homesteading Archives » Needle's Eye Designs

Pick One Thing.

May 12, 2022 Healthy Living

Seriously, pick one thing. Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to be healthier? How about feeling better?

Pick. One. Thing.

Break that one goal down into steps and focus on those individual steps — and if those steps are too big then break it down even farther. If you want to lose weight and keep it off then it’s a lifestyle change not something you do for 30 days and stop.

When your focus is broad so is your concentration. Focus on that one change for however long it takes you to establish that as a habit. Say you want to lose weight, then 80% of weight loss is diet, 20% is exercise. However, if you are just dieting to lose weight then the probability of regaining the weight you lost will increase – thus the yo-yo dieting side-effect. So, approach weight loss as a lifestyle change and pick one thing.

One thing that helps is water intake. That is just one thing. Drinking more water is easy to focus on; versus focusing on what you can and can’t eat, changing to a new daily schedule in to include exercise, and tracking everything. If water is hard, then look at what you do drink and pick one meal to replace that with water, until it’s second nature, then focus on 2 meals.

(Here’s a good article on how long it takes to establish a new habit or break an old one.)

Yes, this is a slow process. But “all good things come to those who wait”. My mom would always say that to teach me patience as a kid.

The benefits of drinking more water is more energy, it helps to flush your system, lubricates your joints, and protects sensitive tissues, and it makes you feel more full (so you eat less). Try to remember to drink a glass of water before each meal – if you can’t that’s ok. Focus on just one thing at a time – become used to and comfortable doing that one thing – make it a habit, then move on to work on the next mini-goal. Keep building from there one mini-goal at a time, one step at a time.

Pick one thing. Write it down and what you need to do to accomplish it. If after a week you find it too hard then step back and break it down farther. It’s hard to eat a whole pie in one bite – but one bite at a time it is possible – although highly not recommended eating a whole pie in one sitting (please don’t do that!!) (That’s another lesson: just because you can does not mean you should.)

Slow and steady wins the race and long term success. One step at a time for lasting change.

My Journey to a Healthier Lifestyle

February 28, 2022 Healthy Living

The Struggle that Changed My Life

12 years ago I got sick and was faced with making a drastic change to my lifestyle. I didn’t look sick and I could semi-function with pain medications; but any amount of activity caused me stabbing pain in my chest. Seriously. Hot-Poker-Through-The-Chest-type of pain. It was so bad that even just the simple act of breathing was painful at times. It was frustrating. The chest pain and inability to breathe put my life at a stand still until they passed. I had no clue what triggered them. There were the episodes of hyperventilating because my brain was telling my body that I was not getting enough oxygen. My oxygen levels were always within optimum range.

During this time I went to 12 doctors. 6 doctors believed I was truly sick – that is only 50%. 2 of the 6 doctors witnessed first hand my sudden hyperventilating state – one was an ER doctor and saw me off the gurney from an ambulance. Only four believed me and honestly wanted to help me feel better — 4. Four out of twelve doctors. 33%.

I was on 5 months of antibiotics with my doctors shrugging their shoulders. Not even my primary care doctor believed me and she implied that I was a hypochondriac when she couldn’t fix me within one month – and she was not the only doctor to do so. This was my struggle 12 years ago.

What My Lifestyle Was Before I Got Horribly Sick

Leading into that struggle, my healthy lifestyle was anything but healthy. Sure I worked out – I loved to run but how I fueled my body was horrendous. I loved eating at McDonald’s and Burger King. I filled body with chemicals, fake food, and junk. Add to that my job was at a high stress point. By high I don’t mean 2 story building and I could just take the stairs down – I mean rocket ship to the moon high – which is what I think triggered the perfect storm happening in my body from my poor lifestyle.

The Lifestyle Epiphany

I had to become my own health advocate. That is what caused me to search out alternative medicine and I scheduled my first appointment with a Naturopathic Doctor (ND). My ND quite literally cured me within one month — something that 11 other modern medicine doctors could not do in 5 months. She spent time with me and discovered subtle symptoms that I did not attribute to being symptoms and after 1 month under her care my health returned. No more stabbing pain in my chest. I could breathe normally again!

She, also, taught me about food. I had chronic sinus headaches. My doctors always told me to take allergy medicine. My ND talked to me about food and how she recommends I do a food sensitivity test. I was skeptical — after all we have the FDA and all the food we eat is FDA approved — right?? I never thought about reading labels before – it never occurred to me that it was something I should do. After all what’s wrong with easy to make prepackaged food or even fast food?!

The test results showed that I react to dairy, soy, grapefruit, and eggs. Not an allergy, but a food sensitivity. Removing all the suspect foods changed my life! I went from having daily pounding headaches and reacting to everything in my environment to no headaches and being able to have pet cats. The doctor prescribed allergy medications stopped — saving me tons of money. To top it all off my energy levels improved with time.

12 years ago, 50% of our medical industry tried to degrade me to being another hypochondriac. Once medical conditions become apart of your medical record – you will live with that diagnosis for the rest of your life! I still fought. I sought out doctors that would listen to me and I found 4.

If food had such an impact on my day-to-day life what else could I do? This whole experience motivated me to work towards a chemically-free lifestyle and to be more conscious with what I allow into my body. I started with my food – buying organic when possible.

I Am Not Alone

The reality is I know I am not the only one. I fought and am still fighting for optimum health in my life. I have talked to so many people about my struggles since then and they have opened up to me with their own health struggles.

The medical industry is great at treating you if you are critically ill, but if you have a walking illness, such as, pleurisy (inflammation in the lining around the lungs) or costochondritis (inflammation in the sternum) it is a hard uphill battle to try to get better. I have spoken with many people after this experience that have had the same experience with the medical industry. Some are stuck in a rut and just want new insights – while others have completely given up!

My Purpose

I have tried a lot of alternative products since this experience. Since I know I am not the only one who haas struggled with subtle health issues I have decided to include this section into my blog. This really does lead to a lot of decisions I make during my day-to-day lifestyle.

It is my hope that by doing this I may help others avoid my pitfalls or improve their lifestyle and help them feel good about themselves. This is entirely my experiences and everyone is different, but maybe I can help give you a different perspective to struggles you may be facing.

xoxox

Full disclosure: I have tried many products including Young Living Essential Oils, Beachbody, Azure Standard and Activated You. Please know that I have a YL membership (#10503974) and had a Beachbody membership. I have tried many, many things to the point of even making my own body care products. I plan on writing about all my experiences with those things. You can also check out my other blog posts on Quilting, Homesteading, and Painting.

Moving the “Rocking” Shed so that it Rocks No More

October 2, 2020 Homesteading

We get a lot of wind here in Colorado. No gentle breezes. Winds strong enough to pull whole shelters out of the ground. (Yep – had that happen.)

Wind erosion here is a pretty big deal. Typically, places get rain and you can seed and establishing a root system from plants will help to minimize erosion. Well, we don’t get rain here…reliably. We just had an extremely wet spring followed by 6 months of no measurable moisture. Colorado, also, has some strict water use guidelines because we don’t get a lot of moisture.

Over time wind erosion caused one of our shelters to begin to rock. It was interesting going in and out of the shelter. I worried that a baby goat would go under and get stuck or worse so it needed fixed.

To prevent erosion we created cement pillars 4 ft into the ground and then laid a cement pad. Once we had the cement pad in, then we to remove some fencing. It was time to move the shed.

We got big logs and the tractor, and slowly inch by inch moved the shed Ancient Egyptian style.

We are getting some wind erosion around the cement pad but the pad itself will not erode anytime soon to cause this shed to begin rocking anymore. Now it’s time for some wind erosion prevention.

New Additions to the Homestead

April 28, 2020 Homesteading

It is that time of year. We go to the local Ranch and Feed store and we are greeted by the tiny peeps of newly hatched chicks. “I need a new rooster”, I tell myself. (Now does anyone really *need* a rooster?) Anyway, we have new additions on our homestead. 7 sweet birds: 4 pullets and 3 straight runs. They are fully feathered out and are working on getting along with my existing flock right now. In the picture below, they only partially feathered out – still a bit of their cute chicky floof on their heads and bellies.

My son claimed the golden sex-link and named her Goldie.

Fun times! Love new babies on the homestead!

Young Chicken Eggs

September 9, 2019 Homesteading

My chickens are now 6 months old. They started laying eggs about 1 month ago. The eggs started out small in size and are now getting to be the size of a large egg.

The egg shells are hard, which is good. That tells me the chickens are getting a good amount of calcium in their diet.

The one thing that is entertaining us recently is the quantity of double yokes. This is the first we have gotten so many.

Double yokes occur when the chicken releases 2 yokes too close together to build the calcium based outer shell.

Love my chickens. Their rooster, however, is well, a rooster.

Enjoy your chickens,

Wow! What an adventure!

June 9, 2018 Homesteading

Several years ago, my husband and I decided we would like to homestead. These last few months brought about several changes in our lives: between moving my dad in with us and trying to find a house that would be able to accommodate his needs (i.e., no stairs). Our current house has been an amazing house for over a decade with trails and easy walks to stores and parks and we have loved every minute of living here. We’ve spent time to build the small garden area with fruit trees and berry bushes and lots of space for vegetables. It met our needs for a time, but we still desired a bit more space and the ability to have chickens and a goat or two with more space for a large dog to be able to stretch out and run.

With my dad needing less stairs, we decided it was time to find that much dreamed of acreage. After a few months of searching we finally found that acreage with a ranch house – a small 5 acres lot that had a barn, corrals, pasture, garden, coop, and a green house. It needs a bit of work, but my husband and I love a bit of physical labor added to our days. There’s just something that feels good about getting a good sweat going. (I know some people might think me crazy for saying that…but really sweat is cleansing.)

Needless to say my sewing stuff is all packed and ready to be move. (Something that is driving me a bit batty!)

Happy quilting! (Because someone else must since I cannot.)

Spring-time in Colorado

April 30, 2017 Homesteading

All the birds are chirping. The grass is green and lush. The trees are blossoming. You begin to see the reappearance of migratory animals and hibernating animals. You begin to think about what to grow in your garden. Out of the blue the temperature tanks 40 degrees and snow returns blanketing everything in it’s gorgeous white fluffyness. Yes, that is the Colorado front range, but don’t worry wait a bit and it will be warm again. 🙂

My backyard as of yesterday morning.

When this happens, it’s a great excuse to head into the sew room and attempt to finish many projects. (I always have high hopes. Hahahaha!) Although, I spent all day hibernating in my little hobby room – I didn’t finish a single project: planned several, started one.

I love that my passions in life accommodate the unexpected weather changes of my locale. I have a treadmill to run indoors and access to beautiful trails outdoors. I have my gardening in the warmer months and sewing/painting in the many more colder months. On days like today, I feel enormously blessed. Blessed to have a wonderful husband that enjoys having father-son time on the weekends. (Little G treasures his time with his dad – no question!) Blessed to have the flexibility I’m allowed to have in life. So, I enjoy the colder temps and the white frosting today, because tomorrow it will be gone – a memory of the past. (Weather claims to reach the 60s!)

Here’s to you all having a beautifully blessed day!