Where do you draw the line?

I'm not really sure where to begin, because this post is extremely overdue. Mom has been busy getting crafts together for upcoming shows, and well...I haven't had a craft bone in my body in the past 6-8 months. I do sometimes walk into my garage and look at my pile of supplies and wish for a day of quiet, relaxing painting with Dave Barnes turned up loud on my iPod, but THAT has not happened in a long time. I keep telling myself that the urge will come back soon, and I will get out there and create SOMETHING...ANYTHING! Lately my mind has been on other things, and the focus of my time and life on those things...my husband graduated pharmacy school, and got an amazing job he loves. I am busy at work, and at home now have a new goal of healthy...clean-er eating and fitness. It's hard to change my skewed view of food when my entire life my meals were made up of a meat, and my vegetables were corn and potatoes. Now don't get me wrong, my mother is an amazing cook, and I never make anything quite like she does. Her ability to go into the kitchen and whip something up from nothing amazes me to no end. She is crafty I guess in all ways, and I envy her ability to be so selfless while never sitting down to eat her meal until everyone else gets what they would LIKE to eat...my sisters and I joke that she can sometimes be a short order cook, and we think she likes it like that. I've been trying new recipes lately...my first year of marriage I cooked a lot, but a lot of the recipes consisted of CHEESE...lots of cheese or they were frozen meals that were quick and perfect skillet goodness out of the bag and of course if I just so happened to make a meat and sides kind of meal, potatoes and corn are on the menu. ;) After we moved into our home, my cooking sort of went to non-existent. Fast food became our best friend and well...I gained some weight, weight that has slowly been hard to get off this body. I seem to gain it in the areas that STICK! Now my goal for living healthy is a little more re-focused than it was a year ago when I first started trying to lose the weight, then it was just about losing the pounds. Now, it's more about a healthier me. It's more about the content of the food than the amount of calories. I've started to become a label snob. Yes, a label snob. I'm trying really hard to decipher the difference between whole grain and whole wheat and to go organic or not organic, there are so many choices. Labels are deceiving, and it’s really hard to know what is good and what is not. It can be a frustrating, sometimes, well most of the time and I’m still trying to do research, it’s a daily life change. Although I still have my go to drink – COKE! It’s a hard one to say goodbye to. We’ve had breakups over the years but we’ve always seemed to find our way back to each other, and I think it’s okay to have an occasional splurge. ***I’m not going to judge you if you don’t decide to look at food the same as me, but I do think everyone should be informed and we should all know what we are putting in our bodies.*** We have no idea what we are putting in our bodies, at least I didn’t, and no matter how much of a label snob I can be, that still doesn’t always help! I’m starting to learn that research is the only way you are going to figure where to find exactly what you are looking for or how to know if certain brands are really what they say they are is to research. Sometimes I read about someone who has completely gone organic, or their family no longer eats processed foods, and I’m going to be totally honest…it overwhelms me but completely envious at the same time! Sometimes convenience wins, and sometimes cheaper wins; because we all know that healthier isn’t always cheaper. You have to do what works for you and what you feel is a deal breaker for you. For me the change has slowly started with replacing white with wheat, or wheat with whole grain and getting milk with no hormones, and switching to deer meat instead of cow (I do buy the occasional grass fed beef, but for us deer is cheaper and I know exactly where it came from). Chicken is still something I’m trying to figure out, sometimes I will go in the store and be so excited because I buy “organic” chicken on sale, then go home, research the brand and realize it’s not as great as I thought it was. That’s where planning would be a handy…I’m not a good planner when it comes to grocery shopping. With all that said, you may be completely annoyed now, because you completely disagree with my statements, and that’s okay. I’m not claiming to be an expert; I’m just claiming to be trying to be better, trying to become a clean eater and would love any ideas or tips if you have them. Where do you draw the line on food?

This blog is not meant to be about food, or health, or fitness, or even details about my life. Generally I blog about crafts, but since crafting has been a distant memory for me lately; I thought I would fill you in on what has been recently consuming my mind. But for all you crafters who came to see a craft blog I won’t leave you hanging without a picture. This window pane was from the school that my Grandad attended. All the glass was broken out so I turned it into a chalkboard last fall. I made it with intentions to sell it but couldn’t let it go. It hangs in my office and one of my sweet friends did some chalk art on it for me. Have a fabulous Tuesday!