This is What Happens When You Don’t Plan… – Healing Journey Day 27

Journal:
I knew smoothies were going to take a little more effort than everything I had done so far. It would mean getting a blender to blend my fruit anytime I needed to consume one. This generally works out alright as I have a blender at work and at home. Although it worked well yesterday, today was a different story.

I started out well. I brought a large watermelon and two small watermelons to work with, as well as the last bottle of that pear juice that tasted like liquid honey. I figured if these watermelons were a little less sweet like the last ones, the pear juice would perk it up.

When I cut into the big watermelon, water literally started pouring out of it. In fact, it flooded the cupboard and then the sink. I had a funny feeling this wasn’t a good thing. I then discovered that I could squeeze the two halves of the watermelon and the water would just continue to pour out. So needless to say, I lost my big watermelon.

I then cut into one of the small ones and it seemed to hold up like normal. So without tasting it, I scooped it out, put it in the blender, and poured in some of the pear juice. Then I blended it up. If I could only describe the taste of this smoothie to you. It was literally the worst watermelon thing I have ever tasted. Even so, I managed to drink down half of the smoothie. But the other half, well, I just couldn’t do it anymore;  I ended up pouring it down the sink. It literally was like drinking grass with a slight taste of pear. It was terrible. The pear juice did not do its job. I was so sad because it even looked so pretty… but I guess it’s another example of how looks can be deceiving!

Now, normally, I would have enough time after school to make a smoothie before doing anything else, but because I am flying out first thing in the morning, I had to run home immediately after work to take my dog to the sitter and still make it back in time for our staff/board social tonight. I literally had to fly to get this done in time. Somehow I managed.

Because I didn’t have time to go back home to make a smoothie, and because there was nothing there to make a smoothie with, I caved and ate some food. After a rough day, stress of getting things done in time, and literally living on a couple hundred calories of food, I was hungry to say the least. And this wasn’t a night I could just go to bed hungry and be fine because I knew I still had to stay up and do laundry and pack. Oh my goodness… I would really rather go back and change what I did. But since I’m keeping you guys updated on my progress, here’s what I ate: cauliflower, broccoli, hummus, rice crackers, samosas with chutney, Tostitos with salsa, baguette with a red pepper spread, quinoa salad, and juice (all vegan of course). Even now as I’m writing this, I’m cringing. My stomach is so heavy; it right away started feeling bloated. It even went as far as making my head feel taken aback (not quite headache status, but almost like a pre-headache). Oh man. I wish I could take it all back. The food tasted decent, and I’m really loving cauliflower and broccoli on its own, but the way I feel is not worth it. And thankfully, going back on smoothies will provide my body with enough fibre that it should clean out within a day or two. But even this should be an interesting venture because I’m not sure all the airports I’m going to have only fruit smoothies. Typically there is a sorbet or ice cream that is mixed in with them, but we will see what I can do.

Anyways, I finally came home after a bit of visiting at the social and now I’m just signing off on here for the night while I wait for my laundry to finish and finish packing. I won’t be eating anymore tonight, but will be drinking water for sure! I may make an early morning mango smoothie before I leave, but I’m leaving at such an early hour that I’m not sure that will even happen. I shall keep you posted tomorrow!

Review of Symptoms:
-Acne the same.
-Noticing that my hair has grown so much in the past year since going vegan… wow! Even past students are beginning to comment.
-Cooked/high fat foods leave me feeling yucky; feeling bloated.
-Energy decent.
-Tongue actually looked like a brand new tongue this morning! So impressive!

Weight at the end of the day = 178.6 lbs (up 4 lbs from yesterday… not bad for eating a ton of cooked foods again!)

Total Calories = approx. 2213 (72% carbs, 22% fat, 6% protein… this is my best guess!)

Supporting Your Husband – It’s Not Easy

Supporting you husband… this is not always an easy topic. Sure, when you’re getting along and all is right in the world, it is easy to do things for your husband – happiness just works that way. But what about the times he’s upset you? What about the times he seems so selfish and careless towards you or doesn’t take the time to appreciate anything you do? It’s not so easy then… That’s when bad thoughts start seeping in… “Don’t appreciate me doing your laundry? Do it yourself!” “Do you have to drink out of 10 glasses a day? Do you own dishes!” “Leave your stuff all over the house? I quit!” “This is the third year you’ve done nothing and ‘forgot’ our anniversary? Why are we even married?” Ok… so hopefully it doesn’t get to the point of the last one, but you get the point.

I can honestly say I’ve had my fair share of these kinds of thoughts, but I know it’s wrong and really fight against them. However, I’m human and still fall short of my respecting goals at times. So what do I do?

Well, lately I’ve been returning to the Bible. I cannot tell you how much I admire the women I’ve seen that honestly seem to respect their husbands no matter what. I mean, you can never really tell what goes on behind the scenes. But those women who clearly put their husbands first inspire me so much! So the Bible, the ultimate tale of love, is where I turn to. And you know what happens? I begin to realize how I need to act again.

My husband and I had a so-so night last night. Parts of it were good, but he’s struggling with a few things and handles it differently than I would. So of course, I want to set him straight, to tell him how to fix things and how to do it “my way”. Even now as I’m writing this, that’s starting to sink in… it’s my way. Wow… I’m trying to make him do things MY way. Me. It’s all about me. Ugh… sometimes reality really results in humility. He’s not me.. He shouldn’t have to do everything MY way. Ugh…

Anyways, after going out for supper, we came home, and he wanted to nap before going to the gym because he was exhausted. Of course, both him and I knew this meant he probably wouldn’t get up to go to the gym, but I didn’t make a deal about it because I’d rather him feel better than not. I was not as exhausted, and woke up at 1:30 a.m. I had the option to stay in bed and sleep, or realize that he doesn’t have any clean work shirts for tomorrow, and that would really start his day off badly if he did not have any clean work shirts to wear. He’s in the sales business and looking good is part of the job. So instead of rolling over and going back to sleep, I quietly snuck out of the bedroom, careful not to wake him up, and came downstairs to do a couple loads of laundry. Now, he didn’t treat me like something great last night, and quite frankly, there are some nights I’m glad he goes to sleep so we can wake up and start a new day, but that doesn’t negate the fact that I still love this man and I married him for a reason.

I think too many of us forget that part. We get too caught up in the stresses of life and whether we want to admit it or not, neither our partners nor us are perfect. We just aren’t. We don’t always treat each other like we should. Jobs get in the way. Responsibilities get in the way. Bills and money issues hugely get in the way. And that’s even without raising children in the picture! But it doesn’t hurt to take a step back every once in a while and truly think about why you even married that person in the first place. Make a list of the things you have liked/still like about that person. Focus on the good, and not the bad.

My husband works long hours to try and support me. He took a risk changing careers which hasn’t wielded all the results he expected it to right away which is a lot of his stress lately. I know he deals with it badly because he wants to be the breadwinner, he wants to be able to get me anything in the world that I could want. I so admire him for that. And to be honest, I don’t just admire him for that, I know that he puts in more hours than anyone else he works with and I believe that he will get to the level he wants just because he tries so hard. He’s incredible that way. He also was brave enough to even take a risk, one that I don’t think I would have had the guts to do. He’s not afraid of bugs and handles them for me, but not like anything you’re probably thinking. My husband taught me a dear lesson in life, and that’s the fact that just because bugs are annoying, they still were given life as a gift too. My husband will NOT kill bugs unless he needs to. If it’s just a housefly in our house, he will catch it and release it outside. That goes for moths, larger bugs, etc… He humbled me. He is also extremely trusting. I know a lot of men who handle all of the household finances, and the wives essentially ask for permission to use certain monies and never get involved with the family’s finances. It’s the opposite for us. I’m a little OCD when it comes to money because I’ve had to support myself when there was little to support myself on. Literally, a $1 bag of Crispers from the discount store would be a meal because that’s all I could afford. So when it comes to debt and bills, I need to know what’s going on and need to see progress being made. My husband trusted me enough to hand over that responsibility. It took stress off of him when we became a united household, and I get my ability to do what I need to do. I mean, seriously, how many men would do that? Even writing these few things renews the appreciation and love in my heart for my husband. He may have some habits I don’t like, but that’s not what matters. What matters is we are here in life and love to handle the situations life throws at us together. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So ladies, and husbands if you’re reading this, stop complaining, stop griping, stop being so negative towards each other. Understand that you do not have to agree on everything. You can agree to disagree and be happy. Just sit back and remember why you fell in love in the first place, and never stop putting each other first.

Mark 10:9 – “Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Proverbs 21:19 – “It is better to live in a desert land Than with a contentious and vexing woman.”

Colossians 3:18 – “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.”

Ephesians 5:22 – “Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.”

Proverbs 14:1 – “The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.”

Ephesians 5:33 – “Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.”

Titus 2:5 – “to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.”

And of course, read Proverbs 31 for the great description of a woman in Christ.

I hope this helps you all! If you have any marriage advice, I would love to hear it below. ❤

Sleep Walking: What’s Your Story?

I am NOT a habitual sleep walker, at least I don’t think so. But I do have some instances where it has happened.

Reminds me of Robert Munsch’s 40 Below where the dad went sleepwalking outside in 40 below.

When I was little, and I mean really little, like 4, I can remember living at my grandparents house with my mom and sister (1 at the time). My parents were just going through a separation leading to divorce and so mom had moved “home”. I remember my grandfather informing me of a little event that happened the night before, something I had no recollection of at all. This is what he told me happened:

My grandfather was in the kitchen making a late night snack. Our kitchen was designed as a square with an open rectangle on the edge of it, a mini entrance hallway that opened into the kitchen. So if you were at the sink/stove/cupboards, you could not see the front door. You would have to walk around the wall to look at the door. However, the table was on the opposite wall of the stove so you could easily see both sides at the same time.

Anyways, my grandfather was facing the cupboards, using the counter to make his snack. All of a sudden, he heard the door open, so naturally ran towards the door to see what was going on. Nobody was breaking into the house, his little granddaughter was leaving the house, in the middle of the night! He called my name and asked me where I was going, and I apparently told him I was going to walk the dog. I don’t even think we had a dog at the time. My grandfather told me it was the middle of the night and I needed to go back to bed. I easily complied and walked myself back up to bed, asleep the whole time.

Now, something important to note here is that it was not an easy walk from my bedroom to the kitchen and back. I would have had to go to the stairs, go down the first set of stairs, turn on the landing, go down the long set of stairs, turn, walk down the hallway, turn again, walk through a zigzag hallway, through the doorway into the kitchen, walk around the table but not too close into the cupboards so my grandfather didn’t notice me, around the wall, down the hallway, and open the door! And of course, do all that in reverse on my way back up. Can you imagine this?

After that, I don’t have many stories of sleepwalking until I hit university where my sleep-functioning was due to such extreme lack of sleep. From conversations where people couldn’t even tell I was sleeping, to looking at people in my sleep (they said later the only thing they noticed was that my eyes were red, but honestly had no idea I was asleep), to grabbing the control for the fire place and trying to turn down the tv, to who knows what. That was a time my night-functioning was at an all-time extreme.

Sleepwalking almost always comes with an interesting story. I’m curious to hear yours! Leave your story in a comment below!

Simple Blessings

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you don’t have quite everything you need, or not quite everything is functioning properly, so you’ve managed to find a way around it and adapted to that method? For example, right now, I have that type of situation with my bathroom sink. I cannot turn on the hot water or else my sink countertop will be flooded. So I simply use the tub for any warm or hot water I need. A slight inconvenience, but I manage just fine.

One thing that has made me incredibly happy is–believe it or not–a dustpan! I threw out our old broom and dustpan after cleaning our other apartment. They were getting old and showing their age. So when I moved here, I got my husband to buy me a broom. The head of the broom was wrapped, and he assumed the dustpan was in the wrapping. But unfortunately, when I unwrapped it, it wasn’t. So I’ve been doing the age-old thing of finding harder pieces of paper to use as my dustpan. It works, and I was ok with it.

But the other night, we went shopping, and I decided I might as well pick up a dustpan. Can I say how happy I am? The ease of using a dustpan compared to a piece of paper is incomparable. I all of a sudden liked sweeping a little more! A simple thing, but definitely a blessing!

So what adaptations have you had to make for things in your house? What simple pleasures could maybe fix your problems? It’s always a good feeling to realize little blessings!