Miles and Miles of Small Brown Piles

***WARNING*** Do not read this while eating. Just in case the title didn't clue you in.

Ahh, the beautiful snow. It's pristine whiteness has covered the valley floor since the beginning of December. We haven't seen the ground, save a few patches that were purposely scraped bare, for months. Lately on the trek to the car or the bus I have noticed a large number of...umm...doo-doo piles appearing. Many more than I normally have to watch for. It's like dog-doo to the tenth power. Yuck. I never even considered the fact that for all these weeks as the dogs faithfully trotted out to do their business, the icy cold ground was preserving their offerings. It gives a whole new meaning to the term "spring thaw". I wondered why everyone scrunched up their nose when they said it.

Today was probably the hardest day to stick to my raw food plan. I made steak and baked potatoes for the family. It smelled so good when I was cooking it. I didn't even have a taste! Instead I had a bowl of cucumber, tomato, cilantro, celery and lemon juice. Almost like a gazpacho. I have also had some raw almonds, a tangelo, a good apple and a BAAAD apple (I kept hoping it would improve), and the rest of my yummy banana leather. I have now surpassed the 2 year low. think it's been easier to stick to after having given up all the stuff I had already cut out. I have been drinking at least a gallon of water every day.

Feeling like a housewife

Not a bad thing at all. Hugh took a temporary job in in Oroville, thanks to Rob K. It seems you have to know someone to get a job here, resumes and credentials seem secondary to the word of a friend. I can see whay that would be a good thing, and we feel very blessed to know a few folks who are comfortable vouching for us. Hugh is working on a condo project on Lake Osoyoos. After many years out of construction, he has been coming home sore and tired, but very thankful to be working. Anyway, I have had him here at the house for so long thats it's quite odd to be home while he is working. This is only the third day, but I will be in service all day, so I find myself prepping for dinner so that he will come home to hot food. I always do the cooking anyway, but normally on my long service days I take care of it when I get home. For some reason, I feel more compelled to be efficient with him working.
My meals are much easier to prepare. All I have to do is peel and eat (I have had a lot of citrus this week). I have lost more on a few days of 100% raw than I did the previous 3 weeks at 80% raw with calorie restriction. Interesting. I did make some tasty banana leather, some savory flax and garlic crackers (both in the dehydrator) and a failed attempt at raw potato chips. They came out gray and nasty, and not quite crispy.
I viewed a website yesterday with a 65 year old woman who has been eating raw for 40 years. She looks about 30.
I am a couple pounds away from a 2 year low, and 20 lbs away from a 5 year low.

Breaking News

We still watch the news here daily, I've been a first-30-minutes-of-the-Today- Show fan for a decade. When it breaks to go to local news, I still crack up at the "technology" of the local station. Often, the cameraman actually zooms in on the desktop PC of the reporter to show emails they have gotten or photos that viewers have sent in. They don't being the image up to the screen, they just show the monitor and slowly zoom in.
Dakota says we should start a Tonasket station (the other one is in Spokane) and use Hugh's Iphone to zoom in on for weather reports. He's always thinking.
So, I should have gone 100% raw before. I need to find out how it is physiologically (is that the right word?) to lose so much weight so fast, while taking in the same amout of calories. Raw food guru's claim it's because of the lack of toxins in what you eat, and that cooking food poisons it in a way. They say it heals whatever is wrong with your body and makes your metabolism work correctly. I need to do more research, but no complaints from this girl.

Tightening the Belt

Literally and figuratively. It's been 3 weeks since my detox started. I have been 100% strict about the artificial sweetener and caffeine. I have stuck to mostly raw and unprocessed foods. I've dropped about 6 lbs, but I am right at the sticking point that I have hit multiple times the last several months. I have dropped about 25 lbs since we moved here, but i am really craving some serious progess. So tomorrow, Monday, I start 100% raw. I am committed to 21 days raw, so I will update you on the results (mood and weight) when it's all over. If it goes like it does for most folks, I should drop about 20lbs in the 3 weeks. Enough to show. If you haven't heard of this type of eating, check out Alissa Cohen or Angela Stokes.

Tennis Elbow and Bowlers Knee

Confined to the house for excercise purposes, unless I want to ice skate, I have been playing Wii for exercise. Now, I am pretty lame at most video games. I would be the last one in a schoolyard pick. But with Wii, even I have a chance. I am not brave enough to challenge Cheyenne to baseball, or Hugh to boxing, but I have the big shiny bowling ball that labels me a "pro" in the game and it is oddly satisfying. I am embarassed to say I have a sore knee and sore arm from playing. It took a couple days to figure out what I was sore from, but yesterday, as I assumed the bowling stance and my knee protested, I was at once enlightened and ashamed.

I am really wanting to try 100% raw food for a week, to see if I can kick start. I have been about 80% raw, but that final bit MIGHT make the difference. I start every morning intending to do it, and then something happens. Usually cheese.

A Blogworthy Scream

Last night as Cheyenne was primping for the evening in the bathroom, she suddenly let out a shriek. Not just any shriek, but a long drawn-out squeek followed by a throaty "Geeet offff!!!" Moments later she sheepishly peeked around the corner and said,

"I didn't know I was afraid of spiders."

She explained that there had been one on her collar, and she had not recognized it as such until she got closer to the mirror, whereupon it became immediately terrifying. I had to torture her by telling her it had probably been IN her shirt all day and had finally broke out. She proceeded to tell me that it had only crawled in her shirt after laying an egg sack somewhere in MY clothes or shoes. I don't know where she gets that stuff.

Here is what I see just about every day now.

The snow is a little dirty, but we might get a fresh coat tonight. I hope!

This is the kids on the Weeks sledding hill. Yes, the same hill where Hugh careened into a fence post.

On the diet front, things are going GREAT. The no caffeine thing has had one really surprising effect. I am NEVER tired during the day. Truly. I would have never thought that would be the result, but all those ups and downs and "I need a nap"s seem to be a thing of the past. No longer tempted by diet soda, I have been chugging water and liking it. Plus, the high amount of fruit and veggies I have been eating has allowed me to really start tasting all the flavors in my food. I think I am onto something that is really going to work.

Lastly, you should probably check out Cheyenne's blog for an AWESOME photo she snapped of Chibi. I think she should get a hold of KFC and make Chibi the new spokesdog. When I was looking for that, I found these two that show Mack and Chibi really are soulmates:-) Enjoy.

All for the Love of Good Parking

Sometimes the smallest things bring joy, you know what I mean? I still smile with delight when I can ALWAYS pull right up in front of the store I need to go into, and park. It feels like cheating! Downtown Tonasket has like 4 blocks to it. The block where I need to be most often is faced with the pharmacy, the sporting goods store, the hardware store, a pet store, a real estate office, a radio shack, an auto parts store and a grocery store. Plus a tavern, of course. Except for Labor Day weekend and opening weekend for hunting, I can always just park AT the front door of my destination. You would think I would get used to the convenience, but it's still a high point of every trip to town.

A far cry from the old days of being happy just to find a spot at all!

On the diet front, all is still well. A whole week+ with no caffiene, no artifical sweetner and all that! Today I made fresh bread and I had a slice when it was done. What a mistake, I must have a major gluten allergy. I immediately got severe heartburn. All week, I have not had to take one antacid (I was probably popping about 50 a day prior to the diet) and I had to run for the tums. I have quite a few supplements still from my old days of trying every possible diet, so I have been able to take vitamins and keep close track of my nutrition. I would say mornings are probably the hardest for actual hunger, and evening are the worst for cravings. I miss WINE!!!! The scale has not moved a lot, but I have a feeling it's going to start dropping fast.

I got to talk to Levi today, which is always a treat. He sounds like he is doing really well, and I am always happy to hear he is associating with folks from the congregation. Sky is headed back over the end of Feb for a visit. It will be interesting to see how he feels about it once he has gone back.

Tomorrow is the LONG school day. I will try to post.

Treadmill Time

I did some time on the treadmill last night. I was at the Weeks, and was inspired by all that shiny equipmwnt. I just did 20 miniutes, interval style, but it felt GREAT, I was able to eat a really light dinner after that. Veggies only! Today, I plan on NOT staying on plan 100% (superbowl party) but I want to keep my water intake way up and look for lean snacks. Hugh is making Chili Cheese fries that I will probably have to try, though. Go Cardinals!

Ice Skating Rinks

The temp here still hasn't come up above freezing since mid-December but it really hasn't snowed much since the end of the year. This has left us with a frozen crust of snow on everything. Most of the roads are clear and dry, but the ones that aren't- the roads less traveled- are covered with a bumpy hard ice sheet that is very hard to navigate on foot. It was cold today, and windy. Please don't think this is a complaint. The winter is BEAUTIFUL. I do long for a fresh coat of snow to clean everything up, but I am the minority in that regard.

On the diet front, I am still clean of all my prior addictions. I still miss all of em too, and I am frustrated that the scale shows nothing yet. Yes, I know that scale weight is not the only measure, but there are moments that I think I could be eating and drinking and eating what I want and maintaining...so why all the hard work. Then I have moments like this morning when I was in the back seat of a car and was forced to see my chin and neck in the rear view mirror for an extended time. That was lovely. No eyes or hair to distract from the neck and chin that I definitely did not want to claim.

Grapefruit, Banannas and Peppers, Oh my!

Another day down. They say the first 3 days are the hardest, and I hope it's true because it has not been easy. I haven't suffered the caffiene withdrawl headache, but I have suffered MAJOR cravings for diet soda, or anything sweet. I am tracking my calories and nutrition on Fitday as is Dakota. Thats a great FREE site that really makes you realize what you are putting in your mouth. With my daily vices on the no-no list, there hasn't been much I have wanted to eat. I carry an orange or banana with me so that I don't get home hungry and dislocate my jaw to eat whatever is in front of me.

If you haven't checked it out yet, the newest member of our family to start blogging Chibi the pug. Her advice coulum is not to be missed.

Sweet and Surprising

Dakota had his meeting with his consultant this morning. He also got his grades for the last semester. My goodness, I could not be prouder! He got A's in WA history, PE, Math, Math Interventions, an elective and a B in English! Thats a 3.83. He is setting the bar high for the other kiddos, we'll get that info this week, so stay tuned. Chey is taking to Spanish like you wouldn't believe, and I can no longer understand about 1/2 of what she says. Gabe's laptop contracted a nasty virus he is working on fixing, and I think Jess is just happy to be done with his Great Wonders project, which received a high A! (His mom is glad that's done, too!)

So far so good on my detox plan. Whats really funny is the thing I am craving most is artificail sweetener! Most of you who know me are aware that I have never thought of sweets as my weakness, I am more of a bread, cheese and butter kind of girl. However, those same folks know that I have been shamelessly addicted to energy boosting supplements for over a decade. For years, I took drops with a high ephedra content (until it was banned!). I used to pour a couple of Diet Squirts into a mason jar, load it with the energy drops and refill when it was empty. My desk always his a couple 12 packs of Diet Squirt. When I finally had to give that up, I switched to Diet Rock Star energy drinks. I would have at least 2 of the giant 32 oz ones every day. That was even more expensive than the drops had been. Then, Gina showed me that I could get a lot more bang for my buck with the Crystal light energy packets. They were only about $3 for 14 packets, which would last me for 3 or 4 days. Massive caffiene, almost no calories, how could that be bad. BTW, in Gina's defense, she bought them for herself, and did not like them- she was not trying to feed my bad habit.


Anyhow, if I calculate correctly, I have never skipped a day of energy drinks of some sort since the days of North Creek Heights, about 15 years ago! So all this time I thought I was addicted to caffiene and ephedra, and I think I was just as hooked on Aspartame or whatever they put in the drinks to sweeten them without calories.

I have no issues with energy, I feel great...I just wanna chug some diet soda...NOW. I am going to do some more research on why they are so bad (I have been told, it just seemed like the lesser of two evils) and that should motivate me to stick with it.

Something I have been putting off

I keep talking and talking about it, but it's time for me to get serious about getting healthy. Todays WT really made me think about the fact that it's hard to serve with my whole strength if part of my "whole strength" is just taking care of the body I have neglected. So here is me, putting it out there...I took measurements in several places and I still have a grand total of 80 inches I need to lose. My goal is to have that completed by the end of August. I'd rather not share how many pounds that translates into, but I will down the road. How am I going to do it? One word. DETOX. I am cutting caffiene, alcohol, dairy, gluten, artifical sweeteners, and as many cooked food as I can. It's going to be a drastic diet because I need drastic and I am tired of feeling yucky so often.

Hold me accountable. I will post inches lost every two weeks!

Spam, Geography and the Alternator

Welcome to random world! Not a lot of significance has happened so far this month. The Alternator went out on the van, and we are waiting for something to close before we replace it, so we've been sliding around in the truck. Gina is still staying in town, and Hugh and I are still being wimps and sleeping in the house instead of trying to brave the bus. Gabe and Jess have been splitting their time between both places and I realize how spoiled we've been all living together. Back to forgetting stuff at the other parents house, back to trying to keep track of which article was studied where and with who.
I got distracted sorting through stuff in my outlook email box. I had 6000 unread messages, plus many more than that that had been read. I started trying to get rid of the spam and successfully reduced the unreads down to 3400 before remembering that I was going to update this.
I had an encouraging call from a coastie friend who says he thought maybe my love of this place was a phase, but that every time he talks to me I sound even happier than before. I think I am. It's been almost a year since we first started talking about this move. The first weekend in March was out first visit here, so it must have been mid-February when we first talked about it. What a difference a year makes.
I saw Skyler in town today and he looked...at peace...I don't know any other way to describe it. He had a smile on his face, and this sense of well being that made me feel very happy. He looked almost guilty. I asked him what was up and he sheepishly admitted that he thinks he is really starting to like it here. I told him I thought it kinda gets in your blood, if its the right place for you, and he seemed to understand what I meant. However, he hasn't embraced it yet.
We had a great visit from the CO, very encouraging. He and his wife were a delight and they will be back in April. It still feels a little odd to only have one night time meeting a week, but we are filling it up with study time. Just miss the association, I guess.
I finished the world geography course, which is designed to teach you all the countries of the world in 18 weeks. I designed it for Chey, who is now so far ahead of her grade that she gets to back off on school work and hence, will not need the course this year! I had a blast doing it though, and I am hopeful I can get into writing curriculums for $$ in the near future.
Dakota is insisting he is starving to death, so I am going to go build some dinner.

Starting off the year right

We had Paula, Raine and Laraine here this weekend. Gina, Skyler and Ganny had George and Kathy at the house in town. It was a weekend of great company, good food and wonderful upbuilding conversation. The WT study this week was so invigorating, I think we all got a shot in the arm to start the year off.
Paula and Raine stayed up at the Kammeyer estate, and We kept Laraine here at The Rainey Ranch. Laraine took us to dinner at Tonasket Pizza Co, and having not been for a meal out in months, it was pretty amazing. They have Calzones the size of Shetland Ponies. Dakota had JUST arrived home, so part of my meal was spend just being happy to see him again. I think we took more food home than we were able to eat.
We tried bribing the three of them with more snowy drives and congregation gatherings, but alas, they headed back over to the wet side. I mean, the West side. Or maybe I don't.

The Cheyenne's take over.

When we first moved here, there was all this discussion about how we would distinguish which "Cheyenne" we were talking about, since there was- amazingly- another Cheyenne the same age as ours. There's the typical last initial added on, a variety of nicknames that didn't stick (mostly because BOTH girls go by Chey and CheyChey). Little did we know the girls would solve this on their own by becoming nearly inseparable, requiring us to only refer to them as The Cheyenne's.

Are The Cheyenne's going to be there?

Do The Cheyenne's like Peanut butter?

Could the Cheyenne's BE any cuter? Ok, that one is mine. :-)

Our little house is extra full this week, thanks to Cheyenne K's mom needing to spend some time at the HOSPITAL. She lost a battle with her gallbladder, and finally decided that sheer force of will would not cause the pain to go away. Anyway, we have priveledge of hosting not just Cheyenne, but the adorable, unstoppable Lily.

What a treat to have a house full of girls for a change! The Rainey Cheyenne (another one we tried) is IN her element.

Were hoping things go great for their mama, but we are planning on enjoying our week with the little ladies!

Still no cabin fever!

I've been having so much fun here, I barely noticed that the winter soltice passed and the days are now getting LONGER! Yay. On the coast, I think I had to X off the days on the calendar for about 6 weeks because it was so gray and dreary for that time, and for the weeks just after it.
Here, the sky is so....BIG. I mean, we are surrounded with hills, but there is a huge expanse of sky to see all the time if you look up or down the valley. I've been kinda dreading the cooped up feeling we'd have in this tiny house, but it's not been bad at all. Of course, the good friends with regular invites to get out for a few hours doesn't hurt!
We spent yesterday playing a new (to us) card game with G&R. Hugh kicked all our heinies, but I look forward to the rematch.
Hugh finished a NEW website he built for a client, which is super cool, because thaks to that and a small side job he did with a friend, we actually have the funds for a few luxuries. Like laundry soap and toilet paper. :-) I might be tired of being poor, I'll have to let you know later.

My little warm cocoon

It keeps snowing and snowing. That, combined with a holiday week for most folks, has kept me pretty much cocooned in my house, and happily so. Its nice not to have anywhere I have to be, anything that has to get done (although I have been kicking heinie writing a really cool geography course for the kid's school- and in the meantime learned a ton of world geography myself) . I found a REALLY ADDICTING, EDUCATIONAL GAME that turned me onto learning all that. You can select the World, the US, North America, Africa...whatever. So far my highest travel IQ score on the World one is 126. See if you can beat me.

Woefully Unprepared

I have a recollection of warm summer days when I had a few extra dollars in pocket. I remember a conversation where I suggested, casually, that we should get boots, hats and coats BEFORE the cold weather hit. We all agreed. Summer turned to fall, and now fall has turned to winter. I called one of my friends and guiltily confessed to playing the role of the grasshopper in the "Grasshopper and the Ant" fable.

I have no excuse. Winter didn't come early, in fact it was late. We didn't get the plumbing doen for Gina's trailer. We didn't get straw bales around it so it would be tolerably warm. Now Gina is stuck staying in town with Ganny and Skyler, and Hugh and I are sleeping on the sofas in the living room since the bus is a frigid -3 degrees.

But I still love it here. What an amazing group of friends we have have been blessed with! I feel like I have known some of these folks for a very long time. I just hope I can bring half of the friendship and warmth they have shown me and my family back into their lives! Happy Monday.

Grabbing Life by the Belly Fat and Giving it a Twist

That's actually a medical term here in Tonasket. In fact, that's what they call it when a 40 year man (Hugh) races headfirst downhill on a sled that has been dubbed "the Coffin" by a younger, heartier generation, and uses his collarbone to stop his descent on a fencepost.

So now Hugh is wearing a contraption called a "figure 8" that pulls back his shoulders and pushed out his chest so that he will heal correctly. But maybe I should start at the beginning.

The first snow of the year came later than usual here. November was crisp and beautiful. And Busy. Which is why November was lost on my blog here. Anyway, by the time the snow appeared, Cheyenne had been rushing to the window for days hoping for a miracle from the blue sky.

The cold hit first. The temperature dropped and dropped until it was hovering around 10 degrees. Once the flakes started falling, it built up fast. We had about 8 inches of snow by Friday night. Gina starting staying in town with Ganny so that she could be sure and get around and be there if Ganny needed her. The kids were invited to stay with some friends who happen to have a GREAT sledding hill, so it was just Hugh and I Friday night. Saturday, we were going to head over and pick the kids up. We were able to determine very quickly that the van was just as bad as we remembered int he snow. Rear wheel drive + top heavy vehicle = slide-o-Rama.

We didn't even get the van out of the driveway. It settled in the low spot. Fortunately, Kelli showed up in her cape and pulled the van to a level spot where it could rest. She tinkered with the Bronco a bit for us (which has turned into yet another money pit :-) ) and then she offered to just give us a ride to the much anticipated "first snow of the year party" at the same place the kids were stowed.

On the way, we ran a few errands and then went to wait for her daughter, who was returning from a field trip. Her daughter was a couple hours late, and we got bored watching another set of parents smooching, so Kelli drove up to a big flat spot and started spinning her truck in the snow. It was somewhat anticlimactic, so we started back down the hill and noticed her front tire seemed low. Really low. Hugh got out to examine it, and when Kelli asked if it was flat, he replied in typical Hugh fashion,

"Only on the bottom."

A quick check revealed that the spare tire was missing from the truck bed, so we had to call the back-up superhero, Joel, to bring us provisions. If I didn't already mention it, the wind was blowing HARD and the heat in the truck was questionable. It was basically warming the truck up to freezing.

Kelli's daughter arrived, Joel arrived and the tire was changed out in a matter of minutes. Boy, were we ready for warm drinks and a hot dinner when we finally reached our destination. We'd traveled only 7 miles in 3 hours!

So all the kids were on the hill sledding in the dark. The wind was blowing too hard to keep the Tiki torches lit, and the adults were chowing on Chili and hot buttered you name it. The kids tapped on the back door to ask if they could ride a canoe down the hill and most of the adults objected.

"There's no way to bail out easy" one said.

"You'll end up in the ravine" warned another.

The kids trudged away and then Hugh appeared at the back door. He looked pleadingly in at us with red nose and snow covered clothes.

"We really can't try the canoe?"

The adults broke into laughter, realizing the biggest kid of all was in charge. They loaded into the canoe and we all went out to watch. It didn't work. The canoe sat on the slope, unwilling to slide. Slowly, everyone extracted themselves from it- except Dakota.

Dakota had wedged himself into there so tight, I don't know what he was thinking. Hugh Flipped the canoe upside down to motivate him to try harder, and he eventually emerged.

Anyway, with all that pent up adrenaline, Hugh needed speed. He eyed the coffin and decided to teach it what a real sledder's body looked like. We all headed inside. Ten minutes later, the front door opened, and I heard what i thought was Dakota making the sounds that mean he thinks he is hurt. A sigh...a grunt...a quiet groan. I waited for the inevitable summoning, which came- surprised the heck out of me when it was Hugh.

I thought by the look on his face he was having an insulin reaction, and then he informed me he had broken his collarbone. Having arrived the without a vehicle, and then behaving like I had a designated driver lined up- I was grateful that we had friends to drive us in. Less than an hour and several one liners later we left the hospital, first snow day of the year leaving an indelible memory on our hearts..... and shoulders.

October in Tonasket

I think we have had rain on 3 days this month. It was a sprinkle that lasted a few minutes, and one night it rained for a few hours. Other than that, this is the most beautiful COtober I have ever see. The temperature is usually around 60, the skies are almost always blue and the air is dry and crisp. I think fall might just be my new favorite season.