DIY Letter Beaded Bracelets

One of the trends are these adorable gold beaded letter bracelets. I really wanted one with each of the boys name on them. ShopBop has them for $36 and up. Etsy has them too, but they are still pricey. 

I was going to buy the gold beads at Michael's, but if you don't buy the real gold beads the color starts to rub off quickly. I decided to take a different route and make mine with colored beads. I saw the Dollar Tree had some seed beads and letter beads. 

Each package of the seed beads was $1 and the letter beads were $1. I spent $3 on beads total. I also have enough beads to make probably 10 more bracelets. I barely put a dent in the one package of blue beads.  I bought the elastic string on Amazon for $3.  

I decided to make the bracelets while Cashy was napping one day. G had a great time making his own bracelet and playing with the beads. He asked me to get his sensory bin down while I finished. We both sat at the table chatting away with our projects. 

I tied the elastic in a knot and then put clear nail polish over the knot. I tried to pull the bracelet to put it on before I put the clear nail polish and the bracelet exploded all over the dining room. I know there are beads hiding still after G and I both searched the floor on our hands and knees. Take it from me. Seal it with nail polish before you put them on. lol

I spent a total of $6 on supplies. I have plenty of supplies left that I could make numerous other bracelets. 

The boys love these bracelets. They each point to their names and smile. G will tell me each letter from the bracelets. They are so proud that I wear their names on my wrist. 

Toy Ice Cube Fun!

We have been having a lot of fun outside! My boys don't like to stay outside for long unless there is water involved. We have a water table, but G is at the age it isn't very fun anymore. Cash just loves to dump water all over himself, stand in buckets of water and haul water around the yard. 

 I went on a hunt in the play room the other day to find little toys to put in an ice cube tray to freeze. When I brought them outside the boys were so excited. First G wanted to know where I found all these toys. They had a great time melting the ice off the toys and then playing with the toys. It doesn't take long to melt the ice in 95-100 degree temps! Gotta love Texas heat! 

When I ask Cash to smile, this is the look he gives me now. 

Refined sugars and your body!

When I started my weight loss journey almost 10 years ago sugar was one thing that really was eye opening. When I was doing the HCG diet I really had to pay attention to ingredients in things. Then when I started eating paleo again back to the sugar watching. 

Have you ever looked at the grams of sugar in that Starbucks drink? What about in the ketchup, crackers, lunch meat, or the processed foods you are eating? Start looking at ingredients on the things you are eating and see how many of them have sugar added to them. 

Here is a list of refined sugar. 

• white flour.
• evaporated cane juice.
• instant starches.
• corn syrup.
• high fructose corn syrup.
• brown sugar (made by adding molasses back into refined white sugar)
• fructose.
• processed artificial sweeteners

Here is what the Cancer Center had to stay in 2016:

"The body breaks down refined sugar rapidly, causing insulin and blood sugar levels to skyrocket. Because refined sugar is digested quickly, you don't feel full after you're done eating, no matter how many calories you consumed. The fiber in fruit slows down metabolism, as fruit in the gut expands to make you feel full".

Refined sugars may increase your risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. They're also linked to a higher likelihood of depression, dementia, liver disease, and certain types of cancer.

In the brain, excess sugar impairs both our cognitive skills and our self-control. For many people, having a little sugar stimulates a craving for more. Sugar has drug-like effects in the reward center of the brain. Scientists have proposed that sweet foods—along with salty and fatty foods—can produce addiction-like effects in the human brain, driving the loss of self-control, overeating, and subsequent weight gain.

The NIH did a study in mice modeling autoimmune issues gave them sugary water and saw the diseases worsen by activating inflammatory immune cells. The findings suggest that a low-sugar diet may help prevent or treat autoimmune diseases such as Crohn's disease and multiple sclerosis.

Sugar stimulates the production of free fatty acids in the liver. When the body digests these free fatty acids, the resulting compounds can trigger inflammatory processes. Different kinds of sugar may contribute more or less to inflammation.

If you have any type of autoimmune diseases sugar is not your friend whatsoever! I can really tell a difference when I eliminate sugar from my diet. My inflammation really seems to decrease and my I don't crave sugar either. When I am eating sugar on a daily basis my craving for sugar is insane! I also feel my entire body become inflamed in a short amount of time. 

It blows my mind how people do not pay attention to the amount of sugar they are putting in their bodies every single day. I keep seeing all these people making coffees on social media adding tablespoons upon tablespoons of sugar to their coffee. People do you know what this is doing to your body? You are poisoning your body on a daily basis adding all that sugar. 

If I am going to use sugar or give my kids sugar I like to use maple syrup or honey. They are a natural sugar that your body can process. I would like to challenge you to pay attention to the amount of refined sugars you are consuming on a daily basis. Try cutting them out and see how you feel. Also think about what your kids are eating and how much refined sugars they are eating. Mamas we need to consider what our kids tiny bodies are consuming and setting them up for a healthy adults. Our world is consumed with autoimmune diseases, cancers, heart disease, high cholesterol and so much more. Refined sugars are related to so many of these diseases!

I really feel I need to share more about living healthy, multiple sclerosis and easy ways to help people live a healthier lifestyle. I feel this is part of my calling as a person and mother. I can only control what my children eat, but I can help other mothers make better choices for their kids if they want the help. 

Toys my Boys are Loving Right Now!

I am so thankful for our big back yard and the fact this pandemic hit during the best weather in Southern Texas! I can’t imagine this hitting in July. We would be stuck in the house all day!

I thought I would share some of the toys my boys are playing the most with right now. My oldest is 5 1/2 and the youngest is 20 months. These toys are great for both ages.

Duplos

G got this Duplo Set when he was around a year old for Christmas. This is the exact set we have, but doesn’t seem to be available on Amazon. There are lots of other sets to choose from - 1 / 2 / 3

G still plays with these all the time! Cash loves them too. They like to build towers, stacking them on top of each other, build a sky scraper and they ask me to build the exact items on the box!  One evening I took this entire box and dumped them in the bathtub with the boys. They LOVED it!!! The legos got a good wash and the boys had a blast!

Picasso Tiles

My boys LOVE these! They are a magnetic tile that stick together. I should buy 1 more set because there is a lot of fighting over them. G loves to make buildings for his star war characters and dinosaurs.

Cash loves when someone builds something to smash it down. A lot of times this causes problems because Cash doesn’t understand G just spent 10 min making his creation perfect. I try to make a few little buildings for Cash to crash, so he leaves brother alone.

A friend bought these for the boys for Christmas. They are played with every single day! I have added to their wish lists the wheels to be able to make cars with the tiles. I should probably add another set of these to the wish list too.

Magformers

Apparently building items are the best Christmas gifts because all of our sets were gifts. lol These are so magnetic and work with the Picasso tiles. Often times we have both sets out to build large creations as G likes to call them.

It’s nice these sets interact with each other, so the kids can create large things.

Nugget Comfort

I heard about the Nugget from a friend who ordered one last year. I wanted to get one for the boys for Christmas. Well everyone else had that same idea. I was able to get ours around February. Another great item I am so happy we have during this time! 

I bought the koala gray color. We keep it in the boys room against the wall when it's not being used. The boys are able to drag it out on their own. They practice their ninja and gym moves on it. We build houses, use it to climb, jump, flips, relax and sleep on. It's actually REALLY comfortable to sleep on. 

If you want a Nugget it's going to be very difficult to get one. They are closed during the pandemic, but you can get on their back order list. I was able to get one by ordering one in December on their back order and we received it about 6 weeks later. They did say it would take up to 14 weeks for delivery, but we got it much faster. They run about $250. I can see us using this for years! This is one of my favorite purchases we have made for the boys in the past year. 

Outdoor Toys

Bubble flash light

The boys love bubbles!!! I found this adorable bubble flash light at Target for Easter. This is a perfect toy for Cash. He can easily use it and loves it. 

Big Wheel

When the grandkids on Art’s side of the family turn 2 Art’s parents buy them all a big wheel  car. G picked out a fire truck. We moved this car across the country and man am I glad we did. We had nooooo yard for this thing in California. He could go in a circle in our back yard or down the sidewalk. It wasn’t used that much.

Well now we have a huge yard! G drives it and Cash rides in it. G has been trying to give Cash driving lessons. It’s rather entertaining to watch.

I feel I’ve been able to teach them a lot of vehicle safety with the fire truck. Why we need to look all around before we back up. Why it’s important to sit down when someone else is driving. How doors are always kept shut when driving. All of these things sound like something a mom is yelling at teenagers. Lord help me!!!

Solo Cups

Veronika from Veronika’s Blushing posted on Instagram her kids playing with solo cups and building towers. I ordered a big bag from Amazon for around $7. The kids love to stack them up and crash them down with super hero’s or drive their cars into them.

One night I built a tower around the coffee table for them to wake up too. They love finding things I’ve built them the next morning. 

What have you been doing to keep your kids entertained during this pandemic? Are there certain toys your kids have played with for years? 

Monday Thrive!

I know I haven't blogged in ages! I had a lot of stuff going over the past few months. I just needed to take a break.

1) I thought I would share a couple of recent purchases from Amazon. Who hates bra shopping? It kills me to spend $40-100 on a bra that will last for about 6 months. Ugh! Not only do they not last that long, but the process of trying to find one to fit is the biggest pain ever! I usually buy my bras from Lane Bryant. They fit me the best, quality is great and you can find a sale most of the time.

Well I decided to take a chance with Amazon and order this bra for $16.99. The nice thing with Amazon Prime is you can return things if they don't work. Well this bra is AMAZING!!!! I noticed the price keeps changing. Watch it and you can get it for under $20. Once the first one fit great I ordered a second one!

2) I don't think it's a secret how much I love coconut oil! I use that stuff all the time. I use it to take my eye make up off every night. I have been using it over my eczema before I put the other cream on it. It really has helped heal my skin nicely! I use it to cook the majority of the time. 

Amazon had a full gallon on for $17.99. Normally I buy it at Costco where it is $17.99 for half that amount. I was sooooo excited when my sister told me about this deal. I quickly ordered a gallon! I think this should last us for a few months. 

3) I have spent the past 3 months going through every closet, cupboard, dresser, shelf in this house getting rid of stuff. I decided in 2018 we were going to live simpler. Why do we have so much stuff sitting in cupboards just taking up space? Stuff we never ever use. I have taken sooooo much stuff to the thrift store lately. I think I have taken about 10 car loads. That is just awful! I have sold some things. Just the thought of trying to deal with a garage sale was exhausting. I haven't missed one thing that I have donated. I mean can you really miss things that have sat in the back of a closet for years? It is also so nice to open a cupboard or closet and see space.

4) I have been following Emily Ley on Facebook and Instagram. She has such great tips to simply life. Normally I do all our laundry on the weekend. I sort piles and do 3-5 loads on Saturday. I hate this and have for awhile. I mean the last thing I want to do on the weekend is laundry. I don't know why it's more irritating to me on the weekend then during the week. Well Emily suggested doing 1 load of laundry a day. Just grab whatever clothes are dirty, don't sort, use color safe detergent, put the washer on a short load and do 1 load a day. I started doing this around the first of the year. I don't have enough laundry with 3 people to do a load a day. I try to do it when the basket is looking a little full. It's so nice not to have this take up my weekend. Art doesn't ever run out of work shirts. G doesn't run out of pants. That boy goes through a lot of pants during the week.

Emily also says complete the entire load of laundry. You can just wash & dry it and leave it in a basket for week. You do everything all at one time. When it's done washing move it to the drier and as soon as it's dry fold and put it away! I have always been good about folding it right out of the drier. I do not like to iron or steam stuff. If I take it right from the drier it is very unlikely I have to iron or steam things.

5) I have a large closet that is FULL of clothes. When I worked I always wanted TONS of options. After I lost weight I bought a lot of clothes. It was soooo nice to be able to just go into any store and buy clothes. This was a new exciting thing for me. Now I stay home and I wear jeans almost every day. I have been going through my closet and getting rid of stuff. Stuff I know I don't even like, doesn't fit right and stuff I am just over. I have gotten rid of a TON of stuff.

I turned all my hangers around with all my shirts. When I wear one of them I put the hanger back in the correct way. It has helped me wear stuff I don't always wear. It is also helping me to see things I probably won't ever wear again. I want to give it a good 6 months before I decide on things. With the different seasons I can't get rid of short sleeve shirts in the winter.

When I have less clothes it is easier to get dressed. There is less stuff distracting me as to what to wear. I also sort all my clothes by colors. All my tshirts are in one section, all my button up or dressier tops in another section and my cardigans in one section. I keep everything sorted.

I am not including my dresses or skirts in the backward hanger challenge. I only wear them when it's warm. I have so few that I don't feel I need to get rid of any right now. I have gotten rid of a TON of dresses and skirts lately. Stuff that I wore to business meetings at work. Thing I don't see myself wearing. Even if I went back to work I would need to update somethings.

Monday Thrive June 19

Happy Monday! 

1) I hope all you father's had a special Father's Day yesterday! I am so thankful for my amazing dad! The older I get the more I realize just what amazing parents I had growing up! I was closest to my mom growing up. I remember a change in my relationship with my dad  when I was about 18. 

I had left Michigan where we lived to go to college in California. I went to college about 30 minutes from where I live now. I remember the second day I was at school l became horribly homesick. I had asked to come home. I didn't want to be there and so far away. I cried so much in those 2 weeks. I am not sure if i had ever cried that much in my life. lol My parents said I had to finish the semester. At the time it sounded like the end of the world to a 17 year old. I had no friends, was in a strange place, and I was almost 2,000 miles away. Back then I didn't realize I needed to stay because 7 years later I would end up moving right back there! I didn't know this until later, but my dad told my mom to let me come home. My mom was the strict one this round and said NO. If I had known my dad was the softy in this situation I would have talked to him more about coming home. lol 

My dad told me after I came home at some point that I was the first person he missed so bad and how hard it was on him when I went away to college. This past summer he told me that story again. I dread the day G goes away to college. 

I have spent a lot of time with my mom over the past few years. She has come to CA to take care of me when I've been sick and when I had G. She stayed with us for a few months when I went back to work, so she could take care of G. Last summer I stayed in ND to help take care of my dad after he had open heart surgery. I really cherished that time that I was able to spend with him and my family. We spent a lot of time watching the Olympics. I told him I will be coming back every 4 years during the summer Olympics, so we can spend some time watching it together. He is less than thrilled to spend time watching the Olympics. lol He said he never would have watched it if he hadn't been recovering. 


2) G started preschool last week. The first day he barely had time to even tell me good bye. When I picked him up he ran to give me a big hug. I asked him did you like school? He enthusiastically said YES! I asked would you like to come back tomorrow? Again I got a loud YES! He really loved it! He had to tell both sets of grandparents all about his day. He played with trucks, had cheese sticks and crackers for snacks and there were lots of dinosaurs. He was a little clingier the rest of the day. I asked him did you miss momma? He said yes, then gave me a tight hug. I told him it was ok to miss me, but I would always come to pick him up. 

They do lots of crafts, play with toys, play outside, have snacks and read stories. When I picked him up I loved how calm everything was in the room. It is a room with about 8-10 two year olds. Everyone is playing or reading stories on the bean bag chairs. The teachers are really fabulous! The staff is all so friendly too. I am so happy that we found such a great place. 

3) I recently bought these earrings from Mia & Mac. I follow her on Instagram. She posted these adorable gold hammered earrings on her IG story the other day. She was selling a few different designs of earrings for different price points. I loved the plain hammer gold hoops. They are about the size of a nickle. The perfect size! They are lightweight, dainty and simple. Just the perfect touch for all my gold jewelry. I am always looking for earrings to go with different necklaces. I need a plainer type of earring because sometimes I just wear my G Silver Wren tag necklace and other times I will wear a big statement necklace. I have been tending to lean more to more simple pieces since I stay home with G. 

4) Heather from My Life Well Loved started a series called Holy Grit. She talked about it on her IG stories. I was like meh I don't know that I really want to do a 30 day Bible series. I decided to sign up for the emails on it. I need some Holy Grit in my life. I am soooo glad I signed up for this series. It is so amazing! Each day I take the time to read the emails and read the verses. It has been such a blessing to me and helped me so much. There is still time for you to join in. I highly recommend you join in if you need some encouragement, positive influence or just are looking for a new type of devotional to do. 


5) We are planning some water activities this summer. I decided to buy G a puddle jumper. I keep seeing kids wearing them on social media. I am hoping he likes this and it works well for us. We have a small pool in our backyard. He is cautious in it. He would rather just stand in there with no one else and splash around just a little bit. What type of flotation devices do you use for your kids? 

Never Miss a Monday!

I thought it would be fun to start a weekly blog post called Never Miss A Monday! Now that doesn't mean I won't miss a Monday posting these fun things, but I am going to give it a good try to be weekly! I am going to share 5 points each week. Some of them will be about BeautyCounter, Paleo, style, beauty, natural cleaning products I love and other random things.

1) I started using BeautyCounters Body Wash in October. The bottle lasted me from October through March. Art also used the same bottle of body wash. It costs $24 for a 10 oz bottle. It costs us $4.80 per month for this body wash for 2 people or $2.40 per person per month. That is the cost of a bottle of Suave body wash. BeautyCounter uses all safe ingredients in their products. I love that we don't have to worry about harmful ingredients!

You can find more about BeautyCounter's Never List and Story by clicking on the links. I am happy to help you start getting safer products in your home. If you would like to try any samples, please don't hesitate to email me. I send out samples often to people who want to try products prior to purchasing them. If I have the product I will happily send you a sample.

2) Purely Elizabeth came out with some grain free granola. There are times I miss granola and want to add some to coconut yogurt. I tried the original grain free granola. I really liked it! You can find it on Amazon and Whole Foods. Target carries the gluten free flavors, but I haven't been able to find the grain free ones at Target yet.

3) The weather has been warming up lately! We had a lot of rain over the winter. I felt we were bundled up with rain boots almost all winter long. We are loving the spring weather. I pulled out my Lularoe kimono last week to wear. It is perfect to wear over a tank on warm days.

4) I haven't listened to Podcasts in ages. Here and there I will listen to short ones when I go on a walk. Some other bloggers were commenting on IG that S Town was an amazing Podcast. I decided to listen to the first episode when I went for a walk. The rest of the day I spent it listening. I had a very productive day. My house was clean, cars cleaned, laundry done and I sat outside listening for a little bit. I just couldn't stop listening to it once I got started. I don't want to spoil it for you. It's a must listen too!

5) If you want to see more of what goes on in our daily lives follow me on Instagram BetterBeautyWithBecky. I post pictures from our day to day lives, safer beauty products, paleo food and whatever else is going on with me.

I hope everyone has a great week! Happy Monday!

Disclaimer: All thoughts and opinions are my own. The post Never Miss a Monday appeared first on Because Chocolate Can't Get You Pregnant. 

June Photo Challenge

I am trying to do the June Photo Challenge each day on Instagram. You can follow me HERE. Some days I am late and post the picture a couple days later. I am trying!

OOTD from Last Week

Here are my outfits from last week. I finally got the lighting right in our bedroom, so I can take full length pictures before I leave in the morning. Now I need to work on finding a new place for my mirror because you can see our messy bed. My grandma's and mom would not be happy with the fact I do not make our bed daily. I do brush my teeth, shower daily and wear clean clothes every day, but I do not make our bed. 

Top & Sandals: Target

Cardigan: NY & CO

Capris: Old Navy

My hair is a little funky in the picture above. I do not brush my hair out until I get to work. When I get to work I run my fingers through my hair and separate the curls. My hair seems to last all day when I do it that way. I guess it sets for an hour while I commute to work. 

Tshirt, Nacklace & Jacket: Target

Skinnies: Old Navy

Shoes: Bass

Tank Top & Skinnies: Old Navy

Cardigan: Gap

Bracelets: Sears Outlet

Sandals: Target

Scarf: Amazon

Tshirt & Skirt: Gap

Jacket: Old Navy

Bubbles: Ebay

I usually post my OOTD on Instagram. Follow Me!