Long time no see! My jam-packed month of October is finally over, now onto my mostly jam-packed month of November — the chaos never stops! Today is a significant day — it is Election Day. I live in the beautiful state of Kansas, where political change is a very, very hard to come by. I already cast my paper, mail-in ballot weeks ago because I could not let my vote go unheard — rarely ever do I not vote, but our state is broken, things need to change now and there is a lot riding on this election. I am cautiously optimistic to watch results roll in tonight, but still very excited for the possibility of HUGE changes to bring my home state out of the dark ages! GET OUT AND VOTE, PEOPLE!

Today also marks the first day of a new round of the 28-Day Detox that many of us PURE-ophiles are starting all across the nation together. It is insanely helpful to have a huge support network in our Detox Facebook group, we are all checking in on each other daily, posting helpful hints, and non-stop encouragement. Total strangers all cheering each other on across the country, it’s fantastic. Our fearless leaders are always posting videos to engage everyone, I just love it. ❤️❤️❤️

I am already facing two challenges here in day 1 of 28: the beginnings of a UTI, and having to smell the crockpot on my countertop slow cooking some from-scratch ham and beans all day for everyone else to eat for dinner tonight (of course I won’t forget the buttermilk cornbread, I’m making it later).

I haven’t had a full-blown UTI since my postpartum recovery from my first baby in 2000. This dang thing started to creep up on me about a month ago, I got it under control and thought I had kicked it to the curb, but it slowly reared it’s ugly head throughout the day yesterday. Last night I was in so much pain I barely slept 2 hours. LACK OF SLEEP IS NOT GOOD ON A DIET! Ugh, so I will be off to the urgent care place later this evening after daycare closes up. I feel tons better today, but I’m not taking any more chances. I feel kind of weird that I see the urgent care place more than my regular primary care physician, if only Dr. Duff was available after daycare hours, then she’d see me for more than annual checkups…!

As for the ham and beans in my crockpot and the impending cornbread, it’s just a damn shame I’m missing out on it today of all days. In Manhattan, KS today it’s cold, dreary, raining, and we’re all going to be cozied up in front of our TVs tonight watching election results (well, I’ll switch over to election results during commercial breaks during my beloved Hallmark Christmas movies ❤️🎄). It’s just darn good comfort food — and no, it isn’t all the bad for me at all, but just not allowed on the detox regime. My first assigned cheat day is scheduled for day 17, which just happens to fall on Thanksgiving! (I’m pretty sure it was planned that way, we usually don’t start detoxes on Tuesdays.)

Let’s talk goals! For the first round of my 28-Day Detox, I have a goal set to loose 15 lbs. Now hold up, no one freak out! Yes, that is a lot of weight to loose in just 28 days, but we all know the first month of shocking your body with new eating and exercise routines shakes things up quite a bit. In fact, my goal may be 15 lbs for month 1, but I see myself loosing more. Then, each month the goal for weight loss will be scaled back a little. My body will acclimate to the changes and things will slow, but also I will be gaining muscle while loosing fat. We all know muscle weighs more than fat, BUT more muscle also helps burn fat more efficiently and quickly.

Another goal — to get my family to get a move on their Christmas lists! I know we still have 49 days until Christmas (shut up, you all have been told repeatedly that I am a crazy Christmas person, of course I am counting down!), but my shopping days are extremely limited this year. We are scaling back Christmas a LOT this year, we’re trying it the 4-gift system of something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read. So far, I love it, it has forced me to really narrow down my absolute top choices in each category and figure out what I really, really want/need. Here are all the lists taped to the kitchen wall…notice who’s the only one with hers complete. Are you surprised? You shouldn’t be. 😘🎁

*sigh* I just want to be done with all this dieting crap. The weight loss, the being out of shape, having my kids look embarrassed that their mom is “the fat mom” out of their group of friends’ parents. Done with always pulling my shirt down to cover my abdomen as much as possible, dreading trying on clothes (and don’t even get me started with swim suits), having people watch every bite you take and comment about how you can’t complain about not loosing weight if you’re going to eat that! I just want to feel good about myself again, to be able to run a 5K and collect ridiculous shirts and cheap participation medals at all the runs, to be able to walk in any clothing store and not worry about whether or not they’ll have anything in my size. I’ll will get there, by March 2019 I WILL be there. I’ve got a dress in my closet waiting for me…

Alrighty, motivation is bursting through the roof today, so we need a positive song to end today’s blog! I had a crazy dream that I wrote several books that ended up being published, and the publisher wanted me to move to Philadelphia to be closer to the offices — crazy, random dream but very empowering and inspiring! And why Philadelphia??? I’ve never been there before, I have no clue why it was Philadelphia in my dream and not some exotic, dreamy place like Maldives! In my dream, for some reason just my youngest child and I moved to Philly…no clue why it was just us, dreams are weird, but there we were setting up a new home in a cute little brownstone! So today’s song will be “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield, maybe I will get those books written sometime soon. Each day brings endless possibilities, it’s up to us what we do with them. Welp, here’s to hoping me next blog isn’t a month out! Later, y’all!

~~ Amie