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I really have to make more of an effort to get to bed earlier on the nights I have to work. On Monday evening I tried to put together a daily report but my Internet was out. Last night my husband wanted me to watch a program he’d taped earlier in the day, and I’d gotten home later than normal and then had to water the garden – no time for making daily reports. I didn’t end up getting to sleep until after 8pm both nights.

Today after work I went to a retirement party for a really great lady who has been a big help over the years. I left when the cake was being cut and served. No desire whatsoever for the cake either. I love that.

My garden seems to be okay with watering every other evening, so I didn’t have to water tonight. But I had to put together my husband’s bank deposit and enter some invoices into Quickbooks and here I am, it’s already almost 7pm.

Tomorrow I’m allowed to see what I weigh. I dreamed that I lost five pounds.

I also have been thinking I’d be totally able to accept my body where it is now, if this is my new setpoint.

I am going to make a point to exercise on my Total Gym tomorrow, even if it’s only five minutes.

On Monday I had fruit – the other half of the cantaloupe. I also had nuts.

I also had 1/2 cup of kefir each day for three days in a row and my nose and sinuses were clogging up something horrible. Although I did clean my oldest son’s room and hauled in the carpet cleaner and cleaned his carpet (it wasn’t very bad so no hands and knees scrubbing). I also got him in the tub and soaking in Epsom salts, loofah-ed him and trimmed his toenails. Did I mention I totally rearranged his room?

It was another weekend with energy, much to my delight. Maybe that’s why I’m so tired this week? I am trying to decide what to do this coming weekend.

I’m still making my bed every day!

Must get to bed, though! Hugs, Starlene

Good article on how to nourish the liver, by eating liver. The article includes several liver recipes as well.

I am feeling like I have more energy, but it appears in small ways. For example, I’m making my bed every day. Now this might seem ridiculous to some, but I have been leaving my bed unmade for most of my adult life. I never cared to make it up. Is it my age that is making me want to make my bed? Or is it that I’m actually feeling enough energy to care about making my bed?

Also this week I have been wiping down the counters and the stove each day, so today it was much easier to do my weekend cleaning in the kitchen. It took only a few minutes, instead of two hours. I’ve also got a bucket beside the garbage can to collect scraps for the chickens, something I’ve wanted to do for years, but never have.

I’m slowly adding things each day, another that I’ve added is cleaning the cats’ litter box.

I don’t want to get my hopes up that I’m actually going to be able to do more housework. I have tried my entire adult life to be a better housekeeper. I have tried to tell myself if I just stay on top of it, it wouldn’t get so bad and therefore wouldn’t take as long.

I’ve gone through phases throughout my life where I’m more tidy, but it never lasts. This may be one of those phases. But the bed making one seems to be lasting quite a long time.

I also managed to sit down and work on our finances. I prefer to track our purchases through Quicken, and I download transactions from my checking account, but I still have to look at each receipt and enter it into a category.

That takes time, and I get really sick and tired of having to do it. If I could just do it every day, or at least once a week. But usually I end up waiting for several weeks until there is a huge pile to go over.

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I drank 1/2 cup of kefir today. I also had some sauerkraut which I’ve failed to eat for many days. I need to begin incorporating the raw liver again. I had a teaspoon of almond butter [affiliate link] with a teaspoon of ghee, a few drops of vanilla [affiliate link] and a dab of honey [affiliate link] today. I have been craving peanut butter [affiliate link] cookies for the past few days. I know I could put together a great version with almond butter and almond flour [affiliate link], but I keep hesitating because I don’t want to get too many calories. I guess… I don’t want to get too many of the “bad” calories. And I am pretty convinced that I shouldn’t eat honey or fruit before bed time, unless I want to experience insomnia during the night.

I’m reading a new book called Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health by Gary Taubes. So much information it is difficult to digest it. Basically the book supports GAPS and why the low carbohydrate diet is effective. Eventually I plan to do a book review.

For breakfast I had 2 eggs [affiliate link] scrambled with an Italian vegetable dish I made. Lunch was a small hunk of beef sliced and sauteed in butter with 2 zucchini squash cooked in chicken broth with butter, and sauerkraut on the side. Dinner was more of the beef with steamed Swiss chard and butter.

Night.

On Tuesday I was operating on five hours sleep, and on Wednesday seven. I felt sleep deprived both days. Yesterday (Thursday) I finally got a good night’s worth of sleep having gotten into bed around 6:30pm.

Yesterday was also my dentist appointment, and I’m very glad that I got a good night’s sleep as I’m sure it helped me to cope with the procedure.

I had a tooth that has developed hot and cold sensitivity and my dentist recommended a crown. Yesterday was the first visit; the one where they ruin a perfectly nice tooth, drilling away 1 to 2 millimeters around the perimeter until they make it into a stub. Then they glue a fake tooth onto the stub. It just made me feel sick inside.

Okay, the most important thing about my appointment is I was able to go and not feel like I was going to have a nervous breakdown like the visit I had before I started GAPS. It’s interesting, I could feel the stress yesterday, but it was nothing like it was in the past. I didn’t cry, I didn’t feel like a trapped animal.

I have to go back in two weeks to get the temporary replaced with the crown.

After I got home from the dentist appointment my face was still numb so I mashed an avocado and that’s all I had for dinner. I was in bed before 6pm and I managed to stay in bed until 5:30am. My back was protesting from about 3am, but I kept moving and stretching, trying to get it to allow me to stay in bed longer (nine hours is my new limit).

I was tired again around 10:30am this morning, so crawled into bed for a three hour nap. I know even though I was not super stressed out, it was still taxing for my body to undergo the dental procedure, not to mention my body now has to process the pain killer which was injected into my mouth.

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Yesterday morning I decided to cut open a cantaloupe which my husband found on the road a few days ago. I know – I’m not having fruit this month, but it smelled so delicious, and cantaloupe is one of my favorite things. In fact, it reminds me of my Grandma. It seemed like no matter what time of the year, she always had a ripe cantaloupe that she would slice open and give to us when we came over to visit. Cantaloupe, and the black olives that we loved to stick on our fingers.

Anyway, I ate a slice and it was so delicious I decided to bring the remainder of the half with me to work. I ended up eating all the slices on the way to work, juice dripping down my arm to my elbow.

I noticed how differently I reacted to the cantaloupe. I had the one slice and then the cravings kicked in. “Mmmm, that was good. I want another slice. Yummy.”

Now when I eat something like avocado or steak, it’s different. It’s “Mmmm, that was good. Filling and satisfying.” And that’s that. No desire for more.

A few days ago – maybe Monday, I decided to try milk kefir again. I had one-quarter cup. I know that’s a lot to start out with! I had no issues that I could determine. So today, I decided to drink 1/2 cup. I am going to try to remember to take 1/2 cup daily. I am just drinking it straight. Whoo! It’s sour! I don’t like sour too much. But in the past it has made me gag, now I seem to be able to tolerate the taste okay.

In just a few days I’ll get to step on the scale and see if I’ve lost any more weight. I’ve planned to start using my Total Gym in July. It’s in my room, ready for me to start using it, and I also found a copy to download of the exercise manual.

And now it’s time for me to go to bed again.

Are you doing GAPS? How is it going for you?