Posts

Food Collection on Halloween! 🎃

-
Image
Hey all!  For the last 4 years, my family has done something a little different from the usual trick or treating on Halloween. The week before the 31st we put up flyers on the houses in a nearby neighborhood. The following week we go around and collect whatever people have decided to donate. Items vary from food and drinks, to various hygiene supplies. We then sort it, bring it to CROSS, and get the total weight of the items collected. In 2018, we put up 100 flyers, and ended up with around 300 lbs of food. In 2019, we put up 200 flyers, and ended up with around 600 lbs of food. In 2020, we put up 300 flyers, and ended up with around 1,000 lbs of food. Now, in 2021, we put up 400-600 flyers (we lost count) and ended up with just under 2,000 (1,966) lbs of food! So many people have been blessed by the generosity of others, and we hope to continue doing this for years to come ❤ P.S all the candy that we got was given to our youth group :) Hope you're all having a wonderful fall so fa
1 comment
Read more

Healthy Living- Paused!!! ⏸

-
 Hey all! I know this post is not what you were expecting, but it had to be made. I'm sure you've noticed that I haven't posted since February... And it's July! I'm in the middle of my Healthy Living series, but I have to put it on hold for a bit. I lost some material that I need for week 3 and week 4, therefore I can't get the posts out to you guys. I was trying to figure out a solution and then I realized that there are many other things I could have been posting about in the last 4 months! (can't believe it took me this long)  So hopefully I will be posting more soon, but it won't be Healthy Living for a while. I really wanted to get this series out, so thanks for your understanding! -Jacey
2 comments
Read more

Healthy Living- Week 2

-
Image
I know it's been way more than 1 week, but I've had a hectic 2 months, and I'm on vacation right now. So here we go, "week" 2. Tip #2 Find good subs. (substitutes)    I should probably start by defining exactly what I mean by "subs". Basically, they are healthier alternatives to less-healthy foods. But there a few things that you need to be aware of before you start. Finding good subs is an important key to eating and living a healthier life. There are so many things that people love, but have a hard time giving up. This is why it's one of my top tips for making a change. The first step is to determine the first couple of foods that you are going to find subs for. Then, you actually have to find the subs. In my next post, I will talk more about specific ingredients to look out for, but I will cover some major ones today. The point of finding subs is to make the jump to a healthy lifestyle, easier. Slowly as you get used to different foods, you will b
2 comments
Read more

Healthy Living- Week 1

-
Image
This week I'm going to talk about my first tip, to start eating healthy/healthier. After that, I'm going to give you a healthy recipe for the first food on the list. Tip #1 Start small. Now, the reason that this is the first one is because it's the hardest thing to do. When people are trying to start eating healthy, most likely they will jump too far into it, and then give up shortly after. Eating healthy has to be done in steps. Some people try to take that first step, and the second, and the third. Pretty soon, they come tumbling down. To truly succeed you need to slow it down. You can't try to eliminate all of your bad eating habits in one day. Slowly, day by day, you can ease into new habits, but not too fast. The first step would be recognizing where you could change some things, in your daily lifestyle. Next, actually changing some of those things. Maybe you find yourself craving salty or sweet snacks, at a certain time of day. Then you can start to try eating hea
Post a Comment
Read more

Healthy Living

-
Image
 Happy (late) New Year! January, as we all know, usually brings resolutions. "I'm going to stop/start ______."  2,011 U.S adults were surveyed, in Nov. of  2020. 51% said that they wanted to start eating healthier . 42% said that they wanted to lose weight . (in the new year) So, if either of those sentences would be found on your resolution list, I'm here to help you out. These next few months, my focus is going to be on eating better, so you can feel better. Every other week (ish) (or not) I will also tackle one food, and one tip from the list's below. Eating healthy is a tough thing to do at first, especially giving up all the food you love.  The top 4 most common food's in the average home. 1. Chips 2. Ice-Cream 3. Pizza 4.  Soda (all of the above are full of preservatives and sugar) I know it sounds like a vast and overwhelming thing, but if you break it down, it's much easier to handle. I have 4 tips that can help you get started.  1. Start small 2
Post a Comment
Read more

🎂Birthday on the Road!

-
Image
We have yet another birthday in the Nystrom family. But this time, it's in Florida! This is the first birthday we have ever celebrated on the road. We are in Florida on vacation, over Christmas break. For my brother's birthday, we had a mini cake, in our hotel room. It was a 6-inch sugar cookie topped with fresh fruit! It wasn't a big celebration, but we will have a real one with presents when we get back home. Enjoy the cold weather 😉 -Jacey
Post a Comment
Read more

Thanksgiving!🦃

-
Image
 Happy December everyone! I know it doesn't look like it, but we only have one month left of 2020! This year has been so crazy, and I'm anxious for the new year. This post is titled "Thanksgiving", and I apologize because I was planning on posting this sooner. (closer to thanksgiving) But, last week was pretty busy, so you're getting this post now. Oh well. I don't have any recipes in this post, just some pictures. This year I actually had 2 Thanksgiving's, one with my dad on the 24th, and one with my cousins on Thanksgiving day. And fun fact, we don't usually have normal/classic Thanksgiving food.   This post is kind of a diary, but basically about what we had for Thanksgiving dinner.  Instead of turkey, we had chicken. We normally make turkey, hash(potatoes, carrots, peppers, onions, eggs, and turkey) but we did it with chicken this year. We had acorn squash soup, with a little too much ground clove. ;) The story behind that... Well, for the soup, yo
1 comment
Read more

Making Applesauce!🍎 Part 2

-
Image
 Hey everyone! Happy Thanksgiving week! I hope that you're all staying safe and healthy. If you saw my last post ( here ) you would know that recently I made a large batch of applesauce, and posted about it. Well, this week it's time for Part 2. Now you might be thinking, "wait, there's more?" And the answer is YES! There is another whole post more! This time it's about storing the applesauce, which I do by canning. In this post, you will learn how to can applesauce. And with this method, you can really can almost anything! So let's get started. There are a couple of things, that are essential to canning. Hot applesauce, hot water, and sanitized jars/lids. These things cannot be overlooked, or the canning process won't work. To start, you need to find a really big pot, like this one. Oh, and make sure it has a lid.   A canning rack is also helpful, it sits on the bottom of the pot, keeping the jars off of direct heat. If you don't have one, it will
Post a Comment
Read more

Making Applesauce!🍎 Part 1

-
Image
Hey everyone! Is it really fall?! It's been so warm, I think daylight savings put us back a season along with an hour. Which is great! With all this warm weather, I might even be able to make another batch of applesauce! My family tries to make applesauce sometime in October, BEFORE the snow. Which didn't happen exactly, but it was close. I made the applesauce last month during the short period of snow. This year, we made and canned 5 1/2 gallons of applesauce. Which should last us a while into the winter. Anyway, I'll just get started with the recipe. It's pretty simple, and straightforward. And, completely adjustable!  To start, you're going to need some apples of course. We have lots of fruit trees planted on our property, but they aren't old enough to give us anything yet. But, thankfully 2 of my neighbors have some huge apple trees! And are willing to let us "steal" some. Shoutout to them!                 Here is a video, of my brother's idea
Post a Comment
Read more