~♥Bug-n-Bear♥~: 2013

The kids were gone this weekend, so Jeff and I decided to get out of the house too. We headed up to Tooele county and visited Ophir and Mercur. I gotta say I'm really disappointed with both. Ophir is a semi-ghost, and everything is posted "NO TRESPASSING!" They did have a couple little displays set up though, and a few of the old homesteads and mine equipment still exist. I did manage to catch a ghost on camera though!

Mercur is gone. I thought I had been up there before, but I guess not, because as of 1983 it has been closed down. All of the houses were destroyed and it's now owned and operated as a gold mine only and is completely off limits. All that remains is the old Mercur cemetery. The last burial was 1915, but none of the graves have headstones. Well okay let me rephrase. They have headstones, but it's literally just a large stone. No writing to indicate who is buried where. Someone has built wooden fences around some of the graves, but the rest are only outlined with stones. There was one stone, for a child's grave that had writing on it at one time, but the stone is so broken that all you can read now is "Beloved".

Even though the ghost towns were a bust, we still had a nice day. It was great to get out of the house, and Ophir really was cool. I only took a few pictures, because like I said, there were "No Trespassing" signs on most of the old buildings and those don't look good in pictures.

Ophir

Mercur Cemetery

Love at Mercur Cemetery

More Love For Mercur

Mercur Cemetery

Ophir

So, I sat here and typed out this whole huge page about new years resolutions, but then deleted the entire thing, because honestly, I was rambling. Or venting. Whatever. So here's a revised (and just as long) rant/ramble. :)

I think I've always been an old soul. I have been obsessed with old things for as long as I can remember. I love Victorian era, pioneers, homesteading, old vehicles, etc. I love the traditions, and the way of life. Sure, there are things I don't agree with, but overall, it's all very fascinating.

So, back on track... I have been struggling to lose weight for several years, and nothing seemed to be working. It actually seemed that whenever I'd try a new "diet", I'd gain weight instead. I have severe acid reflux, and a couple years ago, I ended up in the E.R. because of gall bladder attacks. Those suckers are sooooo painful! The doctor told me that acid reflux had a lot to do with it, so I was prescribed Prilosec. Now if you take it as directed, you should take it for 2 weeks and then not need it again for 3 months. But in my case, if I skip a pill or try to stop taking them, I am throwing up acid later that night. Not pleasant. So I take them daily, every single day. Blah.

We started eating a little healthier, but there's only so much you can do on a budget. My body started fighting against everything we ate. I always feel run down. I can get a solid 8 hours of sleep at night, and 2 hours after I wake up in the morning, I am fighting to keep my eyes open. Also, it seemed that no matter what we ate, I'd end up with stomach aches. I'm lactose intolerant, so I can't eat cereal, and I tried soy, but honestly, it's nasty. I can't have eggs, because apparently I've developed an allergy and they give me severe stomach pains that I wouldn't even wish on my worst enemy. I don't eat much at all, in fact I often only eat once a day. This is a habit I'm trying to break, because you're supposed to eat 6 small meals a day. Sometimes I have to remind myself to eat a piece of fruit or something because I'm usually just not hungry.

During the Fall, we try to do things a little healthier for some reason. We make homemade bread, and can apple butter, and other things. We also eat homemade soups and stews. It always makes me think of how the pioneers lived, and about homesteading. I wish, that our generation lived a little simpler. I will admit, that I enjoy the internet, and my awesome smartphone. So even I am not completely immune, but I wish that I lived somewhere quiet. Away from traffic and crime. Away from pollution... just... away. I would love to have a beautiful little cottage somewhere, surrounded by a forest, and a pretty little stream. I would love to have my own large garden, and produce all of my own foods. I am tired of all the garbage that is pumped into store bought foods. All of this is just a dream really.

But I'm now trying to have a little of that dream in the modern life I'm stuck in. As I said, in the Fall, we do a little canning. Not much though. Luckily now I can remedy that. Jeff bought me a pressure canner, so I can do a lot more canning. I'm very excited about it. My "modern" dream is to have a fully stocked pantry, full of canned food. So that if anything were to happen, (perhaps a bad snowstorm) and we were stuck in the house for a few days, we'd have nothing to worry about. This year, we're going to have a garden. It will have to be raised a bit, to keep the ducks out, but we'll have it! Another thing I'm very excited about.

Last Christmas, my Mother in law gifted me with a bit of money. She gave me strict instructions that I was to spend that money on myself, and ONLY myself, and that it had to be something I wanted, not needed. She knows that whenever I have money, I tend to spend it on everyone but myself. So, armed with the gifted money, and some money I had saved up from etching glass, I headed out to go shopping. I had no idea what I wanted to spend my money on, so I basically walked up and down the aisles. I finally decided to buy myself something to make me feel better about myself.

I spent quite a bit on some new makeup and a makeup case, because I hadn't bought new makeup in years and I figured it was probably time to update it. And then I started thinking about other things to help me feel good. Jeff and I decided that we're buying a treadmill when our tax returns come in, so I figured I'd need a new outfit to work out in. So I bought an outfit, and while I was at it, I bought myself a new scale too. As soon as I got home that night I weighed myself. While very overweight, I was still surprised to see that I didn't weigh as much as I thought I did. In fact, I was 30 pounds lighter than what I had guessed.

For the next few days, I did a little research on eating healthier. I came across the idea of a juice cleanse. It sounded like a good idea, so I read up on juicing and the results. It all sounded wonderful, so I started looking up juicers. Did you know that most juicers cost several hundred dollars?! Yeah, neither did I. I was very disappointed when I figured that out. I thought for sure that that idea was done and over with. But then after a few more days, I found some for under $100. I made my decision then. With the remainder of my money, I was going to buy a juicer! Jeff took me shopping that weekend and unfortunately, the juicer I was originally after, was out of stock but I searched a bit more and found a Hamilton Beach juicer for $70. I still had a little money left over, so I also bought myself a 1 cup coffee maker, so that I wasn't wasting extra coffee, to make a full pot when I usually only drank 1 or 2 cups a day anyhow.
So armed with my new toys, I changed my habits. I gave up soda, started juicing everyday, I drink enough water to drown a fish, and am down to 1 cup of coffee or less a day. Often I'll go several days with no coffee. In less than a month I lost 13 pounds! I was so excited. In the last week, I have gained a couple pounds back, but I'm not giving up, because even though the scale went up a little, my clothes continue to fit looser. All of this is without any exercise really. We haven't bought the treadmill yet, so all I've used is some weights. I am still confident that by Summer, I can make a big difference with my weight. It seems that several of my friends are seriously trying to lose weight this year too, so I've got plenty of supporters at the moment.

Armed with my juicer, and soon a treadmill, as well as my canning plans, I will hopefully soon be completely different person. So here's to living simpler! Wish me luck, and sorry for the really long ramble anyhow. ;)