Weight Loss Update - December 2012

Weight loss is a tricky road to navigate sometimes and this last month was really no different. However, the good thing is that in the last month I've only gained 1 pound. This is especially good since last month included Thanksgiving and all the food and goodies that go along with it.

That really shouldn't be an excuse though. Lots, and I mean lots, of people can make it through Thanksgiving and actually lose weight. I can't blame the whole pound on Thanksgiving though because if I broke it down on a week by week basis, I think I lost weight the week after Thanksgiving.

Going forward into the rest of December and January I want to do a better job at staying away from pop. Pop seems to be a fairly big part of my weight gain weeks versus my weight loss weeks. It's amazing how many calories we can just drink away and how if it's something we're used to, doesn't even being to fill us up. I could see drinking a smoothie with more calories than pop if the smoothie was a solid meal replacement type thing, but to just drink away between 100 and 200 calories (if not more!) on pop? It's starting to seem just a bit too insane to me.

I also want to try to have healthier options on hand to eat. That's an even trickier goal than the pop one since there are only so many ways you can stretch a dollar at the grocery store. Coupons help but at the end of the day, the average person isn't getting oodles and oodles of things for free - and really, most of what they walk away with for free is toothpaste, sports drinks and the like.

Are you on a weight loss journey? How is yours going?

Christmas Cookies Week 3 - Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Cookies - Foodie Friday

I know that these cookies don't photograph the best - but really, does it matter if they taste yummy??

These are yet another holiday staple cookie for my family. We have them nearly every year and this was the first year I made them by myself. By "myself" I mean without the help of my mom. This year I had the help of my husband. We only goofed on one thing, which wasn't really our fault.

The recipe, as originally written, called for the mixture to boil for 1 1/2 minutes. Apparently it needs to boil for 2 minutes. Our end product tastes just fine but they didn't really set up right, even after sitting in the fridge for a while. They're very soft and floppy, for lack of a better word. I've adjusted the recipe below to reflect a 2 minute boil time so hopefully your cookies won't be floppy.

Ingredients
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk
1 stick butter or margarine
2 1/2 c. quick cooking oatmeal
1 - 2 T. vanilla
1/2 c. peanut butter
3 - 4 T cocoa

Directions

• Boil sugar, milk, butter and cocoa for 2 minutes - start timing after the mixture reaches a boil.
• Remove from heat and add peanut butter, oatmeal and vanilla.
• Stir until blended, then drop on wax paper by teaspoonfuls.
• Coconut or dates may be added if desired.

Gillette Venus Embrace Razor Review - Influenster Cosmo VoxBox

I would really like to know how I didn't know about these Gillette Venus Embrace razors sooner! I mean, as I said in my initial thoughts/unboxing of the Cosmo VoxBox from Influenster, I'm usually a disposable razor gal so that's probably how, but really. I feel like had I known just how awesome these razors are I would have made the switch sooner.

Quite possibly one of the best things about the Venus line of razors from Gillette is that all of the blade cartridges are interchangeable on the same handle! That means that if you try one type of blade and decide it's not for you, you don't have to buy a whole new razor system to try out a different one. All you need to do is purchase new blade cartridge refills!

Here's a little information about this particular blade cartridge before we get into all my thoughts:

• 5 blades to get just about every hair
• Approved for the bikini area
• Soft grip handle
• Ribbon of moisture
• Does also come in disposable form
• Retails in the $8 - $9 range (1 handle and 2 blade cartridges) at Walmart and about the same on Amazon
• Original refill packs (4 per pack) retail for $15 - $16 at Walmart and Amazon

I kind of wish I had thought to take before and after pictures but at the same time, I feel the Internet is a better place without pictures of my hairy legs (agree?). At any rate, once the weather cools down, the time between leg shaves tends to increase - much to my husband's dismay. This happens for 2 major reasons:

1. There's no need to show off my legs in any way shape or form once the temperature decides to stay below 60
2. My skin tends to dry out much, much faster in the cooler weather and shaving sometimes exacerbates this problem

So the other day I decided to try this bad boy out. I was given two blade cartridges - an original and one by Olay - to test out. I started with the original.

First, I love, love, LOVE the design of the cartridge. The way it looks, the way the blades are close together and most especially the way it's fairly flat - yet curved at the right spots. I am a notorious knee nicker when I shave and yet somehow, this time, no nicks! The blades just hugged the curves around my knees and gave me an amazingly smooth shave instead of banging things up and making the shower look like a crime scene.

The only thing that went even a little awry were these little tiny red dots that cropped up shortly after I got out of the shower. These little red dots - that were usually little red bumps aka razor burn - were the reason I switched to disposable razors. For some reason I tended not to get them with certain disposable razors, but almost always got them with non-disposable razors. But anyhow, this time they weren't full blown razor burn. The dots didn't hurt or itch and they certainly didn't develop into bumps. They were also gone by morning, which was a great thing.

After using the razor again, I've decided that it may have been the body wash I was using for shaving that may have been the culprit of the red dots. I don't use shaving cream to shave because it's just not practical for shaving in the shower and I've found that I have an allergic reaction of sorts or something when I use many of them. It's almost like they guarantee I'll have razor burn. But anyhow, another use of the razor with a different body wash revealed amazingly smooth legs with no red dots or bumps!

A couple of days after using it to shave my legs, I decided to test out my arm pits. If I'm going to get razor burn from a razor, that's where it will show up for sure. I picked a day when I didn't really have much to do in case I ended up with razor burn and couldn't put on deodorant. However, I really could have picked any old day with a ton to do if I had wanted. Yet again, no razor burn!

Disclaimer: I received this product complimentary for testing purposes from Influenster. 

Life Update - December 2012

I've decided to make at least monthly life update posts so that everyone can kind of know what's going on in my life outside of things I post like Foodie Friday, reviews, Birchbox, etc. Since I plan to do them at least monthly, they'll be mostly updates on what's been going on since the last update. If something happens or I want to write more posts like this I will.

So we made it through Thanksgiving! It was a hectic day since my mom and aunt ate lunch with my grandma at the nursing home and we typically have our big meal for lunch. We had to shift things around to accommodate that and the in-laws who also changed their meal time this year. It meant I got to do more of the cooking on my own, which I LOVED. I really do love cooking big meals for lots of people, but really that only applies when I'm not necessarily expected to do so. If it's expected of me or I feel it's not appreciated, I'm not so fond of it.

Thanksgiving Dinner

In blog related things, I'm knee deep in products that need my attention in some way - tested/tried and reviewed mostly. I love being able to try products and share my opinions with others, but sometimes it gets a bit overwhelming when several things come at once. PLUS, I don't want this blog to be just about reviews and products like that so sometimes it's a bit difficult to find a balance so that I can get the information out in a timely manner while still having posts about other things on the blog.

Influenster Cosmo VoxBox awaiting reviews

Also competing for my time is my new job. I had one week of training and I'm now in week two of training. This is my last week of formally scheduled training and then I can get into some other aspects and learn about those. Due to the nature of my job - and all the HIPPA privacy stuff that goes along with it - I won't be mentioning it often. All you guys need to know is that even though I'll be working full time starting soonish, I will still make time for blogging and sharing. I may not be able to do it every day as I have been, but some sort of balance will settle out.

Christmas is almost here! *cue jingle bells and carolers* I have most of the shopping done for my side of the family and I'm VERY proud to say that I don't think I've yet spent a penny of my own cash to pay for any of it. I've done a great job at saving up points for gift cards and such and used those to pay for all the gifts! If you'd like to know more about the sites I use for this and the like let me know and I'll get to it!

I'm not sure much else has been going on in the last month or so, which I suppose is good.

30 Days of Pinspiration

By now many of you know what Pinterest is. If you don't, consider yourself lucky and enjoy the hours of free time you have not spent saving things you "might" want to do later. And just in case you REALLY don't know what it is, it's basically a gigantic bulletin board where you can "pin," aka organize and save, ideas for really anything - food, beauty, craft, fashion, the list is just about endless.

So now that we're clear on what Pinterest is, I bet you're wondering what 30 Days of Pinspiration means. It can mean many things to many people, but for my purposes it means that I'd like to do 30 projects from Pinterest. Will these all be done in one month? No way Jose. I don't have that kind of time or money. However, my goal is to do a combination of craft and food ideas found on Pinterest - 30 of them to be exact - over the next several months. I figure I can probably do 1 or 2 each week for a total of 4-8 each month. At that rate, it should take me around 6 months, give or take a few on each side, to complete.

I will be needing your help though. I've created a board that I'm encouraging people to add project ideas to. All of the 30 projects will be chosen from this board - and only this board - so pin wisely and often! You can check out all the ideas currently on the board here. To be added as someone able to pin to the board I'll need your email address.

I'm looking to start this project in January, so get those pins in place! I can't wait to see what great ideas you all have for me to try!