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Diva Challenge #102 - DuoTangle: Auraknot/Bunzo

Challenge #102
Duo challenge - Auraknot and Bunzo.

These two just don't blend together easily for me.  When I got home, I put these in my sketch book instead of on actual Zentangle tiles. I was afraid to ruin some beautiful tiles!

Micron 01 Pen and Zentangle pencil in Earthbound Cachet Sketchbook.

I draw tile sized squares and play around in the sketch book.

I practiced on a post-it note at work first and was having a hard time getting the two to come together. So I knew this was definitely going to be a challenge.

Diva Challenge #101 - Phicops

Well, the damn  blogger won't let me start a new blog, so I will use an old ancient blog to post the Tangle challenge pictures for now.

Challenge #101
Phicops - Love Phicops. I love flowy, curvy things. I have been hesitant to use my new Zentangle tiles for fear of ruining one.  I decided to finally use a couple of tiles for the first time for this awesome tangle.

Dehydrated Mushrooms

Dehydrated mushrooms and a few kale leaves in the dehydrator.  Careful how much you spice things up since they shrink to nothing when they are done.

Before

After

I made some awesome raw "Cheez-Its."  So good!

Day 7 OP - THE Famous Onion Bread

Last night I felt pretty crappy. A general feeling of malaise, achy, tired, grumpy. And these little bumps all over my forehead and red welt-like spots on my leg. The ankles flaring with eczema. Not good. Not pretty. I thought I was coming down with the flu. And this was after restarting the OP for two days straight. The college football game and tailgating kinda hampered weight maintaining eating and living.

But I attempted THE Famous Onion Bread. With my little Nesco. And my little Kitchen Aid processor. I had to make the dough in two batches. And yeah, I can't spread out nice square sheets and cut nice square pieces like with an Excalibur dehydrator, but that's okay. I just kinda spread out my own little rectangles. Just think of it as meditative, right? I really had no idea how much 2 pounds of sweet onions were, so I figured the large yellow sweet onion I had was enough. And it was. It was just right as a matter of fact.

The final result was delicious! The kitchen smelled of toasty onion bread in the morning. It made a WONDERFUL ELT (eggplant, lettuce, tomato) w/Avo for lunch. But don't make that sandwich in the morning to eat for lunch. The eggplant bacon (at least MINE anyway) got soggy and leathery when sitting in the moist sandwich too long. And the bread cracks. So I pack up my sandwich unassembled and ready to put together at lunch time.

Yea for THE Famous Onion Bread...

Brekkie: Apple, Banana, bit of Lara Bar

Lunch: Tropical Kale Salad, Regular Salad w/Cilantro Vinaigrette, Zucchini fettuccine w Garlic Aoli w/chipotle

Dinner: Uh oh. Damn good tortilla chips, fresh salsa, gaucamole, vodka, shot of patron. It was my friends bday. what can you do.

Oil Pulling - Day 1

Okay, so I have finished 30 days of raw with good results. I have decided to try 30 days of Oil Pulling. Lets see what I can accomplish with this.

Oil Pulling (OP) is the practice of swishing oil around in your mouth and through your theeth for about 20 minutes. It pulls out all kinds of nasties and bacteria from your mouth causing detox, improvement of dental health and all over health. The mouth is the window to the body. Bacteria and infections in your mouth can lead to all kinds of health problems like, heart disease, arthritis, rashes, headaches, etc. Our mouth is dirtier than a dogs mouth.

I was only able to pull for 10 minutes today. Kinda made you wanna gag when you spit it out.

Sooooooo, here we go...

I also decided to another 30 days of raw. I mean didn't buy those cookbooks and dehydrator to only try a couple recipes. I figure a high amount of raw veggies in your diet can only be a GOOD thing.  I really couldn't see being a raw vegan though for an extended amount of time. I would imagine you would need some eggs or raw cheese in your diet.  I picture the very first human beings being raw (since they didn't use fire yet) but I am sure they ate bugs and even stole an egg or two to suck on. So they would not have been vegan.  I can see being vegan. or Raw, but raw vegan sounds a bit extreme to me.  I was a vegetarian for 25 years, and followed a vegan diet for 2 years, so I am not against the meatless diet in any way. Just that raw vegan doesn't seem the most natural to me. 

Another thing I noticed while doing the high raw was that my fat intake was the highest ever. A large amount of raw nuts and coconut oil and avocados. Yet the pounds still melted away. Just goes to show. A calorie is NOT just a calorie. A quality calorie or fat gram makes a huge differnce over a low quality refined processed calorie/fat gram.

Day 30 - A rough end

My 30 days are up. Another speeding ticket (not like me), my car being sideswiped, and the emissions light back on in my car. I'm in a low mood. I feel like all the positive thinking I have been trying this month is not so positive!

They had no veggie hand pies at the hockey game. I found cole slaw on a menu at another vendor only to be told, nope. they don't have it. And the Asian Bowl vendor was shut down. So I got a bucket of popcorn and thought about Kale Chipotle Salad. Literally. That is all I wanted.

So I have lost 7 pounds in this 30 days. I am disapppointed in this amount, though I know I shouldn't be. What counts is my waist went down almost an inch and my arm 1/2 inch! I am back into my favorite jeans. So its the tape measure that really matters. My skin seems the same. I admit I have more energy and don't get that fatigue during the day. I guess that is all positive and the fact that I am back in the kitchen again and enjoying myself and all the food is good.

Brekkie: Berry Green Smoothie

Lunch: Mixed Greens Salad w/Sweet Orange Miso Dressing, Celery Salad, Kale Chipotle Salad...yum.

Dinner: Kale Salad w/Chipotle Dressing, Romaine Lettuce

Cooked: Due to everything going wrong at work also today, I ate a Nature's Path Toaster Tart to patch up my shitty day. And several Mary's Gone Crackers crackers with my kale salad.