Briar House Wellness

HAWMC - Day 8

2013-04-08T16:54:00.002-07:00

Day 8 - Animals

If your health condition was an animal, what would it be?

If I had to choose just one animal, the first one that comes to mind is the SLOTH. One of the things about living with Hashimoto's is that it completely zaps your energy. What used to take me hours to accomplish now takes days. Everything seems to go in slow motion and takes complete concentration. I now live in a world where I have to remind myself daily just to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Hashimoto's also slows down the metabolism. Food just does not digest the way it used to. Making sure to get enough nutrients when you feel full all the time can prove to be somewhat challenging. Nutrient dense foods are a must.

Not only are there physical slow downs, but mental as well. For someone who used to be an avid reader. Having to re-read sentences over again can be frustrating. I've taken to keeping lists of tasks and deadlines, if only I could remember where I put that list.

It is not all that bad. I've switched my night owl ways for morning when my energy is high enough to accomplish all the important daily tasks and most days I can manage that. The monthly calender on the fridge keeps a list of even the simplest of events and the household is managing quite well.

Yes, Hashimoto's is a Sloth!

HAWMC - Day 1

2013-04-01T18:10:00.003-07:00

It time again for the annual Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge, now in it's 3rd year. This will be my second year participating in this event.

I have chosen to participate again this year because it reminds my why I do what I do. I find that the daily prompts allow me to look at my disease in a way that I may not have taken the time to consider on my own. I also love the connections I make with others who advocate for their diseases. It is truly inspiring to see what people are doing to change their lives and the lives of others.

I am excited to be a part of this event and hope to use this month to get back into consistent writing and to be able to inspire as well as be inspired.

Thank you Wego Health for putting the challenge together.

2012-11-23T06:15:00.000-08:00

It's been a much needed break from many things these past few months. Taking a semester off of school and walking away from blogging for a while turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. It's that moment when you realize that life is jut to full and you need to take a step back and re-evaluate what is important and immerse yourself in the things that are the most important and let the rest slide away for awhile. What have I been up to? Homeschooling, yoga and farming. This picture was taken on the last day of my CSA workshare. I was actually sad to see the season end. What started out as a way for a newly single mom to provide local and organic produce for my kids turned out to be one of the highlights of my year. There is nothing like spending a few hours in the fresh air getting some exercise and meeting some truly amazing people. There was always something new to learn. Homeschooling is proving to be both challenging and exciting. I have not regretted the decision we made and look forward to watching my baby continue to blossom in ways that I can't begin to describe. We are finally settling in to a good rhythm here at home. It has been an interesting year full of new beginning all around and I look forward to getting back to blogging.

Quick and Easy Meal Prep Idea

2012-08-23T05:56:00.001-07:00

Today I am excited to announce that I am guest blogging over at The Holistic Mama. With the start of the school year this week, head on over and read my article on prepping your fridge for quick and easy meals and snacks. A great way to keep things healthy as we switch into the hectic schedules of homework and after school activities.

With Fear and Excitement

2012-08-14T05:44:00.002-07:00

This picture was taken 3 years ago in October of 2009. It is a picture that stays with me always in the back of my mind. My 15th wedding anniversary. He took me back to the place of our honeymoon. It was a best of times, worst of times moment. You see my husband and I had spent the past two years recovering from the 13 year itch and we were at the peak of our marriage, life could not have been sweeter. Yet this trip also signified the moment my life would forever be changed. On this trip I would realize that something was not quiet right. I could not put my finger on it, but I remember specifically knowing that something was off on this trip. Two weeks later I would come down with a migraine that would last a year and a half with out a break, and that was just the beginning of a long line of problems, before I was able to reach the turning point. I some days wonder how I ever survived it all. An additional year and a half have passed. The healing journey has been just as difficult and the marriage was unable to survive it all. Then last week the phone call came. The one I've been expecting and dreading since the healing began. After three years of hard work, my hormone levels are finally coming down. My meds are being adjusted and we go back into more frequent doctor visits for monitoring. It's what I've been working on all this time. Yet, if I have to be honest, I go into this with fear. Life with Hashimoto's is never easy, even on the good days. Just when I think things are going well, I get reminded that I have the disease. It's not a day by day prospect, it's hour by hour, and just as I'm getting used to the rhythm it's time to ride the roller coaster again. I'm excited to have reached the point where putting this disease into remission becomes a real possibility, and yet I sit at the top of the hill with my heart doing flip-flops as this coaster gets ready to make that first dive. I've decided to meet fear head on this time and I'm looking forward to the journey. Sometimes you just have to jump out of your routine and see what the unknown has to offer. Wish me luck!

Time for Some Self Care

2012-08-08T10:35:00.000-07:00

Half way through the summer semester of college I ran into a road block. To be honest, I was actually kind of expecting it. After over a year of steadily recovering my health, I had finally hit a plateau. I was still dealing with my Hashimoto's but from a much better place and I was ready to start taking my life back. I so I pushed myself to see what would happen. To be honest, I was having the time of my life. Then it happened. Brain fog, exhaustion, hand rashes, slow wound healing, and the list continues. The thing was that this time, none of my usual self care tricks were working. So as the semester ended I had to make a decision. The decision to take the fall semester off and dive into some serious self care in the hopes of coming out even stronger for the next round. First on my list was a little weekend get away. For me this means getting back to nature and so I headed off without my girls to the river.

This was a "solo" trip, just for me (with a few friends to hang back as a safety measure). The weekend was spent in the seat of a kayak. Just me and the river. It was just what I needed. To be honest, the first evening was spent at a local festival with live music and some amazing fireworks, a great way to begin. Then off to the river were I have spent countless summers and the memories of each bend came back to me just like riding a bike. This was the first time I had been out here alone and it was a great time for some self reflection. The realization that.....

"Tension is who you think you should be.
Relaxation is who you are." - Chinese Proverb

...hit pretty strong out there for me. You see, even though I'm pretty comfortable with my life these days, if I had to admit it, I've never truly excepted the Hashimoto's version of me. In my day to day life, I have expectations of myself, out there on the river I had none, and it felt good.

So I am home now, back to the real world, with two realizations. One, that it's time to be who I am, and two, I need to get out on the water more often. Which I plan to do this evening.

Time for Some Change

2012-08-02T10:52:00.002-07:00

I've decided that it's time. Things have been slowly evolving for me over the last few months. Big changes in several areas of my life have lead me to make some big changes around here. So over the next few weeks don't be surprised to see a different view until I settle in on what I want to see here. If you have any suggestions on what you would like to see or not see please feel free to leave me a comment. Please bare with me until I get situated here.

And the Winner is....

2012-08-01T09:21:00.003-07:00

And the winner in the Grocery Budget Toolbox is....
http://canadianbudgetbinder.com/
if you could contact me with your e-mail I can get this out to you. Thank you to everyone who participated in this giveaway and don't forget that for a few more days you can still receive a discount by using the code "health".

An E-book Review and Giveaway

2012-07-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

In recent weeks I've had the opportunity to review this wonderful new e-book by Anne over at Quick and Easy, Cheap and Healthy. As single mom on a budget these days, I was beginning to struggle with maintaining our whole foods kitchen and looking for new ideas. This book was just what I needed to get back on track. It is packed full of resources for eating healthy while keeping within your budget. She covers budgeting, keeping a price book, sourcing healthy food, once a month shopping, price caps, coupons, do it yourself, along with gardening and preserving. There is also information on saving online and an extensive list of resources and printables to get you started. Along the way there are some exercises that help you focus in on finding what works for you. For example, setting your nutritional priorities. In the top seven areas of food what would be your priorities in terms of highest nutritional quality? Mine...

Produce - 1
Meat - 2
Fats - 3
Sweeteners - 4
Grains - 5
Dairy - 6
Everything Else - 7

As a family who eats a mostly plant based diet with meat as needed and a love of sweets, this allows me to see where I want to focus my food dollars.
There are even a few recipes for easy make at home items and ways to stretch the food you have.
From now through Monday I will be giving away a copy of The Grocery Budget Toolbox to one lucky reader. Head over and check out The Grocery Budget Toolbox and then leave me a comment on your favorite way to save. The winner will be chosen on Tuesday. Anne has also been nice enough to offer a 20% discount for the next week, just enter health as your discount code during checkout. If you purchase the book and become the lucky winner you will be refunded your purchase price. Good luck!

Sometimes You Just Have to Have a Little Faith

2012-07-02T21:15:00.002-07:00

Recently I've been feeling restless. I'm in that place where dreams and reality are colliding and while things are exciting and wonderful these days, there is also a sense of the complete unknown going forward. I am a control freak and so this not a welcome place. As a sat thinking last week, the tune of this song came to me. It took me a week of humming in my head to get enough of the words together to even begin to look it up on YouTube but it finally came to me tonight. After listening to it again after so much time, it instantly reminded me that sometimes I need to let go of my need to control everything and just go along for the ride. Sometime I just need to have a little faith, and so I thought I would share it with you.

Time for an Update

2012-06-22T07:06:00.002-07:00

It seems yet again that this blog has gone idle. Life has been full. As you can see above, seven different courses. That doesn't include the daily life of a single working mom. But I have to be honest here. Life is good! You see, I actually started this blog a few years back under a different name. In the middle of being extremely ill, not finding any information that would make me feel connected to my situation, I started this blog to journal my days. Maybe someone else in the same situation would feel a little better. I let it go idle. Life was full of just trying to survive. Then one day I started to finally get better. New blog name, new mission. I was going to now share how I was getting better. Maybe yet again, it would help someone. The funny thing was, looking back, for me getting better was not an easy path. The vision that comes to mind during this time was of the original Aliens movie, when the alien is coming out of the guys stomach. It was agonizing, both physically and mentally. What I've noticed over the last few months though, is that I am no longer falling in a downward spiral of the unknown, nor am I going through an agonizing recovery. I am here.. My life is far from perfect, but I am now in management position. Life is settling into a normal pattern. Things have stabilized for the first time in five years. I am me, myself and I again. I've decided that as much as I lacked the courage to tell my story while I was in it, that maybe now I can go back and share my journey. Over the next few weeks I've decided to use this blog to tell that story. I've also been pretty busy with my workshare CSA. I've actually moved to posting about that over at my other blog, it seemed to fit better over there. So, if your interested in reading about my journey with local, seasonal and organic food, head on over and take a peak. I've have lots of new ideas moving forward here and I look forward to sharing them with you as they come together. It's time.

The Perpetual Student

2012-06-07T06:59:00.002-07:00

Life has been full! It seems I have become the perpetual student. I have reached the midway point in my Family Herbalist Program and now my Natural Skin Care Program is just beginning. I am very excited about the prospect of supply my family with our own good quality skin care products. I am running along smoothly with my second year with IIN. The summer semester at the local college is up and running. Two classes back to back on Wednesday makes this pretty easy to fit in. Everything seems to be flowing smoothly. There are days when I wonder what in the world I am doing, and yet I look at this time as a quick stint in a much bigger picture and so for the moment I will play the role of student. The only thing that sits on the back burner is my Yoga. I need to make that a bigger priority. We will see how things flow over the next few months. Well off I go. All those books are calling my name.

Catching Up

2012-05-21T20:13:00.000-07:00

Wow! I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted here. It's been a busy few weeks of finishing up the spring semester at school. Take my first Immersion test for IIN and moving along on the Family Herbalist Program. I've been playing the active roll of student.

My first CSA share of the year arrived last Wednesday. I was so excited to see all those greens. I'm hoping to post my CSA share every Wednesday so that you can see all the exciting things that are coming my way. This week:
Leeks
Spinach
Mixed Salad Greens
Dandelion Greens
Turnip Greens
Bok Choy
2 heads of leaf lettuce
I have to say here that if you have never had the opportunity to join a CSA it is well worth it. I acually joined a CSA two summers ago thinking that local, organic foods would play an integral part of healing my body. I came away from the experience with so much more. For me, the wide variety of produce that I had never tried became the highlight of my week and I ended up loving some new foods I had never heard of before then. I missed having that last summer when it was decided that it just didn't quite make the budget. This year I was excited to find a CSA that offers a work share opportunity. Now not only will I get local and organic produce from May to November, but I will have the chance to spend Saturday morning working on the farm and seeing how things are done. I'm looking forward to going behind the scenes to earn my share this year. It is amazing that having local and organic foods is really available to anyone who seeks it out.

With all those greens and the warm days we've been having this salmon salad as made a daily appearance. A quick fix for an on the go mom.

While I've mentioned it before, I couldn't help posting again a picture of my kids favorite go to meal. I've noticed more and more when talking to busy moms that they just don't know what to fix on the run. Between work schedules and kids sports, there just doesn't seem to be time to cook. This recipe cooks up in about 15 minutes. My kids love this so much that they actually didn't leave any leftovers. It's as simple as a bottle of veggie juice, a few cups of your favorite frozen veggies (mine like the mixed veggies in this), and a good quality pasta. It thickens up into more of a stew than a soup. While I admit to bottles and bags on this one, it is a great option for those on the go moments.
With the CSA season in high gear. I look forward to posting more often on all the new foods that are coming in and what I will be doing with them. So until then.....

Word Cloud

2012-04-30T11:02:00.001-07:00

Today is the final day of the Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge. For the final prompt, I created my word cloud. This sums up all the things that have been created here over the past month. I was hoping to be able to post it here, but I cannot seem to figure out how to move it over. I hope you will head over and take a peak. Thank you for a very inspiring month.

The First TIme I...

2012-04-28T08:14:00.000-07:00

I'll be honest here. I'm not usually afraid of much. I'm a go with the flow kind of girl. I always see new adventures as learning experiences. An opportunity to get out of my box. But If I had to choose one thing, it would have to be the first time I made sauerkraut. Would I do it right? Would I make myself sick? I new it was something I needed to try for the sake of my health, but I kept postponing it. When I finally got up the courage to give it a try, I have to say that of course it what not nearly as bad as I thought it would be, and yes, the benefits far surpassed any fear I had when I started.

My Top Five

2012-04-27T20:33:00.002-07:00

The top five things I have found most difficult about having an auto-immune disease:
1. The unexpectedness.
I am a perfectionist. I need to have a plan. But disease has no plan.
2. The exhaustion.
There is no time for exhaustion when you are raising a family.
3. The digestive issues.
Food intolerances that change make it really impossible to enjoy meal time.
4. The moodiness.
This speaks for itself.
5. The brain fog.
I really have a difficult time with this. Sometimes I just can't be the person everyone needs me to be and I feel I am failing them in so many ways.

The top five thing I have found most positive about having an auto-immune disease:
1. Experience.
I have been through so much.
2. The learning curve.
Know matter how much I thought I knew before I got sick, being ill has forced me to search for answers to questions I didn't even know I had.
3. Slowing Down.
In our fast paced world must of us only dream of slowing down and taking real time for family and friends. Being Ill forces me to slow down. This has produced so moment with my children that I would not want to miss for anything.
4. Bravery.
Finally being strong enough to take charge of my own life and doing it my way.
5. A Purpose.
The knowledge and ability to make a difference in the health of future generations.

Health Tagline

2012-04-26T16:54:00.001-07:00

Okay, so today I am creating a tagline for my blog. My existing tagline is "Creating the happy, healthy life you deserve". I do actually kind of like that. In my profession, it's what I do. The funny thing is that when I was looking at the prompt for today, I realized that I do really need to keep a notepad and pencil attached to my hip. So many of these prompt have come and I've had to say, "oh, I just had a good one for that". Yet the memory always escapes me. So the tagline stays, but I have learned a valuable lesson. Post-its are going in the purse.

Third Person Post

2012-04-25T20:10:00.002-07:00

A memory, written as if I am watching from a distance. I see it clearly....
She sits in a waiting room. Filled with chairs. A few other people sit around her, but she barely notices. She looks around, everything is so quiet. Her nerves are on edge. She has traveled so far to be here. It is her last chance for answers. It hurts her to sit, she is so thin. Her brain can barely think straight and the long walks through this amazingly large building are exhausting. She laughs to take the edge off. The waiting is long and out of the small bag beside her she pulls out a set of knitting needles. Something to make the time go by. Something she used to love. A small dishrag in the making. She only has enough energy to concentrate on small projects. Her husband sleeps beside her. She thinks of her children back home. I week with out her girls is a long time. She hopes to have good news for them. Outside the weather is bitter cold. Back home they will receive the biggest snow storm ever and she will miss the snow days with her children. She is called in to see the doctor and the news is not promising. Will she be around to raise see her girls grow up. Tests are scheduled and the rest of the afternoon is free to explore the town. There is not much to do here. Back at the hotel she calls home to check in with everyone. Questions run rampant but she will do what she has become accustomed to. Take each moment is it comes and just keep moving forward. Enjoying each moment to the fullest and holding on to hope.

Daily Schedule

2012-04-23T17:02:00.001-07:00

Today is Health Activist Choice Day 2. I get to write about what ever I want. So it goes without saying that I could not figure out what I wanted to write about today. So I've chosen to do a bonus prompt. My daily schedule. I get to let you peek into a day in the life of me. I usually wake up at 6:30am. I head straight into clean up mode. Switch the laundry and empty the dishwasher. Dust through the whole house, clean both bathrooms. Sweep and mop all the floors, all 1600 sq. ft. of them. Clean the litter box and take out the garbage and recycling. At this point I take a quick break for a cup of yerba mate. Then it's time to wake the oldest one and get her set to head off to school. Once she is out the door I hit the showers. Next it's time to wake the little one and get a head start on her homeschooling day. At about 10:15am we pack up. Me to head of to work and the little one is off to dad's for the day. She brings her workbooks and the computer to do quiet work. Dad works nights and so it works out nicely. I work until 3pm. During this time, if I have any breathing time, I will catch up on any school work that I have. I am currently attending classes at the local community college, working on my second year with IIN, working on a Family Herbalist Course, and Yoga Certification. Thankfully, almost all of my classes are online. At 3pm I run any quick errands needed for the day and head over to pick up the little one. We make it home a few minutes after the older one gets home from school. The afternoons vary. This time is usually used to finish up our homeschool day, mow the lawn and work on the garden. If the oldest is in an afterschool event at the time, we are usually off to watch her. To be honest, with all of my food sensitivities, meal prep is no longer a fun activity for me. Once a week I hit the grocery store and spend the rest of that evening doing fridge prep. Lots of cut up fruits and veggies. Precooked grains and potatoes. Hard boiled eggs and precooked bacon. The fridge is filled with easy to put together healthy meals that the children can put together as they please. After dinner is homework time for the oldest. Snacks and a movie round out the evening. I usually like to head to bed around 9pm. If it's been a rough day illness wise for me, I will just crash. Otherwise, a little reading is in order. Sometimes I am finishing up some studying, but I've been trying to do some just for fun reading. Computer work comes either first thing in the morning or last thing at night. Soon Saturday mornings will be filled with 4 hours of workshare time at a local farm for a CSA share, and season passes to the local amusement park will fill our free time. It's a busy day from start to finish. Some of you may notice the one missing piece to this day. Yes, I know I should fit consistent exercise into my day, it just never seems to quite make the daily schedule. When time allows, I head over to the local forest preserve for a 2 mile walk, but as of yet it has not made it into my daily schedule. Someday.

Health Madlib Poem

2012-04-21T14:29:00.001-07:00

Well this has been an interesting day. Today, I was to create a poem based on a mad lib. Fill in the nouns, verbs and adjectives and then you get to see what the poem is. What a mess! I have spent the better part of the day going back to the poem trying to create something that would at least make some kind of sense. So without further ado, here is the poem that has taken close to 8 hours to create. I hope that you enjoy...

Good life's Good life

I read my words and all the truth comes home;
I fill my days and all is well again.
(I relax I build you up inside my mind.)

The thoughts go spining out in time and space,
And bright sun flows in:
I follow my heart and all the world stands before me.

I loved that you talked me into search
And let me grow, judged me quite clearly.
(I relax I build you up inside my mind.)

Illness takes from the soul, Hashimoto's thyroiditis drains:
tired body and brain's fog:
I follow my heart and all the world stands before me.

I dreamed you'd stay the way you where,
But I set free and I trust your vision.
(I relax I build you up inside my mind.)

I should have planned a vacation instead;
At least when family visits they head back again.
I follow my heart and all the world stands before me.

(I relax I build you up inside my mind.)

- Amy & Sylvia Plath

5 Dinner Guests

2012-04-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

If I could invite any 5 people to dinner, who would it be? The first person on that list would be my grandfather. He passed away 8 years ago and I miss him terribly. He was an amazing man. He spent his whole adult life with one leg and battled cancer three times. Even with those trials he raised 6 wonderful children and traveled the world, making friends everywhere he went, started his own business, and was always there when you needed him. I would love to be able to talk to him now about all that has happened in my life. The second person would be Joshua Rosenthal, founder of The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. He has been such an inspiration to me over the passed year and I have learned so much from him. It would be amazing to meet him in person and find out what lead him to do what he does. Number three is an interesting one. It would have to be Sully Erna, lead singer of Godsmack. This one is purely selfish. He is just to darn good looking. He is also amazingly talented. It's not my usual music pick, but talent is talent. Onto number four, Nicholas Sparks. The man has never written a book that I haven't loved. Last but not least, my fifth guest would have to be my soon to be ex-husband, aptly named the x-man. My superhero. My best friend. An event like this would just not be complete without him. While I have to admit this would be the most interesting dinner party ever, I also think it would be a lot of fun. With such a wide array of background, it would be amazing to see how these people would interact with each other. I do know that it would be very entertaining and I would come away have learned much from the evening.

Open Book

2012-04-18T19:12:00.000-07:00

"We are all on a spiral path, Growth does not occur in straight lines. There will be challenges along the way, There will be shadows. But they will be balanced with whispers of joy, And baskets of happiness." - The Gift of Yoga by Gena Kenny.
When I see this I realize how absolutely true it is. Life is ever changing, and sometimes all that change can leave our heads spinning. But it's right at the moment that we feel we cannot take another step that something amazing and wonderful happens. I've learned this personally. Being sick can be extremely draining. It is no longer as easy to see the brighter side of things. But there are those moments. Curling up on the couch with my girls, taking a walk in the woods, or just a moment when all is quiet but the birds in the trees. In those moments, all is right with the world.

Learned the Hard Way

2012-04-17T19:02:00.000-07:00

There are a couple of thing over the years that I have learned the hard way. The most important one being....STAY TRUE TO YOURSELF. Like most women I know, we put others before ourselves. Ingrained in to my nature was the combination of taking care of others and being fully excepting of other people. For me this meant that there was no one better or worse than me, just different. I was always seeing the good qualities in everyone and overlooking the bad. Combine this with my need to serve, and I all but drained the life out of myself. While it is good to meet people where they are at, at what point do we do this at the sacrifice of who we truly are? At the end of the day I realized that I had completely given of myself to so many others by become who they needed to be at any given moment. I lost sight of who I was. Being flexible is one thing, but you need to stay true to who you are in the process. Do what you love, be authentic, and those who truly appreciate you will love you all the more for it and you will feel so much more comfortable in you own skin. The second thing I learned the hard way is DON'T WAIT TO SEE A DOCTOR. I'm the natural girl. Yes, this is still for me the way to go, and I have found that it has been the most beneficial to me. But there comes a time, when that little voice in your head says that something is just not right. This is the time to go see your doctor. It may be nothing or it may be the biggest event to hit your life. Get a jump start and you'll be much farther ahead. I waited, I knew something wasn't right, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I waited and waited, until one day I woke up and barely knew my own name. The road back up has taken years away from me and my young children. Years I will never get back. These are things I have learned the hard way. If I could go back in time, I would have done differently.

Pinboard

2012-04-16T17:33:00.000-07:00

Today' post is on pinterest. Since I've been pinning for awhile I have several boards already in motion. So today I would like to invite you to take a look at my health and wellness pinboard. This is the place where I pin items that I feel may be beneficial to my health. Enjoy!

My Dream Day

2012-04-14T15:37:00.000-07:00

Today I get to write about what my dream day would be. I actually do this every few months on my own. I find it a great way to connect with where I am at and where I would like to be. It keeps me on track for reaching any goals I have and allows me to reevaluate. Life is ever changing and my dream day will reflect that. So here we go...
A wake up with the sun. Spend the next few hours getting the house cleaned and in order. Fix my self a cup of yerba mate and take it outside where I will work quietly in the garden as meditation. Come in and put in rebounding, yoga and weight bearing exercise. Wake up the children to get them ready for school. Fix a health breakfast for all which we eat together leisurely. Send my oldest one off to school and sit with my youngest while we work on our homeschooling . Send the youngest to work on special interest project of her choice while I go into my home office and see clients for the next few hours. Meet my oldest daughter off the bus and pack a healthy bag of snacks and some paper and pencils and head of to the park or forest preserve and spend the afternoon outdoors in the fresh air enjoying time connecting with my children. Coming home to cook a fresh from the garden meal in my outdoor kitchen. After dinner I would relax with the x-man and maybe a few neighbors while all of the children and dogs run around enjoying the setting sun. The evening would end either around a fire outside or with popcorn and a movie.
There are moments when parts of my perfect day come together and I feel completely at piece. I am still working on coming home full time to my home office, and I haven't quite perfected the exercise part of my day. Some days it all fits in and sometimes not. I hope you've enjoyed this sneak peak into my perfect day.