Day One

Meals

• Breakfast- Shake
• Lunch- Salad with carrots and broccoli (Had to add some balsamic vinaigrette, but it was all organic and all ingredients were okay with our diet.)
• Dinner- Vegetable Medley (broccoli, caulifower, carrots, mushrooms) cooked in butter with added sea salt
• Snack- raw carrots and broccoli
• Dessert- Shake
• Water- 48 Oz. (I felt like a school kid having to go every five minutes.)

Feeling-

• Surprisingly, I wasn't too hungry all day, except right before dinner. Although, this morning I was running a small temperature, so I'm not sure if I wasn't hungry because the shake held me over or because I wasn't feeling too well. I know this diet had nothing to do with me not feeling well, it's the fact that we can go from 60 degrees on one day and 40 the next.
• I'm extremely jealous of those that ate pasta, chocolate, or Girl Scout cookies today. I'm craving those things more than anything right now!
• I don't have a headache, unlike poor David. Who decided that it was so bad, he had to go get a massage today. While I'm at work with a fever, he's getting a massage. Which he wasn't even going to tell me until I smelled his shirt, and recommended that we get it dry cleaned. He finally confessed that it was massage oil.
• I took the first pills tonight, because I wanted to see what the fiber/cleansing pills would do to David's system before I chanced it with school. So far nothing has happened, except that the pills make David and I gag with the taste (This is putting it nicely). We tried lots of stuff, then finally realized that we needed to scoop some of our shake onto a spoon, shove a pill in at a time, and then swallow.

So all in all, it's been an okay day. I'm hoping that this adventure gets easier with time.

Parting is such sweet sorrow...

David and I begin a 21 day detox tomorrow to remove the toxins in our bodies. I've never been one to get into organic food and worrying about spraying chemicals on our lawn. David on the other hand, has gotten into the organic gardening and food. This is primarily the reason why I don't take him with me to the grocery store, my bill seems to double. Although after listening to a seminar last week, I can see how our bodies contain lots of things that we don't know about, and how it can affect everything. So here's what our lives will look like for the next 21 days.

Days 1-10

• Shake- at least two a day but can be up to five, which contain frozen fruit, juice, some special protein powder, and more protein (I have to make sure I have enough energy to keep up with 6th graders)
• Fiber pills- 3 pills, 3 times a day (You know where we'll be partying!)
• Cleansing pills- 7 pills, 3 times a day (Once again more partying!)
• Meals- We can have certain types of vegetables that help aide in the cleansing process. We are to have at least half of these vegetables raw and the others we can cook in butter with sea salt. That's right, I said butter. Studies are finding out that it's better for you than margarine. We can have any sort of fruit that ends in berry. Although we are to have twice as many vegetables than fruit. ( Now after reading this you're probably thinking that I was the one that had to convince David to do this, but it's opposite. This was his idea and I'm being a supportive wife. So pray for our household with him not getting meat.)

Day 11-21

• Shakes- follow the procedure above
• Fiber pills- Oh yeah, the party continues!
• Green pills- 3 pills, 3 times a day
• Meals- Here is where we can bring in some meat. We can have either fish, chicken, or lean steak. Although the piece of meat can be no bigger than the size of our palm and no thicker than our hand. Then we can add in whole grain rice. Keep the same thing with fruits and vegetables.

We're hoping a few things come out of this. Number one we lose some weight that shouldn't be on us. Number two we train our bodies to eat healthy. The last one is just to feel better and build up our bodies that we've been rough on. We're also praying that they are correct in the fact that my birth control will not be affected by this, and we will not have to name our first born Detox.

I will let you all know how this goes, please pray for us!

World Hunger Relief

I love this website, www.freerice.com ! It's a website that will ask you questions with multiple choice answers. If you get the question right then the UN will donate 10 grains of rice for everyone that you get correct to a third world country. The question gets more difficult with the more that you get correct, kind of like the GRE. The question subjects that you can choose from are: Art (famous paintings), Chemistry, English (vocabulary/grammar), Geography, Foreign Language (Spanish, Italian, French, German), and Mathematics (Basic/Multiplication). Not only do I play it with my kids at school, but I'll sometimes get a second to sit down and play. I got to play this morning and am still trying to figure out if it's a good thing that I got more Spanish words correct then I did with English vocabulary. I mean who knows what 'swashbuckling' is?

The Positives of Our Weekend

Our weekend was filled with many positives, which I thought that I would share:

1. It's a three-day weekend, which is always a positive in my book! Not only do I get an extra day to my weekend, but I only have four days to teach. Not quite sure which one is more exciting.

Yes, this is a picture of David with a hammer in hand working on our freezer.

2. David is my all-time fix-it man, which is a positive in any girl's life! So this is why I did not worry on Friday night when I heard him banging on our not-so-well working ice maker. We were wondering why the ice maker still was not working over the weekend and found our answer tonight as our freezer was completely covered in ice. We absolutely positively will need to call a refrigerator repairman tomorrow morning!

3. One of my things that I have been trying to work on is cutting down on our grocery bill. I've never truly worried about it. I became a little embarassed one day when I saw how much my sister-in-law could spend on a family of four, and how I was basically doubling her amount for just the two of us in a month. I sat down yesterday with coupons in one hand, meal recipes in the other, and went to town. Granted I went shopping for only two weeks worth of food (If I shop for a full month, stuff just seems to go bad on us before I even get to it.) but I spent $77 (about $38 per week). I was so excited and I've never seen David more proud in my life. We'll count this one a huge positive in our checking account.

4. Possibly the most positive moment of all these, is that my little brother received his first station as a Marine on Friday. He will be stationed in Hawaii come April time. I am not quite sure if this is more of a blessing for him or for me. I know that God and David are positively tired of hearing (begging) from me to go back to Hawaii soon! I am too thrilled about this and the best part is that he will not be deployed as soon as we all thought!

There is no doubt, God has been good to us this weekend!

Life's Plans?

I started to type yesterday what my favorites were for the '08 year and what new favorites/plans I was hoping to get to do in '09, but my plans were put into question today. A colleague/friend of mine had lost her son last week. She is an amazing person that is inspiring in all aspects of life. I never knew her son, and therefore didn't know how I would react to the memorial service that I attended today. I walked away though questioning a few things in life, because her son was only one year younger than I am. One thing that I've never questioned is God. I know there is a plan for all of his doing but what I'm wondering is "Are my plans always God's plan?" How much of my life have I truly prayed about or am I making this up on my own as I go? I know little things in New Years' resolutions like get healthy, learn how to spend less on grocery bills (Michelle, I need lots of help in this area!), enjoy my family more are all plans that he would support. However what about all the other long-term plans that we make for our life? One example that I know I've personally made is, 'I don't want to have kids until we gotten this much traveling done, or for so many years'. I have all these steps/goals in life and who's to say that its God's plan for me to accomplish all these? Do I over analyze and therefore may miss out on something in life? Am I allowing God to direct my life? Are we supposed to put our plans on a time limit? Or are we supposed to just live life and know that God will open a door when the time is right? So one of my New Years' Resolutions for '09 is to really listen to God, and to see what his plans are for me in all areas of life.

I love this time of year! While David fears it...

Erin says, "Christmas lights! First Christmas tree! Ornaments! Cards! Presents! Family! I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!"

David thinks, "

• Christmas lights= Many trips to Lowe's, Get out the ladder, I don't know why that bulb is not working?!?, What else do you want to add?
• First Christmas tree= What type of wiring does it have? How tall is it? How do you put it up? Where are we going to store it?
• Ornaments= Oh God another trip to Garden Ridge/Hobby Lobby! I DON'T CARE, JUST PICK SOME!
• Cards= What outfit do I have to wear for your card? How many do we need and how much is this going to cost? Who's going to address them? Why are we sending one to them?
• Presents= How much did you spend today? I DON'T CARE, JUST PICK ONE!
• Family= Who in your family is going to be there?

Yes, I'm still alive. I think?

I have no excuses for not blogging lately. I've actually sat down in front of the computer and would type, but nothing positive would come out. If your prayer list is not too full, will you add to it, that I just survive this school year!

On a good note, I've had an amazing weekend which was much needed. David and I actually went to see a movie on Friday. It's probably the first time that we've been out past 10 p.m. and I wasn't asleep on the couch. On Saturday, we went to his cousin's wedding, and it was nice to be surrounded by positive people. If you've ever been around David's family, you will know that they truly are just happy people. To see the innocence of my neice and nephew as they laugh, play, and talk, is just priceless. Prior to the wedding, all the guest were waiting inside the house that the ceremony was being held at. When the time came, we all headed outside to take our seat. On the way out, I was teasing our 3 year old neice about if she was ready to get married. Without skipping a beat, her response was, "No, I'm not tall enough." I pray for our neice that this innocense never fades. Unfortunately, I see how childhood has changed over the years and it makes me fear for all those that are little.

Later that night, David and I went to see STOMP at Ft. Worth Bass Concert Hall. I would highly recommend anyone to go see this. David and I were amazed at everything that they did. In fact, we were so inspired that we have been banging on anything around the house creating our own STOMP show. On a sad side note, Daisy Mae is still hiding. Guess she did not like being a part of our show.

Lately, we've been noticing this one squirrel come around more and more. The squirrel has learned that Daisy Mae can not actually get it, if it stays high enough. God help us if the rest of the squirrels that Daisy has tormented get wind of this. We're afraid that there will be W.W. III on our house the second that it does. The squirrel has a love/hate relationship with Daisy Mae. It will sit on top of the fence, wag it's tail at Daisy, and then bark at her. This drives Daisy insane, but we think we actually heard the squirrel laugh at her today.

I hope the everyone else had a great weekend. I promise that I will blog more often. I just need to meet a teacher that knows how to not bring their work home with them.