Ruth Anne Benziger's Blog, page 2

February Goals & Intentions

Hi, everyone! It’s February and that means that it’s goal setting time. I really like that I split my goals by category. That really helps me to be more intentional with my goals and to focus on each aspect of my life.

I’m happy to report, if you missed my January Recap, that I met almost all of my goals for January. There were some that were unavoidable and some that I just didn’t manage getting to. I’m happy that I could reach those goals and now it is time to set some new ones.

So, here are my February Goals!

Personal GoalsSpend more time with Arielle. Arielle is getting to the age when she’s growing into an inquisitive and curious child. So, I want to cultivate her mind by spending more time with her teaching her life skills and just having mother/daughter bonding. Save Money. I want to try to set some money aside for vacations. I have plans this year to try and do some trips and I want to try to save money to make sure the kids and I have the best time. Read 10 books a month. I am going to stick to trying to reach this goal each month. Last month I read 9. We’ll see if I can get to 10 this month. Homeschool GoalsScience and Bible Presentations. I wanted to have the kids do presentations and I’m so happy to report they are taking their History presentation seriously. Each day they work on their poster and do the research they need to do. So, in February, the kids will be doing a Bible presentation on Joseph and his life. They will also be doing a Science Presentation on a type of cell. It should be fun. Reading Skills Activities. Damian is getting better everyday and Arielle is an emerging reader. They could both use some help and some practice. So, my goal is to find activities and books to challenge them to increase their reading levels. Crafts and Tea Party. This month, we have a few holidays and I want to encourage the kids to use their creativity. We are also having a Tea party for Valentine’s Day. We invited family and we are so excited to enjoy time with family and celebrate love. God’s love for us, especially. Faith GoalsBible Journal. I enjoy doodling but I’m not a skilled artist. I’ve been practicing my calligraphy skills and so, my goal is to try and do a bible journal art each day to encourage myself to be in God’s word and to enjoy the simplicity and stress relief of creating art, even with my limited artistic abilities. Focus on one Woman of the Bible. I want to start focusing on a woman from the bible and doing a study on that person, their life and their spouse, and the story around them. I want to try to focus and study and learn from influential women God used for his glory. Scripture memorization. I didn’t end up doing any memorizing last month, other than the ones that I’ve known for sometime. So, I would like to try again this month and memorize 5 verses. Fitness GoalsAfter having a Kidney stone that put me on light duty for a week and then getting C***d and being sick for 2 weeks, it didn’t leave me time to meet my fitness goals. Which is a win for my lazy side. I just don’t enjoy it. So, I’m going to try to do some type of exercise this month and that is my only goal. If I manage to do one day or even one hour, I’ll be satisfied. It really is a struggle for me. Diet GoalsExpand my palate. I want to continue to try new foods. After looking at my photos of meals, I tend to eat the same foods. So, I want to try and expand on my palate and try things that I don’t normally eat. Try a new recipe a week. To encourage my palate goal, I want to try a new recipe every week. That should help to try new spices, new food combinations, and new flavors. Avoid slider foods. I’ve gotten into some bad habits over the last week. Pretzels were eaten, chocolate chips, and a few chips. So, I want to try to avoid slider foods and replace those with protein snacks. I don’t normally eat slider foods, but I feel that I’ve started to lean that way and I don’t want to gain weight because I chose poorly.

Until next time,

Ruth

Tuesday Weigh-in (20 Weeks Post-op VSG)

Hi everyone and welcome February!

Futurescope

In the month of January, I did the calculation and I lost a total of 9.4 pounds. That’s pretty cool.

I wanted to say that after my kidney stone, I have not picked back up on the exercise front. First, we all got sick and were in quarantine. So, that depleted my energy right there for about two weeks. Then, we have been busy with homeschooling. So, it seems exercise was not in the cards for January.

Weekly Meals

Here are some meals that I had this week. I want to share what we’ve been eating. For you to see but also for me to look back on to see how my diet progresses.

Weight

Last week, I weighed in at 211.3.

Today, I weigh:

According to my Baritastic app, I have lost 94.3 pounds since my journey began May 1, 2021.

I’m so excited because I’m only a little over 5 pounds away from losing 100 pounds!!! That’s amazing and I’m so happy with my progress and how hard I’ve been working.

I can’t give myself the glory, however, that goes to God. He’s been there to give me strength, encouragement, and grace when days don’t go to plan. I’m so blessed and I can’t wait to see where I go from here.

Until next time,

Ruth

January Recap

We are on the last day of January and it flew by for me. So much seems to have transpired over the last month. At the beginning of the year, I had an emergency stay at the hospital, had a kidney stone, and had to have surgery to remove it. That was not the best start to the year, but I had to roll with it.

After that, I’ve focused on making sure to keep my vitamins in check, get enough water in, and to try and minimize my risk of a repeat.

The kids have had to have some dentist appointments for regular check up. Unfortunately, Damian has two cavities that we will have to get filled.

We ended up getting sick a couple of weeks ago and were in quarantine. That ended today, thank God!

So, our month was a little crazy. But, I wanted to look back on my goals and update you on whether I managed to meet that goal or not. You can find my post for my January Goals here.

Here we go!

Personal GoalsMy goal was to plan out blog posts for the month. I would say that I was pretty successful at this goal. I did plan out the posts that I wanted to get to. I am pleased with meeting this goal. Organize the house and decorate. I did succeed in putting all the Christmas stuff away and we did do some decorating but there are other things that we had to put on hold. My goal was to read 10 books this month. I read 9. So, I was really close to meeting this goal. Homeschool GoalsI wanted to get us into a routine. Sadly, given that I had surgery, then we all go sick…well the routine has been interrupted too often. God has given us grace and we have allowed ourselves to move as well as we could. Read Aloud. I did succeed in reading aloud to my kids almost daily. I am happy to report my kids read aloud too and it has been a great time for us. I wanted the kids to do one presentation. While they haven’t presented yet (Monday!) we did work on their presentations. So, we were close to getting this done. Faith GoalsI have a list of Reading Plans. I have managed to do some of them but I tend to not follow them every day. I’m behind on some and that’s okay. I will get to them when I can. I wanted to be more intentional with prayer. I write in my prayer journal and do bible journaling. I have managed to do something each day but I could be better at setting time aside for this. I wanted to start memorizing scripture. This month was so chaotic, I did not succeed in trying this. Fitness GoalsWork outs were put on hold due to my surgery. I had to take it easy for a week while I had the stent in. Then, I just got off track with working out. So, I did not do any exercise this month. Diet GoalsMeal Planning is something that I have actually gotten really good at. I was successful in planning out my meals and even making my own menu for the week. It is so helpful and takes the stress out of trying to come up with something to cook for that day. I do plan out my meals and prep for them each day depending on what I need. I tend to meal prep when I get groceries. So, I would say that I did manage to do this. I wanted to eat intentionally and I definitely have done this. My weight has reflected it and I have so much energy and I feel great.

That is how I did this month. Despite having surgery, getting sick, and putting things on hold, I managed to get most of my goals accomplished. Yay me!

How did you do this month?

Book Review: When Life Doesn’t Match Your Dreams: Hope for Today from 12 Women of the Bible by Jill Eileen Smith

Life is full of twists and turns. Relationships falter, careers fizzle, health fades. We may be faced with choices we never wanted to make or have situations pushed upon us we’d never expected. Yet, in all of it, God is at our side–even when he feels far away.

Drawing on her extensive research into women of the Old Testament, novelist Jill Eileen Smith turns her pen to the lessons in trusting God that we can learn today from women like

EveNoah’s wifeSaraiHagarLot’s wifeRebekahRacheland more

Readers will learn from what these ancient women did right–and even what they did wrong–when faced with dashed expectations and deferred dreams. And they’ll come away with the confidence that ours is a faithful God who loves us and is forming us through our trials into the women he longs for us to be.

My Thoughts

First, I enjoyed how the author created a first-person interpretation of each woman. Then, the reflection of each in her experience and the questions were helpful. I focused on each of the women as a separate study and read each portion of the bible to connect it. I then thought about the women as they were in their time, which I believe was the author’s intent. We should look at these women as people and not just figurative characters. So, diving into what they could have been thinking or could have experienced helps to make the story more relatable.

Book Review: Holy Shakespeare!: 101 Scriptures That Appear in Shakespeare’s Plays, Poems, and Sonnets by Maisie Sparks

101 lines or passages from William Shakespeare’s works paired with Scripture passages that appear in the bard’s classics. To be published just in time for the Shakespeare 400th celebrations.
Shakespeare was heavily influenced by Holy Writ. Bible lines, characters and narratives are “verbal characters” in the his plays, poems and sonnets, sometimes subtly and sometimes blatantly. But they are there, revealing the deep scriptural well that was the culture from which Shakespeare drew and also reminding us of scenes and stories in the Bible.

Shakespeare knew the Bible–as did everyone during that time. He used Scripture freely in what he wrote because through such biblical allusions, audiences would immediately grasp his meanings, charaterizations and unfolding situations. His works-meant to be performed-gave Scripture life. The Bible was not mere words in Shakespeare’s work, but, like all of Scripture, were used for reproof, instruction, conviction and training.

Listening to Shakespeare with an ear that’s open to whispers from God’s Word can kindle both passion for his great literary works and the Greatest Book of all, Holy Scripture.

My Thoughts

A well-put-together collection of Shakespeare’s work and the connection to scripture. I wonder if these are completely accurate as some seemed to guess. But, it was neat to see the connection and to read daily.

Tuesday Weigh-in (19 Weeks Post-op VSG)

After a week of resting from my kidney stone surgery, my appetite has been pretty normal. Though, Thursday I tested positive for Covid via home test. I thought my appetite would decrease but luckily it hasn’t. I’ve managed to keep my macros in check, reach my water goals, and enjoy some tasty food.

I will say that I’m more paranoid that I’m going to get another kidney stone. Therefore, I have made changes in my daily routine. I now drink lemon in my water to keep my uric acid levels down. I try to drink an 8 oz. glass of water with half a lemon juice into it. I sometimes add stevia if I’m feeling like I need something sweet. So far, it has been fairly easy to do.

Here are some meals that I’ve eaten this week.

I took measurements this week as well. I measure my body once a month to keep track of changes in my body that don’t include scale victories.

I’m so happy to see the changes since my journey began. I feel like when the scale doesn’t move, my measurements make me feel like I’m not failing.

I look like crap, but I also took a body picture of how I look this week. This picture was taken on Tuesday last week. So, it gives me a good idea of how much I’ve lost. I’m also adding what I looked like on Christmas because it is the last body picture I have of myself.

I personally don’t see a difference since December but I’ve lost some weight. I think it may be the clothes that I’m wearing show that my shirt is loose. So, it doesn’t show my body changes. Next time I take a body picture, I’ll make sure to wear better clothes. I don’t feel comfortable just wearing a sports bra as many others do. I’d rather keep my body to myself. So, this will have to do for now.

Last week I weighed in at 214.

Today, I weighed in at:

I’m pretty happy with this. I’m still consistently losing and that is what my goal is. My son is also sick so my focus is on getting healthy myself and getting him there as well.

I hope you all stay healthy and safe out there.

Until next time,

Ruth

Mexican Spaghetti featuring “Skinny Spaghetti”

https://www.bariatricfoodie.com/mexican-spaghetti-featuring-skinny/Ingredients1 lb. lean ground turkey (you could do beef…I don’t because me and beef have beef with each other)1 log (about 8 oz.) of Mexican-style chorizo sausage (I used the kind from Aldi)1 cup of diced onions and green peppers (I used the frozen bagged kind)1 tbsp minced garlic1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce1 tsp chili powder¼ tsp ground cumin¼ tsp ground coriander1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional if you like the heat.)2 tbsp Neufchatel cheese (1/3 less fat cream cheese), softened“skinni” stuffDirections

In a pan sprayed with non-stick, sautee onions and peppers until softened. Add garlic and sautee for an additional 3 minutes or so.

Add ground turkey and chorizo to the pan and brown through. Drain mixture of excess fat and return to pan.

Add spaghetti sauce and stir until fully incorporated. Add spices and simmer about 10 minutes on low heat.

Add cream cheese to sauce and allow it to melt, stirring to fully incorporate it.

Book Review: The Wild Ones/Moonlight Brigade by C. Alexander London

The new animal-fantasy/adventure series for fans of Warriors, Spirit Animals, and Redwall!

Kit may have saved the Wild Ones from the Flealess, but he and his neighbors are not out of danger yet. Coyote has taken charge of the Thunder River Rompers, a notorious gang of nearsighted otters, and he has his sights set on Ankle Snap Alley. When, on the eve of the First Frost, Coyote and his henchmen steal all of the seeds and nuts that the Alley’s residents have stored up for winter, Kit knows that he can’t sit by and do nothing. As he tries to fulfill his school assignments and win himself a coveted invitation into the Moonlight Brigade, Kit knows he must outsmart the Coyote so that his fellow Wild Ones can survive the winter.
 
With so much depending on him, it’s time for Kit to pull off his greatest trick yet and save the community he now calls home. Howl to snap!

My Thoughts

3.5 stars.

The kids and I read this for our nighty read-a-loud book. I thought the story was cute and the nicknames for all the animal groups were creative and unique. The school was pretty cool and the town itself was very imaginative. The kids got a kick out of Ankle Snap Alley. They picked favorites of course. Kit and Eeni were the ones my kids enjoyed the most. We were rooting for Kit as he navigated the alley and the many who would threaten it. A secret is kept and some will do anything to keep that out of the ears of their own people.

This was action-packed, had us wanting to know what happened next, and wondering what will happen in the future. If your kids enjoy animals, quests, secrets, and brawls your kids will enjoy this one. The coyote and the River Rompers were the gangs that my kids seemed to be most interested in. They were up to trouble and the kids wanted to know what.

As the story focused on Kit, it would swing to the Cayote and the River Rompers and the kids were more interested in their involvement. I didn’t blame them. Good read and the kids added this to the re-read list. So, that’s a win for this homeschool mom.

Tuesday Weigh-in (18 Weeks Post-Op VSG)

Hey everyone!

So, last weekend while my kidney stone landed me in the hospital, I gained a few pounds. I’m sure it was water weight.

I’m still at about 4 oz. of food per meal. I have been averaging between 60-70g of protein a day. I increased my liquid intake from 48 to 64 oz.

Here are some dishes that I had this week.

I hope to share more in the future and I want to start taking pictures of my food so that I can remember what I’ve made. I really enjoy exploring new foods.

I weighed in at 217 last week. The previous week, I weighed in at 215. Like I said, I’m sure that my weight gain was water weight from IV fluids.

This week, I dropped back down to where I was take a pound. Today I weighed in at:

I’m officially 91 pounds down since May 2021.

My surgery was on September 14. I’ve lost 62 pounds since surgery. All in all, I’m very happy with my progress and where I am.

Exercise was put on hold due to the kidney stone. While I had my stent in, I was on no activity. So, in that regard, I did not meet my goal. I am still not back to 100% so I’ll be taking it easy this week as well. I’ll try next week to get back into the swing of things.

Until then,

Ruth

Homemade Vitamin Water

https://soupaddict.com/vitamin-water/Ingredients2 cups watermelon , sliced into 1″ cubes1 lime , sliced1 lemon , sliced1/2 red grapefruit , sliced and quartered1 medium cucumber , sliced12 mint leaves2 quarts watericesparkling water (optional)InstructionsCombine the fruit, cucumber, mint leaves and water in a large pitcher.Place in the fridge and let infuse overnight.To serve, pour infused water into glasses filled halfway with ice. Spoon in a piece or two of fruit for show, and top with a splash of sparkling water (optional).The vitamin water will stay fresh for a day or three.