Advocare 24 day challenge wrap up!

Well, that's a wrap folks!

Thursday was day 24 for me and I am done with the Advocare challenge!

Honestly, It was a pretty easy challenge. I didn't cheat and I stuck with it which was only hard when it came to having a drink or two on the deck with friends over the summer weekends. I'm not really a picky eater and I stick with the same foods for a while. So it was easy to find things I liked and stick with them. 

I have high hopes in getting my mom to start eating clean, I have to stop and remember that it might not be as easy for people to give up certain foods as It was for me. I gave up things all at once with starting the challenge so I didn't really have time to thing about it and I had already done the hard part about a year ago. Giving up soda and fast food!! While i was ok with not eating fast food, soda...that was HARD!

I did however, pick up a nasty coffee habit a year ago as well. I like a little coffee with my creamer and sweetener packets. Yuck, I cringe now when I think about how much of that crap I was drinking. 

But with Spark, that too was an easy thing to give up. I will go back to coffee, as spark inst always in the budget, but I will be using all natural sweeteners and using a lot less of it too! I will also do more herbal teas instead of so much coffee. 

I came across this picture in Pinterest and thought that would be a great way for somebody to start out slow and ease into the clean eating way of life.

Any who,

Don't worry, I've already dropped a few hints that a Keurig would be a great Christmas present this year. :)

Another thing that I put on that list was an individual smoothie maker. One that I can blend and take with me to go. I have been making my own clean and healthy breakfast shakes when I don't have time to sit down to have a carb and protein in the mornings.

I have been waiting on my Gostaks and Erin Condren Life Planner in the mail this past week so I am constantly checking for packages. Well the Thursday I had a package come in the mail but I was confused because I hadn't bought anything from that specific place, but it had my name on it, so I opened up the box to find the smoothie maker! AWESOME! But how the heck did I get this when I didn't even order it..

So I thought...who would send me this? My first thought was my mom just ordered it and my second thought was my Grandma Wanda who mails me things and is always so thoughtful....

Well, called my mom and she promised she had no idea what I was talking about so my next stop was to get a hold on Wanda but Andrew came home with a big smile on his face... 

It was him, he found one online and got it for me! It was a nice surprise for my successful 24 day challenge! He continues to tell me how proud of me he is for making healthy choices! :)

I've got some amazing people in my life... I am truly blessed!

Ok, so...wrapping up this challenge, here is an end of challenge picture to be compared to day 1!

 Here is day 1 at 164lbs.

 This picture is a day after the last day-day 25. 157 lbs.

I didn't end up dropping a ton of weight, but I did drop a healthy amount for those 24 days. I am also down a size in my pants and inches all over! All of my summer clothes-shorts that I bought end of summer last year and beginning of summer this year are now falling off. I literally do not have to unbutton or unzip any of them to get them on or off. haha :) I think I will keep them because that's a great feeling!

Andrew and I had a date night last night and he had to put a new notch in my belt for me. My jeans were falling off.  :)

Btw, I opted out on the ice cream stop that Andrew just had to make after we had dinner. I had looked into making  clean banana ice cream earlier that day so I knew I can eventually  have ice cream, just not from dairy queen! Mine will be better too!

For dinner we went and had our favorite sushi..Sorry guys, sushi is just one thing I will NEVER give up! We don't get it too often anyways. We didn't get out the door until 7:30 so we were starving once we got there and Andrew thought we really needed an appetizer. I agreed as long as it wasn't fried!! They had edamame on the menu, along with stuffed mushrooms...fried stuffed mushrooms.. :( I LOVE stuffed mushrooms....

So, we ordered.....edamame and had our sushi shortly after. I know, I know...that white rice is not good for you or clean...But....it really was a goooooood cheat meal! 

OH, and a very yummy glass of wine! I let myself have one glass and kept myself from ordering a second or third glass... 

I also wanted to share this link to a site that has some great clean eating information! Good ideas on food and ways to shop!

You can find it here!

Karah xoxo

DIY Headboard!

So excited to share my new headboard with you all! I was looking around pinterest for a DIY headboard and saw a bunch of different styles that I loved and thought I would try to tackle one on my own.

It was..well easy for Andrew to help me put together but, on my own, it would have been a tough project. I'm not a really very good with tools.

Anyways, here ya go...

Here is our bedroom before our new headboard! 

Yes, we have a bed in the shape of a circle.

its Ikea.....

 ....... yeah, idk....But hey its a king sized bed with the rounded sides! Very nice for when you have a chihuahua who likes to kick at night! :)

 We ventured to Menards and found 7ft boards, dark cherry stain, long heavy duty nails and a paint brush.

 Andrew got to work staining the boards. I planned on doing this all on my own, however, he said my arms were to short to give it the right brush strokes..haha..whatever...

 It took about...an hour to get everything measured out and placed in the correct spot. It really felt like 5 hours. 

Andrew and I don't  make a great team because he is a tad OCD and likes to really plan things out and do it the right way..I like to just get shit done..asap! So, with his help....it might not have been done super duper quickly, but It was done correctly and it looks great. 

I just have a hard time waiting for him to get things done..correctly. :)

 This was about 8pm, after a long day at work..So excuse the crazy hair and no make up look that I am rocking here but the headboard turned out great! Bay and I love it...oh yea, so does Andrew!! THANKS BABE!!! ;)

All in all...this ended up being a $50 project with the materials we bought. Andrew also went back t the store and bought a stud finder which was another $16. I am pretty happy with it, considering every headboard I have found started out around $150!

It was easy and something fun we were able to do together..and by do together, I mean Andrew did it while I hung around and nodded my head when he asked how it looked! :) haha I love my man!


BTW, today just happens to be day 24, the last day of my advocare challenge! WOOOWHOOOO! I'll post a wrap up soon.

Karah xoxo

Day 21! Dang you, Dr. Oz!

Dang you, Dr. Oz!!

Ok, so I love the Dr. Oz show. He always has great information to share and always practical but he always makes me want to jump online and buy about 100,000 things!

 With eating clean I am always buying fresh produce and racing to eat it all up before it goes bad. I also have a lot more that needs to be stored in the fridge now and I want to pull my hair out when Andrew puts things in the fridge. He is always putting things in the wrong spot!! :) Not that he can read my mind and know where the "right spot" for anything is... ha But I am always rearranging. Weird..I know..But I like to know what I do have, what were low on and what we need when I am meal planning.

So, after the fridge looked like a tornado hit it, I tried my best to get things organized again.

Much better...But..not good enough! 

I was watching Dr. Oz. this morning as well and he had a woman on his show talking about ways to keep fresh produce fresh for longer! She suggested these BPA free green food storage containers! I did a little research and found that I need to be using all BPA free anyways. I thought I would give it a try.

I ordered a set and hopefully it well help keep things organized and fresh longer!

These are what I went with!

In doing some research I had also come across these gostaks, also BPA free! I have been following many different people who are eating clean and meal prep each week. They all seem to suggest using things like this to help stay organized. I bought a set and will see if I like it. I am hoping that it will cut down on two sometimes three lunch boxes that It takes me to pack my days worth of meals!

So today is DAY 21!!!!  That's right, only 3 days left of this challenge!

I know that it will be a little more work, but I am going to continue with my clean eating. I just don't see any reason not to. I have really learned a lot with this challenge and I am loving the results. I might let myself have a cheat day here and there where I allow myself to have things like wine, beer or a slightly less healthy meal when dinning out, but probably will try to stay away from that more often then not. Like once a month! The goal here is to continue working towards a healthy weight, not maintain my weight loss so far. 

The other day I was reading a post from Mama Laughlin: Suck it up Buttercup and even though I am not allowing myself to slack off while on this challenge, it reminded me just how important it is to not slack off when you have goals in mind, even after the challenge ends in 3 days.

"You can't half-ass weight loss. That's called maintenance, and it will get you nowhere."

 -Mama Laughlin

I just have to remember that eventually I will get there. Eventually I will be able to enter the maintenance phase. But that isn't now, not today, not tomorrow, not even on the day after day 24! 

Honestly, It probably won't even be that day until after the new year! But that is OK with me because I see the light at the end of the tunnel and I can do this! Who wants to put that crappy food in their body anyways.. haha Right?? Yeah...I'd like to say NOT ME, but I'd only be half ass saying it. Sometimes I do want a BIG SLICE of pizza or a big bowl of something cheesy... haha But then I just try to find an all natural way of eating something like that...

Like this morning...I was really wanting some pancakes! Some yummy, hot and buttery pan cakes!

However, I wasn't willing to blow my challenge on pan cakes.

So I jumped on pinterest and looked around for something I could eat.

Just tossed 1/4 cup of oats, splash of organic vanilla soy milk and almost a whole banana into my little blender. Then I poured a pancake onto a skillet at low heat. This made about 4 small pancakes. I put a little all natural peanut butter on top wit the remaining bananas. It was really good!

Just two of the pancakes were pretty filling so I shared with Bailey! ;)

He doesn't really get much table food anymore so he was pretty happy! We are trying to cut down his weight also. For health reasons! :)

Here are a couple other things I've made this past week!

Turkey meatballs and couscous with onions and mushrooms on the side! So good!!

Spaghetti squash with onions, tomatoes and mushrooms! We also ended up added some left over meatballs to this which was really good too! I was surprisingly very full before even getting half way into this!

From here on out, I will be trying really hard to find some crock pot clean eating meals as my 3 day work week will go back to being a 6 sometimes 7 day work week of 14 hour work days! So if you have any ideas or recipes you would like to share PLEASE do!!

Karah

SMASH what?

Organizing, DIYers, SMASH books and staying busy. 

What a fun weekend it has been! Now back to Monday, a whole new week!

 

I am always looking for something new to organize around here and I never have any problem finding something to work on. Actually, I've got a pretty long to do list that I can work on during my short breaks between semesters!

I spent some time cleaning up the craft room last week and noticed that I needed to find somewhere for my hundred of sticker organizers to live.

 I was running out of space-I either needed to reorganize the closet in that room or find one place to store all of these stickers-stickers that I use for scrap booking and have been gathering for as long as I can remember!

I decided to no tackle that closet and to create a sticker binder instead. I have a couple of hanging file folder boxes and these little organizers full of stickers and scrap paper.

I took everything out and sorted by themes, placed in page protectors, stuck a sticky note with a label on each and placed them in a binder! Fast and easy to find and to do! I made a separate binder just for lettering stickers. I have a lot more of these and use them more often then the rest!

TA DA!!

Whenever I spend time in the craft room I get that itch to do something with all of my crafty things I love. You name it, I probably have it. Between painting, drawing and everything else I love to do, I have plenty of things to get it done! I even find Andrew in there looking for supplies when he is building his airplanes. 

He has his own space in the basement where he buildings things like remote controlled planes and cars.  We go out to the park a few times a week and he will fly one of his planes that he has been working on and then we will do our long walks! Here is one of his latest projects. 

Anyways, one of my favorite things to do is to climb in my bed, turn on a good show and surround myself with pens, markers, pencils, water colors, scissors, glue, washi tape, stickers and all of that fun stuff. I will find a book and start drawing,painting, jotting things down or doodling. Its a good way to spend my me time. :)

Little did I know that these books that I have been doing all of these things in for as far back as I can remember, like the middle school years, are now being marketed and sold in stores as SMASHbooks.Whoever came up with the thought to sell this idea in stores was a genius. Go them! 

When I hit the stores to grab some organizing supplies I was also on the look out for a new doodling book. I have hundreds of them from the past years.  I came across these SMASH books, which I have seen in the past but was not sure what they were. I jumped on pinterest and found some boards where people have shared their SMASH books. There is a whole world of these books that I didn't even know about. These look like fun so I grabbed one and thought Id try it out. Its kinda nice to already have a book put together for you and I just got started making it my own. I went with the "Pretty Pink" styled book!

Its a good relaxing way to get things on paper. Now, if they could just make everything water proof so I could do this in a nice bubble bath with a  bottle glass of wine that would be even better! ;)

Today is my last day of  summer break before going back to work at PAT and I only have two weeks until classes and my practicum start! Ahhh!!!  Its a bit overwhelming to think that starting this month I will not only be babysitting, but Ill be starting my work as a hospice social worker, back to being an educator AND back to being a student. Yikes.

However, before all that crazy stuff begins we have one last project to finish around here. FINALLY getting my DIY headboard completed! :) The boards are stained and ready to be put in place-as soon as Andrew is ready to put them there that is. Maybe this evening!

Here is a sneak peak! Look at my cute handy man at work! 

Ok, now back to my day of doing NOTHING, as it will be my last for at least a few months! 

Karah

A few before and after pictures!

Quick update: A few before and after pictures from day 1 to day 15! I don't feel like I can see much of a difference but I can feel a difference! I hate these pictures but I thought I would be brave and share my results so far!

 

Day 1

Day 15 Don't I look happy! ;) Down 4 or 5lbs!

Day 1

Day 15! I can see a difference in m face and tummy!

Day 1!

Day 15... I hate this shot! I've got a big butt and I can not lie! :)

Well...there ya go! I will do this again on day 24! I try not to let this discourage me as I don't see much change, I'm dropping inches, pounds and my clothes are getting looser! Not only that but I'm still not having those awful headaches that I was having everyday and I still have so much extra energy! I'm loving this feeling! It feels good to be good to my body!

Update:Day 16, after a good work out I was still feeling great so I decided to play dress up with some clothes that I haven't had on in a while. I have been in shorts all summer so my jeans have been hidden in the closet. At the beginning of the summer I was feeling uncomfortable in my jeans.... I wore jeans once a couple of days before starting the challenge and remember thinking..man..this sucks, I look awful! My muffin top was getting harder to hide!!!

So today I tried on my jeans and they all fit so much better!! So I thought I would be brave and try on some jeans that I couldn't even button 16 days ago..My favorite jeans-my fav. because when they fit right they are so comfortable! Well..ta da!!!!!

I can wear them! I can button them without sucking in too! :) I'm pretty excited! I might even have to wear them out in the heat of the summer just because I can! ha

Karah

DIY Preschool Educational Games!

Getting ready for the new school year!! 

At the end of each year we have to pack up our classrooms and all of our fun stuff goes into storage. Yeah...yeah..I get it..They need to paint the walls, work on the floors and so on over the summers but MAN...what a pain this process is!! 

But now we are at that time of the year where we got UNPACK everything AGAIN! This is also not a fun process. However, it is fun to get reorganized and have a fresh start. We will be back in the classroom on Monday and will be creating new centers, games, activities and so much more!

Here are some things that we have put together over the past couple of years... 

DIY games for preschoolers!

I hate hearing that children don't have any educational games around the house because it costs too much..Well here are some things that you can do on your own. You can pick up things from the dollar store, print pictures online or even draw them your self. We picked up a lot of these materials at teacher stores, target, dollar store..etc!

This color car game is a great game for those young preschoolers learning their colors and even learning their numbers! You just need to make a road, pick some colors and a car for each color! This book has about 5 cars and different colors in it and the first page of this book says, Who's in first? Here comes brown. Driving fast, he better slow down. You can have the child look for the brown car or look for the brown car with the number 1 on it! The second page goes on to say the same using different colors...

 

 Ten Little Daisies is a great game for your older preschoolers! Counting backwards from 10. You need 10 flowers and as you turn the page it takes one away, allowing you to count the remaining daisies on the pages that are left. 

Ten little daisies playing in a meadow, 2 walk off and now there are...Let you child count how many flowers are left and finish the story!

 A couple of Christmas books that we have made also! Five Little Gingerbread and Five Little Snowmen.

Color Match! Like the others, super easy to make on your own! You can crumble up some color paper if you do not have any pompoms around. But I took some colored pompoms, a close pin and colored spots on the spider! Let your child pick up the pompoms with the close pin and match them with the correct colors on the spider! Great game for working those fine motor skills that your kiddo will need to write their name and so much more! I like to store a lot of my games in these awesome zip bags!

You can find cards like these in the dollar section in the summer months before the start of the school year!

Again I used some clothes pins, wrote out a letter on each one to match with the letters below the pictures on the cards!

Here are a few other games we have made up! We took the 5 Little Monkeys book and put some monkeys in a tree for the kids pull off as we read the story! Just used a little Velcro tape! An ABC book where you can match the ABC's with the cup cakes by putting the cherry on top!

A couple of counting books! Both books go up to 10. These books are great for helping kids to recognize their numbers. You pull the paw print or popcorn pieces off at the bottom corners, again WE LOVE VELCRO TAPE, and lay them out for the kid to see. Let them count the number of sticks on each page and find that number on the pieces, matching them up!

 

 Here are some great things that I just picked up and target in the dollar section to make up some games for this school year! I also picked up some great books at Deals. All for just $1! You can't beat it! I laminate books that I find and use them with dry erase markers with all of my kiddos that I work with so I can use them over and over again!

 

I am also always on the hunt for great games that I can print up and make in the home with the kids I see too! I plan for my visits and pull from a collection of activity add on's. Last couple of years I have tried a few different ways of organizing these...My first year I tried to boxes that I found at target. I can use hanging file folders in these and move them around with me. My collection got too big and It became difficult to bend down under my desk to dig out hand outs and add on's!

Last year I used a folder organizer on my desk. It was just too much!!

Over the past couple of days I spend a few hours organizing all of my add on's/activities sheets in 3 inch binders! Each labeled and contains different things like actives for ABC's, numbers, colors, rhyming, classifying, matching, early cutting skills, early writing skills, animal sounds, etc.

I think I can place these next to my desk and grab a binder as I need something, find the hand out and grab a copy! Let's hope this is easier than the past two years!

And look!!!!! I found these cute pens while I was on a hunt for organization supplies!!

I think these will go just nicely with my NEW ERIN CONDREN LIFE PLANNER!!!!! I think I have another week before this bad boy will arrive in the mail. I am going crazy waiting. I love all things organization and her stuff is amaze-balls! (Yes, I love Giuliana Rancic too!)

If you haven't seen these awesome life planners then you are missing out. It took me hours to pick out my planner! You can see them here at www.erincondren.com!

Well, that is all I've got for now. I have about 100 other games that I might add here and there. But wanted to share how easy it is to make some great educational games for your kiddos!! :) I'll be sure to post the great things we make up in the next couple of weeks!

Karah