Wine'ing Momma

Today is National Dog Biscuit Day!

February 23, 2017 by Alisha Leave a Comment

Today is officially National Dog Biscuit Day, but really EVERY day is treat day for Murphy! As most of you know I made a HUGE lifestyle change last month when I decided to become a vegan. I haven’t convinced the entire family to follow suite but I do try to make sure that the entire family, including our dog, is eating the best ingredients possible!

With National Dog Biscuit Day on February 23rd, I was so happy to find the Farmer’s Medley line from Milk–Bone. I think about the food and quality ingredients I eat to fuel my life—and do the same for my dog. Murphy typically gets a treat each day for doing a simple trick or just as a treat when he’s being a good, snuggly pup!

That’s why I recently partnered with Milk–Bone to try out their new Farmer’s Medley dog treats. They are full of great ingredients! Below are some of the questions I think about before I buy treats for my dog.

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30 Days Vegan…and Counting!

February 12, 2017 by Alisha 14 Comments

This past January I decided to do a 30-Day Vegan challenge with my oldest daughter. Back in December one of my friends said she was looking for some people to be a support system for a 21-Day Vegan Challenge starting the following month. I’m always down for a challenge and decided that this sounded like something I’d love to do. During December to help make the transition a bit easier I did a 21-Day Smoothie Bowl Challenge. I seriously think that made the vegan challenge so much easier. The funny part of the challenge is the friend that mentioned it…never did start! LOL

Veganism is a type of vegetarian diet that excludes meat, eggs, dairy products and all other animal-derived ingredients. Many vegans also do not eat foods that are processed using animal products, such as refined white sugar and some wines.

Vegan refers to either a person who follows this way of eating or to the diet itself. That is, the word vegan can be an adjective used to describe a food item, as in, “This curry is vegan“, or, it can be used as a noun, as in, “Vegans like cookies, too.”

The first week or so I tried to stick pretty much to a meal plan that I found online. I figured it would make my life easier but it ended up just being a bunch of things I couldn’t eat. I’m allergic to avocado, melons, sometimes banana and a few other random azz things. I think avocados are in about 99% of the recipes that I came across…LOL! After a week of eating oatmeal and trying to make meals that turned into fails I decided to search out more things on Instagram. That became my savior!

So after a day of literally stalking folks on Instagram I found my tribe! I’d seen stuff by Peta for a vegan starter kit but just like the natural hair police some of that stuff was just too much for me. I’m all about eating better and living a healthier lifestyle but I’m not one for shaming those that eat food that contain animal products. I had joined a group on Facebook too hoping to just get recipes ideas and tips and some of those folks took veganism to the extreme. So I politely rolled up on out of there!

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5 Tips to Start a Vegan Challenge

December 15, 2016 by Alisha 2 Comments

First off, can you believe the year is almost over?!?! I mean we were just saying Happy New Year like 10 minutes ago.

I don’t know about you but 2016 has been pretty much a shitty azz year. I don’t have much control over all of the nonsense going on but I do have control over my health! My oldest daughter has been obsessed with watching documentaries on Netflix and now she’s anti-Seaworld and anit-Circuses. SMH I swear she gets one thing stuck in her head and she goes full force with it. Now on the flip side, she’s decided that she wants to eat healthier and even mentioned becoming a vegetarian. One of my good friends mentioned they were doing a 21-day vegan challenge in January and wanted some other folks to join along. I figured this would be a great way for us to kick start off our healthy eating habits.

If you’re like 99% if the people I’ve told that we’re going to be doing a vegan challenge, then you might have some questions AKA think we are bat shit crazy! Here are my 5 tips on how to be successful and start a vegan challenge: [Read more…]

Don’t Let Period Pain Cramp Your Daughter’s Life – Advil® Menstrual Pain

November 30, 2016 by Alisha 3 Comments

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #Sponsored #WhatMonthlyPain #CollectiveBias

I recall how excited I was when I was about 11 and started my period. My friend and I were literally jumping up and down. Looking back on that night 30+ years later, I have NO clue what the heck we were celebrating…LOL! Because my mom and I both started pretty young, I made sure to start education my daughter about changes that would occur in her body when she was about 9. Being a teenager is already stressful enough. Then add in the emotional and physical toll that monthly periods can take on your body and you have one “interesting” daughter on your hands. My oldest daughter typically has the same PMS type symptoms leading up to and during her period: mood swings, headaches (sometimes migraines) and cramps. Advil® Menstrual Pain is here to help relieve the aches and pains associated during this time.

Thanks goodness I can now find this product at Walmart. The trick is to make sure and check the bottom shelf where period relief items are located. I went searching for them with all of the other types of Advil® and couldn’t find it…LOL!

Each month I also like to surprise my daughter with a goodie basket of items that will help with her pain relief as well as a few “treats”. I typically include her favorite candy or chips, a bath item and tissue! The tissue is really for both of us…LOL! I mean who doesn’t cry during the month. And sometimes being a parent is hard and you just need a good cry! The basket I got her this month included Advil® Menstrual Pain, Nestlé® Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cups, Kleenex® and body scrub for the shower.

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