My husband...the gardener

I know that all of my hippie friend's hearts just skipped a beat (yes, you know who you are!). In my little, city, condo-living world, what I'm about you show you is farming. Not to mention its the middle of winter, and as one friend put it, "we are in the armpit of winter." So no greenery is growing in my backyard anytime soon, but behold...a garden...of sorts!

This book is responsible for revolutionizing my husband. Seriously...

He had heard about the 'ph-ness' from a friend. Said friend was suffering from urinary tract stuff, and it turns out he had acidosis (too much acidity in your body). Basically the book is saying we need to have our bodies more alkaline than acid, so depending on the foods you eat, your body will react accordingly. So the friend started cutting out high acid foods (my husband would like me to point out that high acid doesn't necessarily mean oranges or lemons, but its how your body processes the food that determines its acidity...sorry dear!), and drinks, including pop and juice, and voila, no more urinary tract issues, not to mention he lost 20 lbs in 12 weeks. He had me at the weight loss bit, but alkaliney sounds much nicer than acidy any day.

So Rob has been devouring this book I got for him for Valentines Day (only $8.50 at Chapters!). I haven't seen him this excited about something for a long time. So in reading about the goodness of sprouts, he decided to sprout some of his own. At our local Planet Organic he picked up these two packages for like $5 each, and he will get plenty of sproutage out of these! He bought Alfalfa and Red Clover sprouts. We should be seeing results within the next 48 hours...crazy!

He also picked up this little bag that you can sprout your sproutlets out of.

Personally I think he just liked that it said, "Sproutman."
Now, I know. Its got to be some health kick right? Well, let me just say while we went to Jasper in January, my husband ordered a salad for lunch. Shocking right? And then last night, guess what he served up for dinner? A PLATE OF VEGETABLES!!! Seriously, I nearly fell off my chair. And I was convinced I would be starving by 8pm, but I wasn't. I'm impressed.

So the Nepper health saga continues. We are both down 7lbs (each), and 7 inches (each). I'm kind of liking that we are on the same page weight loss wise. Makes it much less competitive, not like this girl doesn't dig a little competition every now and then ;)
My newest toy is my beloved pedometer...
Yes, I took 10815 steps yesterday. Not bad right? I did my Tuesday morning mall walking for 40 minutes, and then while Rob was having guitar lessons last night, the kids and I returned to the mall and wandered aimlessly for another hour. So I think that upped my stepage, but still, not bad.
This little puppy only cost $29.99, and it was my Valentines present. I know, neither of our gifts are super romantic, but practical, and really a gift towards good health is better than a box of chocolates any day* (*Now don't ask me to repeat that on a day where I may be craving chocolate. I will deny I ever said such a thing! Although I will admit I haven't craved chocolate in weeks, maybe even a month. I'm into my 6th week without chocolate).

I'm still really enjoying the mall walking. Plus, with my little gadget I can figure out the distance of the mall's inner perimeter. For example, the mall I walk on Tuesdays is .6 kilometer around. I did 3 laps yesterday, although Gabe was not super happy to just sit, so there were plenty of distractions and it took me 40 minutes to do 3 laps. The one I do on Thursdays is considerably smaller, so it will be interesting to see how far it is. Not to mention I have less time to walk because we have our ladies study and the times conflict a bit.

The best part of mall walking on Tuesdays is my mall walking arch-nemesis. I've been there probably 5 or 6 times now, so you start to recognize people. This guy is a cute little East Indian man with a cane. But when he gets going, its not at all what you would expect. The dude is hauling through the mall! So I personally think he is racing me. There are no cordial smiles or how are you (I've tried), its just "I'm gonna get in front of you and you better try to keep up." Its fairly amusing, and I like that I know he will be there, racing me, every Tuesday morning.

I'm also enjoying the Kung Fu Mamas on Tuesday mornings. There is a Tae-Kwon-Do school inside the mall, and there are three Mom's signed up for this class. So their wee ones get to play on the mats, while for 55 minutes their Mama's do kung fu (and yes, I know its not kung fu, but I quite enjoy the reaction I get out of Rob when I call it kung fu!). I had considered joining, but knowing my son (who figured out how to conquer the kitchen table yesterday...yes, climb up on top of it!) he would not be satisfied to sit and play for 55 minutes. He'd be the escapee tearing down the mall. They do stack mats in front of the entrance, but I doubt they would keep Gabe in. Not to mention its $99 per month...I could buy 3 gym memberships for that kind of money!