A Few Updates

It's getting a little crazy around here.

 House hunting online is a pain in the butt.  Google maps helps but its hard to say whether a place is right for you or not from pictures designed to show houses in the best possible way.  One said it was two stories but you cant see it from the picture.  The picture looks like a one story so that leaves me wondering ... What kind of monstrosity are they leaving out of that picture??

Things are going ok on the Juicing.  Had a little misstep yesterday when I made the kids lunch.  I made them some goodies and we sat and watched a movie.  Yep I ate goodies with them and boy did I feel terrible the rest of the day.  Not Guilty ..I decided when I started I would be flexible when necessary.  I didn't want to feel restricted and thus creating more cravings for food I "couldn't have".  No I felt down right sick to my stomach.  Heck I still feel terrible today!!!  For the most part I feel great when I'm just drinking the fresh fruit and veggie juice.  The hardest time is when I'm making dinner for the kids cause it smells so good.  But all in all I'm having a pretty positive experience.

I'm planning a couple more trips into the City to make sure the kids get to see everything they want to before we leave.  So far my son wants to go to the Jekyll and Hyde Club and Samantha wants to go back to the museum.  How about you is there anything you would like to see pictures off before we leave?

Day 2 was a bit of a Flop

Well the Morning started out fine.  My gas problem was go along with everything else that was in my intestines.  DON"T bother buying one of those colon cleanse products.. you know the ones with all the weird sounding things in it that promise to clean out all the undigested stuff "rotting" in your guts.  Just go out buy some fresh fruits and veggies juice them up and drink that for a day or two and I promise you will have the cleanest colon in town with out worrying about weird side effects that supplements don't have to tell you about cause they are supplements.

Anyway...  Here is the flop part.  I didn't plan for work!  Usually I eat something before I go work for 4 hours then come home and eat lunch.  Well that does work so well when your just drinking juice.  About two hours after I started work I was crazy hungry and had to get something to eat.  Well the only thing close enough to get there on my ten minute break is Panera Bread.  Wonderful place to eat but not such a hot spot to dine when you are trying not to eat that kind of stuff. 

Well That was yesterday and today is a new day so I just juiced up some oranges and grapefruit for breakfast and I"m carrying on!  

Now I got a couple small drink containers so I can make up some juice to take with me to work.  I know they say you should drink it as soon as you make it to get maximum nutritional benefits but I don't have time to haul the juicer to work with me to juice fruits and veggies on a 10 minute break then haul it home again.   So it will have to do!

First Day Of Juicing

Well my first day is just about over so far it hasn't been too bad.  Though I have had one issue... my stomach is all bloated with gas.  Its a very uncomfortable feeling!

Well that aside I haven't felt staving or anything when I feel hungry I make up a glass of juice.  Right now it's kind of fun watching it get all ground up and juice filling the little pitcher.  I've been trying to make sure I can use the leftover pulp... its so finely ground up I figure I can mix it into other recipes and they won't notice the difference.  That way they will get a good veggie boost .. Heaven knows getting them to try new vegetables is a pain in the butt.  There are so many varieties out there each with their own blend of vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants that it's a shame its such a pain to get them to eat them.  

Early today I mixed up some carrots apples and sweet potatoes .. it wasn't too bad though I think I might need to invest in a veggie scrubber since it tasted a little like dirt.  The left over pulp I mixed with a little butter, cinnamon and maple syrup and stuck it in the crock pot to cook.  Unfortunately when I served dinner I forgot about it so I might mix it up with some flour and eggs and make pancakes tomorrow.  I also used a recipe I found online at  keeplearningkeepsmiling.com

The recipe called for 3 carrots, 1 apple, 3-4 florets of broccoli.  I used about 6 carrots since the ones I have are kind of small.  It was actually pretty tasty.  You couldn't taste the broccoli at all.  

When I ran everything through the juicer I started with the broccoli and then stopped and scooped the leftovers out of the container.  They are tiny little pieces of broccoli and I mixed about a cup into the spaghetti sauce and they didn't even notice.  

Then I juiced the apple and the carrots and now I'm cooking them into cookies from a recipe I got from allrecipes.com.  It was just a carrot cookie recipe but I used the carrot apple mixture instead.  I'll have to wait till tomorrow after school to see if they are a hit or a flop.

Sometimes The Universe Just Come Together

It started out with a movie Called Hungry for Change.  Movie Description:  

This documentary exposes secrets the diet, weight loss and food industries don't want consumers to know about: deceptive strategies designed to keep you coming back for more. Find out what's keeping people from having the body and health they want.

The discuss how people look at food and their relationship with it and how it effects their weight loss efforts. It was an interesting movie and in this movie they discussed Juicing.  Its something we've all heard about thanks to Jack Lalanne.  Something that when I first heard about it I was young crazy and thought I was invincible just like every other young person.  Of course we all grown up and learn better ... don't we!

I really didn't think any more about it until I watched another documentary called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  Movie Description :

Focusing on two men whose bodies have been trashed by steroids, obesity and illness, this documentary chronicles the rigorous healing path -- including a two-month diet of fruits and vegetables -- that both attempt in a bid to rescue their health. (the steroids were for an allergy condition they both had.)

This Movie started out with a gentleman from Australia who was tired of being Sick and Tired and decide it was time for extreme measures.  He decided to do a juice fast for 60 days and the results have to be seen to be believed!  While he was traveling he met another fellow who had the same condition as he did and was way more overweight.  He helped this guy get started and documented his weight loss journey too.  By the end of the movie I thought I would love to give that a try.  But there was no way in my cheap heart I was going to shell out a couple hundred buck for a juicer!

Well that's where luck came my way.  You know freecycle .. I know I've mentioned it before!  While I was checking out the latest e-mail there was someone giving away a juicer.  (they were getting a newer model)  I sent off my request and low and behold I am now the owner of a slightly used juicer.  I washed out and gave it a try with some apples.  It worked just fine and the apple juice was yummy!  So this morning I've started.  My first blend was of Oranges and Grapefruit.  I left the peel on since there is suppose to be a ton of nutrition in there.  It came out kind of sour but palatable.  Next I tried out kind of a salsa blend.  I used 3 tomatoes, 1 red pepper, some kale cause its one of the most nutritious vegetables out there and garlic.  I was going to add some onion but forgot.  Let me tell you something if you are going to juice garlic just do one clove!  I did the whole head and WOW what a kick!  I took the left overs and put them in a container.  I'm going to offer it to the kids with some corn chips and see if they like the fresh "Salsa"   Hey waste not want not!

Still Alive

Well I'm Still Here

It's Been too long since my last post and I"m sorry about that!  I've been busy as all get out though and things are starting to settle down .... at least for now.

We have found out where we are going to move next ... We are heading to the Florida Panhandle .. funny enough pretty close to that dream property I mentioned. Not quite close enough to commute to Eglin AFB though.   Did you go check it out?  Not that I would every be able to afford it even though they lowered the price.  If you didn't see it from my last post here is the address again

http://woodlandspringswildliferefuge.com/

Anyway ... we just got back from Florida ..with the hubby working so hard lately we took the February break off and took a vacation.  We also drove through the area we are looking at moving to.  It's a city called Niceville it has a close commute for the hubby and good schools for the kiddies.  We are thinking about buying a house this time ... Kind of chancy .. kind of pricey but  being close to Several Military bases will make it easy to rent if we need to move again.  

I've been looking at the houses online nothing has really caught my eye.  The properties in our price range have such small lots there would be no place for the kids to play, the dogs to run and a garden.  Its hard to tell sometimes from the pictures they post though.  Man I'm going to miss the snow!

On a Happy note Rise of The Guardians Comes out on DVD next month!  If you didn't see it You missed out on a AWESOME movie!!!  I loved it so much we went to see it Twice.  Yeah I know not a very cheapskate thing to do but it was that good!  It's a shame more people didn't go see it but I guess there were just too many movies to chose from.  For me I will always choice the Family Friendly movie there just aren't enough of them coming out... everything is all teens having sex, death, and destruction.  Personally I think we have enough of that crap in real life do we really need to see it in the movies too.  Hopefully Rise of the Guardians will do so well in DVD sales it will make up for the lost theater revenues!

Humm maybe I'll have one of my contests and give away a copy... what do you think?  Are you interested?