Environmental Awareness, Make it a New Year's Resolution!

Environmental Awareness
                We're all guilty of not treating the environment with the utmost care and consideration at one time or another.
                I am asking you to, before you make your next purchase, ask yourself where this item is going to be at in a year? Five years? Ten years? Do you really need it or will it just be another thing that you set aside after a few months to collect dust and ultimately end up in a landfill?
                I am vowing to only buy items that enrich my life! Think about it... if it doesn't enrich your life, what is it really worth? (Ok so maybe toilet paper isn't going to enrich my life directly, but it will keep my tushy clean and that could be pretty enriching right?! ^_^)
                There are so many things that people buy simply because of the instant gratification they feel in that moment. If you have ever watched an episode of Hoarders where the hoarder seems to have a shopping addiction you will understand this point well. You look around and see tons of items still in shopping bags and with price tags on.
                Let's be honest here,  raise your hand if you have something around your home, brand new and never used/worn, possibly with the tags on it.... I know you're out there! I am so guilty of this, I sometimes buy things because I might have somewhere to wear it in the far off distant future if all my lucky stars line up. I realized this morning that I have a dress, a couple pairs of leggings, two swimsuits, and about 4 shirts I have only worn one or two times each (ya know the kind you buy because you actually do have a certain place to be with a date and a time) and what's worse is that some things I have not worn yet at all.
                Make it a new year's resolution to think before you buy and make other environmentally friendly choices along the way!  I will!!!


Have a happy and safe New Year's Eve! See you again in 2012!!! (Unless something brilliant hits me sometime tomorrow and I blog again!)

xoxo Rae 

Ask and you shall receive! - Diet Blog!

Starter Meal Ideas!!!!

Breakfast:
Italian bread toast with fresh fruit
Oatmeal/Cream of Wheat
Orange Juice & Eggs
Half of a bagel and a banana
Wrap- scrambles eggs, cheese, onion, green peppers, mushrooms (mix it up to you liking) and wrap in a tortilla(I don't like the whole grain tortillas but... I urge you to try it)!

Lunch:
Salad with bread
Rice with onions and black beans
Left overs from dinners

Dinner:
Pasta with sautéed onions garlic and fire roasted diced tomatoes(It really is as simple as it sounds)
Lentil Soup with bread
Cheesy Potato Soup
Veggie Lasagna
Shrimp Alfredo w/ veggie packed pasta
                Sides:
                Salad
                veggies: sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, carrots, asparagus, spinach fresh or steamed
                                zucchini
                Add ins: onions, garlic, lemon juice(from real lemons), tomatoes, shredded cabbage,

Snacks:
Dried fruit and nut mix
Waffle with peanut butter
Celery Carrots with dip
Small salad with fruits(fresh or dried), nuts, and seeds

Tips:
Do not add salt during cooking unless it's for pasta. Chances are you'll forget you want it once you start eating.
I use real butter but do so sparingly. Real butter is more natural and I feel that while it is high in calories, it is less synthetic than margarine is, thus making it the healthier choice (to me anyway).
Prepare snack ahead of time you are less likely to grab something not so healthy for you if you have dried fruit waiting for you in it's own little premeasured baggie!
Use whole grain brown rice not white rice.
Take Vitamin C daily. It helps to promote weight loss and is great for your immune system.
"Grazing" is terrible. Just sit down and eat a meal!
Never, finish your child's left overs. Calories add up and you don't even realize it!
Top salads with low fat dressings. I found a balsamic vinaigrette dressing that has 15 calories 0 fat calories! It's delicious. No creamy dressings like ranch. You'll just be insulting your salad!
Switch to low fat milk.
Vinegar helps to slow the process of digestion thus making you feel fuller longer! (I put it on steamed spinach and it's delicious and of course in my salad dressings.)
When you become hungry eat a salad first.
Drink 8-12 ounces of water before every meal and 16 ounces before you even start your day!
Green tea is good for you. Buy locally made honey- you support local working people, if you have any seasonal allergies it will help, and it's not likely to be contaminated with horrible nasty chemicals that you see on the tv!
Put onions on top of salads. Purple(or red?) onions are the best for you nutritionally and they can be used for anything. Onions have the most nutritional values while they are raw. You should never pre-cut onions for later use, in this state you are more likely to get sick from them. (I don't quite remember if they attract bacteria or what it is... just don't do it)
If you're a meat eater go with lean meats! No piggies!

So, this is what I have so far, I may come back and add to this blog or just start a new one! I hope that you found this helpful. 

"...in that moment I felt like I was free..."

The Simple Life Is Never Simple!!
                So I have been pondering a more simple existence. Life is simply too much sometimes. I just mean that, the amplification in everything (to seemingly make life easier!?) can be absolutely overwhelming. Not to mention it angers me to a point of screaming... in my head, which I know sounds a tad crazy... I never said I wasn't crazy...  ;)
                Really though, all this technology is corrupting society and the way of life. Sure you could go to a store or get on the computer and buy anything you want. You can find a gadget to do just about anything you need done (you can even hire someone to do things for you if you can't buy a machine to do the work). This means you have to work less in life. I know that it is sometimes very convenient to just pay some extra money and wham-bam no worries on your part. When you stop to think about it though, are you really living? We need to be experiencing life, not making it so simple that we no longer take pride in anything that we do. This is where my passion is. Take pride and make your life worth living and worth talking about. Ever find yourself listening to someone's super dull story about their day thinking, "What is wrong with this person!?". Me too! If it's not worth talking about don't speak at all....... *tick*........*tick*........*tick* Do you hear that? It's the sound of your boring pathetic life passing you by! So what are you going to do about it?
                I had a vision of my life; I closed my eyes and I saw everything that I wanted and it was not in any way corrupted by society. It was beautiful and happy and fulfilling! I wish I could paint this image but alas, I am not an artist.  So I will tell you that I was sitting in my kitchen, it wasn't modern but rather rustic and farm house like. I wasn't wearing any make up and I was drinking a warm beverage and reading a book. Then one of my daughters came running in and was laughing and smiling and jumped into my arms and I hugged her and gave her kisses. In the larger picture of this vision that flashed before my eyes I saw simplicity. I saw life as it should be; I saw homemade clothing, area rugs and curtains, and not one electronic device was in sight. It was so breathtaking and in that moment I felt like I was free from the altered form of my life I live today. The life that is surrounded by television, ads, Walmart, fads, consumerism, to name a few. One day I will live the life I saw in this vision. I will do whatever it takes to get there and I plan to start this transition immediately. Why not?
                You can think I am crazy if you like. But as they say, if you're going to dream, dream big! While I feel like I'm trying to dream big, the reality is that the life I want is the exact opposite of the "American Dream". Simplicity in the midst of a complicated world.
This is all I have for now, stay tuned for more!
xoxo ~ Rae

Hello, Where have I been??!

In all honesty... I had to figure out what blog site I was using and it's taken a few tries and failed attempts until now. Go me!


So for this blog I will simply say, I am back and stay tuned because more blogs are coming!

Woah Motivation

So, I'm thinking and searching and inspired in so many different directions right now.

The focus... working from home.
This is something that I seriously want to do and for some reason I'm not getting off on the best start with my homemade stuff. I really do have a hard time keeping myself motivated I suppose - confession #1. I also get so many ideas going in my head at once that it just seems to be difficult to sit down and make product "x" because I'm thinking of project "z" (yes 2 steps ahead)- confession #2. Is this attention deficit disorder perhaps? (Yeah I mentioned that in my intro blog, consider yourself warned. ^_^)

So... A home based business that everyone could use and benefit from. It has to be affordable and it has to be something people will want to try, buy, or keep forever.

So this is the part.... where you fine people tell me what interests you!?

Not LEEPing for joy but I am relieved.

So I wanted to update how my LEEP went on Wednesday.

Let me just start off by saying that I was really nervous. If you have to have this done I suggest taking someone with you who makes you stronger when you're feeling weak. For me it was my boyfriend who went with me.

The procedure was very fast, they first put some stuff on the cervix to highlight the area(s) that is affected. This does feel like some mild burning (they do the same thing for the colposcopy).
The speculum is larger than for a regular pap exam which makes it pretty uncomfortable. After this... 3-4 injections were put into my cervix to numb it all around this also contained a medicine to limit bleeding. It makes your heart race, legs shake, and for me my ears were ringing. I told the doctor, and nurses that I felt like I was in a video game. I have never done drugs and so this was about the closest I got to doing drugs and it was pretty awesome. haha I read that some women didn't like it at all and said that it was the worst part with the heart racing and what not. For me... I think it helped!
I did feel the injections and it burned but it is nothing that can't be handled! Once I was numb I felt nothing. I even asked the doctor to test to be sure I was fully numb before the slicing/burning began. Also, before the procedure started I made the nurse promise that I wouldn't feel anything and that if I did... they would stop and numb me more. lol I didn't feel any of it, I only knew what was going on because I was being told. When the areas were being "finished" I felt it, it was like a faint scrape feeling. After it was finished I asked to look at the pieces of my cervix which was pretty neat.
It was all done and over with within like 15 minutes. The weird affects of the injections lasted a while longer.
The day of and day after were crampy and somewhat uncomfortable. Definitely have to SIT down and not plop down and some sitting positions made me feel "tender". I have experienced no bleeding at all! 
It will take the lab 3-5 days to evaluate the removed areas and get back to me to know if the margins are "clear" or "not clear"(so I will know between Monday & Wednesday). If they are clear then all of the precancerous cells were removed. I think that if the margins are not clear they will just watch and wait to see if my body can clear it up on it's own. I was also told that it is not uncommon to have abnormal paps for the next 2 years and let me tell you, that is good to know before they come back abnormal! At least I know to expect it and not to over react or freak out! Lucky me... I just get more gynecological action than "normal pap people". haha.

I'm really happy to be putting this behind me and I was told that it would not affect my ability to get pregnant or carry a baby to full term. So if that road is in our future... all should be well. 

No guarantees until you're dead, even then, someone is going to resuscitate you and screw it up!

Tomorrow morning I go for my LEEP (Click-> LEEP for further information) and I am pretty nervous. It's not going to be a highlight of 2011 at all just let me say that!

I'm not feeling too comforted by the fact that it is "getting taken care of". Primarily because,

• #1) I have had these issues in the past and they resolved on their own no medical intervention needed, 
• #2) if they miss part of the affected area they are going to want me to go back in for another mutilation of my cervix, and 
• #3) there is no guarantee that the abnormal cells won't come back. 

I know I'm a "Negative Nancy", call me what you will. But the fact of the matter is that I have HPV this is a virus that I am going to have to live with and without getting rid of the virus I will never be able to guarantee that these abnormal cells will go away for good. There is also no way of knowing that I've kicked the virus. Just when I thought I had it kicked, my pap results come back "abnormal". Three full years with no issues and my abnormal cells are CIN2/Stage2 precancerous. Does this mean that they are changing more quickly when my immune system is down?
In another three years will I find out that I have full blown cervical cancer when just he year before my pap was normal?

I have a lot of questions and worries and I'm honestly lacking a lot of faith right now. I'm scared and I don't want to find myself in the position I can only imagine. However, I feel that it is kind of inevitable, eventually.

You could tell me to pray, you could tell me to think positively, but lets face it... I'm a realist and I think it's about time that I buy some freaking life insurance to take care of my family whenever the day comes that they need it.

No guarantees until you're dead, even then, someone is going to resuscitate you and screw it up!