Fighting PCOS Naturally

I love books. I can finish a novel in a single day, given enough free time to do it. Usually I can get through it in 2-4 days if I have less time on my hands, or I only read after I get in bed. I've always been a HUGE fan of Dean Koontz. I have a goal to read and own a copy of every book he's written. Yeah, I love his books that much. But while Koontz is amazing, sometimes I need a break. A change of pace. Even a change in species. Hubs likes the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton. When I was buying the set for him for Christmas, I snagged a few of books from her Merry Gentry series. I'm a sucker for faeries, so the Merry Gentry series wasn't something I would turn down. I read the entire series in a couple of weeks. But what was I to do after finishing those novels? Well, a neighbor solved that problem for me and introduced me to Anne Bishop and the Black Jewels Trilogy . Oh Em Gee. Suspenseful, thrilling, intriguing, novels that I couldn...

I've mastered the first step back to healthy. My morning smoothies are really easy to make, and I'm getting a lot of nutrients that I previously was going without. My next goal is to start drinking lots of water again. I went off soda and coffee completely a few years ago, and although I have the occasional soda and lots of coffee, I still choose water most often. With the coffee - I'm not putting any sugar in it, just half and half. I'm pretty happy with myself for that. But I need to start drinking a lot more water than I used to. The latest recommendations are 1/2 of your body weight in ounces. For me that's twice the previous recommendation of 8 glasses of 8oz water - 64oz. I need to drink around 120oz. I have a 32oz cup sitting on my desk, so I need to drink at least two glasses full while I'm at work. That'll get me through half of my goal. Then I just need two big glasses at home, too. I can do that. For now, until I can come up with something cuter, ...

This morning I couldn't remember what I had dreamed about last night, but it just hit me. And now that I remember, I wanted to write it down before I forgot. And maybe I want to analyze it, because it was a little weird. Not a nightmare, but weird. (And this was not the first time I had it...) Hubs and I went to a gym. It was beautiful, bright sunlight through the windows, tons of equipment, a second floor with classes and a lounge. It had rows and rows on equipment. Compared to a real-life building, I felt it was about the size of the main floor of the Fort Worth Convention Center (I spent many summers there as a kid, which is why I remember that reference.) I spent the time cycling. The guy assisting us with getting our membership set up was the same in this one as the last. I couldn't find any paperwork to tell me how much it cost to be there. He said that it only cost money if we came before 5pm. But it was after 5, so no charge. It wasn't until this point that my dre...

Mom and I put together my smoothie packs last night. I have two weeks worth. It was pretty simple once we got organized. I bought freezer quart sized baggies - although freezer sandwich bags would have worked just as well. In each bag I put in: - a banana (I get the almost too ripe ones on clearance at the farmer's market and freeze them) - 1 cup of fruit, in this case, peaches and mangoes - hemp protein powder - probiotic powder - spinach ice cube - chia seed ice cube The ice cubes were really easy to make. I added some water and a big handful of spinach into a magic bullet cup. I blended it up really well, then added more spinach and more water until I had a thick spinach mush. I spooned it out into an ice cube tray and stuck them in the freezer. For the chia seed, I put water in a bowl, poured some chia seeds in, and let them soak for 20-30 minutes. Soaked chia seeds turn into jelly. Then I blended them up with a little more water and spooned it into an ice cube tray as...

Lately I've really been fighting with the fatigue issues that come along with fibromyalgia. I slept almost the entire weekend, even missing a workday because I slept through all the alarms and Hubs trying to wake me up. Being exhausted is exhausting. I had planned on stopping at the library before work today, and gave up on that idea when I woke up. I decided that the extra 30min of sleep was more important than a book. And it is. But some days, when I'm staring at my computer, trying to concentrate on what I should be doing, I get teary-eyed. Some days I just can't focus, and all my body wants to do is sleep. As a way of fighting it, I load up on coffee (with no sugar!). Of course, then you could do some googling and find out that caffeine isn't all that great for people with fibro. I'm sure it's not that great for any of the other issues I fight with. But the coffee really doesn't help. It gives me a short burst of focus, then I have to have another cup to...

I've mentioned it already, but I have no car. I think it'll do me some good, though. I'm going to start walking to the grocery store a few times a week, buying only what is needed to make meals for a few days. This will allow me to get exercise - about 1 mile at a time, and keep produce fresh so it doesn't get lost in the fridge. I'm still using the organic food service from urban Acres, and I'll use it to plan some of my weekend meals. I have to change my life. I have to get healthy. I need to focus on wellness. I WILL succeed. I keep saying that I'm going to change, but haven't done anything about it. But I can either say I want to do it, or actually do it. I need to shave my legs and hit the pool. I need to walk to the grocery store instead of asking my mom for a ride. I'm going to pull my yoga mat out of the closet (I'm a bit ashamed that it got put in there in the first place...) I know I sound like a broken record. "I'm going...

Oh, the hardships of having no cable TV... We decided that we were paying way too much money for cable, when there were only a handful of channels we watched. Of course we couldn't get the basic cable, because it was missing half of the channels we wanted. So I cut it off completely. And I'm so glad I did. We upgraded our internet service, bought a year of Xbox Gold membership, and subscribed to Hulu Plus and Netflix. Although we have decided to cancel our Hulu subscription, we love Netflix. Hulu is great for current shows, but Netflix is awesome because we can watch an entire series. When it first came out, I LOVED Alias. It was a spy show starring Jennifer Garner. My mom and I used to watch it every week. But Hubs had never heard of it! Seriously, he lived under a mountain. At least when it came to TV. So we watched all 5 seasons of Alias. We decided that instead of watching various shows all at once, we would choose a series and watch it all before switching to a new show....

I did my final weigh in for SCWLC. It was 247 pounds. The first weigh in was 251.2, so I lost 4.2 pounds in 6 weeks. Oh Em Gee. And I didn't really do anything. Well, ok, I was eating better. very few donuts. And I've been eating lots of fruits - strawberries and cherries :) I've considerably cut back on Jack in the Box, because we found WhichWich. And because the car broke down, so I have to bring food from home. and I started eating the fruits and veggies I get from Urban Acres every two weeks. So that was a nice surprise. I know that I really need to start working out more. and I get mad at myself for choosing TV over exercise. I just end up exhausted by the time I get home, especially now that I'm working much longer hours. But I'm working towards getting better. It's a slow process, which frustrates me, but in the end things will change. I'm one of those people that wants to see results immediately. I think a lot of us are like that now. I feel I do...

I've done the 101 in 1001, 30 before 30, and now it's time to focus on my lifetime bucket list. I think it's easier for me to look at a list without a due date attached. Eases the pressure and potential feelings of failure. Although at some point I need to get used to setting deadlines for myself and actually following through with them... visit another continent go zorbing climb to the top of a mountain visit Machu Picchu spend the night in an underwater hotel spend a night in an ice hotel see Aurora Borealis see a show on Broadway write and self publish a cookbook run a 5k go sailing go deep sea fishing learn another language fluently go scuba diving ride in a hot air balloon go skydiving become a beekeeper read all of Dean Koontz's books become as healthy as possible become a big sister own a farm in the country Adopt a child swim with dolphins go on a yoga retreat in another country go to a TEDTalk conference go geo-caching Drive the enti...

Every once in a while I mention that I think Murphy's Law needs to be changed to  Lynne's Law. It strikes, yet again. Tuesday, the car died on Hubs when he was  coming to pick me up. He just barely made it into the parking lot before it  completely gave up. We had a tow truck come get it, and decided that we'd start looking for issues on  Wednesday. We were attempting to check the fuel filter when we noticed that the  hose that connects the air box into the intake manifold and mass air flow sensor  and a huge crack in it. We had to go to the dealership to get the part because no auto parts store sells them. You'd think that such an important (and fairly simple)  part would be available there, but no. So we replaced it. The car started!!! Yay! Then the knocking started. Damn. After  doing some online research and finding videos on YouTube of the same knocking  issue, we determined it was 1 of 3 things - a rod, piston or crankshaft problem....