The Sensible Mom

Food, DIY, Chicago Mom Blogger

Sandra

Get a great deal on a Natural Living ebook bundle! (This week only, and my book is included!)

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BundleoftheWeek.com, 5 eBooks for $7.40!

I know my readers love to make their own homemade health and beauty products (judging from the number of ‘pins’ and traffic I receive on those posts), so I wanted to be sure to let you know about a great deal going on — this week only!

Basically, you can get 5 natural living ebooks (including mine) for only $7.40! That is a fantastic price!

Here are the details:

From homemade toiletries to homeopathic remedies, this collection of natural living ebooks will help you make healthy, natural products at home…and save money in the process. Get all 5 ebooks for only $7.40 (a savings of over 80%) for one week only.

My Buttered Life {Baby Edition} by Renee Harris
From the founder of MadeOn Hard Lotion, the My Buttered Life {Baby Edition} ebook features recipes for baby massage oil, baby balm, creamy baby lotion, diaper rash cream and oatmeal milk bath, each with five ingredients or less. You’ll also get access to how-to videos, plus tips on where to buy ingredients, how to do baby massage, troubleshooting and FAQs!

Homemade Health & Beauty by Sandra Calixto (yours truly :))
In Homemade Health & Beauty, Sandra shows you how to make more than 21 health and beauty products at home — everything from shaving cream and mouthwash to lip balm and face wash — without all the toxic, irritating chemicals that are found in store-bought versions or the hefty prices of all-natural products.

Simple Natural Health by Nina Nelson
Simple Natural Health is your complete guide to natural living, with a holistic approach to health — mind, body and soul — plus money and time saving tips to help you intentionally pursue a healthy lifestyle. This ebook includes a comprehensive guide to creating an herbal medicine cabinet, recipes for simple herbal remedies, tips for saving money on nourishing whole foods, a full-body 15-minute workout and much more.

Herbal Nurturing by Michele Augur
Herbal Nurturing walks you through preparing basic herbal remedies for you and your family. Naturally prepare for cold/flu season, PMS, headaches, sunburns, postpartum, tummy aches, rashes, and more with over 30 recipes. Michele also includes additional homeopathic suggestions,healthy-living tips and fun learning at home activities to go along with each recipe plus urgent-care options for when you don’t have the time or energy to prepare homemade remedies.

Simple Scrubs to Make and Give by Stacy Karen
Simple Scrubs to Make and Give is a comprehensive guide to creating simple, homemade scrubs that will nourish and exfoliate your skin. Featuring more than 20 recipes with names like Morning Coffee and Lavender Lover’s, you’ll learn how to make natural body scrubs for yourself or create luxurious homemade gifts that can be put together in just minutes. Plus, get an essential oil guide to help you make your own customized creations!

The Natural Living bundle is only available through 8am EST on Monday, 2/18. Get yours today:

Thank you to everyone who has already purchased my book. I absolutely love making my own products, and this year I’m hoping to bring even more recipes and how-to videos to my readers here on the blog. πŸ™‚

This post contains my affiliate link.


Losing the Baby Fat Weight Loss Update: Starting Fresh

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losingthebabyfat weight loss update

It has been a longtime since I’ve written a weight loss update post.

While I secretly wished I’d somehow lose weight over Thanksgiving, Christmas, getting ready to move from state to state, taking a vacation to Disney World, actually making the move from Georgia back to Illinois, living with my mom for a month in Illinois while we searched for a new home to rent, and then actually moving into that home (my current situation)…it just didn’t happen.

But I didn’t really try. I just told friends the other day that I’ve eaten my fair share of chicken nuggets, frozen pizzas and mcdoubles. (Don’t judge me. :)) I forgot to tell them all about the Starbucks frappes, McDonald’s coffee, and my own homemade coffees with the always-available International Delight creamer that my mom keeps on hand. (Thanks, Mama!)

Plain and simple, my diet has been bad.

Okay, in my defense, we did try to regularly have healthy juices on hand. When my husband went out for groceries, I’d always try to remind him to buy some of the healthiest juices that particular store had to offer. Those were almost always the Bolthouse Farms green juices (seriously, delicious) and carrot juice.

During our move, our scale was packed away, so I pretty much judged my weight by how my clothes fit. After they started to feel more snug, I knew that wasn’t good.

The moment of truth

I was prepared to weigh 198 lbs. when I stepped on the scale today, but I was pleasantly surprised when I weighed 192.5 lbs.

That’s actually not terrible. At least not to me anyway. πŸ˜‰

In my last update post at the end of October 2012, I weighed 190 lbs., so I’ve only gained 2.5 lbs. since then. Not bad.

I’m ready to start losing weight again

Starting next week, I’m going to do a partial juice fast for 5 days. I’m planning on drinking juice twice per day for five days (Monday through Friday), and I’m going to update here on the blog each day with what I ate and what types of juices I drank that day. I’ll be sure to take pictures of each juice and let you know what is included, because I’d love to encourage all of you, my dear readers, who are also on a journey to lose weight. You are not alone, and we’re in this together.

I would love to try a total juice fast, but because I’m breastfeeding Elisabeth, our 13-month-old baby girl, it’s not wise…at least from what I’ve read. So that’ll have to wait until she stops nursing. Both of my two youngest boys stopped nursing right after they turned two years old, and I’m thinking Elisabeth is going to follow in their footsteps. So maybe next year I’ll be able to do a total juice fast.

In the meantime, I’m excited to try a partial fast, and I’m ready to get back to healthy eating.

As far as my overall weight loss progress for 2012, here’s what that looks like:

Beginning weight (Mid-January 2012):Β 220 lbs.

Ending Weight (December 2012):Β 190 lbs.

Goal Weight for 2012:Β 170 lbs. — I didn’t get to my goal weight, but I’m thankful for every pound I did lose.

# of total pounds I wanted to lose in 2012:Β 50lbs.

Total # of pounds lost in 2012:Β 30 lbs. — Praise the Lord!

**I gave birth to Elisabeth in December of 2011, and I came home from the hospital weighing 248.5 lbs. I started my weight loss journey after I had lost most of the weight I’d gained being pregnant with Elisabeth, but during my journey, I would periodically update on how much weight I’d lost post-partum.

Here’s what my post-partum results look like:

Weight on the day I came home from the hospital (December 2011):Β 248.5

Weight 12 months post-partum (December 2012):Β 190 lbs.

Total weight loss one year after giving birth:Β 58.5Β lbs. — I’m once again extremely thankful to have lost all of my pregnancy weight and more. Nothing is impossible with God.

Now for 2013, I have a goal to lose 40 lbs., and I believe that it can be done. I’m starting my journey fresh at 192.5 lbs., and I’m excited to get the ball rolling!

What about you? Are you working to lose weight and live healthier this year? I’d love to hear about it, because losing weight is a lot easier when we can encourage one another. You can do it!

P.S. My 2013 ‘before’ pictures will be posted soon!


My One Word for 2013: Productive

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productive

Have you chosen your one word for 2013?

Since I’ve been blogging, I’ve enjoyed reading posts from other women at the start of each new year, where they choose one word to really focus on in the new year. They choose a word like JOY, CONTENTMENT, FAITH, etc… Then they pray, work hard, and strive to see their ‘one word’ become a reality in their every day life.

My word for 2013 is, Productive.

I need to be more productive. I know this may seem like an absolute shock to people who know me. πŸ˜‰

But the truth is, I have Type A ambitions (lots of them…more than I can count), Β but I totally do not have a Type A personality. I’m definitely a very easy-going Type B personality. There’s no way around this fact. Just ask my husband.

I’m Type B, and I’ve come to accept that. πŸ™‚ Unfortunately, though, because I tend to be so easy-going, I find myself putting important things off and waiting until the last minute to get things done. Instead of doing what needs to be done, I find myself getting distracted by other easier things to do…things that don’t require a lot of brain power (and I check my email way too often).

I’m going to cut myself a little slack, because I do have five kids. And one of the five, my almost-four-year-old, is really crazy difficult all day long sometimes.

But the bottom line is that when I do have a chance to be on the computer (without little hands tapping on my keyboard or turning the power off), I don’t always use my time wisely. And when I have the chance to go to bed early, I stay up late. Both of these habits have hampered my productivity, and they need to change.

And in order to change, I need to focus. More specifically, I need to focus on one word.

Productive.

Productive.Β Productive.Β Productive…

Have you chosen one word to focus on in 2013? Have you done this in the past?Β 


10 Goals for the Week

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10 Goals to Tackle This Week

The last few weeks have been interesting. We managed to pack up most of our home, go on a family vacation to Disney World, then come back to rent a moving truck and close on our house with the new buyer.

After the closing, we finished packing (it seemed like we’d never finish), and drove away from the house that was our home for the past eight months. We arrived back in Illinois on Sunday, January 13, and here we are.

We are extremely happy to be back home in Illinois. I couldn’t stop smiling as we drove on familiar streets and past familiar places on the way to my mom’s house, where we’ve been staying as we search for a new home to rent.

I’ll be honest and say that I do miss the house that was our home in Georgia. It was a great house, and I miss it. But I’m thrilled to be living back in Illinois, and the Lord has provided a great rental home for our family. We get to move in at the end of this week.

Anyway, I’ll post more on the adventure of the last few weeks very soon, but in the meantime, here are my goals for this week:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Read to the children

2. Pray with each child daily

Personal Goals:

3. Keep up with an online Bible study

4. Read 10 pages of the book, Desperate

5. Pray about homeschooling (now that we are moving into the realm of having four children that’ll be doing school at home…I need some additional prayer and help)

Home Management Goals:

6. Unpack as many boxes as possible over the weekend in our new home (we should get the keys on Friday)

7. Clean areas that need it in our new home

Business Goals:

8. Work on client project

9. Write 3 blog posts

10. Work on answering emails quickly

What are your goals for this week?