No more worries people! I'm ok now!  I will still get an occasional cramp (usually after a lot of greens) but I learned from Dr. Oz that this is normal, thanks Dr. Oz.  I have been listening more to my body and what it wants to eat (it's kind of crazy how you can hear your body when you don't put all that junk in it).  It has been telling me more carbs, so I listened.  For instance, I'll have a piece of toast with my morning fruit smoothy or I'll grab a handful of crackers as a mini snack. 

However. I have slightly fallen off of the wagon (no, not the vegan wagon (no "I told you so's" yet!) unless you count that delicious artichoke heart, pepper and LIGHT cheese delight pizza from Papa Murphey's I had the other night), the "eating lots of veggies and making lots of meals" wagon.  This whole stomach cramping thing kind of threw me off for a while.  I had to eat what I could.  And then my "friend" that visited me on my birthday (not the one that brought me the awesome cookbook) brought me cravings for naughty things.  I tried not to give in too much, but I did do that DELICIOUS pizza, some mint chocolate swirl coconut icecream (so yum!), more toast that I would usually have, and less vegies.  I'm begining to get back on track now that both problems are gone. 

During this time, I did make a super yummy stir fry with udon noodles (and then soba) and a TON of vegetables.  So easy and yummy.  The noodles cook in 3-4 minutes.  And guess who loves it?  Mr. AP! He acctually asks me to make it! For anyone that knows him, this is huge.  He "hates" pasta and while he does add some meat to his portion, it's not a burger!! 

Lastnight I made a Kale and potatoe soup for my mom and I.  While it didn't exactly come out "soupy", it was still yummy.  The only time consuming thing about all of these meals is chopping the vegies, and I acctually enjoy doing it, wierd.  Mr. Squishy (or BamBam, another blog to come) tried this, but chose to smear it all over the table instead of consuming it. Baby steps.

Peace Love and noodles

It's my Party and I'll.....

So it's my birthday! Hooray! I really don't feel bad about getting older.  Perhaps it has to do with liking where I'm at in life.  It's pretty much where I saw myself, I think.  Of course things can always go up/be better/more wonderful, but I've got it pretty damn good right now.  "How so Rachel?" (you might ask) Well, let me tell you.

(Prepare for some bragging, but really it's just appreciation for what I'm surrounded with)

First, I am married to my Jacob (yep, that's a Twilight reference, get over it if you don't like the books, I read them in one week while I was 8 months pregnant with Jack, I was obsessed. Perhaps my emotions were SLIGHTLY hightened, but who's counting) (and I say Jacob because Edward love does not exist, that is a fairytale people, come on, get with the program), we go up and we go down, but in the end, we are doing it all together and getting closer by the second. (*tear* right? i know, I'm just too much!) And then there are my beautiful babies!  My mom said she knew I wanted to be a mom when I was two.  I believe it.  Super bonus plus, I get to stay home with them every day of every week of every month of every year.  Wouldn't have it any other way. (another tear, I know, I'm killing myself!)  My mom, she's pretty freakin fantastic. (she's here right now reading Ms. Moo a book before bed, love)  As far as families go, mine's crazy.  Who's isn't?  There awesome though.  So is my in-law fam.  I know what you're thinking: "Really Rach? You are just saying that because they read this." No, I swear!  They are great! And friends, wow, my friends are amazing.  This one friend, she just brought me a present (against my wishes) and it was the #1 vegan cook book on my list! Again with the love!  I am living in the neighboorhood I've always wanted to come back to in a house that I really like. 

Sure, there is always more that we want and more that we "need", but when it comes down to it, I've got everything and more.  Sometimes it's hard to take a step back and look at what we have and appreciate it all (good and bad), but if we do, we see that it's pretty amazing.  At least I do, I hope it for all of you too.




Ok ok..enough with the sappy stuff.  Let me tell you what Mother Nature brought me for my birthday: cramps, bloating, longing for icky foods...yep, you guessed it. (I won't say it for the men that read my blog, Dad.)  Wah.  Heating pad here I come!


Let me update you on what I did this weekend!  I planted a bag garden!  I'll take pictures soon so you can see what I mean.  I have all kinds of things planted from pumpkin to cantalope to pickeling cucumber! (shout out to Lindsay!!)  I'm really excited about it.  Oooo! I have strawberries too!  I made a stirfry tonight and used green onions from my garden! I can't wait for more to grow.


Oh, if anyone is wondering about the Gdiapers, I am still using them.  Usually just around the house and not for bed time.  The reason for just around the house is that the poops can kind of be a mess and hassle to clean up.  There is ALWAYS poop on the liner that has to be hosed off and then the liner needs to be soaked or it will stain.  So I still love them and use them, and if Jack has had his morning poop, I'll take him out in a g, I just don't want to have to deal with that somewhere in public.  The con.

My "lifestyle diet change" is still going good.  My stomach is loads better.  It acts up everyonce in a while, but for the most part, it's good.  I still try to take at least one acidophilis pill, but I've been doing pretty good.  I think my body is getting it, which is good because I was begining to wonder.

Time for some Idol folks, GO LEE!

Peace love and birthdays!

Update: Body Revolt!

I know I've been keeping you all in deep suspence, but I really don't have much to report. Unless you count that the past two weeks have kind of been a horrible rollercoaster. Some days I'm fine, some days I'm curled up in a ball in agonizing pain. I have found (thanks to my friend Lindsay and mama) that acidophilus pills help a little, when I remember to take them BEFORE I eat.




I went to the Downtown upstairs wine walk thingy in Albany this last Friday. All day I had been feeling the pain, so I wasn't even sure I was going to go, but I began to feel better as the time came near. I had no idea what would happen when I drank wine, but what's the worse that could happen? I feel bad and have to go home, no biggie. I felt totally fine all night long, fine enough to tie one on even. We ate at the Vault and I had the vegi yakisoba (very yummy).... Fine! Mo and I met up with our men and friend Jamil and went to Baileys where I scarffed down half an order of delicious fries.....fine! The next morning, I had no hangover and felt great, tired, but great.



All day Saturday went well too.



Sunday, mommy day, we went to brunch at SpringHill (the only reason to eat there is the bacon, I was so excited when everyone started discussing how amazing the bacon was, NOT) never the less, I ate some fruit, a muffin and some potatoes. Mom, Av and I headed to Woodburn afterwards and it began to go downhill there. I started sweating and cramping, not a good shopping feeling.  The rest of the day went ok, Mr. AP brought me a pill before we ate a Mother's Day BBQ, and there was mild cramping after that.


Then Monday night, Mr. AP's parents came over for dinner and I made yummo temph enchilada's and a salad with a glass of wine.  I forgot to take a pill because I'd been feeling so good all day.  I didn't even realize until the next day (when I started to curl up into a ball) that I felt totally fine with all the spicy, garlicy food....I had wine! I don't know what it is, but it seems when I drink wine, I'm ok.  What is in wine that would aid with digestion?  I'll google it and let you know what the web MD's have to say about it.

I realize that you are probably wondering why I haven't gotten my crazy ass to the Dr. yet....well, this is slightly personal, (but hey, isn't that what blogs are?) I don't have insurance.  My kids do, so don't worry about them, but I haven't had insurance (unless I was pregnant, thankyou all if you are tax payers) since 2004.  Bret has had it here and there when his employer was willing to catch the entire premium, but we just don't have wiggle room to add me.  I know, I know, what if something happens (kind of like it is right now, uhem) then we'll really be in trouble.  I don't have an answer.  It is what it is and times are tough for a lot of people right now and health insurance (in my honest opinion) is kind of a joke.  It's ridiculous that people are dying everyday because they can't afford to go to the hospitol because they can't afford health insurance.  The middle/lower class is completely forgotten.  You have to make a good amount of money to afford health insurance or be dirt poor (and I say dirt because we are grass poor and that's too much) to get assited health insurance.  It just blows my mind and hurts my heart (a lot of things hurt my heart, but this is good enough for one night).

Anyway, I got all serious on you and now you don't want to read my blogs anymore, do you.  Well, for what it's worth, I'm still convinced that it's my body saying "What the *&#$!" (fill it in as you see fit) and that it will get better when I'm adjusted. (at least that's what I'm hoping for) 

Peace Love and no balls of pain

Ps. Friend of mine Keri: There has been no more fainting, just the one time, so please do not worry over me my love!

Body Revolt! Plus awesome song

First things first.  Listen to this right now.  I"m obsessed with this song and this girl.  She is amazing.  Do yourself a favor and take a minute to relax and listen.





So I think my body is finally saying "what the hell are you doing?!!".  I know I said I've been feeling amazing and great and wonderful and full of energy, and it's true....except for the last couple of days.  Now before we panic and/or say "I told you  you were crazy!", let's analize why my body is rebelling. 

First, I'll tell you what's going on.  There were a couple of nights that I would wake up feeling like I should pass out.  You know that feeling you get right before you faint, the wave of heat followed by cold?  Well I kept getting that over and over and over to the point where I was laying on my bathroom floor praying I would pass out.  I wasn't really haveing any pains in my stomach or anything, it was odd.  Finally I did do the doo and then passed out in the hallway.  I"m not sure for how long, but I crawled back to bed and began having horrid pains in my stomach.  Perhaps not my stomach area, perhaps it was more intestinal, I've never had these kind of cramps (I've had the ones right before you poop that are way down low, but not this high).  Anyway, I finally fell asleep or passed out again, not sure which.  I did this for another two nights (no more passing out, just the feeling).  I do believe doing the doo helped ease the pain.  It's gotten better, but still, everytime I eat something I get intestinal cramping, even if it's slight.  (Then I exasberated the situation by having cheese pizza two nights ago, more on that later)

So, here's what I've come up with.  My body is finally fully detoxing.  Let's think about it:  For 20 years (giver or take a few) I ate as much chocolate, sugar, fried anything, milk, cheese, butter as I could.  I ate some vegetables, only dipped in ranch, only ate salad if it was drenched in ranch, covered in cheese, eggs and bacon.  It's a wonder I didn't weigh 300 pounds really.  My saving grace is that I couldn't eat very much at a time, I've always had an internal "barf if I eat one more bite" monitor that only allowed me to eat 1/4 of anything I ordered or made or put on my plate (unless it was chocolate, I could easily eat my weight in chocolate, not the 300 pound me, but the real me).  And I just shut that completely down one day.  No more processed sugar, no more milk, no more cheese, no more grease...my body was probably in shock and excited at first.  Now, it's like "What is happening? I don't know what to do with this food!"  So, I'm hoping this is the case.  I'll give it another week, and then I may have look further into what I'm eating and what's going on.





Cheese Pizza:  yep, I told you I wasn't going to be anal.  And I'm not.  I'm going to eat a piece of cake now and then.  I'll have some M&Ms here and there (how can I not? Every member of my family is obsessed with them and they are everywhere).  And I'm going to eat some pizza when  it sounds good, and it did.  Tasted sooooo good!  However, the consequences were almost immediate.  Stomach cramping followed by intestinal cramping all night long.  So, my indulgences will be few and far between because it's not worth it to me to be in pain for an entire night+.  (maybe next time, I"ll just have one piece instead of 4, that could help :)



Peace love and intestines