End of Month Recap - December 2012...plus links!

The end of December.  We made it :)  Did you have a good Christmas?  So far we have...but we're still celebrating :)

This month was quite busy with the extra demands of the holidays.  Plus we had some extra doctor visits.  Despite all of the to-dos I did pretty well with my goals.  And I mostly accomplished my main goal of focusing on my family and trying to enjoy this month.  I did have some major anxiety when it came to the extended family celebrations and travel.  But I made it.

Here's how the month went.

FOOD

1. Rebecca's Recipes - Rebecca still loves to help plan meals and come up with ideas.  We didn't have time to try many of them, though.  Hopefully next month.

2. Baking - I did plenty of baking this month.  I didn't quite get to all of my projects.  Oh well.  We were more than well fed :)

3. Rotate Food - So far so good with this!!  I truly believe that rotating food and just getting more variety in general is a very important part of a healthy diet.  I wish someone had told me that many years ago before I built up an intolerance to so many foods.  I am a creature of habit.  But I have to break that habit when it comes to my food.  It's still a work in progress trying to always remember this.

PERSONAL

1. Writing - Continue to write for Grand Rapids Natural Living and Real Food and Health magazine.  I forgot that I haven't posted the links to my GRNL articles recently.  In case you are interested:

GRNL October
GRNL November
GRNL December

2. Purpose - Check out my recent update post on finding purpose.

3. Sewing/hobbies - I did it.  I finally finished the aprons I was working on!  Just in time to give them to Rebecca and her doll (and me :) for Christmas.  They didn't turn out quite as well as I would have liked.  But they are pretty good.  A very old sewing machine (from my grandma) and lots of double fold bias tape do not cooperate very well :P  Time for a little sewing break again.  But I do hope to continue to make time for crafts more often.  Cake/birthday season for our family is about to begin.  So that's on the agenda next.  Time to start brainstorming themes/ideas for the kids.

4. Clean/organize - I cleaned a few more things out of my closet and finally did a little shopping and got some clothes for Christmas.  I still have a few items to buy, but I finally have some up to date clothes that actually fit.

I did actually work on Abram's drawers...but then about a week later he grew and we got more clothes from my SIL (thanks, Sara!!!).  So now I need to do it all over :P  All of his clothes are sitting in a laundry basket right now.

5. Christmas - I did all of the necessary Christmas shopping, baking, sending cards, etc.  Now we have to deal with the aftermath...the toy overload.  Definitely some purging going to happen next month.

LINKS

Here are some links I want to share/that I think are worth reading.

I absolutely love Matt Stone's new book Eat for Heat.  Definitely worth the money.  I think it might even be on sale yet today.  Hurry!!

A very important read for everyone about how to be healthy in the coming year from Weed 'em and Reap - no dieting, no restricting...just eat REAL food.

How to make almond paste from Nourishing Joy.  I have to try this sometime!  Even if I don't like it, a good Dutch girl has to make banket once in a while.  And it would be great to have a homemade almond paste to use.

Perfect for the holidays and the whole winter - homemade egg nog from The Polivka Family.

Not so sure I'd be up for this challenge, but it looks good - making elderberry wine from And Here We Are.

A Good read from Small Footprint Family about how much land you need to be self sufficient.

Important information about why margarine is bad for you from Cultured Palate.  I can't stress enough how bad it is to use fake butter.

Finally a host of other great links from LittleOwlCrunchyMomma.

And a few repeats of my own post on finding purpose., homemade go-gurt and homemade caramels.