Low Fat No Fat Made Me Fat!

As child of the 80's, there is no diet that I haven't tried. Okay, except for the Grapefruit Diet because I despise grapefruits! Low fat, no fat, only green foods, no meat, no sweets, diet pills (so not proud of that) and everything else under the sun. I was never really fat fat, but I was chubby.

A little background on how I got that way. First, let me just say that I adore my parents. They are the best and ALWAYS tried to do what was best for me. That being said, I learned a lot of bad habits from them. My mom has a serious sweet tooth and she could live off bread and butter for the rest of her life and be perfectly happy. This, she passed on to me. Thanks mom:(
My dad was gone a lot because of his business and, since it was just me and mom at home, we ate out. A lot. Like more often than not. There was a diner close to our house that we ate at a lot. Of course there were the usual fast food restaurants too.

My dad was, and still is, a very picky eater. He only likes a limited variety of foods so, when he was home, we would have hot dogs, mac and cheese and meatloaf on a regular basis. He only liked corn and peas so that was our only vegetable. So you can probably guess that for the longest time, I was also a very picky eater.

Both of my parents worked so I was home alone after school. It was nothing for me to go through a bag of doritoes in a day or two. Ice cream was always readily available so I ate a lot of that while I waited for someone to come home. My eating habits as a kid, teenager and young adult were awful! I wasn't terribly active but I ate like all my athlete friends did. Pizza joints and McDonalds were our favorite hangouts.

The point of telling you all this is just to show what an influence parents have on their children even when they don't think they are paying attention. My parents never made me eat veggies and fruit because they weren't eating a lot of them. I was never taught about whole foods or nutrition. Our family gatherings always centered around food. Large amounts of heavy or decadent foods. No one told me to stop. No one told me to exercise. No one taught me that what I put into my body matters.

It was last year when I really made the connection that food fuels my body and if I fill it up on cheap fuel, it is going to run bad. But just knowing that fact doesn't necessarily make it easy to change. Change is hard, no matter who you are. After a year of change, I still find myself going through a drive thru when I am pressed for time. Thankfully, those times are getting further apart.

I don't think good health is a destination. I think it is making better choices as much as possible and forgiving yourself when you choose unwisely. You will eat that 2nd piece of cake at times. You will polish off everything on your plate when you should have split it with someone else. You just have to be aware when those things are happening so you can take bigger steps to prevent them next time.

Health-One Family's Trip Down the Road to Health

My family has been on a journey for about the last year or so. After years of not taking very good care of ourselves, we decided to just stop. Stop poisoning ourselves, stop abusing our bodies and then expecting them to just recover, stop setting such a bad example for our kids.

The catalyst for this was actually our parents. They all have their health woes but instead of really trying to get at the core of their ills, they just kind of ignore it (my parents) or do whatever the doctors say even though it makes them worse (hubby's parents). Because we were on the outside looking in, we had a different perspective. We decided that we did NOT want to end up like our parents. We wanted something more. Something better.

So, a little over a year ago, I started really researching what we should be doing. Can I just say WOW!!! There are BILLIONS and BILLIONS of opinions out there from experts and non experts and pretty much anyone with with half a brain. It was overwhelming to say the least! As I read one thing and could see the logic in it, I would read something else that completely contradicts it. So what is the answer? Well, I didn't exactly find the answer. What I did find was that there are different things that work for different people so I needed to find what worked for us.

Really, it would have been a whole lot easier if there was just ONE right answer!

Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to talk a little more in depth about those answers that worked for us. Please note that this is our journey and it isn't going to look like anyone else's. I just hope that it inspires you to start your own journey or at least intrigues you enough to do your own research and really think about the health of your family.

Happy Memorial Day

Just a quick note to wish everyone a very happy, SAFE Memorial Day. Please remember while you are grilling out or swimming (both of which we will be doing today!)the reason behind this day off of work, the sacrifice of many, many men and women. The ultimate sacrifice. No matter what your thoughts are on wars, our military is very much needed in order for us to continue to live as free people. Without them, our lives would look so much different-and NOT in a good way!

I currently have a cousin in the Marines. As a matter of fact, she and her mom will be visiting us today. My prayer is that my family never has to "remember" her on this day. Sounds selfish, I know. I am so proud of her and what she is doing (as I am with all those serving and retired) but I want her to come home safe and sound when her military time is up. I want our family to be one of the "lucky" ones. There are so many families that never got that chance and today is a day for us to take a moment and really think about what their sacrifice means to us.

May God bless all of us with a time of peace.

Finally! A post!

Bet you thought I fell off the face of the earth, didn't you???

Sometimes, it feels like I did.

So much has gone on in the last few months, not sure where to start. I started 2 new jobs, we thought my mom had cancer...Ok, I'll start with that one.

My mom had a persistent cough for a looooong time. She always thought it was just allergies or a lingering cold but then she started to retain water. Lots of it. She went to the emergency room and long story short, they thought she may have lung cancer. She saw specialists. They all said the same thing. 99% sure it is cancer. The woman has never smoked a cigarette in her life but her parents smoked when she was growing up. (They both stopped later) We all had ourselves prepared for the worst. Then...it wasn't cancer. It was some kind of infection in her lung that they are still trying to narrow down. But it's NOT cancer! YAY!!

Now for those 2 jobs. I already told you about one of them. I am a jeweler for Premier Designs Jewelry. Let me tell you, I LOVE it. I have done about a dozen home jewelry shows and I have been having such a good time at them. They say that if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life. It's true. I look forward to the nights when I have a show because they are so much fun. And a bit profitable too:)

Job #2 isn't really a job. I became an Independent Product Consultant for doTerra Essential Oils. I have been loving the quality of the oils and I have been learning so much in the last few weeks about how to use them. I don't really do this job for money, it's strictly for the discounted price on the oils. I love to save me some money.

So I will be trying to get back on a more predictable posting schedule. I have had my fun with my little break but I miss this forum here. I miss talking with you and hearing what you think. Well, at least most of what you think. There have been a few stinkers that try to ruin it for everyone. I found a great way to deal with them, though. I press <delete>!

Here...Again?

I just realized that the title makes it sound as though I am complaining about where I am. Oh my friends, far from it. I am utterly content with where I am physically. This morning I woke up in my favorite place (other than home)......Disney World!!!!!

This was not planned, just a happy problem fix. See, I had made plans to go to Florida to a) see my cousin's very sweet, very new baby. Ohhh, he is a keeper! Little Mark was born on February 8 and I have been DYING to get to Fort Myers to see him. And b) do a jewelry show at my aunt's house. She so graciously offered her home for a show...okay, I maybe sorta told her I was going to do one at her house anyway whether she said yes or no. Lucky for me, she loves me and agreed to host one.

So, originally my mom was supposed to go with me as this is her side of the family that we were visiting, but a few days before we left, she got a really bad cold. Seeing as how she didn't want to get the baby sick, she decided to stay home. Hubby didn't want me driving down by myself (twins were with me but can't drive if I get sick) because I was still trying to shake off the last little bit of my cold.
So he said he could take a few days off and go with me. YAY!!!!

I talked to my cousin, who is the assistant general manager of a resort, and asked her to get  me 2 rooms. The night before we leave, she tells me that the hotel is really full and could we get by with only room. Now, her resort is beautiful. Nice big suites with a bedroom and a pull out couch in the living room. Yes, we could squeeze into one room for 2 nights. I got off the phone and told hubby we would all be sharing a room. The twins were highly upset about this as that meant they would have to share a bed, which is the sibling equivalent to death. Then I made a little joking comment about how we should just stay at Disney and drive down to Fort Myers to do the show and see the baby from there. I was seriously kidding. Hubby looked at me and said "book it". WHAT???? I told him I was just joking. He said that we still have vacation points available (read about our Disney Vacation Club here.)so we might as well use them and then we don't have to pay for a hotel room. Yes, this is one of the many reasons I love this man of mine. He is pure genius! So we called DVC and, unfortunately, they didn't have any 2 bedroom villas for Friday night but Saturday night and Sunday night were available. We had planned to come home Sunday but hubby said he didn't want to spend just one night at Disney so we will go home Monday instead. If you knew hubby, you would realize how out of character this is for him. He is Mr. I have to Work and can't have any Fun.

After I loved the baby from afar (yeah not holding him was rough!) and did my show for my aunt (got her some free bling in the process) we headed here to our home away from home. I truly love this place. We aren't going to any parks or anything. Just going to chill at the resort and walk around Downtown Disney. We are proof that you can have just as much fun going to Disney and NOT going to the parks as you can going to them. Of course, going to the parks is lots of fun, too! We already have a week planned in September where we will "do everything" but for now, relaxing and just being here is more than enough.

My First Jewelry Show and Other Stuff

Last week was my very first solo Jewelry Home Show. It went well. Very well in fact! I made almost $450 for less than 3 hours worth of work! But that was just the icing on the cake. The part I really enjoyed was just sharing all the beautiful jewelry and entertaining the guests. I got quite a few laughs so that helped to boost my confidence. It also helped that when I looked out to the crowd, there were lots of familiar, friendly faces. That made all the difference in the world! So I am thinking that I am going to like this jewelry business. I had better because I have a bit invested in it! I have several more shows booked for the next month so I should be busy, which is good. I am much better when there is a lot for me to do. If I am caught up (doesn't happen often!) I kind of flounder and that is when the lazy starts to creep in!

Hopefully, this month we will complete the purchase of a house for my husband's business. Right now, there are 4 of them trying to work in the little outbuilding that houses my washer and dryer. It is small and there is no bathroom so guess where they all go??? I am a little funny about my bathrooms and don't like people traipsing in and out of them all day when they don't live here. Plus, the bathroom that gets used is right next to the kitchen. I spend all day in the kitchen (cooking, homeschooling)and there are few things worse than hearing what is going on in the bathroom. Okay, smelling is worse but they are both pretty bad! The new office will be right at the end of our road (about a mile from the house) and there will be 2 bathrooms for their potty-ing pleasure! It will be nice to have them all in a bigger space. They will have a full kitchen along with a dining/conference room. There is plenty of space for their desks and office paraphernalia. There will also be space for an office for me!!! At first, I really didn't want one. I am busy enough at the house and didn't think I would really spend that much time at the office but now that my business is in full swing, I am getting really excited about having my own space. I never realized how much STUFF I would need to keep on hand, paperwork-wise. Hubs wants to get everything business related out of the house and into the new office so that, when he comes home, he's home.

On the farm front, Babe the pig is growing everyday. So much so that we are trying to get her new, permanent pen ready while she is still small-ish enough to move without too much trouble. We had to get her a new water trough yesterday. She has this fascination with shaking and emptying her water pan as soon as we fill it up. It's annoying. Okay, it's a little cute when she grabs it and shakes it or when she crawls inside and rolls around until if flips over but she must learn NOT to do that! She has such a great personality! When she hears someone come outside, she starts to grunt and wag her tail until you come over and talk to her. Since we had a ton of rain the other day and her pen was so wet, I had the kids spread some fresh dry straw all around so she could have some dry areas to go to. Babe takes the piles of dry straw in her mouth and puts them in her "house". She has piled so much straw in her house that you can't see her when she goes in. There is a huge misconception about pigs. They are not dirty animals. They like to keep where they sleep clean and dry so they do not "mess" in their house. Babe likes to do all kinds of housekeeping in her pen. She trades out damp, muddy straw for clean straw in her house almost daily. She finds trash in her pen and piles it up. Well, she piles up what she can't eat and so far that has only been metal. My father in law brought her the old plants from his winter garden and, instead of eating the broccoli and cabbage, she found the 2 plastic plant markers he left in the bag and ate those. I can't believe how much I love this pig! I am so glad we are not eating her!

The chickens are all doing well and have gotten back up to a good production of eggs. I am back to being able to sell them again. Crazy how a little less sun light each day can totally throw off egg production for a LLLOOONNNNGGG time. But they are happily producing daily again. I have been looking through my chicken catalog and picking out what I am going to order. We will be getting meat chickens for the first time. I am a little freaked about butchering them but I will just have to get over it. I am thinking of getting some turkeys, too. That is, if hubby will build me a place to put them AFTER he builds me a pen for the meat chickens! Yes, hubs is very busy for me this time of year!

It is also time to get the raised beds ready for spring! I am ashamed to say I haven't touched them since the end of my summer garden. My work is cut out for me! I have been perusing the seed catalogs and have pretty much picked out what I want. I really want to grow much more than I did last year. Every year is a learning experience and I learned that I need to grow MUCH more to keep us in veggies/fruit for the year. One step at a time...

One great thing that is almost finished is the pool deck. All that is left is the small stairs on one side and painting/staining. The pool will be ready as soon as the water warms (or we get that pool heater we have been wanting!) Hubby and our son have worked so hard on the railing that goes all the way around. Our boy learned to use the chop saw and cut every single piece of wood for the railing BY HIMSELF! He only messed up 2 boards. I am so proud of him! He reads the tape measure like pro and doesn't call out stupid measures like his mama. I am famous for measuring something and telling hubby to cut it "2 ticky marks past the 7"! My boy just laughs at me and says " Mom, that's 7 and a quarter." Yep, 2 ticky marks past the 7.

Well, I just can't think of anything else to add. I know I haven't been posting very much. Been trying to balance the whole homeschool, taking care of the house/property and now jewelry business and some things have just had to go by the wayside a bit. That includes my cooking. We have been out of bread for 2 weeks now and I just haven't had time to make any. We have also eaten out more than I care to (My stomach is really rebelling). I will get back to being here more regularly once I get a little better at this juggling. Plus, I want to share this beautiful jewelry with you!

Clay Roads and Rain

Clay roads and rain do not mix. Not at all. Not even a little bit. We live on a clay road. It is about 2 1/2 miles long and we live smack dab in the middle. There really isn't an easy way to our house when we have had a lot of rain. Many have tried, most end up in the ditch. Haverty's refuses to deliver furniture here because, the 2 times they have been here, they got stuck. The last time was so bad that they had to call a wrecker to get the truck out. Thankfully, I don't need furniture right now :)

The other night, I went to choir as usual. It was 75 degrees outside so I was wearing some shorts, a t-shirt and flip flops. While I was at church, the Mother of All Storms hit. Okay, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration but while we were rehearsing How Great Thou Art, you could hear the wind howling outside like we standing in the middle of it. The rain was beating so hard against the windows that it was drowning out the piano! Then, every one's cell phones started going off. We have something around here called Red Alert, where they will call you when there is a severe storm in the area. Apparently, every last one of us is subscribed to that service! So I sent a quick text to hubby asking how the weather was out there. (We live about 15 miles from church) He sent me back a text telling me that water was blowing in from around one of the large windows in the living room and they were trying to keep it from soaking the carpet. He also told me that I needed to take the road before ours (it loops around into ours but tends to not get as slick as ours does.) because they had received so much rain that he didn't know if I could make it down the road. Okay, no problem. I really didn't want to end up in the ditch anyway. So, I leave church and the weather has now dropped to 55 degrees. Remember, I am still in my shorts, t shirt and flip flops. No jacket in sight. I get to the road before ours and make the turn. By now the rain had slowed quite a bit but was still coming down. Just before that road connects with our road, it narrows so that there is no way to turn around if you have to and there is no "side of the road". It is just big enough for one vehicle with  tall embankments on either side. So, I am tooling along, listening to the radio, feeling very cozy in my heated seat. I make the final curve and what do I see ahead? A doggone tree has fallen across the road. There is no way to go around it because it goes from one side to the other. I can't back up because it is pitch black outside. So I figure the best thing I can do is just clear enough of the branches so I can drive through it. So, me in my WHITE shorts, flip flops and umbrella, head out into the rain. Oh my word was it COLD rain!  I am trying to make my way through the muck without losing my shoes or falling. I start flinging the branches out of my way. So far, so good.

Oops! A little sloppy clay spray on the legs. At least the shorts are still clean! Darn! My umbrella isn't covering my back completely and cold water just poured down my back. Brrrr! Okay all the little branches are moved and there is only one left. Hmmm, it's a little bigger than I thought. I try pulling it to the side. Nope. I try pushing it the other way. It just springs back and covers me in more clay spray. And that stupid umbrella is pouring more of that dang cold water down my back!

I finally come to the realization that the tree isn't moving. I still can't drive around it or it will scratch my truck. So what's a girl to do? I broke ALL the branches from the entire top of the tree and made a path for my truck. Time consumming? Yes. Freezing hands, feet and back? You bet! BUT I did it myself and didn't have to call any one to come rescue me!

Guess I will need to check the weather before I get dressed for the day ;-)