Challenge Accepted Day 18

Hello Thursday! The Thursday before Good Friday too! It always surprises me that Americans aren’t more into Easter. I’m not overly religious or anything either but in Australia, Easter weekend is a big weekend. We have Easter holidays normally and everyone has at least a 4 day weekend. When I was growing up, shops weren’t open on Good Friday, it was like Christmas Day, everything shut down. I know it’s not quite as strict nowadays but it’s pretty close and it’s still a public holiday and a lot of people use their 4 day weekend to go camping or visit relatives, it’s a huge weekend on the roads in Australia! Yet in America everyone goes to school on Good Friday, there’s no Easter Monday. Just different. Now in saying that, my eldest daughter actually does have the day off but her little sister doesn’t! How crazy is that? Two schools run by the same people yet they can’t agree on their days off! Madison has a half day at least, but Spring break for them begins on April 11th (not sure how the blog’s going to go during that crazy week!
Ok, so last night I went to the dentist. My jaw aches on a regular basis and I’ve been told I have what was originally called mandibular jaw dysfunction but is now known as Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ). I thought that was why my teeth started hurting so much the other day but unfortunately it isn’t. The dentist took an X-ray of one side of my mouth only, “Let’s start there,” he said, and sure enough there was something there. He removed my amalgam filling (I had been to him before and he suspected something was going on underneath the amalgam fillings in all my double teeth) and sure enough there was a huge cavity! Let me give you some background information; when I was about 12 or so, my family’s then dentist told my parents I had very deep grooves in my double teeth (also known as pits and fissures) and he wanted to go ahead and fill them to protect them from cavities – obviously sealants weren’t being widely used in Australia at that time. Sure enough, he filled every molar tooth with amalgam (silver) filling. Now, here I am however many years later and it looks like cavities have gotten under all of those amalgam fillings! He put a temporary filling in this one and thinks it’s safe from needing a root canal but only just because it’s been caught in time. Who knows what hellish nightmare all the others are hiding underneath the amalgam fillings put in their to prevent cavities! Right now I’m not allowed to chew on my left side until I can get back to see him next Friday to put in the permanent inlay. And that’s the plan for all of my double teeth – remove the amalgam, hope nothing any more sinister is hiding in there, replace with inlays. I just want it all to be done! I’m not a huge fan of the dentist, I’m a bit cranky no dentist has mentioned this could be a possibility to me before now and I am not looking forward to this treatment over the next couple of months! Boo! 
The chewing though has reinforced the juicing thing today. I thought that it was s sign that this is what I’m meant to do. But I am a tad hungry and I will be eating dinner tonight. Sorry. Juice all day but dinner with the family tonight. Ally is having her first friend over for a sleepover and she is so excited. But it does mean I’m going to actually have to cook and not just give my kids some crappy food because Mummy’s only doing liquids! 😜 the plan is for a yummy Chinese noodle salad, a fresh salad as well as chicken, probably done in a light breadcrumb. My kids love it when I make homemade breaded chicken so it’ll be good I’m sure. Nonetheless, I’m not strong enough to cook that and not eat it! 
Since I have written this, we have had dinner and I am feeling very full and very blah! I was hungry and I ate too much! But I will say this, my exercise routine this morning was great! I took my dog for our first run through the rice paddies. It was great! She loved it and I much prefer to run outside instead of on the ‘dreadmill’. When I first heard talk of rice paddies, I wasn’t quite sure of what to expect, but we are talking paved paths that are better than most of the roads here in South Korea. It was a really nice run except when Luna ripped my arm off trying to get to some ducks, but otherwise, all good. I got back, had my juice/smoothie, said goodbye to the husband then started T25 Cardio. It went reasonably well, basically there are two boxes you can check after each workout: 

Barely made it

Nailed it

I was somewhere in between the two whereas last week, I was definitely in the ‘barely made it’ category. It feels good to be finally getting somewhere even from a fitness point of view, though I do feel like my body is changing, I know, yesterday I was all negative, but today it feels like things have changed.
I looked at my skin this morning and I honestly started seeing a difference! Yay! I’m not sure if you can see it yet in the photo but I could see it in the mirror and it was like a breathe of fresh air! At last my skin is starting to look better. I have really been consistent with using the Redefine regimen combined with Amp MD, the Macro Exfoliator once a week and Acute care as per directions. It is actually starting to show so I cannot wait to see the results in 42 days! 
  

Now onto the juicing side of it, I used whatever I had in the cupboard, there was no diet that I followed and I used my Magic Bullet to combine it all rather than a juicer. My first juice was a mix of strawberries, kiwi, a lady finger type banana (grown locally and wonderful), some honey, chia seeds and cranberry juice. It was lovely after my run but before my T25 workout! Not filling yet enough to ensure I had energy to do it. 
  

The second drink I had, I guess these are more like smoothies than juice, but the second one was really interesting. A little chunky but still good. I just threw pieces of carrot, celery, strawberry, banana and kiwi into the bullet and mixed it all together with OJ and some chia seeds. It was filling and a good lunchtime drink, not too sweet but sweet enough.  
  
Well, today has been interesting, rewarding, somewhat eye opening when it comes to observing adults and their interactions (I know I haven’t shared any of that but the mystery shall have to remain)! Anyway, the best thing today though has to be that it’s my nephew’s 10th birthday! He is such a trooper and I love him to pieces. Happy birthday Taylor and I hope you all have a sensational day or night!