Isagenix Before & After Photos

For the last month or so, I have been using the Isagenix 30-day plan. I purchased a second plan and started that a few days ago. Overall I have lost 10 pounds. Seven of those pounds were within the first two weeks. 


Here is my before photos: 

and a side shot: 

I took my after photos this morning using a timer (my hubby was a sleep). Pardon the lack of make-up. I have pink eye. Again. For a second time in a month. 

and the front shots: 

 
Here is a side-by-side comparison: 

My goal was to lose 8-10 pounds before we left for Ireland. Well, we leave tomorrow and I am down 9.8 lbs. Yippee! 


My next goal? To weigh 138 lbs. I haven't been in the 130's since 2006 - 6 years ago!

Want to find out more about Isagenix? Read all of my posts: LINK

I was not compensated for reviewing the Isagenix 30-day plan in any way. 

We finished painting the house!

For the last week and a half, we have been painting the outside of the house.

Thankfully three sides of our home have vinyl siding and so we just had to paint the front. 

The hubby thought it would be a good idea to do the rain spouts and gutters as well. That was a huge job! 

We went through 4 gallons of Behr white, 2.5 gallons of cream and about 1/4 gallon of gray. 

I will be painting the front (and possibly the back) patio gray to match the trim. But that will be when we get back from Ireland. 


Here is the before: 

and the after: 

Hopefully next year we can re-roof the house in a gray color to match the trim. I'm glad it is done but I am already thinking of the next project I can tackle.

Isagenix Update

I started my Isagenix journey on May 4. Today is June 11 and so today would be day 41 but I took a few days off in the middle and so today is only day 35 for me. 


In 35 days, I have lost 9.4 pounds. 

Before: 

Today's Weigh-In:

I am thrilled. My goal was to lose 8-10 pounds before Ireland. We leave on Thursday and I have met my goal weight: 143 pounds.


Yesterday we started to pack. We are going to be in Ireland for 3 weeks and it will be in the mid to upper 50's there (brrr!). That means jeans, sweatshirts and sneakers for the most part.

Tomorrow I will be posting my before/after photos.

This weekend we finished painting the outside of the house and I will be posting photos before we leave as well. It turned out great. 

Today is a day of errands. I have my last doctor's appointment before the trip. It is a follow-up on my knee surgery. And then I have to find a windbreaker for Ireland and healthy snacks for the airport. I am hoping my bank has Euros so I can keep a few on us while we travel. And lastly, I need a haircut.

I hope you have a wonderful day and as always...thanks for reading my blog! 

Recent Ebay Sales

I tried to post this earlier in the week and for some unknown reason, the HTML (i.e. computer code) was all screwed up and so I deleted the post. I'm going to try it again...

I have sold a lot on ebay this past week. Ebay had a free listing sale and I took advantage of it by putting about 400 items up. I sold about 150 of them. 


Here are some things that have sold within the last week on ebay:


1. Alaia Paris dress, purchased for $5. This is why I always have internet on my phone. The dress looked well done but it was fairly plain. This was purchased at a thrift in Pittsburgh that overprices a lot of their items. Well, they missed overpricing this one. I looked it up on my phone and realized the dress would have originally retailed for about $3-$4,000!


It sold for $399 and I am thrilled.

 

2. St. John Couture white knit skirt. Sold for $105.

3. St. John Collection skirt, sold for $85.

4. Eileen Fisher long gray sweater coat, sold for $70.

5. Michael Kors dress. I wasn't sure about this one but for $5, I picked it up. It sold to a person in Israel for $61. Printing international labels is easy thanks to ebay. You can print them on any regular ink jet printer. Once printed, just sign the page and tape it on the package. Your mail carrier will take it for you. No need to go to the post office!

6. Lot of 2 Isagenix drinks, sold for $51. I am on the Isagenix auto ship program and since the hubby & I are going on vacation next week and I won't be able to pack liquids, I thought I would try to sell some of the products I won't be using. I was surprised when three of the products sold for $120. 

This isn't a profit for me since I spend about $290/month on Isagenix anyway but I kept the 60 powdered shake mixes, the natural accelerator pills and the flush pills for myself and so it brought the program down to $180 or so. I hate doing the cleanse days anyway ;)

7. Ralph Lauren madras plaid MEN'S pants, sold for $53. 

8. Omega Juicer, sold for $45. 

9. Valentino jacket, sold for $45. 

10. An Anthropologie brand: Edme & Esyllte dress, sold for $46.

11. Another St. John piece. This one was from the "lower" line: St. John Sport. Sold for $34. 

12. There are a lot of dog & cat lovers out there and so I pick up anything themed with dogs or cats. This sweater was made by Sugar Street Weavers and it sold for $27. 

13. J. Crew lighthouse & post card printed dress, sold for $56.

Isagenix - 30 Day Update

For the last 30 days (well...33 days since I skipped 3 in the middle), I have been following the Isagenix 30-day cleanse plan. The plan allows you to substitute two meals a day with shakes, eat snacks (yogurts, fruits, etc) and a decent meal in the middle of the day (up to 600 calories). 

I have lost 8 pounds and 21.25" off of my body: 2" from my chest, 3" from my ribcage, 3.5" from my waist, 2.5" off my hips, 2.75" off my buttocks, 2" off each thigh, 1" off each calf and 1/2" off each arm. 


This was all within the last month! I am pretty excited. I still have 6 days before Ireland and will continue to stay with the program at least that long. I have plans of packing the powdered shake mixes so I can stay healthy in Ireland. 

My 30 day goal was to lose 8-10 pounds and I am thrilled that I hit it. I am hoping for another 1-2 pounds to come off by Ireland though. 


Here is what my day looks like with Isagenix: 

Step 1: Mix an Isagenix powered fruit mix into water and drink. It tastes like a Jolly Rancher. The plan wants you to do this within 1/2 hour of waking up. Take an Isagenix Natural Accelerator pill with the drink. Thankfully they are coated, not large and easy to swallow.

Step 2: Mix the Isagenix powdered shake into water, blend and then add ice. I also put some kind extract in mine. I have the chocolate mix and so orange, raspberry and peppermint are my favorites to add. Isagneix also has a non-powdered,  liquid shake but I haven't tried it. They also have the shake mixes in vanilla. I usually drink the shake about 1 hour after I have drank the Step 1 fruit mix.


Step 3: Eat a snack. I always do a yogurt & 1 cup of berries. Last week my grocery store had blackberries and raspberries on sale. Yum! I usually wait about 1.5-2 hours after drinking my shake. The shakes really fill me up.


Step 4: Eat lunch. I break up the 600 calories and do two separate meals. The first is usually a spinach leaf, berry, sliced carrot and grilled chicken salad with a few squirts of the Wishbone 1 calorie dressing. This meal comes to around 250 calories. I eat this about 1 hour after the snack. 


Step 5: Eat again...a second lunch. The first lunch only fills me up for a few hours and so by mid-afternoon I am starving again. My second lunch is usually a Weight Watchers Smart Ones frozen meal. You can find them for around $2 at Wal-Mart. My favorites are the turkey & mashed potatoes (200 calories) and the Mesquite chicken & roasted potatoes (250 calories). I eat this about 2 hours after eating the first lunch. 


Step 6: Afternoon snack. Another yogurt or some jello and some more fruit. Sometimes I skip this snack if I am not hungry. If I am hungry, I usually eat it 2 hours after the second lunch. I take another Natural Accelerator capsule. They are supposed to keep the bowels moving ;)


Step 7: The last meal of the day. Another shake. I eat this about 1-2 hours before bedtime. And I take  an Isagenix Flush pill. I'm not sure what these do honestly. But they are also easy to swallow. 


-Isagenix wants you to drink 8 glasses of water. I love drinking water and so this isn't a problem for me. 


-The Isagenix 30-day program comes with cleanse drinks for "cleanse" days. These days are supposed to happen every 7th day. You don't eat too much "real food" but drink the berry flavored thick drink with water and ice 4x a day. If you are feeling like your blood sugar is low (which mine usually is), they suggest eating 1/4 apple or pear. I usually eat the entire apple. The plan also includes Isagenix snacks. They are round water looking things that taste like powdered hot chocolate. If you eat them just for a snack on a regular day, they are not too great. But when you are starving on the cleanse day, they are yummy. 


-Isgenix suggests exercising atleast 20 minutes a day, except on the cleanse day. I have not been doing this since I had knee surgery just 5 weeks ago. The hubby & I did try walking twice (about 1/2 mile each) and my knee was swollen afterward. I am going to just rest it this week since I am sure we will be doing plenty of walking in Ireland. In fact, I rested most of the 30 days since I had a number of illnesses that put me in bed. 

I will be putting up before/after photos next week. 

Have questions? Feel free to ask! I will be glad to answer any.


Want to sign up? Here is the link to the Isagenix website: LINK.


The plan costs about $324 with shipping & tax for the first 30 day cleanse. After that it costs about $290 with shipping & tax if you wanted to re-order. Simply choose the auto-ship plan to get it for the cost of $324. You can cancel the auto ship any time.

Back to the Emergency Room...

I thought we would be back in the ER this week. However, I thought it would be for the husband. This is what he was doing yesterday: 

However, we were not in the ER for him. Around 8am this morning I had a phone call from my father-in-law. His shoulder was bothering him. I woke the hubby and we threw on clothes and drove the mile to his house. 


He is elderly and lives alone. However, we are always around for him. My hubby is up there every day. Every. Single. Day. The father-in-law doesn't realize he should not be doing major yard work. We keep telling him but he is not slowing down. 


The other day he decided he wanted to seal the floor of the HUGE garage out back. He wanted to do it himself. So although the hubby & I knew he was going to be sore, we let him. He is an adult and has to learn. 


When we went up to his house this morning, he was bruised from his elbow to his shoulder. From his neck to his chest all up the one side. It was the worst bruising I have seen. 


We took him to the ER and they did X-rays. He sprained his shoulder and pulled some muscles. The doctor gave him a "talking to" and told him he should not be working that hard (which is what we tell him every day). Hopefully he listens this time. 


While we were there, I decided it would be a good idea to also get checked. I was at the ER just 10 days ago and had strep, pink eye and a cold. 

I am still not feeling well and was up last night for an hour coughing. The doctor tested me for mono, pneumonia, strep and bronchitis. Thankfully I only have bronchitis. He also gave me a "Z Pack" for the cold and congestion. 

It was a very productive ER visit. Hopefully that will hold us for awhile. 

Mishmash Updates

Well, today was all about paint. We made great progress in the painting of the outside of our house. We probably have another 4 days though. 

I thought I would make this post about updates. Looking through past posts, I realize I never updated them. I realize you as a reader may not care but I am blogging mostly for me. So I have kind-of-a-journal to look back on in later years.


1. My father-in-law: He fell a few weeks ago. Here was the post: LINK. His bruising has lightened. He actually fell again (off a ladder!) last week but was okay. The hubby and I are trying to let him do what he thinks best but it is hard. He is an adult and still has his mind. But it is tough to watch him go through the struggles of old age. He wants to mow his own yard, clean his own home, etc. Could he do these things? Yes. Should be be doing them? No. He had a full shoulder replacement and the other one is just as bad. We try to do as much as we can but we don't want him to think we are treating him as a child. 


2. My health. About 5 weeks ago I had knee surgery. Here is the post: LINK. I then was in the ER with a few other problems a week ago. Here is that post: LINK. I am thrilled to say I am feeling better. I am 95% myself with just a bit of swelling on my knee.


3. Ebay: Yup, I am still selling on ebay. We leave for Ireland in 10 days (or is it 9?). I am taking advantage of the ebay listing sale that is going on right now. All non-store ebay sellers can list for FREE during the next two days (until June 6). My listings will all be 1 day listings. I do not want to be taking sold items with me to Ireland! 


4. Vacations: We are going to Ireland for 3 weeks and we leave Thursday of next week. We found a place to stay through Home Exchange. We were supposed to swap with a family who wanted to stay in our home but they no longer can come to the US. And so...we get their vacation home and their second car for FREE. We will be staying about an hour south of Dublin. Through LivingSocial.com we were able to get an amazing hotel on the other side of Ireland which includes breakfasts and a supper meal for two nights for less than $100. It will allow us to explore a bit more. 

After Ireland we are back home (in PA) for a few weeks and then we are off to Florida for 4-5 weeks. Again, another Home Exchange deal. If you have ever thought about exchanging homes with someone for vacations, check out homeexchange.com. It is about $10/month and we have been on a ton of (free) vacations. 

5. Isagenix. Yes, I am still trying to lose the last few stubborn pounds. Tomorrow is a cleanse day which means I should see a weight loss on Wednesday. I have not been as strict as I was at first. Eating healthy is tough when you are tired or sick. Here was the original post: LINK


6. A Monday linky for you: 

 

Making Your Own Shampoo

I read a blog a few weeks ago that mentioned that for almost no cost you can make your own shampoo. The blogger was doing it for environment and financial reasons. 

It piqued my interest since I have never found a shampoo that works well with my long, thick, wavy, oily hair. When I wash my hair with shampoo in the morning, it is greasy by nighttime. I have to do it every day. I have tried tea tree oil and everything under the sun to stop the oil from producing. 

Here is a photo of my hair. This photo was taken years ago but my hair basically looks the same (the then-non-existent bags under my eyes do not - I now have them). 

Here is a photo of my hair at a hair show. I was a hair model - ha! 

I thought I would give it a try. Here is how to make your own shampoo: 


1. Get an old shampoo bottle. I am planning on using on of the plastic ketchup/mustard bottles that you find at the dollar store. The cap screws off easily and it will be simple to re-fill. 


2. Buy baking soda. Wal-Mart sells a giant box for about 54 cents. This will probably last me around a month or so.


3. Mix 1 tablespoon of baking soda into 1 cup of warm water. I mixed about 2-3 tablespoons into water since my hair is long.


That is all. The baking soda/water combo will not foam but I have used it for a few days and it seems to be just as good as shampoo. My hair is clean and perhaps a bit lighter in color. My hubby asked if I dyed my hair this morning before church. I did not.


The blogger seemed to think it would take 2 weeks until you noticed a difference in your hair. I can already tell you that my hair is softer. I haven't noticed a difference in the oily-ness yet but it is only a few days in.


If you need conditioner, the blogger said to use apple cider vinegar. Dilate it with water and pour it over the ends. Supposedly the scent would not linger. 


Let me tell you, from first hand knowledge, the scent lingers for quite a few hours. It reminds me of Easter (the egg dying part) and thankfully I don't mind it that bad. 

I am not sure I will stick with it but I am going to give it a real try and see if it does anything for my hair. 

Tornado, Lightning & Storms in PA

This past week we have had several bad storms in our area.


As most "country folk" do, we drive around after a storm to see how bad the damage is in our part of town. We have a lot of creeks (pronounced "cricks") that flood quite easily and spill over onto the streets. It is fun to see (my idea of fun may be different than yours clearly).


This past week there were two damaging storms. After the first storm, we got in our car and our garage door would not open. We had only lost power for a few minutes. 

My husband got out to manually open the garage door. Later he took apart the garage door opener and it had been struck by lightning! You can see where the lightning burned through it. We had heard an amazingly loud noise and felt a buzz go through our bodies about an hour earlier. We thought that lightning probably hit a tree in the area. Nope, it had hit our home. We are okay and everything is fine besides the garage door opener. 

Once we got on the road, we saw about 8 trees down. One had been plucked from the earth and the roots were standing straight up. I forgot to take my camera but it was impressive.

Here is a photo from a storm chaser in our area of the lightning: 

SOURCE

And another photo from the same storm:

SOURCE

Yesterday we had another storm hit. There were funnel clouds spotted about 3 miles up the road from us and the tornado touched down about 30 minutes away. 

 SOURCE

After the storm yesterday we saw just one tree down - on a power wire. We were without power for over 9 hours. Thankfully it came back on around 3am this morning. 


I love storms. Love them! But they freak me out when they get so close.

Isagenix Update & Your Opinion Needed for House Paint Color

Today I am on Day 25 of my 30-day Isagenix plan. I stopped the plan for about 3 days. I just couldn't deal with all the illness and planning what I was going to eat. 


During those 3 days, I ate terribly. Cupcakes, cookies, ramen noodles, macaroni and cheese and a bunch of stuff I cannot remember. They made me feel a bit better while I was struggling with feeling terrible from a cold, strep throat, my knee healing after surgery and pink eye. But...I only felt better for a short time. 


After those three days, I weighed 2 pounds more. I definitely didn't feel better then! 


Today I weighed in and I am back to 145lbs. This was almost the exact weight I was before the three days of eating badly! I am still down 7 pounds. 


I have 5 days left of my original 30 day Isagenix plan. My goal was to lose 8-10 pounds so this is still doable! And, I purchased a second Isagenix 30-day plan (the second time you order it is only $270 plus shipping). I am going to pack the shakes in my suitcase for Ireland. 

________________________
Yesterday we were outside all day painting the house. This is what it looked like before we started: 

Here is how it looked after a 1/2 day work: 

When we finished yesterday, here is how it looked: 

We color matched the vinyl siding which was a light cream. This was after a first coat of the paint. From the road, my husband thinks it looks white and the white trim (around the windows and doors) doesn't look any different. There is no contrast.


And so...we will be doing the trim in a different color (we had planned on leaving it the pale cream color). I have a photo editing program which allowed me to try out some colors. 

Blue: 

 Gray:

 Dark Blue:

 A mustard yellow color:

 Red:

I am not sure which color we will choose. I think sage green would look nice but the hubby hates the color green. His first choice would be a bright turquoise blue (also not happening). 

We have a few days to decide since today it is raining and the house needs a second coat of paint before we do the trim.  

We have also thought about just framing the windows in a different color and leaving the boards the same color as the house. 

Any thoughts?