Ridiculous pressure

In retrospect, everything seems clear. Backward vision is always 20/20. Sometimes I wish I had a little bit more clarity when it came to allowing people to make me feel bad about my decisions or plight in life.

I'm a family person. The most important thing for me is my kids and husband and I will do whatever it takes to be with them as much as possible.  So that means if I don't have to attend an event on Saturday and can spend the day with my kids, I'm going to do it. I have allowed individuals to place guilt on me for not participating in events where I would have to sacrifice my time with my kids. And I regret feeling that way. They are the most important thing right now.

When they grow up and move away, I can be more involved in activities outside of the house, but right now. Home time is my priority and i'm not going to feel guilty for making that a priority.

Being Fully Present

I'm guilty of not being fully present each moment of the day and came across this article and it hit home. I'm going to try the recommended one minute of focus and see how things go. Now, just finding one minute alone will prove to be the real challenge!

From the article from Fast Company (awesome site, btw) you should subscribe to their feed!

First, find a reasonably quiet place where you can close your eyes (whether standing or sitting).
Set a timer for one minute. Close your eyes and focus on one of the following three things: the sounds around you, your breathing, or the sensations in your toes.

1. Scan your environment for sound. As a meditation teacher told me, “Imagine that your ears are satellite dishes, passively and objectively registering sounds.”

2. Focus on your breath and the sensations it creates in your nostrils or stomach. Pay attention to one breath at a time, but try to notice everything about this one breath. Imagine that your breath is someone you want to give your full attention to.

3. Focus your attention on the sensations in your toes. This forces your mind to sweep through your body, helping you to get into the physical sensations of the moment.

Cancer Free!

Recently my lovely dermatologist scared the absolute crap out of me and became concerned about a mole on my inner left leg that he felt was growing and changing. He muttered the words melanoma a few times. Having already had a cancerous spot removed from my forehead, I was totally alert to any new spots on my body to show him. I have never been concerned about this spot on my leg, it's my birthmark. It's been there my whole life. I don't remember life without it.

Anyhow, he biopsied it and it's benign. Just an ugly old mole. Whew. No more nasty words like melanoma for me, thank you very much!

The Pressure

Thought I would share a poem I read a few days ago from Tara Sophia Mohr of wise living. It hit me hard when I read it and haven't stopped thinking about it. It holds many truths. Makes me re-evaluate my focus on a daily basis.

The poem is below:

the pressure to have an arm that looks like that
and legs that look like that
and a belly like that

pressure to tone this to that
to be a size this
weigh that

How many days have you lost?
How many murders of yourself?

How many times have you
clamped down because of it,
quieted the moon because of it,
or didn’t ask the sun to dance?

She mourned this one morning,
and wondered,
what would it be like, without the pressure?

-Tara Sophia Mohr

Remodel before and afters: phase 1

We are having our kitchen remodeled in the coming weeks and I am so very excited about this process. While the contractor was here giving us our quote for the kitchen re-do, the longer he stayed, the more stuff my husband kept adding to his list. So yesterday, nothing happened in our kitchen, but our front doors were replaced. And seriously, this girl couldn't be happier.

The original doors were from 1974.... eek!

The screen door was just as atrocious...but not from 1974. At least 1994.

You can't see it in this picture, but the bottom had a huge gapping space between the threshold and the bottom of the door. It was big. Small animals could have entered through there. My daughter enjoyed throwing crap through there when the weather was nice enough to have the door open that had an enormous hole in it!


and the after pictures....

And the screen door...

Next phase is the kitchen... that should start next week and I'm really ready for that. Pictures to follow!

Ready, Set....

Started the first full day of the Visalus shakes and I'm off to a good start. I tried a shake this past weekend and yesterday and they were very good. Found several sites that have tons of recipes for making the shakes delicious.

Anyhow, the shake I had this morning was barf-a-roni which normally would be my automatic excuse to NOT continue on the program. I'm a rationalize-er... let me tell you. But, I held my nose and drank the crap. It was just a poor recipe, and I realized that. I'm disgressing here. So, I'm also trying to track my food I eat. I brought lots of fruits and veggies to work and I'm snacking on those foods all day.

Here's the truth for the day: It's all about balance. The days I ate poorly or just horrendously must be balance with days in which I exercise and eat right.

It's all in symmetry. Replace the bad days with the good days. The M&Ms with carrot sticks. The pizza slices with watermelon slices. I'm trying here... just want to be healthier!

Rationalize-er

Need this reality check. I'm a chronic rationalize-er, if that's a word. Since deciding to do the ViSalus 90 Day Challenge, I've had to do alot of reading on how to do the program and lose the weight. And I've come across a site I like. It speaks my language, man.

Excerpt: "To re-cap: we are aiming to consume what our body needs daily so that it has enough energy to burn fat and function properly."

Well, duh. I know that, but chose to ignore it. I ignored it because I rationalize that I like to cook. That I like to eat. That I'm a southern girl and that's just what we are: fluffy. Not so!

I was venting to a friend yesterday that I worry about getting on a diet because I tend to obsess and she remarked that you have to obsess in order to lose weight. I've been taking the negative side this weight loss thing and defeating myself before I even started... so why should I try to lose weight?

I've been thin nearly all my life with some exceptions, mainly after children and during high times of stress. I enjoyed being thin. So I'm ready to enjoy my life again. It has to be. I have a crap ton of old clothes in my attic that need me. I need to be able to tell my husband it's time to get those down.

Ok, enough already. Let's do this!

Feeling Challenged

So, here's the low down. I'm going to start the ViSalus 90 Day Challenge. Why? Because I have not lost the baby weight after I had Sloane. I need to. Now. And stop procrastinating.

I checked my BMI this morning and it was horrific. Like, beyond horrific, it was disturbing. I need to lose 30lbs. And my problem is Weight Watchers works, eating less works, but I want to not have to worry about planning a meal, counting calories or fussing over those details. I want to drink my nutrition and be able to be less stressed about what I'm eating.

I'm a student, mom to a toddler and teenager and work full time. I don't need anymore stress. I just need to lose weight!

Let's see how I do... I don't get my product for another week or so... so until then I'm exercising and cutting back on what I eat. Here we go!

Not a baby anymore

A friend of mine is having a bay girl in May. That said and with the husband's encouragement, I'm giving her Sloane's baby clothes. Seriously, it sounds very easy to do. Pack all the baby clothes and give them to this new mom. Ha, yea right.

After discovering the tiniest diaper I had ever seen in one of the boxes, I got a little weepy. It was a newborn diaper and it was the size of one of her cheeks now. *sigh*

anyhow, moving on and giving all those boxes of clothes to a mom who needs them. Lord knows I have no reason to hold on to them, other than silly sentimental reasons.

Pale is Pretty!

Something weighing heavy in my mind and heart is the biopsy I'm going to have done April 2 for a questionable mole on my leg.

I've had two spots removed from my forehead that proved to be basal cell carcinoma. Aka cancer.

The picture is of my forehead about a week ago where the second spot was removed. The first spot to the right is one inch in width that was removed with more of an event.

Ladies wear your sunscreen every day under your make up. I was in a tanning bed three times in my life, had a few sunburns as a child and I got skin cancer. Protect yourself! There's no excuse!

Ok. That's my public service announcement for now. Passing along some love!

Wonderful Weekend

Weekends are a time to refresh and spend quality time with those you love. And I did just that this weekend!

It started out with cooking a lovely meal courtesy of the Pioneer Woman for my father in law's birthday. I made perfect pot roast and chocolate sheet cake.

My lovely cooking assistant!

The pot roast is perfect. Seriously, it doesn't get better than this with roast!

 I felt the need to show you my recipe book and stand.

 Then we got a new couch and had to put the old one on the front porch because it would not find down in the basement. And the joke was since I'm from Mississippi, this is just what you do with your old couch.

 Husband and father-in-law

Husband got a new University of Oklahoma portable grill. Because he needed it. Like I needed this purse.

 We played outside, because it was so beautiful!!

And I ate way too much cake. It spoke to me each time I entered the kitchen. It was evil. And delicious. I have no shame!

Being Coached

I have an addiction... to Coach purses. It's not something I'm going to seek help with, however.

Love this one!

Coach is very crafty in that they have invited me to be part their invitation only online factory sales, and that's a bad thing. I always look at their sales, and sometimes even put purses in my online shopping cart, or four purses and wallets and act as if I'm going to check out with that much Coach loot, but of course, reality sets in that I'm not made of money and I close out the page and cry on the inside. Anyhow, I was invited to an exclusive online sale on the Coach outlet this week and I wanted to buy this purse, but I didn't do it.

I have been kicking myself in the butt ever since. I need this purse. Need. Not want. Need. Serious need.

so I bought it. For cheaper than the exclusive online sale. and my shipping was free. FREE!

Oh, I feel fulfilled now. Thank you. :)

International Delight Iced Coffee: New Product

Found a new product in the milk case this weekend while grocery shopping. International Delight has produced Iced Coffee. It comes in regular, vanilla or mocha. I was hoping for caramel to be part of the group, but none the luck. I grabbed the vanilla and prayed my $3.50 was not wasted!

It poured up very well, smelled good.  and it was! I'm in love! This is the before shot below.

Then it was gone and I was sad. But it's not too bad for you. It only costs $3.50 per half gallon versus what I would normally pay for a large iced coffee at the coffee shop. So I'm calling it a win. I have been attempting to make cold brew coffee and make my own iced coffee with shots of caramel and half and half, but it was NOT the same.

This is a winner in my book. 150 calories per cup. So the trick is to stick with just one serving. Ugh, not gonna be easy!

Good job International Delight!