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Blessings

So... it has been a TERRIBLE month!!!  With the passing of our lab and now my husband having a stroke, I gotta say, I'm exhausted.  After all, this IS about ME, right?!?  HAHAHAHAHAHA!  I'm really only making a joke here because I'm on overload with every other emotion.  The reality is, my husband had a real scare and it left me with real feelings of guilt because I've allowed (and in most cases, led the coup) us to fall off our path of healthy living that we worked so hard on over the past two years.  We backslid into unhealthy eating and missing workouts.  Welp, we just had a wake-up call in one of the biggest ways imaginable.  There are only two things more important than our health, God and the health of our spouse.  And it's a funny thing that happens when we put our priorities in check, we actually DO take care of ourselves in the process.  Enter the 17 Day Diet.... and we are now on day 6.

Health and diet books were at the top of my list for reading material while I hung out with my husband at the hospital and a battery of tests were performed.... good thing my Kindle was in my purse.  Sooooo many books to choose from and I picked a winner!  The 17 Day Diet was featured on The Dr. Phil Show and The Doctors and a quick review on You Tube from my smart phone (a nurse at the nursing station told me that it was a myth that our cell phones interfered with the medical equipment.  I don't know if that's true, but I thought I would share) confirmed my perfect purchase. I was reading my new book in less than minutes.... MAN!  I do love my Kindle.  Now the 17 Day Diet is actually four 17 day diets rolled into one with each 17 day diet serving a purpose... to get your health back on track the quickest way possible and keeping you on track while living a life of least resistance.  TOTALLY makes sense to me!!!  The beauty of all of this is it also got me back on track with living organically and enjoying raw food again.  Every day for the past 5 days we've enjoyed tons of fresh fruit and vegetables with our eggs, chicken and fish (P.S. I don't eat eggs, chicken and fish raw...hahahahaha).  Just yesterday I served up grilled chicken with buffalo sauce and celery for lunch... SOOOOO GOOD!!!!  I'm thinking that breaking down a lifestyle change into 17 day increments is pretty brilliant.  Just 11 more days to complete the sugar flush and then I can bring in complex carbohydrates for the second 17 day increment.... NICE!  Brown rice and rice noodles never sounded so good!!!  Today I'm whipping up a batch of my FAVORITE raw dressing, click HERE for deets.

A couple of tips for anyone thinking of giving this one a try.... I cooked up a ton of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and used my Food Saver to freeze it.  I then cut up a ton of celery and carrots for snacking and made an ENORMOUS salad with Organic Spring Greens, cabbage, bell peppers, cucumbers and radishes.  Learn to love salad.  They will make your life so much easier.  Finally I boiled a dozen eggs to store in the fridge so there is PLENTY of good food on-hand.  It's just so much easier on us to not have to spend so much time in the kitchen right now.  Things are just there for the grabbing and preparation times are down to almost nothing.  Finally, I used to LOVE the Sommer Size sauces.  They were all natural, sugar free and SOOOOO convenient.  I'm working on getting my hands on some for next week's meals.... why are they suddenly so hard to find????

Alright, that's it.  I was blessed with real motivation to make real changes.  I was also blessed with my husband and am so grateful that we even get the chance to "get back on the wagon" so to speak.  No more backsliding into unhealthy eating habits, no more taking our health for granted.  Sometimes blessings hurt but I'm learning to see them more clearly through the pain.  Years ago, I don't think I would have considered a stroke a blessing.  Here's to your blessings... may they be a lot less painful.

Comments

Rosa Witten said…
I am so sorry to hear that you had to go through such a frightening ordeal. Your husband will be in my thoughts and prayers. I also have been struggling to get back into a healthy lifestyle, why is it so hard to take care of ourselves? Please take care and keep us up to date on your progress. :)
xxxx Rosa
Oh my gosh how scary for you both! I hope your DH is recovering well. Thanks for sharing about the diet!

Past 7 Days....

Gorgous Leaves Bundle Revisited

Yestday's Freebie Friday on a Monday projects were so fun and this set is SO BEAUTIFUL in it's simplicity!  It reminds me of a long-retired stamp set from Stampin Up!.  I was inspired to re-create the projects that I made with it once upon a time.  So here we go.... SIMPLE projects when you need a quick "hello" or an even quicker heartfelt sympathy card: I was DEFINITELY on a Bumblebee and Cajun Craze kick yesterday!  I can't stop/won't stop!  LOL!  To be fair... I had extra leaves die cut and didn't want anything to go to waste!  A quick speckle backdrop in Bumblebee then a quick "hello" greeting from the Biggest Wish in Cajun Craze with the Cajun Craze leaf popped up on a Basic White cardbase.  PERFECTION! Okay, as with yesterday's projects, the sentiment is from the recently retired SAB Delicate Dahlia's set, but you could use ANY sympathy sentiment you have in your stash.  Unlike in the past when I had to mask off the center rectangle...

So Lame

So over at Paper Vineyard, the challenge was to create a birthday project and it COULDN'T be a card.  I've personally been creating WAY too many cards lately so I was happy to try my hand at something new..... only I didn't. :(  Instead, I was busy preparing for last week's Cricut Swarm.  Now, while I missed creating a project specifically for our Birthday Non-Card challenge, I figured the cupcake box that I made would fit the bill PERFECTLY for a birthday-themed project.  The box also has an insert for a cupcake to fit inside.  I made it with my Cricut (cuz of the whole Cricut Swarm bit) and while I ADORE this box, I sort of had a little melt down making it and I decided that this is the last Provo Craft product I will ever buy.... let me share why (read through to find out the cartridge I used for this project)! Most of you know that I DESPISE Provo Craft.  I hate that the Cricut is a one-of-kind product that I loved....

BACK To Halloween.... WHEW!

Okay... BACK to Halloween gifting this week!  We're makin more goody boxes using The Cutest Halloween Bundle again this week, we are also featuring the tags and labels dies from the July - December 2021 Mini Catalog (lovingly dubbed "the holiday mini").  I've got to admit, this bundle really is the cutest and I'm having SOOOO much fun playing with it simply because of how easy it is to work with.  The fact that the punch ALSO punches out the images from the DSP makes this one a super-huge winner for me.  I mean.... three goody projects in under an hour!?!  That's right!  This week's Freebie Friday On A Monday was actually recorded in under 40 minutes!  SO DOABLE to get ready for Halloween gifting!  As always, the link to the free PDF with supplies used and measurements is below the last pic and if you place a $35 or more from my online store (click "Shop With Me" in the banner at the top of this blog) using this week's Host/Hostess code  GHRG...