This weekend was really great! I got to go mountain biking with Blake and Ian on Saturday. On Sunday Ian and I rode to church then all three of us rode to the Diamond to watch a baseball game. Most of today was payback for playing too much and not doing chores, but I finished everything by 5:30 and was able to go ride again. I rode for 40 minutes at Dogwood Dell. It was awesome! Hats off to everyone that worked on building that trail. Riding it feels like flying! I even got to take Ossian for a walk at Byran Park when I got home. We walked for 40 minutes, mostly trail. Now he’s as content as me. 😊 Today I prepped lots of food for the week: carrots, leeks, squash and broccoli blanched and frozen; 2 lbs of turkey cooked and frozen; soup made for lunch Tue and Wed; and plenty of broth. I even figured out how to freeze chopped garlic for quick use in soup. And I made my first attempt at creating squash popsicles. They aren’t too bad, actually. Today I feel like I’ve returned to LIFE after such a long time just surviving, making it through one day to the next but not really living. I hope this continues!

hi xanga world, it’s been a long time! i’ve been using my phone and ipad to track my progress through paleo-type eating and now the GAPS intro diet. this week i’m going to try tracking things here and see if i can make it work. i’m taking a minute to scribble before work but will come back later to give more background on what led me to this diet.

today is my second day of the intro diet, stage 2. my plans today are:

egg yolks: 2-3
sauerkraut juice: 2-3 tsp
ghee: 1 tsp
probiotic
no cheating!

meals today:

breakfast: bison broth, ground bison, boiled carrots, 1 egg yolk
snack: chicken broth
lunch: same as breakfast (made extra last night)
dinner: 

merry christmas!! it’s snowing at the moment and church is cancelled so i have a little extra relaxation time. i haven’t updated this diary in way too long so here goes. where to start?

i’m SO much better than i was last time i updated. i found out a few weeks ago that i’m allergic to several foods and ALL of my health problems have gone away since stopping the foods. in the beginning it was hard and i’m still kind of in mourning for my favorite foods but i LOVE being well so much! i’ve been able to run for real lately, instead of hobbling along. i can play with ian, and walk ossian, and cook, and all kinds of things. it feels like i’ve been given a completely new life!

i signed up for the seattle rock & roll half marathon on june 25, 2011. my friend ‘seattle karen’ – three of my favorite people are named karen so they all have nicknames so that blake can follow me when i talk about them. anyway, seattle karen is running it and i’m going to try to as well. blake and ian and i will go out there for a week right at the beginning of her summer break. i’m SO looking forward to it! i have a training plan all laid out to take me from my current out-of-shape-ness to half-marathon shape very, very slowly. “slow & steady wins the race” has been and is still my motto in my effort to get in shape again.

i took pictures of some of my christmas presents. blake got me some wool running/biking gloves, which is very nice because i was wearing socks on my hands before, and they’re pink!

mum got me mittens from the vancouver olympics!

blake gave me a pink pocket knife. pink! how cool is that? there’s a story behind this gift. last time i had to bring oranges for ian’s soccer team there was a bit of a mishap to do with not having a pocket knife and well, a big chef’s knife ended up at the bottom of the cooler of drinks that the boys were reaching into for their drinks. oops!

blake got me an aerogarden! so now i have my own indoor herb garden. awesome!

i got other awesome things too but there were the most photogenic gifts

i have a weekend off! yay! not sure yet what i’m going to do. i’d like to go mountain biking but my front brake isn’t working again. i keep taking it in to be fixed but by the next ride it’s kaput again.

yesterday i spent much of the day at the vet with powder. she has a urinary tract infection and a heart murmur. her fever has broken this morning and she’s eating and drinking again but we’ll need to get a echo soon to figure out the murmur. until a week ago i had $700 saved towards ossian’s second knee surgery (need $1,400). after ossian’s visit last week and powder’s yesterday i’m down to $350 and the echo is about $350. i’m going to have to put more into the vet budget to get back on track for ossian’s surgery.

i ‘ran’ 10.6 miles in june. my goal was to do 10 miles. hooray! my goal for july is 12 miles. slow & steady wins the race…

more photos:

snow in our back yard the weekend before christmas

sledding

blake made the sled (go blake!) and demonstrated proper sledding technique

blake holding ossian after his surgery

three-legged ossian in the snow

snowmen

christmas day pics

i have a photo update:

our little tree with a mountain of presents. it’s a norfolk island pine. my challenge is not to kill it so it can live through many chrismasses:

ossian after his knee surgery, in a baby sling:

ossian had surgery on monday for patellar luxation. close up of the little guy:

driving to the hospital saturday:

i’ll have some sledding and snowman pics once i upload from the camera. these ones are from the phone.

merry christmas!

i can’t believe summer is almost over! ian and i are having a staycation this week. we spent much of yesterday working on his room and will probably be doing the same today.

also have vet visits for ossian and christopher today. christopher is my first aarf foster dog. he came from a house with 72 dogs. they were all covered in fleas and had mange. he has some persistent hair loss and is having some tests done today about that. he’s a sweet dog! we’ve had him for a little over a week so far and he’s quickly taken to being housetrained and crate trained, as well as several commands.

christopher:

ossian starts canine manners class this week. he and i have been running regularly, a little further each week. ian comes along on his bike. we made it all the way to the park this week for the first time!

ossian:

it’s saturday morning. ian is tidying his room and i’m drinking my coffee. it was a good week. i rode to work sunday, tuesday and wednesday. yesterday i spent time in the yard. made mulch from the giant container of fall leaves. i couldn’t believe how quickly i went through it! next year i’ll need to shred (mow) the leaves before they go in so i can fit more in there. maybe i’ll take some garden pictures today. the squash is GIANT and trying to take over the entire garden.