Sensational Seasonal Sunday

Today started with my #YogaAday pose…

…and 5 miles.

We’ve had house guests until Saturday and I needed to do something for me that didn’t involve food or cooking or cleaning. Don’t get me wrong, the holidays are AWESOME but exhausting. I found myself rewarding with food and stress eating a little. Enough was enough.

Yay for Sensational Sundays! :)

When I got back The Husband was changing a diaper and informing Ryan who won the Notre Dame game.

I put them all to work. :)

It’s time to move past sorting. I made someone do his own load this week.

He took a break to hug little brother.

They are so stinkin’ cute I could die!

Anyway, I made breakfast.

That’s a leftover sweet potato and kale egg white omelet. It was amazing! I wouldn’t have thought of that combo before but I may put it in regular rotation.

I made eggs for all the boys too.

Then it was time to clean up after Thanksgiving…

… and get ready for Christmas!

We have a tradition of putting up the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. It gives us maximum festive time. :)

My favorite part of this whole process is going down memory lane. Here’s Ryan asking me about all our couple ornaments. He’s getting more and more interested and asks a lots questions. It’s so fun!

By lunch…

… we were getting there.

The Husband moved to the outside lights.

Yes that’s his schematic. We really are a family of geeks. :)

Here’s Ryan folding his load of laundy watching the Ravens game.

I love how engrossed they both look.

We finally finished!

Both inside and out!

I finally took a shower and when I came down The Husband started cracking up. I didn’t realize it was only 5:30. Apparently I was a little premature in the pajama department.

I didn’t care. It was a stay in the house kind of day and I was totally living it up!

Dinner was out first non-turkey based meal since Thanksgiving.

Afterwars we cleaned up and watched the rest of the Ravens game munching on popcorn in our new festive living room.

It was a GREAT day and just what I needed. :)

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Seasonal allergies & depression: my misfit PSA.

To know me (I typically add “in real life” here, but this time Im fairly certain I held it together notsomuch online either) is to know I’ve struggled recently.

I havent been myself.

Instead of leaping out of bed excitedly to greet the day—Ive dragged my sorry ass up & to the coffee maker whining the entire way.

Lamenting how exhausted I am.  Moaning about how I dont want to work. Groaning about bus stop waits & soccer practices.

This is totally not like me.

I love my workjob.  I cant believe Im paid to blog and write.

I’ve never needed an alarm because Im *always* eager to meet each morning (Im a puppy that way).

Now layer on top of the aforementioned whining a complete lack of interest in anything.

A longing to loll in bed all day.

Not reading & snacking or movie watching & munching  (two ways I readily acknowledge Id *always* wanna spend a day.  those are my ideas of day-perfection.), but just supine and, well, sad.

And, because Im nothing if not an Emmy-worthy actress (not), The Tornado began apologizing and proffering notes like the one pictured above.

(The note reads I am sorry Mom.  I cant blame being depressed for my not correcting the “sre” for sorry.  I was inexplicably mamatouched by her misspelling.)

Of course I told her she didnt do anything wrong.

Yes I let her know I was just sad and tired and I didnt know why.

And I didnt.

Id never been depressed & it was only when I cried to Ren Man about how I just didnt have it in me to work or tweet or facebook or do the laundry or brush my hair—-did it occur to me precisely what I was describing to him.

I wasnt myself.  I was a depressed version of me.  A version Id never been.

I immediately did what all good bloggers do when it’s nighttime & they thinks they’ve solved a problem: I hit Google to be sure.

I read lots of articles about allergies & depression and those (coupled with my chronically itchy, oozy eyes & throat so sore I felt as though I had strep) provided the OOOOH moment I needed.

I took action from there and learned my malaise was, indeed, linked to Austin’s chart-bursting pollen count.

Intellectually I knew I lived in the self- proclaimed ‘Allergy Capital of the USA’ yet since I had no idea about the link between seasonal allergies & depression it took far too long (and far too many depressed texts. sorry about that.) for me to put this all together.

Hence this almost-fitness but more mental health PSA.

Whether you live in the (Live Music &) Allergy Capital of the USA or not—-consider yourself warned and alerted.

Whether your signs of sadness & lethargy are seasonal allergy related or not—consider yourself more aware than I.

(We can discuss the fact I have my masters in counseling later if you’d like.  oops!).

Now you.

Have you ever experienced depression as a by product of seasonal allergies? Or does this, at first glance, all seem as off-the-wall to you as it did to me?
Have you experienced depression in general?  I know before I thought I was able to understand how it felt—–and I had no idea.

Id love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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Shakeology Bitch-Slapped My Seasonal Allergies

I do NOT wish for the FDA to accuse me of proclaiming miracle cures, but as for me personally? I do call myself cured. This is MY story. It’s MY experience. Shakeology did, in fact, take away every seasonal allergy symptom I’ve suffered through like clockwork since the late 1990's.

I’m gonna tell you how it happened. But first, let me start from the beginning.

I was getting sick all of the time. It especially hit me hard through winter and early spring. And after many doses of unsuccessful antibiotic treatments, I still couldn’t get well. I was on antibiotics about every 12 weeks. Not good. Then came two hernia surgeries due to severe coughing fits.

I was a sickly, hot mess.

Finally, an Ear Nose & Throat specialist gave me a different diagnoses. Those weren’t persistent colds I was experiencing. I was suffering from allergies! And according to the doc, all those years of untreated allergies caused me to have “one of the worse cases of sinus disease” he’d ever seen. Yup. That’s what he told me. I have the CAT scans to prove it.

Tests revealed that I’m allergic to felines and certain environmental factors, like ragweed ‘n such. So I got rid of the the cat (Smokey is an outside critter now) and went through a grueling sinus surgery (terrible, terrible surgery & recovery, but highly recommended if your doc says you need it). Those two solutions worked pretty good, but I still suffered-miserable from the environmentally triggered allergies that continued to cause sinus infections – I’m talking the kind with green, infection chunks of boogers, a mucous lined throat, fever, etc… (sorry to be graphic, but it’s true).

I declined allergy shots, swore off antibiotics, said no to anti-inflammatory steroids to treat my allergies, and looked to the homeopathic solution instead: nasal rinses. And those rinses are a fabulous treatment (I’ll share more on that later)! But the fact remained – my allergies were still not gone. I had to stay on top of my treatments to live normally. And I prayed that I didn’t get another hernia from allergic coughing fits.

Then, in winter 2010, I started using Shakeology to help me with my fitness goals.

I’m gonna lie. Initially, I had sticker shock when I saw the price. One of my eyeballs actually popped out and rolled down the hallway (I used 5-second rule to pop it back in). I was NOT happy about the price at all. But after doing a bit of budgeting-math, I decided to make it part of my food budget. The video right here is what sealed the Shakeology deal for me.

So anyway, I’ve been using Shakeology for close to a year now, but it wasn’t until the other day that I realized something pretty significant: I have NOT had a seasonal allergy symptom or even required homeopathic treatment for my allergies since last year! This is the first time year in over 10 years (since I first began have allergy symptoms) that I am allergy-free!

There are a ton of testimonials about people who not only lost weight with Shakeology, but also lowered their cholesterol, and got off Diabetes and thyroid medications as well. Now I have a testimonial too: my allergies are gone.

Will I still sneeze if someone throws a half-pound of environmental dust into my face? Yesss (and so would you)Do outdoor pollens and other common seasonal allergens affect me anymore? Noooo. No even close.

This is my story. That’s how my allergies got bitch-slapped.

I’m a Beachbody Coach. If you need some one on one fitness motivation, and/or if you’re seriously interested in Shakeology and you want me to send you a FREE sample pack, then do this::

1. Connect with me on Team Beachbody: sign up for a FREE profile using this link.

2. Then, email me your name and mailing address so I can send out your sample. (or email for help with your fitness goals!)

If you’re interested in more than one pack, snag yourself a cheap Shakeology 4-pack Sampler or email if you want to try the Shakeology 3-day cleanse. You can also shop my Beachbody store for yourself or for the holidays for P90X, P90X2, Insanity, TurboFire, etc, etc, blah blah blah.

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Ask Roni_v57 – Struggling with Regret, My Maternity Leave Plan, Staying Organized, Seasonal Cravings, Recommending Weight Watchers

Please excuse the eerie darkness in the video this week. As I say, I really did totally forget to record. I’m entering complete pregnancy brain fog mode. Please forgive me.

Topics this week include…

Struggling with regret when looking at old photos.When will I be back after having baby. Yet another question about how I stay organized. Seasonal food cravingsWould I recommend Weight Watchers for a 10lb loss?

Links mentioned…

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