A little FYI for ya...

Just so you know, I get free stuff from Influenster and blog about the products they send me once in a blue moon. If you see something you like, or want to know whether a certain product or another is worth trying, leave me a message and i'll get back to you ASAP!

Much love.

To Peel, or not to Peel… 'Tis the Question.

So I changed my diet, about a month ago, for health reasons and have finally started seeing some changes on the scale… 10 pounds worth of change to be exact. Woo-hoo! Finally! To say I'm big-boned would be an understatement. Most people think I'm in the 150-160 pound range on any given day, but a month ago when I began to change my eating habits I was weighing in at 196 on a good day.
Now that I'm comfortably on the road to a healthier lifestyle I've got to admit that fresh fruits and vegetables have played a big part in losing weight. It also helps that my mom is my diet buddy and we have so many of our meals together. Needless to say, she keeps me in line. Getting back to the point, I've been reading up on the effectiveness of vitamins when taken through food, rather than pills and supplements, and a consistent theme among the internet "experts" and nutritionists in my town seems to be that ingesting fruit together with its peel can and will bring more "absorbable" (that's my own word there) vitamins into the body. This article is about just that and I'd like to encourage you to take the time to read it and then do your own research for a healthier you.
As a Latina woman i've always used certain fruit peels for certain recipes, but i've got to admit that the banana peel really threw me off. I can't stand the smell or taste of bananas, much less the peel. But I do eat them in front of my kids occasionally, just so they know that mommy won't chicken out on vitamins. The same way I make my husband eat broccoli in front of them as well… but that's a whole different story better left for a different day. When my recipes include fruit peels or zesting it's usually in the citrus family, although occasionally I do use apple or mango peels for recipes where my kids won't notice.
When I was about 8 years old there was this kid at my church who ate the watermelon rind clear down to the very skin of it. We thought it was weird but mom said he was a good example of taking advantage of every vitamin that fruit had to offer. I guess watermelon kid was onto something. I can only hope that someday my kids will also have a watermelon kid to learn from, or even be that watermelon kid… if our crops don't keep getting pumped with steroids and pesticides.
What are your thoughts on taking full advantage of plant vitamins?


Much love.

Starbucks quality, generic price.

My husband has been converted… before you go thinking about idolatry or something else let me elaborate. When we married he couldn't stand a weak cup of coffee after five pm; and now he'd take it through an iv if he could. And why wouldn't he like it? It's the elixir of energy that gets him through the morning, noon and late afternoon slump at work. The problem is that he has developed a taste for Keurig and Starbucks, on a TIGHT budget (to put it lightly).
What do I do to contribute to the addiction? I think I have it easy. His bosses are very gracious and have provided a Keurig coffeemaker and K-cups aplenty for their employees. The problem arises when they run out and their "chief purchasing officer" is out on a work trip. This is where resourcefulness comes in. Most Sunday papers carry a two dollar coupon for Starbucks Via (5 pack or higher count) and I make it a habit to cut them out whenever I see them.
What good does a two dollar coupon do for a nine dollar coffee? Well that's the thing, in my local supermarket (Randall's), as in many local supermarkets, there's a 50% off section for products with damaged packaging. The idea is to check that section every time you make a supermarket run and see if there are any Starbucks Vias or other products on your coupon list (just check thoroughly to ensure the integrity of your product has not been compromised). The Starbucks Via I bought for Car today went from $9.00 to $4.50 on the sale shelf, and then to $2.50 with my coupons. You can see by the pictures below that the product integrity remained intact, AND I got "points" toward a free drink at a Starbuck (located conveniently within my grocery store).
Lots of us like brand name flavors, but want the generic price. It's okay to want to have your cake and eat it too… you just might have to be patient for it. I waited three weeks with coupon in hand for this Via to finally make it into my cart.
Patience is a virtue.

Much Love.

We never do anything until someone gets hurt.

I recently saw this title:

"HOUSTON MAYOR FORCES ALL TO OPEN GIRLS ROOMS TO MEN"

for an article on http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/05/28/Houston-Mayor-Forces-All-to-Open-Girls-Rooms-to-Men. 

This, and other, sites are following closely, though not always impartially, what the mayor has been commenting in regards to a cause so close to her heart. But as a woman with no children can she really claim to have in mind what's best for Houston without taking into account the very valid fears of many parents?

After 911 airport security went crazy all over the country and people claimed that, had preventative measures been taken earlier, our nation could have avoided that catastrophe, but we didn't. Now we have the chance as citizens to put our concern for our fellow persons' well being into action before someone decides he feels like a woman, dresses like one, then has an empowering man moment when he sees a little girl entering the bathroom unsupervised and has a moment alone with her. We never do anything until someone gets hurt. 

I'd like to challenge you, no matter what your background, ethnicity or sexual orientation is, to consider your fellow humans and their safety AS WELL AS your own when voting for things like this. One person can ruin it for the whole lot. If we don't look out for our own kids, who will? Certainly not the government, they've got their hands full with all these kids from other countries whose parents so unceremoniously dumped on us and have no intentions of being the loving family their kids need. 

So what do you think about the gender-neutral restroom issue? Is it even an issue for you? Let me know what you think. Post a comment below. 

Much love.

The World Cup and Republicans

I'd like for my readers to take a look at this link: http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2014-06-25.html

It's Ann Coulter's take on Soccer as a whole, brought on by the World Cup. I myself am a Republican, but cannot proudly say so on this day. Ann Coulter's kind have branded people like me (a moderate Republican) traitors and undercover Democrats. All because I have morals AND a heart.
I'd like to take the time, as I watch the Chile vs. Brazil game, to remind everyone out there in cyber-world that the people we criticize are also humans and feel and live and love the same way we do… some on an even deeper level.
There's a song by Brad Paisley ("American Saturday Night" http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bradpaisley/americansaturdaynight.html) that describes the U.S. traditions for what they really are, borrowed from other countries. Wikipedia, and other books and sites, have discredited Ann's view of what is really "America". Baseball originated in England, football has its origins in Britain, even hockey has been documented in many countries many hundreds of years before it made its merry way to the U.S. So what does a sport need in order to be considered "American enough" for Ann Coulter? It needs to have been stolen from another country and called All-American, like it belongs to us, following the trend of the Trail of Tears and other things the U.S. likes to think belong to it alone.
Don't worry Ann, there will be enough immigrants in the U.S. (from all over the world) to turn soccer into another one of your national sports soon enough.
Finally, let me remind you, as you've most likely heard throughout your lives, that more flies can be caught with honey than with vinegar. So if you'd like to convince the whole world, or at least the U.S., of your personal convictions, criticism is already a bad start. Take a personal interest in your enemies' lives and they will begin to recognize you for the human you are as well.


Much love.

Appeal to Popularity: Fact or Fallacy?

I recently watched a toothpaste commercial (Who am I kidding? Those things are on ALL the time!) where the announcer claimed that 9 out of 10 dentists reccommended it... IT not being elaborated upon, but rather left to the audience's minds to fill in the necessary thought that the toothpaste is actually what was being recommended. This is an Appeal to Popularity that creates in consumers the desire for a product because most dentists who tested it approve of its claims of health. It goes like this: 1) Most dentists approve of this toothpaste, 2) So i should approve of this toothpaste as well, and 3) Since I approve of this toothpaste, this toothpaste must be good!

I read one of the earlier articles that one of my classmates posted on Appeal to Authority and believe that this fallacy may apply as well. It could be applied like this: 1) Person A is claimed to be a dentist and knows about good toothpaste, 2) Person A (Dentist) claims that he recommends the toothpaste, 3) Therefore, this toothpaste must be good!

 Whoever is reading this, do me a favor… DON'T be one of the mindless mass. Think for yourself, your toothpaste is depending on you.

There's an interesting article about Appeal to Popularity on:  http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NineOutOfTenDoctorsAgree 

Sometimes big dreams don't come true, but i've found that if you're just willing to be a little flexible and dream different dreams maybe you can create a fairytale where there once was none.
You see, there once was a girl who dreamed big; in high school she dreamed of becoming an ambassador and traveling the world. But when she started college she decided to change course and set sail for a different future. She met the most wonderful man, who loved her like no other, and they married when he graduated. She was pregnant soon after that and, with much joy, they welcomed a healthy, happy baby into their arms. She kept studying, they had another baby, she tried to be happy, but after a second bout of post partum depression left her reeling she realized that she had gone in the opposite direction from her teenage dreams… and that made her feel like she had failed herself. But the wonderful man she had married reminded her that he had always supported her dreams, and always would, and that she had chosen her course, and only she could change it. So she finished studying and began to search for an exciting job when she realized her heart was no longer seeking worldly adventures. She had everything she wanted sitting in her lap when her two toddlers were smiling up at her.
And it was alright to dream this dream… to want to spend time with her little loves. There would be time to dream other dreams in her future, but her present was enough, and her heart was full. And nothing else mattered.
So you see, dreams are lovely when they move you toward your destiny, but don't get stuck thinking there's no changing your mind.
I know I did, and my new dream was even better than any before it.


Much love.