Food & Fitness Week One: Hiking and Eggnog Almonds

Just like everyone else with a normal body weight in a society that champions the uber fit and anorexiacs, I am starting a workout and nutrition regimen for 2012. Yeah, I know, we shall see how long it lasts this time. I already dance nearly six days a week, clean the house, sword fight, and chase cats, but the other hours of the day really are dedicated to sitting on my tush getting writer’s butt. It turns out I may actually have a champion on my side though this time who will not give up on me. Maybe. Well, we shall see.

Frank Levreau has this epic story of how he lost gobs of weight and when I met him I did not believe the pictures of the ‘old’ Frank were for real. I hope Frank will allow me at some point to blog about his entire story, but for now I will cut to the chase since this is the first fitness and nutrition entry. It is all pretty typical as far as I can tell so far, I have to track my nommings, the exercise I currently get, and make sure to get enough sleep. Same old, same old.

Today, a nice walk outside, since I am a nature gal as well as a geek. I was excited to find algae, what I used to call Mermaid Hair, growing in the water near Rio Vista Recreation Area. We also found this odd looking plant that I would love insight on if anyone has anything. JD went along since he is out of school. He did more climbing on the walls of the wash than anything. I was not feeling quite that motivated to over exert today. I like just being in nature. If that means I have to amble six miles instead of running three, I am totally okay with that.

Frank made awesome banana, strawberry smoothies after the walk and a trip to Sprouts.

Frank’s Strawberry/ Banana Smoothie

½ cup Australian style plain yogurt

3 large strawberries

1 small banana

1tbsp honey

1tsp coco powder

I could not leave Sprouts without a bag of dried cranberries, walnuts and pecans, so I have been nomming on those all day. JD bought almonds and dried papaya cubes to mix together. The kid also discovered eggnog coated almonds. I thought he was going to die. I did not try them but JD assures they are amazing.

Yes, a ride to Sprouts and smoothie making, all part of the fitness plan/ coaching. Epic, yes? I would love to know what everyone else is doing, maybe it would give me some new ideas to try to stay motivated.

Winter Yard and Garden Week One

After much procrastination and excuses, it is ready! The raised garden that I hope to add to our household’s security in case of zombie apocalypse is ready for seeds!

Arizona has horrible soil for just about anything to grow in so instead of relying on digging into the backyard, which also has an array of broken water systems under it, I built the garden plot on top of the hard ground. I also have the luxury of an abundance of decorative river rock covering a quarter of the yard. The river rock worked great to create a irrigation bed to lay the layers of soil on top of and to surround the garden plot. I am also so fortunate to have several leaf shedding trees surrounding the yard. The fruits of their decay litter the yard faster than I can usually dispose of it but it is great for a mulch layer on top of the rocks.

Now, I have a layer of tightly packed large rocks that allow water to run through, but not too fast. Above the rocks, a layer of mulchy plant to catch more water, and to decay into further nutrients for the next layer. Finally, store bought rich soil tops it all off. A low rock wall and a chicken wire frame to keep critters at bay surround all the layers. The next step is to wait a few days for the current layers to settle a bit before adding layer of my very happy compost, and a final layer of more soil. I may try to grow some plants as it sits now though, just to see if they take. I would really like to give the compost a bit more time to decompose and I really am trying t save money after the holidays.

Any seed suggestions for winter in Arizona?

Fall Yard and Gardening Day One

I am so grateful to have Frank helping in the complete overhaul of my yard into a functional raised garden and zombie apocalypse, preparedness zone. The goal is to have four garden boxes, a hanging plant awning, and a narrow herb garden by November, winter planting season in Arizona.

The compost is evolving wonderfully! It is turning into a bit of a habitat, which is much more than I expected. I assumed an open compost pile would attract flies and ants, but it did not cross my mind that the garden lizards that roam the yard would also get fat on the spoiled vegetation and the insects. I think we have the largest lizards in the development. The most difficult part of using an open plastic storage bin as compost in Arizona is the consistent need to water it. I save jugs of water in the shed in case of a not so rainy day, and typically have to pour six gallons every other week into the bin. The pile fortunately does not smell as bad as I expected from rotting vegetation. The most exciting part, I began with very little actual soil and now the tub is nearly full to the top with rich black dirt!

With a ten gallon tub of fresh made planting soil I need a place to use it. The ground in the yard is incredibly hard and not conducive to growing at all. Add to the soil issue, the former home owners installed a sprinkler system that has fallen into complete disrepair. Without large sums of money the system is neither going to be repaired or removed. So, I have a large hard surface that I cannot feasibly till into even if my compost is the natural born Miracle Grow. Time for higher thinking and rocks.

Yes, I have half a lawn filled with river rocks! I cannot stand to look at them there are so many. But, rocks are great for potted plant gardening. Placing rocks in the base of a pot allows the water to drain away from the dirt and not over saturate plants. Who needs a pot though when I have plenty of rocks! The plan: lay out a grid of rock bed rectangles. Each bed in this case is about five foot by seven foot. Once the bed is made we will place a fencing stake at each corner and frame the bed with chicken wire. I am not certain on height yet, maybe two feet. Six inches from the internal frame another stake and frame will stand. Now the fun part – use more river rock! Sandwiched in the wire walls we will stack more river rock and create a stone box to fill with compost, soil and tasty, tasty plants!

I am very excited to see this project finally coming together. Granted, Frank and I barely created a single bed of rocks this afternoon, but it is a start and I am proud of it.

Thunder Stump at Donna Jean's

Another astounding performance by Thunder Stump at Donna Jean's Libations last Friday night. It may be one of their last shows for a while, as they go on hiatus to improve their style and grow from garage band to Punk Rock Super Stars.

Living in Phoenix Arizona is living in an ever changing gallery of emerging artists, performers, and musicians. I am always grateful to count among my friends and acquaintances, many of these creative people. Thunder Stump being top in the class and plans are they will only get better.

If you have not had the pleasure of hearing the "Punk. Comedy. Genius!" (- Thunder Stump Blog title and Myspace site) you are missing out on some of the geekiest, and we mean that in a good way, punk rock ever to be conceived. These nerds with instruments "that are embarrassed to be seen with them" (- TS Myspace profile), claim to be the "funniest comedic punk band in the 85014 zip code" (- TS Myspace Profile). They are not kidding around! Lead singer and lyricist Brenden Tuerff, with his brother Adam Tuerff, write about their love of video games, fears of zombie outbreaks, hopes for an apocalypse (to improve the pitiful state of the global economy), and all that connects with the soul of their geek fan base.

Reading the official Thunder Stump blog it looks like Keytarist, David Roberts will be moving to Bass Guitar when the band returns to the stage. No word, to my knowledge, who the new keytarist might be, but knowing the guys of TS he is sure to be the creme d' la creme of geek musical artists.

While on hiatus officially, the boys have assured me that they will appear at any Arizona Corsair or Ship Ecstasy event that Captain Blackstrap invites them to play, including the July Mud Wrestling event. So, big time TS fans, it may be time to go pirate. That does not mean pirate TS's recently released album, Punk. Comedy. Album. That you can buy at bandcamp.com.

Follow Thunder Stump:

http://www.Thunderstump.com

http://www.thunderstump.bandcamp.com

http://www.myspace.com/thunderstumpband

and on Facebook.