A Year of Faith

I heard that the Pope says that 2013 is going to be a year of Faith.  I like this idea.  I want to make 2013 the year that I regain Faith in myself.  I have been lacking this faith for a long time now.  I used to be able to accomplish everything I set my mind to, and that hasn't been happening as much.

I also hope that 2013 will be a year in which I will have faith that everything will turn out the way it is supposed to be.  I want to have faith that 2013 will be the best year yet for me.

I am going to have faith that I can accomplish all of my New Year's resolutions.

And I'm going to have faith that any little failures I might experience will not be indicative of an overall failure.

Getting ready for 2013

So I started up a new blog to track my goals, so that I don't get this blog all bogged down with so much self-reflection.  Also, I don't really want to make this blog about my own personal religious beliefs, since I think that anyone can practice mindfulness.  I don't like it when people insert God into everything, because I think that for people who don't believe in God, it creates discomfort that can be a barrier which prevents getting everything possible out of something.  I know that is the case for me, partly because I have a preconceived notion about what other people are thinking about when they talk about God.  I think that a person's beliefs are very personal to them, and it's not my place to inject that into their lives, so I am going to keep quiet about religion.  This post will be the only one where I even mention God I think.

In any event, I'm going to get back into more active posting on here, especially since I'd like to get the hard copy of my book out on Amazon very soon, as well as making the revised and expanded edition out on Kindle.  Now that Nick is 6 months old, I have a lot more to say about mindfulness and the seven attitudes.

I also kind of like having an attitude to focus on each day, although I can't promise I'll be making a daily post in here!

I am doing great with Boot Camp.   I feel like my entire attitude towards exercise has changed.  I feel really good about myself in some ways, and not in others.  If I had some sense of how to earn some money I'd feel great all around.

My arms are really sore.  I'm not sure if it's from working out or something else.  Nick is teething and has a cold and isn't sleeping well.  I'm exhausted.  I also baked bread today, and I haven't done that in years.  And I sewed napkins last night.

I'm kind of excited about the holidays.  I've got stuff to make candy and I'll be doing other baking things.  And then Solstice dinner is next week, which will be great although a lot of work.

I'm slowly getting decorations up and that's good too.  I got the pink and silver tree up and it looks so pretty!

A shower and tea and bed is all I have planned for the rest of the night.

I have been slack about posting.  I've been doing a lot it seems.  I am really enjoying my No Excuses Boot Camp experience.  I haven't really lost any weight yet but I'm exercising and enjoying it.

While I was pregnant with Nick I made some beet curry and I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about it, so I froze it.  I went to the Sustainable Midlands Holiday Festival on Monday evening and Rosewood Market had a table there with these amazingly good beet patties.  So I defrosted some of the beet curry and added some almond flour and attempted to make my own patties.  I didn't really have the right consistency to make patties but it still tasted really good.  I served it with lemon coucous salad (that is what they had at the festival), and some leftover celery remoulade that I'd made last night.  Yum yum yum!  Oh, I used the immersion blender to puree the curry.  Now I don't know what recipe I used for the curry but it was really tasty so I'm kind of sorry about that.

What else has been going on?  I've been doing some crafting and writing and thinking about things.  I wish that my financial situation was coming together as nicely as the rest of my life seems to be.  I know I am the only one who has the power to change that but it kind of sucks anyway.  Not to be negative or anything.  I'm going to work on that and succeed.  I have a lot that I'm thankful for and I'm going to make this 40th year of my life the best yet.

I am a really good cook.  I made a pear pie that turned out really well on Sunday.  Also I fixed spinach sauteed in garlic and oil, mashed potatoes, and tilapia.

I am trying to increase my milk supply because I think Nick is hungry all the time.  I am discouraged that I get so little from pumping although it's my "bad" side and I know pumping isn't indicative of actually milk supply.

I got accepted as a Pay it Forward member of the No Excuses Boot Camp, which is super exciting to me.  Eight weeks to develop good habits to promote health and energy!  A lot of the philosophy seems so in line with mindfulness so I'm happy about that.

I am trying to remember that I don't have to do everything perfectly and it's okay that I started on a Tuesday.

Okay, Nick is waking up already.  This does not bode well for my getting a good night's sleep.  I'm so very frustrated by his not sleeping!  He was doing so well and now it all sucks again.

I am late getting my novel out.  I will be working on that but I haven't really been accomplishing much lately.  I kind of feel like I'm treading water.

I did, however, fix a delicious meal tonight.  It needed a green vegetable to go with it but I am really happy with it.

Italian Sausage and Mashed Rutabaga and Potato Casserole

1 lb Italian Sausage
1 Rutabaga
3 Yukon Gold Potatoes
8 oz sharp cheddar
1.5 T butter
3/4 c. heavy cream

Peel and cut rutabaga into chunks, and then cook in boiling water for 40 minutes.  Meanwhile, peel and dice potatoes, and after the 40 minutes, add to rutabaga and boil for another 20 minutes.  During that 20 minutes, cook the sausage.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Drain potatoes and rutabaga, and put in casserole dish (I mashed mine right in that dish, adding the butter and the cream).  Add cooked sausage and 1/2 the cheese and mix together.  Top with remaining cheese and bake for 30 minutes, until top is browned.

I'm not really crazy about Italian sausage because of the fennel, but this dish was really good.

This week I also made an onion cheese tart, but it needs tweaking, and also a pear pie, which also didn't turn out quite right but I'm going to try a different recipe tomorrow.  I think it just didn't cook long enough.  The new recipe suggests using brown sugar instead of white and that sounds intriguing.

I  decided to start swaddling Nick again because he was waking up too frequently.  He's doing much better now.

I have been neglectful of my blog, and also not very mindful lately.  I will blame the election, ha ha.  I will be really glad when it's all over, though.

I am busy working on fiction.  I'm doing NaNoWriMo this month and I'm releasing the first part of my serial novel tomorrow, or possibly early Wednesday.

It is hard work having a baby and a 5 year old.  I kind of lost it today because the baby WILL NOT SLEEP.  He is soooo frustrating.  He is really good but he is not sleeping and I need sleep.  I am so tired and I also had a migraine last night so was not in the best place today.

I'm going to go to bed pretty soon and I'm going to be busy busy busy tomorrow.  I want to not disappoint myself.