The Cleanse

I was going to wait until I was done with the cleanse before I posted about it but I'm so happy that I'm half way through I just had to blog about it.

I'm doing what is called the Master Cleanse.  You can find helpful info such as instructions on how to do the cleanse, recipe for the drink and tips on how to get through the cleanse here.  You can find more tips and answers to frequently asked questions and the purpose for these ingredients here.  There are also plenty of books about it.

Basically you mix pure, grade B maple syrup, fresh squeezed lemons/limes and cayenne pepper.  You mix this with water and this juice contains your daily supply of calories/vitamins/minerals (approx. 1500 calories with the basic recipe).  I dilute it even more with water (since the taste is something you need to get used to!!) and drink it throughout the day especially when I am feeling hungry.  Along with the juice, you drink a laxative tea at night and do a salt water flush in the morning to keep the bowels moving and clean them.  And you do all of that for 10 days.

Yes, I was very skeptical.  I saw several friends at school do it usually once in the fall and once in the spring.  I kept telling them that I love to eat too much to abandon food as I know it for 1 day let alone 10 days!  But, for some reason, I felt up for it now.  I am amazed to report that I HAVE in fact been able to go without food as I know it for starting my 6th day today.  I know that 1500 calories a day is less that what I would normally consume so I do feel a bit hungry but not overwhelmingly hungry.  I really am ok with not eating.  It is kind of a relief because I don't have to think about what to eat and what I've already eaten and is it healthy and do I care because I'm craving it....  I feel fine.  I have enough energy to do what I want to do, I'm not dizzy or whoosy or fatigued....any other symptom you can think of having from not eating.  I had a headache on day 2 (Saturday) but it wasn't terrible.  I took a nap and felt better.  

I have been able to step back some and examine my responses to food, try to analyze why I'm craving food, what is going on to prompt it, am I really hungry/does my body need the nutrition or am I just eating for emotional reasons/boredom/fatigue?  My goal is to come out of the cleanse and essentially reset my food habits.  Focus on more veggies and whole grains and keep my calories around 1500 or so since I'm not terribly active.  Then I'll try to maintain that new habit for 6 months and do another cleanse in the spring.    

The salt water flush is incredibly unpleasant and I've only done it twice.  I understand the reason for it and perhaps when I do the cleanse again in 6 months I'll be more brave about it.  I don't know if I will do it again this cleanse though.  Maybe the last day (Sunday) just to make sure things are clean!  The laxative tea is fine, not too overwhelming but effective.  

All in all, I'm feeling pretty darn good.  I don't seem to have the ups and downs in my energy levels since I'm getting my sustenance evenly throughout the day (noted for when I come off the cleanse).  I don't even really miss eating food but I also know that I'll get to eat again next week so that helps.  My sense of smell has gotten better.  I guess if your tastebuds aren't stimulated then you pay more attention to smell?  Just a thought.  I've also lost 5 pounds in 5 days.  Another beneficial side effect. 

Anyway, I'm hoping to make it all the way through Sunday doing this as that would be my 10 days.  People have been known to do it for as long as 40 days!! I don't think I would ever do that.  Another side effect which coincides with Chinese Medicine is you get this white, furry coating on your tongue.  On one web site I read that you should do the cleanse until the white, furry coating is gone from your tongue.  If it isn't gone by Sunday night, I might consider doing the cleanse for 4 more days which would put me at 2 full weeks doing it but I wouldn't go any longer.

I agree.  It sounds totally crazy especially to those of you who have never cleansed.  But, it was the right thing for me to do at the right time.  I'll let you know if I made it to Monday morning or not.

If you want to chat about more of the details, email me.  And if I see you over the weekend, please don't offer me any food!!  

It is FREAKIN' COLD here

Ok, not by northern standards but by Houston standards it is way too cold too soon in the season.  Usually on Halloween night we are still in a sauna.  But not this year.  There is a theory I heard that Hurricane Ike sucked all of the heat out of the gulf and threw us into an early fall.  Early for Houston anyway.  The grass has pretty much gone dormant.  We haven't cut ours for 2 1/2 weeks and it isn't much longer than it was last time it was cut.

According to the Weather Underground, our stats for yesterday had our high at 67 and our low at 40.  Our normal high for this time of year is 78 and our normal low is 55.  Quite a difference.  Oh, and when it was 45 out this morning while O and I waited for the bus, it was also 80% humidity.  Let me tell you, it is 47 right now in my home town of Cheyenne, Wyoming but the humidity is only 36%.  Now tell me which place feels colder!  To me, the humidity makes it feel so much colder.  Now we might be more comparable to Webster, NY where my hubby grew up.  Right now they are looking at 36 with 63% humidity.  Good lord!  I had to turn the heat on yesterday.  And it is only October!  In Houston!  The HEATER!  I'll bet we get snow this winter.  It would certainly be nice to actually see snow here to make the cold worth while.  However, these southerners have no idea how to drive in ice and snow so I am staying home when/if that happens!

Yes, folks, I am officially a wimp.  Let the teasing begin.

Belle

The students were invited to wear their Halloween costumes to dance class yesterday so we were able to do a dry run.  M went as Princess Belle.  There was a lot of crying and complaining as I put her hair up and wrestling around as I put the earrings on.  It was the funniest sight to see this little princess crying her eyes out as she looked at the finished product in the mirror.  I asked, "do you like it?"  She replied, with tears streaming down her face, "I love it, mom."  I was laughing so hard.  I told her that it is painful to be beautiful and she agreed.  You couldn't guess from this picture that just minutes before she was crying her eyes out!

Then when we arrived at dance class, the other two girls were also dressed as princesses!  They were so cute!  Their teacher was wearing a pretty costume too.  What a beautiful ballet troupe they made!

We are headed to Space Center Houston tonight for a JSC party for the kids.  C took the kids last year and they had a ball.  They have different stations where they do different things and hand out trinkets.  There are games and food and lots of fun things going on.  I missed last year because of class.  This year I don't have class until 8 so I can go for about 2 1/2 hours with them before I have to head out.  (I'd just skip class but we are doing a review for our midterm next Tuesday.  Don't want to miss that one!)  O remembers the same party last year at SCH and is looking forward to it.  M is just excited to be Belle again.  I wonder how many tears we'll have today?  Maybe by Friday she'll be used to it and won't cry!  

More photos of tonight's party and Halloween later in the week.

O's first award

O's school has started a new discipline program this year.  It is all about treating others the way you would want to be treated.  The focus is on respect and being a good citizen.  The teachers and staff catch the kids doing good deeds/being good citizens and the kids are recognized for that either in the classroom or even during the daily announcements.  They encourage the kids to do the right thing even when no one is watching.  

Each 9 week quarter every teacher chooses 2 students from their classroom for a Ward Star Character award.  This student exemplifies a respectful, good citizen and Orion was one of the students chosen by his teacher for the first quarter!  I'm beyond proud of him.  Of all the awards he could get this is the one that makes me the proudest.  To know that he is a kind and helpful person and that other people recognize that makes me so proud.  Proud, proud, proud.  I cannot say it enough.

So, we get to  have this sign in our yard until Jan. 8th when we will return it to the school to go to the next quarter's winners.  At that time, O will get a certificate that we can frame.  Did I say I was proud of him?!  

They made it!

They made it safely back to earth.

A healthier addiction

My very first job was for Chick-Fil-A in my home town when I was a sophomore in high school.  The experience was a good one and I earned a $1000 scholarship that helped pay for my first year of community college.  When I moved to Jackson, the closest Chick-Fil-A was a 5 hour drive away in Salt Lake City.  I didn't realize how much I craved the stuff until it wasn't readily available!  Then we moved to Ann Arbor and I had gotten over my need to have Chick-Fil-A.  My darling husband (well, we actually weren't yet married at that time!) searched and found a Chick-Fil-A about an hour away in Toledo, OH.  He surprised me by taking me there for dinner for my 30th birthday! 

Once we moved to Houston we had 3 Chick-Fil-A restaurants within 5 miles of us.  We made it a Saturday night date every week to go eat there because I always wanted to eat there on Sundays.  They are always closed on Sundays for religious and family reasons.  What a great way to grow their following---being unavailable on a weekend day!  Now the kids are addicted as well and I take full responsibility.

Now there is another reason why I am a loyal customer:  Chick-Fil-A has removed all of the trans fats from their menu items.       

Going Green

"Going green" is all the rage these days and it can be really difficult to change our habits.  While I'm glad that the green movement is picking up speed, I hope it becomes a way of life for folks instead of just a fad.  Sometimes it just takes awareness---something that makes you see things in a different light and causes you to think twice about how you do it.

So, in that vein of thinking, here are ideas for enjoying a green Halloween. 

Now traveling daily to Denali

Ever since we lived in Jackson we have been in love with the work of wildlife photographer Tom Mangelsen.   He photographs animals in their natural habitat and his landscapes are breathtaking.  We have 2 smaller limited edition prints of his work which we love but we really wanted something that we could look at every day to remind us of those areas of the world that we love and miss.  (Read:  nothing you would ever find in Houston).  We wanted a print big enough to get lost in.  We are fortunate enough to have a large bedroom that can accommodate such a print and we found the perfect one we can wake up to every morning:   September Snows

You can read about it on Tom's web site and get a better view of it there as well.  Now we can dream every morning of someday actually traveling to Denali Nation Park and taking in its vast beauty with our own eyes.  Some day we will get there.  I'll bet this print will mean that much more to us then.  But, for now, this is as close as we can get. 

  

October Birthdays

My sister reminded me through a post on her blog about a family tradition that her family has started loosely based on a family tradition from our childhood which she explains very well in another post on her blog.

In short, the entire extended family always got together on birthdays to share a meal and dessert of the birthday person's choosing.  It wasn't a big party, usually few decorations, but my mom made everything from scratch (most of the time) and the entire extended family made it a point to be there for the event.  If my mom would have decided to not organize and cater the event and/or the family chose not to come, it would have been a very big deal.  Lots of crying and hurt feelings would have had to of been dealt with.  It really was THAT important to us all.  

So, since we live away from our family, we have carried this tradition on with local friends and it has become a tradition that we enjoy here.  But, we miss attending birthday celebrations of those family and friends who aren't local.  To compensate, I am copying my sis and starting a tradition where we have birthday dinner and dessert each month to remember those dear to us who have made it through another year.  Just know that if you don't get a card or a phone call, you have been thought of, sung to and have had a candle blown out in honor of your special day.

Here are the October birthdays we remembered Saturday night:

Grandpa Jordan (10/5/1916~9/14/1996)

Aunt/Sister Cindy

Cousin/Niece Kora

Cousin/Niece Cora

Isabelle (French sister)

Cousin Suzy

Cousin Mark

Uncle Irv  

Aunt Diane

Cousin Sammy

Aunt Norma

Esther (wonderful friend)

Uncle Bob

Other friends who we haven't seen in awhile:  Amy V, Cathy S, Marla P and Jori E.

Please let me know if we left anyone out.

We had a lovely green chili casserole, mixed veggies, garlic bread and very yummy home made frosted brownies from a recipe handed down from my Grandpa Jordan's sister, Mabel.  The kids helped make the food and we talked about each and every one of you and what you mean to us.  It really is a busy month for birthdays.  Hmmmmmm...... many happy New Year's parties or a blizzard/cold spell perhaps?! 

Happy Birthday all around and much love to you all!

Weekly Update 10/20/08

Another week down and fall seems to be closer to being upon us.  The weather has cooled down to a tolerable level and the calendar says it is October.  This yankee girl still gets lost in time here in the south where there are no seasons (compared to those up north).  The kids even went out in the back yard to run through the sprinklers this morning (Sunday).  Of course that ended badly.  O decided it would be fun to get his metal baseball bat out and swing at the water.  C and I were chasing the dog down the street and M got a bit too close to the swinging bat.  She took it on the right cheek.  It left a little mark.  We iced it so we'll see how it looks in the morning.  There doesn't appear to be anything broken though so all is well now.

O lost his second tooth while I was out of town.  Now he has a big gap on the bottom front of his smile and has a bit of a lisp when he talks.  It is super cute.  He also received a great 9 week report from school.  He is "steadily developing" in Language Arts and Writing, Math, Science and Social Studies.  He "independently applies" his behavior.  Translation:  he is doing fine in all of his subjects and his behavior is excellent.  Much better than the 3rd option:  "needs support."  I guess the good old "U", "S" or "E" is outdated language?  Anyhoo, that is what is going on with O.  I am very proud of him.

M is still doing fantastic with the potty.  She has only had 2-3 accidents in the past 3 weeks and is very enthusiastic about the whole process.  It is amazing what kids can and will accomplish once they decide to do it.  She is fun and doing an amazing job of finding out who she is.  What a challenge she can be though!  Very defiant often just out of the blue.  O, C and I have been working with her on her letters and she is picking up a few.  She can sing the alphabet but cannot identify/recognize letters on their own.  O seemed to be able to recognize many letters by 3 years old.  Then again, he had much more one-on-one attention at that age than she does.  On the other hand, her language is much more advanced than his was at this age.  They have had much different experiences in their early years.  I guess any child after the oldest is going to have a much different experience and develop at a different rate.  But, despite the fact that she is already displaying a 3 year old version of teenage attitude, I'm so proud of her.

My semester is going smoothly at school.  I'm starting to work into a groove with balancing family, work and school.  It is about time since I have midterms coming up next week!  Hopefully this groove will continue over the next several years until I graduate.  It seems way too far in the future.

C had a frustrating week at work last week.  I know I can't go into detail so let me just say he had to convince the higher ups that they needed to follow a maintenance schedule for one of his pieces of hardware.  They said no and he had to chase them down to find out why.  Yes, this process took the bulk of the week.  While he can see their reason for choosing what they did, he is still nervous about the choice and will be the one responsible if their choice was the wrong one.  Stress.  Isn't it fun?!

Anyway, those are the highlights of the past week.  I know I've missed some things and I try to write a list as I remember things but, sometimes, my brain just shuts down and memories are stored away to (hopefully) pop up at a later date.  I'll fill you all in if I remember something major that I forgot to mention.      

What happens in Vegas...

It is my first day back to reality from my Vegas trip with the girls.  I'm crabby.  I really don't understand why I have to go to bed at a certain time so that I can wake up at a certain time, why I can't eat from a HUGE buffet every day, why I can't spend lots of money on beautiful things that I would never spend money on here,... Oh, I get it.  That's why I go to Vegas with the girls every fall so that I get the chance to do those things!!

Yep, I had a fantastic time!  Like I mentioned we ate, drank, shopped and slept our way through the weekend.   We also took in Lucky Cheng's drag queen dinner show ,  did the Haunted Vegas Tour , and, thanks to JJ's patience with a really long time share presentation, went to see Jubilee for free!  Bally's is a great hotel to stay in as we have plenty of space for 4 girls to a room and the location is right smack in the middle of the strip.  Any of you gals out there who are interested in joining us next year, mark your calendar for Oct. 7-12 2009 (Columbus Day weekend).  Stay all 5 days or just a few but we'd love to have you!  Set aside $20 per week and you'll have at least $1000 for next year's trip!

Our trip ended on a great note when TR and I gave up our seats on our return flight and received flight vouchers in return.  I have $273 to go towards next year's plane ticket on Southwest Airlines.  YAHOOO!!  Can't beat that.  

Ok, I'm feeling a bit more perky.  I think I'll make some lunch and ease into reality slowly as I review for 2 quizzes for my classes tonight.  UGH.  Also have to make up one that I missed last Thursday.  It will be fine because I have great Vegas memories to carry me until next year!

Eating food instruction

I just thought of a funny thing about the night we evacuated for Ike.  Earlier that week I had come across those yogurt in a tube things but it was better because it was from Stoneyfield Farms and was organic yogurt in a tube.  They were really convenient to toss into each of the kids' snack bags for the road trip.  I was so proud of myself, yogurt without the mess or need for a spoon!  Great invention. 

Well, I neglected to show the kids how to eat the yogurt in a tube.  I know O had problems with it but was able to take some direction from C so he figured it out.  M took quite a while before she began to figure it out.  She was trying to suck it like a straw and had no luck at all.  It was very frustrating for her and added extra stress for me while I was trying to drive as I was waiting to get squirted with yogurt.  That wouldn't smell very good in my car a few days later.  I was trying so hard to explain how to push the yogurt up from the bottom once she had squeezed it all up from the middle.  While it was frustrating for both of us, it did give me the chance to giggle a bit in the middle of all of that chaos.  Who knew I'd have to hold a class on how to eat yogurt from a tube!

Our little guy grows up

O has been on a kick lately where he tries to surprise us by helping us out in some way.  Usually it is just picking up his toys or clearing the table etc.  Today he took it a step further.  He took it upon himself to put both his booster seat and M's convertible seat in the car.  Then, as I was tightening her seat down, he said, "I just wanted to surprise you because I thought you deserved a break.  I mean, I know how I feel when I run for a long time and I need a break so I thought I'd help you out so you could have a break."  What a little man!  I gave him a big hug and told him how much I appreciated his thoughtfulness.  He was so proud of himself!  

Then, he and C were reading a book before bedtime called, "When I was a Boy I Dreamed..."  So, C was asking him what he dreamed of, like being an astronaut, or a fire man, etc.  I guess O just looked at him a little sheepishly and relied, "I dream of kissing girls."  C was so proud.  

Potty power is upon us

So M has been wearing her big girl underwear for the 3rd day in a row.  We've only had 1 incident in which she peed on her bedroom carpet and immediately tried to clean it up herself with wipes.  She has even gone poop in the potty several times.  Plus, she wore her big girl underwear to PC's clinic where the kids stayed until daddy could get them after work yesterday.  She got home and apparently changed herself into pullups at some point for bed time.  C didn't even know that she had been wearing underwear when he picked her up!  What a big girl!

BTW, my sister and I had this discussion once and I thought it was quirky enough to mention here.  We call them underwear or big girl underwear as opposed to panties.  Panties sounds like a naughty, dirty word to me with sexual undertones.  I have no idea where that comes from but my sister, TV, has the same feeling about the word.  Weird, huh?

Anyway, all is going well there but I am seeing the same thing I saw with O; over night last night she peed so much she filled her pullup full and it leaked.  To me that shows how much thought and awareness she has during her waking hours as she gains control over this process.  Plus, she may have just had a lot to drink before she went to bed.  But I'll take that over her going to Kindergarten still in pullups!  I am so proud of her and she really is proud of herself which makes it all worth it.

Oops!

I just realized that I forgot to make O's lunch today.  It sounds worse than it is because he has an account at school so he can always buy lunch.  It is just our ritual every morning to discuss the hot lunch menu options so he can decide if he wants to bring his own lunch or eat hot lunch.  I just wasn't on the ball this morning.  Well, most mornings I'm not all there but at least I have the routine down.  Today I didn't even have that!  

The lunch menu pretty much repeats itself each week so I know what days he will eat school food and what days he will bring his lunch.  Mondays:  chicken nuggets.  Tuesdays and Thursdays:  cheese pizza.  So healthy.  Wednesdays is usually hamburgers and Fridays are usually fish of some kind.  He always brings lunch on those days.  M and I will often go and eat lunch with him on Thursdays and I make sure he knows that I expect him to take at least one veggie (not in potato form) and one fruit from the options that are available.  Oh, and he has to eat them too!  He is getting so much better at trying new foods but he is still his mother's son with his food texture issues.  There are just some textures that make us gag.  We cannot stop it.  It just happens.  He is so much better at just keeping it at the gag stage now instead of barfing everywhere.  

As a baby and way into the toddler years, we couldn't have a meal at all without him barfing.  It became such a source of anxiety for me because there is nothing that I hate more than cleaning up puke.  It makes me gag and usually puke myself.  And I hate puking more than anything too.  Now how did I end up going down this road???

Anyway, because it made me so anxious during each meal that he would lose it, I've just let him choose the foods that he is comfortable with eating so we can get through a meal without incident.  As a result, his diet is limited.  He is just now getting around to enjoying those foods that other kids love.  Like grapes.  He has also recently decided that steamed broccoli and green beans are ok.  He now will ask for mixed veggies and will eat veggie soup but will not eat a raw veggie in any way, shape or form.  It is discouraging.  Especially when I have several friends who have children who are such good eaters.  M used to love exploring new foods.  However, now she likes only what her brother likes because she adores him.

It used to drive C insane that O would lose it at every meal and he thought he was possibly doing it on purpose.  I guess I had never told him about my food texture issues so I explained what I thought was going on and he was really surprised that I had such issues.  It is really quite crazy.  I'll love the taste of a particular food and be eating it then right in the middle of a mouthful, I suddenly want to gag and it takes every bit of energy that I have to swallow it.  Then, of course, I'm done.  It is strange and upsetting because I never know when it will happen.  Of course there are foods that I won't even eat because I've never been able to eat them without gagging:  soggy bread, soggy cereal, tofu/bean curd, seafood (although I am getting a little bit better with this), anything with horseradish in it, anything with brown deli style mustard in it (these last two are more taste than texture but in my mind, it changes the texture of things), honey, eggs (eggs are tricky for me because I like them but the texture has to be just right for me to eat them).... the list could go on I'm sure.

As usual, I am long winded and off on another path when all I really wanted to note was the fact that O had to tough it out eating hot lunch at school today.