Our first corn ever! What a pretty corn it is too. They are not growing very large but maybe our garden is too small. Oh well, It was fun to grow them. :D

Here is my shopping trip on 5/16/2011!! I paid oop $28!!! This was $130 worth of grocery! Some of the items I have here are 8 bottles of Fuze drinks, 4 raman type noodle thingys, 14 bags of the Kraft Homestyle mac n cheese, 2 Ben 7 Jerry's ice cream, some Breve Creme for coffee, 2 7th Generation dish soaps, veggies, fresh basil, Zatarans, 2 bags of Doritos...and more! This was a great trip!!

Basil - Dr. Weil

Great article!! Good read. I and my family are going to start using Astragalus and Echinacea again. Last year when the swine flu scare was evident, we used this a lot trying to boost our immune systems. We got sick maybe one time that whole season. This season, however, we are sick on a daily basis. It seems that for months now we have been super sick with a mega virus that will not quit. Just 2 weeks ago I had a temperature of 103 and I am still sick from it. The laryngitis is gone but I feel lowsy and the headaches will not go away. Kids are coming home from school early. I dread the calls form the nurses office. I started my Wii EA Active program and my running program and thought I was on a roll. I had been well for about a week and then got this thing I have now. It is crazy and I am worn out form it all. So Dr. Weil, I am gonna read more of your stuff!! This guy is really on top of things and knows his stuff!

Basil - Dr. Weil

My EA active 2 exercising so far...

Wow... wow.... I LOVE this program!!! It's great! I set up my profile and picked the cardio program. I am on the 9-week cardio plan. I have done 3 weeks of it so far. I love that it only takes me about 20 minutes to do and It is different every day!! The soccer stuff is the most fun. I love the fitness trails it takes me through.

The jump squats are fun because you are doing soccer headbutts while doing jump squats. When on the fitness trails you have to squat to go faster on the bike or skateboard and then jump when it tells you. The runnning is fun because you can see yourself getting ahead of the trainer the fatser you go.

I am sweating up a storm when doing this workout. It tells me what days to do. If I choose to take a rest day when it has me scheduled I just workout the next rest day and tell it I want to do the last missed workout. That way I am all caught up. I am down a few pounds and I can see major definition in my legs.

I am also doing the 4-weeks-to-a-mile program on the treadmill. This is why the 20 minute workout on ea active 2 is great. I take about 20- 30 minutes on the treadmill training to run a mile again. I will do the 5k next. Monday I start week 2 on the running program.

I have done 2 5k's in the past couple months but since I am not conditioned I have a hard time breathing and this is why I am training now. I am tired of walking the 5k's. I saw a picture of myself at one of the races. I was going pretty fast. I walked 3.1 miles in 40 minutes. But... the picture makes it look as if I am taking a little stroll. I hate that. I need ot run again!!

EA Active Sports 2.

I got some money for my birthday and Christmas last year and decided to get a Wii system. I think we may have been the only family we know that did not own a Wii! I have always wanted one and when my husband and I realized how expensive it would be to get a Kinect and an xbox 360 we thought the Wii would be a good option. We got it with the help of my hubby chipping in some cash because I wanted the EA Active 2 program. I did one workout so far and I LOVE it!! i am going to do the 30-day program and blog about my experience and results as well.

I am going to start eating more "clean" too. I really want to be healthy and be more fit and I know the key is diet combined with exercise. I have done the whole, gym 5-days a week for 2-hrs a day with no results and I realized it was because I never changed my diet.

When I come up with a really yummy "clean" food or recipe I will be sure to post it. At the insistence of my husband I am still going to use coupons when I shop which will make it more difficult to eat right but I will prove it can be done!! :D

The first trainer on the EA Active 2 program I chose was the girl trainer because she focuses on cardio. I do get a Chance to build muscle in the routine and I like this!! I want to focus on that right now because I have a lot of weight to lose and if I gain muscle tone without losing the fat on top of it then I will just look bigger without seeing the results of the muscle tone.

Today I was tired because the baby was up until about 4 am. He seems to be crying in pain and I was concerned and rocked him most of the night. making breakfast this morning was not the priority on my brain. :D I decided to get a decaf coffee at McDonald's and I also got the new Fruit and Maple oatmeal there too. It was not bad at all. I did not add anything like sugar or anything else to it. I ate it as-is. I also had a banana earlier before dropping the older kids off at school.

Now to get the baby down for a nap and for me to take a much needed nap as well. Sleep is really important when trying to be healthy and lose weight.

True Prep

We all remember “The Official Preppy Handbook” from the 80's. Admit it, we all read it. we all used it. I for one LOVED it!! Well, there is now a new book out by the same author, Lisa Birnbach. It is an updated version that tells how it is to be preppy in todays society.
You do not need money to be preppy. You need good manners and etiquet. It is said that you can wear hand-me-downs and thrift store finds but have a great preppy handbag and look the part.

Of course Lilly is still "in" as preppy and there are blogs like Summer Is A Verb. or Monigrams and Manicures.I love Kelly Green and Navy as well. There are many more so be sure to look them up and check them out! I'm excited and can't wait to get this book and read it!!

Review of Nature's Gate Products

This review was a looooong time coming. I apologise for this. Sometimes life and vacations and dear children get in the mix and things get so crazy.

I had a long and lengthy review for these products. I decided to scrap it and give you my unbiased opinion in a short and sweet form.

I said before, I was sent the Acne treatment kit, a Pomegranate body wash and a shampoo and conditioner. Here are the reviews:

I will start with the Shampoo and conditioner. The shampoo I was sent was the Persimmon & Rose Geranium Color Protecting Shampoo and the conditioner was the Asian Pear & Red Tea Color Protecting Conditioner. The smell of both of these were ab-so-loooot-leee fabulous! I loved how refreshing and sweet and fresh these both smelled. I loved how they made my hair smell. I was proud to walk around after my shower and "show off" the scent of my hair. I had lots of compliments from people on the scent. It was a strong scent enough where it lasted awhile after the shower. I liked that. Not overpowering strong but strong enough to last. I felt like I smelled clean and freshly "washed" all day. ....Now, the part I did not like and unfortunately it is the most important part,...How it worked for me. I thought at first it was because I had just had my hair colored a couple days before trying this. I used both the shampoo and conditioner for sever weeks before stopping because I had to be sure. I truly wish I had not. When I used them the first day I found that my hair felt like straw in the shower. I even used an extra dose of conditioner to hopefully solve the problem but it did not work. I then got out of the shower and found I could NOT comb through my hair at all. I had to add a leave-in conditioner to my hair to make it a bit more manageable but I still heard hair snapping and breaking as I struggled with the comb. My hair was very hard to dry and after a week the ends started to look very brittle. Like I said before, I wanted to believe it was because I had just had my hair colored. But, after several weeks of this I finally gave up, with shampoo and conditioner still left in the bottles, and used a different shampoo and conditioner and the difference was AMAZING!( not the Nature's Gate brand) I was able to comb through my hair very easily and my hair felt and looked great. Now, my hair did not have that same fabulous smell but I will take to healthier version of my hair over the great smell any day.

The body wash I was sent was the Pomegranate Sunflower Velvet Moisture Body Wash. I really like the smell of this as well. I do think that all these natural and organic ingredients are the best when it comes to the fragrances. I just love a good organic, fresh scent. I think the wash did a good job cleaning my skin. My skin did feel moisturized and I felt clean after I got out of the shower. No residue and it rinses off cleanly. The only problem I had with the body wash was the container it was in. It was bulky and heavy when full (not so great to have when your hands are wet) and I could not get the pump to work so I had to unscrew the pump each time I took a shower and pour some of the wash onto my cloth. I hesitated to ever go back for more because it was so clumsy and too much work to do this each time.

The last thing I was sent was the Natural Results Acne Treatment Kit. I can not say enough great and wonderful things about this!! Seriously I have nothing bad to say. There are no negatives. I have tried every popular acne treatments out there. Granted I have not tried the "newer" versions of some of them that have come out lately but I did try the originals and nothing, I say nothing, worked like this kit. Not only did it work and made my skin look clear and clean and fresh but, I love that it was all natural and organic stuff I was putting onto the delicate skin on my face. I liked the subtle scent it had. It was a little medicinal but lite and fresh too. It has a face wash, (watch the eyes girls and guys, as always!) a nice toner and a controlling lotion. As long as I used this in the morning and at night before bed, I had very little to no acne at all. I wish I had a before picture to show but I was so ashamed of my skin that I would not allow my photo to be taken, or, I got rid of the evidence if someone had managed to get a click in. But, the difference is truly amazing. I have recently run out and plan on placing an order for another kit. I find my skin breaking out after a week of not using it. So, yes, it is a product for maintenance and you will have to continue using it to maintain the clear skin but that is the case with all the over the counter acne treatments out there. One thing I would like to see with this kit that I have seen with others, is some kind of supplement (all natural and organic of course!) to go along with the kit. Something to treat the skin from the inside out. That would just make this the most fabulous Acne Treatment Kit I have ever used! If a company out there would like to claim they have a better one or has a newer version of their old kits and would like me to try and see which truly is the best, I say send them along! :D I am always willing to try. I do have a bit of scarring from all the acne I had and the sun does not help as it accentuates the marks leaving darker scars. (the severe acne I had was for a time period of about 2 years. Stress and hormones will do it everytime) I would also like to see an organic lightning agent such as green tea or something that will work in the toner and the lotion.

Anyway, that is my review of the Nature's Gate products that I was given the privilege to try out and review. I wish I could have given a better opinion on the shampoo and conditioner but I have to be honest with my opinions. Maybe someone else will have a different experience.

ok, so that was not so short but hopefully it was sweet. :D

You can find Nature's Gate products and this wonderful Acne Kit HERE.