The Pause

Aaron, Phyllis and Calvin - pausing for a moment.

You guys are so good to me.

I know it must be time to blog again when I start getting 'are you ok?' emails.

Bless your hearts.

Sure makes me feel loved.

All is well in CoopKeeper land.

I suppose you can say that - or you can say that 'all is well and you can't control a damn thing'.

Ha.

That be done the first time I used a swear word up on this here blog.

Please don't unfollow me.

:-)

Life is a whirlwind right now - but it's all well.

Right now I'm dealing with a food sensitive brain.

I ate up some Jay's BBQ potato chips yesterday.

Day before I ate a half a slice of  'eye talian' bread and two pasta noodles.

Enough to turn my brain into a squirrel vacation resort.

I've come to learn - by experiment of my own that I have some incredible food sensitivities.  My body doesn't cotton to the food preservatives, additives, wheat, dairy, and chemicals that abound in our modern food.

Nay - one or two mouthfuls of noodles or bread will bloat me and cause me to lose a day or two of feeling mentally sharp.

Here's me right before the noodle episode.

Don't you just love the clarity my photos have in this post?

Right after the noodle episode:

I've been reading things like this:

We believe that food allergy is a common cause of mental illness. Allergy to proteins from cows milk, hens eggs and wheat are the three most common problems. One idea is that antibodies generated by gluten proteins can attack the brain. This immune mistake is generally known as molecular mimicry. A second idea is that gluten proteins or peptides generated from them during digestion can act directly on the brain. A third idea is that your brain is affected by immune responses in other parts of your body. All immune activity sends signals to the brain to change behavior and to recruit a range of defensive responses.

Disturbances to brain function vary from routine effects such as sleepiness, fogginess, and brief episodes of confusion to symptoms of major mental or neurological illness. For example, people with celiac disease suffer for many years before the diagnosis is made. They often state that they never feel well. Most of these patients will report episodes of fatigue with cognitive dysfunction; difficulty concentrating, mental "fogginess", recent memory dropouts. They complain of mood liability and are often tearful and irritable. They return to normal when they no longer eat problem foods.

Chew on that for a while.

I've been extra busy.

Good things.

Not so good things.

Wednesday night I attend a meeting about an expressway being built woefully close to my home.

Our road is being called 'an arterial road'.

What does that even mean?

If they widen our road, my house goes bye bye.

Phyllis is doing much better, and will actually walk on the leg that has been ailing her.

She's still inside.

She still needs her oinment and tinctures.

A few of you had asked if I was using a chicken diaper. 

No maam's. 

Those things are quite nasty.  I use a little towel around her while I'm holding her and she just seems to 'hold' it when I have her.  As soon as I put her back in the cage - she relieves herself.

(Kate - you had asked about the dirty eggs.  I don't think the eggs should be THAT dirty.  If you Google washing eggs - you'll see that it's not the preferred method as it washes off what they call the 'bloom'.  It makes the eggs suseptible to bacteria penetrating then.  On really wet days sometimes I will collect a muddy egg or two from the hens sharing a nesting box.

Covered in poo and mud all the time?

Poor hygiene in the coop.  I'd find another egg source.)

The most exciting news of the week:

Aaron is coming back to Marmie's Learnatorium as of Monday.

More to come on that.

We had a meeting at my new favorite diner.

The Boychild ate pancakes smothered in bananas, bacon, peanut butter and chocolate.

Law.
I had a Blacked Veggie Skillet with Egg Whites.
Delish!
What ARE those blackened spices?
I gots to get me some.

Busy with Bootcamp.

Busy helping some friends.

Busy working on serum formulations and developing more skin care products.

Did you know that my Spring Chicken Serum has all the key ingredients that other serums selling for $100 an ounce have!?

Say what!?

Busy.

I've come to even cringe at the word.

I'm getting sick of saying 'Oh I'm so busy'.

I'm getting tired of hearing everyone else say it too.

What in the sam hill are we all so busy doing?

I do believe it's the bane of our generation.

Busy-ness.

Is it all in our heads?

I think one can be very busy, and productive and yet not possess that wild eyed, breathless 'busy' vibe.

It's what I'm trying to learn to do now by pausing and really breathing.

Belly breaths.

My yoga teacher says -

'calm breath - calm mind'

Namaste.

It's really true.

Are you just 'sipping air'?

I know when it comes to breathing - I've been a sipper.

A dabbler if you will.

Mental preoccupation does that to a gal.

I've been practicing breathing.

Doesn't that sound funny?

l pause and breathe at stop signs now.

I actually stop.

Completly.

Imagine that!

I get excited when I get stopped by a red light.

Breathing time!

I look for the longest line in stores now.

Gives me time to pause.

Time to breathe.

Try it.