I had a moment with myself today. Yeah, I know what that sounds like, but not like that. Get your mind out of the gutter. When I was visiting my mom this morning, I caught a look at myself in a full length mirror at the rehab facility, and it was quite shocking. All in a good way too. Maybe that's why it was so shocking. I'm not used to seeing myself and thinking, "Hey, I look pretty good." Even writing that right there is cringe inspiriting. I can't really say what it was, but I somehow pulled a look together. It could be that it was a cold day, and I had clothes from neck to toes. The only thing peaking out was my head and my hands. Maybe that's the trick to thinking well of myself. Just keep myself completely covered. Nah, that doesn't work for me. I'll just have to keep on my path of self improvement, until I'm truly happy. I'll get there.
Speaking of visiting the moms. She waked yesterday for the first time in a couple of weeks. It was only 5 feet, but that is 5 feet further than she was willing to walk the day before. Her spirits were up, and she was feeling good about herself. It was a day worth celebrating. Today, was a slightly different matter. Her fear set in when I showed up this afternoon, and she was back in a panic mode. When that happens, she fears falling, and fights every movement. When the nurses try to move her from the chair to her bed, she will grab onto something and not let go, which creates a lot of problems when it come to finishing the movement. Fear is a good thing, but not when it takes over your entire being, and that is the state she is in when that happens. This place is so much better than the last one, and that place got her walking really well, so I have no doubts that she will be up and around in a couple of weeks. They are on top of things as far as keeping her active and dealing with her anxiety. I couldn't as for a better place for her to be. There have actually been a few days where she knew who I was, which is shocking in and of itself. I was back to being her brother today though. I'll take that.
I finally got to eat some blueberries from the garden. I did a lot to protect them until I could pick them. I actually laid out mousetraps around the base of the plant. Not to keep Morty away, which I do believe that he could have been the one eating them, but I think it is more likely some field mice that are living under my neighbors shed. They didn't bother them, so I was able to pick 4 small berries, and they were pretty freaking good.
There are more growing on the plant, and I can't wait until that plant really grows bigger and produces, but I got some and I ate them.
I have another picture to show you, which is kind of a proud accomplishment photo. It is of my Aji Colorado Pepper plant. This is a plant that I grew from a seed that I got from a pepper, that my buddy gave me. Whew, that was a long trip to get that information out. Anyway, it has it's first flower on it, which I'm hoping becomes a pepper. This is a milder pepper, but back when I ate it, it scorched my mouth, so I'm really looking forward to the first pepper from this plant, to see if the burn is the same. I'm sure that it won't be, but I grew this from a seed, and it will soon be a fresh pod.
Seriously, how cool is that? I have two other plants growing from peppers that he gave me. The other is the Aji Fantasy, which has some buds forming, and the Chocolate Habanero, which is still growing and looking better every day. It's going to be a while before it has any pods. That one nearly took me out when I had it, so I'll be looking forward to that one as well. The Fantasy is very mild and full of good flavor. That's going to be a fun one to snack on. Maybe even a good salad pepper. It looks menacing, but it's fluffy little bunny of a pepper.
I'm taking a rest day tomorrow. The struggle was real on the pull-ups today. I'm feeling a little soreness, and that is my body telling me it needs a rest, so I'm taking the day off tomorrow, and back at it on Saturday.
I'm calling it a night, tomorrow is full of working on the can stands for the pepper in a can cans. I've been neglecting them because of the weather and what not, but i'm going to knock out the sanding, and routing to get them ready for glue and stain. I'm banking on tomorrow being a great day. I hope you have one too. Peace in and goodnight.
What have the last two days brought? Well, the moms fell again at the rehab facility. They took x-rays and all is clear, but she is still fighting using her right leg. There is that knot on it, which I do believe hurts her, but I think the pain signals to her to be scared of falling, and that is what is holding her up. I talked to her today about doing what the nurses said, so that she can get better faster, and she was all for it, but it's really a crap shoot on whether the information sticks or not. When I walked in to see her today, the nurses were weighing her, and she was arguing with them the whole time. I tried my best to calm her down and explain that they needed that info to give to the doctor, but she wasn't buying it. I also confirmed to her, that she was a good weight and tasing getting fat, which she wasn't. I was actually shocked that she was weighing just as much as before her fall. The reason is, that she just isn't eating enough I bring her food whenever I go, so that I can confirm that she is getting something, but when it's left up to her, she just refuses to eat. There is also the problem with her not being able to really use silverware anymore. She just doesn't always comprehend how it works. That's one of those things that she has forgotten. Other than that, she has cleared all tests given to her, and she is in perfect health, for her. She just needs to heal that lump and get over her fear, so that she can get walking again.
All this led to me not going to the movies today. When I took a little time for myself, the hospital moved her without my knowledge, and I do see that as a punishment for going out and having a little fun, so the movies weren't an option today. I did work in the garden and replant a bunch of seedlings and pepper plants into larger pots, so that they can grow big and strong and produce lots of peppers. I did finally cut into that tomato, and it was really tasty. Nice sweet flavor with a full tomatoey taste. Plus, it's rather beautiful when you cut into it.
Just look how deep and rich that color is. I have a few dozen on the plants growing and ripening, so I'll be eating good for a while.
I got some interesting garden pictures for you. The first is the Purple and White Dahlia that I got as a surprise for my mom, but I don't know if she'll get to see it in bloom, so I got a picture of it to show her at the rehab. This is one beautiful flower.
That is not an enhance photo, that is exactly how rich with color that flower is. It's a true beauty. I have a couple of pepper flowers too. The first is from my Purple UFO, which was shock. Not too long ago, it looked like a twig with three leaves. I nursed it back to looking more like a plant, but didn't really look over it much after that, but yesterday it caught my eye, because there were three blossoms on it, and they are quite taking.
That is a rich royal purple on those pedals, and I can't remember, but I think it produces a purple pepper as well. I'm pretty excited about it. The next one is from the Beuna Muluta. It is almost the direct opposite of the one above. No color what so ever, just pure as the driven snow white, and it's quite fetching in it's own rights.
That one already has peppers growing on it, and they are growing fast. I think the first flower dropped a week ago, and this is the pepper from it just about 20 minutes before writing this.
This one is purple at a stage of it's ripening I believe. I think it's final phase is red, but it goes purple right before that, so expect lots of pictures of this little beauty.
One last pepper picture. This is the Rainforest, which has just exploded with production. I counted pods, flowers, and buds, and came up with 101 which is a large number for such a small plant. It's around 2 feet tall at this point, but it's thriving. You can make out some of the pods in the picture, and they have this really cool shape, not that traditional pepper shape. They are more like a jingle bell. I can't wait to try these out. They are supposed to have some good heat and flavor.
When some of those pods start ripening, I'll get another picture for you. These should be a bright red when they are ready to munch on.
Don't forget, I grow more than just peppers, and I gave the brussel sprouts a trim today. This is what you are supposed to do before the final frost of your zone. I think I may be a little late, but better late then never. You can get a clear view of all the sprouts growing. It's quite cool to see exactly how brussel sprouts grow. I estimate about 60 sprouts pre plant, so I'm going to be flush with sprouts soon.
I need to get the Canon out and get some close up shots of these things before they are gone from the garden. That reminds me, since I have time, anyone want to do a photoshoot? I'm dying to get some good pictures again.
I can't remember if I mentioned it, but I dried a bunch of habaneros so that I could make some powder, and bake it into my cookies. I finally got that all done, and baked the cookies last night. I used the brownie tin that was given to me by my buddies wife. I also broke out the Kitchen Aid mixer, so that I wouldn't have to mix all the ingredients by hadn't. It's such a pain to do, and this mixes them all together evenly. This is the result. The peanut butter chocolate chip habanero brownie.
It has all the flavor of the cookies, with a little extra sweetness from the habaneros, and then there's that little kick at the end. I'm sure most people will be floored by them, but I think they are pretty amazing. I didn't figure out the macros, but it seems to be double one of the normal cookies. It's really good, and I only used half the powder. 1 and a half tablespoons to be exact. I tried a tablespoon at first, and then tried the batter. It just wan't enough, so I added the extra half in, and that was the right amount. That baking tin was a game changer too. I can't thank them enough for giving it to me. I also have some stoneware pots, that I'll be trying out tomorrow with a chuck roast. I have this sneaking suspicion, that it's going to be epic.
I've had to alter my attack on this 30 days of bettering myself. I'm working on getting my schedule figured out. When the moms was here, it was simple. I'd wake up and get as much of a workout done before she would get up, and most of it was in the dark. Since I don't have to do that, everything is off, and I'm trying to figure it out. I woke up today at about 2:30 and couldn't get back to sleep, so I just went after it. It was like when she was here, but I didn't have to worry about waking her. It was a little more relaxing. I've also started a new training style when it comes to pull-ups and my back development. The idea is to train everyday as often as possible, but only at half max. Since I can do 6 pull-ups for a few sets. I'm now doing 3 pull-ups as often as I think about it. The idea is that your back gets so used to the movement, that you actually increase your max without doing a loaded program. I'll let you know how well this works. I can tell you that I already feel a difference on my first few sets. I'm pulling higher, and with more of an explosion from the bottom then I was before. Before you say the you are going to over train, that is why you only do have max. That means that I only do 3 reps per set, I just do more sets, and it's whenever I want, and not a minute are two apart. It's like how someone working manual labor builds repetitive muscle by doing the same movement day in and day out. It's a more natural way of developing muscle and size. Oh yeah, I have also gained a half inch on my chest/back measurement, so there is that as well. Pretty crazy right?
Before I get to Favorite Song of the Week, I ate that chocolate ghost pepper tonight after dinner. The flavor wasn't the same for the whole pepper as it was for that small piece I had at my buddies house. It was sweet, but it had that floral flavors which I'm not real fond of. This is more of a cooking pepper than it is an eating pepper, which in reality is what it was developed for. I already now that it pairs well with beef, and I almost put it in my taco meat tonight, but I like to try ingredients in their natural state before cooking with them, so I know what the flavor profile is. My buddy asked me what it would cook well in, and an idea did come to me, that it might be really good as a bacon wrapped popper, like jalapeño poppers, just way more spicy. I have to wait until my plant produces, which is quite a ways off at this point, to try that, and to see how it pairs in pork. I do think it will overpower the taste of ground pork, but I'm willing to give it a try. The heat was intense, and like most chocolates, it was full on attack. The burn lasted a full 20 minutes, and it was intense. I nearly went into panic mode, because of how bad it was. Despite that, it was still far more enjoyable than those extracts. I probably should have made a video of it, but since I already had eaten it in food, I didn't see it as a first time taste test, so the video would have been kind of a lie.
Ok, Favorite Song of the Week, is still following the theme of love, unity, diversity, and understanding. It comes from one of the original goth bands, and may even be their most popular song. This band is still going strong, maybe not as strong as they were in the 90's but they are still out there touring and doing amazing shows. I got to see them once, and they did a 3 hour show, with no opener, and it was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. I give you The Cure with "Lovesong".
That song takes me back, to the days when I would wear eyeliner and black nail polish. Those were some good days, but they were also full of angst and depression, so I look back on them fondly, but don't want to revisit them. Peace in and goodnight.
It's been another up and down weekend, but mostly up. The down part really came for a brief period of time today. That leads me to the moms update. She is doing better, and she was moved to a rehab facility that is much nicer than the last one she was at. You may remember how much I disliked that place and the way they treated her. That's the good news, the bad news is that the hospital didn't notify me that they were moving her when they did. The last communication I had with anyone on the matter was two days ago. They said that it was a possibility, but they would notify me when it was happening. If I had known I would have been there so that it would be an easier transition for her form one place to the other. There was also the fact that they never told me that they found bed for her at the new facially, so when I was told by a family member that she wasn't in her room, I couldn't be sure of where she was. Oh yeah, I called the case worker, and they still haven't responded to my call. If it wasn't for another family member showing up to the hospital and talking with the nurses to find out where she was, I may still not know. It was fortunate that they were at the hospital and they did go to the rehab to see her and she was doing well. I plan on filing a complaint about this, but I'm sure it won't amount to anything, so I'll probably just be wasting my breath.
Now for the other part of the weekend. Since I'm alone, and can go places, I accepted an invite to my buddies house this weekend. It was really good to feel like a normal person again, and be social. I got to see all his pepper plants and even try some new peppers as well as some pepper extracts. We had planned on having a little grill out today, which we did have, but last night was a little impromptu invite. Last night was when the heat happened. The original plan was that we were going to make a video of each of us tasting an extract called the source. It's 7.1 million scoville heat units, which is 3.5 times hotter than the hottest pepper known. We ended up trying it last night when I didn't have the camera with me, so sadly you don't get to see us burn our faces off.
I have to tell you about the peppers before I get into that extract though. He had a pepper that is called the Sugar Rush Peach. The name comes from the color and not the flavor. It is said to be a really flavor pepper, and it lived up to it's hype. When I bit into it, a burst of lemon flavor hit my tongue. The heat started real low and slow. It took a long time for it to reach it's peak, but it wasn't real not to me. It was a real enjoyable burn. I picked one of his Cheiro Roxas, with is another flavor pepper, but everyone says that it is habanero like heat. I think they lied. This was a tiny pepper, about the size of an acorn. It had a really nice crunch to it, and burst of cherry flavor right before a really intense heat hit my throat. This was way hotter than any habanero that I have had. It gave me the cap cramps almost immediately. Despite that, it was also enjoyable. Great flavor with a really intense burn After that I tried an extract called The End. It was not an enjoyable burn. It is 6 million SHU, but the burn wasn't that bad for me. Maybe because I had those other two peppers or maybe it just didn't affect me too bad. The taste was terrible. It was like tasting a chemical, and the burn was way different. It was not enjoyable at all. I should tell you that theses extracts are not meant to be tasted like this. They are supposed to be an additive to make other things hot. You put them in salsa, or a sauce, chili, things like that, but not straight into your mouth.
After a while he busted out The Source, and said that we had to try it, so I was game. I twisted off the cap and there was a stick dropper attached to it, so I put one drop on the plate and tried to put another single drop on, but two ended up falling. We decided that we would simply dab our fingers into it, and then lick it off. Really not the best laid plan, since our bare skin was involved, but we did it anyway. It lit him up almost immediately. I felt the chemical like burn, but it wasn't too bad. I'm not saying this to sound tough, it's the truth of it. I honestly felt that the tiny cherio that I ate packed more of a punch. I also felt bad, like he maybe got more on his finger than i did, so went back in for another dab, and made sure that it was double what I originally had. The burn was a little worse, but still no what I expected, so I did something really stupid. I wiped up the entire rest of the drop, which was a lot, and sucked it down. That burn was more like what I expected, I ended up having cramps 3 times. It would come in some pretty intense waves that doubled me over. I can tell you this, don't do that, and as bad as it was, it was still better than the aftermath of the One Chip Challenge. Once again, I didn't like this burn, it was too chemical, and the flavor was something like licorice. It just wasn't good, and I fully realize now that I'm not an extract or hot sauce guy. I've never liked hot sauces because of the vinegar flavor in them, this extract is a whole other bad flavor. Even with that, I will try more extracts just to test how far I can go. I've taken 7.1 million SHU, and I lived to tell about it. I honestly had a believe that it was possible with that much heat, that I would have passed out, but it didn't happen, and my tolerance is clearly at a high level now, in what I believe is a really short time.
With all that insane level extract being tasted, I ended up still being a little afraid to eat a chocolate ghost pepper, that I picked from one of his plants. I don't know why, but it just intimidated me,, so I still have it in the kitchen. I'm going to eat it whole, but I seemed to feel that 3 hot to super hot peppers was a little too much for me. I did get a tasted of it today. When I went back over for the grill out, we made burgers with chopped up chocolate ghost peppers in them. Before he mixed them in the ground beef, I took a small piece to see what it tastes like. I always like to know flavors of things before tasting them in something. It lets me have an idea of how things are going to blend. Since I only had a small piece, the burn wasn't intense at all. it was more like I knew it was there, and I can say that it was the best tasting chocolate pepper I've had. It had a nice sweet fruity flavor to it, which I didn't expect. All the other chocolates I've tried have an earthy smokey flavor, so this was a very nice surprise. He also made stuffed mushrooms with habaneros that I brought over, and those habaneros packed more of a kick than the ghost in the burgers. It could have been the heat of the grill burning off some of the capsaicin in the burgers. I'm not sure, but I'll let you know what the ghost really does when I eat the whole pepper.
I had a great time over at my buddies house. I got to play with his kids a bit, and he has this really fluffy cat that gave me a hug and muzzled my beard, which was very delightful, and I left tonight with a car load of cooking stuff. His wife was a rep for this kitchenware company and she had a bunch of extra stuff, so I got the benefit of the left overs, and it's going to up my cooking game big time. They are two of the kindest and best people you will ever meet, and I'm glad to have them in my life. Peace in and goodnight.
I guess the news is good. It's not bad, but it's not what I was hoping for, hence the resistance to say it is just straight up good. Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first. When they took a culture of my mom, they found a bacteria. They didn't really tell me what that meant, but I assume that she has a bacterial infection. They are treating it now so that is all good. The swelling is still in her hip, but it appears to be going down, and the physical therapists have gotten her to walk, but she is still very weak. This could be a few things. Fear, the pain of the swelling, the infection, her lack of eating (I've taken her a few things, and she has eaten that, which is helping), all of those could be the reason for her weakness. The PT team has recommended short term rehabilitation, which means she will be going to a rehab facility soon. I made sure that she will not be going back to the one she was at after her hip replacement. I do think it is important for physical therapist oversee her strengthening, because that is their job, and they are going to be better at it than I am. She will be their for a short period of time to build her strength and then she will be back home where she belongs.
This has created a very weird feeling for me. I don't know what to do with myself, and now she will be gone longer, so I have time to myself, and I don't know what to do with it. I did begin making support stands for my peppers in a can. When they get big enough, they will want to fall over unless you give them support, so I had an old 2x4 laying around and I went out and got some dowel rods. This is the prototype for the pepper in a can stand.
That's the idea, I'm going to clean it up quite a bit, and make it look nice. It's going to take a long time though, because I have 9 of them to make. That will cover my 4 plus the poblano (which isn't in the contest), and 4 for my buddy. I started on the first one, but I made a few mistakes, so it will definitely be one of mine. I want the really good ones going to my buddy. He deserves it, since he has given me so many pepper, tomato, and herb plants. This will only be a small token to a pay him back for all he's done for me.
I still have a lot of sanding to do on that, and some more shaping, but that is going to be the overall appearance of them. I'll of course add a little stain and polyurethane to them, to make them look nice. I might even print the name of each pepper on them somewhere, or maybe not. I'm still in the very early stages of this whole project, but this will pass a lot of time.
I do have lots of garden news. There is a lot going on in the garden right now, since spring is right around the corner, and we are getting higher than normal temperatures for this time of year. The first is the strawberries that I finally picked.
These aren't as big as the ones that Morty ate, but they did the job. I of course let my mom eat the first one from the patch, but I had the second one today. It was a little tart, so it probably could have ripened a bit longer, to get that good sweetness in it. I don't have picture of it, but the Cherokee Purple is just about ready. Today it is a dark and deep red with some purple starting to come through. I figure if something doesn't eat it, I'll pick it in a couple of days. My blueberry plant was finally ripening, but something keeps coming and eating all of them, so I haven't had a single chance to get one to try. I'm super bummed, and if I find out what it is, I'm going to hunt it down, and eat it. Probably not, but it sounds vicious right.
I picked the last pink beauty radish that I had in the strawberry bags, and it was huge, but I'm still not sure that it was fully ripe. I made a radish salad with it. It was just the radish and the greens from the radish. The radish had next to no flavor, but it brought a lot of flavor out of everything else. The greens have a tomatoey flavor to them, with a slight peppery aftertaste. Oh yeah, you can eat radish greens, and they are really good. Not just good, but nutrient dense as well.
That's the radish over there, so you can see just how big it was, and I think it needed to be a little bigger to bring some flavor out of it. I'm still new to this gardening thing, so figuring out when to pick things is going to take some time. I do have 3 more of those planted around the ghost pepper plant, and they were a bit behind this one, so I figure it will be a few more weeks before they are ready to pick. I'm going to wait even longer to pick them, to see if they get bigger, and more flavorful. I'll let you know.
I had a few discoveries in the garden this week as well. The Tongues of Fire green beans are going and starting to get the signature red splotches on them. They are really cool, but once again, I have no idea of when to pick them. I'm just going to have to wing it, and pick them when I think they look most like a green bean. This is one of them, so you can see those red splotches on them.
Pretty cool right? Right now there are only about 5 of them on the plant, and the plant is rather small, so it really isn't enough for even a dinner side, but I'll eat them none the less.
The other discovery was this little gem that poked its head out when I wasn't looking.
That right there is a head of cauliflower. That is the first of the four that I have planted. I checked the others, and only one other has a head starting. The rest are still a little behind the curve, and the broccoli is still in a grow phase. I'm going to be watching that head to see what that is ready to pick then I'll be eating some garden grown fresh cauliflower.
I have several peppers that are flowering, and most of those are turning into peppers, which is pretty exciting. No super hots yet, but a bunch of mid level heat. Those will be great to add to meals, but they won't satisfy my new need for the heat. I do have some Scotch Bonnet flowers on the plant right now, so I'm hoping those turn into some peppers. They aren't super hots, but I really like the flavor of them, and they bring a good amount of heat, that will keep me content until some more super hots show up.
Back to all that free time I'm going to have. I'm going to take some time each day, when I'm not working on the can stands, and start writing. At first it will be to finish the Violet Dahlia, but then it will be anything that comes to mind and hope a story idea comes to life. I still have some ideas roaming around in the back of my head, and I may put some work into them, but for now, it's the idea of writing to write and see if something remarkable pops up. I really think this is going to be fun, and when something good arises, I'll start sharing it with you, but until then, you will just have to wait. Peace in and goodnight.
Well, the moms is back in the hospital. I woke up Monday morning to her talking to herself, and when I tried to help her get out of bed, she screamed out in pain and resisted. I had to call an ambulance, cause there was clearly more wrong with her than what the ER found. What the did find was a UTI, what they missed was a baseball sized lump on her hip where she fell. That wasn't found until she was admitted to a room and the nurse was looking her over. The lump formed after the fall, it's kind of like when you bump your head and get a knot. They aren't going to do anymore scans on her, and are just chalking it up to localized swelling. That in combination with the UTI, could have caused all the pain, with the UTI causing added confusion on top of her dementia.
She was in much better spirits today. The morning she was a little groggy, and when I went back in the afternoon, she was ready to leave. It broke my heart to tell her that she had to stay until she was healed and could stand on her own. From what I was told, she had not stood at all today. The nurses have been great, much better than usual. Both the ones I have spoken too, have explained that they keep make recommendations, but since they aren't doctors, their opinions are often overlooked. They were asking for extra scans to see what the lump was, and are also asking for a physical therapy evaluation, to see if it was just that swelling causing the pain, and to see if she can walk at all. I had her lift her legs today, which was something she couldn't do yesterday, so that is also a promising sign. Oh yeah, she was wanting to get up and walk out to the nurses station to offer for her to come in the room and chat with us. I was willing to see how far she could get, to see if the pain flared up before stopping her, but the nurse walked in as she was starting, so my masterplan to see just how much better she was, had been foiled.
Then bright side of this, is that I have been able to get errands done, although I'm still waiting on the local pharmacy to fill Baby Girls prescription. They said it would be ready today, and they would call, but I got no call, so I will stop by tomorrow to see what is going on. I still have a day or two of her antibiotics left, so it's no hurry, but I would like to have them, and not continue to worry if they will be ready or not.
I also got this twisted thought that I could go see a movie by myself. I enjoy going to the movies alone, but since I've been taking care of the moms, that isn't an option. On Tuesdays a local theater has $5 movies, and I could have gone, but I began feeling guilty, that I would be enjoying myself while my mom was in the hospital, so I simply got the grocery shopping done, and went home to take care of Morty and Baby Girl. It was relaxing, but not as much as going to see Birds of Prey. I'll just wait until it comes on TV.
Ok, garden news. The first Cherokee Purple is ripening, and it's about one and a half times the size of my fist. It's one big tomato, and I'm hoping that it's tasty. I'm also hoping that it holds off fully ripening until the moms is home, so she can enjoy it as well.
When that is fully ripe, it will be deep purple and red. Don't worry, I'll take a picture of it when I pick it. I also have a picture of a strawberry that is unpollinated. That means no strawberry is going to form, and I thought it was really cool looking.
How cool is that? Also, the brussel sprouts are forming, and I'll be pulling the majority of the leafs off to let them fully grow in about a week. These are fascinating in how they grow, and I'm really looking forward to eating fresh grown brussel sprouts very soon.
Since I was at the ER most of the day yesterday, I didn't get a chance to eat, so I decided on an impromptu 24 hour fast. It went really well. Yes, 24 hour fasts are a breeze to me. It's almost like breathing, how easy they are now. I went a different approach with breaking my fast this time. Since it was a 24 hour fast, it's a little more lenient on what you can eat, and what your stomach can digest. It's not that far off from the last meal it had. Anyway, another one of my goals for this 39 days is to eat even more leafy greens. I generally eat about 2-4 cups a day, which is much better than a large portion of the population. With that in mind I heated up a little of the left over pork that I had, and put it on top of a couple cups of leafy greens, spring mix to be exact. All nutrient dense greens. Then I threw a few grape tomatoes, and my death salt on top with a tablespoon of olive oil. It was really good and very satisfying.
This is all part of the bettering myself mind and body. Less fat, which seems odd since I'm fat adapted, but the idea behind that is, that my body will burn more fat, since there isn't the higher levels of dietary fat, a smaller amount of protein, to find my proper level, low carbs, and much more leafy greens. Despite the fact that I feel a little rundown from the stress of hangin out in a hospital for several days on end, I'm feeling real good. This still falls under the realm of Mediterranean Keto, the only difference is that I'm basically getting my fats all from oils and nuts, and limiting those amounts in order to eat about half the fat the I was eating. Here is the thing though. People thing that Keto is very high fat, and when they think about it, the think that 70% is this massive amount of 300 grams of fat a day. That is their thinking since the fat is to replace the carbs, and when you eat carb heavy 300 grams a day is really easy to do. The one day I ate like my old self and measured my macros, I ate over 400 grams of carbs, and I was not satisfied at all that day. I could have kept eating, like I used to do, but I stopped myself, because I was feeling terrible. On a normal day of Keto eating, I was only consuming anywhere between 120-180 grams of fat a day. That may seem like a lot, but when you consider that my carb intake was only 20-30, and sometimes far less than that, then my total daily intake of food by the gram was far less than what I used to eat, and I'm much more satisfied at the end of the day, and my body even shows that it works much better for me that being car dependent.
I have eliminated refined carbohydrates, which since their creation have led to the massive obesity epidemic in this country, which is now spreading all over the world, and I've also gotten rid of about 95% of processed foods, which is another poison on this society. The very few processed foods that I eat are heavily scrutinized by me by reading the ingredients list like it was a text book that I was studying for an exam. That is basically the Quest pizzas, and bars that I have. I also throw in my Sun Warrior protein powders, which are all natural ingredients, but they are processed. Oh, and the occasional diet soda. That is it, so really 95% in a very generous number. It's more like 98% of my food is whole and not processed.
This is basically what I'm saying here. Even if you don't go Keto, try your best to go whole foods. Get away from all the processed garbage that you eat, and you will feel a massive difference in your body and mind. Also, just a little trick, separate eating carbs and fats together. If you are having say, mashed potatoes, don't use gravy, find a way to season them to avoid mixing fats and carbs. That is where they big problem arises. When you eat fats and carbs together, you automatically store the fat. If you eat a meal with carbs and protein, you have all the fuel you need, and you won't store fat. The same goes for eating proteins and fats. All the fuel, and the fat is used as that fuel so it is not stored. Eat strategically if you can't go without carbs. It will make a real big difference, if you are wanting to lose weight. Oh yeah, fast as well. even if it's 12 hours, just make sure that you don't snack between meals in that 12 hour feeding window.
Ok, those are my tips for a healthier you, and you didn't even have to go to the website to find it out. I really should write an article on this very subject for the website, since I haven' written anything new for it in quite some time.
It's Favorite Song of the Week time. This is following along with the whole theme of February. This comes from a game changing artist. In the early days of rap it was male dominant, and there was no room for a woman. That was until the Queen stepped onto the scene, and she left a mark. She is known more for her acting now, but she was a frontrunner in women getting into the rap game. Here is Queen Latifah with her classic hit (U.N.I.T.Y).
After this month, I have some good old songs that I used to listen to back in the day. These are great songs, that you probably never heard, cause it was all fringe music, back in my "weird" days. Let's be honest though, my weird days are very far from being over. Peace in and goodnight.
Another weekend equals another disaster. Friday morning I woke up feeling great. Baby Girl got a clean bill of health and a prescription for two weeks worth of antibiotics, so things were looking up. All that changed when I was cooking breakfast. This was a big day for eating, since it was eggs and bacon day. I only have that once a week, so it's kind of a big deal to me. I put a good amount of spices into the eggs and throw in some habaneros for myself. While I was finishing up the bacon, I heard a commotion out in the living room. I ran out to see what was going on, and found my mom on the floor. She had taken another fall. She was trying to sit up, but I got her to slowly roll over on her back, and take it one step at a time. I felt around asking I've anything hurt, and she first said it was her foot, so I checked, no pain their, then it was her wrist, no pain there, then it was her hip, a little pain there. My fear was that her hip rebroke, which is a really big deal. I got her up in the wheelchair that we have, and rolled her out to the TV room. She said she was feeling fine, and I wanted to give her some time. I finished up breakfast, and then reevaluated things after she had eaten. As long as she was sitting, she was fine, but I asked her to stand up, and she couldn't do it on her own. I helped her up and she could stand, but as soon as she tried to bear weight on her right leg, she was in pain. The ER was our next visit. I got her in the car and drove there as quickly as I could, which was complicated by the main road in town was closed for a crafts fair, so I had to detour way out of the way to get to the hospital. They admitted her pretty quickly, which is a shock, any time I've had to go the place was crowded. The ER doctor came in and checked her out, and it she was feeling pain in her left and right side, with more on the right. That is the hips that she had surgery on. X-rays came out negative, and they gave her the all clear. The said the pain is due to some bruising and that she was fine.
Once we got home, there was a big change in her demeanor. She immediately thought she was in a rehab facility and that she was being left alone. I tried to quell those thoughts, but she is in deep this time around. She had given up trying to stand up on her own, and only wanted to go to bed. I held that off as long as I could so she could get her daily phone call. After that, it was straight to bed. It took a lot of work to gently get her in and settled, but it was only temporary. The whole rest of the day and night was her yelling and talking to herself. I would go in, and she would say that she was talking to the other people in the room. I barely got any sleep last night, and the same for her. Today she was very lethargic, and defeated. She is still feeling a large amount of pain, but I'm not sure if it's really as bad as she thinks and she is just imagining a lot of it out of fear. I got her in the shower today, so I could get a look at the area, and I saw no bruising. She also can't seem to tell me where it is that she is hurting. She can't even point to the general area, so I just continue to be as gentle as I can. Moving her from the bed to the chair is the most difficult part. I have to reassure her that she is going to feel some pain, but it is only temporary, and once she is settled, she will be fine. It takes some coaxing, but it always works out the same each time. The longer it is between moving her, the more pain she feels. Which seems right if it is stiffening up. I don't know how things are going to work out. She can stand with support, but as soon as she tries to move, she feels a lot of pain. I'm making an appointment with her personal doctor tomorrow for some time this week and see what he says.
This has put me in a massive bind. I still have to get Baby Girl's prescription filled. Fortunately there are enough pills for a couple more days. I also have to go to the bank, and then there are the normal things like grocery shopping. When she would walk, I could take her with me, and guide her around in her walker. It wasn't easy to do, guiding her and pushing a cart at the same time, but it worked out. I have no idea what I'm going to do now. I can't take her grocery shopping if she can't walk. I don't know how that will work with a wheel chair and a shopping cart. I don't want to leave her by herself, but I may have to for an hour, so I can get groceries. I can spend the time to get her in the car for everything else. That way she can get out and about, without having to actually get out of the car, but when I have to spend some time in some place, I can't just leave her in the car. That would be torture.
She is in bed for the night, and hopefully will get plenty of sleep tonight, since she didn't get much at all last night. I'll do what I did last night and keep my door open so that I can hear her if she wakes up.
This brings me to something that I didn't plan on, or want to talk about, but I have a legitimate health concern of my own. For the past two or three weeks, I've been feeling a tingling in my left arm. I looked it up, and of course the first thing is a heart attack, but there are also other reasons for it to tingle. Pinched nerve, neck problems, sleeping on it wrong, but it always leads back to the worst case scenario. Here is my big problem, I can't go to a doctor, since I don't have any health insurance, nor could I figure out how it would work taking my mom. The other thing is, as far as the symptoms of a heart attack are concerned, that is the only one I've had. I have no head aches, chest pains, upper back pains, palpitations, or anything. That leads me to believe that the tingling is coming from that pain that is in my shoulder. It could have damaged some nerves, with how long and intense that pain has been. I've been spending the past several days resting my shoulder and not even raising my left arm over my head. This has resulted in less tingles during the day, which is a good sign.
I know this is going to sound strange after dropping a bomb like the one above, but I'm now going to transition into talking about health and fitness. This all goes back to the 30 day plan of bettering myself in both mind and body. Part of what I've been doing, is a slightly different way of eating. Instead of going more hardcore on the keto, I'm doing a slightly different version of it. I'm still in the realm, but I've dropped my protein a bit, and cut my fats in half. I'm doing all this while keeping my carbs to a minimum. This is all in an effort to decrease body fat, while building muscle. How can i do that when I drop the protein? Well, I'm actually trying to discover the right amount of protein for me. Different people have different protein needs. I won't deny that the conventional way of building muscle is by increasing your protein consumption to about 2 grams per pound. I'm taking a more scientific approach and taking into account, that since I'm fat adapted, and not insulin resistant. My cells really take in more protein than they would otherwise, since they are more upon and ready without insulin blocking the proteins from getting into the cellular wall. So far, this has been working great. I'm seeing some pretty significant changes in my body, mirror wise, while not losing or gaining any weight. I'm listening very closely to my body, and what it's telling me. Yes, that includes the tingling, and my body is telling me good things. My energy level are up, excluding today and my lack of sleep. Even with the less sleep, I'm feeling really good, but I'm sure I'm going to go to bed early tonight. Tomorrow is also my alarm off day. I"m sure I will still rise at around 4-5 am, but that will be when I wake up, and not when an alarm tells me to.
Yes, my progress has been slowed, by me taking a big break with my shoulder, so I have done very little upper body work outside of abs. Despite all that my body is looking better to me, and that is really all that matters. I have no desire to listen to anyone else's opinion of my body, even if it's positive. Someone telling me that I look just great, is fantastic, but I know I can look even better, and when they say that you look good enough, that just sounds defeating to me. I will not be defeated, and yes, I have a long way to go. This is not good enough for me.
I'm not going to bother updating you on the garden, because it is all status quo at this point. I will tell you that two more strawberries are ripening, and I have hidden them inside the grow bag, and under leaves so Morty doesn't get a hold of them. I will eat those berries with my mom, and it will be a good day when I do.
I've already said quite a bit in this one, and I'm sure I'm going to have people trying to tell me what to do. Know this, I know what I should do, but sometimes that isn't the thing you can do. Peace in and goodnight.
I am so upset with Morty right now. Earlier this evening I went out with Morty and the Baby Girl. I left them in the backyard while I went around the front to water the plants out there. When I came back I went over to check on the strawberries and new tomatoes that I planted, and saw something missing. The two ripe strawberries that I was going to pick tomorrow morning for breakfast. Morty had eaten them off the plant, and I was beside myself. Morty is getting no pets for the rest of the night until tomorrow. I couldn't believe that he did that. I will have to watch him like a hawk now when there are ripe berries on the plants. It's mostly my fault, because I haven't built the fence around the strawberry patch yet, so I'm probably more upset with myself than him, but he still isn't getting any pets till tomorrow.
I was lucky enough to get a picture of the first ripe berry before he manage to woof it down, so there is that, and it was glorious, one of the biggest berries I've ever seen
Look at that, it was beautiful and I can only image now how good it was. Morty did also get an unripe berry, so I'm hoping he gets a little tummy ache to pay for his thievery. There are other berries, but none of those will be the first every from the plant, and that's why I'm so bummed. On the plus side, my other strawberry plant that was a runner from that mother plant, is also producing berries now, so maybe, I'll get to eat the first berry from that plant. Although, I didn't have any intention of actually eating the first berry. I was going to give it to my mom, so that she could enjoy it, and maybe take her back to when her father was alive and had his own strawberry patch.
Today hasn't been a good day. I woke up not feeling well, and decided to kind of sleep in, which meant 5 am. I didn't do cardio or my other workout, I just went straight to meditation and then back to sleep in the living room. I've felt weird all day, and my pulse has been accelerated most of the day. It's down around 60 beats per minute right now but most of the day it's been in the upper 80's. I'm not sure what that means, or if that is why I've felt strange all day. It could be over training, and my body is just drained, but I did have an active rest day yesterday. That means only cardio and abs for the day, so I should have been rested. I'll just see how tomorrow goes.
That up there is more spicy chocolate. I figured out the bitterness problem, and added a third of a cup of monk fruit to it, also about a teaspoon of salt. I then put in all the pepper powder that I had left, which was probably about a half a teaspoon. I'm really not sure cause I didn't measure it out. The taste is on point, just a mild dark chocolate bitterness with a sweetness that comes from behind, when that leaves you get a touch of the heat. That is where the disappointment comes in. For me, the heat is low, and I was bummed. I thought that the powder I had, was clearly more than what was in the bottom of the mortar from the last time, and that seemed hotter. It could be either the sweetness or the salt that is cutting the heat, or I just didn't have enough powder. There is also the possibility that my tolerance is so high now, that I'm not affected by it. I have noticed that my death salt (that's the name of the current red powder) isn't bringing the heat like it did. I even shook a bunch straight into my mouth today. It packed a punch by itself, but not like when I first made it. I truly can't believe that I've made it to the point where something that is really very hot, isn't hot to me anymore. I still love the flavor. I'm just going to have to wait for my buddy and myself to grow more hotter peppers, to make more salt so that I can feel that heat.
Despite the off feeling today, I still feel far better then I ever did in the past when I was overweight. So far, what I'm doing this 30 days, which is all about improving myself, body and mind, is paying off. I'm noticing that my body is looking different after only a few days. It's not a bug change, but I do see a difference when I look in the mirror, so hope is high right now. My vascularity is insane for me. I've never been vascular and now I am, and getting more so each day. I'm going to reach my goal, it's just a matter of time. Since I haven't set a deadline on it, I have all the time I need.
The vet called yesterday and told me that the infection that Baby Girl has is sensitive to one of the antibiotics that she is on, so they wanted me to make an appointment for Friday so that they can see her again and more than likely give me more antibiotics to finally get rid of this infection. She is looking so good right now. When she was at her worst, the whole side of her face was swollen and her ear was hanging down by her cheek. Her ear is now back in the right place and the swelling is gone, and she is once again a happy, lazy pup. Which makes me happy. I'll let you know on Sunday how things go.
Let's talk about Dolittle now. This was the movie I went to with the moms this week. I knew it would be fun, but I really didn't expect much from it. It is after all a January release, and this is when movie companies put out the movies that cost too much not to release, despite them being subpar. This movie was anything but subpar. It was downright wonderful, and much much better than I had anticipated. It had great acting and a really good story, that potentially sets up for sequels in the future, but if not, stand alone as well. I really think you should give it a try. It's fun, funny and heartwarming, with a few surprise appearances in it.
Oh, I mentioned that I didn't read this morning, but I did end up getting some reading in, just before I wrote this. The current book is Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky. You may remember that he wrote one of my other favorite books, Perks of Being a Wallflower. This is quite a bit different though. He wrote this as a tribute to one of his and my favorite authors, Stephen King, so It is a horror novel, and I'm at the part where it's getting real good. I just met the villain of the story, and it's creepy. Stephen went to film school and was also the director for the Perks movie, which as you know I love, so I'm fully expecting him to turn this into a movie as well, and I'm already seeing it in my head. I'm really hoping he gets the chance to make this into a movie. It is an original idea, which Hollywood is lacking in these days. Listen, I enjoy the stuff that comes out, but I am growing tired of the retreads, and this is a fresh take on horror. If you like reading, pick this book up and enjoy the ride, so far it's wonderful.
I'm going to spare you the boredom of the garden and just call it a night tonight. Peace in and goodnight.
I can't tell you how good I'm feeling right now. I do believe that it's the freedom from social media. I did as I said, and went on Facebook for a couple of minutes today, maybe not even that long. I only had to post pictures in a group with a little caption and I was done. This is part of a contest I entered that actually began today. It's called Pepper in a Can, and like the title implies. you grow a pepper in a can. I'm attempting 4 and here are the pictures.
The top was setting them up yesterday and the bottom is them with the seeds in and a cover to keep humidity in while they germinate. I'm a little worried about the Orange Habanero. The seeds are form peppers that were bought at the grocery store, so I really don't know if they were nuked or not. I don't believe that they were, but you never really now. I did plant a Poblano in a can as a test to see if it would sprout. I did the same thing with those, got them from the same grocery store and hoped beyond hope, that they weren't nuked. I guess I should explain the nuke part. If the vegetables aren't sourced from this country, they have to go through a low level of radiation to kill any harmful bacteria, or bugs. This isn't harmful to humans, but it does make the seeds unviable. I was banking on the fact that these were loose and in bulk bins, so they had to be sourced not just in this country but local to the area. Well, the Poblano sprouted this morning, and is looking good. So I see several home grown stuffed Poblanos in my future.
Just look at that little beauty right there. It's no all about the heat, just mostly about it. Poblanos are very low on the SHU scale, coming in at around 2000 SHU. That makes them about 3 times less hot then a jalapeño. I will of course stuff them with meat laced with habaneros to bring the heat up.
Couple more pictures before I get back to the whole social media break. The Tongues of Fire has some flowers on it, which means beans are coming soon. It has a hot sounding name, but it is all about how they look. These green beans have the normal green color, but it also has splotches of red streaks on it, hence the name. The flowers are really delicate and pretty looking. Much more delicate than what the name would suggest. The first flower has dropped and a tiny green bean is forming. There are several others on their way too.
The left is the flowers and the right, well you have to look close to see it. The little green stem coming from the base of the flower with a string holding onto the remaining pedals is the green bean itself. Hard to believe that they start out so tiny.
Ok, I lied, I have one more photo for you. It's of the strawberries that shouldn't be. The first one is huge and should be fully ripe tomorrow or the next day. I'm going to leave it until Friday, just to get it good a ripe. There is one other right behind it, and this picture was taken yesterday. Now it is about 95% red and I could probably pick it and let it ripen, but on the vine is way more fun.
I'm really excited about eating the first strawberry that I've grown. I'll probably split it with my mom, so she can also enjoy the first from the garden. I can remember when I bought it as a tiny seedling and it is now producing some good looking fruit. I don't remember the exact count, but I think there are somewhere between 10 and 12 on the plant right now. You can see 4 in the picture alone, and that is just a quarter of the plant.
Ok, back to the social media break. It has felt so good not to know anything. I get tiny news bulletins from my phone, so there are a few things that I know, and am so happy not to know what people think about them. I heard Joaquin Phoenix made some statement at the Oscars, and I'm sure people are going absolutely crazy talking in favor or against it, and here I am just enjoying the stress free environment that I have fore myself. Yes, sometimes it is real good to be ignorant, especially when it comes to pop culture and politics. I can catch up on everything in 29 days. By the time I come back to it, I'm sure there will be brand new controversies to deal with.
With this 30 days comes physical work as well as the mental. I'm now waking up before 4 AM in order to get things done, and it's been going great. I will have a day that I just let myself wake up without an alarm, and I'm sure I'll still wake up around 4:30, maybe I'll be real lazy and wake up around 5:30. Ah the life of leisure will be grand on that day. Anyway, I did set a goal for one of the physical feats, but that will remain unannounced until after the 30 days. Where in I will tell you what it is, and if I succeeded or not at that goal. This all has to go with that secret workout that I've been doing. Today I managed to do my cardio, that workouts stretching, meditation, and reading all before 5:30. That was an amazing feeling. Yesterday I was still feeling things out, so I was done closer to 6, but it was still done early. I got to sit back and relax until the moms woke up. I actually fell back asleep. It was glorious.
One of the other goals about this 30 days, and this is one I will talk about, is getting away from the negativity of social media. February is of course the month with Valentine's Day in it, and also Black History month, so this month is about love, acceptance, diversity, and tolerance. With that in mind during this 30 days, which will stretch into March, every Favorite Song of the Week will have those words as a theme for what I choose. The first one is from Prince off of one of his most incredible albums that was overlooked, because it was later in his career. It is from the 3121 album which you really should give a listen to. It is full of gems are as good if not better than some of the songs off Purple Rain (yeah, it doesn't hurt to say that even though it's still my all time favorite album) and 1999. The two albums he's best known for. This song is full of funk and takes you back before the Minneapolis sound that he made so famous. This almost goes back to the Controversy days, which you should really listen to that album as well. That is a great album. Anyway, my Favorite Song of the Week is Prince's song "Love".
If that doesn't make you want to dance, then you are better off dead. Go back and listen to it again and wake your body up. Prince brings the funk on this one, and you will love it. Ok, that sounded a little demanding, but seriously give it another listen.
Thursday I'll tell you about Dolittle which I saw today with the moms. I'm saving it for then, because I may have nothing to write about, and that will guarantee that I have something for you. I guess that is the bad thing about going stress free for a month, it isn't very exciting. Peace in and goodnight.
This weekend started out horrific. I was full of stress and spent a lot of time thinking about how long I would be left on this planet. It ended quite a bit differently though. I'm not going to dwell on that negativity that started this weekend, instead, I'm focusing on those positive vibes.
Last night was the big turning point. My buddy let me in on some incredible news. He is getting married. That alone is incredible. It is always an amazing story when two people find each other in this crazy world and make a connection that can last a lifetime, and that is what these two have. I year from now, I will be watching two of the greatest people on this planet unit together as one family and I couldn't be happier about that. Oh yeah, he asked me to be his best man as well. No, I'm not burying the lead on that. I'm truly honored and proud to fulfill this obligation. It will be a pleasure above all others to stand there and watch them get married with best of front row seats. I could spend an entire paragraph or really this whole post telling you about them, but I'm sure I'm going to have to make a best man's speech, so I'm going to save all that for then. I only have a year to get it all together. I'm more than likely going to wing it, but I'm hoping that I write it down, to make sure it covers everything and is truly proper. If I do write it down, I post it here in honor of them, after the wedding of course.
Ok, I'm going to dwell on a little of the negative, but that is only because it has to do with me and my own body issues. Right before I got that news above, I was taking accountability pictures for what is going to be my next 30 day challenge. It is a challenge of my own doing, and it is another one of those, I need to see if I can do it. The goal is to hit 15% body fat, but the real goal is for overall improvement in everything body and mind. The pictures took me down another notch from the low point I was at. I looked at them and just felt terrible at how I looked. I still posted them, because that is the point of accountability shots. I'm also going to post them here, despite how horrible I think I look. I do happen to like one of them though. I'll put that one up last. So here they are. I know I've come a long way from what I was, but when I see these pictures, I realize I have so much further to go.
That last one is the one that I like the most, but I'm still very dissatisfied with how I look. I see every flaw that I have, but that is also a positive. It lets me know what I need to focus on, so that I can achieve the way I want to look. The body fat loss is key, but so is the muscle gain. One helps the other. The more lean mass I have, the higher my metabolism gets, and the more fat my body burns. It's all an amazing circle of science. I will achieve the body I want, and regardless of how I feel about these pictures, I truly know now that it is possible. I'm far away from it now, but I get closer each and every day.
This brings me to my social media shutdown. Starting tomorrow, I'm taking a 30 day break from social media. I will be on Facebook on Tuesday for a few minutes to post pictures for the Pepper in a Can challenge that I'm a part of. The contest starts that day, so I have to break the break for a few minutes, and then be back at it. This is all part of that bettering the mental part of me. Social media is a poison to the mind. It can bring people together, but as it has done in the last few years, tears more people a part. With it being an election year, the negativity out there in the ether is at a red alert level, and I won't go down the rabbit hole that I went down the last election. You can always get ahold of me through the howuketo.com website, or you can email me at counterfeitsquirrel@gmail.com. I will keep writing this through out, and I will post it remotely to Facebook, but I won't be there to see any comments or anything like that until next month. I know this all sounds extreme, but I need this, and I highly suggest that you take a break from it as well, even if it's a day. It will help you clear your head, and that is something I'm in desperate need of right now.
During this break I will be working my tail off, to get in the best shape of my life. I will continue eating the way I do, which is second nature to me. For example; this weekend, I took off of being strict. All that means to me, is that I'm not eating at certain times. I've been grazing a bit, but it's been on biltong (jerky), nuts, and berries. Not really going outside of the whole keto spectrum there. Oh yeah, I threw caution to the wind and had a few diet sodas today. The horror right. Anyway, tomorrow starts the 30 day. I will weigh in, despite weight not meaning anything to me right now, it's just a satisfying number at this point, measure my body fat, and my waistline. I may even take a few other measurements like, thigh, calf, chest, and upper arm, just for giggles, bur the important numbers to me are the body fat, and waistline. Those are big in my world right now. I'm hoping to reach that .48 on the waist to height ratio, and 15% body fat by the end of this. Anything lower to the numbers tomorrow are a win, but if I hit those specific numbers, it's a freaking party.
That brings me to my last piece of good news. I received a text today from a friend that I've given some guidance to. She reached out to tell me that she was only 6.5 lbs away from her goal weight, and wanted to thank me for the inspiration. That is one of the greatest compliments I can receive. Just knowing that I was a small part in helping someone reach their goal is more fulfilling than you can imagine. I'm proud of her for putting in the hard work and dedication to get to where she is now, and I'm looking forward to congratulating her one more time when she tells me that goal has been achieved. I know she will do it. I also know that you can reach your goals as well. It just takes putting in the work.
Starting tomorrow, I go back to work. I got more goals to reach and I'm going to put in some serious overtime in to get it done. Peace in and goodnight.
Baby Girl has what will hopefully be her finally appointment at the vet tomorrow. If things go right, and things are looking like they are, she will have her drain removed. The inflammation in her face is gone, and the drain is down to a modest trickle. It still looks weird with a hose sticking out of her ear and her cheek, but it's all to make her better. I'll give you the update on Sunday.
The Cherokee Purple plants are so full of tomatoes, that they are collapsing. The last two days, I've had to go out and lift branches up and tie them off to stakes so that they won't be sitting on the ground. It's exciting and frustrating at the same time. I think I have it all under control now, but big storms are supposed to come through tonight, so I'm sure I'll be lifting and tying tomorrow morning as well.
A little update on this tiny business idea that my buddy and I have. He has done a lot of brain storming and list making with ideas of exactly what and how we are going to do what we have planned. Once again, this is still in the dream phase, so it's too early to say what it is, but we are both pretty excited about it. We think it's an idea that no one is really doing, so we might have a shot at cornering the market on this. I can tell you also, that this is a product that we ourselves enjoy and can't wait to try the different versions of it that we have planned. I'm sure that I'm giving too much away at this point, but that's all I'm going to say for now. We have to figure out a name not only for the company ( I use the word company very loosely) and our product, which will have different names for each variety that we have. We have a couple of working titles, that are kind of fun, gut no name ideas for the company. No, I'm not asking for ideas, because you don't even know what the product is, so you can't possible give is name ideas. This is something we have to figure out ourselves. Whatever happens with this, it's going to be fun.
I just needed to share a couple of pictures with you. The first is the strawberry plant, and how the strawberries that are 6 months too soon, are doing. I don't think I shared one with you before, but this is what the Junebearing plant looks like right now, and I'm really excited about it.
Those are some first rate organic berries right there. That big one has light shades of pink in it, so it's going to be ripe soon. I think the count stands at 10 berries on there right now. That should last a few days around here. I do limit berry consumption. I have 2 with my salad, and sometimes have a couple more in the evening, if I feel the need. The other plant, which is the Everbearing, has shoots going everywhere now, and I have it where I want them, so then they take root in the ground, that is where they are going to stay. That will be Porter's Patch, which is named for my Grandfather. One of the few things I remember about him, was his strawberry patch, so I'm bringing it full circle.
The second picture is my dinner tonight. It just looked so good, that I had to share it with you. Also this is more proof that keto is not stuffy and bland. This meal has maybe 6 carbs, and is packed with vitamins and minerals, with nutrient dense ingredients. It's simply spiced with salt, black pepper, turmeric, and garlic powder. May not seem like much, but that blend has never failed me for full flavor.
Just look at that. That is riced cauliflower, spinach, campari tomatoes, cubed pork butt, and habanero. I added the habanero after the tomatoes, for that pop of color, and was hoping for that big heat, but it wasn't really there. Either my tolerance is way too high now, or I got a bit of a mild habanero. If you notice, I don't even deseed anymore. I want every bit of the heat that comes from those wonderful peppers. The seeds don't have any heat themselves, but they are covered in the capsaicin oil, which means that they have heat from their cap coating. The only part of the pepper that is missing is the very tip, which I gave to my mom. the tip is the smallest amount of heat in any pepper, and basically has little to no heat, but all the flavor, which for a habanero, is a wonderful fruity citrus flavor. That mixed with the zing of this tomatoes, and the earthy flavor of the turmeric is out of this world good. Yeah, I eat bland boring food now. That's a laugh.
Oh yeah, I wore that new outfit yesterday for a funeral. Since I'm not going on a date any time soon I figured I would break it out for my neighbors mother's funeral. She passed away earlier this week and it was important for my mom and I to go. I did take a picture, but it's still on the camera, and I don't feel like walking over to it to grab the SD card, and pulling it off, so that picture will have to wait until Sunday. Until then, I'll leave you wanting more. Peace in and goodnight.
