Author: Ashley
•7:01 PM
So I saw the new dr this week. She is a DO which is totally new to me but i really like her. Almost all of my bloodwork was perfect. The few things she saw that weren't where she wanted them, she has me taking supplements for ( MCT liquid, colostrum, vit d, vit a, probiotic, homocysteine, and GI revive). Most of those were inflammation markers and such. She also started me on the low dose naltrexone. Tonight will be my 3rd dose. I really don't feel any different. I stopped taking the lialda (again) so I'm kind of waiting to see if things get bad again. I have multiple ulcers and my tongue is still white so obviously there are issues but it's only been 3 days. Plus I just got the supplements in the mail and started them today. On a very interesting note, my total cholesterol was 150 and she said she'd actually like that higher. Totally random but I think it being low is affecting my hormones. I plan to have roast beef and a steak this weekend. Yum! Except I can't have a baked potato with it...oh yeah b/c she also wants me doing the SCD diet. I follow it mostly anyway with the exception of the sugar in my coffee (haven't cut that out quite yet).

Another interesting thing she said was I have hyposis (sp? or it might have been a different word) of my eyes. Basically, my eyes constrict with light but quickly try to dilate b/c I'm in adrenal fatigue. She wants to do another blood test and start me on a supplement for that as well but it will have to wait until our bank account has recovered from this last testing and buying all the stuff.


She also mentioned I have a scalloped tongue and said it was probably due to TMJ. That has grossed me out/bothered me more than anything. Seriously...rectal bleeding-no big deal; scalloped/swollen tongue-ew!

I see her back in 3 months. Hopefully things will continue on a good path and we can get this junk under control!

Author: Ashley
•6:47 PM
I love that we live in an area where we have access to a lot of different activities...one of them being Braves baseball. We were given tickets by my husbands' sales team and enjoyed a nice afternoon of the Braves and the Mets (Braves won but we left early). Little Monsters' funny sayings of the day:

*can we get some food when the Mats go back to bat? (I said "the who?") The Ats.

*there was a guy walking around selling "ice cold beer" and another guy selling icees. Little Monster heard the beer guy and saw the icees, turned to me and said "I want an ice cold!"

Little Bit and him were also talking about shapes the other day and she said that her cup was a circle. He looked at her and said "well mine's a cylinder". He never ceases to amaze me!

 

Author: Ashley
•8:39 PM
Hmmm...closing in on 2 months without an update. Geez!!

Mostly updating now to list the things I hear regularly at my house:

*Peach/Mario/Bowser- the kids are obsessed with Mario Bros and also pretend. What better thing to do than pretend to be the Mario Bros characters? Today Mario and Peach got married (little monster and little bit) and then Mario and Peach got married again (this time I was lucky enough to be Peach). Then I heard Mario and Luigi get married which opened up a whole new can of worms. Oh and we had to have the "don't kiss each other on the lips she you're pretending to get married" talk which neither of them understood, I didn't go into huge detail about, but made me feel better.

*ayuh-greese: little monster's oh so sweet term of endearment for his sister when he isn't getting his way

*"mommy can I make a craft?" little bit loves to cut/paste. She just makes up stuff to do. And when it is her idea, she really puts all of her heart and soul into it. She was looking at an oriental trading magazine a few weeks ago, saw a craft kit for a butterfly, and decided she needed to make that. She just looked at the pic and made it work (we didn't have the kit). She's going to be an innovative person.

*prayers at bedtime: little monster's are still pretty basic. He thanks God for mommy, mommy (yes, I get 2x the thanks), daddy, ag, mamaw, and papaw and then whoever we chose to pray for that night. Every once in awhile he will throw in a "...amen. And Lord please let us have a good night, and be with mommy, mommy..." and start all over. It's cute! Now, little bit has become a little billy graham. Her prayers have become very heartfelt and passionate. They consist of some of the following "I know you are the one true God...thank you for everything you are...thank you for your world and your beautiful creations..." and she will go on for 2 or 3 min like that. During some pretend time at a friends' house the other day I heard her say "you can't hurt me! My one true God is stronger than you and he will save me!" (can you tell the last 2 weeks have been VBS filled?)

*last but not least: screaming! Little Monster thinks he just needs to scream out loud for no reason. It gets old fast.

Oh and one more thing: we started a reward chart for chores and one thing they have to do is help clean the bathroom. LM knows his job is the potty so today (after I told him the bathroom didn't need cleaning) he peed on the toilet seat so he could clean it and get a star on the chart. (no star, big discussion)

Author: Ashley
•8:19 PM
 

Author: Ashley
•7:34 PM

 

Author: Ashley
•7:16 PM
Oh the goodness. This recipe was inspired by Namely Marly. I edited it slightly and it did not disappoint! Forgive the lacking presentation. The last thing I'm interested in when it is time to eat is finding my camera and making my food pretty. So i take the photo with my iPad and eat it up immediately! I am excited to start trying recipes from my Vegan Cooking book but I need to use what I bought for recipes from my Pinterest board first.

Onto the good stuff...

Ingredients

  • Tortilla chips (your choice of flavor/brand but I used a spicy bean variety)
  • Vegetarian refried beans (I personally don't think this added much but if it "ain't broke don't fix it" and since the recipe was amazing,I will use it next time)
  • Chopped sweet onion (I used about 1/3 of the onion)
  • 1 tbsp EVOO
  • Fire roasted red bell pepper
  • Vegan chick'n strips
  • Vegan cheese (I use Daiya and really like it)
  • Salsa
Method

Preheat the oven to 350. In small pan, sautée onions in EVOO. After they have carmelized, take them out and put a few of the Chick'n strips in the pan and let them heat thoroughly (I used 3). This will only take a few minutes. Place the tortilla chips on a baking pan and spread each one with refried beans (no magic amount...whatever looks good to your taste buds). I layered the rest in this order: onion, Chick'n, bell pepper, cheese, and salsa (lots and lots of salsa). Put it in the oven until the cheese is melted. The chips under all the yumminess will be soft but I think it makes it better that way. And when you're finished devouring it, feel free to lick the plate. No one will judge you (unless they see you).

Author: Ashley
•8:19 AM
So this is where I started. It was (originally) just a little bit of lettuce juice (actually it was so little that the smoothie would be a little bit brown from the apples oxidizing) with 2 apples and a handful of grapes. It has evolved to a lot of lettuce and spinach juice (now my smoothie is a nice bright green) with 2 apples and a handful of grapes. My mom gave me a Champion Juicer a few years ago. Up until recently it had only seen carrots at my house (which I'm not a huge fan of). But now...that's all changed. I juice my lettuce and spinach first to remove the fiber and rough stuff my stomach doesn't love. Then, I change the screen and use my guard to purée the apples and grapes. Mix that all together, throw it in the freezer for a little while to get it nice and chilled and enjoy. It is really really good!! And now, if I don't have enough lettuce/spinach juice, it is too sweet. I'm branching out to other "favors" this week. Not sure what yet but I'm excited!!