It WILL get better!

You know how life throws curve ball after curve ball. Well, the past couple of weeks, life has been very busy throwing curve balls at me. Now, I could choose to whine about them and tell you every little thing that has happened, but instead, I'm going to praise my way through this. I really have drifted away from church lately and without the constant refill and without being in a place of the constant present of God, it's been quite easy for the enemy to get under my skin, so to speak. I have cried many tears, felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest due to palpatations caused by stressed, I have even wondered what would happen if I just gave up. However, none of that is going to happen anymore! The enemy hates it when we praise God. He hates to see that he can't get to us, and that's exactly what I'm going to show him from here on out. I will NOT succumb to the hardships of life and to the enemy's grasp anylonger. If our focus isn't on God, then it's on the world and the prince of this world. I will keep my eyes firmly planted on God and all that He has in store for me and mine. The Word tells us that what the enemy steals, God will return to us many times, and this is what I hold to now! There are actually many verses in the Bible to cling to in times like these....

"For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear: I will help you." Isaiah 41:

This obviously is a reminder that all we must do is keep a hold on God's hand and follow His lead.

"He knows about everyone, everywhere. Everything about us is bare and wide open to the all-seeing eyes of our living God; nothing can be hidden from him to whom we must explain all that we have done." Hebrews 4:13

He already knows what we are going through. He is not blind.

"I myself will be the Shepherd of my sheep, and cause them to lie down in peace, the Lord God says. I will seek my lost ones, those who strayed away, and bring them safely home again. I will put splints and bandages upon their broken limbs and heal the sick. And I will destroy the powerful, fat shepherds; I will feed them, yes--feed them punishment!" Ezekiel 34:15

And this one I really love right now. This reminds me that we can never stray so far away from God that He can not reach us and we can not return. He is also a vengeful God and we need not worry.

"And in the same way--by our faith --the Holy Spirit helps us with our daily problems and in our praying. For we don't even know what we should pray for, nor how to pray as we should; but the Holy Spirit prays for us with such feeling that it cannot be expressed in words." Romans 8:26

This one is one that we all need a reminder on. Whenever we don't know how to pray, or exactly what to pray for, let the Holy Spirit do it for you!

I could go on and on with verses, but I think that I will stop for now and perhaps do an entry on God's Life Lessons on this. Thanks for reading, and please feel free to leave me a comment.

God Bless.

Maxine's 1st day at Wal-mart

So after landing my new job as a Wal-Mart greeter,a good find for many retirees,I lasted less than a day......

About two hours into my first day on the job a very loud, unattractive, mean-acting woman walked into the store with her two kids,

Yelling obscenities at them all the way through the entrance.

As I had been instructed, I said pleasantly, 'Good morning and welcome to Wal-Mart. Nice children you have there. Are they twins?'

The ugly woman stopped yelling long enough to say,

'Hell no, they ain't twins. The oldest one's 9, and the other one's 7. Why the hell would you think they're twins?

Are you blind, or just stupid?'

So I replied, 'I'm neither blind nor stupid, Ma'am, I just couldn't believe someone slept with you twice.

Have a good day and thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart.'

My supervisor said I probably wasn't cut out for this line of work .

Maxine -vs- Martha

We all know the lovable and all too true, Maxine. Well now we'll hear her answers to some of Martha Stewart's Tips. This was just too cute, I had to share it!

Martha: "Stuff miniature marshmellows at the bottom of an
ice cream cone to keep it from dripping."

Maxine: "Just suck the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone, for Pete's sake!

You are probably lying on the couch with your feet up eating it anyway!

Martha:"To keep potatoes from budding,

place an apple in the bag with the potatoes."

Maxine: "Buy Hungry Jack mashed potato mix.

Keeps in the pantry for up to a year.

Martha: "When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan,

use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won't be any

white mess on the outside of the cake."

Maxine: "Go to the bakery! Hell, they'll even decorate it for you!

Martha: "If you accidentally over-salt a dish while it's still cooking,

drop in a peeled potato and it will absorb the excess salt for an

instant 'fix-me-up.'"

Maxine: "If you over-salt a dish while you are cooking, that's too bad.

Please recite with me the real woman's motto:

'I made it, you will eat it and I don't care how bad it tastes!'"

Martha: "Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the

refrigerator and it will keep for weeks."

Maxine: "Celery? Never heard of it!"

Martha: "Brush some beaten egg white over pie crust before

baking to yield a beautiful glossy finish."

Maxine: "The Mrs. Smith frozen pie directions do

not include brushing egg whites over the crust, so I don't."

Martha: "Cure for headaches: take a lime, cut it in half and

rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away."

Maxine: "Take a lime, mix it with tequila, chill and drink!

All your pains go away!"

Martha: "If you have a problem opening jars, try using

latex dish washing gloves. They give a non-slip

grip that makes opening jars easy.."

Maxine: "Go ask that very cute neighbor if he can open it for you."

Martha: "Don't throw out all that leftover wine.

Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces."

Maxine: "Leftover wine??????????? HELLO!!!!!!!"

An Alarming Video that all Westerner's should watch

The Bible tells us that this sort of thing will happen in the end days. If you are a Christian, then you do not need to worry, because we already know that the Lord is victorious, but I also think that we should not walk around blind, but know what is going on in the world around us. Please watch this video and be aware of what President Obama is trying to have friendly relations with. Doesn't seem so friendly to me.

Just some facts for ya...

If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

(Hardly seems worth it.)

If you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.

(Now that's more like it!)

The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.

(O.M.G.!)

A pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes.

(In my next life, I want to be a pig.)

A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to death.

(Creepy.) (I'm still not over the pig.)

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories a hour

(Don't try this at home, maybe at work)

The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off.

(Honey, I'm home. What the. ...?!)

The flea can jump 350 times its body length. It's like a human jumping the length of a football field.

(30 minutes... Lucky pig! Can you imagine?)

The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds.

(What could be so tasty on the bottom of a pond?)

Some lions mate over 50 times a day.

(I still want to be a pig in my next life...quality over quantity)

Butterflies taste with their feet.

(Something I always wanted to know.)

The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.

(Hmmmmmm.....)

Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people.

(If you're ambidextrous, do you split the difference?)

Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump.

(Okay, so that would be a good thing)

A cat's urine glows under a black light.

(I wonder who was paid to figure that out?)

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

( I know some people like that.)

Starfish have no brains

(I know some people like that too.)

Polar bears are left-handed.

(If they switch, they'll live a lot longer)

Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.

(What about that pig??)

Now that you've smiled at least once, it's your turn to spread these crazy facts and send this tosomeone you want to bring a smile to, maybe even a chuckle. In other words, send it to everyone!

(And God love that pig!)

All About Mothers- Out of the mouths of babes...

WHY GOD MADE MOMS
Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's mom like me.

What kind of a little girl was your mom?
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms and dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friends.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

How cute is that?????

Attacks...

It's so amazing how everything can be going along just fine and then BAM! The enemy ( satan ) jumps up and attacks! It's no secret that in these days money is tight with most everyone. Now, I learned long ago not to worry over things because well, worrying doesn't change anything except for the amount of sleep you can get and the color of your hair, so why worry? So, in the midst of the financial woes, I have simply trusted God. He has always provided and I know that He will continue to provide. Well, this thinking and this faith has brought me to a very wonderful place of being caught up on regular house-hold bills and gave me the money to file bankruptcy so I can get a new start. I even saw where I could start giving more to christian charities and to my church. That's when the enemy decided that he wanted to try and change my mind. There have been what seems like a million things go wrong over the past 7 days and each one of them has dealt with finances! of course, I started to panic, but quickly recognized it for what it was. I told God that I didn't care what the enemy did, I was going to follow through with my word. Then satan twisted and turned things so that I physically did not have the money to do what I needed to do for anything. I told God, that's okay. Next week I'll double up. Well now he has hit again ( all really a continuation of one problem that has caused a train-wreck of financial problems ) and I am still telling God that I WILL follow through and be good on my word.
The enemy thinks that he can discourage me and make me think that I really don't have the money that I need to pay bills let alone tithe and present offerings, but he forgets one thing.... I know who I am.
I am the child of the Most High King, The Lord of the Universe, The Great I AM, The King of Kings, The Prince of Peace, The Alpha and the Omega.... I am a child of God and I live in HIS kingdom, with HIS finances and under HIS rulership. Therefore, this economy, and the wiley ways of the devil have no effect on me or my life. "All things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose." ... And all things DO work together for good for me. This means that even the negative things that happen to us, turn around and are used for good purposes and bring a good outcome. Although I am struggling this moment with money, this struggle will do a number of things such as:
- Bring me closer to God as I rely on Him
- Build my Faith up even more
- Break the bond that money has on my life ( I have been known to seriously over shop! )
- Teach my children that no matter how down we may get, God will always hold out His hand and pick us up again!

So watch out, satan! What you do to me today, will bring you down tomorrow!! Hallelujah!

Passover/ Good Friday/ Easter

I am just so excited and happy! This season is a wonderful one for believers in Jesus! Last night we had a "Passover" Sedar at home. Although I am not Jewish, but Christian, I still want to observe the feasts of the Old Testament because God tells us we should and He never said we should stop. Jesus did tell us that we are not bound by tradition anymore, but even He observed the feasts. Therefore, I rewrote the traditional Jewish Haggadah for our family and made it reflect our celebration of deliverance from sin and Satan instead of the traditional celebration of remembering how God brought the Jews out of thier slavery in Egypt. It wasn't nearly as long as the original Haggadah, but I think it was quite nice and reflective of our freedom in Christ. I wanted to have some of the traditional foods as well. Luckily, my ex-husband is Jewish and he and I are still friends. I got the basic Latka ( potatoe pankcakes ) recipe from him. I made many things that I had not made before: Roasted Lamb, Latkas and Matzah Ball soup. We also had roasted asparagus, which I had only made once before. And it all came out very yummy! I am so thankful that God has given me the gift of knowing how to cook well. I'm hoping still to be able to use that gift to open my own restaruant one day!

Now today is Good Friday, the day that Jesus was crucified. We are having a very special communion tonight at church and I am very excited. It will be set up like the Last Supper, complete with period-style clothing and even "Jesus" will lead us in communion! My sister, Daphne will be there with her daughter; my daughter and my youngest son are going with me and hopefully my husband will get off work in time to join us! My mom is going to be serving and I'm sure that will be a lot of fun for her too. I hope she is very blessed!

Since I will have to take Tristian back to Orlando on Sunday and Aylanna wants to go to her dads at some point on Sunday, I am making a big dinner tomorrow ( Sat ) night instead of Sunday. It'll be really nice.

Ok, well I need to get some work done. I leave work today around noon so I can go to the grocery store and head to Orlando to pick up Tristian. YAY!!!

Hi!

Wow I haven't written in here in a week! I am so bad about keeping a personal journal! Well, I am not particularly 'counting calories' anymore. I mean I am being aware of what I eat and how much, I'm just not writing everything down and calculating everything. I'm sure this will bite me in the butt, but it's just so much work to keep track! I haven't lost anymore weight yet, but I haven't gained any either!

I haven't really had anything too exciting going on. My new frige is being delivered today. yay! Hopefully this one will keep working! All this waste of money on extra food that's spoiled and now getting a new frige has really set us back on our savings plan. We have so much that we need to save for and we just can't seem to get any of it done!

Ok, well that's all for now. I need to go do an entry for God's Life Lessons. Tata!

Monday Greetings!

I hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was pretty good. Actually it was really better than just good. My husband had the weekend off too ( amazing!) and we got to spend some time together, so it was great!

On Saturday I had my nephews birthday party, he turned 3 :) And so I spent some time with friends and family then. We had a watergun fight which was quite hilarious as it was like a bunch of kids of all ages! And then that night Mike and I watched 'Fireproof' with Kirk Cameron. Wow. If you have not seen this movie, watch it now - especially if you are married! I think that Mike and I were both affected by this movie and it seemed to have maybe brought us a little closer.

Sunday we decided to head down to Miami to visit his friend from work who's in Jackson Memorial due to an accident at work where he got electrocuted by power lines. It was a really good visit and he is doing really well. We were quite happy about that. Since we were already in Miami, we decided to see some sights, such as the beach. Neither of us had ever been to Miami beach and I had never even really been to Miami. Boy that was quite an experience for this small town girl! I thought that I wasnt so much a small town girl because I had lived in Orlando for a few months, but let me tell you, I am a small town girl and I am staying that way!!

The traffic was crazy- and the drivers even worse - especially the bikers! When I first experienced the bikers racing up in between the lanes of traffic, I was more sympathetic towards them saying things like " Oh God, don't they know how dangerous that is??". By the time we had left the beach and were trying to get back across the causeway it turned to," Ok, it may sound bad, but someone needs to just open thier door on them or something. Someone's got to teach them a lesson!" I had had enough. Enough traffic, enough crazy drivers , enough people and enough of Miami! It didn't help that I also have a sinus infection!

I couldn't believe how many people can fit on one beach! I swear the sea of people was bigger that the ocean! I also got to see several cruise ships and as I have never seen one in person before, I was amazed. They are so huge!!! I used to want to go on a cruise, but now I am second thinking that because of all the people. Don't get me wrong, I do like people, I am a people person, I am just not a crowd-of-people person!

But anyhow, it was really nice that I got to see all those new sights with my husband. I am just so thankful for him.

When you begin to feel sorry for yourself.....

I receieved this as an email today, and I just have to share it with everyone that I can. God, don't let me ever take anything for granted. And please, Lord, help me to be able to help others...

If you think that you are unhappy, look at them...

If you think your salary is low, how about her?

If you think that you don't have many friends...

When you feel like giving up, think of this man.

If you think you suffer in life, do you suffer as much as he does?

If you complain about your transportation system, how about their's?

Is your Society unfair to you, how about her?

Enjoy life how it is and as it comes. Things are worse for others and is a lot better for us. There are many things in your life that will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart...pursue those.

Observe around you and be thankful for all that you have in this transitory lifetime...

We are fortunate, we have much more than what we need to be content. Let's try not to feed this endless cycle of consumerism and immorality in which this "modern and advanced" society forgets and ignores the other two thirds of our brothers and sisters.

Off to a good start!

Ok, so Monday marked a new start on my quest for health and weight-loss. I can finally make my breakfast smoothies again and pack healthy, nutritious lunches! We're also getting back on schedule for our workouts. We went to the gym last night and I worked mainly my legs and lower back. Tonight I'll be working my arms, shoulders and upper back. Of course we start and end with a little cardio too. I REALLY didn't want to go last night because I was so tired, but I felt really good afterwards. I was still tired, but I felt accomplished even if I didn't give it my all that I usually do. If I am going to beat this weight and get myself into a healthy range, I need to really put some "Oomph" into my workouts. I think that I need to start making myself go on Saturdays too.

I find it easy to stop and talk when I go there with Dyanne. And also going during the week, I'm usually in more of a hurry because I need to get home and cook for the family. If I can go on Saturdays and maybe even Sundays with my husband, then maybe I can not be in such a rush and really spend some focused time. I'm also going to start breaking out the dance video on nights that I'm not going to the gym.

I plan on going to San Diego to see my brother in late July probably and I want to lose as much as possible before then. He wants to take us to Disneyland and the zoo and such, and I want to go and be able to walk a long time without hurting. I'm still not sure if any of my kids will be going with us. I'd like them to because they've never met thier uncle, but my oldest refuses to fly and I'm not sure if my youngest will be able to go or not. We'll see.

Alright, well that's my update for now. .....

Blah...

Well this week didn't start real well and it's certainly not ending well when it comes to my eating habits and exercise routine. My workout buddy has been sick all week and I have been without a frige and freezer ( well I have a freezer in the laundry room, bur it's jam-packed!). My landlord finally got my new frige in place today so tomorrow I am going shopping! Without being able to make my smoothies in the morning and not having lunchmeat and such, it's been really rough and my schedule has been really messed up!

I guess for some people, like me, it's better to have a set pattern and way of doing things to keep yourself on track and organized. I have been stopping at the store just about everyday so that I can try to make sure that I don't eat a bunch of junk, but I am really missing the fresh fruit and veggies that I had gotten so used to. I'm so excited to get back into the swing of things!

Dyanne will hopefully be feeling better this coming week and we'll get back into our exercise routine too! Well, that's it for today! TTFN!

If at first you don't succeed.....

...try, try again! So once again, I am trying! I had every intention of eating properly and working out really hard yesterday. But well, not all intentions work out very well! Since my refrigerator is broken ( new one coming on Fri!! ), I have no milk or yogurt in the house for me to make my morning smoothies. So, yesterday I stopped at McDonald's and got a chicken biscut and hashbrown. Ok so there's meal #1 of empty calories soaked in pure fat. I did good for lunch, since I packed it. I had 1 cup of Progresso Soup Chicken Gumbo , 1 Fiber One bar, 1 Jello Liv Active pudding cup and some pistachio's. And then I picked the kids up McDonald's for dinner since my hubby wasn't going to be home for dinner and I was going to the gym. Still sounds good, right? Wrong! I was so hungry at McDonald's that I got a 1/4#'er. I didn't get myself any fries, but I ate some of my kids' fries.

Ok, so all the bad stuff behind me, Dyanne and I headed for the gym. Normally, I can't workout enough. Normally I want to keep going but because I need to get home and cook, I can only stay about an hour or so. Last night I didn't have to cook ( my hubby didn't even get to come home from work and was stuck in Miami ) and I felt like crap! My head felt funny and I developed a headache and dizziness while trying to work out. The 1st 5 minutes on the Elliptical was fine, but when I moved to do the circuit training, it all happened. So with Dyanne still not feeling well either, we skipped the elliptical and guess what we did. That's right, we ate.

To the Chinese buffett we went! I did eat lots of veggies, but I also had a couple fried wontons and a couple bbq ribs. I suppose overall, what I ate wasn't too bad, except for the fact of everything else I ate earlier!!!

What's wrong with me??? I was doing SO good! But now my routine has been messed up and instead of rolling with the punches, I caved in and made ALL the wrong choices! Today is a new day though!

I stopped at the store this morning to make sure I had the proper food for the day. I bought one cup of greek yogurt w/ honey to go with my bowl of fruit, Smart One's breakfast quesadilla and a Lean Cuisine with Salmon. Of course, I just now realized that I didn't pull anything out for dinner, guess I'll have to stop at the store again! I'll be SO glad to get my new frige! It's really hard to plan meals and even cook when you don't have a place to put the cold stuff!

So, anyhow, today is the day that I begin my journey to the new me - AGAIN!!!

Long time...

Well hello again all! Ok, so I'm no good at keeping a blog! I will try harder. Let's see... update....

I joined our "Biggest Loser" thing at work again. Last time I lost 8 lbs I think and then gained 25 afterwards. So far this time, I have lost 9, but gained 4 back due to non-stop gnoshing over the weekend!

This is my typical day with food and exercise.

Breakfast: Smoothie... YUMMY! .... I mix 1/2 cup Smart Choice Fat Free milk ( which tastes like maybe 2% ) with 2 scoops of Nutiva Hemp protein in berry flavor, 3 oz Acai and berry juice, 1/2 ounce liquid vitamins, 1/2 banana and a total of about 1 or 1 1/2 cups of frozen fruit ( Mango, Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries, Cherries, Pineapple). This provides a LOT of nutrition and fills me up quite well! ( approx 350 cals)

Morning Snack: Sometimes I am not even hungry and dont have a snack, but when I do, I make sure that it's low in calories and perferrably fresh fruit or yogurt. ( usually around 100 cals or less.)

Lunch: This may be a turkey wrap made at home with "Flatout" flat bread and lean turkey lunch meat, spicey mustard, salad greens, chick peas, black olives and tomatoes. Or maybe it's a cup of Progresso Lite Reduced Sodium soup, or maybe a salad with turkey, chick peas, black olives, tomatoes, a few croutons, etc... ( This may range from 100 cal with the soup to 300 cals)

Afternoon Snack: Again, sometimes I have one, sometimes I dont, but always low cal and healthy.

Dinner: Lots of veggies, 1/2 cup brown rice or potatoes or whole grain pasta ( some sort of 'good carb' ) and approx 4 oz of lean protein ( usually chicken or fish )

Desert: I keep "Skinny Cow" Skinny Dippers around for that sweet tooth!

I meet with a friend 3 nights a week. We go to the gym for a workout or walk the track. I also try to keep moving the other nights of the week and during the day at work. I may dance to whatever music I feel like for 30 mins or pop in a dance dvd or maybe just take the dog for a walk - whatever gets me up and moving! Some people may watch me and think I'm just a nervous person or something as much as I move, but every little bit helps!!

Now, over the past week, I have not gotten as much exercise as I was because my exercise partner has been sick and honestly, I haven't felt too great either, but I blame my not feeling great on the poor food choices I have made over the last week too! They say that you should have a day where you eat more calories than usual to help your metabolism keep rev'd and to keep it from getting used to a decline in calories, but one should still stay in control! I normally eat about 1500 cals per day ( or at least this is my goal!! ) and so on the weekends, I pick one day to eat a little extra. On that day, I eat sensibly and low cal all day and then we'll pick a place to go to dinner and I'll get a small , sensible steak and choose veggies for my sides. So I'm still eating sensible but can also have a drink or two and not be too far over the edge. This plan was working great until this weekend when I had to make two trips to Orlando ( one to pick my son up and one to drop him off ). Those weekends are a challenge because there's always fast food, and sometimes afterwards I feel horrible and figure I might as well go ahead and eat whatever I want. I'm really trying to change this train of thought!

I have also began using a few different products from vitacost.com that are worth mentioning, especially if you are seeking to lose weight and/or get healthier.

1. NSI's Glucomannan - this is an insoluable fiber that bulks up in your stomach so that you feel fuller quicker and longer. Obviously because it is fiber, it also helps in waste elimination.

2. Nature's Secret Ultimate Cleanse Kit - This comes with two bottles. One is cleansing with herbs and one is cleansing with fibers. It's very gentle, but very effective! My stomache has actually not been so bloated and I feel SO much better! Check out vitacost.com for more info.

3. Nutiva's Hemp Protein + Fiber - This is a protein powder made from Hemp which is a great protein! It's very easily digested and a great addition to smoothies and such.

4. Nutiva's Hemp Protein in Berry Pomegranit Flavor - The same as above but not such a strong smell or flavor, it mixes even better with smoothies or even just with some milk before a workout.

5. Dynamic Health Organic Certified Acai juice Blend - This is a delicious juice made from Acai berries, Goji, Pomegranite, Blueberries and Mangosteen ( Superfruits!!) If you don't already know all the health benefits to these fruits, please google them!

6. Peter Gillham's Natural Vitality Liquid Vitamins - This has a very pleasant citrus-like flavor and being liquid is easily absorbed by the body. I used to purchase this from my chiropractors office a few years ago and wow! What a difference it made! I'm using about 1/3 of the recommended amount since I also use the other stuff and eat pretty healthy, but I know it works!!

7. Green Tea capsules - some say this helps with the metabolism and helps to burn fat. I don't know if it does or not, but it does give me a little more energy so I take two of these in the morning with my smoothie.

When I follow this way of life ( it is NOT a diet! ), I feel amazing! I have more energy than when I was in my early 20's ( and I'm now quickly approaching my mid 30's! ), my mind is clear, my thoughts can be easily organized and it seems that even my will power has gotten stronger!

One important thing I have learned is to not cheat. No, I dont mean that I dont ever have a piece of chocolate ( for I would DIE without chocolate! ), or that I don't eat stuff that may not be healthy. What I mean is this. Cheating has a negative connotation. To cheat is to sin. When one cheats, they almost always berate themselves and feel like a failure. I allow myself to have something if I really want it. Nothing is "off-limits". BUT I make sure that I know if I choose to have that piece of chocolate cake, then that's X amount of calories and I adjust the rest of my food or maybe exercise a little longer and/or harder. It's a choice. This way I never feel like I've done something wrong and I also never feel deprived like so many do when they "diet". It's this deprivation that leads to so many "diet" failures.

Wow. I think I have done so much learning and research on this matter, I could probably write my own book! Maybe that's just what I should do here - write about the things I learn pertaining to diet, exercise and health. Please let me know if you have a question or comment. I'd love to hear from you!

Happy New Year!

Ok, so I am not quite as excited as the title implies. Only because I'm sick. I know that this year holds many wonderful things, but it's hard to get too excited when you feel like you've been hit by a Mack truck! Apparently, when I cleaned the shower and used too much cleanser, I must've burned away my natural defenses because ever since then, I have slowly gotten worse. I actually even told my boss that I can't come in tomorrow. Thank God that I get sick leave! Anyhow....

Christmas was nice and quiet. We went to my mother-in-laws for Christmas Eve, like usual. This is when we open presents from the family and my kids also get to open their presents from me since afterwards they go to their dad's and wake up at his house on Christmas morning. You know, I really don't know why , it doesn't even make sense for them to celebrate Christmas. They are pagan and do not believe in Jesus, so why celebrate his birth? Of course, I'll never understand their logic anyhow. So Christmas day we went to my sister-in-laws and just relaxed.

New Years was nothing exciting either. We set off some fireworks New Years Eve and went to the movies on New Years Day. "The curious case of Benjamin Button" is an excellent movie! It definitely had it's sad parts, but it was REALLY good. I might just have to purchase that one!

Well, my brain is pretty foggy right now, see ya!