Chiro, tooth fracture, and dentists! Oh my!

Today made visit #5 for the chiropractor.  I do feel much better overall, they got me started with some exercises I can do to help strengthen the muscles around the spine in the neck too.  Fix the problem, train it to go the right way.  Come on now, I only have so many visits left!!  Work with me here, neck!

I'll admit my tension was a bit high this morning, and I'm still a little tight in the neck/shoulders...  but the last 24 hours have not exactly been forgiving.


Anna, my 9 year old, decided to have another fight to the death with her scooter.  And just like last time, when the scooter laughed loudly in her face and skinned her knee to the bone, she lost.  Only this time, instead of seeing the inside of her knee, we got to see the insides of her teeth!!!  YAY!









Broke off 2/3 of one tooth and 1/3 of another.  Awesome.


Grabbed kids and flew down to the dentist, but they were already gone for the day.  Nobody answered when I called.  Nor when I called the emergency line.  Hell, more than 24 solid hours later, nobody has returned my call.  We've found ourselves new dentists.  >.<


Took the kid to the Urgent Care and got her some hydrocodone to get her through until morning, and got her to sleep for the night.

Morning came with appointments made with two different offices by accident, chiro appointment, driving the kid to the wrong office, canceling appointment made by accident, flying to the right office, and being seen.


Turns out the teeth were not as bad as we thought, the roots were intact, not exposed, and there were no hairline fractures up in the gumline.


We ended up rebuilding the teeth with large fillings.  No crowns, root canals, caps, or nerve deadening needed.  Which meant, despite the awful look of the initial injury, we did not need near as much of our insurance today as we thought.


She got to watch Gnomeo & Juliet on the ceiling while they worked.  Ceiling screens are amusing on laughing gas, apparently.

While they worked, they told stories of other kiddos who were worse off upon coming in.


There once was a little girl who was hit in the face by a baseball bat.  It was intended for a pinata.  At her own birthday party.  While she was reconstructed in the chair, the party continued on without her.  Nothing worse than having to go to the dentist on your birthday and get home to find everyone else ate your cake and ice cream for you, eh?


So see, it can always be worse!


And in the end, she looks MUCH happier, more comfortable, and much more normal in the toothal region.  Yes, I said "toothal".  I know it's not a word.  I don't care.  :P




So, all in all, I think my neck tension was well founded.  And I hope it is melted away by morning...  but we'll see.  Stupid neck.  Be nice!

Back pain vs. the chiropractor!

So, a couple Saturdays ago, I woke with a crick in my neck.  This happens from time to time, and I felt it along with a knot in my mid back, just under the shoulder blade.  If I pulled my arm around to touch my opposite shoulder and felt around back, I could feel it, but couldn't get it released.  Every day it got a little worse.  A little worse.  A little worse...  until Saturday the next week, I simply could not move without pain.

So!  My lovely husband suggested I suck it up and see a chiropractor, because that's their job.  Fixing backs.  Fine, I said, though I was hoping it would fix itself on its own.  It usually does.  I couldn't even work the iPad from my prone position in bed because I couldn't move my right arm without hissing in pain.  Not exactly a good sign.

So he worked it for me (noticing a pattern?  I think I'm starting every paragraph with "so".  Not on purpose.  We'll see if it continues!  LOL).  Helped me sign into my insurance's website to try and find someone, and double check my coverage!  Kinda handy to know if it will be costing me out of pocket or not.  Turns out, it's covered for a $20 copay for each visit.  Up to 20 visits a year.  Well, all alternative health care things add up to 20 for the year, but I have a feeling this is where it's all going!

(So) I ran up there and filled out paperwork while making quiet pain noises, and got in to be seen.  I sat in half lotus on the bench and waited while playing my turn in a few games of Words with Friends, which I'd fallen behind in.  When Dr. Kirby was able to finally get in to see me (I was a rushed appt they kinda just smooshed me in between others, so I waited a bit that day), we chatted about the issue, he checked my posture, felt around the spine to see what he could feel, and what he found said he needed to look further.

(SO!) We did this crazy heat and tension diagnostic tool that is supposed to help pinpoint the problem areas.  Turns out...  where I hurt was NOT a problem area.  But I had some pretty bad ones.  Mostly in my neck.  Since that didn't look like expected, we also did some X-rays.  We went from taking those to hooking me up to a fun electrode thing.  Electrocuted my back in an X shape to try and get the knot behind the shoulder to release. Mostly, my left shoulder pulled up without me telling it to move, and my head tracked up and to the right!  It was kind of a strange feeling, but the knot does feel better now.  Still there, but not as intense.  Doesn't hurt as much.

(so...)  After that, we did the first fun adjustment.  Now, I've never been to a chiropractor before.  I didn't really know what to expect.  But I do know how to breathe in and relax with an out breath from my yoga fun, so I did that.  And I've had small people walk on my back to help pop it a bit when things felt a bit stuck.  So I know what a crunch and a pop feel like from moving the bones around.  And I wasn't too surprised to feel them, but I was surprised at how easy it was to do!  Crunch pop rat-a-tat-tat!  LOL

My upper back didn't move too much, but my neck, where all that pain was stemming from, cracked like nobody's business.  Serious cracks man.  Major noise.  Sounded like a little machine gun.  O.O  Kinda like this, lol.  Not me, unless I grew a mustache overnight and went blonde without knowing it.  ;)



Anyway, so I left, made my payment while they tried to figure out my insurance stuff, and set up to come back a few days later.  Went back and got to see my X-rays.  And...  uh...  my neck?  It doesn't look normal.  Not a good thing.

Normal neck looks like this, with a lovely curve to it.  Supports the 15lb weight of the head so the head rests over the shoulders.  Normal:

And this is my actual x-ray.  I took a picture of it on my phone while the doc was out of the room.  Because it's so crazy.  Seriously.  No curve.  BAD.  

So my back is holding up the weight of my head instead of the neck.  That absolutely explains the back pain.  My head is sitting 1.5" farther ahead than it should.

When I was standing there for the x-rays, I got the random flash in my head from the last time I had x-rays done of my spine.    I was 19, had just been in a car accident, and had broken a windshield with my face.  Hmmmm...  I wonder now if my current state is a result of that, and the x-rays not being read by someone who was looking for things like that.  I'll never know, but it makes me wonder.

Anyway!  So, yoga feels nice while I'm doing it, but I feel a little too creaky to really do too much that's different.  I guess I'm afraid of moving things out of alignment too much, in case I do something wrong...  but I know at the same time, I should be okay to do most things.  But I should also trust my instincts and stay away from things that feel like too much.  Like wheel.



I was working up to a good one!  I could hold it for 2 or 3 breaths before releasing when I hurt myself.

Ah well, such things can wait.  So, for now...  I am supposed to go back for a total of 10-12-ish visits to try and get this back in place so it can get to a normal state.  And get my pain to go away.  And stay away.  That would be nice.

I'm tired of this.  And I can't go back to the way it was last Saturday.  So!  I have a feeling I'll be going back every so often to maintain the good alignment I'm working so hard to achieve right now.  And hopefully, with my lovely $20 copay, it won't cost me an arm and a leg to do it.  Stupid 20 visit max.  >.<

Kale chips! Where have you been all my life?

My kids and I devoured a whole bunch of kale today with dinner.  As a side.  And the kids wanted more.  O.O

If you want to get more greens in your kids, this is a fun and easy way to do it!

‎1 bunch kale
1T olive oil
salt, seasoned or plain
garlic & onion powder, if using plain salt

Preheat oven to 300*. Rinse and dry kale. Remove stems! Cut or tear into large pieces, a little bigger than you'd want a chip. (They shrink!) Toss in olive oil and seasoning. Lay out on baking sheets, and bake 20-ish minutes, until crunchy and not limp in the middle.

It's a fine line between crunchy and crumble-on-your-tongue, but they're really good! You can add red pepper flakes and other seasonings if you want to play with flavors, etc, but I like these with just a seasoned salt. :)

And for those of you who want to see it in action!

Juice video! The green in action!

It took the the better part of the day to edit this, throw it together for you, and get it up on YouTube, but here we go!  It's kinda long, but I wanted to show you how long it takes to make enough juice for one day.  And to offer tips on things from cutting your pineapple for juicing to how to add things to the juicer...  what to do if it starts to get unbalanced, how to spin it out and why you want to bother...  Why do you want to stir or shake the juice before you drink it?  How do I prep all these veggies?  And what do I do with all the veggie gunk that's leftover when I'm done??

All this and plenty more is answered within!  :)  If you have questions, as always, feel free to ask!  :)  Happy Juicing, everyone!

I love Dashama! Free hugs video.

Okay, I'll admit it.  I'm totally feeling the love lately.  Tara said something to me the other day about how the cleanse left space and she sometimes thinks it was filled with gratitude.  I think she is absolutely right.

This is a sweet little video by a lovely girl named Dashama.  She is a yoga teacher, hosts yoga retreats and videos on youtube.  She's a super cheerful upbeat girl, and she decided to make a sign that said "Free Hugs".  She was alone on Thanksgiving and decided to wander the streets and offer hugs to others who might be alone too, and in need of a little human contact.  It is a lovely video, and I encourage you to watch it, smile, and go hug someone yourself!

Namaste!  <3

Juice pics and bloopers!

Pics from the juice cleanses, as promised!  You can click on any of the photos to see them in their large original size.

You always want to start with fresh ingredients!  I was trying out red kale instead of the dark leafy blue type I usually can find.  The red has much less of a leaf, so you need more stalks for the same flavors, but both are good.  :)  

For broccoli, I cut or tear the florets off, and cut the stalk in half and feed it through that way.  Kiwi I quarter the long way so they are in wedges, and wheat grass is good either as a sprouted grass or in tall spears.

This is what can happen if you put too much in at a time!  It overflowed and danced everywhere.  We kinda got sprayed with green juice bits.  It was not pretty!

The machine, overflowing.  This was after it finally stopped so I could open it.  The solids are overflowing from the top of the barrel!  WAY too much went in!  Have to be more careful!!

This was the watermelon mint juice.  Looked really pretty in there!  :)  

Watermelon mint juice, all done.  Lovely pink!

Pesto was one of the savory veggie juices we made on our first round.  Decent when just made, but doesn't store well at all.  Also, surprising amounts of brown in the tomato juice!  Didn't expect that!

These were, left to right:  Green, Carrot Apple Beet, Pesto, Salad, and Watermelon Mint.  Green wasn't as green as usual because of the change in kale type.  Interesting!  

This was a tea I made with frozen berries and one of the Zinger Berry tea bags.  Was pretty good, and a nice warm break from the cold juice.  I love that little tea pot, by the way.  Got it at Whole Foods.  It makes 2 cups worth and is the perfect size for just one person.  :)

Working on the video, will post that later!

Introduction

My name is Tara. I am many things in my life. I am a wife, and a mother first.  I am a daughter, sister, and friend. I have a career. And I have recently been inspired by some other women sharing their own experiences in health and well-being.  I want to share my own experiences and hopefully inspire someone else.
Each day my goal is to add purpose and find fulfillment by doing one thing better. One choice, one day at a time.