Happy Monday!

Happy Monday!

Today went pretty fast except for just after lunch when things got a little busy with work.  I noticed something pretty cool as the day went on; I had purchased a soda at lunch and though I love soda I kept subconsciously choosing the water when I reached for a drink.  That is a big deal as I have always chosen soda over everything.  So I'm darn proud of myself for that little milestone. Yay me!!

Lent 2015: Going Natural.

I have been thinking about what I would give up for Lent this year.  I was about to pass it up because I could not find anything. I've always gave up some kind of food. I wanted to do something different and in the process, learn something new.  I have decided to Go Natural. What does that mean? I will be giving up the usual "Beauty" products in exchange for homemade. I will also be giving up shaving. Now, don't freak out. I'm not giving up hair removal, just shaving.  This is my way of pushing myself to use my epilator more and to tweeze more as well. I have not epilated my armpits yet, so this will get interesting the first day.  I have a feeling I will cry. I want to rely less on disposable, chemical filled products and more on reusable, healthier options.

These are the products I use on a regular basis.
-Bath & Body Works White Citrus lotion
-Noxema & St Ives Apricot scrub
-St Ives lotion (before bed)
-Apothecary Grove body scrub
- Raw Essentials night cream
- Vitamins
Not shown is my Tresemme shampoo and Colgate toothpaste.

My goal is to make my own, toothpaste, shampoo, lip balm, and face & body scrub.  40 Days of trial and error shouldn't hurt me, right? I did a little research on recipes for Do It Yourself products. There are a ton of sites that offer ideas of how to make your own. But first, I will try to use up as much as I can of what I already have before February 18.

DIYNatural.com

Lots of homemade products. I personally liked their shampoo, conditioner, and toothpaste recipes as they are simple for me to make.  I bought the items I didn't have today. I used that as an excuse to leave the house on this blustery day.

BodyUnburdened.com

Also great recipes which include bug repellant (great for summer), sugar scrubs, lip balm and awesome DIY gift ideas.

Brit & Co Organic Body Scrubs

Brit & Co is a lovely site. Plenty of ideas on fashion, home, and DIY. Brit & Co is worth following on Facebook as well.  The link will take you to their recipes of body scrubs.  I plan on trying Coffee-Coconut oil Sugar scrub, and Pumpkin-Honey baking soda scrub.

I have not looked on Pinterest for ideas yet. I'm sure there are plenty on there for me to look at.  It seems the lip balm will be the most difficult to make, as I need bees wax and have to do all the fun cooking stuff. I'll have to pick up some beeswax and herbs soon. I'm just about out of my store bought lip balm.

So there it is. My crazy Lent decision to torment myself for 40 days.

Lazy Saturday

Most of my saturday was super lazy. I watched Bones on Netflix, a few Youtube videos with Samantha, and went on a 30 minute walk, then to the store for a few snacks and Nesquick for the kids. Not an exciting day. The best part of the day is that my laptop decided to cooperate.

I didn't blog the last couple of days. I feel guilty about it and sat at my desk most of the day thinking about what to write. As I sat here staring at the screen, I thought that maybe it was time to change the design of my blog.  I changed the colors and background over and over again but could not figure out which one best represented me as a person. I was frustrated and getting tired. I asked a friend what they thought of a few themes I liked and they picked one that I really liked but wasn't sure about. I decided to go with it  but change it a little to fit ME better.  What you see is the end result and I am pleased with it.  Who knew designing a blog would be so darn stressful.

I am going to edit my Labels and change a few background things tomorrow.  I am thinking I will delete some old blogs that no longer represent me as well. It's time to clean up my blogs and maybe social networking sites need a clean up too.

Wednesday boredom

Nothing exciting to say this evening. I feel like nothing was accomplished though I did some organizing and tossed a bunch of things out. I drank my water and had a Body by Vi shake for lunch. Dinner was uneventful as I was super lazy. I forgot to blog last night because I was busy. I came upstairs and did the usual routine of shower and hop in bed. I fell asleep before I could turn on my tablet. I think I fell asleep around 8:30 which is rare for me. I guess I was pretty tired. I woke up about midnight with a serious coughing fit. I ended up running to the bathroom to puke. Tonight I brought in the trash can just in case.

Not much else to talk about. Well I feel fat today, so maybe PMS time in near.

What a Waste of a Good Day

Today I had an appointment with an oral surgeon about my jaw and a tooth that may need to be extracted. It was an all day venture because it was in Alameda and I had never been there before. I personally feel it was a complete waste of my time and money. I lost money and time to be told nothing about my jaw (main reason I was there) and that "If you have a toothbrush and floss, you don't need dental insurance." What??? Crazy talk, right? Well, at least I think so.

Worst part of the day. I did not have enough water today. No where near a gallon and I can feel the difference. I also ate McDonald's, Samantha and I had the 20 piece nugget meals. I couldn't eat all of mine. I am surprised as I love their fries. I had a few sips of my soda and tossed it, ate half my medium fries and 6 of my 10 nuggets. I later fed my leftovers to some seagulls. Besides the fast food, I have not eaten anything else. I did buy some water while I was out and had plenty of water at home. Just not enough. My only exercise for today was walking a little bit of yoga. Once I am done with this post I will meditate before I go to bed. Space tomorrow I will be better as I will be buying two gallons of water for work.

Today I started something new called personal push goals. I got the idea from a Facebook friend named Diva Val. I have chosen four goals for February; working out for 30 minutes, drink one gallon of water, meditate 15 minutes and, blog daily. I think it will be a great way to keep up on small goals I want to accomplish. Also, I feel it will be a way for me to have personal accountability of my actions.

I said I was going to share some links with you today. I am not going to explain each one as I am still looking through them and deciding what I will use from each.

30dayfitnesschallenges.

Neilarey.com/

For some reason when I try to add links on my tablet, they get messed up. Grrr

Well I'm off to bed. Good night

Hello February 2015

Hello hello. My first day of the water challenge went well. Unfortunately I lost cost after 60oz. I do believe I made it to a gallon. I feel like it. My body is weighed down by it and I peed a lot today. I have noticed when I drink large amounts of water I lose interest in food. I only had two plain ham sandwiches today and that's it. I had no desire to make myself anything to eat nor was I really hungry. I only ate the second sandwich because I was making one for my kids and I needed to eat.

I weigh 165.  I still need to measure myself. I did take photos of myself but will not share those until the end of the month. I can't even explain the horror, embarrassment, and amount of tears that happened during and after the pictures were taken. My eyes are closed in them because I could not bare to look at myself. I am disgusted and horrified that I allowed others to see me in less than jeans and a oversized T-shirt. I feel like shit. The disgust and embarrassment is more of a motivation than my health right now.

I have some links I want to share with you next time.  I hope you will like them.

Saturday Night Boredom

It's Saturday night, woohoo! Congrats on making it through the first month of 2015.

I'm sitting on my little old love seat watching Bones and Numb3rs. I should be in San Francisco having a great time with the Walker Stalker Convention, but no. Oh well, life goes on.  I'm feeling better today. My cough isn't choking me. I finally have some energy but I'm sitting my butt. I think it's safe to restart my fitness challenge tomorrow. Perfect for the beginning of the month. I will be doing a water challenge with my fitness challenge. This water challenge is for me to drink 1gallon of water a day. I need to drink approximately 80 ounces a day at the moment and I am at about 60 ounces. So it seems I need to step up my game on water drinking. Dropping soda from my daily habit will help for sure.

Though my water challenge is supposed to be only a month, I'm hoping to keep it up. The same with soda removal. My goal is to reduce or remove processed foods (mostly sugar). Junk food and bread are my best friend. I am an emotional eater. Stressed, bored, or depressed, food is how I cope. This is a habit I hope to break.

Well I'm tired and its my bed time. Good night.