Hungry????

So anyone who has had a toddler around knows about their eating habits.  Some days they will eat anything and everything you put in front of them, and other days they will not touch a thing.  Now, I am very thankful that my son is a good eater in general.  There have not been too many days where he goes on an eating strike, but there have been a few.  But as a parent, of course I worry whether he is getting all the vitamins and minerals that he needs. 

So one thing that I do to ensure my son gets some of his vitamins and minerals is to give him Shaklee Meal Shakes.  My son is not always the best breakfast eater so I usually give it to him in the morning.  It is wholesome, delicious and has no artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners or preservatives added.  It delivers 30% of your daily essential vitamins and minerals.  And the best thing…it is so easy.  My son calls it his shake.  I just add it to his milk in the morning and he has a tasty French Vanilla or Bavarian Cocoa Shake. 

http://stayoung.myshaklee.com/us/en/products.php?sku=20322

New Year’s Resolution

Its that time of the year again…time to make those promises…and this year, you’re gonna keep them!!!  Want to loose a few pounds?  I have a great way for you to do it.  Shaklee’s Cinch program.  This is not just another diet plan, it actually works and it tastes great.  The difference in Cinch compared to other weight loss programs is Leucine. 

Normally with other diets you don’t get the amount of calories you need so not only do you feel tired, your body starts attacking its own muscle and breaking them down to feed itself.  Of course you start loosing weight but at the same time you loose muscle.  What does that matter?  The less muscle you have, the slower your metabolism works, the less calories your body burns.  What happens next?  For many people they get tired of feeling tired and go off the diet…this is when you gain back all the weight you lost plus some.  Why?  Because you have less muscle, your metabolism is slower and therefore your body works even slower at burning calories and you keep gaining weight. 

So what is this Leucine I mentioned earlier?  It is an amino acid that counteracts muscle breakdown when eating fewer calories!  Studies have shown that people who used Cinch for 12 weeks lost weight but lost no muscle mass.  Try it for yourself.  From now until January 31st become a Shaklee member and pay no tax or shipping on the Cinch Starter Kit.   http://stayoung.myshaklee.com/us/en/category.php?main_cat=WeightManagement&sub_cat=CinchStarterKits

Up at the Crack of Dawn

Well, that is not exactly true. The sun rises late here in Michigan so I am up well before the Crack of Dawn. Grrrr!!! I want to sleep, I really do, but for the past 3 days I have been waking up in the 5:00 hour. Maybe I am stressed about our trip to CA even though I have a schedule planned out so that we are not rushing at the last minute. Laundry is done and today we pack!

My Job!!!

Lately I have been seeing a number of commercial ads for companies like Avon and Amway (or as they are also known now, Quickstar).  Its not a surprise, the economy stinks and people are loosing their jobs left and right.  Last week Bank of America said they were going to lay off up to 35,000 jobs, not to mention everyone who has already lost their job.  That is a lot of people out of work.  That also means that there are a lot of people looking for work. 

I have decided to give myself a more secure future by starting my own business and I decided to do that with Shaklee for a number of reasons:

1.   Shaklee, if you haven’t heard of it is a health and wellness company that has all kinds of amazing products.  They are the # 1 Natural Nutrition Company in the USA.  I have grown up with Shaklee in my house.  My husband, son and I all take Shaklee vitamins and drink their Cinch and Meal Shakes.  I am soooo impressed with all their products.  In short, I believe in what they sell.
2. The Shaklee business plan is absolutely amazing. (I spoke about this in a previous blog “A New Option on the Horizon”)  I recently went to a mini-conference where there were only about 120 Shaklee Distributors.  Out of those people about 5 had already earned over $1 million with Shaklee.  Shaklee offers so many ways to make money and the CEO, Roger Barnett, is doing great things with the company. 
3. Shaklee sells products that people want and don’t consider them luxuries, therefore people will budget for them.  Whether people have a lot of money or not, they all want to be healthy. 
4. Shaklee is in growing industry.  The health and wellness industry is expected to grow to over $1 trillion by 2010.
5. I get to choose how I run my business.  I can pick the number hours I want to work.  I can do it from my home.  I can sit at my desk at home and write a blog promoting my company in my pajamas with my son happily sitting in my lap drawing a picture (like he is doing now). 
6. With the Shaklee Business Opportunity I can make as much money as I want.  The harder and smarter I work, the more money I make. 
7. I never have to worry about being laid off.

So, with or without you, this industry is growing…the question is: Do you want a share in those profits?

Chocolate Cake

One of my husband’s fellow teachers came by for dinner last night. I always try and make dessert when we have a guest for dinner and my husband had requested a chocolate cake…so be it. I used to be an Out-of-the-box baker. You know, go to the store buy a cake mix, follow directions on the back of the box and voila.  But after living in Italy for 5 years and not having sure “luxuries” at my fingertips I learned how to bake from scratch…and guess what (whisper) its not that hard. 

So I have found that I like the recipe for Chocolate Cake and frosting that are on the back of the Hershey’s Cocoa box.  Here are two tips for a  delicious Chocolate cake:

1) as soon as the cake comes out of the oven cover it with wax paper, then place a kitchen towel over the wax paper and press down.  This will give you a very dense cake but it also traps in the moisture.  Once it is all pressed remove the cake from the pan and allow to cool on a rack.

2) my other tip is for the frosting.  If you like rich dark chocolate (like my husband) follow the directions for the frosting but add less powdered sugar than it calls for.  It will allow for some of the bitterness of the cocoa to come through.   You will have to do it to taste because I never measure and therefore can never give recipes too well.  mmmmmmmm!!! Enjoy!

Let’s Go Defrost

Brrrr. I am freezing and I can’t wait to get out of this cold. My husband, son and I are flying out to California in a week to spend Christmas and New Years with my side of the family. Yeah, I can’t wait. Its been four years since I have been in California for Christmas. Everyone always dreams of a White Christmas but when you are from California and now live in this bitter cold, I am just dreaming of thawing out.

Mother of a Toddler

What a hectic day!!!  My son, CJ, and I didn’t even do anything special.  I guess that may be why it seems so hectic, because we were just at home entertaining ourselves.  Where does heget all his energy.  Ugh!!  I am exhausted.  But, then there is no other job that I would rather do, especially no other job that would make me this tired.

A book that’ll drive u crazy, make u healthy and save the planet

Ahhhhhhh!!!!  Ok, it won’t really drive you crazy but it will make you think about everything you buy, which in turn may drive you crazy.   So I am reading this book, Green goes with Everything: Simple Steps to a Healthier Life and a Cleaner Planet by Sloan Barnett and it is turning my life upside down.  Now, first of all, I have to tell you that I am new to the green movement.  I gave birth to my son in Italy.  In some ways Europe is far ahead of us and in other ways they are lightyears behind.  Anyway, it is not so much in your face in Europe so for the first year of my son’s life I did the best I could at keeping him safe, feeding him good foods and running our household on a very limited budget.  

Well, coming back to the states, the Green movement is everywhere.  My initial thought was, “It is too expensive to be green and I don’t have that kind of money!”  After learning a bit more I realize that I was wrong.  In her book, Sloan does a great job of explaining the chemicals and toxins that are in certain products and how they affect your home, family and our planet.  Its great to learn all this but it is also very difficult…with knowledge comes responsibility.  She talks about so much, the toxins in our home cleaners, in our clothing, food, children’s toys……This book has also helped me realize that there are things I can do without much money, and effort for that matter.  but I have to admit that it is also making me crazy; I am worrying about everything in my house and all the food that I buy.  My husband has not read the book (nor does he have time) but I share little tidbits with him and I can tell it is making him think as well.  We went grocery shopping together this evening and he went back and forth on a few products, coming and asking me which I thought would be healthier and so on. 

I haven’t finished the book yet but I am working on it.  THANK YOU, SLOAN!!!  Anybody have suggestions on other books to read?

A New Option on the Horizon

After my husband and I moved to the this area, Southwest Michigan, I realized that it would be good to have a bit of extra income.  I spent many hours pondering how this could happen.  My husband could get a second job, but we both knew that this really wasn’t much of an option seeing as this is his first year of teaching.  I think if this had happened I would never see him and he would never sleep.  My other option was to go to work myself, whether full or part-time.  The more I thought about it, the more it seemed that this was, if not a good option, it was my only option.  But the more I thought about it, the more my heart broke.  I would have to leave my son with a stranger.  They would get to see all the milestones he would go through as he grew instead of me seeing them.  Then, what would happen when I gave birth to my next child?  I guess they would have to go to child care as well.  I could not bare the thought of this.  Enter Shaklee.  I had thought about starting my own Shaklee business a few years ago but never did it.  Well, option # 3 was staring me in the face.  Compared to the other two, this was gold!  And after learning about Shaklee’s business plan, I realized that I could do this …so now I am.  I love the products and I love the company.  Take a look for yourself.  Whether it is to supplement your income, because you are having a hard time in these tough economic times or because you are tired of going out to work for someone else.  It is working for so many people.  See if it can work for you.

Christmas Time Blues

Let’s face it.  We are so overwhelmed and run down in our everyday life, then you add the holiday stress on top of that… it is amazing that we cope.  And with the economy being the way it is, its not a case of just shopping for the perfect gift, its a case of finding the best deal on that perfect gift.  Oh, it makes me tired just thinking about it.  

One thing that we CAN NOT forget about is to take care of ourselves.  The last thing you need during this busy time is to get sick or to have to do what you gotta do while feeling miserable.  So there are a few ways to cope with the holiday season:

1. TAKE YOUR VITAMINS:  Listen to your mother and take your vitamins.  Even though you eat healthy, our food is so processed and engineered that it doesn’t have all the nutrients that we need.  We need to supplement our diet with vitamins.  When taking the proper vitamins, you will be amazed at how much better you feel.  Of course I have to put in my plug for Shaklee.  They were the first to come up witha  multi-vitamin and are still the leading provider of premium quality natural nutrition.  Try Shaklee worry free, they have a 100% money back guarantee.  And for the holidays, leave me a comment here and I will give you a deal.   http://www.shaklee.net/stayoung/product/20246
2. GO TO BED: Of all people, I know how hard it is to get the right amount of sleep.  I have a 18month old, am pregnant and my husband is in his first year of teaching high school.  There are always other things to do besides going to bed.  But I have found that the more sleep I get, the more I can accomplish the next day.  When all else fails and you are feeling exhausted check out Cinch Tea.
3. DON’T BE A GRINCH!!!: Especially when shopping with all those other people who are just as stressed out as you.  Put on a smile, even if you don’t feel like, before you know it you will be smiling without effort.  And you might even put a smile on someone else’ face.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!