Healthy Tipping Point

Week 15:  At The Water’s Edge

This book was written by Sara Gruen, who also wrote Water For Elephants.  “In this thrilling new novel from the author of Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen again demonstrates her talent for creating spellbinding period pieces. At the Water’s Edge is a gripping and poignant love story about a privileged young woman’s awakening as she experiences the devastation of World War II in a tiny village in the Scottish Highlands.”

I REALLY liked this book.  The writing was great, the characters were super interesting, and there were some awesome plot twists. It was one of those wonderful novels that you can’t put down because you feel like the characters are so real.  Also – ROMANCE!  I haven’t read a romance novel so far this year, and this one had just enough sweetness.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 – I bet this becomes a movie!

Week 16:  Teaching Montessori In the Home – the Preschool Years

This is a book that I’ve had and flipped through occassionally for a while, but I just sat down and read the whole thing cover to cover. I discovered Montessori a little late with Henry, although I try to incorporate stuff now, but would like to do more Montessori-style stuff with Claire from the beginning.  I dream of sending them both to Montessori preschool but $$$!

Anyway –  this book has tons of ideas for introducing Montessori concepts in the home. Some are more “schoolish” but many are “practical life” concepts, which I like the most anyway. This book is very short but detailed and has good explanations for presenting concepts to young children.

My Rating: 3 out of 5. Handy to have, but you could probably learn most of this on the Internet.

Week 17: Whole 30

I found the Whole 30 program via Instagram (the #Whole30 and #Whole30Results hashtags are really fun).  The food philosophy is similar to paleo, but Whole 30 is very much focused on the emotional aspect of eating. Over 30 days, the program works to readjust both your taste buds and mind to eating less processed foods.

“The Whole30 [is] a stand-alone, step-by-step plan to break unhealthy habits, reduce cravings, improve digestion, and strengthen your immune system. The Whole30 features more than 100 chef-developed recipes, like Chimichurri Beef Kabobs and Halibut with Citrus Ginger Glaze, designed to build your confidence in the kitchen and inspire your taste buds. The book also includes real-life success stories, community resources, and an extensive FAQ to give you the support you need on your journey to “food freedom.”

I REALLY liked this book – so much that I’m reading the prequel, It Starts With Food, for Week 18.  As a vegetarian, there is a HUGE chunk of recipes that don’t apply to me, but there are also loads and loads that do. I’ve been eating “Whole 30ish” for some meals and have to say that there’s something to it for sure… I feel great physically after those meals!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.  Written in a fun voice with tons of great info, although much of it is republished from the Whole30.com website. Lots of awesome recipes, too!

Rest of Book a Week.

What are you reading right now?

How is your week going? I can’t believe it’s already Thursday.  Time flies when you’re cooped up in the house with a sick kiddo (just kidding – time craaaawls when you’re cooped up in the house with a sick kiddo!).  Henry has a bad but quick cold at the beginning of the week, so we were pretty much homebound.  I have watched a LOT of Curious George this week!

Thankfully, everyone is on the mend and life is back to normal.  Though I still hear George’s voice ringing through my house – after too many episodes, Henry starts to imitate that crazy little monkey!  Hah.

So – not much has been happening, really.  I’m in the process of working through the companion book to Whole 30 – It Starts With Food – and will hopefully have that review (and a few others) ready for you tomorrow!  It’s a really interesting read and has been influencing a few of my meal/snack choices.

But most of my meals are looking pretty typical for the HTP household!

And I was so happy to be able to put the kiddos in childcare at the gym yesterday morning and attend a boot camp class.  I haven’t been able to go as much as I would like to the last few weeks – gotta buckle down and recommit when my schedule allows.  My next 6 Week Check In is coming up shortly and I want to see results!

This one was a total doozy.  It was an ab day…

Trophy walks involve walking around the track with an 8 – 12 pound ball raised above your head, which is waaaaay harder than it sounds.  Oof.  Seriously killer.  Afterwards, Claire and I did a 2 mile stroller run while she snoozed. 

What’s up next on the agenda?  Man oh man – I gotta start thinking about my TRIATHLON.  It’s NEXT WEEKEND.  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.  I am totally excited and nervous.  I haven’t done an open water triathlon since my Half Ironman way back in 2013.  My biggest concern is transitions… I’ve decided this is the year that I won’t suck at transitions.  Need to do some practicing – and I also need to just pull on my big girl panties and try to transition faster instead of taking my sweet time because “it’s not like I’m going to win anyway!”  I still won’t win, but I’d love to shave a few seconds off those times…  Any advice on transitions?

I have always obsessed with origami, but the art of folding paper falls into the category of “things I’d love to do but don’t have the time to figure out.” But remember when I told you all about my new computer, the Sprout? <—here’s my review of the immersive computer with two touchable workspaces.  Well, I noticed the Sprout comes with an app that teaches you how to fold origami, and I knew right away that I wanted to use it to create some Operation Beautiful origami notes.

The app uses the top camera to project folding guides onto the touch mat, but the instructions also appear on the main computer screen. 

Seeing the visual two different ways made folding the paper a lot easier, but it was still challenging – origami is hard!  I have a lot more respect for those paper cranes now…

I’ve been folding about one origami a night, and I have to say – the 10 minutes or so it takes to complete the ritual is really, really satisfying and stress-relieving.  I was pretty surprised at how relaxing it was, actually – it’s lovely to just sit and fold and press and fold and press.

I ended up tackling all the “easy” or “medium” folds on the app.  The “hard” level one totally stumped me – I need more practice!  I only wish the app came with even more origami designs because, like I said, it was so fun.  Here’s what I created…

A fish – this one was my favorite to do! I left this on a bathroom mirror.

“If you want to catch more fish, use more hooks.”

Another fish – this one was left on the changing table in the bathroom.

“Chance is always powerful. Let your hook always be cast. In the pool where you least expect it, there will be fish!”

A balloon on the bookshelf in Barnes and Noble. This origami was hard to photograph because of the shiny paper, but it’s so cool because you actually blow up the balloon once it’s all folded!

“You are a beautiful work of art.”

And last, but not least, I learned to fold a boat.  Left this one on the drinking fountain.

“Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool or you go out in the ocean.”

Operation Beautiful on Facebook for more quotes and pictures

This post is sponsored by HP.  Thank you so much for reading sponsored content. It’s how I support my family, and I appreciate your readership a lot!

A big THANK YOU to everyone who participated in Ironman April.  It was so fun to see everyone’s completed training plans (<—hey, you could always do Ironman May if you are just now seeing this!).

The winners were Jessica, Andrea, and Charlotte, and they all get a pair of Balega socks.

Per the usual, my weekend was filled with a lot of training.  On Friday, I did a really, really hard boot camp class, and on Sunday, I did a nice bike/swim combo.  My first triathlon of the season is in two weeks, and I’m getting so excited.

But the BEST PART of the weekend was doing the Girls on the Run 5K with Henry!  We joined my tri training buddy Brandi and her two kiddos for the race.  Henry has been spectating a lot of races recently and really understands the concept of the starting line, finish line, bib numbers, and medal now. He was pumped when I told him we were waking up early to do a race.

Since it was 5K, I brought the jogging stroller (and Brandi brought her double stroller!).  I knew that Henry would want to run a lot, but he obviously can’t run that far… yet.  Give him a few years!  Hah.

I interviewed Henry about the race – here’s what he had to say:

Caitlin:  Who ran the race?

Henry:  ME! And you.  And Sam and Abigail and Brandi.

Caitlin: Who won?

Henry: ME!

Caitlin: You won the entire race?

Henry: YES! I’m fast like a tiger. NO – like a cheetah!

Caitlin: You are.  Was it a long race?

Henry: Yeah. You pushed the stroller.

Caitlin: What happened at the water station?

Henry: I dunno.

Caitlin: You don’t remember?

Henry: OH! Abigail and me picked up the water and dumped it ALL OVER YOUR HEAD. HAHAHAHAHA!

Caitlin: Did your feet hurt after all that running?

Henry: I got a boo-boo on my knee. Wahhhhhhhh. But then we went to tacos and I FELT ALL BETTER.  Yayyyyy.

Caitlin:  Yeah, tacos make everything better.  So do you want to do another race?

Henry: YEAH! Now?? Let’s go! 3 – 2 – 1 GO [and then he runs away].

Needless to say, it was a blast and everyone had a lot of fun (there were actually NO MELTDOWNS on the course <— toddler miracle).

It took about 53 minutes to finish the race with all the stroller hop ins and outs.  The kids probably ran 0.75 mile, which I was pretty impressed with.  Future triathletes in training!

Did you run a race this weekend?