So, as a kid I sleep walked and sleep talked. I'd sometimes find myself asleep in front of my parent's door, or on the living room couch. After sleepovers with freinds they would tease me about thing things I said. Stuff like "Oh no, I dropped the drunk!" And "I'm awake, I'm awake!" I never remembered any of these episodes.
Child #2 is much like that. We'll find her on the couch, curled up with a coat she got from the closet for a blanket, or she'll giggle and tell nonsensical jokes in her sleep. There's been times we've talked to her and she communicates with us, does what we ask, and remembers nothing about it in the morning. It's cute.
But child #4 is changing the way sleepwalking and talking is done at the Kilpack house. She gets up and starts walking around, but in a panicked state. She starts to cry, then scream, and is sometimes nearly inconsolable for a few minutes. Other times, I go running to her and tell her she's okay, to calm down, and she does--immediately. She'll get back in bed and go right back to sleep. Sometimes once she's back in bed, that's the end of it for the night, other times we go through it again an hour later. In the morning she has no memory of it, in fact I'm not sure she believes us when we tell her about it. It's been happening nearly every night for about two weeks and I'm exhausted. A few nights ago she was up three times, one of the times she came into my room crying because she needed a screen. I was in some lovely REM sleep and between the two of us we were not making a bit of sense.
"I need my screen!" she said, crying.
"You're what?" I ask without even opening my eyes--I was so tired.
"My screen?"
"A screen? You mean like a piece of paper?" I have no idea why this made sense to me.
"Yes, a piece of paper would work."
"Then why are you crying?" I'm starting to wake up now myself.
"I don't know!"
I led her back to bed and she climbed right in. An hour later she's sobbing again. In the morning when I told her she giggled about it.
So, anyway, I'm asking if anyone has some advice. Some details to perhaps help with the diagnosis (yes, you are all my panel of experts).
*She'll be 7 in a few months.
*She has always had a tendancy to wake up at night, usually 2 or 3 times a week because she has to go to the bathroom, but we've pretty much trained her to do it herself, without calling for help, so we haven't done that much in the last year.
*She's the youngest of four kids
*She has always had a tendancy to be whiny and cry over small things
*She's super affectionate and cuddly
*She recently changed bedrooms, going from a room upstairs where mom and dad sleep, to a room downstairs. She's dealt with some fears about this, even though it was her idea, but we've gotten her a new night light, we leave the door open, we say special prayers. Last week she said she wanted her old room back. Her dad (bless his little pea-picken, Las-Vegas livin heart--which means he doesn't have to do the work) agrees this is what we should do and thinks it's the reason for her night issues. I, with stark memories of packing up her room, moving her room, unpacking her room, paint-planning her room, and other uses for her old room, would much rather find a way she can stick it out. But I'm definitely the hard line parent and, much as it pains me, I accept I might be wrong about this one. I certainly don't want to put her in a situation that's somehow traumatic, but it's better for all of us (yes, I do think it's better for her to be downstairs with the other kids) for her to stay put.
So, anyway--shed your brilliance on me! I'm ready.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Saturday, August 02, 2008
My turn to give away a copy of Farworld!
I’ve been reading the other interviews on the other blogs and been very impressed by everyone’s creativity. Alas, I am not so creative at the middle of the summer with four kids at home who are driving me slowly insane . . . but that’s another blog. The good news, is that I have a couple kids who love to read, and thanks to be involved in this blog tour—I have a book for them! (and for me) So, without further ado, here is my interview with the amazingly talented J. Scott Savage, otherwise known as Jeffy. By leaving a comment on this blog you will be entered into a drawing where you too can win a copy of Jeffy’s new book, Farworld. If you leave no comment, you get no such chance.
1--Assuming that you liked to read as child, is there a particular book or series that really inspired you, specifically in regard to Farworld?
I was probably the readingest kid you ever met. I used to cut school to go to the library. (Not that I'm recommending that or anything!) I would have said that there was no book that specifically inspired me with Farworld, but when I first read the question, the first image that popped into my head was sitting on the outdoor balcony of a friend's cabin in the Sierra Nevada
Mtns, eating apples and reading Aesop's Fables. So may that is my subconscious coming into play. I loved that book, and as I think about, you have talking animals, unusual settings, strong messages. So, who knows? Maybe.
2--Who is your favorite Farworld character to write? Why?
Chet. Okay, maybe not. But it's actually really funny that you ask that right at the same time that Crystal is having me do an interview with Chet, how he was misunderstood, miscast, etc. It's been a hoot.
Honestly, it is whichever one I am writing at the same. I don't know if you feel the same way when you're writing, Josi, but when I begin writing a character it feels like I am taking them on like a role in a play. I feel myself slipping into their skin. I think it helps make them more real to me.
3--I read an article once by Dave Wolverton. He said that Mormons might be the best qualified people to write fantasy because we have a true belief in other worlds and therefore can create new ones in our imagination easier than most people. What are your thoughts on that?
Nah. I think we're all just looking for a way to make a buck. (Kidding--mostly)
I think that's true, but I think it even goes beyond that. We believe that this Earth is a temporary way station in the grand scheme of things. It makes this life seem no less important, but perhaps more less substantial. In order to be a good fantasy writer, there has to be a part of you that firmly believes that if you pulled away the curtain of what we think of as
reality, there would be whole universes of knowledge we can't even comprehend. I wouldn't limit it just to Mormons though. I think a lot of people of many faiths look at this world and this life the same way.
4--If you could have one magical gift attributed to any of the characters in Farworld, what would it be?
I want Kyja's magic. I want to be able to look at someone else's hard situation and know how to make it better. Kyja's magic makes me happy.
5--What are your plans for the future, be it with Farworld or any other projects?
Well, the one thing I know for sure is that I love telling stories. For most of my life I didn't know I wanted to be a "writer" per se. But I always loved telling stories. So I guess my goal is to get to the point where I can make a living doing something I love, be that with Farworld or some other series. I've got lots of stories to tell, but you know how hard it is to find the time to tell them all.
6--You've been married for over twenty years and you've often attributed much of your success to your wife and yet, having met her, she certainly has not 'given herself over' to your goals and ambitions, what advice do you have for anyone pursuing their own talents, and married to someone else who is. How can couples grow individually and yet together at the same time?
Wow, deep. If you're asking me how the hack I managed to get Jen to marry me, and stay married to me for twenty plus years, I'm going to have to claim ignorance. Dumb luck? She's dumb and I'm lucky? What I would say is that you have to be delighted at the other half's success. When something great happens to or for Jen, I'm every bit as happy as if it had happened to me, and the same with her. We honestly don't ever see ourselves in competition
with each other over anything (except Sudokus, which she kicks my butt at.) We are a team in everything we approach.
What? That's all? No questions about how I came to be such an amazing writer or which Hollywood hunk I'm most often compared to? Ooookkkaaay. Thanks, it was a lot of fun. Good luck with her Good Name. I'm sure it will be awesome. (And yes, Jeffy really wrote that last part, not me—but it was my decision to keep it in ☺ )
1--Assuming that you liked to read as child, is there a particular book or series that really inspired you, specifically in regard to Farworld?
I was probably the readingest kid you ever met. I used to cut school to go to the library. (Not that I'm recommending that or anything!) I would have said that there was no book that specifically inspired me with Farworld, but when I first read the question, the first image that popped into my head was sitting on the outdoor balcony of a friend's cabin in the Sierra Nevada
Mtns, eating apples and reading Aesop's Fables. So may that is my subconscious coming into play. I loved that book, and as I think about, you have talking animals, unusual settings, strong messages. So, who knows? Maybe.
2--Who is your favorite Farworld character to write? Why?
Chet. Okay, maybe not. But it's actually really funny that you ask that right at the same time that Crystal is having me do an interview with Chet, how he was misunderstood, miscast, etc. It's been a hoot.
Honestly, it is whichever one I am writing at the same. I don't know if you feel the same way when you're writing, Josi, but when I begin writing a character it feels like I am taking them on like a role in a play. I feel myself slipping into their skin. I think it helps make them more real to me.
3--I read an article once by Dave Wolverton. He said that Mormons might be the best qualified people to write fantasy because we have a true belief in other worlds and therefore can create new ones in our imagination easier than most people. What are your thoughts on that?
Nah. I think we're all just looking for a way to make a buck. (Kidding--mostly)
I think that's true, but I think it even goes beyond that. We believe that this Earth is a temporary way station in the grand scheme of things. It makes this life seem no less important, but perhaps more less substantial. In order to be a good fantasy writer, there has to be a part of you that firmly believes that if you pulled away the curtain of what we think of as
reality, there would be whole universes of knowledge we can't even comprehend. I wouldn't limit it just to Mormons though. I think a lot of people of many faiths look at this world and this life the same way.
4--If you could have one magical gift attributed to any of the characters in Farworld, what would it be?
I want Kyja's magic. I want to be able to look at someone else's hard situation and know how to make it better. Kyja's magic makes me happy.
5--What are your plans for the future, be it with Farworld or any other projects?
Well, the one thing I know for sure is that I love telling stories. For most of my life I didn't know I wanted to be a "writer" per se. But I always loved telling stories. So I guess my goal is to get to the point where I can make a living doing something I love, be that with Farworld or some other series. I've got lots of stories to tell, but you know how hard it is to find the time to tell them all.
6--You've been married for over twenty years and you've often attributed much of your success to your wife and yet, having met her, she certainly has not 'given herself over' to your goals and ambitions, what advice do you have for anyone pursuing their own talents, and married to someone else who is. How can couples grow individually and yet together at the same time?
Wow, deep. If you're asking me how the hack I managed to get Jen to marry me, and stay married to me for twenty plus years, I'm going to have to claim ignorance. Dumb luck? She's dumb and I'm lucky? What I would say is that you have to be delighted at the other half's success. When something great happens to or for Jen, I'm every bit as happy as if it had happened to me, and the same with her. We honestly don't ever see ourselves in competition
with each other over anything (except Sudokus, which she kicks my butt at.) We are a team in everything we approach.
What? That's all? No questions about how I came to be such an amazing writer or which Hollywood hunk I'm most often compared to? Ooookkkaaay. Thanks, it was a lot of fun. Good luck with her Good Name. I'm sure it will be awesome. (And yes, Jeffy really wrote that last part, not me—but it was my decision to keep it in ☺ )
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Contest Winner
Big thanks to everyone that played along. The answer was "Sid" and it refered to the cashier that takes Chrissy's driver's license and debit card into the back room. Most people got it, a few of you didn't, but that's okay too.
My apologies for the delay in announcing the winner. My husband has started working out of town and that makes his weekends home precious and busy as we fit a week's worth of family time into a few days. Yesterday I had cub scout camp and today I drove up camp stuff for girl's camp. So, I'm finally finding my feet. We had enough correct entries to do two books in the drawing and the winners are:
Alice Bazel
Jennifer Shelton
Be sure to send me an e-mail with a mailing address and the person you want the book signed too.
For anyone that didn't win (so sorry) but would like to pre-order a signed copy to be mailed when the book is released, there are instructions on my website on how to go about this. Deseret Book is allowing me to do this and it will be available until September 1st.
Thanks again for playing, everybody, it makes me feel so special to get e-mail :-)
My apologies for the delay in announcing the winner. My husband has started working out of town and that makes his weekends home precious and busy as we fit a week's worth of family time into a few days. Yesterday I had cub scout camp and today I drove up camp stuff for girl's camp. So, I'm finally finding my feet. We had enough correct entries to do two books in the drawing and the winners are:
Alice Bazel
Jennifer Shelton
Be sure to send me an e-mail with a mailing address and the person you want the book signed too.
For anyone that didn't win (so sorry) but would like to pre-order a signed copy to be mailed when the book is released, there are instructions on my website on how to go about this. Deseret Book is allowing me to do this and it will be available until September 1st.
Thanks again for playing, everybody, it makes me feel so special to get e-mail :-)
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
New Cover~New Contest
Isn't she cute? I absolutely love the cover and already pronounced generations of blessings upon the designer. It's in the running with the cover of To Have or To Hold for my favorite cover of all time and I'm very happy with it. I think it does a good job of communicating the book--which is a little bit romancy--and reflecting the main character--who is a high-heel fanatic. It's always a great day to see what you're baby is going to look like.
I don't remember if I've told people how covers work on books--lots of people think that the author chooses or is somehow instrumental in designing the cover. Not true . . . mostly.
I have chosen exactly zero of my covers. I have had covers sent for my approval, and I have made suggestions, but the final cover is up to the publisher. They also own the copyright, meaning that I can't use it without their okay (though they are always okay with my using it). However, if for some reason I got rights to a book back, I would not get rights to the cover, which is why most reprints have a different cover.
I do know some authors that did design their own cover, and most self-published authors do, but typically if you go through a traditional publisher the cover is out of your hands. Apparently they think the graphic designers with all their fancy degrees and years of experience with image design know more about covers than you, the writer, does. Weird.
Anyway, it's dang exciting for me to have the cover and be able to decorate the world with it. The book is slated to be released in September and I'm getting my marketing ducks out of the pond and lined up right and proper. Which brings me to my next point:
CONTEST!
Along with the cover, the first two chapters of Her Good Name are now on my website. In order to enter the contest you have to read them and answer the following question:
"What does her name tag say?"
To answer this DO NOT PUT IT IN THE COMMENT TRAIL OF THIS BLOG, because that would give away the answer which would significantly decrease your chance of winning. Instead, e-mail it to me at kilpack@gmail.com. All the right answers will go into a drawing.
The prize is a signed, dated, and numbered copy of Her Good Name when it comes out in September. I will do one book for every fifteen entries into the contest and announce the winner at the end of this week (July 11)
Sooooo, have at it--in inbox is poised and at the ready! Go here to read the first two chapters
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
This and That
So we got back on Saturday and we survived, although that last day of flying home about broke me. I love my kids, really, but dang was I tired of them by the time we got home. Funny thing about vacations, even in a different country where they speak a different language, you're eating out all the time, and having the time of your lives--the whining does not stop. We started all the kids out at 20 points, which they lost each time they were pills and gained back when they did something particularly appreciated. #1 came home with 5, #2 had 2, #3 and #4 will owe us for some time. But it was lots of fun and a great thing to share with our kids. However, I'm glad to be home too.
I took my Isagenix stuff with me and did about one shake a day as a meal replacement; we were lucky in that we had a blender in our rental place. I weighed myself the morning after we got back and had only gained 1.2 pounds even though we ate out 2 meals a day and I wasn't living as if I were on a 'diet'. I was quite pleased with that. In a couple days I'll be starting their maintenance program and I'm looking forward to that; it will be interesting to see if I'm able to maintain and still feel the balance mental stuff I've appreciated.
I managed to write 25 pages using my beloved Alphasmart, I read 4 novels, got a tan, napped nearly every day and didn't wear make-up for a week. It was awesome.
Last night I made my kid's favorite dinner--Taco Salad--a unique meal in that they ALL like it and it's full of good stuff like veggies and beans they that they usually don't like. It's an easy thing to make a 'base' for that keeps in the fridge and can be mixed with the lettace, dressing, and chips at the last minute. I thought I'd share it with you guys for no particular reason.
Nonna Mae's Taco Salad
1 lb hamburger--drained
1 packet taco seasoning
1/4 cup water
1 green pepper, diced
1 can olives, sliced
1 can beans (any type, not seasoned) drained
1 can corn (optional)
chopped cilantro (optional)
sliced mushrooms (optional)
3 chopped tomatoes (optional)
1/2 bottle Catalina salad dressing
1 bag iceberg lettuce mix or the equivalent of head lettuce
1/2 back Nacho Doritos crushed (can use other types of corn chips, doritos are out favorite)
Brown hamburger, add seasoning and water, mix well. Add green pepper, olives, beans, corn, cilantro, mushrooms & tomatoes. Mix well. This is your base and can be refrigerated and used as needed. When ready to serve, mix base with lettuce and dressing, mix well. Add chips last and serve. Keep in mind that the chips will go soggy relatively fast (about an hour or two), so add them just before serving. If your base is still warm when you mix it with the lettuce, the lettuce will lose some of it's crispness, which is why this works really well do to the base ahead of time then cool before mixing together. The base freezes well, just leave out the olives, mushrooms, and tomatoes until serving.
Hope everyone is having a great summer.
I took my Isagenix stuff with me and did about one shake a day as a meal replacement; we were lucky in that we had a blender in our rental place. I weighed myself the morning after we got back and had only gained 1.2 pounds even though we ate out 2 meals a day and I wasn't living as if I were on a 'diet'. I was quite pleased with that. In a couple days I'll be starting their maintenance program and I'm looking forward to that; it will be interesting to see if I'm able to maintain and still feel the balance mental stuff I've appreciated.
I managed to write 25 pages using my beloved Alphasmart, I read 4 novels, got a tan, napped nearly every day and didn't wear make-up for a week. It was awesome.
Last night I made my kid's favorite dinner--Taco Salad--a unique meal in that they ALL like it and it's full of good stuff like veggies and beans they that they usually don't like. It's an easy thing to make a 'base' for that keeps in the fridge and can be mixed with the lettace, dressing, and chips at the last minute. I thought I'd share it with you guys for no particular reason.
Nonna Mae's Taco Salad
1 lb hamburger--drained
1 packet taco seasoning
1/4 cup water
1 green pepper, diced
1 can olives, sliced
1 can beans (any type, not seasoned) drained
1 can corn (optional)
chopped cilantro (optional)
sliced mushrooms (optional)
3 chopped tomatoes (optional)
1/2 bottle Catalina salad dressing
1 bag iceberg lettuce mix or the equivalent of head lettuce
1/2 back Nacho Doritos crushed (can use other types of corn chips, doritos are out favorite)
Brown hamburger, add seasoning and water, mix well. Add green pepper, olives, beans, corn, cilantro, mushrooms & tomatoes. Mix well. This is your base and can be refrigerated and used as needed. When ready to serve, mix base with lettuce and dressing, mix well. Add chips last and serve. Keep in mind that the chips will go soggy relatively fast (about an hour or two), so add them just before serving. If your base is still warm when you mix it with the lettuce, the lettuce will lose some of it's crispness, which is why this works really well do to the base ahead of time then cool before mixing together. The base freezes well, just leave out the olives, mushrooms, and tomatoes until serving.
Hope everyone is having a great summer.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
A Closer Look~photo meme
Be afraid, be very afraid.
If my tell-all Isagenix thing didn't make you lose all respect, this one just might because though I really tried to do this when everything was clean, I gave up and just did it. So you see me, and my home, in all it's loveliness. Sandra tagged me for this one, and I found it a lot of fun to see hers, so I'm giving it a whirl.
1. My Kitchen sink:
That big brown spot is from when I was burning some butter and so I, brilliantly, poured it down the sink and it burned my sink. I've bleached, scrubbed, sanded it and it refuses to let me off the hook. I know, not everyone is blessed with such intelligence. It's a rare gift. I thought it was cute that both Sandra and I have cutsy bottles for our dish soap. Great minds think alike--I mean no disrespect to Sandra in that, I swear.
2. Inside my Fridge:
Sandra and I both also have milkmen; I'm completely ruined when it comes to milk because I get mine from a dairy. Total milk snob, that's me. As you can see I have a lot of leftover and I like Tupperware. My mother used to use old sour cream containers, made me nuts when I was actually looking for sour cream and coudln't find any even though we had eight containers in the fridge.
3. My Favorite Shoes:
This was easy, it's my Dansko clogs. My sister raved about them for years before I finally wore her pair for a day. I fell head over heels (no pun intended) in love with them and wear them a lot. Now that it's summer, I don't so much cause they look funny with my skinny ankles, but with long pants this will be my shoe most of the time. I bought them with my first Deseret Book Royalty check Love em!
4. My Cl
oset:
It's long, but narrow. See that bowling ball on the floor at the end, yeah, if only you were lucky enough to have won an 18 pound undrilled bowling ball replica of the very ball that won the 2006 bowling national championship. You wish!
5. The Laundry Pile:
The pile in the lower left hand corner of the photo is actually clean laundry and it hasn't been there 24 hours yet so we're good! The basket holds socks, which I need to pair together via a movie this afternoon. We go out of town on Thursday so I've been getting lots of wash done. I really like my laundry room and I don't really mind doing laundry either. I hang everything that requires shoulders. Only pants, shorts, underwear, and PJs go in drawers, so I hang as I sort, then we don't have wrinkled shirts and I don't have to fold as much stuff. Takes lots of hangers though.
6. What my kids are doing right now:
#4--playing with the new puppy. (did I not mention we got a new puppy? More on that in another blog--basically we're nuts) And no, that's not blood on him, it's paint. We like to paint our livestock, it's kind of a hazing thing.
#3--Watching Spongebob
#2 & #1 painting the playhouse. The one on the ground is actually not mine, she's a freind that somehow got suckered into helping, and #1 is actually inside the playhouse but I didn't have time to wait around for a posed shot.
7. My Favorite R
oom:
I wish I said my study, or my living room with the LaZboy, but my favorite room really is my kitchen. I love to cook, I love the way my kitchen is set up. It's big, it's open, and I love the way it looks out into the backyard and yet still lets me watch TV. I prefer it when it's a little cleaner than this, but still.
8. My Most Recent Purchase:
I'm assuming it's supposed to be something I bought for myself? If so, it's these running shoes. They have pink on them and do not at all match my cute running outfit that I bought because it matched my old shoes. So sad. But they are comfy and I don't have to wear my inserts, which is awesome. I do have a jacket that matches them--thank goodness. So if I had to go anywhere with them on I could make it work. I have a thing about matching my shoes to my shirt, and yet I really don't like owning a lot of shoes, it makes me feel wasteful. It's why I don't get very creative with the colors I wear--or at least it's one reason.
9. My Fantasy Vacation:
This is an easy one, and I'm lucky enough to have already been and get to go again. My husband and I absolutely adore Costa Rica. We've been able to go a few times and at the end of the week we're taking all four of our kids. I hope I still like it with kids in tow. If you've read much of my blog you already know this about me.
10. Self-portrait:
Did I mention you should be afraid. Really, it's summer, I haven't even thought about make-up today and I usually keep my hair pulled way up on my head so I don't get hot until I have to do it for the day--which I don't think I have to do at all today. But anyway, it is what it is.
And I'm gunna tag, Karlene and Stephanie Humphries. Can't wait to see what you got, girls.
If my tell-all Isagenix thing didn't make you lose all respect, this one just might because though I really tried to do this when everything was clean, I gave up and just did it. So you see me, and my home, in all it's loveliness. Sandra tagged me for this one, and I found it a lot of fun to see hers, so I'm giving it a whirl.
1. My Kitchen sink:
That big brown spot is from when I was burning some butter and so I, brilliantly, poured it down the sink and it burned my sink. I've bleached, scrubbed, sanded it and it refuses to let me off the hook. I know, not everyone is blessed with such intelligence. It's a rare gift. I thought it was cute that both Sandra and I have cutsy bottles for our dish soap. Great minds think alike--I mean no disrespect to Sandra in that, I swear.
2. Inside my Fridge:
Sandra and I both also have milkmen; I'm completely ruined when it comes to milk because I get mine from a dairy. Total milk snob, that's me. As you can see I have a lot of leftover and I like Tupperware. My mother used to use old sour cream containers, made me nuts when I was actually looking for sour cream and coudln't find any even though we had eight containers in the fridge.
3. My Favorite Shoes:
This was easy, it's my Dansko clogs. My sister raved about them for years before I finally wore her pair for a day. I fell head over heels (no pun intended) in love with them and wear them a lot. Now that it's summer, I don't so much cause they look funny with my skinny ankles, but with long pants this will be my shoe most of the time. I bought them with my first Deseret Book Royalty check Love em!
4. My Cl
oset:It's long, but narrow. See that bowling ball on the floor at the end, yeah, if only you were lucky enough to have won an 18 pound undrilled bowling ball replica of the very ball that won the 2006 bowling national championship. You wish!
5. The Laundry Pile:
The pile in the lower left hand corner of the photo is actually clean laundry and it hasn't been there 24 hours yet so we're good! The basket holds socks, which I need to pair together via a movie this afternoon. We go out of town on Thursday so I've been getting lots of wash done. I really like my laundry room and I don't really mind doing laundry either. I hang everything that requires shoulders. Only pants, shorts, underwear, and PJs go in drawers, so I hang as I sort, then we don't have wrinkled shirts and I don't have to fold as much stuff. Takes lots of hangers though.
6. What my kids are doing right now:
#4--playing with the new puppy. (did I not mention we got a new puppy? More on that in another blog--basically we're nuts) And no, that's not blood on him, it's paint. We like to paint our livestock, it's kind of a hazing thing.
#3--Watching Spongebob
#2 & #1 painting the playhouse. The one on the ground is actually not mine, she's a freind that somehow got suckered into helping, and #1 is actually inside the playhouse but I didn't have time to wait around for a posed shot.
7. My Favorite R
oom:I wish I said my study, or my living room with the LaZboy, but my favorite room really is my kitchen. I love to cook, I love the way my kitchen is set up. It's big, it's open, and I love the way it looks out into the backyard and yet still lets me watch TV. I prefer it when it's a little cleaner than this, but still.
8. My Most Recent Purchase:
I'm assuming it's supposed to be something I bought for myself? If so, it's these running shoes. They have pink on them and do not at all match my cute running outfit that I bought because it matched my old shoes. So sad. But they are comfy and I don't have to wear my inserts, which is awesome. I do have a jacket that matches them--thank goodness. So if I had to go anywhere with them on I could make it work. I have a thing about matching my shoes to my shirt, and yet I really don't like owning a lot of shoes, it makes me feel wasteful. It's why I don't get very creative with the colors I wear--or at least it's one reason.
9. My Fantasy Vacation:
This is an easy one, and I'm lucky enough to have already been and get to go again. My husband and I absolutely adore Costa Rica. We've been able to go a few times and at the end of the week we're taking all four of our kids. I hope I still like it with kids in tow. If you've read much of my blog you already know this about me.
10. Self-portrait:
Did I mention you should be afraid. Really, it's summer, I haven't even thought about make-up today and I usually keep my hair pulled way up on my head so I don't get hot until I have to do it for the day--which I don't think I have to do at all today. But anyway, it is what it is.
And I'm gunna tag, Karlene and Stephanie Humphries. Can't wait to see what you got, girls.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Isagenix~Day 15...
So I've been doing the Isagenix thing for 15 days now and I finished my second part of the 9 day cleanse yesturday. Here is my report, be aware that I'm dealing with ALL aspects of cleansing and diet plans--so I hope I don't embarrass anyone:
Shake Days: Replacing 2 meals with the Isalean shakes. These work good for me. I've tried a variety of fruits in the shakes and I like that, even though it does add calories. I usually do this for breakfast and lunch, then have dinner with my family. This works good for me and because I'm looking forward to dinner I have been cooking better, more balanced, meals for my family as opposed to my one-pan-wonders that I usually go for. I don't stick to the recommended 400-600 calorie meal, I just eat until I'm satisfied.
Cleanse Days: drinking 4 oz. of the Isacleanse juice four times a day. No shakes, no food aside from a few acceptable things. I hate these days and I will not cleanse again. I am tired, hungry, no energy, irritable, and the juice makes me nauseated. I finished the last two days yesterday and I couldn't hack it and had spaghetti for dinner last night. It's cruel and unusual punishment to be cooking for my family and unable to eat any of it. These last two days were better than the first set because the first time I was trying not to eat anything at all. This time I ate all the 'allowed' items each day, which kept me going and helped me recover from the nausea. I did lose weight, and I'm glad for that, but since that wasn't my main objective it is not motivation enough for me to do it again. There is a program where you do a cleanse day once a week, and if I decide I want to take more weight off I might to that--the first day wasn't too bad--but at this point I would be thrilled to never have that nasty Isacleanse juice again.
Balance: This was my main reason for doing this program, to find a better balance of my emotions. I found myself continually irritable, lethargic, pessimistic and unable to deal with stress. I'd constantly look forward to bed time, I wanted to be alone as often as possible and just had this overall feeling of "I can't deal with this!". After two weeks I feel more positive, I am not as irritable and I handle stress better. I've got more energy which allows me to keep up with the kids and the house better, which makes me feel better too (I dusted my bedroom for the first time in 3 months!) I'm not convinced that part of this is the psychological effect of having invested in something I want to work, but whatever the deep rooted reasons I've found some of that balance I'm looking for and am so relieved.
Snacking: I've always been a 'grazer' eating a handful of this and that and the other all day. I still have moments when I want to just eat something, but the Isasnacks take care of that. My freind calls them Scooby Snacks :-). When I feel the need to snack I eat one of them, then go do something like fold a load of laundry. Nearly 100% of the time I forget about eating by the time I'm done. It's really just crazy weird to me because it's so different than I've ever been. That alone probably has more to do with the weight loss than anything else--I'm not taking in those extra 400 calories worth of 'handfuls' throughout the day. I do get really hungry around 5:00 which is too early for our dinner. I've found that a hard boiled egg or an apple along with another snack takes care of it. Really, this is impressive for me.
Sugar: I've always been a sugar freak, in fact a few years ago, for health reasons, I went off sugar and honestly I think I went into withdrawals--I was shaky and couldn't think clearly. It lasted two weeks, my health stuff didn't seem affected, and so I went back to it. I know that sugar makes you want more sugar, I know it throws off blood sugar levels and alters your metabolic chemistries. I've known this stuff for years, but I could hardly go a day without something sweet and often baked cookies or brownies or something every afternoon--then ate it all the rest of the day. I'm shocked that I no longer have a craving for sugar, I don't need it. I cooked my first dessert in two weeks last night. It was for a family thing I now can't go to because #4 was throwing up last night, so I took a piece off the pan this morning. I ate it after my shake even though I wasn't hungry because I knew my other kids would eat it when they got up if I didn't eat it quick. It was good, but one piece was enough and I'm not planning to have any more sugar today. Julie Wright told me that her husband used to be a sugar addict and someone told them Chromium helps take that away. I checked the ingredients and the shakes and snacks are both loaded with chromium, so maybe that's part of it. Whatever it is, I am so grateful. I'm sure not having constant sugar is part of my finding the balance as well, but it's so nice to stand in the checkout line at the grocery store and not be fighting with myself about buying a candy bar.
Gas (It's part of life, people, please don't lose all respect for me:-): I wouldn't say I was a gassy person before the shakes, but I certainly had my moments and once or twice a week I would have a painful gas attack (for me and everyone else). I was in the process of trying to figure out what was causing all this when I started the program. I realized just a few days ago that I have not had gas issues since this started--not at all. I told my hubby that and he now worries I'm going to force him onto the program just for that reason--but that's a whole other blog.
Regularity (see the gas disclaimer): They have these Isaflush tablets you take at night, and they have helped keep me very regular. No constipation or diarrhea, just nice regularity. I wouldn't say I had big problems in that area, but I don't think I've been this regular for a long time either.
Exercise: I have been running semi-regular for about a month. Dropping the doghouse on my toe threw me off, but I'd say I do 45 minutes of cardio 2-3 times a week, in addition to my other daily activities which have increased because of 1) more energy 2) needing distraction from the kitchen. I realize I should really step it up and be MORE consistent and really look for the ultimate benefits I can get from this program, but I haven't yet. I was glad to see that I didn't get wiped out when I exercised, I worried that I would, and I feel good when I finish. I haven't seen anything 'amazing' but neither has the program had an adverse effect on my exercise schedule.
Weight: According to the chart I've been keeping, I've lost exactly 10 pounds. Now, that's not to be perfectly trusted because I did my 'before' weight at night and my 'after' in the morning. But even if you cut that in half, it means I've lost five pounds and that's awesome. A few of my pants now need belts, and some of the shirts that were too tight around the tummy and therefore uncomfortable to wear, are now fine. So I'm quite happy with that. Since day 1 of the cleanse, and today, after it was over, I lost 1.8 pounds, and both those weights were done in the morning, that's pretty good for 9 days.
Inches: I've lost a total of 10.5 inches from those first measurements, including and impressive 3 inches around my waist as well as an inch on each thigh and 1.5 from my backside. I'm very happy with that.
$$: The program is expensive, to get the set up for this month was $400, that included the 2 shakes a day for a month, the cleansing system, all the suppliments, a box of the Isadelights, a shaker, two flasks and the Ionix Supreme--basically the whole shebang. I didn't pay for that out of my budget, hubby gave it to me for my birthday, but next month will cost about $200 and that ones up to the budget to make room for. However, I'm not worried. I have spent a lot less on groceries these last two weeks because I'm not feeding my cravings which means it's easier than it's ever been to just walk past those things that I wanted in the past. I've been really surprised by that and I'm interested to see how it all adds up next month. I've been buying healthier snacks so that if I do get hungry it's fruit, not candy, that I go for, which means my kids are eating the healthier stuff too. I really like to cook, but instead of baking I'm cutting up vegitables.
Tips I've learned: I've made a few discoveries about myself that have been interesting. The first one is that full is full. Whether I eat a 3 egg mushroom omelet and a short stack of pancakes, or I have a chocolate banana Isalean shake, I'm full and regardless of what took me to that fullness, I'm full. I'm not 'happier' because it's omelet and pancake getting churned up in my stomach--I'm just full. So, even when I really want a tuna sandwich for lunch instead of a shake, once I've had either one I'm just full. For some reason this has been a breakthrough for me, and makes it easier for me to have the shake, knowing that in fifteen minutes I'll be full, I'll be fine, and I won't be 'missing' the tuna sandwich I didn't eat. On the reverse, if I eat the sandwich, in fifteen minutes I'll be full, I'll be fine, but I'll have eaten 150 more calories and I'll think about that. Another tip I've learned is that keeping better food around leads me to eat better. I know, rocket science, but it's true. I cook better meals, I serve fresh veggies because I HAVE fresh veggies. Amazing, huh. The third thing I've learned is that there can always be more. I realized through this that a lot of what I'd eat was because it would be 'gone' if I didn't (kinda like my dessert I had after my morning shake today). With four kids, things disappear fast. So that leftover stroganoff is in the fridge and if I don't eat it now, someone else will later. The cookies I made, if I don't eat some now, they'll be gone later. Not being driven by food cravings has helped me see that it's okay if I'm not the one that eats it, that even if it does get gobbled up I can buy more or make more if I HAVE to have some. I'm not sure why this has anything to do with Isagenix, but I've had a hard time rectifying that and now I seem to have worked it out.
Future plans: Overall I'm happy with the program. If take out the misery of the cleanse days, I'll give it an 8 on a scale of 1-10. My biggest complaint, outside of the cleanse, is that I wish it tasted better. Danyelle mentioned Herbalife and that it tastes good, I wish this was like that. I still don't like the chocolate shakes, the Isadelights (dark chocolate look-a-likes) are better if you cut them in half and suck on them rather than chewing them, but they aren't great. The Ionix Supreme (you drink 1 oz. morning and night) is also really nasty. If those things tasted better, I think it could likely be a near perfect program. I do plan to continue, and I think I'll keep doing the 2 shakes a day for July.
Shake Days: Replacing 2 meals with the Isalean shakes. These work good for me. I've tried a variety of fruits in the shakes and I like that, even though it does add calories. I usually do this for breakfast and lunch, then have dinner with my family. This works good for me and because I'm looking forward to dinner I have been cooking better, more balanced, meals for my family as opposed to my one-pan-wonders that I usually go for. I don't stick to the recommended 400-600 calorie meal, I just eat until I'm satisfied.
Cleanse Days: drinking 4 oz. of the Isacleanse juice four times a day. No shakes, no food aside from a few acceptable things. I hate these days and I will not cleanse again. I am tired, hungry, no energy, irritable, and the juice makes me nauseated. I finished the last two days yesterday and I couldn't hack it and had spaghetti for dinner last night. It's cruel and unusual punishment to be cooking for my family and unable to eat any of it. These last two days were better than the first set because the first time I was trying not to eat anything at all. This time I ate all the 'allowed' items each day, which kept me going and helped me recover from the nausea. I did lose weight, and I'm glad for that, but since that wasn't my main objective it is not motivation enough for me to do it again. There is a program where you do a cleanse day once a week, and if I decide I want to take more weight off I might to that--the first day wasn't too bad--but at this point I would be thrilled to never have that nasty Isacleanse juice again.
Balance: This was my main reason for doing this program, to find a better balance of my emotions. I found myself continually irritable, lethargic, pessimistic and unable to deal with stress. I'd constantly look forward to bed time, I wanted to be alone as often as possible and just had this overall feeling of "I can't deal with this!". After two weeks I feel more positive, I am not as irritable and I handle stress better. I've got more energy which allows me to keep up with the kids and the house better, which makes me feel better too (I dusted my bedroom for the first time in 3 months!) I'm not convinced that part of this is the psychological effect of having invested in something I want to work, but whatever the deep rooted reasons I've found some of that balance I'm looking for and am so relieved.
Snacking: I've always been a 'grazer' eating a handful of this and that and the other all day. I still have moments when I want to just eat something, but the Isasnacks take care of that. My freind calls them Scooby Snacks :-). When I feel the need to snack I eat one of them, then go do something like fold a load of laundry. Nearly 100% of the time I forget about eating by the time I'm done. It's really just crazy weird to me because it's so different than I've ever been. That alone probably has more to do with the weight loss than anything else--I'm not taking in those extra 400 calories worth of 'handfuls' throughout the day. I do get really hungry around 5:00 which is too early for our dinner. I've found that a hard boiled egg or an apple along with another snack takes care of it. Really, this is impressive for me.
Sugar: I've always been a sugar freak, in fact a few years ago, for health reasons, I went off sugar and honestly I think I went into withdrawals--I was shaky and couldn't think clearly. It lasted two weeks, my health stuff didn't seem affected, and so I went back to it. I know that sugar makes you want more sugar, I know it throws off blood sugar levels and alters your metabolic chemistries. I've known this stuff for years, but I could hardly go a day without something sweet and often baked cookies or brownies or something every afternoon--then ate it all the rest of the day. I'm shocked that I no longer have a craving for sugar, I don't need it. I cooked my first dessert in two weeks last night. It was for a family thing I now can't go to because #4 was throwing up last night, so I took a piece off the pan this morning. I ate it after my shake even though I wasn't hungry because I knew my other kids would eat it when they got up if I didn't eat it quick. It was good, but one piece was enough and I'm not planning to have any more sugar today. Julie Wright told me that her husband used to be a sugar addict and someone told them Chromium helps take that away. I checked the ingredients and the shakes and snacks are both loaded with chromium, so maybe that's part of it. Whatever it is, I am so grateful. I'm sure not having constant sugar is part of my finding the balance as well, but it's so nice to stand in the checkout line at the grocery store and not be fighting with myself about buying a candy bar.
Gas (It's part of life, people, please don't lose all respect for me:-): I wouldn't say I was a gassy person before the shakes, but I certainly had my moments and once or twice a week I would have a painful gas attack (for me and everyone else). I was in the process of trying to figure out what was causing all this when I started the program. I realized just a few days ago that I have not had gas issues since this started--not at all. I told my hubby that and he now worries I'm going to force him onto the program just for that reason--but that's a whole other blog.
Regularity (see the gas disclaimer): They have these Isaflush tablets you take at night, and they have helped keep me very regular. No constipation or diarrhea, just nice regularity. I wouldn't say I had big problems in that area, but I don't think I've been this regular for a long time either.
Exercise: I have been running semi-regular for about a month. Dropping the doghouse on my toe threw me off, but I'd say I do 45 minutes of cardio 2-3 times a week, in addition to my other daily activities which have increased because of 1) more energy 2) needing distraction from the kitchen. I realize I should really step it up and be MORE consistent and really look for the ultimate benefits I can get from this program, but I haven't yet. I was glad to see that I didn't get wiped out when I exercised, I worried that I would, and I feel good when I finish. I haven't seen anything 'amazing' but neither has the program had an adverse effect on my exercise schedule.
Weight: According to the chart I've been keeping, I've lost exactly 10 pounds. Now, that's not to be perfectly trusted because I did my 'before' weight at night and my 'after' in the morning. But even if you cut that in half, it means I've lost five pounds and that's awesome. A few of my pants now need belts, and some of the shirts that were too tight around the tummy and therefore uncomfortable to wear, are now fine. So I'm quite happy with that. Since day 1 of the cleanse, and today, after it was over, I lost 1.8 pounds, and both those weights were done in the morning, that's pretty good for 9 days.
Inches: I've lost a total of 10.5 inches from those first measurements, including and impressive 3 inches around my waist as well as an inch on each thigh and 1.5 from my backside. I'm very happy with that.
$$: The program is expensive, to get the set up for this month was $400, that included the 2 shakes a day for a month, the cleansing system, all the suppliments, a box of the Isadelights, a shaker, two flasks and the Ionix Supreme--basically the whole shebang. I didn't pay for that out of my budget, hubby gave it to me for my birthday, but next month will cost about $200 and that ones up to the budget to make room for. However, I'm not worried. I have spent a lot less on groceries these last two weeks because I'm not feeding my cravings which means it's easier than it's ever been to just walk past those things that I wanted in the past. I've been really surprised by that and I'm interested to see how it all adds up next month. I've been buying healthier snacks so that if I do get hungry it's fruit, not candy, that I go for, which means my kids are eating the healthier stuff too. I really like to cook, but instead of baking I'm cutting up vegitables.
Tips I've learned: I've made a few discoveries about myself that have been interesting. The first one is that full is full. Whether I eat a 3 egg mushroom omelet and a short stack of pancakes, or I have a chocolate banana Isalean shake, I'm full and regardless of what took me to that fullness, I'm full. I'm not 'happier' because it's omelet and pancake getting churned up in my stomach--I'm just full. So, even when I really want a tuna sandwich for lunch instead of a shake, once I've had either one I'm just full. For some reason this has been a breakthrough for me, and makes it easier for me to have the shake, knowing that in fifteen minutes I'll be full, I'll be fine, and I won't be 'missing' the tuna sandwich I didn't eat. On the reverse, if I eat the sandwich, in fifteen minutes I'll be full, I'll be fine, but I'll have eaten 150 more calories and I'll think about that. Another tip I've learned is that keeping better food around leads me to eat better. I know, rocket science, but it's true. I cook better meals, I serve fresh veggies because I HAVE fresh veggies. Amazing, huh. The third thing I've learned is that there can always be more. I realized through this that a lot of what I'd eat was because it would be 'gone' if I didn't (kinda like my dessert I had after my morning shake today). With four kids, things disappear fast. So that leftover stroganoff is in the fridge and if I don't eat it now, someone else will later. The cookies I made, if I don't eat some now, they'll be gone later. Not being driven by food cravings has helped me see that it's okay if I'm not the one that eats it, that even if it does get gobbled up I can buy more or make more if I HAVE to have some. I'm not sure why this has anything to do with Isagenix, but I've had a hard time rectifying that and now I seem to have worked it out.
Future plans: Overall I'm happy with the program. If take out the misery of the cleanse days, I'll give it an 8 on a scale of 1-10. My biggest complaint, outside of the cleanse, is that I wish it tasted better. Danyelle mentioned Herbalife and that it tastes good, I wish this was like that. I still don't like the chocolate shakes, the Isadelights (dark chocolate look-a-likes) are better if you cut them in half and suck on them rather than chewing them, but they aren't great. The Ionix Supreme (you drink 1 oz. morning and night) is also really nasty. If those things tasted better, I think it could likely be a near perfect program. I do plan to continue, and I think I'll keep doing the 2 shakes a day for July.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
It's Galley Time!
So, I got my galleys for Her Good Name today!
Some of you might not know what galleys are so let me put on my know-it-all-cap and tell you. After a book has been accepted for publication, edited, typeset (this is where they organize the type, fonts, format, spacing, chapter headings, page numbers, yada, yada), and proofed, the author gets a final look at the manuscript. It arrives on 8 1/2 x 11 paper, but the print is as it will look on a book page, centered in the middle of the sheet of paper. It includes title page, author notes, about the author, copyright etc. So it's basically the whole book, on big paper. The author then does a final proofread of the manuscript, looking for any little things that might have been missed by the editors and typesetters.
The first time I did this I didn't expect to find anything wrong, however, I was surprised just how many little things I found. I continue to be surprised each time as I find a repeated word, a misspelling (which must be REALLY bad for me to find it) and little formating things. In truth, I don't find many, but each one surprises me, but in a good way--reminding me that editors are mere mortals like myself. The author has a couple of weeks to go through the pages--but I'm rather obsessive (don't pretend you didn't already think that about me!) and I'm planning to have them done as soon as possible. We leave on vacation in 9 days, so I'll definitely have them done by then.
Usually the galleys are printed by the publisher and mailed, but with the time crunch we decided to do an e-mail and then I printed them up--which is no biggie cause I have a laser printer and it's pretty cheap for me to print them out. I've gotten my housework caught up, forwent the shower and getting dressed part of the day (who am I kidding, I forgo those things on a regular basis) and I'm getting ready to settle in to a delightful evening of galley proofing. It's been a few months since I've read this story so I'm excited to go through it again and enjoy my own brilliance now that I'm not so sick of it that it sounds like the verbal equivalent of cornmeal mush.
It helps that my husband and child #2 are in Las Vegas where hubby is looking into a business to buy and child #4 is at a cousins house in southern Utah. They will all be back tomorrow but I've managed to get their rooms changed around (remember the tanning bed plea? It's been put into action) and followed Don's lead I defrosted my freezer yesturday (unfortunately I missed the guavalicious contest--bummer). I had a 'sensible' lunch this afternoon so dinner will be a Isagenix shake--the chocolate one is actually quite good with a banana in it--and since I don't get snacky I won't even have to think about food! I got some Bagelful's at the store yesterday and my kids think they are the bomb cause I don't often buy stuff like that (they were on sale for $2.5o instead of $4 and I had a $1 coupon) so they can have that for dinner.
Life is good, my galleys await me, and I don't cleanse again until Thursday! Oh, and per Rachelle's comments on the Her Good Name blog in regard to opting out of junk mail, I did a little research and posted the information on that blog. If you're interested in that info please head on over there.
Have a lovely day!
Some of you might not know what galleys are so let me put on my know-it-all-cap and tell you. After a book has been accepted for publication, edited, typeset (this is where they organize the type, fonts, format, spacing, chapter headings, page numbers, yada, yada), and proofed, the author gets a final look at the manuscript. It arrives on 8 1/2 x 11 paper, but the print is as it will look on a book page, centered in the middle of the sheet of paper. It includes title page, author notes, about the author, copyright etc. So it's basically the whole book, on big paper. The author then does a final proofread of the manuscript, looking for any little things that might have been missed by the editors and typesetters.
The first time I did this I didn't expect to find anything wrong, however, I was surprised just how many little things I found. I continue to be surprised each time as I find a repeated word, a misspelling (which must be REALLY bad for me to find it) and little formating things. In truth, I don't find many, but each one surprises me, but in a good way--reminding me that editors are mere mortals like myself. The author has a couple of weeks to go through the pages--but I'm rather obsessive (don't pretend you didn't already think that about me!) and I'm planning to have them done as soon as possible. We leave on vacation in 9 days, so I'll definitely have them done by then.
Usually the galleys are printed by the publisher and mailed, but with the time crunch we decided to do an e-mail and then I printed them up--which is no biggie cause I have a laser printer and it's pretty cheap for me to print them out. I've gotten my housework caught up, forwent the shower and getting dressed part of the day (who am I kidding, I forgo those things on a regular basis) and I'm getting ready to settle in to a delightful evening of galley proofing. It's been a few months since I've read this story so I'm excited to go through it again and enjoy my own brilliance now that I'm not so sick of it that it sounds like the verbal equivalent of cornmeal mush.
It helps that my husband and child #2 are in Las Vegas where hubby is looking into a business to buy and child #4 is at a cousins house in southern Utah. They will all be back tomorrow but I've managed to get their rooms changed around (remember the tanning bed plea? It's been put into action) and followed Don's lead I defrosted my freezer yesturday (unfortunately I missed the guavalicious contest--bummer). I had a 'sensible' lunch this afternoon so dinner will be a Isagenix shake--the chocolate one is actually quite good with a banana in it--and since I don't get snacky I won't even have to think about food! I got some Bagelful's at the store yesterday and my kids think they are the bomb cause I don't often buy stuff like that (they were on sale for $2.5o instead of $4 and I had a $1 coupon) so they can have that for dinner.
Life is good, my galleys await me, and I don't cleanse again until Thursday! Oh, and per Rachelle's comments on the Her Good Name blog in regard to opting out of junk mail, I did a little research and posted the information on that blog. If you're interested in that info please head on over there.
Have a lovely day!
Friday, June 06, 2008
If you're not happy and you know it. . .
I'm not happy.
I'm very very very very not happy. And I have lots of reasons:
1) Today is the second day of my isagenix cleanse. My intake consists of 2 oz. of the Isogenix supreme guck that tastes like Blackberry Brandy mixed with BBQ sauce. Nasty. Then, four times a day I chug 4 oz. of this cleanse juice muck that tastes like fermented snow cone syrup without the sugar. I'm allowed a few 'cheats' so yesterday I combined them at dinner and had a salad made of spring greens, tomatoes, cucumbers and a hard boiled egg with lemon juice as dressing. It was the best and worst salad I've ever had in my life. I bought these special Isadelight things which are chocolates you can have to help when you feel like you're starving to death. I was very much looking forward to them and was disappointed--Annette Lyon would be appalled that they are called chocolate at all. They are really hard, bitter, dark chocolate that only makes me feel more sorry for myself. The good news, I can have 6 of those tasty morsels every day! Tomorrow I go back to shakes and I can't wait. Right now I feel sick to my stomach and tired since I didn't sleep very well all night and I honestly kept dreaming about food. The energy/mood enhancement I felt before has flushed itself along with the 70 oz of water I'm drinking every day. The ONLY reason I'm still doing this is because I did my weigh and measuring thing before I started the cleanse, and in the 5 days on the program I lost almost 7 inches (2.5 around my waist) and nearly 5 pounds (I know, I hardly believe it myself). The cleanse supposedly increases all that so I'm sticking with it but I am really not happy--did I mention that?
2) A year ago I purchased a set of digital scrapbooks--biting off way more than I could chew as usual. I finished one book--a wedding album I have wanted since the wedding and never did. I am currently working on a 2007 family album. I had some stress because I'd bought a bunch of different 'books' and you only have a year to work on them. No way was I going to use them in time. And yet I was being charged extra for the extra pages I was putting in my 2007 book. Last week my consultant went to bat for me and I will be able to use the 'credits' of the projects I won't be using toward the extra pages--all good news. So today, I woke up early and came to my husband's office where the internet is faster than home. At home it takes me FOREVER to do this digital scrapbooking, often my pages time out before they load everything up. I have to get this book done before we go on our family vacation in 2 weeks and figured I could get most of what's left finished this morning. So I get up early, chug my morning muck, and get down here to find that I need to pay for my studio things (the digital version of paper, stickers, lettering etc)--but it won't take either credit card and customer service doesn't open until 9:00. A lovely waste of my time.
3) I'm doing a yard sale with a friend tomorrow. I have cleared out a lot of closets and basement and am gearing up for the event, but I really hate yard sales. No, I don't want this stuff anymore, but do we really need to ague about the price of quilt batting? I have a fabulous memory when it comes to prices and I know I paid $8 for that batting and yet I know someone will say "Fifty cents? I'll give you a quarter". Yard sell buyers are merciless and it really ticks me off. I did promise my husband that whatever doesn't sell will go to DI--but I just wish it was over already. I haven't done one for about 10 years and the stress of all this has reminded me why that is.
4) I dropped a dog house on my toe on Saturday. It was an awful messy ordeal and I limped all weekend. I haven't gone running all week because it's still be sore. Today I put on my running shoes, although the idea of going for a run makes me dizzy in my current physical state, but I was hoping they wouldn't hurt my feet so that I could 'think' about running next week. But they hurt--they hurt bad and because I'm in the mood to whine and feel sorry for myself it's just one more thing.
Anyway--there were some questions about how long I'm doing this Isagenix thing. They have a variety of programs. What I'm doing right now is the 30 day Health and Wellness (the two shakes a day plus supplements) it's their weight loss program and some people stay on it for several months, I'm just using it as a jump start and next month I will go on their 30 day maintenance program which is one shake a day plus supplements. But in addition to the 30 day program I'm on, I chose to do a 9 day cleanse in the middle, to get even faster results. I'm glad to be losing the inches and the weight, but since I did this mostly for emotional wellness, and I'm feeling so cruddy right now, I'm not sure I should have done the 9 day cleanse. However, I'm nothing if not masochistic so I'll finish it off. After the two days I'm doing right now, I'll do 5 shake days (like I did before the cleanse) and then do two more days of this cleanse crap. I'm really looking forward to all that, as I've made abundantly clear.
Did you know you can't put a ! in the labels field on blogger--that's just lame!
I'm very very very very not happy. And I have lots of reasons:
1) Today is the second day of my isagenix cleanse. My intake consists of 2 oz. of the Isogenix supreme guck that tastes like Blackberry Brandy mixed with BBQ sauce. Nasty. Then, four times a day I chug 4 oz. of this cleanse juice muck that tastes like fermented snow cone syrup without the sugar. I'm allowed a few 'cheats' so yesterday I combined them at dinner and had a salad made of spring greens, tomatoes, cucumbers and a hard boiled egg with lemon juice as dressing. It was the best and worst salad I've ever had in my life. I bought these special Isadelight things which are chocolates you can have to help when you feel like you're starving to death. I was very much looking forward to them and was disappointed--Annette Lyon would be appalled that they are called chocolate at all. They are really hard, bitter, dark chocolate that only makes me feel more sorry for myself. The good news, I can have 6 of those tasty morsels every day! Tomorrow I go back to shakes and I can't wait. Right now I feel sick to my stomach and tired since I didn't sleep very well all night and I honestly kept dreaming about food. The energy/mood enhancement I felt before has flushed itself along with the 70 oz of water I'm drinking every day. The ONLY reason I'm still doing this is because I did my weigh and measuring thing before I started the cleanse, and in the 5 days on the program I lost almost 7 inches (2.5 around my waist) and nearly 5 pounds (I know, I hardly believe it myself). The cleanse supposedly increases all that so I'm sticking with it but I am really not happy--did I mention that?
2) A year ago I purchased a set of digital scrapbooks--biting off way more than I could chew as usual. I finished one book--a wedding album I have wanted since the wedding and never did. I am currently working on a 2007 family album. I had some stress because I'd bought a bunch of different 'books' and you only have a year to work on them. No way was I going to use them in time. And yet I was being charged extra for the extra pages I was putting in my 2007 book. Last week my consultant went to bat for me and I will be able to use the 'credits' of the projects I won't be using toward the extra pages--all good news. So today, I woke up early and came to my husband's office where the internet is faster than home. At home it takes me FOREVER to do this digital scrapbooking, often my pages time out before they load everything up. I have to get this book done before we go on our family vacation in 2 weeks and figured I could get most of what's left finished this morning. So I get up early, chug my morning muck, and get down here to find that I need to pay for my studio things (the digital version of paper, stickers, lettering etc)--but it won't take either credit card and customer service doesn't open until 9:00. A lovely waste of my time.
3) I'm doing a yard sale with a friend tomorrow. I have cleared out a lot of closets and basement and am gearing up for the event, but I really hate yard sales. No, I don't want this stuff anymore, but do we really need to ague about the price of quilt batting? I have a fabulous memory when it comes to prices and I know I paid $8 for that batting and yet I know someone will say "Fifty cents? I'll give you a quarter". Yard sell buyers are merciless and it really ticks me off. I did promise my husband that whatever doesn't sell will go to DI--but I just wish it was over already. I haven't done one for about 10 years and the stress of all this has reminded me why that is.
4) I dropped a dog house on my toe on Saturday. It was an awful messy ordeal and I limped all weekend. I haven't gone running all week because it's still be sore. Today I put on my running shoes, although the idea of going for a run makes me dizzy in my current physical state, but I was hoping they wouldn't hurt my feet so that I could 'think' about running next week. But they hurt--they hurt bad and because I'm in the mood to whine and feel sorry for myself it's just one more thing.
Anyway--there were some questions about how long I'm doing this Isagenix thing. They have a variety of programs. What I'm doing right now is the 30 day Health and Wellness (the two shakes a day plus supplements) it's their weight loss program and some people stay on it for several months, I'm just using it as a jump start and next month I will go on their 30 day maintenance program which is one shake a day plus supplements. But in addition to the 30 day program I'm on, I chose to do a 9 day cleanse in the middle, to get even faster results. I'm glad to be losing the inches and the weight, but since I did this mostly for emotional wellness, and I'm feeling so cruddy right now, I'm not sure I should have done the 9 day cleanse. However, I'm nothing if not masochistic so I'll finish it off. After the two days I'm doing right now, I'll do 5 shake days (like I did before the cleanse) and then do two more days of this cleanse crap. I'm really looking forward to all that, as I've made abundantly clear.
Did you know you can't put a ! in the labels field on blogger--that's just lame!
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Update--Day Five
Thanks Ali :-)
So, I'm five days into this thing and on a scale of 1-10 as far as hunger goes, I'm giving it an 8--far better than I hoped. On a scale of 1-10 on convenience I give it a 7, on a scale for taste I give it a 5. Overall I'm quite pleased with it. I've done two shakes in place of two meals and then done one meal that works best of me, usually that's dinner with my family, but yesterday I met my niece for lunch so I did a shake for dinner (and got really annoyed when my children reminded me they needed dinner at 9:00--the nerve!) I really am not hungry. That's not to say I don't want to snack, cause that's what I do, but I'm not hungry and thinking about food all the time which makes it a lot easier NOT to eat.
I was supposed to start the cleanse yesterday, but because I fasted on Fast Sunday I didn't think it would be a good thing to go on a cleanse--which means I drink this special drink but I have no food for 2 days. So I was going to start today, but I had a presentation and found out they are doing a dinner that sounded delicious (a variety of summer salads--yum!) So then I was going to start the cleanse tomorrow but the Stake is having a blood drive and because we vacation in Costa Rica sometimes I can't give blood for a year after each trip (no, it's not because I pay for sex) Soooo, I haven't given blood for years and I like to give blood, it's an important thing to do. I haven't been to Costa Rica for two years, So I can give, but I don't think I can give blood if I'm not eating. Sooooo, I think I will do the cleanse on Thursday and Friday. I'm not excited.
As to how I feel--I feel pretty good. Like I said, I feel full most of the time, and the snack thingys they have, though they don't taste good, really do curb my hunger. I haven't snacked at all until today and that's cause I went grocery shopping and the hummus was calling me. So I had a whole wheat roll with Hummus and a few bites of Mango--but other than that I've done really well which is HUGE because I am such a notorious grazer. The biggest surprise for me is that I'm not craving sugar. I'm a sugar freak, and it's not unusual for me to follow every meal with some kind of chocolate or candy or ice cream. A meal just doesn't feel complete without some sugar--and then I snack on sweet stuff all day. But I honestly haven't craved it. Tonight I had some ice cream and cookies and they were delicious, but I was completely satisfied when I finished rather than wanting more like I usually do. My moods feel a bit more level--but I'm not so sure that's not because I WANT them to be more level or because life has mellowed now that school is out or because of the Isagenix stuff. But, I feel better and I'm happy with that.
I don't think I've lost any weight. My pants might be a touch looser, but they might just need to be washed too. I mean, it's only been 5 days. I'm not sticking perfectly to the 'sensible meal of 400-600 calories' for the one meal I eat. I just eat what we're having as a family and I eat until I get full. Probably a big no-no, but it gives me a little lee-way and I think I need that for now.
So, anyway. I'm hopeful and positive so far. Today was my hardest day. It was a bit more intense, my hubby's out of town, and I was tired--and yet I still handled it pretty well. I am putting fruit with most of my shakes, which is cheating I suppose, but they taste so much better. The Vanilla shakes have cinnamon in it, so today I put in a fresh peach--DELISH! I really don't care for the chocolate shake. It's not sweet, which makes it taste kinda chalky, and the fruits I've mixed with it aren't cutting it. I thought a few scoops of vanilla ice cream and some almonds would jazz it up, but I don't think that's on the menu plan :-)
I'm getting a TON of stuff done in order to keep myself out of the kitchen and I'm all kinds of proud of myself for all the little tasks I've completed. I'm doing a yard sale on Saturday with a friend and so I'm going through all the scary closets and corners of my house to do a good thorough cleaning. It keeps my mind off the two last boxes of girl scout cookies I'm hiding in the closet (gulp!) and I do feel like I have a bit more energy--but again, that could be because May is OVER and I have more time to just be home right now instead of late for half a dozen places.
I'll let you know how the cleanse goes--I'm anxious about that--and I'll be doing a weigh in and re-measure on Saturday since I'll be 8 days into the program--so stay tuned! Thanks for the support and advice, I much appreciate it.
So, I'm five days into this thing and on a scale of 1-10 as far as hunger goes, I'm giving it an 8--far better than I hoped. On a scale of 1-10 on convenience I give it a 7, on a scale for taste I give it a 5. Overall I'm quite pleased with it. I've done two shakes in place of two meals and then done one meal that works best of me, usually that's dinner with my family, but yesterday I met my niece for lunch so I did a shake for dinner (and got really annoyed when my children reminded me they needed dinner at 9:00--the nerve!) I really am not hungry. That's not to say I don't want to snack, cause that's what I do, but I'm not hungry and thinking about food all the time which makes it a lot easier NOT to eat.
I was supposed to start the cleanse yesterday, but because I fasted on Fast Sunday I didn't think it would be a good thing to go on a cleanse--which means I drink this special drink but I have no food for 2 days. So I was going to start today, but I had a presentation and found out they are doing a dinner that sounded delicious (a variety of summer salads--yum!) So then I was going to start the cleanse tomorrow but the Stake is having a blood drive and because we vacation in Costa Rica sometimes I can't give blood for a year after each trip (no, it's not because I pay for sex) Soooo, I haven't given blood for years and I like to give blood, it's an important thing to do. I haven't been to Costa Rica for two years, So I can give, but I don't think I can give blood if I'm not eating. Sooooo, I think I will do the cleanse on Thursday and Friday. I'm not excited.
As to how I feel--I feel pretty good. Like I said, I feel full most of the time, and the snack thingys they have, though they don't taste good, really do curb my hunger. I haven't snacked at all until today and that's cause I went grocery shopping and the hummus was calling me. So I had a whole wheat roll with Hummus and a few bites of Mango--but other than that I've done really well which is HUGE because I am such a notorious grazer. The biggest surprise for me is that I'm not craving sugar. I'm a sugar freak, and it's not unusual for me to follow every meal with some kind of chocolate or candy or ice cream. A meal just doesn't feel complete without some sugar--and then I snack on sweet stuff all day. But I honestly haven't craved it. Tonight I had some ice cream and cookies and they were delicious, but I was completely satisfied when I finished rather than wanting more like I usually do. My moods feel a bit more level--but I'm not so sure that's not because I WANT them to be more level or because life has mellowed now that school is out or because of the Isagenix stuff. But, I feel better and I'm happy with that.
I don't think I've lost any weight. My pants might be a touch looser, but they might just need to be washed too. I mean, it's only been 5 days. I'm not sticking perfectly to the 'sensible meal of 400-600 calories' for the one meal I eat. I just eat what we're having as a family and I eat until I get full. Probably a big no-no, but it gives me a little lee-way and I think I need that for now.
So, anyway. I'm hopeful and positive so far. Today was my hardest day. It was a bit more intense, my hubby's out of town, and I was tired--and yet I still handled it pretty well. I am putting fruit with most of my shakes, which is cheating I suppose, but they taste so much better. The Vanilla shakes have cinnamon in it, so today I put in a fresh peach--DELISH! I really don't care for the chocolate shake. It's not sweet, which makes it taste kinda chalky, and the fruits I've mixed with it aren't cutting it. I thought a few scoops of vanilla ice cream and some almonds would jazz it up, but I don't think that's on the menu plan :-)
I'm getting a TON of stuff done in order to keep myself out of the kitchen and I'm all kinds of proud of myself for all the little tasks I've completed. I'm doing a yard sale on Saturday with a friend and so I'm going through all the scary closets and corners of my house to do a good thorough cleaning. It keeps my mind off the two last boxes of girl scout cookies I'm hiding in the closet (gulp!) and I do feel like I have a bit more energy--but again, that could be because May is OVER and I have more time to just be home right now instead of late for half a dozen places.
I'll let you know how the cleanse goes--I'm anxious about that--and I'll be doing a weigh in and re-measure on Saturday since I'll be 8 days into the program--so stay tuned! Thanks for the support and advice, I much appreciate it.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Day One + New Chickens!
So I started the Isagenix today. I got my product yesterday and was reading up on it and realized I hadn't quite understood how it worked. But I started the shake stuff today and will do the two day cleanse on Monday and Tuesday. Today wasn't that bad. What it consisted of was 'breakfast' of 1 oz of nasty muck, an 8 oz. Shake, and what they call an accelerator tablet. For lunch I had another 8 0z shake and another accelerator tablet. I thought I would be revished and starving, happily I wasn't. I wanted to eat, don't get me wrong, but I wasn't exactly hungry, just habitual. They have these snack things which are similar to those chewable Vitamin C's, but chocolate-chalk flavor. They are something you're supposed to eat if you get hungry. I held the first one in my hand, looked a it--then looked at my loaf of bread--then looked at it again--then thought of the 1/2 gallon of Starlight Mint ice cream--then ate it. A friend had told me to suck on them for a minute before you chew them up, and I think that helped but it still wasn't delicious. However, it did seem to curb my appetite which was totally weird.
For dinner I made cream of broccoli soup and homemade rolls--relishing every bite. I'm supposed to keep it to 600 calories--I ate until I was full. I drank a ton of water througout the day, they say to take your weight, divide it by two and drink that amount in ounces. I think I drank more than that because every time I thought of something yummy to eat I drank instead.
I got a ton done around the house, another part of distracting myself from the kitchen. I organized the storage room and guest bedroom downstairs and moved the 9 buckets of wheat that have been in the middle of the hallway for three weeks. It was really quite effective, and I have LOTS of those kinds of things to do so it's all good. As far as energy, I haven't felt 'buzzed' or super energized, but I didn't want a nap today and I haven't been irritable. I can easily chalk that all up to the fact that my mind is so focused on the program that I have no time to think about how the world is out to get me--go figure!
Anyway, I've also been looking on KSL.com for some chickens, trying to find something close by and I totally lucked out. I went up to Wellsville and got 6 super cute bantams. Bantams are 1/2 size chickens with feathers on their feet and they waddle when they walk. They lay small eggs, three bantam eggs are equal to 2 standard size eggs and they are just so dang cute! I've raised them in the past but didn't have any so I'm thrilled to have them. And they are funky looking. I'm gunna take some photos tomorrow cause I know y'all are dying to see how freaking cute they are!
For dinner I made cream of broccoli soup and homemade rolls--relishing every bite. I'm supposed to keep it to 600 calories--I ate until I was full. I drank a ton of water througout the day, they say to take your weight, divide it by two and drink that amount in ounces. I think I drank more than that because every time I thought of something yummy to eat I drank instead.
I got a ton done around the house, another part of distracting myself from the kitchen. I organized the storage room and guest bedroom downstairs and moved the 9 buckets of wheat that have been in the middle of the hallway for three weeks. It was really quite effective, and I have LOTS of those kinds of things to do so it's all good. As far as energy, I haven't felt 'buzzed' or super energized, but I didn't want a nap today and I haven't been irritable. I can easily chalk that all up to the fact that my mind is so focused on the program that I have no time to think about how the world is out to get me--go figure!
Anyway, I've also been looking on KSL.com for some chickens, trying to find something close by and I totally lucked out. I went up to Wellsville and got 6 super cute bantams. Bantams are 1/2 size chickens with feathers on their feet and they waddle when they walk. They lay small eggs, three bantam eggs are equal to 2 standard size eggs and they are just so dang cute! I've raised them in the past but didn't have any so I'm thrilled to have them. And they are funky looking. I'm gunna take some photos tomorrow cause I know y'all are dying to see how freaking cute they are!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Here come summer
I've had a couple people e-mail me to see if I'm okay--I am so stop worrying, unless your worry was going to translate into sending my money, then you can worry all you want.
The last couple months have been, in a word, hectic. Spring soccer, multitudes of recitals, year end performances, award thingamagigs, and trying to get the yard up to par has sapped me of most of my free time. I've been writing here and there, but I simply had to throw some things in the back of the closet in order to survive the month--blogging was one of them, as was Jazzercise, doing my hair, and cooking dinner. I can honestly say I can't wait for summer this year! I can also say I will never ever ever ever put my kids in spring soccer again. I just can't take it. I freeze my butt off, spend half the day every Saturday running between the different fields (AYSO uses different schools for different age groups) and then my kids are the first one to volunteer to sit out. I'll do indoor in the fall but I'm done with sitting outside in the rain. Send me hate mail if you wish--I recycle.
So, I turned 34 on Monday. No biggie. Birthdays have never been all that neurotic for me, I've always felt older than I am and so I feel like I'm just catching up with myself. We'd gone camping for the weekend which was super fun and we came back a day early to beat the rain, which we did. My hubby was sweet and gave me a wonderful day. AND for my birthday he paid for me to get a 30 day Isagenix thingy. I've never done these kinds of things--body cleanse, meal replacement hoodoo things--but my sister has had some great success with this system so I'm giving it my own cynical try. I'll be starting on Monday--after fast Sunday--and I'm really surprised by just how dang scared I am.
Yep, scared.
First, why I'm doing it. Though Isagenix makes a big deal about weight loss, that's not my main reason. I am 25 pounds heavier then when I got married--but I was 18 and a size 2 back then. I'm not planning to revert. I'd like to be ten pounds slimmer, but if I knew I could stay the size I am right now for the rest of my life, I'd be happy. I've always had a kind metabolism, but I also eat fairly healthy too. I'm not an over eater, but I am an indulgent eater. If I want chocolate, I eat chocolate. I won't eat a big huge candybar, but I'll eat a hand full of M&Ms three times a day if I'm in the mood. If I want leftover stroganoff and a cheese sandwich for lunch, I eat it. I've had 5 peices of my birthday cake since Monday. After I turned 30 I noticed that my body wasn't as forgiving. I could no longer eat a dozen cookies three days a week and still fit into my skirt for Sunday--but I could still eat half a dozen. Anyway, I've been very lucky in that regard.
However, the big reason I'm doing the Isagenix thing is because I need some balance emotionally and mentally. I've never had anxiety issues or been what I would call high-stress, but I find myself awake at night worrying, venting more often, and just feeling lousy. I'm sure some of it has to do with the phase of life I'm in with my kids getting older and needing so much support, and some of it likely has to do with some family stuff going on, but I know I could be dealing with it better. I'm always tired--always--and I can't seem to get enough sleep, yet I can't sleep in. I need more energy and I feel certain that I'm simply out of balance with myself. The Isagenix system claims to be all about balance, filling your reserves of vitamins and minerals that you don't get from a typical diet. So, I'm going to give it a shot and see where it takes me.
So why am I scared? I just don't know if I can hack it. I'm very busy, and a lot of my time is spent preparing and cleaning up food. I'm surrounded by food, and four kids who eat it, and I'm used to eating what I want when I want. I might feel guilty later, especially when something doesn't fit or I have to try on a bigger size than I did last time, but though I try and pay attention to what I eat, I still eat what I want. For example, this morning I've had two microwave s'mores. Health food, I'm sure, because I only had two...oh wait, I ate one of #4's too, so I had three--but I wanted six! I think I should get points for what I DON'T eat, but, well, it doesn't work that way.
I've been scouring the internet for info on the Isagenix system, success stories, and things like that. Most of the stories I found are linked to someone trying to sell the stuff, so I have a hard time swallowing it hook line and sinker. My sister's success is a huge motivator, and I found a couple blogs, but I was surprised how little objective stuff was available. I'm hoping to offer something a bit more fair minded. My husband has done plans similar to this in the past, and it didn't convert us, but I'm going to give this two months and see what the end results are.
I hope no one thinks I came out of hiding for a sales pitch--certainly not. But I wanted a place to be accountable too and hopefully this will be it. Hopefully I'll also be feeling better and less frazzled so that I'll want to come back to blogland more often--that would be nice.
The last couple months have been, in a word, hectic. Spring soccer, multitudes of recitals, year end performances, award thingamagigs, and trying to get the yard up to par has sapped me of most of my free time. I've been writing here and there, but I simply had to throw some things in the back of the closet in order to survive the month--blogging was one of them, as was Jazzercise, doing my hair, and cooking dinner. I can honestly say I can't wait for summer this year! I can also say I will never ever ever ever put my kids in spring soccer again. I just can't take it. I freeze my butt off, spend half the day every Saturday running between the different fields (AYSO uses different schools for different age groups) and then my kids are the first one to volunteer to sit out. I'll do indoor in the fall but I'm done with sitting outside in the rain. Send me hate mail if you wish--I recycle.
So, I turned 34 on Monday. No biggie. Birthdays have never been all that neurotic for me, I've always felt older than I am and so I feel like I'm just catching up with myself. We'd gone camping for the weekend which was super fun and we came back a day early to beat the rain, which we did. My hubby was sweet and gave me a wonderful day. AND for my birthday he paid for me to get a 30 day Isagenix thingy. I've never done these kinds of things--body cleanse, meal replacement hoodoo things--but my sister has had some great success with this system so I'm giving it my own cynical try. I'll be starting on Monday--after fast Sunday--and I'm really surprised by just how dang scared I am.
Yep, scared.
First, why I'm doing it. Though Isagenix makes a big deal about weight loss, that's not my main reason. I am 25 pounds heavier then when I got married--but I was 18 and a size 2 back then. I'm not planning to revert. I'd like to be ten pounds slimmer, but if I knew I could stay the size I am right now for the rest of my life, I'd be happy. I've always had a kind metabolism, but I also eat fairly healthy too. I'm not an over eater, but I am an indulgent eater. If I want chocolate, I eat chocolate. I won't eat a big huge candybar, but I'll eat a hand full of M&Ms three times a day if I'm in the mood. If I want leftover stroganoff and a cheese sandwich for lunch, I eat it. I've had 5 peices of my birthday cake since Monday. After I turned 30 I noticed that my body wasn't as forgiving. I could no longer eat a dozen cookies three days a week and still fit into my skirt for Sunday--but I could still eat half a dozen. Anyway, I've been very lucky in that regard.
However, the big reason I'm doing the Isagenix thing is because I need some balance emotionally and mentally. I've never had anxiety issues or been what I would call high-stress, but I find myself awake at night worrying, venting more often, and just feeling lousy. I'm sure some of it has to do with the phase of life I'm in with my kids getting older and needing so much support, and some of it likely has to do with some family stuff going on, but I know I could be dealing with it better. I'm always tired--always--and I can't seem to get enough sleep, yet I can't sleep in. I need more energy and I feel certain that I'm simply out of balance with myself. The Isagenix system claims to be all about balance, filling your reserves of vitamins and minerals that you don't get from a typical diet. So, I'm going to give it a shot and see where it takes me.
So why am I scared? I just don't know if I can hack it. I'm very busy, and a lot of my time is spent preparing and cleaning up food. I'm surrounded by food, and four kids who eat it, and I'm used to eating what I want when I want. I might feel guilty later, especially when something doesn't fit or I have to try on a bigger size than I did last time, but though I try and pay attention to what I eat, I still eat what I want. For example, this morning I've had two microwave s'mores. Health food, I'm sure, because I only had two...oh wait, I ate one of #4's too, so I had three--but I wanted six! I think I should get points for what I DON'T eat, but, well, it doesn't work that way.
I've been scouring the internet for info on the Isagenix system, success stories, and things like that. Most of the stories I found are linked to someone trying to sell the stuff, so I have a hard time swallowing it hook line and sinker. My sister's success is a huge motivator, and I found a couple blogs, but I was surprised how little objective stuff was available. I'm hoping to offer something a bit more fair minded. My husband has done plans similar to this in the past, and it didn't convert us, but I'm going to give this two months and see what the end results are.
I hope no one thinks I came out of hiding for a sales pitch--certainly not. But I wanted a place to be accountable too and hopefully this will be it. Hopefully I'll also be feeling better and less frazzled so that I'll want to come back to blogland more often--that would be nice.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Author Interview with Tristi Pinkston~Season of Sacrifice
Shortly after joining LDStorymakers some six or so years ago, I met a spunky new writer by the name of Tristi Pinkston. She was a very young mom of three, with ambition, optimism, and enthusiasm in spades. Since that first introduction is has been my absolute pleasure to get to know her. We have not always seen eye to eye on every issue--both of us editing each others work and giving back less-than-stellar feedback that irked us--however, we have also both admitted to being better writers because of the honesty of one another.
A few years ago, Tristi had a project that seized her by both wrists and would not let her go. She put all her other projects aside and dove head first into this story--a true life story from her family history about the hole-in-the-rock pioneers that settled San Juan county in southern Utah. Until reading her account I had NO idea that it took such an amazing feat of engineering to get those wagons through the hole-in-the-rock. Not only is the story about this incredible event, but amid this piece of church history, is also the story of people--people with an amazing faith that is truly inspiring.
With that introduction in place, here is my interview with Tristi:
1) Of the characters in this book, which one was the most fun for you to either learn about or write about?
I enjoyed each of them, but I'd have to say the one I enjoyed the most was Ben. He had a sense of humor that really appealed to me. He was a little rough around the edges -- he swore when the situation called for it, but his faith and dedication to the Lord was incredible. He was very human.
2) How long did this book take to write?
This is the only book I actually timed, and I only timed it because people ask me how long it takes me to write a book. (See, I came prepared!) This book took eighty hours of research and eighty hours to write. No, that's not typical for me. This book practically wrote itself.
3) I know the publishing houses aren't accepting books on polygamy, and you considered removing the polygamy from this story. You chose to keep the story intact. Can you explain to us your reasons for your decision?
There are a few factors that led me to my decision.
First, the faith and obedience that saw these pioneers through the Hole also saw them through their trial with polygamy. To tell one part of their story, and not the other, would deny them the recognition they deserve for the things they did.
Second, I don't feel we have to be ashamed of our polygamous past. I could never do it myself, but when I read accounts of faithful men and women who practiced it righteously, I'm so inspired by their stories.
Third, I can't tell the story of me without including the polygamy. I come through the second wife. It's a part of my heritage.
And fourth, I feel my best writing ever is included in the last section of the book. The message was so powerful, it picked me up and swept me along with it, and I was just there for the ride.
It wasn't an easy choice to make. I really agonized over it for about three days. What it all boiled down to, though, was this: Am I writing this book to tell the story, or aren't I? Polygamy is part of the story. So I wrote it.
4) If there was one all encompassing message you want readers to take away from this book, what would it be?
I would like people to come away from this book truly feeling that with God, nothing is impossible. Those pioneers should not have been able to accomplish what they did. Modern engineers have gone down to the Hole in the Rock site and declared they couldn't have done it, even with all their technology. That journey was led by God, inspired by God, and directed by God. You can't expect some cliffs to stop faithful, devoted servants of the Lord -- they'll find a way.
5) Polygamy is a hot topic, and a difficult thing for many members of the church to make sense of--what are your personal thoughts on plural marriage and how did writing this book influence that?
I've always hated the idea, personally. As I wrote the book, I really struggled with the passages that showed Sarah's struggle to accept Ben's proposal. I completely understood her refusal, but I couldn't wrap my mind around her acceptance. Finally, I made an important realization. Sarah didn't marry Ben because she became converted to polygamy. She married Ben because she was converted to the Lord, and she believed the Lord had commanded their union.
It's important to keep in mind that at the time polygamy was practiced, there was a shortage of worthy men. Many sisters had lost their husbands to mobs, to accidents, to starvation and cold. As the Saints settled in Utah and their numbers began to increase, the need to practice polygamy diminished. By the time the Manifesto was issued in 1890, the Saints were able to marry one man to one woman because the numbers were more even.
Writing the book made me more sensitive to this situation. It also made real for me the very intense emotional struggles involved all the way around. The men asked to practice polygamy didn't think about it as heaven on earth, having their own brothel -- they went into it reluctantly, not wanting to hurt their beloved sweethearts. When polygamy was practiced the way it was intended, it was never about sex. (Do you want me saying sex on your blog?? :) Change that if you want to) It was about seeing to the financial and protection needs of the women.
6) I know you're a huge advocate of family history, what has inspired that love of genealogy and what is your advice to other people that don't know where to start?
I am a huge advocate of it and I've always felt very close to my departed ancestors. As far as the actual performing of the actual genealogy, um, well, I don't know. That would be my husband's passion. He has a blog at http://www.familygroupsheet.blogspot.com and you can send all your questions his way. Me, I sit down at the computer and immediately go blank. I'd much rather write books about them then try to find them on a chart.
So, there you have it. For more information on Season of Sacrifice, go to Tristi's website
A few years ago, Tristi had a project that seized her by both wrists and would not let her go. She put all her other projects aside and dove head first into this story--a true life story from her family history about the hole-in-the-rock pioneers that settled San Juan county in southern Utah. Until reading her account I had NO idea that it took such an amazing feat of engineering to get those wagons through the hole-in-the-rock. Not only is the story about this incredible event, but amid this piece of church history, is also the story of people--people with an amazing faith that is truly inspiring.
With that introduction in place, here is my interview with Tristi:
1) Of the characters in this book, which one was the most fun for you to either learn about or write about?
I enjoyed each of them, but I'd have to say the one I enjoyed the most was Ben. He had a sense of humor that really appealed to me. He was a little rough around the edges -- he swore when the situation called for it, but his faith and dedication to the Lord was incredible. He was very human.
2) How long did this book take to write?
This is the only book I actually timed, and I only timed it because people ask me how long it takes me to write a book. (See, I came prepared!) This book took eighty hours of research and eighty hours to write. No, that's not typical for me. This book practically wrote itself.
3) I know the publishing houses aren't accepting books on polygamy, and you considered removing the polygamy from this story. You chose to keep the story intact. Can you explain to us your reasons for your decision?
There are a few factors that led me to my decision.
First, the faith and obedience that saw these pioneers through the Hole also saw them through their trial with polygamy. To tell one part of their story, and not the other, would deny them the recognition they deserve for the things they did.
Second, I don't feel we have to be ashamed of our polygamous past. I could never do it myself, but when I read accounts of faithful men and women who practiced it righteously, I'm so inspired by their stories.
Third, I can't tell the story of me without including the polygamy. I come through the second wife. It's a part of my heritage.
And fourth, I feel my best writing ever is included in the last section of the book. The message was so powerful, it picked me up and swept me along with it, and I was just there for the ride.
It wasn't an easy choice to make. I really agonized over it for about three days. What it all boiled down to, though, was this: Am I writing this book to tell the story, or aren't I? Polygamy is part of the story. So I wrote it.
4) If there was one all encompassing message you want readers to take away from this book, what would it be?
I would like people to come away from this book truly feeling that with God, nothing is impossible. Those pioneers should not have been able to accomplish what they did. Modern engineers have gone down to the Hole in the Rock site and declared they couldn't have done it, even with all their technology. That journey was led by God, inspired by God, and directed by God. You can't expect some cliffs to stop faithful, devoted servants of the Lord -- they'll find a way.
5) Polygamy is a hot topic, and a difficult thing for many members of the church to make sense of--what are your personal thoughts on plural marriage and how did writing this book influence that?
I've always hated the idea, personally. As I wrote the book, I really struggled with the passages that showed Sarah's struggle to accept Ben's proposal. I completely understood her refusal, but I couldn't wrap my mind around her acceptance. Finally, I made an important realization. Sarah didn't marry Ben because she became converted to polygamy. She married Ben because she was converted to the Lord, and she believed the Lord had commanded their union.
It's important to keep in mind that at the time polygamy was practiced, there was a shortage of worthy men. Many sisters had lost their husbands to mobs, to accidents, to starvation and cold. As the Saints settled in Utah and their numbers began to increase, the need to practice polygamy diminished. By the time the Manifesto was issued in 1890, the Saints were able to marry one man to one woman because the numbers were more even.
Writing the book made me more sensitive to this situation. It also made real for me the very intense emotional struggles involved all the way around. The men asked to practice polygamy didn't think about it as heaven on earth, having their own brothel -- they went into it reluctantly, not wanting to hurt their beloved sweethearts. When polygamy was practiced the way it was intended, it was never about sex. (Do you want me saying sex on your blog?? :) Change that if you want to) It was about seeing to the financial and protection needs of the women.
6) I know you're a huge advocate of family history, what has inspired that love of genealogy and what is your advice to other people that don't know where to start?
I am a huge advocate of it and I've always felt very close to my departed ancestors. As far as the actual performing of the actual genealogy, um, well, I don't know. That would be my husband's passion. He has a blog at http://www.familygroupsheet.blogspot.com and you can send all your questions his way. Me, I sit down at the computer and immediately go blank. I'd much rather write books about them then try to find them on a chart.
So, there you have it. For more information on Season of Sacrifice, go to Tristi's website
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Wacky, Wild Seven Meme
I was tagged last week by Wendy at wendwords.blogspot.com and then by Stacy at stayinalivewithstacy.blogspot.com and so I figured I better answer. However, I would like to point out that if these 7 do not whet your appetite you can read up on my other tags here and here and here and here and here and here.
I'm not sure I have room for 7 more things about me, I'm not really all that interesting, but I will try and keep all y'all awake. I'm sure I've mentioned some of these before, so sorry, but like I said I'm not that interesting.
1) I gave birth to my 2nd child in the bathtub. Babies won't breath until their faces hit air, so the midwife held her under the water while my husband and mother ran around crazy for a towel and a suction thing. It was so weird to see this baby just looking up at me from the bottom of the tub. It was not supposed to happen this way, but it was AWESOME. I was up and ready to go home a few hours later, the baby was great, I was great and highly recommend it if you're state allows planned underwater births.
2) My husband a few years back was looking to shoot a commercial for his business and he interviewed a small film company. They agreed to work on it together and then the guy said he'd call my husband when he was ready to start--he had this independent film he was working on and taking to some film festival over the next couple months. We never heard from him again but saw his name in the credits for Napoleon Dynamite a year or so later.
3) After reading Earning Eternity, people have asked me if I've really been bungee jumping. Yes, in fact I have. It was a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day.
4) At the age of 18 I drove to Phoenix with a friend to go to a Bruce Springsteen concert. My friend left $160 under her pillow at the motel in Flagstaff and we didn't realize it until we got to Phoenix. We were both ready to throw up and called the motel in a panic. The housekeeper hadn't shown up that day so the owner had cleaned the rooms herself and found the money. We picked it up on our way back through. Neither of us had a credit card or checkbook, I'm not sure how we'd have made it home if she hadn't been such an honest person since our parents hadn't wanted us to go in the first place.
5) At that same hotel, the morning we had checked out, I reached into my bag to pull out an elastic for my hair. I was rolling the elastic in my fingers when I looked down and found I was holding the biggest wolf spider I've ever seen by the leg. Honestly, I think my heart stopped beating and I was so freaked out I couldn't even scream. I still get sick just thinking about it.
6) When I was 11 I had a blood disease called Immunethrombocytopeniapurpura, it's a shortage of platelets and I had to go on Prednisone (sp) which made me gain 40 pounds. I only weigh about 5 pounds more now than I did back then. I only wish I could lose weight that fast, I think I was back to 80 pounds in six weeks once I stopped the meds.
7) When I was five I learned that when I grew up and got married, my name would change. I was ecstatic since Josephine was the most horrible name in the whole world. I wanted to change my name to Penny and decided right then to get married as soon as I could. I was rather devastated when I realized it didn't quite work that way.
So, who to tag.....
Crystal (my sister in law)
Alisha (my good friend that I miss since she moved away from me)
Karlene (cause I like learning stuff about her)
Stephanie Humphries (cause I asked her some questions I want answered!)
Don (cause his life is intriguing to me)
Jenna (same reason as Don)
Marcia Mickelson (cause I've enjoyed getting to know her and would like some more)
I'm not sure I have room for 7 more things about me, I'm not really all that interesting, but I will try and keep all y'all awake. I'm sure I've mentioned some of these before, so sorry, but like I said I'm not that interesting.
1) I gave birth to my 2nd child in the bathtub. Babies won't breath until their faces hit air, so the midwife held her under the water while my husband and mother ran around crazy for a towel and a suction thing. It was so weird to see this baby just looking up at me from the bottom of the tub. It was not supposed to happen this way, but it was AWESOME. I was up and ready to go home a few hours later, the baby was great, I was great and highly recommend it if you're state allows planned underwater births.
2) My husband a few years back was looking to shoot a commercial for his business and he interviewed a small film company. They agreed to work on it together and then the guy said he'd call my husband when he was ready to start--he had this independent film he was working on and taking to some film festival over the next couple months. We never heard from him again but saw his name in the credits for Napoleon Dynamite a year or so later.
3) After reading Earning Eternity, people have asked me if I've really been bungee jumping. Yes, in fact I have. It was a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day.
4) At the age of 18 I drove to Phoenix with a friend to go to a Bruce Springsteen concert. My friend left $160 under her pillow at the motel in Flagstaff and we didn't realize it until we got to Phoenix. We were both ready to throw up and called the motel in a panic. The housekeeper hadn't shown up that day so the owner had cleaned the rooms herself and found the money. We picked it up on our way back through. Neither of us had a credit card or checkbook, I'm not sure how we'd have made it home if she hadn't been such an honest person since our parents hadn't wanted us to go in the first place.
5) At that same hotel, the morning we had checked out, I reached into my bag to pull out an elastic for my hair. I was rolling the elastic in my fingers when I looked down and found I was holding the biggest wolf spider I've ever seen by the leg. Honestly, I think my heart stopped beating and I was so freaked out I couldn't even scream. I still get sick just thinking about it.
6) When I was 11 I had a blood disease called Immunethrombocytopeniapurpura, it's a shortage of platelets and I had to go on Prednisone (sp) which made me gain 40 pounds. I only weigh about 5 pounds more now than I did back then. I only wish I could lose weight that fast, I think I was back to 80 pounds in six weeks once I stopped the meds.
7) When I was five I learned that when I grew up and got married, my name would change. I was ecstatic since Josephine was the most horrible name in the whole world. I wanted to change my name to Penny and decided right then to get married as soon as I could. I was rather devastated when I realized it didn't quite work that way.
So, who to tag.....
Crystal (my sister in law)
Alisha (my good friend that I miss since she moved away from me)
Karlene (cause I like learning stuff about her)
Stephanie Humphries (cause I asked her some questions I want answered!)
Don (cause his life is intriguing to me)
Jenna (same reason as Don)
Marcia Mickelson (cause I've enjoyed getting to know her and would like some more)
Friday, April 18, 2008
Strongly Worded Letter Saves the Day--again
For anyone that has heard me speak about my 'start' in writing, you've heard of my love affair with strongly worded letters--basically, letters I write when I've been wronged. I love them, really love them, and for a few years into my writing career I had made more money off of them than I had my novels. Here's a brief recap.
*My first SWL (which could be turned into Swell, which totally works for me) was about 12 years ago after we did sweat equity (translate into blood, sweat, and tears equity) on our first house. We spent a few hundred dollars, an embarrassing amount of time, and still managed to mess it up. We did all this because we'd been promised a couple thousand dollars off our closing costs. Well, the builder fired the employee that made that promise and refused to give us the money. I was spitting mad, well, maybe writing mad. I composed a four page letter that explained, in four page detail, how they'd ripped us off, had no integrity, and were basically going to hell. My hubby thought it was a waste of time, and I agreed--but it made me feel better so I sent it. A few weeks letter I had a note of apology and over $2,000. This was likely a turning point for my writing career as I realized that words could be valuable.
*About 6 years ago my husband and I bought a timeshare. We got it because of several promises made in regard to how easy it was to use, how easy it was to let other people use it, and what an asset it would be to my husband's business through the reward options of extra weekends. All of these proved false. Our attempts to talk to our sales guy went unaddressed until I blew up and wrote another letter threatening all kinds consumer agencies that would love to hear my story. Fast forward three weeks, we received back every penny we had paid even though all I asked was to have the monthly payments stopped.
*I once found a hair in a cookie, I sent it back with a letter and received $10 in free cookie coupons.
*I once had a cereal that tasted like chap stick, I told the company and they sent me about $12 worth of free coupons.
*I paid $120 for a hair straightener (if you had my hair, you would too). It broke after three months. I had my receipt and was able to get the warranty honored. 9 months later--truly two days after my warranty expired, it broke again. I sent a letter explaining it and received a newer model replacement.
*I once bought a package of pens that had the lids not closed all the ways, the felt tips were dried out. I mailed them back with a note and received a whole gift pack full of all kinds of pens made by this same company.
*We did a company party at a restaurant/hotel and it was horrible. I sent a letter detailing this and we received a two night stay at the hotel with all meals as well as a 50% refund on what we spent on the party.
I could go on and on, I've written a couple dozen letters and 90% of them has been effective one way or another. It's not always about money, it's been about contracts, and promises, and immoral commercials. The least effective is the commercials, however some of them disappeared soon after I complained--coincidence? Perhaps, I chose to think I'm all powerful.
Soo000, about two years ago I bought a Pampered Chef Deep Dish baker. Love it. Love everything from Pampered Chef I own except for the weird rolling pin I've never figured out, although it's a dandy back massager. Anyway, I loved this deep dish baker. About a month or so ago I was cooking fish, and for the last couple minutes I set it to broil. When I opened the oven the dish had split down the middle. Luckily, the fish was still edible, but my dish was a total loss. I was very sad because, as I said, I loved this pan. For anyone that's not a homemaker or a cook that might sound strange, but I know many women with strong attachment to their cooking implements.
Well, the two pieces sat on my counter for weeks--further entrenching my sadness each time I looked at them. Pampered Chef is a great company and I have had things replaced by them in the past, but I'd always had my receipt. For some reason, I had no receipt of this pan. I looked everywhere and finally had to accept I was out of luck. Without a receipt, how could I possibly prove I deserved a replacement? However, with my lengthy track record I decided it was worth my $5 to send it back, with a letter of explanation, and see what happened.
Low and behold, yesterday there was a big box from none other than Pampered Chef. I didn't get a deep dish baker, but I did get a stoneware rectangular baking dish with the same finish as the deep dish baker. Their prices are comparable and I'm in no mind to complain in the least.
If you too would like to establish a track record of refunds, here are a few tips
*Be as nice as possible. Even if you've been wronged there is a difference between saying "To Whom it may Concern" and saying "You bulbous faced idiot"
*Keep it one page or less. I learned after the first 4 page letter than most things can be said in a page and that's all they will likely read anyway. Sometimes, admittedly, you need more than one page, but usually you don't.
*Sound professional. Write the letter on you computer, in block format, with good grammar. Don't personally attack anyone specific unless they really earned it (like the timeshare guy that made us all the lame promises)
*Be wary of making demands. Now sometimes you have to, such as demanding our sweat equity money, but most of the time leaving it up to them will get you a better return. If you ever saw the Seinfeld episode where Kramer burned himself with coffee and then agreed to the settlement as soon as they said they'd give him a lifetime supply of free coffee. He cut them off before they got to the money part of their settlement.
*Include as many details as possible, such as purchase date, attempts you've made to contact them, who you've spoken too.
*Be absolutely 100% honest. I have never attempted to hoodwink anyone into giving me something, or replacing something, or refunding something that I didn't deserve to have replaced. I'm always honest on how it broke. For examply, I broke my Mac Mouse a few months ago. I dropped it, which voids the warrenty. I took it to an Apple store and they suggested I send it back--since it didn't look broken--and just tell them it stopped working. I didn't do this. I bought a new mouse and sold the broken one on eBay for $10 (new they are $75) I admit it was hard, since I know I could have gotten away with the lie, but I didn't do it. All my letters have been sincere and I think that's made a huge difference.
*Send a thank you. When a company does take your words seriously and makes an effort to right a wrong, be sure and send them a thank you so that they know it was appreciated. Besides, being grateful is a highly underestimated gift to yourself. Acknowledge that they had the choice to ignore you and they didn't, that's big.
Anyway, I've included the letter I wrote to Pampered Chef. Some of my letters are not quite so nicely worded, but in this instance they owed me nothing since I had no reciept, so I kept it very light and complimentary. Bon Appetite.
Josi Kilpack
Address here
phone number here
Kilpack@gmail.com
Pampered Chef
One Pampered Chef Ln.
Addison, Illinois 60101-5630
April 7, 2008
To Whom it May Concern:
I’m returning my stoneware deep dish baker because, as you can see, it broke. I looked through my receipts and can’t find the show through which I bought this one. I have many pampered chef products and them, I very much liked this particular piece. I live in Willard Utah and would have purchased it through one of the shows I’ve attended in the last few years, but I can’t remember which one, let alone, which consultant I bought it through. I got it when the cranberry exterior was new and I’m hoping that there is some way I can get a replacement. Again, I realize that without a receipt I might not be able to do that, but I’m wanted to try. I was cooking some fish and opened the oven to check on it to find the dish cracked down the middle.
If I can’t get a return, well at least the pieces are out of my kitchen. Thank you for your consideration. Best of luck.
Sincerely,
Josi S. Kilpack
*My first SWL (which could be turned into Swell, which totally works for me) was about 12 years ago after we did sweat equity (translate into blood, sweat, and tears equity) on our first house. We spent a few hundred dollars, an embarrassing amount of time, and still managed to mess it up. We did all this because we'd been promised a couple thousand dollars off our closing costs. Well, the builder fired the employee that made that promise and refused to give us the money. I was spitting mad, well, maybe writing mad. I composed a four page letter that explained, in four page detail, how they'd ripped us off, had no integrity, and were basically going to hell. My hubby thought it was a waste of time, and I agreed--but it made me feel better so I sent it. A few weeks letter I had a note of apology and over $2,000. This was likely a turning point for my writing career as I realized that words could be valuable.
*About 6 years ago my husband and I bought a timeshare. We got it because of several promises made in regard to how easy it was to use, how easy it was to let other people use it, and what an asset it would be to my husband's business through the reward options of extra weekends. All of these proved false. Our attempts to talk to our sales guy went unaddressed until I blew up and wrote another letter threatening all kinds consumer agencies that would love to hear my story. Fast forward three weeks, we received back every penny we had paid even though all I asked was to have the monthly payments stopped.
*I once found a hair in a cookie, I sent it back with a letter and received $10 in free cookie coupons.
*I once had a cereal that tasted like chap stick, I told the company and they sent me about $12 worth of free coupons.
*I paid $120 for a hair straightener (if you had my hair, you would too). It broke after three months. I had my receipt and was able to get the warranty honored. 9 months later--truly two days after my warranty expired, it broke again. I sent a letter explaining it and received a newer model replacement.
*I once bought a package of pens that had the lids not closed all the ways, the felt tips were dried out. I mailed them back with a note and received a whole gift pack full of all kinds of pens made by this same company.
*We did a company party at a restaurant/hotel and it was horrible. I sent a letter detailing this and we received a two night stay at the hotel with all meals as well as a 50% refund on what we spent on the party.
I could go on and on, I've written a couple dozen letters and 90% of them has been effective one way or another. It's not always about money, it's been about contracts, and promises, and immoral commercials. The least effective is the commercials, however some of them disappeared soon after I complained--coincidence? Perhaps, I chose to think I'm all powerful.
Soo000, about two years ago I bought a Pampered Chef Deep Dish baker. Love it. Love everything from Pampered Chef I own except for the weird rolling pin I've never figured out, although it's a dandy back massager. Anyway, I loved this deep dish baker. About a month or so ago I was cooking fish, and for the last couple minutes I set it to broil. When I opened the oven the dish had split down the middle. Luckily, the fish was still edible, but my dish was a total loss. I was very sad because, as I said, I loved this pan. For anyone that's not a homemaker or a cook that might sound strange, but I know many women with strong attachment to their cooking implements.
Well, the two pieces sat on my counter for weeks--further entrenching my sadness each time I looked at them. Pampered Chef is a great company and I have had things replaced by them in the past, but I'd always had my receipt. For some reason, I had no receipt of this pan. I looked everywhere and finally had to accept I was out of luck. Without a receipt, how could I possibly prove I deserved a replacement? However, with my lengthy track record I decided it was worth my $5 to send it back, with a letter of explanation, and see what happened.
Low and behold, yesterday there was a big box from none other than Pampered Chef. I didn't get a deep dish baker, but I did get a stoneware rectangular baking dish with the same finish as the deep dish baker. Their prices are comparable and I'm in no mind to complain in the least.
If you too would like to establish a track record of refunds, here are a few tips
*Be as nice as possible. Even if you've been wronged there is a difference between saying "To Whom it may Concern" and saying "You bulbous faced idiot"
*Keep it one page or less. I learned after the first 4 page letter than most things can be said in a page and that's all they will likely read anyway. Sometimes, admittedly, you need more than one page, but usually you don't.
*Sound professional. Write the letter on you computer, in block format, with good grammar. Don't personally attack anyone specific unless they really earned it (like the timeshare guy that made us all the lame promises)
*Be wary of making demands. Now sometimes you have to, such as demanding our sweat equity money, but most of the time leaving it up to them will get you a better return. If you ever saw the Seinfeld episode where Kramer burned himself with coffee and then agreed to the settlement as soon as they said they'd give him a lifetime supply of free coffee. He cut them off before they got to the money part of their settlement.
*Include as many details as possible, such as purchase date, attempts you've made to contact them, who you've spoken too.
*Be absolutely 100% honest. I have never attempted to hoodwink anyone into giving me something, or replacing something, or refunding something that I didn't deserve to have replaced. I'm always honest on how it broke. For examply, I broke my Mac Mouse a few months ago. I dropped it, which voids the warrenty. I took it to an Apple store and they suggested I send it back--since it didn't look broken--and just tell them it stopped working. I didn't do this. I bought a new mouse and sold the broken one on eBay for $10 (new they are $75) I admit it was hard, since I know I could have gotten away with the lie, but I didn't do it. All my letters have been sincere and I think that's made a huge difference.
*Send a thank you. When a company does take your words seriously and makes an effort to right a wrong, be sure and send them a thank you so that they know it was appreciated. Besides, being grateful is a highly underestimated gift to yourself. Acknowledge that they had the choice to ignore you and they didn't, that's big.
Anyway, I've included the letter I wrote to Pampered Chef. Some of my letters are not quite so nicely worded, but in this instance they owed me nothing since I had no reciept, so I kept it very light and complimentary. Bon Appetite.
Josi Kilpack
Address here
phone number here
Kilpack@gmail.com
Pampered Chef
One Pampered Chef Ln.
Addison, Illinois 60101-5630
April 7, 2008
To Whom it May Concern:
I’m returning my stoneware deep dish baker because, as you can see, it broke. I looked through my receipts and can’t find the show through which I bought this one. I have many pampered chef products and them, I very much liked this particular piece. I live in Willard Utah and would have purchased it through one of the shows I’ve attended in the last few years, but I can’t remember which one, let alone, which consultant I bought it through. I got it when the cranberry exterior was new and I’m hoping that there is some way I can get a replacement. Again, I realize that without a receipt I might not be able to do that, but I’m wanted to try. I was cooking some fish and opened the oven to check on it to find the dish cracked down the middle.
If I can’t get a return, well at least the pieces are out of my kitchen. Thank you for your consideration. Best of luck.
Sincerely,
Josi S. Kilpack
Thursday, April 10, 2008
D-O-G
When we first moved to this house, about nine years ago, a freind of my husband gave us a yellow lab puppy. We named him Alex, and he was really cute--for about 5 minutes. We had three little kids at the time, and being as Alex was a puppy, he liked to chew on things--namely, my children. Within 24 hours the two kids that could walk would not get on the floor. They jumped from chairs to counters and then screamed for help to get into another room. They were terrified of this dog. The baby was 9 months old and I couldn't put him down either because the dog would jump all over him and lick him until the baby was screaming. It just so happened that the week we got this puppy was the same week the baby started sleeping through the night. However, the dog didn't. I was up every night to keep him from barking and whining. My husband had had dogs as a kid, I never had, but we were both out of our element. When we mentioned our stress to a freind--a dog lover--and his eyes lit up at the wonderful adventure we were having, we asked if he wanted the dog. He was beside himself with joy. We couldn't get the dog to him fast enough. The night after the puppy left, my baby started waking up at night again.
Not an auspicious start to our dog-life.
About five years ago, a freind of mine told me about a freind of hers that did poodle rescue, this is when someone takes care of a dog that's been removed from a bad situation and needs a home. The foster family can't keep the dog, but they take care of it until someone else can do it. She absoutley LOVED poodles and so well marketed the benefits of owning this particular dog that I overcame my past experience with Alex and agreed to get this dog thinking he would be great for the kids. I had to buy him a plane ticket--$200--to fly in from Portland. I had to get his shots current and his teeth cleaned--$178--at the vet. He hated the children and was terrified of my husband. Turns out he was from an abusive home and had been treated very badly. Every time you would go to pick him up he would press himself to the floor and wimper. One day he came in the house limping and after another trip to the vet--$95--we found out he had a bad back and had slipped a disk or something. He was put on doggie narcotics--$30--and became even less pacient of the kids when he was on his meds. Three months into dog ownership I was backing out of the driveway--thinking he was in the house--and I ran over him. It was one of the most horrendous experiences of my life. We rushed him to an animal ER where he was set up with a drain and a cast--$500--and then two days later the xrays revieled he had a fractured hip as well as more dmage to his back. It would cost over $3,000 to fix it and he would likely be in pain for the rest of his life. We had to make the awful decision to have him put to sleep. Honestly, I was an absolute mess. Even though this dog was not what I had hoped for, I felt so awful to have it end this way. I called my husband from the vet--blubbering incoherantly to the point that he thought I was pregnant again. He went in and did the final paperwork and paid the fees--$150.
After this we silently swore off dog ownership.
Until now, sorta. A freind of ours is fostering two dogs, both are Australian cattle dogs. She's decided to keep one but needs to find a home for the other one. Enter my daughter, child #1, a consummate animal lover and begger of let-me-have-a-dog for going on three years now. She went to this girls house and fell in love with Tex. We agreed to a trial basis (yeah, right) and so for the last week have had Tex where the goats used to be. Despite my hesitations, it's actually going really well. He's an outside dog, and came from a ranch, so he has no expectation of curling up in front of the fireplace. Good thing since my hubby has physical reactions to the idea of a dog in the house these days. He obeys several commands, is great with the kids, and knows how to be taken on a walk (the poodle constantly wrapped the leash around me and made me nearly trip over him). He can fetch, he's in good health, and rather cute. Cute always helps with me.
So, tomorrow night we'll be meeting with the kids for a final vote. We've left it up to them 100% because they WILL be the ones feeding and playing with the dog (ha, ha, ha) and we want them all on board. I'm betting they will all be in support, which means we'll be dog owners again. Let's hope 3rd times the charm.
On another note, and meaning no disrespect to J. Scott Savage by including him on my DOG post, he is beginning his blog tour for his new book Farworld which will be released by Shadow Mountain in the fall. He's a great writer and a great man, I couldn't be more thrilled for his success. If anyone would like to be a part of his blog tour, go to his blog and read the details. I'm hoping to be included as I would like nothing more than for him to hit the bestsellers list. Getting a free book doesn't hurt either.
Not an auspicious start to our dog-life.
About five years ago, a freind of mine told me about a freind of hers that did poodle rescue, this is when someone takes care of a dog that's been removed from a bad situation and needs a home. The foster family can't keep the dog, but they take care of it until someone else can do it. She absoutley LOVED poodles and so well marketed the benefits of owning this particular dog that I overcame my past experience with Alex and agreed to get this dog thinking he would be great for the kids. I had to buy him a plane ticket--$200--to fly in from Portland. I had to get his shots current and his teeth cleaned--$178--at the vet. He hated the children and was terrified of my husband. Turns out he was from an abusive home and had been treated very badly. Every time you would go to pick him up he would press himself to the floor and wimper. One day he came in the house limping and after another trip to the vet--$95--we found out he had a bad back and had slipped a disk or something. He was put on doggie narcotics--$30--and became even less pacient of the kids when he was on his meds. Three months into dog ownership I was backing out of the driveway--thinking he was in the house--and I ran over him. It was one of the most horrendous experiences of my life. We rushed him to an animal ER where he was set up with a drain and a cast--$500--and then two days later the xrays revieled he had a fractured hip as well as more dmage to his back. It would cost over $3,000 to fix it and he would likely be in pain for the rest of his life. We had to make the awful decision to have him put to sleep. Honestly, I was an absolute mess. Even though this dog was not what I had hoped for, I felt so awful to have it end this way. I called my husband from the vet--blubbering incoherantly to the point that he thought I was pregnant again. He went in and did the final paperwork and paid the fees--$150.
After this we silently swore off dog ownership.
Until now, sorta. A freind of ours is fostering two dogs, both are Australian cattle dogs. She's decided to keep one but needs to find a home for the other one. Enter my daughter, child #1, a consummate animal lover and begger of let-me-have-a-dog for going on three years now. She went to this girls house and fell in love with Tex. We agreed to a trial basis (yeah, right) and so for the last week have had Tex where the goats used to be. Despite my hesitations, it's actually going really well. He's an outside dog, and came from a ranch, so he has no expectation of curling up in front of the fireplace. Good thing since my hubby has physical reactions to the idea of a dog in the house these days. He obeys several commands, is great with the kids, and knows how to be taken on a walk (the poodle constantly wrapped the leash around me and made me nearly trip over him). He can fetch, he's in good health, and rather cute. Cute always helps with me.
So, tomorrow night we'll be meeting with the kids for a final vote. We've left it up to them 100% because they WILL be the ones feeding and playing with the dog (ha, ha, ha) and we want them all on board. I'm betting they will all be in support, which means we'll be dog owners again. Let's hope 3rd times the charm.
On another note, and meaning no disrespect to J. Scott Savage by including him on my DOG post, he is beginning his blog tour for his new book Farworld which will be released by Shadow Mountain in the fall. He's a great writer and a great man, I couldn't be more thrilled for his success. If anyone would like to be a part of his blog tour, go to his blog and read the details. I'm hoping to be included as I would like nothing more than for him to hit the bestsellers list. Getting a free book doesn't hurt either.
Friday, April 04, 2008
Waaaay After the Fact
Did I wait long enough? Are you all so tired of details that I’m just being obnoxious? Please accept my sincere apologies. The last couple of weeks have been plumb full of family, a rewrite, spring break, and an attempt to keep my house from falling down around my ears. But I finally have a minute to share with you my top ten from the Whitney awards. Now, don’t get to excited, this is not like a David Letterman’s top ten that make you laugh till grape juice comes out your nose, these are just my ten favorite moments of The Whitney Awards 2007, and they are not in any particular order:
1—Cheesecake. I should have known right then that this was going to be a goooooood night for me when I sat down to find cheesecake waiting at my plate. I adore cheesecake—and make a dang good one if I do say so myself. This one had a fresh berry topping that was delicious. I once took a cruise that used a gelatin base for their cheesecakes—I was irrevocably offended by such betrayal of all things cream cheese based. This cheesecake was not like that, it was pretty dang good. A few days later, my friend Becki Clayson who is also a member of my writing group brought a ‘party’ to celebrate, complete with a New York Style cheesecake. Mmmmmmmmmm. Super yummy, and she left half of it with me when writing group was over. I plead the fifth on how much of that remaining half I ate by myself. Thank you Becki.
2—My hair. I actually have naturally curly hair, however, it’s a frizzyball mess if I don’t slather it with stuff. Once it’s slathered it’s either sticky with product or stiff with product, which is why I usually wear it pulled back or streightned. I decided to try and bring out the girl and pin it up, knowing if it didn’t work I’d have it in a sloppy ponytail all night which would be totally lame. But, as with the cheesecake, it should have been an indication. I was very happy with how it turned out and it made up for the fact that I didn’t have a tummy tamer. I think most girls agree that good hair really can add to an event. It did for me.
3—Jessica Day George. I had never met her—didn’t even know who she was other than I’d read her book—and even though she’d presented at the conference, I hadn’t been able to go to her class. But I got to sit at her table that night and she is a hoot! She’s just young and cute and very funny. It made me even more excited for her success because she’s the kind of person you want good things for. She was the presenter for the Mystery/Suspense category, and she saved me the envelope, which was so sweet. I then ended up being the presenter for Best Novel by New Author, which is the category she won. Her acceptance speech was so cute and so fun. I just enjoyed getting to know her, even though she and I were opposite from one another on a big table and didn’t get to really talk too much.
4—My hubby. After 3 days with the kids, my husband jumped through several hoops in order to be at the Whitney dinner that night. The conference had ended up on our spring break which meant my kids were on their own for several hours each day I was gone. One child was having some pretty intense issues, and he was the one left in charge of that. He did phenomenal, of course, and it was just fabulous to have him there with me at that moment. He’s not a “Ra, ra, ra” kind of man as much as he has absolutely confidence in my potential. He’s always been there encouraging me, and bragging about what I’ve been able to accomplish, but not in way that somehow takes away the importance of my other roles. I realized later that night that he was sicker than a dog all through dinner, but he didn’t want to make a big deal about it. We spent Easter night in the ER getting him taken care of, but he pushed all those things aside to be there for me.
5-Dean Hughes. I’ve been a big Dean Hughes fan for many years. He’s written over 90 books for both national and the LDS market. He’s what I call “Big time”. He received a lifetime achievement award and I have to say I didn’t expect it would be that big a deal to him. Certainly he’s had all kinds of acclaim and attention over the many years of his writing career. Not that I thought he’d be ungrateful or anything, just that he’s had all kinds of acclaim and attention over the many years of his writing career. In opposition to my expectations, however, he was so gracious, so humble, and so appreciative of the recognition. He talked about how he’d gone to school for many years, gotten his Ph.D while his wife raised their family, and then right after getting tenure he told his wife he wanted to take a year off and write a book. To her credit she agreed to support him, and thirty years later here they are. He was so sweet and grateful for his wife, which impressed me so much. And while he’s up there talking, his wife is wiping her eyes and just smiling so big at him. I was so incredibly inspired by this couple. I’m embarrassed to admit I hadn’t realize his wife was Kathleen Hughes, former member of the General Young Women’s board, but what an amazing woman in her own right, and what a great wife she’s been to a great man. Watching and listening to them reminded me of the kind of marriage I want to look back on, the closeness I want to feel. It was really beautiful.
6—Friends. I was able to sit at the same table with Annette Lyon, my very good friend who I admire so much. I had Julie sitting just a table away, Heather Moore and I were back to back, my friend Ronda was to the right, Lisa Mangum from Deseret Book was at Julie’s table. All around the room were people that had wished me luck, sent me e-mails telling me they’d loved the book, hung out with me in the halls for the conference—people that cared about me, people that were sending me good vibes. It was a great feeling to have such a moment surrounded by friends rather than nameless mucki-mucks. It was a reminder of what a great community I’m a part of and I was just honored and thrilled to be among people I so admire and respect.
7—Shannon Hale. I think a lot of people brought her up when they blogged about the Whitney’s, like, two weeks ago. But in her acceptance she pointed out than anyone that’s disappointed when someone else wins are evil, therefore all the people in her category that didn’t win are going to hell. It was just hilarious, and she stood up there as this cute bouncy girl saying it, wrapping a scarf around her neck and just being cute. A little later she got up to present another award and said her check was for $5,000.00 not $500. She was just so comfortable with herself and cute—the kind of woman you’d (okay, I’d) like to be.
8—The dresses. I’m not a fashion plate, and as I told many people my dress was wrapped around my shoes and stuffed in a purse all weekend. I’d bought it 5 years ago on sale for $16—but it sparkled so it worked just fine. But it was lots of fun seeing people dress up. Rob Wells and Scott Wright were in tuxedos, several women were in fancy dresses. For a girl that never went to prom, wore borrowed dresses for the 3 high-school dances she attended, and rented her wedding dress for $50, I’m not one who often attends that level of event and it was just fun to see people so fancy. I realize this makes me sound 12 years old, but it really was a fun aspect.
9—My family. My wonderful sister had hosted an easter party earlier that day and offered to watch my kids so that my husband could come to the dinner. He text messaged her when I won and they made this huge sign so that when I arrived at my sister’s to pick up the kids, they were all cheering and clapping. I rolled it up and brought it home with me so I can smile every time I look at it. My kids hear a lot of my complaints—when I can’t get a scene right, when I get a bad review, when I have to drive two hours for an event—and sometimes I wonder if they wonder why I do this at all. I’m a vocal complainer and an internal celebrator, so it was awesome to be able to just really enjoy this moment with them and see them be so happy for my success.
10—Harry and David. About a week and half after the weekend (or, like yesterday) I went to my PO Box and got the mail. To my surprise there was a package there. Had I looked a little closer at the label, I’d have seen who it was from, but instead I had a few minutes of driving home to ponder on who would send me something. I’d ordered a book off of Amazon, but this wasn’t a box for books. When I got home I promptly ripped it open and found a gift box set from Harry and David, a gourmet candy company, and a congratulatory card from my publisher Deseret Book. I was all by myself, surrounded by dirty dishes, and yet just giggled. I won the Whitney! My publisher, a group of people I owe so much to and admire so greatly, sent me candy! It was just . . . surreal and validating and wonderful. I feel as if I’m the one that should be sending them thank yous, not the other way around, but loved that they took the time to send me a little reminder.
All in all it has been a great moment in my life and in my career to ponder on something, to feel other peoples pride in my work, and to know that the hours spent and the headaches garnered paid off. In some ways I hope I never get nominated for another award in my life. I can then always just have this memory, this moment to ponder on. Again, thank you to everyone that supported me to this end—truly I am so blessed and so grateful for all those things my Father in Heaven has given me. It’s not entirely comfortable to have such great moments, we feel as though we need to downplay them in fear that expressing them fully will make someone else feel bad. That’s been something I’ve been working through as well and so if I’ve approached it in the wrong way, and someone does feel bad, well, according to Shannon Hale I guess you’re going to hell, bummer. ☺
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)