Winter Solstice and Merry Christmas!

It has been a wonderful month of rain, wind and busy-ness.  We've had a heavy storm a week, inches of rain, wind, but fortunately no damage.  I had to prune the hedge roses before the big storm hit so I wouldn't have a lot of breakage or falling over.  I had to prune them harder than expected, there was a lot of borer damage.  As it hasn't hit freezing they haven't really gone dormant either, so I haven't been able to seal the canes to prevent more borer damage.  Hopefully I can get them sealed after the first of the year.  January and February will be busy when the roses finally go to sleep, I have many I want to move for better growth next year.

I've been busy learning about Plexus products and the company.  I've been making soups and enjoying the holiday season.  I've not done any baking, I don't want to eat any of it.

The shortest day of the year is this weekend!  And then the days start getting longer!  I love this part of the holiday season!  The decorating, the gift giving, the cooking keep us occupied while the days get shorter and darker.  Then after the holidays all the decorations get put away, the house is tidy, the days get longer and the New Year begins!  Exciting stuff.

Oh, I forgot.  Michelle and Darel have bought their first house!  Yay for them!!!  It closed just before Thanksgiving.  It's a three bedroom, two bath in SW Salem.  We are very proud of them. 

All is great with our family!  Larry and I are doing well.  So is Gracie.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

During our big storm.

One of our three small Christmas trees.

The hedge roses just before their shearing.

The roses after their heavy pruning.  I'm still amazed at how much

 I get done now

 and I'm not in horrible pain the next day.

Our other Christmas tree, no fireplace but our stockings are happy.

The roses are still bright spots in the garden.

One morning I heard a weird thud on the house, went to look out the window and there was a turkey on our power line.

It's a good thing only one landed there, it made the line sag badly.

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My mini orchid is blooming now as the larger orchid finishes.

Trying to get our walk in every day.  This day the sun actually made an appearance.

Gracie loves Papa Louie

Our beautiful friend Vickie.  She is doing so well after having a heart attack near the 1st of July.

I love Lou and Vickie's tree!  Loaded with beautiful decorations and candy canes!

Christmas season coffee tastes better in a Santa mug!

This is one of our wonderful natural pain relievers, this is for nerve pain. 

Happy December!

The year is clipping right along to its speedy end! 

Connor

We had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend at Andrea and Scott's in Ukiah.  We took our trailer for it's maiden excursion.  We never really thought we would be back in Ukiah Fairgrounds and probably never with a small trailer.  The first night we came back from the kids, Larry started to drive right past our little home. 







Gracie had a hard time at first.  We decided though that she didn't like her bed down on the floor, out of the way.  She has three beds at home so she can keep her good eye on us where ever we are.  We finally put her bed up on the end of the sofa where neither one of us really want to sit because the cushion is the most broken down and she was happy after that.  At bedtime her bed on the floor beside my side of the bed worked fine, I just put an extra blanket over her to keep in her warmth.  She never woofed at anything all night, but then it's pretty quiet there at night.

In her relaxation zone

Larry, Chloe and Connor playing UNO

Scott and Andrea did a bang up job with the turkey dinner.  Scott brined the turkey, and then cooked it breast side down in a turkey bag, lightly stuffed with lovely aromatics.  It was.  THE.  BEST.  Turkey we have ever had.  Moist, and really yummy.  The juices were so yummy that the gravy Andrea made was super good on the smashed tators she made.  And the fresh green beans, perfection.  It was just all so good.  I ate teeny portions and then we had lovely pies, courtesy of the Safeway bakery department that were really great too, heated in the oven.  It was just a wonderful, simple (especially for those of us who didn't cook!) Thanksgiving dinner.  The next day Andrea made a killer soup from the carcass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Talking to the turkey seemed to help...hahaha!

Yeah, my dinner was awful!  NOT!

On Friday, Larry went and had a nice visit with his brother and sister-in-law, and Mom came over for soup so we had a great visit with her too. 

Picked these this morning before the deluge hit.

The trailer did great, no issues.  We want to get new foam in the seat bottoms of the banquette and sofa, but that is really about it.  Oh, and a shower head that will turn off so we don't waste water when we aren't on city water.  Oh, haha, the shower door seems to be new and is accordion-type and wouldn't stay closed, so we had to hold the door closed for each other to save the bathroom from a shower.  Overall though we are very happy with our find.

We are loving our Plexus.  We even walked in the drizzle this evening.  I have no excuse now.  I don't hurt from walking yesterday.  I'm not taking a nap because I'm pooped.  And I know it is good for me.  Plus Gracie looks forward to it.  Lord knows, we can't disappoint the DOG!   Ha ha ha. 

These last pics are from this evenings drizzly walk.

We don't get hungry now.  So now we eat because we know we must for health, but we aren't driven by hunger and cravings to snack and pork out at meals.  Wonderful!!!   Larry isn't pain free, but he figures it will take a bit more time for him to find the relief I have, though he has noticed that the pain is reduced.  Larry can even stay awake until after 10 p.m. now if he wants...tee hee.

No quick fixes here, just natural products that work to improve our quality of life!!!!  Everything we wanted and didn't believe existed.  Until now!  So excited!

No makeup so you only get a crows foot and eyebrow!

Have to share!  Our entire line is 14 products.  Fabulous, every one.

This is the label for the "Pink Drink".  Wonderful.  Once a day, so simple!

  www.valerie4plexus.myplexusproducts.com

More on my Plexus

Tonight I'm taking the easy way out.  I'm cutting and pasting from one of my Facebook posts last week.  And after that I'll give you a little current update.



Monday 11-18 My first week anniversary as an Plexus Ambassador

This was a couple of weeks ago, it's practically nekid now.

Wow!!! Here is my next exciting for me change I noticed in my body tonight. I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in my hips back in 08 and in December 2011 I was told that it had progressed to moderate arthritis as there was more narrowing in my joints but I was too young for hip REPLACEMENT surgery. WTH! Pissed me off royally. I was barely into my 50's. So I didn't feel the medical world was going to be much help and got busy.

In January 2012 I found an excellent Pilates instructor and I credit her with being instrumental in my healing success. I'll share another time how bad my overall fitness and muscle strength was. I was dedicated and took private classes at first until I could join the group classes and then took classes two to three times a week for two years. I had come a long long way. Earlier this year I stopped the classes because I was feeling my progress had stalled and was tired of pain and being tired.

The rest of this year has been working on clearing out old emotional baggage and working on my negative inner chatter through quite a few different avenues.

Now I'm going to jump over the middle and get to the point. Since I started Plexus I've made it a point to walk a mile every evening that we are home and it isn't dark or raining after dinner (we eat early). I have noticed getting stronger, I have noticed that a catch in my hip movement was gone about three weeks into using Plexus. It was a great frustration during my Pilates work, not being able to get that catch to go away. One day...gone.

On tonight's walk I noticed I was bouncing and had a spring in my step. Then I noticed my stride had lengthened, significantly. Sometimes these past years I felt like I was walking like that little shuffling character on Laugh In (back in the 19's as my grandson says).

Then I realized that my pelvis had loosened up and I had movement in my pelvis! The arthritis really ties things up, limits range of motion and can be painful. I have believed that there was some way I would be able to reverse the effects of arthritic inflammation.

Plexus is the key I've needed! I just continue to be blown away by how quickly my body is healing and finding balance! I am so freaking excited! I have spent the past half dozen years feeling far older than I should be. I feel like I've discovered the fountain of youth!!! Seriously.

Thanks Andrea for your own bravery in trying these wonderful products! Ripples! What we do touches so many others!
Woo hoo! Stay tuned! I'll of course share my next discovery! Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions about the products or my journey.

Today's update.
I've lost another couple of pounds since I wrote the above.  Our walks are speedy, like I can't remember ever doing...WITHOUT PAIN or weird catches in my hips.  Hell, I'm actually walking even when I don't really have the time for it or its cold, because I know it's good for me and Gracie needs it or she pouts.  Before I would not go, always some excuse.

Here's the biggest!  Larry has been doing just the Slim pink drink for the past twelve days.  He likes to accumulate all the evidence before making any kind of declarations, but as early as he is into his trying Plexus, he too has noticed his energy levels up.  He has noticed a lessening of his back pain.  He pushed himself hard on his hike today and he was really happy about how he felt.  He's even lost 2 lbs and now weighs 169, which he hasn't weighed since high school.

No dieting.  We are actually having to work at getting our regular meals in so we keep our calorie intakes at healthy levels.  We don't want our bodies to think they are starving or they will try to hang onto the fat. 

We are so impressed with how we feel, just naturally energetic, like the "good old days".  No naps and not nodding off in the evening.  I wake up at 6:30 now and want to jump out of bed and get going.  And I don't have to think about getting my bones and joints to settle and warm up for the day. 

Of course this isn't a miracle cure for anything, but it feels wonderful and we are excited to be able to spread the news and hope everyone gives it a try.  With a 60 day money back guarantee, you've really got nothing to lose!  Check out my webpage and or give us a call! 
www.valerie4plexus.myplexusproducts.com

Larry took this of me for my business cards.

My Big Change

I WAS a huge skeptic!!! My daughter, Andrea, had become a Plexus Ambassador and was sharing her enthusiastic Plexus posts on Facebook daily. But after reading the testimonials of others she was posting and witnessing the fabulous health changes in her I decided to quit being a stubborn mule! 

I have NEVER dieted or taken anything to lose weight. I was simply seeking more natural energy (not interested in energy drinks) and balance for my personal health and well-being as I plan on living a long, long time. It had a 60 day money back guarantee, so what did I have to lose? 

HAHAHA! Joke is on me! A bit over one month of trying the products, WITH trepidation and I have lost TEN pounds! Within days of starting the Slim Pink drink my feet, joints and muscles quit hurting, I started getting my mojo back and I started noticing more flexibility (remember I had been diagnosed with osteoarthritis). Oh and NO hot flashes. It took a bit for the cravings to get under control, but that took me being aware of how much was also HABIT and getting serious about a permanent change in my well being. Guess what. No cravings and tonight I could only eat ONE piece of pizza when in the past I would have eaten two or three. I became a Plexus Ambassador myself just this past Monday! And I am not looking back!  I am very excited and busy.

But, I still have had time to take pictures of deer!  You know you've missed them.  The king of the neighborhood has been around quite a lot this past week as he's claimed the doe that hangs around here most.  He's a beautiful 6x6.  I caught pictures of him shaking the rain out of his coat.  You can see him thinking about it, and he starts at the rear and works forward. 

Busy, busy, busy!

I guess over two months is long enough to be away.  I can't even remember everything.  There was the big King fire that consumed a lot of time following and then the eating smoke.  Larry was gone on fires only three times this season.  Andrea's family has been here just this past weekend.  AND we searched for and found a used travel trailer that we bought nine days ago.

We decided on a Thursday to start looking for what we wanted.  We found it over the weekend and on that Monday went to Vacaville to see it.  It was exactly as the owners said, so we bought it and discovered after we took possession of it that it was even better than we thought!

So let me back up.  We decided we were wanting to take trips again and with Gracie moteling it is a pain, not to mention we aren't that fond of them either.  We wanted something about 23 feet with NO slideouts.  We wanted the bathroom, a sofa in addition to the dinette AND a walk around queen bed.

No slideouts because of weight, they are colder and we always experienced leaking issues with ours.  We wanted a sofa for comfort on longer outings.  We wanted a walk around bed because we were not interested in climbing over each other to get out of the beds that are stuffed in a corner and they are more difficult to make up.  Trailer queens are also five inches shorter than residential queens beds, so Larry was wanting room at the end to hopefully put in a res. queen mattress.

The owner, on the phone, was straight up with Larry that it needed two new tires, a toilet (the pedal mechanism was broke, and as Larry had replaced the toilet in our 5th wheel, not much of an issue) and the awning had been ripped.  It is a Wilderness 25 J, which the owner said was 25 feet.  With these things we got the price down and we had us a new trailer.  The owner liked talking to Larry on the phone so much that he threw in the hitch and levelers!  The inside was clean and other than musty (not mildewy) smelling, in good shape.

We hooked up and headed to the nearest Les Swab on the way out of Vacaville.  The tire lady came out to look at the tires and asked Larry why we wanted new tires?  She said they were only four years old and as they had been covered would be fine.  Savings there!  Then while Larry was waiting for me to use the restroom before heading home, he measured the trailer "box".  The trailers outside measurement minus the hitch etc. and another score!  It is 23 feet!  Woo hoo!  Oh, AND it already had a residential queen mattress in it.  And for you used mattress freaks, it had been covered and is in like new condition. :)

It is parked in front of the house in the gravel and we've been cleaning and inspecting and Larry has been sealing.  He wants to install a couple of solar panels.  Larry ordered the toilet and we got it already and its in.  The kids were here over the weekend and now its raining so we haven't started putting stuff in it or taken a trip yet.  Soon.

I will try to get back to more regular blogging.  Busy, busy with something all the time though it seems.  All good!

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