My weekend

This weekend was really good. Especially considering it didn't start out so wonderful. My husband was going to have to work all day Saturday, which sucked. And our cold water pipes in the kitchen froze up, which also sucked. But (here's where the weekend starts to turn for the better) Layne only had to work 1/2 a day because they finished significantly quicker than they thought they would. When he got home he put a heater in the area of the basement where the kitchen pipes are and had water pretty soon (so they couldn't have been frozen up to much. Thank goodness!

I got all of my cleaning done on Saturday so that on Sunday all I had to do was a couple loads of laundry. It was a great feeling!

Layne & I signed up for a couples membership at a local gym. It's less than a mile away and it's open 24 hrs so it will be very convenient for us. He initially suggested it and honestly I didn't want to spend the money (it's not a lot of money, but still...) since we have a treadmill & a somewhat functioning bowflex machine in our basement already. I changed my mind when I went and spent 20 minutes jogging on the treadmill and still didn't even break a sweat because it was so cold down there. I'm one of those people who doesn't feel like I've exercised unless I have sweat running down my butt-crack. So working out in a freezing basement wasn't going to work for me. (And I'll never lose the remaining 10 pounds that the doctor tacked on at my last visit if I don't work out.) Luckily for us we didn't have to sign a yearly contract, it's just a month-to-month plan and since we signed up online there were also no membership fees. Our monthly fee will be $50.

Yesterday I decided to go check the gym out, wondering the entire way if we had made the right decision. I walked inside and honestly was a bit intimidated by all the equipment. I decided to start off with a treadmill (all the treadmills have TV screens on them - how cool is that!) since it would help get me warmed up and I already knew how to do those. : ) After walking and jogging on the treadmill I decided to move on to the weight machines. Each had a diagram and written steps to ensure you knew how to use the machine and did it properly. I was in heaven!!! I used to lift weights in high school (during cheerleading competition season) and loved it then. I forgot just how much I liked it. I did an amount of weight on each machine that wasn't too much and I didn't do too many reps because I knew I'd pay for it. When I left the gym I was excited that we had joined.

April and I played a game called Shut the Box last night. She borrowed the game from my mom, which honestly I wasn't happy about because I don't usually enjoy playing games too much and I didn't want another box sitting around on one of our tables collecting dust. Well, I was wrong to think it wouldn't get used! I think we played a dozen games last night and it was really a lot of fun. Some of the games went by fast and others seemed to take forever! I was so glad later in the night that April had borrowed the game. It gave us a chance to play something that wasn't difficult, didn't have a lot of pieces, and most of all it gave us a chance too enjoy each other - which was the best thing of all.

I'm ba-ack!!

Whew. It's been a long time since I've been on here. I had my hysterectomy on November 6th. It was a lot more draining and well, I guess consuming than I thought it would be. I was completely unprepared for the physical toll it would take on me. I spent 4 days after the surgery so nauseated that I could hardly eat anything. I'd eat about 4 bits of something and feel so sick that I thought I would blow chunks.

On that 4th day the doctor gave me something to help with the nausea. As it turned out, the nausea was caused by me not having had a B.M. (who knew???) As soon as I was able to go I started to feel better immediately. Yes, I was sore. Yes, I was tired. But over all the recoup time really wasn't bad.

So...... I have to tell you..... I haven't taken my 5,000 meds since the day before surgery. I am on day 12 of not taking any meds and I feel terrific!!! Before if I didn't take my meds in a 48 hour period of time my muscles would all start to stiffen up on me and I'd feel intense pain. They had me on muscle relaxers and lyrica for the pain (they thought it was possibly fibromyalgia) and addreall because they thought I had a form of narcolepsy. Since I haven't had any of the stiffness or crazy sleep problems since my uterus was ripped out I'm beginning to wonder if my uterus was somehow causing these problems, like poisoning my body. I have my follow-up appointment on Thursday morning and plan on asking the doctor.

Here it is less than 2 weeks after the surgery and I just know I made the right decision. Yes, it was hard - I've wanted another child since my daughter was 1 year old. I'm lucky to have the one. Given all the problems I had during my pregnancy and afterwards (that's a whole nother post!) it's probably for the best. My body probably wouldn't make it through another pregnancy - at least my hips wouldn't!!

Another bonus......(drum roll please)..........

I am weighing in at 118 pounds!!!!

I never thought I'd see that weight again. It's actually 2 pounds under the weight that the doctor thought I could actually reach - but since I'm only 5'1" it's still well within the healthy range. I have to say - scars from the hysterectomy aside - I look hot!!! : ) Now I just need to maintain - which isn't going to be easy considering I really can't do anything for exercise right now. But I am so excited and I feel terrific. I feel so HEALTHY!! I honestly don't remember ever feeling this good. Yay for me!!

Ow! Ow! Ow!

Last night I did the "30-day Shred" again. Boy am I a hurting unit. I'm seriously thinking that a wheelchair may be in order. My calves hurt - I don't think I've ever had a workout where my calves have hurt before. The only things that don't hurt are my hands & feet. Seriously.

But I am going to continue to push through this - I mean, it can't hurt forever, right??? And I am really looking forward to being trim and fit. No puss-gut for me! (That's a term my husband introduced me to when we started dating. It refers to a woman whose stomach hangs over her...well, privates. I know it's not very nice.)

Right now I'm doing good to be able to get up and down off the toilet. At least I feel like I'm getting something out of the workout. I guess we'll really see in another 28 days!!!

Working out and having a clothing shortage!

Last week I was doing some research on work out videos to find something to kick my workout up and help get over this plateau. I came across ‘The 30-day Shred’ on Amazon with had over 1,400 reviews and an average rating of 4.5. I decided this was the one to try. I went ahead and ordered it and it arrived on Monday. Last night I finally had a chance to try it out. It appears as though there are 3 levels (beginner, advanced, really advanced). Each workout lasts 20 minutes. Let me tell you – this was an intense workout. I’ve been exercising pretty regularly the last several months and I really had to push myself to do the Level 1 workout. After the workout I was shaky. Wow it was intense – and I can’t wait to do it again tonight. (Does that make me sick??) I’m feeling it today (I didn’t realize that I have muscles in my armpits!!).

Anyway, my treadmill is ready for the dump. I really need a new one and have been trying to find a good used one. (Wish me luck with that!) Sunday night I jogged home from my in-laws’ home. It was wonderful being outside and able to just run at my own pace. I worry about winter coming up and not having a treadmill. I know that my days of being able to take advantage of running outdoors are probably somewhat limited. So a replacement treadmill is a definite must-have.

Another must-have is some clothes. Last winter (before the doc told me to lose weight) I cleaned my closet and decided to part with my “skinny” clothes because I had come to terms with being chubby and not ever being able to wear them again. Fast-forward to today. I’m 35+ pounds lighter than I was then. I have splurged and purchased 3 pairs of new jeans and 1 pair of black slacks for church. The dresses, sweaters, & tops I had are looking ridiculous on me. The arms hang past my fingertips and I basically look silly. But I feel good and I think I look pretty good – so I guess I can deal with it for a while!

Post 200!!!

Time has passed so quickly since I started this blog. So many things have happened in my life. I had some crazy illness that they think is fibromyalgia (I think they are wrong). I've lost 35+ pounds. It's been suggested that I have a hysterectomy. Crazy stuff!

This blog has been greatly neglected lately. I've been to wrapped up in things that are going on in my life and sometimes emotionally I just couldn't bring myself to blog about it. I am going to make a serious effort going forward to blog at least 3 times a week - maybe someday I'll even start blogging daily! I guess part of it is that I don't think my life is all that exciting. Then again sometimes we just want to read about something going on in someone else's daily life that either inspires us or motivates us to do something different in ours.

The last couple weeks I've been doing things with my husband that I wouldn't have imagined doing a couple months ago (no - it's probably not anything near what you're thinking!!). Last weekend I shot a bow at a local outdoor expo. I used to be pretty decent in high school and honestly haven't shot since. I did awesome - just to toot my own horn. : )

Today I went kayaking. Wow was that fun and relaxing and adventurous - all at the same time! I forgot how much I liked doing things like this outdoors. These are things that I really, truly think I will be doing a lot more of!!

On a side note - the last couple weeks I haven't been eating very well. And I can truly tell. I just don't feel as healthy and good. Plus - not to be gross - but when I was eating healthy I was having bm's regularly (nice to know, huh?) and when I don't eat good I may not have one for 3 days - seriously. Not cool. So back to the healthy life for me!!

By the way - I'm now in a size 6!!! How is that for amazing - I started at a 12. Wow. I can't believe I was that big - I will never let that happen again!

Work it.....work it.....work it........

This week has just flown by! I’ve been doing good with my exercising & watching what I eat. On Monday I walked about 4 miles & Tuesday I walked about 3 miles. The days I walked I was with one of my Aunts & it was nice to walk & talk. By Wednesday though I needed a SERIOUS workout. I was actually craving it… (What is wrong with me?!?!)

Wednesday evening I got on the treadmill & walked/jogged 2 miles. When I was done with that I did 100 crunches, some arm work with a resistance band, and the cardio DVD for “Hip Hop Abs”. I’m sure you’ve all seen the infomercial for “Hip Hop Abs”. I don’t know that it is going to get my abs all nice & toned, but holy smokes is that DVD fun!! I suppose I think it’s so fun because it takes me back to my high school days when I was a cheerleader & we would work on dance routines. I really think I completely shocked my husband when I did the DVD. Of course he sat on the couch & watched me while I did the exercises. My husband & I didn’t meet until I had been out of high school for a year, so he never saw me do any dancing – other than maybe after I’d been drinking at a wedding – and of course I would just do the “white-girl shuffle” then cause I probably didn’t have very good balance. : )

My weight this morning was 131.6. I’m slowly edging to the 120 mark. It’s definitely getting harder to lose the weight. The first 10-15 pounds just “fell off” so to speak. I was originally hoping to be at 120 by the end of June. Well, obviously that time has come & gone. So now I’m shooting for the end of August. Cross your fingers………

Pictures & Update on Weight Loss

A few weeks ago Miriam suggested that I post a current picture of me. So here it is!!

The picture on the left is me at 158 pounds. The picture on the right is from this past weekend & my weight was 134.

I am 14 pounds away from the goal the doctor suggested. It is getting harder to get the weight off, but that just makes me all the more determined to get it off!

Weight loss - update

I am officially 16 pounds away from the goal weight that the doctor set for me! I was so bummed out about not losing anything the last week, even though I was suspicious that it was because of my cycle. I’m thinking that theory was right cause today I got on the scale & weighed in at 136.

Last night I did walk about a mile. It was not a fast paced walk, more of a leisurely stroll. But boy did it feel good to get out!! I was starting to feel like a slob since I hadn’t done anything physical (due to my gimp foot) for 3 days. My foot does still hurt a bit, but I think I should be fine doing low impact exercise and gradually increasing the intensity.

I’m still careful about what I eat, and I quit eating when I feel full. I used to feel guilty if there was uneaten food on my plate, so I’d eat it even if I was full. No more!! Honestly I’ve feel like I’ve been doing this forever & it’s liberating to know that I don’t HAVE to finish everything. If we go out to eat I will probably end up taking about half of my meal home for another meal. I don’t have all the cravings I had in the beginning. It’s like my taste buds have changed & it helps me make better food choices. I’ve eaten an apple pretty much every day for the last 10 weeks & I’m definitely not sick of them yet.

Oh – one more thing. I have a pair of jeans that are hanging in my walk-in closet that I had bought about 5 years ago and have never been able to fit into. They are just the classic mid-rise, straight-legged jean. I have these jeans hanging where I can see them every day. I have never been able to even get them over my hips. Well…. Today I was feeling brave & decided just to try them on. Not only can I get them over my hips – I can button them up!!! Of course they are very tight so I look like sausage being stuffed into the casing – but still, I got them on & done up!! Yippee for me!

Yes, I am that coordinated!

Last week from Sunday to Saturday I jogged just over 8 miles, which I really didn’t think was too bad for my first week of actual, somewhat dedicated jogging – or the fact that it is honestly the most I’ve ever jogged in my entire life (2.25 Sun, 1 Mon - Thurs, 2 Sat). I was hoping to get in more this week, but well, fate was going to have none of that.

So imagine this …Sunday I was at church & was walking downstairs to my classroom. I fell (I can’t prove this but I really think a troll tripped me) down a few of the stairs. Of course I was wearing heels & my big toe on my right foot starting hurting immediately.

Honestly I was surprised more than that wasn't hurting. After church I went home & changed clothes to meet a girlfriend for lunch. After lunch we decided to go across the street for coffee @ Starbucks. I noticed the top of my foot hurt a bit during this short walk but I had expected it to & didn't make much of it. As the evening wore on my foot swelled up & I couldn't move my toes. Determined not to go to the ER I toughed it out during the night and waited till the following morning. (My medication makes me tired so sleeping really wasn’t a problem.) The next morning it really was feeling quite a bit better though still a little sore & REALLY sore if I bend my big toe when I walk. Today is pretty much the same. The top of my foot looks like it may have a deep bruise working its way up to the surface. (It's really hard to see in the picture, but the one on the right is the injured one.)


I’m a bit irritated at my self for being so clumsy. I’ve been doing pretty good with my weight loss, although this last week I haven’t lost anything – I believe it’s cycle related though. I would really like to try getting on the treadmill at least, but think it would probably the smart thing to wait at least a couple more days to see how it’s feeling. I’m pretty sure it’s sprained, I don’t want to cause more damage than what may be there already. Also, since my foot is still swollen a little bit my running shoes would get a little uncomfortable pretty quickly.

I'm hoping that if I take a few days hiatus it will heal up & I can get back on track. With that said, I am being extra careful about what I eat right now since I'm not getting in any cardio exercise but do plan to maybe do more crunches or whatever else I can do to try to keep doing something.

Hitting the Plateau

I have to admit I am getting a little frustrated. I been weighing in between 140 and 141 for over a week and can’t seem to get below that! I have been careful about what foods I am eating and I have been walking, but I admit it hasn’t been the kind of walking that makes a person work up a good sweat. I think that is exactly what I need to do – kick it into high gear and work up a good sweat. The first 18 pounds came off so easily that I guess I got a little lazy and was hoping the rest would come easy like that. I should have known that it wouldn’t work that way. I always read articles in magazines that say the last 10 pounds are the hardest. So I was expecting it, but I was really hoping that I’d lose another 5-10 pounds before the really hard work began. : )

Careful with the weights!

So I over-did it Monday night with the weights. I lifted dumbbells over my head, you know, trying to tone & strengthen my arms. Well that backfired. Yesterday I started get pain & stiffness in my right upper arm, shoulder, & neck area. I ended up in Urgent Care last night to get a trigger point shot in my shoulder. It’s been about 18 hours since the shot & I am feeling better. I think I’ll stick to the treadmill & give up weights for a while!

I’m having a bit of struggle right now with eating. Nothing sounds good & cooking sounds like way too much work. I really don’t even WANT to eat anything. I know part of it is the medication I am on. The pharmacist told me that I would feel this way & to force myself to at least eat something every few hours. So I have been doing that.

Breakfast is usually either a piece of 12-grain toast with peanut butter or a bowl of raisin bran cereal. Lunch is a yogurt & maybe an apple or a hard-boiled egg with a couple slices of deli meat. Dinner is whatever the family wants. I try to make sure that I have veggies & protein throughout the day. I can honestly say that at this point French fries are not even the least bit appealing to me. : ) For now anyway!

Affordable exercise

One thing I’ve noticed about trying to weight is that I find myself attracted to all kinds of machines & tools that are designed for exercise. A person could literally spend hundreds of dollars on equipment. I don’t have hundreds of dollars to spend, and I don’t have room to store all kinds of equipment. We do have a treadmill (that was given to us), a Crossbow (like a Bowflex only cheaper), and some dumbbells. I haven’t actually incorporated the Crossbow into my exercise routine, but I do plan on it at some point.

Fullfitness.net is a site that shows you exercises you can do to target specific areas. Some of the exercises even have video examples of how to do a specific exercise. This website offers free information and step-by-step instructions. The equipment shown is pretty basic, a ball and a mat are really the main pieces shown.

If you don’t have hand weights you can always use canned goods for weights. Seriously!

Another tip I read was that you should like the clothing you wear to exercise. That you will exercise more if you are wearing something that you like and you think looks good. I suppose that does make sense. But I would have a hard time justifying buying new clothes to workout in!
I do want to get a ball at some point. I think it would work great for crunches. Maybe then my back wouldn’t be so sore!! :)

Update...

Guess who’s wearing a pair of jeans that she hasn’t fit into in 2 years??? Come on, I know you can figure it out….. Okay, okay! I’ll tell you who.

ME!!

Uh huh! That’s right! (Pause for dancing and booty shaking….)

The funniest part is that about 2 months ago I almost threw away the jeans I am wearing right now! At that point I had almost decided that I would get rid of anything I had in single-digit sizes because I would never, ever fit in them again. Yeehaw!
(Come on! Shake it with me now!)

What about exercise?

Exercise is a very important part of weight loss. And I admit, it’s not something that I am always good at doing. It is so easy to come up with excuses not to do it.

“I’m too tired.”
“I have too much to do and don’t have time.”
“I don’t feel like it.”

Etcetera, etcetera. Trust me, I am the queen of excuses. Not something I am proud of. In my efforts to lose weight I have begun to incorporate exercise into my normal day through a variety of ways without having to necessarily set aside a certain amount of time.

A few examples:

If I go into the basement to do a load of laundry I may do a set of curls with the dumbbells and then do lunges across the basement till I get to the washing machine or dryer. On my way back I will reverse this and do the lunges & then do another set of curls. When I go up the stairs I may take 2 stairs at a time to work my leg muscles some more.

If I go upstairs to our master bedroom to get another load of laundry I may lie on the floor and do crunches until my stomach hurts & I can’t possibly do another one.

If I need to go to the store for a couple items (that aren’t real heavy!) I may walk to the store & back. The store is about 1 ½ miles from my house. This is a little time consuming, but it’s so relaxing to be outside walking & so much more enjoyable than the treadmill! Not everyone is within walking distance of the store, but there may be another errand you need to do that you can incorporate exercise into. You get the idea.

I’m sure there are other things that you can think of to break up the monotony of exercise. I also know that exercise may be more beneficial if you do it all at once so your muscles get warmed up and really worked out instead of getting breaks, but sometimes we don’t have or want to take an hour from our day to dedicate to exercise.

I do know that for myself, whether I exercise in short spurts or all at once, I always feel better afterwards!

Food Substitutions

I had a comment posted yesterday on regarding the diet plan I am following. The comment was from SonyaAnn. She said that she will be doing good at eating healthy & then will come across a new recipe that she wants to try & will blow her healthy eating habits. A very important thing to think about is that any recipe can be modified to make it healthier.

One of the easiest ways to substitute is to use a version of a product that is reduced fat or fat free. Some foods also have sugar free versions or reduced sugar versions, swap a full sugar ingredient for one that is reduced. It’s amazing how many calories and/or fat grams a person can eliminate from their diet by swapping foods for their reduced fat/sugar counterparts.

Another change that you can make is to limit breads, pastas, rices, & potatoes. If you are going to eat them make sure you don’t eat the “white” version. AND check the labels. Often these foods are labeled as “wheat” or are brown so we think they are healthier. This can be very misleading because many foods that are “whole wheat” are just as bad for us as the white versions because of all the sugars. Usually if it’s marked multi-grain your pretty safe – but not always! You will find that it really does pay to check labels.

To be honest, I have eaten virtually no bread, potatoes, rice, or pasta since I started. The second week was truly the most challenging because our bodies crave the sugars we get from these foods when we are used to eating them regularly. And I ate them pretty much every single day, maybe even more than once each day. By the time the second week was over though I really didn’t crave these things any more.

Once in a while I do get a craving for something like chocolate cake (although I’ve only had this craving twice). When I got this craving I waited a while to see if it would pass, when it became evident that it wasn’t going to I bought a chocolate cake donut & ate about half of it. That was enough to satisfy my craving & I didn’t completely blow the progress I had already made.

One of the hardest things for me to change was my fruit habit. I was used to eating all the fruits that quickly turned to sugars. I needed to change that. Apples are great because the skin is full of fibers & berries are also another great choice when it comes to fruits.

Here is a link to check out healthier alternatives to everyday foods (mostly condiments):

http://www.fitnessandfreebies.com/food/foodsubs.html

You can also Google “Glycemic Index” to get more information about what the Glycemic index of foods is. The higher the number the quicker your body converts it into sugar & subsequently, fat.

http://www.glycemicedge.com/glycemicindextable.htmlhttp://www.glycemicindex.com/

Weight Update

When I had visited the doctor 5 weeks ago I weighed 158 pounds (gasp!). I know that's terrible for my height. This morning when I weighed myself I weighed 142 pounds! How awesome is that?!?!? I've lost 16 pounds. It seems like a lot was lost quickly. But it was hard to stick to the diet some days. I really honestly only had 1 day that I had a breakdown and ate a pork tenderloin sandwich and a piece of carrot cake. And it was DELICIOUS! There will be days I that I am weak. But where I am at right now feels pretty darn good.

March's food budget and weight update

This month is not going to be good on the budget. Last week I spent $45 of my monthly $120 allotment. This weekend I ordered the regular Angel Food box and the produce box, which was $52. So I now have $23 remaining (eek!!). Hopefully I won't have to buy much, other than milk to get us through the remainder of this month. We still have 2 weeks left of the month. I know we won't have to buy meat, eggs, or cereal.

So far I have lost 7 pounds!! That is definitely very motivational for me. I'm starting to feel a difference in the way some of my clothes fit and how I feel overall. I have a little more energy and am able to stay up a little later at night. I've been working on limiting the diet coke as well and have been drinking mostly water, which I am actually starting to prefer.

Here's a tip: To get myself to drink more water I actually prefer it to be room temperature. I notice that I tend to drink it more quickly than I do if it's cold.

I'm waiting for it to fall off.......

This week has consisted of nothing. I mean, there's been stuff. But nothing exciting. Not that it is bad to have nothing exciting. It's just sometimes we could use a little more excitement. I am really looking forward to this weekend though. I am going scrapbooking Saturday with a my friend, Angela. I can't wait! I have scrapbooked since October and when I went did then it was to make a baby album for my friend who had the baby back in November. And before I guess I don't remember when it was that I actually worked on MY albums. So it's a rare treat for me to get to do this. I am very excited.

The 'diet' is going well. I haven't had a single potato, noodle, grain of rice, or pastry of any type since last Thursday. And I have been on the treadmill 3 nights this week so far. I have lost 4 pounds so far. Which is really good. The doctor has said it would be good to follow something along the lines of the "South Beach Diet". So that's kind of what I've been using as a guideline. According to that book I could lose anywhere from 7-13 pounds. Which would be awesome. I am one of those people who needs quick results or I can't stick with it. The words the doctor used was that if I "follow this diet the weight will just fall off" I keep expecting to look behind me an see a butt cheek laying on the ground. : )

Weekly Happenings

April got sick Wednesday night. Not the throw-up kind - thank goodness. She started running a fever and that continued through Friday night. Friday night the fever finally went away. Then she had 1 bout of diahrrea on Saturday. I was waiting for more to come but it never did. After that she was back to her sassy normal self.

My neice was at my Mom's house for the day & was spending the night. Since April was back to normal we went down and spent an hour there. They had wanted to play but the hour ended up consisting of me reading to my neice and April reading to my mom. Afterwards we went out for supper. It was nice to get out of the house - even if it was for only 2 hours!

Since most of the week consisted of nothing but work and taking care of a sick child I really don't have much to blog about. Oh - except that I may need to revisit my $30 a week budget. I had a follow-up appointment with my doctor and he put me on a low carb, low glycemic index diet. Hopefully it won't be too bad. To be honest I'm not much of a meat eater. I like meat in recipes, but not just a bit slab of flesh on my plate. So if you have any recipes for low carb recipes let me know & I'll give you my email address!!

Things we do to look good

Tonight I tanned for the first time in 3 years. I used to work at a tanning salon part time to help earn money to pay for our wedding. One perk was that you could tan before/after your shift for free and if you worked 5 times or more a month you could tan all month for free. Needless to say I had the most amazing tanned body - and I was thin. Oh how I miss that!!

Since I recently started getting on the treadmill I decided I should see how many minutes I still have on my account at the local salon so I can get a little thinner and a little tanner. Now I know that there is a lot of controversy about tanning beds. But I'm not going to debate that and I am asking that anyone who opposes it keep their opinions to themselves. I don't intend to be a tan bed worshipping person - I just want a little color. Besides tanned fat looks better that white fat. : )

Another thing I am trying to do is drink more water. I am terribly addicted to diet coke. It is my main source of caffeine - that said I typically drink 2-3 cans of soda a day.

Tip: I have had a problem with acne since I was in my early 20's. As you know the products are pretty spendy and adds up quickly. I was looking for more affordable, less chemical options. And came across this tip on using Witch Hazel for your facial astringent. It doesn't contain alcohol which is a great bonus because I hate how alcohol dries my skin out. If you page down till you come across to January 24, 2008. Gayle has got some great tips that are very affordable.