So long biker chic

Oh my, I tried to ride that Honda Rebel motorcycle the other day. We finally got the engine fixed and I needed to get it up a little hill in my driveway. So I started the thing up....that was after I looked for the foot crank thingy starter and realized I just had to push a button.

AND, to top it off, before that, I accused my mechanic of taking the keys to the motorcycle, as I didn't see them in the ignition. BUT. I was looking at the gas tank key spot and thought that was the ignition. After 2 hours of them looking for the keys at their home, the keys were in the real ignition between the gauges. Holy moly. Mechanic wasn't happy with me at all.

So anyway, I got the bike started and gently turned it around. It was horrible. I could feel the heaviness and the unbalance-ness of me. Training wheels would have been nice, but... I did put it in gear, got scared, squeezed my hands to hang on and it just went faster. (I had given it gas without trying). Scared the be-gessus out of me. I decided that biking wasn't for me, so the Honda is up for sale! I'll stick to my mule. Easier to balance on!

Fell off my hinny onto my hiney

I decided to see if Ivan, the hinny, would allow me to ride him. He has some age on him, but it just boggles my mind that he has not had ANY training. I learned when I ground drove him that nobody has ever done anything with this smart guy. Well, with him being so placid temperment, I didn't really expect him to do much. But...to my surprise, he took off, bucked, and I ended up on my rear end on the ground! It's been a while since I've done that! I then tied him so he couldn't run off and got on and off him several times. And spent relaxing time just on his back. He just stood there, sort of like I expected the first time!

I have been spending more time with Ivan and I decided to find out exactly where his leg pain was tender. He does not like his near hind leg picked up, and it sure seemed he was in pain. The farrier just deals with him not allowing that leg being lifted for any length of time. Well, when I really worked with him to find his sore spot, there wasn't any. Even with him reacting, shifting, moving, worried about me lifting up that leg, and thinking he is in pain, I really don't think he is. I could not find a sore spot.  Since I have messed with the entire area where he reacts in "pain", coupling that with the fact he's never had a lame day since he's been here, I am believing that he is reacting to a memory of pain. He may have some deep inner pain, but since I messed with him, he just doesn't seem to react on that hind leg much anymore. This leads me to believe that it took me showing him that the pain is not there anymore for him to get it! Plus, I really think the hind legs are his defense. You know, where people stay away from, worried about getting kicked?

I'm also monitoring two issues Ivan has, as I have those same two areas of challenges in my body. One is his eyes water a lot and so do mine.  And he doesn't hear very well, and I've been having some ear challenges recently. I'm surprised if he is mirroring me, or me him, as he is SO independent.

THE answer to weight loss and good health

I know, I know, everyone thinks they have the answer to how to lose weight and how to be healthy. But I really do!!!! No ego here. The blinders are off, I can see clearly now. Let me explain what I have learned through experience.

Several months ago, I read an article written by someone I respect. This man had a heart attack and his doctor (luckily) was astute enough to know a causing factor. This scared the man enough to take the doctor's advice immediately. Since I'm one who likes to experiment with new things in order to live life better, I decided--on the day I read the article--that I would follow his doctor's orders. That changed my life and gave me the answers not only to weight loss, but to better health all around.

For one, you don't have to "just deal with" any problems. And NO, it isn't because your getting older.  Aging creates health problems is just a myth we have bought into. There is a solution for all of it, somewhere. And doing what I'm going to tell you is the start of healthy living and weight loss solutions. Now, I'm not going to sell you some product, or tell you that you need to believe a certain way.  I'm not going to make you exercise or take pills. I'm not even going to ask that you believe me. In a very short time, you will learn this for yourself if you give it a chance to work.

Now, doing something for just two weeks is not a problem. Changing things for a short time is not a problem. God knows that what you've been doing for years isn't working, so changing things and trying something out for two short weeks is more than worth the effort. Plus, it not only doesn't cost anything, it also will SAVE you money. Now, can you imagine that....really? ONE thing, doing one specific thing for two weeks will get you on the path to weight loss, to overcoming many health issues, disease, irritating physical ailments.  Here is the list of things doing this ONE thing has helped me. And I'm just one person with not a lot of problems!

For me, this ONE thing helped me to:
Lose weight
Quit craving
Be in control again
Feel like my old self
Evened out my moods
Much less anger/irritation
More energy, less heaviness and lethargy
No more bloated feeling
No more fat days
Feel empowered
Have hope
Totally ended acid reflux condition
Cleared up 90% of skin rash

This has helped me to see how this ONE thing affects 90% of people who are complaining about something and can give them the answer with confidence.  Most people do this. I'm going to ask you to stop doing it. It's an simple fix. Stop doing something that (most) people do. Stop for two weeks and you will see with your own eyes, your own inner feelings, the huge difference it makes within. If you want to go back doing it after two weeks, then that is your choice. But you will NOT be able to unring the bell. You will know. And with this new knowing, you can choose to return to who you used to be. Or you can decide that who you now are is a better person inside and out and you want to stay that way. Right now, you don't have a choice.  You don't know life any other way (most likely). But for two weeks, you will learn life in a new way. And then I'll be championing you on YOUR soapbox, encouraging others to do this for themselves.

Ready for the solution?

You sure?

Here it is....
Remove all sugar and foods that act like sugar in your system (excluding most fruits) for two weeks.

That's it. That's the solution. Now, if you need more information before you commit to doing this, I'd suggest you learn more.

This is what you do...Gather more information. Here is a start from my own blogs: http://hypnosisbycindy.blogspot.com/2010/10/sugar-can-cause.html
http://hypnosisbycindy.blogspot.com/2010/10/sugar-and-its-effects.html
http://cindyattar.blogspot.com/2010/10/sugar-free-eating.html
http://cindyattar.blogspot.com/2010/10/sugar-is-bad-for-you-links.html

This is what I did nearly 6 months ago. I went through all my cupboards and refrigerator and took out anything that had sugar or other names for sugar in the label.
http://hypnosisbycindy.blogspot.com/2010/12/hidden-sugar-terms.html
I put them all away where I couldn't see them (or tossed them out).

I started immediately to figure out what I can and cannot eat. I learned I could eat most meats (ham/bacon have sugar in them, as does most meats/foods with labels), dairy, raw vegetables, most canned vegetables, fresh fruit (this was my main carbohydrate and sweet foods). I later learned about the glycemic index
http://hypnosisbycindy.blogspot.com/2010/11/glycemic-index-sugar-levels-in-food.html
and that opened my eyes to the sugar content in foods, especially fruits that are higher sugar level than other fruits. I trimmed down a few fruits from my diet after that (bananas, raisons).

I retrieved books in storage about Food Combining and refreshed on that
http://cindyattar.blogspot.com/2010/10/work-with-your-body-and-combine-your.html. A person who does not want to give up sugar completely can work with the glycemic index for some relief. I don't think it will solve the problems that eliminating sugar does, but it is better than no change at all.

In my travels, I experimented with sugar substitutes and ran into this video on what substitutes were the best. This was VERY helpful.
http://cindyattar.blogspot.com/2010/10/sugar-substitute-video.html

Then I began to see sugar addiction in others.
http://hypnosisbycindy.blogspot.com/2010/10/can-i-help-dave.html

The first three days were dealing with the effects of addiction, cravings, adjustments.  After those first few days, I settled into trying to "eat right". I changed 90% of how I was eating. I couldn't eat out at all. Almost EVERYTHING in restaurants, fast foods, convenience stores has sugar in it. I had to eat and cook everything at home and take it with me. It was quite the commitment. My one vice that I couldn't give up was my hot or iced tea with Splenda or Sweet and Low. I knew artificial sweeteners caused cravings, but I just couldn't give that up. So I cut the sweetener quantity in half. It helped, but someone more committed (if there is anyone) would have given up artificial sweetener also! Oh well, one vice. I hit the two week mark eventually, and then decided to stick with it, as the benefits outweighed any other option.

I won't repeat the journey from my other blog posts, but just suffice to say that it has been six months, and life has changed, health has changed, I have changed, and I won't go back to being that out of control, overweight and unhealthy person again.

I do want to encourage everyone to try this for two weeks and begin your own journey.

Preparing for $5 gal gas prices

With riots, protests, and disharmony across the world, it is a bit scary. I am not sure what it all will culminate to, nor do I even want to know. But in the short term, I think gas prices are going to go sky high. Higher than they ever have. Today, with Libya's latest riots going on, I heard crude oil has already spiked. For once, I'm on top of things. I hashed for weeks/months over what to do if gas prices went up. I have a 22 mpg car at its top performance. That's not good enough. My regular job is 40 miles away--all highway. I spend $300 or more on gas per month. Being the frugalista that I am, there HAD to be a less costly way to get to work and the hypno office.

Finally, last weekend I bought a Honda motorcycle. It's an older Rebel, and I don't even know how to drive one! Out of necessity, I'm going to be a "biker chick". I have lots to do before I can ride, like get a helmet, an endorsement on my license, learn balance, gain courage to drive on a 65 mph highway with semi trucks, and all that stuff. I'm scared, but will forge ahead. A bit of fear hasn't stopped me from too many things.

But I tell you, the timing is right. Two days after I bought the bike, gas prices are now spiking. Now, it will take me a while to get it on the road, but at least I have a decent plan in place.

Now have waterfront property!

In my little farm of 24 acres, in the back end there is a dry gulch. Apparently at one time it had water in it, but in the 4 years I've been here, it's been dry as a bone....until.....a couple of weeks ago I noticed a strange thing in the "back 40". It was nearly a river in the dry gulch! I was shocked and amazed. I didn't expect water in my dry gulch! I jaunted down to the river and took pictures, as this is probably the last time I'll see water in dry gulch. Within 48 hours it was pretty much dried up. My short-lived water front property. But I do have proof.

Building fence again

The other night we had a big ole wind storm. When I got up the next morning the doghouse that was as tall as I am was blown about 50 feet away into the middle of the driveway.  Anything not nailed down was blown away. Well, even a plywood windbreak that WAS nailed down, blew off the posts and onto the ground.

Upon further examination, several fences were blown over.  Tumbleweeds along the fenceline coupled with very soft ground, and even posts in cement blew over, cement and all.  I've lived here 4 years and each year I've had to rebuild fences. Each time they get sturdier. And I thought I had beat nature until a fire ran through a couple years ago and burned down railroad tie fence posts. So, I had to do some heavy duty thinking on what I could put up that would withstand most anything. Well, I decided that I'd put the cement and posts upright again, and then put a rock circle in wire around the post three feet up. I have a lot of rock in places and this gives me a place to stash loose rock.  I did about 9 this weekend, just filling the wire up 1/4 of the way.  Just enough to stabilize the posts. I'll continue to fill up the wire. It worked! The fence is up now. I just need to fill in the top half of the circle with rock before something comes along and messes things up again.

I almost have the interior fence (around the yard) completed. Now I need to go to the exterior fence and get it back upright. I have the entire 24 acres fenced and cross fenced into 9 pastures, but most of the cross-fences are destroyed. I'll be pulling those out of the field until I can figure out if I'm going to re-run those cross fences or just give in to nature. It will require maintaining FEWER fences in the future if I just eliminate them now.

Meaning of Christmas?

What is the meaning of Christmas for you?  It means something different to each person and all meanings are okay.  For me, it's a "no thing". I am not Christian and don't celebrate the religious part of the holiday. It was fun giving and getting presents when I was a kid. But living alone for years, not having kids, it only means a bit more stress to deal with. Adult family members have everything they need with regards to presents. I generally give them whatever I have going on at the moment. Last year I received The Mule Companion book 4th edition so they all got one. This year, a self-hypnosis audio cd was sent out. 90% of my incoming gifts are re-gifted or returned for things I could actually use. I guess Christmas is more of an obligation than a treat. On Christmas day, it's like any other day, except businesses are closed and I stay home twiddling my thumbs. I guess that's not very festive. Some say it's sad that I spend it alone. For me, it's just what it is. No big deal.