Pinterest & Smart TVs, who knew?!?

Homeschooling 2 kids can be difficult.  Then, you being a cool mom, you make Pinterest homeschool boards of all these things to learn and do and YOU NEVER INCORPORATE IT!  I have been that mom.  I just started incorporating Amazon Prime & Netflix into our homeschooling just the previous year.  Today, the lightbulb went off!    Jessica, PULL UP PINTEREST ON THE SMART TV !!!

I was able to go through several presidential pins/pages from my "History & Culture" board!  The kids thought it was pretty cool, too! 

Moms, this is a game changer! Its even simpler if your phone and TV are the same brand.  Kids don't want to sit at the table all day or look at a book.  When you can get comfy on the couch and click through your lessons/discussions and transition to videos within seconds; you can see they are actually learning!

I own 3+ smart TVs for more than 3+ years and I just connected the dots, TODAY!

Try this approach out and let me know how it works!

Life Changes

I can't believe that I have let a whole year and a half go by and not actually update this thing!  My life is so different now! 

Here are the things that I am doing differently: eating, teaching, relationships, I moved my mother in, and oh I am back in school!  I enrolled in a local tech school to work on my RN since they accepted all my previous credits. 

My PCOS is still being managed very well and I decided last May to have a partial hysterectomy.  I wasn't going to have another baby and I run a higher risk for endometrial cancer, so I got it out of there.

As my life changes, I am making a commitment to myself and my girls to be there and present.  I am trying the same for this blog.  There is so much that I want to share with the world and I hope to share and inspire just as I have been.

Peace & Love,

Jessica

I am slack!

So sorry!  I haven't posted in over a year.  I tend to post directly to facebook and instagram now days.  Check me out at https://www.facebook.com/reinventionat30/  or my instagram.  Tootles!

Insomnia. ugh!

     Since it is almost 4am, I thought I would get a little bit festive with my font and swap it up. 

     It has been sooooooooooooooo long since I have been able to go to sleep at a normal time and wake up before noon.  My husband wakes up between 5am & 6am and most mornings I am greeting him with a goofy grin and telling him to get up.  These hormones have got to straighten out sometime.  Damn PCOS!!!  It seems as one symptom starts to go away another develops.  I have been dealing with the sleepless nights for about 3 weeks now.
    The earliest I wake up on my own is around 11am.  Its a good thing that I rearranged the kitchen for the girls a month ago.  They are at the age where they can fix basic food for themselves without my assistance. This was mainly aimed at my oldest who you would think was raised by a share cropper in the early 1900s and worked his kids in the fields.  This child is on farm time!   She would wake me up before 8am wanting me to feed her or do whatever.  So now, everything that she needs is at her fingertips and she feeds herself.  It has definitely been a blessing since all of this insomnia has arose.
      Occupying my time late at night is a chore.  Since I am self proclaimed "domestically challenged" I will not partake in any cleaning.  I am normally talking to my 7 year old until 2/3ish who is the night owl and she will finally conk out around 3:15.  Then, I will move to my bed if not there already and see whats on tv.  I have recently gotten back in Law&Order:SVU & Criminal Intent.  Its great when I can watch it all night.  So, tonight I decided to work on the blog some.  Here I am!
     Ooooh!  Funny story from my all night tv watching.  We have Twilight Breaking dawn Part 1&2 on our dvr.  So, I watched both a few nights ago.  My husband woke up, looked at me and the tv and went back to sleep.  About 45 minutes later, he started making these weird faces, moans and held his hand up like he was testifying in church.  I busted out laughing so hard!  it was so hilarious.  My outburst scared him awake.  Well, he then went back to sleep.  he told me the next day that he had crazy dreams about vampires chasing after him all night.  Love it!
     Earlier I mentioned that when one symptom seems to lessen another will appear.  The symptom that I am talking about is my weight/insulin sensitivity!  Just the past week, I have noticed that my midsection is slimming.  Today, I noticed that I have lost a back roll!  YES, I LOST A FULL BACK ROLL!!!  That is huge news and a victory for any woman.  In a future post I will talk about the new supplement that I am on that I believe has helped with this. 
     In addition to the supplement that I take twice a day, I am drinking at least 2-5 cups of hot tea a day.  Now, my cups of tea are huge and could be considered 2 cups in one.  I drink a variety of teas and also mix my teas together at times for new flavors.  I drink spearmint for testosterone, green tea for all its wonderfulness and dandelion root for detox.  I have mixed all 3 of those together because dandelion by itself makes me gag. I also like the sleepytime teas at night with my girls.  
     Tea drinking is a tradition that I started with my yia yia and she started my girls on it a few years ago.  It was so funny to hear a 4 year old ask for hot tea!  Due to how I live my life and what I allow the girls to have, my yia yia has made a few adjustments to what mixes with their teas, but they all love it!  We normally share a cup of tea when we first start our school work in the afternoons now. 
     It is now 4:05am and I hear my little one laughing at the Disney channel.  She is normally out by now.  Just called her in hear and she reported that her oldest is asleep.  When I informed her that it was after 4, she did what looked to be a tribal dance and declared that it was almost 7.

Here is to eventually going to sleep!

This whole stay at home mom thing...

     I can remember being a teen and saying that I COULD NEVER be a stay at home mom.  I wanted a career and my me time.  I was strongly independent.
     Once I had children,  this idea of staying home was even more undesirable to me.  I was the mom, I needed a break/vacation from it and the house.  How could I be at home all day with these kids.  I would have NO LIFE? 
     Forward seven years.   My PCOS is making work difficult and I just was needing a change, but what that was I had no clue.
     So, after reluctantly putting my kids in public school Chloe was having issues.   She was in second grade.  Her teacher would barely communicate with me.  She suggested that Chloe had some form of adhd and needed meds.  TEACHERS CAN SAY THAT!  I was unaware of that at the time.  She went on to say my child was in lala land, had no clue what was going on, but then said Chloe would  give non verbal clues to let her know that she knew the answers.  Which is it lady?
     I had Chloe tested by a top child psychologist in our town.  We did an interview together.   They saw that my Chloe could understand and use sarcasm very well and couldn't be tricked.  The child had me wanting to crawl under the couch at times.  She also did a play test and paper test.
     A week later, we received the results.  Chloe came back with that she was gifted,  her IQ higher than previously tested at and she needed to be in 4th grade by the public school standards she was in.  I was so relieved, but upset at how this teacher tried to write my child off and suggested to repeat the first grade.
     In that moment, I decided to homeschool Chloe while working full time.  I had lots of friends that did it.  I would have a great support system.   Chloe was excited for it.  I was scared as hell.  I withdrew her the first day back to school in January 2014.
     Chloe was so unsure of herself it broke my heart.  She was broken by the environment she was in at public school. She was afraid to make a mistake.  Public school opened my eyes to common core and how screwed up it was.  I made it worse by trying to make homeschool school at home.
     After a month of just tears and agony, we took a break.  I needed to rethink what I had gotten myself I to.  What about my child?  So, we deschooled for the next few months.  Nothing formal, more verbal and on site learning.  I was slowly getting my Chloe back.
     As this homeschool journey was starting,  I began to want to be there all the time. I wanted to raise my kids dull time,  not part time.  I wanted to enjoy every moment.   One day with Chloe, I was talking to her about a math concept and she finally got it.  She lit up like a Christmas tree and was so happy and proud of herself!  I did not want to miss that moment anymore.  I had to be a stay at home mom and homeschool full time.
     I ended up buying a business that I could run absentee owner, but my bosses at the agency didn't see it that way and made me resign.  I sort of had an out of body experience at that moment.   The way I was let go wasn't on the up and up I found out, but I am not a retaliation type person anymore.  God doesn't like ugly and that's all I will say about that.
     So, I was unemployed.   Well, not exactly;  I had this business.  I loved it.  Things were going were going great until my PCOS kicked up ten notches and forcing me on my back along with some unfortunate circumstances that unfolded at the same time leaving me back at square one.
     I am now homeschooling both girls.  This is the second year with both.  We are slowly building a great rhthym.  We are still very non traditional, in my opinion.   I do not buy a big box curriculum.   I tell them,"you have to know math, reading, writing" the rest will fall into place. 
     My support system is smaller than when I started.   I have family talk about me and my children and saying that I am harming their development.   This hurts, but they have no clue. They do not see the progress we are making and the knowledge they are obtaining. If my naysayers would educate themselves on public education vs. What I can facilitate as a homeschool mom, then I would be open for a discussion. Until then, they can kick rocks.
     Right now, we are living life.  I explained that if they wanted to; they could graduate school early.  They like this in theory.   Some days, they will work for several hours to get a lot done and then slack a day.  I do not force the extra work.  It's up to them.
     I am loving being a stay at home mom!  My husband finally supports this move and we are ok.  We are learning to simplify our life and passing it onto our kids.  We are having more family time and that time is also used to educate our children.
     Where do I want this to go?  I want to road school!  Jump in the car/rv and drive this country learning about all it's wonders and experience it with my children. No tuition would ever be able to pay for that experience!

Jess
    
    
      

PCOS is a bit%#! My crazy health journey

     This post is about my journey with PCOS and what I have done in my journey to get to present day.  Its a little long, so grab a mug of tea and get comfy.
     Like I mentioned in my into post, I was officially diagnosed with PCOS (polycyctic ovarian syndrome) about 2 years after the birth of my second child.  I really didn't think much of it, why not?  I wasn't having periods!  Those were always painful for me and I did not miss them at all.  So, around age 29, I noticed that I was really piling on weight.  It did not make any sense.  I ate fairly well and exercised.  Then all of a sudden, I was looking pregnant.  Nothing I did worked.  My doctor was even stumped as to why I was gaining weight.
     Along with the weight, my emotions were ALL OVER the place.  I was sad, distant, withdrawn, basically a nut case.  I was even starting to miss time, forgetting things.  This was really starting to scare me.  One day, I was so overcome by my sadness and despair that I couldn't stop crying.  I called my dad immediately.  He went through my high school depression with me and was the only one that I trusted to "deal" with me.  He came and got me and my girls and took me to his house.  We left the girls with my grandma and went for a drive.  I can't let my girls see me that way.  I felt in that moment that I could not be an effective mother and that made me feel so helpless.  I expressed this to my dad and he reassured me that me asking him for help was a step of strength and not to doubt myself.
     During all of this, my husband is present.  He wasn't the rock and voice of reason that I needed.  He would name my personalities as he experienced my roller coaster of emotions. When I was being a crazy bitch so to speak, he named me Sharon. He is just someone that is not very empathetic.  I do not blame him at all for that.  He dealt with a lot growing up and is still growing to be the full rock that I need.
     So, I called the doctor, made an appointment.  We spoke and I was evaluated.  I was prescribed Zoloft.  At the same time, my best friend at the time going through a divorce was also prescribed Zoloft.  It was reassuring that we were prescribed the same thing and could give the other a pill if we forgot to take them since we worked together.  Soon, I became numb.  I wasn't happy or sad, just existing.  Something had to change.
     At 30, I did what everyone else does when needing life altering answers... I GOOGLED!  I googled pcos and depression.  I came across a website that suggested a gluten free diet.  I read the forum post about how all these women did it and dropped weight.  Many said that they felt awesome.  So, I figured why not?  This is the very start of my whole REINVENTION.
     When I told my husband that I was going to try gluten free, he looked at me like I was crazy!  I went through the cupboard and through away everything with gluten!  If momma was going gluten free, the family would too.  I refuse to cook two separate meals and make more dishes to wash. I started buying gluten free items and experimenting with gluten free pasta.  Pasta is my weakness!  I love love love just about any pasta dish.  Rice pasta is gross!  Its too gummy!  It took about 6 months to find a good blend, but I prefer the pasta blends that have quinoa in them.  Corn pasta is ok.
     In the beginning, I was very strict with gluten.  Within three months, I was able to come off of the Zoloft!!!  I found that gluten triggered my emotions and mood swings.  I wasn't losing weight, but my mood swings were in check without antidepressant medications! So, for the past two years I have stayed about 90/95% gluten free.  The wheatier something is, the more it triggers my mood swings.
     I was feeling better by being gluten free and not having as much inflammation.  I am a full believer that gluten free diets can be a fad and not for everyone, but it has helped me on my journey to managing my PCOS.  As I thought about how I was able to eliminate a pill by diet changes, what else could I do diet wise to help with my symptoms.  Next, I went to label reading and ingredients.
     I starting researching and realized that I needed and it made sense to go as all natural and organic as possible.  SO, as I did when I went gluten free, I rounded up all my pantry items that were not natural ingredients and donated them to a food bank.  I discovered that A LOT of my gluten free items WERE NOT that great after all!  Lots of artificial crap was in them to make them taste good.         This was another battle with my husband who LOVES junk foods!  I started teaching the kids to read labels.  My rule for grocery shopping is if they can't pronounce the ingredient then its probably bad!  This saves us a lot of fussing at the store.  They can recognize artificial colors and will grab a box off the shelf, look at the label, and put it back with a long face, lol!  I do get many compliments from parents watch my kids.  Some do give me the stink eye every now and then, but as I walk by their cart, I cringe by just by looking in their cart and knowing what all those chemicals in their food are doing.
     After my natural and organic food detox began, I was getting less headaches and seeing a decline in some of my symptoms.  I also noticed that Chloe, my oldest child was not having as many emotionally charged outburst.  I tested my theory and let her have junk one weekend and oh my!  I wanted to drink myself to sleep and run away!  Needless to say, I am very vocal about what people give my children.  We have been all natural and organic for a little over a year now.
         In March of 2014, I was introduced to essential oils.  I fell in love!  My inner hippie was jumping for joy!  I was able to replace my migraine medication and kick my morning coffee habit!  I have also replaced ALL over the counter medications!  I was also introduced to coconut oil.  What can I sat about coconut oil?  I put that on EVERYTHING!  I started oil pulling and have taught my kids to as well.  I have been able to heal cavities with oil pulling and essential oils.
      If going all natural with food has done this, what about the rest of my body?  Around October of 2014, I went natural with toothpaste, deodorant, hair care and dish & laundry detergent, cleaning products. I love the rock crystal deodorant!  The first one that works and I do not smell like a goat!  I definitely have seen a dramatic change since doing this.  After a month, I started having some cramping and what I call "mini cycles".  It was like my body was waking up!!!  My memory was getting a little better.
     This brings us up to present day.  Just over the past few months, we have been more strict about the meats we buy and as much organic as possible.  I refuse to buy packaged sandwich meat with preservatives and so on.  My husband is FINALLY on board with buying grass fed, no hormones/antibiotics.
     The past year has been hard on me.  Where I have made great progress, I have had some set backs.  I am starting to get what the doctors call "hormone surges".  My body is over making what I wasn't making and it was throwing my body out of whack.  Imagine have vertigo, amnesia and some affects of a stroke and not having any strength.  Kind of like that.  I was hospitalized a few times through out the year.  Right now, I am having problems sleeping and dealing with extreme fatigue at times. I am currently waiting on test results from my thyroid and for vitamin deficiency.  Depending what the results say, we may need to test for narcolepsy since it does run in my family.
     When my blood work comes back, my sugar, cholesterol and all of that comes back textbook perfect!  This is what makes each case of PCOS so hard to treat.  Each woman who deal with this has different symptoms and reacts to therapies differently.  I am currently taking a water pill that blocks testosterone.  It seems to be working.  I am not growing dark hair all over as I was and my mustache is manageable.  Seriously, I just said that.  I also started taking a supplement twice a day a few weeks ago that is suppose to help with my insulin resistance.  I hope to start seeing some results within a few weeks.  I am so tired of looking pregnant.  I have grown to call it my "perma pregnant belly" or "old man gut".

Jess

This is the beginning

Hey y'all!  This is my first post, so it will be a long one, maybe!

My name is Jessica and I am a mother of two girls and wife to an Asian redneck.  Yes, they DO exist!

This blog is about my journey that started right when I turned 30.  I slowly started changing my life and living by my rules, not what others expected.  I am now 32 and so much has changed in just the last 10 months.

I think I will break this up into multiple post in order what I changed in my life.  It will go a little something like this:

• my diet and health views
• my career change
• my children's education
• my career/dream chasing
• my need to refocus
• starting over from scratch

SO... a little more about me and how I got to here.

First and forth most, I am SOUTHERN!  My family is Greek, half of the family is Greek Orthodox and the other is Lutheran.  I attended a Southern Baptist school for 13 years.  How is that for your religious denomination?  And... I married a half Korean who is an Asian redneck!

I was told that I would never have kids(never officially diagnosed).  I would tell guys on first dates that if natural kids were important to them that we should not date.  I got the crazy look, A LOT!  My husband was cool with it.  Well, after a year and a half of dating and being 22 and about  to close on a house, we find out that we are pregnant!  I was scared to death!  What would Jason say?  Oh Lord!  What would my father and grandmother say?  I was scared to death!

Jason's family took the news well and were excited for us.  We were being responsible, we just bought a house walking distance from his grandmother and both had good jobs.  My family, well they tend to dwell on the negative and not the positive.  After three months, my father found out that I was pregnant from a waitress at the local pizza joint.  The pizza joint is actually names The Pizza Joint!  She knew us for years and we were regulars there.  I was ALWAYS there on Thursday night for the $5 beer special on Thursday nights with my friends and the one night that I went and I did not order a beer, she joked that I had to be pregnant and I told her that I was.  NEVER would I had thought that she would say anything to my dad.

My brother(not blood relation, but he was that older brother figure to me/ my dad's best friend)  called me and told me that my dad knew and that he was PISSED!  He said he was going crazy!  I called my dad and he was already pissed that I had moved out, but this put him over.  He was embarrassed by it and just hurt/disappointed.  We didn't speak for another month or so until he found out that I had to be taken to the emergency room.

Fast forward six months later and I think my water is breaking.  I got out of the shower, dried off and I keep feeling wet down there.  So, I stand there and I have a slow drip coming from down there.  I called for Jason and he sees the small puddle forming between my legs.  I tell him that I think my water is breaking.  His response, " Well, we are going to eat first"!  Every Sunday we go eat Sunday dinner at his grandma's around the corner.  Well, I was hungry.  I put a pad on and we had the best lunch!  Grandma made fried chicken, rutabagas, mac & cheese, green bean casserole and the list goes on.  Jason told his aunt what was going on and she called her L&D nurse friend who yelled through the phone for me to go to the hospital.

Sure enough, I was in labor!  I was scheduled to be induced the next morning, but Chloe was on her way.  It was a long night and this child proved to be as stubborn as her daddy.  I never progressed past 4cm and ended up in a c section.  Everyone went into labor at the same time and my recovery room was a makeshift closet.  I was not a happy camper.

Fast forward to August 11, 2007 and Jason and I married.  Two months later, I became pregnant with our second daughter Layla.  Layla was a scheduled c section because I wanted control over the situation.  I wanted time with my baby and privacy unlike my first go round and being a first time mom.

Two months after I had Layla, I started my cycle back.  I did not have another cycle for years.  I was finally diagnosed with PCOS, polycycstic ovarian syndrome.  This disorder/syndrome/disease has reaked all kinds of havoc on my body and is what made me look at my life in a different way.

This is where I will leave off for now since it brings us up to where I started my journey.

Until later...

Jess