Big Brother

I think that Big Brother may now be watching me.. eeekkk!!  Yesterday I saw an ad on Facebook advertising a book on how to create a 4 foot x 4 foot garden to grow your own food for pennies efficiently.  And since I have actually been growing a few things such as Kale, Cucumber, Tomatoes and Strawberries I thought that this would be a great item to get for a measly $7.00 so I ordered it.  But it was only after I ordered the E-Book that I found out that this is a survivalist group that also tells you how to buy guns and how to make your own ammunition.. double eeekkk!!  Now I'm paranoid that the government will have me in their sights.  I promise that I'm a pacifist.  

My new greenhouse

The interior of our new pop-up greenhouse.

Hanging Strawberries.

Hanging tomatoes, they are not doing well but the ones in the greenhouse seem to be thriving.

Kale,  mmmm.

Various veggies, this was taken a couple of weeks ago, they are a lot bigger now.

So far so good with our new pop-up greenhouse.  I will soon be able to pick some of the vegetables like the kale and the lettuce which are doing great.  Some of the herbs are doing good as well but some leave a little to be desired.. lol.

Never say never.. about your dog.

I remember always saying that I never wanted a yappy dog.  The first dog we got was a miniature poodle and she was yappy but we got her at 7 years old and thought that it was the way she was raised before we got her...  Then along came Tinka, who we got as a tiny puppy and guess what, she's a yappy little girl as well.. so I guess it wasn't the previous owner's fault after all..

MMM... who said that food that is good for you can't taste good?

Nice full-bodied chili, salad and butternut squash.. mmmm. All from scratch.

Spring.. where art thou?

This is supposed to be spring.. well, I guess it is because my flowers are starting to bloom but brrr.. it's cold today.  Yesterday was a busy day for me, I decided I had better get my huge amount of  seeds started for when we get our hothouse and raised gardens started.  We got a seed starter kit that holds 72 of those little seed starter pods, etc. so I spent the afternoon planting seeds into them and finally got them done.  The hothouse was fairly cheap so I don't know if it will last past the season (it's a pop-up type and we are going to put it up soon).  I would love to do away with my  regular flower beds, especially the heart shaped one that is goes down into the ditch because it's so hard to weed it especially with my bad back.  But we'll see if I can talk Ron into it later.


These are my first flowers...

Home is All in Your Mind

They say that you can never go home again.  But I wonder if home ever was, or, if it's all in your mind.  I can't seem to get a clear overview of back then.  I remember snippets of my childhood... making mud pies on old pieces of broken dishes and decorating them with wild flowers. In my mind's eye they were the most beautiful things created.  And I guess they were because they combined natures flawless beauty with a child's imagination.  But, looking back, I wonder how my mother saw me that day as I came into the house covered in mud and smeared with dandelion sap?  My poor mother, I can't even imagine having 13 children to raise [14 if you count our brother Ralph who died as an infant].   The endless washing, cooking, cleaning she must have done.

I also recall climbing out of bed as a very young girl before anyone else and going to the garden my mother and father planted to watch the sun rise.  I can see clearly the dew on the leaves of the plants and a light mist that kissed the ground.  I don't know what possessed me to rise so early being that I wasn't a morning person.  It was the first and last time that I had done that.

I have wanted to plant a vegetable garden for a long time, perhaps to recapture that early morning stroll through dew kissed plants.  Who knows?

Either Feast or Famine

Excuse me for my erratic posting.. but that's just me.. gotta be why you love me, right??

Before Christmas we had two lines of credit, a car payment and a low interest loan for the renovations we did on the house a while back.  I don't work because of my back and so Ron went back to work for a few years to pay off some of our bills.  We got news that our bank, where we have the lowest interest rate, was raising our line of credit quite substantially.. so we paid off our low interest loan [which was still higher than our line of credit], our other line of credit at the other bank that wasn't a lot higher but still was higher, and we also decided last week to pay off the car... so now we have only one payment to make and we can take all the money we were stretching out over the other payments and put it all on the one payment.  Also, if something happens and we are short on money we can make a minimum payment for a month or so on just one bill so that would be a cushion to fall back one.. We figure we will be debt free in a couple of years and will trade in our car at that time.  It really feels like we have things more under control now.  *whew*.. [hope that's not one of those ''famous last words'' type of things.]

MMMMmmm Coffee...

In addition to the new kobo ereader we also invested in a Keurig coffee maker.  Our old one was the kind that had a thermos instead of a glass coffee pot but we ended up wasting so much coffee.  I would get the coffee maker ready the night before and Ron would turn it on when he got up so he could have a cup or two before he left for work.  The only problem is that by the time I got up [I'm a late to bed and late to get up kind of girl], the coffee would be getting cool even in the thermos so that I had to nuke it in the microwave to get it hot enough to drink.  Then I would end up throwing half the pot of coffee away because it was never as good when it was reheated.

We also got a reusable little filter that we used to fill with our own coffee instead of getting the little pods. So the coffee is always very hot and fresh as we need it, no pouring half a pot of coffee down the drain and no wasteful coffee pods to dispose of.. So a win-win proposition.

Oh KOBO I ♥ you so...

We purchased a kobo ereader the other day and I have to say that it's so much better than buying paper books.  Our house is overflowing with the paper kind and we are so out of room for them all.  Our new kobo will hold up to 1,000 books with the possibility of holding up to 30,000 with a memory card.  The one we got is a kobo touch.. really nice and that's saving a LOT of trees.. :)  Later on we may get a second one so that we both can use one at the same time but presently Ron is reading a paper back and I'm using the kobo.

I just finished reading Bones are Forever by Kathy Reichs who wrote the Bones series on TV.  It's a good book but not great.  I guess it's all a matter of taste.  I had meant to use my 90% off coupon to get it but didn't know that I had to put the coupon code in earlier in the checkout process and ended up having to pay full price.  I later found out that there are only a certain set of books at 90% off and got a John Lutz book called Night Kills and there was also a 50% off for new members and I used it to get a book by Heather Gudenkauf called One Breath Away.  I'm reading the last book in the list and I just LOVE it, very well written and although the author is speaking from a number of different voices from the different characters it's still easy to follow.

We got a cover for it as well so that I can take it in my purse without worrying that it will get scratched. ♥

Everywhere at once

I must say that being me can be very confusing at times.  My mind bounces around like a ping-pong ball.  I was on again, off again a couple of times with the wheat elimination, and at the present time I'm back on again with the wheat.  It seems like I can't settle on one thing and stick with it.. but hopefully I'll stick with my counted cross stitching that I'm doing.. The top one shows the start of the picture and the bottom one shows where I am at the present time with it..

Wheat Belly no more.

Just before Christmas I purchased Dr. William Davis' book Wheat Belly.  I had been off of wheat before Christmas and wasn't losing weight but I was consuming high carb. flours such as rice flour, corn starch and some others to make biscuits.  From reading Dr. Davis' book I realized that there were a lot of things that I didn't understand about the whole going wheat free process to achieve optimum benefit.  So one day hubby and I were in Indigo book store to get some Christmas gift cards and I saw a whole shelf  Wheat Belly and decided what do I have to lose?  I decided to wait until after Christmas before I started because I wasn't sure if I could resist all the backed goods and sweets.   So yesterday when hubby and I were shopping I stocked up on healthy vegetables, nut flours, cheese, some items for baking wheat free and some raw almonds and some natural peanut and almond butters.

I have a bunch of recipes to make from the book including pizza, and lots of recipes for meals and lots of deserts like pumpkin spice muffins, cheese cake, etc.  I think I might go easy on the deserts at first so that my body knows it's going through a change.

I'm starting out at 172.8 pounds and will let you know how it unfolds in the coming days, weeks, months and  years.

On the search for the perfect heat source.

When we bought this house 9 and 1/2 years ago it had a wood stove and baseboard hot water heat heated by an oil furnace.  Our heat costs were high and getting higher every year.  Even the cost of wood for the wood stove was high and the oil furnace heated our domestic tap water as well so it had to run all year.  Then we decided to get an electric hot water heater to heat the domestic hot water so that we could save money in the summer months. 

Then Ron fully renovated the house putting in extra insulation and new windows.  We then took out the wood stove and replaced it with a pellet stove and last year we removed the furnace and put in electric heat as back up to the pellet stove.

Then a week or so ago our pellet stove went on us so we replaced it with two infrared heaters that should save us lots of money on electricity.  So contrary to the trend we are spending a lot less than we would have with all the other forms of heat that we have had in the past.  Life is good.

Back on Wheat

I had to go back on wheat for a month because I'm getting a scope done to test for Celiac disease.  I find I'm hungry all the time now and have a lot of stomach problems.  So on the 1st of November in addition to the gastric scope I'm having a bowel scope.  Talk about attacking the problem from both ends.  And on the 6th of November I go to Summerside to have a cat scan done of my pancreas to see if something is wrong there because my blood tests were off a bit and my doctor is very thorough and wants to find out what's causing it.

We're settling into fall now and our Maple trees are so beautiful.  

I continue...

I continue on my gluten free/wheat free way of living.  I don't want to call it a diet because it really isn't, it's a new way of ... being.. I guess.  I'm still struggling with the fact that I eat too many starchy foods.  I guess that will be ongoing.  But I haven't had any major gastric problems since I started down this path.

One thing I noticed the other day while taking Tinka for her daily walk is that there are so many more butterflies this year than in recent years.  I guess that is a good sign of the times???

I have gotten back into painting on rocks but I'm really not happy with the results.. but I guess I shouldn't expect too much when I've been away from it for so long.. I just expected to pick up a brush and paint and be able to recreate what I have in my head.. sort of in denial I guess.

Day 4  of going wheat free/gluten free.  I'm down 2.5 pounds and my blood sugars have normalized.   I feel tired but other than that my intestinal problems have pretty much cleared up.  The only thing that I have an issue with so far is an omelet with mushrooms, onions and cheese.  I'm not sure what of those is the culprit but might try eliminating certain items and see if one is causing the upset.  Hopefully it's not the eggs.

This change has been much easier than I had anticipated.  I was expecting wild cravings and slipping off the plan after a day or two.  But I'm not craving and am not really hungry much.  I just have to make sure that I'm hydrated and that I don't let myself get too hungry. So far I'm really impressed with how I'm doing because will power doesn't seem to be an issue yet.

Going Wheat Free/Gluten Free

As of yesterday August the 16, 2012 I have kissed goodbye to all wheat and gluten containing foods.  I believe that I'm in the first stages of having celiac disease.  I have been diagnosed with irritable bowel disease and had a scary bout about two weeks ago where I ended up in the hospital with severe abdominal pains [I had them for a week before I finally went into emergency].  They gave me morphine and ordered an ultra sound to rule out gall bladder problems.  Nothing showed up on the tests or the blood tests that they did the night I showed up in emergency.  So, while I was waiting to see my doctor next month for a follow up I saw something about a book called Wheat Belly [this link takes you to his web site] by a doctor Davis.

I was blown away by what he was saying about wheat being nothing like the wheat that we had growing up. So I decided to try giving up all wheat and gluten products until I get in to see my doctor.  I'm keeping a journal of all that I eat and will take that along as well.  I'm on day 2 and am surprisingly not having any cravings for wheat products or for sugary foods.  I'm also eating a lot less.  So we shall see.  Also, I'm hoping that my blood sugars will settle back down because they were starting to get a bit high.

I'm not looking at this as a temporary diet but as a whole new way of being.  I have an appointment with a dietician next month for one and one counselling and to take classes.  It's at the local Sobeys store and she doesn't charge for her services.  She also will take me around to show me the foods that I can eat and make suggestions on supplements I may have to take.

I decided today to get back to painting rocks..

I've been off work now for around 6 months and I've been drifting around, not doing much of anything, just being a lump on a log as they say.  I decided to dig out my paints and rocks and get at painting again.  My first piece is a raccoon.   He's a rather simple piece to start and I hope to improve over time.  I've been stopping and starting things at an alarming rate.  I had started this raccoon months ago but have left it sitting there with just the outline done.  Before that I had started a large painting of a horse which is still sitting there partly completed.  Also I started some counted cross stitching.. gawd, I'm so scattered I can't stand myself at times.  At least I can keep changing up my crafts and won't worry about not having something to do.  That's the curse of knowing how to do too many things.  I can't seem to stick to one thing to the end.  

Walk down memory lane..

On FaceBook I had a picture of my mother as my icon and it got me to thinking how we complain and bitch about how hard we have it when our lives aren't nearly as hard as trying to raise 13 kids in an age where there was no electricity until I was around 6 years old and I'm one of the younger ones.  My youngest sister wasn't born yet when this picture was taken.

My parents and siblings.. I'm the squished little girl in the middle.

I thought I knew myself...

I was at the doctor's office on Monday and the news isn't as bad as I had expected.  Although my blood pressure is up, my blood sugars are up [although still in the normal range but high normal] and my weight is up the doctor told me it's not too late if I apply myself.  I don't understand what's motivating me to sabotage my health at every turn??  I know what to do, I have the medications to do it and a year ago I had my life in control, the weight was coming off and my health was the best it had been in years.  Now, I'm in a pit I can't get out of it seems.  I put back almost 20 of the 40 or so pounds that I had taken off.  I have been sneaking junk food at every opportunity.  It's like a slow suicide and I  don't know how to snap out of it.  I'm in a constant state of indigestion because the medication I'm on to slow down my appetite is doing it's job but I'm  not listening to my body.  I eat junk food and I get extreme indigestion, then I snack on Tums at every turn instead of restricting what I eat and how much.  It's not rocket science.

Three months ago I was at the doctor for my check-up and was told I was doing so great but in my mind that was not how I was doing.  I had started down the slippery slope around Christmas time.  I was eating sweets multiple times a day.  I was depending on the medication to take care of my mistakes and apparently it was.  So I can actually remember thinking to myself that no matter how bad I treat my body, the medication will right the wrongs.  If that isn't a form of insanity I don't know what is.

So I thought that all the years of counselling, both private and group, and the introspection, picking apart my brain to see what makes me tick would yield some insight to my inner workings but it appears I'm as much a mystery now as I always had been.

I apologize to all of you that might have come to my blog looking to be entertained... hopefully I'll snap out of this funk soon and I can get back to being my positive, wise cracking self.

Mmmm I love the smell of cooked lawn in the afternoon

Since we can't use chemicals on our lawns I decided to use a two fold method to kill some weeds on our lawn. There is a weed that has a small purple flower on it that is in just one patch on our lawn but is slowly creeping out to infest the rest of the lawn.

A neighbour suggested using vinegar on it [her lawn is infested so I suspect that she hasn't been following her own advice].  But this morning I thought, what the heck, and proceeded to spray the weeds with the vinegar.  Being the impatient person I am I struck on the idea of using our steam zapper machine to literally cook the weeds so I spent the afternoon steaming the lawn.. the neighbours were looking at me kind of strange but it seems to have done the trick.  Since it's supposed to rain for the next few days I won't be able to get back to do some more until the weekend.