I Miss Soda

**SOB**  I miss it so much!  It has been over a week since I have had one and I can probably recant every second.  I can totally do this though!  Also, I have given up white carbs, can you believe it??  Not only me, but my whole family.  No more soft fluffy white bread... the bread actually has like grains, nuts and seeds in it.  Everyone here is mad, lol.

I have been trying more smoothies.  The one I did today was as follows...

-1/2 cup cottage cheese
-1/2 cup canned pumpkin
-about 6 cubes of ice
-1/4 cup water (I am out of coconut milk)
-1/4 cup dry oatmeal
-1 tablespoon ground flax seed
-3 Splenda packets
-a dash of pumpkin pie spice.

I blended that bad boy up and it sort of tasted like pumpkin cheesecake.  I will be repeating tomorrow morning, as it kept me full and made me feel really good!  I accomplished breakfast for myself before 1:00pm!

I am going to try and force myself to pass out tonight at a decent time.  Actually, right after blogging!  I wanted to do a bath tonight, but I think I am going to try and head straight to bed.  First I have to whip up this recipe for metabolism water I found off of Pinterest.

Big jug filled with water (I think its supposed to be filtered, but Rome wasn't built in a day)
1 apple, sliced up.
1 Cinnamon stick.
Refrigerate.

That's it and you are supposed to be able to refill the jug 2-4 times.  Its worth a try.  Anything to flavor the water... I really struggle with the taste of it.  It doesn't matter how much I drink, it just NEVER tastes anything like Soda!

I am going to end this with a little quote from my new friend Katie.  She is another gal on board with helping me achieve my 2013 goal....


THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TRY.  You either ARE or you are NOT.  You are either "getting fit" or you "are not"   You are either sleeping, or you are not. TRYING to sleep means,you still aren't sleeping.  The effort doesn't matter if you still need sleep, so this helps when a person is thinking of being a big procrastinator or CHEATER or whatever!!!

Day 4

Hey there!!!

So today I went ahead and started making smoothies.  I started with green smoothies today and for dinner I had a piece of whole grain bread topped with egg salad.  For a snack, I just had some spicy almonds.  Now I am done for the day.  The green smoothies were not filling and I got angry and hungry in between.  Tomorrow I an trying a different recipe for breakfast and lunch that contains oatmeal and will have green in between.

After I am done blogging I am doing nothing besides going to bed.  That is my treat for myself today :D  My house is a mess and I am going to just leave it, lol.

Ta ta for now!

Eat My Words.

I am on Day 3 of this brand new Blog, and now I get the privilege of eating my words.  I will not be able to start the MonaVie RVL system on January 1st due to some financial strain (you can read about it on my other blog).  Until we are back on our feet, I will have to put that on hold.  In the mean time I will not be giving up though.  I will of course write more tonight.... but I wanted to get that thrown out there right away.

Day 2

So I started out this morning in a hurry!!!  I was attempting to get the kids ready for school and out the door, and I had one giant bright idea.... how about I make a smoothie for breakfast?

So I was taking all of the mixer parts out of the cupboard, noticed that the big cup attachment was dirty, and decided to try one of the cups from my other mixer with it.  I stuffed the cup with kale, spinach and a soy protein powder mix (will take photo tomorrow), and I added some water.  The top twisted on just fine and I put her to work.  Within seconds everything was blended really nice.  I was feeling pretty pleased as I went to take the cup of the mixer, and THE ENTIRE THING EXPLODED!  The blade attachment went flying up to the ceiling and the cup shot towards the front door.  All I could do is stand there hoping that it didn't just happen, as green juice dripped from my light fixture.

Needless to say, we stayed home so I could clean.  As I grabbed the camera to take pics I noticed that the battery was really low.  You guessed it, one pic and it went completely dead.  At least you can get the tiniest taste of my misery.

That sort of set the tone for my day and I just basically hung in there s best I could.  Later that afternoon, I did force myself to take an hour long nap.

This evening after dinner, I ran another hot bath.  I have some knots in my back I am trying to loosen up, so I am hoping some steamy baths and some stretching will do it.

Hitting the hay soon, I have a whole new adventure to survive tomorrow.

Night 1

It is late at night, but beings the water heater got good and fixed today.... I took a long HOT bath!!!  With bath oil!!!  I shaved.  I exfoliated.  Then I shaved my feet.

LMAO.  I did just say that.  I don't mean hair though... I mean skin.  I have the WORST feet on Earth.  The callus up, and then they crack and bleed.  It hurts something awful, and makes it hard to walk.  So tonight, I did round one.  I shaved and shaved and shaved at the calluses and when I got out of the tub, I slathered them with lotion and got some nice socks on.  I then lotioned the rest of my body.  Something I haven't taken the time to do, in probably a year and a half.

It. Felt. Awesome.

I then slathered my face in a nice thick face cream, brushed my teeth.

Now I am going to take Vitamins and an iron tablet and hit the sack.

Kids will be up soon.

For What Reason....

Would I start yet ANOTHER Blog????

This Blog is completely different from the others.  I have "The Northern Woods Gypsy" to write about my farm, my family, advocacy and my life.  I share the "Sucker-Punch Gypsies" page with two other incredible women, and as a trio we write about things that are hot button subjects.  But this... this is a whole new ball game.

Welcome to "One Year to a Spiffy New Me"!  This Blog is about exactly what it says... over the next year, I am going to mold these tired bones, into a spiffier version of myself.  I am going to pamper myself, take care of myself and basically repair all of the things that have been damaged over the last almost five years.

As many of you know, I am the mother of three Special Needs children.  In August 2008, we started getting one diagnosis after another, and with each one of them, my body took numerous blows.  The emotional, physical and spiritual stress has literally exhausted me.  I see it in my eyes.  I see in on my skin.  I see it on the scale.  I see it in my exhaustion.  My sore muscles.  My painful back.  On the labels of the pill bottles that stare back at me.  The clumps of hair in the drain.  The peeling nails.  The medical test results.

You get the point.

A couple of weeks ago, I had an epiphany.  Enough is enough.  I have many years of hard living left.  My children are still very small, and if I keep going at this rate, I will be in a grave within ten years.  In the last four and a half years, I look like I have aged well over a decade.  My body hurts all of the time.  My patience with everyone is wearing a little thin.  I am exhausted all of the time, yet I have major insomnia.  I sometimes want to hide from the world.

So leading up to January first, I am going to start taking most processed foods from my diet, completely giving up diet soda, eating more greens, fruits and veggies, removing ALL white carbs and drinking tons of water.  I am going to be faithful in taking my vitamins and iron supplements.  I am going to push the fiber.

I am also going to start doing girlie things again.  You know... full fledged beauty regimen.  I am going to start pampering myself a bit.  This body is a vessel and I have completely neglected it.

I am going to become more actively social outside of the computer.  To actually get more face time with people.

I will be bumping up my workout routine and I will be reporting everyday as to what I did for physical activity through the day.

I will begin trying new things, such as... gasp... sports.  Oh I said it.  Rachel the poet, artist, writer, dork and klutz will be throwing herself into the sports world.  Watch out Roseau County.

And Finally.... Starting January 1st, 2013 and stretching until at least January 1st, 2014 I will be starting the MonaVie RVL health system.  I am pledging to remain faithfully on it for one full year.  I am not only going on it for weight loss, I am going on it to repair my health.  To repair my body.  To repair the damage and prepare for the future.  I will be doing this with the help of Lindsay Kjos and Maari Ost.  I am lucky for their support, as well as all of their help... now and over the next year!

My goals to reach by January 1st, 2014 are....

1.  To be completely off of all the medications I am on for my Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome.
2.  To hopefully be off of (or at least cut down on) my B12 Injections.
3.  Be quite a bit lighter than I am now.
4.  To be much more physically fit than I am now, and have a nice strong core.
5.  To be active in at least two sports.
6.  To have many nice, solid and healthy relationships.
7.  To have a nice, pampered body.
8.  Get more rest.

I encourage anyone and everyone to join me.  Whether or not you want to do all of the same things that I have chosen to do, I think it is a good to have someone fighting the same battles.  Whether or not your battles are as severe, they are still battles.  Whether it is for the same reasons.  Whether it is something like weight, or wrinkles or self esteem... you are welcome to join me.  I Welcome All!!!

So please, join me in taking the "One Year to a Spiffy New Me" challenge!!!!!