I made a makeup purchase from QVC the other day and I found a pretty good deal! I purchased the Tarte Bow & Go holiday set and found that they have the Tria at home laser remover now! I first hear about it from PCOS Diva's review on it and have been wanting to try it. Since I've started taking classes again I can't afford it, but what I love about QVC is that they offer easy pay! Instead of paying $449 (plus $12.47 shipping & handling) you can try it for three payments of $149.66!
Just like Sephora, they have a great return policy! From their website: QVC makes Holiday Gift Returns easy! Any holiday gift you purchase now
through December 23, 2013 at Noon ET can be returned for any reason for a
full refund including original S&H until January 31, 2014. Shop
with confidence.
To save even more go to Ebates first! I saw the commercials and had heard women talking about it on YouTube, so I decided to try it. I signed up, made first purchase, and received my gift card in the mail! To use it all you have to do is go to the Ebates website, search to see if the site you're going to shop at is on their list, click on it, and then start shopping! I usually use it when I shop from Sephora, Ulta, Lane Bryant, or Amazon, but there are a ton of websites on there! Each site has a certain percentage that you save and they keep up with it and send you a check every quarter. It adds up quickly! Especially when you're doing Christmas shopping online! lol
I loved The Civil Wars! I wish they were still together! Anyway, when I listened
to The Hunger Games soundtrack for the first time I was very happy to
hear them on the cd. I know that struggling with PCOS and The Hunger
Games don't have anything to do with each other, but I can see bits and
pieces in this song.
Run, run, run away
Buy yourself another day
A cold wind's whispering
Secrets in your ear
So low only you can hear
Run, run, run and hide
Somewhere no one else can find
Tall trees bend and lean pointing where to go
Where you will still be all alone
Don't you fret my dear
It'll all be over soon
I'll be waiting here
For you
Run fast if you can
No one has to understand
Fly high across the sky from here to kingdom come
Fall back down to where you're from
Don't you fret, my dear
It'll all be over soon
I'll be waiting here for you
For you, for you
Don't you fret, my dear
(Don't you fret, my dear)
It'll all be over soon
(It'll all be over soon)
I'll be waiting here
Don't you fret, my dear
It'll be over soon
I'll be waiting here
For you, for you, for you
For the past month I have changed my eating habits. No more Dr. Pepper, sweet tea, fried food, or simple carbs. Now it's water, fruit and veggies, poultry, fish, and whole grains. This is what I've been munching on here lately!
Breakfast
Belvita breakfast cookies (Golden Oat), banana, and 1% Milk
Egg Beaters with turkey sausage
Snacks
Apple with natural peanut butter
Kind bars
Chobani Greek yogurt
Almonds and dried fruit (raisins or apricots)
Dove dark chocolate bar with almonds (I don't eat this in one sitting. I'll break the bar into three pieces and eat them throughout the week)
Lunch
Salad - baby spinach, carrots, cherry tomatoes, turkey, Parmesan cheese, a couple of croutons, and Annie's Natural Cowgirl ranch dressing.
Turkey wrap with baby spinach, cherry tomatoes, Annie's ranch dressing, on a wheat wrap.
Grilled Chicken Ranch salad from McDonald's
Tuna salad
Dinner
Spaghetti - Whole wheat noodles, spaghetti sauce, chicken, garlic, fresh mushrooms, and bell pepper from my dad's garden. This was so good!
Flounder fillets with garlic, pepper, Italian spices, and a little fish breading. And individual sized from brussel sprouts with butter that you cook in the microwave
Kentucky Grilled Chicken from KFC
Turkey burger on a whole wheat bun with a sweet potato and zucchini
Saturday was an awesome day! I met my friend, Amanda, here in town and we left for Atlanta around 9:30 am. In case you didn't know, PCOS Challenge had a "Take Control of PCOS" symposium there. I shared it on Facebook, but I don't know if everyone saw it. I live in between Birmingham and Atlanta, but if I head back that way I'll try to post it, that way if anyone wants to meet up we can try to arrange something! =)
Anyway, we drove through downtown fine and arrived at the church in Buckhead without a problem. The church that it was held out was a pretty big church! And nice, too! Alana, a woman that followed me on Pinterest and found me on Facebook, and her mom drove over four hours to Atlanta and met us at the symposium. First of all, if you haven't checked out PCOS Challenge you need to! They have a radio show and all kinds of resources there. Sasha Ottey founded it after being diagnosed with PCOS and didn't want other women to have trouble finding PCOS resources llike she did.
Sasha welcomed us to the symposium and shared her struggle with PCOS. Shortly after that psychologist, Gretchen Kubacky, spoke to us via Google Hangout. She lives in Los Angeles, CA and couldn't be there in person with us, but I enjoyed listening to her. I knew that women with PCOS can problems with depression, but I never thought how that could correlate to a higher suicide rate. If you've been feeling suicidal please know that there are people here for you. You can call 1-800-SUICIDE or 1-800-273-TALK. If you can't remember either of those numbers you can call 911 and they will get you in touch with someone.
Next was my favorite speaker, Registered Dietitian Rachel Brandeis. She is awesome! If you live around Atlanta and am looking for one to see, she is who you need to go to! She said that she started having patients coming in and tell her that their doctors wanted them on a diabetic diet, but weren't diabetics. She wanted to know why they were being given this diet and make sure that they weren't being shortchanged. These were some of the tips she gave us:
Eat breakfast! Don't skip it! Try to eat breakfast around 30-90 minutes after you wake up. If you don't eat breakfast you're more likely to eat more calories at the end of the day when you aren't as active. Try to keep on a schedule.
Eat every 3-4 hours. We usually go longer without eating between lunch and dinner, about 6-7 hours or so? That's a long time. If you have a snack it will keep your blood sugar and insulin levels from spiking.
Combine "lean" protein with good carbohydrates or a "good" fat. Eating protein slows the digestion of complex carbs.
Read the ingredient list. If you're looking for bread or crackers and the first ingredient isn't "whole" put it back. Just because it says on the front of the box that it's "multigrain" doesn't mean that it's healthy. If you're on a gluten-free diet you won't find wheat in it though.
This is how she listed how our daily intake should be around
After a short break Endocrinologist Dr. Mark Perloe talked to us. If I had insurance I would consider going to him even though his office would be two hours away. He kind of reminds me of Dr. Drew in how he talks. Which, I like Dr. Drew so that's a good thing. I don't have as many notes from him being that he covered a lot of information in a short amount of time. I haven't heard of PCOS being a metabolic disorder, I've heard of it being called an endocrine disorder but not that.
High intensity interval training has shown to be a good option for us. He also said that if you work out for more than 20 minutes that instead of building muscles that you're actually starting to tear down muscle.
If you're taking Metformin and aren't eating better you're going to have more of an upset stomach.
At the back of the room there were tables set up from some of the sponsors: Georgia Reproductive Specialists, PCOS Challenge, and Glucorein PCOS supplements. NVN Therapeutics and (surprise, surprise!) Coca-Cola were sponsors also. Glucorein gave out a weeks worth of supplements, PCOS Challenge was taking donations, and Georgia Reproductive Specialists were talking to women. In between speakers and at the end of the presentations they raffled off some pretty cool prizes. Whoever came farthest received a three month supply of Glucorein, which went to my friend Alana! The first drawing was for a session with Rachel (Registered Dietitian), and guess who won it? I did! The endocrinologist and psychologist gave consultations and there were some PCOS books given away as well.
So, that pretty much sums up my day! I had a great time and look forward to many more PCOS centered activities! Rachel Brandeis has an awesome Facebook and Pinterest pages that you need to check out. Even if you can't have a session with her take a look at what she has available on the web. She has videos with all kinds of tips on her website, too! For PCOS Awareness Month Dr. Perloe has made some PCOS Tips videos on YouTube. There's almost 30! And Dr. Kubacky has some PCOS videos.
I hope everyone had a great PCOS Awareness Month! =)
Saturday was an awesome day! I will posting about that tomorrow! I feel really inspired and empowered to start taking better care of myself (and my PCOS)! Yesterday I spent a good bit of the day looking up more natural and healthy recipes and ingredients.
I was driving to pick my sister up from work last night (she had had car trouble) and this song came. It just kind of hit home with me. I'm not going to have today to do over or tomorrow, and I need to start living like I want. Not only does it effect my health now, but I don't want to wait until something serious happens to make a change. My next step is to go through my Facebook and any of the pages that promote carbs, which I LOVE, and to find more pages like Registered Dietitian Rachel Brandeis. She is awesome!
Sometimes we fall down, can't get back up
We're hiding behind skin that's too tough
How come we don't say I love you enough
Till it's to late, it's not too late
Our hearts are hungry for a food that won't come
And we could make a feast from these crumbs
And we're all staring down the barrel of a gun
So if your life flashed before you,
What would you wish you would've done
Yeah, we gotta start
Looking at the hands of the time we've been given
If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking
If every second counts on a clock that's ticking
Gotta live like we're dying
We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or to throw it all away
We gotta tell them that we love them
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying
And if your plane fell out of the skies
Who would you call with your last goodbye
Should be so careful who we live out our lives
So when we long for absolution,
There'll no one on the line, yeah
Yeah, we gotta start
Looking at the hands of the time we've been given
If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking
If every second counts on a clock that's ticking
Gotta live like we're dying
We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or to throw it all away
We gotta tell them that we love them
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying
Like we're dying, oh, like we're dying..
We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or to throw it all away
We gotta tell them that we love them
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying
You never know a good thing till it's gone
You never see a crash till it's head on
Why do we think we're right when we're dead wrong
You never know a good thing till it's gone
Yeah, we gotta start
Looking at the hands of the time we've been given
If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking
If every second counts on a clock that's ticking
Gotta live like we're dying
We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or to throw it all away
We gotta tell them that we love them
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying
Like we're dying, oh, like we're dying..
We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or to throw it all away
We gotta tell them that we love them
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying..
This past weekend I was lying in bed trying to go to sleep and my phone went off. I had received a message of some kind and almost didn't look at my phone. I picked it up and saw that I had an e-mail on my Gmail account. I was really glad that I had looked at it because it was an e-mail letting me know that someone had left a comment on my blog. I always love it when y'all leave comments on here or Facebook and send me e-mails! This comment was something different. Keiko Zoll had left me a comment letting me know that my PCOS board on Pinterest was featured in the "10 Pinterest Boards for PCOS Awareness and Support"!!!
I got hooked on Pinterest about two years ago. One day I decided I was going to see how many pins came up for PCOS. It shocked me how there were hardly any pins that came up, and I decided to do something about it.
I just wanted to take a minute and tell you thank you for all of the support y'all have shown me! You guys are what keep me pinning, writing on my blog, and now posting on my Facebook for my blog. If there's ever a time that you're feeling down, am having trouble find info on PCOS, or just want to talk to someone else feel free to send me a message. You can find me on Facebook or you can e-mail me at Shanney54@gmail.com.
When I was first diagnosed I didn't know anyone else that PCOS. I remember it being that way for quite a while, but after I started talking about it some on Facebook that some of my friends and other women that I knew had it!
Whether or not you know someone in person with PCOS or not, you are not alone.=)
We all drink to forget
Some of us more than most
When reality gets too real
And the fires of hell to close
But I'm here to let you know that
That you can make it through
If you believe that someone is watchin' over you
And call it an angel
Call it a muse
And call it karma that you've got comin' to you
What's the difference
What's in name
What matters most is never ever losin' faith
'Cause it's gonna be alright
You're not alone tonight
We all have our days
When nothing goes as planned
Not a soul in the world
Seems to understand
And for someone to talk to
You'd give anything
Well go on and cry out loud
'Cause someone's listenin'
Yeah, and call it an angel
Call it a muse
And call it karma that you've got comin' to you
What's the difference
What's in name
What matters most is never ever losin' faith
'Cause it's gonna be alright
You're not alone tonight
Keep your faith alive
You're not the only one
Yeah, and call it an angel
Call it a muse
Call it karma that you've got comin' to you
What's the difference
What's in name
What matters most is never ever losin' faith
Yeah, you're gonna be alright
You're not alone tonight
I'm so glad that this week is over! I've been helping my best friend plan her wedding for the past few months, and it was yesterday! If I haven't been in class I've been over at her mom's house working on her cake. The plan for her cake was a three layer chocolate cake with white almond flavored frosting. Purple and blue ribbon border with blue branch and leaf detail work. Yeah, that didn't happen.
I filled and crumb coated the middle layer and everything was fine. After I frosted it I noticed how the icing seemed to be sliding down the cake, and started to fret. I had made the icing too soft! I scraped the icing off the cake and added more powdered sugar and then moved onto the top tier. Now, it's too stiff! The past couple of years I haven't been able to make as many cakes, so I wasn't too sure about the consistency of the icing. Long story short, after dealing with all of that and going back to try and fix the top two layers they were still a hot mess. I couldn't get the icing smooth and there were tons of crumbs in it.
I also volunteered to get the music for the reception. All of that turned out fine, but when I went to make sure the speakers were going to work I ran into some problems. You couldn't hear anything! I ended up talking to my best friend's brother and he helped me to get them working.
So, at the end of a very long day I was ready to go home. Did I mention that this all happened on my birthday?
Anyway, the next day (The day of the wedding) I go back over, make some more icing, and pray. All I can say is what a difference a day makes! I iced the bottom tier and not only was it smooth, but there wasn't a single crumb in it! I didn't have enough icing left to color and do the detailing she wanted, but it still came out pretty good.
While I was over at her parents house baking her dad was talking to me about the PCOS posts on facebook. He was telling me about a story where this man and woman were in a checkout line at the grocery store and he started harassing her about her facial hair. The clerk heard him and started to get onto him. The clerk had been diagnosed with PCOS a few years ago and was telling the guy some of the symptoms and causes of it. The lady in the checkout line hadn't been diagnosed long and I could only imagine dealing with a situation like that when I was first diagnosed. Or even now. I would like to think that I would tell the person off, but you never know until you're in that situation. So, after reading this he tells his wife (my best friend's mom) about it and everything and she tells him that that's what I have. Since we talked about it the other day I promise if I post anything about PCOS he likes it. It makes it easier to post about PCOS if you have support. Speaking of which, I made a facebook page for my blog. That way it might be a little easier to keep up with new posts and other stuff I want to share, but wouldn't fit well on here. You should be able to type in "Lovely With PCOS" and find it.
PS - Here's a picture of her cake! It turns out that there were going to be fewer people coming to the reception than what I was told, so we just used the bottom tier of the cake. You can see back behind it the hot mess cake that I brought just in case we needed to cut some more cake. It wasn't all that fancy, but it tasted pretty good.
I was reading an online article on healthy fast food and it mentioned that Domino's is now carrying it. I looked it up and it seems that they started serving it over a year ago and all of the stores have it!
My student loan check is supposed to be there at the end of the month, and after it gets here I plan to start eating better. Right now I just have to eat whatever is available until it comes in. Driving my truck two hours to classes back and forth is not cheap.
If you have any questions about the gluten-free pizza there is a faq page that you can find here.
I'm trying to find more free ebooks, but I'm just starting out and am trying to find out where to look. If you know where to look or other books please share! You don't have to have a Kindle to read them, you can download them onto your smartphone, table, or computer. Just make sure they're still free when you go to buy them!
Wow! The past two weeks have been kind of hectic! I knew I wouldn't want to do any cleaning after classes started (not that I wanted to do any before classes started lol), so I figured if I wanted my room halfway organized I needed to start on that. More of an organized chaos really.
I had been on campus a few years ago, but it wasn't a big tour or anything so I had to figure out where everything was. I saved a little bit of money by buying most of my textbooks from Amazon. If I had bought them from the bookstore I would have spent over $350 and from Amazon I spent maybe half of that with expedited shipping. One way that I saved on books was from the Swagbucks website. It's one of those websites where you earn points (swagbucks) from taking polls, watching videos, playing games, and all other kinds of stuff. I found out about if from The Krazy Coupon Lady. Thanks to SB (swagbucks) I saved $125.00! I saved my SBs for the past year and cashed them in for an Amazon gift card. And on top of that I earned 3% cash back by going through Ebates.
I love it up there! Everyone is pretty friendly and doesn't walk around with their heads down, the campus is pretty nice, and I'm not sure if they have more federal funding or not but they seem to have better use of technology in the classrooms. And all of my teachers are great! Medical terminology is going pretty good so far, math 098 is still pretty easy, psychology is going fine, and then there's anatomy & physiology. We've already had two quizzes (covering six different bones) and two tests was yesterday! I did good on both of the quizzes and I feel really good about the lab test from yesterday, but I'm not too sure about the lecture test. It covered the first three chapters, but I only felt okay on the questions from the first chapter. He said he would have the grades posted this morning, but they're still not posted. Hopefully they will be here soon, so I can be put out of my misery!
I haven't made a post since July 4th! I know. Bad, bad Shannon!
This post isn't going to be about anything PCOS related, just about what's been going on in my life. My mom had her gallbladder taken out last month and I've been helping her. She's still out on leave because her stomach is still healing. She's getting better, but it'll still be another week or so before she will be able to go back to work.
Besides that I've been babysitting my best friend's little girl (my "niece") and that's kept me pretty busy, too.
I finally heard from the financial aid office and I'm ready to go back to school! If I bought my books from the bookstore I would pay over $500! I looked on Amazon and found most of my books on there and won't pay near that. I'm so excited and nervous at the same time!
Here at my house we don't really do too much for July 4th. My dad's side of the family will come over and we'll cook out and sometimes we'll go watch the fireworks celebration in town. It's supposed to rain today, so more than likely that's been canceled, but that's okay.
If you're rained out like my family and I will be check out "A Capital Fourth" from 7-8:30 central time on PBS! Christopher Martin, current Chicago Symphony Orchestra Principal Trumpet, will be performing an arrangement of music from the movie "Lincoln", on which he performed the main trumpet solo that musically represents Abraham Lincoln.
Chris' dad, Freddy Martin, is the founding member of Spirit of Atlanta Drum & Bugle Corps that I'm an alumni of! I'm going to share my all about marching in 2001, but that's a whole other story.
Hey guys! I'm going to start doing a monthly update to talk about any new supplements and lifestyle changes.
I'm continuing to take my vitex and chromium pocilinate like I posted about a few months ago. I had gotten out of the habit of taking it, so I've been doing that again. I'm taking one vitex pill and two chromium pills before I eat lunch.
I was going to take pictures of my acanthosis nigricans to show over time if it was getting better not, but it's gone! I am so happy! In combination with the supplements I've been taking I've cut down on the sweet tea and lowered my carb intake.
Off and on for the past year or so I've been using these sugar free drink mixes from Walmart. My sister started using them first, but she got me started on them. Some of them are pretty good! My favorites are the cherry and cherry limeade. They taste a lot better if you can let them sit overnight or so. The other night I was looking at the ingredient label and saw that they contain aspartame, so I don't think that I'll be drinking them anymore. The next time I'm at Whole Foods I'll have to check what they have there. Any suggestions?
I LOVE this song! I've liked it since the first time that I heard it, but I liked it even more after I looked up the lyrics! The chorus is what speaks to me the most. We do need to stick together and it is hard when you're living on the bottom. This is going on my workout playlist!
We come into this world unknown
But know that we are not alone
They try and knock us down
But change is coming, it's our time now
Hey... everybody loses it,
Everybody wants to throw it all away sometimes
And hey... yeah I know what you're going through
Don't let it get the best of you, you'll make it out alive
Ohh
People like us we've gotta stick together
Keep your head up, nothing lasts forever
Here's to the damned, to the lost and forgotten
It's hard to get high when you're living on the bottom
Oh woah oh oh woah oh
We are all misfits living in a world on fire
Oh woah oh oh woah oh
Sing it for the people like us, the people like us
Hey, this is not a funeral
It's a revolution, after all your tears have turned to rage
Just wait, everything will be okay
Even when you're feeling like it's going down in flames
Ohh
People like us we've gotta stick together
Keep your head up nothing lasts forever
Here's to the damned, to the lost and forgotten
It's hard to get high when you're living on the bottom
Oh woah oh oh woah oh
We are all misfits living in a world on fire
Oh woah oh oh woah oh
Sing it for the people like us, the people like us
Oh woah oh oh woah oh
You've just gotta turn it up loud when the flames get higher
Oh woah oh oh woah oh
Sing it for the people like us, the people like us
They can't do nothing to you, they can't do nothing to me
This is the life that we choose, this is the life that we bleed
So throw your fists in the air, come out, come out if you dare
Tonight we're gonna change forever
Everybody loses it, everybody wants to throw it all away sometimes
Ohh
People like us we've gotta stick together
Keep your head up nothing lasts forever
Here's to the damned, to the lost and forgotten
It's hard to get high when you're living on the bottom
Oh woah oh oh woah oh
We are all misfits living in a world on fire
Oh woah oh oh woah oh
Sing it for the people like us, the people like us
Every day when I get online I always click through the featured stories on Yahoo and sometimes come across a gem or two. Yahoo Shine, kind of like their online women's magazine, had an article talking about summer skincare and I found this section about skincare that I thought might be helpful. I still love the Kiss My Face shaving cream that I've been using, but after around 24 hours my legs start to itch. It's better than it used to be, but maybe this will help make it even better!
Even the most careful shaver can burn the heck out of herself. Next time
it happens to you, apply a thin coat of one-percent hydro cortisone
cream, or Aquaphor Healing Ointment,
$5.49 for 1.75 oz; drugstore.com, to soothe inflammation. "Then keep
the area out of the sun until it heals, since UV exposure can worsen the
bumps and irritation," suggests Vivian W. Bucay, M.D., a board-certified dermatologist in San Antonio.
Snuggles, Puppy, and My Sweet Babboo are just a few of the nicknames that I have for this poor dog. My dad says that Charlie doesn't know his own name anymore, that he'll answer to pretty much anything.
Who needs a guy when I have this stud?!?! He's just my type: brown hair, brown eyes, he would be pretty tall, loves to cuddle and already loves my family! =)
I love this stuff! My grandmother has made this pretty much every holiday for as long as I can remember. And let me tell you, it's not Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, or Christmas without it! lol With July 4th coming up I thought this would be something nice to share if you're trying to eat better. My grandmother adds pineapple to it, but I like it better without it. I don't think she uses the sugar free Jello and whipped topping, but I've had it fixed this way and I can't tell the difference!
11 oz can of mandarin oranges
16 oz sugar free Cool Whip
1 lb cottage cheese
3 oz sugar free orange Jello
Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and combine, except the oranges. Drain the oranges and add to the bowl. And *boom* you're done! Place it in the fridge for about an hour or so and you're good to go. Hope you enjoy!
A few months ago I had all of this sadness come over me. I'm not sure where it came from, but I'm glad it's passed. As I was opening the fridge to pour me a glass of sweet tea out of no where I had this thought that I needed to share it. Who knows, maybe someone is going through something similar. I dunno.
So, just to share a little bit about me so you might understand me a little bit better. I'm a sensitive caring person. I like doing things for people and most of the time have a smile on my face. It takes a lot to make me cry watching tv or at the movies, so that doesn't happen very often. Sometimes there will be a story that everyone is talking about and I feel bad for the people involved, but it seems like everyone else's emotions are so much stronger about it than mine. That still doesn't do it justice, I'll have to come back and try to explain it better later.
There was a few months that I would cry or get upset at almost anything. Maybe it was me coming to terms with the fact that there's a pretty good chance that I'm not going to have a family of my own. I know that just because I'm in my early 30s doesn't mean that I can't or won't necessarily, but come on. Let's be honest. It's not going to be that much longer that I'll be able to have kids, if I even can, and unless I meet someone relatively soon I don't see that happening.
I tried blogging about the sadness I was feeling, but I don't think that it really came through. I can remember texting my best friend when I was out shopping with my mom and sister telling her that I really needed to talk. I was already having a not so good day, so trying to drag myself out of that funk didn't help. I was walking into TJ Maxx (I love that store! lol) when she called and it was so hard not to burst out into tears! It was like I was mourning for all of the things in my life that weren't going to happen. I tried to tell her how everything was weighing me down and effecting me so bad. Since being best friends since fourth grade she knew what I was trying to say even though I felt like I wasn't making any sense. I think part of why she understood so well was because a few years ago her biological clock was ticking, yelling at her. Which, all of that is another story.
Last week I was listening to the PCOS Diva on the PCOS Challenge Radio Show. In one point of the show she was talking about how when some women are diagnosed with PCOS that they pretty much go through the stages of grief. I don't think that I really went through that. I was just happy to find out what was wrong with me. When I asked if I would be able to have children she told me that it would be harder for me, but that there was medicine that could help me. And I was with my boyfriend, but now I'm not. So, all in all I felt like if I decided that I really did want to have kids that it was sort of within reach. As compared to now, where my symptoms have worsened and I've put on weight.
But, I got through it! I don't cry when I go to the kids department to buy my niece an outfit or when I found out that my cousin, which is my age, is getting married in a few months. I still can't watch that one episode of Law & Order SVU, but I'm okay with that. It's progress! So, if you're going through something similar, in the words of Winston Churchill "If you're going through hell, keep going". And know that you're not alone!
Made a wrong turn, once or twice
Dug my way out, blood and fire
Bad decisions, that's alright
Welcome to my silly life
Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood
Miss 'No way, it's all good', it didn't slow me down
Mistaken, always second guessing, underestimated
Look, I'm still around
Pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel
Like you're less than, less than perfect..
Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel like you're nothing,
you are perfect to me!
You're so mean, when you talk about yourself, you were wrong
Change the voices in your head, make them like you instead
So complicated, look happy, you'll make it!
Filled with so much hatred...such a tired game
It's enough! I've done all I can think of
Chased down all my demons, I've seen you do the same
Oh, pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel
Like you're less than, less than perfect
Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel like you're nothing,
you are perfect to me
The whole world's scared so I swallow the fear
The only thing I should be drinking is an ice cold beer
So cool in lime, and we try try try, but we try too hard and it's a waste of my time
Done looking for the critics, cause they're everywhere
They dont like my jeans, they don't get my hair
Exchange ourselves, and we do it all the time
Why do we do that? Why do I do that?
Why do I do that..?
Yeah, oh, oh baby, pretty baby..!
Pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel
Like you're less than perfect
Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel
Like you're nothing, you're perfect to me
You're perfect, you're perfect!
Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel like you're nothing
You're perfect to me...
Like many people around the country I watched the Miss USA pageant tonight. I saw that it was on, but what made me turn it on was a comment on Facebook. Miss Alabama was in the top 15! Not only that, but she's from my hometown! How awesome is that! I thought it was! lol It's not a town that if you blink you'll miss it, but it's not a huge town either. Plus, Alabama doesn't have always have a great reputation, well the South as a whole doesn't really. But I loved watching her and she represented my town and state wonderfully! It was so nice! She did really well, runner up is nothing to joke about.
I was heading to bed and I got on Facebook for just a minute and the Today show had a picture of Miss Alabama and Miss Connecticut holding hands before they announced who was Miss USA. I clicked on the picture and was confused. The only thing everyone was talking about was that they needed to eat something. Yes, both women are really small but come one! One lady was talking about their BMIs being too low. This is only my opinion, but I can't stand BMIs. Mine is on the higher side, but I'm not as obese as the chart says that I am. It doesn't take into consideration the size of my frame. I know that I need to loose weight, but that is besides the point. What I'm getting at is that more than likely she doesn't know anything about either women, let alone their silly BMI.
Why are we so hard on women? Either they need to go eat something or loose some weight. I'm never been on the smaller side, but I thought all of the ladies were beautiful! What happened to if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all? I know some people were trying watch out for there kids self esteem, but if it's not ok to bash a fuller sized woman why is it ok to do it to a smaller woman?
Sometimes I just want to scream. I get tired of having to deal with everyone and all of the stuff going on and it drives me crazy! I keep everything bottled up inside and I know that that's not good for me. It's just how I learned how to deal with stressful situations when I was growing up and let me tell you it's a pretty hard habit to break.
Stress is not good for anyone, but especially bad for women with PCOS. It can make us turn to comfort food which can make our insulin levels rise, we produce more cortisol which makes our insulin levels rise and progesterone levels decrease. Two things that we don't want.
Part of this post is to hopefully help y'all and me both. I've been trying to get back into college for either Occupational Therapy Assistant or Sonography (Ultrasound) and I'm waiting to hear back from the financial aid office! Classes start in about two months and I have no clue if I'm going to have enough grant and student loan money when classes start again. The campus is an hour and a half away and the dorms are already full so if I don't have enough gas money there's no way. So between that, looking for a job, my family, and everything else it's really hard not to freak out sometimes.
Another reason is that I get cold sores when I get stressed. And the last few times that that's happened I've had them not only on my lip, but on my cheek! They itch more than hurt, which I can deal with, but they leave this little patch of scars! Speaking of which, if you get them, too, try taking Lysine! Mine normally last about a week or so, but when I take these it's gone in around four days. Ish.
Ways To Deal With Stress
Ask for a hug or a back rub! Multiple studies have shown that the human
touch can be comforting and can lower stress hormones cortisol,
norepinephrine, and dopamine. You could also get a manicure/pedicure or
get your haircut if a back rub or a hug isn't an option.
Work it out! Exercise in almost any form can act as a stress reliever. Being
active can boost your feel-good endorphins and distract you from
whatever is on your mind. Meditation, yoga, and going for a walk are
other good options.
Have a dog or cat? If I'm upset the first person (well, sorta lol) by my
side is my dog, Charlie. Just seeing those big brown puppy dog eyes of
his and the touch of his fur can make me feel better. I don't know of
anyone who's a better listener and can make me smile like him. And he
doesn't judge me, he just loves me no matter what. Plus, research shows that, when conducting a task that’s stressful, people actually
experienced less stress when their pets were with them than when a
supportive friend or even their spouse was present.
Crank up the music! Sometimes when I get mad I'll get my ipod and listen
to something that'll help me get my anger out. I played trumpet for ten
years, so I love all kinds of music. It doesn't have to have words for
me to connect to a piece of music. Whether it's Linkin Park, The Fray,
Kelly Clarkson, Drum Corps (DCI), Phantom of the Opera, Keith Urban,
Adele, or the Civil Wars, I love music! No matter what kind of mood that I'm in there's some kind of music that I can relate to.
My sister cleans a lot when she gets stressed. If she's in the kitchen cleaning like a mad woman I know something is up. My dad goes outside and works in his garden or mows the yard. One of my former close friends used to go fishing. What I'm getting at is that we all have something that we enjoy and can help us blow off some steam and get our minds off of our troubles.
I hope you find this helpful and if there's anything you know of that I'm leaving please share! Have a good weekend! =)
I saw a couple of PCOS pages on Facebook posting about this trying to help get the word out about it, so I thought I might also. If you're interested all you need to do is go to www.pbrc.edu/pulse
Study Qualifications
Female only
Have an irregular menstrual period
Age: 20-40 years
BMI 25 and above
If you qualify you can be compensated up to $1,500 for participation and all study related expenses will be covered (exercise sessions, medications, and procedures). It's a ten month study and will require multiple trips to Baton Rouge, LA.
I've signed up for consideration and have pre-qualified, so now I just have to wait. When I signed up I thought I would be needed to be there three times for the overnight visits, but I was wrong. I just found out while writing this post that I would need to be there for 30 clinic visits, 3 overnight visits, and 2 screening visits. If I lived closer I would have no problems using the money from the study to use only for my gas and hotel stays, but living in Northeast Alabama I don't think that would cover most of it. Oh well, maybe on of the hospitals in Atlanta or Birmingham will do one soon!
Like many of you, I like Facebook. I'll get on there and comment on my friends status and pictures, but what I like the most is using it to connect with other women that have PCOS and finding new ways to deal with it. Below you'll find all of the pages and groups that I follow. Do you know of a page or group that I'm missing out on?
Growing up I always loved makeup. If I went into Walmart I would always come out with some eye shadow, lipstick, or a beauty magazine. I tried my best, but I was never really happy with how my makeup turned out. I have hooded eyes and never understood why I couldn't see my eyeshadow like everyone else could. I wore glasses and it seemed like my eye makeup was making my eyes look smaller and I didn't know why. These were some of the issues that I was having.
A few years ago I discovered Sephora. Oh my gosh! I was like a kid in a candy store! lol But I still had the same problems! It didn't matter if I had the most expensive makeup if I didn't know what to do with it. I had gotten better, but something still wasn't right.
I can't remember what I was looking for on YouTube, but I ended up finding TiffanyD. Her videos pretty much changed me right then and there. Any video she posted I watched it. After a while I started to branch out and find other makeup gurus to learn from and I feel so much better equipped now. I feel like I know so much more about each brand and their products and how to use them!
Dealing with PCOS isn't always easy. With all of the facial and body hair, skin issues, and hormones I normally feel less than a woman. Some of my friends and family pick at me about all of the makeup that I have, but they don't get it.This is part of how I deal with my PCOS. I might have to deal with all of this extra crap, but I feel a lot better about myself thanks to these videos!
TiffanyD, EmiyNoel83, ShadesofKassie, Mrslolalynn GlamLifeGuru, MakeupByAlli, MakeupGeek, and Jaclyn Hill I know you'll probably never see this, but thank you! I feel more confident and have been changed for the better! I'll never be able to repay you!
I don't know if I ever will, but I've been thinking about starting my own channel. Not just to talk about makeup, but to try and bring more awareness to PCOS. I've looked on there and I've found a channel or two that talks about it, but not many. I hope to change that! What do y'all think?
You know the bed feels warmer
Sleeping here alone
You know I dream in colour
And do the things I want
You think you got the best of me
Think you've had the last laugh
Bet you think that everything good is gone
Think you left me broken down
Think that I'd come running back
Baby you don't know me, cause you're dead wrong
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
What doesn't kill you makes a fighter
Footsteps even lighter
Doesn't mean I'm over cause you're gone
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger
Just me, myself and I
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
You heard that I was starting over with someone new
They told you I was moving on over you
You didn't think that I'd come back
I'd come back swinging
You try to break me, but you see
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
What doesn't kill you makes a fighter
Footsteps even lighter
Doesn't mean I'm over cause you're gone
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger
Just me, myself and I
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
Thanks to you I got a new thing started
Thanks to you I'm not the broken-hearted
Thanks to you I'm finally thinking about me
You know in the end the day you left was just my beginning
In the end...
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
What doesn't kill you makes a fighter
Footsteps even lighter
Doesn't mean I'm over cause you're gone
[2x]
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger
Just me, myself and I
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
Food as therapy for the excessive hair growth and acne of PCOS?
Absolutely. One study reported that women who stayed on a low calorie
diet for at least six months lost weight and reduced Insulin Resistance.
Their levels of SHBG increased, which reduced the amount of free
testosterone in their blood. As expected, the women reported a reduction
in the severity of their hirsutism and acne symptoms.
Hey everyone! I have a couple bottles of got2b's POWDER'ful volumizing styling powder to giveaway! I'm a BzzAgent and this was the campaign I joined. If you're not familiar with them they ask some basic questions in a few surveys and then after a little while they ask if you want to join one of their campaigns. They have all different kinds of products, but this is what I was asked to review. These were sent to me and I have not tried them yet, so this is not a review. They sent me three full-sized bottles, one for myself and two to giveaway. If you're interested in one just leave me a comment on here and we'll go from there!
If you've been reading my blog then you saw that I've been trying to get a PCOS support group started in my area. I haven't really had much luck, but a few women have sent me messages asking if it was going to be online. Since it looks like there is a few women that I'm connected with that seem to need an outlet I figured I would give it a shot!
I started getting everything start up yesterday. All you have to do is set up a profile, which is free! I had a little trouble when I was trying to get started. When you're filling out your information don't use the enter key until you have everything filled out. Click here to go check it out!
I know that there are support groups that are already started, but most of them that I find already have a bunch of people in them. I'm not saying that that's a bad thing at all, it's just not for me. I've always seemed to do better with smaller groups. That's just me though. =)
I love makeup. I buy tons of it even though I have enough to last me all year! lol I can't use it everyday because my skin will break out some, but what really bothers me are the styes I get on my eyes. But anyway. =)
I was on Facebook yesterday morning and saw EmilyNoel83 (from YouTube) had made a post letting everyone know about theBalm haveing a 50% off sale. The server ended up crashing and they posted this:
We are so sorry our website crashed! The
great news is, our 24-hour 50% off celebration has not yet begun!
thebalm.com didn’t expect such a huge influx of orders and we
underestimated the number of our dedicated fans while overestimating the
capacity of our server. We’re currently upgrading our server and are
told that once it’s functional we’ll be able to accommodate everyone. We
are expecting this to be within the next few days and we will announce
our launch here, on Facebook. Any orders placed today that received a
confirmation email will be honored. If you have any questions please
email us at info@thebalm.com! Thanks again for your patience and understanding.
Every once in a while you will see them on Hautelook for a pretty good price. I received a mini size of their Mary Luminzer highlighter in my Birchbox last year and I love it! The last time they were on Hautelook I ordered the Nude'tude palette is it's really good, too! Both products are really creamy, pigmented, and will last me a very long time. If you're not familiar with theBalm here's a video from YouTube reviewing some different products from them.
And here's Emily's review! She is awesome if you haven't seen her before, you should check her out!
Some other good sales I've seen online:
Groupon has a voucher for NuMe's flat irons and curling wands. There's also a discount code for over $100 off online. Whether or not you can use them together, I don't know.
We don't really have much going on today. When I say "we" I mean me and my sister. My parents left for Tennessee Friday and am coming home today. We don't really do much for Easter. Sometimes we'll go over to my Grandmother's house and eat lunch together, but I haven't heard anything about it this year. Well, I'm gonna get off here. It's still kinda early! Happy Easter y'all!!!
So, last month was make it or break it for the support group I was hoping to start. It was a bust. I kind of that it was going to be, because my friend and I didn't receive any calls or messages from women asking about it.
I got to the library and my friend, Amanda, met me there and she brought a friend with her. While I am happy that I tried and did reach out to another woman, I have to admit I was a little disappointed. I posted flyers all over town, shared it on Facebook, made a page on meetup.com, and was supposed to have the support of the local radio stations (I never heard them mention it on air) and it didn't seem to matter. Amanda had met some women that PCOS and was telling them about the support group, but they weren't interested in coming. Oh well, life goes on.
Last week I received an e-mail from meetup.com telling me that there was a woman that was added to my group. She doesn't live in this area, but I'm going to send her a message and try to figure out how I can be there for her.
Then, Amanda texted me telling me that she had received a message from woman who had seen one of the flyers I had posted and was wondering when our next meeting was! lol I think we're going to meet next week at one of the restaurants and get something to eat. Maybe in time we will get a few more ladies.
My dad works at a food distributor here in town and he brought home this bag of fish breading that his boss told him to try. Dad bought some catfish, broccoli, coleslaw, and some pasta salad. Let me tell you...that was the best meal that I've had in a while! I baked the fish and broccoli (well, roasted it I guess) and dad fried some of the catfish for my mom and my sister. I can't get over how good it was! I didn't miss it being fried one bit. I've had baked fish before, but nothing as good as this. He bought frozen fillets, so all we had to do was put them in the microwave to defrost them, dip them in a little milk and then the breading, and then into the oven for about 20ish minutes at 400. You have to try it! I'm sure you could use it on other types of fish and would be good on a night that you don't want to do much to. If you can't see it in the picture it's Colonel Jim's Seasoned Fish Breading. I wonder if they have some for chicken...
The past few days have been kind of hard. One of my good friends from high school had her two year old little boy's viewing tonight. He was diagnosed with posterior urethral valves (PUV) when Stefanie was 17 weeks pregnant. Bronson started dialysis when he was ten days old and waited for a kidney transplant until about a month ago when he got his transplant. As I was getting ready for the viewing tonight I started thinking about all of the things Stef has been through and it got me thinking. Yeah, I know having PCOS sucks, but look at what they went through. The doctors told Stef to abort the pregnancy when they found out Bronson had PUV. They prayed about it and decided that wasn't for them. Her husband had also been sick and they also have a daughter that's around seven. I may not have a child of my own and my other symptoms may get worse, but I'm still alive. I've taken things for granted, haven't told people how I felt about them, haven't persued my dreams because it kinda scares me, and the list goes on. It's time for a change! "The tragedy of life is not death, but what we let die inside of us while we live." Norman Cousins
I went grocery shopping today and saw some cherry juice. I had been meaning to pick some up after I read an article online about tart cherry juice helping with inflammation. I saw some at my health food store, but I didn't feel like paying $7.99 for it. So, today when I found some I thought I was in luck until I looked at the ingredients. Apple juice from concentrate is the main ingredient. Needless to say, I put it back.
I'm not saying that buying this would have been awful for me, but it wasn't what I was looking for. Just because a product seems like it's a healthy choice doesn't mean that it is.
I miss the days when I could just shave my legs and it was no big deal. It seems like one day my skin just decided to turn on me. A few hours after I shaved my legs looked like they had hives all over them. I changed razors and shaving cream. I tried pretty much anything I could find, but I eventually decided on Aveeno Active Naturals Therapeutic Shave Gel and Gillette's Venus razor. They seemed to work together pretty good together until about six months ago. I finally got tired of it and asked at the health food store where I bought my progesterone cream at if they had any suggestions. Boy, I'm glad that I did!
I thought that I had bought some lotion, so when I got home and found out that it felt like sunblock I was pretty skeptic. lol I looked on the back of the bottle and saw the directions saying it was a shaving cream and felt really silly. But, I tried it out last night and I love it! I don't have any razor burn! *Knock on wood*
It was a little expensive, $7.99, but that's for 11ounces. Make sure you don't have too much water on your skin, it doesn't lather very well. I didn't get the closest shave, but it was been pretty cool here today and I went outside in my pjs, so I'm sure that's part of it. If you see Kiss My Face's moisture shave give it a try! You can buy it online here, and they also have the smaller ones if you want to try that one first. Hope this helps!
When you try your best but you don't succeed When you get what you want but not what you need When you feel so tired but you can't sleep Stuck in reverse And the tears come streaming down your face When you lose something you can't replace When you love someone but it goes to waste Could it be worse? Lights will guide you home And ignite your bones And I will try to fix you And high up above or down below When you're too in love to let it go But if you never try you'll never know Just what you're worth Lights will guide you home And ignite your bones And I will try to fix you Tears stream down your face When you lose something you cannot replace Tears stream down your face And I Tears stream down your faceI promise you I will learn from my mistakes Tears stream down your face And I Lights will guide you home And ignite your bones And I will try to fix you
