Doing It

Today it has been two weeks since I had coffee. Or chocolate. I have had a little sugar, but by little I mean in two weeks I've had three lemonades. I have had no poultry, no beef either. I have eaten regularly everyday, a minimum of three times. I also, have lost 5lbs. Which could be water weight. But I feel good about it.

I miss coffee. I have accepted that I will likely pine for it the whole of the next 5 1/2 months, but I am fine with that.

I need to drink more water, and do more exercise on a daily basis. So I will work on that for the next couple of weeks.

I can do this. I am doing this.

Dizzy

I have found that at the end of the day I get a bit dizzy. I think it is just that I am adjusting to the newness of this diet. I think too, that the barometric pressure has something to do with it.

Some of my friends and I are working our way through a book called "Walking In This World". It is meant to be done in 12 weeks, one chapter a week. We had started this book a while back and didn't finish, for various reasons. Now, though I think we will finish and it will be good. This last week was about finishing things, breaking up the blockage in our brains and lives, so we can move forward productively. There are so many things I would like to finish. So many drawers I want to organize, knitting projects for myself that I never work on, ideas for things to sew and put on etsy, papers I should start working on for school, meals I should plan for the rest of this week and some of next, this list could likely go on without end.

Then I think, hey, I am finishing something. Something big. I'm going to graduate in May. That's huge. And strange. Weird, beyond description. Yet true. Unless I let other things get in the way. I have one really huge thing to finish right now, my bachelors degree.

What with all the health issues, car issues, blizzard, and so forth happening this semester, I feel like I've got off that track a bit. I know my marriage comes first, and that my health and school are second. All these other things need to be put firmly in their place!

Eh, did any of that make sense? Who knows, I'm too dizzy to tell. HA!

Finishing the First Week

So much has happened this week. Much of it has been sad. My dad's cousin lost her little boy in a fire. He was five, and such a joy. I only spent a small amount of time with him in his short life, but he was always such a dear and a sweet, sweet boy. My dad has been with the family all week. My heart aches for them. I don't have children of my own, but I do love certain children like they were my own, my nephew and nieces, and the boys I babysit. It feels so wrong when children die. I hope we can cling to the memories, and find peace in not waisting the life we have to live. Every year on my cousin Matt's birthday I think about how old he'd be, and wonder what he would be doing. If he would have children, what sort of woman he would have married, whether he'd be far away on the mission field, or somewhere in the states. I remember that when he died we would tell stories about how he was in heaven playing basketball, waiting for the rest of us to join him.

This has been the background music to my week.

I am still caffeine free. Though I did have some sugar and some dairy this week, I have stuck with it.

I have a wonderful husband, beautiful home, solid support system, am about done with my bachelors, and have no good reason not to make the most, the absolute most, of every moment.

This Week, There will be cheese.

Yes, there will. I didn't use up what was in the fridge before yesterday, so I'm giving myself that one for this week, I will use it up and that will be that. For a few months. I'm thinking I need something to look forward to when I'm trying not to kill everyone in sight. But maybe the no coffee thing won't be as bad as I think it will. Maybe.

I'm stocked up on three different types of brown rice, pearl barley, lentils, quinoa, polenta, and wheat berries. I also have lots of veggies ready to go and made a delicious soup yesterday which will be good today and tomorrow. Trying to figure out what to take with me to eat at school. Found some dehydrated veggies at Mama Jeans that were yummy, and not too much cash, so that should work most days.

Not much to report today. Went to PED and worked out, that is becoming interesting. I can feel the difference in my back and legs. Still not willing to jog in front of everyone yet, but I try to walk about as fast as some of them jog... We shall see.

Beauty and the Beast!

My darling, wonderful, romantic, husband surprised the b'jeebers out of me last night. We went to Little Tokyo for dinner, which is where we went on our first date, and I thought for sure we would be going home afterward. We also had planned to do a no-power night, turn every thing off and use the fire place for heat and candles and flashlights for light. So I was thinking about going home and getting ready for that. Then we get in the truck and he opens the glove box and pulls out a bag with a card in it. I open the envelope and the card is Disney's Belle, awe, I think, he's so cleaver to know my favorite Disney cartoon. Then I open the card, Angela Lansbury sings as I see that he has paper-clipped two tickets to see the Broadway show that night at Juanita K.!!! I was in shock! And so excited!! We went and it was wonderful, magical, and I didn't care a wink that I was as giddy, if not more giddy than all the little girls running around in their princess costumes!

The no-power night was a success, and now he is getting a little more sleep in the real bed before waking up for work. (we used the air mattress in the living room to be close to the fire!)

In other news I'm starting an adventure of sorts. I don't want to bore anyone with the details just yet, but I will be on a macrobiotic diet for the next six months. Until my 32nd birthday. At that point I will be reassessing and see whether or not to stick with it in all its strickness, or to start to loosen up a bit and work on having a balanced diet I can live with long term. This means that for the next six months, no caffeine, no sugar, no refined or processed foods, no chicken, no dairy, and little to no red meat. This is just the tip of it, the harsh part of it. I truly feel like I need to get everything back in balance. The pendulum has been way off to one side for a long time. I think it needs some time way off on the other side before it can swing to the center and have a hope of staying there. I will likely be using this blog to keep track of how this is going, and as a means of accountability for me. I haven't decided if I'll try that whole checking in everyday with what I ate that day thing, or something else. But it will be something.

OK, now I'm off to get this thing started!

Snow Week!! What?

Jason made this shelf for me to my specifications. I adore it!!! And used the snow week to decorate it! Lined the inner walls with fabric and stained the inner frame with purple, the outer walls with a shimmery toupy brown. Each drawer is full of treasure I use to make treasure! I added some trim, which I made by braiding coordinating yarns I had. All of these things I already had on hand, even the paint!! It was so much fun to create this. It is a work in progress, I think I want to do more to the fronts of the shelves, but that can wait.

So, the Dr. visit went well. The sonogram showed that I have small polyps and a couple small fibroids. Nothing to worry about. We are waiting to find out about getting a blood test to see if I have Factor V Leiden as it is on both sides of my family. If I don't have it then I could go on a low dose birth control to regulate things. If I do have it, I could start on progesterene to regulate things.

I have done a bit of research on my own and know that I don't want a D&C, which is what the Dr. said he usually does in cases like mine, unless I absolutely must. I also don't want to take hormones. What I have found is that I might be able to get things back on track and in sync with diet (Macrobiotic is what I'm looking at) and moderate exercise. I say moderate because with heavy bleeding it seems important not to strain things, but at other times would be fine to do as much as I can. So, I'm still looking into it, but I think this is the route I will go. I think it will be a matter of making drastic changes for six months to a year, then gradually introducing other foods, like coffee and red meat, if all has gone well with the changes.

I understand the necessity of adopting a diet that can be maintained for a lifetime, but I also know things are drastically out of wack, so perhaps drastic measures are in order. We shall see.

Doesn't seem like enough of the semester has happened for there to be any tests or papers coming up, but there are! So I will get to it.

Snow Day

Yep. I get a snow day! I do wish Jason got a snow day too, but I respect him for working so hard, and so honestly. Blizzard, here, and what I'm seeing doesn't look anything like the blizzards of my imagining. I especially remember my mom reading the "Little House" books and Laura describing some real blizzards, serious snow. I am so grateful to have a warm and safe house to stay in and do some baking, cleaning, and crafting. I may do some homework. May do it. :)

It really is beautiful, this snow. I have the urge to go outside and play like a little kid. When I was a kid, we had those radiator things for heat in the house. It was great to go out and play till we were beat and then come in and put all our snowy wet things on and under the radiator in the dinning room. Mom would make soup and grilled cheese. Those were the days!

I haven't been posting much lately. I actually considered cancelling this blog altogether. But, I think I'm just nervous. Waiting for the next Dr. visit and to see what is wrong and what can be done about it. When they don't just come out and tell you that you don't need to worry about it being something serious it's hard to not worry. Friday I go in for my appointment. I think it will be something simple and we will just treat it with meds for a while and then I'll be fine. But until the Dr. tells me that is for sure what's going on, I'm going to be anxious. And just accepting that, and not telling myself that I'm an idiot, or selfish for being worried when there's not concrete reason to be worried, is what I need to do. So, I'm worried. Hopeful, but worried.

And enjoying the snow. :)