When we are in the car or on walks, Lillian likes to imagine about her future. She has a whole house planned out with several swimming pools and maids that will take you to Chuck*E*Cheese anytime you want to go.

She wants to wonder who she will marry and what she will do. She has decided to be a princess mermaid. Then a teacher and right now she wants to be a singer. No matter what she says she wants to be, she says "but I will me a mom, too. Because I want kids." We have talked about getting married before you can have kids and that you can do whatever you want to do and have kids too, if you want.

The other day she said something about having kids and it occurred to me that maybe she wouldn't have kids for some reason. Maybe she will decide not to or maybe she will not get married for some reason. Maybe her and/or her husband will not be able to.

I told her that not everyone has kids when they grow up. She said "What!? They get to choose?" I told her yes, people get to choose. Then she said, "Oh, I thought Jesus got to choose."

Advice Needed

Last weekend our neighbors moved and had a yard sale. They had an Easy Bake oven for sale. I told Lillian what it was and if she wanted it she could go ask about it. They said she could have it for a dollar and I said IN FRONT OF THE MOM that Lillian had to buy it out of her tooth fairy money. So she got it and brought it home and when I looked at it, it was only the oven itself.

So here is where I need the advice. Should I look for the other pieces and buy them for her or buy her a new one or just let her learn a lesson? I should add that this is the very first time Lillian has bought anything with her own money.

Right now I stuck the oven in the garage and she seems to have forgotten about it all together. I told her that she needed to still be a little older to play with it by herself and it didn't have all the pieces yet so we couldn't use it anyway.

What do you think?

So, I was on this diet. But then I had a package of unwrapped kisses in the cupboard. Did you know that you can buy them already unwrapped? Or, I guess they just don't wrap them in the first place.

Anyway, while I was cleaning the kitchen I had them out on the counter and was popping one in my mouth whenever the kids weren't looking because I am nurturing that way. Then, I put Isaac (who is 2) down for his nap and sent Lillian (who is 5) upstairs to clean her room while I shut myself in my room looking at knitting patterns.

Eventually, Isaac woke up and as I was walking through the kitchen I thought I would grab a piece of chocolate for him but the bag was gone. I looked in the cabinet thinking I had stashed it safely away but it wasn't there. So I asked Lillian where she put my chocolate and she said she flushed it down the toilet. I laughed and said very funny but she said "No really, I did." Then she took me upstairs and showed me. She said she ate a few and then dumped the rest down the toilet and flushed them. I just couldn't stop laughing long enough to be mad at her. I still haven't figured out her reasoning but I am pretty sure it was not with my best interests at heart.

Also, if your 2 year old puts bean and bacon soup in his hair but you just lay him down for his nap anyway, when he wakes up it will look like a stylist for a hip magazine has styled his hair.

My crazy computer finally died. May it rest in pieces. My husband bought me a snazzy new one so I am finally back.

Just to recap the rest of my diet/detox, I ended up going for 10 days. The last few days I only drank 1 glass of juice the entire day. I just wasn't hungry. Eventually, though, I just couldn't take it any more. I had to chew something. It started to get to me, so I ended it.

I feel like 10 days was an accomplishment that I can be proud of. I fell short of my goal by 4 days but for my first time at this, I am proud of myself. I am already planning on doing another one soon.

I ended up loosing 12 pounds. I have gained back 4 since I started eating again, which is what I expected to happen. Once you eat solid food again, you will naturally gain back 3-5 pounds.

The biggest change that I have noticed is that I get full so fast! I will sit down with the amount of food I am used to eating and I can't finish it. I think the cause of this is first, my stomach is smaller than before. That sounds weird, but when we are used to stuffing our selves (not that I did that. *ahem*) our stomach gets larger and it takes more food to feel full. So my stomach went back to the size it should be, or at least closer to it.

The second thing is, I have learned to read my body better. I know when I am full and can stop eating and when I just want something. Also, when I want something, it is probably water that I am wanting.

I just want to leave you with this recipe. I have eaten this for lunch this week and I look forward to it every day. It is so good you will feel like you are eating something naughty when it is SUPER good for you.

Veggie Wrap

spread:
1/2 block cream cheese (this is enough for several wraps)
Tb sun dried tomato pesto

mix together and spread over tortilla or flat bread

mix:
1 shredded carrot
1/4 shredded and peeled cucumber
shredded Monterrey jack cheese
diced tomato

put a generous amount on tortilla. Add a large handful of fresh spinach leaves and roll.

You can do this wrap SO many different ways. It is the spread that makes it. I also added some bean sprouts. You could add some turkey or even grilled chicken. Trust me- make this today!

Day 6

Today is day 6 of my detox diet. I have lost a total of 9 pounds so far. I am feeling great and have tons of energy. Exactly like everything has said. I am not hungry, but am always SO thirsty.

I have always been a very low energy person. Lately, probably at partly because of my weight gain, I have been even more sluggish. Anything that I did would wear me out. So today I had enough energy to do everything I wanted to do with out being worn out and needing a nap. For me, that is a big thing. I am loving how I am feeling now.

I thought I would answer a few questions. Becky from Frumpmama wanted to know if I am following a specific book. I'm not. My biggest resource has been http://www.juicefasting.org/. They do have a down loadable book that you can follow. I also just google juice recipes and find some good ideas. I also linked to a great article at cbn.com about fasting.

Phoebe from Cents to Get Debt Free (who is my friend from high school! Hi Phoebz!) wanted to know if I tried a green smoothie. I can't have a smoothie. Even though it does sound good. Spinach with mango blended in a blender. Even though it is a blended smoothie, it is still solid food. I can only have liquid from the vegetables or I will continue to be hungry. There is some pulp that comes out of the juicer. Most of that I let rise to the top and spoon off. I did get some spinach and am deciding what to do with it. I don't really know if I can juice it.

My sister wanted to know if I have had any "poo issues." Thanks, sis. You always keep it real. I have had the issues you would expect to have after eating only raw vegetable and fruit juice for almost a week.

Another thing I wanted to add was that I feel like my taste buds are changing. Before I needed sweet or salty or garlicky food to enjoy it. Today for dinner I drank the juice from a tomato, half a green pepper, a carrot and 2 apples. It was so good! Not something I would have enjoyed a week ago.

Also, I have never been able to drink a lot of water. I was always making sugar-free flavored waters but lately have been feeling bad about all the artificial flavoring and sugar that I was drinking and even giving to the kids. So the amount of water that I crave every day has been great. Water is my favorite thing right now.

The hardest part so far has been cooking for my family and not taking a bite to taste the seasonings. Okay, and not taking just a bite of cheese tonight. I have been making really yummy dinners and sitting down with my glass of juice and watching my husband and kids eat. That is not easy, but not hard any more.

So, thanks for all your support and kind words. It has really helped to raise me up.

Day 4

Let me just say that I hope today was the worst day and that it is over now. I feel like I have been only complaining these last few days and I need to get away from that.

I have had one weird reaction, though, that I wanted to talk about. My mouth has been burning and I think I figured out why. Sometimes when I juice a lemon I just put the entire lemon in the juicer. I think all the zest from the lemon was burning. So, lesson learned- the little extra flavor is not worth the pain.

So, enough of that and on to my good news. I was down three pounds today. And, I am enjoying an herbal tea with honey tonight to wind down with. I also want to report a success today. I was offered a piece of chocolate- it was even dark chocolate. I turned it down.

Anyway, not a lot to report today. I feel like this post is too boring to even publish, but here we go! I am hoping to have only good things to report for tomorrow.

Day 3

No weight loss to report for this morning. I was thinking of weighing myself again before bed but I want to stick with my rule of weighing in the morning. I do have some good news, a pair of pants that I couldn't button a few weeks ago fit nicely today. Well, still a little snug but I could wear them. These are pants that fit great last summer and a few weeks ago had a big way to go to fitting. I am looking forward to trying a few other things on.

There is a great article today at cbn.com about juice fasting. There are a few recipes as well. That was encouraging to read right now. I am hungry right now. Probably the most that I have been so far. It isn't anything that I can't handle. It is so different than how I usually feel when I am hungry. If I didn't eat for a while I would get very shaky and VERY grouchy. Right now, though, in spite of a few tummy rumblings I feel pretty great.

My arms and legs felt sore today and still felt weak. I had a nice nap this afternoon while the kids were in their rooms and it helped a lot. I have been reading that the 3rd or 4th day is the worst. So either today was it and I am past it or tomorrow will be. Either way I can tell things are going to be fine. I did not have much trouble today with the temptation of food at all.

And I know now what a temptation it was. There was an obedience problem that is coming to light. I have been given stewardship over this body, this house, and this family. I have not been properly taking care of any of that. I need to take care of my body and not indulge in whatever craving I have at the moment. That is not God's plan for me or my body. This body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and I need to treat it like it is.

So, I am going to keep going with this. I am actually enjoying the process. I am enjoying learning so much about myself, even in these few short days. I can't believe how much I thought about food. I can't wait to see what else is in store!

Breakfast:
1 mango (minus a few pieces for the kids)
enough pineapple to fill up the glass

Dinner:
2 carrots
1/4 cucumber
1 lemon