Day 29: Maintain a Healthy BMI

Maintaining a healthy BMI reduces the risk for so many problems.

Just to name a few:

-Type 2 Diabetes

-Coronary Heart Disease

-Certain types of Cancers (breast, colon...)

-Hypertension

-Stroke

-Liver Disease

-Gall Bladder Disease

-Sleep Apnea

Being overweight is classified as having a BMI of 25% or more.

Are you overweight? Use this calculator to find out.

If you are a serious athlete, though, your measurements may be skewed from this chart. Muscle weighs more than fat, so a healthy body builder can have the same BMI as an overweight person.



Ever since I started having kids, I've been battling my weight.
Before kids, I could take down an entire pizza by myself and still maintain a great body. I used to love my body.
Now I just want to be healthy again. I know my health risks. I want to still be alive to see great (maybe great great?) grandchildren.

So I've been plugging away, day by day, getting back to a normal BMI.
I'm happy to report that I'm not that far away!

Don't forget to leave me comments for the final push to the end of this giveaway! It ends at midnight tomorrow! The winner will be announced on April Fool's Day!

And yes, I'm still a day behind. Haha, I just seem to never be able to catch up!

Day 28: Cut Out Soda

Hehe, I almost titled this "Cut Out Pop"

Must be the north coming out in me =P

Anywho...my husband is a soda junky. Or energy drinks....

They:

rot your teeth

discolor your teeth

give you high blood pressure

make you fat

don't fill you up (like water would)

make you gassy ;)

Okay, here's the bottom line: If you wouldn't give a 2 year-old any soda, why would it make sense to drink it yourself? It's not like our systems are any different from a small child's.

(Okay, it's different with honey and small babies. That causes botulism)

I guess I was never really huge on soda. I'll grab one once every now and then, maybe at get-togethers. But all-in-all, I go almost every day without one.

If you're not a big water fan, try these to put in your water. They are small enough to pop in your purse, just in case you want to make a healthy decision today ;)

Propel. This stuff is yummy! It kind of makes water taste like Gatorade.

Crystal Light is great when you have a craving. The tartness helps me sooo much! It tastes like lemonade. You can also get the pink lemonade.

Now, I know what you're thinking..."Why not just buy Gatorade or lemonade?"

The packets are healthier. Just trust me on this one.

Day 27: Take Care of Your Skin!

I'm not going to preach the basics of good skin care.

You know, drinking lots of water, not smoking, wearing SPF, blah blah blah...

You should know those.

All I'm saying is to develop a good skin routine.

I'm still in my 20s, so of course I have yet to develop that first wrinkle.

This is what I use:

For my stretch marks:

I use a good combination on Palmer's Cocoa Butter (to prevent stretch marks), and Bio Oil (to reduce the ones I already have).  Darn kids......but they're worth it!

I can honestly say that I can see a noticeable difference. Yes, you can definitely still see my stretch marks, but Bio Oil turned the color from purple or silvery to a normal tan. I feel MUCH more confident!

For Cracked Lips:

Yeah, it might seem a bit odd that I use Lansinoh's nipple cream, but hey, if you've ever breastfed and used it, you know how fast it heals cracked skin.

I actually have some under my nose right now because my skin is so cracked and sore from this stupid sinus infection. I know I'll wake up tomorrow with beautiful skin again!

For Anti-Aging:

Besides wearing SPF, I also use Cocoa Butter on my face. It sounds weird, but it boosts collagen, and that prevents wrinkles.

Other things for my battle against wrinkles:

Ceramide Gold Ultra Restorative Capsules Intensive Treatment for Face and Throat.
It feels a little greasy going on, so I use this at night so that I don't have grease-face during the day. I've never gotten any breakouts from it!

Oil of Olay Regenerist The stuff is much more affordable than the Ceramide capsules, and I love that this goes on smooth like lotion so that I can wear it during the day.

Featured at Someday Crafts!

Wow, two features in one day!

That's awesome!

Click the picture below to check out the feature, and if you're not a follower of Someday Crafts, you should be!

You can get so much design inspiration out of this one website alone!

Thanks, Michelle!

Mail Center

My husband has been bugging me to either buy or make a better mail sorter.

This is what we were working with...

See how it's WAY too small to fit our mail?

We both hated it.

I bought this amazing book at Menards a while back...

On page 20, it shows this amazing storage system.

It's made to house a lot of stuff, though.

The book even shows how to make it on page 187!

Now, of course, I don't need this large of storage for mail, plus it would block a doorway.

Look again at that wall.

See how I only have a little room to work with?

I have this cute little basket that I found at Walmart. This one here houses rolled-up washcloths in my spare bathroom.

It also happens to be the perfect size for mail =D

In the directions, it says to find an old potato crate. I didn't have that.

My husband used to work at a grocery store; in the produce section, actually.

What luck!

We happen to have a pear crate in our basement!

I wanted it to fit the basket perfectly, so I took some measurement and sent everything through my table saw.

I cut the sides in half so that I could have two crates instead of one.

I reattached everything using the original nails that I carefully took out.

The directions say to mount these baskets onto two tracks.

I went to Menards, picked out some decorative trim, painted and glazed it.

I went to mount it....

Wasn't going to happen.

Again, I'm going to show you this awful picture.

See that stupid white electrical receptacle?

I'm not a %&^$#$%^ electrician!!

(Sorry for the outburst, I just hate hangups!)

Heck, I don't even know if the wires are dead. I do know that the stupid receptacle is in the only place that I can mount a track. I know that our living room is an addition to the house, so that was probably a light switch on the back door at one point in time.

"I can figure this out....right?" -Me, actually thinking I should just give up.

Yep. It dawned on me.

I marked two points on my trim or where the receptacle would go.

I raised my table saw blade just barely above the table.

I made several passes through the trim with the blade, eventually getting this...

That wasn't so bad ;)

See how it goes seamlessly over the receptacle?

FINALLY, I stained and polyed the crates to give an older, rustic finish.

I mounted them to the tracks with black metal brackets that I found at Menards (though I would have LOVED vintage cast iron ones!)

My husband brought me home two baskets from Walmart. I plopped them in, and wala!

...and you can barely see that stupid white receptacle...

Features I love:

- Two baskets: one for mail, one for mailing supplies.

- The baskets are large enough to house everything

-The baskets are removable, so when I want to pay bills, I just take the two baskets out and sit at my desk, with everything I need!

Now I just need to figure out some kind of fun wall hook for my dog's leashes!

Anyways, I have another awesome project that I built from reclaimed wood. It's only a few days old, but it's already receiving much deserved attention! Come back for that soon!