journey into fermented foods and drinks

While I start my seeds and wait for the snow to melt so I can get out in the garden I have been doing a lot of reading on fermented food and the benefits of them. As someone who suffers from multiple digestion issues and diseases probiotics  and digestive enzymes are a must. They help but I still have a lot of issues even with taking them. In finding out fermented foods are good for digestion, healing the gut and are loaded with probiotics  it only seemed natural that I gave them a try. I love sauerkraut So I figured I would start there. I read up on it and realise how easy it was to do I don't know why didn't I try this sooner! So I went to work chopping cabbage and making my sauerkraut. It's now sitting fermenting on my counter. Next batch I wanna add carrots, beets and possibly apple and fennel. The possibilities are end less with fermented veggies specially once it's farmers market season and my garden starts producing. As long as moxxi doesn't eat all my crops and all the blossoms like last year!

Next I am thinking of either making kimchi and or kombucha. They both interest me. I bought what I need to make the scoby to for kombucha. So I might do that this week. Have any of you had experience with fermented food or beverages? If so what? Do you have a recipe you like the best? What other things do you like you do and make around the house?

A week in Hawaii

we were lucky enough to have a chance to go to Hawaii with muffins whole family. There were 12 of us that went his mother, sister, hubby and 2 kids, brother, wife and 3 kids and muffin and my self. This whole trip was a dream vacation all happened because my mother in law wine some money on the extra. I couldn't think of a better person to win money on the lotto. It made it possible for her to make one of her dreams come true. Her dream was to go to Hawaii and being able to take all her kids and grand kids was obviously an added bonus. It was so generous of her and was a true bonding experience with so many memories made.
I was worried about the travel with my health issues. It wasn't as bad as I thought. Although the 13 hours flying was difficult I made sure to rest before, take extra meds and bring my neck pillow. The kids all did great flying. We arrived in Honolulu  around midnight. Grabbed the rental car and headed to the house. Since it was dark we didn't get to see our beautiful view tell the morning. Once we took in our surroundings and the house we made our way to Walmart and Costco to buy some food for the week. I had some amazing food truck tacos out side Costco. We relaxed around the house and took in the yard and pool. Before dinner a few of us went with the older kids to the dole plantation. It rained pretty good while we were there but I still took in the shops and we made the last train of the plantation. Home for dinner and early to bed.
The next day started at 4 am as most of the week did between the time change and chickens waking me up. Kirk and I went early to the sea life park to see as much as we could. The rest of the family caught up with us later. I got yo feed the sea lions there lunch as well as feed some Dolphins. It was a great day with such a beautiful view. We took the scenic ride home and stopped at a set of food trucks where we got some BBQ meat with rice.

The next day I went to Pearl Harbour  with muffin and his brother it was a gold 8 hour day. Really up our ally we all enjoyed it. But after we got there we did the sub and then went to the Arizona. We were on the boat ready to leave to go back to shore when a helicopter crashed into the dock we were suppose to dock at. They are lucky they hit the water which was my 8 feet deep. If they would have hit the land it would have been so much worse and there were 100s of people 15 feet from where they crashed. Sandy the 15 year old boy was trapped underwater for over a min and needed cpr we found out he passed away a week later in the hospital.
The next morning we hung out at the house and checked out a near by town and then muffin and I took off to the Polynesian cultural centre when it opened at noon. We walked and went to all the islands and learnt a lot and saw a lot of different shows and exhibits. I found this so interesting and it really helped with understanding the luau and big show we went to. My 2 sister in laws and mother in law met up with us girls the luau and show. The highlight for me was the 8 year old fire knife danced. The food was good I made a effort to try everything that I could including all the raw fish which is their specialty. It was a very long day  and we were all very tired when we got home.
We woke up early and muffin and I went to the zoo which was right on Waikiki we stopped at a Hawaiian fast food place called zippy then relaxed around the house swam in the pool and early to bed.
Then it was a beach day we lazed around the house in the and then took a walk to the beach. Later my sister in law and muffin walked to the grocery store and stopped at the food trucks to get some food and shave ice. Relaxing day and then back to the beach before dinner.
We woke up and packed and cleaned the house a bit. Muffin his mom and my self walked to the beach. The beach was gone the water had come in so far that the steps leading down to the beach were gone and the waves were coming up on to the road area. They were 30+ feet. We went back and left for the air port. Good thing we did the waves got to 60+ feet and  they closed the highway as they were crashing over the highway. People lost stone fences and damaged their houses and the roads from the waves. They were big enough that 2 days later they had the Eddie. A big surf companion that has only happened 9 times in 31 years and the last time it happened was 9 years ago. It's really to bad we missed it  it would have been neat to have been there and seen it. It happened right on the beach we were minutes away from.
The trip home was broken up which made it better. The kids did really great both ways. The flight was kinda rough on the way back. We were dropping a good 30-50 feet. I have been through a lot of rough flights but this was the worst. It was also bad because of my vertigo. We got to Vancouver and wouldn't you know it they had made us check our carry on the last min and I didn't take my meds out and they lost the bag. They handled it great. And the bag actually beat us home but flying with out my meds was bad and I was having chills and sweats from not having them as well as vertigo and nausea. But not even that could take away from how amazing the trip was. I feel truly blessed to have had this opportunity and to have gotten to build so a,my memories with such a great family who I am lucky to be a part of.

Dealing with set backs

it's hard to realize hey I'm 30 something and I can't do everything my mind wants to or even what people 20+ years older then me are able to. Going out for dinner or to an appointment can put me in bed for days. I have to be really careful cause my immune system is low so I get sick almost every time I am around young kids or someone who is sick. It's easy to beset back and not be able to keep up with my daily routine.  A day like today is gonna be killer. I have a massage, dr appointment and then have to pick up my prescriptions. That there is enough to send me into a flair and need days of rest. But everyone is going out to watch the boys at bowling. I wanna go. It's what I have to do if I wanna have any sort of social life. I need to rest before hand and to rest for days after. I often will be exhausted and sore, dizzy, brain fog, my voice will even often be gone. These are just a few of the symptoms not even close to all of them. It's best explained as feeling like I have been hit by a truck and like being hungover and having the flu at the same time. This is my reality most days. Even just doing to many of my exercises, or doing the laundry or dishes can put me into a flair. It's just how my life is now pacing  is a must. Limiting what I do and especially stress is key. It's hard to find that medium ground where you  can be physically and do things but don't end up in a flair. Something like being on a trip can set me back weeks. I have been trying to get back into my routine but it is like starting from scratch. I was up to walking 49 min every day and I'm down to 15-25 min again. It's all about finding a balance between what you can do and your body can handle. I know my body can't handle as much as most people so I just have to deal with that.

L'Oreal Paris hydra-total 5 ultra- even ritual review

I received my first influenster box a few weeks back. I was so excited to receive the box and was even more thrilled when it was a skin care line to even skin tone. Because of my health issues my skin scares really bad form of flaw. I received the L'Oreal Paris hydra-total 5 ultra- even ritual.
When I started  using it it was fine the first day but then my skin started to react by braking out. I don't normally break out and I ended up with 4+ blemishes. This was very frustrating because my skin scares from everything. I stopped using the spf 20 lotion and even moisturizer and that seemed to stop the issue. I do usually break out from sun screen. The toner and scrub have been great I haven't had an issue with them. I don't find them evening my skin tins noticeably yet but it hasn't made my skin break out or react horribly. I would recommend this product range if you don't have overly sensitive skin. I am sure I would be seeing more results if I could use the whole line. But even still I am happy with the products I can use.
If you don't know influenster is linked to your social media. You take surveys on their site to see if you qualify for free boxes of product. In return if and when you get a box (it's never guaranteed you get a box) you try them and give honest reviews.

Essential oils I'm loving

I started using essential oils regularly last year. I mostly use young living essential oils. I like the fact that they have their own farms so you know where the product is coming from. Also the product is top quality so you can ingest them.

Lavender - I put it on our pillows and defuse it to help us sleep better. Also I use it to help with my skin. And if I feel anxiety coming on you can feel it melt away as you smell it.

Thieves - if I feel a cold or flu coming on or like I'm coming down with something I use this by defusing and putting on my chest and feet. I also just love the smell of it.

Peppermint - I use it mostly when I'm not feeling well and have an upset stomach the smell will help calm it down.

Lemon - I like to add to my water for some added flavour.

Grapefruit - same as lemon it's great in water.

These are just a few of the oils I use regularly. I have also started making my own bath items with my essential oils. With trying to go chemical free so making my own body scrubs and face masks with essential oils it's cost effective and I feel better about using them on my body and in my house. I am so happy I found out about young living and started using their oils. They are better quality then the oils I was previously using. They have helped me so much with my health issues and improved my emotional stability and mental clarity.
Do you use essential oils? Do you find they make a difference in your life?

West side story

In dec I had a chance to see Westwood's production of west side story. It was amazing! And I'm not just saying that. With seeing it this past summer at rainbowstage I can say that these high school kids did a way better job. They knocked it out of the park. With it being such a hard production with so much dancing they were amazing. Every note was hit and every step on point. The students all but in so much work and it truly showed. The had professional head shots in the lobby and the program was just as professional as rainbow stage. I love doing to theatre productions and it's even more special when you know someone who is in or working on the production. 

Do you like theatre? Are you more into plays or musical? I honestly love both so much 

Struggle to stay positive

It can be a struggle to stay positive. It can be even harder for people who grew up with a negative inner monologue which was reinforced by others. I struggle every day to think positive. When I am around others who are negative I tend to fight to not take it on or revert to my old way of thinking. It's  hard to stop something you have done for so long. I am working really hard to fight this. But some days when I'm in a lot of pain or just struggling it can be hard to be positive. I know I have hurt people because of it over the years and this honestly has never been my intention and it hurts me to think someone might think I would intentionally hurt someone. Everyone makes mistakes. No one is perfect. All you can do is learn from your mistakes and misunderstandings and try to do better next time. I am trying to avoid negativity where I can and be around more caring positive people. It can be hard when there is so much negativity going on in the world. Every where you turn there are people hurting people. How do you not feel sad and jaded reading the news and what's going on in the world.  I try to meditate and do daily affirmations. Life has been overwhelming recently with many things going on so I haven't had time to do them as much and I have noticed a difference. It also doesn't help I suffer from SAD and it's the middle of winter. I am thinking of starting a gratitude journal and regular journal again. And well as making sure I get in my meditation and affirmations. I also am going to disconnect and just kinda do my own thing. I need to get my self on track. I can't control how people view me or what they think of me. But I can control how I feel about my self and right now I don't feel very good or like I'm in a good place. It's the first time in a while I have felt like things would be better off with out me. And I don't like feeling that way.