Primal journal : Coll page 65

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Hee hee! I had thought something similar when I first saw the word!! It has some unfortunate connotations Candy, thanks for sharing how you do it ... I may just pluck up the courage sometime. I have used organic and chemical free shampoo for years after finding out how much horrific stuff is in cosmetics etc.

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Busy day, good day too though high maintenance kids too which can be exhausting sometimes.

No breakfast aside from a mug of tea with cream. Lunch was tea with cream, sauteed cabbage with a burger patty chopped into it. Dinner 1/4 cup macadamias, BAS, shared a steak with DH with mushroom sauce, and a little welsh cheddar sprinkled on. Kids and I went for a walk at the lake - got to walk over the stream that is frozen over and explore the other side that we usually can't get to. Got to bed late last night and I need to hurry or tonight will be late too. See ya, and sleep tight!

[Siobhan]

I'm going to try the ACV rinse - I could use more shine. I'm going to switch shampoo to something much more chemical-free when I use up the monster bottle of whatever it is I'm using now. I'm trying to get up my courage to give up those addicting little bottles you buy at the drugstore that magically turn your gray hairs blond. Funny that now that I am thinner and younger looking I am thinking of going gray, which will undoubtedly make me look older. But I really, really want to have very healthy hair, and now that it is growing in thicker I want to encourage hair health. If I start letting it grow in now, I could get it cut short at the end of next summer and it will be pretty much done with. Okay, that's enough about my hair on someone else's journal! I do go on!

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Anytime Siobhan! I understand ... lol, I do the same. I would encourage you to go gray!! I think there is something really attractive about a woman who is in good physical condition and not ashamed of her age. Just my opinion of course... plus the cocktail of chemicals and their repercussions on your health are not worth an artificial hair colour!! You have made so many changes to further your health, seems like this would be a natural next step! Go for it I say!

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OK, been really 'busy' relaxing the last few days. DH is out of town on an annual business training conference and I have been reading novels, lying around and not doing much. Yesterday I had the munchies, as a result of going to bed too late 3 nights in a row! Stupid! I know! Especially when DH is away and I could be hitting the sack nice and early. Had a better day today after a better nights sleep. Cold here at the moment ... definitely no going outside without bundling up a bit, I think my gloves are getting old as my fingers were pretty sore after a while when I was doing chores. They are ancient so maybe it is time to retire them ....

DH gave me some cash the other day ... what a treat! WHen you are a stay at home mom and you've been struggling financially you don't get to see the likes! So I ordered a food processor It arrived today and I am pumped. This should make the veg prep for meals so much quicker and easier than having to cut everything with a knife! No excuse now for not eating veg huh?! I have been doing much, much better with eating veg anyway. It does make quite a difference to how I feel and how quickly I get hungry again.

I was disappointed today as I made kale chips for lunch with sausage and the chips just didn't turn out well, and they were really strong tasting. Not nice... I had a little kale and then had an apple and cheese to get the flavour out of my mouth. I had two pieces of dark chocolate. Black tea with cream. I made strawberry souffle for dinner, very filling! DS loved the smell but hated the texture. Honestly, it is exhausting trying to find something that we all can eat ... he is much better than he was, but we still have a long way to go!

I haven't been logging my intake on fitday and am feeling a bit at a loss for how I am doing. Need to do that again starting tomorrow. Otherwise my intake sneaks up and up and so does my weight. Going to try making my experimental denim trial run moccasins tomorrow, or at least get started on them. I have an old pair of DH's jeans that are providing the fabric ... I have been putting it off for ages - seems to be how I try to avoid doing something new. It always takes me a while to try a new skill. I have been doing much better with trying new recipes and now I need to get my butt into gear and try the moccasins too. I am going to put a couple pairs of really warm socks on before I make the pattern as these need to be large enough to wear layers for the winter. I guess I'll have to make others for warmer weather...

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I have been trying to get the kids going with school as well as get us all into a routine where things get picked up and tidied as we go along. Today was a marathon with DD tidying her corner of the classroom!! Incredible what a truckload of stuff she had there - and she spent the whole day sorting and tossing stuff and crying because it was a big job. First time I have made her fix her own mess - not good I know! From now on they can't leave the classroom to go and play at the end of the school day unless their desks are tidy. Now I just need to enforce that consistently and then maybe I can move on to the next neglected area...

It's that time of the month and it arrived all unexpected. So I am not weighing at the moment and have not been eating that well the last few days either. Hopefully I can get my act together tomorrow ... I am trying to spend less time online and more actually doing a lot of the things that go undone when I am sitting in front of the keyboard. DH found a second hand table the other day which is going to be very nice for me to do crafts on So I am in the process of getting the spare room organised enough to start working on my mocassins. Slow going I know ... I am just always tired. Not sure what is going on - I keep hoping that the primal lifestyle will kick my butt into gear. At times I feel good but there is a lot of the time that I am just wiped out. I think part of it is being the mom of young kids at the ripe old age of 47 ... but I think there are other issues at play too.

It has been so cold lately and it is a lot of work keeping the chickens going. I am tired of deicing waterers and trying to keep them all warm. DD's pet is being eaten by the other hen and so I have had to separate them. SOOOOOOOOOO frustrating! Now I am probably going to have to find another home for the culprit ... I am so ready to have our own place so that we can get a decent flock going in a decent chicken coop so that these issues are much more minor. Too few chickens is just as bad as too many! And I am ready for a break from the extreme cold - we are not set up for sub freezing temps for days in a row. We have been getting down to -5 F with some wind and it is showing me how our coop is really not good enough for winter here! Grrr! Lots of work keeping birds alive when things are not set up right!

Going to head to bed nice and early tonight - I hope. At least barring no child related happenings that is!

[Siobhan]

Has your food processor come yet? I am lusting after a new one. I'd like to get one that has different sized bowls - very good for a single lady like me. Right now I have a little Krups mini-chopper, which works very, very well so it is hard to justify buying something new. But it is not good for chopping veg, which would be so nice to have. I keep telling myself - when the mini-chopper dies - however, these little guys are known for their durability so it could be a few more years!

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I used the food processor for the first time yesterday ... incredible how fast the cabbage was sliced! I think this is going to be a very helpful little tool. I got a pretty cheap one (the fancy ones are hundreds of dollars! NO way I could justify spending that much on a tool that is not truly necessary!) and feel that it was money well spent. I am cutting up a whole container full of veggies so that they are ready and waiting in the fridge for when I am making meals and I can just pull out the prepped veg and cook it up. It makes it easier and that is worth a lot.

I am struggling a bit at the moment. I just have a hard time staying on the wagon when my hormones start playing havoc with me. I feel as though I am just a big baby moaning about hormones to make excuses - but they really do seem to mess with my intentions. I am coming to the end of my visit from Aunt Flo and I have gained back the fat I had lost before she arrived and threw my life into complete disarray! Now I have to get back on the wagon and pick up the pieces again. I am so tired of being stuck right around the 190 mark. I drop by a few pounds and then I gain them back... You'd think I would have figured this out by now - been doing this for many months now. I get excited when I lose those few pounds and I get to 187 or so - but within a week or two I have put those back on again and I just never get beyond that point. I really need to come up with a plan to deal with Aunt Flo for next month ... the minute her face shows I will need to put the plan into action so that I can make it through the hormones unscathed. I can do fine without carbs the rest of the month - I can keep them below 50 without much struggle at all. But once hormones kick in I just crave carbs (and give in too mind you!) I do feel like such a failure at the moment. I am feeling stressed with all the things that are going on with trying to find a home that is affordable and yet can accomodate two families. I know that we are doing the right thing taking care of my parents - but I have moments where I wish with my whole heart that we didn't have to look after them. It would be a breeze finding a place for just our little family. I have seen all kinds of really neat places that we would love - but there is no way they will work for the folks too. And no, there are no other reasonable options for my folks .... I just have moments where I wish things could be different. I will suck it up and be a big girl - just whining here where no one knows me or my parents. I love them dearly for what it is worth - just wish it was easier to look after them.

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Well, I decided to take the bull by the horns today and am planning to fast until mid afternoon. Just herbal teas and water until then. I am feeling bloated and uncomfortable and hopefully this will ease some of that and my cravings too. Started out with green tea this morning ... listening to some stunning music. Anuna - Irish choral music. Very beautiful and peaceful alternating with stirring and wanting to dance! DH is home today - planning on going for a walk later once we have undecorated. And then we are going to cook on a fire in the backyard - sigh of pleasure!

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Yesterday was pretty good - I stuck to my IF and had my first cup of tea with cream in at about 2:45pm and then about 1/2 cup of carrots, a couple of handfuls of nuts and a few raisins. Dinner was steak cooked on a fire (with applewood so it tasted very very nice!) and also a burger patty. I made up a whole bunch of those for eating with eggs etc. I mixed them with carrots, celery, onion and garlic and parsley. Turned out well flavour-wise. (I also ate a whole bar of chocolate!) Hoping that will blend in enough that no-one notices.

We did have a lovely time sitting outside by the fire - it was cold though! But that section of the yard is cleared of old branches now that have been lying around for months. The sky was stunning last night - I don't often have time to just be quiet and on my own. DH 'sent' me out to watch the fire while he got the kids ready for bed. The moon and stars were so bright and I could see a whole bank of clouds toward the East. The great horned owls were hooting back and forth to each other - such an awesome sound!! Just those few minutes of peace are so restoring ...

This morning we went for a walk to the river and lake. The wind was chilly but we found a nice spot next to the river that was a bit more sheltered and sunny. We spent quite a while just playing there. The ice was really thick so we were all picking up rocks and seeing if we could break through the ice ... a lot of fun and great exercise too.

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These rocks were pretty big and heavy believe me - you can't really see the scale. Some of them were almost as heavy as I could manage to pick up and still throw....

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