Juicing and other life bits and bobs

I watched a movie documentary called "Fat, Sick and nearly Dead" and it really scared me. I mean,  at the time I was pushing the scale at 300 pounds and had a trip top England on its way, I thought it was time to do something about it. I set a date to start my 30 day juice cleanse - January 2nd (because Jan 1st is just too predictable, and besides I was on a flight back to the US that day). Anyway, I started the cleanse and after 4 days had lost 12 pounds……and then I got sick, really, can't get out of bed except to puke or poop kind of sick. Anything that I could keep down, I figured was a win. I was sick for 3 days and lost another 7 pounds through illness. Here comes the downside - i'd lost my juicing momentum, and with no target date set, I carried on like before, eating junk (albeit organic junk!) and before I knew it, I was at the doctors for a separate issue, weighing a staggering 316.8 pounds! My heart sank to my feet and I just knew that if I didn't do something about this, I'd die before my precious son was old enough to graduate high school.
So, I set myself a new start date February 5th and I still weighed 316.8 on that date. Today, I weigh 303, that's 13.3 pounds in 5 days (it's just after midnight on the 11th when I'm writing this so the 11th doesn't count as a full day yet.
I am walking too, last weekend we took our boy to Disney's Magic Kingdom and he had a blast - I swear I should have had a pedometer, because I was beat when we got home. Then this past weekend we took him to Disney's Animal Kingdom - again, I walked for miles.
I am hoping to get into a regime where I can go for a walk after my night shift ends at 7.15am, and then come home, shower and go to bed…..Once I have built up my walking strength a little, I plan do join cardio classes at a local gym, in fact I already have a 3 month membership on standby that I purchased through Groupon. I just need the all clear from my cardiologist before I lunge head first into something like that.

I am feeling strong, and motivated, and every time I think I am going to eat something I shouldn't I look at a photo of my son and remind myself that not only do I need to make these changes for myself, but also for him. He needs his mum, and I want to be around for a long, long time to come.
My mum tells me that I should take more pride in my appearance, she gets so cross with me for wearing my hair tied up all the time, and I have to remind her, it's Florida, it's darn hot and humid and hair makes my neck sticky. She doesn't like that I don't wear make up either, but since hubby doesn't really like make up, and it makes me feel dirty when i start to sweat with make up on, I only wear it for special occasions, like Girls nights out, or date nights with the hubby. I used to wear it everyday, back in England, but I can't decide if that was to avoid the sound of my mums nagging, or just being a people pleaser.

Anyway, i'll update you periodically on the results of the juice cleanse - and I plan to go onto an 80/20 raw diet after the 30 days, meaning only 20% of my diet can come from meat,fish or dairy and everything else has to be raw fruits, veggies and nuts (easy on the nut intake though). I'll stay on this for a while and eventually as my body gets smaller and healthier, i'll decide, what, if any changes need to be made for me to stay healthy and trim.

My trip to England was fabulous, in case you are wondering, we had an excellent christmas with family and friends, and then my son turned 2 while we were there, so we had a big party for him in a giant kids playhouse. All my friends children were there which made it even more special, I loved watching him play with the children of the people I played with when I wasn't much older than he is. It made me feel a bit old, but it was worth every second.

Nothing in this world could have prepared me for the love I feel as a parent. I thought I knew true love when I got married, and though I still love my hubby as much is not more than the day we wed, he knows that our son is always number 1, in fact he echoes my thoughts, he and I love each other - but we both love our son more. It's a different kind of love. Most parents will understand, it's a "If you asked me to, I would stop the world from spinning for you if I could", or more simply, I would die before I allowed anything to happen to him. When he came into my life, he turned it upside down and inside out, and nothing could have prepared me. I keep photos and video's of him on my phone so if i'm ever out, and start to feel angry at someone for a silly reason, or sad because I can't swing by Popeyes for a Shrimp Po'Boy - I watch the videos and listen to him laugh, and he reminds me that no silly argument over a parking spot is worth it, and no Shrimp Po'boy is worth jeopardizing my health and my goals.

Now that i've made him sound like a little angel, he's not. He has a bad case of the terrible two's. He's into everything, he throws things, has tantrums, tries to smack or bite both me and his dad, i'm not anti 'spanking' but we tried it, and it doesn't work - he laughs, and I can't hit him harder, I mean he's just 2, it should just be a short sharp shock, right? So, we moved to time out, he won't stay in the time out  chair,  he slides out and grabs his toys or whatever is in reach. We take them from him and put him back in the chair and he bangs his head repeatedly and hard against the wall behind him. So we are currently doing a 'guided time out' - he sits in the chair and one of us sits in front of him ensuring he doesn't move, or bang his head. At the end of his two minutes, if he hasn't smacked me in the face (which isn't uncommon in this situation) he has to say he's sorry, and then we hug.

I was spanked as a child and I feared it - my mum would say "If you do that again i'm going to smack you" and I remember thinking "No, I don't want that" and I would stop what I was doing (most of the time anyway). I think our little monster has too much of his daddies DNA hahaha

Anyway. It's late, but i'll be updating again soon, I hope and maybe with some before and after pictures one day!

All good things must come to an end....but were they really good?

Well, Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year. I spent my holiday in England with my family - the first proper family Christmas I have had in 7 years. It was also my sons 2nd birthday while we were there so we had a lovely party for him which he thoroughly enjoyed and was so very spoiled that although we left the US with 3 suitcases, we returned home with SIX!

But, as with all new years, there come the dreaded 'resolutions' but this year I decided to really challenge myself. I saw a movie called 'Fat, Sick, and nearly dead' and it inspired me to shake things up a little  - ok, a lot. My new years resolution is simple "Get fit and healthy so I can be more active with my son".

The first step in my journey is a 30 day juice 'reboot'. Nothing but juice (80% veg/20% fruit) and water for the next 30 days. At the end of the 30 days I will visit my doctor, have all my blood work tested, and if i'm given the green light, i'm going to try for another 30 days.
After that, I shall slowly start to incorporate solid foods back into my diet. We already eat all organic, and no processed foods, so it shouldn't be too hard to start by adding one poached egg for breakfast with a fruit/veg smoothie.

I'm on day 2. I'll keep you updated on my progress :)

Parenthood, a life changer and the crazy shit it makes you say.

I always knew that becoming a mother would be a life changer, I mean it starts with peeing on a stick, as if that's not weird enough, and then you get the dreaded sickness - if you are lucky it's just in the mornings, but general consensus is that it's pretty much all day for the first trimester, and lucky me, that was what I experienced.

Then came the back ache, and being completely incapable of sleeping in my bed for the last 6 months of my pregnancy I slept every night on the recliner, it was quite literally the only way I could be comfortable. That being said, the first time I felt my boy kick, my heart literally skipped a beat, and after that, I would lay on that recliner at night talking to him, rubbing my ridiculously large belly, and occasionally singing to him. Since he was a December baby, my song of choice was "All I want for Christmas" by Mariah Carey, and I swear he still recognizes it when I sing it to him.

Anyway, skip past the birth because I had a wonderfully non painful scheduled c-section (aside from the catheter, why they couldn't wait until I was numb do that is beyond me, that was awful).

Our boy was horribly colicky, so the first 3 months were a trial at best, but after that, he started sleeping through the night, feeding properly, and eventually was taking small amounts of pureed foods. I only wish I had known then what I know now about GMO's or I would have made every since batch of puree from fresh organic vegetables...but that's a whole other story.

So, now our boy is almost two and since he's been able to walk I have found myself having to speak some of the most bizarre sentences. Today's special: I had to use the rest room, and of course, curious little boy that he is he follows me, with his talking toy monkey in hand. He tells me "pee pee' and I say "Yes baby, mummy goes pee pee on the potty". The hubby is in the other room laughing at my inability to use the restroom in peace and then he shouts something to me and I had to respond with "Sorry, I can't hear you, i'm in the bathroom and this monkey is really loud". I heard myself say it, and just laughed, I mean really, when will I ever have to make a statement like that again? 

I know there have been many others, and I wish I had written them down, but I have no doubt there will be many more.

I let the hubby get his laughs from these things though, he is after all the one who had his hand quite literally pooed in when our boy was just a couple of days old.

I was on the couch, unable to move move because of my c-section and he was changing our boy on the changing table, he pulled away the dirty diaper, and as he was sliding the new one under, our boy pooed, and not just a little bit either. Hubby was standing there holding our boys legs up with one hand and a handful of stinky baby poop in the other. He was shouting at me to stop laughing and come and help him, but of course laughing was not optional, and the more I laughed the more my incision hurt, so I couldn't move. He still likes to remind me of that from time to time. The day I left him standing helpless with a handful of baby poop. I just tell him it will be a wonderful story to tell the first girlfriend our boy brings home!!

A little intro

It has been such a long time since I blogged. I mean really, I am never short of opinions or things to say, so why have I been absent for so very long?
Ok, quick intro (some of you already know me, so there'll be nothing new here for you)

I'm English, 38 years old (damn that's old!) and I live in Florida with my American husband and one child, my wonderful 2 year old son. We also have a cat named Rocky who was rescued after having his tail amputated due to mistreatment. I work full time from home, I am a vocal advocate for clean eating, non GMO foods, pro choice, pro 2nd amendment (pro constitutional rights, period), pro choice, anti circumcision, and an agnostic theist.

Like I said, i'm never short on opinions, and I always love a good debate - it's a healthy way to learn.

So, all that being said let's keep the first post nice and light and 'fluffy' (so to speak).

Living here in America is a source of constant amusement for me. Of course the cost of Ribena and a packet of fruit pastilles costs an arm and a leg, but sometimes nothing else will do.
One of the first things I found when I moved here was that my lovely Nottinghamshire dialect and slang just wasn't going to cut the mustard over here. People looked at me like i'd grown horns I thanked them by saying "Cheers me dears". Eh, i'm a quick learner (except with Math, i'll go to my grave confounded by Algebra).
In the spirit of good humor, (and apologies to all my British people who see the lack of the U in certain words - like humoUr, good old American spellcheck keeps correcting me and i'm too lazy to go back and change it all) here are some rather amusing examples of words that just don't mean the same in the USA as they go in good old Blighty.

Lets start with an easy one - Pants. Ok most of us already knew that Americans call trousers, pants, which left me wondering (at first) well then what to they call underpants/knickers? (incidentally, the word knickers always gets a giggle or two from Americans around here) Over time I have heard men call them panties, which just creeps me out. For some reason when a man uses the word panties I suddenly get the image of a creepy old pervert going through a woman's knicker drawer! Why can't we just call them trousers, and use pants for undies? Simple, no?

Next up are a few things I came across because of my job - I work in insurance, and get to listen to a lot of terminology for things. Starting with cars - what we Brits call a bonnet, is known here as the hood. What we would call the wing, is known here as the fender, what we call the boot, is known here as the trunk. So you can imagine some of the confusion I had when trying to ascertain which parts of someones car were damaged.....

Baby stuff - thanks heavens for Friends TV show or I may never have understood that a Diaper genie wasn't a magical being who somehow magically removed stinky offensive poop filled nappies. Yes, I said nappies, because that's what we call them - and just so you know, stupid auto correct changed that word three times to nap pies! WTH is a nap pie? I mean, I like naps, and a like pies, not sure how I could get a nap pie....but I digress. 

Household tools, the one thing you wouldn't think would be difficult, but have you ever tried asking an American for a spanner? Or a torch? You won't get very far. Luckily my husband spent some time in England so he 'gets' me when I forget to use the American terms 'wrench' and 'flashlight'.

There are tons of them, but I think i'll finish up with the one that amuses me the most, the British holiday maker special - the Bum bag. Known to Americans as a "Fanny Pack'. Oh yes, hilarity from that one since fanny is a word Brits use for a lady's genitals! 
Imagine, you're in a Wal Mart and you're wearing your snazzy Mickey Mouse bum bag, just walking along and someone stops you and says "Nice fanny pack"....ummm, right-o, i'll just be leaving now you pervert.....Or some poor misguided American tourist stops at a local Asda and asks where they keep the fanny packs. Actually, I would like to see that happen.....