We have Peppers!!!

Adding to the greenhouse

Spent the morning Transplanting, Lettuce, Squash, Cucumbers and much more.  My poor lil greenhouse is getting full. 

Last spring, pigs and chickens OH MY!

Sally

Brownie

Chicken 1-13 lol

First Greenhouse pics

I put the plants out to the greenhouse this morning and just wanted to share how nice they all look :)

The girls spent the evening decorating the floor for me :)

My first solar cooker

I made myself a solar cooker

Sun in my window ..

This is my sweet potatoe.. growing in water in a glass jar... I got leaves at last.

Look my first Bell pepper :)

Yes that is my first Green Beans

Surviving my gestational diabetes

Well 22 weeks pregnant today and just got great news about my A1C test results.. 5.4 that is amazing :) That is down from 6.6 from my last test. 

I'm telling you low carb is the key.  Im not talking extreme Atkins (wouldn't be healthy for the baby) but reduced carbohydrate meal planning is a huge thing. 
Sure I miss fresh made bread, yeah I miss my spaghetti and toast in the morning but I can live without those things and we have found some alternatives to them as well.

I'm sorry I'm mentioning WE well my husband soon after I found out I was pregnant and starting to take my BS on a regular basis found out that he had type 2 diabetes.  So we are both eating Low carb and we are both doing VERY well.  

Thank goodness we both love veggies :)

This is sorta a good idea of what to eat :)  I put the cheese closer to the meats.  Because I love cheese :)  Oh yeah and I exclude the grains and the pastas.  Not that you cant have those things in your diet this is just what I do and what works for us. 


You have to know also that just because you think of it as a veggie doesn't make it a good low carb veggie. 
There are some of my favorite things that are high in carbs, for example corn, potatoes, and beets.  So those are things I avoid.

We eat less than 100 carbs a day atm and that seems to be working great.   My mental rule of thumb is to keep my snacks below 11 carbs and my big meals (when I eat them) below 30 carbs. 
What helps with keeping my BS normal is eating everything as small snacks. 

Fresh fruits are really important for me and the baby, but if you look at your calorie counter you will learn that all fruits are high in carbs :(  But I do not exclude them.  I just learned how to include them. 

Apple :  34 carbs  (so cut that apple into 4s) 
1/4 apple is only 8.5  I can eat a whole apple just not at the same time, I will spread out those slices to within 1/2 hour of each other and my BS impact is reduced sagnificatly. 

Orange:  18 carbs ( so cut that in half)
Tangelos: 13 carbs ( I can eat the whole thing with lil impact)

Also a lil trick that I also have is that If I want a sandwich I only eat half that sandwich at a time then I wait half hour to an hour and have another half. 

A few things are gained by splitting up my meals like this..
1. Im hardly every hungry during the day
2. my blood sugar does not drop or sky rocket
3. I can eat what I want. 

For dinner I always have a sit down meal, meat, salad and veggies.  I learned to make my veggies and meats the main dish and if I do decide and can allow to have something that is a lil higher In carbs I make it a side dish and portion it to make it acceptable. 

Lots of google searches for recipes, I find that "diabetic" cookbooks always seem to be high in carbs and doesnt really work for me. 

Make a list too, write down what you eat and if you can or want to, what it does to your BS.  Its helpful to start this way, and soon you will just know what you can and can't have. 

CRAVINGS?? 
Yeah they happen, sure everything you really want RIGHT NOW is not on your list, but you can still have those things in moderation.  When I say moderation.  What im saying is portion control is HUGE and you must have self control.  Think about all the reasons you are trying to control your sugars in the first place. 
If I have a piece of carrot cake I make sure not to make my own, and to make sure its a real portion not a prego brain portion or pre diabetic portion, when they say 1/18 of a cake that is what they mean.   Do not gorge yourself on a normal dinner and then decide to have the slice of cake, or the portion of chocolate bar.  Fit it in so that you are not blowing the top off your BS.

Office window overflow, waiting for JUNE 1st

Here is the newest picture of the plants that have found their way into the office window.

Corn, green beans, tomatoes, strawberries, peas and flowers.

Corn, green beans, tomatoes, strawberries, peas and flowers.

Dragons onions

My Dragon loves details and even with something as simple and fun as my Window green onion he would like know a lil bit more about the rate of growth :)  What can you do thats how Dragon rolls.  So that is what im going to do not just for Dragon but all you Dragon like folks who would like to know those things as well. 

First the store baught Green Onions

Then you want to cut off the white bulb root ends

Now I use a rubber band that I got on the onions to cluster the roots together.

Here is a measurement DRAGON.

1 and a half inches from bottom of bulbs

Now I need to put a toothpick under the rubberband for support.



So now I took a lil 1/2 cup container I had in the recycle bin and cut a whole in the bottom.  these onions dont stand up very well and I only had one toothpick :(

That is about it I used an old Jello container (also in the recycle) to hold the water for the roots.

Now I will just have to make and effort to keep track of this lil guy and record its growth :)  Just for you Dragon.. Your welcome :) 



Day two.  You can see the growth already starting.

5-11-11

5-12-11

5-13-11

5-14-11

5-15-11

WOW its the 25th of May now and take a look at what we have, good enough to eat I would say.