Tidy Brown Wren, bringing order to your nest

Most of you know that I've developed an interest in healthy eating as part of my goal to have a healthier body.  My friend, Cathy, has been a role model for me for several years as I watched her transform her body and overall health.  She doesn't have abs of steal - she has abs of titanium!  I asked her to share some of her healthy eating  ideas that we can all use no matter how busy we are.  So, without further ado, here's Cathy. . . My first career was as a stay-at-home mom. I moved to Virginia Beach 15 years ago with my navy husband and two small children. I entered a bodybuilding contest and finished in third place shortly after I moved here which began my love for fitness/nutrition. In 2003 I became an ACE Certified Personal Trainer and started working at the YMCA. I am also a 500 hour RYT yoga instructor and have been teaching yoga for 6 years. Through my love for fitness and nutrition, I decided to return to college. I recently became a Registered D...

 Did you take a careful look around your bathrooms last week ?  What types of changes are you planning to make? This week we'll tackle an easy chore - the medicine cabinet.  This should really be done regularly to help keep your family safe.  Medicines and first aid supplies expire after a year or two and should be disposed of properly.  Below is a post I originally published in August of 2009 when I was just beginning to blog.  I couldn't improve on the process, so I just decided to post it again.  At that time, I only had 9 followers, so I'm sure none of you have read this blog post yet (LOL)!                                                            ...

These next two weeks will be pretty typical for our family.  Nothing special or unusual going on.  Sunday:  Chicken pot pie, green beans Monday:  Chilli, salad, cheddar buscuits (make double batch of chili and freeze half for future meal) Tuesday: Chicken stir fry with brown rice, pineapple Wednesday:  Salmon, baked potato, roasted cabbage Thursday:  Quiche, brussel sprouts Friday:  Split pea soup, pumpkin muffins (didn't have a chance to make this last week) Saturday:  Dinner with friends Sunday:  Orange balsamic chicken, brown rice, collard greens (family dinner) Monday:  3 cheese lasagna, salad (make 2 lasagnas and freeze one for future meal) Tuesday:  Baked cod, baked sweet potatoes, roasted green beans (everything cooks in the oven) Wednesday:  Venison stew (make double batch and freeze extra for future meal), ambrosia, popovers Thursday:  chicken enchiladas, spinach salad Friday:  Pasta E Fagioli ...

Is it already Thursday?  My word, time gets away from me. (there's no reason for the photo except that I like photos in my posts and I love this photo from my daughter's wedding!) I really just posted to let you know that I'm not posting today.  I have a meeting with my transplant surgeon today as well as a stress test and some blood work.  I hope you have a wonderful day.

I always enjoy bringing a little bit of nature into our home.  I can hardly wait for the flowers to start blooming in Spring.  It just makes me giddy! After Valentines day, each year, I walk around the yard and take cuttings of plants that are getting ready to bloom or send out new green growth.  This includes forsythia, willow, ivy, and carolina jessamine.  There are many other plants that fit that discription, but I don't currently have them in my yard (but I will one day). This year, I cut ivy and forsythia and put them in a small vase.  They've been sitting up in my studio for a few weeks now, making me smile every time I look at them.  The forthsythia's yellow blooms are so very cheery.   (I photographed them in the dining room because the lighting is better) What's even better than enjoying the color, is knowing that I'm actually making more plants to put in my yard.  You see, the forsythia and ivy are starting to form roots in the w...

Most of us start our day in the bathroom.  It's not really something we talk about  - it's just part of our day.  To me, the bathroom is the easiest and quickest room to clean and organize.  Maybe not the most fun room, but definately the easiest and quickest.  I found this picture of a 1920s bathroom fixture advertistment.  I wonder how many of those green fixtures are still around today?  I couldn't help but notice how today's fixtures copy the lines of those from 90 years ago.  Interesting! Well, enough reminiscing.  Let's get to work.  During the month of March, we'll be focusing on organizing the bathroom.  This week we'll focus on what areas your bathroom needs work on.  Next week we'll look at the medicine cabinet, followed by cabinets and storage the third week.  The last week of March we'll focus on keeping the bathroom clean and also safety issues. When organizing your bathroom, there a...

As I was organizing some craft supplies yesterday, I found something that gave me a chuckle. . . Apparently, one of my children made a "Good Box" for their siblings.  I'm assuming the "Good Box" was a prize box that contained rewards for good behavior while Mommy and Daddy were busy.  Our children are all several years apart in age and we expected the older ones to help take care of the younger ones.  I wonder what kind of prizes were in the "Good Box".  Candy?  Stickers?  Recycled Happy Meal Toys?  Who knows.  I think these rules would be good to remember no matter what age you are.  We should all be really good, not whine, and act like our Mamma's watching us.   I love it!