A good start to the weekend...

Last night Mom came over with "the boys" which of course means Champ and Bogey were over. Champ is my dog and Bogey is a beautiful, fat Bernese Mountain Dog. He's kind of a jerk, but always in a loving way. He body slams you, but with tons of tail wags and affection. He's a dominant butt head, but in a really easy going, non-aggressive sort of way. He actually behaves beautifully for me on leash, but doesn't respect other family members enough to recognize the same commands. He plays dumb and keeps doing his own thing. He is extremely good natured though and very lazy, so it usually doesn't create a problem. I don't think he's met anyone he doesn't like. Here's a nice shot of "Booger":

I picked up dinner from Chaco Canyon Cafe (love their raw vegan options). After dinner, Mom and I went to Home Depot and we picked up a couple nice trellises for the Kiwi plants and a rain catcher for the down spout. It holds 45 gallons - and I don't know how much we'll collect here in Seattle in the next couple of months off our roof, but it may be worth getting another to water our lawn during the summer. I'm kind of excited about it. I'm also happy about having energy to go run errands.

This morning I woke up a little stiff, but that is getting a little better. I have been forgetting to take my MSM supplements, which is really dumb because they help a lot. MSM combined with vitamin C has been a great addition to my supplement list. After a couple weeks, I noticed a dramatic decrease in arthritis symptoms. Usually I wake up in pain, but my hip has been pretty good.

Lance and I went to help the family in the yard today. Lance was a great sport and ended up turning the lower garden bed at their house by hand after the rototiller refused to start up. That is a lot of work! I did some digging but remembered what happened last weekend (Go me!) and stuck to planting in the greenhouse. I'm already taking over the greenhouse and it isn't even winter yet! I planted some green beans, parsley, cilantro, basil, tons of carrots (I go through 5lbs plus in a week, so that was a no brainer), daikon, and red radish. I helped Mom map out her garden plots to follow more of a permaculture design and I'm really excited to see how it turns out.

Once we got back home, Lance installed the rain catcher and I have been relaxing as much as possible. I even took a soak in the bathtub and did some reading. I got Lance Brandon Brazier's books and have started reading his Thrive Diet book. It's really quite impressive. I kind of needed a kick in the pants today to stay motivated. I need to hold on to how much better I feel. I've noticed my skin has been dry and keep looking for other signs of missing nutrients. My plan is to up the omega fats and keep relaxing.

I'm looking forward to going back to my family's house tomorrow. My mom has befriended a coworker and his partner has lupus and has been in remission for some time now. It's always nice to be able to pick someone else's brain who is doing well and see what I can tweak in my own approach.

I hope everyone is feeling well!