STARTING OVER

Haven't been taking care of this for a long time...but starting over. I have been using My Fitness Pal for about a month...I have lost about 7 pounds in three weeks (Didn't weigh when I started.) So I am going to try to come on here a few times a week and post updates as well as recipes I find. Here is one I found on the internet with the crockpot directions...not sure about calories, gonna figure out soon. I am also thinking of adding pureed cauliflower versus all the cream...maybe some 2% milk?? ..Anyway, I will post next week if it worked and my adaptations.

2 Tablespoons butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup finely chopped carrot

1 celery stick, finely chopped (feel free to add more celery if you like celery; I don’t, so I don’t add much)

1 Tablespoon minced garlic

4 cups chicken broth (I usually use a mixture of low-sodium chicken broth and broth made with chicken soup base because it gives it such nice flavor)

2 large baking potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 Tablespoon flour

1/2 cup water

2/3 cup milk

2 cups chopped broccoli

2 heaping cups shredded cheddar cheese

Melt the butter in a large soup pot.  Add onions, carrots, and celery and saute over medium heat until tender.  Add garlic and cook 1 or 2 additional minutes.  Add chicken broth and potatoes, bring to a boil, and cook until potatoes are tender.  Mix flour with water, add, and simmer until soup is slightly thickened.  Add milk and broccoli and cook until broccoli is just tender and soup is heated through.  Stir in cheese, allow to melt, and serve.

Crockpot version:

I placed 2 cans of vegetable broth (im a vegetarian) in the crockpot with all the other ingredients minus the water, flour, cheese and milk. I saw the previous recommendation of 4cups of broth being too much but i added a cup more of broccoli and OMITTED the water to “make up” for it – it was still kinda runny but ill explain more about that later. Instead of celery and carrots, i used a broccoli slaw mix sold in the produce section at the grocery store next to all the bagged lettuce etc. I cut up 2 medium potatoes (skin on-i like it better that way) I used frozen broccoli and fresh onion. I didn’t saute anything, just plopped it all in. im pretty lazy. I added salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes and put crockpot on high for 5-6 hours. then once the potatoes were soft, i heated up fat free half and half in place of the milk to make it more creamy i added 1 tbsp of flour and stirred to make a rue. it didn’t quite make it and thicker so i added the runny rue to the crockpot and stirred as i put in cornstarch. i stirred until it was a consistency i wanted. then i added 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese stirred and stirred some more. i put it back to low for about a half an hour and then i ate it. i ate a lot of it. it was good and came out great. hope this solves everyone’s crockpot question. i took on the challenge and i succeeded happily

http://luluthebaker.com/2011/09/cheesy-vegetable-chowder.html/comment-page-5#comments

THE DREADED CORNER

Okay, so I have this corner that is between the dining room and the den, where the fireplace separates the room..so it is an alcove that goes between the two rooms and runs between the wall and the fireplace. Anyway..it's about 5' by 5' maybe 4x5, but you get the picture. SO whenever we are picking up or need to get some clutter or something out of the way, we throw it there. It has bugged me for well over a year, yet that sick feeling I get about starting a project that I don't know where to put the stuff has prevented me from doing it. My mom has offered a bazillion times to help, but I cannot explain why I just haven't done it. ANyway, today I went to school only to find that it was closed because we had no power from the storm. SO I decided I was going to DO SOMETHING today that I could feel good about. SO I have cleaned out the corner..yes, I need to throw away the two plus bins of junk, and I need to go vacuum it, but I went through every box, bag, and basket! YEAHHHHHHH. You have no idea what it feels like. I mean if you are a clutterer you do, but if you are a neat freak, you just don't know the anxiety that encompasses a project like this. But yet, it wasn't painful at all once I started. SO I am feeling very proud of myself. Taking a tea break then going to go in and clean it all up! I have no car to go to the dumpster but I guarantee that crap will be out of my house this afternoon...never never to return. Ahhhh, like a weight has been lifted. I might even attempt something else today....like my insane bedroom.
Cindi

A HURRICANE~

well, it's not really a hurricane and it really isn't very powerful in Maine, (though a tree just fell down two houses down from me.) The trees are whipping round and it sounds like it does during a really bad nor'easter. without the snow (thank goodness.) I fell last night and have a huge bruise on my side, right near my last rib. That and the cough has me holding my side most of the day!

I figured a way to get some things taken care of, and it didn't involve using a credit card or robbing a bank. But by the weekend I am hoping my dryer is fixed and the Taurus as well.

I did get the kitchen looking good! Yeah! Now to find my dishes. One of my dear boys, I discovered, has been taking plates of food with him when he goes to school or out. ANd now my set of 12 dishes is down to like 4! Weird. Who the heck loses PLATES? well, I had cheap plates anyway cause my nana couldn't lift anything heavy, so I guess the time has come to consider something more grown up anyway. I mean, melmac reminds me of when I was a child.

So I guess my good thing today was taking a real look at my finances and figuring out a way to get the things we need done..done. ANd I watched a finance video that was really interesting. I am going to go visit a couple of sights that were mentioned. I am also making an appointment at my credit union with someone who will help me see the best way to handle my budget and stick with it. I want that! I am ready. I don't want to give up my cell or my cable...but I can go without takeout, coffee from Dunkin Donuts, and lunches out when I forget mine., I can also give up buying things on teachers pay teachers. I need to start making more things so I can sell them. I could make a nice income on TPT if I worked every night for a couple of hours. I want to take a graphic design class and a blog how to class. I need to vamp up my blog nd find a way to draw some folks in...

Anyway...did a few good things today to start myself on my way.

Till tomorrow
Cindi

Well. my 365 days to a new me may be turning into 465 days, but isn't the point to improve myself and my life? So writing it here every day doesn't make it any more real. Just keeps me accountable. Some good things have happened since the fire at school. I have gotten much much better about getting up earlier and heading over to school early so I have some quiet tome to get myself and my materials together.  I dropped one of the committees I was on for the district. It was a lot of work, there was a serious issue with the person running it, and it just didn't seem to work for me anymore. But alas, last weekend at a state union event I was asked to join a state board committee. I think that is a step in the right direction though. It will be less time than the other committee and it will be people who appreciate my input and value my opinion.

I cannot say I have gotten much better at the housework thing, so I will be blogging a lot about that the next couple of weeks...I really need to get it together because it is really bugging me. I don't want the last year my boys truly live full time at home to be remembered as living in a war zone, but rather a peaceful environment. And I will admit, when my house is clean, my attitude is as well. I have seen a real connection with a messy cluttered house and an increase in my depression, my anxiety, and my attitude. SO then I speak harshly at everyone at home because I put the blame on everyone else. I will say it would be nice to have some regular help with chores. I guess I resent being the one left to hold the broom all the time...but as my dear son says, I chose this life as a single mother. It's MY JOB. Hmmm, there is a bit of truth in that but it also sounds a bit like a copout. What do you think?

I have had a backache lately and so I have been doing some muscle stretching exercises I learned at the chiropractors years ago. It has definitely helped. But even more, I am doing some abdominal exercises as well, and WOW! I noticed this week that my jeans that were tight a few weeks ago are sliding on more gracefully...so I guess if just a few little daily exercises can make a difference, maybe some other exercise can make a real difference in attitude as well as weight.

Well, off to finish my blog hop and clean my house. Goal is to get downstairs clean so I can spend tomorrow working in my bedroom and maybe even get a craft done. Ahhhhh, bliss.

Til tomorrow,
CIndi

hello all, I know I have been among the missing, but the fire turned out to be much more of a disaster than we ever imagined. Two classrooms were completely gutted and an office that houses five people was destroyed as well. We couldn't go back on that Monday as we thought, after we spent Friday moving! So we ended up moving to another school for two weeks, a closed Catholic school. It is where I started my career so it was neat but it was small. So this week we are back in our school with one wing closed off, which meant relocating 8 classrooms, which meant displacing most of the specialists. They say we will be back in all our classrooms except the two gutted ones, on Monday. We'll see. So it has been a bit crazy. I will write more tomorrow and definitely be back on track by next week. I am extending the 365 days by 30 days because of the disruption. I actually may just start over..we'll see. So, tomorrow I will share all the other stuff.
Much love
Cindi

FIRE

There was a fire in my school SUnday night. It destroyed a classroom and caused great water damage. Though my classroom wasn't touched, it is heartbreaking that one of my colleagues lost all of her teaching materials. We spent the day today deciding if we would reopen this week, which meant relocating to another space. In the end, we found out the school can reopen on Monday except for two classrooms so we are NOT going to relocate and will remain closed for this week. I will probably have to give up my classroom for a while to one of the classrooms that was will survive. Remember two weeks ago I wrote a grant for e-readers? Well! Today I found out I was fully funded! Yes! One woan funded the entire Donors" Choose grant for over $1000. I am SOOO excited. Talk more tomorrow Cindi

a "wasted " day

ughhhh I had a rough day today. I woke up with a horrible headache, Much like a migraine. COuldn't handle noise, light, anything. I did go shopping with Isaiah as he hadn't gotten anything new for school and he is going to go have senior pics done next week. Since Wednesday it has been push push push to get so much done at school. My partner teacher and I have done some amazing work this week and the organization, though taking a lot of time, is beginning to pay off. I am still testing so I am hoping to finish on Monday. I managed to do a bit of planning this evening after I slept the entire afternoon and evening,,,in the chair of course! I did find an inexpensive chair at Big Lots and I have a 20% off coupon so I am hoping to come up with some cash to get it. i really need to step it up in the change department, but I think the time I have been spending organizing my school life is going to pay off in big ways. I also spent time this week with finances! I made sure that my pay has been straightened out. I took the time to do that. ANd I also took time to take care of a couple of other financial items that I don't need to bore you with. The good thing is that I actually did not let things sit and wait, but did the leg work necessary to get it done. I have to try and find some info about my New Mexico trip so I can get my reimbursement, but it should be done by Monday. (I sent it in and it was lost! Isn;t that just my luck?) So, my friends, til tomorrow. ANd I will try and post daily this week. I have just been soooo tired getting back into the groove. ANd I also have been at work every day til 5 or 6. Cindi