Detox Bath

Well today I was looking through my personal Pinterest, and I decided to try something!

(I might make this a weekly thing!) 

Tonight I did the detox bath.

I am not a bath person.  I honestly find taking a bath to be the opposite of relaxing.  I find it utterly boring.  I sit there, and I am just thinking... okay what now?  I just lay here? ugh, can I get out yet?  So I was going into this a little biased.  But I have been achy lately, and I am sure my system could use a cleanse.  I will admit I wanted to get out in the first 5 minutes, but I toughed it out.

This is how you do it!

2 cups of epson salt (I got a carton for $1.84)

2 cups of baking powder (you can get for $1 at Dollar Tree)

and thats all you need!  Oh and hot water.  Fill the tub with hot water, as hot as you can take it.  

Now here was the tough part... soaking in it for 40 minutes!!!

I ran the hot water, I swooshed around the salt and soda, I climbed in... and I wanted out.

I read that I would start sweating quickly, and they were right!  I did.  I had my glass of ice water beside me though, and my wonderful Joshua put on a few episodes of Friends, for me to watch on the laptop :) So I wasn't quite as bored.  I think the hardest part was that I had the water so hot that I couldn't breathe easily.  I leaned out of the tub and that helped a ton, and then I was back in business.  I watched the show, drank my water, and just laid in the tub.  

When I got out (2 episodes = 40 minutes) I wrapped a towel around me, and went and sat on my couch while Josh got me more water.  I could feel my heart everywhere on my body.  Not racing, just thumping.  I feel a little dirty, like I need to take a shower to rinse off or something, but otherwise, I feel pretty good.  I feel kinda like how you feel when you do a face mask.  Comforted and like something was released.  So I approve this detox bath, even if it is a bath.  I think this could be something I would do monthly.  

Approved

(make sure you drink water if you do this!)

Dear Diet...

So Monday is the glorious day that I will start my insane diet!

Here is a recap of the diet I am doing.

7 Day Diet


Today we went and got our food for the first 4 days of this cleanse.

Joshua is doing it with me :)



We have the potatoes, some cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, and the skim milk as well.

Tomorrow is our last regular day of meals for a week!  We are going to Joshua's brothers new place, for turkey tacos!  I like them better than beef tacos! Seriously.  Just replace sour cream with some greek yogurt, and be a happy person :) When we went to the store today we were carefully choosing our last meals.  Mine is a bowl of special k cinnamon pecan for breakfast, and a baked chicken breast with lemon pepper for lunch :) with some carrot sticks.  Then the turkey tacos for dinner of course.  That is just fun saying, turkey taco turkey taco turkey taco.  :)

I will make a new post each day with what we ate, how we ate it, if we just snacked, etc...  Wish us luck!

Simply Amazing!

I am one of those people subscribed to Sulu's posts on facebook :)

Today he posted something so amazing, I had to devote a post on my blog to it!

This autistic artist drew this from memory, after a short ride over the city.   How amazing is this? 

This photo is from The Daily Mail, which also has the rest of the article.  Please check it out :) 

Gnomes, and Goblins, and Golems! Oh my

so a month or so ago, Joshua and our old roommate discovered a new game.  I believe it is still in alpha status.  For those non-game folks, that means it is not ready yet.  Updates are made weekly.  But you can buy and play it as it goes.

After watching them for a couple weeks, I had to have it.  I am so in love with this game.  It is incredibly addicting.  You can read about it here.  The getting started link is especially helpful for all newbies.

If you like games like minecraft, you might find this enjoyable.  This is kinda like if farmville and minecraft made a baby, except it is a baby that is far more awesome than that farmville whore could ever hope to be.  This game makes me feel bad as a mom because some days I can't wait until it is naptime so I can get in an hour or two.

A new update came out today!

Here is the main page, so you can see more amazingness that is this game.
Gnomoria Forums

Cinnamon Roll Waffles

First off, I would like to introduce you to our morning routine.  For the most part, it stays like this, with few exceptions.

6:30-8:00am-ish  Wake Up to the sound of Evelyn playing in her crib, go and get her (either one of us, or both of us), take her to her mirror and say hello morning.  We do this every day.  She starts waving like crazy as soon as we take her out of her crib :) she knows she is going to the mirror.  Then we take her back to our room, where I nurse her for about a half hour while Josh goes back to sleep.  Then I take her out into the living room and we play for a while until Joshua wakes up.  Then we all have breakfast together.

9-9:30am-ish Nap Time.  She is usually very ready for a nap at 9, even if she woke up at 8.  She starts rubbing her eyes and is ready.  That time is almost upon us, so I thought I would get this little post in before I lay her down for her nap.

We both got up to get her today, because she was yelling DaDa and giggling :)
Watching Joshua with her just makes me all fuzzy inside.  When I took her out in the living room to play, I was thinking about how great he is, and what a lucky girl Evee is, to have him as a father.  So I decided to do something special for breakfast, rather than just scrambled eggs (what we usually have when we are out of fruit).  He loves waffles, so I heated up the waffle maker.  We are out of milk at the moment so I thought I would just use mix.  Turns out I only have pancake mix :/

I was bummed.  I started looking for alternatives.  I opened up our very empty fridge and saw an unopened tin of orange sweet rolls.  Perfect!  I put one roll in each of the little dividers on my waffle maker, and put the lid down.  I had it on med. heat for about 5-6 minutes (Josh likes things a little brown, if I had made them for me I probably would have took them off sooner).  This was the result, and he said it was a great success.



He didn't eat all of them (it was a whole roll of cinnamon rolls!) but since they were made in the waffle maker, we can reheat them later easily :) Oh and we put the orange icing into a bowl, into the microwave, and used it for dipping.  Delicious!  (Evee and I split one hehehe)

Pinterest Banana Bread

I found this recipe for Banana Bread, on Pinterest, the other day.  We had some very ripe bananas, so I decided to make it.





I did do a couple things differently.

Instead of spraying non-stick spray in my bread pan, I just lined it with foil.  I am a sucker for easy cleanups, so foil and parchment paper are my best friends.  Instead of regular flour, I used whole wheat flour.  I also added a little hazelnut extract, which I think was a great addition!  Joshua loves raisins, so I threw in a couple handfuls of those as well :) So really I guess it was banana-raisin bread.

It came out nice and moist!  I had a piece this morning, warmed up with a little honey drizzled on top.  I think my next slice will have a little peanutbutter.

Here is the recipe, with my tweaks.

• 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/3 cups of mashed overripe bananas (I used 4)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp hazelnut extract
• 2 cups of whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line your bread pan with foil for easy cleanup.  If you want to grease it also, you can, I didn't need to.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until creamy.  

Beat in the eggs, bananas, vanilla, and hazelnut until well combined, but don't over beat!

In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, raisins, and nutmeg.

Gradually add the flour mixture into the banana mixture, stirring just until it is blended. Pour the batter into the pan and pop it in the oven!

I baked mine for 30 minutes, then turned it.  We just moved here so I don't know the oven very well yet, so I wanted to make sure it cooked evenly.  I checked it after another 20, but it was still a little undercooked.  After another 10 minutes though, it was perfect.  So about an hour total time.  

I let it cool for about 10 minutes, then just lifted the foil right out.  I let it cool another half hour on the cooling rack before I cut into it.  

It was especially delicious warm with honey, peanutbutter, and nutella.  Not all together, but I mean, that would probably be delicious too.  :) but then I would never fit in my pants again.  

The next time I make it though, I think I need to add walnuts or something to it.  It was delicious but I just like a little crunch.  

Diet?

As I have stated before, I have a beautiful little baby girl :)


After having her, I lost about half of the pregnancy weight (yay!) but I still have a little more to go.  I would like to lose more than that though.  My guy and I purchased Insanity, hoping to really get into shape together.  We weren't aware of the shakeology shakes that you needed to really do the program, and we could not afford those on top of everything.  Plus it was kind of hard to do with the baby at the time.  Maybe we will start again though.  I would like to.

I have been trying to do yoga more often :) I really enjoy it, and I can definitely feel the difference after a week of doing it, compared to a week where I didn't.

I read a quote once, and I stand by it, "life is too short, not to enjoy a cheeseburger."  I think that says it all, I really do.  I have never been one for dieting, but rather changing your diet.  Which is what I have been doing.  Unfortunately, there is not a whole lot I can change without it being considered a "diet."  I love veggies, and fruit.  I eat them often.  We have completely switched to only whole wheat flour, and whole grain/whole wheat bread.  I make sure I get plenty of protein, fiber, and water (water is my favorite thing to drink!) pretty much every day.  I do not drink soda, and I limit myself with sweets.  So what can I do except exercise more?  I will not cut out what little indulgences I do give myself, that would just be mean and unfair to my poor mouth that loves the tastes and experiences :)

So I am about to try a diet... I am trying this diet, because most of the things listed, are things I eat all the time anyway.  It will be entirely easy for me I think :) I am going to start this diet on August 11th.  This will give me time to prepare a shopping list, to come up with meals, and mentally prepare.  It honestly seems too good to be true, and I am going into this knowing there is a chance of a yoyo scenario after the fact... but I am going to try it.  I will keep my blog updated daily :) I may create a separate page with links to all the posts.

Here is what I am about to do.

Eat Your Heart Out



I do have to tweak it just a little bit though :/  I really hate to do that, since I know any good recipe is best to be followed as closely as possible.  I hate bananas, but I will force them down my throat!  However I can not put onions in the soup on the last day.  They make me physically sick :( so hopefully the soup wont be too bad without them, or maybe I can substitute something?  I don't know.

Wish me luck!  Let me know if you have any ideas for yummy foods on any of the days :) I am allowed to use spices, just no creamy sauces or anything like that.

EDIT:  The date has been changed to August 13th.  Better to start on a Monday in my opinion :)