Gastric Sleeve, Here I come!!!!

When I turned 40 I thought that some great revelation would come to me. For some reason I imagined myself being able to suddenly have the willpower to lose the fat that I have been fighting with for most of my life. My 41st birthday will be next month and none of that happened. I finally decided to take the plunge. I had my initial consult with Dr.Keith at Dr.Keiths wellness center in Norman Oklahoma. I will be blogging my progress and any set backs and pray that there is more progress than setback! I have been trusting God a lot more this past year and it has taken me places that I never thought possible. A year ago, I sort of thought I had experienced most of the good things I would be getting out of life, but the more I seek God, the more opportunities I have been given. It is a strange and wonderful thing. 

MY FIRST VISIT:

Staff are amazing, SO friendly! I love this. I weighed in (260) I am 5'9. I spoke with the Dr. He said he did more lap bands than sleeves. I told him I had read a lot of negative things about the band (a LOT). He said that since I lived so far away it would be really in-convenient to get the lap band. The lapband requires coming in every few weeks for a 'fill' or depletion of saline. After visiting with him, the nurse gave me a binder, some lab orders, and I went to the nutritionalist. 

The nutritionalist spoke with me, gave me samples of shakes I will be drinking, calcium chews and a food journal. 

Last week I had a LOT of lab drawn. I got a callback that my iron was low. I asked her how many milligrams to take and she told me I could only buy the iron at Dr.Keiths office 😐  I think this is 

weird but I will see what is so special about the iron formula when I pick it up in two days. 

There is so much that goes along with having Bariatric surgery. Fear, anxiety, happiness...it's a lot like a roller coaster. I have not told a lot of people yet but so far no one has told me I'm 'taking the easy way out'. So far the reactions have been 50/50. Half tell me not to, the other half are excited. Praying that everything works out,and would appreciate any advice!!!

IPSY VS. BIRCHBOX

I have allowed myself to be sucked in to the wonderful world of monthly subscription boxes! For 3 months I received a fancy cardboard box from www.birchbox.com. The boxes have been okay. I got a bright red stilla lipstick sample and some stinky dry shampoo. My favorite thing of all was a hair tie. Ive lost it. For the week I had it, I loved it. Overall I was dissapointed. One of the supergoop facial lotion samples burned my face so bad..really bad. I left a review but never saw it posted. I noticed all the reviews were basically raving about this thin stinky lotion that burned my face off. So I decided to cancel. I received one more box that had already been paid for and heres what it included:

a dry shampoo, 2 moisturizers. a self tanning lotion (at the end of August) and the tiniest blush you have ever seen. Like the size of a quarter. Try to apply that to a brush. 

So today I received my first Ipsy package. Keep in mond that you get ALL OF THIS for only $10 and that includes shipping. I loved it even before I opened it because it came in a shiny pink package!

Heres what I got:

A full size nail polish

sample blow dry spray

sample of gentle face wash

full size (and amazing) eyeliner

full size (with a color that looks amazing on everyone) lipstick

and the fully functional and oh so cute zippered make up bag!

I hope I save someone a little money and the hassle of wasting their time on the stinky, burning, tiny samples from birchbox. Unless you like pretty boxes better than full size makeup, the decision is an easy one. 

As a sidenote, I do get birchbox man for my husband. It is $20. I love and steal the gadgets but will probably be cancelling. All of the samples are tiny and they stink. 

Do you disagree? Have you found a monthly box you are addicted to? I would love to know!! 

DIY IPad Stand Made With License Plate

Technically this could be a nook stand. It can be a kindle stand or a pencil stand or any kind of e-reader stand. Another invention has been born as a result of my laziness and cheapness. We use the iPad a lot when watching videos for school and nothing worked to hold it up. Here's how I did it:

I made a template out of the license place and marked the places that needed bent. Here are the bends for a standard license plate:

Bend BACK at 4"

Bend UP at 8 1/2"

Bend UP again at 10"

There are several ways this can be bent. My way is always to give my plan to my husband and let him figure out. He told me that the easiest way is to use pliers and a hammer while the plate is sitting in a vice. For those who have no vice just sitting around, you can use a cement step and hammer it down to bend. 

This is a side view. It really does work great for our iPad. I thought of making one of those iPad pillows but I really think that this is much sturdier. We have a life proof case on our iPad and most stands require you to remove it before it fits. This was the perfect solution for us and I hope it is an easy fix for others with the same problem! Please comment or pin if you made one yourself. Enjoy!

Printable Pet Shop Money Game

 

 

My daughter loves playing pretend store. I decided to combine something she loves with something we need to learn. This game can be played so many ways. I suggest printing each page on cardstock and laminating them. You can then cut them into 'cards' and use them over and over. The price tags were left blank so you can add the amount you think is appropriate. Please pin and let me know if you use this game, I hope you enjoy it!

Print page 1

Print page 2

Print page 3

A few ideas:

Print several copies of page 2 (the animals) off. Give each animal a name so you have more animals in your pet shop.

Exchange places with your child. Be the 'buyer' for a turn and then be the store owner.

Make coupons (ex.  $5.00 off of 2 dogs or $0.75 off of 2 cat brushes) For a more advanced game.

Make a tiny 'pet shop' out of a small box and place the pieces in the box so you can take it anywhere.