"There"

The last couple of weeks since we lost dad have been pretty hard.  Beforehand, even if I didn't talk to him every day, I just had the knowledge that he was "there".  "There" if I needed advice, "there" when I needed to complain about motherhood, "there" just to listen when I needed him to.  Now there's this huge hole in the fabric of my life where dad used to be "there".

I know (and have spoken at times) all the platitudes about how he's in a better place, now he's not suffering, now he's with God, ad infinitum.  And, while all those things might be true, he's still not "there."  And that hurts.  Losing your parents is, unfortunately, one of the pieces of the normal progression of life.  It just is.  And it just sucks.

The manner of my parents deaths has been tough, as well.  My mother died from lung cancer over five years ago.  My dad died from prostate cancer.  Both cancers had spread into their bodies through blood and bone.  The way in which cancer emaciates the body and muddles the mind is horrible. Watching mom didn't seem near as bad, since her mind left long before her body did and she didn't exhibit any outward symptoms of pain.  For dad, the pain was excruciating and he mentally wasn't gone enough except for the last few days to be able to block it. No amount of pain medications seemed to keep him comfortable.  We've all heard the saying that cancer is a bitch.  And she is.  And because of it, I have two parents who aren't "there".

I want to take steps to try to be healthier so that my own girls have a mom as long as possible.  I want to at least attempt to be "there" for them for as long as I can.  I hope I never have to face the bitch, but if I do, at least I'll know that I tried to beat her.

100% Pure Argan Oil by Radha Beauty - Sponsored Post

My family and I received this full-sized sample in the mail of 100% Pure Argan Oil by Radha Beauty.  It's billed as 100% pure and can be used as a moisturizer for dry skin and hair.  Additionally, it comes with this really cool dropper that you can use to control the amount (unlike some open tops where you get half the bottle in one hand). 

I've long used argan oil in my hair to help control the unruly curls, but not for any other uses.  I did try the product in my hair and found that it did help with some of the frizziness that I usually hair.  My husband also helped me use and review this product and here is his take on it.  He states that when used on his hair (extremely curly, coarse hair), it helped to relax the curl and control it some.  He also used it facially, specifically under the eye area where he had a couple of scars and general middle-aged dry skin and fine lines.  When used in this manner, he saw a decrease in the actual scar and a great softening of the area in general.

Overall, this is a great product and we will gladly purchase this again for family use in all manners.  This isn't my first review for Radha products and hopefully will not be the last.  They offer a money-back guarantee on their products if you are not satisfied, but we have yet to have that issue. 

Click here to get yours so that you can begin to see the wonderful results of this product. 

Exercising, Eating Better, and Getting Healthy (Transformation Tuesday??)

So little known fact about me (unless you ask – I’m an open book) is that I had a gastric bypass quite a number of years ago.  I officially lost 205 pounds and have kept all but about 30 of it off.  I went on to have a circumferential body lift (O.M.G! – worst pain ever!) that removed about 18 pounds of skin and tightened a lot of my parts and pieces.  I felt the best I have ever in my life right up until about 2 years ago.  My back went out and I ended up having to have a discectomy and a laminectomy and ever since then my old, aging body is a constant canvas of nagging, little pains. 

I decided that this year I was going to do something more substantial about getting my body and my health back in order.  I promised the wonderful hubs that I would exercise more often, cut out my daily glass(es) of wine, and eat better.  And right up until the great snot-storm of 2015 this past week, I had made a valiant effort toward that goal.  I started the C25K app (WAY modified for my mode of wogging/ jalking) and have been feeling really good.  Although to be honest, this is really more my style of running but I'm sticking to the program.  LOL.

Believe it or not, I don't want to become a runner.  I want to increase my cardio enough to balance out the food changes for maximum weight loss.  After I drop some of the poundage, I'm going to get back into some of the strength training to help out my core, which in turn, should help out the nagging little pains to some degree in my back.

Any other people out there (come on -- I need a response from all two of my readers!) who are embarking on new and healthy things?