Stress!!

 I’m not the most laid back person in the world…. In fact, I’m pretty sure I was born with mild chronic stress/anxiety.  Half the health related issues I have probably are at least partly caused or aggravated by my constant state of stress!  Did you know that stress can actually cause physical symptoms?  Stress isn’t just in your head; it actually has a physical effect on your body! It can cause everything from backaches and headaches to insomnia and digestive problems.  Chronic stress can even cause ulcers and heart disease!   I didn’t even really comprehend how stressed I was until half way through my high school career, and even then I had no idea what to do about it!  I’ve struggled so much with trying to find some peace in my life, and I’m still not quite there yet, but I’m trying my hardest to figure things out!  

For Christmas one year my mom gave me a book called “Be Still” by Victoria Anderson and Lois D. Brown.  It’s a really good book that talks a lot about ways to cope with, and even overcome stress and anxiety.  I, of course, put off reading this book for a year or so, and even then just glanced through it with mild interest.  It wasn’t until I was married, in college, and having issues with depression, that I really decided to sit down and read the book.  It was really a surprise to me how many of the things I was experiencing were directly related to my stress levels!   I didn’t realize that my crazy eating habits (i.e. going seven hours on just a granola bar) were having such a big impact on my mood, my stress levels, and even on my relationship with my husband!  I’ve found that just by making sure that I’m eating on a regular basis (and ideally eating good food) that I can manage my moods so much better, and I’m less likely to feel utterly overwhelmed by the world! 

For the last few years I’ve been having trouble sleeping.  I’d get into bed at 11:00 and sit there in the dark for HOURS as my mind just kept going and going and going… it was awful!  I’d be up until three or four in the morning every night, and then I’d be stressed out and grumpy the next day because I wasn’t getting enough sleep because I was stressed!  I tried taking sleeping pills (for the sake of my husband’s sanity), but when I did I’d either be asleep for the next 20 hours, or they just wouldn’t work, or if they did work my insomnia would come back the minute I stopped taking them.  So I decided that really wasn’t the way to go.  After reading my stress book, I decided that maybe I needed to try some relaxation exercises (deep breathing, visualizations, etc.) before I went to bed.  So I tried it, and it didn’t really work.  I still couldn’t focus my mind and I still couldn’t sleep.  Luckily I had some divine inspiration to get online and look up “free relaxation visualization downloads”.  I found a couple of really good relaxation visualizations in mp3 form on InnerHealthStudios.com.  I know it sounds a little dumb, but my favorite is the "self-esteem relaxation" track, because the little affirmations give my brains something to focus on that doesn't inspire stressful thoughts. I listen to one every night and I'm asleep before the track ends!  My only problem now is the fact that my mp3 player is always dead in the morning and I'm afraid I may strangle my self in my sleep with the earphones!!

I'm still stressed, but now I know that I can do something about.  I'm really looking forward to the day when I can handle life with out having my jaw clenched!

Meal plans/how to make “The Perfect Baked Potato”

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So, my current goal is to come up with a weekly meal plan.  I’m REALLY hoping that this will help me out with some of my reluctance to cook dinner!  I feel like there are just some days when I don’t feel like cooking, and then I use the excuse that I have no idea what to cook, and procrastinate until nine o’ clock at night and we end up eating corn dogs out of the freezer.  If I have my meals set, then I don’t even have to think about it! Well, ok, knowing me I’ll have to spend an entire three minutes remembering what day it is in the first place, but that’s much better than what I’ve been doing!  So, my idea is this, I’m making a list of every meal I can possibly think of to make (and that I know my DH will eat after I get it made!) and then taking into account things like which days I have class until late in the evening, or days when I don’t have many classes and will be able to put more time into the preparation.  Then I’ll assign meals to days accordingly.  With a little help from my dearest Mr. Smith, I hope this will be a success!

The first time I considered this plan I got really excited, and then realized that I was having a VERY hard time coming up with seven different dinner ideas.  I finally figured something out and put my now half-hearted plan into action.  Baked potatoes from the microwave were the last meal I finally eked out of my head and the day to make them rolled around.  I made the potatoes, made my DH eat them, they weren’t very good, and he told me that he didn’t really want to eat baked potatoes ever again.  I was devastated.   My seventh meal had just been vetoed and I didn’t know what to do.  So I quit, as I am so apt to do when my plans fail.  However, after a period of grieving I’m back in the saddle and with a little research and experimentation, I have come up with a solution to my problems!  It is my version of “The Perfect Baked Potato”!  Baked potatoes are now DH’s favorite meal!  So here’s how I made my poor potatoes edible (warning, this is not an extra healthy low fat/no calorie method of baking a potato!): 

1.       Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2.       Wash your potatoes and get all that yucky dirt off/cut any bad spots off the potatoes.

3.       With a fork, stab each potato 4 times down the length of the potato on each side (so 8 stabs all together).

4.       Rub the skin of each potato with olive oil.

5.       Sprinkle a little bit of salt onto the potato and distributed it evenly over all the entire skin.  You don’t need too much, just enough to give the skin a little flavor :)

6.       Sprinkle a couple of dashes of garlic powder onto the skin and rub all over.

7.       Put the potatoes directly on to a cookie sheet and cook for 45 minutes.

8.       When the potatoes are done they should be tender when you stick a fork in them.  Now you’re ready to eat them!  Throw on all your favorite baked potato toppings (cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, peas, bacon, ranch dressing, onions, or even just salt and pepper!) and enjoy!

So it begins...

As of August 4th 2008, I am the newest Mrs. Smith in a long line of exceptionally wonderful wives by that title.  Grandma Smith is an amazing woman.  She is the kindest, most caring person I have ever met.  She takes care of everyone and everything without skipping a beat.  She is one of my role models!  My mother-in-law is also an awesome wife and mother.  With a five-year-old, 14 year-old, and an 18 year-old still at home her house is always comfortable and clean and her household is always cared for.  One of my deepest desires I’ve clung to since my wedding day is to be an amazing wife!  I want to be organized, I want to be a good cook, I want to be able to care for my house and keep it clean and beautiful, and I want to be a happy, caring wife, who is a constant support to my husband. 

Well, the wedding and I guess even the honeymoon are officially over; we’ve been married for a year (and three months tomorrow!) and in that time I’ve made a few discoveries about myself.  I am not a naturally organized person.  I am creative, I love to dance, I love to read, and I love beautiful things…  But I tend to be a little side tracked and kind of a big procrastinator.  I don’t know much more than the basics of cooking, and to tell the truth, I don’t really like cooking!  In my younger years I was so busy going to dance practices, rehearsals, performances, classes, and doing hours and hours of homework , that helping with the cooking was not really something I did on a regular basis, unless it was something easy (excuses, excuses… I know ;) ).  In the last year, cooking meals has been kind of a stressor in my marriage; I hate having to come up with meals every night!  I don’t know a lot of tricks and techniques when it comes to cleaning either.  I know that you use some kind of cleaner and wipe things off, but I’ve been discovering that there are so many little things that I just didn’t know!  Then, of course, there is the relationship category.  I thought I had a perfect relationship with my hubby while we were dating, and I thought I knew pretty much everything there was to know about him and the way he thought.  I was wrong!  I have found so many things that I need to work on to make my marriage work well.  We have a good relationship, and we’re both trying, but we’re not perfect, and marriage takes work!

So, as I’ve been trying to figure this whole wife thing out, I’ve learned a lot, and I’m still learning so much everyday!  I guess a lot of the things I’ve learned may be old news to a lot of people, but I’m still dead set and determined to share what I’ve come up with, even if it’s just for my own sake ;)