Other than that, business has been BOOMING. I have some amazing clients that I am soooo so grateful for. One major thing I need to do business-wise is learn how to schedule time for my secretary (a.k.a. me), my bookkeeper (a.k.a. me), and my cleaning lady (a.k.a. me). Sometimes I feel like all I have is a massage therapist on staff, as my files are piling up, my birthday coupons are weeks overdue to be sent out, and dust bunnies are nesting in my corners. It's overwhelming I tell you! Though, like I said, I am so grateful that this is the problem I have, being so busy. It's definitely a good problem.
I've been doing an alternative market once a month too, which has been going very well. I spend a the day (and some of the day before if I time it right) baking some of the recipes you find on this blog, as well as making pre-mixed packages of my paleo tortillas, cookies, and pancakes. That evening I sell them at Market on Main in Red Bud, and I've gotten a lot of great feedback from my customers! It's been very fun and rewarding, yet takes a lot of thought and planning making sure I get the ingredients I need as well as figuring up prices for my items.
Another project I've taken on is a 5k. This idea started towards the end of last year when Justin and I were talking about the year a member of our community created a "Pay It Forward" run, which was an unofficial 5k that happened once a month, and she'd choose a different charity to donate to each time. We'd donate whatever we felt like, she'd tell us the route, we'd take a group picture, and off we'd go. Justin and I tried to make it to each one, and that was the year both of us were in our best shape. We wanted to try to get back into running again, so I said how about we try to recreate the idea of the Pay it Forward run? Not long after, Terri Liefer and I were talking about her new charity, Love Abby, in honor of her step daughter who's life was taken too early by a drunk driver. The charity donates items to foster children in the local area, as well as homeless and women's shelters. She said if I had any fundraiser ideas to let her know, so that's when I told her about my thoughts about a 5k. It took off from there! We're going to try to meet once or twice a month from April to October, and each time we'll collect items to donate to the Love Abby charity.
Maybe I'm biting off more than I can chew? The first run is next Saturday, the 16th, and the only thing I have done is a 3.5 mile route planned out. I intend to create a 5 mile route for bikers and more advanced runners, and a 1 mile route for walkers or novice runners. I need to print maps, run copies of the printed maps, and create markers to put along the routes to direct people who don't do well with maps (or I'll just have to tell people to deal with it, ha). But, at this point in time, I'm going to keep the routes the same each time. So the next times, I wont have to think as much. Just show up.
In amongst all this I'm still trying to keep my family eating healthy, manage the mundane tasks of homeownership like bills and cleaning and planning for the next projects we want to tackle with this new house, and raise these two lovely yet demanding children. I've had to keep Harlee's karate schedule straight in my head, which I've screwed up a few times, and Elliot is at an age where I simply can't take him anywhere lest I go insane. He refuses to talk at his ripe age of 20 months old (I could have full conversations with Harlee at this age), and lets me know with an adamant shake of the head that he's uninterested in vocally communicating with me, thank you very much. And instead cries or whines or yells to communicate. I'm so over it.
Natural Pink Eye Remedy
On top of all that, this has been the year of the pink eye at our house. UGH it's relentless!! What is up with that?? In case you're interested, I've cured it naturally every time. But it seems like once I get rid of it, only three weeks later one of them will either bring another case home from school or daycare. It's soooooooo contagious. To treat it I put colloidal silver in their drinks, which is a natural antibiotic. It's silver particles suspended in water, and bacteria cannot live on silver, and silver kills bacteria on contact. I'm still working on researching how exactly that works, but I've known about it for decades and you can see it in action if you host a Norwex party. I found this article, for starters, if you want to look into it yourself. Anyway, I continue that a couple times a day until symptoms are gone. I follow up with lots of probiotics (I just break a capsule into their drinks), as you want to keep that beneficial bacteria thriving in your gut - that's what makes up most of your immune system! I also use homeopathic eyedrops (they need to contain Euphrasia) 3-4 times a day until symptoms are gone. Believe it or not, you can get these eyedrops at Walmart. I've had it beat in no more than 3 days each time, usually it's gone within a day and a half. If you choose to treat pink eye naturally in your own home, the rules according to our doctor are to wait 24 hours after symptoms have cleared up before returning to school or daycare. I'm currently dealing with it again - Harlee brought it home from school and I had it kicked in a day and a half, but of course he shared it with Elliot, and I am still treating that. That then messes up the schedule, as they have to stay home from school and daycare, which only adds to my stress with having to reschedule clients and find back-up to watch the boys (my mom has been a lifesaver).
So, that's where I am in life. Not to mention it's getting nice out, so we've begun gardening, we've got lots of chickens, and we're getting ready to start landscaping and spend some tax return money on cabinets for our home office/mudroom (and hopefully get a little more organization into our lives).
Stress
One of these days (or weeks or months) I'm going to write a decent article about the effects of stress on our well-being. Because I am totally experiencing that first-hand. I've maintained a workout schedule, which amazes me to no end, yet I've been noticing the scale creeping up little by little. Not cool! Especially after all the hard work I've put in to get it down! I've been eating as healthy as I can, but I believe the stress in my life has thrown off some of my hormone production/transportation, as I've noticed with other symptoms going on. I've been super bloated, feeling feeling fatigued during the day, I have a really hard time getting up out of bed in the morning, I'm craving junk food, my brain isn't firing on all cylinders, and I've been increasingly crabby despite the supplements I'm taking that I've always had success with. I decided to start a mild cleanse. I purchased a 14-day herbal cleanse kit from our local health store which basically contains two different herbal supplements to help detox your organs as well as a fiber supplement to help flush everything out. I'm trying to focus on eating healthy during these two weeks as well as exercise regularly like I have been. I'm on day 3 and already my fatigue is gone! I actually got up with Justin at 5:30 this morning and did some basic stretching and yoga poses to start my day. It felt really good! Usually right about now I'd be ready to crawl back to bed for a nap and I'm still going strong! I really hope I'm onto something!
It's almost time to pick up Harlee from school. But before I wrap this up, I wanted to share a recipe with you, since it's been a long time since I've done that. It's a tuna or salmon salad that I've made similar to my favorite chicken salad. I've made it a few times both ways and it's been delicious every time! I like to scoop some onto a bed of mixed salad greens and just eat it like that. So good!
That's all for now, it was great to finally get to write again! I miss this! Hope you've been well, and I look forward to writing again!
Tuna or Salmon Salad
Sorry, can't come up with a more clever name. It's got a lot of goodies in it!
2 cans tuna or 1 can salmon
1 boiled egg, chopped
1/4 cup real mayonnaise
1 tsp mustard (whichever kind you like)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2-1 stalk celery, finely diced
1/2 small yellow onion, finely diced
handful of dried berries
handful of chopped pecans or walnuts
(I didn't measure the berries or nuts - just put however much you like in there, or omit completely)
Mix ingredients until thoroughly combined. Enjoy!
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