Tough Love Parenting

Parenting can be easy, and it can be hard...... Sometimes both at the same time. We have people tell us all the time what great parents we are, and how are kid is so well rounded, and then they follow up with "How did you do it?" I always kinda stand there and go "uh uh uh, I don't really know."

So lately my husband and I have been talking about it. Since our son is a senior this year, and almost out of the house, we talk a lot about how He is going to do off on his own at college, and did we do a good job of preparing him for life as an adult. I think we did, except for maybe the fact that He needs to learn how to cook a little more than what goes in the microwave, and figure out that colors and whites can't be washed together in the washing machine.

So how did we do it? Well, it was the perfect combination of tough love and lots of love. We have always taught him about what the consequences are before something were to happen. We scared the hell out of him when He was young by having him watch tv shows that involved teenagers taking drugs and what happens to them, tough love for sure, but it worked. We have never hid anything from him, my husband and I rarely fight, but when we do we don't hide an argument from him because He learns from them, We don't sugar coat anything.

We have also let him make his own decisions. He's always been a soccer player, He started when He was 4 1/2, but because of some bad coaches and bad soccer politics He decided to quit when He was 12 and play football for 2 years in middle school. We didn't force him to stay with soccer, even though we wanted to really bad, we decided to let him make his own way and learn on his own. We continued to be positive with him in his new chosen sport, always telling him how proud we were of him. When 9th grade came along He decided to go back to soccer, saw how much He had lost by not playing for two years, but has worked his butt off to get back to where He wanted to be in the sport. To this day He says He wishes that He hadn't quit those 2 years, that He never quit thinking about soccer, but He needed to learn that lesson on his own, He would have fought us even harder if we forced him to stay with it. 

Sports for sure can be a big life lesson, when dealing with coaches, parents and other kids with different mind sets, the more I mind set instead of TEAM mindset especially.
We have never told our son that He needs to score a goal for us, or He needs to do this or that on the field to make us proud. Instead we have always instilled the no I in TEAM philosophy. Help lead your team, be positive and have fun out there, and the most popular "We are so proud of you!" It seems like this philosophy has worked great, He is always saying "When I step out on that field, I am just thinking about having fun playing soccer with my friends." Even thou most of the time He is playing forward or midfield, He doesn't put pressure on himself to score a goal, and when He does score it's for his team, not for himself. This year his overall goal is for his team to win state, not for some individual award or kudos. He wants to see his team succeed and do what we all know they can do, together. And before every game I tell him "I love you, I'm so proud of you, and have tons of fun today." Recently we had one of the parents on our team tell us to tell our son congrats on a great goal and always awesome unselfish play. That they loved watching him score, partially because of his talent and partially because he is a team player. We were beaming! Hearing the kudos from other parents really makes you feel like you really did do a good job with your kid, and that He did a good job learning all the life lessons that He's been taught.

So in the end, I think we have had just the right amount of tough love, lots of love, protectiveness, willingness to let him make his on decisions, positivity, and learning lots of lessons taken from all different places and people. My husband always says that we had a good kid to work with, which is true, but I think all kids are good kids to begin with, we just need to do our job as parents to keep it that way :)

Gluten Free Lemon Zucchini Bread

Since the kiddo and I have a gluten intolerance I am always adapting recipes to make them gluten free for us. This recipe I found on Pinterest. Being that we are starting to get TONS of veggies from my little garden my loving hubby built for me, especially zucchini, I decided to start my hunt for some different zucchini goodie recipes!

Here it is... Tomatoes on the left, lettuce, carrots, snap peas, zucchini and cucumbers... OH MY!

My zucchini plant has gone nuts! I guess it's from all the rain and then hot hot weather we have had. But I'm loving it, baking with zucchini is a great way to get my hubby and kiddo to eat their veggies ;)

So here is the recipe, courtesy of Nancy Creative. I just changed out the flour for gluten free, and added xanthan gum :) Thanks Nancy for this totally yummy recipe that's been a BIG HIT with our family and our neighbors!

LEMON-ZUCCHINI LOAF WITH LEMON GLAZE by NancyCreative
Makes one 9×5″ loaf

• 2 cups Mama's almond blend gluten free flour (I use Mama's almond blend for all my gluten free baking!)
• 1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• Juice of 1 lemon (or 2 Tablespoons lemon juice)
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 cup grated zucchini (you don’t need to peel the zucchini before grating it)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease  loaf pan; set aside.
In large bowl, blend flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
In medium bowl, beat 2 eggs well, then add canola oil and sugar, and blend well. Then add the buttermilk, lemon juice, and lemon zest and blend everything well. Fold in zucchini and stir until evenly distributed in mixture.
Add this mixture to the dry ingredients in the large bowl and blend everything together, but don’t overmix.
Pour batter into prepared 9×5″ loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (if your oven tends to run hot, check the loaf after 40 minutes). Cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely. While loaf is cooling, you can make the glaze…

LEMON GLAZE

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• Juice of 1 lemon (or 2 Tablespoons lemon juice)

In small bowl, mix powdered sugar and lemon juice until well blended. Spoon glaze over cooled loaf. Let glaze set, then serve.

Microwave scalloped potatoes

Microwave scalloped potatoes

1 1/2 pounds Idaho russet potatoes, sliced
Salt & Pepper to taste
6 Tbsps Butter
1 Cup Colby Jack Cheese, shredded
1 Cup Chicken Broth

Arrange 1/2 of the potatoes in an 8x8 inch glass dish, overlapping potatoes. Season with salt and pepper and dot with 3 Tbsps butter, sprinkle with 1/2 of the cheese. Arrange rest of potatoes, season, and dot with rest of butter, reserve other 1/2 of cheese. Pour broth over top and microwave for 10 to 12 minutes or until done. Sprinkle with rest of cheese and broil for 2 to 3 minutes on high broil or until golden brown.

They turned out so yummy, there wasn't any leftovers :)

Don't forget about my Scrapbook Software giveaway! Read my post above for all the details.

Diet|Exercise|The Strength in YOU|

I have been doing a lot of soul searching lately, and I've gotten a lot stronger because of it. Issues that I have with people I live around are pretty much gone, and life is good. Once it was brought to my attention that I was trying to solve an unsolvable problem, my brain finally said "o.k. I'm cool with that." I put it to myself this way... "Your going crazy trying to analyze these peoples actions and the way they treat you, it's not rational, it's unsolvable, your acting like Sheldon if He was faced with an unsolvable science or math equation, so stop it!"

I have been seeing an awesome counselor. She is the one that helped me to figure this one out, she said since we have the same type of brain, it was easy. When you have a more psychological, compassionate brain you tend to analyze people and situations, and can drive yourself crazy if you can't "Solve the equation." She also made me realize that the people involved in this are stuck in the 6th grade gossipy girls scenario, which also helped me, and makes me laugh now when I see them acting like gossipy 6th grade girls in there little group on the playground. People can tell you to take your power back until they are blue in the face, they can tell you what they think you should do over and over, but it's up to YOU. YOU need to come to a conclusion, YOU need to take your time in taking your power back, YOU need to realize that even thou they may be making you feel it's all your fault, it has nothing to do with YOU and everything to do with THEM, and YOU have no control over that. YOU need to care and be there for YOU!

One thing that has also really helped me is exercise! I was always very athletic, and it's a bummer but I got sick and couldn't do what I use to. Threats of thyroid cancer and now living with auto immune diseases made it hard, if not impossible, to get any type of exercise. I kept the faith, found an awesome doctor, and FORCED myself to get moving. I started out slow, doing Tony Horton's first workout, Power 90, with my most incredible and supportive hubby and a lot encouragement from our awesome 16 year old son. We then went on to Chalean Extreme by Chalene Johnson, the most wonderful woman I have ever met, that has helped me to realize my potential. She also taught me to get my TURBO ON, and punch and kick out my issues with Turbo Fire. And now a year later we are on to the hardest workout I have ever done in my life, Insanity. I can't even explain how powerful I feel just getting through a workout. It has helped me to feel stronger, not just physically, but mentally as well. I am 10 pounds away from my high school weight, and I have a more healthy looking body than I had in high school. But the body changing isn't the huge part for me, it's my mental changes I've went through. Feeling stronger makes you feel like you can achieve and live all of your dreams, it makes you set higher goals and achieve them, and the biggest one for me.... NO MORE DEPRESSION! And let me tell you, I have spent hundreds of days waking up feeling worthless, hopeless, and feeling that my family would be better off without me. I also felt like the people living around me, shooting daggers at me, would love to see me dead,  I even had images of hanging myself from the front porch so they could see and be pleased that I was finally dead, so why not just give them what they want, then all the hatred, anger and resentment would all be over with and I could live in peace eternally. Well, I didn't take the easy way out, came close a few times, but didn't. I did spend lots of days over the last 3 years waking up crying, laying on the couch crying all day, and then going to bed at night crying. I'm surprised that I have any water left in my body! But I got off the couch and forced myself to do something about all this.

When it's come to diet there are several things you can do. Besides eating healthy and drinking shakeology every day (it's been better than any anti depressant I could take!), I also am following the 6 week weight loss program that I found on Heal your life. Please go there to read about what Christiane Northrup has taught me, and here is a taste of the 6 week program she talks about...

Week One: Love yourself exactly where you are.
Week Two: Imagine living your dreams.
Week Three: Make a “Desire and Pleasure” list.
Week Four: Undershoot on exercise. (for people just starting to get off the couch!)
Week Five: Eat like a pampered queen.
Week Six: Do some mirror work.



It's just incredible what you can learn from all of this, and the weight you can loose with just changing your mindset! If you are interested in any of the programs I mentioned or shakeology, please follow the links and click on them in this article. Beachbody has truly changed my life, along with a lot of soul searching, books by Louise Hay, and other books on emotions and self esteem. If you are looking for a good counselor in your area please go to www.psychologytoday.com and search, it's the best investment you can make for yourself!

The Nutshell Principles

The Nutshell Principles

So what are the principles that changed my life, repeatedly?

If you read the brief stories above, you already know:

1. Start very small.
2. Do only one change at a time.
3. Be present and enjoy the activity (don’t focus on results).
4. Be grateful for every step you take.

In programming, this is called an algorithm. It’s a series of steps that you can apply to make any change, no matter what your situation.

It works. This is the Zen Habits method, the Change Your Life App, in four lines. I hope it helps.

Quick Pic Stitch Mother's Day Postcards

 Mothers Day Pic Stitch Postcards

For the last few weeks I've been trying to figure out a super special Mom's day card for my Mom & MIL this year. The other day, as I was playing with my pic stitch and photos on my iphone I had a light bulb moment, A special picture postcard!

So here in a nutshell is how I did it.
I chose the different photos that I have on my phone, and used the pic stitch app. I then saved the picture to my photo album and put it on my computer to print out.

From there I chose all the different things I would need to make up my super awesome postcards.
You can use lots of different things to embellish, I used buttons and flowers since it's mothers day.

I backed the photos and then went super simple with the flowers and buttons. The project took literally 20 minutes with the printing of the photos. And I had a blast making them out in the sunshine.

And here are the finished products! I wrote on the backs of each with a special message to both Mom's

Happy Mothers Day everyone! Make sure to do something special for you, as well as your Mom's!

Springtime Crocheted Flowers

I just love how my flowers turned out for my seasonal tree. I found the pattern in the book Cute & Easy Crochet. They took no time and all to make, in fact I want to make some more so my tree is totally full of pretty flowers.

I used a frog tree cotton for these fun flowers, that really makes them pop and are very soft too.

I picked the perfect day to make them, actually the whole week was rainy and yucky.
You can find this project on my Ravelry page