Christmas 2021

What a week! So much family, food and fun!! 

After Kiarra’s graduation last week we went to lunch with Jeff’s parents to celebrate her big day. They headed back to Houston and we stayed in Dallas. I’m grateful my kids have Grandparents in their life. It’s times like these that I really miss my Dad. He would be so proud of her, and all his Grandkids.

For the first time ever, we didn’t have our family gift exchange in our home. Since we were already in Dallas for her graduation, we decided to haul everything up there and open gifts at her place. I really love traditions but also like being a little spontaneous every now and then.

Picking up the rental car on Saturday from the Dallas airport was quite the disaster. I had assumed it would the same as picking it up in Houston but I was very wrong. After a call to India, circling the airport multiple times, Jeff being told he needed a mask to get on the shuttle bus, he finally got to the place to get the car. Thankfully they didn’t have any of the Tahoes that we rented and paid for so we got a pretty awesome upgrade (which we needed the space anyway). The only time I miss my suburban is when we travel and when all the kids are home. I loved driving the fully loaded suburban all week. Reminded me of all the good times in mine.

Sunday we loaded up and made the drive to my Moms in Iowa. Leaving from Dallas made the drive SO much easier! It was only 11 hours instead of 15! I didn’t realize how much difference those 4 hours would make. I vote we make this our new tradition.  Mom had dinner ready for us when we arrived and my siblings came over to hang out with us.

After 4 years of growing my hair out, I went to see my cousin on Monday and got it chopped off again. The Rona hair loss caught up to me and it was all falling out😭. I literally have bald spots from losing so much so I thought it would be best to just chop it all off (and save me the heartache of seeing my long hair in clumps). The rest of the day we chilled & played games while the electrician worked in the house. It wouldn’t be a trip to Iowa without getting pizza burgers in Dunlap so we did that before heading to workout that evening.

My siblings and their families came Tuesday evening to celebrate Christmas. Just missing Kenzie (she came up the following day) and Tamia this year. We grubbed, played a few games and then had a really good laugh at the pajama pants my Mom got her grandkids 🎅🏻🎅🏽🎅🏿. 

We mostly chilled Wednesday & Thursday. We played a ton of games and just hung out with family. Jeff and I have both been working so much, this mental break was exactly what we both needed. My Mom, the girls and I went to one of favorite boutiques in Onawa and did a little shopping. We had delicious steaks in Soldier Wednesday night and even though we waited 1.5 hours for our food, it was worth it!!  So so good!! Jayden said it was the best steak he’s ever had!!  Seriously, so fricken good. Thursday night we hit up another favorite spot in Ute but after our server was rude to us, and food was cold/incorrect/took forever, I’m not sure we’ll keep that as part of our tradition. Such a bummer but I’d rather cook myself than be treated that way. I can handle inconsistencies in food but I don’t appreciate and won’t tolerate bad service and bad attitudes. Life is too short.

The tradition continued this year on Christmas Eve, celebrating with my Dads side of the family at my Aunt Loretta and Uncle Russ’s home. Someone had a bright idea to wear ugly shirts/sweaters this year and it was so much fun. Jayden & Taryn already had sweaters so they wore theirs but the rest of us decided to make ours out of old decorations that Mom had😬☺️🙈😅. I highly recommend doing this, it was so fun. 

Christmas Day was pretty chill. Mom & I played cards while the kids watched movies. We cooked another Christmas dinner had more family over for that.

It was great to catch up with everyone but after 12 days away from home, I’m ready to sleep in my own bed again.

Journey to Health, Volume VIII

2020 was an interesting year for my health journey. It wasn’t my best year health wise but certainly wasn’t the worst. 

I will not mention that nasty C word in this blog, we’ve all heard enough about it.

The Struggle

I mentioned in the Journey to Health Volume VII that I was struggling with my blood sugar. It was constantly low and then I would have huge crashes, causing profuse sweating, shakes, dizziness, nausea and confusion. The last thing I wanted to do was constantly eat to try and keep it up. I worked hard to lose this weight, I was not about to gain it all back in one year. I tried different things through out the year and finally came to the realization that there is no one single answer or solution for this issue. I could eat and drink the same thing 2 days in a row, at the same time each day and my blood sugar would be completely different than the day prior. It didn’t make sense. It was frustrating. I was so eager to get to the bottom of it but nothing specific seemed to be working. What worked one day wouldn’t work the next.  There were times it would be good for several days in a row and I’d continue with that pattern and before long, my blood sugar would be super low again. I knew I needed to eat more frequently, there was a time I would go all day without eating so once I started eating more frequently that helped a ton but each day was just a different day.  With my Hashimoto’s disease I have to be careful with following specific diets like Keto or even intermittent fasting.  Anytime I lose or gain weight my thyroid is off as well as my hormone levels. Thankfully, I started taking a few supplements (more about these below)  last year and even with gaining a few pounds my endocrinologist was able to reduce my thyroid medication as well as my hormone medication. This is a huge win in my book. This is due to the changes I made that worked, finding and taking good supplements and using my oils daily. 

Breakthrough

Finally, towards the end of the year, I thought I would try drinking a protein shake each morning.  I did this years ago and not really sure why I stopped. Thinking back, when I did this, I didn’t have trouble with my blood sugar so I started them up again. Sometimes I turn them into a smoothie by adding fruit but most of the time I just drink the shake. This was life changing!!

Protein Shake/Smoothie Recipes I love

My go to daily shake is so simple and just take a few seconds to throw together. It’s dōTERRAs chocolate protein powder, almond milk, 1/2 scoop fiber, 1/2 scoop greens, 1 drop spearmint EO.

If I want to change it up a bit, I will follow one of these recipes.

• dōTERRAs chocolate protein powder, almond milk, 1/2 scoop fiber, 1/2 scoop greens, 1 cup of mixed fruit containing mango, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries & blackberries
• dōTERRAs chocolate protein powder, almond milk, 1/2 scoop fiber, 1/2 scoop greens, handful of spinach, blueberries and pineapple
• dōTERRAs vanilla protein powder, almond milk, 1 drop wild orange EO
• dōTERRAs vanilla protein powder, almond milk, 2 cups of strawberries (or blueberries).

Although I ended gaining abut 10 pounds through out the year, I was glad to of finally found a solution where I could keep my blood sugar under control and feel good throughout the day each day. I will work to drop those 10, plus a few more, whilst maintaining my blood sugar, thyroid and hormones. Praying about a new way forward.

Supplements

These👏make👏my👏body👏 feel👏 good👏. 

Even with gaining 10 pounds, in addition to what I had already gained, I don’t feel bad (and I’m not self sabotaging and feeling guilty about it). I actually don’t feel like I’ve gained anything (thankfully my clothes still fit 😆). When I decided to invest further in my health several years ago I needed to figure out what foods, supplements, essential oils, how much sleep, etc. my body needed to function and work best. Our food is to depleted of nutrients and our body can’t get what it needs solely from food. Good quality supplements are so important to our overall health and immune system.

My daily supplement routine consists of the following: 

• LLV
• Omegas
• Turmeric
• Copaiba
• Vit D
• Vit C
• Ashawaghonda
• Phytoestrogen
• OnGuard+
• Tri-Ease
• Natural Thyroid blend

When I take these consistently, I feel great.  On top of my supplement routine, I also have an oil routine that I follow daily.

Daily oil routine: 

AM - topical

• Balance on bottom of my feet (grounding).
• Frankincense on my forehead and back of hands (I rub it into my forehead with the back of my hands).
• Cheer on wrists (uplifting).
• OnGuard on Botton of my feet (immune support). 
• Thyroid blend on neck (Frankincense, Wild Orange, Lemongrass, Peppermint, Lavender).

AM - diffuse

• 95% of the time I diffuse Wild Orange and Peppermint. 2-3 drops each, depending on the size of the diffuser.
• If I have even the slightest tickle in my throat, cough, headache, any kind of feeling of sickness, we diffuse OnGuard instead. 

As things happen throughout the day, I support myself using the following:

• Jasmin and more Cheer for anxious feelings and stressful situations and/or conversations. 
• Frankincense or InTune on forehead if I really need to focus. 
• Peppermint & Wild Orange in palm of hand and inhale 3 times when needing a boost of energy. 
• Balance on wrists when feeling off.
• Rose over the heart when I'm feeling really unsettled and anxious.
• Forgive over the heart when I'm annoyed and wanting to choke someone.
• Motivate when I need that extra boost to finish a project or cook dinner. 

PM - topical

• Yarrow Pom & Immortelle on face 3-4 nights a week.
• Frankincense on my breasts nightly for cancer prevention. 
• Serenity on my wrists to promote relaxation to sleep. 
• Magnolia on bottom of feet as I crawl into bed to promote relaxation to sleep. 

PM - Diffuse (hello sleep)

• Serenity and spearmint go in the diffuser on my side of the bed 
• Breathe goes in the diffuser on Jeffs side of the bed. 

Our room is not so large that we have to have two, but that’s how we like it. We start these 30 minutes before going to bed. 

PM - Internal (to sleep SOOOO good and wake up rested and ready for the day)

• 1 Serenity softgel
• 1 Copaiba softgel

This may seem like a lot and like it’s time consuming but it’s really quick. It takes just a few minutes here and there, and even if it took longer, it would be worth it because it’s all helping my body in a natural way and worth every minute that I put into it. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. If you’d like to learning more about essential oils and other natural solutions, follow my IG page (thedaileydose__) or my private group on Facebook (The Dailey Dōse).

Oh yea and while we were in Iowa for Christmas we remembered to take our annual phone outside.