Basements + Rain = Neighbourhood Love

We woke up one morning to the kids saying "the carpet is wet in the TV room". Assuming the worst (that someone had had an accident) I raced down there to find that there was a whole new level of "worst" that I hadn't considered.

Our basement had flooded after some freak rainfall and we were standing in a couple inches of water with a lovely scenic waterfall cascading down the window ledge from the window well.
I ran to my neighbour's house and they quickly gathered up wet vacs and fans and set to work.
We sucked up water in the near-new carpet and pulled up the timber flooring. Two rooms and one hallway later and we were feeling pretty sorry for ourselves.
So we had to move kid's beds and tv room furniture into our spare room for the month or two it took to get it all back together.
It was a good excuse to replace the carpet in George's room since we had to pull it all up and pay to have new underlay pad installed anyway.
Now whenever it rains at night Win jumps out of bed and inspects the window well to make sure there is no 'niagra falls' going on.

The Zoo...

We decided to start the summer off with a trip to the zoo in Salt Lake City. We went with our neighbours to keep it interesting and we weren't disappointed.

sun ovens and birthdays...

It's been a long while since I last posted. I guess when life gets busy I forget to update this thing. 
So, we've been working on our food storage the last few months, it's been a fun project and for my 29th birthday I asked for a wheat grinder. My wonderful neighbour helped me make a base for it and we have been making yummy bread and 'monkey bars' with it (banana bread with choc chips in a slice form so that I can freeze them and send them in kids school lunches).
For Win's birthday he got food storage shelves for his 30th... a bit of an anti climax after his hopes of going to Vegas for the big event.
My next big plan for food storage is a sun oven... at $299 I am going to have to wait, but I have had my eye on one for several months now so maybe for Christmas...
My neighbour's sister in law has a really great blog / business that has helped to get organised, food storage wise. She has some great you tube videos about her own food storage set up, and I've based a lot of my set up on that. She even has a sun oven giveaway this month... so fingers crossed... I really really want one of those shiny beauties. here's the link for any one interested: http://dealstomeals.blogspot.com/2011/09/sun-oven-giveaway.html


School started up again, and the twins are finally in pre-school, much to Isabelle's delight and Chelsea's horror.
 Win and I joined a gym, Win has to get super buff for his firefighter interview process, and I just wanna have an hour away from the kids get fit.
We're running out there now, so I'll update more tonight. 

The Superfoods Diet

 Much to the delight of all you loving friends and family who were looking forward to us getting fat in America-
We have officially gotten pudgy.
We looked at the pics taken just before we left Australia and were shocked to see the difference.  Well, shocked is probably not the right word.... we did spend a few months of reckless abandonment where we ate our way through every good thing in the US- much like the hungry caterpillar.
For me though,  it was less about the button on my jeans flying off, and more about the fact that I felt terrible. My sugar levels were like a roller coaster and I was cranky, tired and irritable.
Fasting made me physically sick, every time. So in the vain of my mum-who has a google MD- (what? you didn't know  you could become an honory dr, via google? Well, you don't know my mum) I googled everything I could about my hyperglycemic problem.
I came across a lot of "low GI diets" and thought that therein lay my solution. We went to our local library to find some appropriate books. They had none of the Low GI type that I was after but I did find a book about "Superfoods". Only half interested I took it home and started reading. I was completely hooked 5 minutes in.
None of it was new, I had seen the list of "superfoods" published in the past, -foods that were the best of the best foods, nutritionally paked with goodies. The list was published by researchers some years ago.
This book suggested that much of our cravings for junk food comes from a lack of good nutrition. When we eat really really good foods our body is satisfied, full and of course healthy.
A lot of the low GI diets seemed to be aimed at just reducing the sugar/ carbohydrates in our food to a mathematical equation rather than looking at high nutrition. So I decided to try eating foods almost exclusively from this 'superfoods' list and see how I felt.  If it didn't work I'd go find a low GI book and try something different.
Here is the official list, the first words, in bold are the 'Superfoods' and next to them are the "sidekicks"- foods that have similar benefits but are not exactly equal. They are great for adding variety and are good alternatives.
In addition to this list you must drink 6-8 glasses of water a day. Seriously. Drink the water. We often mistake thirst with hunger. 


BEANS - green beans, peas, kidney, navy, lentils, refried beans, baked beans etc-

BLUEBERRIES - red grapes, cranberries, strawberries, raspberries- basically any berries

BROCCOLI - brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower

OATS - Wheat germ, flax seed, brown rice, quinoa and other good grains

ORANGES -lemon, grapefruit, limes, tangerines

PUMPKIN - carrots, sweet potato, orange capsicums (or orange bell peppers if your a American)

SALMON - Alaskan Halibut, tuna, sardines, bass trout

SOY - soy nuts, or milk (I might add that I have not eaten anything from this group, instead I prefer normal milk and natural/plain yoghurt)

SPINACH - romaine lettuce (which is Cos lettuce for the Aussies)- I will add that I buy the packs of baby spinach and a cos lettuce at the start of each week and combine the two to make my salads at least once a day.

TOMATOES - watermelon, pink grapefruit

TURKEY - skinless chicken breast ( although we are eating a lot more turkey we do have red meat twice a week)


WALNUTS - almonds, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, sesame and sunflower seeds, macadamias, hazelnuts, cashews.

NATURAL YOGHURT- (plain yogurt in the US) Greek yoghurt is the best, with the most protein but you have to look for the low fat variety in Australia.

APPLES- pears

AVOCADO-

DRIED SUPER FRUITS - raisins, prunes, figs, apricots, blueberries, cranberries, cherries

OLIVE OIL - Canola oil. There are also some better alternatives in the oil range like grapeseed oil, flaxseed oil, avocado oil etc.

HONEY-

KIWI FRUIT- pineapple

ONIONS:  garlic, leek, chives

POMEGRANATES- Plums 


The only things we add to this list are: BANANAS, MANGOES, RED MEAT, MILK, EGGS.
Other than those additions it provides a very complete list that you can eat everyday and make a huge variety of meals with. The one side note is that the book suggests eating two meals a day 'with grains' and one without. Breakfast is always some form of oats- either porridge, homemade granola, bircher museli or yoghurt parfait (strawberries, layer of greek yoghurt then topped with granola).
The idea is to incorporate as many of the above list in a day.
Below is an example of a normal day:

 Breakfast: Oats (as mentioned above)
Morning Snack: Fruit smoothie using 1 cup frozen blueberries,  1 banana, 1 cup of frozen cherries, a dash of either apple or orange juice, milk or water. If no frozen berries are available we use crushed ice and any fruit we have (apples, mangos, kiwifruit etc). A dash of flaxseed or wheat germ makes it good too. Wizz it all up in a blender (we use a magic bullet)
Lunch: Sliced turkey on a baby spinach salad with tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, grapes, capsicum with raspberry / pomegranate salad dressing.  OR all the above things in a whole grain pita pocket.
Afternoon snack:  A handful of almonds, walnuts and pistachios. A bowl of  greek yoghurt topped with a little granola or fruit.
Dinner:
Maybe a good mexican meal (lean beef, kidney, baked and refried beans with taco seasoning cooked up then added to a bowl of baby spinach, tomato, cheese, avocado, natural yoghurt and salsa or wrapped in homemade wholemeal tortillas (very very yummy and worth making).
OR
chicken breast with a side of pumpkin and broccoli and maybe some quinoa or brown rice.

The results:

As I mentioned I was feeling out of control with my insulin levels but since doing this I have felt better than I have ever felt.  I can go hours between meals without even thinking about food- a remarkable change for me who could not go 2 hours without eating, and the more often I ate, the more I felt bad an hour or so later and had to eat again. I realise now that it was an excess of carbohydrate foods that were high  GI foods, producing excess insulin and producing more of the hormone that makes you hungry.
Now that I am only eating oats (as a grain in the morning) and either lunch or dinner with whole grains I find that I am off the roller coaster of constant carbs. It's very freeing.  We went to the zoo last week and I packed a picnic lunch with white rolls with turkey and salad, rice crackers, fruit and nuts. Sounds fine right? By the end of that day I felt dreadful, and once you feel bad it only gets worse because you want food to feel better again. On the way home we went to a fast food restaurant . I scoffed two burgers and a whole truck load of fries. Needless to say, that day I felt like I'd been hit by a bus. After living free of that feeling it was a stark reminder of how I used to feel.


The other remarkable thing happened Sunday. I was starting to think I would never be able to fast. Normally it leaves me sick and with a hangover for days. Sunday came and I felt fine, I didn't feel like my brain was imploding, or that there were rats scratching at my skull. I didn't even think about food, or yell like a maniac at the kids. I didn't have to sleep the day away so that I could will away the time. At 5 pm we were getting ready for a family potluck dinner and I was surrounded by food... and I felt quite normal. And there was no headache plaguing me that night.

So that was it, I was sold. This way of eating is ideal for me, whether we never lose any weight it will still be worth it. Hope someone else out there finds it helpful. Oh and the other major point to this diet is: Print out the list, stick it on the fridge. Take a copy shopping with you, and whenever you contemplate eating look at the list and pick foods from there. You also need another page stuck to the fridge with a water tally. Each day mark off each glass of water you drink, until you have 8 little marks on your paper.  Then start again the next day. Win gets a bit competitive over this, and sometimes things get nasty, when he accuses me of cheating (a really big tall glass counts as two glasses right?).
I am also going to post the granola recipe that I make, it makes a lot of granola, so I store it in a big airtight cereal container.
NOTE; most ingredients are optional, if you can't get it, don't like it, want something different change it up, mine changes every time I make it.

Granola

7 cups rolled oats

1 cup flaked unsweetened coconut (optional)

1 cup stabilized wheat germ ( I also add 1 cup of wheat bran)

1 cup sliced almonds

1 cup diced walnuts or pecans

1 tablespoons cinnamon (optional, to taste)

1 cup whole flaxseeds (I have used meal but it is too powdery)

Some sesames seeds, sunflower seeds are also optional.

MIX ALL  ABOVE INGREDIENTS IN A LARGE BOWL

IN A SMALL BOWL MIX THE FOLLOWING:

1/3 Cup canola oil
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup PURE maple syrup OR  I use 1/3 cup pure maple syrup and 1/3 cup Blue Agave Syrup 
( a naturally low GI, sweet syrup made from the agave plant)
If you use the imitation maple syrup you need to use 1 1/2 cups to get the same flavour
1 tbl vanilla extract/ essence

(Dice the following but set aside for later)
5 cups dried fruit (sultanas, dried apple, apricots, cherries, blueberries, cranberries, dates etc)- I use a little less and add fresh bananas or strawberries on my granola.


COMBINE THE TWO BOWLS AND MIX WELL. BAKE AT 250F (120C) for 2 1/2 hours.
It needs 2- 3 large baking trays. Trays with a high side are best so that you can move it around throughout the cooking without it spilling over the sides. Spread it out on the trays, bake it long and slow and ever so often move the outer granola to the middle of the tray so that it cooks evenly.
Cool, add dried fruit, mix.

When cool store in an airtight container.
 
Makes wonderful strawberry parfait: layered strawberries, yoghurt and granola in a glass

Temple Square

 With the beautiful spring weather drawing us outdoors we took a drive to Salt Lake City with our neighbours to do the tourist thing.

We parked one street north of the conference centre and were pleased to find the spot where Win's Great Great Grandfather (George's namesake), George Washington Taggart lived when they first settled in Salt Lake. Their original house no longer remains but it was situated where the tree and driveway is in this photo.

What we found remarkable was that if it still stood it would look right onto its neighbour, the new conference centre on the opposite corner to this house.

 Before we set out the kids complained that it was going to be terribly boring.  2 minutes into the tour they declared that it was the "Best Day EVER". There were so many fountains to dip their feet in. A few times they tried to steal coins from the water.

 We started at the conference centre and made our way from one water fountain to the next until we arrived at the beautiful gardens of Temple Square.

 In between the Conference centre and Temple Square is a creek, not sure if it has always been there, or if they bought it to the surface with the recent construction. You wouldn't guess that this is the busy main street of SLC would you?

 So many flowers....

 These tulips were unusual, the yellow/ orange ones were very large and there were dark purple, almost black tulips that looked like velvet in texture.

 Another fountain... this one on the south side of the temple.

 As were debating where to find a suitable toilet a man approached us and said that we could go into the adjacent Church Office Building to see the view from 30 floors up. The prospect of good toilets seemed likely so we headed into the large high rise and were escorted to the viewing platforms on the west and east side of the building. On one side we could see the Capital building and Ensign Peak in the background. If you look in the bottom left of the photo there is a prominent red house which is the same mansion that is built on the place that George Washington lived.

 This was an amazing view of Temple Square and the reflection pool where we saw many brides getting their photos taken.

 Below: Inside the Church Office Buildings there was a large mural on the wall. The whole time we were there our kids kept trying to peak through keyholes to see if they could spot the Prophet.

 Below: These are our neighbours, a great source of fun for all of us- we feel really lucky to have landed in the house that we did because of the great people that live there.

 We decided to take a lunch break and Matt suggested the Lion House/ Beehive House Cafe. We hesitated taking all  8 kids to a place like that but once we got in there it was a casual setting, and cheap as well, the kids getting large meals, a roll,dessert and drinks for the whopping price of $2.95 each. 

After eating we toured Brigham Young's old house and Isabelle, who was fascinated by the history of the place asked what had happened to all his daughters. We told her of course that they had died a long time ago. While walking through we passed a room with some women dressed for a fancy tea party, or something with dresses and old looking hats. As we were leaving Isabelle whispered to me "I saw one of his Daughters, they are still alive!!"

 At the visitor's centre we saw many diorama displays and when we found the prophet "Isaiah" one we had to get a photo with Isaiah.

 The Christus was a little bit embarrassing because our kids all wanted to climb on the base and touch the holes in Christ's feet. At first we dragged them off but then I thought that it probably had more meaning to them being able to touch those imprints than looking from a distance. We may have gotten the "Spiritual Evil Eye" from some people in the room but the kids really had a special experience.

A Tour of our House

 We  have been renovating the house since we moved in and are finally nearing the end of stage one (Stage 2 might be in the distant future when we are rich and famous). 

There has been lots of painting, to the point where the girl at 'Lowes' (the hardware store) said "Wow, you sure like to paint"- not really, I just wanted to do it before the new timber floors went in so I didn't have to use drop sheets.

I painted the cabinets in our en suite which were an orange wood colour - not a good look with the green bench top. So I primed and painted the cabinets white to go with the rest of the room.

 Our Bedroom was all oatmeal coloured (the picture below, RIGHT)- oatmeal shag carpet, cream beige walls and beige light fittings- including a splendid squid shaped light hanging from the ceiling. I painted the walls in a grey/blue colour that is a lighter version of the dark grey blue in the living rooms. 

  I spray painted the light fittings a brushed silver colour. You can just see them in the picture below (two sconces on the wall above the drawers and the body of the squid in the centre).   

We upgraded the skirting boards throughout the house (or 'base boards' as they call them here) to larger ones and we put in solid 'handscraped' maple timber floors.

 One of the obvious things lacking in all our rooms are wall hangings. I do have great plans for phase 1.5 which involves framed pictures and things... also involves a few new light fittings if I can get them past Win.

 In this picture you can see the entrance to the en suite and to the walk in robe; where we also installed timber floors. It was so nice to be rid of that awful carpet, it would do the strangest things when you tried to sponge out a stain, turning pink and looking worse than when I started.

 We haven't done anything to the kitchen, just some new bar stools for the kids, and Mum you can see Lucy's calendar sitting to the right of the stools.... despite the fact that you think I never look at it. :)

 The kitchen looks onto the living room that we also painted a grey blue. 

 

Below is the 'Before' and above is the end result. We painted the fireplace, painted the walls and put in timber floors. Now all we need is some furniture and rugs- the room looks very empty at the moment.

 

 Below is a pic of the kids eating cookies on the front steps with their neighbours.

 Here is the dining room, again we painted it grey (was cream/white) and we added the frames around the bottom half of the room. We replaced the carpet with timber floors and now we can finally eat without worrying about dropping food on the carpet!

 Below is George's room... it is way to big for his tiny little toddler bed and plastic drawers. This is part of the basement, you can see through the window the 'window well' that looks like half a water tank against the wall. He has two windows in his room so it is quite bright for a basement room. 

 This is in the basement 'cinema' room.  Of course the kids are watching the weird movie "ponyo" mostly on George's insistence- he is a little bit in love with Sosuke. Win secretly loves it too because I catch him singing the terrible theme song several times a day.

 Below is the entrance to the "Dungeon" as the kids call it- the cold storage room that snakes around the corner and is great for food storage.  It is like a refrigerated room year round.  Next on the wish list is shelves to organise our food storage. You can see some of the boxes from the 'Dry Food Packing' project that Win did. You can  go to a cannery and pack all kinds of foods like wheat, dry milk, mashed potato pearls, dried strawberries, oats, rice... well the list is endless but those are some of the things in the boxes.

 This is Win's office, its not a great photo but I just couldn't take a picture that showed much of the room. He has a great big desk that we negotiated with the previous owners to leave, we figured that they would not want to have to dismantle it out of the basement. 

 This is the Twin's room, and like George's room it is too big for their lack of furniture but it includes a newly renovated ensuite and toy storage walk in closet (both to the left of the photo).

 Below is the Twin's ensuite, They no longer have the excuse that they are out of bed to go to the bathroom in the night.

 This is the hallway that  has the Twin's room at the far end, the TV room at the closest part of the photo, Win's office to the left and the wall on the right is plumbed for a kitchenette if we ever wanted to make the Twin's room a self contained area for family.

 Below is our grass that's in desperate need of a mow.

 Below is our raspberry patch. The plants were all kindly donated by our wonderful neighbour over the fence. They are a thornless variety which will make searching through the patch a much safer exercise.

The compost bin is a spinning one from Costco.

 These are our strawberries, also donated by our neighbour Paul, he even helped rotary hoe the garden beds for us. There must be a hundred or so plants so hopefully with the automated sprinkler system we will see some great harvests from these.

 This is the front yard, Win reading junk mail and enjoying the spring weather.

 Unfortunately our neighbours all have manicured lawns, so there is a lot of pressure to keep the lawn looking good... we haven't purchased a lawn mower yet so already our lawn is letting down the community.

Above: Jack, who has grown to full size now and can barely fit under the couch to hide from Isabelle

,

 George doing a puppet show with Win

 One of my favourite things in our garden: the lovely tulips and daffodils. The whole neighbourhood seems to have an abundance of flowers at the moment.