Willing Abstinence of Chocolate and Coffee??? And other life stuffs...

I quit drinking coffee FOUR days ago.  The first two days had predictable headaches, but I am on to better times now.  Living coffee-free is one of the first steps I am taking to feeling better, month-round. 

I am TIRED of being out of commission so much of the time, so it's time to come out fighting... again.  I bought super absorb-able multivitamins (with lots of the B's), and a giant jar of calcium/magnesium.  In September I will start a 'feel good again' diet, which will be challenging, but I think worth it. 

When I went to the vitamin store, I talked to the 'vitamin guy' for a long time about my general symptoms of icky-ness, and he gave me a weird test to try to see if I have an overgrowth of candida.  He said (and it is kinda gross, but fascinating) to spit into cup of cold water first thing in the morning before you take a drink of water or even swallow.  You are supposed to check in on it for about an hour, and if it stays all pretty floating on top, you don't have a candida overgrowth.  But, if it starts sinking, and looking stringy and gross, you do (sorta sounds like how they diagnosed if someone was a witch or not at one point in history...).  The faster it sinks, the more candida you have.  I did his fun little test, and it immediately pointed to yes. I am, indeed, a witch.  Or I have candida.  ONE of those things.  

I'm not completely sure about the validity of the spit test.  I did, however, read the list of symptoms for candida, and the list pretty much describes all of the symptoms that I would like to go away.  I have a doctor apt. in September, but I'm pretty sure she'll just prescribe the usual meds that every american eventually gets prescribed, and send me on my merry way.  I just don't want to mask a bunch of symptoms; I'd like to get rid of the problem.  I've got things to DO, kids to raise and play with, a husband I'd like to be clear-headed enough to talk things through, friends and family to have happy times with.  I don't have TIME for dead-on-the-couch days! 

The candida diet seems to mostly involve eliminating sugar and carbs.  This is going to seriously compromise my consumption of chocolate.  *Sigh*  Just one more re-affirmation that if I love something too much, most likely it is bad for me. 

Anyways, I'm waiting for September to start the 'diet' because August still has a trip to Seattle (yay! Get to see David and Tia), and other fun friend times.  So much of social activity has to do with food!

Bailey and Kloe

Different subject (again): SO, since I was a blogging lam-o last week, I didn't mention that Heidi, Tammy and all the kiddos came and stayed with us last week.  I was going to post pictures of some of our time together, but then I realized I was so busy gabbing with my fellow ladies that I didn't really take any.  My bad. 

It was nice getting to be with them!  Lots of playing at the park, in the water, and loud craziness (that's a given with five kids running around my little house).  Kloe went home with them and stayed for four days with her buddy Bailey.  A good time was had by all.

While she was gone, I took Derrin school shopping.  Yes, it is that time of year again.  Today, he gets to go hang out with his grampa while I take Kloe school shopping.  It is always better to divide them for these sort of out-goings; reduces the chaos greatly.

We went to the Celtic festival the weekend before, but in my blog-funk, the pictures never were posted.  Time to remedy that:

My childrens' 'having fun' faces

My husbands 'having fun' face

A little Riverdancing



Miss Kloe and Miss Sklyer

  



Letting the kids play in the middle
of the road



Heatheree n Me, Downtown

Puppy dog eyes



Summer Days

It is so hard to consistently write in here when it is so beautiful out side and there is so much to do.  If I lived some place always hot and beautiful, I might never write again.  Maybe winter and cold rainy days serve the purpose of causing the angst and discontentment needed to write.  I'd like to believe they do, in fact, serve some purpose. 

Since words are failing me, I'm just gonna post some pictures of summer.

After 2nd Convention Day
At the Pool (We had our District
Convention last weekend in Kennewick.)

Soaking up a little Sunshine.

 

Kiddos burning some energy up after
sitting and listening so well all day.

Big Beautiful Strawberries(from the little patch in my backyard)

My Little Vege Garden

Flowers and Herbs

Strawberry Patch

Kloe and Her Baby

Jessy

 



Jessy's Dog Momma, Gertie, right before we brought Jessy home.

 Kloe has been doing such a good job taking care of Jessy.  It hasn't been easy for her either!  Usually summer has a lot of sleep-in days for her, but since Jessy moved in, Kloe gets up a couple times a night to let her go outside and she has to get up early for potty/breakfast/puppy playtime.  Not that all of this has happened with zero whining, but it has been fairly minimal.  Like I said, she's doing a good job.

Lame Blogger

Haven't blogged in way too long. I have no good reason for last week, except I was busy with work and enjoying the first real summer days we've had. This week I don't have internet access, and I've resisted doing the ol' blog from the blackberry up to now.

I literally was able to hang out with some of my very favorite people, either by going to a concert, going on a long walk, going on a guided food tour of a small town, throwing a summer kid party, and by playing a ginormous baseball game. One favorite friend couldn't be with me, or I with her, but we had a nearly three hour phone conversation.

Every week should be like last week.

This week I have been in T.Falls at Steph's. The kids are on their second (and last) week of swimming lessons. We were able to hang out at Renae's yesterday (she's back!), and today I hung out with Heidi and caught up while we watched the kids swim.

Tomorrow we will be in Paradise cemetery, pouring cement and setting Mom's head stone. It's been hard to find a day on the calendar that would work for us to meet up; it'll be good to finally have it up there.

On a different note, I have made an unfortunate hair dye decision. I would have thought that I would be over my "great ideas" when it comes to hair color. Now I know I will someday be that 85 year old woman with crazy orange hair. I guess if I didn't learn from the accidental green hair incident at age 15 (and my resulting nickname "Spruce") I will never learn.

Oh well. It's just blond, bright red and pink highlights... Not the subtle coolness I was going for, but it shouldn't be too hard to fix once I get home.

Auntie Lores n Kids

Kids at lessons

Kicking off Summer Party



Whip Cream Fight



@ Brandi and Ray Concert

Ma' girl and I at concert

He made Level 3!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Stuff and Junk

Our 11 year anniversary is this weekend! Yay us!  This is one of my most favorite times of the year, because we always try to get away to do something fun.  Last year, Derrick surprised me with a trip to Maui for our 10th- it was such a sweet get-away for us.  We'd never been on a major trip anywhere with just the two of us (that's what'll happen when you do the whole getting pregnant three months after getting married-even now we have two little voices huffing around when we take off for our just mom and dad time which only happens a couple times a year).  No Hawaii this year, but we are going to go to Whitefish for four days to do some skiing, and whatever else we feel like doing.  I'm going to bring my painting stuff and try to finish one of the projects that's been staring me down for a year, or at least chip away at it a little bit... maybe bring a good book to hunker down with (not too long though- my getting too deep into a book brings out Derrick's inner cat like qualities in which he wants to snatch said book out of my hand and rip it to shreds to bring me back to reality with him).  Either way, it'll be four days of peace and quiet, and I can not wait.

I'm contemplating running this morning.  I really should.  It is 22.5 degrees outside.  When I ran out there on Sunday, it was around 25 degrees and it was actually pretty bearable (bareable?  I'll use "bearable" because only a bear should have to live in conditions like this, because he's the only one that gets to hibernate).  I had to coat my face with vaseline-like sunscreen to keep my face from turning purple from the cold air (SUCH a pretty look), but it was still okay out there.  Yesterday it was only 15 degrees and I refused to even attempt it- I ran three miles on the treadmill instead.  SOOOO hard to treadmill it after being a free-range runner outside.  I promised myself I wouldn't make myself do more than two or three miles at a time on that thing.  Anyways, not sure about my commitment to get out there and run today.  We shall see.

Bought a bunch of vitamins yesterday- a good multi and some iron (to help with being so stinkin' COLD after every run, no matter what the weather is) that isn't supposed to make me get sick, and some 5-HTP that is good for preserving sanity during winter months. Also bought a homeopathic remedy called Ignatia that is supposed to help get through emotional trauma.  A lot of my family is using it with good results, wanted to try it myself.Click here to see what ignatia does.

Heather and her kiddies came over last night.  She brought some snowman cupcakes for the kids that were almost too cute to eat:) It was so great to spend time with my friend.  Must do more of that!!!!

What a "Green Drink" Does That Makes It Worth Drinking.....

...even though "some" people (i.e. Derrin and Kloe) say it looks icky and tastes funny....

I blend this stuff all together every morning and chug it down.  It is worth it! My energy is so much better on days I do this, my skin feels nicer, I can run better, think better.... my emotions are nicer...:)  Highly recommended.... (thanks heather, for telling me about this...)

Ingrediants

 Kale: http://hubpages.com/hub/Health-Benefits-of-Kale
Unusually high in fiber, excellent for vitamin A, C, and B6, Calcium, potassium, folate, antioxidants, fights cancer and heart disease

Carrots: http://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/vegetable/health-benefits-of-carrot.html

Helps with blood sugar regulation, great for fighting cancers, helps vision, great source of fiber...

 Blueberries:  http://www.womenfitness.net/blueberries.htm

Blueberries ROCK.  Not only do they taste good, but they aid in fighting infections, fight colon cancer (and many other forms of cancer),  fight belly fat (*!* just found that out), fight heart disease....
cranberries:  http://www.suite101.com/content/the-health-benefits-of-cranberries-a40863
fights infections (of course), fights bad cholesterol raises the good kind, fights both heart disease and cancer, helps with digestion...
bananas: http://bananasweb.com/bananas/Health+Benefits+of+Bananas

Immediate and slightly prolonged source of energy, improved mood, relatively high in iron, fiber, Eyesight Protection, Healthy Bones, highly protective to kidney health, prevents high blood pressure, Bananas are high in B vitamins that have been shows to improve nerve function.
Many people report that rubbing the inside of a banana peel on a mosquito bite is very effective in reducing itching and swelling. (*!* just had to include this because it's AWESOME)