Yesterday...bad, bad, bad...

I woke up yesterday morning with the usual dense fog inside my brain, although it was one of my worse brain-fogs as it was affecting my depth perception too, I think. I poured myself a large mug of coffee (holds 3-cups worth of coffee), and sat on the couch to watch Canada AM and to contemplate my coffee as is my usual routine. Zachary needed me to help him fix the collar of his shirt, so I put my mug on the coffee table (or so I thought)... as I reached to fix his shirt, my mug of coffee toppled to the floor, spilling the precious morning elixer all over the floor, and causing the sacred coffee vessel (mug) to break...grrrrrrrrrrrrr. It was going to be a difficult day; I went out for a smoke.

Now, you'd think that when I saw the huge raven circling above my head I would have realized that my day would turn out to be a little worse than I had expected, but what can I say... without my first 3-cups of coffee being in my body, I was not very sharp at that point. Although I did know my offense against the java gods would more than likely come with a price...but more about that later.

Anyway, the rest of the day was mediocre. Around 4pm I had to go pick up Zach from an after-school activity, and since Gilles wasn't home yet, Mykah had to come too. We arrived a little earlier than I anticipated which meant we had to wait for Zach's activity to finish. While we were waiting, didn't Mykah slip and fall on the wet floor, hitting his head on the metal frame on the window! Yeah, split open his head, lots of blood... Mykah was freaking out (so was mommy on the inside). The freaky thing is that it's almost in the exact same location as when he did the same thing last year. Poor little guy... but he was sooooo good at the clinic, and 4-stitches later he's fine.

Oh yeah, as for the spilled coffee... my penance was having to go a full day without fresh coffee because my HUSBAND FORGOT TO BUY THE GROUND COFFEE!!! I had to drink crappy decaf instant coffee.... believe me, it was sheer torture! Double grrrrrrrr...

But all is well now... he arrived home today with 2 big tins of coffee... now I'm very happy! The java gods are forgiving once the divine life-lesson has been learned! Don't waste the damned coffee!!!!:D

I really am what I eat...

It's amazing how much one's diet affects overall health and well-being! I have been slowly making the transition to eliminating red meat and poultry/fowl from my diet, but now I've cut it out completely! I haven't eaten meat in over a week, and the difference is astounding! Within only 2 days I started seeing a difference! My mind is clear and focused, my emotions are balanced, and my energy levels and motivation to do things... well, I'm keeping up with the housework without trying to clean the entire house in a single day. Whoa, I'm acting like a "normal" homemaker!

At this point, I'm not even willing to consume a single piece of meat, even if only to test my theory. I feel good without being in a manic state, and I am going to do whatever it takes to keep it this way. LOL... I think I'm going to make Sushi for Thanksgiving dinner!

Soup, Soup everywhere...

So, I'm slowly making dietary changes that include cutting down and eventually eliminating red meat from my diet... poultry and the like will come after, but one step at a time. Basically I want to get to the point of "no feathers, and no fur," as a good friend of mine puts it. Where it will go from there remains to be seen, but at least it's a start. It's partially a matter of choice, but my body seems to be forcing me to go in this direction too. I was raised in a "meat and potatoes" family... red meat at least 3 times a week. That had already begun to change over the years, but recently, my body is just saying, "ENOUGH!!!!!"

It was an accidental discovery, actually. Back in March, I think, I made a batch of carrot soup (we're talking 12lbs. of carrots, onions, potatoes, leeks, green onions, vegetable broth, garlic and spices depending on what flavour I'm looking for. Well, with Gilles working in Alberta... I often just made simple meals for the kids, and I hated cooking just for myself, so I was eating only carrot soup with legumes, some whole grain bread... very light. Well, without realizing it, I went more than a month without eating meat whatsoever. I've lost 24 lbs since January, and I felt really good the whole time I was off the meat. And let me tell you, I couldn't believe how much detoxifying my system did while I was doing that.

Now, I find that I really have to be careful if I do eat meat... and I just prefer to avoid it; sometimes just the sight of it makes me ill... and believe me, this is something HUGE for me... I really became aware of the change when Gilles was home and made bacon and eggs one morning (I used to pig out on occasions when bacon was made)... it smelled so good, but after 2 small pieces I had to stop or else I was going to be sick.

Yesterday, I made another big batch of Carrot soup, and I think I'll keep myself on my little "soup-diet" again for a few weeks. But I have got to convince Gilles to slowly let me take over the grocery shopping. I'm glad he's frugal with money, but in his zeal to pinch every penny he can, he refuses to buy anything organic, or total vegetarian for me. He says, "If we do that, our grocery expenses will go up 100%." Well, I won't put down exactly what I said to him, because it was rather nasty. But if he would look at the long term... it's a fact that a healthier lifestyle, and vegetarianism improves overall health... it would reduce long-term costs in terms of improving my health. It would make it easier for me to lose weight, and if I lose weight, our expenses for my medication would drop, because most of my meds are prescribed according to my weight.... less fat=weight loss=less cash spent on pharmaceuticals (and less cash spent on other OTCs because of problems caused by obesity)

Too funny...

So as I'm sitting here at my computer, Mykah is zipping back and forth on his dump truck which he has decided is a ride-on toy. He is shrieking in pure delight, and I am just amazed at the speed he picks up on this thing. Then, every once in a while, he'll bring the thing to a stop (wicked dare devil side stop) and flash me a devilish little grin. He is just waaaaaaay too cute.

Zach seems to be feeling better; he was running around like a whirlwind earlier, so I'm sure he's fine.

Today I managed to spend a good amount of time doing cross stitch. I just love it; it relaxes me so much.

Alas, now I am off to get Mykah off to be, and Zach will go soon after. Then I will sit and relax with a good movie (don't know which one yet).

Going crazy...

The kids are driving me nuts!!! Zachary is doing everything he can to make Mykah cry, and as often as possible. LOL...but then Mykah just gets pissed off and hauls off and hits Zachy. If they keep it up, I'm going to banish them both to their respective bedrooms.

Mind you, some of it is comical, especially when Mykah hits Zach since Mykah is so much smaller. And when Mykah hits, he winds up first. Yes, he swings his arm back as much as he can and then goes for the smack! It really hurts when he smacks you, and I'm trying to break him of this. But it's really hard to break him of it when you're fighting back laughter.

Blonde moment...

I had to go out to the pharmacy last night to pick up some Immodium for Zach. While I was there, I figured I'd pick up the new Sunsilk hair products. I picked up the Anti-Frizz Shampoo, Conditioner, and after-shower treatment.

So I'm in the shower this morning, excited to try out my new stuff, and I pick up the first bottle...oops conditioner... I pick up the other bottle...conditioner. So there I am holding both bottles trying to figure out why they both say conditioner (I haven't had my coffee yet, eh). My error just was not registering... it took me about five minutes to finally realize that I had accidentally picked up 2 bottles of conditioner instead of a shampoo. Yes, I felt very stupid.

Oh hell...

So I just finished a round of antibiotics for the leg thing, and part way through the treatment, my ears start flaring up, yet again. I'm starting to wonder if my ear infections are perhaps caused by an overabundance of yeast? Is it possible to have yeast infections in ones' ears? Well, my sister's nasty foot problem was caused by yeast, so why not? That would explain why I started getting these things with my first pregnancy, and it would explain why it seems to have been provoked by antibiotic treatment!

I also had the week from hell emotionally last week, and couldn't understand why until my sister checked my pill case on Saturday; we realized that I had missed taking my Paxil all week! I usually fill up the pill-case on Sunday morning, but when I did it last week, I only had enough Paxil for Monday. I had to refill the prescription, which I did, but I forgot completely to add it to the remainder of the week. Problem solved. At least there was a good reason for my feeling crappy.

On a brighter note, I feel great today. I actually got up and thoroughly cleaned the light fixture above the kitchen table, and I will do the ceiling fan in the living room when Mykah takes his nap today. I feel productive, and just generally well... YAY!

Brief Scare.

So I had my regular check-up with my doctor yesterday, and I was very glad it happened to be on that particular day, because I developed a weird rash on my leg, and it was a bit painful. The doctor took a look at my leg and was asking lots of questions, and then he proceeded to take out a pen and start drawing on my leg. When he wrote the date and time, I was like "OH SHIT!" He said it could only be a simple case of cellulitis (skin infection). However, we needed to be sure that the antibiotics he gave me would work, and shrink the infection fast. It was serious enough that he gave me overdose of antibiotics for day 1. He said, "If by tonight this hasn't gone down, or if it spreads at all, go straight to the emergency room, and give them this referral. I don't want to scare you, but we can't take the chance of it being "flesh-eating disease"".

Okay, so I was a little freaked out, and needless to say I was checking on the rash every 5 minutes. Thankfully the antibiotics are working. The redness has gone down a lot, and the leg doesn't even hurt as much as it did. Nothing like a scare like that to make you very grateful for the good things you have! Today, I am much more grateful for the people in my life, that's for sure!