Elessar's Primal Journey

Kellory, we're actually using both because we have been brushing the edges to allow us the control required to get real close and then the pad for the rest. We stopped by the house this morning on the way to work and the second coat looks real good. We'll have to hit it again with the 220 grit to knock out some small bumps, but we're figuring on a total of four coats since we have the entire gallon of polyurethane and it's only taken half of the gallon to complete the first two in a space that's 13 X 15.

This is the first time either one of us have attempted to refinish a floor and it has been a learning experience. So far, we are very pleased with the results. Once the final coat is on and the entire surface has cured I'll be setting the kitchen island in place and bolting that to the floor before I install the new cook top. Big changes for us all around.

Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and one cup of coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: 2 cups of chicken stir fry without noodles
Dinner: 5 cups of chili with beans topped with jalapeno slices
Snacks: 3 oz almonds, 6 oz yogurt, 2 cocktails

Exercise - none today

Weight: 211.0
Bodyfat: 25.7

Let's get out there and make this a great day!

 

Easier and cleaner to remove the wall base trim (base and shoe) then reinstall it after your finish is complete.
If you are using a brush, remember to keep a "wet edge). This means to apply material so that your strokes go from dry floor to wet finish. This will give you the best, smoothest finish, and no bubbles. Remember also, never shake stain or finish coatings. Bubbles are forever! stir only, and evenly mixed top to bottom of can as well. (Otherwise you can get color changes)

 

LOL! Sorry hope this isn't sexist but the last few posts crack me up. A project has been mentioned then power tools....to heck with the primal diet. My husband is just like that male, projects and power tools. He get frustrated with me when I mention someone doing a project and I don't know the details. BTW- we had a parquet floor but then the dishwasher leaked and it buckled. We ended up removing the whole floor.

 

kellory, we're being very careful of the wet edge as well as careful stirring. No color for us, just a semi-gloss clear to let the wood grain shine through. We're working in a house that was built in 1938 so to take the base board off would damage most of the wet lath and require extra repairs so we opted to just be very careful with the edge brushing and slip the bristles under the base board.

 

Crazy busy weekend. It was late Friday night after putting the last coat of polyurethane on the kitchen floor of the new house when we received a request from our real estate agent to show the farm on Saturday. At least it was scheduled for the evening giving us lots of time to get things ready. This was a "V-8 moment" for me because it just never occured to me that the weekend would be a "prime" time slot for people to want to see our farm as potential buyers, despite that being the time that we would shop the real estate market more than during the week. Sometimes I feel sooo dumb.

Saturday morning was crazy because we had vet appointments to update all the dogs for annual vaccinations. Then a mad dash back to the house to clean up as well as mow the grass. It's been raining and the grass had grown longer than I prefer between mowings. That means big clumps of grass laying around the yard, blah! Well, it was time for divide and conquor so Laura worked inside and I tackled the outside. I finished double cutting the yard and weed eating with the idea that I hurry inside to help Laura. I could clean the kitchen and get the dishes put away while she had been finishing laundry as well as vacuum and mop. Well, either I was slow mowing or she was fast cleaning because we finished about the same time and there wasn't a lot left for me to help with inside. 'We cleared out almost two hours earlier than necessary and headed to the new house to wait out the showing. Turns out that the grass at the new house needed mowing too! "How'd that happen?"

By the end of the day we were flat worn out and fell into bed...

Friday
Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and one cup of coffee with coconut
Lunch: yogurt and 5 carrots
Dinner: 3 cups of left over chili with shredded chesse and jalapenos on top
Snacks: yogurt, 1 oz dark chocolate, and 2 cocktails

Saturday
Breakfast: none, we hit the ground running
Lunch: was a blur and I think I ate, but I can't remember
Dinner: big salad and four slices of ham (some diced into the salad and two slices eaten while making the salad)
Snacks: 1 oz dark chocolate

Sunday
Breakfast: four scrambled eggs with sweet peppers, jalapenos, ham, and shredded cheese with one cup of black coffee
Lunch: none
Dinner: 3 cups of Zatarain's rice with ground beef topped with sweet peppers and jalapenos
Snacks: 2 oz dark chocolate and 2 slices of ham

Exercise:
50 pushups
50 situps
I thought about doing some pullups; does that count for anything?

Weight: 207.4
Bodyfat: 28.3

Let's get out there and make this a great day!

 

Major blow out at dinner last night. I just got lazy and made a pasta dish and then ate two platefuls. It didn't taste good but I was really hungry because I failed to make a lunch yesterday and suffered for it through lack of willpower to control myself last night. Now, I feel major league guilt for such a boneheaded breakdown. I'm trying to tell myself to get over it and move on...

Breakfast: two hard boiled eggs and a cup of black coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: yogurt, four carrots, and a cup of black coffee with coconut oil
Dinner: chicken parmissan on pasta (two servings)
Snacks: 1 oz dark chocolate

Weight: 209.4
Bodyfat: 27.9

Let's get out there and make this a better day!

 

Thanks for the note Yard Dart. I appreciate your comment as well as your visit.

I took a 1/2 day vacation yesterday to attack the grass at the farm before the impending rain forecasted for today. I felt that I needed to stay ahead of the growth or it would quickly get out of hand and the clumps of grass that would build up would look awful if we have another showing this weekend. So, I was able to mow the yard as well as about two acres of the field.

Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and one cup of black coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: big salad
Dinner: 10 chicken tenders from Arby's
Snack: none

I know the chicken tenders were a mistake and 10, which was a double order, was a double mistake but I was hungry and hadn't eaten sice 1:00 pm. I also know that that is not a good excuse to abuse the PB rules or my digestive system. I was worried about getting sick after I'd finished all ten chicken fingers and realized that five or six would have filled me. Hell, I really shouldn't have had any but it was so very late after we finished moving a load of incidentals to the new house that there simply wasn't time to cook anything and the food supplies have been allowed to fall below acceptable levels since we are hoping to move to the new house soon. All those reasons for rationalizing a major mistakes don't justify what I did, just why I did it. I feel like I'm falling into the trap that catches many a well-intending participants of the PB at this point in my journey. I know I need to be more responsible about marketing to keep the stores fully stocked in order to be successful, but I've just been lazy about hitting the market on the weekend. Of course, I can reason that we've been extra busy between two houses, etc., but it's just laziness and I need a good swift kick in the ass for copping out. Anyway, that's my poor excuse for another failure.

My weight and my bodyfat continue to move in a positive direction so I feel like my mistakes have not impeded my progress, but I want to be careful not to accept those positive results and permission to continue with poor dietary choices. Onward and upward towards the goal!

Weight: 208.4
Bodyfat: 26.3

Let's get out there and make it a great day!

 

Sometimes I get so engrossed in a project I'm working on that I completely loose track of time and forget everything around me. I read that this could be a good way to measure internal excitment and indicate something that should be considered as part of your life's work; something that can so totaly sweep you away that you loose track of time becomes more fun than work.

Well, yesterday, I was so engrossed in the process of moving to the new house (not a good form of my life's work) that I completely forgot to eat lunch. Now that is crazy. Particularly because I went marketing to begin the process of filling the pantry for moving into the new house. I actually had all the food in my hands and forgot to eat some. How stupid is that?!

Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and one cup of black coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: one small can of Viena Sausages that someone at work offered me because they felt sorry for my ignorance
Dinner: five scrambled eggs with ham and cheese
Snacks: two carrots, 2 oz dark chocolate, 6 oz diet cranberry juice, 24 oz V8 juice

Weight: 206.6
Bodyfat: 26.6

Exercise
one pullup

Let's get out there and make this a great day!

 

Another crazy day that included a lot of moving incidentals to the new house. This was a good volume of exercise carrying things to the truck and then unloading. I'm a pretty casual packer and I simply dump my clothes into a garbage bag for transport. These bags then become coushioning for other more delicate items like a television or precious furniture. It works well and the multiple of bags, one in each hand, becomes a workout after you've hauled more than a few to/from the truck over a 100 feet. We finished the transport and made it to bed at about 11:00 pm so it was a long night in comparison to our normal routine.

Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and one cup of coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: 6 oz yogurt and 12 oz chicken breast
Dinner: 1 oz dark chocolate, 1 oz beef jerky, 1 6" flour tortilla with 3 oz shredded cheese
Snacks: 1 diet Mt Dew

Weight: 204.8
Bodyfat: 26.9

Let's get out there and make this a great day!

 

The whirlwind hasn't quit yet. We moved a lot of stuff to the new house this weekend and spent our first night "overnight" there since we set up a bed. We'd drawn the line at sleeping on the floor, so...now we can stay over in our own house if circumstances dictate. In honor of the event, we ordered pizza from Papa John's on Friday night! This was my first bite of pizza since last year. I chose a thin crust to eliminate as much of the breadiness as possible and it was great! I felt guilty, but not enough to not eat it, so not too guilty, I guess.

Friday
Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and one cup coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: yogurt and avocado
Dinner: Papa John's large pepperoni & sausage thin crust pizza (I ate four slices)
Snacks: 2 cocktails and 1 oz dark chocolate

Saturday
Breakfast: McDonald's big breakfast (swapped the biscut for an extra sausage)
Lunch: mustard greens, beef jerky, 2 oz aged cheedar
Dinner: 12 oz grilled beef steak
Snacks: 1 oz dark chocolate, 1 cocktail

Sunday
Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs with shredded cheese and sweet peppers, one cup black coffee
Lunch: 4 oz leftover chicken & noodles
Dinner: big salad
Snacks: 1 oz dark chocolate, 1 cocktail

Monday
Breakfast: 2 hardboiled eggs & one cup coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: taco salad with homney
Dinner: 12 oz venison stew (ground venison, new potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, sweet potatoes, spices)
Snacks: 1 oz walnuts, 1 cocktail

For exercise we worked our asses off moving things, trimming trees and brush, mowing grass and weed-eating. I did manage to squeeze in one pullup on Friday night before I started mowing but this was a crazy weekend of what seemed like constant running. I'm not surprized to see that my weight has yo-yoed back up a bit with the way I've been abusing the system. Time to buckle down and get back to the program.

Weight: 205.6
Bodyfat: 28.8

Let's get out there and make this a great day!

 

By comparison, it was a calm day with a quiet evening. We did finished mowing the grass at the farm and beat the rain, although it did sprinkle on me while I was in the middle of cutting two acres. Bring on the buyers!

Breakfast: yogurt and one cup of coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: big salad
Dinner: 4 oz chicken breast with lettuce and tomato (actually a grilled chicken flameburger from DQ but I tossed the bun)
Snacks: 3 oz almonds

Exercise:
40 pushups
40 crunches

Weight: 204.4
Bodyfat: 26.0

Let's get out there and make this a great day!

 

I ended up running errands at lunch yesterday which means I didn't take an opportunity to sit down and eat but instead chose to restock part of our supplies. This situation was the result of not marketing on the weekend as scheduled and affects our schedule during the week, sometimes negatively.

Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and a cup of coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: 3.25 oz beef jerky and 6 oz yogurt
Dinner: 16 oz grilled chicken with barbeque sauce and 8 oz mixed vegetables (peas/corn)
Snacks: 1 oz dark chocolate

Exercise:
50 pushups
50 crunches

Weight: 204.2
Bodyfat: 28.6

Let's get out there and make this a great day!

 

May I ask about your beef jerky? Is that homemade or store bought? I find some brands so salty and full of stuff.

 

I confess that the jerky I've been eating is store bought and I don't take time to read the package. I'm sure that it's full of stuff that many would consider bad for me. However, when I need a quick hit and don't have time to fix something, I can grab some jerky and go.

I will also confess that at least half the food I eat still comes from Walmart because of our budget, so I'm sure that in the strictest sense I'm not adhering to Mark's Primal Outline for eating local clean food. But, that's what I can afford so that's what I use. I have discovered Trader Joe's and love shopping there, but it's 50 miles from our house so I don't always have time to make the journey.

Since we have been trying to sell our farm and move to town, we have been running ourselves ragged trying to keep two properties up with mowing, moving, and maintenance so we don't always have the luxury to eat what we want, when we want, how we want. We have been forced to make do, so we do...I'd imagine a lot of people have similar problems with their individual schedules and find it difficult to remain truly primal. When I started on my journey, my wife encouraged me with complete permission to shop at Kroger, Trader Joe's, or Whole Foods to get what I needed. I don't, however, try to find replacements for things that I know are bad for me: i.e. bread, pasta, pizza dough, etc. I did look at a lot of those recipes, but finally decided that they're bad and just made a rule that I won't eat that stuff.

Once the farm is sold, I intend to shop more at Joe's but for now I just have to go with what I can get.

I don't feel that my weight loss performance has suffered from the extra ingredients and additives that I've accepted by not shopping for more healthy products, even while I know that my body is surely suffering the effects of those things. When I started my primal journey, the first question I asked was, "can this be done on a Walmart budget?" Obviously, it can. I also wondered if anyone was posting what they were eating on a daily basis and I couldn't find anyone who was logging every meal, so I decided to start that record so people could see what I was eating a track my results. I think this is very important and legitimate for the average person that can't afford Kroger or Joe's...

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your question. Be well and be blessed!

 

I certainly know about the budget. I heard that ground beef will be $6 a pound by July and I can see bacon steadily rising. Fridays are my grocery shopping days and my family hears about my worries of being able to provide/buy meat in the coming months.

I truly appreciate your meal postings. I am not primal, just always looking for new ways to eat healthy. I now drink my coffee as you do plus, I had never thought to have boil eggs for breakfast. I never had the time to make breakfast but you have shown me that I can have a nutritious meal on the go.

 

I imagine most of us are in the same boat. While I do pick up the grass fed ground beef when I can, at $9 a pound vs $2.99 a pound it's sort of a special occasion thing for us. And those $7, 10 pound bags of chicken quarters I buy are most def not free range organic... one of those runs $12-14 for a single roasting hen. But I figure as long as it isn't breaded and called a nugget, it's better than what 99% of the population chooses to eat.

 

Thanks to all who have contributed to the basic primal premise of doing this on a budget. I too love to be able to splurge and get something special from time to time. I look forward to being able to do more of that once we sell the farm and complete our move to the city. Maintaining two properties requires extra money as well as time and sometimes things can get pretty hectic. We have normally worked together but this part of our project has required us to divide and conquer a lot more often.

I took yesterday off work to meet with repairmen at the new house. The A/C was leaking, the kitchen needed some electrical work and the washing machine for laundry was not cycling correctly. It turned out the the condensation line had a hole in the copper tubing, the new kitchen island needed electric supply lines, and the lid contact switch for the washer was out preventing it from being able to complete a wash cycle. Well, that was a $750 day. Talk about the budget taking a big hit.

I was able to complete some clean up while the contractors did their magic and things are looking pretty good at the new house. Can't wait to be able to focus on moving all our stuff there...

Thursday
Breakfast: two hard boiled eggs and a cup of coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: smaller salad
Dinner: four scrambled eggs with shredded cheese and 3/4 cup leftover taco meat
Snacks: 1 oz dark chocolate, 3 oz almonds

Friday
Breakfast: none - on the run
Lunch: yogurt
Dinner: four slices of Digiorno 3 Meat pizza from Walmart (celebrating the final stages of renovation at the new house)
Snacks: three cocktails

It's Saturday morning and I'm sitting at the new kitchen island in the new house as I write this; we have a showing of the farm for sale this morning at 10:00 am and this couple is the most promising potential buyers that we've had of the over 12 showings we had to date. I've prayed for a little extra help on moving the sale along, even though I don't think this qualifies as something that should be included on one's prayer list, I've asked for His help anyway.

Exercise:
Lifted 8 20# deck pier blocks and carried them across the yard while curling them
Cleared multiple 2x4s and 2x6s of nails and screws and restacked the pile
(not really exercise but that's all I took time for today)

Weight: 201.4
Bodyfat: 27.7

Let's get out there and make this a great day!

 

I'll ask for a little more help as well.... Good luck.