A Healthy (and Frugal) Start to the New Year!

I am not the type of person that sets a New Year's Resolution.  Although I see the point of them, most resolutions fizzle out by the end of January!  I do however, take some time at the end of the year and beginning of the new year to review goals and set some new ones.  It is a good time of the year to reset and prayerfully consider how I can improve and grow.  One of my major goals this year is to improve our families finances.  That is where the majority of my focus will be this year.   One of the ways that I can do this is by making my own cleaners for the home.  I have tried to make many different kinds of all purpose cleaner and one of two things happens.  Either they work great and smell terrible....or they smell great and don't work...until NOW!  I made a homemade all purpose cleaner that not only works well, is super cheap and as 2 added bonuses made the kitchen smell fantastic and helps to build our immune system!  I used DEFEND essential oil from ItWorks!  Here is the recipe below!

• 1C. Warm water
• 1/2 C. vinegar
• 10 drops of DEFEND essential oil

 
 





I mixed all of the ingredients into this spray bottle that I found at my local grocery store, but you can use any spray bottle!  A darker color helps to retain the effectiveness of the essential oil though! 

If you are interested in ordering them for yourself, here is the link  www.naturallywraptastic.myitworks.com. 






I personally love all 4 of the blends.  I will share what I did with Chill in an upcoming post!  :) 

I Think I'm Gonna Need My Lip and Eye!

We aren't even through November yet, and I am already exhausted from looking at my December calendar.  Best case scenario MAKE A PLAN and BE PREPARED!  The next best thing is my lip and eye cream from It Works....and YES it works!  It helps to reduce puffiness and dark circles from under the eyes.  Who wants to show up at a Christmas party looking tired and frumpy anyways!  The best part is that it is made from natural botanicals!  :) 






Here are some of the amazing results!  This is the link to order some for yourself!    www.naturallywraptastic.myitworks.com

 

Am We Reallly Thankful?

I love Thanksgiving because I am thankful for just about everything in my life and if you read my previous post, I am even thankful for my problems!  I complain about having to get up and go to work, but really that job is a blessing in so many ways.  I get frustrated with the laundry that never seems to be caught up, but I wouldn't have the laundry if I didn't have my sweet little priority blessings!  Amidst my frustration with the fact that we rarely savor this important time of the year to remember our blessing and be thankful, I tried a holiday craft that I found on the internet with my kids.  It is a simple "thanksgiving tree" made from twiggs and cut out leaves.  Each of my children got 3 leaves and they were to write one thing that they are thankful for on each leaf.  Little did I know that this project would come with a huge eye popping realization.  They had a hard time thinking of things that they were thankful for beyond things like toys and TV.  Nobody said friends, nobody said family, nobody said school or an education and when I said "What about church and God?"  their response was an overwhelming...YUCK!   I get it they are kids, and that is what kids do, that is how they think right????  I am not okay with this though!  Their little lives are so comfortable that they don't know what a blessing it is to have a nice house, warm clothes, good friends, a loving family, to be able to go to church and Worship God and to go to school and get a good education! 

I am certainly not thinking that we can go without dinner so that they will know what a blessing it is to have food, but maybe I have failed to model this for them successfully!  Although in my heart, I feel blessed, but my family see's me being overwhelmed and frustrated more.  I didn't make too big of a deal about it, because after all, they are kids BUT I will make sure my joy far exceeds my stress.  I will talk to them more about how blessed they are in an attempt to  instill in them a spirit of thanksgiving all through the year, not just at Thanksgiving!

This is similar to the tree that we made.  I was not able to upload a picture of the one that we did, so I posted a picture from the sight that we found the idea.    They did include things like toys and TV but they also added some of the good stuff to their list too.  We had a super good time doing it! 

When Failure and Mediocrity Is No Longer an Option

As I was cleaning out my filing cabinets and desk drawer, I came across my prayer journals from previous years.  In addition to prayers, I also include goals and action plans to accomplish these goals.  It is something that I take a lot of time to do.  As I read through these journals, a realization hit me pretty fast and hard.  My goals are the same now as they were 5 years ago.  That's right 5 YEARS AGO!

I also noticed a pattern to my "journaling".  I would set a goal, and work hard for a little while, then slowly compromise on the action plan and before I knew it, my life was back in chaos!  I am pretty disappointed at myself for this, especially because I know that the quality of life that I can provide for my family can be drastically improved if I could just get my act together and meet some of these goals.  It makes me sick to think about the time that I have wasted! 

That is when I decided that failure and mediocrity is no longer an option.  I thought I was doing pretty good, but there really is no excuse to have not accomplished goals that big for that long!  My family deserves so much more from me!  They do not deserve to have a mommy that is struggling to keep her head above the water.  They can be blessed so much more by my discipline and determination. 

The saying, "If you do what you have always done....you will get what you have always gotten" comes to mind.  It is time for me to step waaayyy out of my comfort zone and do what I think is best, and not what I am comfortable with.  When I journal this time, I am not only going to set  realistic goals and an action plan, focus more on how far I have come and not how far I have to go.  I will also review my progress and PRAY over these goals daily.

 Proverbs 16:3 says, "Committ your actions to the LORD and your plans will succeed".  My ambition is to no longer just get through the day, but to prosper in all that I do!  Failure and Mediocrity is no longer an option for me or my family!

Here it is...this is what I will be using to track my progress and hold me accountable to meeting my goals for me and my family!

I am thankful for my problems!

You read that right, I am thankful for my problems.  Let me explain!  Several years ago we went through a really difficult time.  When I say difficult, I mean I felt like we got one sucker punch after another for months/years on end.  We were praying and working hard to improve our situation but every time we turned around we just couldn't get out from underneath of our situation.  No matter how discouraged I got, I knew in my heart that if I continued to do the right things and keep my motive for change pure, than God would be able to use our situation for our good!  I will not lie, sometimes it was a daily struggle to come to that perspective and live life by making the most of every opportunity.

 Finally, after much prayer there was a break through in our situation!  The answer to our prayer came in the form of a move though.  After we moved, a relative uploaded a picture of the beautiful fall foliage at our old house to their Face Book page.  I looked at the breath taking colors of the trees that surrounded our home and was shocked to see that it was at our house.  I was so surprised because I somehow failed to notice it for myself, even though I drove by those same trees 2 (sometimes 3 or 4 times a day)!  The more I thought about it over the years, the more I wondered how many other subtle opportunities I have missed to watch my God wow me in everyday life because I was too focused on my problems.  It makes me regret wasting my thoughts and energies on all of the crud that was going on around me.  And when I really think about it, did it solve anything?  NOPE not at all!

 It was a huge blessing to finally see some answers to some of our problems and move forward in our lives, but truly the real blessing was in how those problems developed our character and brought us closer together as a family.  We emerged stronger and better because of our challenges. More importantly, those challenges increased my faith in God as He is the only person to have opened doors for our situation to improve.  I can actually say that I am thankful for those challenges.

Whenever I get discouraged, I remember that my God is so much more powerful than our problems.  I try to be more intentional in taking a break from daily struggles to notice the simple things that are going on around me and I remember that with the right attitude, pure motives and my God anything is possible.   As you enjoy the spendor of fall in these next couple of weeks, think about challenges that you have had in your life or about a challenge that you are currently going through.  Be thankful for those problems because in the end, the real blessing is the change that occurs on the inside of us!

Another little secret!

Another one of my favorite It Works products are the chews!  I love the chews, not only for myself but for my whole family.  They taste great and help with digestion which is super important this time of year.  Especially if you want your immune system to function on all cylinders!  My kids love them too, so I feel good about adding 1 or 2 in their lunch box each day, even thought they think they are eating candy!  Here is the link to order if you are interested www.naturallywraptastic.myitworks.com.   I promise I won't tell your family that they are actually good for you!

Time to get back in the game!

I have a LOVE/HATE relationship with exercise!  I love the way that I feel when I exercise, I love the feeling of healthy!  It gives me more energy, it motivates me to want to make healthier food choices and it feels good to fit into my clothes!

 I am not particularly fond of trying to fit one more thing into the schedule and to be honest, the immediate needs of my family (meals, homework, housework, dirty diapers and activities)  is so cumbersome that by the time I get an opportunity to do something for myself, I much prefer a good cup of coffee and some piece and quiet.


I know I am not alone!  Anyone that knows me knows that a healthy lifestyle is a huge priority for me and my family.  It is my passion and I have spent numerous hours over the course of the years learning more about living a healthy lifestyle.  I have read books, researched the Internet, and followed blogs.  I drove myself crazy trying to feed my family a strictly "clean diet", tried eliminating gluten, tried cutting back on dairy, limiting mean, and followed many of the trends in the health community.  I have also observed the health of my grandparents and great grand parents and wondered how they could eat bacon and eggs  and bake with lard and live to be in their 90's.  Much of my research would make a great blog post for another day.

My most recent conclusion (and the one that has given me the most peace about what I feed my family) is that of balance and consistency...plain and simple! The best nutrition./exercise program that I can adopt is one that I know I will be able to stick to.  Sure I could do a complete over-hall of my pantry and schedule to make a healthier lifestyle more of a priority BUT...the reality is that there will be many interruptions to that plan.  So here is MY plan....make several small changes that will make the biggest impact!

1).  Drink 1 bottle of water with my greens in it.  For those of you that don't  know about It Works greens, they are amazing!  They detox, alkalize and provide you with an excellent boost of nutrition as well as enhancing your immune system.  They come in a berry or orange flavor.

Here is the link to purchase them if you are interested!  www.naturallywraptastic.myitworks.com




 2).  Include some exercise into my day.  I am a busy..busy...busy and almost always moving, so I know that I don't need to incorporate a ton of cardio into my fitness plan.  I can commit to 3 burst exercises that work the major muscle groups, boost metabolism and energize me, and do them in 5 sets of 12.  Exercises  such push-ups, jump squats, and bicycle crunches.

Hey it's a start!  I will keep you posted on my progress!