Water Challenge Final

Remember when I was going to drink a gallon of water a day?  Yeah... about that.  I didn't.

I DID drink more water than I usually do and I was more aware of my water consumption.  Here's how it went:

I drank a whole gallon or more for the whole first week and probably half of the second week, then I fell off the wagon the second weekend and had a hard time getting back to it.  When I did manage to drink a whole gallon, my feet didn't hurt as much when I woke up the next morning.  When I put my weight on my feet first thing in the morning, I have some pretty intense pain for the first 10 minutes or so.  I'm sure this is from years of torturing them and forcing them in shoes that didn't fit properly or shoes with heels too high.  When I'm drinking enough water like I should, this is a much more manageable pain.  This has been incentive enough to make the effort to drink more water!

The 'small' jug here holds half a gallon of ice cold liquids, but I've been carrying the giant Squatch mug here that hold a whopping THREE quarts.  My goal is to get into a habit of drinking two of the three quart mugs a day, bringing me up to a gallon and a half a day.  I don't work in the heat or sweat very much so I'm not concerned about washing away all of my electrolytes.  I've read that you should drink one ounce for every pound you weigh, so I'd be pretty close with my 192 oz per day average.  I have yet to actually drink two whole mugs in a day, but I'm finishing one and starting a second most days.   I really do feel better now that I'm drinking more water, you should try it!

Warning:  my face did break out more for about a week, I assume it's because I was flushing out toxins.  If you up your water intake, don't be surprised if this happens.  It did clear up quickly.  Now I'm only noticing breakouts if I don't drink enough water for a couple days.

How much water do you drink?

Reshaping it All by Candace Cameron Bure

Do you know what happened to DJ Tanner after Full House?  She got married, had kids, and is living her life for the Lord.  In her book Reshaping It All she talks about her struggles with weight and body image.  This is an issue for those of us not living in a spotlight, I'm sure it's even more difficult when your life is under scrutiny from the media and the public!

I wouldn't call this book a diet book.  It doesn't have breakdowns for calories in and calories out or give you a list of foods you should or shouldn't eat. It does give practical advice for focusing your mind on God's design for your life instead of filling a God-shaped hole in your heart with food.  I liked the format of this book.  At the end of each chapter there was a summary of that chapter and the scriptures referenced, it has a fan letter and her response and Candace shares one of her family's favorite recipes.  I recommend this book as a good read and have downloaded two of her other books including the newest book she wrote about her time on Dancing with the Stars.

Have you read anything by this author?

What did you think?

God, Guns, Grits and Gravy by Mike Huckabee

I've definitely been trying to read outside my comfort zone lately so that I'll have some interesting books to tell you about.  I'm sure you would get pretty sick of me reviewing books about vampires, werewolves and zombies all the time.  I'm usually perfectly content reading Anne Rice or Laurell K Hamilton, but I'm trying to expand my reading horizons and maybe learn something in the process. 

While I'm not super political, I do try to know a few things about government and what is happening in the world.  I tend to get most of my news from NPR rather than TV media as I don't really watch much TV.  I like NPR because it's not just a bunch of short stories crammed in a short time, it's actual stories about some of the people involved in what is going on around the world.  I'm much more likely to understand what is happening if I can hear how it effects people rather than just a bunch of facts and fast paced news.

This time I listened to the audio of Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's God, Guns, Grits and Gravy.  With this title and the fact that he's the governor of the state of Arkansas, you would probably assume he's a conservative.  You would be right in that assumption.

Governor Huckabee talks about the differences between people who live in Bubbleville and people who live in Bubbaville.  Bubbleville is made up of the entertainment, finance and political hubs of this country, Hollywood, New York City and Washington D.C.  Bubbaville is the rest of the country where the regular folks live.  He talks about the major differences in how these two kinds of people think and act and how our country would be so different if Bubbleville actually cared about and listened to the folks of Bubbaville.

I liked this book.  I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5 star rating.  Huckabee had lots of good stories and information in this book, but I did tune out a few times when he got to talking about percentages and facts. Overall I think I probably learned a couple things about how the government was supposed to be set up from our founding fathers and how it's actually being run now.

These days Christians are being portrayed as more of a hate group than anything.  I realize there are many out there who are spouting hate, but the majority of us aren't.  By quoting Biblical facts and Biblical values, we get painted as closed minded people.  Thing is, a lot of the "open-minded" people out there are being very close minded when it comes to religion.  They are trying to force Christians, and probably other religious groups, into sitting down and shutting up while they stand and scream about their ideals.  If we were truly an open-minded country, wouldn't all views be accepted, not just the ones the strong liberals want to shove down our throats?  I hope that my own life reflects the Love of God and makes people want to learn more about God.  I hope that I don't push anyone away from God by calling myself a Christian and acting like something else.  I feel like this was also in the message Governor Huckabee was trying to get across in this book, too.  I probably won't be adding a whole lot of political books to my regular reading, I may try another one down the road sometime.

Have you read anything political that I should read?