The first week of this project has been a very interesting start. Things have not gone anywhere close to the order I originally numbered them but that is ok. There are things that almost HAD to happen first and GOD saw that before I did and took care of reorganizing my thoughts.
So here at the end of week one I have some plans and some observations to share.
I will start with plans.
How am I doing on each of my items.
1) Eat in, not out. I have set myself a limit of 7 times out this month and in the first week the challenge that slapped me was 2 meals out in one day because I was out of town. I had planned for one but not both so I felt very annoyed by that. On Saturday, I was given the opportunity to again "just grab some take out" for lunch so you don't have to come home and cook. Nope, I want to fix food because I don't want restaurant food. Whew, I made it. 22 CAN SHE DO IT?!?!?!
2) Pare down the kitchen and get it ready to be what I need it to be. I wasn't really sure that this was something that might fit with the idea of a "food fast" because technically it should fit more with possessions but after my daughter and I talked about it for a while, I came to realize that it really DOES fit in for mine. I need a space to work in that is conducive to preparing meals at home that will have few to no preservatives, chemicals, be salt and sugar controlled, cost effective and easy to make on a tight schedule. So, along comes the God thing. I post a video of organizing ones pantry that I found interesting, my friend commented that she missed that kind of thing, I offered to let her get her "fix" at my house, she took me up on the offer and PPPPPOOOFFF TODAY WAS THE DAY. I will later post before and after photos, this even involved hubby getting in there and hanging some shelves and reworking a freestanding cabinet to make a baking area!!!!! He is even going to put the cabinet on castors so I can move it around the kitchen. We emptied every single cabinet in the kitchen, cleaned it and put the stuff back. We also eliminated a bunch of broken, unnecessary, old, scary things. Again, photos forth coming, maybe. We have a little bit to do still on the cabinet but over all I will have counter space to do food prep and our plan is also to start getting up earlier in the morning because of business. I figure that I can prep food for the whole day at that time myself.
That way we will eat all three meals and will eat them at home.
3) Eliminate as many chemicals blah blah blah. Food prep, lack of processed foods, use of instant pot, crockpot, and good old fashioned stove and oven and here we go! Pretty good for week 1
4) Shop as infrequently as possible is off to a good start. Partly because I already had food here and want to use as much as I can with out shopping for more of the same, and partly becuause I knew that today was happening and wanted as little in the way as possible. I do still have to do some reorganizing on the pull outs that contain the canned goods and such but that will happen in the next weeks as I do shop. Oh, I also plan to get 3x5 cards and lable everything that goes in each place on the inside of the door so that we wont just go back to "the old ways" and we can keep things where they belong.
5-6, Menus, and Portion control, those have not happened yet but now that I have the kitchen out mostly out of the way I can get to work on those two things. I keep trying to remind myself that this is a work in progress for me, a marathon, not a sprint, because what I am trying to do is changes that will last years, not the sprint of the moment.
Some where in here I combine a couple of my items too so this week I am reporting 6 instead of 7. I am too tired tonight to go back and figure out where that happened and I am thinking it really does not matter to the long run. If this ever gets published into a book, me editor can make me reevaluate and change it. Until the, I think we are all safe.
Now for the observation part. Everyone that I have followed through this seems to be finding out that what ever their major focus seems to have thrown them a curve ball this week. For me, it was being faced with the eating out thing right off the bat, then having to make the decision of when NOT to just run to the store for something and telling the family, nope we are out of that I will get it the next time I make a major run, just write it on the list. That has annoyed the others around me more than me it seems, but still annoyance is in the air.
The second observation has been that we have all (or at least a lot in our group have mentioned) that our spouses have in some way been more annoying than usual. Hummm, I am wondering if this fast is bringing out some inconsistencies in the way we each view life? Maybe because we are being denied something ( at least deep in our heads) those that are closest to us are standing out more than usual? I don't know, maybe you all out there in TV land can help me figure that one out. Why would we want to take out our frustrations on the one who is closest to us.. our other half, the one we walk beside? When I began seeing a pattern here, I can say it did pretty much stop me in my tracks and make me spend some time in prayer to evaluate my own behavior. I came to the conclusion that God has put 3 people in front of me this week that I should very specifically be praying for. The first and foremost of those people is my husband. So, when I feel the urge to be frustrated about anything dealing with this time of fasting, I am going to attempt to remember to stop, drop and pray for him, and the other 2 situations that have jumped right in front of me.
The third thing I have observed is that in my own thought life, I am struggling with , get this one, feeling superior to people who are NOT doing this along with us.. I'm still working on where that is coming from, and why on earth I would WANT to feel superior to someone at all much less someone who doesn't even know what is going on.. Isnt that the strangest? So, I know that the obvious solution to that problem is also prayer.. but NOT prayer as the guy who was thanking God that he was NOT like that poor beggar over there.........
So now, to bed to prepare for week 2. Tuesday will again probably include a restaurant meal as I have to go out of town again but it will just be meal 3 and because we have a doctors appointment out of town. A logical reason.
Goals for week 2, Menus beginning to happen, portion control beginning to happen, keep my "happy place" happy!!!!! Then the rest fall in place as well.
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