Hello my name is Kiki. I have been creating this blog in my mind for ages - and it’s time to get it started - finally!

I have been married to my husband for 18 years in May of 2007. He’s my support and the love of my life - we’ve been through so much over all these years - but that’s what marriage is all about - going through the struggles together. The most important thing is we come out on the other side - together and stronger.

We have three children - my blessings - each unique and wonderful in their own way. My son is 18 now and my daughters are 14 and 9. It’s a busy household and I love that. My son is at the age where friends, work, cars and girls come first - but I take comfort in the fact that he is a really wonderful kid and wouldn’t do anything to disappoint us. My 14 year old is at the age where mom is just so “out of touch” with her world - but that’s ok - I know at some point she will come back and mom will be ok again. My youngest is my girlie-girl - she loves all things pink and yet she has no problem letting you know when she is ticked off about something. They each make me smile for different reasons.

I turned 40 this year and I think with that milestone you begin looking at your life and deciding what is important and what isn’t and while I strongly believe the best is yet to come. I also know that life is precious and we should be living it to the very fullest with the time the Lord gives us.

My quest this last year has been about improving EVERYTHING in my life. Whatever it took - I was going to make it better. I am definitely still a work in progress since making that decision - but I have seen marked improvements in several things and I can’t wait to see what else is around the bend. I know whatever it is - God has equipped me to handle it, learn from it, and improve something about myself through it.

I have a wonderful business that I work from my home. My personal work from home business is Uplifting-Essentials. This was definitely a step out of my comfort zone - but I immediately put the decision in God’s hands - allowing Him to direct me in what I should do, and I feel strongly that this business was put in my path for a reason. I have done many things over the years and just couldn’t seem to find the right business opportunity for me. I did look into several different businesses - even joined a few but once I got into them - there was something that just wasn’t a fit for me. Prior to this I had a business that I had worked for many years and due to some personal reasons - I had to step away from that and it really was a hard thing to do, but I really needed to move on and it was hard to find something to replace that once the personal situation had passed.

Thankfully, that’s all changed and I really had to take a hard look at what I was doing, I wanted to make an income from something I could work part time and the in the way that worked best for me - I like my day job and don’t want to give that up but I want to supplement that income as well. I have three kids that want to go to college - and I don’t have a lot of time to keep saving for that. Recently, life & reality hit hard and I just knew I had to step out of my comfort zone and take a chance to really change my life and the direction things were going. I knew I needed to have something to call my own, something that wouldn’t require a ton of overhead and would get me out of the house - and Uplifting-Essentials fit the bill.

Something else I wanted to make a change with and couldn’t seem to accomplish no matter what I did was my weight and of course my health plays into that. I decided that I was tired of being fat and overweight - trust me, I was! After trying program after program, I decided to create a program that I felt I could live with. I had tried Weight Watchers and every book on the market - but I hadn’t yet really and truly tried low-carb. It just sounded like a totally unhealthy way to eat in my mind. HOWEVER - I realized if I didn’t try something soon - I would spend the rest of my life overweight and miserable. So, I created a plan that works for me - and since October 23, 2007 I have lost 105 pounds and I am very close to being at my goal. I am super-excited about that and will be sharing what I do for those that need some support and ideas to finally find something that works - for me personally, that is living without refined carbs - this will work if you haven’t been able to lose weight the “low-fat” way.

I am looking forward to sharing many things within my blog - from the serious stuff to business to the downright silly - life is too short to separate everything and put them each into little boxes - I am choosing to share it all because then you know me - both personally and professionally.

Live, Laugh & Love,

Kiki