Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Cleanse me - Day 2

Day 2 -

I have that undercurrent of hunger that just doesn't go away.  But - I'm doing ok.  I worked from home today - not sure if that was good or bad but it was nice to be home.  I also realized that I had read the paperwork wrong - my "snacks" are 2 almonds + a small snack - so I'm had more robust snacks today.  Yea!

Also - as far as weight - I was down 2 lbs this morning.  There is a lot of water going in/coming out - so who knows if it is real or water weight.  Still kind of nice.

730 am - shake & water
10am - 2 almonds & water
1130 - peanut butter and fiber supplement & water
115 - lunch (mexican bowl with spinach and chicken) & water
2:45 - tea
318 - 1/2 apple, 3 small almonds
4:15 - hungry and wanting another snack.  Will get one when I get off of this call.
4:45 - celery and 2 almonds.

I'll be having another shake tonight. I'm about to go get a pedicure.  I need it - and it should take my mind off of food? :)

Tomorrow is the all-juice day.  I'm a little worried about how it will go - no real food - all juice but some snacks.  We'll see...

Cleanse me - Day 1

I am doing a "nutritional cleanse" for the next couple weeks.  Some may wonder why I'm trying to add stress - but I'm feeling good about this.  With my birthday in a couple weeks, I want to start the next year of my life healthier and more active.

I want to journal this - but don't really want to use Facebook so I think I'll use my Victory Garden Blog. :)


So I'm in day 1.  Here is what's happened so far:
6am- Wake up, weigh in & measure.  SO not happy with weight and measurements.
7am - Chocolate shake thing, fiber supplement, accelerator.  The shake was really thick - almost too thick.  I feel good afterwards.
730am - I've switched to herbal tea for now and feel pretty good. Not missing my caffiene too much.
8:30am- water
9:00am - water
10am - hungry.  I can have 2 almonds (2??!?!) so I have 2 almonds and a "snack" provided by them. I also have lots of water
11am - hungry.  I have 2 more almonds and more water
11:55 - leaving to have my "meal" of the day - I'm about to go to Whole Foods to make a nice salad from their beautiful salad bar.
1:15 - Salad.  It was huge and yet I was still somewhat hungry
2:30 - 2 nuts and water
4:00 - 2 nuts
6:15 - shake
7:30 - 2 chocolate almonds (whoops!)

End of day - feeling ok just a bit hungry.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Helen, Harriet, Clementine, ClaraBell and two others...

Welcome to the chicks!  They're sleeping right now...so not too much excitement yet.   

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Lessons thus far

Gardening is a very Zen activity.  You can't really control anything, your patience is rewarded and hope for certain results should be abandoned. 

Practical lessons thus far:
-Growing lamps need to be VERY close to the seedlings.  Too far away and the seedlings get leggy.  Leggy, in the world of seedlings, is bad
-It doesn't matter what the seed packets say - the "time to germination" will just depend so don't get frustrated when the 5-7 day germinating eggplants take 14 days
-When you first plant seeds - it can seem like you're planting waaaay too many.  When they begin to sprout - it doesn't seem like enough.
-You have to be close to the seedlings.  They need a lot of care and watering (literally) or they shrivel up.  This can happen overnight.

We get the chicks tonight or tomorrow morning. We build garden boxes today.  Exciting stuff!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Seeds and chicks

Hello.  Yes, it's been a while.  You're looking good - keep up the good work.  I've changed the name of the blog.  Moving on. 

In a new chapter of our life - we're taking on a Victory Garden.  Our suburban-farm will be comprised of a vegetable garden, herb garden, some fruit and a chicken coop with 4 layers.

I've felt compelled to learn how to make food out of dirt and little pebble-like things called "seeds".  I'm not sure how good we'll be at this.  I'd say that John has a closer heridatary link to farming but I seem to have more of an interest in learning how to plant seeds and pray the buggars turn into plants.  Last week I planted a flat of heirloom vegetables and a flat of tomatoes (13 heirloom varieties).  So far - after a week of waiting - about 5 plants have popped out of the soil - leaving about 90% of them unmoved and me worrying that I've planted bum seeds.  This new hobby requires a lot of patience and reading the fine print on heirloom seed packages. 

The other major component of our farm will be four egg-laying hens.  We're really excited about the chickens.  We can only have four because Longmont requires that a) you have a permit for Urban Hens and b) that you can only have 4 living in a coop 6 feet from your house and from your property line.  Sooo...4 chickens it is.  Since John grew up working for McMurray Chicken hatchery - he had a pretty clear idea of the rare birds he wanted to get.  No Rhode Island Reds or CXRs for him...we're getting beautiful heirloom birds.  Next Sunday we will become the proud owners of two Light Brahmas, one Silver Laced Wyandotte and an Auracana.  They will lay brown eggs and the Auracana will lay blue and green ones.  We get them as 2 day old chicks...so egg producing won't actually begin until September or so.  We've got names picked...stay tuned. 

The S-W family continues to do well.  Ada-Ruth is the light of our lives and has been growing like a weed.  The past 2 weeks have been a bit rough - she's had her 1st ER visit, 1st ear infection, 1st hospital stay, 1st IV, 1st diagnosis of pneumonia and 1st bout with thrush.  She comes off of her antibiotic tomorrow and she's feeling much better.  John and I are both battling some un-diagnosed malase...hopefully we'll all begin Spring feeling healthy.  I know one thing for sure - I am ready for Winter to be over.

Last but not least - just in case you've been looking into career options during these economically difficult times...consider chicken sexing.  Enjoy.  Part 1 and Part 2.