Which Beauty Icon Are You?

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You are Sandra Bullock!

Which Beauty Icon Are You?
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That’s funny! I met her once. Ok, when I was 16, I landed a job doing warpaint for the indians during the filming of Last of the Mohicans. My roommate during the filming was this great lady who actually was a professional make-up artist. We stayed friends after the movie and when she was in town a few years later for the filming of 28 days with Sandra Bullock we all met up at a local pub for some drinks. I thought it was kinda funny that they were shooting a movie about alcoholism and they were all hanging out doing shots at a bar 🙂

Spiral Update

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I’ve been filling in my spiral garden and it is looking nice. It’s going to be stuffed with plants! So far it has Comfrey, Motherwort, Bee Balm, Johnny-Jump-Ups, Chives, Marjoram, Thyme, Magenta Lambs Quarters, Yarrow, Lemon Balm, and Zinnea. I moved the Jeruselem Artichoke and Bay Laurel to another bed once that was set up so they have lots of room to spread out.

We also did the 2nd sucrocide treatment on my bees today and they are looking good. Lots of worker brood and even some capped honey!

Bee update

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We checked on the bees this afternoon and they are doing great! Both hives are drawing out the new foundation and storing lots of nectar and pollen. We also found lots of capped and uncapped brood and spotted the queen in both hives. In my hive, I didn’t see any bees without wings this time! We will do another mite count and treatment #2 of 3 in a few more days. Hopefully that will take care of it!

The Call of the Wild

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This morning, I went out for my walk. When I got to the end of our gravel road, the air was filled with the sounds of roosters, sheep and other farm animals, as usual. But, there was this other sound. It was kind of like a coyote, a long drawn out note with a down note at the end. As I walked along, the call got louder and was repeated over and over. Then it got a little lower, and I starting thinking that there might be some wild animal giving birth in the nearby woods. There was no one else around, no people or cars, so it was a little freaky. The sound kept getting louder and then it took an up turn and started getting higher and higher, and then went faster and faster. I felt like I was in some horror movie, that’s how weird it sounded! Then, it went staccato, and that’s when it finally hit me!! The poor animal giving wild animal birth in the woods this spring morning, was one of my neighbors practicing voice lessons!! Keep on practicing, baby! Keep on practicing!

Herb Spiral

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I’ve been trying to make another raised bed for some poor little herbs that are in desperate need of a home. But, I seem to keep finding reasons to put it off. Well, I have finally been inspired by Stella and Steph to build a spiral herb garden. I needed to build something more creative than a rectangle. Thanks for the advice ladies!!

Here is the bed before the dirt and plants:

And after:

So far, there are only comfrey, chives and jeruselum artichoke in the bed. But, I will be getting a bunch more from another herbalist this weekend!! Yay!

And just because I am so proud of myself for taking a fairly decent picture with my camera, I have to post this. It is the flower of the pitcher plant that is in the ‘pond’ in our back yard. Cool, eh??

And just because I am so proud of myself for producing something so damn scrumptous I have to post this, too. She likes to pose for the camera and squints because she know the flash will go off. So, this is what happened when I said, “don’t squint, open your eyes.”

And after a little practice…

I could just eat her up!!

Lessons Learned

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Lessons Learned From Our First Round Of Varroa Mite Treatments:
1- Start treatment when the day light is increasing, not decreasing. (It might be easier to treat the bees if you can see them!! Don’t start your treatment regimen at sundown like us idiots!)
2-Suit up well! (Spraying your bees with sucrocide, though it will kill the varroa mites, will also piss off your bees. Next time we will wear full beekeeping garb instead of just our veils. Then maybe we won’t both be freaking out and going “Hey! Can you brush this bee off of me??? Fast!!! Please?? Honey?? Please!!”
3-If you just dropped a frame of bees on the ground and knocked some of the bees off, don’t step in that same spot. The bees will crawl up your pant leg and seek revenge.
4-Don’t wear gloves that are wide open around the wrist. Bees like to see what is in that glove!

All in all we came out of it with only one sting, amazingly! Since we are currently using Sucrocide for treatment, we will have to repeat the process of spraying every bee 2 more times. But next time, well will do it in the morning.

We actually put white sticky boards under the hives last night so that when the mites fell off we cound count them. Toby’s hive had 1 mite in 24 hours. So, we didn’t even treat his. Mine had a count of 53 in 24 hours. The threshold for treatment in 10-15 in 24 hours. SO, my hive is really pretty sick. I hope this treatment helps. They looked pretty bedraggled and sticky when we were done. Hopefully they will pull through it ok.

Happy

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Just a little tidbit that I thought you might like to know… According to the May 2 Newsweek, if stay-at-home moms were compensated for all the hours they work, their net would be $131,471/year!! It’s nice to know I’m worth 6 figures… now where are my benefits??

What did I get for mother’s day?? Breakfast in bed, time to garden, laundry done, litterbox emptied…!!! And, a sting on my head from one of our bees. To be fair, it was really my fault! I was watching the bees fly around the hives and had just gotten out of the shower, so my hair was loosley bunched up on my head. One of them landed on my head and got caught in my hair. Of course, the more she tried to get out the deeper stuck she got. So, she finally stung me on the head. Well, at least I know I’m not allergic to honey bees. After Toby sifted through my hair to get the stinger out, I headed to the back yard for some plantain. The Herb Of The Week! 🙂 I chewed some up to get it good and macerated and then put it on the sting. Soon, the pain was gone and there is no swelling at all! So, aside from imagining this stinger burrowing deeper and deeper into my head and poisoning my brain with stinger juice, it really wasn’t a bad experience!

Varroa Attack

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Well, we had one of the state bee inspectors come out yesterday and go through our hives, show us how to spot problems, look for the queen, etc… Unfortunately, he found evidence of varroa in one of the hives. There were many bees without wings (a sign of varroa infestation) and we even found a few mites on worker bees. SOOO, it looks like we will begin our beekeeping experience learning how to treat varroa mites, do mite counts, etc… The MiteAwayII was just approved by the FDA for use in the US and has been approved for us in NC also. So, we have it on order. We have also put a rush on Sucrocide and should have it by Sunday. Both are classified as “organic” treatments. I’ve not even had them for a week and I feel so helpless that my little bee ladies are sick!!

The Current State Of Bees

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Here’s a recent post in the NY Times about the crisis we are in to save the honeybee. Until this year, I never thought about the hit that the farming industry would take if we lost the honey bee… pollination of the blueberries, almonds, everything would decrease dramatically, availability of foods would decrease and food costs would increase! If any of you have ever had the slightest interest in beekeeping, now is the time!

The ladies are finally here!

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Well, 3 weeks after we were supposed to get our bees, they are finally home and getting settled in! (We had a few miscommunication issues with the guy we bought them from, but it all turned out fine ) So, we lit our smoker and opened up our hives for the first time. I have to say, I am so very proud of myself for not feeling freaked out. It was actually really neat to be able to handle the bees and not have them all mad at me. We just had a little talk about how I was here to keep them healthy and happy and they listened well:-)




Full up to here!

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For this mornings snack time, we had strawberries. Then, for lunch, we had more strawberries. For afternoon snack, we had fresh strawberry muffins. For dinner, we had fresh strawberry pie! Can you guess what K and I did for our morning activity?? You got it – Strawberry Picking at a local organic strawberry patch! And after all that strawberry eating, we still have a quart in the fridge and 1 1/2 gallons in the freezer!! Yahooooo.

K and her cousin enjoying the harvest!

Feeding the hungry

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I went to visit the Crazy Tomato Lady for our weekly toddler playdate and after looking at her lettuce, kale and greens I realized that mine are very stunted! They look pretty much the same as they did when I put them in the ground a little over a month ago. So, I went home and sprinkled on some cottonseed meal (for nitrogen) and some liquid mineral fertalizer. I hope that will do the trick. Does anyone know how long it will be before I see results, or what else I should add if I don’t see any results? The under leaves have started turning yellowish and there is very little growth. That’s why my initial reaction was to add nitrogen.

On another note, my business is picking up all of a sudden and it seems to have nothing to do with the Kiplinger’s article. I’ve gotten a emails from people I don’t know wanting to carry my products in their stores, Earthfare is thinking about carrying my products, and tomorrow I have a meeting at our local co-op to figure out which of my products they will carry. I decided that it will make the meeting more memorable if I bring something yummy to munch on while we talk. So, today I made “Cleopatra’s Love Nuggets”, an herbal recipe from Botanica Erotica. It is not my plan to get them horny just to give them a taste of a really yummy herbal treat 🙂 They are delicious!!

    Cleopatra’s Love Nuggets

  • 1 cup of raw sesame tahini
  • 3/4 cup honey
  • 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and aniseed
  • 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1-2 tsp. damiana cordial, vanilla extract, Amaretto, anisette, or rose water (I used a cordial that I made a few years ago that I call “Love Potion #9”)
  • Some optional additions: 1 Tbsp finely chopped mint, 1 Tbsp powdered nettle leaves, 1 drop peppermint essential oil, 2 tsp grated orange peel, 5 drops orange essential oil

In a medium bowl, stir together the tahini and honey. Add powdered herbs and flavorings and combine. Roll mixture into balls and then roll to coat. I divided the batter into thirds and added 5 drops of orange oil to one batch and rolled this in seseme seeds. To the second batch I added 2 drops of peppermint essential oil and rolled it in shredded coconut. To the third batch I added 2 drops of rose geranium essential oil and rolled this in cocoa. They are SOOOO yummy!! You should try it. It’s really simple and quick.

2 Years of Bliss

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2 years ago today, Toby and I got married! The past two years have been wonderful! Kind of like Rocky Road Ice Cream… We’ve had our ups and downs and seen our fair share of nuts, but life has been sweet and creamy and damn, that chocolate tastes good 🙂

I was married once before and wasn’t planning on doing it again. I figured, if my first marriage, that I thought would be forever, could fall apart so completely, why would I want to do it again and risk the same thing happening. I would just stay in a long term relationship and never add the word “marriage” to it and everything would be fine. Rational thinking on my part, eh? So, Toby and I talked about kids, and houses, and all the other stuff, but not really about getting married. Until Christmas day 2002, when Toby popped the question. How did he propose? He sat down next to me on the couch, and instead of presenting me with a ring, he gave me a Vitamix Super 5000 with grain attachment (I guess you could call this my Red Ryder BB Gun). I believe his words were something like “I know you have wanted this for longer than you have wanted me. So, I thought it would be more appropriate than a ring. Will you marry me?” Any man who could know this about me is fit to be wed. So, of course, I said yes 🙂

By now, some of you are counting on your fingers… “ok, so if they have been married 2 years and K is almost 2″… Yes, I went to my wedding barefoot and pregnant! Check out the belly.

Quiet time

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If there is one thing I have figured out about marriage and motherhood, it’s how important it is to make time for yourself, alone! So, Toby and I have started getting up together when K wakes up (it use to be a fight to see who got to sleep in). He gets her breakfast and gets a little K time in while I go for a walk. I tell ya’, these last two mornings have been heaven! The cool, morning air, the quiet road, getting my mind in order… I love it! Since Toby is not a morning person, I consider this a major gift and sacrafice. Toby, I will consider this an early Mother’s Day gift. It even makes up for forgetting about it last year 🙂 So, what day is Mother’s Day again, dear? 😉

Testimonials

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I was just sent a review of one of my herbal products (B’s Balm), but it is in French. Can anyone translate?

—

J’ADORE!!!!!!
Je m’en doutais avant d’essayer mais l. vraiment c’est le pied. Le baume tient bien toute la journ?e, la peau du ventre ne tire plus, la poitrine est bien hydrat?e! M^me ma Lola de 2 ans se fait des massages de ventre avec!
En plus l’odeur me rappelle celle du petit d?j’ aux Etats Unis… les flocons d’avoine…
Le pot m’a dur? . peu pr?s 3/4 semaines en l’utilisant chaque matin. Du coup, j’en ai recommand? 3 pour stocker… 😉
—

I tried using Google’s Language Tools for translation, but this is what I got 🙂

—

I ADORE!!!!!! I suspected it before testing but there really it is the foot. The balsam holds well all the day, the skin of the belly does not draw more, the chest is well hydrated! M^me my Lola 2 years is made massages of belly with! In more the odor that of small the d?j’ in the United States recalls me… the rolled oats… The pot lasted me about 3/4 weeks by using it each morning. Blow, I recommended 3 of them to store…;)
—

I don’t think that is what she meant 🙂 🙂

Cleanse, one final note

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OK, so I measured my body fat before I did the cleanse and after and I lost 4.2% body fat!! And 3.25 inches from my abdomen, 1.5 in. from my hips and .5 in from each arm! WOW! What a great side benefit to a cleanse! I lost ~8 lbs. but that will go up a little as the food gets into my system again.

Now I am off for a weekend of camping and fun! (I’ll have to watch the ‘smores intake though:-)

How’s my hair doing?

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Some of you may be wondering how my ‘no shampooing’ is going. I think it’s been almost 2 months… It got to a point where it just felt sticky and heavy. Not oily anymore, but certainly not good either. Everyone said it looked fine, but I really didn’t like the feel. I got some soapwort and made this great sounding herbal “shampoo” with nettles, horsetail, calendula, cherry bark, and henna. I added some Lavender essential oil, of course, and it smelled great. How did it turn out? Like crap! My hair was heavy and greasy, the “shampoo” had no lather and certainly didn’t feel like it was clean. I ended up dumping a whole bunch of baking soda on my head to try to get the grease out. Then, I had to wash it again to get the baking soda out!! SO, I give up. So much for not buying shampoo anymore; making what I need, living sustainably. I know there are people out there who don’t use shampoo and can get away with it. But, I’m tired of checking in the mirror everytime I’m about to leave the house to make sure I don’t have a huge grease cowlick sticking out of the back of my head and I would like to be able brush my hair without looking like one of those girls from that Robert Palmer video. Slick! So, I went to the health food store and found a shampoo that is made with lots of herbs and no chemical crap. Maybe one day I will be able to replicate it, but for now I will pay up.

Vege Garden Update

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A few people have been asking for pictures of the garden. So, here you are. It’s doing pretty good. I’m hoping that the warm weather we are having will get my greens going. Here is what the whole thing looks like right now. Everything is still very small. (If we ever use all the mulch in the huge pile, I am going to have to find another spot for taking garden pictures 🙂

This is bed 1: white clover as a ground cover, corn, squash, pumpkin, aster, and radish

This is bed 2: potato, beans(black, cannelini, and toungue of fire), zinnea, parsley, cilantro, and sorrel

Bed 3: nasturtium, canteloupe, watermelon, radish

Bed 4: green onions, red onions, carrots, beets, chard, cosmos, blanket flower, calendula, peppers, and soon eggplant and a blackeyed susan.

Bed 5: nasturtium, cucumber, marigold, zucchini, sweet alyssum, nigella

Bed6: lettuce (3 types), spinach, kale, arugula, basil, tomatoes, and soon borage

I know this sounds very professional. But, all I did was get a book on companion planting and do what she said. This is the first time I have done this, so we’ll see how it all turns out and if the bugs really do stay away.

Lavender – The Ultimate Plant!

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I love all my herbs, but I have to admit that lavender is probably my all time favorite. I first ‘met’ lavender when I was studying midwifery in Ireland 9 years ago. I was staying in the nurses quarters in a room about 5′ x 8′ and wanted something to liven up the room. So, I went to the corner store and got some Lavender Essential Oil (all the little stores had essential oil displays at the check out counter). It smelled nice, but I had never used it before. So, every evening I would light my infuser, put in a few drops of lavender, and relax into dreamland. Since then, I have learned so much more about lavender and it is rare that I ever go any where without it. The plant is in my garden, I use the flowers in so many herbal recipes, and I have a bottle of the essential oil in almost every room. So, what’s it good for? Everything! No, really!! It can be used for sore throats, gas, colic, restlessness, headaches, fever, acne, insomnia, healing sores and burns, antibacterial, massage, in food preparation, the list just goes on and on. Why do I mention lavender today? Well, I was cooking my first real meal off my fast, a delicious rice/bean/veggie stew and got what I thought was going to be a pretty bad steam burn across my hand and fingers. But, I grabbed my bottle of lavender essential oil, which I keep right over the stove, and rubbed some oil into my hand. Immediate relief! I can still see where the burn was, it’s a little red, but no blisters or swelling! It’s amazing! You should all get some! Especially if you have children in the house!

So, I’m back on regular foods. I’m having to really hold myself back and not eat everything in site, just for the taste! But, I feel great! I’ve noticed that the tendonitis in my wrists is gone! I don’t know yet about the allergies or asthma. We’ll see as time goes on. Mary asked me if I would do it again. Probably. Now that it is over, it’s easy to say that. But, really, I do feel good and doing this once a year for a spring cleanse would be a good way to get rid of the winter blahs and prepare my body for spring.

Cleanse Day 7 and after

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Yesterday was great! I felt light and energetic and was in a pretty good mood! My toungue was also pink again, instead of coated with a white film which is a sign that you are expressing toxins. No major happenings… I guess I thought there would be like, some thing where I could say “Now, Now, I am cleansed!” But everything was fairly low-key. So, today I am drinking freshly squeezed OJ to get my digestive system ready to accept food again. I can’t wait!!

I went to my gym to get all my measurements and see if this cleanse does actually pull the toxins from fat and mucous and not just break down protein/muscle. Unfortunately, the machine that tells your body fat was broken, so I will report on that later…

Cleanse Day 6 – The Final Countdown

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Que the Final Countdown music!

Today actually felt different. I didn’t have the intense desire to eat, and somehow, my body felt different. I had pretty good energy and felt great mentally. Maybe it’s just that I know I only have one day left of the cleanse. But, it felt pretty good.

I tested my limits, too. One of my herb teachers had a “Wild Edibles” workshop at her house today. A group of us walked around her garden and woods talking about and harvesting the wild edible herbs/foods. Then we made a beautiful wild salad with lots of flowers, a pesto with Nettles and Chickweed, a casserole with nettles (rice and goat cheese, too) and lots of other divine yummies!! I watched, helped, and smelled but didn’t eat any!! I did take some home in a tupperware to taste on Tuesday, along with all the recipes to make next week too 🙂

K did pretty good today. She just fussed a little when I wasn’t eating breakfast with her. Hopefully things will be all back to normal soon!

Cleanse Day 5 and other stuff

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I woke up to K starting her day off in a funk again! She cried through most of breakfast, which consisted of a little yogurt, cereal, egg, prune, and a bread stick. Then more cereal, rice milk and herb tea!! She must be going through a growth spurt!! But, I think her mood is a combination of things. One, I think the weaning thing is finally hitting her ’cause she has been asking for “boobie” lately. But, it looks as if my once plump breastfeeding boobs have started to shrivel up and die! So, even if I wanted to give her a boob, it would probably just frustrate her that there is no milk. At least they are not feeling so engorged anymore. But, also, I think my cleanse is effecting her. This morning, during her breakfast, she kept trying to get me to eat with her, “mommy eat cereal” “mommy drink sippy” and she would start crying all over again when I said no thanks. We’ve been eating our meals together for her whole life, so this must seem like a very major change. Hopefully things will get better soon. She did great the rest of the day.

And I’m doing fine. A little tired and hungry. But the urge to eat just to eat isn’t as strong today. I’m just tired of drinking my meals. But, I really want to make it to day 7. That is supposed to be how long it takes for your body to make a major dump of toxins. I thought I was being handed a double whammy this morning when I started my period, too!! (Which usually makes me a little cranky and physically tired.) But, I have done fine today. Plus, it seems only fitting that I start my period a little early. I am cleansing in every other way, when not mentrually too?

On the home front, I’ve decided to stop using my dryer and start hanging the clothes on a line. I figure it is one simple step to getting off the power grid. It was nice standing out in the sun and wind, putting the clothes on the line. We’ll see how it works in winter:-)

Fairy Princess

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In my cleansing stupor, I am got a little creative urge today and decided to make K a “fairy princess skirt”. I just got some ribbon in all different colors and tied it on a pretty rope and voila.

Cleanse Day 4

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Woke up early again today, but just a little crampy. I went back to sleep easily, but K woke up crying about crackers. This is the second day in a row that she woke up early and famished! You’d think she was the one not eating solid foods. I mean, she was crying so hard she was doing that can’t-take-a-breath- thing 🙁 It was so sad. So, Toby and I both got up and fed her cereal, raisins, yogurt and two eggs!! She must be going through a growth spurt!!

Today has been just like the rest except that I started getting weak feeling after 4pm. I drank more of the lemon mix, but I desperately want to eat solids! I may just do this for 3 more days. I’m feeling fairly cleansed right now, anyway!! Really, I am!!! Besides, we have a big weekend bash coming up the weekend of the 22nd and I would like to be done before that… just so that I don’t have to do all this when I am away from home. So, if Sunday is my 7th and last day, I will have time to go through the “post cleanse” stuff before the weekend. That should be good enough, right?? OK, three more days! I’m over half way through then! Yup… three… more… days….

K’s first herb books

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I just got these fantastic herb books for K! I know she is barely 2, but I couldn’t pass them by. I’m hoping to home school, so these can be used as part of her science education. They are “A Kid’s Herb Book” by Lesley Tierra and “Walking the World in Wonder – A Children’s Herbal” by Ellen Evert Hopman, and they are both fabulous! Lesley Tierra and her husband are both amazing herbalists and writters. This book has great projects, songs, crafts, education, recipes, and more about herbs!! I can’t wait to use it! The other book by Hopman is more simple, but a great suppliment to the first since it has big pictures and also a short description of the Wheel of the Year and corrisponding festivals.

Yay me!!

Cleanse Day 3

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Feeling OK. I still really want to eat though. Carbs the most (bread, crackers…), followed by cheese or yogurt. It’s hard since K is eating all the time and I am so use to snacking with her. This morning I was up at 3 am with that diarrhea crap again (pun intended)! I was sitting there thinking, “ok, this has got to end! If I weren’t waking up so early with gurgling stomach cramps, this cleanse would be a breeze!” Then I started thinking about how I was going to be in the papers “31 year old mom dies of a massive heart attack due to ‘cleansing’ her body”. Then I realized it was 3am and I should go back to bed. Really, I think it would be much easier if the weather weren’t so lousy, and K weren’t a crank today, and my boobs weren’t still sore, blah, blah! But, I can do this. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and warmer. And I stopped drinking that other tea I made, with the fennel and fenugreek, you know, the ones that stimulate milk production!! Yeah, good idea on that one, stupid!

Also, I was curious how many calories I am consuming with this cleanse and I calculated that the maple syrup and lemon add up to about 650 calories a day!! That just seems way too low to still be functioning! I am going to really have to watch and make sure I don’t lose too much weight too fast. I may have to up the amount of “mommy’s spicy drink” (as K calls it) that I consume each day.

Cleanse Day 2 – kinda graphic

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Yesterday really wasn’t so bad, except that I was pretty tired. But, that might have been because I woke up at 5:30 with gas and diarrhea (mostly mucous). I know that’s disgusting, but it relates a lot to the conditions that I have. Allergies, asthma and deQuervain’s Tendonitis (from pregnancy) are all conditions related to inflammation and mucous in the body. So, in saying that the cayenne is working to pull the mucous out of my body… well, that’s good news! Otherwise, I’m not really hungry, but I still really want food for the taste and the habit of it. I like getting this perspective on what my food rituals are! Oh, and I realized that I had misscalculated my drink on day 1 and only had 48 oz of water instead of 64. So, todays drink was much more pleasant, actually yummy!