What have I been up to?

So Cellulitis...let's talk about it. I have it and it's not fun. It' a bacteria infection in my leg that I caught it from a wound I have had since November of last year. This is why people say take care of your bodies and the bible says to treat it as if it's a temple. I will be the first to admit that I have not.

I have been to the ER, regular Doctor, Wound Doctor and now I have to see a Vein Doctor. Quite frankly I am burnt out. I can't wait to get rid of it and whatever other problems that I am dealing with. My right leg has been through it all. I had a blood clot about 12 years ago and since then I have been dealing with major swelling in the same leg. Last year I cut it it and it never healed and then recently I caught Cellulitis. Now I have found out that the reason I did not heal quickly was not because of Diabetes (Which I do not have), but because of my veins being damaged.

The first step to solving many of my problems is to lose weight. Which I have lost 20 pounds so far in this summer journey of "GETTING MY LIFE", thanks Tamar Braxton.

I am so excited about it, but I have a long way to go. There is still 182 pounds to go. However, I love cooking while losing weight. It pushes my creativity as far as coming up with meals that are light and absent of salt and sugar. I will tell you the truth it is very hard missing the taste of salt, sugar, and fat. We have gotten away from our strict diet because we found that we were not eating enough. I am trying ta add what I can here and there, but keep it SAFE.

I also coupon and it was hard trying to find coupons that were consistent with our diet. However, I think I have figured out a method that I will not share because I plan on starting a business that will show other people who are in my same position how to coupon and still lose weight.

I love showing pictures so here is what I got:

I got $246.61 worth of grocery for only $37.72.

Water

Salad kits, mussels, cereal, 8 packs of meat

Some of the meat I got

Veggies

Fruit 

Foil pans

Wheat Pasta

One of my larger receipts.

I did three transactions in all, but I got a ton of goodies. My husband and I got a high five on that. I have not made a meal yet, but last night my husband and I wanted something different. I made two appetizers and were very satisfied.

Caprese Salad no salt.

Salmon fillets with homemade pesto sauce and Alouette cheese spread on toasted french bread with lemon zest. So Yummy!

Changing my life so I can finally be in control of my own will!

So you know I am on a new regime. My goal is to lose 202 pounds by 2015. Sounds like quite a bit, but do you know how big I am...I am too young to be this big.

HELLO!

So here is my plan.

I have decided to work from the inside out. I need to change my whole existence right now at the age of 33. I am am getting older and more mature. By the time I am 35...I want to be a whole new person. I have always tried diet fads here and there, but honey until you change your mindset nothing will happen. I have always heard the cliche "what your house looks like on the outside is what you are feeling like on the inside". I can honestly say it's true. I have always been a "ALL AT ONE TIME" mindset girl. If I wanted clothes I had to have a whole new wardrobe. If I wanted a car I had to have all the money at one to get it. If I wanted to change my eating habits I had to clear out all the cabinets and buy all new grocery. You kind of get the idea by now. I have learned that I have to take things one step and one day at a time. You can't have it all once, but you can have it all if you believe that GREATNESS IS ACHIEVED THROUGH SMALL SUCCESSES.

So I am doing me y'all for the next two months I am detoxing MIND, BODY, AND SOUL.
1. Ship the kids off for the summer...check (I love you TN)

Far left is Angel 11, fourth child is Ashani 14, and fifth is Mia 16. We met their aunt in ATL and they left for TN about a week ago. The other kids are their cousins.

2. Make a plan to clean house...check Living room done,but it took 3 days. I even made a work-space)
    a. 2 hours of cleaning per day until each room has been done.
    b. MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE MY HUSBAND IN THIS PART next is reorganizing the kitchen.

My Workspace

Coupons filed by date. Oh I can't tell you where I had these. I should have done a before.

Filing space for Banking, Legal, Bills, Insurance, etc. in order and dated.

These were all over the place, work, bedrooms, living room now they have a home.

Some my personal books in my office space

3. Make a schedule to follow each day (I AM SO BAD AT PLANNING AND EXECUTING)...check

I am a business teacher that teaches time management and organizational management (HELL THAT       WAS MY DEGREE. I have to practice what I preach. I can plan all day, but executing can be a bit of a task. Don't get me wrong I can execute, but I do not follow the plan i made so its gets chaotic.

This is on my refrigerator! 

4. Eat right and workout...check

My lunch today. I was half done before I took the pic. 

5. I am working on a few other things that will help my life become so much easier.                                               a. CREDIT - my husband and I are working to get out credit score up. We need a bigger house. A 4    bedroom, 3 bath, with 2 living rooms, formal dining area, office and STORAGE MAMMY! We have one in mind already that is right around the block from where we live. 

b. BUSINESS- We have had a tax business at home for a few years, but we need more clients. I plan on starting my own wit my sissy http://thesistersophisticate.blogspot.com/. We are into Vintage and Redesign.

c. LESSON PLANS AND FBLA - My first year as a teacher just rounded up the beginning of this month. I cold not stay on top of everything this year so it was stressful. I plan on making a schedule with lesson plans for everyday this year along with FBLA and using some common core along with it since we will be going that way by 2014.

6. My house is still a work in progress, but my kitchen is done here are some pics. next is bathrooms and floors. You may have noticed from my previous blogs I was working on it.. 

Still have some work to do like back-splash behind the stove and above the microwave and picking curtains out for the window. We have recess lights in the ceiling, but my husband is working on them. That's him on the right. BETTER PICS WHEN COMPLETELY DONE.

DID YOU NOTICE ANYTHING MAJOR?

I am going natural. I cut all my hair off last week. It's so easy to manage and my hair is good so when I wet it curls up. I look how my kids say FYE!

I'M BACK!

I had to go away for a while. In that time I have become a teacher and boy was I busy. I want to start blogging again and now that I have time and plenty ideas I am really wanting to finish what I started. I have also upgraded my phone so this can really be interesting. STAY ON THE LOOK OUT IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

Losing Weight

For me this is the most dreaded subject in life period. The reason why is because it is so hard. I know for a fact I do not have as much self discipline to lose weight as much as I do to keep up with my blog. My husband and I are on a quest and as I said in my very first blog "I am rebooting my life". 

I have tried dozens of diets and each year I gain about 10 pounds still.

Diets I have tried

The cabbage diet (too much gas)

The grapefruit diet (I did not eat grapefruits for a while after that one)

The master cleanser (the die off really got to me)

No carb diet (I lost 17 pounds, but had a piece of cake one day and said "Awe the hell with it")

HCG Diet (lasted one week)

Sensa (DID NOT WORK)

No sugar, soda, or grease diet (starved myself)

21 day metabolism (how in the hell can I keep up with eating every 3 hours with my schedule)

Candida (That stuff you have to drink...Yuck!)

Colon Cleanse (Same situation...and boy you can't have a schedule with this one...heard of irritable bowel syndrome)

Fasting ( Please spare me..)

Raw food diet (hard to come up with a meal plan and eating the same thing everyday)

Well, I must say that there are probably more that I have tried and after listing them...I feel much worse than I already did. I see my  problem is dedication. Other problems are sweets, chips, and sodas. I can give up chips and I can give up sodas, but sweets is a blog by itself. I can make excuses very easy to. I keep saying "I'm going to start, but I have to have one last day to eat everything I can't eat. One last day turns into another month gone by. Then there is another very good reason, I DON'T HAVE A KITCHEN. We are in the middle of renovating. My kitchen should have been done by the end of April...it is now what month? 

Well, yesterday I proved all that wrong. I made a great meal using my toaster oven and a microwave. It turned out great! I saw a meal that looked quite easy on Pinterest. I was gonna go to my grandmothers house and cook it, but I thought that maybe I can pull it off. 

The meal I made is shown in the picture. After reading so many blogs and researching some information I stumbled across this blog that i think is really gonna help me. Its Called 100 days of real food. http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/. They have everything I need and the info is FREE. I think now have the motivation to this now..finally. I have to  lose half of my body weight (170 lbs.) The best way for me to do it is to go cold turkey. That means go hard or don't go at all. My birthday is in two months. It gives me 60 days to reboot my eating habits. I also found a website called Reboot Your Life. Hundreds of people have already tried it. I am the next one. 

Wish me luck on this new journey. I am excited because when it is all over I will have a new kitchen and a new body.