Mmmmmmm!

Check out this vegan Blueberry/Lemon Cream Tart I made!  Pretty eh?

Michy

Is Your Glass Half Full?

Are you a glass half full or glass half empty kind of person?  I've been thinking about this a lot lately.  I've been getting a lot of flack for the way I live my life, and I am perplexed.  I am a very positive, happy person.  I have my bad days, sure, who doesn't, but overall I wake up ever single morning with a fresh outlook and, (after my morning caffeine jolt), a smile on my face.  So why, I ask, am I such an easy target for cruelty and negativity?

As most of you know, I am a new entrepreneur.  I have started my own business.  I have never been so excited.  As an Arbonne Consultant I get to work with a company that holds true to values I hold dear, like environmental stewardship, kind treatment of animals and the elimination of toxins from our beauty and health products.  I get to meet new people everyday who care about these things too.  I get to talk health and beauty all day long!  Plus I get paid, and I still get to stay home and raise my children.  You couldn't ask for a better job!  So why then, am I constantly having to defend my business decision to people?  I spent 20 minutes at lunch with a friend the other day, listening to her tell me all the things that could go wrong and why this was all just a bad idea. "But good luck", she said, "I'm sure you'll do fine".

Fine? Fine?  I'll do better than fine!  How could I not do AMAZING?!  I'm working for myself, with a company that is amazing to it's workforce.  I'll be putting my kids through college and driving them there in my sweet-ass Mercedes thank you very much.  Plus I'll be helping to give my clients the very best they could have in good health and beauty.   How could anyone be so negative or discouraging?  Take a happy pill for heavens sake!  I just couldn't live with a little black cloud hanging over my head like that.

Likewise, I seem to make a very easy target for hate and cruelty because of my weight.  I was always the biggest girl in our family.  By that, I mean I was average and everyone else was a toothpick.  I remember constant comparisons.  I remember one time, when I was in high school, I was working in my front yard when a group of kids walked by and one of them said, "Hey, is that Liz's sister"? And the reply was, "No.  Liz's sister is fat"?  Well, kudos to me for fooling them, but I wonder where they heard that.

When I lost a lot of weight in college, (thanks to not having a car and clubbing every night), I went home for a holiday and my new figure was all anyone could talk about.  A soon as I opened the fridge to get a snack, I was warned, "You'll gain all that weight back if you pig out".

I have twice, been yelled at out of car windows that I was too fat.  Thanks goodness they told me. I might not have known.  Recently a co-worker was looking at my wedding album.  Her first comment, "Wow, you were so thin back then"!  I have had my fitness magazines scribbled on that I should, "keep dreamin'".  And most recently I was once again reminded by my own family just how overweight I am and how much I need to loose "some major pounds".  "Just being honest, what do you want me to lie?"

Guess what people.  I am aware of the situation.  Regular readers of my blog know that I write about my health and fitness goals all the time, with a sense of humor.  I DO NOT care to hear your negative two cents.  If you are so unhappy with your life, write a journal, don't try and bring me down, because you can't.

I am the luckiest woman alive!  I have an amazing husband, who just rolls with my various health kicks, two amazing children how tell me how beautiful I am every day, two amazing dogs who think I am the greatest human EVER.  I have a college degree, had a great career and now, I am my own boss.  I don't live my life in the shadows.  I get out there!  I meet people and I have fun!  When I wake up in the morning I don't say, "Oh God, it's morning"!  I say, "Good morning God"!  My first thought isn't, what's gonna go wrong today?  It's "which of my beautiful kids am I gonna get to kiss first this morning"?

You know where I'll be ten years from now?  I'll be a happy wife and mother, millionaire driving around in a benz convertible while my beautiful skin glows in the sun and my beautiful hair blows in the wind and I might, just might, be back in my size six jeans.  Where will you be?

Michy

Will and The Great Food Intolerance Debate

Gorgeous!!

So, I mentioned a few months back, that we had taken Will to a naturopathic doctor because of his food allergies, eczema and constant congestion. We had a blood test done to check for food sensitivities.  This is different from a food allergy test.  With an allergy test the lab is checking for a different type of reaction.  (I won't get into all the technical mumbo jumbo).  However, because they are testing for a different thing, the food sensitivity test may show that Will is not intolerant to certain foods we know he is allergic to.  Get it?

So, the results are in.  Turns out Will is only intolerant to, EVERYTHING!

He is extremely intolerant to dairy (all), gluten, wheat and most grains except for oats and rice; all meat but most especially red meat and pork and eggs.  He is also intolerant to soy, citrus fruit, tomatoes, garlic, onions, cauliflower, broccoli, lentils and soy.  On a high note he is not intolerant to peanuts or shellfish, the two things he is severely allergic to.  So, what's for dinner?

We were supposed to start weaning Will off these foods, one at a time at the rate of about one thing per week.  We wanted to see is he stoped eating dairy, for instance, would his congestion clear up.  It would be the first time in as long as I can remember that he wouldn't be plugged up.

So, week one, no dairy.  We really don't drink a lot of milk in our house.  The kids had no problem switching to almond milk or vanilla soy milk for their breakfast cereal.  I got some chocolate coconut milk for a treat.  It tastes exactly like regular chocolate milk!  We explained to Will that he could not have any more ice cream.  Surprisingly he was ok with that.  It was at dinner that night, when I told him he couldn't have any sour cream with his burrito, that he lost it.  I guess the kid really likes sour cream (who can blame him eh?).  Other big problems for Will was the no cheese pizza (just not the same) and the no cheese wiz.  He really likes cheese.

cheeseless pizza Mmmmmmm.

But he has survived so far, and for the first time in 6 years, he can breath through both nostrils at the same time.  We were driving home from A&W the other day and Will said, "Mom!  I can smell onion rings!  My nose is working!".  I almost cried!

So this week we are cutting back on gluten.  Really though, $7.00 for a tiny little loaf of bread?  Once you cut the crusts off for Mr. Fussypants, there's almost nothing left!  We'll see how far we go with this.   As long as his nose stays clear, I don't think we need to go too crazy.

Now, here is where the debate lies.  Will had an appointment last week with his regular allergy doctor.  He asked all the same questions as he always does. "Has he eaten this, has he eaten that, how is his asthma"?   I told him, "by the way, I had Will tested for food sensitivities".  He immediately shook his head.   "Oh, that test is no good", he said.  "Really"?  "No, no" he said.  All that test tells you is whether or not you've eaten those particular foods recently.  It's no good". Oh. I must admit I was feeling a tad deflated.  But then I said, "well, you know, since he stopped eating dairy his congestion has cleared right up".  He looked at me and actually said, "well if you want to believe that go ahead, but really, that test is no good".

                          VS      

So I started thinking about it. Does Will already eat a lot of those foods?  Is the test just telling me what he has eaten recently?  I mean, he does eat a lot of dairy and gluten and he scored really high on those, and he never eats fish and he scored really low on that.  Could it be that my precious food sensitivity test was a lot of bunk?

Then I thought a bit longer.  Once Will stopped eating dairy his congestion went away.  He scored very high for egg intolerance, however he never eats eggs.  Ever.  Not even in baked goods (I use egg replacer to make my baking vegan).  He also scored very high for meat.  We're VEGETARIANS!  We rarely have meat.   Will only has meat if we eat out. He scored really low for apples, but he eats them every day!  So I'm thinking the allergy doctors theory is blown to hell.

Not only that, but in the 4 years we've been seeing this allergy doctor, he has done absolutely nothing to help Will's congestion or his eczema.  Other than writing prescriptions  he has been useless.  Our Naturopath on the other had has fixed both problems.  No dairy and a teaspoon of fish oil a day has cleared up both problems.  Hmm.  Interesting.

So, even though there my be no ice cream in my immediate future, I am happy.  My baby has soft skin for the first time since he was born and he can smell onion rings.  What more could a mom want.

Here is a link to our Naturopath's website.  Dr. B is the bomb!naturalfoodpantry.ca/about-us/in-store.../dr-kevin-bernardo-nd/  Check him out.

Michy

Mom, Is There Any Reason Why Anyone Would Want to Have Sex?


Well, we all know it's coming.  That special chat between parents and children.  "The Birds and the Bees", "The Talk", call it what you will.  Most people don't want to even think about it.  The idea of explaining sex and puberty, and all of that, to young children, has parents racing to Chapters for the latest edition of "What's Happening to Me?" Ha!  You know it's true!

But not me, no sir.  I am prepared for this inevitable conversation!  I am willing to explain everything and anything my boys may want to know.  Everything from the basics, "How can I make this boner go away?", (quit playing with it), and "Why don't I have boobs"?. (because if you had your own you'd never talk to girls), to the more deep philosophical questions like, "How do I know if my girlfriend is a conniving, horny tramp"?, (they all are) and "How do I know if I'm ready to have sex?", (can you afford rent, insurance, food, clothing, furniture and a car because you ain't bringing no babies home to your mother)!   These, and all questions in between will be answered openly and directly.

So when Alex asked me the other night, why anyone would want to have sex, I immediately began to mentally prepare myself.

"Well, honey, yes I can think of some reasons, but why do you ask?"

"No reason.  I just don't know why anyone would want to do that."

Interesting . . . He's not getting off that easy.

"Well, where were you talking about sex"?

"Nowhere".

Uh huh.  Sure.

"Well did you see it on tv or something".

"No".

"Well honey, if you tell me what you heard, maybe I can explain it to you better".



So here's the low-down.  Alex was at a friends house for a sleepover and the two boys slept in the same bed.  Perfectly normal sleepover, I did it all the time when I was a kid.  Things took a turn for the goofy when, in typical boy behavior, his friend jumped on him and started humping him.  This may sound weird, but I know grown men who still do this to their friends.  Alex however is under the impression that he has just had sex.

How adorbs is that???  Kids!  They are too much!

Apparently he found the experience unsatisfactory, because he can't imagine why anyone would want to do that.  I explained to him that his friend was just being a goof and that they did not in fact have sex.  "To have sex", I said, "you need a man and a women".  After I said this I realized that in these modern times that is no longer true, but I wasn't going there yet.  "You also need to love each other very much because people have sex to make a baby, and if you're not ready to make a baby, you'd better keep yer pants on"!

So I thought, I'm getting off pretty easy here, but just to be sure I asked, "Do you want to know the gory details, or do you want to wait until your older?"

"Trust me Mom", he says, "I do not wanna know"!

Ha!  I guess I'm good for the next little while.  Feel free to share you Birds and Bees story in the comments section below!

Michy

Hey There! Remember Me?

Ok.  So it would appear that the fall ran away with me.  I have been terrible remiss in writing and posting, and not because of a lack of inspiration!

So I'd better get busy.  Coming up . . . Alex and Mom have a chat about sex; Halloween on a budget; Will get's back his food sensitivity test results; and Michy starts a new business.  You will see an All new tab for posts about my new business as an Independent Consultant for Arbonne Canada.  I could not be more excited!!

So keep checking in.  It will only get better!

Michy