My Vita-Mix Love...

(This post was started roughly a month ago and has since been sitting in my drafts... *sigh*)

So guess what my in-laws had hidden away in their house? That would be a Vita-Mix 5000 (The Cadillac of blenders)! So Karen... why is this so exciting? Why do we care that your in-laws have a blender? Well... since you asked, lemme esplain... They have NEVER used it. EVER. And... (after some begging on Husbands part) They gave it to us!!!! Apparently Husband's grandfather gave it to them as a Christmas gift years ago and they never even tried it out. That is a $450+ shame! Ever since I got my juicer I have been really wanting a blender to supplement this healthier lifestyle that I'm trying to get a handle on. (Read a raw food website and you'll be seething with envy over my new baby, trust me.)

When we busted out the how-to-VHS (That's right VHS, copyright 1994!) we nearly died. Luckily we found the manuals (above) to fill in the gaps since the first few minutes of the VHS were toast (well that and the lady doing the how-to video was absolutely hysterical so we were cracking up through most of it).
Now I can not only make fruit smoothies... I can make soups, breads, batters, milk & spreads from scratch. Grocery shopping yesterday had me giggling about making flour from whole grains and making my own rice milk. (Obviously buying rice, almond, & cashews in bulk and using my blender is much cheaper then buying pre-packaged milk alternatives) The possibilities are endless and we're both really excited. (I was actually really shocked at how excited Husband is to be honest!)

The first attempt at smoothie making went pretty well. We had pineapple, tangerine, banana, apple, strawberry & honey, with just a small amount of ice. Although truth be told we might have overloaded it just a bit...

The end result was beautiful and very creamy. We're not very rigorous about following the suggested portions so this first round was a bit too pineapple-licious for my taste. However, just like everything else there's a bit of learning curve...Take my attempt at making bread.
There we were standing at the bulk bins at Whole Foods contemplating our selections. I saw spelt seeds, thought to myself... hey that sounds familiar let's get that. So we used the Vita-Mix to grind up the seeds into flour then threw the concoction into our bread maker.
Keep in mind we weren't exactly following a recipe, just making it up as we went along...
While it was baking I thought to myself, that looks funny and proceeded to do some research on spelt. Turns out spelt bread is prone to being very temperamental. Imagine that.
It didn't necessarily taste bad... it just looked really, really bizarre.

Today at Barnes & Noble I picked up 2 books that I'm hoping will spur me back to the path of health & wellness.

• Green Smoothie Revolution : The Radical Leap Towards Natural Health - Victoria Boutenko
• Juicing for Life - Cherie Calbom

The problem is that there's so much info out there but it takes time & patience to wade through it all to find the real gems. Recipes seem few & far between or seem to rely on you understanding how best to combine all the fruits & veggies in your fridge to find something that taste delicious. I need to have my hand held instead of just being shoved out into the deep end. So it's slow going but I'm sure, eventually, I'll get there. In the meantime I'll just doggie-paddle my way around...

A glimpse...

I haven't blogged lately because... Well... I got nothing...

However, I promised she who shares my namesake that I would blog by the end of the week (which obviously didn't happen, seeing as how it is now next week) so here I am. I know you've missed me. Don't lie.

So you say to yourself... "What's been going on Karen?" To which I reply... "um, let me think about it"

On yoga - Yes, I'm still going. Yep, you guessed it, my body still hates it. Some of the most basic things my body just refuses to do. It screams, protests and threatens to shut down while I try to make it bend and pose. I know patience is a virtue and at some point I will be bending and posing with the best of them but in the meantime it's a struggle. 27 years of being sedentary are coming back to haunt me. No worries though, I will make my body love yoga, whether it wants to or not is irrelevant.

On my quest for better health - Obviously I've been having some issues when it comes to staying with it. Legolas (my Elf boyfriend) is trying his hardest to remind me. Juicing has also been a little problematic as I've been lazy and also have been having a hard time finding kale that isn't dry. So what happens when I don't do the things I know I should be doing? I get sick. My sinuses are killing me. Consequently I can't sleep (especially if I try to take a Claritin D close to bedtime) and have raging headaches. However, I'm getting sick of being sick so I think that will spur me back to the path of health.
In a related note I tried some Almond milk a while back and decided that it is supreme yum. I'm hesitant to try soy products just because I'm heard so many bad things about it... Any recommendations for dairy substitutes? (And if you are a family member reading this don't freak out, I'm not going vegan anytime soon)

On my new phone - I got an iPhone! We've been together for 2 weeks now. The honeymoon phase is over and now we're stuck trying to find our groove. It's a delicate relationship currently because we're still on unfamiliar territory. He (yes my iPhone is male) is a sensitive one and I'm always pushing the wrong buttons. I've been told eventually it'll become easier and like second nature. I hope so because I've lusted after this relationship for so long. (Just for you Karin =P)


Work on the bathroom continues (now that Husband is home). The shower is tiled & grouted. Yesterday he started on the floor (and finished but I'm too lazy to take another picture). It will probably be grouted sometime later this week. I love the design and I love the fact that Husband just dreamed it up out of nowhere. He's so awesome. Now if we could just get done with the house...

So now I'm sure you're saying to yourself... That's great Karen but what have you been doing while your husband has been hard at work? Well... I've been busy too... Sorta.

Yesterday I spent most of the day making our book shelf look pretty and organized again. 250+ books/4 hours later doesn't it look pretty? I also discovered that we apparently need more shelves... Which means I also need to sit down with my thoroughly marked up excel spreadsheet and update some info... Oh books how I love thee... (This is our "read" section... which brings me to...)This didn't happen yesterday, maybe last weekend but here's even more books that I have stashed away somewhere else... This is my to-finish-reading-dammit pile. I need to stop buying books for the love of jeebus. Or just read faster...And this morning I did this... *beams with pride* Welcome to the kingdom of Karen. (And yes Li that is the Sims on my computer screen... but I was working while playing darnit!) Isn't it beautiful? (Although I did forget to dust my keyboard/mouse area...) It feels nice to be organized... even if it won't last.

Let me see... what else?
Oh I signed up for the Nielsen Homescan Consumer Panel. That means I scan in my weekly household purchases and transmit the data for free stuff! Yep, I love me some free stuff. I got the scanner in Friday and finally set up the store information today along with scanning in my first purchases. I'm excited.

Honestly, I think that's all. Even if it's not my brain refuses to think anymore. Over and out.