Juicing, Veganism, Raw Food Diet

For about three weeks I have told myself I was going to update my blog. I sit at the computer and enter in all my reports for work, peruse Facebook, play a game or two and shut 'er down...then I remember I was going to blog. Grrrr, I'll do it later. It's amazing how later turns into later and later and later and before I know it three weeks has gone by.  No more procrastinating!

To Juice or Not to Juice
About a month ago I watched this video - Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead - and after watching it I forwarded the video to my mom and stepdad with instructions to watch it.  After they watched it we all discussed the two men in the video and how much we could all relate to them. I am not going to go into detail here about the video (because you can go watch it yourself) but the premise behind it is how the food we eat everyday can do so much harm to our bodies.  If you are at all interested in how food affects your body I suggest you watch the video.

We all agreed to try a 10 day juice fast.  It was hard getting used to some of the concoctions (recipes) we were trying at first but after a few days we started making our own juices up and we all enjoyed those so much better!  Basically you take a bowl like this
and using a juicer

 you turn it into a yummy juice full of nothing but fruits and veggies.

I will say the first 3 days were the toughest. No processed foods, no meat, no dairy, no sugar, no caffeine (I actually kicked my caffeine habit the week before we started) - just fruits and vegetables. We were drinking a rainbow every day!  After the initial shock to my body was gone then around the 4th day I started feeling amazing.  By Saturday of that week (we had started on Monday) I had so much energy and had not suffered from any migraines or fibromyalgia pain all week! I couldn't believe it. 

BUT, the expense of juicing all those fruits and veggies was not something I was prepared for. I realized I couldn't really afford to do just that for another week so I switched to blending smoothies and eating a raw food diet for the next week.  Raw food is just that - instead of juicing my fruits and vegetables I ate them raw or threw them in a blender along with coconut water and ice and made a smoothie.  I still didn't have any meat, processed foods, fast food, dairy, pasta, desserts, etc.  When you juice you have to add a whole bunch of fruits/veggies just to get 8-10 oz of juice. I don't eat as much when the food is whole and raw and I don't require as much when it's blended.

As I have gone through this journey over the last few weeks I have decided to begin eating small meals but I am still not eating any processed foods, meat, or dairy products. I STILL feel amazing and my aches and pains and migraines are gone!  I consciously try to "eat a rainbow" of fruits/veggies every day. I blend my food in the morning for breakfast and in the evening after dinner for a snack (my favorite dessert now is 1 banana, 1 apple, 1 TBS of natural peanut butter - the only ingredient listed is peanuts - 1/2 cup of almond milk and ice...blend it and drink - so delicious!!) 

A lot of people have asked me why I am choosing this path.  I have never been much of a meat eater anyway and lately I have read more and more about vegans and have wanted to try to do this.  I want to #1 Be healthier and #2 lose weight.  I have fibromyalgia, have suffered with migraines for 20 years and I am pre-menopausal...I don't like taking medications and I am always looking for alternative (natural) ways to deal with health issues.  For sleep problems I take melatonin.  For hot flashes I take Black Cohosh Extract.  So after watching this video and seeing how much food affects our bodies I decided why not give it a try?  I am so happy with the results!
Oh yeah on a side note, I have lost weight too!

Pre-Hurricane Season

Oh boy...not even June 1st yet, the official start of hurricane season, and this is the 2nd named storm of this year. Hope this is not indicative of what's to come! See where it says TUE AM 35 mph - yeah, that's where I live. This is a small 35 mph storm, but still gets my senses up to see this type of weather map with a cone and my city in that cone.

Cancer - such an ugly word

One of my best friend's just discovered last month that her 17-yr-old has cancer.  This has been such a shock to everyone who knows Halee.  Go here to read more about Halee's story.

I am having a hard time wrapping my brain around this. Their lives have changed so drastically from where they were just 3 weeks ago. Halee was running for Interact club President and her life was revolved around her friends/boyfriend/schoolwork. Now she is dealing with chemo/radiation/hair loss/weight loss/solitude due to her depressed immune system and the fact she is getting treatments 5 hours from home.

On top of Halee's health concerns, they have no insurance.  Click the link below if you are able to help out financially. If lots of people would just donate a little, it would go so far in helping this sweet young lady.
Please help!

Once A Week Cooking

We eat out a lot. When I say a lot, I am talking every morning for breakfast, every day for lunch and at least 4 out of 7 nights a week.  There's 3 of us at home (my husband, my 15-yr-old and myself) and we all have hectic busy schedules so it's easier to grab breakfast through a drive-thru, lunch through a drive-thru and then pick up Chinese, pizza, or chicken for dinner.  Unfortunately this isn't so great on the pocketbook or the waistline!

I have been wanting to do "once-a-week" or "once-a-month" cooking for a long time but could never get motivated to go through with it.  Thanks to a friend of mine who actually did this last week, and posted pics of her progress/meals I finally decided to just go for it!  Last Sunday I got up, planned my meals for the week, went grocery shopping (husband went with me to help since I had a very detailed list he could follow) and then came home and started cooking. It took me all day - yes 7 hours of cooking, BUT it was so worth it!! This is what I produced in that 7 hours....

I made a meatloaf, beef stroganoff, baked ziti, 12 twice baked potatoes, 3 bags of cooked chopped chicken, 3 bags of ground beef mixture (mixed with peppers, onions, shredded carrots), 7 sausage, egg, cheese biscuits for breakfasts, 6 breakfasts pizzas, 1 gallon of chicken stock and 1 bag of chicken/cream cheese/chive mixture to be used inside crescent rolls for chicken packets.

I was able to pull out our dinner every morning to get it defrosted and with only about 15-20 minutes prep each evening we had a wonderful home-cooked meal. I made burritos one night with a packet of ground beef and a packet of chicken and had so much left over I rolled each burrito individually and froze those so now we have 13 burritos to add to my dinner choices.

Today I am planning next week's menu and going to add a few things to what I currently have stored in the freezer so hopefully if I am able to do this for a couple of hours every weekend several weeks in a row, then I will get enough stored up so I only have to cook one big day/month.

Pic A Day 2/5/12 Azaleas are blooming

This winter we have had the absolute craziest weather! I live in FL and we are used to mild winters, but this year has been unseasonably mild all winter! It's only the 5th of February and look at the azaleas...they are starting to bloom!! Oh my, if we have a cold snap in the next month or so, there is no telling what these poor plants around town are going to do.

Empty Nest

I record all my favorite shows on my DVR and watch them when I get a chance. One of my favorites is Dog Whisperer.  Since I have 2 Labrador Retrievers I watch this show in order to get helpful tints for controlling my dogs.  Today I caught up on about 5 episodes, one of which had Cesar helping a middle-age couple with their spoiled Pomeranian. As he consulted with them he realized their spoiling of this little monster was due to the fact that their children had flown the coop...they were now empty nesters and having to adjust to this new life event.

I found myself tearing up while watching this episode.  I too have experienced the loss of my children flying the coop - it was terribly depressing and rewarding all at the same time.  My sweet 15-yr-old is still at home so I am not completely child free, but when you consider I went from six kids pretty much full-time to one in a very short time period of 2-3 yrs...it was extremely difficult.  Going from band practices, cheerleading practice, football games Thursday and Friday nights, concerts, competitions, church youth events, parties, sleepovers to nothing was something I wasn't prepared to deal with at the time.

When I see my friends whose lives revolve around their children's schedules and who throw themselves into all their children's activities I can't help but feel sorry for the loss they are going to feel soon.  I try to remind friends to keep up with their own friends and their own activities as well as their children's so perhaps the sense of loss won't be quite so hard.  I speak from personal experience - because my life revolved completely around my kids.

Would I change anything? No of course not! I thank God for that time I was able to share in their lives and nurture and guide them.  I am thankful for the relationship I have with my children now. In fact, I would like for YOU to meet my children...

This is my oldest son, Jon and his girlfriend of many years Heather. They live a few miles from me. He will be 26 this year.

This is my step-son, Justin and his lovely bride Heather. They are building a home in the Orlando area and will be celebrating their 1-yr anniversary in May. He will be 25 in March.

This is one of my twins, Felicia with her husband Will and my 3 grandsons - Allan, Nathan and Shawn.  Will is in the Navy, they are currently living in GA and they will be celebrating 8 yrs of marriage on Valentine's Day. Felicia will be 25 in November.

 I looked and looked and can not find a picture of my other twin, Tina with her entire family! I can't believe that! Well I had to put two pics for her.  The picture above is her children, Bailee and Brayden.

This is Tina and her husband Bryant. He is in the Marines and they too live in GA. They will be celebrating 6 yrs of marriage on Feb. 11th.

This is my step-daughter Brianna with my granddaughter, Bailee. Brianna lives locally and will be 21 in September.

Last but not least this is my 6'4" baby...Dakota. He will be 16 this year and has been homeschooled his entire life.  Dakota is an intelligent, sensitive, thoughtful, considerate young man.  I am so excited to see what his future holds!

Pic A Day 2/4/12 Contraband movie

Family Night - we saw this movie today. It was a pretty good movie...but the language was awful, awful, awful! Would I recommend it to anyone - ummm, no, because nobody should have to sit through a movie filled with expletives in every sentence. If I were by myself I would have walked out.

Pic A Day 2/3/12 Helpmate

I just have to post another picture of my husband because today I woke up anxious and tired...not knowing how I was going to fit all my work in for the day. I was thinking there was no way I could do it all and I was going to have to work all weekend too.  Then without me having to say a word (or ask) my dear husband offered to help me...so we divided the jobs up and we both finished around 1:00! Thank you Jesus for my helpmate!

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. Ecclesiastes 4:9

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her...Ephesians 5:25

Pic A Day 2/2/12 Cosmetics

I began my semi-annual job as a cosmetic merchandiser today.  During the Spring and Fall I reset the cosmetic sections in Publix, Winn Dixie, Kmart and sometimes help out in Walmart.  Today I worked in Publix doing the Maybelline section.  There are lots of merchandisers who won't touch cosmetics because it is very tedious work. I happen to enjoy it immensely! It satisfies my "organization" gene. :-)

Especially when I go from this....

to this (which only happens when I work in a new store/remodel)....

Pic A Day 32 Stormy Weather

I am praising God right now! I put another 150 miles on my car today while working. We had terrible storms all day in our area. I chose to begin my day going east since the weather forecast showed the storms coming out of the west.  Praising God because I managed to get through my entire work day with only a few sprinkles. It wasn't until 3:30 when I turned around to begin my 1.5 hour drive home that I ran into THIS storm pictured.  I was driving across the water into this lovely storm...but it was quite alright since this was the first storm I had dealt with all day.

Pic A Day #31 Driving

This was my view all day. I worked a long day finishing up some stores for the end of the month. I drove 250 miles today. Ho hum

Pic A Day #30 Blogging

I don't really have a picture for today - I worked my patootie off all day in Kmart resetting the Maybelline and Loreal makeup sections, but since I was thinking about my blogs today I thought I would just share a couple with you.

I started couponing about 6 yrs ago. I created a blog about couponing and getting lots of stuff for free but due to my work schedule I am unable to keep that one up anymore. If it wasn't for my daughter, who I taught to coupon, then I would never know about the great deals! Now she has started a blog to share her knowledge.  Anyway, if you would like help or more information about couponing, check out our blogs!
Mine is Addicted To Savings and hers is Southwest Georgia Couponing.

Public Toilets

I have a pet peeve with public toilets...want to hear about it? Too bad, you're going to anyway.  Due to my job as a merchandiser I get to see lots of public restrooms. What do you want from me? When ya gotta go, ya gotta go! :-)  Anyway, I would love to know who decides where to place the toilet paper dispenser on the wall in these restrooms.  It either has to be a man or a vertically challenged individual!

In every bathroom I go into with the exception of Publix grocery stores, and convenience stores (since I don't use their bathrooms) the dispenser is placed below waist level, when sitting down.  Okay, so what you say? Well the big deal is that the dispenser is probably 6" to 12" in height so a woman has to reach way down and up under the dispenser to find the toilet paper and then try to pull some off.  Heaven help us if it's a brand new roll thereby not wanting to "roll" and we are then able to only pull off one broken piece at a time.  Oh this really does irritate me!

Kudos to Publix (and whoever designs/places their dispensers) because they are actually placed above a woman's shoulders...while she is sitting of course.  Great job Publix!

Pic A Day #29 Blessings come in many forms

My husband started working as a merchandiser back in July. This was a long-answered prayer. His last job was so stressful and demanding...it was taking a toll on him physically and on us as a family. As soon as he left that job, this next one fell in his lap.  He is a Wrigley's rep with a route of 200 - 250 stores.  We are so thankful for the easy transition from one job to the next. There are so many people unemployed out there and the fact that he didn't skip a beat between jobs is a God-send!

Not only did he get a job so quick but he got THIS job.  He is sent so much candy every month! This picture is our bedroom...this is just the deliveries for the last couple of weeks. We have to rent a storage shed because we have so much candy.  Greg has started swapping out candy for produce at a vegetable stand, deer meat with a local hunter and coffee at his favorite coffee shop.  Good old fashioned trading of products! 

Pic A Day #28 Happy Birthday Kab

This is my goofy younger brother, Kab (his nickname.)  His birthday is today.  Happy birthday dear!

Pic A Day #27 Date Night

I sure am in love with this man...my hun bun! We have a date night tonight and I am so excited...as excited as when we first started dating 17 yrs ago.

Pic A Day #26 Fibromyalgia

I woke up this morning and before my feet hit the floor I could tell what the weather was going to be like for the day. We are under tornado warnings and expecting lots and lots of rain throughout the day. I can tell all of this without turning on the TV.  I can do this because I have fibromyalgia and arthritis in all my joints and when the weather is like this I am in an amazing amount of pain.

I tried working...I drove to my first store and sat in my car for 15 mins trying to summon up the strength to actually get out and walk inside.  My body won - I am now back home in my PJ's laying in the recliner.

Pic A Day #25 My grandbaby

This is my youngest grandson, Brayden...isn't he a cutie!?

Pic A Day #24 Hallmark greeting cards reset

I worked overnight from 9-5 last night in Walmart.  A team of us were putting up new fixtures/cards in the Hallmark section. I LOVE the new displays!  Today I am tired though! A good day to chill out at home.

When you are in Walmart next time, go check out the new displays and think of me! :-)

Pic A Day #23 American Idol

I am so excited! I love American Idol! What I like about it is how everyday kids/young adults get to showcase their talent and the top 10 get their dreams realized.  Some of these people are so incredibly talented!  It's American Idol time!

Pic A Day #22 Crossing Jordan

Today is a lazy day...nothing but peace and relaxing on the couch.  I'll be catching up with one of my favorite shows - Crossing Jordan. I am addicted to this show! It's an oldie that comes on the Crime & Investigation network and I like to DVR it for days like this.

Pic A Day #21 MARS candy

This is what I have been doing all week...putting out MARS chocolates at Walmart. I can't get over the amount of chocolate Walmart sells in a day!

Pic A Day #20 Funeral

This is my youngest son, Dakota. One of his good friend's had a relative pass away this week. Dakota's youth pastor asked him to accompany him to the funeral.  Dakota borrowed his dad's suit to wear to this funeral  - it fit him perfectly and he looked so nice!

Pic-A-Day #19 Happy Birthday Greg!

This is my wonderful husband - he is 51 today!! I love this man so much!!

Pic-A-Day #18 Motorola Droid

My name is Elisa and I am totally addicted to my phone! I have had a Droid for several years now. I rely on my phone for so many things - I think I would literally fall off the planet if I lost my phone! 

For fellow Droid users - what are your favorite apps?

ROMNEYSANTORUMPAULPERRYGINGRICH - omania

YES I purposefully did my post title that way...that's the way I feel about this election and ALL elections in general - all the names run together.  I can appreciate our right to vote, so I vote.  Praise God for Democracy and our freedom to vote.  With that said though...I hate trying to pick a candidate to vote for.  I think every one of them say whatever they think is going to get them to the White House and once there they change their tune.

I also detest the bashing they do of one another.  Grow up you idiots! This isn't elementary school! 

So tell me? Who are you backing?

Pic-A-Day #17

SO VERY EXCITED!! My son (in the front wearing green shirt/black jacket) is coming home in a little bit from his youth ski trip! I sure love this kid! :-)

Pic-A-Day #16

Hmmm, what is that you say? Glad you asked! Neither Greg nor I like too many knick-knacks around the house (hate dusting everything!) but this is something we both liked and purchased together while on vacation a couple of months ago.  We were in Helen, GA and went into a glass-blowing shop.  This is jellyfish inside a globe and the entire thing is blown glass.  We thought it was pretty cool!

Written words

I am on the computer a lot during the week. Between, emails, my job boards, facebook, and games I play I spend way too much time online.  Yes I am ADDICTED!

One thing I try very hard to do is watch how I "say" things online.  The written word is so easy to misinterpret due to the fact the reader can't see my facial expressions or hear my tone.  I am a joker...sarcastic person by nature so I have to try even harder to get my message across without offending the reader. 

Recently there was an instance on Facebook where someone misinterpreted my words and went ballistic on me. I sat there reading their response and shock/anger filled me.  I got my fingers ready to fire a quick retort back at them - then praise the Lord - I stopped and walked away.  After thinking about it for a few hours I just went back and deleted my part of the entire conversation and thought to myself  "LOL, when other people read THAT person's words they are going to think that person is a kook!" 

I know, I know it wasn't the right thought for me to have...but it made me laugh nonetheless!

Pic-A-Day #15

This is my best friend, Vickie.  We used to be sister-in-laws 20+ yrs ago. My ex-husband and her husband are brothers.  Vickie and I worked closely together the last 2 yrs after I got her into merchandising with me.  She has since decided to go back into insurance and she only does merchandising on the side for extra cash.  Tomorrow I will start my spring cosmetic resets...something she and I have done together the last yr - I am going to miss working side-by-side with her! Sniff, sniff

Pic-A-Day #14

My husband went fishing at my dad's lake. He was walking along the shoreline and happened to see this critter on a tree...he took this with  his cell phone. I love this picture.

Pic-A-Day #13

This is my youngest son, Dakota. He is 15 yrs old. This picture was from Christmas 2010 in Gatlinburg, TN.  I am sending my sweet boy off with our church youth group tomorrow morning for the annual ski trip - they are going to Gatlinburg.  The only difference about this trip and all the others he has gone on is there is a no cell phone policy.  After much discussion, prayers and God's quiet whisper assuring me this is a good idea...we gave in to this decision.  I can honestly say I am okay and at peace with this. I will pray that the entire group has a wonderful "unplugged" 4 days!

Pic-A-Day #12

Another reason I sign up for reward cards/customer appreciation cards at stores...got this one in my email today (yellow papers are blotting out personal info.)  During December Staples always has really good deals where you purchase something and get 100% back in "staples rewards."  Every year I stock up on ink, batteries and whatever else they are offering money back on so I can get a nice big reward check like these in January.  Staples also offers $2.00 back for recycled ink cartridges up to 10/month.  If you hold on to those cartridges they will offer special weeks where you can get double cash back.  Anyway, I now have $97.10 I can spend at Staples on whatever I want.

This is Not Where I Belong...

Pic A Day #11

My new diet book came in the mail today! I am so excited - I just read the 1st 100 pages! I know 3 people who have done this diet and they all lost weight so here goes....

Pic-A-Day #10

My husband (the blonde in black jacket) turned 50 last year. Our dear friends, Lee and Susan turned 50 today 1/10/12. They are married and share a birthday. Happy birthday my sweet friends!

Pic-A-Day #9

Here's what I'm talking about (in a previous post) - my old man, Jet (with the red collar) is laying on his bed sleeping soundly and the little brat, Raven just has to lay on THAT bed so she scoots her self onto the edge and will slowly move her way completely on to the bed and Jet will get off and lay down on the hard floor.  What a baby!

Addictions come in all forms

My husband and I have been discussing our addictions.  His is smoking - mine is eating.  Completely different but the same as well.  An addiction is defined as a compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal.  Food can be just as addicting as smoking or alcohol or drugs.  Especially SUGAR! 


I kicked the sugar/soda habit once before about 6 yrs ago.  In doing so, I lost 50 lbs. Unfortunately, in the last year or two I have hit menopause and had some meds adjusted by my doctor, all contributing factors to a 40 lb weight gain. I am okay with the way I look but I have arthritis in my knees and hips and the more weight I gain the more I can feel it in these areas.  For this reason I decided to watch what I eat and exercise a little more to lose some weight.


My husband challenged me - when I lose 20 lbs, he will kick his smoking.  Now THIS is my type of challenge! Bring it on baby!

Pic-A-Day #8

Stolen from Facebook, but I love it and it's appropriate for the way I am feeling right now, so here ya go!

Why do people care?

Okay seriously...why do people feel the need to stick their nose in other's business??  I LOVE LOVE LOVE the block feature on Facebook! My husband doesn't like Facebook. He thinks it is evil...lol, a little extreme but that's what he thinks.  I, on the other hand, absolutely love Facebook.  Most of our kids live out of town - it's a way to stay connected.  Yes I am a Facebook stalker - I love looking at my friends' photos and how their kids are doing, etc. I don't comment too often but hit the "like" button a lot!

Enough of that and back to the point of this post - since my husband hates Facebook so much I HATE when somebody says to him "why did your wife say this"  or "why did she write that" because he goes into a tirade about how much he hates Facebook and he doesn't know what I put on there and what I don't put on there...blah blah blah.  Get where I'm going with this?!

The latest thing is I offered to help somebody with something and another somebody didn't think it was my place to offer to help and mentioned it to my husband.  Really?! Are you kidding me?! I offered a helping hand!!  Guess what "friend"?  You don't have to worry about reading any of my posts anymore....to the block list baby!

Pic-A-Day #7

Do you have a TGI Friday's rewards card? I love free things! I will take any store's reward card.  Greg and I had a date night tonight. We went to TGI Friday's and had a full platter of baby back ribs with 2 sides completely free because of the rewards I earned on previous visits.  Oh yeah, gotta love it!

Pic-A-Day #6

Since Greg and I both work as merchandisers, we get deliveries every single day from UPS and FedEx.  Praise God our daily deliveries are not THIS big!  Yeah we got home from work to find this on our doorstep...nice huh? 

Pic A Day #5

Yet another game I am completely addicted to! On days like today when I have to drive 150-200 miles to work at different stores this game makes it more enjoyable. I normally have 3-5 games going at a time. I can play either on the computer on Facebook or on my smartphone.  By the time I drive to my next store my opponent has taken their turn so I can sit in the parking lot and take my turn real quick. FYI - NO I don't play while driving!

Pic A Day #4

My husband loves to throw winter rye seed every winter, thus giving us a bright green lawn...and grass for him to cut all winter long.