End of Season Tasks

Last week and this, Paul and I have been tidying up the garden in preparation for winter.  Paul took down our birdhouse for winter storage, we gathered up the tomato cages, and covered some of our perennials.  Paul will run the mulching lawnmower over the grass to collect up the leaves on Monday, when the weather is predicted to be "warm".  We also arranged for Sears to come do routine maintenance on our snowblower. 

Paul and I also went through our canned goods, purging any expired ones, cleaning and sorting.  This was not planned; the upper shelf of our Lazy Susan base cabinet shifted down, needing an adjustment, which Paul took care of.  But I have been meaning to go through it, so all was good.  The trick is to use up all of the duplicates I found and didn't realize I had - how much coconut milk can one person accumulate?!  I see Thai food in our future, maybe some Indian or Caribbean as well.  We are well stocked in vegetable soup for the winter.  It feels good to have that done. 

Sadly, there is a frost predicted for tonight.  So I went out and collected the last of the herbs before they are frozen.  Surprisingly, in spite of some pretty cold and awful weather in the past month, three herbs survived: rosemary, oregano, and parsley.  In keeping with my international cooking, I will also need to make some recipes that use parsley and oregano (Italian, anyone?!).  The rosemary I plan on using to make a rosemary hair rinse (link to holistichabits video/prep instructions here).  Rosemary is great for the hair, and has aromatherapy benefits as well, which apparently one will smell while prepping the hair rinse.

Left to right: rosemary, parsley, oregano

Workouts With Personal Trainer/Sugar Addiction

I was going to title this, "The Elephant in the Room", tongue-in-cheek, but I am trying to bring more positivity into my life, especially around body image.  It has recently dawned on me, in a BIG way (no pun intended) that I really need to take the difficult steps involved in promoting my own health.

My winter and spring consisted of: feeling unmotivated, not exercising, getting sick at least three times between November 2016 and now (some related to CIRS, but more on that later), and eating horribly, but with sporadic attempts to set myself right.  I would get on a good path, but then feel deflated and unmotivated.  Some of this may be due to feeling depressed.  I have been taking supplements to help this, but the whole exercise piece was missing.  So I stumbled along, knew I was gaining weight, knew I wasn't feeling well even when I wasn't officially sick.  And let's just say that my approach to sugar, ice cream, and candy bars is (and hopefully - was), like that of an addict.

I finally had the courage to step on the scale - shocking.  I know my clothes weren't fitting well, but, you know, tomorrow. I had been thinking of booking some sessions with a personal trainer months ago, but wanted to wait until after Portland.  Then I got super sick, and did nothing.  But eat.

Recently, I watched some YouTube videos on fitness and lifestyle.  I became motivated to try once again to get a handle on this.  In a stroke of luck, I received a free trainer session from the health club since it is my birthday month.  I signed up, was able to choose my trainer online (which was hard, but thankfully I picked one I match well with), and set up the first session.

The first session was mostly evaluation of my strength, flexibility, diet, etc.  Then she had me stand on this diagnostic fitness tool called "In Body":

The In Body told us my weight, which I already knew was up there, my total body fat percentage, my muscle mass, and some other stuff that I wasn't really tuned into (too focused on the first three).  In a nutshell, my fat percentage is too high, and my muscle mass is too low.  It was a lot worse than I thought it would be.  We talked about diet and sugar, and a lot of other stuff.  Ultimately in the end I signed up for a series of sessions.  

I have been exercising every day, even if it is just a walk throughout the neighborhood.  I figured out a .75 mile distance and do that when I don't go to the health club.  And I have stopped treats for now, with the exception of a little bit of nice, dark chocolate (Wei of Chocolate Dark Creamy, sweetened with coconut blossom sugar), and I had a little bit of Tyler's chocolate cake the other night at a restaurant.  I also had ordered some prepped meals from Meez Meals (Mise en Place).  That helped so much with cooking - most of the prep is all done.  I also saw a product on YouTube to add to my smoothies in the morning that seems to help with the cravings.  I am going to go through the fridge, freezer, and pantry over the next few days, and get all set up to promote proper diet. 

So I think I am on the right track.  My trainer worked me very hard today, but I felt great afterwards.  And it is easier to feel positive when one is doing positive things!

Vegan Substitute for Bone Broth

My posting has suffered due to illness.  I won't go into all of it, other than to say that I never fully recovered from a cold in March, and then was basically sidelined for two weeks recently, feeling awful, only meeting the barest of obligations.  But I am finally on the mend again (tired of being sick all the time - what an awful fall and winter I have had!)

I keep hearing about bone broth and how good it is for you.  The trouble is - we're vegetarians.  A while back, I found this recipe for a "Gut-Healing Broth".  The woman who wrote the post brings up some good points:

• Nutrients and electrolytes in bone broth can be found in vegan-friendly sources
• The body makes its own collagen 
• Our bodies can’t even digest collagen whole; rather, we simply absorb the nutrients from our food which provides our bodies with the building blocks it needs to naturally create collagen
• Eating collagen does not equal having more collagen
• Healing the stomach lining can be done in other ways
• The calcium, potassium and other minerals found in bone broth are more than easy to find in plant-based foods plus they contain much, much more goodness

I made this broth.  It had lots of ingredients.  It used coconut aminos instead of tamari or soy sauce, which was interesting (I found the coconut aminos at Whole Foods).  I added Himalayan salt to it (it needed it!).  It had a very strong taste.  I made a big batch and froze a lot of it, parceling out small doses each day of the small Ziploc bagful that I didn't freeze.  I haven't thawed any out since, but will this week.  I just saw an interesting talk on "leaky gut" which inspired me to be more cognizant of this.  

Ingredients all prepped and ready to go

Cooking, after which the brother would be strained.

Health Update (Healthy Eating)

So, I have been sick for 2 1/2 weeks.  It started just before I began my healthy living stuff I mentioned in my previous posts.  It just seemed to get worse and worse with each day.  Finally the doctor gave me antibiotics last week.  I also am getting over laryngitis.  I was too exhausted to do much, but during this time the sprouts grew, Paul and I are eating more salads (with sprouts!), and I also tried a healing drink.

But I am finally on the mend.  I still cannot sing due to the recovering laryngitis.  So I doubt I will be able to sing at all for Easter.  This bums me out more than I can say.  Maybe I'll post on those emotions another time.  Today though, I went to ballet class!  So that was a bright spot. (Separate post on that to come.)

Photos:

Pea Shoot Sprouts Growing Nicely

Healthy Healing Drink:

Coconut milk, Manuka honey, fresh ginger, turmeric

I had peeled the ginger and turmeric that went into the drink pictured

Note: the AC vinegar in the back was not part of the drink!

Microgreen Kit

Continuing on my healthy living theme, I recently purchased a Microgreen growing kit from the Window Garden company.  We bought the tray, some pea shoot sprouting seeds, and a "Veg Ledge" that fits on the window with suction cups.

Here's the kit, unboxed

The kit itself came with tray, soil disc, a water spritzer, and sample pack of seeds.  I bought an extra box of seeds with the pea shoots* - that came with three envelopes of seeds and extra soil discs.  

Seeds planted, tray suction-cupped to the window

In about 10-12 days, I shall be eating sprouts!!

*P. S. Although the packet says "Use Entire Packet", I didn't.  It seemed like too much seed.  I used half.  I suppose I will spend more money that way - buying new soil discs, but I want to easily harvest these sprouts.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Healthy Living

Which I am struggling with...

I'm not sure if it is age, or being busy, or with the autoimmune issue I'm dealing with (CIRS).  I have really been struggling with eating right and exercising.  But I have been taking some small steps to try and get on track.  We recently had a super warm, sunny day.  I walked to a local market, which is a good fitness walk away from home.  I wore a tank top, put some sunscreen on only my face and forearms (which get hopelessly dark in the summer while the rest of me is as pale as ever), left my upper arms and shoulders to absorb some sunlight.  I got ingredients for some healthy recipes I want to try.  And try one I did.  It was just veggies and a sauce, but it was really good!

Groceries and some flowers for the table (springtime!!)

Steamed veggies with a miso-tahini sauce 

(and my little ducky in his bowl in the background)

Today was cold again, but Grandson wanted to search for Pokemon on the Pokemon Go game.  So we walked very far, probably a mile and a half, or even two.

It's a start, anyway.

Kleen Owt!! (Healthy Start/CIRS)

Yesterday I watched a webinar (free!) presented by Dr. Axe.  I was interested in the whole "leaky gut" business because my doctor diagnosed me with Hashimoto's and CIRS (Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome) last year.  I had an understanding of how the gut plays into this, but needed reinforcement because I am easily tempted to cheat.  To my credit, I have been working assiduously for the past month to avoid it.  I'm doing very well.  The only hang up is the small amount of gluten contained in the Communion hosts each Sunday (I have read that they do make reduced gluten hosts, apparently low enough that some celiacs could potentially consider using them? But don't go by me on that!! Ask your doctor!)  My doctor felt that for me, a non-celiac, the weekly host would not be a problem.  But I may gently probe around at church, see if they do offer them.  

For those who are not familiar with CIRS, here's a nice general definition from a website:
"CIRS is the illness that occurs when someone who is genetically vulnerable to bio-toxins is exposed and reacts with chronic and systemic inflammation. It turns out 25% of the population carries the genetics responsible for this condition."

I found the webinar talk to be inspiring, just the push I needed.  I wanted to have a small renewal, have plans to make an immune-building soup, plus this yummy other soup I made previously.  But my fridge was woefully in need of a cleaning and purging.  I did this, there was some "Eeew" involved in the back of the vegetable drawer, got the shelves wiped down (need to do the door shelves still).  Here it is, emptied out, waiting for new groceries:  

Groceries are bought, waiting to be utilized.  I started today baking a large butternut squash for tonight's soup.  Tomorrow I'll do the immune-building soup.  I also want to make a soup I posted about previously (here).  It was so yummy, and made enough to freeze, which I did.  Last week I thawed it out for dinner - still yummy!!

I see my doctor at the end of the month.  I hope my month of gluten-free strictness and this new motivation to improve diet even more will pay off.  

Healthy Soup

Yesterday I made a big pot of "Weight Loss Vegetable Soup".  It was really yummy, and naturally gluten-free.  I left out broccoli simply because I forgot to buy some, and I made it with veggie broth instead of beef broth to make it vegan.  I only used four cups of veggie broth (contents of one aseptic container).  I added some Himalayan salt to taste along with the other spices (it needed a little).  I did freeze some, since it made a lot.  But have been subsisting on it as I fight off the start of a cold (along with Chinese herbs and Dr. Dunner's Sambu-Guard).  I really enjoyed the cooking, even all the chopping.  It just felt nice to create something live-giving and healthy.

Little Boy Tries Something Healthy

By his own request, Tyler wanted to make tangerine juice yesterday.  This came out of the blue from a little boy who is not always on board with healthy eating.  He found using the juicer to be fun.

Airing The Linens (CIRS)

I spent most of yesterday doing a task that is not so much in vogue anymore: airing the linens.  I like the idea of line-dried linens, but never did more than hanging sheets to dry. Yesterday included not only the sheets, but the blanket, mattress pad, mattress base cover, and the mattress itself to be aired.

Organ Recital (feel free to skip this part): But I finally received a diagnosis from my doctor on what has likely been causing all of my vague, and not so vague symptoms these past years (asthma, migraines, fatigue, depression).  In a nutshell, I have a problem with mold.  Leaf mold had shown up as something I was allergic to long ago, but I didn't think much more about it, since mold is everywhere, and seemed to only bother me in the fall.  However, one of my symptoms, the asthma, first showed up when we were remodeling our bathroom and showering in the basement in a deck shower.  The doctor found lab markers on me that indicated chronic inflammation in my body.  After running more tests, he determined that my body cannot clear mold the way the majority of people can.  Here is an analogy: when a biotoxin (bacteria, mold, etc.) enters the body, the immune system realizes something is wrong, identifies the invader, and sends in the troops to obliterate it.  In my case, the body recognizes that there is an invader, but can't identify it.  An analogy I read was that it is like a policeman witnessing a crime, taking a photo of the perpetrator, running back to the police station to inform the rest, but the picture is blurry and the culprit unidentifiable.  So, they are all running around looking for this guy, but can't recognize him, so they run around, sort of like the Keystone Cops.  So the immune system is roaming around trying to find it, but can't, and so remains inflamed.  Hence the Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome, or CIRS (pronounce "Sirs" as in "Dear Sirs").  I am now on a medication that will help chelate the mold accumulated in my body.  

*****

We are now looking at reducing the amount of mold I come in contact with.  This is very difficult, because mold is virtually everywhere.  What we have done so far is to invest in an excellent air purifier, be more cognizant of keeping the bathroom ventilated and the towels and shower curtains frequently laundered, and started opening windows more, now that the days are warmer.  Future remedies will be fixing the portion of the basement where there is some water seepage ($$).  That's a big job, and fortunately our basement tested out "borderline" meaning I can live with it until such time as we can afford to fix the basement.  I also found a cute craft online for keeping shower curtains mold free (more on that when I get around to making it).  

Because I have read that bedding can sometimes harbor mold, yesterday's work included undressing our mattress from all of its coverings, and having it sit outside in the sunshine for several hours.  We also placed the base cover on the wash line for airing (we are not to wash that, according to the tag).  Then I washed our brand new "jelly head" as Kristin calls the puffy mattress covers, our blanket, and one set of sheets (will do the same process on the other sheets soon).  Thankfully, Robert and Paul were available to wrestle the mattress in and out of the house.  We placed an airtight, allergy-type zippered cover over it.  We also rotated the mattress when we placed it back in the room (can't flip these newer mattresses, because there is a definite top and bottom).  But the rotating was so nice!  Paul and I slept a lot better last night in our fresh, clean bed.  

The first batch: mattress base covers and the new "jelly head".

Second batch: blanket and sheets.

(P. S. Don't mind the little wood pile in the forefront!)

Found Object - Salad Bowl

This wonderful salad bowl was made by my hubby Paul when he was in Shop Class in high school.  It is beautifully made.  He also made the salad serving set as well.  Many years back though, before we had a kitchen with storage, we used to keep the bowl on top of the fridge with a lot of other stuff.  Then one day it got jostled and fell off.  It broke clean in two, much to our despair.  It went into the basement for repair, and Paul got it glued back together.  It needed refinishing though: filling of any small remaining cracks, a good sanding, re-staining parts, and plenty of polyurethane to fill gaps and give it a solid waterproof coat.  But there were just so many other projects and so much to do, that it sat and sat and sat...

Then once we had made some good headway into the kitchen remodel, we stumbled upon it on a shelf in the basement.  How many years had it been?!  Paul got going on it again, working carefully and methodically to restore it.  Coat after coat of poly, until it was just right.

Paul's Signature on the bottom of the bowl 

from when he first made it- 4/20/72.

How lovely to serve salad in such a bowl!

Dancing Again

I have finally, finally gone back to ballet.  Illness and flaring up of old injuries have kept me away.  I have started slowly, but am going to a very nice adult class.  I need to build strength, both muscular and cardio-wise, plus I need to be more stretched. The first time I went was very difficult and overwhelming.  I felt so out of my body.  My brain and muscle memory knew what to do, but the body could not respond.  Today it was a little easier, and definitely more enjoyable.  There were times when I was very joyful and smiling and having fun.  If I am going to do this however, I need to get to class at least twice a week, preferably more. Mostly I just need to go to bed earlier so I can get up early enough to get to one of the many morning adult ballet classes.

It is still the most enjoyable way to move one's body and exercise.

1st position - we begin to dance.

Vegan Caesar Salad

Now that Robert and Sierra are strict vegans, I have been looking into this more, both recipes and lifestyle change for myself.  I think that reducing dairy products is a good idea, and I totally get the animal cruelty aspect, (not going into that here though).  Our recent holiday meals have had a lot of vegan components - very tasty too.  I read about a vegan Caesar salad dressing on a youtube channel (link).  I tried it out, and it's really good.  The garlic really comes out strong in the dressing, so don't go nuts, maybe start with one clove, add more to taste!  

I did as the video suggested, adding tempeh.  

For mine I marinated, then baked the tempeh in barbecue sauce.  Yum!

Several people have asked for the recipe.  I transcribed it from the link.  Thanks to Sarah from holistichabits for this!

Vegan Caesar Salad Dressing

½ cup Brazil Nuts (or can use half Brazil nuts and half cashews), soaked overnight or for at least 8 hours

¾ cup water

2 tbsp hemp seeds

1 small Lemon (or 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar)

3 tbsp capers

1-2 cloves Garlic

1/8 tsp dry mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

1 small soaked pitted date (optional)

Place all in blender and puree until smooth. Note: garlic is very strong in this recipe, so start with one clove, add more to taste.

Hello Fresh Trial

I have started up with the Hello Fresh meal service.  How this works is that the company assembles all ingredients and recipes for your weekly order, then delivers them in a box with cold packs.  I really liked what I saw with this first box.  We ordered the vegetarian box.  It gives you three meals to make.  Some are gluten-free, others can be adapted by making a gluten-free grain on the side to replace the pasta, etc., then using the sauce or other ingredients included in the recipe.  You can choose two servings or four.  We chose the four servings.  What's interesting is that if you order the four serving option, they are sent in two individual two-packs, rather than the four all together.  That way, if you are not particularly hungry or family members are away for the evening, you can just make a two-serving meal, and save the other for a night later in the week.  That's what we did tonight.  Kristin was at a dance rehearsal, and Julie was over, but not super hungry.

I made the Chinese Black Bean Sauté:

All of the ingredients, nicely packaged.

The meal was good, with the exception of the Chinese spices; there was star anise and fennel in it, which I do not particular like (along with cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns, and cloves, which I do like).  When I make the second one I will use my own spices.  But the meal all in all was good.  I also had to make some special adjustments.  Paul hates mushrooms, and that is one of the prime ingredients.  So I sautéed those separately.  Then I made some Morningstar farms veggie fake meat crumbles for Paul.  So we just assembled our individual dishes according to the "innards" we liked.   

What seems like will work out in a most excellent manner is that since the meals are packaged up and labelled, they simply can go in the basement fridge, and all I have to do is go grab a pack or two to make.  It doesn't take up room in our more compact upstairs fridge. With me avoiding gluten, I will have to adapt parts of some of the recipes; some I may need to not eat at all.  But tonight's meal was gluten-free.  The Barley and Avocado salad will require me to make a side of rice or quinoa to replace the barley in my own portion.  The others can have it with the barley as written.  The Cauliflower Mac and Cheese for this week will be something I won't have (although, perhaps I could make a side of gluten-free macaroni, and reserve some of the cheese sauce!), but I'm sure the others will enjoy it.  Next week's meals I can also make substitutions (gluten-free pasta for me to replace the orecchiette pasta the others will have with the sauce, and using gluten-free bread or a portobello mushroom for the Fig and Brie Grilled Cheese - interesting combo!).  

So, I'll see how this goes.  I'm hoping that this will help me with meal planning.  I like the idea of someone just telling me what to do, and having the ingredients all there for me.  I like to cook, but don't like the planning and figuring out ingredients.  Not sure why that is!

Reclaiming My Harp Space (with a little tangent about water filtration)

For the past few months I have been in a harp slump.  A lot of it had to do with all of the kitchen cabinet boxes preventing me from actually getting to my harp.  But I was also in a slump in general.

A kitchen remodel is horridly stressful, my diet was terrible, we were unable to use our Reverse Osmosis water filter that I love (and I am very fussy about water - I don't like it to begin with, but having to do without the relative non-taste of RO water and instead drink bottled or tap water was very hard for me).  Incidentally, we did not get the RO filter because I am a fussy princess (!); we got it because I have a thyroid illness, and fluoride, which is in most tap water, is bad for this.  The RO is the only type that can get the fluoride out (at least, that is my understanding).  So I wasn't drinking well, and I am not sure how the exposure to fluoride affected me, if indeed it did.  The point is - my health has not been the best through this.  And when I don't feel well, or feel depressed, I don't play.  Ooo, what a tangent that was!

Anyway, as I mentioned in my previous post, I was inspired to play again by the harpist at The Drake.  But, Paul and I also finally were able to unclutter and clean our parlor, which houses my harp, making it accessible to me.  This was an icky proposition.  You see, we have three cats.  And three cats, combined with three sensitive kitty stomachs, combined with a room that humans cannot get real access to...well, you get the picture.  Vomit-palooza! We also had multitudes of storage boxes and cardboard cabinet containers to deal with. There is still a small amount of stuff to be dealt with, but it looks like a living space now, and, more importantly, a harp space.  I can finally practice comfortably and in clean surroundings.

My new music arrived, the Brahms Intermezzo.  It is a gorgeous arrangement in a Brahms collection by Daniel Burton.  I have begun working on it intently.  It is lovely.

The view from my harp:

Making Stock

Today I tried something I have never done before: making a vegetable stock. I wanted to make one that I was reading about (found while searching for the benefits of alkalizing mineral broths for health).  It was actually fairly easy - all of the vegetables were chopped via my Bosch food processor, dumped into the stock pot, water added, boil, then simmer.  Once cooled the broth is strained off from the vegetables.  It made a large quantity which I then divided up.  I froze two bags of broth, drank a mug of it, and the rest is in the fridge to be used for soup I will be making tomorrow or Friday. 



Thoughts Before Christmas and Health

As we move into Christmas, I have had to reconcile myself to the fact that I will be working all of it.  This is a fact of life for a nurse, especially when in a new job (next year I will have a better chance of having at least some of Christmas off).  It is hard for me: no singing with the choir on Christmas Eve, no family dinner Christmas Day, watching Tyler open presents on Christmas morning in a blur after coming off a night shift.  Our dinner will be postponed to the weekend.

My health has been a challenge starting back at the beginning of fall.  I am working with a new doctor and am improving, but my energy is so sapped.  A simple walk to the pharmacy today in beautiful weather was tiring.  I feel extremely old, but I am only 56!  I must have faith that the interventions the doctor has prescribed for me will continue to improve my health.

So I am a little melancholy this season.  What I am telling myself is that there is hope for health improvement, and that I am performing an invaluable task this Christmas: caring for tiny preemies that I love, giving of myself and providing aid to the sick, as Christ asks of us.

"The care of the sick is to be placed above and before every other duty, as if indeed Christ were being directly served by waiting on them."

What I Have Been Up To Lately

There has been a lot going on in my life lately, which is why I have not posted in a while.

• School - I am finishing another class towards my BSN completion program. Three classes left to go, which will be available to take in summer. 
• Work - The clinic I work in will be closed in a month, very sad. Then my new job, back in the NICU, starts. 
• Family - The big news here is that Robert is having surgery, extensive inner ear surgery (Google Tympanomastoidectomy and Ossiculoplasty if you care to see details).  In fact, this is happening this very second - we are four hours in. Praying he will be out of surgery and restored to health soon!
• Home - Lots of winter indoor projects on the list.  Poor Paul!
• Health - I am dealing with chronic issues, medication changes and adjustments that are not pleasant.

But I am feeling blessed in spite of the challenges. 

Juicing for Health

Long ago, when my kids were little, I bought a juicer.  I used it for several years, then gradually stopped.  For a long time it sat on a shelf.  But after my health issues (resulting from major stress in most areas of my life in late 2012), I was motivated to start juicing again.  Ever since March, I have been juicing several times a week.  I like to include more than just orange and apple, adding carrots especially, and occasionally even beets.  Carrots and beets give a surprisingly good flavor, although it takes getting used to.  Now I love it.  I am also getting Paul, and even Tyler to drink it.  (Since originally posting this I have been juicing my oranges in the citrus juicer that attaches to my mixer.  This save the hassle of peeling oranges, one of my most hated tasks for juicing.  Obviously there is more to wash, but it saves time - just cut the oranges in half - and my poor thumbs which tend to get sore peeling oranges!)  Thankfully my juicer is a good model (Champion), and has lasted these years.  I did replace the juicing blade (they get worn down over time), but it works as well now as it did in the 90's.  It feels good to take care of oneself!

The fruit and the juicer, ready to go!

Recovering!

Just letting people know I am back home and doing well after surgery!