Friday, February 22, 2013

OOOOH LA LA!

Some days I swear I feel like a busted can of biscuits that not even the dog would sniff at, and other days I wake up and feel like the sexy fairy must have had their way with me while I slept. Today is the latter. I feel FIERCE! 
With that in mind I'm going to share a recipe for a super sexy feeling sugar scrub that I tried today that made my skin feel amaaaaazing! I seriously can't stop rubbing my own legs. (that sounded wrong) Oh well. I used to buy a container of sugar scrub from places like bath and body works for $15.00, or when I was on my organic products kick I actually paid $38.00 for a container. What was I thinking??? 
Since I was feeling so good, I decided to make myself look the part. Yes, I actually shaved my legs (You're welcome honey!) Before I did that though, I scrubbed from head to toe with this lovely concoction.
Here's how I made it:
1/2 cup of plain white sugar
1/2cup of turbinado (coarse brown) natural sugar
Enough extra virgin Olive Oil or Coconut Oil to moisten the sugars.
Get in the shower and moisten skin with warm water. Scrub from head to toe taking extra time on rough spots like the knees, elbows, ankles and feet. Rinse off. You will be so moisturized that shaving your legs will be awesome. Trust me. Shower as normal and blot dry your skin. I used a very light moisturizer while I was still damp and it's been 4 hours and my skin still feels super sexy! This sugar scrub kicked the store bought stuff so hard it's not even funny. I'm guessing it cost me about $0.50 to make enough for 2 full body uses? I'm in love! 
So people, it's friday. Go home, get in the shower, scrub up, and get your sexy on!
-Sonya

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Men vs Women and a Dirty......



Has anyone had the misfortune of having a guy workout/diet with you? It has to be one of the most deflating experiences I have ever come across in my life... EVERY TIME! Here's why in a nutshell. My husband was overweight = I was overweight
My husband starts a new job = I start a workout
My husband starts eating like me regularly = I cut back even further than usual
My husband loses 40 POUNDS! = I lose 10
What is that?!?!?! He says that he gains it faster than I do. Excuse me.... (Sorry honey if you're reading this) I DON'T CARE!! If I could take it off that fast I wouldn't mind being a fatty over Christmas!!! Don't give me that crap. My fat has taken up residence like a bunch a hillbilly squatters. SMH

Now I bet some of you started reading this because you saw men vs women and the word dirty mixed in there. For those of you that did....HA HA! Gotcha you filthy bastards! LOL The "dirty" thing we are going to be tackling is my oven!
Oven cleaners are one of the most toxic horrible cleaning products that you can purchase. I have been wondering for quite a while what I could possibly use to clean my oven that works without using the traditional cleaners. You will not believe it, but the best oven cleaner is already in your house. Baking soda and peroxide. I forgot to take pictures of the process so I recreated it with an awful 6 year old baking sheet that I have. Note that the baking sheet is one of the "dark" ones to begin with, but I used dishwashing liquid and I SCRUBBED this pan before I started so it could be as clean as I could possibly  get it to demonstrate my point.

I started by spraying the pan with the peroxide. Shake on a layer of baking soda and one more spritz on top for good measure

I went about my business and came back in about an hour and wiped it with a sponge. LOOK AT THAT! This was AFTER I scrubbed it! It worked just like this in the oven. You're still going to need some elbow grease for tough spots but it definitely works well. I would recommend doing it right before you go to bed and tackle it in the morning. Just make sure you use enough peroxide. Goodbye harmful chemicals and turning on the self cleaner (which by the way releases toxic chemicals into the air because of high temps and the oven coating) YUCK!
Just when you thought my blog had taken a turn for the soap opera lane, I'm back with something useful! Now go clean your nasty ovens this weekend!

Stay healthy my friends!
-Sonya


Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Mom, PLEASE!

It has come to that point in my life where I FINALLY have to come to grips that I am no longer "young". Don't laugh! This is really hard for me! LOL I was always the youngest of all of my friends, and I had my first kid at 21, so I was always referred to as a young mom. I always felt like one of the young people.... because I WAS! Lately there have been some incidents (the last one was this morning) that have firmly slapped the reality of my age square across my face. You see, in my head I was about 23. I never really moved on from there. Why did I need to? 23 was fine. But here is what finally dawned on me:

1:  My baby sister is of legal drinking age in the continental United States. WTF? REALLY?
2:  I recently looked at a picture of myself at 21. UGGGHH. Who was that hungry chick?
3:  99% of my friends have spouses and kids. When did that happen? Weren't we just partying?
4:  I started training for a marathon and my body reminded me that i am no longer 21 (OOOOWWW)
5:  Stupid little girl in TJ Maxx called me an "older woman" Little shit
6:  I don't (or at least rarely) get carded at the grocery store when buying wine. (Shut up Cindy)
7:  My daughters are starting to get embarrassed by me. Me!! I used to be cute! It's all their fault!!

On that note, this morning, I went through the normal routine of getting the kids fed and and ready for school. When it was time to go, I threw on a sweater/coverup over my tank top and my ugly but warm and fuzzy boot slippers and headed to the car. Let me explain. I had NO INTENTION of getting out of the car.
I let the girls off and the curb and waved goodbye. I realized as soon as I was about to pull off that one of them had left their lunch bag in the backseat. I pulled to the side, grabbed the baby and ran after them. I was calling after them so I could catch them before they got in the doors. My oldest daughter turns around... and I saw it... EMBARRASSMENT! I got up to where they were and she whispered: Moooooommm, PLEASE! I was like WHAT?!?! She said you're in your slippers and you were yelling our names, and those shorts are really short!! (Did I mention that I had on my Duffy's love Shack short shorts circa 2002?) LMAO! I'm not even going to mention the pile of hair that was haphazardly knotted on the top of my head. *_*
Never to be done again!
What a blow. My daughter will be 7 in March. She's too young to be embarrassed by her mom!! I felt so bad, but it's all kind of hilarious at the same time. What a way to come to grips with reality. I'm going to go comb my hair and try out a new chemical free oven cleaning method. I'll let you know about it tomorrow!
-Older and wiser Sonya

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Messages

Hello everybody! I know it's been a little while but, I'M BACK!

I have some tips and recipes stored up that I'd like to share but I'll start on that tomorrow.
Today, I need to get something off my chest and I hope you don't mind that I share it with you.

As you know, I've recently started running with the intention of doing a half marathon next year. Up till now I haven't been completely honest with everyone concerning the REAL reason I am so determined to get this done.
It has been 12 years since my mother died of a massive heart attack at the age of 52. I never had a chance to really grieve in the way I should have. That's not true, I had the chance, but I never let myself. I was 17. I chose to deal with her death by drinking myself into numbness and partying until I couldn't remember what I was so sad about. When that stage ended, (thank God) I made myself BUSY. I got married, had 2 kids back to back and was working full time. Then after that, it was the accident with the concrete truck and the lawsuit and therapy that ensued that took over my mind. AFTER THAT, it was the move to Florida and a new baby.
 It seemed that I always had something that I could channel my energy into that allowed me to not deal with that locked door that held all the feelings of my mother's passing inside.
In the past 6 months I haven't been able to keep that door as closed as I once did. It started with thinking of her more, then the fact that she never saw my kids, and eventually to drawing parallels in our lives. I was overweight and unhappy about it, and starting to get panicky about leaving my kids the way she left us. Yet, I did nothing about it. Yes, I eat pretty healthy, especially in comparison to the way my family ate back in the days, but I was NOT HEALTHY.
On January 28th of this year, I posted a picture of my mom and I in 1989  on my facebook page. In this picture, I was the same age my oldest daughter is now; 6, and it gnawed at me. It really and truly bothered me. I became irate at the fact that she was gone, I was mad that she didn't do anything to avoid it, and then I took a long look in the mirror and broke down. I was doing the very same thing she was.... nothing. I didn't know what I was going to do about it yet, but God has a way of sending messages loud and clear.
Just 2 little days later, my friend Brandy (out of the blue) asked me if I would consider training for a half marathon with some of our friends next year. There it was, my message. At first I really didn't want to hear it because the first thing that came to mind was how hard it would be for ME to do something like that. I was so terrified. I literally was physically shaking for 2 days after I agreed to do it. I know I said I was scared before, but nobody knew the real reason I was THAT scared. This was what I was supposed to do. I have been told what to do, and it was my decision to go down that path or stay where I was.
I know some people don't believe in "fate" and "messages" and that's fine; but for me it felt real as anything ever has.
This is finally my time of grieving. 12 years late, but it's here. I will shed tears and sweat while I run my grief down. I am no longer locking it up or hiding it away. I am going to cross that finish line so I can do everything in my power to be here when my kids need me the most, I will not abandon them because I refused to try hard enough.
I have started things before, but I always found a reason.. no, an EXCUSE to quit or take it easy. Facing my grief means facing my fears, facing my fears means facing myself. I am the only thing in my way and it's time for me to move.
-Sonya
Griselle Morales-Rivera

Monday, February 4, 2013

Hitting a wall and the freaky eggplant


I'm home and congested! NOOOOO. You have no idea how hard I've been trying to not get sick. I have 2 kids in school bringing home all kinds of germs everyday. Now I have one home with a croup cough and a leaky nosed baby. GREAT. They got me. I have had the sniffles and a cough for 3 days now. Of course this comes just as I've been starting to train for this marathon. So stupid me strikes again. I was so determined to get out there that I tried to go out and train Sunday morning (in the cold) with this cough. I felt great at first; pumping my music and feeling like rocky as he was climbing the steps of the Philly museum. Oh how quickly that changed. I went out ran the first mile, and then hit a big awful wheezing wall of pain. I gingerly hobbled back home and sat in front the TV and waited to drown my pain in Superbowl sangria. I will definitely start listening to my body more. That sucked.

Tonight, I want to share with you another ingredient that used to scare me because quite frankly I didn't grow up with it. I had tried it a few times in the past and was NOT a fan to say the least. I can say now that I am NOT afraid of an eggplant anymore. Here is one of the tastiest healthy baked pastas that I have ever made.
So to make this you have to start with the raw ingredient. The eggplant. This strange purple thick skinned (does not resemble an egg in ANY way) vegetable
*First I peel and slice the eggplant and lay it out on a cookie sheet. 
*Sprinkle the eggplant liberally with salt and let sit for a 1/2 hour to leech out the bitterness. It will actually start to sweat. (The strangest thing ever)

*Rinse and lightly coat in some seasoned whole wheat breadcrumbs. (garlic powder black pepper)
*Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and let the eggplant crisp on the edges.
*Remove the eggplants and let cool. Slice into strips
*In a skillet, toss a half of diced onion, a whole head of minced garlic and saute in extra virgin olive oil Add 2 cans of tomato sauce, a dash of red pepper flakes, black pepper, and italian seasoning. 
* Toss the sauce over prepared vegetable enriched pasta of any kind then mix in the eggplant.
*Place in a casserole dish and top with low fat mozzarella cheese. (If you have low fat ricotta to add it's delish!) 
Serve with a tossed salad and watch it disappear!