Three months sure does go by quickly. So much is going on in the world and you are likely experiencing some kind of a Stay At Home or Lockdown government order as I am. š.
I am trying to look at this time a time to catch up on things yet slow down, experience the flyby moments of like more intentionally, and just ābeā. Ā Iāve painted a small bath, extended my prayer and Bible reading, invented new recipes from random ingredients found in my pantry, etc.
Todayās recipe is not necessarily for eating but it has to be mixed up none the less. Ā What is it? Ā TOOTH POWDER! Ā What? Ā Yes, I added a toothpowder to my collection of tooth cleaners last year. I love it!
Like everything else, there are tons of recipes online for toothpowder. Ā Here are a few:
https://www.diynatural.com/whitening-tooth-powder/
The recipe I use has evolved from a bit of a few different recipes Iāve tried; tweaking it to my liking. The ingredients include so many benefits; remineralizing, whitening from charcoal believe it or not, detoxifying to name a few.
Yes, I still use āstore boughtā toothpaste occasionally but just a small pea-size because I find that it burns my gums. I told my dentist this and he said to use just a tiny bit. Sometimes that doesnāt seem to be enough for my big āol teeth. š¤·š½āāļø š
Once mixed, I put it into a low-sided container and dip my brush in as needed.
Anyway, just something to keep in mind for your toothbrushing adventures!
Peace, Love …. and Stay safe! šš½š
Today was one of those milestone moments.Ā Two words kept coming to mind throughout the day:Ā ‘passages’ and ‘seasons’.Ā Different words but similar in that they both represent change.
I’m old enough now to be more aware of ‘being old’ and what that really means; not that I feel I’m old and creaky but I have friends who I met when they were around my age or older but now they are 70s and 80s; some are doing really well, but others are using walkers, canes, wheelchairs, sporting new knees, in assisted living, having memory issues, etc. I recently moved my own father into an assisted living facility.Ā That whole process has struck a place in my heart that had been untouched until now. Having never married, no children, no nieces and nephews, I realized, in a stark reality kind of way, that my parents are my immediate ‘family’ and to see them move into the next stage of life, likely the final stage, is somewhat alarming and frankly a bit frightening.Ā It has made me look at my own life in a different, more tangible, way I suppose. I remember when they were my age; and it wasn’t that long ago.
Life.
I looked out my window the other day and saw the tiny black kitten that has chosen my yard as a respite just sitting on the corner.Ā I stood there watching it wondering what it would do.Ā It did nothing. It sat there for the longest time.Ā I understood.Ā Sometimes, you just have to stop and in the middle of all the madness and wait until clarity comes… then move on and handle the situations.
Desire.
I didn’t really have 55 candles;Ā I need to conserve my breathš. Ā I have, however, been seriously thinking about how I want the next season of my life to play out if I have a choice.
At the end of last year, I thought I’d be deeply entrenched in working on a PhD in 2019. It didn’t work out like that, and I glad.Ā This year has turned out to be very difficult; no way could I have been in an academic program, but I’ve been thinking about life, and the future a lot.
Sitting in front of a TV every evening after working all day is NOT on the agenda. Traveling the country, seeing new things, meeting new people, blogging, art, IS on the agenda. Planning for this new adventure, whether is happens or not, simply gives me something to look forward to. Pouring through endless YouTube videosĀ has been like a RV-ing , road-tripping education. I’ve learned so much.
Grateful.
There are so many things I like about my life right now; I have a great job and one of the best boss’ ever, I have a great hobby as an artist, I have terrific friends, a wonderful church I attend.Ā Life is good…and life is also very challenging at times.Ā I have a lot of responsibilities, but I don’t mind it so much.Ā I make the decisions I need to make, as I need to make them, and move on, through sleepless nights, laughter, tears and all.Ā Thankfully, I’m good at decision making.
Not really much else to say here; just pondering on the gift of life, and how quickly it slowly rolls by, and how a lot of it is affected by the decisions we make and also how much of it happens in spite of us.Ā We have to be ready for it all. That’s just life.
My prayer for this time and forward is that God helps me to age gracefully, not hating old age, not complaining about it, not wishing it was other than what is, just living each day as it shows itself; full of gray hair, groaning flesh, and hopefully with His unlimited grace.
Peace and love to youš ā¦ I’m headed off to find senior discounts. š
Blue Skies, Smiling at Me, Nothing But Blue Skies, Do I see. Well, not really. Do you know that song?
It’s been three months since my last post. That was unintentional.Ā Back in April I was moving along with lots of goals, challenges, intentions, motives, duties, requirements, etc.. ā¦ then, BAM! I was suddenly overwhelmed. No one noticed.Ā I didn’t even notice at first.
Life happens. Sometimes smoothly and uneventful, and sometimes like a boulder racing down a mountainside stopping only after it has run over you and slammed onto a street or some other obstacle below.Ā I woke up one day feeling like a boulder had crushed my soul.Ā I was doing too much. I am pretty good and managing multiple things; have always done it without much issue, either by choice or necessity. But suddenly, I was overwhelmed by my own life and circumstances.
The first thing to fall apart was my eating habits.Ā After 2+ years of being healthy, I found food to be a visiting friend again. :(. Yep, gained some poundage. š¦Ā I woke up in the morning only looking forward to crawling back into bed that night. I did the things I had to do to with little excitement.Ā Some disappointments rolled into my world.Ā I thought I was getting depressed, but decided I was overloaded and tired; physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
One of the biggest things I took away from this time is that ā¦.. everyone else is overloaded and tired too. Everyone else is managing a boatload of issues as well. OK, not everyone, but I bet you needn’t look far to find someone in your world who is suffering from loss, death of a loved one, illness, children issues, aging parents, financial issues, relationship/friendship issues, etc. Lots going on in the world. Not to mention things that are happening politically, economically, and socially in the world.
I had to slow down for a few weeks. Be alone. I primarily got up in the morning, worked at my job, and slept. Thank God for friends… but there really is some truth to the saying, “Laugh and the world laughs with you; weep and you weep alone.”
Anyway, in the midst of those low slow days I would go outside at lunch time and sit on my back patio and just look at the blue sky, the beautiful trees, different kinds of birds, and jumbo bumblebees hanging around the Rose of Sharon. I notices that after lunch I must felt better. Being outside in the sunshine, thinking about nothing,Ā just sitting and breathing refreshed my heart and soul.
ā¦.. I even got a chance to photograph visiting bunnies too.
During this time, I realized I needed to do something that was out of the ordinary for my world. Fortunately, I discovered a ‘thing’ that has brought a happy distraction to my life. As a younger woman, I used to wonder why some older women I knew spent so much time in their yards and gardens.Ā Why???
I know now.
I discovered that digging in the dirt a bit each day and planting things was a ‘happy’ thing for me.Ā So, I planted.Ā I bought a manual tiller and started tilling areas of my lawn and planted Microclover in the lawn.Ā I planted 2 Moon Flowers plants a friend gave me.
I planted a container flower arrangement for the first time in my life.Ā I loved how it turned out. Pretty good for a newbie.
Right before this time, I planted 25 or so Japanese Maple tree seedlings that I pulled from my yard this Spring. Tending to these babies was, and is, a wonderful daily distraction for a few moments each day. Here is a picture of the babies.Ā I’ll do another post on this later.Ā (See April 7, 2019 post)
Japanese Maple seedlings. The two trees on the bottom are the parents of these little ones.:)
All that to say, I’m feeling much better andĀ back on track, finally.Ā I am eating healthily again (…going to do another post on this process later… doing some changes to better maintain hopefully). I’m sleeping more soundly, and I am dealing better with life issues overall.
I increased exercise, which in turn increased my appetite, which made me eat more and gain weight. So frustrating. All the while, I was hearing about the KETO craze, that it was similar to the Atkins Diet, which meant low carb. A friend reached out to me and tried to share info, but I had no interest because I had a plan that mostly worked.
After stalling for a while, I got tired. I started eating a bit more, exercising less, gained 10 lbs and totally quit logging. I was down to about 1000-1200 calories oer day. Ā WAY TO LOW. I felt fine, got tired easily, but was frustrated by the stall. I did notice 2 things though; I was very soft, and I did not feel strong. Lifting things that should have not felt heavy, were. My conclusion, Iād lost a LOT of muscle mass. No bueno. I needed a new strategy.
My goals were the same; be healthy, eat clean foods, be strong, not let food control me, and I really got tired of āloggingā my food. š
Sooooo, I joined a KETO page on Facebook just to sorta stalk it and see what these KETOers were all about. Now, I am not much of a meat eater, however, I remembered while losing weight, the weeks when I ate more chicken or beef, I lost more pounds. Hmmmm….
Long story short, (too late, I knowš), I tried KETO, kinda. I just wasnāt that strict about it. I upād proteins and kept up my veggie eating, but reduced carbs to minimal per day, and I increased my fats (that is HARD TO DO after decades of hearing āwatch your fat intakeā š¤Æ). Ā I didnāt measure a thing. End of the week down almost 2 lbs. š¤·š½āāļø Ā What I noticed is, I was not hungry AT ALL. Matter of fact, I felt I had surely gained because I felt so full, or I should say, satiated all the time. I had energy so I exercised more. Go figure, there must be something to it. Iām going to try it again this week in my Kinda Keto way to see if this past week was just a fluke. Iād like to lose another 15 lbs bit Iām not stressing about it. I have more muscle mass and feel good so what more can I ask.
Anyway, thought Iād share some of the protein options I made in my Ninja Air Fryer. Love this thing!
Air Fryer Chicken DrumsicksAir Fryer MeatballsAir Fryer Chicken Wings
I also cook veggies in the Air Fryer sometimes. Works pretty good too!
Air-Fryer Asparagus
Well, thatās all folks! Iāll let you know what happens with my Kinda Keto plan. š¤šš½
The struggle is so very real, people…. but thatās OK…. Iām not alone.
A couple of years ago when I was in the midst of my major weight loss, I started hearing about KETO eating. If you havenāt heard of it yet, never fear, you will when you return to this planet. š Ā I looked into it but I havenāt jumped into it …yet. It seems everyone is trying KETO now, Ā but it must not be user-friendly because Iām seeing more about Dirty Keto… or what I like to call it, Cheap and Easy Keto.
Iām also noticing an increase in talk about āfastingā, specifically, Intermittent Fasting. Ā I might try this at some point, just because it seems more natural and beneficial to the body.
Seems everyone is trying to figure out how to lose weight and keep it off. Like I said, the struggle is REAL! Iām a witness. Ā I lost 57 lbs a couple of years ago, but gained about 14 lbs and have been holding steady since. Ā Iām not to concerned because I realized at 57 lbs that I was lighter but I didn’t feel strong. Ā I think I lost a lot of muscle tone, and was earing too few calories. I read recently that when you eat low-calorie for a while your body gets used to living on that low amount. Ā When I increased my calories to around 1500 to 1700 per day I gained about 5Ā lbs. Then, because I felt weak, I started walking a lot and doing High Impact Interval Training exercises and sure enough gained more….but the curious thing is my clothes felt the same and loser in some casesš¤·š½āāļø.
I guess it is true that muscle weighs more but takes up less space. Ā Thatās a hard concept to accept when you are addicted to the scales like I am. Iām trying to change my āscalesā ways. š£ However, I do feel so much stronger in my core and overall. So, now Iām just trying to stay on a good eating path.
Itās a rainy, rainy day on this Sunday afternoon. Ā I was invitedĀ to a Southern Buffet restaurant after church…. so tempted to do it but I had already planned to do some meal prep. I went shopping yesterday and bought some goodies…
Cucumbers, Yellow, Red, and Orange peppers are my go-to foods. Ā Iāve blogged about them in previous posts. Ā I just cut them and put them in jars. Ā They are a great snack for me. I either eat them plain, or sprinkle them with a little rice vinegar.
Keeping my food in jars seems to extend the life of them. I donāt have to eat them all in 2 days.
2. Air Fryer Brussel Sprouts, I tried it! Ā Wow! Ā This is a keeper. I love my Air Fryer but never have I tried veggies in it. So, easy…tossed the Brussel sprouts (Premee cabbages as a young friend calls them, šš¤£) in a tad bit of oil, Himalayan Salt, and garlic powder and put in my Air Fryer on 375 for about 12 minutes. YUM! They were so delicious. I know they look burnt but they are just roasted. Ā I bet adding a little brown sugar and some bacon bits would make this instantly āgourmetā…I almost did it but remembered my new healthy eating ways.
3. Asparagus… you either like it or not. Ā I love it, stinky pee and all. Ā I actually saw a post somewhere recently that asparagus is a major cancer fighter. Ā I meed to research this though. Ā I usually eat it most when it is on sale and itās been on sale so 3rd week in a row Iāve made it but this time I pur it in the Air Fryer to try. Boy! Good results again…just 6 minutes in and itās done Ā šš½
4. Chicken Thighs. Nope, Iām not a vegetarian or vegan or anything, I just eat little meat naturally. Ā I need protein to lose weight I learned, plus it helps keep my hunger in control. Since I was Air Frying, I put these in last; same seasonings. Ā Also, I found 2 small Filet Mignon steaks in the back of my freezer from an Omaha steak gift pack I received…last of the beef goodies. Ā Put those in the Air Fryer too.
This chicken was so juicy and delicious! I just sampled what I cooked because itās for the upcoming week, of course. Ā So, now I have no excuse for not eating healthy this week. Iāve got all these goodies plus a bin of apples.
Fortunately, everything I cook has to be eaten only by āmeā…not sure anyone else would enjoy my kitchen science experiments…Iām not much of a foodie though; I just donāt want to feel hungry, so… letās see if I can have a good week of eating healthy food. Hope you do too! Ā āš½š
Peace and Love!š
Jan
ā…May the peace of God guard your hearts and mind (thoughts) through Jesus Christ.ā Philippians 4:7ā¤ļø
Vessels and Vittles 