Lately, the dogs have been acting weird, panting, staying close to me. I figure it's the weather change; they can sense storms when they're miles away and neither one of them likes thunderstorms. Recently, about 4:30 am (guess that's technically morning LOL), Wolf woke me up; he was pacing 3 corners of a square, from one to another to another and back again, sniffing and sniffing. Of course there was a load of laundry in that corner, and I was afraid "something" was there, so I got up and distracted him by taking him out to pee. Then, of course, Max had to go. I decided to hop on the computer and check emails. Wolf fell asleep next to me on the floor, until I happened to look outside, saw it was light and asked him if he wanted to go for a walk. HELL YES, he did!

So we walked for about 30-35 minutes, and I tell you, it's so peaceful out that early! Not many cars, although I did encounter another dog walker. The lilacs smelled awesome in the early morning air, and what was left of the sunrise was spectacular.

It's nice to do every now and again, but I don't think I'll be making a habit of it!

Something I am trying to make a habit of is eating better. Starting on 5/14 and going nine days, I'm cutting out meat; protein will come from chickpeas, tofu, lentils, beans and egg whites (four a day, which seems like a waste to me, the poor yolks, so I tend to have Eggbeaters instead). Calcium comes from two 6-ounce low fat or fat free yogurts and two cups of low fat, fat free or soy milk. I can have almost any fruit (no avocados) or veggie (no white potatoes) I want, any quantity. I'm allowed per day 2 cups of brown rice, 1 cup of oatmeal, 2 cups of herbal tea and all the herbs, spices and water I want. The only thing I'm cheating on is I'm not supposed to have any caffeine, so I'm sneaking in one cup of coffee per day. I have a salad for lunch, carrots & celery for snacks, oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, altho this morning I had a leftover frozen smoothie.

I LOVE eating this way! The first night, I made some brown rice, steamed some broccoli, chopped up a raw carrot, and heated up some white beans in a bit of italian dressing and tossed it all together. Crunchy, chewy goodness! Wednesday I made vegetarian chili, and mixed it with some brown rice. OMG is that chili good! It was simple, too:

two cans of chili beans in sauce
1 can of black beans, drained
1 32 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 can rotel tomatoes with chilis
1 can fat free refried beans (thickens the chili)
Chili powder
cumin
red pepper

Finely chop an onion and saute it in a bit of olive oil along with some garlic; if any oil if left over, drain it.

Add all the beans & tomatoes and chili powder, cumin, red pepper.

Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 1/2 hour and serve.

Another thing I made that I really liked was a smoothie...here's the recipe:

6 ounces fat free or low fat vanilla yogurt (I use Fage 0% fat, so didn't have vanilla, so I added some vanilla flavoring)
4 ounces of fat free or lowfat or soy milk
some splenda
a handful of ice
a handful of frozen strawberries (or blueberries or whatever fruit you like)

Put the yogurt, milk, vanilla, splenda and a handful of ice cubes in the blender and blend til smooth, then add the strawberries and blend til smooth.

I just saw this quiz over at Swordgirl's, and was shocked to see the card I came up with!

You are the Hanged Man

Self-sacrifice, Sacrifice, Devotion, Bound.

With the Hanged man there is often a sense of fatalism, waiting for something to happen. Or a fear of loss from a situation, rather than gain.

The Hanged Man is perhaps the most fascinating card in the deck. It reflects the story of Odin who offered himself as a sacrifice in order to gain knowledge. Hanging from the world tree, wounded by a spear, given no bread or mead, he hung for nine days. On the last day, he saw on the ground runes that had fallen from the tree, understood their meaning, and, coming down, scooped them up for his own. All knowledge is to be found in these runes.

The Hanged Man, in similar fashion, is a card about suspension, not life or death. It signifies selflessness, sacrifice and prophecy. You make yourself vulnerable and in doing so, gain illumination. You see the world differently, with almost mystical insights.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Given that I'm on this 9 day detox phase, it seems pretty applicable to me!

Good for you! I'm glad it's going well. As you may remember, I did a 9-day detox as well recently. And then I did another! I fell great.

It will be interesting to see how much of this new eating you will take with you...

I LOVE the morning.....favorite time of day!
I think pets have a sense about them that people dont have.....its kind of creepy sometimes!
Good luck on the diet....sounds good

You are The Lovers
Motive, power, and action, arising from Inspiration and Impulse.

The Lovers represents intuition and inspiration. Very often a choice needs to be made.

Originally, this card was called just LOVE. And that's actually more apt than "Lovers." Love follows in this sequence of growth and maturity. And, coming after the Emperor, who is about control, it is a radical change in perspective. LOVE is a force that makes you choose and decide for reasons you often can't understand; it makes you surrender control to a higher power. And that is what this card is all about. Finding something or someone who is so much a part of yourself, so perfectly attuned to you and you to them, that you cannot, dare not resist. This card indicates that the you have or will come across a person, career, challenge or thing that you will fall in love with. You will know instinctively that you must have this, even if it means diverging from your chosen path. No matter the difficulties, without it you will never be complete.

What

I want to know where you found out about this detox. I want the details so I can do it. You sound like you're feeling great.

I love the way things look and smell in the early morning, I just hate getting up early because I stay up too late. :-)

My card: You are The Star
Hope, expectation, Bright promises.
The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised.

Hey, I'm liking that!

If I ever have to give up meat, someone should just shoot me. :) But I'm glad you're sticking to it. Ha.

Hoo! I'm the Empress, which is a creative card. That figures, I guess!

I gave up meat for 3 years, it was very hard. I love meat. :) I also like tofu though, but it can be hard to find the kind I like - silken soft.

My card seemed right on too!

You are gonna be so healthy! Your recipes sound soo GOOD! I lean towards the vegetarian side in a house full of meat eaters ~ that's a good idea of the concoction you made! It makes me want one! hehe

I'd probably be able to do that too, because it's very rare I eat meat, but I don't stick to eating plans very well. Seems like your doing great though :)

Is there alcohol in this detox plan????

I am so glad that it is going well for you. Yahoo!

I got the Hermit card. The card of virginity, hahahahahahahahahaha.

If you'd prefer real egg whites to EggBeaters, you could always make mayonnaise out of the egg yolks. They are also good in pancakes with water to supplement for the egg whites.

wow, i don't think i could ever give up meat. we eat meals here that are entirely meat. meat meat meat meat meat.

my card was the wheel of fortune... much too upbeat for me i think. i'm going to have to dig out one of my tarot sets and have a look-see through them, it's been a while.

Neat info about the detox and tasty recipes. I'm impressed that you're embracing it so well. Sounds like you're doing fantastic!

Janet-
Congrats on the positive changes you are making.
Here is a link to the neat loaf recipe that I mentioned in my meme last week:
http://www.pcrm.org/health/recipes/recipe020708.html

This whole website has awesome recipes-I use a lot of them!

Wow, that's amazingly healthy! Good for you! :)

I got a different card this time!...

You are The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

Trials, huh? That's for sure!