experiment

I watched Oprah the other day.  She had a guest on who talked about the documentary "Food Inc."  If you've never seen it, you should make a point of watching it.  You will never think of food production the same way again.

The guest talked about how the "western diet" has led to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and ingrown toenails (well not the toe nail thing, that's my own hypothesis).  He talked about the Inuit of Greenland who have seal (or whale?) blubber as 75% of their diet and they have little or no heart disease, diabetes or obesity issues.  75% blubber!!!???

The solution for us "westerners" is to eat "real food."  Real food being unprocessed food.  The simple rule is that "if your great grandmother would not recognize something as food, then you should not eat it."  Picture yogurt in tubes, string cheese and KD packages.  He said that we will never have to count calories, fat or nutrients again if we follow this rule.

Easy, I figured, so I paid close attention to what I ate yesterday to see how many processed "unrecognizable" foods I ate in a regular day.  I was surprised at my observations, because I think I'm a relatively healthy eater..

Breakfast:
banana, orange juice, small handful of raw almonds (I think this was pretty good -- except maybe the Tropicana OJ...)

Lunch:
hamburger with ketchup, tomato, lettuce, mustard and relish, water to drink (hamburger was the frozen patty kind, ketchup and mustard are processed too...I make my own relish so that was okay)

Snack:
apple, small handful of raw cashews, small glass of gingerale (gingerale doesn't  pass)

Supper:
ham and cheese impossible quiche, carrot sticks, water to drink (thought this was ok too 'til I thought about the  Bisquick in the quiche --ya, I know not gluten free, so I will get headache as well as eating processed product; and the ketchup I smothered the quiche with also wouldn't pass)
waffle with ice cream and maple syrup for dessert -- pretty sure Great Granny would never have seen a frozen waffle or Aunt Jemima syrup, but I think ice cream existed just without modified milk ingredients, glucose, mono-and diglycerides, carob bean gum, guar guam, cellulose gum, carrageenan, dextrose,and something called annatto)

Snack:
DH gave me the leftover potato chips so he didn't have to put a near empty bag back in the cupboard -- that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.  Chips don't pass the real food test either.

The processed stuff is what makes cooking convenient and easy -- and food taste good (ie, ketchup).  If I had to make my own ice cream, I likely wouldn't have had any -- also, I don't have a cow.

So here is my experiment.  I am going to try really, really hard to live by the "real-food-great-granny rule" this week.  I will let you know how it goes.

Boy and the Lawnmower

This is Boy and his lawnmower.  He got it from his great aunt for free.  He loves this lawnmower.  Has great plans about becoming a millionaire mowing lawns about town.... so far I haven't felt the benefit of the great ambition (as in he trims our lawn, and the lawn of our little house uptown and that's it.)

Recently Boy, because he has his father's genes, felt that the what the lawnmower lacked was power (again, nothing said about ambition....) This was his solution.  Be prepared to be amazed!

Boy bought a pipe (he just corrected me, a "straight pipe") to put on the mower; a straight pipe like they put on muscle cars -- only much smaller.  It took him most of Saturday afternoon to rig up this bad boy.  When I asked him what the purpose was he said "more power and it'll sound nasty."  Nasty. I'll say.

Further to this modification he added this:

See this string.  This string is attached to the governor.  "When you pull the string it overrides the governor, so you don't have a limit on your revs," says Boy with a wicked grin.  Then he adds this information for your reading  pleasure, "it was originally a 4 horse engine, but now that it's all done I have a mean machine with 11 horse power."

Does anyone else see the irony in an 11 hp PUSH mower???











So when Boy mows the lawn it sounds like Varney Speedway here.  Also, the glare from the grin on his face lights up the afternoon.

Lawnmower free.
Pipe $5.
String for governor free.
Look on Boy's face priceless.

In my next life

In my next life I want to come back as Rocky because I think he's got it pretty good...

Bonbons

and naps...

Lucky boy.

New Fella

There's a new fella in my life. Really it's a summer romance, but I'll take what I can get.
He's very tall, strong but gentle, patient, a bit stubborn, and oh so handsome.  He's got several scars, but I think they just make him look wiser.  In short, he's lovely.  He's the perfect antidote for a crazy spring and start to the summer, and he's a lovely distraction for now.  I am a lucky girl.

Let me introduce you to my new love, Darryl.

Alas, he's not mine forever.  I am borrowing him from Girl's riding coach.  She asked me to show him in a couple of classes at the local Saddle Club shows.  I am also taking lessons once a week, so I get to ride him then too.  When Girl takes her lessons, I ride Darryl in the arena to get him ready for the shows.  So, in a good week I might get to ride him three times!

He's good for my soul (and leg muscles!!!)

I'm ba-a-a-ck (say it like Ricky Ricardo)

Hi there.
Thought I'd given up?  Thought I'd disappeared forever and ever? Nope.  I was buried.  Buried under a deep, deep pile of  "to dos."  Ha. Funny.  If you say that fast it sounds like "do dos."  Freudian, I think...

See this...

This is my June "at home" calendar.  My "at work" one has equally as many  notations in the boxes.  July's "at home" looks pretty much the same up until July 15.  On July 15 my summer started.














Now.  See this.

See the one box that is circled in white with the big red arrow pointing to it.  It is the one day in June that there was nothing "to do," and "nowhere to go."  That's the day I got my first migraine in a very long time.  I threw up, laid on the couch and thought I might die.  But I couldn't 'cause there was something on the calendar for the next day.
I am telling you, 'cause no one here felt sorry for me.










I finished up at work-school on July 8.  Then I went crazy from July 9-14 as I had my 2 courses to finish up by the 14th.  I attended school-school on the 12-14th.  Between July 9 and 11 I wrote another big essay (well, not that big, but big to me-- 15 pages, double spaced, 11pt Times Roman font -- because anything longer than a blog post is big to me, because this is only the second essay I have written since 1994!)
I have spent July 15 until today catching up on everything that did not get done around home in June.  Also, I decided to read my most favourite Jilly Cooper novels again because I deserve to sit by the pool on really hot days and do something I actually WANT to do.  So, I am just now finding my writer's voice and I promise to regale you with wit and folly in the coming days.

I've been saving up ideas.  Here's a preview:
-I've got a new fella in my life.  He's handsome, huge and he eats out of the palm of my hand.
-too hot to cook "meal" idea
-Rocky. Rocky. Rocky
-boy's joke
-garden photos
-wonderings about the universe
-cleaning and organizing idea(s) -- depends how ambitious I am

Glad to be back.
Cheers
K

PS.  I am determined to figure out Photoshop Elements this summer.  The top photo of the calendar is SOTC (straight out of the camera) and the second one I doctored in PSE (photoshop elements). Messed with the lighting and colour contrasts and put in the circle and arrow.  Cool huh?  I could get addicted to this program. I will share as I learn.

Another, here's how you know it's gonna be a bad day...

So, here's how you know a it's gonna be a difficult day....

Your hair gets caught in the car door.

Yes, it's entirely possible.  I can't make these things up....

Picture Big Red in the wind, arms loaded, running late, caught in jeep door.

Shoulda just gone back to bed.

a random list

1.  I am terrified of spiders.  Terr-i-fied (say it loud, with the emphasis on TERR, like Oprah would).  Usually they make me scream.  Sometimes I hold my breath.  I overcame my fear when my babies were young and I would find an object, shoe, book, flyswatter, wooden spoon and beat them to death (usually screaming, crying or holding my breath).  I must say that one of the things I am grateful for in this world is that both my babies are old enough to kill spiders for me.  I just scream and point, and they save their momma.  This isn't the reason I had babies, but it's good I have found yet another use for them....

2.  I only like to write with fine-tip ball-point pens.  I dislike medium-point immensely.  I also far prefer blue ink to black.  It's an issue I have.  I just don't understand why medium-point was invented.

3.  I love my pillow (say L-OVE, like Oprah would).  It's memory foam and it's perfect.  Sometimes DH likes to lay on a corner, and I just have to push him off. I love my pillow, it's all mine and I don't want to share.

4.  I miss Oprah.  She gave me hope that I too might reach the stage of self-actualization.  I'm working on it, but it's hollow without her.

5.  Tonight I made a great supper.  I don't often have time nor inclination to make a great supper.  My menu was oven-fried parmesan chicken legs, campfire potatoes done on the BBQ, veggies, and mixed-berry cobbler.  In total the menu I served used 1/2 pound of butter and 1 1/4 cups of sugar (plus 2 tbsp. for sprinkling).  I should have just injected the fat and calories directly to my butt instead of forcing it to go through my digestive system; it's where it's going to end up anyway.  I will post the cobbler recipe in the next couple of days, so you too can share the joy.

6.  I haven't run in a week -- too busy and too cold today -- I'm a fair weather runner.

7.  I found $1.06 in the laundry today and felt like I'd won the jackpot.