playing catch-up

Hello! Sorry I've been gone for awhile. It seems that there just isn't enough time to blog when I want to, or else I haven't been in the mood to write. I'm still struggling with this back pain on and off (I finally start PT next week) and I recently had a horribly infected stye on my eyelid which made me feel cruddy in general. I've noticed a lot of blogs haven't been very active lately. I think Instagram is taking over. I do like IG and it's definitely a lot easier to post a quick pic with a few words, but I also miss the stories and warmth behind regular blog posts.

It's been a crazy weather ride here in northern Illinois, but that's typical for April. Last week, there were a couple of days that were actually warm enough to sit out on the front porch in the morning with my coffee (which I never take for granted - it was glorious!) and for a couple of beautiful, sunny walks in the State Park. And then a few days later - this past Sunday - we had a snowstorm that dumped six inches of wet, heavy snow on us. Two days later, it was 70 degrees and all the snow was gone.

So now everything here is finally exploding into bloom...I take a walk around my yard and see hostas, clematis, sedum, lamb's ear, bishop's cap and clematis all coming to life. Chives, fennel, red leaf sorrel and mint are growing in the herb garden. Some of the buds on my lilac bush have gently opened, revealing tiny purple flowers that will soon burst into heavenly scented blooms. I even saw my first butterfly the other day! This red admiral  was on a dandelion in my next-door neighbor's yard. His side yard joins up with ours on the south side of our house. The neighbor's side yard gets direct sun, so the dandelions love that area. The bees and butterflies need the dandelions in the early spring for pollen and nectar. I'm so glad our neighbor is like us and doesn't spray any weed killer on his lawn. Did you know that weed killers not only kill butterflies and bees, but in us humans are linked to cancer, kidney, liver and nervous system damage, endocrine disruption and reproductive toxicity? So, please - leave the dandelions alone! And hey, if it's your thing, you can use the dandelion greens in your salad or make dandelion wine with the flowers. 

We haven't begun yard clean up in earnest yet. And there is so much to do. All the garden beds are filled with wet, dead leaves; there's blown wood chips all over the back yard; piles of dead pine needles from the arborvitaes that line our back yard; perennials that need to be cut down; bare patches of ground that need grass seed...the patio furniture will need to be uncovered and the patio cleaned...and on and on. I've only done a little raking around the yard so far because of my back and because of the weather.  I read on a gardening site that if you start cleaning out your garden beds before the daytime temps are at least a consistent 50 degrees F., you risk throwing away butterflies, bees and other pollinators that are overwintering in the dead leaves and hollowed out stems of last year's plants.

I finally got my old, chippy window on the buffet painted (I do want to distress it a bit though) and the decor in my living room lightened up a bit for spring.

This weekend is a holiday celebration for both Jews and Christians. However you choose to celebrate, I hope you have a blessed weekend with your family and/or friends.

getting closer

Hello friends, and happy Friday. We've had a couple of beautiful "teaser" days here in northern Illinois where the sun is shining and it's warm enough to open the windows. It actually got up to 63 degrees yesterday. I had every window open in the house and the cats went crazy, not knowing what to do. They didn't nap the entire morning - they were too busy running from window to window, sniffing the fresh air and lunging at the birds and squirrels. Good thing we have new, strong screens! I can't tell you how wonderful it is to not only feel the fresh air in the house again, but to hear birdsong all day long. The extended forecast shows much cooler weather and lots of rain, maybe even a little s*** mixed in, so I'm enjoying every moment of this beautiful weather while I can.

And my lilac bush is starting to bloom! Another sure sign of good things to come.

Back at the Big Box Store again - this time looking for a large houseplant to go in a corner (I didn't find what I was looking for). I was so excited to see the pansies are here! Granted, they're inside for now because our weather is still too iffy, but next time I'm in that area, I think I'll get a pot of flowers for my porch and then put them in the garage at night.

The painting of Tim's room and the hall bath is done. You can see what a small bedroom this is. We're making this room into an office (for Brian)/guest bedroom/lounging spot. I wanted a day bed for this room but discovered they are bigger than I thought. So now I'm looking for either a love seat that pulls out into a bed or more of a twin platform bed: Something that doesn't have a headboard. It will go on that wall to the left, towards the window. Which also needs curtains.

This is the only spot that worked for this big desk. I wanted the desk in front of the window, but it blocked the vent. And if I moved the desk over to the right where the vent would be under the opening in the desk, it was too close to the closet door. Why do builders put vents right underneath windows?! I could never figure that one out. We also need to find a desk chair that "goes" with this desk. I've been looking on Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp almost every day. I know eventually it will come to us!

Here's the other side of the room between the closet and the door.

The bathroom color isn't much different than the previous color, though this gray is pretty much a true gray and a little darker. The previous color had slight blue undertones. We also had the painter paint the wood trim at the ceiling white. All I need to do in this room now is decide on shelving for above the toilet and then on the wall to the left, decide whether we want to re-hang the towel bar or find a decorative board with two hooks. I might even look for a new shower curtain.

Bathroom After:

Bathroom Before:

Speaking of painting, I'm working on chalk painting the old window that I've had on my buffet for years. It was getting way too worn and chippy.

See the worn part? That's how it was all over. I didn't sand the window - I was kind of afraid to since it's most likely lead paint. The chalk paint has worked just fine going over all the chipped parts anyway.

An update on my back issues: the x-ray showed I had height loss in L4-5 which basically means disc degenerative disease and then arthritis in L5-S1 (lumbo sacral area). Like I said in my last post, one really needs a MRI to see what's truly going on. When I questioned the nurse who called with the results, she said insurance dictates that you do x-rays first, then physical therapy, then have a MRI if needed. Ah yes, the good old health insurance protocols in the US. In the meantime, a friend of mine gave me a recommendation for a good physical therapist. I called to set up the appointments but can't get in with her until April 23rd. In the meantime, it's all about self-care and doing what I have to do to keep the pain at bay. I can't sit too long and I've also discovered that our living room couch is mostly off-limits for me. It's too soft and doesn't give any support. If I sit on it for longer than just a few minutes or dare to lie down on it to read, my back yells at me when I get up. So I'm staying active, taking walks either around the neighborhood or walking on the treadmill, doing yoga stretches twice a day, using a heating pad first thing in the morning when my back is especially stiff, spraying Bio-Freeze on my back several times a day, and taking CBD oil to take the edge off the pain.

Hope you have a great weekend with some fun plans!

a sort of discombobulated month

March is a fickle month in northern Illinois. We could have temperatures in the 30's or 70's, rain or snow, endless cloudy days or plenty of sunshine (more unlikely). Signs of spring have finally started here. Daffodils and lilies are poking out of the ground and red-wing blackbirds and Big Fat Juicy Robins have returned. When Zippo was alive, he loved watching the robins out the window. I always told him they were "Big Fat Juicy Robins" when he was staring out the window at them and swishing his tail. I miss him so much. Chipmunks have come out of hibernation too, and are once again running around under the bird feeder, hoping to find fallen seeds.

 Every March, as I scan the ground for signs of green and the flash of the orange breast of robins hopping around, I feel as excited as a little kid seeing the ice cream truck coming down the road. 

Another sign of spring in this area: fruit trees appearing at the big box stores. The outdoor garden center was being set up with the metal display stands and piles of top soil and mulch. That means the pansies will be coming soon. I can't wait to have a pot of their cheery yellow and purple goodness on my front porch again.

Spring projects have started around the house, as well. We hired a neighborhood painter to paint what was Tim's bedroom and the hallway bathroom. We chose the same pale cream color for Tim's bedroom as our kitchen. We really liked the current color of our bathroom, but we couldn't find the old paint can with the name of the color on it. I was ready for a slight change in that room anyway, so after looking at a lot of gray paint swatches, we chose Flannel Gray by Behr. It was a little too dark, so we had the shade reduced by 25%.

Here's the hallway bathroom "before". It's a small room, so not easy to photograph. The brown trim near the ceiling will be painted white. The only reason we're having this room painted in the first place is because the paint was bubbling and peeling. The previous painter used an eggshell finish, which obviously did not stand up to all the moisture in the bathroom. This new painter is using a semi-gloss finish.

I hate having my house in disarray ~ everything from the bathroom and Tim's room is now in My Space (what was Phil's bedroom) and the basement. It didn't seem like there was much in either room, but when you start dismantling a room down to nothing, there's always more stuff than you think. Even the toilet tank is in My Space. It's also very unnerving to me to have a stranger in my house. With having a small house, there's really nowhere for me to "hide" except the kitchen. I guess I could hide out in the basement family room, but I don't like hanging out down there. It's rather dungeon-like. At least in the kitchen, I can be busy making food or using the kitchen table as my office space. Today I made a french potato salad (the recipe can be found here, though I also add a little fresh lemon juice and capers) and Energy Balls.

Back to the painter and it being unnerving having him in the house....he plays sports radio loudly the entire time, which tends to drive me up the wall. I know it could be a lot worse. It could be music I can't stand. I also know that this soon shall pass. And then I get to decide on the fun decorating stuff. Do I want the same sort of shelves going back on the bathroom wall, or something a little different? Perhaps I'll choose hooks for towels on the opposite wall (not shown) instead of a towel bar. As for Tim's room, we still need to decide on a twin or daybed, a rug, curtains and wall art. The room will be a combination guest/nap/TV room and Brian's office space.

Meanwhile, I've done little things to lighten up the house for spring. I've changed out the heavy throws for lighter ones and added pops of yellow for spring delight. All Clementine approved.

I just got a new piece of artwork. Isn't this a beautiful print? I love owls. I never knew this acquaintance of mine was artistic until she started posting photos of her work on Facebook. I was blown away. Lydia sells her work on Society6, if you're interested. Besides owls, she paints moose, flamingos, otters, elephants, ducks, pigs, etc. You can order the prints as wall art, note cards, cushions, bags, apparel, clocks...Society6 will print on basically anything.

I hung the print in my living room entryway for now. Who knows, I might put it somewhere else later. I'm known for changing things around. I also moved a white lamp to the corner to lighten it up for spring. Previously I had a tall silver metallic vase with willow springs and light stalks in it. It was great for winter, but I was in the mood for something lighter.

In other news ~ in my last post, I mentioned my battle with back, hip and buttock pain. It's been on and off since then...but a few days ago, sciatica really set in and I was in so much pain Tuesday night, that I was crying out in pain with every step I took. I could barely walk. I was holding onto furniture and the walls. I didn't sleep most of the night because the pain was keeping me awake. I went to my Primary Care Physician yesterday, even though I knew there wasn't much she could do except prescribe drugs and physical therapy and/or send me for x-rays or a MRI. I was feeling a little better thanks to ibuprofen, but I don't want to rely on that either. She wanted me to go on a Medrol pack (steroids), but I told her I wasn't willing to do that unless it was a last resort. Steroids won't cure sciatica. They simply "put a Band-aid on the problem". Steroids have way too many horrible side effects, including insomnia. I'm not willing to go there right now, trading one problem for another. And then the pain comes back as soon as the steroids wear off, so why bother?

She did send me for a lumbar spine x-ray, which again, I feel is basically useless because all it's going to show is arthritis. It won't show herniated discs or spinal stenosis like a MRI would. I had a MRI on my back about 10 years ago and at the time, that showed three herniated disks. So I don't know if one of them is now worse or if I have a new one...or maybe I do have arthritis or spinal stenosis or God-only-knows what else. 

The doctor did write a three week prescription for physical therapy, which I'm going to consider. I'm also looking into acupuncture. Our insurance doesn't cover it and it's a little pricey, but perhaps a few sessions would help relieve the pain. Oh - and I also want to mention that I'm regularly taking CBD oil except that I upped my normal dosage and that is helping relieve the pain and inflammation, too. All-natural and no side effects like NSAIDs.

How is the month of March going for you?

choosing lamps for the bedroom

Hello, friends! It's been way too long. I think this seemingly never-ending winter has gotten to me. I've had no desire to write a blog post. I've noticed on Blogland in general, new postings have been way down since January. Perhaps everyone feels the same way...just kind of blah and waiting for spring. On top of it, the past few weeks I've had really bad back pain. I'm prone to it. I have three herniated disks and if I don't keep active with walking and yoga, my back hurts. This time, it's been my left hip, along with spasms in my buttock. I guess I'm my own pain-in-the-a**. Anyway, my wonderful yoga instructor is also a massage and bodywork therapist, plus she's in school for physiology. I saw her last week for bodywork and she worked on me for two hours! I'm doing better since then and following instructions of self-care. And doing more walking. Walking feels good. Since it's still so darn cold here, when I run errands, I walk the entire store instead of just going straight to what I need. I've also been back on my treadmill - boring, but necessary. My worst time is sleeping when I try to roll over to the other side. My hip doesn't like that. And when I get out of bed in the morning, I get the spasms. It could be some arthritis in my hip. It's so fun getting old. (Insert random photo of blissed-out cat because no one wants to see photos of hips or treadmills.)

On to better stuff. As I've said before, I take forever to get a room put together the way I really like it. We've needed new lamps for our bedroom for years and it was just something I never got around to. I finally got tired of looking at mismatched lamps that were also the wrong size. I wasn't sure exactly what size lamps to buy for our bedside tables, so I turned to my best friend, Google. Several professional interior design sites said to measure your nightstands - mine are 27" tall - and that your lamps should be 2-3" higher than your nightstand. That would mean I would need lamps that were 29 - 30" tall. So I headed to HomeGoods and found 29" lamps that I thought would look good in our bedroom.

Wrong. Too overwhelming. Too much white. I felt like when I walked into our small bedroom, all I noticed were the lamps. Back they went.

Then I tried Target. I like that you can buy the base and shade separately. They also have frequent 15-20% off sales on lighting, so that was a bonus. Lamps are expensive! This time I chose a beige base with a gray shade. Wrong again. I felt the lamps were simply too big and overwhelming; that the base looked like pineapples; and the gray shades clashed with the wall color. Back they go to Target.

Third time's a charm! For starters, I went with a medium-sized lamp instead of a large. I liked the clear base, so I got those again. And when looking at shades, I found these white ones with a silver swirl. They're not as stark as plain white and the silver goes well with the wall color. You're not going to believe where I got these lamps: Meijer grocery store, of all places! Just like withTarget, you can pick your base and shade separately. And luck would have it, they were having a buy one, get the second one 1/2 off sale. 

 The only thing that's driving me nuts is the stickers on the base. Why do stores have to do this? I started picking at the sticker with my thumb nail and it barely chips away. I mean, these are stuck on good. I turned to Google once again and I see there's ways of getting stickers off acrylic, so I'll have to try some of the ideas and see what works.

 

Where have you had luck finding lamps?

to your good health!

Those of you who follow me on Instagram have probably figured out from all my food photos that I'm not just into cooking and food, but healthy eating as well. I've talked a little bit here on my blog over the past few years about healthy eating and living, but I've gotten requests for sharing my knowledge of these subjects in regular blog posts. Healthy foods and eating are such broad subjects, that I'm hoping to do posts on individual subjects at least a few times a month. For right now, I'm just going to dive into some basics and give you a few healthy, simple recipes. These are things anyone can make. No cooking talent required!

Disclaimer: I am not a physician or any other kind of certified health professional. I am simply a lay person that reads and researches many aspects of natural health and clean eating; puts these things into practice in my own life as much as possible; and wants to share what I have learned and am still learning in order to help people lead healthier lives. The content provided in this blog and any linked sites are not intended to be medical advice. If you have any medical concerns, consult with your physician. I am not liable for any health advice that I write on this blog. 

I can tell you this much for sure: whatever you put in your mouth has almost everything to do with your health. You eat garbage, you're going to feel like garbage and your health is going suffer. "At least 80% of how you look and feel comes from your diet" (Dr Samantha Durland). You truly are what you eat. Thus said, I am far from perfect. Healthy eating is something I work on and strive for every single day. Some days I don't do as well as others. I try not to beat myself up over that. Instead, I start anew the next day.

I found a new family care physician through a friend whom I went to last week. He does some holistic care and is very much into working with the patient on a healthy lifestyle. He spent 45 minutes with me, actually talking to me and giving me healthy suggestions, and making me feel good about myself, my health and my future by the time I left. The only prescribed medication I was on was a miniscule dosage of Lisinopril for high blood pressure. I had been on it since I was 38 years old: 19 years!! I originally started out on 10 mg, but I was much heavier when I was younger. Over the years as I adopted a healthier lifestyle and lost weight, I was able to decrease my dosage of medication. I had asked my former PCP the past few years if I could go off the Lisinopril and she always said no - even though my blood pressure was always normal. This new doctor took me off the medication! My blood pressure in two different readings was low and then average. He said, "You don't need this medication." He said that if I continue to eat even healthier (i.e., more plant-based meals, less cheese) and exercise more, that everything will naturally fall into place...lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol (mine's pretty good, but could use some improvement), lower blood sugar levels (again, mine's good but wouldn't hurt to be lower). He also explained to me that if for example, I had've come to him when I was 38 years old with high blood pressure, he would not have automatically put me on hypertension medication. He would've worked with me on lifestyle change instead. I can't tell you how refreshing it is to have found a doctor like this! And I can now announce that I am medication free. That feels so good!

I know some of you follow a vegetarian or vegan diet, and while I think that is fantastic, it is not for me. (I have a hard time digesting beans/legumes and I don't eat soy or soy products.) I am also not here to discuss the ethics of meat eaters versus plant eaters. I am only focusing on clean, healthy eating. 

Thus said, I am incorporating more vegetables and fruits into my diet and eating less meat. This doctor wanted me to eat beets for my blood pressure, but I told him I loathe beets. Beets and mushrooms are the only two vegetables I just cannot stand. So he told me I could buy beet root powder (I didn't even know there was such a thing!) and use it in my smoothies. I found this organic beet root powder on Amazon. I use a teaspoon in my morning smoothie and can barely taste it. In fact, I love the taste of my smoothie even more than I did before! And it makes the color very pretty. I make my smoothies by using 8 oz. unsweetened almond milk, a banana, some frozen organic fruit (I used blueberries in the smoothie shown below), 1 tsp. of the organic beet root powder, about 1 T. of hemp hearts/seeds, a sprinkle of turmeric (great for inflammation!), a spoon of organic, natural peanut butter (make sure the peanut butter you use doesn't have any added sugar and doesn't have any hydrogenated oils in it...you want to eat a peanut butter that is just that - peanut butter - and nothing else...except salt, if you want the salted kind), and a big handful of organic baby spinach.

Another healthy, simple meal idea is to top toast (please don't use processed white bread; use a bread where the first ingredients are whole grains...Ezekiel Bread or Dave's Killer Bread are excellent choices) with mashed avocado (I added fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper to mine) and top with a cooked egg. This will fill you up for hours. If you're vegan or don't like eggs, avocado toast on its own is delicious. You can sprinkle the avocado with nuts, sunflower seeds or pepitas, or even some pomegranate seeds.

I'll throw in one more quick, healthy meal idea that anyone can make...when you're craving pizza, it's much healthier to make your own at home. This is something I struggle with. Pizza is one of my favorite foods! And I live in the Chicago area, so we have THE best pizza.

Make your own pizza crust, or use a prepared one. Just make sure it has minimal ingredients and no hydrogenated oils (such as soybean) or preservatives in it. The one pitfall of this type of bread is that it is high in sodium. So even pizza at home should be a special treat. Most people don't realize that bread contains a lot of sodium!

Brush your pizza crust with extra-virgin olive oil or tomato sauce seasoned with herbs. Then load on the vegetables. I sauteed my vegetables just a couple of minutes before putting them on the pizza so that they wouldn't be TOO crunchy. I used red peppers, broccoli and red onion. You could also use fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach and/or jalapenos. To do as the good doc said about cutting down on the cheese, I used fresh mozzarella sparingly. Bake at 400 degrees until done. My pizza took about 10 minutes.

I hope this post was informative and helpful and I look forward to sharing a lot more about healthy eating, nutrition and natural health in future posts. Please feel free to share any of your own stories or ideas about healthy, clean eating. We're all here to help each other.

still in the throes of winter, but robins & valentine's day decor add some cheer

We're still in the trenches of winter here in northern Illinois and I'm officially sick of it and longing for spring. Two weeks ago we had a couple of big snowstorms, then we had record-breaking cold, and now this evening into tomorrow morning, we're under a weather warning for an ice storm. They're saying travel will be nearly impossible on untreated streets and not to be out unless you absolutely have to. I don't have to go anywhere, but both my husband and son will be traveling home from work tonight. They're also saying we could easily lose power from snapped power lines and falling tree branches. If we lose power, that means we won't have any heat either.

All worrisome indeed, but since I can't do anything about the weather, I can at least take pretty pictures. These were taken 1-1/2 weeks ago at a neighboring farm where I was picking up my custom pork order. Their hogs are pasture-raised and supplemented with a non-GMO, organic grain mix. If I'm going to eat meat, I feel better ethically eating meat that's been humanely raised and not fed GMO corn and soy. And our bodies thank us in the way of good health with that part, too.

 Last week I walked into my living room and saw a flash of orange out of the corner of my eye. I looked out the window and did a double-take when I saw a robin! I know not all robins fly south for the winter: there are "winter robins". Nevertheless, I have never seen one in winter. I ran to get my phone to take a photo and had to take this through the living room window, plus zoom in - hence the blurry photo. Someone on Facebook commented that she looked pregnant, too. Either that or she's just very fluffy!

 It's been gray and gloomy outside for what seems "forever". So I'm always glad when it's time to start decorating for Valentine's Day because the pops of red and pink add color and cheer around the house. Even though we don't make a big deal out of this "holiday", I've always liked it because there's no stress...and who doesn't like hearts?

In my bedroom, a tin heart and a hand-stitched Cupid pillow hang from the side of a bookcase...

and best of all, a heart banner made by Connie of Crafty Home Cottage hangs above my bed. I treasure all the things my blogging friends have made for me over the years.

In the kitchen...

Inside my small china cabinet...three out of the four hearts in the white box in the middle were made by Carol of Art and Sand. The fourth (the one in the back, right) was made by Penny of At Home in English Valley.

"The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love" (Hubert H. Humphrey)

Thank you for both. 💓