Fighting PCOS Naturally

Getting into bully breed dog rescue has changed my life. I no longer have any free time on the weekends, but I love it. It doesn't matter if I'm standing outside in the heat at an adoption event, spending all of my gas money driving across the metroplex (south Ft Worth to Mesquite is a LONG drive) transporting dogs, creating newsletters to send, reading adoption applications, or inspecting random people's homes to make sure they are safe for our dogs. I get messages from friends all the time, asking if I can help a dog they found. Sometimes I succeed and find a home. Sometimes I have to ignore my facebook feed because I can't save all of them. I follow several animal shelters on Facebook, and see all the dogs that need help. I hope and wish for the day when the steady stream of dogs in need of help stops. I cry when dropping one of our dogs back off at the boarding facility because a meet and greet didn't go well. I have had to teach myself to not fall hopelessly

**CNBC TRIGGER WARNING** School started today. If you missed my last post, you missed the big news- we're PARENTS! We temporarily adopted my niece. The last 3 weeks have been a huge adjustment for us. In a good way, mostly. Hubs and I are having a lot of pain issues, but we aren't used to being so active. Either we'll keel over from the pain or our bodies will eventually get used to it. Getting up at 5:30 to make sure the kidlet is on a bus by 7 is definitely a change of pace from our usual "sleep til 12" schedule, but it was a needed change. I can get a full day's work in and still be home in time to make dinner at a decent hour and bathe the kid. Although it takes time to adjust, I think it's good for all of us. We are actually having to make 3 meals a day, and I think that has been the toughest. I'm never hungry in the AM, so having to actually set aside time to make food for the kidlet is unusual. I'll have to start making my breakfast sm

Hubs and I did something CRAZY this week. We became parents. Yes, you read that right. After the years of complaining that we will never be parents, things has changed. For at least a few months, anyway. My niece, G, is a little crazy, like me. For not being biologically related, you sure wouldn't be able to tell by looking at her mental health evaluations. She has been diagnosed as high functioning autistic and manic depressive, which is the fancy new term for bipolar. We've tried just about everything, from meds to psych hospitals, and nothing has worked well. Then she made a grown up decision to ask her mom if she could live with someone else as an only child for a while, to see if it helps "make her better". The sad part of this? She's 7, and she knows that she really needs help. She has a lot of issues with expressing emotions and feelings with words, so she uses actions, like anger, to try and get her point across. Unfortunately her siblings don't un

Here was June's list - Work: - Keep up the 6 hour days - Mostly.  - Work on/finish the freelance web design job now that the client has made some decisions - Worked, yes.  Health:  - GET BACK TO YOGA. (This will be on my list until I succeed) - Nope - Continue meal/batch prepping - Not really - Keep taking my meds. - YES - Do the Walk of Hope - YES! - Do better at staying off oil - Ehhhh... Vegan junk food will be the death of me lol Personal/Home: - Clean my kitchen from top to bottom - nope - Clean the living room, more particularly the zoo area, from top to bottom - nope - Work another pet adoption event (that'll make 2 for the month!) - Yes! - Have fun with my niece when she comes to visit! - Yes! - Start working on next month's surprise :) - Yes! - Finish reading the self-help books I rented from the library - Still reading I'm so excited about the July surprise. Only 5 people actually know what's going on, and they are just as happ

It's halfway into June and I realized that I never did my monthly goal post. Better late than never! Seeing as how I have missed half of the month already, it'll probably be a shorter list. Here was May's list: Work: - Keep up the 6+ hour days - mostly - Host a Norwex party - nope - Finish up a freelance web design job I picked up -no, had to wait for client.  Health: - GET BACK TO YOGA. - no.  - Re-order the supplements I'm out of - Most of them - Keep meal prepping - yep! I did pretty good last month Personal/Home: - Get office and spare bathroom cleaned up/organized for visiting family - YES! Even though that family never showed up. - Go to 2 rock concerts! - YES! There was some crap surrounding one that caused some major emotional issues for Hubs and I, but we've changed our perspectives and moved on. - Keep writing in my happiness journal - I stopped midway through the month and need to start again. - Work an pet adoption event - No, it got c

Work: - Continue working 6+ hours a day - YEP - Host a Norwex party - Nope, because the hostess keeps forgetting to call people. - Help my first consultant  get started - No. Health: - Work out at least twice a week . - Nope. - Be consistent with my supplements. - Yes! Now I just need to reorder the important ones that I have run out of. - Meal prep on weekends so I have food when I don't want to cook - I've done this once, which is so much better than not at all. It was nice to have meals finished for several days. School: - Start and finish my Mobile App Development course - Just need to take the exam, which I might not have the cash to pay for. - Work with Hubs to set a schedule to finish another course together - Nope. Hubs isn't really interested in taking any of the courses that I have paid for, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do. PCOS Group: - Plan April's Dallas event and post details in the group - Yes. - Plan May's Ft Worth ev

Another Goal Update! I'm fairly happy with my goals so far. But first, I have to mention something that is weighing heavily on me today. Prince died. I usually don't get upset about celebrity deaths, but this one really hurts, because I almost met him. It's been almost 10 years now. My grandparents and I had dinner with Larry Graham, former bassist/vocalist for Sly and the Family Stone. He was a good friend of Prince's, and had told Prince in advance that we were having dinner. This was the same time period that Prince decided to start studying with Larry to become a Jehovah's Witness. Since my grandfather was a JW Circuit Overseer in the Minneapolis area back then, Larry requested that my grandfather attend one of the studies. My grandparents always talked about me, so when Prince found out that I would be in town, he went to Larry's for dinner. Sadly, we had left about 20 minutes before he arrived. When I found out, I was so sad. He has always been one of

Work: I've been mostly working 6 hours a day. I had a 5 hour day, and I have taken a day off to deal with some family stuff. But I'm doing really good. I've been getting up earlier so I can get my hours in and be able to do other stuff afterwards. School:  I have not started my Mobile App Development course because of missing Monday. I will be getting the two lectures I missed done this weekend so I can start viewing the live lectures next week. My bosses have approved watching them at work, I just have to clock out. I'm glad I have awesome bosses. I've already got some ideas for app development, so it'll be cool to actually put this into practice. It will also come in handy at work, since we are building phone apps for our system. Personal:  I went to a "How to Make Your Own Kombucha" class Wednesday, and got my own batch brewed and "cooking" last night. Next Thursday I'll be able to flavor and package it up, then one more week be

March Goals: - GET MY DAMN DRIVERS LICENSE - YES!!! - Proofread the novel I didn't do last month - YES! - Continue working at least 6 hours a day during the week - Mostly. I was sick a lot this month, as was Hubs, so I was only successful about 65-70% of the time. But that's a lot better than nothing! - Work out at least 4 times a week (SMART goal) - No. But I have attended multiple yoga classes this month, found a great new studio, got a new workout buddy, so things are looking up! - Be a little more successful with advance meal prep - No. I need to work on this some more. - Start, and hopefully finish, one of the multiple courses I have purchased - Didn't even look at them.  - Come up with a name for my Etsy store - No. Changed my mind, and decided that I don't really have the time for my current life, so adding more responsibility isn't a good idea.  - Cost/pricing structure of potential product options - See previous comment ^^ - Get products ph

I think that one of the most important lessons in the Personal Nutrition course I took in January was how to set a SMART goal. I've mentioned it in my monthly goals post, but never went in depth. SMART stands for: Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic/Relevant Timely (Yes, you might find other words replaced in the SMART definition, but for the most part, it's all the same.) A word about SMART goals - Because SMART goals force you to set a timeframe, this isn't always the *best* way to set a goal. Sometimes a goal isn't always realistic in the beginning, because you don't have everything you need. For example, having a goal of being a parent is a great goal, but not necessarily a SMART goal - because nature plays a big part in your success, you can't put a specific timeframe on it without the fear of failure. Believe me, I had my parenting goals down before I was a teenager. But life said otherwise, and I'm three years past when I was supposed t

Here were last month's goals. February: - Complete my Personal Nutrition final - Done! Finished with Distinction - Start and finish the Interior Design course so I can decorate an entire house in March - Nope. But the house in need of decorating isn't happening anymore, so no rush. - Proofread a friend's new novel - Hell no. And this makes me feel bad. - Set up some SMART goals and achieve them! I need to add more veggies in my diet, and add more physical activity! - Nope. I mean I did eat more veggies and hit my step goals more often, but didn't actually set the goals. - Do something fun for Valentine's - Yes! We waited til the day after V-Day and saw Deadpool with a good friend. - Get the February newsletter out fast. - Never did it. - Start the Couch to 5K program - Didn't even download the app - Get some more junk out of the house - This was actually successful! Hubs spent a few days rearranging, and we got some crap out. My house is almost liv

It's February! Damn. January went by really fast, and Feb will likely go faster, even if it has an extra day this year! So how did January go? Not half bad. I got a lot accomplished, even though they might not have been on the goal list. I didn't spend a ridiculous amount of money. I took Hubs to Mellow Mushroom so he would quit nagging me. I got a FitBit! My support group had the 2nd annual clothing swap and that went well too! The fitbit story is great. I've wanted one for a while, but haven't been ready to fork out the money for what I felt was an overpriced pedometer. But surfing the facebook garage sale groups can prove beneficial. I managed to score 2 fitbits, with chargers and bands for $40. Yeah, I made sure to type that right. Other people wanted it before me, but when you have a husband that doesn't work, you can make him do things immediately that other people have to wait until after work to do. So when I told the seller that I could have the cash in h

I didn't get the results I had hoped for, but I didn't really try so I can't expect miracles. December: - Finish at least 2-4 more modules in my Dyslexia Therapist course - Well.... I finished 2 more on Jan 3, and it was before I started my goal list for January, so that counts, right? I'm going to say yes. - Yoga! - Ugh no. - Finish wrapping all gifts - Yup - Finish my Christmas card to a special couple - No. But I am sending her a late Christmas present, so I'll send the late card at the same time. - Visit Hubs' grandmother a few hours away - Nope, we're doing that soon, after one of the board games that Hubs wants to take with us finally shows up in the mail! - Finish at least 1 week on the McDougall Plan - I did. I'm a little iffy, and still trying to find something that works for me. But it has been very beneficial for me, because I have learned how to drastically reduce how much oil I use in cooking. - Sit down with Hubs and get our 2016