So...It is day 19 (just barely) of my whole30. I have actually reached the point where it is much easier to say no. At first I was just barely able to pass on some of my favorite things... Like the amazing rolls at the Texas Roadhouse. Why I went there during my first week is a mystery! I had to sit on my hands and I wanted to kill all things. I have not had any processed out of the box food at all since the 5th. I find it hard to believe. This weeks issues have been food boredom. I found a few things I liked and now I am tired of them. So, now I'm going to venture further out of the box and try MORE new things. I feel like I live at the grocery store! This is my whole30: 1. Make a grocery list 2. go to the store, spend FOREVER there reading label after label, try to determine what organics I will go with, and DON'T FORGET MY GLASSES. I can't read the stupid labels without them. 3. Try to find a place in the small camper fridge (it is actually a small apartment fridge we put in). 4. Figure out my next meal 5. Cook said meal (HUGE mess) using EVERY dish (we don't have that many). 6. Eat meal. 7. Clean kitchen.  Repeat steps 4-7 at least 3x a day. Repeat 1-3 several times a week.

Lots of work. I'm not doing the whole30...I'm LIVING the whole30 ALL day every day! Physically I have not had a severe migraine as of yet, my IBS seems much better, and I have not had any late night heartburn. So that is really great. I don't feel like I have lost much weight though. Maybe a little bit. Although I am doing great, there is surely room for improvement. I need to drink more water. I rely heavily on the stove. I would like to bake/roast more. Some of the stove-top dishes feel "heavy". I also use potatoes (sweet, and white) as my "go-to". I want to shift to more veggies. I guess I'm doing pretty good considering I have been eating poorly my whole life.

 My own salad..not in a bag

 Chicken I cooked up for quick lunches. It was ok.

 Eggs & sweet potatoes...my favorite breakfast

 This was my lunch at work. It looks better than it was.

This is my diet coke replacement.

Happy New Year! 2015 has started out cold and wet. Lots of rain in the past week. This is when small space living is the most challenging. I don't mind sending the kids out to play in the cold, or the rain...but not when it's cold AND rainy. I have been diligently working toward my whole30 start date of Monday. I am most concerned with the fact that I don't like veggies. And since clean living kind of relies on alot of veggies...this will be difficult. I have been reading the book "It Starts with Food". The book actually has a section entitled "So you don't like vegetables". I was hopeful, but it basically says, suck it up you're a grown up. :/  Maybe as I cut the crap from my diet, my taste buds will change. After reading some in the book, I bravely opened the fridge and popped a spinach leaf in my mouth. My goal was to chew it up and swallow, like an adult. Bleh... I spit it out. Plan B is to experiment with homemade salad dressings until I find a whole30 approved recipe that makes green stuff more palpable to my sugar blinded taste buds. Here's my ingredients.

My first try was not so good. Way too oily and heavy. So next I will try making homemade mayo to use for my homemade dressing..... Ugh! Fast food is soooo much easier! At least until my next doctor visit. :(  I cleaned my cabinets and fridge also. I made more room in our tiny space, but there is still plenty of non- whole30 foods. Remember, I will be undertaking this by myself at first. It's the first time my pantry & fridge have been this clean in awhile. 

 Not looking forwarded to the first few days of soda/sugar withdrawal

 Jamba Juice is NOT whole30 approved

Very few whole30 stuff visible.... as of now.

I will miss you Wonder bread!

I cleaned this one just bcuz I was tired of shit falling on my head every time I opened it.

Next post, I will be showing some of the camper "upgrades" we have made in the almost 3 years we have been in it.

So... Project end garbage gut is on track. Cabinets/pantry & fridge cleaned out. There is still plenty of food for the hubby & kids. Hopefully, my example will help them more easily change their habits. I had a moment of panic upon realizing that my yogurt ranch dressing was not whole 30! How does one eat a salad without croutons, cheese or DRESSING! I want to do my best. So i bought the ingredients for several different "legal" homemade dressings. I will post probly pics as soon as I learn how...

Well, what do ya know? I found my old blog. It was a short, unsuccessful blog attempt. Here I am again... I am going to try it again. The fact that I am terribly disorganized and not tech savy make blogging a real challenge for me. I really should be fairly good at it. Once upon a time, I was a good writer. Back in the stone ages (high school/college), I liked writing. I did not receive less than an A on any paper for any subject. Maybe I preferred the old pen & paper method, IDK. 

A brief summary of where we find ourselves at the end of 2014.. We are still living in our 35' travel trailer and we still like it (most of the time). We had tossed around the idea of staying put for awhile, but have since decided we still have nomadic hearts. If the travel jobs come around, we are likely to take them. The kids are doing well. My oldest has made me a proud gramma! My 12 year old is still amazing & wonderful (even with the onset of some teen moodiness). My 4 year old is growing too fast. She is a firecracker almost all the time. Lee & I are still soul mates and consider ourselves extremely lucky to have one another.

My reason for looking for this old blog is not motivated by our travels at the moment (we are currently stationary anyway), it is to give me an outlet as I attempt what I think will be one of the most difficult things I have done.... Change our eating habits. I know, it sounds boring and it probably will be for you, the reader (if I actually have any readers, lol). So, if you want to stop here it's ok with me. This is mostly for me anyway. I have spent pretty much all of my life making poor food choices, and now that I am in my 40's I am feeling it. I am a sugar/carb addict and veggie phobic. I would almost rather eat a chocolate covered insect then broccoli. Sad. The worst part is... I have raised one daughter with the same poor eating habits, and am raising 2 more the same way. :((. I have little influence over my grown daughter, but there is still time for the other two. But OMG this is going to be so hard! for all of us! I am going to start by making drastic changes to my diet while sneaking in smaller ones for the kids. The whole30 program is where I will start. I plan to start it in 8 days. I am reading the book and researching other folks blogs and reviews. I hope to have the pantry/fridge cleaned out and a grocery list ready by mid-week. By Sunday, a meal plan and shopping/prep should by done. I have read many good things about the whole30 program & personally know some folks that have completed it with very positive results. But can someone with such poor eating habits for so long suddenly change?? Idk. we will see. I will be taking pics and posting them up, not of me but pics of foods.. b4 & after pantry/fridge pics.etc. I MAY post b4 and after pics of me at the end of the 30 days. Lets see if we can teach an old dog new tricks. Or in this case, re-train old taste buds.

Pics of the new casa

 Our awesome bunkhouse! The kids love it, but i'm certain that we love it more! The bottom bunk has a huge storage area underneath. While this is most amazing, it is somewhat difficult to get to. The bunk is heavy, and there is nothing to hold it up. I worry about the kids fingers. It came with a double fold out couch/chair thingie. When folded out it creates a king size bed! We don't need that and wanted more floor space, so we put 1/2 of the couch thingy in storage.

The other side of the bunkhouse has a slide-out closet (on right). This was 1 of the selling points for me. B4 the girls clothes were in bags under my bed. Now ALL of them plus our jackets fit in the closet! and we have the cabinets and drawars you see at the end of the bunk. As awesome as this space is, there are some perplexing design "flaws". The cabinet door does not open all the way, due to the leather topper on the closet. The duct that goes to the heater vent is half the size of the rest of the camper, making it colder in the bunkhouse(y?).  And i'd like to know who's bright idea it was to put the emergency escape hatch on the

window on the bunk?! (which will most likely be occupied by a child). Y not use the other window on the far wall (not pictured)?

 

Here is our living/dining/kitchen area. It is much bigger with this slide-out, then our old 1. Lee has replaced the TV with a much larger 1 (of course), at least it doesn't overwhelm this space like it did in the other camper! It is pretty similar to most of the campers in this class. I like the decor better than most, although I find most camper decor to be a bit ugly. These neutral brown shades are better than most, and hide dirt quite well (a must with the lil ones).  Lee is going to add a counter extension topped with a cutting board. I love having doors instead of curtains separating the bedroom, but I'm confused as to why there is sooo much space at the bottom?

This booth type dining table is much bigger than the old 1 and has space underneath all the way around. We haven't even filled it all yet (give us time)! The table can be pulled out, removed, or put down for a large bed. The couch is way more comfortable than the other, and folds out to make a queen air bed. It's nice, but stretches all the way across, making it difficult to slide get by. It is possible though, and makes a comfy bed.

The master bedroom is pretty standard. The bed is bigger and thicker than our old one. I have already put my pretty comforter on the bed and moved the ugly 1 to storage. I really like that both cabinets next to the bed have mirrors. The bed has storage underneath. It lifts up easily and the compartment it much easier to get into. Lee has also mounted our tv. It came with a small flat screen that could be turned for the living room or bedroom. Neat idea, but you could see into the bedroom around the tv, not cool. I like my bedroom to be my oasis! Lee closed the hole with wood and added support. then he mounted the big tv on the living room side, and the smaller wi-fi tv on the bedroom side.

My cute little kitchen. It's small, but functional. We looked at models with really nice outdoor kitchens. But the outdoor kitchens made the bunkhouse sooo much smaller with alot less storage. I liked the outdoor kitchens, but honestly I don't think having 2 kitchens is gonna encourage me to cook more! :) Besides picnic table + BBQ = outdoor kitchen, right?



Luvin' the bunkhouse!

We have been in our new bunkhouse for about a month. We love it! It absolutely has some quirks, but still amazing! I will post the good, bad and the ugly asap!

Movin on up!!

Tonight is the LAST night to make the table into a bed! That's right! We pick up our brand new bunkhouse in the morning! It is a 2012 Keystone Laredo! It features an amazing bunkhouse with a slide out wardrobe, and TONS of storage both inside and out.  It has the glacier package and did I mention a bunkhouse?!?  There are many other awesome features, but I am still stuck on the bunkhouse and storage, LOL!  We hope this turns out to be an amazing TT, and look forward to giving honest feedback on its performance! I will post pics asap!  Woo hooooo!!! mama is happy!