Challenge Day #8 and Random thing #5

I don't want to be jiggly.

Is it okay to say that out loud? 

I've been jiggly. 

I don't like it. 

In June, of last year, I found something that really worked for me in regard to getting rid of the jiggles.  Paleo.  I am not going to go into the how and why, just know that I tried a number of things, and this is the thing that worked for me.  I lost weight.  I gained energy.  I did not feel like I was starving myself.  These are all very important things.

I have to give all the credit to my all-time-favorite cousin.  She used to write a blog, I heart groceries, until she changed her eating habits and decided she had other things to do, like feeling great and living her life.  She has been very key in my success.  She has spent hours answering endless questions and replying to rambling emails and text messages.  I love her for that, and for many other reasons.  She is patient.  I need patient. 

Thanks, chick!

For all your help and for all you do.

You can Google Paleo for yourself and read all about it.  Me personally, I don't know if I buy into the whole mantra of the thing, for me, it is just eating clean food.  Not processed.  Meat products that are from animals that are responsibly raised.  Cutting out the carbohydrates and seriously knocking out the sugar.  Again, not going to get into a lot of the details about the diet, but at the end of this post, I will leave you a list of books that really helped me get an understanding on things.  If you read them, please share your experiences.  I would love to hear about it.

How did we get here?

Jiggly - remember?

Before I got really serious about cutting sugar out of my life, I drank a lot of coffee.  A lot of coffee with a lot of sugar and creamer and more sugar and topped off with a little more sugar.  So, to give up sugar left me with quite a dilemma when it came to my morning cup of joe.  I need my coffee.  I just do.  Then I saw something on another Blog. 

Yes, I am a blog reader also.

You may have heard of a little lady living in the Oklahoma area, Pioneer Woman.  She blogs.  She blogs about her family and about cooking.  Girl can definitely cook some things that will make you jiggly.  They are good, but then you have the jiggly thing.  She talks about jiggling herself.  I have cooked a lot of her recipes in the past, but then found it best to adapt them to the less-jiggly side of things.  As unlikely as it seams, she provided me with a solution for my coffee habit.  I will let you look at her version before we continue.  Go ahead.  Click the link below, I'll wait here.

The Pioneer Woman - Perfect Iced Coffee

Okay, so after re-reading the above blog post, I realized that I do not follow directions well.  Not at all!

As you saw yourself, she used one pound of coffee for two gallons of water. 

Oops.

I use one pound of coffee for about 5 quarts of water. 

No wonder I get so many things accomplished when I have my iced coffee.

I did say that I adapted the recipe. 

Again, I use one pound of coffee for 5 quarts of water.  To make things easier, I just put the coffee in a cheese cloth and tie it up.  Then I submerge it into my water.  This makes the last step so much easier.  Just pull out the cheese cloth with the grounds inside and toss them.  Then refrigerate what you have left.  Except this time, I cut the coffee and water in half and let the stuff sit in the refrigerator overnight.  The next morning, I tossed the grounds and my coffee was already cold. 

Duh.

I can't believe it took me so long to come up with that one.

The next change comes when it is time to consume it.  For one, we don't call it iced coffee.  We call it Brew.  Full-timer often refers to it as Creek Water.  After the ice melts a little, it looks like creek water.  We start with a full glass of ice.  Then we add half to two-thirds Brew, and top with milk.  We use either 2% or Whole milk.  No sweetener.  The next step involves a straw and a brain freeze.

It's hot here.

Cool things are refreshing.

Then you better hang on. 

Things will happen.

Good.

Bad.

Either way - there is no stopping it.

I know it seems a little late in the year to share such things, but I have been really dumb for the last month and a half.  You see, I ran out of Brew about mid-July, and I never made another batch.

Why?

I don't know.

I have been drinking coffee and adding sugar.  Sugar on a reduced level, but still adding sugar. 

The problem:  When I start my day with a little sugar, I need a little sugar all day long. 

You know what I mean?

So, in protest of the fifteen pounds I gained back. In protest of the large number of cheeseburgers I have consumed.  In protest of the slump that I have been in...I made a batch of Brew. 

I am such an idiot.

Why have I done this to myself?

What was I thinking?

Depriving myself of this life-saving necessity?

I have finally managed to accomplish a few things around here.  I mowed the yard.  I hauled in fifty bales of hay and stacked and stored them in the hay barn.  I cooked.

Crazy, right?

Make a batch of Brew...consume cautiously.



Here are the books I mentioned earlier. 

I think I have proven that you should read things for yourself and not take my word for it.

The Paleo Solution

The Paleo Answer

The Fat Loss Bible

Digestive Health with REAL Food

The Great Cholesterol Con

Wheat Belly

Cholesterol Clarity

the 30 Day Guide to Paleo Cooking

All of the above are available at Amazon.

Random thing #4

I know there are times when you think I am crazy.

I am posting this today so that you know there are times when even I think I am crazy.

It is 100 plus degrees outside.  I should have mowed the lawn, but decided it was too hot.  It is not like I haven't been out in the heat before, but today, I am not feeling it.  So, to not feel guilty, I decided to work out.  I spent some time on the Internet, and then found the perfect solution.  I am posting it below.  I do not own kettle bells, which is probably a good thing, but I do have dumb bells.  I did not use the 25 pounders like this chick did, but I managed 8's and 10's...only 20 reps each exercise and three rounds total.  My left arm, my weaker arm, is twitching right now.

Random thing #3

If you decide to start a new work out program because your horse had another health issue, and if you don't hurry up and get your butt in shape quick, you may be burying both of your horses before you ever get a chance to do anything with them - I highly recommend that you bathe your dog first.  Especially if you have a very clingy, 55 lb. pit bull that wants to be as close as possible to you at all times.  This will help you resist the urge to pass out when you get down on the floor for a nice hamstring stretch.

What the heck is that smell?

Frito's?

Ugh!

More on the horse later - she is okay.

Random thing #2

We have all heard...

May I add...

When life hands you crap, don't make anything with it...Trust me on this one!

Random things #1

Since I have been MIA for the last month and a half, it is going to take a good while to get caught up.  Caught up on you.  Caught up on all the things I have been neglecting.  Caught up on all the new projects that I have postponed.  There is just going to be a lot of catching up.  So, to keep you in the loop, I am going to start a new segment called...you guessed it...random things.

Welcome to my world!

Here is something very random for all you music lovers out there.  I know the new thing is to download your favorite songs.  Whether you love I-Tunes or what have you, I want to let you know that you are being cheated.  I don't download.  I prefer to buy Cd's.  It is getting harder and harder to buy Cd's because no one wants to carry them these days.  Gone are the days of the big music stores.  Especially if you are looking for something that is not mainstream.  You can pretty much forget about it.  Anyway, I go through periods of music buying.  I then put said music on my computer, transfer it to my phone and listen while I work.  Sort of like the dwarfs on Snow White - much better to whistle while you work - although I can't whistle, but that is another story for another day.  My point is that most of us hear a song on the radio.  Then you do one of two things. 

1.  Download said song and enjoy.

2.  Track down and purchase the CD.

The cheating comes with the limited music the radio stations play.  You hear a song.  You like.  You download.  If you choose option #2, you hear a song.  You buy the Cd.  You listen to all the songs.  Then, quite possibly you hear a slew of songs that will never make it to radio that are completely and totally awesome!  You would never know about these songs if you just followed along with the crowd.  I know, I know, I can hear some of you grumbling out there because you have bought Cd's in the past and end up only liking one or two songs and the rest is a waste of money.  I get it, but such is life, and life, at times, is a gamble.  Most music you have to give a chance.  Listen to it a few times, then make your judgements.

Case in point - the new Gary Allen Cd - totally could have seen him in concert this summer and we missed it, but who knew?  Anyway, love the whole Cd.  I have been listening to it while doing one of my favorite things...running the weed eater! 

Good times, let me tell you. 

Found a few songs that are fast becoming favorites and have shared a few with my Full-Timer.  Even she sees the error of her generations ways when it comes to downloading music.  So, for listening to me rant, and for the sake of saying you tried something new, I am posting a YouTube video.  Now this is where it gets confusing.  This is nothing that you have heard out of Gary Allen before.  It doesn't even sound like him.  To make it even more confusing, when you watch the video, you will notice it is not him.  It is a young guy just playing his song. 

Why would I post a song of another guy singing a Gary Allen song that I love so much?  This one is for the Full-Timer.  She found this on YouTube and thinks the young man is quite cute.  He doesn't sound bad.  So, for her entertainment I am giving him some face time here. 

Enjoy!

And get your butt out there and buy some Cd's!