Thanksgiving Break

I haven't been here in a little while, but while on Thanksgiving break I thought I would stop by...

It's been a good break. Makes me long for Christmas break! 15 days and counting.

So here is the sum of my week off:

• a little bit of early Christmas shopping
• a good lesson in Sunday school (yes darling I still call it that!) from my favorite teacher. He's hot.
• a nice warm overnight stay at my parents place, 5 horses & 15 beautiful acres is good for the soul, not to mention incredible parents. I want to be them when I grow up!
• a very fun evening with our favorite friends.
• a girls night out for dinner
• a quick trip to Houston with lots of family time with the 4 of us all snuggled in one bedroom!
• a lunch and movie with my sister
• finished 2 books, halfway through my 3rd. I crave reading, is that weird?

I have lots to be thankful for every day!

Oh and for those that care about my detox thing, still doing good! I splurged a little over the break, but I am actually craving vegetables now. Crazy!!! This detox diet is really the best thing I have done for myself in a long time.

Detox day 10

So tomorrow is the end of the official "detox"! I still haven't put together my plan of action for post detox diet. I am kind of scared to eat now because I don't want to gain those pounds back, I like how I feel overall too. I don't have my afternoon crash anymore, that's probably one of the biggiest changes. I use to come home starving, eat something, then crash on the couch for a good 30 minutes. I haven't done that once since starting the detox. I came home today and cleaned house! However continuing to eat such a restrictive diet isn't great either.

There has to be a happy medium.

I will try to spend some time thinking that through tonight.

The scale is still continuing to be my friend. I thought I might gain a little this morning since I ate yesterday, not so! I lost a little more!! Yippeeeeee!

Detox day 9

I made it all the way through the fasting day without hurting anyone! Miracle! By the time I was going to bed, I was pretty much out of energy, but I was surprised that I hadn't felt that way all day. Breakfast was on the counter, ready to be mixed and cooked and I was READY to eat when I woke up. I had, what the lady in the book calls "scrumptious apple squares" I disagree. I would have rather just had a cooked apple with some cinnamon sprinkled on it...I ate it though and today I added yogurt too. It was nice to have something creamy. Lunch was carrots, cauliflower and a lean, organic beef patty, I smeared a little hummus on it. It was good. I haven't been hungry much of the rest of the day. I had some raspberries for dinner. I know I know, that's not exactly how this plan goes, but I am busy.

Eating healthy is hard work. I have sliced, diced, blended, processed and steamed more this last week than my whole life!

I think it has paid off. I have 2 more days till I am "done". I need to spend these days figuring out where I go from here.

Drumroll please....
I have lost a total of 9.5 pounds so far! I was hoping for 10 so maybe that will come off in the next few days.

I think it's interesting how I could drop that weight and no one notices. I didn't tell anyone at work I was doing this just to see if anyone would notice. Not so much. Oh well. That's ok, it's really the scale that I need to keep "talkin to me"

Fast day!

Today has been hard at some points and shockingly easy at other points. SO FAR!

So I mixed up my cranberry concoction that I was supposed to drink on my fast day only to realize I screwed up the recipe! I thought I "fixed" it, but when I finished my first cup of it today I wasn't so sure. I felt completely nauseated! That certainly took care of feeling hungry for most of the morning. I diluted it some more and have felt a little better since that. I have only had water or cranberry juice concoction ALL DAY!!

So far I have made it through:

• teaching all day,
• 3 parent conferences
• and of course what else would happen today, yep that's right, my evaluation by my principal. I should have known. It was at the end of the day too. I think it went fine.

Now the rest of the day consists of making dinner for everyone else, (That maybe tough) making lunches for the kids for tomorrow. (On a side note every day of this detox I have made Jessica's pbj for school and haven't even licked the knife! That's dedication) Homework time, then bedtime!! Before I go to bed I gotta figure out what I AM going to eat tomorrow. I am really excited to be able to add back yogurt, even if it is plain & organic.

I have to be smart about what I eat tomorrow or I might end up regretting it.

Detox day 7

Kinda the same thing today... not much to post. My sinuses are still improving, thankfully.

Tomorrow is the big day of not eating.

I am a little nervous because I have 4 parent conferences tomorrow and if I am kindy shaky, and a little "out of it" they may think I have other issues of dependence besides sugar and need to detox at the Betty Ford Clinic.

I have had a couple people ask me about what detox I am doing so here it is:

The Fast Track Detox Diet
by Ann Louise Gittlemean

You can find plenty of positives and negatives out there on the web and of course she has some stuff you can buy (who doesn't) but you don't have too. She is a bit conceited in her writing, but really who cares, I wasn't wanting a new friend, just wanted to lose pounds and quit feeling like a bloated pig, and that seems to be working. There are some recipes that I thought would be helpful, but I have found that I enjoy mix veggies sauteed in olive oil spray much more than some of the more complicated recipes. I have a few I like that I will continue to use.

I will let you know how tomorrow goes...

Detox dish day 6

Oh boy, one week is almost up. If you know me then you know that it's a small miracle that I have stuck to this! I am really good a rationalizing my way into anything I decide I want, especially food!

I feel better today. I am still stuffy, but not as bad. With all this water I am drinking I can't help but believe it is flushing my sinuses out too. I am hoping for another good night sleep and feeling even better tomorrow.

Today we went to the aboretum and had a picnic. It was really fun and I didn't mind all the chips, bread and cookies that everyone else was eating. (Ok I really wanted a cookie!)

I have had plenty of energy through this which is great. I know that I have reduced my caloric intake, but I think I needed that.

So tomorrow is the last day of what this plan calls the "prequel" which is supposedly prepping your liver and colon for what's next...

THE ONE DAY FAST. That will be interesting. It's only one day...but it falls on a Monday. I am sure it will be hard. I have put too much time and energy into this to quit now.

Day 5

Went to bed last night, stuffy and lots of sinus pressure. Woke up this morning with more of the same. I feel like crap and it has nothing to do with the detox. Sudafed and Benedryll is not breaking open the seal that has taken over my nostrils.

I stuck to the detox today. Not hard when you don't feel like eating anyway and can't taste it.

Hoping tomorrow is better.

You should read this out loud with your nose pinched, to get the full effect of my misery.

Detox dish day 4

It's Thursday night and I am still cranking with the detox. It's going well and the scale keeps moving in the right direction. It's very motivating to get up each morning and see those numbers. Each morning after I weigh and there has been change, I think,ok, I can do this one more day. The day it stays the same or goes up, I will probably tank! The headache is gone, my afternoon sugar craving is a bit less intense, though I did tell Chris I really wanted a shake from chic-fil-a. I even had to make pancakes for my class today and I didn't eat a single bite!!! (The pancakes were part of a science lab showing physical and chemical changes in case you were curious.) One of my coworkers had a warm yummy cup of java right in front of me and I didn't lose my mind, steal it out of her hand and gulp it down even though I wanted to.

I told Jess today that I hadn't had sugar in any form since Monday and she thought was just unimaginable torture.

Well I am off to enjoy something that's better than dessert, "The Office and Community"

(That picture above conveyed my desire for the milkshake pretty well, plus he just makes me laugh when I look at him)

Love it!!!

Detox day 3

Day 3, hmmmmm. It was a mixed day for sure. The day started positively with my step on the scale! yippee! I had my yummy mushroom and parsley quiche I had made the night before for breakfast it was goooood! I also chomped my way through a salad at lunch which was quite the victory for me! I usually only like salads that someone else makes! I know it's a little strange. I even used a homemade vinegarette dressing. My salad had carrots, celery, cauliflower (was God a little bored when he made that veggie?) and some leftover turkey I had cooked. It was good.

So the first half of my day was positive, the second half has been a struggle. I have NOT cheated though I really wanted to. Food has been all around me this afternoon it seems. I cooked Jess a grilled cheese tonight and I think it was talking to me, saying "eat me", but I didn't. Then I had to make the grocery list and was trying to decide what to make the family so I was looking and thinking about food alot. I got depressed. Once I finish this "detox" what then? Never have sugar again, no more wonderful warm cup of coffee, bread!! TOAST! Chris can attest to this I could LIVE on toast!! So I read a little from the detox book about what is suggested after the detox and it is pretty much more of what I am doing right now if you want to be strict. There was a section called the "cheaters diet" which allowed for one type of "bad" food a week. WHAT! That's no fun.

So I felt defeated for awhile, but came to the conclusion that I won't be doing ALL that, but I will take what I have learned and tweak it to work for me. I definitely need lots more fruits and veggies and lots less processed crap, I get that and think I can do it! I also have learned that I do want to buy more organic fruits and veggie and meat that hasn't been treated with all those hormones. That alone will be a healthy change that I think my whole family can participate in.

Did you know that the fruit that Americans love the most are the ones that are the most heavily treated with pesticides. There is thought that this accumulation of pesticides can be linked to weight gain. Who knew strawberries could make you fat!

If your interested here are the top 10 toxic fruits:
strawberries, cherries, apples, mexican cantaloupe, apricots, blackberries, pears, rasperries, peaches.
the top toxic veggies:
spinach (one of the most heavily sprayed), hot and sweet peppers, celery, and potatoes.

I think these things are worth buying organic.

Food for thought I guess.

I am over my little crisis for the moment and my headache was much better today. It would come and go. I am tired and not sure if I am officially "detoxed" until I quit wanting to grab the
oreos and eat the whole dang bag!

Detox day 2

I have lived to see another detox day! Today was a little harder, but I stuck to it. I really like my smoothies that I have each morning. I think that will continue even after I am done with the detox, I love that I am not starving one hour into work like I normally am. I am currently finishing up my last bottle of water for the day. I haven't had coffee, tea, coke or milk at all. That's kinda weird.

I would like to say I feel great! But I have had a persistent headache all day. I really hope that it subsides tomorrow. It's dragging me down. If it weren't for the headache I could say that I feel really good. I am not starving and I think it might be working. I weigh myself everyday, but think I will keep that a secret till the end.

Ok I finished my water, gotta run...

Monday Report

So day 1 is almost over and I am not dead! :) I just told Chris that I went an entire day and had NO sugar! Not even some hidden sugar, not even high fructose corn syrup which is in everything!! NONE! Kinda crazy, I told Chris it was almost "unAmerican' of me.

The first day was good. I had this strange smoothie for breakfast that grew on me as I kept drinking, thought for sure I would be starving by 9:00 but I wasn't. I have had more water today than I have had in the last 5 days combined. Not nearly as irritating as I thought it would be, now if I have to get up and visit the potty all night long that WILL be irritating! I had serious sugar cravings at 2:30 which is the norm, I just didn't give into them. I have been known to come home in the afternoon and scarf down 2, count them 2, bowls of lucky charms cereal. I love lucky charms. That cereal shouldn't even exist!!!

Overall, I feel pretty good, I even made it to the gym tonight. I do have a slight headache which could be from a variety of things including lack of caffeine, lack of sugar, students, housework, laundry etc. You get the point.

Ok so that's day 1, so far so good. Maybe the scale will magically drop tomorrow. I like fast results!!

The daily detox

Two posts in one day wow! Look at me go.

Ok so I have decided to try the whole detox program starting on Monday and thought if I blog about the experience then maybe it would help hold me accountable. I won't be going into too much gross detail, but together we can see if this thing will help.

A little backstory for you:

I have been completely frustrated at my body lately. Trying shed just a few pounds has proven extremely difficult. I can go a few days of eating healthy, I can go a few days of excercising, but I don't seem to stick to it long enough to work.

While we were on our cruise I actually went to this seminar called "Detox for weight loss" which I thought was quite ironic because all we seemed to do on that ship was EAT. Anyway I listened to the fella explain how our livers have become toxic, and messed up due to so many things we put in our body. It can't do it's job properly and that messes everything else up. Etc.

I thought it was interesting and informative. We got home from our cruise and I tried to get back on track with my eating, cram train for my 10K and of course the scale didn't budge. Last Monday I got up and weighed myself and that was the final straw. I had spent a week eating healthier, ran a 10k and GAINED 2 pounds. Obviously something isn't working for me. That afternoon I got my mail and in it was my montly magazine from Lifetime Fitness, on the cover it listed an article called "11 day detox" and so that is when I decided to do it.

I shopped today. (dang it! eating healthy is expensive) and plan to start on Monday. I really wish I could take a week off of work to do this, but I kinda already did that for the cruise! So today I had some ice cream and tomorrow we will eat out after church then let the detox begin.

If anyone is even still reading this blog i have not gone off the deep end, I have not purchased some weirdo's "detox kit" and I will be consuming plenty of calories I think. It just doesn't seem like it will hurt to add more fruits and vegetables to my diet and maybe kick this addiction to sugar, caffeine, and all the other things in our highly processed foods. Nor will I preach to you about it either. :)

Check back Monday night for an update.

Joe

We recently decided to sign up for an "adopt an international student" through our church and UTD. We thought it would be great to get to know someone from another country, show them an American family (typical or atypical, depends on how you define American family) and to open up our home to them.

Well we found out this week that our friend is named "Joe" and he is from China. Of course Joe is not his real name, his real name is Yuxiang. I will have to work on how to pronounce it. He is an accounting major. So Chris emailed him and he was able to come to dinner last night. We had NO idea what to make, but we just settled on something simple like spaghetti.

Chris went to pick him up from campus because he doesn't have a car or driver's license. It was a really cool evening and I am just floored by this guy's bravery or crazy sense of adventure. We learned that he is 21 and a graduate student in accounting at UTD, he did his undergrad in his hometown and found out about this program online. So he boarded a plane, bound for a country he has never seen, with 2 large suitcases, landed in DFW and somehow made it to UTD where he was placed in an apartment with two Americans he didn't know. He knows no one and has been here only one month. He says he has only left campus to go to the grocery store and to do some volunteer clerical work at a nearby office.

He was of course pretty shy last night, but his english was impressive. We talked slower, but tried to not talk "louder" like stereotypical Americans do when they meet "foreeners". Joe brought some gifts to us too. They were some pretty little Chinese cut outs that you put on your windows for Chinese new year and them some little decorative ornaments that have the face of the Chinese opera on it. So sweet.

We told him that he didn't have to eat anything that he didn't like, we talked about how different food is here rather than in his country. I explained that Joshua doesn't eat most of what I cook anyway so I wouldn't be offended. So we eat and that fella ate like there was no tomorrow. I am sure after we topped it off with brownies he went home with a belly ache.

We brought him up to my school so he could see an American school and my classroom, we showed him our house that we were building. He seemed surprised it was made of wood, because he says everything is made of just concrete in his city.

We found out he likes basketball and soccer, so I am sure I see a few pick up games or a game of horse happening once we move into our new house. I hope he will come see the kids play one of their basketball games.

When it was time for him to go, he said, "I am sorry if I took too much of your time" broke my heart! I told him no of course not and how nice it was to meet him and we would see him soon. I wanted to hug him, but I didn't know...I just kept thinking how incredible lonely I would be if I was in his situation.

So I am looking forward to having more family time with Joe, thinking of things we can do for him, places we can take him etc.

Things I am pondering lately...

My mom said it was way past time for a post so I guess I still have a reader left so I thought I would write.

These are short snippets of things I have pondered recently

Why did I pay to run a race I didn't train for?

How can my son pick up a saxaphone for the first time 5 weeks ago, and already know how to read music and play several songs?

Why do Chris' sneezes hurt my ears so much?

How can I try to eat healthy all week, run 6 miles and GAIN 2 pounds?

Why can't parents be legally required to read to their children from a young age? It would make my job so much easier.

How did my daughter get to be so sweet. Some gene really skipped a generation or something?

How can I help 19 students individually all at once?

Why doesn't anyone want to buy my sofa and chair off craigslist?

I spend a lot of time pondering where to put my furniture in my knew house.

Where does the time go?

Why do weekends go so fast and weekdays go so slow.

How funny will the Office and Community be this Thursday?

Should I try this detox that I just read about. No not the alcoholic detox, a liver detox.
Would it really work.

As you can see I don't really have very deep thoughts! That's all I got for now. Maybe I can get back in the groove with this thing. If I do that detox then I can do a daily blog about that and give you all the fun details!!

Sometimes what you think you want, you really don't

So in early summer it was decided that Chris and the kids would head to Houston in August and I would stay behind due to a prior committment. Secretly all summer I have been a little giddy over this idea. I don't think I have EVER been the one at home while everyone else gone. I was secretly excited to sleep in the middle of the bed each night, to wake up late and not have to fix anyone breakfast, then lunch, then dinner. (Just FYI I had a pretzel from target from lunch, pathetic) To have a couple days off from being the "Recreation Director" at Camp Havard trying to come up with free, but fun entertainment. I was looking forward to staying up late watching something other than Sportscenter. I was looking forward to "getting things done" such as my scrapbook and some back to work shopping. I was excited about getting to have dinner with a girlfriend and catch up.

Well, it's kinda strange or maybe just a commentary on me, but this morning when this day finally arrived, I kissed my man and my babies bye, and went back into the house, I was sad. I just wanted to go with them.

Sometimes what you think you want, you really don't.

Happy Anniversary!!

Chris and I had the good fortune to spend a week in Cancun at beautiful moon palace resort. We packed up the kiddos and sent them off to have a week of their own fun at grandparents.

We arrived the night of the 25th which is our actual anniversary and got checked into our room. I can't begin to tell you how gorgeous the room was so I will let the picture below show...
We ordered room service for a late dinner.


Friday morning we woke up to the sun shining on this amazing place. We went to work out, met with a resort representative to get our week all planned out and then we ate breakfast. Chris and I split up at that point and I got my toes and nails done at the spa and then spent the afternoon laying out... I will say that line above many times kinda like lather, rinse, repeat...



That night we got all dressed up for a nice dinner at one of the restaurants at the resort. We had a delicious anniversary dinner and at the end Chris surprised me with these sparkly wonders... I LOVE THEM!!!



We were so bummed, the picture, which we had to get someone to take for us, turned out blurry, but you get the gist.

Saturday and Sunday were met with some rain, but we made the best of it and spent lots of time reading and relaxing, we did a little shopping for souveniers and checked out one of the other resorts. We even had a rainbow at dinner Sunday night.





Monday morning the sun came back out and Chris was thrilled to get to play a round of golf. He was so happy because he got to play all by himself and there was not another soul on the course with him till hole 18. I spent the morning doing what I do best, sleeping, eating, reading and laying out...



Monday afternoon we took an excursion to a zip line. It was great fun! I am not a big fan of heights, but I managed and was glad I did it. Chris even went upside down on one of them. I opted out of that one. I will have to scan the souvenier picture that I bought of the zip line. I know some of you will need proof...

Tuesday morning we rode bikes around the resort and then we spent the day laying out at the beach or the pool. We also went out on a catamaran.

Wednesday we had to come home. I really wanted to stay and just have my kids come to me...

It was a wonderful week to celebrate 15 years together. Chris is the most wonderful husband in the world and I do not deserve him, but I am sure glad I have him. I love you sweet man! You are as handsome today as you were when I first laid eyes on you in 6th grade~ Thank you for loving me so well all these years.

Now some more pics...

We are at CAMP!

Camp L-A-Z-Y is the camp were visiting and we plan to stay here for awhile.

It's GREATNESS!!!

Here are a few things you can get at Camp Lazy...just in case you want to join us

no set time to wake up, alarm clocks are strictly forbidden!

no set time to get dressed. Sometimes the camp head honcho tries to tell some of the campers they should get dressed before lunch, but that doesn't always happen.

no set uniform. Shorts, t-shirts, flip flops, baseball caps, or just your swimsuit, this is the standard dress at camp lazy

no real need to excercise, it's pretty warm outside the bunk house so sometimes it's fun to dress like you are gonna go work out, but it never really happens.

Dining plan... hmmm well it's pretty hit or miss. It's completely ok to eat a late breakfast and then snack your way through the rest of the day. Sometimes dinner happens, other times it doesn't.

Sunday is the toughest day on the schedule, but it helps us not forget certain important things like actually trying to match your clothes for church, how to do your hair and put on make-up. This is usually all done by noon so we get back to Camp Lazy pretty quickly.

Grown up Camp Lazy is taking place in Cancun this coming week and in Joshua, TX for the younger lazy people. Then there will be Family Camp Lazy taking place in S. Padre in July.

Unfortunately Camp Lazy will be ending in mid-August and is gone until December when there will be a Mini Camp Lazy occuring!! Won't you join us!!

MMMMMMM It's good stuff

I may have only spent 3 years in the "deep south", but one thing that left it's mark on this Texas girl is Sweet Tea!

When I moved to Georgia you could only find sweet tea at Chic Fil A here in the lone star state, but in Georgia I am pretty sure the water fountains flow with sweet tea. I drank it and became an addict for sure. I probably have lots of cavities due to my love of sweet tea but that would require a trip to the dentist and we all know how that ended up for me. (Scroll down a few posts for that one.)

So today I just had to try the latest spot serving sweet tea here in Texas.

McDonalds.

I have to say it is

McDelicious AND cheap too. $1.00 for a large.

So I am excited to add another spot on my list for sweet tea this summer.

The ultimate sweet tea can only be found at Mary Mac's located in Atlanta, that's not the most convenient for me so I have to settle for these places listed in order of favorite:

Chicken Express

Chic Fil A

Sonic mango sweet tea

and now

McDonalds

Bring on the cavities...

Catchin up

Alright keep scrolling down...

I have tried to play a little catch up today!

HAPPY SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Camp

So BOTH my kids went to church camp. This is very strange for me! I feel like I have gone from 100 to 0 in a day. Last week I was busy as ever with baseball, softball, end of year school stuff, house stuff, errands and more, now I am sitting here blogging with NOTHING to do. They left on Saturday and will be back on Wednesday. I am sure they are having fun. They do better without me than I do without them! Here is how I have spent my time...

Finished a book

Painted my piggies blue

re-did their bathroom. This included a midnight trip to the 24 hour walmart. WOW, that's another post in and of itself...

Worked out/went running twice so far

blogged

hung out with my man (that's the best part)

Not sure what I will accomplish today. The house is so quiet, I turned on the Disney channel just for the noise.