Juicing Update

Well, I'm half way through day 3 and I've lost 9 pounds!!! I have made four different recipes and the one I came up with myself this morning was the best. Strawberries, red grapes, carrots, apples, and spinach. Sooooo good!

As to the detox: Day 1-slight headache but it wasn't bad enough to slow me down.
Day 2-nothing! Even survived buying Taco Bell for the rest of the family.
Day 3-things are moving! That's all that needs to be said. I survived
watching two friends eat in front of me at City Bites. (That will be one of the
first places I go after this is all over!)

So...so far so good. Here's what I should experience in the next 4 days.



Stage 2 (Day 3 To Day 7)Fats, composed of transformed fatty acids, are broken down to release glycerol from the gliceride molecules and are converted to glucose. The skin may become oily as rancid oils are purged from the body. People with problem-free skin may have a few days of pimples or even a boil. A pallid complexion is also a sign of waste in the blood. Ketones are formed by the incomplete oxidation of fats. It is suspected that the ketones in the blood suppress the appetite by affecting the food-satiety center in the hypothalamus. You may feel hungry for the first few days of the fast. This effect is temporary. The desire to eat will disappear. Lack of hunger may last 40 to 60 days, depending on whether you are on water or juice.
The body embraces the fast and the digestive system is able to take a much-needed rest, focusing all of its energies on cleansing and healing. White blood cell and immune system activity increases. You may feel pain in your lungs. The cleansing organs and the lungs are in the process of being repaired. Periodically, the lymphatic system expels mucoid matter through the nose or throat. The volume excreted of this yellow-colored mucus can be shocking. The sinuses go through periods of being clogged, then will totally clear. The breath is still foul and the tongue coated. Within the intestine, the colon is being repaired and impacted feces on the intestinal wall start to loosen.


They're right about the shocking volume of mucus. Again, enough said!

Soccer!

Reagan is a proud team member of 'The Crew'. When the team started last year there were three girls. By the end of the first practice there was one. The other two left in tears. Reagan can hold her own with the boys. Most of the teams they play are all boy also.

There are some problems though.

Her hair does blow in her eyes a lot.

And the boys can cause trouble on the benches.

And her sisters are usually too cold to watch and cheer.

And some time the other players just aren't doing what they're supposed to do.
But she has those long legs.

And scores quite often.

At a dollar a goal she's raking up the dough!

And apparently she gives great back massages.

And another good thing about being the only girl on the team...if they ever have to practice 'shirts and skins', we're guaranteed she'll be a shirt!

Juice Fasting

Aren't you all lucky today? Two blogs for the price of one!

Since I'm sicker then a dog and not leaving my recliner I thought I could at least use my time wisely by blessing my friends and family some more!

I am starting a juice fast tomorrow. It had been my plan to do it from April 23rd (my birthday) to my May 23rd (my moms birthday). Since my mom and her mom died at 53 of breast cancer complications it is always on my mind. Because life got in the way I'm now starting tomorrow.

My dad, on the other hand, is a health food NUT and will probably out live me! He started eating raw this summer and since it's the first thing in my life he's done that hasn't scared me to death I started researching it. It makes sense. I won't bore you with the details, you can do a Dogpile search for 'raw foods' and be blessed with tons of information!




I was recently lucky enough to inherit a juicer and have gone a little crazy since then. I've made orange, apple, celery, pineapple, tomato, broccoli sprout, strawberry juice; and many variations of those ingredients. Thanks to the recipes at http://www.goneraw.com I now will have some more to do! I've bought cucumbers, beets, romaine, pears, kale, and kiwi and can't wait to start!

I think in the morning I'll start with Jammin' Juice.

2 carrots
1 small beet, green included
2 celery stalks
1 small granny smith apple

Simple enough!

I'll let you know how it goes. I've read the detox symptoms and I'm still doing it. Here's what I should experience in the first two days.

Stage 1 (Day 1 To Day 2)On the first day of fasting, the blood sugar level drops below 70 mg/dl. To restore the blood to the normal glucose level, liver glycogen is converted to glucose and released into the blood. This reserve is enough for half a day. The body then reduces the basal metabolic rate (BMR). The rate of internal chemical activity in resting tissue is lowered to conserve energy. The heart slows and blood pressure is reduced. Glycogen is pulled from the muscle causing some weakness. The first wave of cleansing is usually the worst.
Headaches, dizziness, nausea, bad breath, glazed eyes and a heavily coated tongue are signs of the first stage of cleansing. Hunger can be the most intense in this period unless the enema is used which quickly assists the body into the fasting state by ending digestion in the colon.

Sound like fun, doesn't it?

Well off for my last supper. On the menu-Raspberry Chipotle chicken, Gigi's Green Beans, Herbed Grilled Potatoes (I threw broccoli, cauliflower, and red and green peppers in with the potatoes to override the butter and oil base that I cook them in!), and The Pioneer Womans Apple Brown Betty.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/04/apple-brown-betty-sweet-light-yummy/

Birthday-re-do

Yesterday I got another chance to have a good birthday! Growing up my parents always took me to the Arts Festival downtown to celebrate my birthday. I would eat an Indian Taco and Funnel Cake and they would buy me a wooden crayon and pink carnation from the kids area. My mom would of course sing, 'A White Sports Coat and a Pink Carnation'. I would groan and look around to see if anyone could hear her. Oh how I wish I could hear her sing that song again.

After a soccer game yesterday morning we headed downtown. When I see these...

I know I'm there!

We were meeting friends there but since they'd had a late breakfast and weren't hungry we said, "Forget them!" and headed straight for the food lines! Yes, I had my Indian Taco, and it was terrific! Tasted just like it does every year. Sadly I was too full to eat the Funnel Cake so we went about seeing what else there was to do so I could work up a hunger!

We looked at most of the artists booths. I found a basketweaver whose baskets looked just like mine. The only difference was that mine are about $200 less! It inspired me to get back at it! Maybe next year I'll have my own booth!

We watched a glass blower who had made this. The girls were amazed! I just wondered how he would pack it to take it home.

We wandered over to the gardens to see what we could see.

We found...

Then we stopped and took some time to just watch.

Then for a change of pace...hill rolling!

Oh, and hill flipping.

Personally, I enjoyed hill sitting.

Then to the waterfall for some rock climbing.

Aren't they cute???

And of course the Rhodedendron Dome. I have a picture of myself in this dome in 1991. I had on skinny jeans, half boots, a sports bra, and a patchwork jacket. Don't mock me, it was the style!

And by then, I was ready for my Funnel Cake!

Okay, I know. You can barely see the Funnel Cake. I was floored by the size of this Bratwurst!

Our last thing we wanted to do was play in the fountains. It was the highlight last year. Sadly, they were off limits this year. To make up for it we drove over to Bricktown, went to Sonic for Happy Hour (that made my day!), and played in the fountains there. Shawn dropped us off at Sonic and we walked along the canal to get to the fountains. This is what we saw when we got there. Apparently he had made a new friend!

After I showed him this picture he came up with the idea for some more.

The girls had a blast! They all got a little wet.

But after 4 hours of fun...they were all pretty tuckered out.

All in all, it was a fun day had by all!

Yes, it's my birthday

But that doesn't mean I have to have fun. I did get a bunch of myspace and facebook comments from great friends. And while working on a charity silent auction today I did go out to lunch with friends and one brought homemade cupcakes. (Yes I had two. Do you have a problem with that?) But....

***Disclaimer*** This is about to get whiney and complaining. The faint of heart might want to check out here!

After voice lessons, with help from my sweet mother-in-law, I got McKinley in hair and makeup for musical dress rehearsal. And by the way, it's scary how good that girl looked in full makeup. We dropped her off at school and headed with the in-laws and great grandmother to the Arts Festival to watch Kennedy and Reagan perform with their dance group. Even with a handicapped parking tag (that was hard to give back) we ended up on the wrong side of where we needed to be. We made the trek though and ended up at the stage with plenty of time. The girls were great and made us all proud. Just before the last song was done it started raining. It had tried to all day long but waited until we were pretty far from our car to actually do it. I left umbrellas, raincoats, and everyone possible, took Kennedy and ran! We made it to the parking garage before the hard rain came but got stuck trying to get out. Poor grandparents and Reagan, they were sitting in the rain. All of this dashed my plans of inhaling an Indian Taco and Funnel Cake. I think I might have burned the intended calories with the dash to the car though.

We settled on a restaurant, picked up my aunt, and floated there. Long story short, I didn't get a menu, the waitress didn't take my drink order, my burger (yes, burger and cupcakes...moving on) had pickles on it, I couldn't get a refill, and I got a shake but no song sung to me...I kept tearing up.

Know what made this day so much worse? Shawn is in California. Yep, not Oklahoma. I talked to him briefly during dinner but couldn't control the tears so I quickly hung up. He called back a few minutes later and told me to check the porch when I got home. Guess what I found?

Oh my word. I still miss him...but these helped!

Summer Loving

Summer loving had me a blast. Summer loving happened so fast.

Sing it with me!

Spring has arrived in our backyard! Summer is just around the corner.

Ignore that orange extension cord. It was rolled up and put away shortly after the picture was taken. And by rolled up and put away I mean piled right inside the door of the poolhouse so Shawn will trip over it and put it away. I can't do that 'daisy chain' thing that he can!

We are blessed to have a cement pond in our backyard. It will be 55 this year. We spend the whole summer poolside in our beautiful backyard.

There's never a dull moment. We've seen days when there were 45 people in it!

But today...

For some reason no one came over to swim. Weird.

More running!

At our family party last night my precious cousin Debbie noticed that I was wearing a ring that had been my mothers. She lost her mother, my sweet Aunt Velda, two years ago and knows all that I've gone through. I told her how I like to wear something of moms on the days that I do things I know she would have wanted to go to. (You might want to re-read that sentence to see if it makes sense the second time through.) She told me that she wears Aunt Velda's wedding ring for the same reason.


***Here's another blog that I wrote during my first Couch to 5k.

I don't think I was supposed to run this morning! My friend had to back out, my speed and distance monitor on my shoe was dead, and right as I started the first run the watch beeped and told me that the memory was full and stopped keeping time! I really wanted to just go home and have Shawn fix everything and go tonight when my friend was available.

What kept me going? Ryan Cabrera.

I have a jogging playlist on my Zen and his song "I Will Remember You" came on as I was heading for home. I listened to it 6 times in a row! Here are some of the words that reminded me that this is not about me, it's in the sweet memory of my mom.


8 years later time goes by fast, got my memories and they will last.

I try to keep it simple because I hate goodbyes, by telling myself that I will remember you and all of the things that we've gone through.

There is so much I could say but words get in the way.

So when we're not together I will remember you.

We're a picture in my mind and when I want to find you I just close my eyes.

You'll never be that far from me so don't say goodbye.

You'll never be that far from me, I'm telling myself I will remember you.

You were there when I needed a friend, thank you, thank you.

I've never told you how much that meant.

I have to thank you, thank you.


Powerful, isn't it? It was just what I needed.



***I ran alone on Friday because my partner couldn't make it. It's definately easier with someone else there with you. Once again, as I was thinking that I couldn't finish it this song came on. It always does the trick!

Family

I am an only child. Some of you may know that, others might now understand why I am the way I am. I crave family. Crave it! My mom has two sisters and only one of them had children. And she only had one! That cousin, Stacy, moved away when I was 12 and we didn't have much of a relationship after that. But the rest of my family...they're incredible! My grandpa is one of seven children and they all lived within ten miles of each other for many years. Of their children most lived in this area. That means that when we get together we could claim our own zip code. I grew up going to a cousins house that had a pond, paddleboat, potato launcher, fireworks on the 4th, a swing set, volleyball court for tournaments, a caboose we could play in, horses, acres of land to roam, and all the food you could possibly want. It was heaven for an only child. I never wanted to leave.

That house was sold and we all grew up and the family parties are now few and far between. We sometimes have Christmas parties, or football parties but no one has the property needed to house all of us. It also seems that we're all so busy with our own lives that the groups are getting smaller and smaller.

We had a party tonight for Aunt Beanie's 89th birthday. There were only two from my generation! The rest of my generation has siblings and parents that they get together with. I don't have that. And I want it! I have tried. And I need to try harder. Family is too important to miss out on. And mine is pretty incredible.

Just to tell you how amazing Shawn is...

The first time Shawn met my whole family there were 70 of us! He knew more about most of them by the time we left. I almost proposed to him on the spot!

Couch to 5k

***I originally wrote this blog September 12th on my myspace page. It will let you know what I was going through during the 9 weeks of training.***



I'm a quitter. If you're going to read my blog you need to know that about me. I pride myself on being able to talk myself out of doing just about anything that I don't like.

I am currently 4 weeks into a 9 week running program that I have started so that I can run in the Race for the Cure on October 20th. I will finish the day before the race if I stay on schedule.

I have tried this program before and, of course, quit when it got hard. This time I have made it farther then before and I refuse to quit. This time I have motivation, a reason, and a purpose.

My mom died of breast cancer almost 12 years ago and I'm doing this in her memory. Every time it gets hard I can think of her and it just keeps me going.

I need you all to hold me accountable! Check on me, question me, see how I'm doing! I hope I'll appreciate it:C)


***I should mention at this point that I was truly blessed to have a friend that was also doing the training. She lost her mother when she was 12 to a brain tumor. When I explained to her what I felt God was telling me to do she immediately told me she would join me. What I didn't know then was the she had been a runner before and had even done a half marathon! She's currently my hero:) Because she worked full time we were only able to run together once before the race but her e-mails kept me motivated and on track.***


More to come!

Run, Forrest, Run!!

Yes, I run. Well, jog. Actually it might be considered a fast walk. I have never really had the desire to run but when I heard of the Couch to 5k program I read about it and got a little interested. A precious neighbor and friend of mine had started running and had dropped 60 pounds quickly! (I then found out she chews french fries and spits them out but that's another story for another day!) I thought I would give it a try. The first week was walk 5 minutes, run 60 seconds, walk 90 seconds. You repeat the 60-90 for twenty minutes and then walk another 5 minutes to cool down. I started, and survived. I'm not going to lie, 60 seconds is a long time!! I think I actually made it to week 2, run 90 seconds, walk 2 minutes. It's partially blocked from my memory so that might not be accurate. I think that vacation ruined it for me, or dinner. Like I said, the memory is sketchy.

I didn't really give it much more thought until Shawn got an e-mail about the Race for the Cure. My mom died of breast cancer when McKinley was 5 1/2 months old. (Another story for another day.) I have walked the RFTC twice but had always admired the runners. As he read the information to me I just had this feeling. God was telling me to run it. I asked Shawn how long it was until the race. Nine weeks.....and one day. Have I mentioned that the Couch to 5k is a nine week training course? I started the next day.

Things that make you go hmmmmmm...

Easter 08 060
Originally uploaded by stefunkc

Do you think this is why I've gained weight since Easter? Or was it the grilled steak? Or Broccoli Rice Casserole? Or Homemade No-Knead Knot Rolls? While you think about that I think I'll go see what's in the refrigerator.

Lines

I am NEVER at the beginning of a line! I cannot return something at a store, get my car washed, order food, get a prescription, check out with groceries, or get into a sporting event without losing at least 20 minutes of my life. Yet surprisingly when I finally reach to front of the line and turn around, no one is behind me.

I'm sure there is a deeper meaning to all of this but I'm too tired to figure it out.

I was behind a woman today in the drink line at Jason's Deli that strategically placed her lemons in her Diet Coke. Ice, lemon, little bit of Diet Coke, another lemon, more Diet Coke. She did this 5 times. And yes, I waited. Not patiently. I would never say anything out loud but the words going through my brain were not nice! And of course, as I quickly filled my drink to not keep the person behind me waiting I glanced over my shoulder...no one was waiting.

It's the story of my life.

At The Hop

My third and final Kindergarten presentation of "At the Hop".

Yes, there were tears.

The last to wear the poodle skirt...the last time I'll go 45 minutes early to save our seats...the last time the curtains will open and we'll all listen to 5 solid minutes of applause, the last time I'll hear 'Mr. M's Munchy Mouth'...the last time we'll go out to eat ice cream at Braum's to celebrate...oh, who am I kidding? I'd go to Braum's to celebrate the swallows returning to Capistrano! When does that happen again??

Basketball brackets, cute coaches, and mascot fights

I have never been a sports fanatic. I do watch my local schools home football games and know all the words to the alma mater. (I know you're impressed) I also love to watch our local university play and would never cheer for the other state university. But March Madness, that's another story.

I have always LOVED to watch the March Madness games! They are usually nail biters, last minute, overtime games. I don't really care who is playing, I just want to see a good game. My family has joined millions of other people who make brackets and wage their knowledge against others to see if we can pick the winners. I joined that group two years ago and sat with my printed out bracket completely overwhelmed. I searched into the depths of my brain to try to figure out where to begin. States I had visited? Schools where I knew someone had attended? Some of them I had never heard of! How was I supposed to figure out if I had visited that state?! Then it hit me, cutest coaches. I had a dear friend years ago who picked football teams by the cutest quarterback. I could make this work.

Six hours. Yep, it took six hours to visit every schools athletic website and find a picture of their coach. I had up to eleven open windows on my computer. It came down to the Florida coach. He was a really good looking man. I must say, I did pretty well. Lost a few of course but still stayed on top of the family bracket. And guess what? Florida won the whole thing and I won $100!

Last year I was too busy and didn't get around to it. This year, I was back at it! Texas, Texas was my guy. I also, just for fun, made a separate one on which mascot would win in a fight. Well, to spare you the gory details...I lost. I lost miserably. About three weeks ago all my choices for the final four had lost. As I sit here watching the Jayhawks and the Tigers playing, I'm a little disappointed but still excited to be watching a good game.

And just so you know, it took a long time to research the mascots as well. Do you know that a Tar Heel is actually a derogatory comment about hicks? Or the the Gaels are named after the Gaelic language? You can learn a lot.

Well, gotta run. 3:36 left to play and Kansas is behind by 5. I guess I need to quickly look at those coaches again!

Have you seen the gas prices?!?!

I can't do it! I can't fill up my car! I've been putting $20 in every time it's gets low. I don't think that I've filled it completely up since it went over $2.50 a gallon. Yesterday I made the mistake of looking at the pumps while my sweet husband was filling it for me. $86.40!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was it, I've started walking. We live 5 blocks from school, why not walk? I not only walked the girls to school but Reagan and I walked from school to the dentist and then home. It was great! Of course, it was a pretty day, I don't see this happening in a downpour. Of course, I can't walk to the store, or to the co-op, or piano, or voice, or soccer...but we will be doing a lot of walking to and from school! Our town doesn't have consistent sidewalks so if you see me walking on the street be careful. I've never been able to walk a straight line.

A true day.

Well, today was the reason I named my blog what I did. It was crazed! It all started with my alarm going off at 7 so I could get my roll dough out of the refrigerator and make four dozen No-Knead Knot Rolls to rise all day while we were gone. They were for the Supper Club that would be my child-free reward if I survived the days activites.

After we were all up and dressed in layers we were off to a soccer game. Reagan is the only girl on a team full of boys. She holds her own and has gotten twenty bucks from us for goals scored. That's a dollar a goal! She plays her games in what I lovingly refer to as, "The windiest place on earth." It's so bad that the teams usually switch goals at the quarters instead of halves so that no one has to get worn out playing against the wind. (You're all singing that song along with me right now, aren't you?)

After the win we had to 'divide-and-conquer' parent. I took McKinley so we could both get haircuts and go to her piano contest. Shawn took Kennedy and Reagan home to have lunch and get ready for Kennedy's theatre class.

My precious cousin is in hair school and gives slow, but cheap haircuts. I went first and McKinley looked through magazines for ideas. As I sat there and watched all the 20 something students walk around in their 80's fashions (yes, it's popular again to look like a hobo) with orange, yellow, purple, and green hair I was worried about what McKinley would want. Luckily she didn't have time for highlights or colors and picked a very age appropriate cut that looked nothing like the two girls with mohawks that were working near us! I think the new hairdo motivated her for her piano contest and she scored a 1+! You can't get any higher!

Finally all home I baked the rolls and Shawn and I got to go to a no-precious-children allowed Supper Club. How nice to have adult conversations with no interruptions!

The friend that hosted it is the reason I started this blog. I recently spent three days reading hers and laughed, cried, and was blessed during it. She has had an amazing life thus far and can write it pain, joy, or sadness. But...I couldn't tell her I had started my own. I wonder now why I didn't. Maybe because mine will never be like hers. She writes with humor and meaning, and has a way of making you feel like you're her best friend even if you don't know her. I guess someday I'll tell her. After all, she's my inspiration.

Kristie-If you're reading this, a few years down the line when I finally tell you about it, I loved the ham and potato casserole! Thanks for buying the expensive soup just so I could eat!!

Well, I've had a long day. I'm putting myself to bed.

Good night!

Here it goes....

Well, here it is...my first blog. What to say...Four score and seven years ago...no, that was used somewhere else.

I graduated top of my class from Harvard and have started this blog to share my knowledge. No, that's not it either.

When I started my own multi-million dollar company I was constantly asked to share my tips so here they are...nope.

I am a 30 something mom of three girls and wife to an amazing husband. I am blessed to be able to stay home with my crazy girls and get lost in mountains of laundry and take home papers from school.

That sounds better.

I try to not lose my mind everyday as I over commit myself and try to keep up with schedules for five different people.

So, there it is...me in a nutshell. Wait, does that mean I'm nutty?