Baby steps… get it?

One of the weirdest things I have dealt with in my adult life… the mom bod. I say weirdest, not worst because if I’m being honest, I fucking love my body. (Sorry grandma if you’re reading this) but it’s true. I am 110% digging these sweet, colour-changing, shape-shifting marks on my hips and legs. I have an x-shaped one on my one leg, it’s like a nature tattoo. My hips are wider and every time I look at them, I am reminded of the life I created with someone I love. My sleeves may be tight, but my arms are strong from holding, comforting, raising my son so far.

All of this touching body positivity aside, I do need to exercise more. As I proudly told my doctor about my walking routine, he gently informed me that I would be on the right track… if I were 40. Fair. Walking isn’t exactly vigorous activity.

I started to rack my brain. How can I exercise while watching Riley full time and being on a budget? Fitness classes and gym membership are a little pricey and I’m not much of a runner. I figured I’d give yoga a try. Regain some balance, ground my intentions each day, improve my flexability, muscle strength and endurance. Cool, but I’ve never been a fan of yoga.

Well, guess what! I don’t know what I’m doing now that I wasn’t doing then, but I am really enjoying myself. It makes me feel energized and relaxed and strong!! I do wish that I could be a fly on the wall and see myself attempting some of these poses. I am not in my best shape.

Like I said, baby steps!

Blogs are hard

I’ve always wished that I was somebody who could just talk. Talk and have people listen. Talk and not trip over my words, stuttering over questions. Talk and be interesting. The same thing is with writing. I have always loved literature from Edgar Allen Poe to J.K. Rowlings to the Pelee Island Grapevine (The local newspaper of the island we frequent), but never had much of a knack for writing.

It would be so convenient to be able to put my pen to the paper and have a story flow out of me or take my cell phone out, open up Word Press and have a spectacularly amazing blog. That’s not really how life works for 99% of the population. If you aren’t a literary prodigy, odds are you may be proof reading and scrapping many silly excerpts and articles.

That’s why I say blogging is hard. I don’t have time to brainstorm, draft, edit, tweak, preview and post so I consider my blog to be more in the category of word vomit.

Why am i telling you this out of the blue? Because I love to write, but for the life of me can’t figure out what I’d like to write about. The best part of this blog post is that as soon as I got it out and typed, my brain FLOODED with ideas. I could have just deleted this all and wrote about a focused topic, but I want to share my random thoughts and how I process life.

You know? Happy Sunday!

Daily Riley!

We are BACK and we come back with a tale of true love. A boy and his… feet? Yes, that’s right, love at first sight IS real!

Since the last Daily Riley, he has learned to:

• Roll onto his tummy
• Get stuck on his tummy
• Yell
• Giggle
• Hold toys and bring them to his mouth
• Wriggle in a circle on his tummy
• Push up onto his hands
• Sit up with help
• Jump in his Jolly Jumper

Oh yea, and bite his toes.

Oh, happy day

I’m afraid I don’t have much to say today. Mr. Man here is teething again. Mama hasn’t had more than 3-4 hours of choppy sleep for a week, but by the looks of this snuggler, I might just get a nap.

Happy Tuesday, from a grateful, sleepy me!

Back to scobin’ around

Since I never updated on how my Kombucha brewing turned out, I decided to start another batch! Especially now that I know what I’m doin a little bit better…

The very first thing I do when starting a new batch is STERILIZE MY JARS. This is SO important when you are working with fermenting as there is very much bacteria present.

To sterilize my jars, I leave them to soak in hot soapy water for a bit (food grade) and then give them a good scrub. I then rinse with hot water and wipe down the inside and outside with vinegar. You can never be TOO vlean, but keep in mind your kombucba will be injested so I’d avoid chemicals.

Make sure your work area is sterile as well.

Next, you want to start boiling some water to brew your tea. I don’t measure exactly, however, 1 gallon of water, 10 teabags, 4 tbsp of sugar is a common recipe. The idea is to brww strong, sweet tea. Some people use green tea, some use black so let’s try a blend this time. I basically just filled up a big pot with water, tossed in 5 orange pekoe bags and 5 green teabags and turned on the burner and walked away. I add the sugar after the burer cools down.

Once it is boiling, wait a few minutes, stirring occasionally and then turn it off and leave it (bags in).

Here is my pot of tea. It smells ah-mazing by the way!

When your sweet tea is cooled (ALL the way) you will want to add your scoby and fill your jar with tea. I leave an inch or 2 on top because a new scoby develops with each brew.

*see my blog post about obtaining a scoby*

Those are my scobys. I have 4, but with the size of my jars, I could use 1 for all three if I cut it. I just use the whole thing!

Lastly, cover your jar TIGHTLY with a tightly woven breathable fabric such as a thin dish towel. I use a dollar store fashion scarf and rubber bands, but it’s your call. If you do not wrap it tightly enough or use a loosely woven fabric, you WILL get fruit flies.

My tea is cooling currently so I don’t have a finished photo, but I will update when he next step comes about. Happy Tuesday y’all!