Author Archives: gracewithouttears

Everything (that I bought) Is Planted

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This is a blast from the past post that never got published!  I was amazed to see this garden space looking so incredible. It’s nothing but weeds right now. I guess it’s a testament to my motivation to have some type of garden. This was before our current greenhouse and garden. Enjoy!
“Finally, everything I spent money on is in the ground or in the hay bales. I have lots of space still. It’s amazing how much space there is when you’re dealing with square feet.” 8/10/13

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This looked so amazing. I don’t remember what we harvested from this space. I do remember that the hay bales did not work. I clearly had not seasoned them well or given them enough nutrients to sustain and nourish the plants. 

I have so many drafts in this blog. I think I’m going to start publishing them. This should be fun!!

BLE Day 60

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I love starting a new week in my wellness/food journal!  I’m part of all sorts of planner Facebook groups and I was inspired to draw lines this week!


I had a good food plan today. 


And breakfast went exactly as planned. (Can we say YUM to all those berries from our garden?)


My table was even clean (another struggle here…keeping the table free of clutter).


I love this table so much. In the spirit of Kon Marie, it brings me tons of joy every time I look at it!!


I also got my grapes into a jar today. I think the reason this works so well is because the food becomes sort of vacuum sealed into the jar. When the room temperature air cools down, it shrinks inside the jar which seals the lid. I don’t know the scientific reason why this happens, but when I open the lid to eat some grapes, it kinda has that pop sound. And it does it every time!  It’s like the sound of “fresh” every time you open the jar. I like it!

After breakfast…well…that was it for food today. I went to my classroom and got engrossed in my work. I felt hungry a few times but I’ve learned to ignore it and I was so absorbed in all that I was accomplishing, food was definitely secondary and mostly not even on my mind. 

I know this is not a good thing to do. It’s something I’m working on. I seem to be working on a lot of personal growth right now. 

When I drove home at 10:30pm, I decided to just call this a fasting day and wait till morning to eat. 

Another day, another chance to have bright shiny lines. That’s what I love about this program. It’s real life and you just don’t ever give up and always try again. I don’t beat myself up over my short comings. Tomorrow is a new day. 

Can we just admire this rainbow planner layout though?  It’s giving me all the feels right now as this is a fun hobby that I’m just completely obsessed with!!


In case you like to see planner stuff, I have a whole different blog about it at http://www.myerincondren.com. Enjoy!

BLE Day 59

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I knew I would have a hard time blogging once I went back to work. Oh the joy of being a teacher and having summers off!  But I’m back now, and blogging this a day late. After a few days of fuzzy lines, I decided to go back to my tried and true breakfast. 

Lunch was grab and go. I waited too long And I was too hungry to make something. It’s a bad habit that I am still working on changing. At least now, I’m not grabbing junk food (which was totally my pattern before).

I did get inspired for my supper from this post in the BLE Rockstars FB group. 


I got busy immediately to duplicate it!

Garlic from our garden. 

Zucchini from our garden and onions and red peppers from my mason jar storage in the fridge. I did the onions on July 15th and they were still good!!


Sauté’ all the food in a bit of oil. 

Growing up vegetarian, I was introduced to a lot of “meat” substitutes. I’ve been using this taco filling in different ways since it’s a soy base and the BLE plan does say “vegeburger”.  I’m not sure if this is an ok food but maybe someone who is more experienced can let me know by looking at the ingredient list. 

I don’t use a lot of meat substitutes anymore so this does feel a bit like a treat. 

My oh so delicious meal!!  Green beans and tomatoes also from the garden!!

I want to mention again how much I love storing my fresh food in Mason jars in my fridge. I bought this package of sweet peppers at Costco and immediately put them in this 2-quart Ball jar. 

Not only does it keep longer, the food is so pretty this way!!!

My Cavachon, Scarlett, watched me the whole time!!


Another amazing week in the books!!

NSV (Non Scale Victory)

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I keep forgetting to post this!  My measurements have been doing great things!


This sticker is from Planner Chick Designs. She’s one of my favorite sticker shops and a great friend of mine. She’s also on this journey as well and doing well!!

BLE Day 58

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Today was a very relaxing day!  It’s Sabbath so I went to church today. Somehow I totally forgot to eat breakfast even though I knew exactly what I was going to eat!

When church was over I had to grab my friend who got me going with BLE in the first place. It was selfie time and time to document some progress.


Between the two of us, we’ve lost 36 lbs and still counting!  We both feel fantastic and I will forever be grateful to her for talking to me about her new food plan, even though I thought she was nuts and it took me a month to finally wrap my head and heart around the idea and get on board. 


For potluck today, I eyeballed my food, ate in my categories, except that there were no fat options by the time I went through line.  Since I had failed to eat breakfast, I decided to eat some rice for lunch, otherwise there would have been very little food on my plate. 


(Those strawberries were ours, frozen, from last year’s garden!)
For supper, I had a grab and eat fast meal because I was feeling lazy and I wanted to eat that peach that was planned for breakfast. The peach with the yogurt was heavenly and the crunch of nuts was perfect. 


The only problem was that when I was done I was still super hungry because I had grossly undereaten today, so I grabbed a pickle and called it good enough. 


I’m not sure how I want to handle a skipped meal. I think I’ll leave my plan in pencil and not go over it with pen like I normally do. Today was a little off, but tomorrow is always a new day!

That’s a wrap!!

BLE Day 57

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I’m blogging the day after because I was uninspired by yesterday’s food. It’s the result of not prioritizing meal prep time in my day so I threw together lunch and supper and they were definitely blah. 

The day had a good start, but I deviated from my lunch and supper plans. 


I had to meet a parent at my classroom so I packed a sack breakfast. 

It was easy and good and my staple breakfast of Shredded wheat, yogurt, nuts, and fruit. I was able to grab one of my yogurt cups, so that was a bonus!

I worked in my classroom ALL DAY LONG and ignored the fact that I skipped lunch and felt the pang of hunger all afternoon.  Dealing with that experience prompted this post in the BLE unofficial FB group. 


Of course, I didn’t actually feed my body on time, but I dealt with the hunger feeling by just ignoring it for as long as I could. 

When I finally got home, I was starving and threw together this “lunch” (it was 4pm) in less than 5 minutes. 

I was also in our basement yesterday and grabbed a jar of garden grown black beans that we grew a couple years ago. I sorted out the lighter colored ones and now I’m ready to find a yummy, simple recipe for cooking black beans. We have a lot of these and I want to start using them!!

By the time I was hungry for supper, it was around 10pm. It was another throw together meal. I ended up eating just the patty with salsa and the tomatoes. The celery and garden cucumber were both a little bitter, and since it was so late, I just really wasn’t hungry anyway, so I didn’t finish eating them. 

My core exercises were easy again, so that was a positive aspect of my health/food day!


I already knew what I wanted for breakfast…a big fat peach!  My family has been devouring the box we got from Costco so I decided I better hurry up and eat at least one before they’re gone!

That’s a wrap!

BLE Day 56

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Good morning Day 56!!

I’m rather amazed that I’ve kept up with this for 56 whole days!  I’m not sure if I’ve ever successfully managed to change such a big habit like this and stick to it for 56 days before.  I definitely know I’m not looking back because this is working, I feel fabulous, and my food has never been more enjoyable!

Today I failed to take any planner pictures so we will just jump right into my breakfast. The rice was leftover from my husband’s late supper last night and I quickly swiped out 4oz so I could eat it for breakfast.  Two fried eggs (with Pam) and grapes rounded out a great “savory” meal, a change of pace from the rest of this week!

I want you to notice the super cute dish that the grapes are in.  Also, please ignore the paper plate that my breakfast is on.  I had done NO dishes and there was not even one plate in the cupboard!! (They are done now, but at the time of breakfast, that was the reality!)

These are The Pioneer Woman little measuring bowls.  I fell in love with them and bought all three sets at Walmart after gazing at them on several different trips and longing to own them.  They were so cute and special that I put them in the China Hutch and then NEVER USED THEM.

Today I decided that I was not going to wait to live my life, so I removed all the paper protectors between each bowl and found a place in my main cupboard to store them.

I threw those paper dividers right into my garbage can, after waffling a bit about feeling like I should keep them “in case”.  I don’t want to live my life for the “in case” either, so into the trash they went.  I plan to USE these adorable little bowls, that bring me joy every time I look at them, every day as much as I possibly can.

Why leave them in the “special” hutch, for a “special” occasion??  LIVE, ENJOY, EMBRACE!!  That is my approach to so many things now because life is happening and I want to be present and LIVE it!!

My grapes were SO CUTE in that bowl!!

After doing some chores at home, I packed my lunch and headed back to my classroom to do some work.  My lunch was ready for me and I love that I’m practicing with my Planet Box and figuring out how my food is going to fit into it.  I cut my apples at home and then put them into a ziplock sandwich bag.  Before sealing the bag completely shut, I sucked as much air out of it as I possibly could to sort of vacuum pack the apples.  They stayed nice and fresh looking which made me happy!

Our little school has a greenhouse.  It is flourishing right now and I was able to bring home a nice zucchini and a small cucumber!

This evening a friend invited me to go on a small hike and take a dip in the lake.  I grabbed 2 packs of mixed nuts, a cheese stick, some garden snap peas that I pulled out of the shells, and some carrot sticks and ate them in the car while we drove to the lake.  We ended up having a girls’ night with four of us and we enjoyed the evening, the sunset, and the friendship!

The sun was sinking over the hills as we made our way to the little swimming hole.  I didn’t swim this time, but definitely want to go back when it’s a little earlier in the day.  I could have stayed there for hours, but the mosquitos came in force as dusk so we headed back to the car.

It was a beautiful day, my lines were almost perfectly bright, and I got a lot done!  I’ll see you all tomorrow!

BLE and My Erin Condren Planner

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I’m getting a lot of questions about my food journal!  I actually did a whole blog post about it on my other blog and you can check it out here. 

I love filling it in each day and tracking my core exercise, water, and Fitbit goals (which are semi on hold right now since I’m still on weight loss focus).  

I don’t remember if I talked about where I buy my stickers from. I try to post planner pictures on another IG that I have just for my planners (yep, an IG for planning is a thing!). You can follow me at myec_kristy. 

Let me know if you have any questions about the planner!  I love helping and sharing how things have worked for me. This is my 3rd year using the planner as a health/wellness journal, though in the past it has been very hit and miss. 

My most recent full week!

BLE Day 55

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Today was full of all kinds of amazing!!  It started with a plan that I followed almost perfectly!!

Breakfast was the old standby…Shredded Wheat & Bran, yogurt, and berries from the garden.  The blueberries were fresh picked and the others were in the freezer.  I hope the day will come when we have enough blueberries to need to freeze them, but for now, there are plenty to eat fresh for the next week or so!

I really enjoy the nuts each morning and I wanted to share a couple tips today.  When I buy nuts from Costco, I buy both the salted mixed nuts and the unsalted.  When I get home, I dump both jars into a huge bowl and mix them all together.  Then I put them back into the containers.  This results in the nuts being half salted and half unsalted.  They end up tasting salty, but I know they aren’t as salty as the straight salty ones!  I don’t think anyone in this family has an issue with salt, but it feels a little more “healthy” to mix them, so I do it!!

The next tip has to do with yogurt.  I’ve been wanting to try this for several weeks and today I finally just did it.  These tiny little canning jars are normally used for making jellies and jams.  I wanted to see how much yogurt would fit into one jar and was very please to see that exactly 4 ounces fit perfectly!  Since I eat 4 ounces for breakfast many mornings, I’m happy to buy the large container and just fill these tiny jars to use throughout the week.  I will also keep some small containers on hand for when I have to eat on the run, but when I’m home (and in a hurry), I love having this option!

I decided to take a picture of myself today.  I’ve lost 15 lbs, which puts me half way to my goal weight and the image in the mirror made me smile today.

I also headed to my classroom to get started on preparing for the new school year.  It felt great to be in my “chair” again even though my desk was still a disaster, exactly how I had left it when school ended last June!

I brought my wonderful little BLE lunch and look forward to packing my lunches in my Planet Box divided lunch container.  I need to double check the amount of lentils allowed at lunch because this was just 4 ounces, and I’m thinking that maybe it should have been 6 ounces.  It felt like not much, but the other food filled me up anyway.

It’s funny how everywhere I turn there are traces of my old life and old eating patterns.  This little jar was on my teacher desk and the chocolate bar and hot chocolate were in my cubby.  I just looked at them and smiled and thought, “You have no power over me any longer!”  I”ll find someone to share them with when we do the school work bee!  I’ll also try to find something else to put into this cute jar that was a gift from one of my students who is moving and won’t be coming back.

Tip #3 today is something I believe I’ve talked about before.  Mason jar storage keeps food fresh longer in the fridge, so I dutifully cut my grapes into small bunches and put them into these 2-quart jars.  It’s so easy to pull out a few bunches, wash them, and have them ready for a quick lunch!  Everyone eats them faster this way as well because all that needs to be done is for them to get washed!  This is the new “fast food” and kids will gravitate to food that is prepped and ready to eat! (Tip for parents!)

The one change on my planned menu today was supper.  I wanted a light protein so decided to have tofu with the yellow beans I had picked from the garden the other day.  These are my “go-to” seasonings for tofu and a lot of other savory things that I make.  The yellow one on the left is McKays Chicken Style Seasoning and the one on the right is something I found at Costco (I think I showed this one already, and maybe both of them).  I used them both on the tofu tonight.

Instead of using oil in my pan, I used vegetable broth.  I read about doing that in someone’s food blog recently and I thought it was an excellent idea.  The tofu soaked up the broth while it cooked which added more flavor to it!

Well seasoned tofu is a must because the seasonings are what give it flavor!

My pan must have been on the burner a little crooked because one side looks nice and toasty brown while the other side looks like it needed more heat!

My supper tonight was completely from the garden, except for the tofu.  Everything was delicious and again, so rewarding knowing that we grew it ourselves!! I didn’t eat the kale leaf and completely forgot that I could have added a fat to this meal.  Oh well!!

Tomorrow is my official weigh in day.  I’ve been weighing all week long and things haven’t budged since last week.  I’m hoping i’ll drop  my usual pound by tomorrow morning.  I’m also going to get those measurements done so I can compare to June and July!

Time to also grab some water and get drinking before I go to bed.  I’ve really failed to drink my water this week and I’m not sure why.

That’s a wrap!!  See you tomorrow!

BLE Day 54

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At Day 54 I think it’s safe to say that not much is tempting to me anymore.  I am so focused on the goal, even Costco muffins that my guys brought home tonight cannot call my name or lure me into eating them!  I love knowing that I am stronger than the sugar pull.  I have waited a long time to be able to experience this!

My day began without a plan again and I even forgot to take a picture of my Wellness Journal until after I had logged in my breakfast.

Since this is my “go-to” breakfast, I went ahead and made it again this morning.  I LOVE this breakfast!!

Lunch looked familiar as well.  I grabbed all the same food that I had bought yesterday and took it in the car with me because I had to go pick up the dog from the same out of town vet.  I could have measured things before I left, but….I didn’t.  I did not finish the carrots or cherries and did my best to eyeball what I thought 6 ounces would be for each of those!

I was really hungry by the time supper came around.  I knew I needed to use up the broccoli as it had been in the fridge, in a mason jar, for a while.  It was still good, so I cooked it and then filled out the rest of the veggies with raw cucumbers and carrots.  I do think the Costco black bean patty is a tad over 4 oz. but to me, it’s a serving, so I’m ok with eating the whole thing.

Freebie marinara because I felt HUNGRY tonight after eating my minimal lunch.

I think I’ve turned a corner on my daily core exercises as well.  They were all easy tonight and all those little green circles have nice check marks in them!  Another day in the books.

And that’s a wrap!