My first laugh out loud moment of the day was from my latest opened card from my friend who sent me a dozen of them. She wrote, “I wanted to include some chocolate coins with this one, but I know that would be contraband…and sadly, with chocolate, it is not the thought that counts.” True dat!
Yesterday hubby and I did Kundalini Yoga, Stretching, and then I did the Water Aerobics. I also did my assigned workout, which involved jumping rope, carrying EmPack bladders (for the “farmer’s carry”), slow bench press (lying on the coffee table – EmPack again), weighted “dead bugs,” push ups, and a hang (from the side of the wardrobe). I’m sure there were other things – but that was plenty! 😊
I really liked the Yoga. The instructor was from a local Kundalini Yoga Center. She was Hindu, and brought a sheep skin (complete with curly/wavy hair) as her yoga mat. It is very “easy” yoga, though one of the things that we did was tough. It involved taking your right hand and putting it on the top of your head, gently pulling it over toward the right side, while you sat cross-legged and had your left hand in a “mudra” on your knee to the left. Then you had to tense the entirety of your right side, every bit of it, while relaxing the entirety of your left side. Down to clenching your jaw muscles on the right but relaxing on the left! We held this for what seemed like a very long time. About a minute past when I was ready to quit. Then we did the other side.
Oh – and – please remember that (ahem) hubby doesn’t know I am keeping this blog. So if you write to the two of us, please don’t say that you’re reading “The Blog.” I’m sure Mexican divorces are swift and decisive. 😊
the blue bags are IVs 
Hubby had a long day yesterday and has been so pleased with the doctors. This is a guy who is very very picky. Each and every doctor he says is pretty much the best he has ever had. Chiropractor, Psychiatrist, etc. He is particularly taken with the Chiropractor – so much that he is going to pay to have me go on “a program” so that I can see him, too. (You can only see the doctors if you’re on an actual program – you can use the Spa, go to the lectures, get a facial/haircut/etc. . . . but no “doctor stuff.”) I start on Monday.
Last night the lecture about Energy was more like a TED Talk it was so good (even hubby remarked about that). It took very complicated issues and made them very accessible. The lectures are usually about 45 minutes – this one was twice as long. The speaker was not only engaging but walked around and made folks interact. This of course kept you really listening and on your toes! That isn’t that hard though, considering you’re not allowed cell phones anywhere! 😉
Today is Liquid Day again. (Every Thursday) I mentioned to hubby that we might want to incorporate this into our weekly schedule upon return, and he said “well, martinis ARE liquid….” 😊 The two breakfast smoothies were: (1) pineapple (don’t forget to use the core if your machine can take it – it has a lot of “good stuff” in it), mango, date, avocado, pecan, and then water to smooth it out and (2) strawberry, date, avocado, almonds and water. When asked, Frankie (the head guy that’s “client-facing”) said that it’s not really any particular “amount” of each thing when you’re making it at home – just put in what attracts you each time. He said to be sure though to not leave any ingredient out, because “the total is more than the sum of the parts.”
One thing that I think I haven’t mentioned are the smells here. Not only do you have the brine smell coming off the ocean, but each of the paths has some sort of scented flower. There is honeysuckle, lavender, jasmine, etc.
As for sounds, there is the ever-present sound of the ocean pounding on the cliff, as well as birds in the morning, and crickets in the evening. No “motor” sounds, as everything is done without them. Well – except for Sundays, when you can hear the Harley groups bombing by outside the gates, and the local dirt bike facility (across and down the street) buzzing away!
Yesterday hubby asked the gardener in charge of the lawns what he was up to. There are “holes” in the lawn where they are installing new grass. You can actually tell there are two types of grass when you’re doing your “earthing” – one is very very soft on your feet, one is more the standard “hard bladed” grass. Unfortunately it seems like the soft one was installed on accident and it’s harder to care for. So they are digging up and replacing it where it has gone yellow. (We never saw the yellow, only the “craters” in the lawn.) First, they put down apple cider vinegar mixed with fresh lime juice, to kill any weed seeds that are “lurking” in the ground. (It’s put into a “backpack” sprayer, just like RoundUp – that’s what attracted hubby to go ask because he was certain it wasn’t RoundUp!) Then, they spread a full spectrum salt on top and let it sit that way for a while. (It’s supposed to “bake in the sun,” but when there isn’t a lot of sun, you have to wait longer.) When that’s all done, the new grass will be rolled out on top of it, but we have a suspicion that wheat flour is somehow involved.
Why? Because there are a few tons of wheat flour sacks in the driveway! We had a little fun about this with the Nutritionist. He’s really great, and just as nerdy about nutrition as I am. He said that his wife is more the “math and engineering” type – so we are a similar pair. We asked him if they had about 30 huge sacks of wheat flour out in the driveway just to give us all a big bowl of it, “reminding” us what toxins are all about. The look on his face! Then he realized that we were kidding. 😊
A new “flock” of folks came in over the last few days – mostly Lyme and Stem Cell. (Green badge and pinkish-red badge.) I think that their protocol is about a week, because we “ebbed” out a big group of the same before these folks “flowed” in.
After Lunch today there is another “Food Prep” class. I will probably just annotate the previous post that way, when I get back, I will have one place to go to find recipes. So if you’re curious about them, you might want to check back on that one. I found out in a Nutrition lecture yesterday that they’ve totally revised the cookbook, and so we will all receive the new (.PDF) copy when we leave. My friend who had been here, as I mentioned, had emailed me the cookbook, but apparently come July 1 it will be revised. Weird how slow time goes here. When the Nutritionist said that, I thought it was July already. Nope – a few days of June more 😊 (She said that we went from “Grey May” to “June Gloom” – in July it starts to heat up. I’m actually glad to be here now, it’s super pleasant.)
Speaking of slowing down, hubby happened to remark today that he is having no trouble just sitting doing nothing. This is super uncharacteristic. This is a guy that can’t even just “lie on the beach” in Hawaii – his brain is always going, going, going and he always has to be doing something. He also had some profound realizations yesterday through the psychotherapy portion of his program.
Today I’m blogging in the living room in the Mansion. Normally I’m up in the room, but I wanted to let our housecleaner gal come in and not just tip-toe around me (and the 25’ Ethernet cable!). This is where we play backgammon in between dinner and the lecture for the evening. Hubby, who is very very good with math, is already beating me most times because he can see the board in a way that I can’t. My aunt Nina was the same. My only saving grace is that I’m “luckier” with doubles than he is! (If you play backgammon, you know that this is a very good bit of “Luck” to have!)
I got the bulk of the work that I brought with me finished, but then another big project came in yesterday. It actually will be an interesting one to do, but by doing it, I will probably be losing business from one of my biggest clients. They have done a re-org and brought on more people in-house. They want me to do up a document basically walking through their license agreement and detailing how we have negotiated this in the past many years I have been their licensing counsel. Once they have this “pathway,” they won’t need me, except when we are in the circumstance of negotiating on the client’s paper. So it will be actually a bit of a fun project, going back over all the different things that we have done over all the time they’ve been my client, but it will be a bittersweet sort of fun.
I think I’ve mentioned that every day is pretty much the same – Mozart out of the TV at 6:00 a.m., “vitals” for hubby at 6:30, lemon water at 6:40, then the “church bells” go off announcing that it’s 7:00. There’s a class from 7-8 (Energy Medicine/Meditation, Kundalini Yoga/Stretching, Tai Chi, etc.), bells, breakfast from 8-9, then hubby goes up for his IVs. Wheat grass at 9:56 a.m. (bells) which I bring up to hubby on the 2nd floor – at 10:55 I also bring him the electrolyte cubes to add to his water (recipe was HERE) and the snack (or, as it’s Liquid Day, whole food smoothie) at 10:56 (bells). He’s usually done by about 1:10; lunch begins at 1:00 (bells). Today being Liquid Day, this includes a “cream soup” meaning, for example, pumpkin or beet with whirled macadamias to make the “creamy” taste, and then a “chunky” soup which is usually for example a chicken and vegetable soup, with something like dehydrated veggie “chips.” Next is a Food Prep class at 1:35, a doctor’s appointment for hubby at 2:00 (bells), “green drink” at 2:56 (bells), “Quiet Room” appointment for hubby at 3:00 (bells), a “Digestion and Protein (pea) Shake” for hubby at 3:55. Usually this is when I do the workout from my trainer – in the 2-4 period – as it takes about an hour. There is often a class at 4:00 (bells) – today is tai-chi, yesterday was the water aerobics – an hour of personal time, dinner at 6:00 (bells). Hubby gets extra protein at dinner, since his blood shows that he’s a bit low – everything else e.g. cholesterol, Vitamin D, etc. tested great. In general, lunch has an animal protein and dinner does not, because this is better for digestion. There’s a lecture at (bells) 7:00 (except Saturday which is a movie – Bruce Almighty last week – and Sunday which is “rest day”). Lights out at 9:00 (special bells 😊 ).
Ah- and at that, bells just went off, time to go get hubby his “whole food” drink – today with raw cacao, mint, coconut milk, ground flax, and vanilla – Nom Nom!
UPDATE: Today was not tai chi – it was “exercise ball” class. Hubby went – I was doing some work. He came back not happy that he had done my Crossfit/exercise routine from home with me!