Friday, June 3, 2011

My Theme Song

The song that fits the best with my life and health/wellness goals is Tim McGraw's In My Next 30 Years. Here are the lyrics. 

I think I’ll take a moment, celebrate my age
The ending of an era and the turning of a page
Now it’s time to focus in on where I go from here
Lord have mercy on my next thirty years

Hey my next thirty years I’m gonna have some fun
Try to forget about all the crazy things I’ve done
Maybe now I’ve conquered all my adolescent fears
And I’ll do it better in my next thirty years

My next thirty years I’m gonna settle all the scores
Cry a little less, laugh a little more
Find a world of happiness without the hate and fear
Figure out just what I’m doing here
In my next thirty years

Oh my next thirty years, I’m gonna watch my weight
Eat a few more salads and not stay up so late
Drink a little lemonade and not so many beers
Maybe I’ll remember my next thirty years

My next thirty years will be the best years of my life
Raise a little family and hang out with my wife
Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear
Make up for lost time here, in my next thirty years
In my next thirty years

So many things about this song fit my life.  I just turned 30 so that fits.  My father also just passed away so that fits as well with the words, "Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear".  I also like that the song talks about minor improvements (not drastic/unrealistic lifestyle and eating changes)...,"eat a few more salads and not stay up so late" and "drink a little lemonade and not so many beers". My favorite part of the song is the last verse...It just fits my life so well. 
"My next thirty years will be the best years of my life
Raise a little family and hang out with my wife
Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear
Make up for lost time here, in my next thirty years
In my next thirty years". 
 

RIP Annie's Mac & Cheese

We are very sad to announce that Annie’s Mac & Cheese passed away from going out of business on June 3, 2011. 
Annie’s Mac & Cheese has spent the better part of her life making kids smile and helping busy Mom’s come up with a quick, easy and somewhat healthy dinner option.  Annie’s Mac & Cheese was working on new flavor toppings for the macaroni when she died.  Also she was working on several mix-in options when she died (similar to Hamburger Helper).  
Annie’s Mac & Cheese will be replaced by another brand who has offered similar organic Mac & Cheese with gluten free and other options for less money.   
Annie’s Mac & Cheese will be missed most by moms everywhere who valued what the brand stood for, enjoyed the many types of mac & cheese she offered, loved the easy/convenient preparation methods, and loved that they could whip up a meal (or a great side dish to another meal) in under 15 minutes while keeping their family eating well.  
Annie's Mac & Cheese is survived by her many close friends that she spent many days on lunch and dinner plates with.  The hot dog, hamburger meat, fried chicken and mashed potatoes are just some of her survivors.  The paper plate and bowl will also miss her dearly.    
We will miss you.  RIP. 

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Helath and Wellness Audit

My health and wellness goals are pretty simple for myself and my family...be the best us we can be.  As far as "health" goes we try our best to stay active, we try to eat "healthy" (but we still splurge on goodies on special occasions), and we try our best to stay "on top of" our health.  I wouldn't say we are excatly where we would like to be as far as our health and wellness goes, but we aren't that far off overall.  We are certainly on the right track! 

Recently our goals have been to minimize the amounts of medications we are taking.  We are trying to achieve this by seeing a chiropractor, trying natural alternatives to the medications, and I have started to see an acupuncturist.  We have stopped buying sleeping pills altogether.  My husband has also stopped using as many depression/anxiety meds with the help of the Alpha Stim machine.

Our goals are to eat more of these...

But with our busy lives and schedules we end up eating a few too many of these...





Therefore we use these to fill in the nutritional "gaps".

I do not feel that people should use vitamins/minerals exclusively to stay healthy, but I do think they serve an important role. 


Seeing a chiropractor has made a huge difference in my families overall health.  We depend on less medications already and we have a lot fewer negative symptoms overall.


We have not altogether started or stopped using a product that has caused contention in our household.  My family is very uneasy on the acupuncture idea, but I think they will warm up to it eventually.  Starting seeing a chiropractor caused some upset times in our family, but everyone is so grateful for our Doctor now! 

Our health and wellness may not be perfect, but I feel like we are on the right track.  We are all overall healthy, we are happy, and we are a strong family!  Just today our family was hit with a huge emergency.  Most families would start to fall apart, but I know we will pull through.  It will be a rough few weeks, but we will survive!  

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Mac and Cheese Adventures!

Here is my experience with the Annie's Mac and Cheese shopping and cooking adventure!

I went shopping for the Annie's Mac and Cheese at my local HEB Supermarket.  They carried it, but I was curious to compare the prices with Wal-Mart so I went there too.

HEB



Wal-Mart

I found their prices to be similar which was a little surprising.  I really expected there to be about a 50 cent per box difference.  I did find that HEB carried many more types of Mac and Cheese under the Annie's brand.  Since I have a child with Celiac Disease(meaning she cannot eat wheat) I purchased both a regular box of the Annie's Mac and Cheese and also a box of the Annie's Gluten Free Mac and Cheese.

In both stores I found the Annie's brand boxes to stand out from the rest.  I enjoyed the colors of the boxes as well as the variety of types of Mac and Cheese under the Annie's brand.

Once dinner time was upon us we started to cook the Mac and Cheese boxes together as a family.  We had 1 pot with the regular and 1 pot with the gluten free.



I enjoyed the easy to find and understand directions on both of the boxes.  I like that the cooking time is clearly stated.  The gluten free takes only 2 minutes longer than the regular which worked out perfect for us.  Both pots of noodles cooked great.  The gluten free noodles stuck together, but that is to be expected with gluten free.

Regular

Gluten Free

Mixing the cheese sauce while the noodles are cooking is a way to save time and make it easier to blend the sauce and noodles when they are done cooking.

My husband poured the sauce mixtures on the noodles and mixed it in.


Both kinds mixed in easily which was great.  Here is the end results...

Regular

Gluten Free

And here is my family eating it!  My youngest is missing from the picture.  She came down sick today.  Sorry!

Everyone enjoyed the taste. My daughter with the celiac disease said it was not her favorite brand she has had, but that it was very good.  She said the cheese sauce tasted a little "fake" compared to the other brand we eat.  However, she did prefer the Annie's noodles to the other brand.  My other kids really enjoyed their Mac and Cheese!  They all wanted second helpings!

I feel good at the end of the experience!  We all ate for a great price, everyone enjoyed it (no complaining which is huge at our house), and I feel like they still ate fairly well.  

Thank you, Annie's, for making such great products!