DIY Rachel Re-Does It…A Halloween Tree.

Why a Halloween Tree you ask? The answer is simple: because it's not everyday that your sister has the PERFECT sized dead tree in her yard. I couldn't just let this baby get turned to mulch.

For years I've seen the super adorable branches painted black with lights on them and wonderfully laid across fireplace, mantles, or used in pots standing as an outside decoration. I have never had to chance to make them. Then this tree came along and my Rachel Re-Does it light bulb went on into full blow creative mode. When that happens, I can't stop the locomotive, so I go with it!

That would be a holly tree, and oh boy were the leaves prickly with their horrible thorns. I learned quickly to use my husbands thick leather gloves. I ran my hand down each branch and pulled the leaves off. I ended up deciding to cut a few feet off of the bottom to make it stand nicer in the pot.

 

Next I filled the pot with rocks around the base of the tree. I did not permanently instal it in the pot for now. My plan is to hang it in the garage for next year (if I can get it in there without my husband realizing I'm storing a dead tree).  

I got a can of regular spray paint. NOT the cheapest one on the shelf at Lowes. That paint does NOT work well and you will ultimately have to go buy another can of the better paint. Save yourself the dollar upfront and get a better quality spray paint. IT DOES MATTER! 

I set the tree in the pot and in the field where I went to town spraying every part of that thing! It took about one can of paint to complete. 

Once painting was complete I used lights only up the center of the tree. I didn't have enough lights to do each brand separately, and if you've ever read one of my Rachel Re-Does It projects before, then you know I prefer to do things with as little money as possible. 

We used small plastic bats to attached as decorations as well as these ADORABLE glow in the dark hanging ghost we made last year. Yes, we made then, out of glow in the dark beads, melted in cookie cutters. I can post the How To for that another time though. Back to the tree...

My goal was to redo the pot to stay Halloween themed and use a backlight at the base to increase the branch visibility. However, today is Halloween and I forgot to finish this post until RIGHT NOW. So, we will see if I get that done today. It's not likely. ;) 

Don't mind the adorable little girl on the right side of the pictures. She thought I was taking pictures of her and went into full blown "Cat Walk" mode. I don't know where she gets it from.  We topped our tree with an old witch decoration we had from the Dollar Tree. Can't beat a dollar. My hope is to expand and grow the trees ornaments over time. So next year we should have MORE on there! 

Rewind the Future

     Did you watch the entire video? You did? Cool, now watch it again.
I had watched it multiple times to make sure the message soaked in.  I have even seen a few small behaviors that I have done in the past. Behaviors that led me to personally to be over weight at 24 years old and getting sicker by the day. So many bad choices.

     Sometimes I wish I could go back to the future, errrr, I mean time travel back ten years ago and grab myself and shake the stupid out of me. But, I can't. What I CAN do is change my future, heal from the inside out and live a healthy life from here out. Show my kids they have a choice. They can choose health, or…well you watched the video.

     Ten years ago (even 5 years ago) I didn't FEEL like changing. I didn't FEEL like learning another way. I thought the healthy eating thing was a quack and annoying. I was living my life the way I wanted to and paying the price.

     I was OK with having PCOS, IBS, anxiety, insulin resistance and acid reflux just to name a few of the diagnosis I have had, and was medicated for over the years.  If you don't think the food like products you put into your body effect your health, then you are on a road to finding out the long hard way. The way I was on.  It doesn't have to take you 10 years. It just takes one day. Just CHOOSE better one day. Then wake up and choose better for the next day. Wake up and choose again. One day at a time. Choose today, message me on FB HERE  you're interested in changing your life, your future and doing it one day at a time. I know, I've done it. You can do it too.

What This Dr. Had to Say About ME I Found Infuriating...

      I make it no secret that I very much disliked a good portion of the medical care I received while living on Travis AFB in California. That's not saying the nurses and hospital staff in general were bad, they were great. It's the Primary Care Dr's I had problems with.
     You see, when you have military insurance (Tricare) and live on a military base with a teaching hospital, you kind of have to use the hospital. To use a regular off base Dr. you end up jumping through hoops. Those hoops were my choice to jump through or not, I realize that, but at the time it didn't seem worth the trouble. I dealt with the ever changing PCM Dr.'s as they graduated the teaching hospital and moved on. I dealt with barely seeing the same Dr. more then twice. While "they" said my Dr. should have only changed twice at the most while I was there, I can count at least 4 in the 2.5 years they serviced us. This last doctor, she sure was a doozy. I am 100% throwing her under the bus, and I'm ok with that. Whether it's wrong or right, there is a reason for this post. Just let me get to it.
     Since when can a Dr. lie in their write ups, mistreat and talk down to their patients and have any left at the end of the day? Oh, I know, when they are a military doctor and their patients aren't really "customers" but at the will of the system.
     See the NORMAL PCM who either works for, or owns, their own practice has to have some version of customer service skills or their patients will go elsewhere. This doctor didn't have to worry about that. From the day I met her she was rude to me, but I tolerated her. I even went to the Dr. as minimally as possible to avoid her.
    Since having our healthcare end, (thank you for the 5 months of misinformation prior service my husband was enlisted in), I had been reviewing my medical records. Today I needed to go to an urgent care facility to get medication that is necessary for my thyroid to function. I have an under active thyroid and with that comes a slew of health "issues" and symptoms.  I was looking for my last blood work since I was being told the urgent care facility would have to run NEW blood work on me. Something I didn't look forward to paying out of pocket for, but I was going to do what I had to do.  That's when I came across this little gem of a write up and my blood started to boil:

     After reading her write up, you can clearly see I went to her for a REASON. Because I was in physical pain. My body was freaking out and I clearly was trying to get help to find out what was wrong. Here is where I get mad (I'm trying to use nice words)… 

"They are moving themselves and she has been packing. She does not exercise nor do much of anything. Her children keep her very busy and states that she has unexplained weight gain but has not changed her diet and again does not exercise." 

IS SHE KIDDING ME? I do not do much of anything? Excuse me, you horrid doctor who doesn't deserve a license, I had been working out for over a year. I had dramatically changed my diet. I had lost 50 pounds and if 10 pounds coming back over night was nothing to worry about, maybe the LIST of other symptoms should have been? All signs that my thyroid was out of balance, every last one of them!

     She looked at me. She looked at my size. She looked at the number on the scale and made the assumption that I was lazy and did nothing and didn't take my nutrition seriously. Well Dr. C, I spent 5 years learning about nutrition to help my child, what did you spend? Six weeks in med school learning? Yeah, good luck with that.

     You judge a book by it's cover and you judged wrong. Had this Dr. been a well trained Dr. in regards to my medical issues, she would have understood that my thyroid was having problems. She would have understood that loosing weight is exponentially harder for someone with either of my conditions and that stress and weight gain are signs that there is an imbalance in the every important thyroid. 

     For the record, we packed our entire house and filled two PODS with all of our house hold goods OURSELVES (accept one night my friends helped). But, the larger furniture, WE MOVED. Some of it I moved alone while my husband was at work and I minded BOTH of my small children. That was not easy and was surely a workout. 

     As for the "she doesn't want to take medication for this condition" in regards to my Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome(PCOS), she again LIES. This Dr. had tried to force me on birth control from the day she met me without having ONCE ran my blood work to get the baseline for my hormone levels. Which by the way have a long history of being very, very out of control and not level at all.  THAT, Dr. C ,is irresponsible to do. So I said I would not take the pills, until she ran the blood work. She refused. Funny, it doesn't say that in my records. When I asked for the referral to the Endocrinologist, who is the specialist who would truly understand my medical conditions, she told me no. She also told me that SHE was moving in a week, so there was no reason for her to run my blood work because she wouldn't be there to read the results. Thanks, but I can read them myself.   

     What's my point here? GET COPIES OF YOUR MEDICAL RECORDS, annually if you can. Even better, ask for a copy of the Dr's notes after each appointment. This "entry" in my records will never change, it will never be deleted. How many other entries did this Dr. make that were blatant lies? I don't know, I had to stop reading. All I can hope is that this Dr. C ends up at a base where she treats her patients with respect and understanding, not rudeness and disregard. 

In the mean time, I will be doing what I do best: reading everything I can and learning everything and anything to find relief and help for my thyroid issue because knowledge truly is power. 

Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Corn Bread Mix Review

This is the second time I'm making the Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Corn Bread Mix.  My husband has made it about four or five times, but for some reason when he makes it, it just tastes better then when I did…that one time. Today I figured out why. 

Apparently that other time I made it, I left the oil out. WHOOPS! There are only 4 ingredients (the mix, eggs, milk (I used almond) and OIL. How in the world did I miss that? But NOT THIS TIME.

This cornbread mix came out well, not too moist and not too crumbly.   It is not overly sweet in comparison to the good old Jify Mix or some corn breads you get from the bakery department of a grocery store, which is a plus in my opinion. This one is gluten free, dairy free option, soy free and was amazing with our healthy chili! A good convenience mix to have in the pantry.

DIY Metal Swing Set Rachel Re-Does It

I recently had the urge to head out to the thrift store, though I never made it that day. On my way I ran into a metal swing set put on the front lawn of a house with a big ole "FREE" sign attached to it.

PUT ON THE BRAKES! 

Reverse. 

Walk up to the little old lady sitting out front and say "Can I have your swing set?" 

She was SOOO happy someone was taking it.  You see, it was her 85th Birthday that afternoon and her husband was coming back to pick her up to bring her to her family BBQ to celebrate.  That swing set was in their yard for countless years and used by all of h

er grandkids who were now grown and they didn't need it anymore. She (and her husband) was so pleased that two little people were going to be very happy and surprised when Mommy brought it home. I'm very grateful for the kind people who put this out, rather then tossing it in the dumpster. 

When it comes to re-doing a metal swing set, depending on it's condition, it can be much more work, take much more time and much more money then it would cost to go buy a new one for $150.00 at the local department store. This one is particular had some pretty good rust damage going, but was stable and would last for at least the next year without any issue. To me, the work I was choosing to put in was worth it. 

I did NOT sand down all of the rust. It would not be worth the effort. I chose to do a power washed, let it dry and do a fresh coat (or two) of spray paint and replace some of the rusty screws. It took quite a few hours, but overall the cost was just about $36.00 in paint and screws. That was worth the smiles from my kids! 

Do you smell that? Yeah, THAT.

     out.  You see, I don't eat dairy or gluten because it's a fad or a gimmick to loose weight. I LOVED cheese, I LOVED a warm piece of sour dough bread, or rye bread with some melt butter on it, or even better: melted CHEESE.
This post isn't going to be full of information that I've sourced from "reputable" resources. I really don't care of about that at the moment. I just had to get this
   
     I frequently mention casein addiction (it's real, look it up, I am proof) or super sensitivities to lactose or casein or any of part of the dairy that we as humans weren't even designed to consume (google it, I'm not writing about it, you'll find lots of info).  Going out almost anywhere to eat is difficult for our family, for many reason but this post is specifically about ME. About WHY I am slightly fearful to attend a leadership retreat with my friend and Coach in a few weeks. One where there are going to be some awesome, amazing, successful people who can help mold and shape me into the leader I wish to come. Below is WHY…

     I could tolerate dairy growing up. Actually, I just lied (whoopsie). As an infant I could NOT tolerate dairy and was on soy formula (ew).  At some point in my youth I was given dairy and seemed to tolerate it ok, but in realty I never did.  I won't go into the long list of side effects like eczema, diarrhea, acid reflux, stomach pains, or behavior issues (to name a few) that I suffered with growing up and into my later 20's.  I want to focus on the side effect I'm having NOW, and let me tell you it really, really, really stinks.

     I just felt the urge to put this out there: I stink and it SUCKS.  This side effect is a relatively new one for me in the 33 years I have been on this planet.  As you age, and eat your way through life, enzymes in your body are being used up. At some point I used up all the ones I needed to maintain any digestion of dairy. I'm not getting into the science of it now, but seriously, you should google that too.

     In February of 2012 I got gas.  The problem was it never went away. For months and months I had this gas. I even flew on an airplane for 6 hours with two small children and feared it. It took some time, trial and error, and lots of research, to figure out my problem was dairy (and gluten).

      I am rather diligent in my avoidance of dairy, I wish I didn't have to be so badly, but the outcome of me NOT being that way is a horrid smell that lingers like the smell of a freshly tarred road on top of seriously rotten hard boiled eggs. The hard boiled eggs thing was what my son calls it. The poor boy has come in to the room and ran out countless times screaming as his nostrils were accosted with the stench.  No, these are not the kind of farts that any human can hold in. I've tried and magically they escape, seeping into the air and reeking havoc on any nose within a mile radious. On top of smelling horrid, my stomach usually hurts with gas pains. I don't generally announce that I have horrible death like gas that will make a grown man cry and want to vomit. I would just say "Oh I can't eat dairy, I can't digest it" or something vague.

     This gas has become so much of a sign of my digestive issue that even my husband and children have started to relate it to something I've eaten. Accept, this week I had NO dairy. So what is the problem? Oh, yeah, dairy is hidden just about everywhere (which I knew) but I NEVER thought to look at my generic allergy medicine (the Costco version of Allegra), there is an inactive ingredient made from a milk sugar, and that one tiny bit of diary has caused the last 3 days of THIS torture.

     Most people just figure how they are feeling is part of their aging process. I disagree. If you mean to tell me a 21 year old on acid reflux medicine is normal, then we clearly don't live on the same planet.  That having gas that bangs on your lower abdomen like there's a 6 month old baby in there trying to escape like some kind of alien is normal, again, you live on some other planet then I do.

     You live on the planet I use to live on. The one that thought it was ok to chug Mylanta three times a day because of stomach pain. The one that thought being bloated and overweight was just a part of getting older. The one that thought…well you get my point.

      If you aren't someone who thinks NONE of your medical issues or discomforts come from food, and you have learned (one way or another) that everything you put into your mouth effects your body THROUGH your colon, this message is dedicated to you. As well as: Hi, my name is Rachel and we officially inhabit the same planet. Looks like I need to do another 3 Day Refresh to clean my body out of the undigestible dairy product, before my family leaves me on the side of the road somewhere in a field. But if not, lets hope there's a strong breeze that day because even I can't stand to be around this!