Yes YOU Can!

SUMMER official starts on Sunday, June 21, 2015! Spring and summer months bring lots of activities to the Extension Office. Needless to say the last three months around the Extension Office have been busy for this Family and Consumer Science Agent (along with everyone else!) and we’re heading into summer with tons planned for you to get involved with!

Today I started doing my quarterly reports recapping the last few months and BOY it’s been busy around here! And I realized that I haven’t updated this blog lately. OOPS!  Over the course of the past few months I have gotten to participate in some awesome activities and projects along side of my co-workers and hardworking dedicated volunteers.

• We’ve hosted a week of “Body Walk” at Horn Lake Intermediate School.
  
• I got to speak at the Mississippi Master Gardener State Conference on “A Taste of the Tropics”.
  
• I have taught fcsUcate youth to make jam, be creative, and to crochet.
  
• “Farm Fresh” started. Farm Fresh is an FCS monthly outreach booth. Join me May-October the last Saturday of the month 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. at the Hernando Farmer’s Market at my FREE “Back to the Basics” BOOTH of family friendly recipes, fresh food tips, demonstrations, samples, and much more! 

 

• I have started presenting an Introduction to Safe Food Preservation (library lectures at each of the 5 DeSoto County libraries) and began planning future Hands-On Food Preservation Workshops for July-October.
  
  
  
  
• This spring I sharpened my sewing skills, made a dress and much more at my Sewing 101 in-services, so stay tuned for sewing workshops to be offered here!
  
• I've been a photographer for a week at the Northwest District Horse Show.
• Yesterday, I helped judge at the Northwest 4-H Project Achievement Day.
• AND I’m sure I’ve missed tons in-between there that I am forgetting at the current moment.

You have three more opportunities to still attend “An Introduction to Safe Food Preservation” at a library near you. Tomorrow I will be in Southaven at 11:00 a.m. at the M.R. Davis Public Library. And next Saturday I will be at the Hernando Farmers Market on June 27 from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. with Farm Fresh and then I will skip over to the town of Wall, MS to present a library lecture on “Safe Food Preservation”.  I would love to see you at one of these events!

Safe food is always important, but so are healthy foods and having a healthy lifestyle! Lately I’ve been eating on the go tons and running from activity to activity and my waistline, my health, and my activity level have suffered! My choices have not been the smartest. Honest confession of a FCS Agent, wife, and mother to a 4-legged dog named Lucy (who has been deprived of her nightly walks)! I have let life and busyness be excuses. So changes need to start being made again in my life so that I can be healthy for years to come. 

Are you in the same boat as me? I’m thinking about starting up a new round of Walk-a-Weigh again (a weight loss healthy lifestyle program we offer here at the DeSoto County Extension Office). My goal with re-offering Walk-a-Weigh again would be to help others who have the same challenges as me and hold myself accountable! So if you are interested in this weight loss program let me know at lara.angel@msstate.edu. I would love to hear from you about when you’re available to meet and if you’re interested in participating.    

So if you are like me and have tons of things going on around you…remind yourself that “Yes YOU Can” do it! Whether it be Safe Food Preservation….Weight Loss...Eating Healthy…managing your family…finding financial peace….or whatever life throws at YOU, Yes YOU Can!        

fcsUcate

What is fcsUcate? Family and Consumer Science "YOUth" educational classes and workshops are programs targeted to youth to help them learn life skills and be creative through hands on projects and educational activities. Our goal to empower youth to become responsible citizens with common basic skills they can take with them throughout their life. These programs will focus on activities you might call "home ec". So here in DeSoto County we will simply call it fcsUcate! 

       

The Family and Consumer Science County Agent will be coordinating these fcsUcate programs to help youth explore all the areas of Family and Consumer Science from clothing to crochet, knitting, cooking, baking, interior design, health and wellness, money management and MUCH more!

Here's our first class! (Click photo to enlarge it...)  

Coming Soon...Kids in the Kitchen March 12! 

Maybe you are reading this post and you have a talent you want to share! Contact our FCS agent Lara Angel about volunteering today with fcsUcate. 

A journey down memory lane!

Do you know where you come from?

Who inspires you?

Did you know that your past can help you learn about yourself today?!?!

This morning I was reminded of this lady. Meet my grandmother Jo Frances. She is one of the many ladies that helped inspire me in following my dreams within the field of Family and Consumer Sciences. She was a leader in the field of FCS, formerly know as Home Economics, from 1951-1990. My grandmother plays a small part in my overall life story.

Life story is a series of events and experiences that make you who you are today. We are all on a journey through life and we all have life stories we can share with others! Sometimes we have good positive baggage that we take with us on our life journey. Then sometimes we have negative bad baggage. So today I am remembering the good baggage and my grandmother's memory within my life story!

Good baggage comes in the form of positive life experiences, positive attitudes, self-confidence, hugs, warm fuzzy feelings, smiles, and love. Sometimes we need to visit our memory banks and look at our good and bad baggage so we can see where we have come from and see where we want to go. To become stronger individuals we need to become more aware of ourselves and how our personality makes us who we are. We might find an area we need to work on more and improve upon if we look back. If we want to have a successful life and healthy relationships we must constantly be working towards examining our baggage and our individual life stories and then begin taking action on those things that lead to unhealthy relationships.    

I have come a long way since I was modeling my grandmother and mama at age 5! Start documenting your life story today or step back and think about who helped mold you into the individual you are today. I have taken a journey down memory lane today, now it is your turn!    

Walk-A-Weigh Program Deadline is January 22….NEW Virtual Friend Just Added

Starting January 26^th Walk-a-Weigh will launch! Do you want the skills to be equipped to help you achieve your fitness, health, and nutrition goals? This NEW Walk-a-Weigh program offered by the DeSoto County Extension Office of the Mississippi State University Extension Service begins soon. If you are a local resident of DeSoto County and want to participate you can attend our face-to-face meetings on Monday afternoons starting at noon January 26^th-March 30^th. If you are outside of DeSoto County or maybe you cannot make these face-to-face meetings there is another option!

The program will be offered for 10-weeks starting on Monday, January 26 and run through March 30, 2015 at the DeSoto County Extension Office in Hernando at 12:00 p.m. Join us during your lunch break! We will weigh-in each week from 11:30 a.m.—12:00 p.m. Each session will last about 1 hour and each weekly program will be divided into three parts. The first part is a short lesson, the second part will be a tasting session to sample a recipe or new food product related to the lesson, and the final part will be activity time to get physically active together.

If you want to participate but can’t make our face-to-face meetings here’s how you can participate by being a virtual friend. We are only accepting 10 virtual friends into our trial program! 

• First you will still need to register by emailing langel@ext.msstate.edu and telling her you want to participate in Walk-a-Weigh by being a virtual friend! 
• Second, you will need to mail a check for $15.00 (made payable to DeSoto 4-H, see below for address) ASAP. You are still paying a registration fee so you will be accountable! And we will add a prize for the person who loses the most percentage of weight that is our virtual friend online! 
• Third, Lara will email you a form to complete on January 26th. Our virtual Walk-a-Weigh friends will receive emails and challenges to motivate you to make healthy choices and be physically active each week. 
• Fourth, each Monday our virtual friends will need to complete a weekly “form” to weigh in and be accountable. This form will be emailed to you and you will report your current weight, the date, your name, and maybe answer  a question or two to see if you are looking at the materials we email and to gauge if you are “participating” in the challenge. 
• At the end of the program our virtual friends will be asked to complete an evaluation to help us see if our virtual component was successful. I am sure there are a few details I am leaving out, but I will be in constant contact with our virtual friends and this will evolve over time as the ten week challenge continues.  

Register and join our group today and set your own personal healthy lifestyle goals. The choice is yours! We hope that participants will join us and start making small steps towards a healthy lifestyle and being more active if they aren’t already, and then continue to maintain physical activity and healthy eating when the 10-week period ends. We hope the program will extend knowledge and be a lifestyle change that will improve participants’ quality of life!

Deadline to sign-up has been extended to January 22th.  By signing up you will ensure that there are materials available when you arrive. The cost is $15.00 and is due by the deadline of January 22th. If you divide $15.00 by the 10 weeks that is just $1.50 each week! At the end of the 10-weeks the (one female & one male) participant losing the most percentage of weight will win part of the “money pot”. The winner(s) will be announced on March 30. To be eligible to win participants must attend the first class on January 26 and the last class on March 30. Virtual friends will have a separate “money pot” and the virtual friend losing the most percentage of weight at the end of the challenge will win half of their money pot. Virtual friends are required to submit all weekly forms in order to win the virtual friend money pot challenge.  Contact the DeSoto County Extension office for more information about Walk-a-Weigh by calling 662-469-8480.

Checks can be mailed to our address at:

Mississippi State University Extension Service

DeSoto County

3260 Highway 51 South

Hernando, MS 38632

Setting a Savings Goal

Whatever your financial situation is there are things you can do to improve your overall financial health and stability. Since it is the NEW YEAR within the upcoming week take a moment and set a financial goal for yourself that you would like to accomplish in 2015.

Maybe you want to make an extra payment on a credit card, start an emergency fund, add to your retirement or save for a vacation. Kick start your savings by figuring out how you can save $100 toward your goal. There are ways that even on a tight budget you can reduce your expenses. For example....

• Review your cable and cell phone bills. Are you subscribed to premium services that you do not really need. My husband and I do not even have a cable or satellite package! Ask yourself, "Do I really need this?" 
• Adopt a cash only system for out of pocket expenses. If you are like me then you will be more likely to spend less whenever shopping if you only spend cash rather than using a credit or debit card. 
• Start packing your lunch two or three days per week. Yesterday my husband and I shared lunch together. We had a picnic in my office and enjoyed our brown bag lunches together while he was in town running errands. 
• Get up 5-10 minutes earlier and make your own breakfast and coffee instead of running through the drive-thru window. Your pocketbook and waistline will thank you!

These small steps will quickly add up to $100. Put any money saved directly into your saving account. Once you have gotten started on your savings goals, continue to add to the account every month until you reach your goal. Once you reach your goal start a new goal and start working towards it!

Another idea is to take the 52-Week Money Challenge for 2015. Start by saving $1 a week. Then in week 2 save $2, week 3 save $3 and so. By the end of the year you will have saved a total of $1378. That is enough cash to have a mini vacation, pay off a credit card, make a few extra mortgage payments, fund 100% of Christmas in 2015, buy new tires for your vehicle...the possibilities are endless.

If you need more help and tips on managing your money visit these Mississippi State Extension Service publications for more information or contact your local DeSoto County Extension Service. 

• Managing Your Money: A Family Plan
• Manage Money Successfully
• Money Traps That Keep You Broke
• Financial Fitness Exercises To Shape Up Your Spending

New Year's Resolutions

One of the most common New Year’s resolutions we make is to lose weight. Eating the correct portions of nutritious foods and engaging in physical activity are two keys to successful weight loss. One way that may help you keep your portions under control is to be mindful of what you eat. Another way to help you might be to join a weigh control program so you can change eating and activity patterns, learn to prevent and control chronic diseases, and have a support network for weight loss and maintenance.

Maybe you made this New Year’s resolution, but you need help finding a game plan on achieving your goal of trimming up this New Year. There is an upcoming program being offered by the DeSoto County Mississippi State University Extension Service called Walk-a-Weigh that you might be interested so you can make your New Year’s Resolution a reality. Whether you’re interested in learning about some new ways to eat and be active, or exploring how to not overeat when eating away from home the Walk-a-Weigh program offers many lessons that address just that!

The Walk-a-Weigh 10 Week Program will begin Monday, January 26, 2015 at the DeSoto County Extension Office, located at 3260 Hwy 51 South in Hernando, Mississippi. The classes will meet weekly at noon through March 30, 2015.  The class dates are January 26, February 2, February 9, February 16, February 23, March 2, March 9, March 16, March 23, and March 30. Join us during your lunch break! We will weigh-in each week from 11:30 a.m.—12:00 p.m. Each session will last about an 1 hour and each weekly program will be divided into three parts. The first part is a short lesson, the second part will be a tasting session to sample a recipe or new food product related to the lesson, and the final part will be activity time to get physically active together.

Personally my goal is to be healthier and reduce my body size. I have been on this journey for the last couple of years. My goal is to lose about 15-20 more pounds and then maintain my loss. It is a lifestyle change, not a diet. Therefore, if you want to reduce your body size like me, then this series might be for you! Your concern might also be your health, but you might also be thinking about looking better in clothes, having more energy, enjoying new and favorite foods, being able to move more easily, and feeling better about yourself. Whatever your case may be, consider joining us with our new series called Walk-a-Weigh.

This program will run on Mondays at 12:00 p.m. at the DeSoto County Extension Office from January 26 – March 30, 2015. If you’re ready, so are we. Contact the DeSoto County Extension Service and sign-up today for Walk-a-Weigh. Deadline to sign-up is January 20th.  By signing up you will ensure that there are materials available when you arrive. The cost is $15.00 and is due by the deadline of January 20th. If you divide $15.00 by the 10 weeks that is just $1.50 each week! At the end of the 10-weeks the (one female & one male) participant losing the most percentage of weight will win 50% of the “money pot”. The remaining 50% of the “money pot” will go towards costs associated with running the program. The winner will be announced on March 30.

For more nutrition and physical activity information, contact the DeSoto County Extension Service. Educational programs of the Extension Service serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability or national origin.

Facebook World

Today here at the DeSoto County Extension Service we started a Facebook page! You can visit and like our new Facebook page at www.facebook.com/DesotoCountyExtensionOffice. This is a new way of communication for us to help you stay informed about upcoming programs and events in addition it will be an easy way to provide you with news and info from the world of the Cooperative Extension Service. 

Happy Facebooking...