Fighting PCOS Naturally

It's time for giveaway blogs again! Yay! I'm really excited about the ones I have found this week. Woodland Belle Tiny Twig Pins from Laura DeLuca I'll be the first to admit, my hairpin collection is small. Okay, okay, pretty much non-existent. I've got plenty of clippies, but really cute hairpins are hard to come by. At least until Laura at Laura DeLuca introduced me to Woodland Belle . I love all things related to nature (which reminds me, I really need to post a picture of my evergrowing sweet potato vine - it's gorgeous!) Woodland Belle has 4 different collections, all of which are handcrafted by Mai McKemy. She does fantastic work, and you have a chance to win these amazing Tiny Twig hairpins! I also wanted to show off my favorite item, the Tiny Woodland Terrarium Mushroom and Blue Morpho Butterfly Necklace, which I hope to purchase soon :) Stop by Laura's blog, Laura DeLuca , to enter the giveaway, and check out Woodland Belle's site, Woodland Bell

I don't normally blog several times in a single day, but I couldn't help myself today. I found a new blog to love, Hybrid Rasta Mama . I've never met this woman, but she is pretty much everything I want to be when I'm a mom. All-natural, patient, loving, and happy. As I was perusing her posts, I was drawn to one called Real Men Wear Babies . I had to read it. As I was looking at all the pictures of dads wearing their babies, I couldn't help but think of my hubby. I've often joked that we are going to have to have twins because I'm probably never going to want to put my baby down. After seeing this, and realizing just how cute Hubs will be wearing our baby, I think I might share. Enjoy all the wonderful pictures Hybrid Rasta Mama has on her blog, Real Men Wear Babies ! Oh, and here is Hubs with one of our nieces :) (It's hard to believe she's already 2 and a half years old)

One of my favorite genres of music is reggae. When I started using last.fm for music at work, I was introduced to reggae from different countries - because it's not just Bob Marley and Jamaica. I'm particularly fond of German and Polish reggae. Oh yes, it exists. And wait until you hear it! It always puts me in a happy, bouncy, good mood. How about you? This is Ohrbooten, Und-Tschüss! Want to join the link up? Head over to Amber's blog, Goodnight Moon! It's so much fun!

Let me preface this by saying I am not a doctor. What I say is solely based on personal experience and tons of research. If you try something I suggest and it doesn't work, don't hold it against me, please. Our bodies are individually unique, and what works for some doesn't work for others. (Oh, and I think I'm also supposed to say that you should consult your physician before starting a new diet or exercise regimen.) The first thing you should know when trying to lose weight is whether or not you have Insulin Resistance (IR). There are a few tests that can be run by your doctor. One is the fasting glucose test, which checks your blood sugar levels after a long fast - typically overnight. Another one is the Glucose Tolerance Test, where they give you some yucky liquid to drink, then test your blood sugar at 1 and 2 hours post drinking. HOWEVER - not all women with Insulin Resistance can be diagnosed through these tests. We're just weird like that. A good sign of

Ok, so I'm a day late, but better late than never! I decided that I wanted to start participating in a blog link up called Fat Ass Friday on Brandy's blog, You Don't Know . Starting weight: 233 Current weight: 233 Weight +GAIN / -LOSS this week: +0.0 Total weight lost: 0 In all honesty, I was dreading my first weigh in, because at the end of the last Soul Cyster's Challenge , I weighted 235.8, and I haven't been any lower than that in 2 months. Even with diet changes and my attempts to workout, I gained weight. Well, to my surprise, I have finally lost weight! And I'm super excited about it, because I ate my favorite munchie food last night - Salsa Verde Doritos and all natural sour cream. And when I start eating it, I eat a lot. I also decided that even though I have technically lost over 25 pounds since I started in Nov 2010, I wanted to start with a fresh weight for FAF. If you want to join up with us, head over to Brandy's blog!

I almost forgot it was Thursday. I have a recurring cyst on my tailbone, and it came back, so I spent the day at the doctor. Taking a day off work in the middle of the week really screws up my internal schedule. Today's song is one that my hubby started singing to me today. We were leaving the pharmacy, and he told me to walk in front, and he'd follow me. Then he started singing. It's been stuck in my head ever since. I love it when he sings to me :) Here's Carole King's Where You Lead . If you want to join up, head over to Goodnight Moon's blog!

A week or two ago I posted about my morning smoothies. (Link: Smoothies! ) They have been really good, but I knew they were missing something. Then it hit me - PROTEIN! I was getting no protein in the mornings because I was just drinking a lot of fruit. I hopped on Amazon and found Hemp Protein Powder and Hemp Oil by Nutiva. Click on the pictures to make them bigger I've really been on a hemp kick lately. This is mainly because I'm really trying to take control of my health and do what I need to do to make myself better. One of those is making sure I am getting my Essential Fatty Acids, like Omega 3s and Omega 6s. Hemp is full of it. 1 tbsp of hemp oil has a full day's worth of omega 3s and omega 6s. It's also my little way of 'sticking it to the man', since commercial hemp production is illegal in the United States, because the DEA is too dumb to classify hemp and marijuana as two different substances. The legalization of both should happen, but that&

I know I've said this before, but I'm going to change my life. I've started, and have been doing fairly well in the food department. I still have some foods I haven't been able to give up, like Doritos, but I'm getting there. I'm still useless when it comes to exercise. I don't get to walk anymore, because once summer shows up in Texas (like May), being outside is a bad idea. I can't walk in 90-100 degree weather. I've thought about going to the mall to walk, but I'd have to resist shopping, and that's a different problem for a different day. I watched Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition last night. Didn't even know the show existed. The guy on the show started at 651 pounds, and finished a year later at under 350. Holy crap. I wish I had the motivation and determination to lose 80 pounds in a year, and he lost over 300! He had intense 2-hour workouts every morning and evening. I haven't worked out in over a week. Then, by way of

Oh my goodness, a meal plan? Yep, I finally got around to doing another one. I went to the farmer's market again this weekend and need to plan out the usage so I don't let anything ruin. Monday: Chicken Enchilada Chicken and Garlic Brussels Sprouts The chicken has been marinating in my freezer for 2 weeks now. It's just some chicken broth and Chicken Enchilada seasoning from Homemade Gourmet . The brussels sprouts, on the other hand, will be made using a Garlic Brussels Sprouts recipe from AllRecipes.com Link: Garlic Brussels Sprouts Courtesy of AllRecipes.com Tuesday: White Bean Pizza with Tomatoes This is a repeat from a few weeks ago. I made it with Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Dough, and there wasn't quite enough bean puree. This time I'm doubling the puree recipe, but using a can of black beans because I only have one can of white beans. Link: Pizza with White Bean Puree and Tomatoes Courtesy of EatingWell.com Wednesday: Spaghetti Squash w

I love blog giveaways. There's just something about free stuff that gets me excited :) I'm not at work today, so I decided to do some blog surfing for giveaways. Here's what I found! (As always, the pictures link to the giveaway post) "Holy crap, I have over 500 followers" Giveaway from Jen and Life, Crafts and Whatever Hubs and I love trays. They make life a little easier, because you can carry a lot at once. This helps especially when you live in a townhome and have bad knees. One tray with everything on it is so much better than several trips up and down the stairs just using two hands to carry things. Jen is giving away a tray. But this isn't just any tray. It's got a beautiful damask design on it. I love the damask pattern! And if that isn't cool enough, she's making it custom for the winner. I would love, Love, LOVE to win this, so I can get a black and red one for my living room! Head over to Life, Crafts and Whatever to enter! Oh, and

This Sunday is Father's Day. Just like Mother's Day, this is a rough day for us. Every year Hubs hopes that we'll have a baby by the next Father's Day. This will make the 4th FD since we started dating - and yes, we did start TTCing before we got married. You know that feeling you get when you know something is perfect? Yeah, we knew. Anyways, This song fits my vision of Hubs as a dad to a tee. One day, he'll be a dad. I'll make sure of it. I just can't guarantee when. Here's Gary Allan with Tough Little Boys As for my dad, our relationship has been tumultuous to say the least. The year my sister and I started school was also the year that my parents' relationship started going to sh*t. He missed pretty much anything I did in school until I moved in with him in 7th grade. While I lived with him, he attended all our school events. When I moved out at the end of 9th grade to live with my mom again, he told me I wasn't allowed to ever move bac

Norbo Wall-Mounted Folding Table from Ikea I love giveaways. Why? Because you have the chance to win something that may or may not normally buy. My philosophy on saving money is this - "If you can get it free or discounted, why pay full price for it?" A month or two ago I wrote about a recliner giveaway. I didn't win, but that's ok. I received an email last night from one of the guys that works at that company, informing me of yet another giveaway they are having! All you have to do is write a 100+ word review over one of their many websites, and you're entered to win a $500 gift certificate. I can do a lot with $500. So Hubs and I surfed through the sites last night, picking out what we would want to use the money on - and that helped me pick the site to review. We bought a new dining table at Ikea a week ago, but didn't get chairs. We were going to use folding chairs, but if I can get bar stools for free, why use the folding chairs? GoBarStools.com

Photo credit I feel so run down. I felt like this most of last week, and ended up taking 3 days off work due to it. This weekend was better - We went to Houston. We spent several hours enjoying the Downtown Aquarium on Saturday, and I enjoyed my PCOS symposium on Sunday. But as soon as I got in the car to head home, this feeling came back. It was so bad that I tossed my cookies less than an hour after we got on the road. This was definitely not from being car sick. I don't get car sick. I was tired all evening, had stupid issues with my homework, and finally went to be at 2-2:30. I realize that was late, and it could explain why I'm tired, but it doesn't explain the run-down, crappy feeling. I got plenty of sleep last week and still felt this way. I think it could be a cortisol issue. I have high cortisol levels. I know I haven't checked with a doctor, but from the information I received at the PCOS symposium, as well as years of research, it fits. I did some more re

Aha! I just barely made it this time - seeing as how it's Friday. It's been difficult to pick a song because I've just been sick and watching TV most of the week. Ugh. But... there is this one song I was listening to Wednesday night, after a late-night trip to Walmart. I love my town. After 10pm, it's just so quiet! There's not one on the roads or the freeway, so we roll down our windows, crank up the music and just enjoy the drive. One of my favorite songs to listen to when we do this is Super Massive Black Hole by Muse. And every time I hear it, I think of sparkly vampires playing baseball lol. (And no, I'm not by any means a Twilight fan. Haven't even seen the latest one out.) So here's this week's pick - and the video even has the baseball scene from Twilight lol. If you want to head over to Goodnight Moon and listen to all the other submissions, here's the link!

I apologize for the lack of menu plans lately. I have been so busy that we've just been eating whatever we can find in the fridge. Thankfully most of it is very healthy stuff we made of Memorial Day weekend and froze. I don't think I put this in my Memorial Day post, but we made a ton of peach ice cubes. We had a lot of peaches, but they were getting too ripe, and couldn't be cut into nice little slices. We decided to take them all, puree them, and stick them in the freezer. Worked great! I made myself a smoothie for breakfast - banana, peach puree cubes, almond milk, and flaxseed oil. It was really good. I think I'm going to have to do that more often. It was quick and painless, especially since I have a Magic Bullet. Very rarely do I promote 'As Seen on TV' ads, but the Magic Bullet really is awesome. I got mine for 'free' last year for my birthday. I had a 20% off coupon at Bed, Bath and Beyond, so I bought my fabulous KitchenAid stand-mixer (I got ti

This week has just been... rough. It started over the weekend. Mom and I spent a lot of time, money and effort in organizing my kitchen and cooking a ton of food. Sadly, cooking, as much as I love it, has become a major pain for me in the past couple of years, and even more so in the last 6 months. I have been dealing with a lot of back pain, and it is at the point where I cannot stand in one place for more than 10 minutes before I collapse in pain. And when I mean collapse, I'm not kidding. Knees hit the floor, tears start streaming down my face, and I lean on the object closest to me, hoping that the waves of pain along my spine will go away. Doctors have no idea what's wrong, x-rays don't show any problems, and the chiropractor claimed I had 4 pinched ligaments, but I can't afford to go to him twice a week to get adjustments (especially when the last time I went, I was in pain for a week afterwards). I did a lot of cooking while sitting down this weekend to ease the