I really should be blogging about my recent trip to Holland and the ensuing reuniting with my far-flung relatives, and the even more recent reunion with my two sisters (also far-flung but still on the same continent as me), but those posts will take some time to put together as they are going to be picture-heavy.

And right now uploading pictures to the blog postings is more than my patience can handle, so it will have to wait until I am:

1. More rested
2. More interested in learning how to do this in WordPress without pulling my hair out as I try to figure out the best way (upload them all first, or write post first…hmmmm?)
3. More patient (not my strong suit, but I can dream, can’t I?)
4. Less inclined to suffer shoulder and neck pain from too much time spent in front of the computer. I see the chiro tomorrow night so that should help a bit. I live mostly in my mind as opposed to my body, so if it hurts enough for me to notice it, I am in a lot of pain.

Anywho….

I’ve been seeing a naturopath since I am not getting anywhere with my family doc in figuring out why I am so tired and in a state I call “brain fog” most of the time. Perimenopause, malfunctioning thyroid, anemia….all possible suspects. I had my blood tested for all manner of things in April and the doc proclaimed my results were “perfect”, so apparently there is nothing left to be done, according to modern medicine. Great doc, so why do I still feel like crap a lot of the time? Hmmmm?

I looked at these same results and saw my TSH levels were still high, according to newer thinking by medical professionals….although my doc says she can’t prescribe anything till my results get a tiny bit higher. So what do I do in the meantime, suffer? Hell no, I shall do my own research and be my own doc, says I.

And so I did. I learned an awful lot about hormones. And not just the female/male kind either. Adrenal and thyroid as well. And how all 3 (adrenal, thyroid and sex) glands work together to keep things running tickety-boom in our bodies. And how if one is out of whack, it puts extra pressure on the other two to perform and can burn them out too. And mostly I learned that I am quite possibly a hormonal hot mess.

During this time, JD cut an article out of the paper about a visiting speaker, Lorna VanderHaeghe, who just happened to be coming to the Village Hotel to talk about….Hormones. Mizzus J and I went to hear Ms. V, despite my initial skepticism/cynicism upon researching her online, that she was the modern day equivalent of a snake oil salesman. I was pleasantly surprised to find that she was warm, sincere, and made a lot of sense. So Mizzus J and I walked out of the seminar with several bottles of her products. I tried the Ironsmart drink  – it really does taste like a Werther’s candy, which is a welcome relief after Floradix – a great product that tastes yucky. I also started taking Estrosmart, and after a couple of weeks of this regimen I noticed something quite amazing. I had gone from experiencing 15-20 hot flashes a day to ZERO. Yes, my hot flashes are gone.

And I actually am feeling a bit better. But not 100% yet so the naturopath has given me a little bottle of pills that contains actual ground up porcine thyroid in it. It may be a bit soon to tell, but I think it is working.

Among the other things Dr. Dao did during her 90 minute (!!!!) initial exam (just try to get a “regular” Dr. to spend 90 minutes with you, without having to resort to having a medical emergency in the exam room), was an in-depth lifestyle interview. She also performed a body composition analysis. After my trip to Holland, I saw her again  – and again, a body composition analysis was done. I was pleased to find out that:

1. My weight stayed the same, despite enjoying many, many Dutch goodies. Stroopwafels,  I am looking at you. For example. One of many. 😉
2. I had actually lost 1 pound of fat and gained 1 pound of muscle, due no doubt to all the walking that was done while in Holland.

This has inspired me to see how much more fat I can lose and muscle I can gain before I see Barbara again, for another body composition analysis.

I have taken a long, hard and realistic look at one of the things I was hoping to accomplish this summer – signing up for, and training for another half-marathon. Ain’t gonna happen. Not this summer. Not ready for it.

This summer I am going to do the smart thing instead, and redo my Couch-to-5K running regime. I am also going back to weight training, as with my running program, as a beginner (yet again). I am starting off by following the workout plans in The Body Sculpting Bible for Women, a really great book on the subject I picked up recently.

Progress so far: on week 3 of C25K and really enjoying it. On week 2 of “The Bible’s” Break-In Routine #1, not minding that at all either.

I am also logging my food and exercise at My Fitness Pal.com, a website I  really enjoying using (and it’s all free!).

I’m feeling good about the changes I am making, and I think the changes I am making are making me feel good too!

I’ll keep you posted.

Hello Subscribers and Internet Surfers!

How do you like my new place?

The old place (The Next Year of My Life) was a very comfortable and cozy home, but I felt it was time to stop…ahem…”renting” (not really – it’s free but I think you get my drift) from Blogger, and “buy” my own place (really – I am the proud and happy owner of my first domain name.) The irony of the above statement is not lost on me:  now I am truly a renter, of hosted space on the Internet for my new home.

Those of you who know Dutch probably know what Hete Bliksem is and those of you who don’t know Dutch are probably wondering how to pronounce it and what the heck it is.

What it sounds like: “HATE-uh BLIK-sem”. Say it out loud. There. You spoke Dutch, and no phlegm was required. (If you’ve ever tried to speak it, or know someone who does, I hope you are laughing at this point.)

What it means: Hot Lightning or Hot Flash of Lightning. Not sure which translation is the most accurate and really, does it matter?

What it is: a hot dish made of mashed potatoes and cooked apples, with some kind of smoked pork product (like bacon) thrown in for extra tastiness! I’ve been told the name comes from the fact that the dish stays hot for a very long time. Recipes abound in many variations on This Very Internet. Google it!

What possessed me to choose this name for the blog:

• It’s Dutch.
• It’s a hot dish of tasty comfort food * – these are good qualities for a blog!
• I just came back from a trip to Holland to visit family, and having All Things Dutch on the brain, purchased a Dutch cookbook (Let’s Go Dutch, by fellow Canuck Johanna van der Zeijst Bates).  I saw the recipe in the book, and the rest is history.
• I could have called it Blote Billetjes in Het Groen (another recipe from the book), but “Bare Little Bums in the Grass” might send the wrong kind of traffic to my site, if you know what I mean. (What IS IT with these Dutch recipe names?!?!)
• I like watching lightning, from a safe, dry place of course.
• I am in the “Hot Flash” time of my life, though I am currently no longer experiencing them thanks to a herbal remedy I am taking.
• I think it’s a cool name. Did I mention it was Dutch?

*Nope, can’t recall ever eating it and I’ve certainly never made it. But every Dutch person I have talked to about this perks up at the mention and tells me it’s delicious. So now I just have to make it in the fall when the weather is right for this type of dish.

So here it is…Casa Hete Bliksem.  Come on in and make yourself comfortable.  Hope you like it here as much as I do!

Update on the Name (June 19/2011):

My cousin Peter informs me that Hete Bliksem is also a slang term for a “hottie”, an attractive woman who’s got it goin’ on. This usage is news to me and didn’t turn up on the internet when I was researching the name. Don’t feel it applies to me and don’t really need it to…but maybe someday, if  I get my mojo back…50+ mojo??? One can dream, I suppose. 🙂

Spring IS here, as evidenced by the change in Mizz L’s appearance.

Mizz Lucy, after

My little puppy is now 11 years old and still spry and active as ever. I hope to have her as my running coach again this summer because……

….I’m getting the fever to start running again….I already have a fall half-marathon race picked out:

Currently on week 2 of a Couch to 5K running plan to get back into form enough to start training later this spring…Wish me luck!

Ahhh me. I suppose the correct answer is living my life. But that might not be quite correct, if by living life you mean doing a lot of enjoyable and exciting things.

But it hasn’t been all that bad either. I am working away at my 2011 goals, and although I am not making progress as quickly as I would like, I am making progress.

Still aiming towards that MBA program starting next fall…however I made a major shift in the way I want to do it. Instead of attending a “bricks and mortar” school part-time in the evenings, I have decided to apply to an online MBA program. It’s even more highly regarded than the bricks and mortar program, and I will be in class with other students with similar background to me in terms of managerial experience. (And I don’t have to write the GMAT for this one either – WOOO HOOOOO….er…I mean, that’s cool…ahem.)

Still trying to live a healthier lifestyle too, and incorporate more physical fitness into my daily life. That is proving to be quite challenging, especially since we are having such bitter temperatures this winter, and my inner diva just wants to curl up under the blankets and nap and eat carbs all day!

So I keep trying, and keep trying new stuff. My latest thing is to have my little personal DVD player set up in my office at work, so I can follow some 10 minute strength workouts during my lunch or after work before I go home. Ten minutes might not sound like much, but if you are 100% focused on the exercise it’s worth much more than 20 minutes of half-a**ed lifting at the gym, while chatting to someone or watching TV.

My focus on creating and maintaining a healthier lifestyle is such that I have come up with an idea for a new blog that I hope to set up within the next couple of months. This has stopped me from more regular blogging here, funnily enough. I get an idea for something I want to write about, and then think – hey, that would be great for the new blog! So, since the new blog is just a gleam in my eye at this point, I do nothing. Hmph.

I’ve also been stretching myself somewhat. I did something I’ve never done before. I entered a recipe into a contest. I saw on the Eat -Clean Diet website (my new role model, Tosca Reno’s website) a promotion for the “Good Morning Eat-Clean Diet Contest”, asking for breakfast recipes. So I submitted the recipe I created for making a mixed whole grain porridge with fruit in my rice cooker. And today I found out I won!!!! By next week I will be receiving an autographed (by Tosca Reno herself!!!!) copy of her Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook. Swoon.

Me, and my Overnight Sensation Breakfast. The photo I had to submit with my recipe.

Bowl symbolizing my love of cooking good food. GMAT (Graduate Management Admissions Test) study books symbolizing my goal of entering an MBA program this year. Vision Board symbolizing my health and fitness goals.

Post title taken from an article in Oxygen Magazine, and most recently clipped and taped onto my this year’s Vision Board (obscured by my nifty new yellow melamine mixing bowl).

I staged a little photo shoot this morning, after I assembled my Vision Board, to become the picture for my first post of 2011.

Like I said in my previous post, I am a helluva starter. Today already I have cleaned up (and out) my spice cupboard in the kitchen. A little end cabinet that was piled to overflowing with some very old (probably older than my kids!) spices and duplicates of spices (half-empty baggies of ground cinnamon anyone?). Now it is tidy and organized (savoury on top shelf, sweet on lower) and I dumped a lot of stuff that was ancient or contained MSG or too chemical-ly for my liking (like artificial whatever extracts).

Then I made the above Board, out of an old bulletin board that we were not really using. I think this may become a new tradition for me, to create a vision board at the beginning of every new year. It was fun to do, though I hated cutting into my Oxygen magazines to do so. But it was a necessary action.

Then I cleaned the upstairs bathroom and, as usual, I had a revelation. (For some reason, I have my best thoughts when cleaning bathrooms….you’d think that would inspire me to clean more often but….you’d be wrong, unfortunately.)

My revelation was this:

Lately I’ve been thinking back on the days when I worked part-time and worked out almost every day and I’ve been saying I to myself that I had more control of my life and time then and would rue that I didn’t have that much time and control in the present day.

But this morning’s revelation was that I didn’t have more control then. This was just a little bit of Mizz D mythology I was telling myself. If anything, I had less. I was at home, broke, with no car, a non-supportive spouse, and toddler and a baby to look after.

I was just making the best of the situation I was in at the time.

As I could do at any time of my life. Including NOW.

This is HUGE. A paradigm-shift of my thinking.

So:

I am going to become audacious this year. Take the limits off of myself and see where I end up. If I could figure out how to get fit back then, I have no excuses for the present day anymore.

No excuses.

Keep me honest please. If you read anything in this blog in the coming year that sounds like an excuse, call me on it!

Thanks,

Mizz D

Christmas Decorations finally hung on Dec 25th. (Yes, those are leftover Halloween decorations you see in the background. I just put away an Easter thingie too, to make room for Christmas. Sigh. I’d like to say its because we celebrate those holidays every day of the year but I think we all know what the truth is!)

Christmas Tree – assembled on the 25th, now destined to stay up till Valentine’s Day

1. Exercise – yes, I am one of the strange and few that actually enjoy exercise.
2. Cooking – I love to cook healthy foods.
3. Doing good work – at work or at home, I love the satisfaction it brings to me.
4. Spending time with family and friends.

Strength – taking care to build and maintain physical and mental strength to get me through the challenges and demands of my life in the year ahead AND to help me attain my goals for this year:

Short Term:

1. Start Graduate School, specifically an MBA program. Which means I have to prepare for, write and get a score of at least 550 on the GMAT exam. And assemble an application! Deadline: May 1, 2011 for a September start.
2. Move house! JD and I would like to be moved over by late spring/early summer 2011. This means decluttering, organizing, packing.

Long Term:

1. Only 1 goal but it’s a biggie. LIFESTYLE CHANGE. For the betterment of my health (mental, physical and emotional) and energy levels, I will be focusing on building muscle and stamina through pumping iron and cardio activities. Hopefully, significant weight loss will be a side effect.

Let’s see where all this takes me.

Peace and strength to you all in 2011!

Three noon hour walks accomplished!

I can walk down to the Big Grocery Store way down the street, shop a bit, and get back to work in just about an hour, if I walk with real purpose. Adds about 7000 steps to my pedometer, which means I have reached over 12,000 steps on each of my walking days – WOO HOO!!!!

Today I bought some ingredients for making a cauliflower and potato soup this weekend in my slow cooker. Two big and beautiful heads. Also bought some celery, carrots, a kabocha squash, brown arborio type rice, kefir (more about that later)…somehow it escaped my mind that I would have to haul this all on my shoulder on my way back to work. Funny how my selections did not seem very heavy individually when I placed them in my buggy….but man did they add up. I almost bought a 2 kg bag of dried black beans too. For some reason, THAT I could figure out would be too heavy to carry, with all the rest of my loot.

I did manage to bring my haul to my office, though, with only one casualty (besides cutting off the blood supply to my arms). My kefir popped!

Kefir is a fermented milk product that is kind of like drinking bubbly yogurt. I love it poured over cereal. Yum Yum.

When you buy kefir the inner seal on the container should be bulging. This is the sign of good kefir. A bad sign for all other foods…but GOOD for kefir. Trust me!

But because of the buildup of gases causing the bulging aluminum inner seal, the container is under pressure. Expecting kefir to duke it out with a bunch of heavy fall veggies in a bag and emerge unscathed is asking for it, I found out. Luckily I only lost a little of the kefir and the bag didn’t get soiled, just the packaging on some of the veggies, so all was still good!

And I didn’t get any kefir on my new source of inspiration, Tosca Reno – the lovely lady telling me that it’s NOW MY TURN on the cover of the magazine. Which is apropos, because I only got turned on to kefir from reading Tosca’s book: The Eat Clean Diet Recharged!

Tosca is Canadian, my age (and a fitness model/cover girl!), and just flat out gorgeous and gorgeously healthy and strong-looking. She is also of Dutch background, like me, and has the same educational background: a B. Sc. and a B. Ed.! When I look at her, I see the Me I could be.

I’ve never bought Oxygen Magazine before, but I have 3 of Tosca’s books and am really feeling inspired to Eat Clean and dust off my dumbbells! Sometimes everything just clicks and the next thing you know, you are on a whole new path. I feel that is happening to me now.

When I saw the lovely Tosca beaming and pointing at me at the checkout magazine rack, I knew I had to bring her home for even more inspiration. I think I will make me a new vision board with Ms. Reno front and centre….

…When you have a house and yard to look after? See above for this year’s mountain range of leaves, raked the curb for the annual pickup by the City. See also bags of cut up branches peeking out from behind the light pole. Just a few this round, adding to the total of about a dozen so far this fall….

However, I do not have leaves to rake and shrubberies (is that a word? Sounds vaguely Monty Python-ish somehow) to cut up every day. Which is too bad really, because I find yard work strangely soothing. Years ago, a good friend gave me a decorative plaque that reads “Find peace in the garden”, and I do!

Now that the wedding is behind me, and we are not quite ready to move over to JD’s place, I am thinking of taking one another project, specifically Project Me, and about time too! My goal is to be in ready shape, by Spring 2011, to start seriously training for another half-marathon. Which means it’s time to get more active and lose me some poundage. Yeah, the poundage I was supposed to lose for the wedding….yep, those pounds are still hanging around and they found a couple of friends too since then….fast food, eating late, and being inactive have taken their inevitable toll on me.

I was eyeing up the gym next door to my work last week as I was percolating the whole Project Me thing, thinking I should rejoin. My husband (I still thrill to use that word!) suggested I start out more simply, by taking walks at lunch. A cheaper option, needs no special equipment, gets me into the fresh air, will clear my mind etc etc. All good things. So I will start there and see where it takes me.

My goal for this week is to get out for a noon hour walk at least 3 times this week. I’m strappin’ on the pedometer once again and will aim for 10K steps on those days.

Seven days of shredding completed! I feel pretty good about sticking with it, and my progress in general. I am already using heavier weights (5 lb. instead of 3) for several of the exercises. Don’t feel any thinner or particularly toned, yet. In fact, I feel bulkier – especially my biceps. I feel like I am getting these killer “guns” – not really a look I was going for. Well, we shall see how things progress…..

My real agenda for this challenge is to make regular exercise a part of my life again – make it a habit like brushing and flossing. The Shred takes about 25 minutes to perform (including warm-up and cool-down). Twenty five measly minutes per day. You’d think it would not be a struggle to fit this in, day-to-day. But I am telling you, IT IS. However, fit it in I do! The discipline is very good for me – something I need…workin’ the ol’ flabby discipline muscle. Ahem.