7 Day Juice Cleanse: Day 1

A couple years ago, after watching Hungry for Change, I decided that I was going to be a badass and complete a 7 day juice fast/cleanse. At the end of day 2 I got a migraine so severe I was laid up in bed until the beginning of day 4 at which I point I said eff this! and started to eat again. I've always wanted to try again but then I had babies and was breast feeding so that was a no go. Now that I have no real reason to do the cleanse I've been putting it off. "Barry is going out of town, who is going to watch the boys if I get a headache?" "We don't have the money right now." "I'm training for a marathon, I need all my calories."  Fast forwards to two days ago. 

I was in the grocery store, trying to figure out what to make for dinner, when it really hit me. I really don't have any excuse to not do this cleanse. I'm not pregnant or breastfeeding. Barry is home. I've scaled down my training. And I just so happened to have some leftover Christmas money in my wallet. Right there, in the middle of the grocery store I made my decision. I would do this cleanse now. Today. No excuses. 

Juicerecipes.com is THE BEST website for juice recipes. Move over Pinterest!!! It has a 7 day cleanse plan with a shopping list so I got the fruits and veggies I needed and came home to tell Barry all about my newfound determination. 

I got excited. He got excited. And now we're doing the cleanse together. 

I started the cleanse yesterday but I don't have any photos because in my delirium I deleted them off my phone. Boo! 

Yesterday. Was. Miserable. 

I like food. I love food. I like to eat meals, I like to snack. I like to eat hot Cheetos while reading. I like to find recipes, I like to cook, I like the look on Barry's face when I make something delicious. 

This was like torture. I was never hungry, not once, but god I just wanted to EAT! And to make matters worse all the juices were super sweet and I wanted something salty. The cleanse plan comes with a recipe for potassium broth but says most people use it on day 3 when things get really rough. Um no. I made it day 1. And it was glorious. It was warm and a little spicy and salty and Barry and I drank all of it. 

If it hadn't been for that broth I would have quit. I have no disciple when it comes to food so I'm really proud that I made it through the first day. I was really cranky so I went to bed early praying the boys would stay asleep. 

I don't remember the first day being so difficult last time but so far everything about this cleanse seems different. I can't wait to get to day 7!

A Night To Remember

I would love to be able to tell you that the title of this post comes from a wonderful date night that Barry put together for us, we had a candlelit dinner, followed by a show at the theater, we danced, and watched the sun rise over the ocean....

But no. 

That's not what happened. 

What follows is the play by play of my night last night. ;)

6:45 - Wow. The boys actually ate a pretty good portion of their dinner. With minimal screaming. That's odd. Hm. These colds must be really wearing them out. 

7:15 - I think Nathaniel is actually ready to go to bed. But it's too early. But he's falling asleep on the floor. All right, to bed with him. 

7:20 -Aaaand there goes William. I guess I'll put him to bed too. Poor babies, hopefully they'll get some good sleep and feel better in the morning. Maybe tonight I'll get my cleaning done and still have time to work on my cross stitch! Yay!

8:30 - Aaaah... The cleaning is done, Barry took Bear Bear to bed with him. The house is quiet and clean, I have control over the tv! I'll put Vampire Diaries on in the background and work on my cross stitch! Finally! Some free time for mommy!

Fourteen stitches later...

*William cries from the nursery*

8:50 - Poor William sounds like a pot of coffee percolating! Time for the snot sucker! *twenty minutes of crying and rocking him to sleep*

9:30 - Omg! Nathaniel! Why is he shrieking! He's so dramatic lol! 

9:45 - Ok, we've cuddled, rocked, swaddled, given him something to drink, walked around the house, and sang to him. Maybe he has a tooth coming in, I'll give him some Tylenol just in case he's hurting. 

10:13 - Nathaniel! Go the eff to sleep! This crying is nuts! 

10:20 - Oh thank god, the Tylenol is finally working. A little bit of rocking and he'll finally go to sleep. 

10:35 - Aaaah.... Finally. Quiet. Cross stitch. 

10:40 - WTF!!!! William! Why are you awake!!!

10:50 - So. Much. Snot. 

11:00 - "Mommy! Wat-eh! Wat-eh!"

11:05 - Nathaniel...if you wake your brother up so help me god...

11:07 - Damnit Nathaniel! 

11:10 - Ok! Maybe I'll put a movie on to distract them from themselves. Frozen it is!

12:00 - They're still awake. I wonder if I should put on a pot of coffee. 

12:45 - Finally. They must be so tired. Maybe they'll stay asleep. 

1:30 - Oh these sheet feel so goo- wet. Damnit bear bear! Fresh sheets it is. 

2:30 - "Mommy! Wat-eh! Wat-eh!" Bear Bear! You're not even awake!!

3:00 - All right William. You're just going to come to bed with me. 

Needless to say, last night was eventful. :) but we had some good cuddles and I did get some cross stitching done so there's that. 

The boys are in that stage of sickness where they're well enough to want to do stuff but too sick to actually do stuff. Barry is working (yay!) but I'm starting to get sick so my plan is to stick something in the crock pot and watch cartoons all day. That's about all my brain can handle right now. 

What do you guys do when the whole family is sick?

2014 Holiday To Do List

In case you're new here...I have a terrible memory. I am a list queen but as soon as something is marked off the list it is gone forever. Not too big a deal you would think, except when it comes to family time. 

Every holiday I keep a list in my head (my first mistake) of all the things I would like to do. Then the holiday comes and goes and I've done a couple things but I have no record of having done those things so I bemoan by existence saying I'm a terrible mom for not doing things with my kids, I'm always home, I never get to do nuthin' and so on. This is a big reason why I'm on Facebook and Instagram all the time. I can look back on the photos and and say "Look! I did it! And I did an awesome job! Look how awesome I am!" :) 

Which brings us to this post. Here is my list of things I want to accomplish this holiday season!

-First and foremost, I want to have a clean and fresh home. We're working on getting the clutter out (thank GOD!) and I have a bunch of stuff I want to sell on Craigslist, donate, and just plain throw away. Barry is finally getting the idea that less is more...and he is going away on a feature the first three weeks of December which means I'll be able to get more stuff out of the house! :D

-I want to spend time with both sides of the family but I also want to have an intentional Christmas at our house. I don't want to be lazy because we will be spending time away from our house on Christmas Day. I won't be making a thanksgiving dinner this year because we will be out all day, I don't want this to happen with Christmas as well.  I want to make a great Christmas meal with table settings and everything. No more skating by just because we don't have company. We are worth linen napkins! ;)

-I want to decorate the house in a timely fashion. Two years ago we decided that the Strickland Christmas season officially starts the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We spend Friday doing a general cleanup around the house and then Saturday morning we go pick out a Christmas tree! 

-I want to send out Christmas cards out the first week of December. 

-I want all presents bought by the second week of December. I forsee a lot of amazon purchases this year. 

-My mom and I always go crazy with the cookie making. I think since this year will be the first year in their new house this will be the First Annual Clark House Cookie Fest! We usually only do chocolate chip cookies and fudge but with Pinterest being the best thing ever and my baking skills getting better and better we will try some new recipes this year!

-I want to start some Christmas traditions with the boys:

Watch Christmas movies

Make Christmas Eve Boxes

Take them to go see Christmas Lights

Make an activity based Advent Calendar

Santa Pictures!!!!

Read Christmas books - I'm going to buy three classic Christmas books and then place a scrapbook sticker envelope thing on the back cover of each book. Every year we will get a pic of us reading the book to the boys and place it in the envelope. Every year we will open the envelope and squeal over how tiny the boys were the year before :)

These are just some of the things I would like to do this year. I'm sure I'll come back and edit and add to this list as Pinterest explodes with all things Christmas. 

*** Edit ***

Ideas for next year:

-Definitely sending out photo holiday cards instead of regular cards!

-I want to make a small gift for the neighbors that distribute our monthly civic club newsletter. Something with a mason jar of course. ;)

What are some of your holiday traditions?