A Resolution!

One of my New Years resolutions was to have more participation so lets start with a giveaway!

Up for grabs is:
2 bottles of DaVinici Sugar Free Syrup in flavors Vanilla and Raspberry 12.7 Fl Oz.  

4 samples of Chike 

For your first entry you must do the folowing:

1. Follow my blog. (see the buttons on the side)

2.  Like me on Facebook.  Click HERE

3.  Follow me on Twitter.  Click HERE

4.  Leave me a comment below.  

For additional entries you may promote this contest once a day through Facebook or Twitter.

This contest will end at midnight on Sunday, January 8th, 2012.  I will pot the winners Monday (1/9) morning by 10am.  

Good Luck!

Fresh Beginings

On such a sad day when the world seems to come to a stop for some I like to think that it's a day of new beginnings. 

Today ten years ago I decided to keep a baby that I didn't think I was ready for.  Today my 9 1/2 year old stands besides me and reminds me of each life that was lost and how grateful I am am to them. We will always remember and cherish each and every family who lost a loved one. I hope one day he will grow up and help keep their memory alive. I can see the spark of hope in his eyes.  

At 8:46 my son and I held each other for a full minute, I had to wipe the tears but it led to a great discussion. We then sat down and talked about why 9/11 is so important, not just for a country but for him and I. We spoke of how almost 3,000 lives were lost that day but 2 were saved. We talked about why it's important for him to live his life with passion, hope and perseverance. One day that boy is going to make a difference in the world. He already has changed my world forever.

This year I reflected on how much the last 10 years have changed not just myself but those around me.  I think I can speak for all my loved ones that we are better people than we were 10 years ago.

So as I sit here sipping on my Chocolate/Banana Chike protein drink, I'm listening to the memorial at Ground Zero.  My heart goes out to all those who lost a loved one.  I also want to thank all those who have served/or are serving our country to keep our freedom.  

This year I've already taken the first steps to a new me.  I'm proud to be part of this country, a mother to my child and a DSer!  

Cleaning Up

For some Irene left a nasty mess of destruction.  For those people my heart goes out and I wish them a quick recovery. I've donated some of my protein samples to a few people I know.  I just wish there was more I could do.  If you made it through the storm as good as I've done consider donating to the Red Cross or other charities.  It's amazing how little help they get. 

For us though, the story is completely different. My basements got some water in it.  We were fortunate enough to grab some of the valuable things out first.  What we lose we didn't need anyway.  We were lucky.

There's a bunch of tree limbs and branches on my lawn and in the street but thankfully no trees. 

Really though, this is as bad as it got.

I have a grandmother still without power and most of the towns around us just got turned back on yesterday and the day before.  We lost power for maybe 5 minutes, like I said, we were lucky.

I've also been working on myself.  I started not to feel so good and thought for sure I was going to end up in the ER.  I had a hard time dealing with my emotions for this and didn't speak about it with friends or family.  I kind of just sucked it up.  Instead I reached out to some of the DS vets I know.  One of which is Awesome Dina.  Click on her name.  It'll bring you to her blog and it is completely worth the trip.   She has some of the best information for the DS and life afterwards available.  Her site is always my fall back.  Luckily I know her through some of the online sources I use so when in doubt she is always a message away.  She's been through a lot since her surgery so she has tons of advice and information to fill you up on. 

Turns out the 64oz of water a day that we need is just not enough for me so I'm working towards 100oz of water a day.  I also wasn't eating enough.  That my friends is a funny thing.  I used to always be hungry.  I never could get enough to eat.  Now?  I am never, and I mean NEVER hungry.  It's a weird feeling and it takes sometime to get used too.  It's teaching me to have a different relationship with food than I'm used too.  Before my surgery I ate what I felt like eating.  After my surgery I have to learn to eat what fuels my body and is good for me.  I'm starting to enjoy food more and appreciate it's worth. It's really hard to understand and wrap my head around but I'm loving every second of it. 

Now that I'm all juiced up and feeling terrific again I'll be posting again.  It was so hard to come on here and offer advice when I felt like sludge.  I hate whining so it was even harder to blog since I hadn't really told my family about it and they read my blog.  

I have a post all ready to go for later today I just didn't want to bombard you with two at the same time.  I have a product review for the PamiPocket and Tomorrow I have a review for Banana CHIKE!  (so far my favorite flavor)!