Farmer's Market and other news....

I've been setting up at the Market, selling my homemade jams and fresh bread. I love it! Makes me feel like Ma from the Laura Ingalls Wilder chapter book series. :)

My daughter is going to come with me next time we set up and have a mini lemonade stand. She's very excited. I think it's because she's saving up for glasses for her American Girl Doll...and braces. Strange. I know.

In any event, I'll have fresh bread loaves, blackberry jam, blueberry syrup and raspberry jam next time. YUM!

And in other news, I've started making reusable sandwich bags with a fold over flap closure. They are SO cute, photos still to come. I am waiting for my snap press to arrive with my KAM plastic resin snaps so I can finish the bags. I'll have sandwich size and snack size available, just in time for back-to-school.

Last but not least, a giveaway is on the horizon...for Maggie's Pureland Soap Nuts. Very cool, and I'll tell you more about them very soon!

Happy Summer!

Crafty

I'm all over the place lately. Really, summer is killing me. In a good way, but also in an exhausted-all-the-time-can't-get-it-together kind of way too. I'm setting up at the local Farmer's Market to sell my homemade goods like bread, biscotti, jam and apple butter. And I'm also starting to SEW.

With a sewing machine. Can you imagine?!?! LOL

I love sewing, despite the fact that I'm not very good at it and can't cut a straight line of fabric to save my life. But still, I'm sewing my heart out making snack size reusable bags for my daughter's lunches in the fall...and for every other child I know who wants one.

Frankly, I'm beginning to think I should make a spreadsheet because I've had so many people say they want some...and some of them even want to pay me. (note to self, move the paying people up to the top of the list!)

We took our house off the market as of July 1st, so it looks like we're here to stay. At least for a while. So I guess it's time to set up my Sewing Room for real!

A Cleanse Day

Today I thought I'd blog about what a typical cleanse day looks like when you're on the Isagenix program, if you choose to cleanse. I choose to cleanse, mostly because I like the idea of ridding my body of toxins that have built up from a variety of sources.

However, TODAY I am cleansing in a completely different way and for a completely different reason. That's right...I'm having a colonoscopy tomorrow. TMI? Sorry, it's my blog and I tell it like it is. :)

Anyway, I figured since I have to do the pre-op cleanse I may as well think of it as a total real cleanse and do a semi-Isagenix cleanse. Because I didn't think to ask my doctor about the Cleanse for Life drink, I am only using it in the morning and afternoon instead of all day long. And no snacks. GAH! I'm hungry, but it's a good test of will-power. Right??

Here's what to expect from a typical day of an Isagenix cleanse:
7am - 4oz Cleanse for Life with 8-16oz cold water
1 serving of Ionix Supreme
1 IsaSnack (little chocolate wafers which I actually think are delicious!)
1 Natural Accelerator
9am - 1 IsaDelight (actual chocolate, SO YUM!) & 8-16oz cold water
10am - 1 IsaSnack & 8-16oz cold water
12:30am - 1 IsaSnack
4oz Cleanse for Life with 8-16oz cold water
2pm - 1 Natural Accelerator
1 IsaDelight (chocolate, again?!? AWESOME!)
8-16oz cold water

....and this continues on, basically with Snacks, Cleanse for Life and cold water into the evening.

In all honesty, because you drink so much water and eat a few snacks, chocolates and the Cleanse juice - you aren't starving to death. You can also change up the snacks to inclue a small apple, a few almonds, or other choices if you really are struggling. It's more like the *idea* of food is what consumes you. Or...me, I guess. LOL Mind over matter.

But today, I exist on water, lemonade, 6 oz of Cleanse for Life and chicken broth with a popsicle or two thrown in for good measure. Wish me luck tomorrow!!

My Isagenix Journey

I like to do a springtime cleanse to get things back into balance and ideally, lose a few pounds. So, several weeks ago, I was ready for a new cleanse and considered doing the Master Cleanse again. Last time I did it, I lasted 5 days (out of 10) and it was horrible. I lost very little weight and found the salt-water flush to be extremely difficult and time consuming. I remembered a cleanse my sister's friend told me about a YEAR ago. Yes, it was a year ago that I first heard about Isagenix. I wasn't ready then, but decided to give it more research this time around....and it turns out to be exactly what I was looking for. So, I signed up for the program and awaited my shipment.

I started the Isagenix 9-day cleanse while working with my Cleansing Coach, Gretchen. Unlike other cleanses I've done, this is not a G.I. cleanse...meaning I wasn't spending my life in the bathroom. In fact, it's quite easy to do but it just takes some will-power. For those who know me, you'll probably agree that when it comes to food and dieting, I have very little will-power. But I'm determined to lose those extra pounds I've gained over the past year, and also make some really healthy lifestyle changes to my diet along the way. Again, Isagenix fits the bill.

After my 9-day cleanse, I was feeling wonderful! I had only lost about 4-5 pounds, but the additional benefits were far worth the time I spent cleansing. (most people are said to lose 7-10 lbs) I had an unreal increase of energy and mental clarity. I was completely off my morning (and sometimes afternoon) coffee, and I would literally snap awake around 7am every morning and just be completely ready to get up and get moving.

Then, I started with the 30-day program...which I'm still working on. Confession time: I'm a cheater. After following the strict schedule for the 9-day cleanse, I decided I could create my own plan for the 30-day. WRONG! Well, partially wrong. I am tweaking the general plan to "make it my own" and I probably could really just do shakes and cleanse days here and there IF I were just in this for the nutritional benefits of Isagenix. But I'm not. I'll be honest, my primary motivation is weight loss...and I know that *for me*, the key is to be strict with my food choices until I lose some weight and see some more results.

What the heck IS Isagenix?! It's basically a program of shakes, bars, snacks, cleanse juice and other products designed to provide your body with perfect nutrition. Here's my website, you can browse around at http://www.claudineeskonen.isagenix.com and see for yourself. It's really important to talk with a Cleansing Coach, so my friend Gretchen is happy to speak with anyone who wants more details on nutritional cleansing for weight loss, or just for good health.

So far, so good. I'm still down a few pounds and feeling great. I am kicking up the exercise and will be sharing my Isagenix daily food plan with you next week (both for the sake of interest and also to keep me accountable...it's that pesky will-power problem getting in the way again!).

By the end of June, I hope to be down 10 pounds from where I started this month. Think I can do it??

Oh, and some of my friends have asked why, if I like this program so much, haven't I blogged about it before now? The answer is simple really. I tend to get into fads, and then quickly find a new thing to be in to. I wanted to try Isagenix for at least 3 weeks and see if this was something that woul stick, or if I'd just move on to something else. My friends, it STUCK! :)

Summer Jam

It's not officially summer, but it's absolutely strawberry season here in central Indiana! My 5 year old and I picked strawberries yesterday afternoon at a local place that charges $1.49 a pound for u-pick. We ended up spending about $8 and getting over 3 quarts! That much would have cost $14 if we bought it from the farm stand, so that's a great deal.

Today, we're going to make strawberry jam. You may recall that I'm not really a fruit person, but I do love to make jam....so off we go!

ps- The jam turned out perfect! All but one jar sealed (thank you, inversion method) and it set up just like it's supposed to. Love making jam!

Aerogarden...aka, Fun With Hydroponics

I bought myself a used Aerogarden Classic 7 from a dude on Craigslist. Best investment ever! Well, not really, but probably a close 2nd to the Prius....

These are my new tomato babies growing in the light of the dome at just over 2 weeks old. So cute!

More on this topic as things develop...

Clean Energy....WIND!

I am obsessed with wind farming. Even the name of it seems whimsical, and yet it provides such a vital service, that calling it whimsical is almost insulting. For those who haven't seen the beauty of a wind farm first-hand, I'm including some pictures I captured yesterday of what I believe to be a portion of the Meadow Lakes Wind Farm off I-65 in Indiana.

Achieving commercial operation just recently in October 2009, the wind turbines in Meadow Lake can generate enough clean energy to power 60,000 average Indiana homes each year. How freaking cool is that?!?!?

And mostly, I just like looking at them. Which is why I think I should be a *passenger* next time we head back to Chicago....because I can't take my eyes off them!