If you work outside the home like us, your times is limited and want to spend your weekends doing fun things and not chores. We know it can be frustrating that on your only days off you have to get things done around the house, but it doesn’t have to be that way. We have found the following to be very helpful, follow these and you’ll be fine.

1. Celebrate another day. You might want to do this every day, not just on the weekends. Be thankful for the air you breathe, the food you eat and the roof over your head.

2. Choose things that really matter to you. If you feel like having a nice clean yard is more important to you then having a clean kitchen, then start in the yard. Leave the kitchen for last, but make sure to clean it.

3. While you are cleaning, is good to have music on. Choose upbeat tunes that will lift you up and energize the ambient in your home. This works wonders for me.

4. Have everyone in your house help out. You don’t have to clean everything yourself, if you divide the chores around the house, things will get done faster; leaving more extra time for fun things to do with the family.

It’s amazing how much time and energy, parenting takes from our lives.

I’m a mom of 3 boys (2 teenagers and 1 toddler) and not only they suck the energy out of me but they eat up my time like no tomorrow. Not only am I a mom, but I also work outside the house Full Time.

So, as a mom and as an employee I can tell you that I’ve read many articles and watched many videos on how to manage my time better and what healthy diets I should follow so that I can keep up with my energetic boys.

I know some of us don’t have lots of time to fit in a trip to the gym for 30-45 minutes. I also know from experience that not having much time for yourself  we tend to seek little treats that are not healthy for us like ice cream, lattes, pastries, chocolate, etc.

Life as a mom can be a little hectic but we have to look for ways that will make our lives easier and SANE at all times (especially if you have teenagers)…

1.       Don’t try to do everything yourself. If you have kids who can walk and talk they can help around the house. It’s good for them and good for you.

2.       Take your vitamins/antioxidants/minerals so that your body can processed the bad foods you are eating one day.

3.       Make time for exercise. If you can’t go to the gym, look for fitness programs you can do at home (Beachbody has lots of them)

4.       Feed your body happy/good foods to get lots of energy and mental focus. Fish, beans, loads of fruits and veggies and lots of water to keep your body hydrated.  Snack between meals so that you won’t starve your body and to keep you going.

5.       Go to bed early. The more you rest the better you feel.

Be the healthiest, happiest, and energetic mom you can be.

To your health,

Carmen

May 5, 1992 at the corner of Naples and Italy in San Francisco CA at around 3:30pm, my husband kissed me and said ‘so, you’re my girlfriend now’….*sigh*….. I remember it like it was yesterday.

As we approach our anniversary, I’ve been thinking of all the many things we’ve conquered and the many things we’ve learned.

Together we conquered the odds of staying together after high school, regardless of what others thought.
Together we learn how to raise our kids.
Together we learn about each other.
Together we encourage each other when no one else lift us up.
Together we made mistakes and together we fix them.
Together we prosper.
Together we conquer all fears.
Together we show others what we are capable of.
Together we learn about being great parents.
Together we love our creator.
Together we conquer challenges that come our way.
Together we thrive.
Together we are a team.

It’s about TWO not about ME.

There is no I in TEAM.

It’s not about who is right or wrong.

It’s about working together to beat the odds and go further than you ever imagined.

Love,

Carmen

5 days ago I decided to make a big change in my life instead of complaining and nagging about not having something nice to wear.

IF you want to change something in your life then do it, wishful thinking is not enough.

I don’t like the fact that I can’t fit in my favorite jeans or my cute party dress, so I took a step forward and decided to join a fitness program I can do from home.

So I took leap of faith and sign up for a program that works around my schedule, and around my family needs.

This is a good example of things that CAN be done if you just take the first step and make a commitment to change your life to something BETTER.

You might think ‘oh it’s easy for you to say Carmen, but I’m way too busy to add something else in to my life’ that is just BS.

I work FT 5 days a week outside the home, I cook a healthy dinner every day for my 3 boys, then I have to spend time with my toddler and help my other sons with homework, then I have to tend to my home and husband, I could easily say the same thing “I don’t have time” if I have time to sit down and turn the TV on, then I have time for a workout and make things happen. It’s all about priorities.

Another excuse I hear a lot is, ‘I can’t afford it’, oh but you can afford to eat out 4 times a week? In today’s economy if you are eating out,  it will cost you approximately 15$ a person X 2 that’s 30$ not including tip, so that’s a total of 120$ a week, 360$ a month. All that money could be invested in yourself and a good fitness program; you will save money and will look awesome at the end

It’s a matter of priorities my friend, so think very hard and make good decisions to change your life NOW.

To your health,

Carmen

Hearing a friend speak about her marriage problems reminds me of how important it is to have couples counseling/marriage counseling.

Some people think it’s wrong to share marital problems with a total stranger. But when it comes to saving your marriage, it is worth talking to a stranger.

Who else are you going to talk to?

are you going to talk to…..

someone who isn’t married, but you expect wise counsel from this person?

someone who likes to make fun of you?

someone who likes to gossip?

someone who is on a worst position then you are?

You Should Instead…

Seek wiser counsel!

Douglas and I are blessed to have an awesome couple as our marriage counselors (Ellis and Cindy Paz) they are awesome with us and very patient. They showed us how to communicate with each other, how to listen and how to treat one another.

I don’t think we would have lasted this long without marriage counseling.

Help is out there, it is up to you to get it.

Love,

Carmen

What Happens in Marriage Counseling? — powered by eHow.com

As some of you know, Doug and I started having children at the young age of 17 years old.

At such young age, we couldn’t say anything but apologize to our parents for our behavior.

After everyone in our families found out, we started getting scolded from both sides of the family by all “The grown ups”.

Our Elders thought they were doing something good by scolding us but never stopped to ask us how we were handling the whole situation.

I know we didn’t behave properly, but at that moment is when we needed someone to guide us and to help us spiritually and emotionally.

So I say to everyone, if you know someone who is a teenage parent or is going to be soon. Don’t scold them, don’t criticize them, don’t put them down nor scare them with things that might happen to them for being very young parents.

Specially DO NOT SAY they are throwing their lives away!

Instead, encourage them, build them up, help them achieve their goals in life so they won’t feel like they made a HUGE MISTAKE, because a child is never a mistake.

Do for them what your parents didn’t do for you.. and in love accept them for who they are and guide them spiritually and emotionally.

Love,

Carmen

this is a picture of my first born son, Guillermo.

There was a time in our life where we use to set goals, at least we thought we were doing it right, but never met our goals. We (Douglas and I) tried really hard to do things our way, thinking it was enough, but never thought of asking for help. Of course we kept on trying but we couldn’t really understand the point nor the process of setting a goal and actually achieving it. Every Monday was a new start, but on Wednesday we would forget.

Then one day, we heard about this awesome workshop where not only you learn how to set goals, but also how to step by step achieve them.

So of course Douglas and I decided to sign up and attended the workshop. To our surprise we were not the only ones trying to set up goals and trying to achieve them; I was so happy and didn’t feel like a failure.

Douglas and I are very thankful to Edward Paz and his vision for DYBYE to help everyone learn how to set Goals and have the BEST YEAR EVER!

If you want to know more about this non-profit and the next workshop, check out the website and sign up for the newsletter. http://designingyourbestyearever.com

Remember to Design Your Best NEW Year Ever!

Love,

Carmen

As Thanksgiving approaches, I hear a lot of people talking about what they are grateful for.

The sad thing about this is that I only hear it once a year.

Why have we become such robots? Why do we only celebrate it on a specific day?

Thanksgiving should be celebrated every day.

We should always count our blessings before start nagging about how bad we have it.

Giving thanks every day, helps you realize the opportunities that you have in front of you in order to do something great with your life.

Giving thanks every day, helps you love your spouse more each day no matter what.

Giving thanks every day, helps you start an awesome and productive day.

Giving thanks every day (no matter how bad things are going) gives hope to others around you.

Celebrate Thanksgiving every day; make it a habit and part of your life.
Be a positive energy to those around you, you never know who’s watching; you never know whose life you are going to touch.

Love,

Carmen