pink drinks & nail selfies

I do love my pink drink!! I find myself looking forward to it.

I was nervous at first but it was going to taste like. I had heard that it was similar to a cherry Tootsie Pop. I do not like cherry.

I find it to taste much more like a very nice strawberry-ish Crystal Light, with no fake sugar flavor.

Note 1: You do not have to drink a full one of these bottles. This is just what I'm using right now. You only need 12-15oz of water to mix with your pink drink packet; I fill this bottle about one-third full.

Note 2: Never miss an opportunity for a good Jamberry nail selfie. :)

37

Today's my birthday. I'm 37.

But I'm not old.

Sometimes I feel it, but I'm not. And I refuse to go down like that. So this is my year. Wanna join me?

I've been an independent rep for doTERRA oils and Jamberry nail wraps for a little while (and they're awesome, fyi). But I've just signed up for a third. Have you ever heard of Plexus? I hadn't either. My dear sister-friend Yvonne at Graceful Freedom introduced me. And she knew my heart for getting healthy, so she invited me to join her team.

The idea behind multi-level marketing companies is that you try the product, you like the product, you sign up, you convince others to like the product. Such was the case with me and doTERRA and Jamberry. (Except, if the products are good, as in these cases, you don't have to do much convincing. :) )

Such is NOT the case with me and Plexus. Well, sorta. Plexus is different. It's not like you buy a set of Jamberry nail wraps, or get a sample, and put it on and love it. (Although you would. :) ) Plexus results don't happen overnight.

Several weeks ago, I tried a 7-day sample of the Plexus Slim and Accelerator. By the end of the 7 days, I was able to tell a difference. I was not "cured" of anything. But it was enough...enough to make me curious for more.

Here's what I noticed at the end of 7 days:
-- I didn't feel the need to fall asleep during the day.
-- I did not think about food between breakfast and lunch, and between lunch and dinner.
-- I was not as tempted to run to the convenience store at night for ice cream.

Did you hear me?? I love to eat. Primarily chocolate or ice cream or cookie dough or things like that. When I started on the Trim Healthy Mama way of eating, they say to wait 3 hours between meals, and people would say things like "I can't believe I'm eating so much and losing weight!!" My thoughts, however, were, "how am I going to go 3 hours???" Last year was the first time that the words "overeater" and "gluttony" came to mind.

But for REAL, y'all, I didn't. even. THINK. about food during those stretches. Not just that I wasn't hungry (because I could eat even when not hungry). It didn't even cross my MIND.

That's NUTS.

So here I go. I can't tell you that Plexus will solve all your problems. Because I DON'T KNOW THAT. But I'm starting a journey today, and I'm inviting you to read along. I got my Plexus kit yesterday, and I started this morning, and you're welcome to hang out here and see what happens. I will be honest and real and it's probably gonna hurt a little. But I will tell you if Plexus works for me.

Okay. (sigh) Here are the straight facts of it. Yuck. But necessary.

Weight (late morning): 245.8lbs (I weighed myself 3 times and took the lowest of the 3. That's my highest ever. BLAH.)

Neck: 15.75" (I don't know that this will change, but if it does, I'll want to know.)
Bicep: 15.25"
Chest: app. 45"? (The tape measure didn't reach.)
Ribs: 39.5"
Waist: app. 46"? (I should get a longer tape measure...)
Bum: app. 52"? (Major guess.)
Right thigh: 30.5"

There it is.

The Plexus products I'm using right now are:
-- Plexus Slim, the "pink drink"
-- ProBio5, probiotics and intestinal balance
-- and BioCleanse, energizes and oxygenates the body

Of course I'm hoping for weight loss; I'd be lying if I said I was in this just to "be healthier." But I DO want to be healthier. You could lose weight in a myriad of ways and still not be healthy. The genius of Plexus seems to be to
     heal your body from the inside out, 

thus helping it behave properly and crave what it NEEDS, 

all of which gives you more energy to be more active. 

I have 4 kids and want to be active with them. I want really quality years with my awesome hubby. I want to train my body to eat healthier and crave the foods God created to fuel my body. I want muscle tone (which means I need energy to exercise; I plan to use a combination of an elliptical, T-Tapp, and chasing my kids for a lot of that). I want to sleep well (once my littlest decides to sleep through the night). And I have a couple internal issues that have materialized since my last pregnancy that I want to clear up (they are greatly improved by eating the Trim Healthy Mama way). And I will let you know how all of that goes.

Stick around if you like. :)

parmesan herb chicken

1 env. herb & garlic soup mix
1 16 oz container sour cream
parmesan cheese to taste
evaporated milk to creaminess (more for sauce, less to coat)

1 16oz bag egg noodles

1 12.5oz can chunk chicken

Start noodles cooking. While waiting, mix sauce ingredients. Add chicken, mix.

Mix chicken and sauce with noodles, or serve on noodles.

Time, start to finish: 20 minutes, serves 5

prayer for her

Penetrate her heart with Your love.

#emptyhouseexceptbaby

This morning I *heard* the blinker in my car. #nonoise #threedownonetogo

chunky peanut butter, indeed

Do you make your own peanut butter? I used to, but Hub likes Jif better (new research *may* show that they're not so health-conscious, but I'll worry about that later).

I haven't made any in a while, but recently we ran out and I had some peanuts that no one was eating so I figured I'd whip some up.

I've always done it in the blender. Takes a while, but works fine. This time, not so much.

I added honey, as usual. Nope. So I added a little oil (ick). Still crumbly.

Sigh. Throw out the whole batch? Never! Then we still wouldn't have any peanut butter...

Solution: mix chunky peanut butter with jelly first, then spread.

Voila. I feel like a genius.

beans!

If you know me at all, you know I don't eat beans. Green beans, yes. Waxed beans, yes. But kidney, black, garbanzo, etc...not so much. Like ever. And yet...here's the dinner I came up with for tonight.

The chicken was frozen and would've taken forever to thaw. And the hamburger was still in log form. Again, forever. And I watched a documentary recently ("Forks Over Knives" on Netflix) talk king about a plant-based diet.

Not lose-weight-diet, but way-of-eating-diet.

I like steak, and bacon, and sausage... I'm still a carnivore. But my family has been moving in a real-food direction over the last year or so, and you can't get away from the fact that beans, too, have protein.

And they're craaaaazy cheaper than meat. So I pulled up my big girl boots and gave it a shot.

Macaroni noodles, black beans, leftover Walmart pasta sauce (just about the most pathetic pasta sauce I've ever seen, but I was looking for cheap at the time), and leftover frozen peas and carrots.

Obviously there's a lot of room for improvement in that list, but it's a(nother) start.

I'll let you know how it turned out...and more importantly, how the 3-, 6-, and 9-year holds liked it. (Truthfully, it's doubtful they'll eat the beans. C'est la vie.)

Oh, I made cornbread, too. Yum.