A Reminder

Lots of wee folk about today.  Some toys just never lose interest. This marble run is probably twenty years old and has been played with for much of these years.

 Sprinkling cornstarch doesn't seem to lose its allure either.  Interestingly, the mosquitos have been dreadful. No one coated in powder got a bite this noon.

 Giddy-up needed to take his "hangs" to the tree fort for a picnic.

 He was so happy to have Pappy join him.  As we walked down from the fort he said, "Pappy made this tree fort."  "I love it."

 Late afternoon brought the worse kind of news.  Handy Man's nephew was killed in an automobile accident very early this morning. He was 26.  What can you even say about such a tragedy.  A reminder to soak up all that sweetness, each moment that you have.  Please keep his family in your prayers.

Hunger Games 8-26-2013

Have you heard the quip, "Did you lose weight?" "No, I just got a haircut."  Well, I got my haircut yesterday.  I can't really say it looks too different, just shorter. It just touches my shoulder, flat ironed. That's the shortest it's been since Bean was a baby.  It will really be short for me when it's curly.  I just needed a change.  And I did lose 3lbs.   Handy Man did not lose any this week, but is still feeling good about the difference in his feet and legs.  I added the oatmeal pancakes and a snack with a bit more carbs. We'll see what the next week brings for him.
In what I believe was a God incident, I picked up a book from the new book shelf at the library called Fat Chance by Robert Lustig.  I almost didn't pick it up.  I wish I had a hundred dollars for every book I've read fighting this fat monster.  I have other loved ones who fight the fat monster too. I read fast and seem to be gifted with  nugget plucking and getting to the heart of the matter. I honestly thought I'd read it and tell them what it said. I didn't much imagine I'd read anything I hadn't heard at sixty three times before.
 Back in the day, when I went to see our root doctor, she told me that my feeling like I was starving was not my imagination.  She shared that some people's system will grab carbs, turn them into fat and demand some more.  I knew that's what it felt like and it was comfort to hear her say it.  My personal doctor basically told me unless I had someone to prepare my meals, and train me physically two or three hours a day, that I needed to get over losing weight. When something went south health wise, he'd treat it.  With this advice, I was horrified.  No, no, no.! There has to be something and I've pursued better health for what seems like years. But really, he was right, I've failed and failed and failed again, at least where weight loss is concerned.
Back to the book.  While I wasn't any happier in one sense, than with what my doc said, this guy gave me the scientific data nerds like me crave and added a piece I wasn't expecting. I could have sobbed right on the page and ruined the book.  First, let me say that my first thought when reading is "What are you selling?"  This man is a pediatric neuroendocrinologist  who isn't selling anything, but what I believe is the truth. I seriously doubt he needs a book to pad the coffers.  It seems his goal is to blow the cover on the whole "low fat" that had food companies putting sugar and corn syrup in every other food product on the shelves.
What made me sob?  He explains the process of a certain hormone that signals the hypothalamus that you are satisfied, fed, tanked up, whatever.  When it's broken, the message received is not only are you not satisfied, but starving, and your body will release no energy. He claims the reasons some people are couch potatoes is that there is no energy resources available for them to use. I'd say for at least six years, I've questioned why all my energy is drained after what I see as little effort.  I want to come home from school and have a life, but after the last kid is loaded and I drag my tired butt on a mile walk, I don't even want to go home, because I can hardly face even something minor that needs doing.  I feel like I push, push, push.  I've known something was wrong, I just couldn't figure what.
More than before, doing this with the Handy Man, makes it clear than  that I've got a broken part. Three weeks and for him, more energy, and except for a beer crossing his mind, no cravings at all.

The answer? This doc doesn't have one and he can't see one coming anytime soon, especially for weight loss.  If you read it you will see the time, money and energy have that have gone into finding a way. I already knew the statistics were grim.  He says exercise isn't the answer to weight loss, but will help move out the dangerous fat in your middle. He stresses that fast food should be avoided, as well as all processed food and to give as much effort as possible to eating whole food with lots of fiber.
If you are able to be successful at these things, you still might not lose weight, but you stand a better chance of keeping the bad health wolf from the door. Land's- depressing, but at least a very real explanation.
I wish that book were required reading for every reader on the planet.  It might make those with well oiled working parts understand those without a bit better.
I would love to commit to not having sugar, ever again, but it's presence is so pervasive in our culture, that I have no faith in being able to hold to that.  At the ball game on Saturday, Bugg asked me which was my favorite candy. I knew she had in mind to buy it for me. I told her the candy I preferred, but that I wasn't eating candy right now.  Next, she wanted to share her popcorn with me.  Oy vey!  It is just hard and I can do it for awhile, but history repeats itself that I cannot hold out in the long run.  Still, for now, I'll press on.
I've rattled on quite enough and will discuss the cauliflower crust experience in the next update.

Around the Garden

Spent some time meandering in the garden today.  I didn't plant a ton of flowers and my Mexican Sunflower came up from last year. Still, they are putting on quite an end of summer show, and I never tire of soaking it up.

Sunflowers so camouflage my bee girls, but if you look, you can spy her packing her saddle bags with pollen.  From six feet away, I could see them hauling pollen into the hive by the buckets. I am always amazed how those tiny critters carry such a load.

 While I've never made up with okra for eating, it certainly bears a gorgeous bloom.

 The zinnias and tithonia drew lots of visitors.

 I love these because they bloom so late and the color is so deep. It looks like orange velvet. Stunning.

 Tithonia makes no effort to hide her pollen and nectar.

 And tomatoes in morning, tomatoes in the evening, tomatoes at supper time.  Another huge batch of salsa. Love, love, love.

Hunger Games August 19, 2013

Hunger is actually rather a misnomer for this adventure.  We aren't hungry.  And on Saturday we strayed from the plan.  You might imagine a far more fancy faire for our slip, but it was wings at Zaxby's, along with french fries.  I knew if we veered off the path, it should still have a considerable protein. Zaxby's wings are not breaded and we like them, so.  It actually was a late lunch, twoish, so we had a handful of nuts for supper.
Clearly, it didn't impact the Handy's Man's success one iota-five more pounds.  Yep, two weeks in and fifteen pounds for him.  He said he was perfectly content on this plan (though I noticed he ate every last one of those fries, I left some, thank you) and will stay on it forever if I'm interested in planning and packing his every meal.  He claims he's surprised by how much better his legs and feet feel. While some reflux is still present, coughing has halted almost completely and there have been none of those middle of the night awful bouts.  All the planning and work of meals make it worth it to me to see this progression in healing in only two weeks.
I guess our slip had no impact on me either because I still didn't lose a single pound. I told the Handy Man that if it weren't for him weighing, I would go get a new scale. I mean it has not moved for me at all. I can't imagine that your weight wouldn't fluctuate in some way.  Ugghhhhh. Seriously people, how can you pull off twenty pounds of honey and not eat it or make something of it, yet lose no weight? That seems so wrong. I must be absorbing it through my skin.
So, I keep trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong, or what can I do more right.  I decided to go back to the smoothie recipe as there is a lot of hype on the benefits of whey protein.  In Trim Healthy Mama they have a recipe with cocoa. I tried it, couldn't do it.  Then I tried it with cinnamon and vanilla- not as bad, not good.  There is only, in this area, one brand of low carb milk that I know of, but I don't mind it if I'm in need of a chocolate fix.  It wouldn't be considered healthy by the Mama's, but I thought to try it.
This is an interesting science experience if nothing else.  Every time I'm kind of entertained, even if I can't drink the result.
In the recipe, you put a half cup of almond milk and a half cup of water in a high end blender. You add cocoa, truvia and this stuff called glucomann that is just fiber and that's all, no carbs, no calories, nothing, oh and  a pinch of salt. Blend it up.  I put way less cocoa and that low carb milk instead of water.
So you blend it and it looks like blended up stuff.
Next you put in two cups of ice, crush. Still looks like a chocolatey mess. Then the magic. You sprinkle in a scoop of whey and hit blend and it grows exponentially up the blender glass and looks exactly like a frosty. It doesn't taste anything at all like a frosty however.  With the chemical milk (I don't know if it's chemical, but I'm guessing) I can drink it.  I also learned not to blend it too much, because if you incorporate too much air, it isn't very cold anymore. I'm not in love with it cold, but it goes down several notches when it's barley cool.
I seldom wake up wanting breakfast, and the thought of it makes me a little yukky, but by ten, when the cooks are going strong in the school kitchen right next door to me, I'm starving.  If I can manage to get a glass of this down, I'm not hungry and haven't done any kind of damage of any kind.  There's very few carbs or fat, just protein and fiber and water. Well, let's not forget some unknown chemicals.
So, that's  my goal for this week. A smoothie for breakfast.
I needed something new for the Handy Man for breakfast, who would be happy to find breakfast in his lap upon sitting up in bed. I wanted to begin to add a few carbs. His weight loss needs to drop to a pound or two a week now. I tried another recipe and he liked it fine.
You blend one cup of oats, one cup of cottage cheese and one cup of egg whites, then make them like crepes.  THM calls them pancakes. I guess they've never eaten my pancakes. Anyway, he can heat up three with some sugar free syrup for breakfast. If you aren't an oatmeal lover, but want to get that oat fiber in, this might work for you.
Tonight I tried the ground flaxseed flatbread recipe.  Well, well.  It doesn't taste like any kind of bread, flat or otherwise that I've ever made. I won't be making it again and my chickie girls will be fortified with some flaxseed.
So, I tell myself once again, I just don't need carbs regardless and Handy Man is healthier. So, it's all good, except when it isn't.

The Extraction

Exciting times around the place.  Last week we took ten frames of honey from Mordor. This week a kind teacher friend allowed us to borrow their family's honey extractor.  Comb, that comes from the top bar Harmony Hive, must either be put up with cut comb or squooshed.  With a Langstroth hive, you use an extractor. When I replaced the frames I took, I only put a preformed wax sheet in every other one. I'm hoping they will also make their own comb in the frames between.  I like that idea much better, since I have no idea where or what the preformed wax comes from.
There have been many surprises along this very educational bee journey.  The most challenging has been getting a straight answer.  I bought this great looking book, judging by the cover, on bees at Tractor Supply.  Nutso, that's all.  It said if you are beekeeping small time like us, you must use a fume board to get the honey laden frames out of the hive. Not could, or should, must.  Do you know what that is?  Can you guess?
It is a special cover that you spray with some sort of something, then sit on the super with the honey frames.  The fumes drive the bees down into the deep and you lift off a beeless super. Umm, no way.  I covered all but the spot from where I took the frame, gently brushed the bees back into the box, then moved to the next one.  I sat each beeless frame in a box, that I covered with the lid each time.  It worked fine. I use a lot of "I" here, but a certain Handy Man was helping.

 Wow, the box was heavy, over 50lbs.  Yesterday morning we went to get the extractor.  The other surprise, in more than one book, is the notion that some people just think extracting is too much trouble.  I knew it would have to be bulky and awkward, but having spent my life around large pots and pans and feeding the masses, I was not intimidated.  I filled pots with boiling water, scalded and dried every bit carefully, as water in the honey will cause it to ferment. That same book also declared that this was a messy job and you absolutely would not want to do it in your kitchen.   Say what?  Man, does that tell you the place we've arrived at.  Oh no, wouldn't want to mess up your kitchen with some sweet, sunny goodness, directly from the source.  I'm sorry. I don't get it.  We extracted in what was in my mind the most logical place, the kitchen.
First you have to uncap the honey.  This is a big bad hot knife and, wow, does it get hot. You slice down the top and pile the mess on a cookie sheet.

Next, a frame goes on each side.

 Put the lid on and spin. It really didn't take but a few seconds of spinning.

Then you remove each frame, turn them over and spin again.

 
The honey is running down the sides, through the holes in the bottom to be caught in a strainer basket, then into that tank on the bottom.

Now you leave it, and once again, I'm so accustomed to so many people in my kitchen that doing the two-step around this beast didn't bother me at all.  I was not just the photographer either. I decapped and flipped and spun, yes a honey of an acrobat I am.

As each frame was emptied, we placed it back in the plastic box.  When we finished spinning, I scraped all the wax caps and honey into the strainer as well.  The next surprise, the plastic box full of spun out frames still weighed twenty pounds.   Those frames seems to weigh nothing, and comb doesn't weigh much either. I wouldn't have thought the plastic box to be heavy.  Now, the Handy Man brought the camp table to sit in the sunshine in a direct bee line from the hives, many yards across the lawn and I sat those frames all over the table and left the bucket also.  Later, when we checked on the frames, it was a scary bee scene with thousands of bees covering every speck.  I love this part. Not a drop of honey wasted. Every bit we weren't able to get into the tank, goes right back to the hive.  By dark thirty, the frames and the bucket were clean.  Yet another surprise.  The bucket full of frames now weighed only ten pounds, so ten pounds of honey went back into the hive.
This morning we cleaned jars and lids and set out to see the result of eight months of dreaming, planning, building, fretting, sweating and learning. And out the spout she flows.

I love, love, love this picture.

When all was said and done, every piece of equipment was again moved out in to sunny bee line. I see no sense in washing any of it down the drain. When my bee girls have cleaned the wax, that will be used for something else as well.  

Kinda makes me teary.  So to my kiddos, thanks for more Christmas in August.  To our friend Ted for answering endless questions and to  Paul and Connie for sharing equipment.  It takes a village to make honey. God's amazing creation never ceases to astound me.

Happy Sunday

Bones and Stones

Since I have such a very small class this year, we started the year with an interact simulation game called "Bones and Stones" with the sixth grade.  The students were divided into four bands and every afternoon for the last two weeks they've worked together to learn about fossils, and pre-history.  There has been much making of presentations and skits and as usual, they've impressed me with their amazing creativity.

 First, we needed to understand what fossils are. In experiments, we pressed shells or dinosaur feet into clay, then poured in plaster of paris to get the gist of mold and cast fossils.  We squished and blew on sponges to get the idea of their porosity, then dipped them in wax to understand how mineral water flows through bone and over time fossilizes the bone.

We visited the newly opened Indiana Caverns and students were able to see ice age bones that still were bone and had not yet fossilized.  

In this career of mine, I've also taught teachers-to-be and was so delighted that one of favorite college students guided us with great enthusiasm and much knowledge through the cave.

 
Gardner E. shared a lesson on cave paintings and a student's dad, whose business is creating bones to replace the ones of yours that no longer work, shared about how bones are formed.

 Next week, they will recreate Stonehenge with stone, paper towel rolls and string.
If that weren't enough excitement in the classroom, we had two additional visitor right outside our door.

 Oh MY JOY
A little village girl I happened on during playdate.

Tramping through the creek with Giddy-up and his net, following orders.  "Here (thrusts the net in my direction), catch me a "hish" in this "hang."  And I did.

Spending the morning at the school creek with my school kids.

The weekend!

Wishing you some joy!

Hunger Games 8-12-2013

So, we're a bit more than a week in on our new no white stuff plan.  We haven't eaten out once, but I did break down and buy some sugar free jello, and after trying repeated recipes of stuff I simply couldn't eat, I fell back to one I knew would help- Skinny Chocolate.
Now, that is really an interesting name that  low fat followers would scoff at, but the title indicates that eating it over the real stuff makes you skinny, not that the candy itself is any type of skinny.  It's simple really, The Trim Healthy Mama recipe, warm coconut oil (1/2) cup, stir in 4 tsp. Truvia and 1/4 cup of cocoa, pour in a pan, freeze, break into sections.  Just as it's written, I wasn't overly impressed.  I discovered, in my desperate quest for finding something that gives me the notion of sweetness, without my blood sugar acting the fool, that a tiny bit of the real evil stuff goes along to making stevia palatable. One tsp of sugar has only 5 carbs. A piece of chocolate, that tastes real, is more than worth 5 measly carbs.
So, I put a stainless bowl over a pot of hot water into which I place 1/2 cup of coconut oil, which is now believed to contain all sorts of amazing healing properties.  While the water is warming, I place a piece of parchment paper in  a pie plate.  The next part may sound crazy, but it makes the candy to my notion.  I take my mostest favorite salt, Maldor flake salt, just two pinches, which I crush as I sprinkle over the paper. Next, I sprinkle toasted pecans over the paper.  Then I stir the evil sugar and stevia into the oil, then stir in the cocoa. Pour it over the nuts, stick in the freezer.  Later, I pop it out, score and cut into at least eight pieces.  For some reason, that little bit of sugar doesn't dissolve, and with the salt, makes that tiny bit of evilness pop sugary goodness all over your mouth. While I doubt this would be a go to candy if you weren't trying hard to restrict carbs, it works for me when I'm feeling cranky and desperate. Which, by the way, is mostly how I've felt.
I've been told it goes wonderfully with a warm beverage, but I manage okay throughout the day.  It is usually right after supper that I'm feeling like this day was too long and I need a treat.  I don't drink coffee or hot tea that late, so I haven't tried it with something warm. That piece does it.

So, we weighed in on Monday.  This  Monday past was day seven for me, but Handy Man forgot to weigh last Monday, so it was day seven for him too, but six days since he weighed.
And.................
Handy Man lost ten pounds. Count them ten, you know as in not one, not two, keep going all the way to ten.
Me- nothing. Nothing to count. Zip, nada, zilch.
Of course, you know don't you, that when I fix myself an egg, I fix him two or three.  He gets two or three servings of meat to my one and I could go on and on, but I won't.
In case you are worried, we don't just eat meat and eggs, I fix vegies every way imaginable and then some.
Well, I can't say I'm surprised, but I can't say I wasn't quite a bit disappointed and disheartened, and did I say depressed.  Though it has limited success, I comfort myself with knowing that at least my pancreas is smiling.
I do truly know that if you can hang in there, the cravings for sugar decrease after about ten days.  I also know sugar is an addiction like anything else. Handy Man doesn't have it. Now grant it, if I had someone preparing me yummy meals and leaving them at my finger tips, this road might be easier on me too, but still.  You go from over consuming carbs all day except supper and you don't miss the sweet stuff one iota? Nope, no "stuck on sugar" problem there.
Perhaps there are more reasons than one to work this plan.  Every time I do, I feel so much more sympathy for people who battle addictions.  I get so tired of thinking about what I'm going to eat next that I could scream.  You have to plan carefully though, or you'll fail.  I've been invited to dinner, or gone to shower, open house, conference, teacher meeting, etc. and there really not be anything without carbs.  Then there's the social piece. When someone brings something to share, it hurts their feelings when you turn it down.  Many aspects to this road. The only good thing, would be losing weight. Oh, well.