A Diet Begins

What my diet should look like and soon will.

Today I am starting a diet of sorts. Pretty much just getting rid of all the junk that I used to eat. Kinda like a detox diet. It is going to be high in fiber and protein, low in sugar and highly processed foods. Dinner tonight was the start of it. We had Pork roast, with and mashed potatoes and a salad. I know that this isn't the best of what I could eat but it is a start.

I guess my mother is going to be putting the household on a diet of foods without labels. She has made her last batch of cookies to have at home. That doesn't mean that she isn't going to be making cookies anymore. They just can't be in the house.

I am going to be trying to get my mother to switch over to using ground turkey over ground beef and have whole grain breads and cereals over what we have now. Hopefully I can get her to do that.

Soon I hope to start working out and actually doing some physical work. I just need to get some money to get a gym membership for a few months then I'll be set with that.

Pretty soon it will be "Hello new and improved slim Bridget!"

Summer wrap up

Well I am about to move again, this time to my parents in Chippewa Falls, WI. I have again nothing much to prove for living on my own, this summer, except for more debt and the knowledge to make jam and jelly.

This summer I did travel to Red Wing. I got to see a nice small town that has one of the best schools for string instrument repair in the nation. Only to then learn that it will cost more in the first two days of school then I was willing to pay as of now.

I learned how to make jam and can food. Noah, his little sister and I made raspberry jam. I guess it is more of a syrup when it is at room temp. It wasn't that hard to do. Noah wants to make pickles soon and I am going to help him with it.

My cat had been in kitty jail for a week (she is now living at my parents, and I'll be seeing her soon). While she was living at Noah's his roommate accidentally didn't close the backdoor and Kara decided that she wanted to make a break for it. She was then picked up and taken to the Humane Society. It turned out that her bail was going to be over $100.

Last night was my five year reunion at my high school. I

wasn't going to go to it, because nothing has really changed in my life. I have grown up a lot, but I have no job or money to prove for any of my growing. Maybe I'll go to my ten year class reunion. I am sure that by then enough has changed and I will be willing to make the trip to see the people that I graduated with again.

ouch

I think working at Boston Store is transforming me from a twenty something into a sixty some. Over the course of a few days my legs, back and arms have aged 40 years. I will be so happy when I can stop working retail and start working a 'big-kid' job. When I lay down to rest my back my knee starts to hurt big time so I sit up making my back hurt. My arms are a totally different story, they are affected by changes in pressure and temperature. So pretty much I just needs to not live in Wisconsin anymore and move to a state that doesn't have the drastic changes in temperature in a year, going from -20 to 90 some. Gross.

Wishcasting Wednesday

Today Jamie asks us to think about 

What do you wish to savour?

I wish to savour the foods that my grandparents taught me how to make. 

There is Potica and Baklava that I have learned to make by my grandmother because they have

 been traditional desserts at my

 great-grandparents brought over

 with them from Croatia. 

 

Then from my German family on both sides of my family there is pork chops with a heaping side of sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. Pretty much anything that is typical of Midwestern American food. Tasteless, overcooked and juicy. Almost what one would think of as typical farm food/ fresh from the garden. 

I enjoy cooking foods that the recipes have been passed down through the generations as a way of keeping the past alive and connecting with my ancestors and the countries that they came from. I know that there are many more countries that my family is from. I just do not feel the same connection to them as I do to my German families and my Croatian family. I am sure as time passes that I will become connected with them. 

Money

Today has been a very productive day. I went all around campus turning in forms and collecting information and requesting more. First I turned in the text books of the guy that I am renting his room from. Then I went over to the Registrar's Office to ask about enrollment verification. Then I saw that I go through them to have your transcript sent to different places. After that I went over to the Library to print off different forms and order my transcript to be sent over to Red Wing. 

Money

Then I went to Student Financial Services to turn in my request for my $100 enrollment deposit. Then I had to run back over to Goodhue Hall to turn in my housing deposit of $125 back. Once I got back from requesting all of this money I went to the Post Office to pay my rent and buy cleaning supplies. 

Now I just need to figure out what is going on with my old health insurance and their claim that they are trying to file. They gave me a number that is no longer in service. How the heck to do expect people to get in contact with them to send them the information that they request?

Family Time Fun Time?

I went back to my parents this past weekend to visit and check out Red Wing, MN. I got to send some time with my sisters, parents and grandmother. It was a nice little weekend vacation with little fighting compared to previous visits home. 

Here are some pictures 

from our little road trip to Red Wing, MN with my sisters. 

We started out in Eau Claire.  This is our route that

the GPS took us on.  We went through the bluffs. It was a very beautiful 

drive through a bunch of farmland and rolling hills.

 

While we were driving Courtney introduced us to a new game "My Cows" When you see a group of cows you have to yell out "My cows!" before the 

people that you are playing it with. And whenever you go by a cemetery you have to yell out "Your cows!" saying that all of your cows have died and you start over with zero cows. The idea 

of the game is to have to most cows by the end of your trip. You are not able to re-claim cows or cemeteries on return trips. 

After 

an hour and a half we finally made it to Red Wing, MN. We drove around a little bit and found out that it is a long city that isn't very wide. It is a nice little touristy city during the summertime. There is one shop there that is called "Uffda." It is a Scandinavian shop that has different gifts that have Norwegian and Swedish influences. There was also this one shop that had a bunch of different "stuff"

 (to put it nicely) They had tomato, dirt, and holy water smelling perfumes. There was also a bookshelf full of different salt and pepper shakers! 

Overall, the trip to Red Wing was fun and enjoyable. I have some ideas of places to apply for work when I move. I have yet to find a place to live, because everything 

is for multiple people or pretty pricey. I am sure that something will come my way eventually. 

This past Sunday I went with my family over to Greenwood for the Dairy Days Parade. It was fun the best part of the parade, as always, were the Shriners. 

They are the most enjoyable to watch.

 I also saw one of my friends from Whitewater. He is the band director at Loyal and his band was marching in the parade. They were also enjoyable to watch. They have improved a lot over the years. The now play their parade music memorized and are almost all marching in tempo. They do fancy foot work and played some fun music that the audience enjoyed listening to. 

granny squares galore!

I believe that I am done with the hat. I am going to take it to him tonight to see how it works on him. I really hope that I am done with it. 

I've been doing granny squares like a crazy women. Yesterday I did two of them one a 3D flower and the other a palm tree. Now I am working on a 2D flower. I just need to finish them all off  by tucking in the yarn. Soon I will be connecting my squares together to create my blanket and first major crocheted project that I've ever done. 

If anyone is interested in the patterns for either of these two squares I can send you the link that I found to them. I am unable to publish the pattern for the flower square, so just to keep it simple I will give you the link if requested.