Bringing forth your best in all things...even when it looks blank

  
  I usually try to have fun and offer a more relaxed atmosphere in my blog. Today will be a little different. 

  Do you ever have so many ambitions that you don't know where to begin? I need you to understand where I am at in life, what my goals 'possibly' are and why I feel so stuck at this point.

  I vision myself standing in the middle of basically nowhere, looking in all directions trying to decide where and what to do next. Imagine a blank nothing room with no walls, no color, no direction, that is where I am. I try to take a couple steps one way and since there is no sense of direction I cannot tell how far I actually have gone, so I turn and try to go another way but again no sense if i am actually moving forward, sideways or backwards. My ambitions, goals, dreams and wants out of life are currently being pulled in so many directions that I cannot tell if I am progressing in those things or digressing. Its not that I don't have things I want to achieve, its what to go for first and what will bring forth what we need [financially and emotionally] at this moment. It's knowing the next step and knowing where and when to step. Do you get what I am saying? 

  I have things I love to do that have a schedule and I do not have to really consider the next step. For example, I am a support group leader for my one disease. There really is not too much planning besides the schedule of meetings and traveling now and again to seminars. Basically the same thing year after year. There is also the women's ministry I help with. I have been blessed to be the assistant coach of the program for this upcoming round again and although there is ALOT of things that 'pop' up as the program starts, I still know what I will be up against and how to handle the things thrown my way. 

  So what about the things with no schedule, no sense of direction, no nothing....that's where I am in that room. Two businesses, both things I love very much but also two things opposite end of the spectrum. As I weigh out the cons and pros of each business I think I know which one I want to pursue and then something happens that causes me to not take that step forward. It's not fear of the unknown, its the commitment maybe??....but it could also be that thought of failure [which I am NOT scared of since more learning comes through the failures]. So where do I go from here, how do I choose where to pour myself in and where to pull back [for now]?

  Oh and there's one more thing....without giving much information, I am looking into going back to school again for a career path that my Grandmother had once visioned me doing. It's something that has me on the fence too. I had returned to school and completed a degree in 2014 and now I am wanting to go farther and do so much more...but again it weighs on my shoulders and the unknown has me blank faced again. 

  I am certain where I am now and what all I do, is not what I am suppose to do. I cannot hold this many hats along with homeschooling all at once. I need direction, I need to be advised [preferably with a big huge sign] on which way I should go next....it's usually not that easy, although I do pray to God that I am pretty oblivious to 'signs' so he really needs to post the sign on my forehead so I am CERTAIN which way to go! Yes I do take on a lot, yes I have problems telling people no, yes I have goals and want to reach them all. But I know that I cannot do this alone and I also know that I have a specific purpose and maybe NONE of these things are what I am suppose to be or do but it's setting me up for something bigger and better.

  For now, I will continue to pour myself into each thing he has called me to do and pray that my route becomes a little more clear with each step I do dare to take.

Thanks for reading and allowing me to be apart of your life! 

Blessings,
Aimee

Tattoos are forever....WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES BELOW YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

Good morning! Happy New Year! I am working to get back into a routine, this time of the year can really get away from a person if you are not careful. I cannot believe January is almost gone.

So last year I began the process of having a tattoo removed. I wasn't really planning on ever doing something like this, however a well known local vein/spa institute purchased a high end laser for tattoo removal and they were looking for candidates to begin 'practicing' on. I know, I know, why would I want to be one of the first at this place to be 'practiced on?' Here's the deal, the place is pretty high end and the credentials of these ladies include one being a nurse practitioner and the others having quite a bit of education...well I felt [feel] safe going there not to mention all the great attention they give a person.

A little history on tattoos. Tattoos have been around way longer than once thought. According to the Smithsonian Magazine online, the first tattoos dated back almost 5,200 years ago. Recent findings show Ice men from the Italian-Austria border to have tattoo patterns. There have also been many findings on female mummies dated back to 2000 B.C. that show tattoos. Tattoos have been implemented into cultures way longer than most people believe. There are many theories on why 'mummified' women are found more with tattoos than the men.  Original thoughts were it was a way to label the female as a prostitute or a dancing girl. Now they are beginning to believe, by where the markings are located, that it could have helped during labor or dealing with other health issues so more of a therapeutic approach.

Whatever the case, every culture has reasoning for why they choose [or choose not] to tattoo. Our society has become a lot more accepting of tattoos in the last 100 years. Although a lot of our Grandparents may have thought of it as taboo, a lot of our own parents are now boasting their own ink. We tend to find reasoning in the permanent art whether it be a memorial for a lost love one, memories of our early adult hood, a momentum of our own children and then just plain ignorance. My tattoo feel into the, 'I just turned 18 and I need to get a tattoo right now' category.  It isn't a bad tattoo, I am no longer a fan of its' location. Here is what it looked like at the start of the treatment...

So I decided to be a guinea pig for the new laser this institute purchased. I really didn't know what to expect. I have heard horror stories of the pain being way bigger than the actual tattoo. This tattoo location in particular I didn't remember being too bad [although 20 years had passed since I was first inked]. My first appointment was close to a year ago. You go in, she takes pictures and then you sit with a topical numbing ointment on for about 30 minutes. The actual laser time is about 1 minute, yet it seems like eternity! Here is the first after treatment photo..it doesn't look like much happened.

So I continued going for my torture treatment every 6-8 weeks. You really can give yourself almost 12 weeks for full healing which just helps in the long run we found out. Here are a few other pictures after more pain stoking treatments...

The pictures appear in different angles depending on if I took the photo or someone else did.


I just finished up another round of my tattoo demolishing procedure on Wednesday of this week. Here is what she did to me! UGH! Seriously though, having a connective tissue disease and not too mention the greens and blues taking longer, she decided to 'hit' the area a different way and actually numbed me longer [how nice of her] so it wouldn't be as painful. This time I have bled and blistered [which has happened before] more than ever. Here is this weeks train wreck...

This is what I know, the black is gone! The greens and blues are hanging on as long as they can. We are hoping this treatment is almost the final treatment for me. I have paid quite a bit for this procedure but not as much as others since I was able to get in on the 'guinea pig' program. This is certainly a painful procedure even with the numbing concoction she places on you. Its similar to sharp constant bee stings, or maybe thick needles shoved into your skin a high rate of speed, or maybe a laser breaking up with ink! Whatever it is, the comfort level for that entire 1 minute is not friendly. The smell of burning flesh and the instant bubbling of the skin makes me question how safe this actual is.

So why am I sharing this? Obviously it is great education! But honestly if you are contemplating a tattoo or [like me] have a teenager who is planning out their 'first' tattoo. Please do research and sit on the design for awhile. Don't just show up and close your eyes and point for a design. Make it mean something. I have two other tattoos and the one is a cover up of another unfortunate 18 year old decision, while the other has meaning about my children and my family in it.

Alright, now back to your regularly scheduled program....

If you like this blog following me and share it with your friends!! Lots of great topics will be heading your way soon!!

Aimee

Why "One Size Fits Most" Leggings Made Me Fat.....

 
 **Disclaimer Please do not send me hate mail on this blog title. I understand I am not fat and I also understand the leggings did not cause me to gain the weight over the past few months I have gained. I am here to explain to you why the new NEVER ending trend of leggings is actually a bad idea.

  Leggings...a flashback nightmare from the 80's [I am NOT a fan of the 80's so I will leave it at that] reappeared in 2006. Hoping it was just a fad I personally didn't take to them for the first few years. Actually they seemed kind of awkward and basically a glorified pair of tights. However they have stuck and once paired with a boot or heel they have become a staple of many women's closets [guilty!].

So why the hate towards these? Here is the deal, I have been a fitness instructor for almost 6 years and our work out attire is somewhat similar to leggings except the material has spandex or lycra in them AND they usually have a tighter fit so they stay in place while enduring a workout. Some of these new trendy leggings have a size in which also comes with a more fitted waist band...do you see where I am going yet?

  So whats the deal with the 'one size fits most' leggings? Besides the fact they rise up above my belly causing my youngest to say, "Mom those sure do go up high!" [looking like I have mom jeans on causing more 80's flash back pain] I have no accountability in those 'one size fits most' leggings! They move around constantly and I never feel that tight push in the waist line..when you become comfortable in those 'one size fits most' leggings you tend to eat more freely not realizing those jeans that have been hanging in the closet or on a shelf all season are now too tight..all because you lost your accountability in that waist band! Ugh, I am so exhausted just saying all of this :)

                                             [Please do not have the orangutans mentality]

So when I finally did grab those jeans they were tight, not unwearable tight but just a tad uncomfortable tight.  My own fault apparently, but I didn't go at this alone I had an accomplice...my multiple pairs of 'one size fits most' leggings.

So next time when you are looking for a pair of leggings, please remember to choose wisely and purchase the 'sized' ones versus the 'one size' pair!

Blessings!

Where in the world has this gal been??

  I am somewhere caught between wanting and being so much in this life that I tend to overwhelm myself and fall short on things that were once so important to me. I haven't posted in over three years...to my surprise this blog is still available and under my name so I am making a valid effort [in light of the new year] to blog at least once a month. Okay first and foremost, an updated picture. We attended a million dollar wedding this past fall and it was amazing!! This is a photo as we were heading to the actual wedding.

  So much has changed...my health has rapidly gone from bad to better to great to not so great to whatever. Hosting two rare diseases has really began to take a toll in some aspects of my body. I am challenged daily by the diseases and feel that some people still don't understand the diseases and/or think I am crazy...here are a couple links to catch you up to par on my health.

http://www.cmtausa.org/understanding-cmt/

http://ednf.org/

 If you choose to click on those links and learn more than thank you! If not, I understand time is money and you may not have the time to spend learning about things that may never personally effect you.

  Here's a quick 30 second overview...life was good with lots of normal issues. June 2011 diagnosed with two rare diseases, became a leader for the local support group for one of the diseases, continue to work at the gym and finished my college degree in 2014 [yeah!!] 2014-2015 subbed for two local school districts and also got into leadership with a women's ministry, 2015 began a small cupcake business, now 2015-2016 homeschooling our youngest with two still in high school. Now you are caught up to speed.

  So what is my vision for this blog? Well honestly I am in need of an outlet...a place to speak without being judged [although some will still judge me and that's totally fine] I am working on a family YouTube channel where my kids and I can post videos about everything from baking to video gaming to make up/hair, whatever! We love to do stuff like that but really want to help others and figured we could do so by offering what we have learned in life so far. :)

  I will be posting about leggings..yes leggings here in the next week. I had some revelations regarding them and need to speak bluntly about them so stay tuned!! I will also be posting information about health and wellness. We have a Tabata Challenge [interval/HIIT style training classes] beginning in a few weeks at our gym, so I am hoping to update you on that and perhaps teach you some stuff that you may not know! Other future blogs will include baking ideas and shortcuts, information on my diseases as I see fit and possibly my adventures in homeschooling and WHY we choose this route for our youngest.

Thanks for reading this and until next time...