In the quest for good health...

Over the last few months I have been trying to be healthier, get more regular with working out (since just after Christmas this last part has been a fairly decent success), and not eat so much junk. I have been drinking whey (fresh whey, not protein powder) and taking a tablespoon of coconut oil (or 2) every day for the past week. I have been trying to figure out a good way to get these things down without it being gaggy and weird. It's not that they taste gross, because they don't really at all. The oil tastes like coconut, which I like; the whey just tastes mildly like plain yogurt, a little tart. But somehow in liquid form those flavors are harder to get down, especially in oil form.

Who really wants to eat a spoonful of oil?

So, yesterday, I finally started combining them. Drink my whey and coconut oil together before my workout and get it out of the way. Perfect solution. Right...? Maybe. Still, the flavors and oily texture were tough, but I chug it down. It's not much, maybe 1/4-1/2 cup because I melt the oil and dilute the whey in warm water (I had been putting the whey in a full glass, but that just makes more to drink... getting it down in a smaller amount and then drinking plain water works better for me).

This morning I came up with the perfect solution. For reals. I added a spoonful of Ovaltine powder. 1/4 cup of chocolate milk. It completely masked the yogurt taste, and something about the chocolate hides the oily texture... still tasted a little coconutty, but lacked the oiliness that I had been having trouble with. And it packs in a few extra vitamins and minerals. I'm down with that.

...I think my biceps are getting bigger. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

She's almost 4... and it's beginning to show.

Charlotte is ridiculous. She cracks me up and makes me want to tear my hair out in turns. I told Charlotte and Genevieve to clean up their crayon and paper mess off the kitchen table. They sort of complied. I called them back out to finish it and Charlotte emerges from the bathroom, mouth all blue from their Spiderman mouthwash. She smiles at me and says, "Me swallowed it!" (I am working on correcting the improper use of "me.")

I asked for clarification. "You swallowed it? Down into your tummy?"

"No, me spit it out." (that dang improper "me" again)

"Oh, ok. Good. Get in there and clean up the crayons."

"Ok, Mommy!"

I turn around and she's gone again, halfway down the hall. "CHARLOTTE!"

"Oh yeah, I meed to clean the pable!"

If I were prone to using sarcasm with my children this would have been the moment where I said something witty. But on the other hand, when I called her back at least she remembered what she was supposed to be doing without me having to verbally beat it into her little brain.

Before this particular exchange with Charlotte I told the girls that they needed to clean up, concluding the instructions with "I'm your mother, not your maid. Maids get paid to clean up after you. Mothers teach you how to clean up after yourselves. So get to it."

I decided that I really like that line. I don't know if I heard it somewhere else, or if I just made it up. But, I like it all the same.

Their bookshelves look like crap, and they are rapidly re-creating the crayon mess, but at least they followed through with the instruction. Small battles won.

Saturday is my day off.

I take Saturday off. Not in the traditional sense. I work out 5 days a week, sometimes I feel like working out on Saturday anyway. But, (dramatic pause) Saturday is my day off. It's the one day where I have no obligations. I don't have to do school with the kids. I don't have to leave the house if I don't want to. I can just veg and Be. I try to get errands done during the week so I have that magical day free. Sunday is reserved for the Lord, and Saturday is reserved for nothing. So on my nothing day I slept in and plotted for dinner.

This afternoon, in preparation for our dinner, I made a batch of Frezzie's meatballs. After seeing PW's Mini Meatball sandwiches on the sidebar of her cooking page a couple days ago I've been craving them (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/07/16-minute-meal-3-mini-meatball-sandwiches/). So, I made my own version. Well, really, the main thing I changed was the meatball recipe. Because Frezzie's are to die for. I used King's Hawaiian Savory Butter dinner rolls and warmed them up prior to assembly. Oh my heavens it made for a delicious dinner. The kids loved it. I ate 4 of them. The fabulous thing, though, is I made plenty of meatballs and I have more rolls so I can do this again tomorrow for dinner, or I can make spaghetti and meatballs.

Tonight I am going to pretend to go to bed early, but I will probably just stay up late watching Bear Grylls while I read the book Matt gave me for Christmas.

It was a long day.

Yesterday was just a terribly long day. In fact, it's just been a long weekend. Saturday I spent tending a child who threw up almost all day. Yesterday I skipped Mass because I was unwilling to wake her early after her day of illness. I was also afraid one of the others would start in. Thankfully that hasn't happened yet.

(Prepare for gross mom-ish discussion of child's illness.)

I am still leery of it, though, especially because one of my girls just can't seem to make it to a bucket, wastebasket, or toilet in time. Stomach bugs are stressful when you have an unpredictable puker. With the other two I can give them a bucket and know that I can leave the room and they will be ok. I rush in to help them anyway but the bucket is serving it's purpose. The other girl, though, is a mess. She panics, doesn't know what to do, and completely disregards the bucket.

Did I mention my house is carpeted?

I let the girls "play makeup" while Xander was napping and wound up wiping lipstick smears off walls and doors all over the place. Xander did a fair share of climbing, spilling, and general boy havoc. By bedtime I was ready for them to fall asleep quickly (that rarely happens). Xander, of course, napped late so he was up half the night.

This mother must have her quiet time after the children are in bed. I love my kids, but everyone needs a break. I don't get it when I pee or when I shower, but dang it I am going to get it if it means I stay up till 3 AM! After a day of sick kids and a baby boy who won't go to bed at a reasonable hour for 2 nights running I was ready to crack open a bottle of wine and ignore the whole world. I didn't. But I totally could have.

Meh,

I was going to write a real blog tonight but I changed my mind. I have a headache and my son is being a terror.

Can I quit my day job?

Detoxing...

I have been pretty keen on the idea of doing some sort of body detox for awhile now. I just don't think I can do a juice fast. A whole week with no food? No thanks! I recently went ahead and did an internal herbal cleanse (that worked quite well, FYI). I probably won't repeat the experience any time soon, though, mostly because it left me feeling kind of nauseous and sensitive to smells (I can guarantee I am not pregnant). I think the tablets just flushed everything out of my system so fast I didn't actually absorb much nutrition and my body was freaking out from the lack. Maybe if I do it again I will just do it for one week and not two.

Once that was done I began using foot detox patches. Now, I've read a lot of conflicting reports on them (the brand that was most often used as an example is no longer manufactured), but a lot of the people who used them and then called them a crock only used them for a day or two and threw the rest out. I read you need to do it for a minimum of 3 days, most often it takes longer to do the cleanse. I've read about how it's dubious science at best. Maybe I'm a sucker for a gimmick. Either way, I think it might actually be working. Besides, 26 years (reportedly) of studies in Japan can't be totally wrong, right? haha (I've been using patches that are actually Asian brands vs. a knock off claiming to be the same "technology." http://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/product/5500000-forest-sap-detox-patch)

I can't say I am feeling exceptionally different, but one of the signs that the patch is "working" is that it gets lighter each day. I've noticed that it's not only getting lighter but it's not nearly as gooey when I take it off. I won't post pictures for comparison, because (quite frankly) it's disgusting. If you really want to see pictures of how these things look when you're done you can always google.

I'm not sure if I will ever do this again. I might. But, knowing me, I will probably move on to the next gimmick.