Moms, Milk Crates, Pots & Plants

Best Mother's Day EVER! It actually started Saturday night when I jumped in the car and thought I was in the wrong one! TrueLove and Jake had washed, vacuumed and white gloved the whole thing. No more coffee stains in the cup holders, receipts, or lipglosses sliding around. Pure magic! 

That was the rose TrueLove clipped and put in a vase for me. Awe.

Then we went to Gather in Berkeley for a farm to table brunch, now our third year tradition. Jake took this adorable picture of Calli and I. TrueLove couldn't be in it because he couldn't pose without photo-bombing our own picture. Then we did our ritual meandering on Fourth Street. Then we scooted off to Richmond to pick out more edibles for our garden at Annies Annuals. Such fun! Then we took roses to my mom at Kaiser Walnut Creek and cheered her up a bit. Poor thing, stuck in there on Mother's Day! Then we came home and feverishly planted! 

So I promised a how-to for my lovely friend Carol on how to set up the milk crate gardens. She wants to put them on a second level balcony to keep away from the deer that terrorize plant life in her neighborhood. It is very simple! My daughter took the pictures with my feisty camera that has been acting up, so please forgive the poor quality, but I didn't want to keep Carol waiting since we are already in May and she has gardening to get done. Here goes the recipe!

Ingredients:
Milk Crates
Landscaper's Fabric
Chalk
Scizzors
Stapler (or sewing machine)
Staple Gun
And of course, dirt and plants

1) Trace your crate with chalk. I like to get close to the edge to conserve fabric.

I just start on one side and then move the crate to trace the bottom and the other side to minimize cutting. You'll see.

So I like to trace the center lining and one side. You need 5 squares all together. Since my fabric isn't wide enough, I just do the fifth one alone. 

2) Cut it out on along the perimeters.

3) Now you just staple it. If you are a seamstress, then forget all of this and sew those sides up. It will be faster, you just need to stay close to the chalk marks unless you apply your skills and make seam allowances. This is not a science, it's very rough. I usually start with the biggest piece and staple three sides together. When stapling a side, I start in the middle and work out to the edges and stay very close to my chalk lines. I do the single square side last. The next picture is to demonstrate that it doesn't need to be perfect by any means, just good enough to keep dirt and water in.

4) Admire you're workmanship.....

and then tuck it into your milk crate.

5) The 5th step is to use the staple gun to attach the liner to the actual crate. 

6) Pour your dirt.

7) Put your plants in. Here are the basil plants I planted a few weeks ago. 

If you didn't see my post Urban Gardening, I chose to use the milk crates because I don't have space for a garden. The milk crates are easy to come by, you can easily move them around for better sun or shade exposure, use on upper levels (thank you Carol!) and they are easy on your back when planting. If you are new to my blog, I am NOT a gardener. This is my first EVER experience and I'm going on the fly. TrueLove knows a lot but he's letting me do this so I can learn. Some friends asked how my garden was going so I thought I'd add some more pics.

Milk crates and pots, just mixing it up so I can grow what I can in while our back yard is undeveloped. The fun of gardening does not need to wait for a perfect yard to be built. I can not tell you how fun it is to already be using my own herbs. If I can do it, anyone can!

Spring CLEANing Update

21days!
It happened, we did it, and well....
Clean

Results:

I weigh a lot less. 
I dropped a whole pant size.
I don't pant or need to sit down after a short run upstairs.
I went off a few herbals I took for energy.
A chronic rash has cleared up.
I'm not hungry all the time.
I think my chicken neck is gone.
I have a lot more time in my day. I'm not stopping for coffee all the time.
My wallet doesn't have a hole in it anymore. We've saved so much money not eating out all the time.
Surprisingly, I think I'm just always in a better mood, much more the ME that I used to know.
I believe that my hormones may have balanced and improved (waiting for the Monthly Monster to be sure). I only decided to share the latter because its one of the main reasons I did this and I believe that many ladies would benefit from the relief I was seeking. I'll know better in about a week.
And I know of at least two people who have ordered the program already. 

Negatives:

"Mom, you need to buy some junk food. I can't live like this forever," says Calli who has been freely eating whatever this whole time. I guess my pantry has been on Clean as well.

You pee A LOT! Which is actually a positive because those toxins have to get out somehow. It's a negative at the movies.

Feedback from Friends:

"You look great! What did you do?"

"You're glowing! Your skin looks amazing!" (Although it could be the make-up. I do wear fantastic vegan, gluten free skincare and make-up.)

There was a compliment about my butt that I'm too embarrassed to include but it made me feel great! 

My daughter, who is very modest, and doesn't allow me to even speak of certain body parts in her presence, asked, "Mom, what happened to your butt?!" in a good way.

"You lost weight didn't you? How? I just saw you a few weeks ago? What the heck?"

"Whoa. You got skinny," from TrueLove.

OK. So, all of these compliments are mere perks. They make me ecstatic on the inside but they are NOT the reason I did this. As you recall, heart disease runs in the family on both sides, and my big strong brother is still recovering from his quadruple bypass. THAT'S why I did it......

and that's why I'm sticking with it. I feel great! My head is clear. I'm doing it.

Do you need to buy the kit from Clean Program?

Yes, it's easy, everything's in it, and no questions. 

But, I did not. It's over $400, which is fair for what you get, but we are in a season of serious pinching, so here's what I did if you are thinking of doing a Spring CLEAN yourself.

I already had Oregano Oil (anti microbial), Probiotics, garlic tablets, healthy oils (I take Cod Liver Oil, Borage Oil, and Olive Oil regularly, and I use a fantastic Protein Powder and Fiber, that tastes GREAT, is cheap, gluten free and vegan. I'm a consultant and can hook you up. It has cane sugar which is not permitted on Clean, but I chose to go with it because we had it, and I was committed to allowing that to be the only allowance I would make. I don't think it hindered my results. 

I do believe I was able to cut cost quite a bit and not miss a beat. The results I'm experiencing are confirming.

Tips:

Have snacks and meal components on hand. I got a lot of mileage out of making a bunch of brown rice, quinoa, chicken or roasted veggies ahead of time and being able to add them to a meal easily. They were not in there all at the same time, but I tried to have at least two things ready. The Cashew Cream Cheese recipe I made is always in the fridge for dipping veggies, making a quick creamy salad dressing or to top a piece of meat. 

Know what recipes you like and make sure that veggie drawer is full a lot. If you run low on the staples it will be a sabotage.

Know what restaurants have friendly options.

Make detox tea at night you're big snack. 

If you HAVE to have coffee for spiritual and intellectual reasons, then I recommend getting Water Processed Decaf. Marley's Coffee has a great one, Blue Bottle does all of their decaf this way, and Peet's Decaf Mocha Java as well. 
But it will still be dehydrating, I recommend you go cold turkey from coffee with some Feverfew the first three days to conquer the withdrawal headaches. Stick to detox teas and get the full benefit, I'm just sayin'. If I can do it, anyone can do it.

If you HAVE to have a cocktail, use fresh juice and Sake. I'll post more about that later, but for now, it's not perfect but your best bet and rich in amino acids. I needed to do this on Easter and it was perfect!

These are my best tips.

If you'd like a posting of my FAVORITE Clean recipes, then let me know for sure. Right now I am enjoying a gorgeous Sesame Brown Rice Bowl with Roasted Veggies and Tahini Sauce. I will definitely post later on it when my Camera gets it's detox. 

Easter Fun

This year is my families Off Year, meaning that my brother's and I miss each other's company but we are all freed up to be with our in-laws. We didn't make the trip to see the in-laws (sad face) due to work obligations as well as TrueLove and Jake's desire to serve with Father's House Vacaville in their Adopt-a-Block program. More on that later. 

So for Easter we shared just the four of us and it ended up being delightful in every way. Since TrueLove and I are on the homestretch of CLEAN it gave me an opportunity to make an entirely healthy holiday meal without offending anybody. No Easter baskets, no chocolate bunnies, no creamy spinach gratin, no traditional carrot cakes. To defend myself and my parenting I will say that I purchased goodies from Sweet Affair to spoil my kids with special treats too, just TrueLove and I abstained. People in my family love their traditions I've learned since I am a variety junky and look at holidays as opportunities to experiment, I have often been overruled in favor of traditions. Well, yesterday I had complete freedom to go way out into Crazyville and make an entirely CLEAN friendly meal.

So, I'll show you what we did and link recipes. I will say that we were all in HEAVEN! We all loved it. We all felt really good afterwards, even too stuffed for the Raw Carrot Cake with Cashew Vanilla Frosting afterwards. We all had plenty of energy to jump in the car and go see God's Not Dead, my FAVORITEST part of the day. It seemed very appropriate to see a movie with that title on the day that the world celebrates that He's Alive. So awesome.

clipped from my garden

So here are some pics and links. If you want more info or step by steps then let me know. I'm happy to share but don't want to bore you.   

Minty Lemonade from Clean by Alejandro Junger

Halibut Baked in Parchment with Olives and Thyme also from Clean. 
And AMAZING!!!!! I knew it was good. I had made it for TrueLove when he was on Clean program years ago and loved it. I only add minced garlic and capers to the recipe because, I just have to.

Marinated and Grilled Artichokes from Community Eats and Emirel Lagasse
Brown Rice with Coconut Oil and Chives

 Easter Salad ( I made it up)

Lemon Cashew "Cream Cheese" Dressing. 
The base is the Cashew "Cream Cheese" by Clean and I turned into a dressing.

And Raw Carrot Cake with Cashew Vanilla Frosting from Gimme Some Oven
Whoa. What a terrible picture. AND lacking the frosting. Truth is by the time I got around to this I was exhausted and ran out of gas. I promise you a better photo later. And I confess that the frosting required honey which is not permitted on Clean. I allowed myself a healthy, natural indulgence for our special day.