We Went #All-In and are LOVING It!!!

I know, I know.  It's been FOREVER since I've put together a blog post.  I even had a relative mention it at Thanksgiving (I'm looking at you A!!!).  I would love to say that life has just been crazy busy, but that would be a lie.  I just haven't blogged.  I  have been reading blogs a lot, and I love doing that.  I just keep finding other things to do instead of actually putting together a blog post!

I wanted to take some time out of my MLK day to give you a little insight into a WONDERFUL lifestyle change D & I have made for 2015.  We have gotten into Advocare, thanks to the wonderful progress of my friend L.  I'm 100% serious when I'm calling this a lifestyle change.  Since January 7, we have eaten every. single. supper. at. home. This is such an unbelievable change for us, since we have been known to eat every supper out (or via takeout) in a week.  We've also eaten every breakfast at home, and almost every lunch.  There's only 2 exceptions to that, and they both fell on the same weekend when we had 2 birthdays.  Even then, I was able to eat fast food and stay on track.

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Here's the rundown of our decisions to join Advonation.

1. D's health evaluation.  His work has a tiered health insurance system, where you pay a certain amount based on a series of tests.  He didn't have a wonderful evaluation, and with parts of his family history (and mine), I knew we had to do something different.
2. Our finances.  We spend WAY too much money dining out.  As in, dining out was our #3 expense for 2014, behind our mortgage and our truck payment.  We spent more money dining out than we did on gas.  or groceries. and 2x more than we paid on my student loans.  CRINGE
3. The Comment.  This is, admittedly, 100% superficial on my part, but it nonetheless became a motivator for me.  In December, a work friend pm'ed me asking if I was pregnant.  I AM NOT.  When I asked her why the heck she asked that (and also laughed at how certainly I would have told her if I were), her reponse was that a kid had asked her.  A kid who I haven't seen in months.  Which means that my expanding gut, which was caused by none other than my poor dietary choices, was now the fodder of my high school students' rumor mill.  Rest assured, I squashed that immediately, both with her class and my own.  Now, I'm not proud of this, but it bothered me, so, I wanted to make a change for myself.
4. L's family results.  They were phenomenal.  She and her husband both look as great as they did when I met them 10 years ago.  They've had 3 kids since then.  And we've aged 10 years.  

So now, we have jumped in.  We've even had such wonderful results that I've decided to become a distributor, meaning that if you want in, you can order from me!  I'm not ready to share our results just yet, namely because D is a few days behind me, and my results are more intangible than photographable or numerical.  What I can do is give you a few basics.

1. We started with the 24-day challenge.
2. It involves essentially clean eating.  Cut out the processed junk we shouldn't be eating anyway.  But only cut it out completely for 24 days.  Then after that you can stick and stay at 80% on and 20% off.
3. It's a nutrition plan, not a meal plan.  You eat real foods that you love.  This can involve eating out or dining in.  It also involves eating fruits, veggies, lean meats, and the like.  
4. There are vitamin supplements to take.  Like, a lot of them.  But, if we're being honest, most of us are getting the nutrition we need.
5. You need to eat.  It gives you the opportunity to eat 6 times a day
6. You need to drink water.  Current health recommendations, which are part of the plan, set a minimum of 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water.  So if you way 200 lbs, you need 100 ounces of water.  I thought this was going to be a daunting task.  It really isn't.  D already drinks way more than he needs to, and all it took for me was to fill my Tervis and drink it down 3 times.  If I do that, I get more than I need.  

In the next few days, I plan to share some of our Adovocare based meals.  For now, I encourage you to check out the system here or email/facebook/tweet/text me with any questions you have!  Also, talk to you doctor if you're under their care for anything.  We don't want to thwart your personal health scenario by mixing supplements.  You can also order from me here if you want, but I'd love for you to contact me about it first!  I can give you more options.

I'll leave you for now, with a quote from D's mom.  "D says he feels like a million bucks!"

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore Review

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Back in early July, I joined the NovelTea Book Club, run by the fabulous Kristin over at My Life as a Teacup.  For July, we delved into Robin Sloan's Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore.  I'm loving the book club aspect itself, as a diverse group of people from around the world get to chat on or own time about the merits & themes running through the book!

The novel centers around a 20-something man who takes a job working the night shift at a bookstore that is open for, you guessed it, 24 hours.  As the story progresses, you become enveloped in discovering the secrets behind some interesting characters checking out library style some even more interesting books.  

Without giving away too many details, you find a juxtaposition between history and the future, behind analag and digital, and between moving forward while being respectful of the past.

All in all, I found the novel interesting, though not riveting.  The mystery itself is interesting, while the secrecy & historical references were intriguing.  It's an easy read, and if you're headed towards the beach maybe grab it up for a summer read.

The August book is going to be Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.  Want to join us?  Find the NovelTea Book Club group on Facebook here!  I'd love for you to join us!

Lazy Weekends

I sure do love weekends like we just had!!! Even better when they follow up a week where I got to see 2 great friends & my mom!

Friday:

after D got home from work, we ordered pizza (with free cheese breadsticks thanks to a quick google search) & grabbed a Free Redbox (no secret to that one: just used the code they emailed me.) Has anyone else seen Ride Along? It's hilarious. We both laughed through the entire thing. Kevin Hart is a genius. We also discovered we had a free HBO weekend, so D set about recording every movie he possibly could. I also had to record Girl Meets World, but more on that later. 

Saturday:

D had to help a friend's parents' who are moving. That led me to a morning of blog reading, Daily Yoga, and dishes. I also started the process of emptying out our water softener. I scooped and scooped, until I could reach no further. The dog seemed to think I was crazy. When D came back, he finished the job, including having me help him clean off a nozzle and reload new salt into the machine. We are really hoping this takes care of our nasty staining brown water problem. Next, we headed down to our friends' new place, which is gorgeous. We helped them move some stuff around, and then S & I scoped out updates to one of their bathrooms while the guys did...well, idk really. We grabbed some BWW with them and called it a night. 

Sunday: 

After a yummy breakfast of cinnamon rolls, I jumped in the shower & we headed out to scout some hunting land with the same friends from the night before & my FIL. It's a good thing we had plans to see them again too, since I left my cell phone in their kitchen the night before!  We spent some time riding 4 wheelers around in the woods. Idk what we accomplished, but it was fun. After returning home, we watched one of our recorded movies-R.I.P.D. It was okay. I had never heard of it, but it's very similar to the MIB series, but with Ryan Reynolds. We both grabbed quick showers & downed some nachos while settling in for movie number 2: The Wolverine. Loved it. 

All in all: we had a fantastic weekend & we hope you did too!!!

#JambaJuice

As some of you may know, I'm a part of this social media network called Influenster. Through this outlet, I was able to get a FREE Jamba Juice at home smoothie kit. I was first introduced to Jamba Juice while MayTermming in Hawaii. Like all things Hawaiian, I fell in love. Unfortunately, JJ is not really a thing here, so I haven't had one since 2006. (Side note: Target Cafe has 2 flavors, neither of which I have yet tried.) You can imagine how pumped I was to find a free coupon and a coupon for $1 off in my #SurfsUpVoxBox last week. They're super great. Here's how they work:

1.  Go to WalMart. Search through their frozen smoothie section. Come up empty handed. Drive to Kroger and find these bad boys (hopefully in a more organized fashion). Consumers choice: skip the extra WalMart run; you can also find them at Target. Wherever you end up, make sure you grab some apple juice if you don't already have some. 

2. Rush home and gather the goods. Ignore the small child inside you wanting to pick up fast food. It'll be worth it. The goods: Blender. Juice. Smoothie pouch (I grabbed Caribbean Passion like in the pic and Razzmatazz).  

3. Put the fruit & a cup of juice in the blender. Blend. (There's directions on the pouch about speed and time if you're picky and/or a smoothie virgin.)

4. Load into a big cup (like my 24 oz Tervis) and enjoy!!! Your other option is to split it into 2 cups and enjoy the suggested serving size with a friend. I'm not about to share my JJ with anyone. 

And that's it. They're delicious. And healthy. And easy. And did I mention delicious? Maybe a touch pricey, since you're only getting 1 drink out it, but you can always look for coupons, and use your Kroger card for gas points or your Cartwheel app & RedCard at Target. 

Disclaimer: I received the above product for free from Influenster.com for review purposes. However, all opinions are 100% true to my own feelings. Want in on free stuff? Shoot me a message. 

ReVolution Update: June

So I've been way too lazy with the old blog! I haven't posted anything since March! I definitely want to remedy that ASAP. Here's another New Years Revolution update

1. Household Chores: totally fallen by the wayside. I'm going to have to get my act together for the summer!

2. Lose Weight: my target was to be down 15 pounds by May 31. I was doing amazingly well, and then I just quit. I even gained back about half of what I lost. New goal: be down 10 before school starts  on August 11. 

2a. Drink more water: I have been doing better. I bought a Tervis from my alma mater and that really motivates me. I want to be downing 2 a day minimum. Plan: drink 2 Tervis' of water before getting anything else to drink. 

2b. Go to the gym: this majorly slacked off for the semester with weekly meetings and tutoring 2x a week. However, I went 6 times in June before we went on vacation, and I've added a 30 day yoga challenge to my summer routine. 

2c. Take a Vitamin. Fell off that wagon too. Time to get back on it. 

3. Spend less: that didn't go well at  the beginning of the year. We had a TON of unexpected expenses. I did a great job limiting my Starbucks trips this Spring, and I am trying to cook more dinners at home here in the summertime. 

4. Read the Bible. This just isn't happening. Period. I'm probably going to have to restart this goal next year. 

How are you doing with your ReVolutions?

Weekend WrapUp

This will be a boring one folks!

Friday: we got another day off from school because Mother Nature has had it out for us! At my house, we got less than 1" of snow. At my in-laws, which is in the county I teach for? 4". That's right folks. FOUR. We live 45 minutes away. So I spent Friday grabbing some free wi-fi, and a great lunch, at the local Panera. Caught up with a student from last semester, graded a few projects, mostly piddled around. Friday night we, gasp, had dinner at home and caught up on some TV. 

Saturday: IHOP & errands for breakfast!  My hubby & his dad have been working on rebuilding a truck D bought. Not the new one that I told D we would have til he died, but a beater that will, hopefully, cut down on the fuel bill. It also gives us an extra 4 wheel drive, and an extra car so we can stop borrowing D's Nana's. I think we had her car for 2 months this fall. Thanks Nana!

So while they worked, I did the sort of procrastination I'm good at. I cleaned the house & watched reruns of Will & Grace. I also may have taken a nap. I grabbed a pizza & a free RedBox, which gave us our evening plans. By the way, watch Captain Phillips. It's great. Maybe a touch long, but great. I also went to bed before 10:00. I told D it was to prep for Spring Forward. In actuality? I was just sleepy & didn't want to watch whatever he had recorded. 

Sunday: I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast (I have a great recipe: open pop can. Bake. Smother in icing from the can) before grabbing my laptop & heading to the local coffee shop. While there, I finished up grading 1 of the 2 projects I have (42 power points of the same material). I also relearned a valuable lesson about headphones at the coffee shop. Luckily, D was headed into town so he dropped mine off for me! Grabbed some DQ & headed home. Once there, and post ice cream, I spent a while digging these plants out of my flower bed. Idk what they are called, but they are big balls of grass. The previous owner planted them along the side walk, which left them taking over the walkway & they were enormous! I'm exhausted now, but they are gone! And, yes, I was able to spend time outside 2 days after it showed. It snowed Friday & then Saturday & Sunday were over 60 degrees. 

Tonight's plan: popcorn for dinner, bad tv, or maybe a movie, and early bed. That alarm clock will be way too soon, since I'm sure I won't fall asleep at what my body thinks is 9:00. 

How was your weekend?

Midweek Confessions

It's that time again! As always, don't forget to go check out the link ups over at emyselfandi! 

1. I'm not a Downton Abbey watcher. Or a Scandal watcher. Or an Orange is the New Black watcher. What do we watch in my house? Duck Dynasty. Two and a Half Men. Big Bang Theory. The entire CBS Monday lineup. Shows about cars. Shows about gold mining and trucking and I don't even know what. And most recently: Modern Family. High brow stuff? No. Entertaining? Generally. 

2. We haven't had a home cooked meal this week. I haven't been to the gym. Well. I did on Monday, but not to work out. More on that later. I feel disgusting. 

3. I made my test copies for first period at 8:15. Class starts at 8:25. The worksheet they did after their test? A student assistant (not mine, but my classroommate's) made those WHILE my kids took their test. Oops. 

4. I started my day yesterday by waking up, getting in the car, and heading to the gym. Impressive? Not so much when you know that I did so in order to shower. We didn't have any electricity (line down across the road at the elementary school)     I also left my washrag there. 

What fun things have you done recently?