What Was I Thinking?

Not sure if I blogged about this before, but I'm taking a 6-week Ayurveda class. In case you don't know what Ayurveda is, it's ancient Indian medicine. Just click the link for a full description. It sort of goes hand-in-hand with yoga and something that I've been fascinated in for many years. I just wrote a long blog post for my YogaDudes site and since this is part of my year that I want to document in my blog book, I thought I would share the story here as well . . .

My 4 Day Ayurveda Cleanse

I'm just about through Day 1 of my first-ever Ayurveda cleanse . . . and so far, it's been torture. I have to say, I'm not cut out for this sort of thing. I'm a hungry Vatta that snacks constantly. When I get hungry I mean business and need to eat immediately. I always carry candy in my purse (for emergencies). You would think I'm a diabetic with my urgent need for food - mostly candy. So why did I agree to four days of torture? That's a good question to which I'm not sure I have an answer.

Part of my 6 week Ayurveda class included taking part in this 4 day cleanse. I guess I got all wrapped up in the spirit of the class. Besides, I would have been the only one not doing it. Maybe it was like peer pressure. I didn't want to look like the only loser chickening out due to my fright of butter and prune juice. OK, I'm getting ahead of myself a little . . .

So the day began with me (trying) to get up early so that I can boil the Hell out of water. Did you know that water changes its molecular structure if it gets boiled to death? Yeah well, this was news to me. It isn't bad enough that I had to drink hot plain water all day, but first I had to boil it for 30 minutes. Not terribly convenient and you should have seen the rushed production of trying to figure out how to move said boiling water from pot to stainless steel water bottles (no plastic of course). Nightmare and 4 burnt fingers later I'm ready for the part of the cleanse that scared me more than the "laxative effect." I had to drink something that disgusts me so much I almost gag at the thought of it. And I learned another new thing. I learned about a product called ghee. I wish I could describe exactly what it is, but I couldn't even listen to the description in class. Click on the link if you're curious. Basically it's butter. I despise butter and I had to DRINK 2 teaspoons of melted butter. I scrubbed my lips, fingers, teaspoon, and cup for 10 minutes desperately trying to get the ick off. Being late for work this morning was a given.

I had to take some sort of digestion pill 30 minutes before breakfast. I have to say I easily put breakfast off due to my complete lack of appetite after that ghee. Maybe this fasting thing won't be so bad. Then came breakfast. I had oatmeal (which I love. Wait a minute - USED to love). Never in my life have I experienced plain oatmeal with no sugar or honey. Holy smokes, it's terrible plain. I couldn't even choke it down and half of it ended up down the drain. Now how will I get to lunch????

Not sure how I managed it, but I sipped my plain hot water until noon. That's when I had to make my special Indian rice called Kitchari. Aside from having to actually find a pan and turn on the stove at work to cook the stuff, I was looking forward to it. Too bad it tasted like dirt. But I was hungry enough to eat it anyway. Lunch is supposed to be the biggest meal of the day, but I definitely didn't have enough. I should have planned better and brought some veggies or salad to add to it. Tomorrow for sure.

A couple more special and awful pills before and after the meal. For God's sakes can't they coat these things? Choking them down (with the hot water) is simply dreadful. I made it all through the afternoon, staring down my box of Thin Mints and staying away from my secret cabinet full of Dove chocolates. Very proud of myself indeed.

Dinner time came and I was starving. I had the second half of the Kitchari that I made for lunch. This time I sprinkled some fat-free Balsamic dressing on it and strangely it still tasted like dirt. I treated myself to a yam after the dirt. Hopefully that will hold me over till bed time.

Before bed I have to go through a special nighttime routine. First I have to dry brush myself - just brush my skin with a special brush. Next, I have to take a bath in Epsom salt. You should have seen me in the grocery store looking for that stuff. Now I'm trying to figure out how much a 'quart' is. Thank God for google. I can't believe how challenging this has been so far and I'm not even done with the first day. Anyway, after the bath (and then shower because how am I going to wash my hair in the bathtub?) I have to oil myself from head to toe . . . with oil that will turn me, my towel, my pajamas, and my sheets orange. Great! Next its meditation and breathing exercises and finally sleep. But wait, I can't go straight to sleep. I think tonight I deserve to watch Glee, just to get the thought of ghee out of my head.

Stay tuned to see if I survive this very long 4 day ordeal.

Spring Cleaning Phase 2

This weekend we entered Phase 2 of our Spring Cleaning ritual. This one just makes me giddy . . . it's called dog de-stinking. One Saturday we fumigated their bedroom. And by "we" I, of course, mean "Karlo." Out came the multiple dog beds and carpet and everything got washed, room and contents of room. Here's a shot of the beds drying on the deck.

Now can you just imagine the torture these poor dogs had to endure as their beds were being washed? Oh my goodness it was terrible! They had to lay on plain carpet. Horrifying, I know.

The sun was not cooperating and it was looking like the beds would not dry in time for bedtime. Now there will be a big problem if the Princess didn't have a comfy bed to sleep on. We had no choice and were forced to head out shopping to buy a brand new bed. But it wasn't all bad. This was my first successful trip out in public where I entered a store and didn't have to go running back to the car to hide from the noise of people bustling. I did so well, in fact, that Karlo treated me to dinner in Sturbridge. Wow, I was out in public with no ear plugs. Such an accomplishment.

Princess got to sleep on her new bed and I didn't know a dog was capable of smiling such a big smile. When we got home, Cooper came upstairs to hang with us in the living room, while Peanut went straight to bed, claiming her new territory. Thank goodness Cooper is a good sport.

Since the weather was nicer on Sunday we deemed it "doggie shave day." I did my happy dance as Karlo shaved all the hair off the hounds. They didn't seem to mind much at all.


And they really don't look all that much different, just lighter.

They do look pretty silly with dark heads, legs and tails and bald light bodies.


And to think Peanut needs to go to the vet this week. I can only imagine what the vet is going to think of our grooming skills.

Week 17 in Photos

This week is going down as my worst week in pictures to date. I'll try to do better next week . . .

#115
Trying to figure out what's happening to our grass. I suspect grubs.

#116
I took a half day to try to nap, but the bees kept me busy swinging the tennis racket. My arm was sore for two days just from swatting bees. Pathetic.

#117
My bike is going through surgery as Karlo prepares to change the oil. No easy feat with this model bike.

#118
Believe it or not I have a 500mm lens sitting on the counter. Did me no good as I tried to capture this hawk sitting on our blue bird house and terrorizing the poor babies inside. I'm shooting through the deck railing, hence the brown stripes.

#119
Some of the lingering fog in the field on our morning commute.

#120
The Jeep goes topless. Ready for the warmer weather.

#121
Doggie shave day. Good bye dog hair.

There Goes Our New Hot Tub

Dammit. That is all I have to say about that. The timing was unreal. First, I was cautious and waited until after we had our taxes done, to make sure we weren't going to owe too much. As soon as I got the good news from the accountant, I added the hot tub of my choice into my online cart. Karlo starting mentally preparing the deck for extra support, I almost had my finger on my mouse ready to click the "order now" button when the bad news arrived about our roof in Maine. Insert swears and expletives here! And there goes the new hot tub. I could have had two of them for the price of this stinkin' roof. Steam coming out of my ears . . .

And the worst part is that I could really really really use a hot tub these days. My body aches almost constantly for no apparent reason. I fantasize about how nice it would be to soak in a tub. Not to mention that having a hot tub may be the only way I'll ever go back into the woods. I figure a quick dip in the tub after hikes will boil off any free-loading critters. Sigh. I guess it's gonna have to wait now and I don't like it.

I Need More Sleep

I swear it feels like I need 20 hours of sleep per day right now. I am just so unbelievably tired all the time, it's unreal. I sometime think about writing on my blog, but just the thought wears me out. And then there's trying to figure out what to talk about, besides my current misery . . . and I always draw a blank. My life is just consumed with being sick and that alone makes me sick.

So since my illness is all I can think about these days, maybe I should document where I am with it. Tomorrow ends my 21 day dose of antibiotics and I'm also scheduled to see the doctor again tomorrow. I'm clearly a long way from being back to healthy and I can't wait to see what the next step will be. I've gone beyond frustration and I'm now entering anger. It's amazing how many feelings a person can have toward a bug. A DEAD bug! That damned little bug . . . . . OK, deep breathes.

My ears are still super sensitive and I'm convinced that I lost some hearing. I can no longer hear low range things, and most things above a whisper are still too much for me. My comfort level is ridiculously small. My body is still sore and achy and every morning it feels like I was in a car wreck the day before. How can muscles ache so darn much without having done anything to stress them? I just don't understand it. My back and neck hurt no matter what, consistently every single day. And if I do the slightest amount of physical activity, I'm sore. Yesterday we took a short easy walk and my legs felt like I biked all day. I swatted a tennis racket around a dozen times yesterday (trying to kill bees) and today my forearm hurts like crazy. This is the most pathetic and depressing situation. I went from being in tip top shape just a month ago to THIS. There are just no words to describe how I feel about this.

But on a brighter note, the severity of the headaches has decreased, the pain in my hips is gone, and the dizziness has lessened. I'm moving around at much quicker speeds and that, at least, makes me feel better.

Now if I could just figure out a way to sleep 20 hours a day while still getting paid, life would be better.

Week 16 in Photos

This past week is going down in history as the most miserable week of my life. Even I struggle to find the words to describe the misery. Taking just one photo at day was, at times, almost overwhelming. It meant that I had to actually get off the couch and move. uuuuugh. You can't even imagine . . . So here's my week, as best as I could capture it.

#108
This is basically what gets me through the day . . . noise canceling headphones, pain killers, my antibiotics, and probiotics. What a rockin' good time my life has become.

#109
I got up and took a picture of the couch with all my blankets and pillows on it, but then I turned around and saw Peanut lying like this. This defines EXACTLY how I felt (and still feel) so I couldn't resist this as my photo of the day. Thanks for illustrating, Peanut.

#110
It was good timing that my new book arrived from Amazon today. I read a lot this week, considering how much my eyeballs hurt to move them.

#111
I actually ventured outdoors today (I went to work even, but that was a mistake). When I got home I wanted to take photos of the spring bulbs and made it half way up the driveway! But the wind was too strong to take a nice picture of the daffodils. I got this dead bud instead. More appropriate for my mood than bright flowers.

#112
I was determined to keep our tradition of painting eggs on Good Friday. After procrastinating all day, I finally mustered the energy to watch Karlo paint them.

#113
Now I really got crazy and did a load of laundry. It took everything I had so imagine my delight when I opened the drier door and money literally flew out at me. It was like a winning slot machine. How exciting!

#114
This picture shows my only bright spots of the weekend. On Friday, we colored the eggs, on Saturday I found the Snoopy card and my favorite candy of all time in my mailbox (Thank you Tina & family!!!!!), and this morning I got a partially deaf (just like me) chocolate bunny. So maybe things are starting to look up.

Goodbye Miami

This morning we got off the ship and headed to the famous South Beach in Miami for our last excursion. I didn't' realize that it included a bus tour of the Art Deco district. I guess I don't read the excursion descriptions very well. So this was a bonus and it was quite interesting. I've heard of Art Deco before, but I never really knew what it was or how it came to be. It definitely made us take a closer look at South Beach and appreciate the architecture. It's funny how I never even noticed this on our first visit several years ago. I wouldn't normally have taken boring pictures of buildings, but now I was fascinated by the styles so I grabbed a few cool pictures.

Aside from the cool buildings there was nothing else about Miami that I remotely liked. Check out the temperate while we were there . . . You may have to click on the photo to actually see the temp.


I can't imagine why anybody would want to live there. No amount of beach or sunshine is worth that crazy traffic.

And I'll leave you with one last video of the trip:



And if you would like to see the still photos, here's the link to those.

Thanks for sharing in our trip. I have one more page of notes to type up, and that's the pros and cons of cruising. Stay tuned for those.