Accountability...

I know I have been pretty spotty with blogging as of late.

First and foremost by NOT blogging almost daily like I used to here at My Blissful Journey I have become LAZY in many areas of my life.  I have noticed that this blog has given me ACCOUNTABILITY above all else.  I NEED to get back to doing that.

The last year or more I have battled with Sciatica and was able to control it with the research I have done and noting it here.  If needed I will go to a Chiropractor but I haven't done that in like 2 years.

It's been a full year now...I trashed my contacts and switched back to glasses.  It took a LONG time to get used to them again but I was FINALLY able to.

I am now focusing on something else.  I have dealt with other issues...why NOT this?  I don't know if I am ready to 'come clean' on what is bothering me but I do know that this blog is a good why to do that.  I do know about several steps I am already taking to see if they help my aches and pains.

I would like to be better about reporting here on my blog about the steps I am taking.  It will give me accountability.  There are many things in life I am horrible at.  One thing has always been taking 'pills'.  In my case I have started taking B-Complex/B-12 again.  I haven't done this since I was 15.  It will be hard for me to do.  I will do it for a few days and then stop.  I MUST be better about this.

I don't often eat breakfast.

I know this is HUGE but I have never been a breakfast person.  Again...I will get going with a few days of a breakfast and then stop...whether it is because I ran out of time in the morning or because I don't have much to choose from in the house...or I just don't want to.

I NEED...no...I MUST be better about this.

I hate bananas!

I know I have said this MANY times here on my blog.

I want to like them...I do.  I haven't been able to bring myself to do it.  I was finally able to add up to 1/2 banana in my smoothies but I feel incorporating bananas into my diet MORE will certainly help with my overall pain.  I know that Avocados are great for this, too, but they are SO EXPENSIVE where I life.  I grab them when I can but it hasn't been to often lately.  

MORE WALKING.

What a horrible time for me to want to try and do this, eh!?  In the middle of winter - in the snow belt!

I'm going to try and be better about this...perhaps I will try and visit a nearby nearly abandoned mall and try and walk there.  Time will tell.

I know - this whole blog entry has been one HUGE blab-fest!  I just felt like I needed to get it out of my system.  Over the next weeks and months perhaps I will open up more about my thoughts and feelings but I am hoping by then my efforts will prove some overall improvements and it won't be as much of an issue.

The "Friday Finish"

It's the "Friday Finish"!  I honestly didn't know what to title today's mish mash of a post so there you have it!  Here are some random things I have been doing, catching up on, thinking, feeling, or seeing at any given time.

Earlier this week I mentioned that I was working on Raw Vegan Cheesecake Bites!  Here's the finished product!  You can see the full recipe and write up over at The Raw Food World News RECIPE Section as it's today featured recipe!

Also this past week I finally made it thru all of my leftovers of the Vegan Thai Green Curry base I made.  You can view that post HERE.

As you can see in this last photo before I ate the rest of it - it did thicken up quite a bit.  It was even better the 2nd and 3rd day!  YUM!

It's been extremely windy and rainy all this week!  We've had some flooding nothing major, thankfully, but it is out of the ordinary.  We even had a thunderstorm the other night.  Most of the leaves are off the trees and that proves that Fall is turning to Winter, soon.

It's been 'slim picken's' in the kitchen as I have run low on several personal staples.  I hope to fix that this week.  I won't be going crazy, I want to remain fairly thrifty this weekend but I still need to re-stock a few things.

Here's a quick photo of a thrown together dish.
My husband thought it was Vegan Mac & Cheese but it really isn't.  Here IS what I did do - however...I had some leftover marinara and added some Mac Nuts to it in my Vitamix and made it into a sauce of its own.  It's a red sauce meets white sauce I guess.  I topped it with Basil.
It was tasty!

Riley has been doing pretty good lately.  We can really start to see the 'grey' pop out in his coat, tho!  He's probably around 11 years old or so.  Several times a year his ears pose a problem and he ends up with ear infections.  We deal with the problem as it occurs of course but sometimes he rubs his ears or face on the carpet or sofa and he gets bald spots on his ears.  This time around I noticed he gave himself a scab on the top of one of his ears.  This is something new for him.  I have some ointment to put on it and drops for his ears.  Other than that he's been doing fine.

Cricket LOVES to torment him and he's been really patient with her.  I think he secretly likes it!

The other night I couldn't get back to sleep.  I was up at 1am and never did get back to sleep. At least Cricket was able to get some.

That was the same day we had a live broadcast at work and then I attended a Luncheon for the School Partnership.

It was another crazy week - it's true.  Hubby was able to take in some 'brother time' and attended a hockey game with his brother so that was nice.

I'm looking forward to not only attending a football game in November but a Meatloaf concert, too!  Woot!

My eye detox continues.  The throbbing (from wearing the wrong prescription) has finally subsided.  Sometime in the next month I hope to get in for an appointment and most likely a new pair of glasses.  I blogged before about how my days of wearing contacts have probably come to an end.

This is a selfie of me at work.  Note the Ponytail Palm and Sea Salt Lamp in the background.  I'm trying to Feng Shui up my office a bit more.  I just ordered 2 Quantum Balancing Crystals in the CONE versions.  I ordered one of the YELLOW and one of the ORANGE.  I hope to do a near future post on that soon!  I have been trying to get into the crystals more!

I LOVE my Sea Salt Lamp so much that I ended up ordering TWO MORE!  I did get them already but am trying to figure out where to put them.  Originally I got them for home.  Then I thought about putting them in my office along with this one you see here.  But now I am really thinking that I need to work on the atmosphere at home, too!

I ended up getting 2 of them for my friend at work and I got one for my parents and one for my sister, too!  They really like them, too!

I'm trying to think of fun items to get my family members for Christmas.  I have a few ideas but don't want to post them here because I think a few of them might read it.

Herbs & Home

Just a quick post regarding herbs and home stuff.  I posted another lengthier post earlier today if you would like to check that out by scrolling down as well.

Check out this herbal tea (tisane)!  It's from a company called Cha Tale in the UK.  They have some of the best tasting herbal teas I have had so far and I drink a lot of tea!  I'm not usually that fond of herbal teas.  Mostly because when I drink tea I want to drink tea and have it TASTE like tea!  Most herbals aren't that tea-like.  Another reason I wanted to post this herbal tisane is because of the Cassia Seeds you see on the bottom.  They have a TON of health benefits including those for eye health and I have been focusing on eyes lately!

This next one is a combo of Pandan Leaves and Lemongrass.  NOT by the company I mentioned above but I still wanted to blog about it because of all the benefits of Pandan Leaves more specifically regarding pain relief.  I have an upcoming article and recipe for this tea over at The Raw Food World NEWS Site so be on the look out.

This past week hubby confirmed that the kidney stones he has gotten time and time again are directly linked to his Crohn's.  After tests it was found that they were made up of calcium and sodium.  It's not so much that he consumes those two things much it's that because of his Crohn's those two things don't break down like they should.  So now he's focusing on lower calcium and lower sodium foods, however, he is a meat eater, and because of his Crohn's can't eat many raw fruits and veggies or even some of his cooked veggies he used to call favorites.  If you are new to my blog - it's true - our house hold is a mixed diet household.  This is becoming more and more common these days.  On top of everything else he has to make sure that he's eating low fiber foods, too.  A few random things we have found that meet all of those rules are spaghetti, rice crispies, and apple sauce.  I will do occasional posts with additional findings.

Focusing On Eye Health

It took me FOREVER and a day to FINALLY wear contacts.  I had a very hard time putting them in.  What helped me was tinted or colored contact lenses and I LOVED them.  I ended up wearing them for about a year and somehow after a year developed an allergy to the dye in them or at least that is what I was told.  After healing my eyes from that ordeal I switched to regular disposable.  I have been wearing them TOO MUCH over the past 18+ years.  Last week I took them out to give my eyes a rest and also did this prior to a massive cleaning spree in my house.  Eventho I took out my contacts prior to cleaning I started to have major sensitivity issues.  I wore my glasses for a full week.  Sunday I put my contacts back in and after a few hours I noticed issues with 2 blood vessels in my one eye.  NOT COOL.  I have to admit I have worn my contact too long and I have slept with them in.

This is bad.  I know.  I believe it has caught up with me.  I have a feeling I have given myself allergies to contacts all over again.  It's probably a warning sign to give up contacts completely.  As much as I don't want to do this I keep thinking it's the way to go.  Long term contact wear isn't good and it's not like when I am 80 I will be wearing contacts.  It's not me being vain, here, but I'm not looking forward to this full time glasses adventure.  My eyes have been bad since I was in 2nd grade but I will say the last 4 or more years my eye sight hasn't gotten worse (altho I do have a very strong prescription to begin with).  I know of people online who have reversed their eye site and no longer have to wear glasses or contacts.  I know that I am not one of those people.  My eyes are too far gone. Now I'm not saying that I'm going to give up but I don't have reversal expectations, either.  I would like to try and heal my eyes naturally from the damage I have done over the next few weeks prior to going in for a check up.  Right now I have Cayla & Co Roxie Eyeglasses but I'm open to a change.

While doing research for things I should be eating for eye health of course carrots pop up first.  Leafy Greens follow.  Well, I eat both and often.  Another suggestion is eggs.  That isn't going to happen.  When I dropped dairy and eggs it was for digestion issues.  I haven't felt this good in my entire life (including when I was a toddler!) so I will not go back to that!  Citrus & Berries is another suggestion!  I LOVE both and SHOULD consume more.  They aren't very tasty here unless they are in season and the season is very short and they are ALWAYS expensive so when I do eat them they are usually frozen.  Almonds is another food that is suggested for better eye health.  I can honestly said since dropping dairy nuts of all sorts has been my filler so I will continue to do that!  Fatty Fish was another suggestion.  And that's a NO.  I haven't eaten fish in 22 years and I'm keeping it that way.  Now...having said that...they suggest eggs because of the Lutein and Zinc and the fish because of the DHA/Omega 3.  Taking that one step farther INSTEAD of fish I will be consuming the following for the DHA and/or Omega 3's...Flax Seeds, Chia Seeds, Hemp Seeds, Mustard Oil, Seaweed, Beans, Winter Squash, Cabbage, Wild Rice, Spices & Herbs, Mangoes, and Honeydew Melon.  MOST of these I get PLENTY of but I have to admit that I will be looking into Mustard Oil. (*I have since read that Mustard Oil is BANNED in the EU, US, and India READ MORE HERE.)  It's suggested that instead of Olive Oil to use Mustard Oil.  Well, I rarely use Olive Oil - my defaults are Grapeseed and Coconut Oils.  And I don't think I use all that much of them.  When it comes to Zinc - vegan sources are...Tofu, Tempeh, Chickpeas (and other beans), Lentils, various nuts, corn, peas, oatmeal, miso, and broccoli.  Again I think I get plenty of these foods.  I will continue to eat these but with more thought on focusing on eye health, specifically.  I know there are many more vegan sources of each but there are just a few.  I don't think my food in take is the problem.  I think I was being lazy and not focusing on my eyes when I should have been.  So what else can I do to help them now?

Rest.  Now that I will not be wearing contacts that won't be hard.  Warm Compresses is one thing I will be trying.  Other sources say warm and cool compresses even.  Eye Exercises which I will start doing soon.  And I think one of the more important ones for me personally is Stepping Away from the Computer more often.  Another thing I would like to be more consistent with with smoothies and juicing!