New Family Member

Isn't she adorable?

We probably didn't NEED another dog, but she looks so much like ours and Yorkies tend to entertain each other.
Tend. I used the word tend.
Our puppy is a ya bit spoiled and jealous. Stinker.

The new puppy is a huge fan of fetch. Constant fetch. I've been making her trade lovings for a couple of throws. She was a little skitish puppy when we brought her home and I'm not sure her previous owners spent much time cuddling and petting her. Poor baby.

Feed Me!!

Guess who has two thumbs and pulled off all ten days!! THIS GAL!

I am going to keep juicing at least once a day. I am also going to be eating a bunch of the raw vegetables.

My weight is still at ten pounds. I have stalled. Boo. I'm sure being active next week might help that.

I'll do this again, but it's kinda costly because I kept running out of stuff.

Homestretch

Exactly seven days. I have made it exactly seven days. I have lost exactly ten pounds. Ten pounds!! I think the dramatic loss on the first two or three days were water weight, but now I think I'm actually losing real weight. Ten more pounds and I have a bunch of clothes that I have missed wearing for months. 

I have no doubt that I can make it to Friday. No doubt. I have even demanded a date night out on Friday night from the hubby. Hello, dinner salad and water with lime. I'm guessing most restaurants don't keep beets on the menus. 

This fast didn't require much self control. That's one thing I that got my weight to the amount that it was. No self control to keep myself from eating foods that are bad for me and not eating ones that are extremely beneficial.

I'm taking the juicer on vacation with us. I won't juice every meal, but I will juice at least once a day. I kinda like this healthy stuff. I really like how I feel this week. When we get back, I'll probably try again for the 30 days.....but after I do a little more research on the lack of protein in the juicing fast. I have bought a couple of books on this juicing fast craze and will do things a little different next go around. 

Energy is still up. I'm still doing the xbox Nike workouts and coaching softball is helping. I also went for a little walk yesterday. It was gorgeous outside. Temperature in the 80's outside is perfect to me. 

Sleeping is better. Before the juice fast I was waking up at least once to sneeze like crazy and another time to tinkle. I was also sleepwalking. (Still don't believe that is true and not the hubby and kids playing a prank on me.) Then I was waking up at 4am. Wide awake. The last two days I've slept without waking up and have struggled to get out of bed at 7:30 to take the high school kid to school. The old me used to be able to sleep anywhere and hard for a good twelve hours. 

I'm still using the restroom everyday. Not sure how that is possible, and you probably don't want to know that much about me, but there's plenty of fiber in these fruits and vegetables. I'm also still keeping up with the 

On Friday I'll go ahead and give out stats. I weighed and measured the day I started this and will weigh and measure again on Friday before I eat anything solid. 

Three more days. I really can do this.  Tomorrow I'm going to browse at shoes online. Yay shoes! Even better, yay weighing less and being healthier. 

Artichoke?

I went through Walmart to get some more produce and have beets in my cart. The sweet checker hollared at the next checker for the code for Artichokes. I pointed out that those are beets and not artichokes. I also showed her where the code could be found.

So far, my favorite lunch juice is Green Lemonade:
Apples - 2 md
Cucumber - 1
Kale - 4 leaf
Lemon - 1 (peeled)
Spinach - 2 cups

Yum.

4 days left

Did I say the other day that I was feeling less cloudy? I might have been wrong. I missed two PTA meetings Friday.
It might be in my head, but I caught my reflection Friday and actually thought I looked thinner.
I'm not craving anything, I'm not having any trouble feeling full and I still have energy.

If we didn't have a trip planned for Spring Break, I actually think I could pull off a 30 day fast. I might try it in the future just to see how long I could go.

My stomach was grumbling later in the day yesterday. I made it until noon before it was time to juice again.

Yesterday evening after watching the family eat Girl Scout Cookies and then eat pasta - I announced I wasn't going to make it till Friday on the all juicing. The girls reminded me that swim suit season is coming up.  My husband decided to bribe me with a prize if I finish. Shoes. Ugh. He got me. Shoes. I'm going to finish this for the shoes.

So, day six is here. Friday's eatings should be fantastic. Although, I'll probably still stick to the raw fruits and veggies as much as possible, just not in a juice. I'll eat them.

Weight loss so far today is 9.5 pounds. And I have also lost inches off my waist. (I sound like an infomercial).

Chopping Broccoli

Day 3 and thanks to my husband, I have this song stuck in my head. Imagine the looks on the kid's faces as he stood in the kitchen and sung that. Heck, just imagine him singing that. Pretty funny.

Someone on hubby's blog warned I should be sure to include iron, omega-3's, and vitamin D. They also emphasized the word "fiber". Good idea -- multi vitamin added to the diet and making sure I get all of that daily. 

Yesterday morning I had to go to a nominating committee meeting for next year's pta board. We held the meeting at another pta mom's house. She's one of those types -- house spotless, very warmly decorated and probably got up at 5am to bake a cake and blueberry muffins. Ugh. Homemade Blueberry Muffins. That was the hardest part of yesterday. 

The rest of the day wasn't so bad. I even worked out on the Xbox-Kinect with the Nike workout. 

Physical Ailments I'm hoping the Juicing will help cure.

Bad knee - from running and from taking a blow directly to the kneecap with a softball

Back pain - first injured working on the ambulance

Back pain - another injury from the car wreck 1-1/2 years ago

Menopause Symptoms - I had some lady parts removed a while back.....two of them used to supply me with estrogen.

Allergies - Probably not -- but, it would be nice to not wake up in the middle of the night with a sneezing fit - or pull the car over because the sneezing is so bad.

And of course --- my weight. 

I weighted 4 days ago and was the same weight I was when I was at my most pregnant. Today, I am down 6.5 pounds. That sounds like a lot, but I'm skeptical -- I'm betting a lot of this is water weight since some of the veggies act as a diuretic. 

I'm still feeling like I'm in a good mood and today I don't feel as "cloudy" as yesterday, but still a smidge. Yesterday I probably could have used a nap after that work out, but we had a little girl's talent show to attend. A post work out juice picked me right up. 

Beets make things that come out of your body turn a different color. That might have been a little shocking. 

I am drinking the recommended amount of water 3 days straight for the first time in......a long time.

Someone noted that cleaning the juicer would be a beating. Not really. It's takes a whole 2 minutes. Scrubbing the cooked on grease off the frying pan after the girls had turkey sausage with my homemade sauce takes longer.  

Last Night's Supper Pic

Beets. Yum.

8 days to go

Day 2

I'm very aware how many commercials there are on tv for fast food. The only that really bothered me was the Subway one. I love the Subway. I still have that song stuck in my head.

Going to the fridge and opening the door is a strange habit I didn't realize I had.

The "fast" includes more drinking water. #1 Ewww. #2 I'm not sure I've ever had to tinkle so many times.

Stomach was grumbling at 11am . I normally don't eat lunch until 1-2p and have to remind myself. (Eating two breakfast meals might have something to do with that.)

Just got back from the grocery store. Ok, I'm hungry. Also, observed someone possibly doing the same thing as I am. I wasn't brave enough to ask them.

24 hours completed and I have actually lost weight. I'm fairly certain its just water weight though. I still feel like I have energy. My grumpiest moment was yesterday afternoon when The 4th Grader Of The House teased me with a cheeseit by waving it back and forth in front of my nose. I might have snipped at her just a tad.

I heard of people saying they felt "cloudy" the first couple of days. I'm feeling it this morning. Also, I awoke with a headache.

I made the kids taste every juice i made except for last night's dinner. Carrots and Cabbage. Ok, I have always loved my mother's boiled cabbage. I also like carrots, but I discovered last night that they don't go well together. At all. I finished it though.

9 days until Florida Spring Break Getaway with the little family. There is no way I'll be bikini ready, but it would be nice to be down a few pounds. I might even take the juicer with me and use it for meals that we cook at the rented condo. There's not a chance I could actually sit in a restaurant with a cup of juice while the family ate.

I could go back to bed, but I have a couple of PTA meetings and the never ending laundry to do. Ugh.

Contrary to how it sounds, I'm still optimistic that I can keep this up.

Oh....and why juice as opposed to just eating the vegetables? There's a ton of vegetables in a glass of juice -- there is no way I could eat that much in one sitting. Also, your body absorbs the nutrients from the juice much much much faster than if you were to eat them. Watch the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, even though it's a documentary, it's really interesting --- The Boy Texting Addict of the house even sat through all of it.....annnnd paid attention.

Supper time

I have decided that it isn't the fasting that's hard, it's your surrounding temptations that makes it hard.

I can't tell you how good this smells.

Lunch

Fasting

Day 1 

2 tomatoes, 2 celery stalks, 1 large carrot and a peeled lime. That's my breakfast all grinded together in a juicer that I begged my little family to get me for an early birthday present. Sounds kinda like a V8. I haven't ever tasted a V8, but I imagine it might taste like this. 

Sounds a little nutty, right? Sure it does. Well, it did until I watched a documentary called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead (found on Amazon). It touched me once, then I made the family watch it. Then alone, I watched it one more time.

The object is to change your diet to include nothing but fruits and veggies in a juice. On the documentary, two obese men stuck with it for 60 days. I'm hoping to stick with this for 10. Just 10 days. The bigger size jeans I bought in the fall are way to tight and I refuse to buy the next bigger size. 

I. Refuse.

So, since I haven't been able to figure out what to blog about ..... for a little while. I figured tracking my success or failure might be a good start.

Dessert last night was 4 granny smith apples, 4 celery stalks and 3 carrots. I had eaten a Subway salad for dinner and was still hungry two hours later. I wasn't able to finish all of the juice last night so I took it with me this morning while delivering the high school kid to early morning band practice. 

I know this won't be easy and for the next three days it will probably suck - but I'm tired of feeling way too chubby. I used to be extremely skinny and in shape.....and that wasn't all that long ago. I still have those skinny clothes in my closet. 

Wish me luck! 

PS If I make it past the third day, I'll share my weight that I'm too embarrassed to admit at the moment.

My sickly hubby.......

....I might get in trouble for posting this but, I wanted to let the blog world know how sick my husband is:

Keep us in your thoughts, would ya?

(And that baby bunny inside his shirt, too.)

Football Ball Weekend

First stop, New Orleans Friday night, and yes I got to experience The Bourban Street scene. It was a crazy atmosphere. Insane. Did i get any beads? Hmmm.
I saw street performers galore including a couple of small brass bands that even had a tuba.
There were bunches of people hanging out on balconies with buckets of beads. Mostly men, but there was one with a woman tossing out beads  if you'd show her something.
Saturdays stop was the Washington Huskies playing at Tiger Stadium. We arrived three hours early to check out the tail gating. There must have been 1 billion dollars in RV's in 5000 square feet of alumni parking. If you've never ever caught sight of tail gating before a college game, then you are missing out on some serious over the top school spirit. I went to one of those small colleges that didn't have sports, so I missed out.
While trying to find "Victory Hill" to watch the marching band's entrance i spot this extremely tall man. He turns his head slightly my direction and I instantly realize it's Shaq!NBA star, Shaq. Apparently, Mr. Shaq attended LSU back in his day. Wiki claims he is 7'1", I believe it. That's crazy tall, and that's coming from me. I'm 5'8" barefoot. Toss some girly shoes on me and i can easily be 5'8 or even 5'11.

Today is watching Baylor's Robert Griffin, III play for the Washington Redskins against the New Orleans' Saints. This should be interesting, and i didn't expect the NFL tail gating to be crazier than the college. After walking three blocks to eat breakfast, I might be wrong about that. These locals are crazy!

Oh, i showed my belly button to get beads from the girl on the balcony. She totally wasn't paying attention and tossed me some. Some guy near me hollered at me for cheating.

As I'm blogging this, six men dressed in Washington attire stumbled down the street singing/yelling/chanting something about RGIII.

And yes, Shaq's picture is sideways. I'll eventually figure out how to correct that via the app.

Catdog

I swear the dog thinks she's a cat.

Monkey Humor

I took the little kid to Six Flags and did one of those Guess My.....and let them guess her weight. We won a monkey because the gal guessed wrong. So excited.
Of course, my "mature" husband surprise attacked us with it when we were sitting in my chair reading something.
Then, the next thing I know, the monkey is sitting on the kitchen counter (actual pic above) just waiting for a giggle.
It got three.

I should get the Good Sport Award for today. I woke up in the middle of the night throwing up. I hate throwing up with a passion.
Today I was with the daredevil, running or skipping from ride to ride kid that never has a fear of anything. Her sister....shy-ish, quiet, scared, laid back, never in a hurry.
I still have a bit of a headache from some of those rides.
I told her just before we left that I was up in the middle of the night and the sweet girl told me we should stay home, but I couldn't do it. Her sister had "Fish Camp" today at the high school and got to get her schedule.  This was supposed to be a Mommy and Little Sister day. I sucked it up.

I'm glad I did. She's such a cheerful, giggly, happy gal with a very contagious carefree demeanor. This was the best sick day ever.

I love my little family.

(And, yes, Mr. Bag Of Nothing, I caught your comment.....no way! That would give Mr. BSG a heart attack! Lol)

Lazy cat

I'm not sure I've ever seen a cat that can sleep while balancing on top of a chair.
Of course, I've stopped thinking we had a normal cat a long time ago.

I'm slowing getting back to blogging. Kinda.

Definitely

This has got to be the ugliest car I have ever seen.

Did I do that?

I cleaned so many clothes yesterday that I almost broke the house! 

Fromm Hubbie's Blog:

"Had a "oh, no, the air conditioning at the house isn't working" moment last night. Fortunately I got lucky and diagnosed the issue after only two hours of rising heat. "

One of the comments in response:

 Anonymous said...

"Barry, you have to change your a/c filter. Best every two weeks during July and August. Dirty filter = iced up unit. SEER rating of a unit is only with a new filter in the system. As dust builds up it gradually blocks air flow and the efficiency of the system goes downhill.

Energy tip of the day: Don't run your clothes dryer when it is 100 degrees outside. A clothes dryer pumps cool 70-degree air out of your house. The resulting low pressure sucks 100-degree air into your house. 100% of the cool air in an average 1200 square foot house is sucked out every hour the dryer is running. So dry your clothes early in the morning or move you dryer into your garage."

I might have washed, dried, folded, hung and put away about 7 loads of clothes yesterday. 

I'm not surprised.

38383

8 minutes ago

38383: Hi guys! My name's Marah from DoSomething.org & I send these weekly texts. What are you interested in hearing about? Txt SCHOLARSHIPS or VOLUNTEERING or QUOTES

Me: How can I be removed from the text mailing list?

38383: Thanks for letting us know! If you'd like to opt-out of our messaging please text STOP. Have a great week!

38383

6 minutes ago

Me: stop

38383: Error: this message was not successfully delivered.

Me: STOP

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I finally did manage to get removed from their list - but it kind of gave me tired head to get there.

A Moment Like This

It's very possible I would consider selling my soul to the devil for this house. 

No, I wasn't house hunting - it's Kelly Clarkson's house that she just put up for sell for only 1.495 million.

It has two pools - one for diving and another just for lap swimming! When's the next American Idol auditions? I wanna sign up.

If the property listing boasts dual master bedrooms - does that mean I get one and Mr. LL gets the other? I'm not sure what I would do without being woken up with his sleep talking, sleep yelling and sleep singing. Oh, and the latest -- he slammed his pillow on the floor by his side of the bed and yelled out "Sic' Em"! (Baylor Bears)