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Happy November!

7:31 AM By 4 Comments

I know its Tuesday, but its November! And you know what else? My friend sent me a package in the mail that should be here within a few hours. What’s in it? Some workout DVD’s!

I’ve been wanting these things for a few years really, but never got around to ordering them. So today I get to start on a new journey. I have a few goals that I really need to think about  and get down on paper between now and next week. I’m also going to measure and try to journal my results each week. Still trying to figure out all of the particulars, but I”m working on consistency this time, and not just the numbers.

So here’s to November!

Oh yeah, tomorrow is my middle child’s 12th birthday! I’m getting so old! I can’t believe I have a 14 year old either. But today I get to come up with some cool, inexpensive (cause mama’s broke) ways to celebrate my son’s big day with the family. Do you have any ideas for a tween boy? It’s a hard one for sure!

November really brings out the Christmas spirit for me. Thanksgiving is just an extension of Christmas around here. This year I’ll be hosting my first Thanksgiving dinner. This is a huge thing for me too. I’m already decluttering here and there, and I think this next week I’ll start washing walls and scrubbing baseboards. As somewhat of a recluse, this is such a huge thing for me. I hope I make it out alive! lol

So the menu so far (for me to make, I’m not taking the whole thing on)

  • Turkey
  • Chocolate Pound Cake
  • Tea
  • Rolls – still looking for a good recipe that can be frozen ahead of time if you have any ideas.

The plan is to not over eat, but to enjoy myself for the meal, and then send most of the leftovers home except the good healthy stuff. I think we will be planning on about 20 people coming, so I’m not sure what kind of leftovers we may have! lol

Well I want to wish everyone a happy November, and hope that you write down your goals for the month and set out a plan to achieve them!

Filed Under: Simple Living

Does your husband know how to do your breast exa

11:04 PM By Leave a Comment

Please be advised that this is not a post for the faint of heart, and especially for those under the age of 18.  Links in this post will take you away from this page, and to an Adult’s only store. If I were you, I’d make sure that there were no kids around!

As October comes to a close, I wanted to remind everyone that partners find a lot of breast tumors. My husband and I are having a nice long talk about this subject, and I want to make sure that he knows how important it is that he pays attention to my boobies a good bit. Maybe I’ll enjoy the extra attention, but most importantly it will be amazing to know that he could save my life!

I found a nice video that you can watch along with your husband to give him some tips on helping you save your TaTa’s.

So why not teach your husband more about breast exams, and grab some Breast Balm for a nice breast massage. This product got some good reviews, and is organic. I can’t wait to try it for my monthly sore boobies.

EdenFantasys is supporting Save the Ta-Tas by donating a portion of all proceeds of sales from Evolved products!

Support Breast Cancer Awareness - Enter to Win $500 Prize

This post brought to you by EdenFantasys, an online retailer of sex toys. All opinions are my own.

Filed Under: Nurturing Marriage

You were designed to do great things!

5:00 AM By Leave a Comment

I love to tell my children that they are designed to do great things by an amazing God. They start glowing when I tell them this, wouldn’t you?

When is the last time someone told YOU that you were designed to do great things? I was on an amazing training call this past weekend and that’s the overwhelming idea that I keep hearing in my head.

Some days we all feel like that we are just some kid’s mother, or someone to wash the dishes.  The reality is that you are more than just some kid’s mother. You inspire that child every day in some way or another. You may be the future president’s mother! What if your child finds the cure for cancer? Or better yet, what if your child has a grandbaby for you?! That’s what I’m looking forward to!

You are someone that God designed to do something special. You know deep down in your heart what that special thing is. Today it may be giggling with your toddler and tomorrow it may be inspiring someone to live the life they were designed for, you never know.

Take today to pray about what God wants you to do with your future. Ask him for guidance. Make a list of the things that you come up with that you want to accomplish. Then I want you to make a to do list with what you need to do to get there. This is going to be a long list. But do it. It’s worth it.

Now Today work on 1 or 2 things on that list. Even if making the list is one of those things. Now I want you to take this step every day. Accomplish one more thing that moves you closer to doing what God has designed you to do.

Share this with the world! Share your dreams. Tell your family and your friends and especially tell God. You WILL find a way! When you get God involved, your dreams will be bigger than you can imagine right now.

This is my prayer for you, to push through your obstacles and grow into what God wants you to be, live your dreams!

Filed Under: Family, Tuesday's Tips Tagged With:

Hello! I’m over here!

9:17 PM By 2 Comments

Shelley came looking for me last week because I’m just lagging behind. I’m past my back problems and I think TMJ has decided to settle down.

So here I am, I’m back. You are certainly going to hear more from me over here. I have a plan. I’ll try to share later, but I have a plan! Consistency has never been my stronghold, but I’m working on it.

Here’s the Mamavation Monday question for this week:

How would you brand your health and wellness lifestyle?  How do you want others to know you in this area?

I’m working on this right now, and the biggest change I’ve made is to eliminate a lot of the medications that I’m taking and replace it with essential oils. I know, it sounds odd, but its working! I’m learning something new every day about this area, and sharing it has become a passion of mine. For someone who had a hard time doing anything outside because of her allergies, I’m telling you that I can go outside now and not end up with a migraine by the end of the day. This is BIG stuff people!

Migraines be gone! I’m gonna lose this weight, and I’m going to PUSH through all of those things that are holding me back!!

“This post is sponsored by New Balanceand I’m writing this to be entered into a giveaway hosted by Mamavation – a community dedicated to obesity prevention & weight loss for women“”

Filed Under: Simple Living Tagged With: , , ,

Save the Ta Ta’s

12:46 AM By 1 Comment
Please be advised that this is not a post for the faint of heart, and especially for those under the age of 18.  Links in this post will take you away from this page, and to an Adult’s only store. If I were you, I’d make sure that there were no kids around!

Its that time of year again, and what made me really want to touch on Breast Cancer Awareness this year is because we just found out that a family friend has breast cancer. There really is no escaping breast cancer these days. Everyone knows someone that has fought that battle.

There are so many heroic stories out there, including my friend Tammy from Pink Stinx. Tammy’s husband found the lump in her breast during an intimate moment, while Tammy was pregnant! Can you imagine finding out that you have breast cancer while you are expecting your 5th child?! Amazing story, and amazing mother of 6 lives to tell her story.

I know that doing self exams every month is not on my favorite to do list, and a lot of months I just forget. What we forget is that men should be trained to do these exams for us. You may laugh, but a lot of lumps are found by husbands or boyfriends. Seriously, they can spend a LOT of time with the girls that we don’t.

So why not teach your husband more about breast exams, and grab some Breast Balm for a nice breast massage. This product got some good reviews, and is organic. I can’t wait to try it for my monthly sore boobies.

EdenFantasys is supporting Save the Ta-Tas by donating a portion of all proceeds of sales fromEvolved products!

Support Breast Cancer Awareness - Enter to Win $500 Prize

I am being compensated for this post by EdenFantasys with gift cards. All opinions however are my own.
Filed Under: Nurturing Marriage Tagged With:

Menu Plan Monday

6:23 AM By Leave a Comment

I realized this week that not having a menu planned really had put my nutrition on the back burner (not that it was that great in the first place).

So this week I’m looking at some other menus and trying to put together something that’s easy and has enough leftover’s for lunch the next day. I’ve come to realize that there are too many days that my kids aren’t eating enough at school, and come home starving. I think I can do better with taste and nutrition when it comes to lunch that the school does, by far.

So in no particular order these are some meals I’ll be cooking this week. I don’t have a particular day, because here it always gets changed anyways.

  • A large batch of grilled chicken to be used for salads, fajitas and much more.
  • Homemade Pizza and Calzones
  • Pot Roast with carrots and potatoes
  • Cheeseburger Boat with homemade bread
  • Potato Soup with crusty homemade bread
  • Vegetarian Night with roasted Brussels sprouts, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and anything else the kids may choose that’s a veggie (or fruit)
  • Spaghetti with homemade cheesy garlic bread

Now to get all of these recipes into my iPhone so that I don’t forget anything when I’m shopping. (LOVE this app btw!) MealBoard – Meal and Grocery Planner – Ray Bernardo MealBoard - Meal and Grocery Planner - Ray Bernardo

Filed Under: Menus Tagged With: ,

What season are you in?

4:09 PM By 2 Comments

I know that I’ve heard that there are seasons of life. Mother’s with young children know this more than anyone. I’m not a mom of young children, I’m a mom of tweens. That gives me a little more freedom.

I’m a WAHM, or work at home mom for those not used to the lingo. I started Life Essential Oils a few weeks ago, but its slow moving of course. We thought that things would be settled by now with my husband’s job, but alas they are not. The question now is what to do next?

We had a huge plan for what we were doing, but with one change in his job I realize that it may not be our season in life to do what really want to do. It kinda sucks. But, we do know that God has the ultimate plan. Sometimes its just hard to swallow.

I made a commitment to myself and a few others last night, and I’m going to keep that commitment. However there are other things that I may have to change. It’s so hard for me to commit to anything lately. My plans always get changed before I get started. I’m in a “its not fair” mood. It will change.

So what season are you in?

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: ,

Wall’s to push through

7:40 PM By 6 Comments

This past week had one wall after another. I pushed, and pushed. But I took this long weekend off for a lot of reasons. Lee sent us a LOT of rain. NO outdoor activities or really even trips away from my house. I read most of the weekend.

I did try to change my diet a little. I have had at least 2 salads a day. I missed my salads. I even made my own salad dressing. Yay!

My video still hasn’t been shot. Rain, kids, dogs, cats…its been an interesting weekend. We still have a dog that won’t come home who’s hurt. Poor thing.

Did I mention that my computer was hacked and we had to wipe the hard drive…

This week’s Mamavation Monday is sponsored by a great company that we love. Mabel’s Labels in a wonderful company and offer an amazing product. Here’s this week’s sponsored question:

Question: How is your routine changing now that summer is winding down? Any go-to tips to stay organized?

I’m writing my goals down for the year, for the week and for tomorrow. I”m gonna get through this week much better than last week.

It’s gonna work, right?

This post is sponsored by Mabel’s Labelsand I’m writing this to be entered into a giveaway hosted by Mamavation – a community dedicated to obesity prevention & weight loss for women

Filed Under: Mamavation Tagged With: , ,

Do you want to know a secret?

2:13 PM By 10 Comments

I’ve been praying over this event that’s coming up. Its an event that officially last 7 weeks, but unofficially lasts more like a life time. This event changes lives.

My husband even agreed to this event before I did. Funny, because he never agrees to anything before I do. We both know how important it could be for us, but I was the one that was just scared to commit to this very, very long term event.

Why? Well because it changes the way I eat. For the 7 weeks I can’t drink a Coke. (I’ve done that before, it was hard but its doable). For 7 weeks I have to work out (I’ve done that before too, maybe not to this intensity, but I have.) For 7 weeks I have to blog (okay, well consistency isn’t my strongest point there, but I have certainly done this before too). for 7 weeks or more, I have to be on TV (What?! TV?! ok, well not nationally broadcast or anything, just online.)

You see what happened? I talked myself into it. Over and over. I couldn’t talk myself into NOT doing this. The time it takes to do all of these things is certainly not an issue. I don’t work away from home and my home based business takes only about 10 hours a week, and a lot of that I can do on the go.

So does anyone know what my big secret is yet? Some of you have guessed, I’m sure.

My husband and I are applying for Mamavation Campaign #10!

What I love about this, is that it gives us time to work on something together. Right now he has his thing, I have mine, but we don’t enjoy each other’s things a whole lot. Mamavation gives us a common goal. I’m so thankful that Leah decided to do this for mom and dad teams! I get to do this right beside my best friend! I’m so excited to share this with you.

So this post has a second purpose. I have to start blogging weekly for the Sistahood.

One of the other concerns that my  husband and I have had over applying for this campaign, is that we are on a strict budget. So when I found out that  Jennifer from Healthy Life Deals will be on Mamavation TV tonight, I decided that its a must see episode.  She’s an expert with couponing for whole foods. Isn’t that awesome?!

For this blogging carnival we are asked to answer this question:

What safety precautions do you take with your workouts?  Any special equipment when working out outdoors?

The only precautions I’ve ever taken is my cell phone. BUT…The next precaution that I will be taking this week is my .40 Glock handgun. My husband’s workboot was hit by a very bad snake this past week, so I don’t want to have that happen to me while I’m hiking our trail here on the farm. I need one of those fanny packs from the 90′s now! lol!

I’m pretty sure that this isn’t a problem for most of our Sistahood, but hey its Alabama!

BTW to all of my fellow Sista’s I missed you guys. I’ve been lurking, but missed you soo, sooo much! I’m so happy to be back!

This post is sponsored by Go Sport ID and I’m writing this to be entered into a giveaway hosted by Mamavation.

Filed Under: Mamavation Tagged With: , ,

Just putting it all out there

12:54 PM By 1 Comment

There’s been some trouble on the home front. Without getting into a ton of personal details here, the stress level of my house is through the roof. A change in job has us financially stretched to the limits. Dealing with a blended family the first weeks of school is beyond hard. The stress is making us physically and emotionally sick.

I started a new venture to help with our financial problems, but it takes time to get things off the ground. I have great mentors, and an amazing support system in this part of my life.

I think that the problem that I have is that my support system in person has really taken a beating over the years. There are a LOT of reasons behind this, but it doesn’t help that I’m sort of a homebody. This morning I asked my nearly 600 friends on Facebook if anyone would like to start walking with me a couple times a week. The only answer that I’ve gotten so far, was from a cousin in Texas. At nearly 9 hours away, that’s not possible.

I have a gym membership, I know people that work out there. The problem there is that it costs money that we don’t have right now for me to get to the gym.

Bottom line, I need money and socialization….and to get my sweat on. Aaahhh!!!
Creative Commons License photo credit: Evil Erin

With the stress in my household right now, my husband and I could both use a lot of the same thing.  We’ve argued so much in the last week that we are fighting to stay in the same house together. I know, all couples do this from time to time. Its just hard to deal with at the moment.

So I came across a tweet about the new Mamavation campaign that’s coming up. I dropped out of the Sistahood, not on purpose but just from being lazy and overwhelmed by life. To tell you the truth, I miss it. I miss it soooo much that I lurk around the group on Twitter a day or two a week.

So it was just announced that this next campaign is going to be couple’s only. Yep, husband and wife teams. And I’m thinking. And talking to my husband. And I mention it to my friends. And I think some more.

I loved trying out for campaign 7. I thought it was a good number. I felt so much better than I had in a long time because I was being consistently active. I was sore from a lot of the things I was doing, but I was also building endurance and strength. But I’ll say this, I don’t know if my body was ready for it. I had a hard time, and I know that it only gets worse once you are voted in.

So I’m thinking about signing up again. Not by myself, but with my husband of course. He’s agreed. But only if I really want to do it. Do I really want to do this? um yeah! Who wouldn’t?! Having personalized meal plans, personal trainer, motivational coach and more…its gotta be a lot of help instead of doing it all on my own right?!

The one thing that that’s holding me back is support. My support system here locally is lacking. I know with my husband doing the workouts and meal plan too, it will help a lot, but still I need someone to help me out while he’s at work. I have the sistahood that will push me from online. I want someone local too. I really, really do!

I want to ask you something to. Will you help me? Will you support me? Online or offline. I don’t care. I don’t want to push myself to a point that in a few weeks I feel like I failed because I didn’t get enough votes to win this. I can only do so much really. I can eat right, and do my workouts, and walk until I’m blue in the face (lets hope that doesn’t happen). What I can’t do is vote for myself more that once.

I have to campaign. I need people to help with that. people to tweet for me, post on Facebook and even on their blogs. I know that I have a friend or two that’s already told me that if I do want to do this, they will help.

With the power of social media behind both me and my husband we can do this, right?

Filed Under: Simple Living Tagged With: , ,
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