The best thing I have ever made

http://www.choosingraw.com/raw-spinach-burgers/comment-page-1/#comment-88208

When I was in Hong Kong, I ate out at a raw restaurant.  I was disappointed, for being just veggies it sure was a heavy meal.  I ordered a raw vegan burger and fries with high expectations.  I could only eat about half of it, and I had the sinking feeling I had unknowingly just ate 2000 calories.  At least that's the criticism I hear about raw food restaurants- disregard for calories in favor of making raw food exciting for non-raw people.  Today I was thinking it would be nice if I could revamp that meal.  I was already dehydrating stuff, so I started hunting for recipes.  I found the website above, it's totally new to me, but I have now bookmarked it as a favorite.  The food isn't all raw, so I thought I would share.

So the raw burger recipe is pretty simple, pulp from the juicer, spices and nuts, pulverized in the food processor and then dehydrated for 8 hours or so.  The recipe calls for spinach pulp, but I didn't have that.  I juiced parsley, cilantro and carrots and then used walnuts instead of sunflower seeds.  I had to cut the recipe in half because I didn't have enough pulp, and now I'm wishing I'd doubled it. 

For now I'm dehydrating by putting my oven on the lowest temperature (170) which is too hot.  I'm looking forward to buying a proper dehydrator in the January sales, even with the sales it's going to be an investment.  I'm also toying with the idea of buying a used video camera and starting my own youtube channel.  I knew that the channels I watched were somehow making money with every view, but I didn't really know how or how much.  The blog The Simple Dollar recently spelled it all out and the math was pretty surprising.  I'm tempted to give it a shot.  I'm thinking of posting videos of my smoothies, juices and raw food stuff and make a bit of extra banana money on the side.  I think I'd need to clear it with 'the work' first.

Just like I'm 10 years old

Hi!

I just called in sick, it sucks, but you all benefit from an unscheduled blog post. 

So on the "diet" front, I stuck pretty close to the 80/10/10 low fat fruitarian way of eating since vacation.  (Side note- while on vacation I hit my realistic weight goal.  My unrealistic weight goal remains not even in sight).  At first I struggled with hummus withdrawal, but once over the hump, I found most days I was actually eating around 5% fat when I could have been eating roughly double that.  But then I also have had a few days totally off plan.  I had a couple of days when I ate a lot of rice because the fruits and veg in town were awful or too expensive.  Since then my stomach has been really upset.  I figured it was sushi sickness- the sickness my sisters experience immediately after eating rice. I thought if I went back to my usual diet, it would go away, but it didn't.  It was also about this time that I ate fruit at my staff breakfast party.  It dawned on me this morning, that maybe my real issue is that I got glutened from that breakfast.   I haven't been glutened in more than a year, I had a good run.

This morning I was getting out of my pj's and into some comfy I'm-staying-home sick-clothes.  I recently went through all my clothes and got rid of a bunch of clothes that were too big.  I also found some new clothes that I had never worn or had forgotten about.  Today I'm wearing a Camp Olave t-shirt that I got when I was a Brownie.  I think I was 9 or 10 years old when I got it.  I always liked it and now I'm really glad I kept it.  I didn't ever think I'd be able to wear it again though!  Thrilling. 

Note to self, figure out how to undo the "take a crappy picture" setting on your iPhone.

Bad customer service from Shaw Cable

This was going to be an angry, ranting post about my hatred of Shaw cable.  I'm over it now (okay, not totally over it).

Earlier this week my internet/cable promotion ran out, and I was offered a better deal by telus.  I had tried to make arrangements almost a month ago to end my service, but was talked out of it  by the phone reps.  I was told I didnt need to do anything until the day my promo ended and I would be billed for 2 additional days.  Long story short, 3 different phone reps gave me wrong information, which has landed me with a bill for over $100 for internet and 6 days worth of cable.  I was angry that had I done as I originally wanted, I would have owed a lot less.  I called in to complain, and got a really argumentative woman who at first wouldn't let me speak to a supervisor until I finally insisted.  The supervisor was not helpful either.  I was really surprised that he would not honour what the previous employees had told me.  Instead he insisted I was wrong.

My original plan was to switch to the competitor for a couple of months until Shaw offered me another promotion to return.  I had never had any sort of problems with Shaw up until now.  I had been with them since 1998, and expected them to apologise for the confusion, and make it right.  Instead I am a disgruntled customer who will not return.  I was going to file a formal complaint with the commissioner for telecommunications and the BBB, but I decided it wasn't worth the mental anguish.  Shaw cable is rated "F" with the BBB, so I assume they have no interest in responding to the complaints they receive.  And really, it's not about the money, I just wanted an apology, I didn't want to be told I was a liar. 

Shaw cable, you have won the award for the worst customer service I have received in my entire life.  Chester, supervisor at Shaw cable, I will not be sending you a Christmas present, and from now on my code word for asshole will be Chester.  "Stop being such a Chester"  "He looks like a real Chester".  It works, don't you think?

It's all her fault

Yeah, I know it's been too long between posts, and I have other things I could be blogging about.  I just haven't been into blogging. 

The picture seems a strange assortment of things.  They all things that my cat has broken or stolen in the last couple of days.  Feathers and a match stick she found... somewhere and brought inside.  Maybe on my balcony?  She broke the bell that they ring to go out on the balcony.  She ripped off the jewel from Ella's latest artwork.  She chewed in half my latest piece of jewellery.  It was piece of coral that I found in Thailand and wrapped in silver wire to make it into a pendant.  I just finished making it yesterday, and was really happy with it.  And finally, she found where the baseboard was loose in a closet, and took it.  It took me a while to figure out where it came from.  I've put it back a few times, but she just goes back and gets it again.  If cats were able to be in search and rescue, she'd be great at it.

All these little things that she finds are gifts I guess?  It made me remember when I was 3 or 4 putting on my snow boots only to find the cat had put a dead mouse inside.  I guess if she can't hunt mice, she''ll hunt for loose baseboards and match sticks.

And just like that....

I'm so done.  I know just yesterday I was planning to stay on the liquids only for longer, but it wasn't meant to be. The change in weather was a total bummer. I stayed close to home researching places to go for my vacation.  This included restaurants.  In retrospect, looking at food having not eaten in 8 days was probably not my best bet.  This morning I made my morning smoothie, took one sip and knew I was done.

Overall, I feel pretty good about lasting so long.  I'll probably do it again.    Today I went to the grocery store for one thing, instead I loaded up my cart. After a few words with myself I put a bunch of stuff back and got the hell outta there.

day 7

Yes. It's already day seven.  The last thing I ate was a banana 7 days ago.  That sounds crazy. I seriously cannot believe I made it so far, and that it was so easy.  If it weren't for my upcoming trip to Hong Kong, I think I would stay on the liquids for longer.  I feel great overall.  I had one scary moment when I hadn't drank very much because I got busy at work.  I realized I wasn't feeling right, and then I realized I was going to faint.  Lucky for me I didn't, and 5 minutes after I drank some juice I was fine.  My plan has been to do about another week before I start transitioning back to food.  Maybe that'll change.


Now I'm looking up what my food options are while I travel.  I have never travelled internationally while juggling my dietary restrictions.  It was on my last trip to Hong Kong that I felt so ill that I finally realized that I really truly had a problem with gluten.  The thought of trying to explain gluten to a waiter can be hard enough at home, let alone overseas.  Reading packages for ingredients could also be a challenge.  I'm telling you, sticking with plain ole fruits and veg is so much more simple.  However, one pretty big downside is that I will completly miss out on the local foods.  Is real pad thai in Thailand worth the risk of getting sick?

Here we are day three!

Yes, it's day three already.  I'm doing a liquids only cleanse.  Fresh juices, smoothies, water, tea and coffee.  Technically, coffee should not be included, but I decided that since I'm already doing a modified cleanse, I would be a little more flexible.  Since I have no intention of giving up coffee,why go through the caffeine withdrawals?  A more traditional cleanse would be juice and water only.  For me, that's too hardcore, and I don't think I'd be able to maintain that.

What's the point?  Why am I doing this?  Basically, juices and smoothies are clean (no fats, no processed junk) and all blended up, so the body can digest it really fast, and with less energy.  It takes a lot of energy to breakdown food, especially meat.  A big percentage of the smoothies and juices are absorbed at the first part of the intestines.  A small amount still goes through the intestinal track.  With nothing really coming in, the intestines can clear out anything that has been hanging around.  The end result should be more efficient digestion and better absorption of nutrients.  Plus a little weight loss as the body uses up fat stores to compensate for the low fat intake.  And, I just wanted to see if I could do it.  And I was struggling with the 80/10/10 fat intake, this should make it easier to stick to since my current carb/protein/fat ratio is about 90/5/5.

I'll be honest, I had my doubts that I would have the will power to last 24 hours. I thought I would cave in and gorge on hummus by the end of the day.  During the day has been easy, the evenings are always my biggest challenge.  I usually crave fat at night.  But last night it was popcorn.  Instead I had a banana, date, spinach smoothie with a splash of almond milk and about a cup of coconut water to get it blending.  That did the trick.  It sounds disgusting, but I swear you cannot taste the spinach at all, and there was 2 or 3 cups of it.  It tastes like.... caramel and bananas.  I also had a bit of tummy upset over the last 2 days, but that's to be expected on a cleanse.  I think it was caused by a pumpkin smoothie, as soon as I drank it, it did not sit well.  Bad food  combining?  Typically, day three is the most difficulty day and if you can make it to day four, it's all gravy.  I started the day off feeling great, so I'm hopeful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday night was Thanksgiving dinner.  Over and done with.  I gotta say, holiday dinners have lost their appeal for me.  I think I use to associate those sorts of dinners with eating a lot and eating foods that were a treat.  It's been a long time since I've eatten most of those treats, not so much because of the raw vegan diet, but more because of having to eat gluten free.  Like Nanaimo bars, butter tarts and stuffing, those were my favorites.  The vast majority of treats I really used to love, I can't have anymore or their gluten free substitues just aren't that great.  As I was watching people load up their second helpings, I was remembering myself eating like that, and how sick I used feel afterwards.  Not only from he gluten, but also just from the quantity.  I guess I'm thankful that I don't tend to binge anymore. 

Last night also marked something.  It marked the last time I will be wearing my skinny dress pants.  I have worn them a lot in the last week or two because I knew the end was near.  Last year I stopped wearing them because they were too tight.  Now I won't be wearing them again because they are too big.  I contemplated moving the buttons over, but the legs and butt are too baggy.  So good bye 14, 13, 12 and 11.  Hello size 10.

The rest of the day is spent doing things around the house, I have started making Christmas presents.  I have got some good ones that I have made for myself first and given a good test run.  I have had a busy couple of weeks because I have taken a lot of new things on.  I have enrolled with a mentor at work, and have been accepted for a pilot project at work, I joined a women's wellness coffee discussion group and started physio twice a week in addition to massage therapy.  The end result has been that I have something going on after work nearly every day of the week, so this weekend I'm catching up on some things at home.

This morning I realized that sometime in the last few weeks was my one year anniversary of being raw.  It started out as just a trial, and I felt so good, I saw no reason to stop.  It was so simple, and I thought it would be super difficult.  I have been thinking about doing a juice/smoothie cleanse for a bit.  While I was toying with the idea, I was watching youtube videos of the people I follow.  I was a few days behind, so I had a bit of catching up to do.  Turns out today is the start of a juice/smoothie cleanse.  Seems serendipidous, so I have decided to join.  I have no real goal for how long I'll be on the cleanse, the online cleanse is for 30 days, but I know that I have to stop about a week before I leave on vacation.  So at most 2 weeks.  But I may have no will power and will stop long before that.  Wish me luck, if I stick with it, I'll blog about it.

Microwave baking

Yes, that's right, microwave baking.  It may sound like a throw back to 1989, but it's not. 

I had some egg whites in the fridge, from a moment of weakness involving pancakes.  Rather than throwing them out, I thought I would try out a receipe that I saw on a blog.  Microwave Protein Muffins.  I could have sworn the receipe called for protein powder. A side from using up the eggs, I was also looking forward to using up some of my insane protein powder stash.  I found one brand that I LOVE, and have 3 or 4 other brands that I need to try to use up.

I put in all the ingredients, and then thought.... "where the heck's the protein powder go in?"  Yeah, it doesn't, I didn't read it properly.  Oh well, I threw a good scoop in for extra measure (and flavour).  Microwaved on high for about 4 minutes and it was done.  I admit I was a lot worried when I saw it rising up out of the bowl.  I'm a gluten-free girl afterall, and I haven't seen that sort of rising action in about 4 years.   I guess it's normal...?  After letting it cool, I was all ready to give it a taste.  In a word... EGGEY.  I guess this is what a souffle would taste like. Not that I've ever had one.  I didn't care for how eggey it was since I don't really like eggs. I decided to whip up a quick emergency chocolate sauce from hot chocolate powder (left over from camping).  With a good dose of chocolate, it was pretty good!  I can think of other ways to improve this "muffin."  I might try it again, as I still have egg whites left.

If you're curious, the ingredients were: 1/2 cup egg whites, 1/4 cup pumpkin, 1/2 tsp baking powder, a dollop of honey, 2tbs of flour, 1 tbs of protein powder.  You are also supposed to add cocoa powder, but I didn't have any, I substituted for chocolate protein powder.  Mix and microwave until it isn't liquidy, and it seems more solid, and not much steam is billowing out of it while nuking.

Okay, back to vegan, 10% fat and carrots tomorrow.  34 days until vacation!

New keyboard!

So exciting, I've had it for about a week, and I realized that I hadn't blogged at all.  Blogging was the whole reason for buying the keyboard.  So here we are.  I feel like this last week has been rough, I started off the week with a ton of plans, and they all went to shit by the middle of the week.  For some unknown reason my neck has suddenly become a lot worse just when my thereapy was almost finished.  I actually hurt as much as just after the car accident.  Luckily, I have been approved for more therapy, so for the next little bit I'm doing weekly massage therapy and physio.  Hopefully it's going to help.  Finishing my day with tylenol, a drink and a 8:30 bedtime is not a pattern I want to keep for myself.

The original plan for the week was yoga twice a week, and participating in a meetup group.  The week started great, I went to the group for the first time.  Despite beng the youngest person there, I really liked the vibe of the women.  I'm looking forward to going again this week.  Every woman in the group is working towards a goal, and they share what is working for them and what their next steps are.  So the members of the group get support, encouragement and ideas for how to get to the next step- whatever that step is.  Since a good chunk of my goals of late centre around working through my anxiety, the group is just perfect for me.  But my neck was hurting too bad to follow through with the rest of the plan.  Maybe this week.  It's very frustratng that I can't do things because of this neck injury.  However, I have concurred 3 challenges this week, so it wasn't a total bust.   I forced myself to drive at night, I met a large group of total strangers and I took an exit that I was totally afraid of.  Might seem like little things, but for me that's huge.

I got another ergo assessment at work, in hopes that it will also help with the neck pain.  It's too soon to tell, but I'm thinking it should help, since the pain gets worse the further into the workweek.  This weekends goal was to find clearout summer clothes for my upcomming vacation.  I didn't give it too much thought, it's still mid 20's everyday of the week, and it's still shorts weather.  But it is almost October and all the stores have changed their seasons.  I couldn't find anything!  I needed to find something as the 80/10/10 diet shift has made some changes to my tummy and thighs in a rather spectacular way.  This was starting to stress me out, along with the neck pain, I was feeling pretty down. I went off the diet plan a little bit for the weekend, and treated myself at the spa.  I got my nails done, it's been years since I last had nice long nails.  My afternoon at the spa and the extra fatty diet did lift my spirits. I managed to find a few clothes at the thrift store and watched movies while I moved the buttons on my shorts for the second time this summer.  Last year I moved all the buttons out, earlier this summer I moved all the buttons back to where they started, and now they are further in.  I'm not sure I've ever moved buttons in! 

**Dear Blogger, why is there no spell check for this app?  Sorry readers, you'll just have to suffer with my poor spelling abilities.

Getting down to it.

Tickets are booked! In roughly 40 days I'll be on vacation.  About a year ago when I went raw, I thought it would be nice if I could be in shape enough to wear a bikini.  Don't we all think that?  I'm a long way from that being a reality, but it is still the dream.  I've noticed that I've hit a plateau, maybe because I haven't been working out as often.  Or maybe it was the cheezies.  So now it's the big push to the finish line. I had thought about doing a juice feast (not eating, just drinking a ton of fresh juices) but the thought of cleaning my juicer multiple times a day, and peeing 20 times a day just isn't speaking to me.  If I'm not pumped at the start, I won't last long.  So instead I'm going to try a different version of the raw vegan diet, maybe it'll give my body the jolt it needs.

I'm going to try following a fruitarian diet for a while and see how it goes.  The name is deceiving, fruitarians eat fruits, veg, nuts and seeds, just like other raw vegans. It's just the proportions that make the difference.  The goal is to get 80% of calories from carbs (fruit) 10% from protein and 10% from fat.  I have been doing a modified version of this for a while now.  But today I calculated it. I've been doing 60/20/20.  To compare, a standard American diet is 50% carbs, 35% fat and 15 % protein.  It doesn't sound like I'm that far off, and by American standards I eat a low fat diet.  But upping my carbs by 20% and reducing fat and protein by 10% is really hard!  100 calories of nuts is like 1/4 cup, and 100 calories of watermelon is almost 3 cups.  Eat more to lose more?  Let's see. My morning coffee with soy milk, takes up 1/4 of my fat intake for the day.  My coffee!  16 grams of fat a day is the goal. Can I do it? Who knows, I didn't think I could make the switch to vegan, and it turned out to be a breeze.

If you are worried, it's too little fat, don't worry.  My inner thighs will be able to supply my body with enough fat for a long while :-) Plus in 40 days I'll be falling off the bandwagon.

Maybe?

I've always known that I would go back to school eventually. I like learning, and I really like researching.  With labour day a few days away, I can't help but think of my own plans to go back to school.  I don't plan on going back to school until my student loans are paid.  In the meantime, I've been looking at my options.  The government will pay a portion of my tuition if I do a program that would lead to another government job that is in demand.  I've been researching different options for a while.  The leading contenders were social work (either psychiatric or geriatric) or clinical counselling which would put me into corrections.  But I think maybe neither woukd be very fulfuilling in the end.  No one complains like a social worker.  Maybe it's too much pressure, and not enough resources?  I think I lack the grades to make counsellor happen, and I think I lack some key qualities that are needed to make a good counsellor.  Plus I dislike how mentally ill people are treated in general.  Maybe I should stay where I am and learn about someyhing that interests me more.

I'm thinking of learning something completely different.  I have always been drawn to the medical side of things.  There was a time that I wanted to be a paramedic.  However I didn't have my drivers licence, so I went to psychology instead.  Now I think I would find the job too traumatic.  I thought breifly of nursing, but the shift work and the thought of ass wiping quickly made me change my mind.  Plus having worked in pharmacy, I learned how stupid it is to take 90% of of the drugs perscribed, most don't ever heal, they just cover up the symptoms.  People would rather take a pill, than change their lifestyle that caused the problem in the first place.  This frustrated me in the past, so I knew I needed to look in a less traditional medical field.

First this lead me naturopathy, which is a 4 year full time program similar in difficulty to med school.  No thanks, I'm too lazy for that.  Colon hydrotherapy? Too many bums.  Chinese medicine? Same level of difficulty as naturopath.  Accupuncture? Not intereted.  Massage therapy?  Maybe.   Life coach (as suggested by Judy)- I think I'm too young.  Then I thought of homeopathy. The program takes 4 years, but is on the weekends, 11 weeks of the year.  Pretty doable schedule.  The last 2 years are in clinic practicums perscribing herbal, and mineral remedies.  I'm thinking this would be good because I could work as a homeopath part time (while still keeping my other job).  There is the potential to work online through skype doing consultations and or an online store selling the herbal remedies.  Or working in a wellness clinic (there are a few around).  I've been wanting to do a type of work that I could do anywhere in the world.  I think this might fit that bill.  Full time homeopaths make somewhere around $70,000- $80,000 a year, not that I would work full time. 

The drawbacks?  Homeopathy is currently an unregulated practice in Canada, but is moving towards accreditation (it's more mainstream in Europe).  It's not eligible for student loans, and my employer will not help me with this.  The tuition is about $5000 a year.  It's slightly kookie.  Although it's less kookie than animal psychic, or alien transportation specialist. I'm also looking into a few other options, but I'm welcome to suggestions too!

What do you think? Could you see me doing this? 

End of Summer update

It seems like this summer went so quickly! This morning I got up early and headed out to the farmers market. The onky thing on my lisg was organic blueberries.  No luck. For some reason, this weeks market was terrible!  Nothing but carrots and potaoes.  Also there were fewer farmers this week. Those that were, weren't organic.  I decided to drive over to the farm to buy the blueberries direct, but turns out their season is over and they were closed.  But that wasn't going to stop me!  So I drove to the roadside berries stands close to me, but they were also closed.  On my 5th stop I finally found some, not organic, but that this point, I didn't think I could be picky.  Guess it's nothing but potatoes and turnips until spring. Bleh.

This summer was very busy, I got so busy doing things that I totally went off my routine.  I hardly hiked at all.  But now that Sarah is back in Hong Kong, I am back on track. No more hawkin's cheezies.   No more thinking about Me 'n Ed's pizza. (I'm still working on that one.)  Not that it was Sarah's fault, she just got me busy doing other fun things. Almost a year ago I made a goal for myself that is probably impossible.  I wanted to wear a bikini when I go to Hong Kong at the end of Oct.  At this point, I'd have to develop annorexia to make that happen.  Maybe next year.  A couple weeks ago I was 4 pounds from my "realistic" goal.  However that was before a rather indulgant campjng trip that was the caloric undoing of many a Friesen.  So now that I'm zeroing in on the realistic goal, I need to set myself a new numeric goal.  I'm thinking of setting 5 pound goals since weightloss seems to be slowing.  Seems reasonable.

The other day, it dawned on me one major advantage of living and working here.  This will be the first time in 3 years that I won't be commuting in the winter.  For that alone, I have decided to stay put until the spring.   And then who knows? I had briefly thought of moving closer to the centre of town becuase my landlord was pushing me to pay more rent.  I think I have held her off for now.  The cost of moving would have been greater in the long run than just paying more rent. I'm sure at some point she'll broach the subject again.

In other news, I have just purchased a bluetooth keyboard for my tablet that will make it sooooo much easier to type. I love my tablet, and think it was a smart purchase, but the touch screen keyboard is not ideal for blogging.  Everyother word has a typo.  Once the keyboard arrives , I'll do a photo update.  If you are thinking of buying a laptop, let me persuade you to buy a tablet instead.  It's like combining your laptop, with your ebook reader, with your phone (apps and games) with your tv (controls your tv and sends images from the tablet to your tv). I was a firm supporter of laptops, now I would not go back. The only thing I wish it could do is connect my iphone to the tablet and send information between the two of them.

I'm back!

well sort of.  After the dropping of the laptop disaster, I ended up buying a tablet and repairing a old laptp.  The one I dropped wasn't worth trying to fix.    The old one is  barely usable, so I will only use it for things that I can't do on the tablet.  Typing on this thing is a bitch!  FYI something to think about if you any typing.  you are just going to have to live with the disaster that is this pist. it will takeme an hour to fix all the typos on the tablet. there has got to be an easier way.  I'll find out.

I thought I would update on a couple things.  I had given myself the challenge of reducing my garbage output as much as possible.  Well.  That turned out to be a pain in the butt.  That's probably why no one tries too hard.  I did pretty well for a couple months, but then my freezer was fukk of stuff waiting to go to the compost, but I didn't have the time to take it.
 So composting is pretty much out the window. It's just too hard if you don't habe easy access to a compost bin.  I did stick to recyckeing everything possible though.  Gold star.

Update #2. Toilet trainingthe cats. Very littke progress, but I'm fine with that.  Having the litter box on the toilet and changing to flushabke litter had been awesome, and even if they never get the concept, I'll keep it up.  Having no litter box smell is worth it.

Stay tuned, I willhave some summer highlights coming out soon. 

Add, i have downloaded a app that makes it easier to blog and edit, next post should be easier.

Worrywart

I'm not too sure how this happened.  But... Hi my name is Hilary and I am a worrywart. I don't think I've always been a worrier.  It just happened.  Someone recently pointed it out to me, and I argued how ridiculous it was because that was not me.  ....And then they proved me wrong.  As I was explaining out what I believed were logical thoughts I had while in a situation, I realized, "oh crap, I really am a worrier."  Now that it's been pointed out to me, it's everywhere!  It's like all of a sudden, I see Waldo, and now I can't stop being able to see him.  It's amazing that I really could not see this in me at all.  Did you know I am a worrier?  Why didn't you tell me?


Eg.  Today I was to drive out after work to the Wack.  I saw that they were calling for thunder and lightening and rain.  I hate driving in heavy rain.  So for like 2 hours at work I worried about it.  Should I cancel?  Should I risk it?  But I went, and while there the skies opened up, thunder storm!  I immediately thought: Oh No! I'm going to have to drive home in this, it's going to be dangerous, I could get in a car accident, etc etc.  I thought about maybe sleeping over if the rain didn't stop, or maybe driving the back road home.  I waited for my take-out dinner to be ready and by then the storm had passed.  So I drove home.  Hardly any traffic, the roads were wet, but fine, and not a single drop of rain fell.  I spent about 4 hours thinking about what might happen, but didn't happen at all.  All that energy spent on worrying, and it was all for nothing. 


So that's the way I think all the freakn time.  So annoying.   


Awareness is the first step to making a change, right?  This is one of the things I'm working on in this: The Best Year Ever.  This is turning into a blog series, things I'm doing to make this the best year ever.  So if you're out and about with me, and I'm doing this, ask me why are you worrying? 

Dentists

For a good chunk of the last ten years I haven't had any dental coverage.  I couldn't afford the dental visits, so I didn't go.  I hated the dentist, so I wasn't too worried about it.  A year and half ago, I got dental coverage, and started to slowly catch up on all the dental work that was overdue.  My coverage wasn't great, so I had to spread out my visits. 


This was my first experience of not feeling pain at the dentist.  I'm not sure what the deal is, but growing up, I felt every second of the dental drill when I got fillings.  I seriously thought that was normal.  I was so happy when I switched to a new dentist, I didn't feel anything!  But then I switched jobs, and didn't get dental coverage for the first 6 months.  Now I live too far away from that magical dentist- she moved back to Montreal :(


It took me a couple months to find another dentist here.  I had a couple of criteria.  Must have TV's in the ceiling and must do zoom whitening.  Tv's in the ceiling, because I want to watch TV with the volume up, so I'm distracted.  My childhood dentist had wood paneling, a bad sailboat painting on the wall and Kiss FM playing on the radio.  I have had way too much dental work done while listening to the BeeGee's and ABBA.  I am not a fan.  The deal I made with myself was that I would reward myself with zoom whitening after all my required dental work was done. 


I found a great dentist that met all of my criteria and didn't hurt at all.  Plus last time I was there, he gave me a review of the movie review of Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter.  Added bonus, my coverage is now really great, most things are covered 100%.  So strange to not owe anything!  I've had everything done that needed to be done, except getting 2 wisdom teeth pulled.  I went for a consult last week.  The dentist said I would be knocked out, and only 2 need to come out.  What a relief.  But I'm still totally dreading it.  Since I don't feel any pain at the dentist, it's not so bad being there.  Now I'm taking advantage of the great dental coverage by having my old fillings removed and replaced with white fillings (no mercury).   Unfortunately, I will still have a few silver ones at the very back.


I really wish I'd known way back when that trips to the dentist don't have to be painful.  Maybe I would feel differently about the BeeGee's and ABBA today.

New skinny clothes

So!  I am currently wearing my "skinny clothes."  Basically, these are just the smallest clothes I own from when I was a bit thinner.  Or they are clothes that I bought, only to find that they were too small, and the skinny mirrors at the store lied to me.  Very exciting, but also a bit of a pain in the ass.  Currently, the clothes I wore last summer fall off (literally).  The clothes that were too small last summer are bordering on too loose to wear anymore.  I was starting to not be able to see the weight loss anymore, because I was just used to it.  It was a nice to see a major difference when I switched over to my summer clothes.


Interestingly, back when I was wearing my skinny jeans they were too small for me.  I had an ugly muffin top situation going on.  Not anymore!  They fit better now, than they did back then.  So I'm actually smaller now, which means this is the smallest I've been since some time in grade 8 or 9.  Is that right?  Too bad I don't have any clothes from that time to be sure, but I'm pretty sure it's true.  I do have a dress that I wore when I was 11 or 12.  I'm not too sure that it'll fit, but I'll see if I can remember which box it is in and try it on.  Pictures of course! 


I don't own a scale, so I have been more or less measuring weight loss by how clothes were fitting. This started to become a less useful measure now that everything is too big. I'm too cheap to buy clothes that I know won't fit me when I could really use clothes that do fit.  So I asked Sarah to bring me some of her clothes that are too big for her.  I tried them on, all of them are too small.  Normally I might have been gutted, but I'm actually pretty happy about it.  I now have new skinny clothes.  Yea!  I'll let you know when they do fit

El Camino del Ray

Sometimes youtube gives me the best video suggestions.  This is one of them (I facebooked this a few days ago).  Video of a crazy 110 year old dilapidated platform that runs 700 feet above a canyon in Spain.  Since this video was made, the government has since closed the trail down after a tourist died, but I hear that you can still risk it.  I also read they are improving the platform so it can be reopened. 

I'm pretty sure the person that filmed this had a death wish.  No safety gear at all.  Every other video I've seen people were geared up for rock climbing.  The video also happens to have the perfect music background.  I think I'd like to check this place out once they've fixed a few things. You'll see what I mean. 

Kale chips

Dad and Judy were kind enough to grow kale for me in their garden this summer. Last night I harvested a grocery bag full of kale.  Today I made kale chips.  The kale shrinks down quite a bit, so it's pretty easy to eat a lot of kale if you aren't careful.  Some people have a hard time digesting kale, so it's best to go easy on it.  I juice kale and put it in smoothies all the time, I didn't think I would have an issue.  But oh man.  I have over done it.  I have the worst stomach ache! 


I planned on making this a kale chip recipe review, but I now have a total aversion to kale chips.  I can't even look at them.  I haven't even put them away, I could barf at any moment.  At this point, I don't ever want to eat kale again. Let's just say when the kale departed, I was very glad I was only a couple feet from the washroom.  Cautionary tale of kale.

moving weight

Ah yes, that awkward moment when you realize you have stumbled into something you shouldn't have.  I was at the Aldergrove lake trail, and decided to see where a well travelled side trail went.  It was basically a goat trail through the bush up a steep hill.  It rained a lot yesterday, and the trail was pretty muddy, tough going.  I got to the top of the trail and it opened up into a clearing. ... I was in a berry field?  Why is there a trail up to a berry field?  I walked all the way along the length of the field trying to find out where to go from there.  It took me about 5 minutes to walk all the way to the end, nothing but barbed wire.  How was I going to get back to the main trail from here?  But there was no where else to go except south into the berry field or back the way I came. 

Along the back of the field was a 6 inch diameter pipe that ran the length of the field.  I noticed that someone had spray painted the pipe with arrows.  I figured the arrows must be pointing the way to go.  They pointed me back to the steep muddy trail I had just come from.  The trail was marked with spray painted words "TD Black."  I have no idea what that means.  The trail was so muddy and steep, I had a hard time going up, I really did not want to go down the trail.  But there were no options. Down I went, with a stick in one hand, grasping on to whatever I could to stop myself from falling. About half way down, I stopped to rest.  It was then that I realized that I had traipsed through some sort of stinging nettle or poison oak.  4 hours later, my legs are still on fire.  

By the time I reached the end of the goat trail, I had figured out what this trail was all about.  No one is going to climb up a hill like that, that was 20 minutes from the parking lot, in the middle of the park to go steal strawberries and raspberries.  But, this berry field is on Zero avenue, and the arrows were pointing the way out of the field.  Yup, I had stumbled along a drug smuggler's trail.  Whoops!  Sorry about that... moving on.

 

When the going gets tough, poo on the floor

Yup. this is where we're at.  Poop on the floor.  This is the cats rejecting the new flushable cat litter.  It looks like chicken feed, and they are having none of it.  After having this happen three times, I got the message.  So we have temporarily gone back a step to non-flushable litter, and there is no hole in the middle of the pan. 


Today I bought another brand of flushable litter.  Fingers crossed.   I have only found 4 flushable litters, two of them are made with wheat.  Not an option for me. 


I have noticed a major advantage of flushable litter.  The smell factor.  It's much less smelly, as soon as the cats visit the toilet, (they get some cat treats and then) I flush it away.   No more awkward elevator rides down to the dumpster with a bag of shit and piss with some poor person giving me "the look."  You know the, did-you-just-pooh-your-pants look. 




Despite this bump in the road.  Things are going along really well. 

Rock Climbing!

This really isn't the best picture is it?  I can't fix it.  I'm on the far right.  Oh well, I'm glad someone thought to take a picture at all.  So after my disastrous experience with meetup.com, I decided to give it another shot.  It was really fun, but really hard.  I learned that I have a bit of an issue with heights.  I climbed all the way to the top once, and then looked down to tell the instructor I was coming down, OMG.  Lesson learned, Hilary does not look down.  Today is the day after, and I am so sore!  Mostly my arms and whatever the muscles are that are under my armpits.  It's a whole body work out, there are not many parts of me that are not at least a little sore.  My neck is okay, but I'm dying to get to massage therapy tomorrow.  My hands were so sore when I left that I was having a hard time holding the steering wheel!  Next time I think I might tape my hands up a bit. 


Verdict?  Rock climbing is highly recommended.


(note I am scheduling blog posts into the future,  as I had a back log of things to post about.  This actually happened over a week ago.  My massage therapist put me back to rights.)

Cat Toilet training

Well week one is over. 

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

It was the best because I have hardly any kitty litter to sweep up.  The cats used to love the feel of flinging cat litter off of their four paws as they stepped out of their box.  It went everywhere, and created dusty conditions that really stood out on my dark wood floors.  It took about 24 hours for the cats to accept the new place to do their business.  I read that some cats don't and they either hold it in until they are sick, or use your bed/sink/laundry basket/carpet.  My secret? Cat treats.  Each trip to the cat box earned a handful of cat treats.


It was the worst of times because Salem sits in the middle of the Litter Kwitter and pees over the edge and on to the floor every single time.  It's not the end of the world because it's onto the tiles and it takes a minute to clean it up and wash the floors.  But it's annoying.  She's doing fine on number 2's.  Marley is a toilet rock star, she totally gets it.  We are supposed to stay on this stage for 2 weeks until they don't pee/poo in other places in the house.  Since they have never done this, we are moving on. 

So today we are moving to the next phase.  There is now a small hole in the middle of the litter "box".  If we're lucky they will start accidentally doing their business down the hole (and not freak out).  It will maybe also teach them how to perch correctly, since Salem won't feel so comfortable sitting in the middle.  Hopefully this will fix Salem's crappy squatting.  We have also changed to flushable litter so any litter that gets pushed into the toilet won't be a problem.

Update, Salem did not think the change was a good thing from 3am to 5am last night.  She voiced her displeasure - keeping me up half the night.  We compromised by me putting the Litter Kwitter on the floor for her to use instead (she was happy with that arrangement).  In the morning, the Litter Kwitter went back up on the toilet, and she used it again (no pee on the floor!).  I'm thrilled.  Marley thinks the hole is fun.  She keeps putting her arm down the hole and splashes around with the toilet water.  She also likes to push litter into the hole to and watch the splash.  So basically she's a 2 year old child learning about the potty.  I'm cautiously optimistic.

If a car rusts in the forest...

Today I went along a different part of the park that I usually walk in.  I had never gone down this path because it said it was the way to the dog park.  I assumed that it was not far down the path, and so never went that way.  Today I decided I would check it out.  My dad and step-mom have adopted a puppy, and I have asked if I can take him for a walk sometime or dog sit.  I thought I should check-out the dog park for him.  Turns out, it's about a kilometer down the trail.  My eyes spotted this up the hill from the trail I was on. ...

Judging by the trail that encircled the car, I wasn't the only one that wanted to check it out. 

It had clearly been there a long time.  There were no seats left, the tires were gone, the interior was gone as well.  I couldn't even tell what make of car it was, looks older than the 80's. 

No motor, no hood. I'm not sure how it got here. There is a road about 50 meters up the hill that runs parallel to the car. In between there are a whole lotta trees. I figured someone must have dumped it, and it was too much trouble for the parks workers to pull it out of there.

Ferns growing in the middle of it.

 This made me think of a scene in Footloose, where the characters go to an abandoned train car that was covered with quotes from books that were banned.  This car was covered in writing, but none of it was Hemingway.  Then I started to think about Christopher McCandless- the guy that Into the Wild is about- he sold everything, and went travelling.  He eventually ended up living in an abandoned city bus in the middle of the forest in Alaska.  He made some stupid mistakes and ended up being too weak to save himself and he died in the bus. 



Lots of people hike in to see the bus.  Hiking in Alaska is on my bucket list, although I'm not sure I need to visit this sad bus.  I've seen pictures of the inside, it's still full of his belongings.  It's all been left as a monument to him, and his way of life.  So then I started wondering if someone had died in the car in front of me, and maybe it was a sad accident that I just didn't know the story of.  And then I left, because I was getting sad over a rusty car in the forest.

Hottie of the Game - Stanley Cup Edition

Say what?


That's right we've got a hottie of the game!  So exciting.  So who's it going to be?

Willie Mitchell!! A couple of Canucks are representing on the LA Kings team. I say once a Canuck hottie, always a Canuck hottie. Plus he buys his shirts at the Salvation Army, he's staying humble, not letting his hottie status go to his head. Congrats to the LA Kings, if we had to lose, I'm glad you went all the way.

It has begun

That's right, the toilet training has begun.  It's going to be a long road of baby steps and cat treats.  We skipped to step 2, Litter Kwitter on the toilet.  Step one is Litter Kwitter on the floor, in the bathroom.  Too easy.  I haven't taken away their old litter box, and they are still using it instead.  So far they are just playing the new litter "box".  We'll be in this stage for about 2 weeks.    The next stage has a little hole in the middle for them to get used to.   Then the hole gets bigger and bigger.  If all goes well, they'll be perched on the toilet seat in about 2 months.  If all goes wrong, they'll be pissing on my bed.  I'm pretty confident in the cats, they have already learned some good tricks- how to play fetch (Marley), how to ring a bell for the balcony door to be opened (Salem), how to open cupboard doors (although I didn't teach them that) and how to push doors open (Salem). 

Perk of Country Living

Salmonberries!  One of my earliest memories was sitting at the pig pen feeding the pigs salmonberry leaves until they had green frothy beards hanging from their chins.  The pigs were my babysitters when my sisters were at school and mom was busy doing mom things in the house.  Pigs love salmonberry leaves.  I love how much food there is in the forest, if you know what's there- and it's all free.  Everyday I pick a big handful of salmonberries along my hike.  You pretty much never see salmonberries in the store, I think I saw them for sale once.  Do people not know how delish they are?  It doesn't look like many other people are picking them.  More for me!  

I have thought of one drawback to moving.  Right now I live close to the farms that ship their produce into the city.  It is kind of nice to be able to buy flats of berries fresh from the farmer.  Today I went to visit a farmers stand that just opened up a couple days ago.  Maan Farm on 790 McKenzie Road, Abbotsford.  It's early in the season, and it looks like they aren't selling any of their own produce. It all looks like the same stuff that's in the grocery store.  They also have some gourmet grocery items, a dairy section, and frozen locally made foods like perogies, stuffed potatoes.  I think they also have a restaurant/cafe, but I'm not sure, it wasn't set up yet.

They didn't have any organic produce- which was the whole reason I went.  But in a couple weeks they will have their no-spray berries.  I'll go back then and check it out. 

 I think it will be a fun place to go visit with kids.  They have a picnic area, a play ground, tractor rides, a petting zoo and corn/sunflower mazes.  But it's not free to do all of those things, but it would be a good way to spend a hot summer afternoon. 

Does it Float?

So I've been doing the math, and a float home (and moorage) would cost about the same as an apartment (and strata fees).  Hmmm.  A float home could be kinda nice.  Nice views, feed the ducks, see seals from your couch.  Peaceful, but still in the middle of it all. 

However, I just watched a couple documentaries on the Sumatra and Sendai tsunamis.  The mental picture of a tsunami hitting is still pretty fresh in my mind.  Maybe a float home is not a good idea.  Plus, the smell of diesel in the air, and I would never swim in the Fraser River, and the front door in the picture above seems to be missing something.  Plus I'm not sure about the whole maintenance thing, and I'm not sure how mortgages would work on a float home.  Do these things sink?  What about mold?  All things to think about.  The float home above is listed for $78,000, so definitely an  affordable option. 

Why am I thinking about these things?  In the next month I have a meeting.  It's like a professional development thing where I decide the direction I want my career to go.  I need to have a goal- shouldn't been too hard for me right?  I love goals.  I make goals to make more goals.  Problem is any job I apply for in the future needs to be part of my professional development plan.  I can't just spur of the moment pounce on whatever job posting comes up.  So I need a plan.  Option A, would mean eventually moving to Victoria for a job that appeals to me quite a lot.  Again fricken tsunamis.  Will all of Victoria be destroyed?  How far from downtown would I have to live to survive a tsunami?  Is it true that there are a lot of sailors in Victoria?  (and now the theme from Top Gun is in my head). How does the cost of living compare?  Googling these questions has really got me nowhere. 

Option B is to plug along as I am.  Not having an ambitious plan looks bad, it means I might as well not plan on anything different for the next 2 years, and it's unlikely that I would be selected for any jobs that I do apply for.  Lack of ambition seems to be frowned upon- and really, that's not me.  I've been very good at cooling my ambition lately.  I don't even look at job postings everyday anymore as much.

Option C, I go for something in between, making my goal to have a very specialized job, that would limit my ability to do anything different after that.  It would also probably limit me on where I could work.  Maybe there is an option D, which would involve changing to something completely different, but I don't think I want that right now.  So where do I see myself?  I don't know.  I know that I want to move out of the valley, and back to the city for a while.  I want a bit more hussel and bussel.  Can't I just put that as my plan?  That's the only thing I know for sure.  So somehow I need to make the work plan fit with my original plan of living on the other side of the river. Or on the river, whatever.

Potty training

I think I talked about this before?

About six months ago I bought a system for potty training cats.  But I ended up buying the wrong thing.  I bought the bonus items and not the actual system.  On it's own it wasn't usable, and it wasn't worth the cost of returning it in the mail.  Today I decided to buy the rest of the system that I meant to buy before.  The cost of cat litter has gone up, so if it works, it will pay for itself in 3-4 months.  Plus cat litter is gross.  So I'm going to give it a shot.  Or maybe it's more accurate to say that the cats are going to give it a shot.  Here is the plan:

It looks easy as 1-2-3.  I'm sure it won't be.  I give it a 50/50 chance of success.

Hello Possum's!

A blog post that read referred to readers as  "my darlings, my dears".  Another blog calls readers "my lovlies."  It made me smile that someone would write that (and not come off as fake).  Who talks like that anymore?  And then it made me think of Dame Edna.

I loved Dame Edna, she always referred to her fans as possums and my dears.  No one under 75 says that anymore.  I thought Dame Edna died, but just the character died.  Maybe she'll return one day with her gladiolas and her friend Madge.  I'm sorry blog readers I don't have a term of endearment for you.  Maybe one day. 

Stats

I love the new stats feature on blogger.  Above is the list of the most common words people searched that brought them to my blog.  There is a definite hockey theme here. How does Bieksa not even rank?
My blog is pretty heavy on the Kesler pictures too, I would have thought there were other puck bunnies google-ing him too.  Sorry, it's a long way until the next hottie of the game series.

Petr is drawing the people in too. I did a quick search to see what other pictures are available.  Nothing too exciting, and then I saw this smiling dimpley face.  Hellllloooo Petr.  This isn't even the same Petr Sykora, but whatever.  Looks like he plays in a Russian league and had a pretty good year.  He made the cut as the first official non-official off season hottie.  Look me up if you want to come to Canada and leave mother Russia behind.

















And this is driving traffic my way as well.  Interesting.  Thanks for the plug 5 years ago.  Not sure I feel the same way about carnies though.  I assume this was Whitney's doing?

Rainy May Day- rambling update

Yesterday I went for a hike in the rain and got soaked through to my underware.  It wasn't too bad, except I looked like a drowned rat.  I'm glad I didn't see many people on the trail.  I don't have real rain gear anymore, so I was ill equiped.  I've been waiting around for the rain to stop before I head out, but it looks like that isn't going to happen.  No hiking today. 

The size medium workout gear arrived, and it all fits.  I wish I had consciously thought about what I was doing when I started, it would have been nice if I had weighed myself or took a measurement or two.  I think I weighed somewhere around 180 in September, and I remember thinking that all of my jeans had shrunk in the dryer.  The scale doesn't really tell me too much.  I weigh myself maybe once a month when I'm at the grocery store.  Lately I've been hovering between 155 and 160.  I've been wearing my skinny jeans for a while now, I remember I couldn't do them up, and the thighs were too tight.  Now they are loose, and I have been taking them off without undoing them.  And the scale is not budging, so I've been weighing myself less and less because it's going to drive me insane.  I'm happy loosing inches... for now.

Next ramble.  Watermelon.  I wasn't a fan, I thought it wasn't very flavourful.  Watery, not sweet, hardly any taste.  My taste buds have totally changed.  Now I'm totally obsessed with watermelon.  It tastes so differently to me now.  I can't get enough.  The other day I brought a whole mini watermelon for lunch.  It can't get any easier packing lunches: 1 watermelon, 1 spoon.  Done. 

Next ramble.  Dogs.  I keep thinking it would be nice to have a dog to take with me hiking.  As long as I'm renting this isn't going to happen.  So for now I'm researching.  I want a smaller dog, bigger than a Chihuahua, nothing breakable, but not so big that it's going to kill my cats.  Smaller than 20 inches because most stratas don't allow dogs bigger than that.  I want it to have enough energy to come with me on a hike, but not so much energy that it's a full time job exercising it.  I want it to have short preferably black hair, no long hair.  And I don't want a puppy.  I have no interest in the house training phase.  At first I thought I wanted a boston terrier or a pug, but they are pretty played out.  Too many medical problems, and they have breathing problems.  The leading candidates:

Manchester Terrier- it's bigger than a mini pincher but smaller than a doberman.  This is Dimitri, I think I'm in love with him.  I would adopt him tomorrow if I owned my own place.

Rat Terrier- bigger than a Chihuahua, and less crazy than a Jack Russel Terrier.  They are smart, and easy to train, and are really good at agility courses (think Super Dogs). 


And then there are these awesome dogs from Taiwan.  Lots of smaller dogs, strange mixed breeds.

it's like a little mini chocolate lab, short legs.

or this little mini black lab/terrier type thingy.

How can you say no to this little face?  Shiba Inu and Formosan mountain dog mix

But I guess it's taking a bit of a risk adopting a Taiwanese dog.  Some of them were street dogs, and some were abused.  Most of the dogs above were rescued when they were puppies so they aren't wild dogs.  Most of them are still in Taiwan, so you don't get to meet them first. 

The coolest looking dog (but he's not for me)

See what I mean?  There taiwan dogs are different from what you usually see.  It's like a Dalmatian and a border collie or something.  Guaranteed to have a super crazy high energy level.

What sort of dog person do you think I would be? 

Pet Peeve

Huggggggggggggggggs

The internets solution to not being able to physically hug someone.  Every time I come across this little sentiment, the first thing that comes to my mind is... Fuck off.  If the intent is to give the person some comfort, then use your words.  Express something that has some meaning.  A word does not have more meaning the more g's you add. 

There is a raw food website/forum that I belong to.  I joined when I first went raw, but stopped checking in because one of the main moderators cannot write a sentence without typing Hugggggs.  It's included in her emails too.  She sent me a hugggggg for my birthday.  I respect this woman less and less and I would punch her in the arm if I ever met her in person.  I just popped in to the forum to see what's up.  Huggggs flung all over the place.  It looks like this hugggg thing is catching on with the other middle aged women.  Now everyone is doing it.  

Thanks for the hugggggg, sending you a huggggg too! 

Fuck off.  I can't stand it.  I'm not a hugger in real life, and I'm not a virtual hugger either.  I only know one person who actually uses the multiple G approach online.  I'm pretty sure she doesn't read my blog, but just incase you recognize yourself in this.  Take my advice, stop it.  No one wants your fake huggggs. 

Does this annoy anyone else or am I alone on this?

Jim the Realtor

I don't even know how I stumbled on this youtube channel, but it's amazing.  Jim was a high end realtor in California, but when the market tanked he ended up selling foreclosures for the banks.  He takes us on a tour of homes on the market.  He has the most sarcastic, dry sense of humor.  He is so honest, there is no sugar coating a piece of crap house.  The best part, often he is the realtor trying to sell the house!  Some examples:

I had no idea that people would actually trash their homes when it goes into foreclosure.  Some of the homes people take all the doors, fixtures, appliances, and anything of value.  One guy even took the toilets and then poured concrete down the drains.

Last weekend I was sick laying on the couch watching his videos.  I learned so much about the why the housing bubble burst and why things aren't going to improve quickly.  Here's why, a house goes into foreclosure, then the bank tries to sell it.  A realtor lists the house for the bank for less than the vlaue of the house, but doesn't allow for the house to be shown, and it gets no offers.  But they aren't worried about it because they already have a buyer lined up.  So then they go to the bank and say look, it hasn't sold, so let's lower the price.  The bank agrees.  Then their buyer offers less than the current listing price, and the bank accepts it to get rid of the debt.  The bank assumes the realtor has done their job, and the price is an accurate value for the house because there was no interest at a higher price.  So now the banks have lost money on that house (and lend less money out because they are losing money on foreclosures).  But the real problem is that now that selling price becomes the new benchmark for the neighbourhood.  So then the next house that lists uses that shady dealing to price their house.  Jim the realtor drives around and showes how this is driving the prices down, and how it is causing people to become up-side-down on their mortgages.  So interesting!

I found one!

Today I was at a team building day for my job. Its on the other side of town near my favorite organic veggie place. While on break I noticed a community garden across the street. I just went and checked it out... And guess what? They have a huge compost bin!  It's right out there in the open. So I should be able to pop in there whenever. Problem solved. I admit that I had considered deleting my last post because I thought the lack of compost bin might be my undoing. Now I think I have no excuse.

Note this also my first attempt at mobile blogging. Not too difficult.

Challenge

If you were to take a peek into my garbage (god knows why you would want to) you would see fruit peels, bits of veggies, pulp from my juicer, almond milk containers and ... kitty litter.  I've been thinking that with the exception of the kitty litter, everything I throw away is either recyclable or compostable.  But I live in an apartment, so I don't have a composter, and the cats have not grasped the concept of using the toilet.  For a while I was flushing my juicer scraps, but I was concerned that I was going to plug it, so I stopped.  When I know I'm going to go to my dad's house, I'll store up the scraps that the chickens will like and I bring those with me.   

I feel bad throwing out stuff that I know doesn't need to be thrown out.  So I have given myself a challenge.  Ready?  My challenge is to not throw out anything except for kitty litter, and coconut husks and mango and avocado pits (cuz they don't break down very well).  Hang on.  Did I just announce I'm becoming a hoarder?

Nope, I'm going to try to either compost or recycle everything.  Is it possible?  I'm going to find out.

Here is the plan.  My freezer is empty except for some frozen fruits.  For now, I'm going to freeze all of my compostable scraps and then taken them in bulk to my Dad's.  I can already see the flaw in my plan.  Quantity.  My freezer is going to be packed full in less than 2 weeks.  My crappy city has a compost pick-up, but only for single family homes, and they don't allow for drop-offs..  For now it's a pilot project, and was supposed to be expanded this year, but nothing so far.  So I looked at other nearby cities, they don't do drop-offs either.  I cannot believe how hard it is to compost if you live in a condo.  Most cities that pick-up compostables, do not do pick-ups from multi-family complexes.  Considering more multi-family complexes are being built than single family homes, I think this will have to change. 

Worm composting is an option, but from my experience, worms are delicate.  Their home can't get too hot, or dry, or wet or cold.  I would feel bad if I killed them, and I would have to bring them inside in the winter to keep them alive.  Not really wanting to do that. 

I think I might have found an option though.  It's a community demonstration garden... with 7 compost piles on site.  I wonder if I can sneak in and compost bomb them?  I'm going to find out. 

Have any tips for me?  Do you have a compost pile, if so, can I come and give you my compostable bits?

Self Diagnosis/ Diagnosis by Google

It's been a long time since I've blogged anything mental healthy. 

I've been thinking a lot about my diet and how it might seem a little crazy to other people.  I've also been thinking a lot about my control issues.  The two things are tied to each other.  I blame a lot of it on Celiac disease. I didn't need to be hyper aware of what I was eating until I needed to avoid gluten.  So I now have a long list of foods I will never eat again, and a short list of foods that I will eat.  I was watching a TV show about eating disorders and extreme diets; quelle surprise to see my exact diet diagnosed as an eating disorder.  Hmmm.  Is eating unhealthy food required for good mental health?  They were going on and on about how being a control freak went hand in hand with eating disorders.  Made me start to thing about that.

What's psychology girl to do?  Go online and do a questionnaire of course!  The verdict?  Strong tendency towards bulimia.  Maybe, but don't you have to barf all the time?  Celiac disease use to make me barf, and now I have a huge aversion to tossing my cookies.  I refuse to drink to excess just to avoid it.  The person with my diet in the tv show was diagnosed with anorexia.  I was surprised when the results for me came up bulimic.  So maybe it has more to do with the person and less with the diet.  Fuck that, I'm not going to start barfing. 

So then I thought I would do a couple more questionnaires and see how I'm fairing! 
1) I do not suffer from a social anxiety.  - Interesting, because I actually kinda thought I did!
2) I don't suffer from anxiety in general.  
3) I have some depressive symptoms - Interesting, I've never felt so good!  So then I took another test and answered 'yes' to 1 out of 10 questions.  So I'm good.
4) OCD - I answered 5 questions out of 8 questions 'yes'. "Your score is 63%. You have indicated that you have several symptoms that fit the criteria for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)".  I already knew that hello deodorant :)
5) PTSD - (Post traumatic stress disorder) answered yes to 45% of the questions. 
6) I also don't have any personality disorders.  Although the first time I did the questionnaire I had three different personality disorders!!  Then I realized I answered some questions wrong.  What a relief!
7) Schizophrenia-  not a bit. 
8) bi-polar - nope

The questionnaires are interesting, but the results don't mean I have any of these illnesses.  I did find it interesting that I scored higher on some scales and lower on others and that I got completely different results depending on the questionnaire.  There were very few questionnaires that I didn't have at least one positive response.  For example, the depression scale asked if I sometimes had a difficult time sleeping.  Everyone has trouble sleeping from time to time.  And one of the anxiety scales asked if I had headaches and neck pain.  My answer was "often," but that's because of my car accident, it has nothing to do with anxiety, but a questionnaire doesn't know that.    

On the surface, the results make me look like a bulimic, obsessive compulsive troubled by her past.  That's like a character from a book!  I'm not nearly that interesting.  And no, I don't believe that I really have any of these illnesses.

Campbell Valley Park

The daffodils from the Bradner daffodil festival.  I love the combo of yellow and green.

 I haven't posted a picture of a juice for a while.  This one was so pretty.  Kiwi, granny smith apple, cucumber, mango and spinach.  Really yummy.

The weekend started off with a dinner in Langley at the Olive Garden with the 4 people I trained with.  The food was pretty good, I splurged on gluten-free pasta.  It was great to catch up with my old co-workers.


Today I went for a different walk.  I went to the Campbell Valley Regional Park in Langley.  I thought it was a couple minutes further west of the Aldergrove Lake park.  It wasn't.  It was a lot further than I thought.  On the map it was just a couple of blocks, I didn't take into account that they were neverending country blocks.  It was a pretty enough walk, but it was very flat, not challenging.  Even more annoying, the trails were really, really busy.  A tour bus full of asian tourists pulled up just as I arrived.  Not a good sign.

I did the main part of the trail, it only took maybe 35 minutes, and then I was back at the parking lot.  There is another trail that is 11Km, that is more of a horse trail.  I backtracked to a side trail that was much better but still totally flat.  The main trail was just a gravel road, I preferred this sort of trail, even with the mud.

I might go back to this park to do the longer trail.  But next is the Houston trail in Fort Langley.  The receptionist at massage therapy recommended it to me.  Apparently it's going to kick my butt.

Tomorrow is sushi lupper (lunch and supper) in New West with Whitney. Feels like a whole lotta driving this weekend.