Friday, May 23, 2014

Planters & Paleo

My little succulents that I planted  almost a year ago are still thriving.

 
I love my vintage snail planter.
Finding vintage planters has become a passion for me. I am always on the lookout for them and love featuring them in my Etsy shop WeelambieVintage.

Cottage Country Planter White Roses
I also found some pretty vintage wire baskets that look great with plants in them.
Chippy White Fleur De Lis

French Provencal 

My Whole30 update ~
Paleo is starting to roll off my tongue like it is a normal word for me to be saying and not some crazy fad diet.  I still haven't gotten very adventurous in the cooking department. I have found that while I am on my Whole30 it is better to keep things simple.  If I start experimenting I might find myself eating a whole bagful of trouble.  There are wonderful recipes out there Nom Nom Paleo is a perfect example of eating extraordinary food. 
My go to easy does it favorites~
Veggies~ spinach, baby greens, radishes, sweet potatoes, peppers, eggplant, olives and zucchini.  
Proteins~ chicken, pork loin, steak, salmon, cod fish, scallops, shrimp, eggs
Fats~ EVOO, Coconut oil, avocado 
Fruits~ bananas, oranges sweet section by section a treat, Georgia peaches, berries.
Other things I love but have in moderation~ cashews, raw almonds, flaked coconut, once in a while a date or two for my sweet tooth. I have to buy dates just 4 at a time out of the bin at the health food store. They are that yummy. Food without breaks for me.
I drink water by the gallon all day long and black coffee in the mornings.
My breakfasts are usually steamed spinach and eggs. Lunches are baby greens and I cook enough chicken on Sundays to shred some to take in a packet to work for my salad.  I also put other left over meats on my salads. Salmon or pork loin are favorites. I make my own dressing with EVOO, lemon juice or cider vinegar, sea salt, pepper and some dried mustard . I have a bottle of it at work and one on my kitchen counter at home. I pack my Monkey Salad and have that at work either mid morning or mid afternoon if I am hungry.
Dinners are easy throw together meals. I roast sweet potatoes on the weekends so I can heat them up on weeknights.  I have salad a grilled meat and what ever veggies I have ready to cook or left overs.  On Sundays when I am cooking all that chicken I also roast a big pan of veggies drizzled with EVOO, salt and pepper and roast the sweet potatoes.  Thus all these ingredients are ready to divvy out during the week at lunches and dinners.  I am telling you I don't miss my old Lean Cuisines at work one stinking bit.  This is more work but so worth it and makes the weekdays easier.  
These radishes are the bomb-diggity!
Colander is here
 I have not been having cravings!  Having sugar and grains out of my system has gotten me off the merry-go-round of eating  and then being a starving hungry run to the kitchen shove it in my face lunatic binge eater.

a simple Whole30 meal. 

That has been my week. Vintage planters, Whole30 challenge, meal planning and of course a little knitting.


I tried on several blue nail polishes at Big Lots today while I was picking up that swimming pool.  Here I am knitting and waiting for it to fill. Tomorrow the grands will be playing in it.  
Thanks to everyone for your kind comments and cheering me on during my Whole30!
~ Anne





Thursday, May 15, 2014

My Favorite Salad

More on my Whole30 and a little knitting.

Questions asked at work.
So Anne, What are you eating?
I am eating Monkey Salad.

Monkey Salad

Shaved unsweetened coconut, cashews, banana = Bliss and a filling, nourishing addition to breakfast. This really gets me through the work day.

Newest benefit from eating my way through my Whole30.
I have had a tremor in my hands for years. It is almost gone.

Next benefit the energy to knit.
I finished these dang socks. I only had to do the kitchener.
Misi Alpaca Hand Paint Sock Yarns
It is to hot to wear wool socks in FL. so I hung them in the garden for the day. More on the garden later.

  
Anne

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Remembering Momma (babyhood through Alzheimers)

My Mother  B.C.A. 1912 ~ 2009
From the beginning of one century to the beginning of the New Millennium.  My dear mom. I miss you.
I want to ask you more questions. Life is so full of questions.
 
 The early 20th Century
 the adored first grandchild.
Barbara 

Barbara

Her younger years.
Mom on left. Possibly my favorite picture of her. Enjoying the boys pipes with a girlfriend on an outing. 1930's

The middle years. Life as a wife, mother and artist. Caught between two worlds.

The War Years with First Son Ross and girlfriend Judy

Ross, Mom, Chip
Mom and Dad their 25th anniversary

B.C.Arnold the Artist
The years in Georgia. Her time to be her own person.

Mom's Georgia Mountain Cabin

Georgia years, watching us head out for a ride in the Smokies. Trackrock Cabins

Great Grandmother


Momma and Me
Her 90th Years... The Alzheimer Assault.
Age 90. Still Brilliant, Eager, Inquiring

Surrounded by the next generations and slightly confounded by it all.
The Years When Memory Escaped and Love Took Over
Ravaged by Alzheimer's age 96. Still Beautiful. 
The Gift to live a long and convoluted life. Guided by faith, Loved by family, Cherished in Memory. 
We Look Unto The Heavens. Our Strength and Salvation .
Beautiful and Young
The Breeze Soft On Her Skin.

Alzheimer's Stole You.
Love Kept You.
Remembering You. With Love and Tears.
~Lambie

Friday, May 9, 2014

My Fish Dinner ~ Paleo Diet

Whole30
Week1

Doing well with my Whole30. Tonight's dinner was wild caught salmon and steamed swiss chard.
It was yummy.
The first week was interesting. For several days my tummy was out of control.  I had headaches, my brain left me in a muddled fog for one whole day.  I knew from reading the book It Starts With Food that this was part of the detox and more or less of it to be expected.  I expected the full whammy as I am in such crappy shape going into this.  I began feeling better toward the end of the week. I am still having headaches in the evening, but they are mild and go away when I drink a couple glasses of water.  So maybe I am just thirsty.
Surprises I have had.
*   I like my coffee black.
*   I love my greens at breakfast
*   I am thinking those greens need some hot pepper flakes (yes at 7am I thought this)
*   I have survived without eating late at night
*   I have not been shove it in my face hungry. No not once.
*   I have not had hypoglycemia in days.
*   I have not missed dairy as much as I thought I would.
I have learned that I have to watch the nuts. Food without breaks for me.  It pays to be attentive and listen to my body.

While all this was going on this week a very special patient of mine gave me my annual gift of Marmalade.


He is now 92 years old and he makes this himself from the citrus fruits that grow in his yard.  He said this time he has a special surprise in it!  Not sure what that is. He likes to mix a variety of oranges, lemons, grapefruits.  I know I can't taste it while I am on the Whole30 but if I do reintroduce sugar into my diet at some point I will give it a taste.  I am just happy to have his gift and look at how pretty it is.
~Anne

Friday, May 2, 2014

Whole30 Yes

I can eat this way.
Okay so I over cooked it a bit.... It was yummy.
I have been MIA while I contemplated for a long time what it is I need to do with my life to make it better, less painful, more active and live (I hope) longer or at least healthier.
I read this book. It Starts With Food and found so many answers to decades of questions I have had about my relationship with food/eating. There are many blogs on the Whole30 and I have found inspiration in them.  My little blog is simply to speak up and say, "this is me... I need this.... I can do this... I have started this Whole 30."
Thanks go to friends Gail, Shelley, Kim, Anila, Nikki and  brother Chip, nieces Sarah and Kelly for showing me all along that it is the food you eat.
Today I am Whole30
my other reasons for needing to do this are here.

How could I not want to try.