by jcastles | Jun 12, 2015 | Family, Moving, Uncategorized
So about a month ago the hubs interviewed for a job back home. But it’s still with Amazon just a different department so that’s freaking awesome!
Things are moving slow yet fast. We need to get there the first week of July but the moving company is taking it’s sweet time. So everything might get pushed into the second week of July.
We want to drive home to Texas instead of flying. We plan on taking a vacation through California. The boys want to see the beach. What better place than there right?! We want to go to the San Diego Zoo and try to fit Legoland in (SHHHHH! That’ll be a surprise).
I can’t wait for Texas. Even though we’re moving 3 hours away from “home” it’s still a whole 30 hours closer! So if your in the DFW area don’t worry…we’ll visit a lot!
When I get to Texas I plan on eating as much Mexican Food as I can handle. Drink as many frozen sangria’s as I want. And be in the sun a lot!!! So if your looking for me check in a Mexican restaurant or by a pool.
by jcastles | Apr 15, 2015 | Uncategorized
So after being on a certain diet “skake” for almost 2 weeks I decided it was time to really talk about it. I’ll tell you what it is in a moment but if you follow me on Instagram then you already know what journey I started.
So a little back story. I’m 35, 2 kids, 1 miscarriage & 1 stepson. I’ve always been skinny but when I had my 2nd child I wasn’t able to loose the weight. We had a lot going on so that made it real hard. Hubbs got laid off and I lost my job because people came to work with the flu and I got it while pregnant and I got very sick from it. I needed to work so once I felt better-ish I decided working in daycare was my way to go. I loved working with kids and have a background in childcare (as well as an office background) so I decided to work in daycare. It paid half my kids tuition and I brought home just enough to pay for groceries. When my son was 3 months old he got very sick with bronchitis (cause the heat didn’t work in our house) and had to be on a breathing machine at home for a few weeks. Which made me lose my job. So we decided at that time I’d stay home. Hubbs was doing free lance work and it just wasn’t making ends meet. We were paying an obscene amount of child support and the state doesn’t give a crap about someone being laid off. So then all of a sudden we get a phone call from my stepson that warrants an immediate move into our home. He was 16 at the time. Then we lost our rent house…yep, hard truth right there. We had no where to go but to my Dad’s house…so we did for a month. Put our stuff in storage and sucked it up. Hubbs finally got a steady job, we move out, I start selling Pampered Chef (again) and life is good. We started to notice that Jayson (the baby) wasn’t thriving but figured it’s a phase and we moved on. At the same time my in-laws move in with us because well they lost their jobs. It was a bad job time in 2009 in Texas. Well I pissed them off fairly quickly with my cleaning rituals and they moved out. With the extra people in the house, no child support or inlaws helping we quickly lost that house too. So we find a house we could rent which happened to be a hell of a lot nicer too and we go for it. While living there I was really convinced that Jayson needed the social interaction. So we set up playdates, went to parks, did more than just staying home. He still wanted nothing to do with toys or other people.
At this time I decide to go back to work….in daycare again. During the training that this particular daycare had you take I came across ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) documentation. I was reading some of the milestones that kids should have at certain ages and was like OMG I wonder if Jayson is developmentally delayed. A few months go by and I decide that it was time to contact ECI. They came to my house and evaluated him. They evaluated him at daycare. We came to the conclusion that he was on the Spectrum for Autism. He was approved for the program and we started therapy right away. I also quit my job to help him thrive. He was 2.5 years old. I wish I had done that sooner because at 3 years old he was no longer allowed to be in the program. So he moved into the school district pre-school classes. WOW!!!! That’s where the change came. He started feeding himself, trying new foods, talking more, playing with toys the right way and more!
So during all this time I was stuck in the house with the kiddo that had meltdowns, feeding issues, not playing correctly. I’d given up on me. It wasn’t on purpose. By the time playing was over and kids were in bed all I wanted to do was relax with the hubbs. In Texas my allergies were so bad that being outside all the time just isn’t an option for me. And in the summer time being outside if your not at a pool is extremely miserable. And being on a one income family after a ton of hard times is not easy on the pocket book.
So fast forward 6.5 years and that’s where I’m at now. Over weight. Why?! Honestly because I like snacking rather than eating. And my addiciton for coca cola and red bull is like someone that has a major drug addiction. I was up to 8 cokes a day and 1 red bull…sometimes 2…that’s it. No water…nothing. And with my allergies, lack of $, and being worn out from my kiddo really does a lot to the body.
So now we’re in Washington. My allergies aren’t that bad here. But it rains. Not as much as you’d think but it does. And growing up and living in Texas for 33 years of your life your kinda not use to being outside in the rain. But we’ve almost gotten use to it. I still can’t do rain and mud…so if being outside in the rain doesn’t involve concrete you can count us out!!
But we’ve been out and about more since we moved here. We like exploring our area a lot. So my activity level is higher…but only on the weekends. Why only the weekends you ask? Well during the week the boys are at school. I’m not use to being home solo during the day but me going to work is still out of the question. So I’m doing my home business stuff and starting another chapter in that business too. I’m slowly starting to grow.
I spend a lot of time on social media. Like….a lot!!! I saw a friend selling Thrive and asked her what it was. She sent me a 3 day sample. First day was ok. I had to choke the nasty shake down but my energy level was outta this world! I thought…I can do this. Second day…didn’t feel the energy and the patch made my arm break out like crazy…it was burning and everything. Third day….couldn’t choke the shake down but I put the patch on and the same thing…along with me hitting the bathroom like a thousand times. I realized I can’t do it.
I’d tried Plexus Slim in the past and that was HORRIBLE!!! If you can drink Crystal Light then you can probably do that. But I could not. It was soooooooo sweet it made me sick.
So one evening 2.5 weeks ago I was in an app on my phone called VarageSale. I see this person selling this stuff called Shakeology. She was selling a 7 day supply for $35. Not too much money and I think that’s a great way to try it. I’d already heard of it but didn’t know anything about it. Before we moved to Washington I started following someone on Instagram that used the stuff and her transformation was amazing! But I still didn’t read about her story.
Seeing this lady selling 7 day sample packs made me go read this other lady’s blog about it. She started out slow. She drank the Shakeology and her cravings for sweets and bad food disappeared. She was loosing weight. So much that she gained energy. Energy to exercise. She started exercising with the program you can get from Shakeology. Her weight loss was amazing!! So I tell the hubbs I want to try this stuff. Payday comes and I buy the sample pack. I get all chocolate from her. I’m not a chocolate person so I was already skeptical about doing this but I know I wouldn’t like the vanilla or strawberry so I went with it.
Day 1) I got home that day from getting it and I throw a packet, ice and water in my blender. BLECH!!! It’s so chocolatey I’m not sure I can do this. It’s got that bitter chocolate taste that I hate. I tell this lady and she tells me to try one of the recipes. She also tells me that the vanilla might be the way to go because you can pretty much flavor it any way you want.
Day 2) So the next day I add in frozen strawberries. Pretty darn good…next time I’ll add more strawberries in.
Day 3) I decide to meet up with her for a chocolate/vanilla exchange. By the time I got home from errands it was so late I didn’t want try one that day.
Day 4) I try a vanilla and frozen peaches. OMG YUMMM!!! Only thing is I wish i’d have added more peaches.
Day 5) I finally talk the hubbs into trying one. He had a chocolate and I added almond milk, banana and peanut butter (natural/organic btw). He says he can taste the super foods and wasn’t all that thrilled about it. So when I was making his I thought I’ll try the same mix. OMG that was so friggin good to me I wanted a lot of it!!!
Day 6) I get the hubbs to try one more. This time vanilla shakeology, almond milk, and peanut butter. He loved it!!! I was still craving the chocolate shakeology, almond milk, banana, and peanut butter one that I made that one again. So since we’ve been sharing I’m out…but I already ordered a month supply because with the chocolate, almond milk, banana, and peanut butter mix I knew I could do this!! I’d already dropped from drinking 6 cokes a day to 2 or 3 a day. And I was actually wanting water!!! I’d already lost 3 p0unds, and I could tell my stomach wasn’t as bloated from all that soda!
I finally get my order in. I went basically a week w/out it. During my time w/out it I had one red bull. My son was having surgery at 6am so I had to be up super early and I was tired tired. The first thing I noticed is my face turned red and stayed red and I was hot all day from it. Hmmmm, wonder why I’m hot all the friggin time…..my daily red bull habit!!! So after that day I kicked it. It made me feel like crap. And I wanted nothing to do with it!
I’ve been drinking Shakeology for a week and a half again and I can not express to you how good I feel. Well…I can tell you but believing it will be hard as it’s really shocking to me how great I actually do feel. The first few days kicking cokes were hard. I’m still at 2-3 a day (mostly 2) but I only drink them when I eat. Because that’s when it tastes good to me. If I have 3 a day it’s because the headache of coming off 6-8 a day is killing me so much that I have to drink it. Or I’m a raging bitch.
In the 2.5 weeks I’ve been drinking Shakeology here’s what I’ve noticed. I’ve lost 7 pounds! I’m not as bloated! I’m not taking my heartburn pills….cause I don’t need them! I’m sleeping better at night! I’m actually feeling like a normal person! I’m kicking coke! I’ve already kicked red bull! I don’t want candy at all!! I even tried eating my favorite candy bar (Butterfinger)…couldn’t do it! I actually thought it tasted gross! I’m still hooked on Jersey Mike’s but I tried my favorite sandwich as a sub in a tub and loved it!! So for now I’ll still eat the places I like just try to make better choices.
I plan on continuing this journey. I also plan on becoming a Coach with Shakeology. Which means you’ll able to purchase from me. In becoming a coach I’ll receive a workout dvd (which you can also buy if you don’t want to be a coach). And with my energy and time during the day I’ll be able to do it. So watch out…..I plan on becoming my skinny self again!
Once I feel a little more comfortable with my self I’ll also post pictures of my journey. It was hard as hell talking about it now so pictures will have to come later. 😀
by jcastles | Mar 27, 2015 | Crafts, Etsy
Visit my Etsy Shop now through April 15, 2015 for 10% off your order!!!!
by jcastles | Mar 13, 2015 | Family
So we’ve all heard of the Mom intuition. Long before you have that baby your told you’ll just know because your mom. Well recently I knew my little one was getting sick. But not real sick. Just allergies. I have terrible year round allergies. So I kinda know these things. Sure enough my son’s nose wouldn’t quit dripping/running and he felt miserable. Not the normal snotty nose kid run…this is like a faucet. Like mine.
Nothing stops it. NOTHING!! We can reduce our down time by taking NyQuil (during the day–not DayQuil), kleenex stuffed in the nose, and laying at a slight incline. But no shot or allergy medicine will stop this. It’s a nose curse i’m sure of it.
When you have this kind of drainage it literally beats you down. It’s strange. People don’t understand and for years when I was in the work field it was hard for my bosses to understand it. About once a month my nose would do this. If I stayed at work my production was low and it lasted for days unless I stayed home for 1 or 2 days. I’d have to get up and wash my hands constantly, clean my desk of the tissues, and clean the tissue lint off everything. It was horrible. Oh and I took daily allergy meds…even tried shots. This drainage makes you feel like you have the flu. So imagine once a month feeling like you have the flu. Everything aches, your not hungry, your going through boxes and boxes of tissues (remember this is only a day or two i’m talking about here…not a week!), your sneezing, coughing from the drainage in your throat, and your nose becomes raw and red. So it’s much easier to reduce those symptoms by staying home propped up, on NyQuil, with kleenex sticking outta your nose.
So when my youngest sons nose started dripping the other day I knew what was coming. I made him stay home from school…on pajama day!!! He was sorta cool with it cause I made grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. He stayed propped up on the couch, on Children’s NyQuil, Claritin, and yes he had his own little trash bag and a box of kleenex. By 3pm that day he was feeling much better! And he went to school the next day.
So here’s what made me want to write this post. The day he got sick I was tired. I’m talking about T I R E D!! For about a week I was going to bed by like 2am, getting up at 6:30am, but not even sleeping all night (hubs has sleep apnea…his machine has been keeping me up a lot lately), and being busy all day. So I was sooooooo tired that I was dizzy and nauseous. When my son kept sniffing snot back into his nose I had was literally so frustrated I said come here and let me help you blow it. As soon as he blowed the tissue felt like water had hit it. Then it happened. I jumped up and kicked into gear. My tiredness completely went away. I was in Mom Mode. I was explaining it to my husband and he said it’s that Super Mom thing ya know. I’m like I guess. He’s like no really…..there’s something that Mom’s can do when you have to. I was kinda like hmmmm, guess so. So there ya go. It’s true…Mom’s have killer intuition and superpowers.
by jcastles | Feb 20, 2015 | Family
So now we’re in February. The month of LOVE, me dipping into HTV (heat transfer vinyl), 5th grade science fair and red velvet oreo’s.
So the second I heard that Red Velvet Oreo’s were coming out I made sure we got a package. And OMG yes they’re good.
Then there was the 100th day of school. I wanted to make the kids a shirt but only Jayson wanted one. Kennyth’s getting a little too old for it but I still gave him the option. Jayson loved his shirt! This is just printable iron on. Not the best but it worked in a pinch.
Time for Valentine’s Day!!! Jayson doesn’t like much candy. So I saw a similar idea to these oranges and I showed him and he wanted. I think they turned out great!
Kennyth wanted Fun Dip so I had to think of a way to use my Silhouette Cameo for this one. I think they turned out great!
My first HTV project!!! Kennyth is learning to play the recorder and I wanted to personalize his bag so he’d know which was his. I like it. I immediately fell in love with HTV and placed an order for more a few days later.
See….got my HTV and made shirts!
I really love how they turned out!
Sweets for my sweets!! Of course I used the Silhouette Cameo!!!
My sweetie took the dog to get groomed on Valentine’s Day (big gift for me…I’m simple). And he brought my favorite flowers home!! So sweet!!
Our Valentine’s Day brunch. This was suppose to be for breakfast but when you don’t have a griddle anymore and you forgot that detail yet you still promised red velvet heart pancakes for Vday you still do it. In a skillet. One at a friggin time. I had to warm the oven up and put the pancakes that were made on it to keep them warm. It worked btw….but I don’t recommend it unless you need to do it.
Next up was Kennyth’s science fair. OMG I hate these things. He did everything but use my Silhouette Cameo machine to cut things out. It turned out pretty awesome!
And we’re all caught up! I hope to post more often but it’s not so easy these days. To keep up with me day to day follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
by jcastles | Feb 20, 2015 | Family
We decided to paint my office!!! Well….I actually wanted to paint it and begged the hubs. He said yes…even to the color I wanted. WHAT!!! Yes, and it’s awesome!
Took it from a hunter green to an awesome minty color! Having a lighter color in the room totally makes it easier to work in there.
Here it is! So nice!!
Then my stepson decided to move back to Texas. So we made his room into a guest/office for the hubs.
Then we made the upstairs game room into a large Lego Playroom!! We spent WAY too much money and time at Ikea!!! But the turn out was great! I’ll have another post and better pics soon on the Lego Playroom.
And that’s it for January. Not a real eventful month….we were definitely happy about that!
by jcastles | Feb 20, 2015 | Family
OMG it’s almost Christmas!!!
So we did the Black Friday shopping this year. It was fun and we over bought. But we both worked extra this year to give big! We gave about $100 worth of gifts to Toys for Tots too.
So this was our tree 3 days after Thanksgiving. Lol!!
Our lil elves!! I love the jammies! They’re from Target!
Our tree Christmas eve!! This is before Santa came!!!
And this kid nearly exploded!!! He’s wanted this for years and we finally decided to bite the bullet and do it.
The kids had a breakfast picnic upstairs.
We had a pretty good Christmas and hope you did too!!
by jcastles | Feb 20, 2015 | Family
Not much went on these 2 months.
My son Kennyth that has Crohn’s started a new therapy since the medicine they had him on wasn’t working. He wasn’t a fan of the new meds but we’re glad he chose to go with it. He’s getting IV therapy every 2 weeks for a few months then it will be every few months.
Then it was Halloween, getting my Etsy shop together for a big season, and of course Thanksgiving. Here are some pics.
I don’t remember what Derryk’s costume was called but Kennyth was a ninja (big surprise, lol) and Jayson was his first superhero, Ironman. I was a little sad about that too. Does it mean no more cute costumes?!
Here are some of the new ornaments I made this season.
And then here’s Thanksgiving!!! I made my crockpot turkey breast. Other than the 6 hours the turkey took it only took me 1 hour to make Thanksgiving lunch! Pretty awesome!! 
by jcastles | Feb 20, 2015 | Family
Remember my stepson, Derryk? Well he decided to move back home. Except home wasn’t in Texas obviously…it’s now in Washington. So he sold his things and we flew him up here. The boys were so ecstatic that their big brother was moving home!
School started a few days after Derryk got here and I not only had a Fifth Grader and a Kindergartener but my baby turned 6 years old!! He wanted a SpongeBob party. So duh, that’s what I gave him.
I made the cupcakes and bought the cookies from a local cookie maker. She’s fantastic!
I also made this banner with my Silhouette Cameo. I sure do love that machine!
Here’s my lovely 6 year old!
The day after the birthday party we went to the State Fair.
These boys sure did love this ride. They rode it like 10 times!
Some donut chicken sandwich the Hubs and Stepson had. We had a few other fried foods that day but I didn’t get any pics.
We’re done! They had fun!
The BEST scone EVER! Seriously.
The next weekend we took Derryk to see Mt. Rainier.
We started at the Sunrise Visitor Center.
Look at that beautiful water!!
It was a sunny day! It was hard to get the 2 littles to look at the camera.
Big white mountain!!
OMG!! I had no idea that they were that small! There were 3 running around and I was mesmerized!
The Groves of the Patriarchs. We’d been but wanted to take Derryk.
Reflection lake. Seeing that reflection was absolutely beautiful! We’d been there once before but it wasn’t sunny. I’m glad we caught this pic!
Our last adventure in September was Downtown Seattle.
Here’s the Seattle Aquarium’s Octopus. He was very active that day. Super cool!
The Seattle Waterfront.
The famous gum wall. Ewwwwwww!!!!
That’s it! A super busy September!
by jcastles | Feb 20, 2015 | Family
Well let’s see. August. If you’ve followed me from the beginning this will make sense. If not I’ll catch you up supa fast. We moved to Washington from Texas. It’s hot in the summer here and most houses have NO AC! Ok, that’s it. Your caught up.
So with no AC in the house and me hating our neighborhood and school I wanted out of there! I found a house on CL. Contacted the realtor and she said it was rented but I have these two. I liked both but one was my favorite for many reasons. Oh, btw we rent…we have our reasons and one day we’ll maybe buy a house but definitely not in Washington. So back to the house. One ad said it had AC! So of course we wanted to see that one first. It was perfect….for me. Big 2 story, 5 bedroom, located in a culdesac, park literally across the culdesac, and yes this is the one with AC….so we thought but I’ll get back to that soon. The other house was super nice too but not as super….to me. The hubs didn’t like the location of the 1st house. We’d heard bad things about the new city I was looking at but there aren’t many cities with new houses and all the other houses here are old, ugly and suck. He liked how big the 2nd house was. I really did too. It had enough room for us to bring my MIL up here to live with us. You could fit a dresser in the entry way as a side table. But….it was on a busy street. Kitchen was small and mediocre compared to the 1st house. And I wanted nice nice. The first house had granite kitchen counters and so much more that was nice. So in the end we went with the house I wanted. I really had to put my foot down. And I’m so glad I did. As we talked to the realtor I’d mentioned the ad said it had AC. So since it didn’t she added it for us and raised our rent a small amount. I can do that!! So we had AC, a park, a culdesac, a nice yard, a nice house like i’m use to back home in Texas…I was happy.
We had a month to get situated before school started. So the boys made friends and that was great. They played outside every day and that was awesome too! We’ve met a few of our neighbors but we rarely see them. We live in a one street neighborhood. Most people work and during the fall/winter/spring seasons it’s rainy here (in Washington…WHAT!?). So most people stay inside. We all wave at each other though. I can’t wait until this summer though. A whole Washington Summer (they’re awesome here btw…well if you have AC it is!!)!!
School soon starts and I have a 5th grader and a Kindergartner!! Where did the time go?!
Here are some pics of the house. This is the house before we moved in. I love the backyard. And I want the prior owners patio table, lol!
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