressure well and has a flawless performance. This one was no exception! Here are a few photos. If you can’t tell, Ruby is the second girl from the left in each pic.

This week I was able to complete not one, but two crochet hats! I usually make a lot of blankets, but I’ve sort of turned to quick projects for the moment. It’s a lot more gratifying to get something done in a couple days instead of a couple months. Of course, it doesn’t mean I’m going to stop making blankets because I think they are so beautiful!

The first hat I made was for my best friend’s daughter, Abigail. She turned three this week so I wanted to make her something special for her birthday. I found the pattern here. I love this purple yarn I found at Michaels. It has little hints of sparkles – so pretty!

After I completed that hat, I felt inspired to make another one, but use a different pattern. I had a bunch of leftover yarn from Ruby’s blanket, so I decided to use it. I found the pattern here. Now, you have to promise not to laugh at my photo. First, I think the pattern and these colors look like the hat is made for a man – but I’m wearing it. Second, it’s just not a good picture of me. Here it is anyway!

What do you think?

I felt weird in the black and white hat so I gave it to my nephew last night. Hopefully he will enjoy it!

Now that these hats are out there, ready to be worn, they’re going to have to wait. It’s about 90 degrees here today and it’s going to be 104 degrees in a couple days! It’s supposed to be fall y’all, but the weather in Southern California isn’t cooperating!

One of my many monthly magazine subscriptions includes Everyday Food. I can always find lots of recipes that are yummy and easy to make. In my opinion, a good recipe is one with few ingredients! I found this one in the May 2012 issue.

We tried this recipe with our balsamic chicken last night and it was excellent! I just used store bought pesto sauce. You can find it in the refrigerated section at your local grocery store. I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:

1 pound snap peas

1/4 cup basil pesto

Course salt and pepper

Directions:

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook snap peas until crisp-tender and bright green, about 4 minutes. Drain.

Toss with pesto; season with salt and pepper.

Let me know what you think!