The Past 9 MONTHS!!

playing in the leaves

my new grandbaby and my new doggie

My "After Picture" After the Abd Challenge last May







I could HARDLY believe it when I went to this blog and realized it has been 9 months since I've last posted.  Then I thought about it and realized that with all I've been through, there really wasn't much I could post about!!  I guess I should explain my predicament :-)
Back in March and April I was starting to slack off.  In May I got REALLY SERIOUS and challenged maybe 100 of my facebook girlfriends to an "ABD CHALLENGE".  A bunch of us did abd work "Every Day The Month of May And In June Your Man Will Swoon" was my motto.  It was a big pile o'fun and really put the pressure on for me.  As you can see by my "after shot", it worked for me.  I was also super excited that a lot of other women got inspired and were sporting super ripped abds :-)  I had about a week or two of glory and then all hell broke loose and my world fell apart and crashed down around me. 
   We sold both our houses last June and officially became homeless.  First we lived with another family (AWKWARD), then we moved into an RV (gulp).  By that time everything I was trying to do went out the window.  No more grinding grains or buying all organic.  Oh, did I mention my husband also quit his job?  Yep, so I was really on a budget.  I had a tiny refrigerator sometimes when it worked, most of the time we lived out of coolers.  My trips to town for groceries were limited.  I never had much empathy for people who told me they couldn't cook healthy.  Then I had to survive out of an RV cooking for a big family and I was really humbled for having that attitude. 
After that, we had a cabin on the property we bought, but for a long time (months), I still only had a grill and burner to cook on.  It was really really hard just to produce something edible and the idea of making myself something different was EXHAUSTING.
   Being homeless I didn't do any special activities.  No Bloomsday, No Mud Run, No Long Bridge Swim, NADA.  After looking over the past 9 months, I realized I didn't train for any athletic event because I was overwhelmed just trying to get by each day.  Big ol' bummer!!
Its not like I just let myself go and gained 100 lbs.  I tried to keep running, swimming, hiking, etc, but my motivation took a nose dive and the scale did tilt upward a good 10 lbs. 
When we started building our house, I made coffee and treats for the men every morning (and I ate them).  A lot of times I made them good lunches too.  None of them cared all that much about calories or nutrition.  The most cost effective way was lots of yummy carbs like pizza and spaghetti.  You must see where I'm going with this - yep, I ate it too.  I was working like a dog painting and oiling and doing all the things I could to help out.  I worked all day and collapsed into bed at night in an exhausted coma (or was it a carb coma)?
Admittedly, I picked heaps of huckleberries and kept with many of my "healthy habits", but being homeless just plain wrecked havoc on fitness and healthy eating for me.
Thankfully I have this nice neighbor lady who has been encouraging me to work out with her.  She's really awesome.  I showed her what I used to look like, and she is pretty sure I can get there again.
So here I am, once again crawling back into the fitness and healthy eating lifestyle.  I should be moving into my house in the next week and then things will be easier for me.  I will unpack my kitchen stuff and begin again with a lot more humility than I had before.
 

Back Packing Trek this past summer

I jump off the bridge during our 4th of July celebration

My Son, nursing student, studying

Last Family Camping Trip to the Lake

What I do now (lol) - building a house!!

Our New Grandbaby!!

Last Family Pic before the kids started college

One Way I Embarrass My Children

clay pigeon shooting (a family affair)

Snow Boarding Day with My Older Kids

My Dear Husband Eats Broccoli and Likes It

She Prefers Her Yogurt with A Straw

Trying Out The New Flour Mill

I like to keep up the illusion in my mind that I am a touch chic.  Unfortunately, every once in a while that all comes crashing down and I am reduced to a mess of awkward emotions.  This was the case with Clay Pigeon Shooting (as it usually is).  My entire family LOVES the sport!!  Of course the men are always good and shoot like pros.  My 17 year old, Saphira, is AMAZING.  She could seriously do competitions.  She has uncanny skill.  Super Catman wowed everybody this time too.  Even my daughter in law, Ali Cat showed a lot of spirit nailing some far shots.  Then there's me.  I was all excited, got up there with a great attitude.......and........ shot off an entire box of shells and DIDN'T hit one airborne target.  How embarrassing.  Awkward silence.  Nobody says anything at all.  I just stand there as if time stopped.  I try not to tear up.  Its no fun stinking at something everybody else loves.  However, I try to put myself in other peoples positions.  Some of us aren't as good of swimmers or at snowboarding.  I'm always proud of whatever progress my family makes.  The important thing isn't to spend the next week ashamed of my failures.  Its to move on and keep pushing at being better in other things.  I'm not particularly excited about next round with the ol' shot guns, but I'm still gonna go out there and shoot a box and probably be just as embarrassed.  Art Dog promises that eventually, it is very probable that I will hit a target if I keep aiming the gun and shooting at them.  Sometimes in life we just gotta suck things up.
Here's some more thing learned, progress this month :
- Upon a follow up apt for my boys who both had broken bones, the orthopaedist told us that 90% of North Idaho is Vitamin D deficient.  He strongly recommended we start supplementing.  I'm not into doing all sorts of vitamins, but he had a lot of knowledge on the subject, so I suppose a little "D" won't hurt to add to our diets.
- 300 lbs of grain is still sitting in bags in my kitchen awaiting a bee in my bonnet to be dealt with (ugh).  Its going to take a little bit of work to get this flour grinding and grain storage thing off the ground.
-  As pictured above, my dear husband, who had strongly refused to eat broccoli for as long as I have known him, strangely decided to try the organic stuff I bought.  Amazingly he liked it.  It has been hard to spend the money on organics, but I am thankful for the added blessings it has brought.
I am sooo sore from snowboarding the other day.  Hooo Doggies.  I wish I could fit that into my schedule more often :-)  It felt really really good to be up there.  Best boarding I've done in a long time.
  

You Want to Do What For A Date?!?!!?

Here are some fun pictures from snowshoeing up Flatiron Mountain.  The snow pack is low this year making it a bit easier than years before.  It was also a warm day which was really nice!  I was so glad my husband agreed to going :-)

 

I've been (mostly) writing down calories and have lost about 5 lbs of the Christmas pudge.  Also been getting back to Zumba (super fun) and getting out on more hikes and runs.  Just cutting back on carbs made me notice an immediate difference in my energy level.

 

- Am liking the big change with going organic.  The kids complain bitterly when we run out of milk, but I keep reminding myself "quality over quantity"

- It is REEEEAAAALLLY hard spending more money for milk, fruit, veggies.  I am thinking long term that I am going to need to do a lot more growing of my own stuff in order to really maintain the level of organics that I want to live by.

- My new flour grinder "Wonder Mill Wonder Jr" has arrived but, alas, no time to try it out yet.  Hopefully I'll be putting up a food post before long!!

 - My girlfriends are already hinting loudly that they want to start training for Bloomsday and am I going to go along with it?!?!  (I guess)

- Last week, I had one of my kids (who has a harder time with weight), count calories for a day.  He did really well with it, and kind of even enjoyed doing it as a school subject.  It is hard to find time to get the kids exercising a lot when they are tied up with school work and chores for the better part of the day.  Unfortunately, good excuses for a sedimentary lifestyle do not turn fat into muscle.  I have my work cut out for me finding ways to motivate my kids :-)

  

The Big "O" (Organics Of Course)

  

The day I hit the "130" mark, I knew I had gone too far off course.  I had promised myself that the "125" mark would sound an alarm in my head, but I was busy and there was too much going on over the holidays.  I ordered "Oxygen Magazine" figuring that it would be a good motivator.  Uhh.....  yeah, maybe if I took the time to read it (insert eye rolling here). 
   Then January 1st rolled around leaving me feeling like I was being suffocated in lard.  All my jeans were too tight and that unsightly muffin top loomed over the top of my otherwise sexy jeans.  My self esteem took a plunge.........
    After wallowing in fat for a while, I tried writing down calories and "meant well" but was busy.  After finding I was doing that for almost a week, I decided I needed to be more militant about doing this.  Then I read my fitness blog.  I thought "wow where have I been?!"  I realized that even if I motivated no one, I needed to be true to myself.  Reading it encouraged me and reminded me who I really am.........
  
   In other news, we had fun company over the holidays.  My good friend "M" was here.  She has 7 kids and lives on a very limited budget.  3 are now grown and out of the house.  She grows a lot of her own food and has strong convictions on organics and non gmo foods.  She also studies medicinal herbs.  She came loaded up with salves and armed with all kinds of knowledge.  At first I was a little bit overwhelmed.  I knew the information was good, but actually integrating it into life takes time and money.  I finally decided that I'm not going to hold off any longer.  If she can live this way, I have no excuse for not doing it myself.
   She also introduced me to Comfrey Salve. 

     This is what the plant looks like (thank you google images).  She went on and on about how wonderful it is.  Finally she told me to try some.  I tried using it over the top of where I think I may have I.T. Band problems.  The spasm IMMEDIATELY stopped.  I was sold.  As an ER nurse, I see people all the time with muscular spasms to the point of agony.  Obviously I'm not allowed to treat anybody with such things, but I am for sure armed with this knowledge now.  Its not an old wives tale.  The comfrey salve really made a difference.  I plan to start making some this spring for my personal use and the use of my family.  I will no longer rely on commercial made anti-inflammatories for my only form of relief.
    Here is a list of things I'm in the process of initiating THIS MONTH

 - I'm going organic with milk and yogurt.  Its hard to do because of the cost, but I have decided this is a necessary step for me.  The yogurt is about 40 cents more for a brand we like.  This will not be hard to do.  The milk is quite a bit more.  I plan to buy less milk to help compensate for that.  I have decided that rather than constantly keep the refrigerator stocked, I would rather run out and be giving my children a better quality product.  Since there is always cheese and yogurt in the refrigerator, I am not overly concerned about being out for a few days at a time.

- I'm going to start grinding my own flour FOR REAL.  I have used a coffee grinder half cup at a time up until now.  The bulk of my flour in recipes comes from a bag because the coffee grinder is time consuming and burns out with my standard 20 cup need for bread.  For at least 10-15 years I have had the conviction to do this, but not followed through due to financial reasons of buying a good grinder.  This month we are buying a grinder.  This month I will be buying grain.  It is healthier, cost effective and just smart to keep on hand.  My friend "M" says she has fed gluten intolerant people her bread and they have had no ill effects.  This should be food for thought.  My friend "G" makes her own bread with fresh ground flour, always, and also inspired me.

- Gulp..... I'm going to pay closer attention to the "Dirty Dozen" of organics.  I may not always hit it, but I will consciously try to make an effort.  Taken from organic.org, here are the 12 most contaminated foods :12 Most Contaminated  
Peaches
Apples
Sweet Bell Peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Pears
Grapes (Imported)
Spinach
Lettuce
Potatoes

- And lastly, but not last in priorities, I plan to seriously take merit in food storage and preparedness and make some form of progress toward this.  Please see my blog post here : http://liteonthemtn.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-bug-out-life.html