Seven Quick Takes vol 130.

{one}

So excited to join Kelly and her Linktoberfest! 

I did some digging and it's been over 4 years since I started doing quick takes. Here's my first sad little post. But here I am doing my 130th quick take post, so I'm nothing if not dedicated to my random musings. Head over to Kelly's to win some great prizes, and write some quick takes too because I am equally dedicated to reading 7QT's as I am to writing them.

{two}

Last weekend I finished my Whole 30. Which is pretty amazing for me because I honestly never thought I'd ever do one, because I've been pretty adamant in making fun of people who do the Whole 30, so it was a big deal, guys. 

I adjusted fairly well actually. I really thought I'd be miserable the entire time, and while I wasn't super happy about things some days, gagged on sautéed greens a number of times, and constantly wanted a decent coffee with cream, I made it. 

But I basically white-knuckled it. I didn't look up any fancy recipes. I didn't make any cheat desserts. I didn't make substitute coconut milk lattes. I just ate meat, vegetables, and fruit. It was boring, I missed flavour and making more complicated recipes, and adding cheese to my gluten.

But I made it. I really knew that for me to stick with it for 30 days that I just had to make it as simple as possible. I was willing to give up flavours for less work. I basically made my family what we usually would eat for dinner, and I would just eat the meat and vegetable components. It was fine. I never felt very hungry but I could tell I was definitely eating less if only because I was not feeling a huge hunger for more meat and vegetables. It also really helped my terrible eating habits which usually saw me skipping breakfast, eating junk for lunch, and more junk for snacks in the afternoon. That was my biggest issue I wanted to deal with. I felt I needed a dramatic kick in the pants to get out of my terrible eating habits. So far this week it's still worked, I'm making myself eat protein for breakfast, I'm making sure I eat something decent for lunch, and I've hardly wanted to snack at all. But the cheese and bread have tasted divine! I'm so happy that I don't have any dramatic food sensitivities although I have noticed that my reaction to sugar isn't the greatest. I'm getting old. 

And I lost some weight that has refused to budge since my last baby. I finally felt after 2 and a half years that it was time to get gone, I guess. 

To sum up: I did the Whole 30 and I didn't even die! A seriously life accomplishment even if it didn't make me feel amazing or make me lose 20 pounds, it was probably good for me.

{three}

The leaves are almost all gone now but the weather is still holding out and on the warm side. It definitely is relished when we know that snow can happen anytime from here on in. Why do I always have the most vivid memories of when it snowed for the first time when I was pregnant? I can remember feeling very pregnant with Max at Thanksgiving and snow driving down from the north. I just thought I'd reminisce for a second. 

{four}

I read The Martian last weekend and could not believe how much I liked it. I hate science fiction. But because this book was so well reviewed by people I trust so much when it comes to books I gave it a whirl and it was an entertaining read that I enjoyed way more than I thought I would! Even the science bits didn't put me off. As soon as my husband finishes it we're going to try to see the movie, but we only see one movie in theatres a year...so who knows if we'll actually make it to a theatre for it.

{five}

It's Thanksgiving up here this weekend and I'm looking forward to all the turkey, gravy, and pumpkin pie! It may have been my dream for the last month while doing the Whole 30, but I am ready for all the Thanksgiving! I think tomorrow I'm going to try and bake some pumpkin bread and pumpkin cookies because we need all the pumpkin things. We're helping my dad move cattle Sunday and Monday, and by helping I mean I'm going to be watching everyone else help move cows and/or just herding kids around, but we'll see what happens.

{six}

It's fall, there's football and hockey on tv, the nights become dark so early - it's time for me to start crafting again. I really miss something to do with my hands in the evening, usually my brain is mush so I can't write or blog or do anything else but read novels and watch tv. Which I actually really enjoy doing - obviously! But it does feel really good to be working on a cozy blanket while sitting with my husband watching sports. It is the right combination of craft combined with not requiring a lot of mental concentration. I'm going to be crocheting another blanket from the great Attic24 blog, because her designs are so pretty. 

{seven}

Hope you got a chance to listen to the podcast this week - we were chatting with Nancy C. Brown, author of The Mysteries of Harry Potter all about Harry Potter and it's themes and ideas especially how they relate to Catholicism. It was a geeky good time, but also made for really interesting conversation! 

I'm off to eat pumpkin pie...well...soon at least. Happy Thanksgiving! 

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