: : : Bandia Rua : : :

Last chance to reserve your cup with javita!

Monday morning is the last day to reserve your cup with Javita coffee! 

http://reserveyourcup.com/bandiarua/signup

This product is truly fantastic! I carry it with me wherever I go. The smell and the taste are deliciously vibrant and with the added benefit of green tea, gotu kola and bacopa monneiri ayervedic herb the sensation of general alertness one experiences with regular coffee are intensified in a truly innovative way! 

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Scathingly fun pro democrat t shirts!

Another fun new design by yours truly! 

http://www.cafepress.com/democratheart

Connected by MOTOBLUR™

I am returning to the atkins Diet

Last year I had a marvelous journey in my weight loss.  I quickly and easily got down to a size 12 (us sizing)  My bodyfat percentage was on a steady slope going down which is a first let me tell you.   And I also did this with a minimum amount of exercise.  Which is to say I did some extra walking and worked out on my total gym.  After trying some pretty awful eating plans that entailed eating next to nothing, as well as attempting to eat less than 1200 calories a day and also in the process, GAINING Weight (just as the atkins plan says you will when following the low cal low fat approach) AND GAINING in body fat percentage.  I had gotten my body fat down to 38 percent with atkins in a  couple of months. 

Ive just spent the better half of this year attempting low fat low cal and have not only slowly inched my way UP to a snug us size 16 AND 42 percent body fat Ive also become extremely motivated to just get with atkins, work through the phases and maintain this lifestyle. 

Also I should mention that some idiot naysayers to the atkins approach not only thwarted my own health goals they thwarted my 360 pound diabetic husbands as well.  Nice job!  His a1c was going down as were his sugars normalizing with the atkins diet.  ON a low fat low cal diet you know whats happened?  his sugars spiked, his doctors have told him if he doesnt get some weight off he could be on dialisys within four to five years!  and did I mention he now has to inject himself with insulin.  Weve had two heart scares with him this past year while he was following the low cal low fat diet.  I am amzed at the level of ignorance people including some medical professionals have.  My husbands diabetic counselor or whatever her official title was asked him how he was eating on a day to day basis last year when we were both strongly footed on the atkins plan.  She had been complementing on his success in losing 30 pounds and having had some of his medications reduced or removed altogether. He told her that he was eating salads with grilled chicken, staying away from bread and sugars, and having green vegetables and  eggs.  She said that was great!  She wished other clients of hers would do the same.  My husband mentioned the atkins being the best thing hed found and how happy he was with it. 

Suddenly this woman who was so enthusiastic about his eating and his WEIGHT LOSS and his normal sugars turned.  "The atkins diet is very dangerous!" she said," you need to stop that immediately"  My husband wanted to know why since his health had been improving so much.  They discussed it  some more and when he again made mention of the salads and chicken and the like she said "oh so youre really more on the south beach diet"  NO DUMB ASS THATS PHASE ONE ATKINS! 

But thank you ever so much, you  with your degree and or certification laid enough doubt in my husbands mind that he started trying the low fat low cal crap that you urged him to move on to. Now were battling his diabetes even more fervantly than any time since his diagnosis with no improvements to show for it. 

I am starting the atkins diet again, I hope my husband will do it with me. This time when someone tries to convince me Im on the wrong path health wise, I will very happily tell them where they can take themselves and their low fat low cal advice.

 

Is Feidir Linn!

 
T- Shirts with Obams "Yes we can" creed in irish and english!  Is Feidir Linn, Yes We Can!

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Javita! Coffee Amped Up!

Javita!  http://www.myjavita.com/bandiarua

This is coffee and a business model for those interested!  Coffee is one lifes little luxuries and this stuff is full of phytonutrients and all natural herbal enhancements. Buy it,  drink it, sell it, your choice!

Long time no type

Its been several months since my last post.  However, I will be posting a lot more often now that I have my laptop back (long story) and now that I actually have wifi in my house.  Boy have both those things been a long time coming! 

I may be changing the name of this blog.  It will be something goofy but silly in its cleverness I imagine.  My Bandia Rua is something that really applies to me and certain interests of mine.  Although I may not change it.  I know this is such a definitive post isn't it? 

Let me tell you, my family and I are considering a big move to occur in the next year or so.  As much as we want to return to Ireland, we are both worried about the economy there and whether or not we would wind up living in a relatives house for an over extended period of time.  Obviously we are not too thrilled about starting over in that sence but we have got to leave our current locale. 

In the last few months I have experienced two major collisions in my car.  Both of them involved my involuntary murder of several deer.  The first occurred a few months back when I was driving along a country hi-way only to suddenly realize that there was a rather LARGE deer about to cross right in front of me.  Now I should jump back to my past during my childhood when driving along a mountain road of some sort and seeing deer along the road filled my young mind with images of bambi and gave me warm fuzzies about how grand nature was in all its majesty. Now, jump forward again a few months  back as I had a few seconds to dicern what action I should take in regard to not hitting a larger than life depiction of bambi which was rapidly approaching the space in front of my van. So, it was with the sincerest of concerns that I sped up, in hopes that I could get in front of this swift beast so that it would be crossing BEHIND my car.  Well all this action succeeded in doing was putting the passenger side of my vehicle in its direct route, and BAM!  Bambi committed suicide by leaping into the side of my van. 

The first thing I realised was that my passenger side mirror was shattering in bits and pieces all over the place.  The next thing I realised was that the inside plastic bits of the rear passenger sliding door had popped off of the door.  I pulled over and got out to assess the damage.  My heart sank.  The ENTIRE side of the van was screwed.  I tried to open both doors to know avail, they were hopelessly jammed. 

Anyway the estimates on repairing that damage are between 1700.00 and 3500.00.  My van looks horrible.  Of course it looks even moreso, after I ran into a heard of deer on Valentines night.  Unlike the first event, I only had enough time to slpw my speed from 65 to about 45 which helped save the engine I think, but destroyed the radiator and popped out the driver side headlight assembly.  I have not even tried to get an estimate on the rest of this.  I am so very infuriated and just hopeless that I will ever have a decent looking vehicle again.  I am grateful that we were able to get the radiator replaced and that the car is driveable, but man. All that damage, and not enough money to fix it all at once.  And the realisation that if we ever have that kind of money, it will most likely need to go someplace else. 

So, yes, we need to move.  This past year here in the bible belt has been the proverbial straw that broke the camels back, or should I say, the van that broke the deers stride. :(

A holiday within a holiday!

From my last post you all know I am in Ireland.  Well in the midst of what was already destined to be a fantastic time, my fantastic Mother in Law booked us and several other family members into Trabolgan . This is fabulous concept for a vacation spot!  A place where there is tons of stuff for kids in all age groups as well as activities just for us grown ups.  Everynight they put on a family friendly show in "The Cove"  while all us grownups sank into pints of Guinness and bottles of Budweiser.  Our little ones quite enjoyed slush puppies and buying all manner of gag toys and light up sparkly  and gooey weird things that only someone under nine can truly appreciate. 

After the show all the littlest kids were falling asleep so some of the moms went back to the houses while the rest of us went into the pub for live music and a karaoke competition.  My husband and Mother in Law both placed as finalists for the main competition on wednesday.  I on the other hand sang Angel by Sarah Maclachlan and didnt do quite so well but at least I did it. 

This trip is the first trip in a million years that weve gotten to come home to Ireland under pleasant circumstances.  I am so very grateful for this time.  I guess I should explain, briefly, that Just after my husband and I met in California which is where I was raised, He had to go home because his youngest brother had been killed by an idiot driver.  I followed him over a few months later and we eventually married and had our first child.  We moved back to the states for some reason, and a little while later we got to go back for a visit, because my husbands second youngest brother died.  (I am still not privy to the reason behind his death, but it was quite obviously not anywhere near his time to go.) The next time after that that my husband got to return to Ireland was because his Nana was ill.  We couldnt afford for all of us to go at that time.  So there you have it.  In ten years time this trip that we are on right now, is the FIRST trip since weve been together that weve gotten to go home for something not related to tragedy. 

My mother in law and sister in law and nana in law have all visited us in america  a few times, but this trip is the one I feel like I can finally get to know all my family.  Ten years is an awfully long time to feel baricaded away from your family.  Dont get me wrong they have all been wonderful in spite of it all, but my own mental insecurities and having not ever had to deal with death in such a large way caused me to withdraw.  I couldnt help it. 

But now enough of all that, I want to focus on the joyfulness life seems to be offering right now.  I have two of the best children in the world and all kinds of nieces and nephews over here and I just want to scoop them all up and hug them and buy them chocolate and make sure everything is always wonderful for them.  I pray I pray I pray that there be nothing but good times ahead for all of us, but most especially them. 

Ireland Here We Come!

Yes indeed my little Clannad Rua is heading home for three glorious weeks on monday!  I am certain it will fly by much too swiftly but we are so grateful to be able to make this journey!  Aside from making merry with family and friends we really don't have a lot of specific things planned.  There is so much that we want to do I don't even want to think about what might have to get left out.

I hope there will be time to take the kids to see Bru na Boinne (Newgrange) as well as some other ancient and brilliant places.  Hopefully there won't be a huge motorway running through it as I know had been planned by some government idiots.  I will never understand a point of view that finds brilliance in the idea of destroying a cultures past to make way for alleged progress. 

Anyway I am just so happy to be going home!  There was a short amount of time when I thought I would not get to go on this journey as there was a possability of losing my job for being away for three weeks, but a former employee agreed to help out while I was a way as well as the other employee is also helping out.  I am so grateful for my bosses and these other two lovely individuals for rearranging there own schedules so I could be with my family. 

Conditioner Only Washing

I have been yearning for long hair for a long long time. I have recently opted to try and find a inexpensive way to achieve this goal while leaving as small a footprint on Mother Earth as possible. There is a method of washing hair that utilizes conditioner only. This is a method I am thinking I may give a try again. It is very gentle and works very well to clean actually and it doesn't strip your hair the way some shampoos can.

I have also been battling with myself of the use of eco friendly products for the environment as well as for personal health.

There happen to be a great number of hair products that are formulated to be sulfate and silicone free and generally toxin free and environmentally safe. HOWEVER. They do come with a hefty price tag more often than not. I have come upon a relatively cost effective way for me to care for my hair and do it in a way that won't wreck my conscience. I swear the worst part about having little extra cash is being somewhat boxed into a world where you are forced to purchase items that you once shunned for the greater good. Idealism isn't cheap let me tell ya.

In my efforts to come upon a way to clean our laundry in an eco/eco way (that's my little word describing things that are both ECOlogically sound and ECOnomically sound) I have had great success making laundry detergent at home. Its been both cost effective and works just as well as store bought detergent.

So that is one step closer to honoring our planet and our spirits.

Our local Wholefoods Market has a product line called Everyday 365 which I suppose could be said to be the natural version of generic brands. I love their conditioners and shower gels. The lavender blend actually smells like lavender not just some faintly generalized flower fragrance like some other products out there . I still have a bottle of the citrus conditioner left and since I get paid tomorrow I intend on stocking up on some more bottles of th Everyday365 conditioners and shower gels. My idea for a fresh start with my hair care routine is to condion only wash my hair as often as necessary and to use coconut oil as a daily leave in as well as for deep conditioning it as often as needed. I have some other ideas I plan on giving a whirl as well but for now I think this is a good start. .

Homemade Laundry Detergent

About a month or so ago I became compelled to find economical ways to bring my family and home into a greener lifestyle.  We had already begun trying to revamp our eating thanks to the Atkins Nutritional Approach (and to all you naysayers out there, look at "phase 4" of the Atkins plan before you judge the whole Atkins lifestyle or better yet try reading the book ). 

Anyway I digress, I have tried two different recipes for laundry soap, one liquid and one powdered.  I purchased Borax, Washing Soda, Baking Soda, Sun Oxygen Cleaner, the ever popular yet not terribly natural Fels Naptha Laundry Bar Soap and White Vinegar.  After reviewing many different types of recipes I through together a liquid recipe of my own proportions that included a little of everything I had purchased and proceeded to let it sit overnight as so many liquid recipes had recomended. 

Now, the next day this stuff was supposed to be a gloopy gelatinous bucket of slime and instead had a bucket that was half clear liquid and half fluffy frothy waxy goop.   So, I put it through my blender and turned it into what I wound up calling 'laundry fluff'.  It works really really well actually.  However the whole liquid soap process made me want to try out one of the powdered recipes I had found, namely one I found from http://www.pepperpaints.com   I followed her recipe exactly with the exception of adding a bit of baking soda to mine.  I also shared her desire to use something more natural than Fels Naptha and also picked up two bars of Dr. Bronners Magic Soap.  I bought Lavender and Eucalyptus though. 

I set up the other night with my husband while we watched a DVD and it took me the whole length of the Jackie Chan Movie "The Tuxedo" to finely grate the two bars of soap.  I combined the powdered ingredients with the grated soap and put the lid on the container and shook it to mix everything together.  It smells DIVINE. 

I have gone back and forth between using the liquid goop I made, er, Laundry Fluff, and the powdered stuff I made.  Both seem to work about the same and I am so glad because I much prefer the powdered version.  I do have to say though, I will be getting a food processer because grating the soap by hand is a wee bit tedious.