'Tis the Season

I've done a lot of thinking about resolutions lately.  I'm sure almost everyone I know (including myself) is resolving to lose 10 pounds.  Some of us will join a gym; some of us will lace up our running shoes for the first time in a LONG time.  Others will go on drastic diets that eliminate entire food groups or only allow you to eat three pieces of lettuce per meal.  Or worse yet -- some friends will go on a diet that only consists of a shake for breakfast, a shake for lunch and a "sensible" dinner.  I don't know about you, but if I DRINK my first two meals, I'm going to PIG OUT at dinner.  Now some of my loyal Facebook followers might be saying, "Wait a minute... Doesn't she sell Arbonne?  Hasn't she talked about Arbonne's shakes and nutrition products?"  The answer is YES and YES!  I do sell Arbonne and I, along with Dr. Oz (I'm in good company) promote the use of protein shakes as a way to ASSIST with weight loss, but that's it.  To become truly healthy and maintain that health, you can't drink all of your meals.  You must change your entire lifestyle.  Many people will resolve to be healthier in the new year, but few of us will DEFINE what "healthy" means for us.

Here are some questions to get you going:
Does healthy mean losing ___ pounds?  By what means will you lose this weight?  Diet?  Exercise?  Both?

Only eating organic food?

Joining a gym and/or committing to exercise ___ times per week?

What about mental, financial, spiritual, or environmental health?  Where do these things factor in to your overall health goals?

How do your relationships with spouse/friends/God impact your health now and in the future?


Here are my resolutions.  I'm putting them out there for all to see.  I hope anyone who reads this will take the time to not only make some resolutions for yourself, but also define what they mean to you and set realistic goals of how to achieve each one.  Make your list and post it on your mirror so you can be reminded everyday.

My resolution this year is to help my family, myself, and others be healthier.  This means:

Physical Health
1. Join a gym and attend a class at least 3 times per week. This means that I will spend 3 out of 168 hours per week exercising.  When you put it that way, it sounds totally do-able, right?
2. Eat out less.
3. Cook and purchase more healthy foods.  This means less processed and artificial foods and fewer artificial sweeteners, such as Splenda/sucralose,
4. Possibly partake in a detox diet.  This sounds scary, but it's really not.  This simply  means eliminating processed and artificial foods from your diet and feeding your body what it actually NEEDS in order for it to return to its natural pH levels.  I will definitely need a buddy for this one!  Let me know if you want to take the plunge with me!

Mental Health
1. DE-CLUTTER!!!  Ensure that EVERYTHING (not just kids stuff, but mail, paperwork, etc.) has a place and that everyone knows where things belong!
*I realize this may not fall under the heading of "mental health" for some, but cluttter and stacks of mail and paperwork DEFINITELY affect my mental health!

Environmental
1. Recycle more
2. Use less chemicals -- make my own cleaning supplies and use home remedies wherever possible

Financial
1. Contribute more to our household income and savings by...
2. ... growing my business.  I am making it my goal to share Arbonne, its products, and its amazing opportunities with even more people.  If you haven't heard me talk about the benefits of Arbonne yet, get ready!  I am always looking for business partners and team members.  I will not be shy anymore.  I will speak up!  I will be persistent.  I will not give up.

Personal
1. I will increase my patience with my children and others.
2. I will finish what I start.  This includes but is not limited to craft projects, household projects, and outdoor projects.
3. Sew.  But first I must learn how to work this darn serger!
4. Plant an herb garden.

The Bag Boys of Kroger

Dear Bag Boys at my friendly neighborhood Kroger--
I unload my shopping cart in a very organized fashion.  I do this to make your job easier.  It is obvious from the way I unload my groceries onto the conveyor belt in the checkout line that I expect certain things to be bagged separately-- such as meat and produce.  Ewww!  Those things deserve SEPARATE bags!!!  It's also obvious that some things can and should be bagged together-- such as boxes of rice, granola bars, cereal, etc.  The bread will get squished if it's bagged with anything else, so put it in a bag by itself, not between two boxes of cereal!
While I appreciate your offer to walk me to my car and load my groceries (I really do... especially when it's cold/raining or I have two kids with me), if you're not going to load my groceries carefully and in an organized way, just don't bother.  Don't put the fruit on the bottom and pile the boxes of snacks or large bag of sugar on top of it!  Don't put a case of cokes where they can slide all over the place and smash my bread when I slam on brakes (because I drive like a New York City cab driver)!
Maybe, through this rant, I have found my new calling in life.  Perhaps I should be the official bag boy trainer for Kroger.  I'll host Bag Boy Boot Camps and wear a whistle around my neck.

Ok, now that my gripe-fest is over, I feel better.  If I were a cartoonist, there would be a picture of me below this post, with steam coming out of my ears, my mouth wide open, and "@!$%$%$&" spewing from my mouth.  That's how Kroger bag boys make me feel.  Thanks for shopping with us and have a nice day!

Time to get "Arbonnized"!

I've had the opportunity to share with only a few of you in person thus far the wonderful and meaningful business I have begun with Arbonne International as an Independent Consultant.  I look forward to meeting with you & sharing all that Arbonne has to offer from being a consumer to a consultant.  Arbonne is a health & wellness company with cosmetics, nutrition, weight loss and aromatherapy that provides all botanical products which benefit your skin and body beyond your imagination!

Arbonne has products that meet the needs of every person (women, men, teens, babies and seniors) and all of their topical products are PH balanced so that no matter what your skin type is, the product meets the need of your skin upon contact and with all natural ingredients that enhance and improve the condition of your skin!!  Arbonne's dietary supplements are proven to work wonders for everyday health concerns and again are a blend of science and all natural ingredients that are designed to complete our bodies with what we lack from our regular diet. 

Whether it's cleansing, detoxifying, supplementing or coloring, Arbonne has it all!  Arbonne is so confident that you'll absolutely love the products that if you are not satisfied with your purchase, you can return the product within 45 days from the date of purchase, for any reason.

Please visit the website www.arbonne.com "Shop On-line" to see all Arbonne products.  I would highly recommend the RE9 Advanced Anti-Aging Skin Care line because of all the nutrients it provides to your face while softening, conditioning and strengthening your skin AND lessening the volume and depth of wrinkles. The clinical results of this product line have been incredible… 24 hours visible results!!

In the future, you can shop conveniently online or through me as a client paying the suggested retail price for products or you can join Arbonne as a wholesale shopper for only $29.00 to shop at 20% off every product for the whole year!!  Renew this membership each year for only $15.00 to maintain your everyday 20% discount with no obligations. Also be sure to ask me about our incredible referral program & hostess benefits… a great way to earn your products at 80% off!!

Please email or call me with your order or with any questions you may have. I look forward to scheduling a 30 minute “Get Arbonnized” consultation with you!

Goodbye Old Friend

This is the stupid, sentimental mommy stuff this blog was originally intended for.  I should probably preface this story with a note about how I tend to form emotional attachments to strange things like cars, bathrobes I never wear (that's a post for a different day), or in this case, a laundry basket that looks like a puppy.  

Recently, I had to replace my son's laundry basket.  It wasn't JUST a laundry basket.  It was his FIRST laundry basket and the beginning of his learning responsibilities.  I remember the day I brought it home and he was so excited to take off his clothes and put them in his "puppy baskik" each night at bath time.  The are numerous pictures (somewhere) of him running around the house with this basket on his head.  But I've noticed lately that the puppy basket had seen its better days.  Some of the rods that helped it hold its shape were missing; a casualty of a heroic sword fight, I'm sure.  It also had a few holes in the mesh, probably due to a toddler/preschooler climbing inside and rolling around in it.  When I told Joseph it was time for a new laundry basket, I offered to get him a new puppy basket.  I knew I wasn't ready to part with the puppy basket and I secretly hoped he wasn't either.  But I'm learning that I am way more attached to the things of his childhood than he is.  He was excited to pick out a new laundry basket and requested a dinosaur one.  Naturally, there were no dinosaur-shaped laundry baskets in the greater Jackson area (at least not that I found), so we settled on a basketball basket, complete with a backer board so he can shoot his clothes in and score on his way to take a bath.  He was incredibly excited to get it home and set it up.  I sadly, reluctantly disassembled the puppy basket and removed it from his room.  I set it beside the garbage can in our kitchen because I wasn't quite ready to throw it out yet.  I sent my husband a text message the the puppy basket had been replaced, that our son was fine with it, but I was not...  I was standing in the kitchen, crying over a LAUNDRY BASKET shaped like a PUPPY!  That evening I had to go to a meeting, so I asked my husband to take the puppy basket out with the trash while I was gone... I just couldn't bear it.  When I got home, the kids were in bed, and the puppy "baskik" was gone.  Just another sign of the times.  Sigh...

Shades of Grey

Lately my Facebook news feed has been littered with two things -- smocked clothing sales and posts about MS26.  One of these items, I can ignore.  The other, I cannot.  I am AGAINST MS26.  It's not because I don't love God or babies.  It's because I value my privacy.  I believe in a woman's right to choose.

It has been stated repeatedly that this is a poorly written amendment, full of unintended consequences.  In this day and age, things must be written clearly.  If there is a loophole or any room for interpretation, people will take advantage of these situations in the most extreme forms.  The people who proposed this amendment cannot guarantee that these unintended consequences will not be carried out.  Our state has bigger problems than worrying about what method of birth control women use, or what happens to embryos that do not get implanted.  Women's health is important and teaching women how to take care of themselves should be of the utmost importance.

I've seen several political ads that show candidates in support of MS 26.  I am sick to my stomach about the upcoming election.  I thought we had some educated, informed people running for office, but it's obvious that they can't take time out of their busy schmoozing schedules to educate themselves about the implications of such a ridiculous amendment.

I've been told that I could never be a politician because my opinions are not black and white.  To me abortion is not a black and white issue though.  There are always exceptions (rape, incest, immediate danger to the mother).  It should be between and woman and her doctor to determine the best course of treatment.  I can't say what I would do if faced with any of these consequences, but I would at least like to have an option.

Ladies, I would ask you this:  Do you want your state senator to accompany you to your gynecologist appointment?  Do you want your doctor to have to ask permission from the government before saving your life?  Infertility is a painful enough issue to deal with, so do you want to have to petition the state for the right to undergo treatment?  Imagine after having been through IVF, finally conceiving a child, and then having to spend your pregnancy (a time which should be celebrated!) fighting lawsuits because you and your doctor "killed" people (embryos) during the process.  Can you imagine what a colossal waste of time and money this could amount to?  Don't even get me started about the issues regarding birth control pills.  Mississippi has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the country and has had for the last 10 years!  Can you imagine what would happen if we were to limit access to birth control for these young girls?  I shutter to think!

Do I wish every baby were born? Yes.  While I'm wishing, I might as well make a list:
I wish every baby were born into a loving family.
I wish everybody who wanted to have a baby could.  I know some people who would make fantastic parents.
I wish rape and incest never happened.
I wish young girls were not encouraged to get pregnant so they can get a check from the government (yes this happens).
I wish people wouldn't use abortion as a means of birth control.
I wish no woman had to make their choice to save her own life or that of her unborn child.

I also wish for world peace, but it doesn't look like that's happening any time soon.

Do you get my drift here?  We can live in a fantasy world or we can choose to live in reality.

The bottom line is this -- It is none of your damn business what I choose to do with my body.  It is not the government's job to decide what method of birth control I use, how I get pregnant, or what I choose to do about it.  This amendment does more harm than good and I don't see how any doctor who truly believes in the oath they took can stand in defense of it.




parentsagainstms26.com

Am I "miss"ing something?

So, Italian fashion house, Missoni, has released a collection especially for Target.  It includes women's and girls' clothes, office supplies, shoes, even cute little espresso cups... how very Italian of them.  I went to Target this morning for a few essentials and almost thought it was black Friday.  People were buying Missoni in bulk!  It was like extreme couponing + hoarders + shop til you drop all rolled into one.  Seriously.  One person ripped open a box of shoes before the poor guys stocking the shelves could even get to it!  Another woman bought almost every Missoni letter box they had.  Just looking in her shopping cart gave me vertigo.  I get that Missoni's signature pattern (horizontal zig zags) is appealing.  It is very unique and recognizable.  However, it is not something that everyone should wear.  And it's definitely not what I would want my entire office decorated in.  I think maybe I'm missing something.  I just don't understand the frenzy.  Enlighten me please!

All That Glitters

My baby girl is growing up so fast!  It seems like she does something new every day.  Her newest accomplishment is using her hands to reach for things.  She reaches for her brother and often ends up swatting him in the face.  He's learning not to take it personally.  :)  She also loves and I mean LOVES shiny things.  A shiny silver Diet Coke can is enough to stop any fussiness.  Her reaction to seeing my watch is hilarious.  Her eyes get wide, she makes a perfect circle with her lips, and then uses every ounce of strength and concentration she can muster in order to lay her tiny hands on it.  Yesterday, she noticed my ring for the first time.  She was mesmerized!  Once Brian saw how taken she was with it he was reminded what a long road he has ahead of himself; he now has two girls to provide with shiny sparkly things!  As much as he is dreading the day he hears the words, "Daddy, I've met a boy..." today, he was comforted by the fact that it will be a long time before any boy will be able to show her something small and shiny and evoke the same reaction.

Open for Business!

Hopefully, one of these days, I'll be more consistent with blog updates!  

For those of you who don't know, I have recently started my own business.  I am now an independent sales consultant with Arbonne International.  Arbonne specializes in pure, safe, botanical products for anti-aging, skincare, cosmetics, and health & wellness.  Those of you who know me well know that I have always been self-conscious about my skin.  I used to joke that one of my goals in life was to be able to go out in public without makeup on and not feel like I had to hide!  These products are the best I've tried... and I've tried A LOT!  I can definitely tell a difference in my skin!  

As a consultant with Arbonne, I have the opportunity to create my own schedule and run my business in a way that works for my family.  I'm also part of a team that encourages me and helps me to reach each goal I set.  Most recently, I became a first step district manager, and did so in only two weeks!  

If you have a specific skincare, health, or body concern, please let me know!  Arbonne has products that help with a wide range of issues from crows feet to psoriasis, slow metabolism to fibromyalgia.  Check out our products online at www.arbonne.com.  I would love to help you!  If you are interested in owning your own business without the small-business-owner hours, being part of a fabulous team, and helping others to look and feel their best, let me know!  I'd love to have you as part of our team!    

The Mamaw Roses

Three years ago my grandmother was killed in a car accident.  A few months later, we moved into the house where we live now and inherited several rose bushes.  The following spring, we watched with anticipation to see what color blooms each bush would produce.  Just outside my bedroom I watched fuchsia buds begin to form, which later gave way to beautiful pink blooms.  My grandmother, a former educator and Mary Kay consultant would have loved them.  The buds were her signature shade.  When my husband saw me looking at the rose buds and noticed the tears that were beginning to well in my eyes, he knew what I was thinking: those buds are the same color her lipstick and fingernails always were!  It's funny the little things that can bring back the strongest memories, isn't it?  Now, after a little T.L.C., the rose bush is bigger and filled with buds that will soon bloom into beautiful "Mamaw roses."

One Cool Dude

Video of the day!

Always Playing Catch-up

Obviously, I've been a little out of touch lately, so for those of you not on Facebook, here's a quick recap:

I was admitted to the hospital four weeks ago in pre-term labor and have been on bed rest since.  Brian has stepped up to the role of Mr. Mom (his ego may never recover) and Joseph has been so sweet and understanding.  I have spent many nights crying over all the things I can't do-- take him to school, play soccer, go to the park, even sit on the floor and play cars-- but he handles these limitations with such maturity and grace.  We are so grateful for our friends and family who bring us meals, come over and play, and even take Joseph for the day or weekend.  When we're home together, Joseph has begun putting on short shows for me and I've had my trusty iPhone handy to capture most of them.  New videos will be posted soon!

The Big Reveal

Since I'm so behind with my posts, here's a little video to bring you all up to date on our latest family news!

Heart-breaker in the Making

Here's the video of the week!  I asked Joseph what he should say when a pretty girl kisses him on the cheek and this was his response.

(Please pardon my appearance...and the low lighting.  :-))

The Ultimate Apology

This is the video that started it all.  It was commissioned by my new brother-in-law, whom Joseph calls "Hooty" (short for Houston).  Hooty ate my sister's leftover pasta and knew he would be in big trouble so he asked for Joseph to make an apology video for him to present to my sister when he got home.  Who could be mad after seeing this?

New year, new post, new idea

Sooo.... it's been a while since I've posted anything.  The truth is, there are just too many cute sayings and stories to keep up with.  Lately, I've become addicted to the video feature on my iPhone and have managed to capture some of the cutest moments on video.  At the urging of friends and family, I am going to attempt to post a video of the week.  Just a little something to make you smile!