October's Wrapping Up While I've Been in Da Funk

I've been in a bit of funk thus the lack of posts.  But I'm down in the 'Noke for a few days with good friends to bring me back out of da funk that's taken over.  With da funk the challenges didn't go as well as I'd plan, but I still have quite a few to check off.  And what better time to go over all this than when I'm supposed to working on my Literature Review that's not going to write itself?  So here's a run down of the remaining challenges for October:
→Ban fast food
→Begin a daily meditation
→Declutter apartment room by room
→DivaCup Mastery
→Eliminate meat from my diet
→Introduce Green Smoothies into my diet
→Use up pre-packaged items in apartment

1) As hard as it was, I managed to ban fast food well anything with a drive thru. My only concessions where for some Five Guys and Baskin Robins.
2) I'm slowly learning to slow down.  I had a bit of trouble doing the meditation first things in the morning because it just made me want to crawl back into bed.  So now I do a meditation at night.
3) I'm happy to finally be checking this one off.  I feel comfortable saying that my apartment is decluttered.  Clean is another story, but decluttered yes.
4) Me and the DivaCup just weren't meant to be a happy couple.  If in a pinch I could deal, but I'm much happier with my lovely LunaPads.
5) Surprisingly I've done very well at eliminating meat from my diet (mostly because I don't cook meat any more).  I only caved twice since I left work.  OK so that's twice in three weeks, but I was in need of quick protein when I caved.
6) I think I'm going to hold this one over.  I can managed to drink the green smoothie, but it's not really a regular part of my diet.  So I'm gonna work on that.  I'm still working out the best recipe but the only one I couldn't drink was one with eight spinach leaves; I'll just be sticking to four for now.  A little progress is better than no progress, right?
7) Using up those pre-packed items is a slow a tedious process.  Now major break through this month.  I'll keep on keeping at it.

Thanks to da funk I haven't even thought of Challenges for November.  It might be a few days into November before I get them up.  As soon as I  get them up I'll post.

Sleep is what evades me

I'm still alive, and still fighting with my alarm clock.  But that's probably because I'm having a difficult time getting to sleep so out comes the artillery of alternative medicine since I've long given up on sleeping medication (I'd rather be a little tired vs. feeling like I've got a hangover every morning).  First up was jasmine tea a few nights a week.  Then I moved my meditation to night to try and help calm my brain (that and meditating in the morning was just making me want to crawl right back into bed).  Then I moved up the time I take my vitamins from applied kinesiology in the mornings.  Then a trip to the chiropractor was in store to help with the literal pain in my neck.  As all these has yet to help bring on the sleep (and shut my brain off) I'm off to see a hypnotist tonight.

In other wacky news for the day, I'm in the middle of adding some purple streaks to my hair.  I'm not sure how they'll turn out, the goal is a subtle high/lowlight effect.  Also speaking of hair I'm giving a new no 'poo recipe a whirl this time with peppermint castle soap.

The half way more for October

I'm back among the living, mostly.  The sudden drop in temperature cause a small leak in my nasal cavity.  Apparently four days of rest of not enough as my body hasn't wanted to get out of bed all week, but that could be do to the fact that even when I'm dog tired I can't fall asleep.  I must be more nocturnal than I thought.


So the month is half over, how are my challenges going?
→Ban fast food -- I've only eaten fast food once in the last 15 days, and I'm mighty proud
→Begin a daily meditation -- the meditations are going slowly but surely, but I haven't managed to slow down too much yet (ergo my nearly running people over in Wegman's yesterday)
→Declutter apartment room by room -- The clutter in the apartment is substantially down.  I don't quiet feel ready to check this off just yet as I'm still setting up things in the newly reorganized living room, but this will definitely be checked off by the end of the month.
→DivaCup Mastery -- more to come on this later.
→Eliminate meat from my diet  -- I'm doing pretty well on this with the exception of eating out, until I can handle more veggies that may not change, but otherwise I'm cooking meat-free at home
→Introduce Green Smoothies into my diet -- week one was a success, week two was hit and miss literally-one smoothie went down just fine but the second did not due to too much spinach.  I've restocked the smoothie essentials and will try for three smoothies in the next six days.
→Use up pre-packaged items in apartment  -- this is still going a little at a time.

Exciting News from my class

I logged in for my first day of my class and to my excitement I found the following message:  

Final DRP document should be a minimum of 40 pages, excluding appendices. This page reduction calls for a maximum of 2 to 3 sub-research questions.

Makes the next ten weeks a little less scary.

First up on my cleaning list is laundry.  Tomorrow the kitchen is getting a scrub down that it's been in need of for quite some time now.

I attempted to up the green in my green smoothie today and it was a little too green for my taste.  So I'll keep at it slow and steady before I attempt to up the spinach again.

I still feel like I'm a behind on my sleep, but I actually got a full eight hours of sleep last night.  Hopefully the rest will added up soon.

I'm a free woman, so to speak

I made it through the last days in the office and officially signed my termination release from my company. I'm a free woman, so to speak.  On Monday the fun and joys of my Directed Research Project begins, so I've given myself a few days to slack off and catch up on that much needed sleep that I just haven't had the luxury of having.  I met with my on campus adviser on Thursday and have a plan of attack for my DRP.  Today I hit the grocery store and got some more green smoothie supplies.  And I even managed to handle a little more spinach in my last one!  I've moved into the second bedroom and have just a few things left in the master bedroom and closet.  I'm slowly working on moving the remainder of my things from the master bedroom half bath to the hall half bath.  The decluttering effort is almost complete.  I'm extremely happy that I'm living in one less room and not tripping over crap.  I'm confident by the end of the month I'll be able to confidently check off "declutter apartment".

Green Smoothie, Take 1

Step 1. ingredients:  Banana, frozen blackberries, spinach
Step 2. mix mix mix baby
Step 3. pour
Step 4. enjoy

As obvious from my pictures, my green smoothie was rather purple and not so green.  I do admit I only put the tiniest bit of spinach inthere, but it was four whole leaves!  The banana overpowered any other taste, but the blackberries provided a nice color.  So lesson learned:  I can put more spinach in next time cause it didn't kill me (or taste like metal unlike my previsous spinach attempts which have).  The verdict:  I'll definately be trying it again and had I actually woken up early enough this morning I would have had another one for breakfast.

Check: Sale oversized desk in living room

It's day three and I'm still going strong! I've just completed the sale for my oversized L shaped desk in the living room, and at the first asking price! I'm so ecstatic. For the moment the living room looks bare, but I'm hoping to tackle the carpet with a good cleaning (and hopefully removal of stains) before I start moving things into the living room once again.

I've also so far kept my fast food ban and no meat challenges, though I had to get a little inventive when I had to go to a doctor's appointment yesterday during my lunch break. But I managed. The fast food ban is the one that really tempts me, though finding something healthy on the run did challenge my creativity. I now have to lunches out next week, so finding meatless options will definitely keep me on my toes.

Now that I have a little money in my pocket I'll be hitting the grocery store for some green smoothie ingredients.

Check In from Day 1 of October challenges

Today is the 274th day of 2009 and according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac there are 81 Days until Winter on this 1st day of October. And I have progress on the decluttering the apartment front! I have officially moved into the spare bedroom and am working on clearing out the master bedroom. And out goes the mattress tonight and in comes some $$. So far the futon couch has turned out to be very comfy and not bother my back even when insomnia sticks (like last night, which lead to a middle of the night bathroom cleaning spree). I’ve also got a potential buyer for my desk at my first asking price! I thought I may have to come down on the price. Hopefully this comes through and out the door it can go. One day in and I haven’t caved on the fast food ban, it will be harder next week when I have work, chiro appointment and then meditation with only about 1 hour total in between after traffic. But it will also be my last day of work as the funding issue is going to be ongoing for at least a couple of months. So I’m gonna work on my last paper for my masters and see what happens. I’m actually relieved that I can focus on that and getting me healthy. Reiki here I come.