Products I plug

Just a quick note that I am in no way being compensated, reimbursed or receiving any special offers on the products or stores I am plugging in relation to my Vegan Cleanse. I am merely posting these items and places as an FYI in case any of my readers plan on doing the cleanse.

Vegan cleanse day 7, one week success

I did it, one week down! I weighed this morning and managed to lose 2.5 pounds, wow!This is five pounds of fat, so half of this came off my butt, hopefully! LOL
Considering I really haven't worked-out that is amazing to me. I plan on sticking with it and I will post less frequently regarding the cleanse, perhaps every three days or so. I plan on going strong until our vacation on the 17th - Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana here we come! No promises if I can and will continue after the 30 days. I am looking forward very much to spending time with my family especially with yesterday's drama!

God- let me persevere and walk the walk!

Vegan cleanse, day 6 followed by a DRUNK DRIVER!

Today has been crazy busy and I am running on fumes. For breakfast I had toast with vegan soy butter and jelly with a side of veggie sausage. Lunch consisted of a veggie burger by Amy's with fries cooked in olive oil. Snack was fresh fruit and almonds. Dinner I had a veggie pocket.
Sorry, no pictures.

We had our annual garage sale, happy to say we did very well and I am now $700.00 closer to getting my camera.

My step mom called me this evening, in a frantic state and left a message that concerned me so I immediately called them back without hesitation only to learn that they had just been hit by a drunk driver that fled the scene. They had her, my father, her daughter, and THREE grand kids in the truck. Thank God no one was hurt. They apparently followed the vehicle that hit them, knew he was intoxicated with some type of substance because he almost hit several other cars and then ran into a brick wall. My father, jumped out of the car ready to well, beat this mans as*, but thankfully my SM and Jamie managed to get him back into the car until the police arrived. Needless to say, he failed the Breathalyzer and was arrested. Everyone is okay, just very shaken and distraught! Thank you Jesus for sending your angles to protect them and the vehicle as you did.
Please people, DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE! CALL A CAB!

God - tonight I just give thanks to you, I heart you!

Vegan Cleanse, day 5 emotional

It comes to no surprise that today has just been very emotional for me. I really should just stay off the computer and away from people! HA! Perhaps it is just PMS, or maybe it is God's way of tapping me on the shoulder and awakening some of these dead senses of mine. I know that the world which surrounds me, or I surround myself in is chaos at the moment and why wouldn't it be, the devil will use our most venerable times to break us down! I could say that I really didn't pick the right time to cleanse, but is there ever a right time to go forth with something as crazy as a vegan cleanse? C'mon!
It is amazing the crazy looks I get or emails when people find out I am doing this. LOL I suppose if they don't understand it really isn't worth my breath to try and convince them why I am doing this.
I will say that today, my joints in my hands are feeling better. I will say that since day 2, I have been on a bathroom schedule which hasn't occurred for a very long time. I am telling myself that I don't want instead of I can't have certain foods, the kind of foods that make me have 5 minutes of yummy pleasure and three hours of not so yummy pleasures.
I have been calling on the lord for strength in ways that haven't been in some time. A spiritual cleanse for me, yes! Much to my surprise it has been. I feel as if I am cleaning out demons that have been in my closet and left there for far to long. I feel as if my foundation is becoming stronger, wiser and more free day by day. I am a fan of fasting, but in some weird way, this has been harder then a 24 hour fast.
Well, tonight I will eat a vegan hot dog with a side of black beans. Dessert will be fresh cut cantaloupe.
I hope everyone enjoys their weekend, we will be out in the garage having our annual sale.
Be well.

VEGAN CLEANSE DAY4- The bad

Today has been a little challenging for me. First my "girlfriend" decided to visit and I was craving bad stuff. For breakfast I had flax toast with almond butter and preserves with a side of blueberries. I snacked on hummus and pita chips. For lunch it was lentil soup by Amy's and rice tamari crackers. I also had a SILK soy black cherry yogurt. For dinner I had this:Amy's veggie "meat-loaf" with a side salad. It was okay, nothing to write home about. I then took part in some soy delicious snicker doodle "ice cream" which is pretty good. Blaine also decided to have some salad:the kiddo loves his veggies! I have been kind of moody but that's to be expected when the girl comes to visit! Here are some fun pictures of the family.
at least it is something other then his fingers in his mouth, lol

God- please keep me focused on the reason I wanted to try this cleanse to begin with, healing through food and faith. Thank you

VEGAN Day 3 - the good

Day three was a success. I was in a mad rush this morning, feeding, breakfast for Blaine, dressing the kiddos and getting myself ready by 10:00 so I could pick up Josh from swim and head to the new Whole Foods Town and Country grand opening! I only managed to stuff a OG banana down my throat for breakfast. I then had for lunch an Amy's vegan breakfast burrito with salsa and it was delicious! Amy's really makes some very tasty vegan products. I snacked on the usual, raw almonds, and blueberries with almond butter. For dinner I had this:Amy's vegan pizza which was delicious even though this picture does no justice- it was tangy and sweet. Green salad on the side. I had two Newman'sOH SO CLOSE TO AN OREO! So good they will knock your socks off baby! lol

Here is Blaine and Josh @ the grand opening with the Horizon moo cow and yes, they got a cheese sample, ha! Baby Leelyn and I had a grand time to even though we had to pass on most of the free samples, God kept me strong.

God- Thank you for keeping my trust and faith focused on you. You are a good God, a great God. Here is to feeding my soul on day four.

VEGAN DAY 2

I must admit, today was plate licking exceptional! I started the day off with my flax whole grain bread, toasted with almond butter and OG (organic) cherry preserves with a side of OG banana. YUM-O! I didn't even finish my small cup of coffee and no headache! For lunch I had this:Amy's vegan veggie enchiladas with a side of Brian's wonderful guac. and chips. DELICIOUS! For dinner I prepared Amy's veggie burgers topped with cucumber, onion and lettuce on my healthy and delicious whole grain bread with a side of OG frozen potatoes I fried in olive oil: I snacked on fresh pineapple and raw almonds. I need to up my water intake by about 24 ounces. I am feeling fine and missing nothing - as far as food goes!

God- Thank you for your strength, with you all things are possible.

VEGAN CLEANSE -END OF DAY 1, the ugly

Yesterday went pretty smooth. I didn't find myself craving anything like I thought I would. I had my OG Flax flakes for breakfast, then for lunch I had Amy's lentil and veggies soup which was DELICIOUS and I snacked on Brian's AWESOME guacamole dip with tortilla chips, had some fresh cut pineapple and for dinner I had this: VEGAN Beef Kabobs, mushroom pilaf and steamed broccoli with soy butter and lemon. So, I did not enjoy the kabobs at all! I actually demoed these once, in the microwave and they were better like that then on the grill. My hubby and son ate grilled shrimp and steak, ha! I also went for a two mile power walk and 3/4 of it is up hill. The crazy part is I had a very very stressful day, DRAMA! It amazes me the way grown adults can act - adults that are older then me and I was put in the middle of it all - have I mentioned how I can't wait for my trustee term to be DUNZO?! Anyhoo......
TWO things - the UGLY: I have spent more time then usual in the bathroom and my breath seems to be really stinky today, GROSS! Logic tells me this is the beginning of detox, already?! I figured it would at least take 3 days. I will post tonight for my end of day day two.

God - thank you for getting me through day one with ease, now let's conquer day two together!

VEGAN CLEANSE, day 1

http://www2.oprah.com/foodhome/food/cleanse/blog/blog_main.jhtml
I have decided to start my vegan cleanse today - with just one twist, I can't give up my coffee but I will only have one cup instead of three cups. God has absolutely been preparing me for this as the past few days all animal products have seemed, well just gross to me, cheese included! I LOVE cheese, so I know I am doing the right thing. I want to witness first hand how I feel, if my joint pain goes away, if I lose weight, my energy levels etc. I went to WFM yesterday and did my vegan shop. I must say, it was nice that a lot of the products state vegan right on the package and there was a lot more then I thought there would be to eat!Here is what I bought for $125.00 which included my nifty 20% off. I started my morning off with weighing myself and that I will keep private but I will let you know the pounds lost, if any by day 30- that is if I make it to day 30, ha! I started my morning off with 1 cup of coffee, SILK soy-milk and a splenda. I then had a banana and some 365 organic golden flax flakes which was actually GREAT! I can't wait to be 3 days into this cleanse and see how I feel then. I will journal my cleanse on here, day by day - so look for my posts @ the end of every day, the good, bad and ugly of it all.
Here are a few pics. I took yesterday getting ready for WFM - the boys LOVE going dads work. ;-)

<---funny face Dads awards and desk.

God- I ask for added awareness and strength as I embark on this new way of eating, thinking and life. Thank you.

STRESS levels are HIGH!

I feel as if I don't even know where to begin! Brian had Friday and Saturday off this week, amazing! Friday was filled with errands that have been put off by me for to long. We took the kiddos to O'Charley's for lunch, they eat free and the food is decent! We then went running around like mad people. I ended the day @ Ann's bra shop in hopes of purchasing a swimming-suit and only ended up leaving with a shattered self image! I know- I know, stop complaining and start doing something - I am trying! Leelyn has been waking up THREE, that's right THREE times during the night to eat, and he seems to be uncomfortable in his bassinet all of a sudden! Blaine has also ended up in our bed come the middle of the night and Brian and I are both to lazy to take him back upstairs @ 2 am! I used to have to wake Leelyn up to eat, what is going on here? Definitely talking to the PED. @ his 4 month checkup - I am even giving him organic cereal before bed. My once over-stocked freezer of milk is now down to a mere 6 containers, OMG! I am starting mother's milk tea today! With that said, my energy is gone come 4-5pm and the earlier part of the day is feeding, cleaning, playing and maybe eating if I am lucky! Eating all the WRONG things!
I guess the good part is both of my boys have been sleeping in until almost 10 the past few mornings and that is wonderful because I am NOT a morning person what-so-ever!

We ventured to the pool on Saturday, paid $17.00 to get in and only to be greeted with thunderstorms 15 minutes later! It was clear skies when we got there! That trip was a dud. It went from this to this in like 1.5 seconds- such a pouty face. We bought Leelyn this cute Cars float ring and I will NEVER use that @ the pool again! You'd think Barney or Spongebob was there, kids were coming up touching the float and putting their hands on him, tapping Leelyn on the head - GAWD! I had to tell one little girl twice to please not touch the floaty or Leelyn again as she almost tipped it over twice - where were her parents? SERIOUSLY! ICK! Don't even get me started, LOL I am going to be very brave and head to Whole Foods to get some much needed shopping done today- hopefully! I also still have to get all my garage sale items together and priced for Wed. and Sat. for our neighborhood annual sale - I am $500.00 closer to my camera, plus whatever we make on the sale, YAY! I told Brian I was going to raise $1000.00 myself to put towards it-even though I work my butt off daily he should just buy it for me, ha! My goal next week is to finally get signed up with Lifetime Fitness, I could really use and enjoy two free hours a day to hang by their pool, or workout or both! Yoga, Pilate's, pump class oh the possibilities, I just pray Leelyn doesn't CRY so much that they call me to get him! I am also in the midst of getting our July vacation together - Branson here we come! That is the bulk of next week among other "little" things! Happy Sunday!

Follow the nose it always knows....LOL

It is no secret that I HATE my nose! My sister got my fathers skinny body with my mothers CUTE nose and I got my mothers curves and boobs with my fathers big nose! If I wasn't such a WUSS I would so have a nose job, instead I opted for this:Blaine thought it was hilarious (thank God he thinks I am funny) and he to wanted to partake in some nose work......ha ha ha!

Pine cones and snakes and sandals?

First and foremost let me share the big news of the week:
Leelyn is rolling over!!!! He is 3 weeks away almost from turning 4 months and I can't believe it! Blaine was 4 months and two weeks before he was rolling over. Here is a video clip and a picture that I took last night of him sleeping on his belly because he....ROLLED OVER! http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r199/nicolegibgou/?action=view&current=MVI_7322.flv

We had our MOPS play date this morning, what fun! I love my MOPS group. <-----Baby Ryan has really gotten so big! Getting ready this morning was complete and total CHAOS! First the TV repair man showed up 30 minutes before our leave time, ugh! Then I could not find my other sandal that I wanted to wear for the life of me! After searching and searching I went to get a drink of water and TA-DA:Pine cones and snakes and my sandal, in the fridge- OH MY!!!! That Blaine is something else!Don't let his charm and adorable looks fool you!!! HA!
We made the play date on time which was a miracle as far as I am concerned!
So those that truly know me understand my disgust for putting fingers in your mouth, I have no understanding of why people bite their nails, NASTY! So, for those that know this about me understand the hard time I am having dealing with this:ICKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

God- PLEASEEEEE help me to remain clam, cool and collected with Leelyn's thumb sucking obsession!

Construction has begun and boys will be boys...

The construction process is underway, thankfully! No houses should fall into Fishpot creek!Brain, Blaine and Leelyn decided to take advantage of the pathway and have some dried up creek fun.....those boys of mine!

If you water, they will grow

Almost tipped over in this shot, OOPS!

Leelyn is an official thumb sucker! ICK!!!! (I think putting your fingers in your mouth is NASTYYYY!)

God - Please give me enough water so they grow old.