My Holistic Experience

I saw the new Holistic MD on Thursday and let me just say that it was BY FAR the best doctor appointment I have ever had in my entire life! I had a 5:00 appointment, and I didn't get in to see him until 5:45, but you know what....I didn't even care. It was almost 7:00 when I finally left there!

Dr. R and I sat and talked about my past health and my current health. I told him how I felt about prescription drugs and why, and you know what.....he actually listened to me. He looked at me when I was talking. He genuinely cared what I had to say. I was able to tell him what I didn't like about my experiences with other doctors.

I told him I needed guidance. I wanted a good solid program of diet, supplements and exercise for my osteopenia and I want to get off the blood pressure meds because I honestly don't think I need them.

When we were done talking, he left the office for a few minutes and came back with a chart. On it were circled all of the health issues I have had and ones I have now. He explained how everything is connected and how one thing can affect another. I worked in a natural health office for five years...I understand a lot about how the body works, and I think he appreciated that. It made his job easier, because he didn't have to do much for me to understand. I already get it.

He looked at the supplements I am already taking and suggested some changes. Every suggestion he made was followed by an explanation of what it will do and why it would be good for me. He doesn't even sell the supplements in his office. you order them directly from the company.

People's bones don't just start weakening on their own....in fact, no health condition just appears for no reason. There is always something going on in your body long before you get a symptom. In order for me to improve my bone health, I need to be sure my body is getting everything it needs to function at 100%. I will do that through diet and supplements.

I also talked to him about my weighted workout shirt and it seems I put the weights right where they need to be. I asked him about the yoga I do because the workout has a lot of forward bending and some twisting and some things I've read say you shouldn't do that with bone loss. He said it was fine for me to keep doing them, and I was so happy.

He gave me food lists....things I should eat and things I should avoid and why. I love when someone tells me why I need to do something...it makes it so much easier.

I told him that my Internist said that no amount of exercise, diet or supplements would ever make my bones stronger....she guaranteed it....about 10 times in fact. He told me that maybe in a few years, I'll be able to go back to her with my bone scan and show her that it is possible to improve your bone health without drugs.

So here I am at the beginning of another journey. This time in addition to my family and friend's support, I have a wonderful doctor ready to travel with me. It's going to be a great trip!

A Day on the Mountain

Remember when I mentioned a while ago that Matt was hoping to snowboard down this really nasty looking mountain? I've learned that this is called the San Joaquin Couloir and the mountain is the San Joaquin Peak which at the top is 13,460 feet.

The guys got snowed out the first time they tried to go, but did manage to go this week. To snowboard this mountain, you can take the lift only so far. Then you get off and spend the next two hours hiking up the mountain to get to the top. Matt said some of the hike up was actually scarier than the snowboarding down. Something about some crazy cliff they had to walk along.

This is Chase, Matt's friend on the hike up the mountain. I thought it was interesting too that a teacher at Matt's school was the first person to ski down the San Joaquin Couloir, back in the late 80's.

Don't ask me how or why people would want to do something like that, because first of all, I am not a skier and second, I am not very adventurous. Here is Chase again....a little closer.

I am assuming that this photo was taken from the top, looking down. I am not a big fan of heights, but you have to be in awe of the mountains when you see them up close and personal.


See the little itsy bitsy speck a little bit below that great big rock? Yep, that is one of them!

Now see the little itsy bitsy spot almost at the bottom of the great big mountain?

I think their tracks look really neat.

Matt on the left and his good friend Chase enjoying a day on the mountain.

Making a Weighted "Vest"

I decided to take today off. Our office is closed tomorrow, but the weather is going to be beyond awesome today, so I thought I would get some yard work done. We'll see how it goes. I also have my appointment with the Holistic MD today at 5:00. They told me to call before I leave to see if he is on time. His sister already told Irv that I should expect to wait.

I am so anxious to hear what he has to say, and then I have some questions of my own. I'll let you know how it goes.

Well, I didn't make a weighted vest, but I did make a weighted top to wear when I walk. I really wanted one and they wanted $75 online for one and I wasn't paying that plus shipping. I had some old stretchy work out tops that I don't wear much anymore, so I picked the one that seemed the sturdiest....that was this black one.

Then I took one that I never wear and I cut the bottom half of it off.

Next, I folded that piece in half to make it stronger and I pinned it to the bottom of the black top.

I had to play with it a bit since both of the fabrics were stretchy and they weren't exactly the same size. I didn't want to make a major project out of it so I just made it work.

I sewed them together across the bottom and than sewed seams to form the little pockets. There are four across the front and four across the back. They are stretchy enough that if I want to add more weight, I can slide a second little one in each pocket. Each little weight is 1/2 pound, so I will be starting with four pounds of weight.

Here is the finished product! Not too bad for FREE!!

The only thing I notice when wearing it is that because the black top was really old, the straps are a bit stretched out. The weights do pull the top down a bit, but not to where it is uncomfortable or the weights are hanging too low. If it gets worse over time. I might have to reinforce the straps a bit with some other fabric or just replace them with something else.

It actually feels good to walk with the extra weight. I'm really lovin' it so far!

Wordless Wednesday....Sound Asleep

Chee Hoo!!!!

Just a quick note to let you know that the Holistic doctors office called and they are getting me in on Thursday of this week instead of June 30th!!! It could be that Irv works with the doctor's sister and mentioned that I made my appointment and how long I had to wait.....

It's okay....I'll take it! I'll let you know what he has to say about my osteo issue!

Regular Tuesday post is below!

What Do You Think?

My daughter-in-law, Bernadette sent me a text last week and asked if I would like the comforter set from their spare bedroom. I was a little confused because she had just bought it recently. I thought maybe she meant a different set, but nope, that was the one she meant. She decided it was darker than what she wanted.

I had planned to paint our bedroom this spring and was debating what look I wanted to go for this time around. I was thinking something blue, or yellow or green or a mix. Well here is the comforter and sheets!

I will be going with blue and green! How awesome is that? She gave them to me Saturday. They are just so perfect....now I can't wait to start painting. Not sure what color to do the walls....I'll need to drag out my hundreds and hundreds of color charts again! What do you think? Mossy green? Light blue? White? Your thoughts?

Buy Buy Baby

We had a great time shopping on Saturday. We started out with a wonderful breakfast and then headed over to Buy Buy Baby. What an awesome store! I was just amazed at how much things have changed and how much things cost these days!

The first thing we saw was a sea of pacifiers. My word...how many kinds of pacifiers do we need?

This is the crib that Tresa liked. It was beautiful. A lot of the cribs convert to day beds which makes it pretty handy...unless you are planning to have another child right away...then it's pointless I guess.

Here is Tresa looking at some of the bed linens and things that she liked best. She seemed to like more neutral colors. Let me tell you, if I were a baby and opened my eyes in the morning and saw some of the colors and patterns they are selling I would start screaming! There were some pretty wild sheets and bumper pads!

There were a lot of cute browns and blues. This little guy was part of a mobile. Those sure have changed from the mostly wood ones that my kids had to lots of fabric ones.

I think this was Tresa's favorite part of the day. She found a recliner/rocker that she liked a lot. There were no wood rockers to be seen.

Bern made it difficult for me to get any pictures of her face. The kids hate that I bring my camera with me everywhere we go. I got lots of pictures of the backs of their heads.

I think the look of the swings were the biggest shock to me! This looks more like an alien vehicle than a baby swing! Remember cranking those swings up and they would click, click, click as they rocked back and forth? Can you believe this thing? Wow!

Okay, here is one nice looking stroller. Right?

For a minute I thought I was at the car dealer! Look at the price on this thing! Yikes!


Here is a nice little baby carrier by Baby Bjorn. It think it was about $130 for the organic one. :)

Now I started to feel right at home. They did have ONE umbrella stroller!

I seemed to gravitate toward all of the little girl things. I'm not sure if that's because I had Tresa and then the two boys. There are some really, really cute little girl things! Aren't these sweet?

Tresa actually looked at an awful lot of boy things. Here I caught her looking at some pink stuff, but that didn't happen very often. The only reason she was looking here is because these were Cubs sweatshirts!

I was so surprised and so thrilled that there were so many organic lines of clothing for babies. I thought these were so darn cute!

Look at that face! When I asked her to hold it up so I could take a picture of it, she held it up and turned away. I told her to turn around, and this is what I got! Tresa seemed to like a lot of things with little elephants on them. Not sure why that was, but it happened often. What she doesn't like is baby clothes with words on them. She would see a cute outfit and then say, "Why did they have to ruin it by putting "that" on there?" Bern and I just kept smiling.

Just more cute stuff! I could have stayed there all day long just looking and touching. It was all so awesome!

Now THIS I liked and I'm sure Chris will too....and boy or girl....that baby will be wearin' Cubby blue!!

What a fun day it was. We went from the baby store over to the mega mall and looked around there a bit. Then we headed over to a nice strip mall, grabbed a delicious Starbucks (Have you tried the new Dark Cherry Mocha yet?) and strolled around there a while. It was a great way to get my walking in!

So Grandmas and Grandpas.....how much do you spoil your grandchildren?

Well Worth The Wait

For my birthday last fall, Tresa gave me the most awesome gift. We had been at an antique market and I fell in love with the typewriter key bracelets. Well lo and behold when I opened my birthday card from her, there was a gift certificate for the bracelet of my choice.

I thought long and hard about what I wanted it to say...in fact, it really took me a while. I wanted it to have special meaning to me, so I decided on The Power of Now...the life altering book I read last year by Eckhart Tolle. Tresa ordered the bracelet and after a while, the lady got back to her and said that my phrase would make the bracelet too long...unless I had large wrists. I don't, so I had to start thinking again.

After a while I decided on TPON. I didn't care if other people understood it. I did and that was all that mattered. The lady said fine. Tresa sent the check and after a long while, the lady said she didn't get it. Tresa sent another check and after a long while, the lady said she never got it. They checked the address and it was correct. Tresa sent one last check and finally the lady got it. You have to love the Chicago Post Office!

Well, we waited for the bracelet and we waited and we waited. Tresa questioned when it was coming and the lady said she broke her wrist and wasn't able to make any bracelets right now! At this point, the whole thing was very laughable. So, once again we waited and waited and waited.

Guess what? Tresa finally got the bracelet a few weeks ago. She said she would bring it when we got together at Michael and Bernadette's the beginning of March! I was so excited. I could wait to see it. Guess what? She forgot to give it to me!

I am happy to report that at breakfast yesterday, I received my wonderful birthday gift! Here it is...my awesome typewriter key bracelet! I just love it!

I took some pictures of our shopping trip yesterday. I'll post them soon. Make it a fabulous day today and do something really nice for yourself! You deserve it.