Green Smoothies and Pooping. Part 1 to changing my body.

Often times, my conversation are steered towards people's bowel movements.  You'd be surprised (or maybe you won't be) about how many people have issues with their guts.  I find it makes the world go round.  My husband often gets embarrassed about this subject.  

"You've got to stop talking to people about pooping." he says.  

Well, he's just never had problems.  If you don't have gut problems consider yourself lucky, otherwise, read on about ones journey through their bowels. 

Because pooping is a big deal. 

This is just my story and each person's body is different.  

I have been lactose intolerant my entire life.  I didn't really realize it until I was in high school and seemed to suffer some serious gas pains constantly.  (Laugh if you must, but in high school, it wasn't cool.)  I should have known, my mom and most of my aunts are lactose intolerant as well.  (Most Asians can't tolerate milk well anyway.)  

I remember rolling on the floor because my guts her so bad.  My mom would tell me to stretch, so I would.  It didn't really work.  It was finally in college that I decided to cut out milk.  Instead I drank soy milk.  (Which I regret to this day, don't take soy, try almond, coconut, rice) Now, I've never been able to just sit down and drink a cup of milk, never have, and still don't like to drink anything but water like this.  It was mainly for cereal and cooking.  

Flash forward years to when I got married and started taking birth control.  Again, everybody's body's are different and mine DIDN'T like the pill.  I was constipated for years to come.  I went to doctor after doctor, trying to find someone that could help me poop.  I was told to take in more fiber, take miralax, take laxatives, drink hot water with lemon, take laxatives, take suppositories, drink more water.  I had a few laproscopes done.  The Doc found that I had an extra 5 inches of colon.  (This often happens to elder people as waste sits too long and stretches the system because it's took full.)    It seemed to be the same answers everywhere I went. 

 So for the first 2 years I was married and on birth control, my bowels were constantly flucuating between super constipated (like we're lucky if I pooped every 3-4 days) or I was sick from the latest laxative.   As a result, I lost 20 pounds (which I needed to loose anyway) but I was none the happy with my bowel system.   What does bowels have to do with my uterus?  EVERYTHING.  I stopped taking birth control and basically suffered 2 more years of not knowing what to do.  

After having too many miscarriages and not knowing what else there was, I decided to talk to a friend's dad.  

It. Was. Life. Changing. 

(He's a health fanatic (meant in the most serious, complimentory way) and has researched healthy eating and habits his whole life.)  I hadn't really ever had a conversation with him before, and awkwardly, I decided to talk to him about pooping.  After two hours talking with him, I had a new book to read (Tissue Cleansing Through Bowel Management: Bernard Jensen), Apple Cider Vinegar, Black Walnut tincture, my very own enema kit, a recipe for a gallbladder cleanse, magnesium and many other natural cleansers.

He actually went and lived with Bernard Jensen in Mexico.  You guys, this author is a big deal in the health world. 

We discussed in detail my diet.  He told me to clean out my system with the enema kit and stop eating anything that had "tose" in it. (Fructose, cellulose etc.)  Basically, stop eating all processed foods.  Stop using hydrogenated everything.  He promised that if I cleaned up my diet and got my guts cleaned out I would be able to have kids just fine.  

He was right.  It didn't happen over night, it took probably a good year to feel like a completely different person.  Between his advice, Green Smoothies (Everyday), Footzoning (see my tab in the blog), Essential oils, whole eating, our lives have been completely turned upside down.  In the best way ever.  I felt super healthy, I didn't have gaseous pains, I was regular, I was pregnant and I felt like I was who I should have been all along.  I may be considered weird, hippy, anal, extreme (which I'm not even close to what I could/should be) but I know my family is happy and healthier.  I may have to spend more time in the kitchen doing more work, but it's all worth it.  

Think it's too expensive to switch?  Well, we spend $15 dollars a week on our Bountiful Baskets, which you see above.  I don't really buy meat, so it helps keep costs down.  I buy chicken once in a great while, mainly if we are having guests.  We've always had a garden so we dehydrate and freeze everything we can.   You guys, really, I know it seems like a trend, but we've been going strong in this healthy trend for 3 years now and have seen awesome changes with all of us. 

Not sure how to start?  Just ask me.  Green Smoothies are an easy way to start...but that's another whole story.  I was originally going to blog about that too, but this has gotten too long already.   Since we've started green smoothies, almost all of my family has joined in, and then it's gone out to the extended family.  Above is the Juice pack for an additional $8.50 with our Bountiful basket.   Nothing ever goes to waste.  We always eat what we can and freeze the rest.  

I better stop now before this gets any longer. I'm just a little passionate about a happy life. 

To redo, or not do, or to just sell it. #thriftedthursdays

I just can't decide how much I do or don't like this headboard we thrifted.  The husband wanted something that could hold books, which is very practical and useful.  But, I'm feeling this is too Pottery Barn or something for me.  I like the functionality, but it's just not what I want.  I don't know if I should try and redo it, paint it?  Or what.  I would prefer the slats the horizontal instead of vertical, but I just don't know.  The husband bought it because it was a good deal and we've been searching forever, but I'm looking for ideas.

Anyone?  Or, if you would like to buy it. . . let me know. 

Remodeling the Kitchen. Before, In Progress and After!

Before.  

Apparently, we never took before pictures of our kitchen.

(Pictures from the WFRMLS.) 

While these pictures actually make the kitchen look nice...they are quite deceiving.  No doors, dark paint...it was kind of a dark and dreary place for a while. 

These are the true colors. 

In progress.

We did the kitchen in quite a few steps.  One day, the husband's sister was in town, she happens to love to paint.  So we painted the uppers cabinets.  I decided I don't really want doors on the uppers, so we just painted what was there.  A few months later, we were so worried that #ohniceandchubby would start pulling everything out that she could reach from the base cabinets.  So we thought we should hurry and try to get it done. 

She never did.  She still hasn't even really tried to open the cabinet doors we put on.

  

Nonetheless.  We broke the bottom part into two different, well three stages.  Right side first.  Once that was done, we moved onto the left side.  The last stage was a bar, that I need to just clean up to take a picture. 

We couldn't afford new flooring, so we just kept the slate.  The husband ripped out the old cabinets and figured all the new cabinets out.  We bought our cabinets from Lowe's.  They are the unfinished already built cabinets.  We had priced out new doors to try to keep the existing bases, but they were too expensive and would have to be custom built.  It was just ridiculous.  So we signed up for the Lowe's card and got going.  

When I was feeling well enough (of course I'm always painting while pregnant and nauseous.) I painted the cabinets "Ridgeview," which is what we've accented all throughout the house. 

Our countertops are Beech Butcher Block from Ikea.  I almost had a heart attack during the whole process.  Ikea had just decided to discontinue their full butcher block line and was converting over to a semi-laminate butcher block.  Which, I didn't like.  So we bought what they had left, which was just barely NOT enough (as you can see just above just to the right.) We just hoped that we could think of something along the way.

A few days later, I got a wild hair and decided to call and see if they had anyone who just happened to return the same butcher block.  No one did, BUT they had just received a new order of Beech Butcher Block and it was now in stock.  Why the sales person didn't know there was another order coming in...I'll never know.  So the day it came in, I drove the truck down and bought the rest of our countertop! 



Isn't it lovely?  I told the husband we couldn't have some weird lacquer going on them, so he found some kind of nut oil that's non-toxic etc.  Our sink we found in the clearance section of Ikea.  We always hit the clearance section first, it's a must.) 




While, I much would have preferred some super nice custom cabinets or something, we realized that we may not be in this house forever, so for future rental purposes, we bought what we could afford.

Man, that husband of mine is AWESOME.  Seriously, all things are possible with him.  I really like what our kitchen looks like now.  It's such a difference.   I love it and him. 

After.

Ta-Da!  See how bright and happy it is now?  I'm not a color coordinating kind of person.  I prefer to put whatever colors I want, wherever I want, and I feel like my kitchen is the place I can do that.   I was also kind of modeling the colors and themes after this pin. 

I really like the open upper cabinets.   It's not as hard as I thought keeping it semi organized.  Plus, it gives me an excuse to buy cute thrifted containers and have everything exposed. Granted, I'm still working on some of the shelves as far as their cuteness goes.  And there is still a spot to the right that needs to be painted.  But one takes pictures when one actually has the kitchen cleaned right?!

See our magnet board on the end?  Which...apparently, needs to be painted still.  Whoops.  Our refrigerator may be stainless looking, but it's defiantly not magnetic by any means.  How lame is that?  So, the husband bought me some metal board and put it on the end of the cabinet.  I can't even tell you how often Aiko is there playing with the magnets and pictures.  We love it.   Our fridge is in a weird spot I'll admit and it's not quite finished.  We couldn't move it into a more practical spot without doing some serious remodeling.   We'll show you that one day when we finish it completely. 

I've been on an orange kick for a while, it's nice that it fits in with my kitchen too.   You may remember the slate backsplash that was in there before...well, it still is.  We tried to pry it off, but between the plaster walls and whatever the previous own put up the slate with, it will not come off.  So, instead, the husband covered it up with bead board.  I don't love bead board, it looks amazing, but was not something I would have chosen.   But it was the right price and easiest to cover up the existing backsplash. 

You'll see above the stove a space for a microwave.  I've been fighting it.  (The hippie in me would prefer not to have one at all, but I've lost that battle.)  I like hanging my pots and different things up there.  The husband even has a thrifted microwave to hang there.   The current microwave sits as far away as possible, which is shown later.  I hate appliances sitting on the countertops.   I only let the toaster oven sit out because I had to compromise. 

I do just love bright colors.  Rachel Ray has this awesome line that started my orange pot obsession.   I've never seen her show, but the pots were on clearance at Shopko and I've slowly been gathering up various colors.  The mixing bowls I thrifted the other day.  

Now, while I love my countertops, there are just a little touchy.  You can't let water sit too long otherwise it wears off the oil.  Which, it's good that it's gotten me in the habit of constantly wiping the countertops, but we've had them in 6 months and have had to refinish them again already. 

I just love it though.  Such a happy place.  I spend probably 60% of my day in here, cooking, vegging and feeding that baby!  So glad we have it done before this next baby coming!  

Oranges

Now that I've been feeling oh so much better, we've been able to eat healthy food again.  So we've been doing Bountiful Baskets.  I always forget how awesome it is.  My only dislike is that pick-up is Saturday at 7 AM.  Which, yes, I am that lazy.  It's also a plus because then I can once again think about a budget for groceries.  

We've had SOOO many oranges though.  I can eat a few here and there, but it was getting overwhelming.  So I pulled out my hand juicer and made us some fresh orange juice. 

It was excellent. 

I've also been craving some delicious chocolate chips.  But, sadly, I don't have any chocolate chips in the house for this reason.  So I found this super easy clean cookie recipe on Pinterest here. 

But of course, in the usual Harmony fashion, i didn't even have all the ingredients for this either.  I had just used up all my coconut flakes in a dessert fluke and honestly, I'm kind of sick of coconut. It's in everything now.  So instead, I took out the coconut and the chocolate chips.  Instead, I made them into Cinnamon Raisin cookies. 

Original Ingredients:
3 bananas
1 cup oats
2 tbsp flax seed
1/2 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:
In a medium sized bowl, mash 3 bananas then add the rest of the ingredients listed above. Mix well. Cover an 8x8 baking pan with tin foil. Spray with coconut non-stick spray. Place dough on baking pan, then flatten out dough with a spatula to ensure a flat level of dough. Preheat oven to 350. Bake for 15 minutes. You may need to cook for 17 minutes depending on oven, but check at 15 minute mark.

Recipe here

Harmony's Ingredients:
3 bananas
1 cup oats
2 tbsp flax seed
1 cup of raisins (let's face it.  I didn't even measure these.)

2 tsp of cinnamon  (or these)

I know, they look like poop.  Nonetheless, Aiko and I really liked them and they had all good ingredients!  The husband asked if they were good, they are good, if you think of them in a vegan cookie way. 

Piano happy and cardinal sin

This baby and I have something super exciting to share!  Well, at least we are excited!  Furniture will need to be rearranged, noise will be made, and happy times to come!

Ta-Da!  

After months of looking we have finally found her.  I found her on KSL from a sweet elderly couple.  When I told her I wanted to buy it, she took a gasp and said "I need to sell it, but it's kind of bittersweet."  Nicest person I've ever bargained with.  

Aiko was pretty excited when she heard me playing.  She knows when something is new in the house.  She stands on her tip toes and then plays the keys.  It's adorable.

Granted, she needs some good work done to the wood.  That's mainly why I bought her.  But I was exceptionally please with the sound and the fact that the keys weren't chipped.  

 

I have big plans for this piano...oh, and it has a bench!  

Aiko and I...we have big, big plans.  

I plan on painting her.  

I realize this is a cardinal sin, but if I was going to refinish it anyway, I might as well do it the way I have always wanted.   Growing up, there was this music store we'd go to as kids and they had a giant HOT PINK grand piano!  Hot Pink!  I tell you, it was ugly, but I knew one day with the right color...I too would paint a piano. 

So here are our choices I've been debating so far.  I know, bold and crazy.  I just don't know....I'll make up my mind soon.  Any advice?  Other than...don't paint it?

I'm almost feeling the "Be Spontaneous" is speaking to me.  

Of course I looked at Pinterest...found this sweet pin here.

#ThriftedThursdays and yet another lament

See this mirror?  I have it angled so it makes one smaller than ones appears.  Unlike my bathroom one that makes me larger than life.  Oh, the mirror is also a thrifted item.  Oh, and if you want to come and organize my jewelry for me, please do.  Let us continue my pathetic saga of the boobs. 

"You look so little! I'm ginormous in comparison." Says the other pregnant girl.  She's due a few weeks before me and there is only one reason I look little.  (Mainly from the front only do I look little.)

Boobs. 

See friend, it's taken me 29 weeks to get my stomach bigger than my boobs.  I was still nursing when I got pregnant with this guy, so, my girls never had a chance.  So while your belly may be swollen, at least people don't say "harm, your boobs are ginormous!" When they first see you.  It's just a fact of my five foot one life.   We all have our battles, mine just have double dd attached to them. 

Lets not play games, I look very large from the side.  When I see myself in the mirror I think of the line "so I'm roughy the size of a barge!" Name that movie.  Hint, it's Disney.  I know, I know, we all want the opposite, but let me tell you, all you smaller chested girls out there... D is enough, even a C.  Don't mess with anything bigger, especially, if you plan on having babies.  

It. Is. Not. What. You. Want. 

Ever had problems puttin your bras in a drawer?  No, huh, well mine have never been housed in something so lovely. They hang precariously from a belt hanger in my closet, taking up 1/5 of the closet.  I can't smash them into a drawer because they cost too much and because there is so much boning in them you can't!  These bras are meant to keep things in place.  But enough.  

Funny how the second pregnancy is so different from the first.  With Aiko, I didn't get this big until the end.  I've had a hard time putting on shoes for the last month, that didn't happen until the last two weeks. Nonetheless, I am very happy to be a pregnant lady once again.  I have to remind myself that i was miserable for five years because I couldn't get a pregnant belly (the big boobs I already had and added to the misery.)

So, while once again, I lament about my girls, I'm glad the belly just passed them up.  

Venting from a Piano Person without a Piano!

 

 

I was two hours away from having a lovely upright piano in my home.  SOOO close.  We've been looking for the last year or so.  I told the husband if we don't get a piano in this house, God will take away my one musical talent.  I worked with this lady who used to play the flute and piano, she swears because she didn't play after a few years she completely lost the ability to read or play any music.  I can't let that happen.  Plus, I get sad that Aiko hasn't grown up with one...I know, I know, she's only 14 months (15 in T minus 14 days.) But it's always bothered me.  

I really did love the look of this piano. It was from 1895 and in the best condition I've seen yet. The wood wasn't damaged, all the keys worked, there weren't chipped keys...it was just lovely.  Lovely, lovely.   I'm pretty particular about my piano styles, so it was just right.  There were just a few problems.  

A.  It was ginormous, a beauty, but ginormous.  It wouldn't fit in our current home well. 

B.  I'd have to hire a mover every time, it's that big. 

C.  It had a slight harpsichord to it.  Just enough that it bothered me....for the whole weekend it bothered me.  The previous owner was a jazz performer.  Sadly, I'm not a jazz performer (wish I was.)  Sound is extremely important to me.  I like a soulful, deep sounding piano.

I think it was mainly the size and sound that got to me in the end.  I just couldn't handle the twang of it all.  Plus, I currently like my setup in my living room and new this piano would just not fit well.  

Man, if only.  But as I've been searching ksl yet again for a piano, I just get so angry.  What in the world are people doing to these pianos?  I mean really, do your children gnaw on the end of the keys until the chip?  How does one scrape such an expensive been of wood?  

It drives me CRAZY!  

Growing up the piano was sacred. Nothing was placed on top of it, no toys were near it, you just played it.  Don't get me wrong, we were pretty rough kids...but the piano still has all of its keys and they all work.  The the prices people think they can charge?!  It's been sitting in storage or in the garage for 10 years, but it should work okay right?  RIGHT?  I can totally understand a piano that is out of tune, it happens.

Oh, people.  You break my heart.

So here we are, yet looking again, except this time, I've had to compromise my life to not buy an upright piano.  (Yet.)  It's hard to find one that doesn't have all these weird shapes and curves.  All I want it a square shape on people.  

#thriftedthursdays

Good Bye Boobie Lights!!   

I found this beauty over a year ago and had it sitting my shelf.  I suddenly realized that it should just go up in the hallway.  I tried to do it myself, but unless I pulled out the super heavy ladder I wasn't going to make it up there. 

Found three of these at the thrift shop for $3.99 a piece.  I liked how they weren't your tradition light covers.  I also have a thing for glass and textured glass.  Plus, I really do hate the frosted glass boobie lights.

Before....After!  

Sometime, I'm going to try and actually take a picture during the day.  So much more fun!  

When we moved in, most of the lights didn't actually have light fixtures, so we've slowly been adding and moving them around when we find the right ones at the thrift shop.

Food for the missionaries

We fed the missionaries the other day, which, I feel makes me feel somewhat adultish.  I asked the husband what he wanted and he said "chicken."  To be honest, I rarely buy meat.  I only cook it when I know we are going to be feeding others.

Now that I've been in the second trimester for a while...I feel like cooking!  Hooray!  Trying out new recipes from my Pinterest board here.  (I didn't add the feta cheese but kept it separate.  I also added olives and sweet peppers...and quinoa and then decided some chicken in it was good too.   I tried super hard to follow the recipe but it's just so hard!)  

I was going to make this Blackened Chicken with Avocado...but then realized I didn't want heartburn and Auntie Mitsie doesn't handle the spicy well either...so we just made some cilantro chicken.  

Also, second trimester means I really have been craving fruit and veggies like crazy.  Started buying Bountiful Baskets again.  Over the holidays we went over budget like crazy on eating out and then groceries!  So we come back to your humbly Bountiful Baskets.  Usually we buy it throughout the year except for when our garden is going.  $15 bucks a week is a steal if you ask me. 

  

This was our haul last time (above).

This was our juicing add on.  I think it's only 8 bucks, but for all three of us with green smoothies, we need it.  I'm also going to be writing a green smoothie blog sometime.  We've been doing green smoothies pretty consistently for the last 3 years or so now.  As a Footzoner I recommend Green Smoothies to almost every client...