Happy Birthday to me!!!

No today is not my birthday. Yesterday was. I had actually planned on blogging yesterday but I had a hiccup in my day that prevented me from getting around to it.
My day started out with a bit of a mystery. Left for me on the table, was the above, along with my birthday card. The card left no explanation as to why my hubs choose to give me star shaped ice cubes ice cube trays.
I wanted to leave the house early because I had several things I wanted to do yesterday, so with promises of doughnuts, the kids dressed quickly and off we went to the DMV to renew my license. Got there and turns out I couldn’t renew because of some law coming up in 2014 that will require all licenses to have a gold star on it. My understanding is it is an added measure to guarantee identification. I have to bring my birth certificate, marriage certificate, social security card and to documents proving my residence AND my current license. Sheesh! The lady was nice and gave me a form that would allow me 60 additional days to get my license renewed without penalty. I’ll probably run over again today though.
Then on to DD for my free birthday coffee. However, when I got there I realized that I left my birthday coupon at home. DOH! I still got a small coffee and the kids still got their doughnuts. I’ll just run by there another time before the end of the month.
Then it was Y time! Yayyyy! Aside from wanting to sweat a little, I wanted to talk with the Wellness Director about some things that I am contemplating. More on that another day. DZ was sweet, she is walking through the Y telling everyone it was my birthday. Love that girl! I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do so I decided to do something I don’t really like to do. My penalty for not walking in there with a plan. I got on the row machine. Why don’t I like the row machine? Because it requires me to focus really hard on my core muscles. Both my back and abs. Otherwise, I will be in pain the whole time. Therefore this is actually a really good machine for me to do. But I still hate it.
After the workout I choose to take a vanity selfie showing my FB peeps how good I look and feel at 42, which is Fan-Flippin’-Tastic!!!

Take a look at my GUNS! LOL

Next it was lunch at Firehouse Subs to grab my free birthday sub. The kids had their first meatball subs and I had a yummy Hook n Ladder.

Then on to AT&T to get my phone upgraded. They were running a special where they giving extra money towards your trade in so I traded my 4s for 5 with no cost other than tax. I actually liked my 4s and I am not one to go get the latest new device, but the camera had a pixel issue and after I talked to a tech they said it would probably cost me more (not much though) to get it fixed than it would to just upgrade. Now after walking out the door with it, I realized that the phone may not cost more, but now I have to buy a new protective cover and some adapters since the 5 is an 8 pin, while the 4s is a 30 pin. HA HA! Got me! No worries though. I am a good deal detective so I can make it work with out a ton more out of pocket.
I want to share what my hiccup event was about. It was regarding my phone trade. I didn’t think to back up everything on to iCloud so we did it at the store. I waited around for a while but it was taking a while and the kids were getting restless so the rep said he would lock the phone away, let it continue to upload, I would head home and he would let me know when it was finished. So I get home and all of a sudden I realize that the voice mail that Dad left me last birthday was on the phone and all my saved texts from him were on there and I had no idea if they would transfer over. For those that don’t know, my Dad passed away on April 14th.
I called the store and they said everything should move over. I waited and cried. Pulled myself together and then started feeling panicky again. I called the store back again to see if it was finished uploading. It was and then I tried to follow the reps instructions on how to get everything downloaded from iCloud. I was not successful. I called back again and they tried to talk me through it. I don’t know if I was just emotional or just stupid, but I could not make it work, so I packed the kids up and we went back to the store to have them do it for me. The good news, all of my saved texts showed up on the phone, the bad news, none of my voicemails did, BUT the rep recorded a voice memo from the voice mail on the old phone to the new phone, so now I have my dad signing Happy Birthday to me in a voice memo. I’m cool with that.
As we were wrapping up my phone issues, J arrived at the store to help with the wild ones. When we finally walked out the door it was 7pm. Since it was so late and I had no real plans for dinner we decided to go out to Bonefish. I had a couple of emailed deals, one for birthday Bang Bang Shrimp, another a Facebook deal for Bang Bang Tacos. Our server was awesome and hooked us up! Even though we were getting this other free food she still brought me a free birthday dessert. So sweet of her. We all had a wonderful meal and a good time together.
Not much left of my day after dinner since it was so late. Had to get the kids in bed and I just had to settle down from my day.
To summarize, it was a Happy Birthday!

Rainy Day Activities

Yesterday morning we woke up to rain. Although rain is not uncommon in Florida during the summer months, a steady rain throughout the day is not usually. It’s like the kids knew they weren’t going outside for a while. They started in with me first thing in the morning wondering what we were going to do today. I had actually planned on not going to the Y, but I had planned on mowing the lawn instead. That wasn’t going to happen. So…I was stuck. DZ suggested painting. I kind of hate painting. I have a hard time letting the kids be kids with paint. Even though I buy the washable kid paint I hate cleaning up the mess, so I hover the whole time and try to manage their creativity. However, I relented and we set up the table to paint.
Here are the kids getting busy.

My kids know how to utilize some paper!

I think I’m going to save this sheet and use it for wrapping paper. I know some grandparents that would luuuv that! 😉

When I saw that the lure of painting was about to end and it was still raining, I started to think of other things we could do. I remembered that somewhere there were cheap kids movies in town. Did a Google search and found that The Lorax was playing at 10:30. $2.00 admission and that included popcorn and a drink. SCORE! However, it was to start at 10:30am and it was 9:51 and we were still in our pjs. I asked if they wanted to go to a movie. They agreed and then I told them we needed to hustle to get there on time. We ended up getting there in plenty of time so we played around taking selfies.

Kool-aid man photo bombed our selfie. Now how did that happen?

This was the kids’ first theater experience. Rors did really well. He just ate his popcorn and sat quietly watching the movie. DZ on the other hand was fidgety and did not know how to use her quiet voice. Glad her first experience was in a theater full of other kids. We will have to work on her movie theater etiquette for any future movie excursions.

When we walked out of the theater, the rain had stopped. As an additional treat I decided to take the kids to get some ice cream. They did a wonderful job sharing.

Then we headed home for lunch then naps. The break in the rain was short lived so after naps we never got to go outside again, but they managed to entertain themselves the rest of the day with out harassing me too much.

What do you do like to do on rainy days?
When was the first time you took your kids to the movies? How did they do?
The Kool aid photo bomb is kind of fun. Do you have any quirky photos that you use?

Lima Beans

As a child I ate few vegetables voluntarily. Spinach, because Popeye was a favorite cartoon. Peas…ummmm…still thinking…maybe raw carrots? It must have been hard work for my parents making sure I got my greens in. I do believe I eventually ate salads, but probably with just the lettuce. Even as a high schooler I refused to eat certain vegetables. I recall one evening when my dad prepared some green beans for dinner, I was a freshman in high school, I refused to eat even one bite. I think part of that was me being a stubborn teenager and asserting my right to free will. 😉 So anyway, my Dad said I could not get up from the table until I ate my green beans. I sat there until he fell asleep in front of the TV (not much of a gamble, he did this every night) and then, not only did I toss what was on my plate out, but every green bean in the house out too because I knew they would resurface the next night.
It wasn’t until I started working in restaurants that my palate expanded. I forced myself to try new things and discovered I liked them. Eventually I got to like a vast array of vegetables, but I could never get used to lima beans. J luuvvs lima beans. Sometimes if I let him go to the grocery store by himself he will buy lima beans and I am forced to give them another shot. He insists it’s in my head and I just haven’t had them prepared correctly. They always suck. I can force a fork or two down before I start to gag. It’s not just the taste, it’s the texture that I hate too. Chewy and mealy. How can people enjoy them?
Well, since the kids were born we make it a point to introduce the them to a wide variety of foods. I feel our kids are exceptional because they eat just about everything we put in front of them. It may not be what they want at that time and they may whine about that, but they never say they don’t like it. So the other day I made the mistake (again!) of letting J go to the store to pick up dinner and he came back with…lima beans. UGH! Since we are trying to teach our kids that all food is good, it is agreed that we can not turn our noses up at anything on the table, so that means I had to eat, Bleck!, lima beans. Now DZ has had them a few times and eaten them with no problem so the score was 2 against 1 with an undecided. Rors was my only hope that lima beans could be just a memory in this house. J prepared his beans and spooned them on to the kids’ plates. I took my token baby spoonful of yuck and blanched at the thought of having to eat these vile things. J proceeds to tell the kids to stop messing around and to start getting busy with their food. My attention turns to Rors to see what his response will be to the lima beans. He stabs at a few and takes his bite. No yucky face. He stabs at some more and stuffs them in his mouth. He ends up finishing off his serving and asks for more. DZ does the same. Final score, 3 against 1. I’m lima bean doomed.

What is Your Cost for Health?

When we were younger and had our parents taking care of us. We went to the doctor on a regular basis, took our medicine and if we were sick or injured enough that a doc visit was warranted, an appointment was made. Our parents were also responsible for us eating a balanced diet. (well at least I’m assuming yours did) When we became responsible for ourselves, that was when we started taking our health for granted. Most women I know only go to their gyno in order to keep their birth control prescription renewed. They probably haven’t seen a GP in years. Men are just as bad, if not worse. If they do not have prescription meds they probably never see their GP. Most of our diets are the opposite of balanced, as evidenced in studies and reports of how obese Americans are. We eat too much. Don’t eat enough of the right foods. We are calorie rich and nutrient poor. We are willing to spend $11 through the fast food drive thru, but $2.50 a lb for organic apples?! That’s crazy!
I’m on my soap box today because since I introduced Purium’s healthy food products into my diet I have finally dropped the weight that I had been struggling to lose for years. I have more energy. Many of my Hashimoto’s symptoms have faded and my moods have flattened. So when people ask me how I made such a change and I tell them, it always floors me that their response is that they can’t afford it. How can you not? If you feel bad, do something about it. If you can afford your $4 coffee in the morning, your $8 burger and fries with soda at lunch and then whatever your meal may be at dinner, then you can afford to make a healthy change. What is the cost for your health? Is your health not more important than those “got to have” shoes? Is you health not more important than that mani pedi? Or round of golf (or beers)?
It’s time to wake up, prioritize and make good choices. It will save you money in medical bills and prescription costs in the long run if you start putting good things in your mouth now and stop making excuses on why you can’t afford it. If you eat smart and you get regular physical activity chances are you won’t need to visit the doctor so often later in life. How many of us have a parent or grandparent that can tell you what day it is by which doctor they are seeing that day? “I have to go see my endocrinologist today so it must be the Monday the 22nd.”
Is that what you want out of your “golden years”? Then do something about it! Visit your doctor for regular check ups. Stop eating fast food, processed food, foods with GMOs (this stuff is too new to know what long term effects it will have on us in the future), drinks with artificial sugars and flavors and start eating the foods our bodies were created to consume. Foods from the earth, not the labs. Foods that are rich in nutrients, but low in calories. These are the daily choices you can make everyday to change your health destiny. It doesn’t cost any more to eat healthy than it does to eat crap. It’s a cop out that people use to justify their addiction to food. You eat food every day right? Then you can afford to eat healthy. I’m not telling you to add anything new to your budget. I’m just saying make smarter choices on how you spend your money.
Now, I’m not a complete health freak and everything that passes my lips is pure, organic and touched by an angel. I indulge. I allow my family to indulge. But one of the things different about me and some people that I have come across is that I recognize my indulgences and I keep them to a minimum. One of the other things that sets me apart from others is that I don’t whine and complain about how crappy I feel and then not do anything about making myself better. Before Purium, I exercised daily. I ate pretty well and I went to doctors (5 to be exact) looking for a solution on why I felt so crappy. I left no stone unturned when it came to me getting back to better health. When Purium’s 10 Day Celebrity Transformation was presented to me, my natural skepticism kicked in to high gear, but I still gave it a shot. After reading the ingredients and learned about how the products were made I figured that they were far healthier than what I was already eating so it definitely couldn’t hurt. It was just a question of whether it would work. The money excuse did come to play too, at first. But when J broke it down on how much it was costing us a month in medical expenses, we would actually come out cheaper with me doing the Transformation. Now, I am still using Purium products in parallel with my cleaner eating habits and I don’t feel like I am spending more a month than I did before. I suppose if I really sat down and worked on it I would probably be coming out significantly cheaper.
So my cost for health is cheaper, but my health is richer. Can you say the same?

Yuck mouth

Last week Rors ran a fever for a couple of days and then shortly after the fever left, he started complaining about his mouth hurting. I took a gander in it, and the poor guy’s gums were bright red. I couldn’t see any thing else wrong, but I could smell it! Whoa boy! There was definitely something wrong. Quickly I checked his hands and feet and I did not see any spots so I was thinking that he probably did not have hand foot and mouth disease. I did some looking on the internet and thought that maybe he had gingivostomatitis. It fit the symptoms, well, except that I never saw any actual sores or blisters in his mouth. But regardless, it seemed like every other thing that it kind of sounded like, all the articles said that there were no prescription meds to take so I opted out of the doc and just fed him soft, cold food (heat bothered him too) and gave him occasional doses of children’s ibuprofen. After about 5 days of this, and it not looking like he was getting any better, I took him to the doc. He confirmed there was some kind of yuck virus up in his mouth and he also confirmed there were no meds. Bummer. Then when I got home I got to thinking that I have a bottle of aloe juice.

Aloe is a healing plant. Why not try it with Rory’s mouth. As Aloe juice is not very flavorful on its own I put about a teaspoon in his apple juice. He didn’t notice the addition and drank it up. I’ve given this to him for the past 2 days and he seems to be doing better. Yesterday he ate everything I put in front of him. The incessant whining stopped. He was my happy boy again. Coincidence? Maybe. The virus could have run it’s course. I’ll say maybe it was a bit of both. The virus was ready to leave, the aloe just escorted it out a bit quicker.

Sometimes you gotta stop and let the kids pick flowers

Last night before dinner the kids wanted to go outside and I decided I wanted to take a walk with them. I haven’t went a walk with them in a while and I love how everything is so “coo-el” to them. We didn’t go far, but they didn’t let me down. The first thing they came across that grabbed their attention was a patch of tiny flowers/weeds.

They were there for a good 5 minutes picking the tiny flowers. Showing them too each other. “Discussing” who had the best flower and then eventually handing them to me to put in my pocket. Then DZ announced with authority that she was going to take us to more flowers via a short cut that she knew. So DZ lead Rors on me and down the street in search of this patch of flowers. There was no short cut. And we never came upon the flowers that she was “leading” us too, but it was fun to listen to her work out her plan of where to go. She enjoyed being the leader and Rors enjoyed following his sister and doing everything that she did. My tummy started rumbling and Rors started asking to be picked up, so I informed our leader that we needed to get home for dinner. She was disappointed that we never found those flowers, “Think, think, think. Now where did I see those last?” but after I told her she could pick one of ours at home (I rarely let them do that) she ran to lead us back to the house.

I want to thank those of you that recently started following my musings. Now that I am getting more of an audience, perhaps I’ll start prettying this place up a bit. Still a total newbie to all this and I know visually it needs some “umph”.

Ta-ta!

Closet shopping

So since the 1st of May I have lost around 30lbs and 11 inches. A few weeks ago I finally went “closet shopping” and it was awesome! My wardrobe has opened up so much. I went from wearing only one pair of shorts to 5. I can wear all of my tank tops. I also have a pair of linen pants and one additional dress. That’s just my summer stuff. I haven’t even jumped into the rest of my clothes. It is so nice to have a broad selection of clothes now. I was wearing the same few items for so long. I refused to buy new clothes, unless absolutely necessary, because I knew I would lose this weight somehow. Now, my new goal is to have to buy new clothes because I’ve lost so many inches that my current clothes fall off of me.

Toddler Muffins

I saw a pin on Pinterest for Toddler Muffins. Here is the link to the original recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Toddler-Muffins/Detail.aspx
The original creator had a good idea, but it could be improved upon and made even healthier.
Here is my version:
4 small bananas (it’s what I had)
1 large carrot grated
1 small zucchini grated
2 eggs beaten
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup organic whole wheat flour
1/2 cup organic oat bran
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 scoops of L.O.V.E shake *

I mixed all my wet ingredients together. Then added the dry and made sure everything was incorporated well. Spooned them into greased muffin pans and then popped them in to a preheated 375 degree oven. They cooked for 20 minutes, but maybe could have stayed in a minute or two more. Here is the final result.

The kids loved them! They chowed down on 2 immediately and begged for a 3rd. Rors started crying when I told him no more. I thought they had great balance. Not too sweet. Just enough spice.
Oh oh! Later in the day I saw a recipe for chocolate chip cookies in which a woman adds avocado to replace the butter in order to keep the fat in. She actually only replaces part of the butter, but I liked her idea. I think I will try to do that with another batch of these muffins since I had nothing like it, unless you count the yogurt.

Pasta Time!

I had a pasta or pizza craving last night so I caved and made up this dee-lish dish. I sautéed some chicken breasts with a bit of EVOO, garlic, mushrooms, red pepper and zucchini. I then added a can of fennel and roasted red pepper diced tomatoes. For my pasta, I used gluten free rotini noodles. When it was time to serve I grabbed a handful of my basil, chopped it up and mixed with the pasta. I then topped the entire dish off with a bit more basil and shaved parmesan cheese. This vegetable packed pasta was absolutely scrumptious! The fresh basil was the star I think. I added some red pepper flakes to my serving to give it some added kick. The only problem was I did not cook the pasta long enough. It was a bit chewy, but it did not matter much because the taste was soooo good.

Well I need to hit the Y and then I promised the kids we could hang at the pool for a bit. So until another time…

* for more info on L.O.V.E shakes or similar products check out my website http://www.mypurium.com/supercalifoodilisitc

POY (Parent of the Year)

So we are leaving for the morning yesterday and the kids rush out before me and stand at the garage door. Not thinking anything of it, I hit the opener and the door begins to go up. Giggles ensue. Still not thinking anything of it, I tell them to come on to the car. They ignore me and then grab the bottom of the door as it goes past their chests. Going up! My initial reaction was alarm and I run to grab each of them. After they are safely on the ground. I see the humor and I am actually amazed at how well they held on. I also recognized that their Dad would appreciate this soooo, I readied my iPhone camera and asked if they wanted to do it one more time. Like I even really needed to ask that. So we brought the door down, only to let it go back up again with my 5 year old and 2.5 year old taking a ride so I could get a photo. POY. I grabbed my shot early in the ride so I would have to time to get a hold of them before they went too high. DZ actually jumped down soon after the photo was taken, but I honestly think Rors would have gone all the way up if I had let him. Strong little bugger.
Everyone was unharmed and I did tell them afterwards that they were not allowed to do that anymore. It was a funny one time (two time) thing. They could get injured or they could break the garage door, so no more.

Kombucha

So I have been hearing from a few people about the tea, Kombucha and seeing pins on how to make your own and my curiosity was piqued. If you don’t know what Kombucha is, it is a raw, living fermented tea made with the a kombucha mushroom culture, green or black tea and sugar. Due to the fermenting process it has a natural effervesce and can be described as tasting something like sparkling apple cider, depending on the flavor you choose.
Kombucha is said to help with digestion, anti-aging and immunity. Actually a whole slew of things. It is an ancient Chinese cure all drink and 1 billion chinese can’t be wrong?
To get to the point of this, I went yesterday to my local organic grocer and bought a bottle.

I was amused when I read the label stating that you had to be 21 to purchase. It didn’t occur to me that when something ferments, it tends to produce alcohol. It is only a minimal amount, but due to laws, they need to place the proper warning on the labels and restrict the purchase. I chuckled when the cashier asked if I wanted my drink in the bag or if I was planning on drinking it right away. I asked if she thought it would be considered driving with an open container. She didn’t seem to appreciate my joke and I told her to just put it in the bag.
Later in the day I finally cracked it open and it was not bad. It was definitely fizzy. Had a good flavor. It did kind of make me a bit squeamish when I saw some junk floating around in it. It stated it was natural, but I don’t really like things floating around in my drinks other than ice. I drink my OJ pulp free. Can’t promise I felt any different. Can’t say that it didn’t have any effect. Can say I would drink more, but I do not think on a regular basis. They are kind of expensive. Maybe I might if I decide to make my own.

Summer Salad

My basil plant is crazy big right now. I really wanted to make a salad that utilized my basil. I decided on a tomato, red onion, basil and cucumber salad. It was a perfect summer salad. I just cut everything up and then added sea salt, cracked pepper, EVOO and balsamic vinegar. Delish!

I actually decided to add the cucumber at the last minute and after I took the picture, but you can still see how colorful and pretty it was.
I served this along with some marinated deer flank that we had. (We always have deer in the freezer because every year we visit J’s family in KS and hunt on their farmland. Something I had to adjust to. I’ll say more about it in a later post)
I marinated the flank in EVOO, red wine (an amusing little cab), sea salt, cracked pepper and an italian seasoning blend for about 4 hours. Then I grilled it for about 10 minutes. Turned out great. No gamey flavor. Nice and tender.

So I see I have a few more followers. Hooray! Excited to have you join me. Would love to hear your comments.

Tune in tomorrow!

Internet Issues

So I was totally going to make a post last night, but my stupid internet is acting up again. So flippin’ frustrating! It kept knocking me off every few minutes or so. Made for a difficult time to try to do much of anything. I eventually retreated to my phone and turned off my wireless so that I could at least check out the important things, Facebook, email, pinterest… I really need to educate myself on how to post through the WordPress app.

Yoga Revelation

So after a Saturday spent standing for a long period of time in ridiculously tall heels followed by a Sunday spent on my feet for most of the day, my back was really acting up. My right sciatic nerve was causing discomfort. I could feel the tightness in my hamstrings and my hips were a little achy. I spent several minutes Sunday stretching at home and using the heating pad. It was beneficial, but I decided that Monday I would take the 9:30am yoga class at the Y to get a really good stretch.

I don’t take yoga often. As a matter of fact I think the last time I took yoga was when I was pregnant with Rors. I am more of a strength training person, but since my back issues I have morphed into more of a cardio person. After this yoga class I have decided I need to be a yoga person too. Oh my gosh! This class was sooo hard for me. I could not believe how incredibly inflexible I was. I wanted to quit midway through the warm up stretches. There was discomfort with every move. I couldn’t perform most of the moves without some sort of modification. I’m looking at women significantly older than me and I am shamed by my poor flexibility. There was one time I actually almost laughed out loud when the yoga instructor described the next move she wanted us to attempt. However, I pushed through it. I have a new found respect for stretching (which I rarely did) and especially yoga stretches. I resolve to try to get at least 1, but hopefully 2, yoga classes in a week. At least until I get to a point that I am not as taught as a super stretched rubber band.
So after yoga, I do think I was feeling a little worse than I did before yoga and I when I got home I soaked in a hot Epsom salt bath. I do believe that was a good combination. The yoga followed by the bath. I felt better but decided to take it easy the rest of the day. Well, as easy as I could take when I have a 5 year old and 2.5 year old running around.
I think I’ll have another “rest” day today. mostly because I can’t go to the Y because Rors is a bit contagious (another story), so I can’t put him in the child care there and also a bit because I have business to take care of at the house. I will make some time to at least stretch some more. yeah, right.

Toodles!

LOVE Pancakes

So I believe I’ve mentioned before that I am now making my own pancake mix. Really love that stuff. I now know what my family and I are ingesting for breakfast. Gives me peace of mind and yumminess in my tummy. So both Saturday and Sunday pancakes were suggested for breakfast. I have no problem feeding pancakes to my kids now because I know that they are nutritious in addition to being delicious! Nutritious you ask? I understand that a pancake can be healthier when you make your own mix than with a box, but nutritious? Can’t happen, you scoff.
Well, my pancakes are nutritious because I add a little LOVE. I mean I literally add L.O.V.E. L.O.V.E Super Meal from Purium. This stuff is AWESOME! One serving of L.O.V.E has more protein than 3 eggs, more antioxidants than 10 servings of fruits and veggies, more essential fatty acids than 12 oz of salmon, more fiber than 5 slices of whole grain bread, more chromium than 12 servings of turkey, more electrolytes than the leading sports drink AND more energy than 2 servings of breakfast cereal (the good for ya kind, not Lucky Charms). So tell me these pancakes are not healthy!
So, I’m getting out the pancake mix and realize we are out of syrup. The old me, who never thought out of the cereal box, would just have said we couldn’t have pancakes because of no syrup. Now, the new Transformed me thinks, “I have strawberries and stevia. Why not make a quick puree for topping?” Brilliant addition! The kids gobbled them up and said they were better this way.


David Sandoval comes to Ocala!

So I was neglectful last week on letting you know about a BIG time event happening here in Ocala. David Sandoval, owner and creator of Purium products, holistic guru to the stars and author of The Green Foods Bible, came to little ‘ole Ocala to drop some wisdom about the Pollution, the Solution, the Distribution.
Pollution – processed foods, GMOs, dyes, fast food
Solution – STOP EATING CRAP! Choose to eat cleaner. Demand purity in products.
Distribution – Share your story. Encourage others to join the REAL FOOD REVOLUTION
I also got to have my testimonial videotaped to be used for future Purium marketing. THAT WAS SO FREAKING EXCITING! I feel like I did Ok. I could have done better, but I just had so much to say that I couldn’t keep my thoughts organized well enough.

Ready for my close up Mr. DeMille. LOL

Then a little later in the day I got to share my story in front of the group. I felt like that went a lot better. Several people thanked me for sharing such a personal story. I did not paint myself in a pretty light pre-Transformation. It was the truth. I was not pleasant to be around. Now, I’m a barrel of monkeys, a loop-da-loop rollercoaster and a Bahamas cruise all rolled into one person! Ha Ha!

Here Comes the (healthier) Bride

So one of my Purium partners came up with the brilliant idea of capitalizing the weight loss side effect of the 10 Day Celebrity Transformation and suggested we become a vendor at a Bridal Show. Genius she was! We did our first one today and I feel it was a wonderful success. Now I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch so I’ll leave it at that for now. I will say though that I loooooovve working events like that. I used to do it in my former life back in the NC when I worked at the credit union and we did business expos. I loved talking to all those people about something I am passionate about. Sharing my story. Seeing the possibility of how I can help make a change in their life. It is exhilarating!

Well, I’m about to go finish up some left over GinZinger mixed with Apothe-Cherry and then head off to bed. Until tomorrow…

Been a long time

Good golly! I was doing so well posting and then this “vacation” got me all screwed up. I haven’t figured out how to download pics directly from my phone or even make posts. I assume i can since there is an app, but the couple of times I sat down to figure it out, my kids happened. 🙂
We’ve been back from TN since Tuesday but I’ve been trying to catch up on everything since then and unfortunately I blogging was low on the list. Now to start my good streak again!

Vacation

I wish I could tell you about vacation but I just don’t feel like I’ve got enough patience to type everything. But I will shoot a couple highlights your way. First the trip up was not bad. Note to parents – Buy a Transformer for your kids. They spent most of the time transforming and un-transforming those toys. I could not believe how occupied it kept them!
We also made plenty of extended stops, and that helped, but surprisingly we made good time. Had a good time with my girl Steph and her boys, but when it was time to leave, the boys were ready. 8 year old boys can only stand a 5 year old and 2.5 year old boy for so long before they start to get a bit antsy. I have to say they were very polite the entire time though.
Next stop was my other friend, Tisha’s. She has a 5 year old girl just a few months older than DZ and they hit it off so incredibly well. Makes me wish we lived closer. I am sure they would be besties easily.
Then on to Tennessee to J’s parents’ house. It was an enjoyable visit, but I do not feel like I got to spend any quality time with them. Not like we usually do. It’s weird too, because we were together the WHOLE time. It also rained just about the entire time too.

Here is what their dock and yard looked like the day before we left. You probably can’t tell, but the dock was underwater by at least a foot and the bank between their yard and the river is pretty steep. Not now! I actually heard from the in-laws today and they said the water still ahs not gone down. Of course that is mostly due to TVA keeping the dams open.
So 4th of July got rained out, but the neighbors postponed the bbq potluck and festivities until Saturday. Which, almost got rained out. LOL It was definitely wet, soggy and muddy, but it was still a nice time. The kids totally enjoyed themselves. I mean how could they not. It’s not often that we let them off the leash to go crazy in the rain and the mud.


We missed the fireworks though. Boooo There is always next year though.
We did get to go out on the boat for a bit. It was misty and cool, but still nice to get out on the water.

We also did some fishing in the drizzle. Rors had a good time, but DZ gets bored easily. She kept yelling towards the water, “Come on fish! Eat your worm! Eat your lunch!”

J, Rich, Troy and I did some night fishing in the pouring rain. No pics for that since cameras or phones would have gotten wet. And it was dark too. That was the best fishing of the week though. We all got several tugs on our lines and about 6 or 7 were brought in and big enough to keep. Umm umm Catfish!
So through all this I was trying to maintain my weight and not overindulge in Char’s meals. I tried to get at least one LOVE shake in everyday but it was hard when biscuits and gravy is offered for breakfast and prime rib for dinner. I still felt pretty good on how I did, but I have to admit, my belly started bothering me towards the end of our stay. Not enough raw fruits and veggies!

Great Kids
I’ll wrap this up by stating what great kids I have. It did not occur to me until after we got back and someone asked how our trip was just how good they were during this trip. It rained everyday. They couldn’t go out to play like they normally did. They couldn’t swim in the river. They only were allowed out briefly during the occasional pockets of dry air. There was only a handful of toys and we did not let them sit in front of the zombie screen often. But they weren’t whiney (or at least not out of the ordinary) and had a great attitude. My kids are so freakin’ awesome!