Toxic Friday

I bought some new vitamins last week and they came with a free book. The book is called Perfect Weight America by Jordan Rubin. The book really upset me a first. They first take your BMI. Mine is 23. A healthy BMI is one which falls into the 18-24.5 range. So, I am at my healthy weight right? No exactly, according to this book. I then had to measure my wrist where the hand meets and divide that measurement into my height in inches to determine my frame size. You may be surprised to learn that I have a very small frame according to those measurements. But I bet you will be even more surprised to hear that I am not at my "ideal" weight. I would have to lose 12 pounds at the very least to even fall in the range of my ideal weight. So naturally, I turned my brain off to these crazy ideas and tried not to think too much about it. Who needs another diet program anyway?

Then I happened upon another book at my parent's house. This book is totally insane! In fact I was rolling my eyes the first few chapters....but I couldn't stop reading. It was about natural cures. In this book they state that the sun is a natural healer of disease, and by keeping yourself from it, you disturb this healing process. Then it goes on to say that sunscreen, not the sun, causes cancer. Hmmmmm.

The main message behind the book is to avoid chemicals and chemically -altered foods, medicines, water, etc. As I read this I started feeling sick. #2 on the top 5 list of things to avoid is aspartame...a known carcinogen. Nice. I've actually known this, but I am addicted to diet sodas. And now I know why. Apsartame and other artificial sweeteners are highly addictive. I might as well be doing cocaine. I felt sluggish, greasy, and dirty after reading this book and asked my mom to watch the kids so I could walk through Sprouts (a local "whole" foods market). I picked up some things there to help ease my family into this huge transition. I had already decided to start "eating clean" last week after purchasing 2 of Tosca Renos cookbooks:

Now I am feeling the need to take this a step further. Both books were sending the same message. Eat clean, get rid of processed foods, and reduce the chemicals you expose your body to. They go as far as saying if you can't eat it, don't put it on your skin. It all goes into the same bloodstream. I know I can't rid my family of all chemicals and micro-manage everything they eat. But I can give them the tools to make the healthier choices. And maybe that weight range isn't so off target if I were to actually get rid off all the toxins trapped in my fat cells, and al the bloating that comes from eating processed chemical foods.

So today I am letting my kids and I clean out the toxic food. Drama had a chocolate Pop Tart for breakfast. Mmmmmmmmmmm......gotta love that high fructose corn syrup. And the girls are happily munching on goldfish as I type this. I will drink my last cold Diet Dr Pepper today...and then I am officially done with artificial sweeteners. If people can quit smoking....I can stop drinking poison.

I know this new lifestyle will come with a cost. And honestly, that scares me. I bought 5 things at Sprouts last night and my bill was over $40. But if we will all be healthier in the long run...even live longer...can you put a price on that?

Fried!

Can't type...must sleep.

Drama started 3rd grade today. He had a great day! However, getting kids ready to send them off to school is exhausting. I noticed when looking at the first day of school pics that we missed that all-important before school haircut.

Which I was going to do today....BUT...

Sunshine has been sick since Saturday. We were out for a friend's Bday when we got the text that she had a 103F fever. UGH! Just got Tink and Drama over that icky fever/throat thing. It sounded like croup, so I treated it like croup. We had the right diagnosis, but today she really seemed to go downhill. By the time I got her to the Dr she had stridor (a high pitched sound resulting from turbulent air flow in the upper airway...audible on SS during inhalation and exhalation). Just sitting in the Dr. her fever went up a whole degree and a half and her breathing deteriorated from oxygen sats at 100 to 98 (which is still ok from what I understand).

The Dr. was worried enough (since croup tends to get worse at night and she was sounding that awful at rest...what if she were crying...or coughing) that she decided to skip the oral steroid and go straight for the IM shot. She said it would work faster (within 6 hours as opposed to 24) and hopefully keep us out of the ER tonight.

She also warned us that croup is highly contagious. Weeeeeeeeeeee! Since SS and TB share a room, there is really nothing we can do but pray. The poor thing sounds awful. She has no voice and we have to keep the monitor up super loud to be able to tell when she is crying. Drama (being dramatic and loving of his sister) actually tears up every time he hears her talk because it sounds like she is "so sick". I keep assuring him she will be just fine with a little humidity, fluids, and rest.

Meanwhile... the Duke is frantically typing his dissertation paper that is to be turned in Wednesday. Pray pray pray.....

So painting, haircuts, cleaning, and organizing has taken a backseat for a bit.

It's beginning to look a lot like...September???

There's something about the start of school that makes me want to get the house cleaned and organized. In the past I have had one child's room and closet to go through and toss the old, and find places for the new things. Now there are three. I know thing 1 and 2 don't have school yet, but I still feel the need to organize.

The clean drive was ignited last week after a shopping trip to Wal-Mart. I found the perfect "ammonia remover" powder to sprinkle in the cat's litter box so it can stop stinking up my bathroom. The plan completely backfired and we came downstairs the next morning to a mountain of poop on the girl's freshly laundered clothes and a huge pee stain on the couch. The cat PEED on or dry-clean only couch. I'm sure you are wondering why in the world we have a dry-clean only couch with 3 children. Easy answer. Couch was purchased BG. (BG in our house refers to "before the girls"). We got the house that is too small, the couch that is too hard to clean and a multitude of other idiotic choices before we knew they would grace our lives.

So we found the couch we want...leather. We have a leather recliner and the thing looks brand new every time you condition it. Best choice for kids. If you are looking for a sofa, chair, car, anything and you plan on having kids....spent the extra money on the leather. Barf, breast milk and blood all wipe up nicely! Couch is back-ordered until end of month so we have a little time to think about what it will look like in the room. This has spurred craziness in Casa de Insanity.
We have decided to paint three rooms...and have already started on one. Most of the walls to paint are the original builder's white complete with kiddos fingerprints, cat barf, and crayon. What a shame to cover all that history up. *sigh*

Now my house is a disaster as we try to clean up and move things around to paint and then make another mess painting, only to clean that up, etc etc. The good thing is when you paint a room you have to move things around and vacuum, clean floors, etc. And painting (to me) is very calming. That will be awesome. But do you know how impossible it is to paint with little people around? I can do 2 hours a time during naps. That's it. I don't think we will be done in time for school to start. So I will have to settle for being organized somewhere in the vicinity of 2010...

Things that make me even happier!!!

1. Tomorrow morning, my car will be in the shop to get it's instrument panel cluster replaced. We received a letter about a class action lawsuit against GM for the speedometer failures happening in 2003-2005 models. In response, they have decided to extend the factory warranty on the instrument cluster for 7 years or 70K miles. Thank goodness we are under it! No costs...no worries. So, after tomorrow, I will once again know how fast I am going!

2. N Texas is having some unseasonably cool temps for august. There is a lot of rain...and humidity. But who cares when it is 76 degrees??? Keep 'em coming.

3. I sang at church on Sunday with a group of friends. It is always fun to do this, but even more helpful to me when the Duke is around to hear. His opinion matters more to me than anyone since #1- he is an amazing musician, fully educated in the style of the music I prefer to sing and #2- He will always tell me the truth. Brutal or not...he is honest. And he said it was the best singing he has heard me do so far and recommended to Mr Choir Director that I do a solo next. I told him he has to pick it.
I've never really cared for my voice. In high school I was known as one of those altos who didn't really have a great voice, but could read anything cold. So I was in choir... 3 of them! But I wasn't that great. I didn't like my voice, and it seemed others didn't either. I've never had a big voice. I was rarely (if ever) chosen for solos. Then, after singing alto for years, I was told I could possibly be a soprano. I have never had any formal vocal training except 4 lessons with an Early music soprano, some coaching by Duke, and mostly ear training. After being married to Duke, I have found a place where my voice fits. My clear, non-wobbly sound has found a home. I have found a new confidence in the sound I hear coming back at me, and have really enjoyed singing this past year. And it feels really good to be told by my husband (who by the way is extremely critical in a good way) that I sounded like a professional. Yay!

4. Did I mention school starts on Monday???

Things that make me happy!

• USA Olympic swimming
• My new coffee maker (a thermal carafe pot as suggested by many friends)
• Drama's artistic ability and love for his little sis'
• Tinkerbel's low, raspy, yet very sweet voice
• Singing great music this coming Sunday at church
• A nice hard rain on a hot summer day
• Ezekiel sprouted grain bread, English muffins, and NEW tortillas! YAY!
• My CW Dream Hair shampoo and conditioner
• The sweet sugar I get from kissing my babies' heads
• My husband telling me how "beautiful and young" I look lately
• Sunshine saying "I miss you Mommy" and "I love you" and "Is Sunshine a princess?"
• My new Sharkie steam mop. It cleans floors (sterilizes even) without chemicals!
• The work we did in Iowa. Hard labor, but it felt amazing!
• Laughter...from anyone

It continues...

This morning my coffee maker broke. It's not old, or new really. We got it for our wedding...4 years ago. My coffee maker is to me like a pacemaker is to someone with a bad heart. I hopped in the car and drove to Starbucks that minute...no make-up, hair disheveled, pjs on. When I walked in from SB, skinny latte in tow, my soon to be 2 year old Sunshine said "Mommy got coffee?". It's almost like she was as relieved as I was. Tink is cutting top teeth and last night was horrific.

Must buy new one today. Any suggestions on best brands for that perfect perk me up???