It Has Been A While ... A Lot Has Happened...

So, I have not blogged since March. I don't anyone missed me either! LOL

Much has changed in my life. In May, I left my crack addicted husband. I packed up my son and sent him for a week to family in Colorado while I packed myself up and moved. My brother has been kind enough to let my son and I live in his house. It's the house I grew up in that my great grandfather built. So, it's kinda cool for Tyler to hear stories about the family and growing up.

Due to financial difficulties, I have not been able to stick to a raw diet. It has been difficult and I know I feel 100% better when I'm raw. My goal is to start juicing again and making green smoothies. I am enjoying summer fruits! I will blog about my progress.

So, living in my brother's house. My brother is currently living in Monroe, LA on a contract job assignment. However, I do not have the house to myself. I have a housemate. A Geek in the Attic. I will not use his real name but call him GitA. He's going thru a separation with his wife ): Seems like we get along very well. Actually, I could not ask for a better housemate. We work well together. He's good with Tyler too. He's fixed the brakes on my car, got me into cycling, nagged me about finances (thank you, GitA). We have not experienced any pettiness of any sort either. Although, he makes fun of raw foods and we don't see eye-to-eye on what healthy eating consists of, we get along. If only you could see his idea of a meal!!!! It is very scary. His meals are prepared foods, frozen and microwaved......ewwwwww! LOL

I've joined a cycling club. I rode 22 miles yesterday and took a 4-hour nap. Could it be that I'm seriously out of shape? Which I am! Or CLL fatigue? Hmmmmm.....I'll just ignore it and keep on cycling! Love riding my bike!!!! I hope to save up for a real road bike for next year! How cool would that be???

So, I must give a lot of love and credit to my CLLC Forum Friends who have supported me and seen me thru some hard times with leaving my husband. I appreciate their bluntness and telling me like it is. I appreciate the women who have taken me on as a "daughter" needing motherly advice. All of you are way to young to be my Mom! I love each one of you dearly! Without you, I would not have made it this far.

I appreciate the Facebook friends who have reached out to me too. The encouragement is priceless.

Let's Try Again

Well, it has been a while since I posted. I try to go 100% raw, fail and try again.....

Due to stress in my life, I binge eat. I need to work on getting that under control. I bought lots of nice fruits and veggies today and plan on juicing tonight.

Work has been stressful. Layoffs....bad attitudes.... I like my work. I'm thankful for the friends I have at work too!

My stress is my husband and his constant battles with drug addiction. It has gotten to the point where I may have to move out of my house to get the message across to him that he is going to lose everything if he doesn't get his life under control. My leukemia doctor is amazed that I'm not much sicker than I am. I've only had minor health issues. Right now I'm on a daily low-dose antiviral for chronic mouth sores. Doesn't seem to be working.......

God is my strength. People who know me personally cannot understand how I tolerate the situation with my husband. Even that I'm still sane, which is debatable at times!

I find the internet to be a source of help for me. I have my CLL Forum with fellow leukemia warriors. I've learned about raw foods. I've also learned that the internet can be a scary place and one must be careful who they let enter into their personal life. I've had one bad experience that did not end well. However, I have had many, many more good experiences and have met many wonderful people. I've received a lot of support and encouragement during rough patches in my life - which seem all too frequent lately.

Right now a CLL friend, Stacie, is battling for her life. Please keep her in your prayers.

Please pray for my husband too that he finds the strenght to stay clean.....

Raw Ice Cream and Stuffed Shitake Mushroom

Tonight I made raw vanilla ice cream from the recipe in Darma's book. I've had the ice cream at Pure and it is AWESOME. Right now my first batch is chilling in the fridge. Tomorrow I'll put it in my ice cream maker. The hardest part was getting the meat out of the young coconuts. The recipe itself is quite simple - soaked cashews, vanilla extract, vanilla bean seeds, sea salt, purified water and coconut butter. I tasted the unfrozen mixture - it was goooood!

I also made a stuffed shitake mushroom. There is a great little restaurant in Islip - Generation Organics. It's not a raw retaurant, but has a few raw items on the menu. One of my favorite items on the menu is their stuffed shitake mushroom. I marinated the cap of a shitake mushroom in balsamic vinegar. Next I put in the food processor sunflower seeds, cashews, red pepper, tomato, parsley and part of another marinted shitake mushroom. I'm sure I'm missing a few ingredients that Generation Organics uses, but the stuffing tasted pretty good. It will be my lunch tomorrow.

A really great dessert I had recently was made by Arianna who just opened a cafe at Blue Firmament in Rockville Center. Right now the cafe is only open on Saturdays from 11 am to 5 pm. Arianna makes a caramel chocolate pie that is AMAZING. Her speciality is desserts. Arianna is a certified raw chef. She's a wonderful person. I recomment checking out her cafe. She's got lots of good stuff. For her opening, she also made chocolate covered frozen raspberries! WOW Oh, and I cannot forget to mention her banana cream creation. AND her ice cream cake. She makes incredible raw pizza too! Can't say enough good things about her raw creations!

I'm still looking into kombucha. I found a cool websit that has 7-day course on making kombucha that is free. The website is www.getkombucha.com.

Working on Going 100% Raw

Going 100% raw has not been easy for me. I've gotten a lot of support and help from www.rawvolution.com. Their food is awesome!

I've had some setbacks. The holidays were tough and I gave in to all the nasty treats. I'm getting back on track - AGAIN!

I'm looking into Kombucha. I'm thinking about making my own. Any ideas?

Day No. 2

Today is the second day of being almost 100% raw. Breakfast I had a nice juicy peach and later a plum. For lunch I had a wonderful leafy green salad. Tonight I made a nice green juice.

After looking a pictures of myself from the raw vegan hike, I realize I need to do something about my shape. .....round is a shape, isn't it? Well, I'd like to go back on the hike next year and be a before and after! Can I do it? I'll certainly try!

Tomorrow I'll start a new batch of wheatgrass! Maybe sprouts too! Maybe I'll try to make raw ice cream again..... This time I'll remember to put the bowl in the freezer!!!!

I joined some local meetups for hiking today. I'm excited about it. One group does a lot of day hikes on Eastern Long Island. Sounds like a great start for me! There's one this weekend that I'm thinking about doing..........

If I don't go on the hike Saturday, I think I'll get up early and check out the farmer's market in Islip. I've been told to get there early. The raw organic produce sells out fast!

Weekend at the Beach

Well, spent the weekend on the boat at the beach. I tried hard to stay with the raw foods. I had lots of friuts. My husband was waiting to see if I would breakdown and eat meat. The only time I would eat a lot of meat was at the beach BBQing. Well, I got myself veggie burgers!!!! So, I wasn't totally raw, but I had fresh, not frozen, veggie burgers. I also had fruits that I've been dehydrating.

The next time we camp out on the boat, I'll plan better for myself!

Raw Vegan Hike

It's been a while since I posted. I must confess that I did fall off the raw cart for a while, but now I'm back and newly inspired. I came back a week ago from a raw vegan hike - pictures to follow. I backpacked in Oregon for four days with other raw vegans. It was very physically challenging for me. We hiked 30 miles and 3,000 ft vertical. The weather was perfect. Warm during the day and chilly at night. We swam in pristine mountain lakes from by the melting snow! Yes, there was still snow in August! If you want to check out the hike, see www.harmonyhikes.com. Sergei is an awesome young man! His sister, Valya, also went on the hike. I also had the privilege to meet his mother, Victoria. They are wonderful, vibrant people.

I learned new raw recipes from Sergei. I met wonderful people too. My fellow hikers were awesome. Ashland, OR is a cool little town. I got to meet serious hikers doing the Pacific Crest Trail at the hostel I stayed at before and after the hike. I never heard of the PCT before. It is a hike from Mexico to Canada. It can take 5 to 6 months to complete. These hikers have trail names. Three that are memorable are Laces, Good Times and Brit. I enjoyed chatting with them. I know they are still on the trail and wish them much success.

Watch for pictures!