Taking Control: House

I didn't go without as a kid.  My parents are and grandpa was very loving and did their best to make sure I got everything I wanted, within reason of course (still hoping for that pony).  The downside of that was I had a lot of stuff: clothes, toys, stuffed animals, knick knacks, etc.  On top of that, for personal reasons, my Mom was and still is a hoarder.  As I grew up, our house became more and more cluttered with stuff: crafting supplies, sewing supplies, clothes, knick knacks, pictures, antiques, etc.  The older I became and the more cluttered the house became the more it bothered me.  So much was just tucked into a closet which became a whole bedroom which became numerous rented storage sheds.  Most of it was never used.

I fell into a similar routine.  My Mom ran a flea market for a couple years during my high school years which was such a bad thing for people like us.  We bought so much just because it was pretty or cool.  Since graduating high school in 2003 I started renting a storage unit and I have moved 5 times.  Packing and moving your belongings is NOT fun especially when you have SO much stuff.  It's overwhelming.  I am a neat and organized person, away from home, but once I got home from school and/or work I was tired.  I didn't have any motivation to do anything.  That plus a lot of stuff meant a messy house.  I hated it.  I started to completely go through my stuff a couple times a year and donate the items I could part with.  Very, very slowly my hoard got smaller.

I met the love of my life in 2007 and we were married on February 14, 2009.  My 4th move was into an apartment with my husband.  He moved from Canada to marry me and brought only what he could put in his carry on, 1 checked bag, and 1 mailed box yet we moved boxes and boxes of stuff into our 2 bedroom apartment.  I still had so much stuff pre-husband and received a lot of kitchen supplies from our wedding that we only really needed to buy a kitchen table.  Yes, I already had a couch BEFORE college.  It was crammed into my bedroom at my parents house.  When my husband and I moved into our first home together I made a BIG step towards reducing my stuff.  I EMPTIED my storage shed!  What I couldn't part with went into the 2nd bedroom, the rest my parents kept or was donated.  Yes!  I continued to periodically go through all of my stuff.  I found that each time I did, it was easier to part with things.  Repacking everything I wanted to keep and having an empty box left over was SO satisfying!  I love my family and friends but do I really need to keep everything they've ever given me?  NO!  The memory is in my heart not in that vase or bunny figurine.  If the item goes away, the memory doesn't!  Take pictures and/or start a blog/diary if you are afraid of forgetting anything so you don't need the item as a trigger to remember something.

My husband and I bought a 2,000 square foot house in December 2010.  That was my last move (for now).  I am happy to say that I have taken control of my house.  I have drastically reduced what I own and I do not purchase anything without giving it a great deal of thought.  I feel that what I have reduced my belongings down to is what's most important to me and necessities with a little bit of likes and some hobby items.  If there's something we want, it goes on a wish list.  I love Amazon's universal wish list button that I added to our web browser.  I also try to add it to a list on my iPod for when we are not at home (no smartphone here).  We really do not want to re-clutter our house and have decided to try to be as minimalist as we can.  We are by no means hardcore minimalists, but we do try our hardest to get over the OOO THAT'S COOL I WANT IT impulse and wait a while to purchase (if at all).  A lot of things we decide are just not worth it as it won't get used very often although it would be handy during the rare times we would (fancy ice cream scoop? spoon works just fine).

We are currently designing the house we are going to build in the future.  It is going to be 600 square feet with a 160 square foot loft master bedroom.  With that in mind, we've been working even harder to go more minimalist and will be putting a lot of items up on Craig's List soon!  It is SO relieving and refreshing to not be owned by my stuff.  I own them.  Most are just things.  If my house was destroyed for whatever reason, Heaven forbid, I would be OK.  It can't destroy my memories.

Taking control of your house, for most, will likely not be instant.  It took me years.  YOU have to REALLY WANT to for YOURSELF.  Once you want to, then take baby steps.  Go through a box here and there.  Any amount you can sell or donate gets you closer to your goal.  Think before you buy.  Don't buy now.  Put it on a wish list.  Get rid of a couple items to make room for that item.  Is there something you have already that's similar and can do the job?  Is it a convenience, necessity or cool gadget?  Will you get your money's worth out of it?  Don't forget your goal to take control of your house.  Write it down and put notes where you'll see it if you have to.  Thanks for reading and good luck!

Peppermint Patties

• This recipe was adapted from The Food Lovers Kitchen
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, 1/4 tsp peppermint oil, 1 tsp peppermint oil, 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
• Melt chocolate in a small saucepan on low and add 1/4 tsp of peppermint oil
• In a small bowl, mix melted coconut oil and 1 tsp peppermint oil
• With clean hands (or unused paint brush), use fingers to paint melted chocolate into candy molds
• Place the molds in the freezer for 10 minutes
• Fill molds with mint filling and place in the freezer for an additional 10 minutes
• Cover tops of with a layer of chocolate and freeze at least 10 minutes or until ready to enjoy
• I could have made a couple batches of the heart peppermint patties, but instead played around with the remaining mix.  You can see some of the experimentation with my frozen orange things (can't remember what kind of citrus fruit is pictured)

Breakfast Burger

• Chunk of beef heart diced (pictured) or 1 lamb heart diced, approx 1.5lbs ground beef, 1 sweet onion diced, couple stalks of kale diced, 4 strips of bacon diced, choice of spices.
• Cook bacon to desired doneness (I like mine chewy).
• Remove bacon and saute onions.  When onions are almost done add the kale.
• Remove veggies and brown ground beef and diced hearts.  When almost done add your spices of choice.  We put a good sprinkling of turmeric, garlic powder, pepper, and paprika. About a tsp of salt. Plus a dash of cardamon. 
• Add veggies, mix well and cook for about a minute so the juices combine.
• Enjoy!
• When I eat it by myself for breakfast, I divide it into 5 dishes and add a tbsp of coconut oil.  Each morning I reheat and fry up an egg in some ghee.  If hubby's eating it with me I don't  add the coconut oil until I reheat mine as hubby doesn't like it (although he loves it in his Bulletproof coffee), we split a dish each morning and eat 2 eggs each.  

Chocolatey, Fruity, & Creamy Pudding

• I found this recipe on The Food Lovers' Primal Palate
• 6oz dark chocolate, 1 can coconut milk, 1 tbsp vanilla extract, 2 eggs
• Chop up/break apart the chocolate for easier blending. We used this.
• Add the chocolate, vanilla extract and 2 eggs into the blender and blend until smooth.
• Heat the coconut milk in a small saucepan until almost boiling (steaming but not bubbling).
• Add the milk to the blender and blend until smooth.
• Place your choice of berries on the bottom of 6 6oz ramekin/souffle dishes.  We used frozen mixed berries (raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries).
• Pour the chocolate mix into the dishes over the berries.
• Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• ENJOY!  This has to be our new favorite treat.  Super yummy, super easy!

Carrot Souffle

• This tasty recipe comes from The Food Lovers' Primal Palate.
• I am NOT a fan of carrots, but I stumbled upon this recipe and thought I'd give it a shot.  Guess what?  Score!
• 2 lbs baby carrots (organic), 1 quart chicken broth (I made the broth with organic Better Than Bouillon chicken base), 3 eggs, 2 tbsp minced onions, 1/2 cup coconut oil, 1 tbsp coconut flour, 2 tsp lemon juice (I squeezed 1/2 an organic lemon), 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 cup pure maple syrup (I used grade B 100% pure maple syrup)
• Cook/boil the carrots on the stove in the broth until the carrots are soft.
• Strain the carrots to get rid of all the broth then puree.  I NINJA'd them.
• Add the rest of the ingredients and blend well.
• The Food Lover's Primal Palate says to cook in a 2 quart souffle dish.  I used 8 6oz souffle/ramekin dishes.  Lightly grease your cookware of choice.  I didn't grease mine b/c I forgot and they turned out just fine.
• Bake uncovered for 45-60 minutes on 350 until center is firm to the touch.  I think I cooked mine almost an hour.

**UPDATED RECIPE 26 Feb 12**

• Use 1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter (grass fed if possible) instead of 1/2 cup coconut oil
• Use 2 tbsp lemon juice instead of only 2 tsp lemon juice
• Omit the 1/4 cup maple syrup

This no sweetener added update, in my opinion, made it taste even better!!

Exercise! UGH

• Back in my post My Path to the Primal Lifestyle I ended it with a note that next we have to work on getting more active.
• We converted our old apartment dining table to a standing desk (pictured).  I'm using some of my college text books to bring the monitor up to eye level.  I currently have a fresh brewed cup of Green Tea Chai and always have some dark chocolate around.  I can limit myself to one square; however, I tend to have to hide them from my husband as he likes to eat a row or more.  Current dark chocolate on hand is Theo Organic Fair Trade Cherry & Almond 70% cacao.
• I read an article on Mark's Daily Apple titled The Prison Workout.  As it states, we can appreciate the workout for 1. unlimited time 2. limited space 3. no specialized equipment and 4. lone soldier mentality.
• I have collected a treadmill, Bowflex XTL, weight bench, dumbbells, etc. but I have a hard time mustering up the motivation to tackle the equipment.  I've never been a member of a gym, so not really familiar with the equipment anyway or what to do to work different muscles.
• I definitely enjoyed the article.  I liked that Mark said the burpee "is a full body workout and covers your bases for most muscles.  In fact, you could whip your body into shape by mastering this workout alone."
• SO ... Friday evening I tackled the burpee.  Now, I can't do regular push-ups, so I have to skip that part for now.  I started with a basic burpee: hands to floor near feet, kick feet out into push-up position, jump feet back up to hands, then jump in the air throwing my hands up to try to reach the ceiling.  I did a couple of those then some knee push-ups, rinse and repeat.  I ended the workout with some lunges.
• Let me tell you, as Saturday progressed I noticed more and more body parts aching.  The same today!  I'm sore, but I'm thrilled!  Once I stop aching so bad, my intention is to do this M-W-F.
• On top of that, either on Saturday or Sunday I will get some sprints in.  I have been doing this the past month.  I try to get my dogs to play, but Ozzy (mini Australian Shepherd mix) likes to grab the nearest ball or stick as soon as I get outside with him.  Pepper (wire-hair terrier mix) decides that she wants what Ozzy has so they do their sprints without me.  My cat Rocco on the other hand WILL do sprints with me indoors.  Luckily I have a straight path from one side of the house to the other (pictured - carpet partway & vinyl plank the rest so this is done barefoot or in my Vibrams).  I start on one end with Rocco and sprint to the other side.  He chases me and falls down so I pat him then run back to the other side.  Rinse and repeat.  I stop when I'm out of breath from the sprints and giggling so much.

Blueberry Banana Smoothie

• 1 banana, 1 cup frozen blueberries, 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• add to blender, pulse til smooth, enjoy!
• super easy and super tasty!