Day 388

My mom called today about the blog. Really, about the juicing. When she called I was in the middle of my bike ride (back to double digit miles - yay!) and in the middle of still working on downing my breakfast. A big glass of kale, spinach, carrot, celery, strawberry, grape, and peach juice.

Yum. Well, not exactly. Yum on the fruits, yuck on the veggies. Even with the fruits outweighing the vegetables in my mix, I could still taste the kale. And I don't like hate kale. But I'm drinking it because I know it's good for me. It's good for my health. All this juicing is probably a good way to rid my body of all the toxins built up with all the rheumatoid arthritis medications. A good way to jump start my system.

So I'll continue. We're planning on doing five days (with a break Wednesday night because we're going to our daughter's for dinner), then back again for at least another four days. Then spring break will be over and we'll see where we'll go from there.

I do have to say that as much as I dislike veggies and the juice isn't the tastiest thing (at least not yet) it does fill me up. Last night I had my juice at 6 PM and wasn't hungry the rest of the evening. That never happens. Same thing today - my morning juice filled me up for the day. We'll see what tomorrow holds. Maybe I'll be starving!

If I starve, I'll just hide in my sewing room and do more sewing for kids. Today I was able to get another kids quilt top done. It didn't turn out as pretty as I thought it would, but I still have more of the kid fabric left so I'll have another shot at it.

Day 387

I usually like being right. But today? Not so much.

I was right about the whole juicing thing. Yep, hubby is planning on doing a juice fast and yes, he remembered I agreed to do it with him. He even put some money into the project. I paid for all the fruits and veggies from yesterday, but today it was another purchase.

A juicer. A highly recommended, five star juicer. And wouldn't you know it, it went on sale at my daughter's work today. 40% off. And wouldn't you know it, she had an extra 20% off coupon she received as an incentive at work. She put the juicer on hold for us as we hopped in the car and drove to Boise to pick it up. And wouldn't you know it, as soon as we got home hubby made a concoction. A concoction I had to pass on. I need one more meal before I start.

So tomorrow morning it is.

But this morning, my daffodils were blooming.

An evening update...

I decided not to back out on tonight, so my first night of juicing is complete. I consumed more fruits and vegetables in one sitting than I probably ever did in an entire day. The taste wasn't too bad, but the color sure was disgusting (no picture of that).  Take a look at the pretty version of everything I just drank.

Day 386

I was planning on taking a picture of my new bike today, but I didn't. I also thought about taking a picture of the next kids quilt in progress, but I didn't.

After an impromptu trip to Costco with my mom today, the picture was an obvious one. Not necessarily because of Costco itself or my mom, but because of my husband.

A little while ago we watched a movie called Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. A guy goes across country doing a juice fast - and losing weight - along the way, extolling the virtues of juicing. After the movie my hubby got to thinking and asked if I would do a few days of juicing with him. I agreed. But we never talked about it again.

Skip ahead a few weeks to today. I gave him a call at school before I went to the store to see if there was anything he wanted. Boy, did he have a list. Apples, bananas, berries, lemons, kale, celery, carrots, and on and on. Then he again asked me if I thought I would do the juicing with him and again I said yes.

Only when I hung up did I realize I think he's planning on us starting pretty darn soon. Since his spring break begins tomorrow, I'm starting to wonder if I've eaten my last bite of solid food for a while.

Whether they wind up in juice or not, we certainly have plenty of fruits and veggies now.

Day 385

It's time for a roundup. An update. A look at where things stand.

First and foremost, I've taken myself off all rheumatoid arthritis medications. After the last doctor visit where he suggested sending me to Salt Lake City for further tests and treatments I decided to become a rebel. Or maybe I'm trying to hide or just go into complete denial. I've had enough. I'm tired of the shots, tired of my hair falling out, tiring of feeling icky from the medications. So no more chemotherapy injections, no more anti-malaria drugs, no more $2000+ month TB-causing shots. No more. That plate of pills and shots from Day 352 is quite smaller and I'm happy about it. The absence of all those medications certainly hasn't made me feel any worse, and in fact my bad-feeling Thursdays and Fridays are now better without all the side effects dragging me down.

My biking hit a bump in the road. With the broken bike I was able to limp along a few miles a day until this weekend when it complete busted. My new bike is supposed to arrive today - daily double digit miles, here I come! Sisters, Oregon, 315 miles from my house, is my next destination and I hope to be there next week.

And the most important update - after a little bit of a break, the charity quilts are on the move again. I just finished a top using some of the fabrics from Paula O. I still have lots of the cutest kid fabric in the world that she sent and will start on another one using some of that same fabric.

Paula, thanks again for your generous donation!

Day 384

Patience.

My new word for the week, my new lesson to be learned. As in I'm showing great patience as I wait for my new bike to show up.

Actually, maybe patient fits better today.

I know that it snowed today on the first day of spring, but be patient Mr. and Mrs. Rosebush. It'll be time to bloom before you know it.

Day 383

I finally got my sewing room back together.

I've been dragging my feet for some reason. But after procrastination nipped me in the rear yesterday with missing that pheasant picture, it was time to get moving. I mostly just moved furniture around, swapped some furniture out, and did some re-organizing of things.

I've even found some time to get moving on the next project. I'm making a kids quilt with some of the fabric Paula O. sent me on Day 336.

It was only when I sat down to get back to work on the quilt project that I noticed I had a visitor on my ironing board. (You'll have to look closely.) Guess she thought the best place to be on the last day of winter was a padded surface next to a sunny window.

Day 126

Day 382

I'm mad at myself today. I procrastinated and wound up losing in the end.

My camera has been showing low battery for several days. But since I'm not taking tons of pictures and I'm not doing videos right now, I've kept putting off charging it. And now I'm sorry I did.

As I was opening the living room curtains a bit this morning so kitty could sit in the window, I was excited to look down and see some tulips about ready to open. But then I looked up and saw something even more exciting.

A beautiful, brightly colored boy pheasant walking right across our lawn, just a few feet in front of me.

I ran (I don't run, so it was more of a super fast walk) to grab the camera. I turned it on as I left the den so it would be ready by the time I got back to the front window. But the camera beeped at me. And beeped again, and beeped again. As I tried to take a series of pictures of the pheasant (so I could get the best picture) it only snapped one before it shut off. I tried to turn it back on with no luck. Completely dead battery.

So today's picture is the only picture left in the battery charge. Not the best picture of Mr. Pheasant, but at least I got something.