Garden Update and Misc

Yesterday evening I created a great snack! I took a whole grain graham cracker and spread almond butter on it, then put some dark chocolate chips on and microwaved 30 seconds. I smeared the chocolate over the top and sprinkled on walnuts. Delicious and satisfying!

I tend to have super vivid dreams that are very realistic. I dream living my life: going to work, making dinner, playing with my dog, etc. Last night I dreamed that my period had started. I was so elated. Then I had to wake up.

It's a little weird to be elated about your period when you're trying to get pregnant, but for me seeing it would be a sign that I'm getting better and that I can actually ovulate. I'd like to have a few cycles that are in the realm of normal before we start trying to time sex again.

Anyway, I was going to tell you about my garden plans today!

I have two areogardens and I love, love, love, love, love them. It's the only kind of gardening I've done since I've lived in apartments since moving out of my parent's place fourteen years ago! Now I have a house and a yard and this is our first spring.

But I'm still using my areogardens!

I have one of them set up in my living room growing basil and flowers. The other is in my kitchen and I got a seed starter set for it.

This allows me to start my seeds indoors with all the benefits of the aerogarden and then transfer them outside once they are growing.

So the seeds are sprouting (well, the carrots and broccoli are. No sign of the bell peppers yet)

I've been hardening them off by moving the bowl outside for periods of time. I think they are ready to be planted.

Rather than dig in our yard and deal with a bunch of not very fertile soil, I bought a fabric "raised garden bed." All I have to do is lay out this round fabric and it becomes like a large pot. I will add a mixture of potting soil and the compost I've been working on since we moved into the house in October.

Tonight I'm getting the soil with a Home Depot gift card (thanks to MyPoints.com!) and then tomorrow I'll work on getting it set up and plant my very first garden!

What is FLO Living and Can It Cure PCOS?

Welcome! I'm Carolyn and I created this blog mainly to document my meal plans as I rework my diet to the principles found in the book WomanCode by Alisa Vitti.

WomanCode was recommended to me by a friend because we both have PCOS (polycystic overaian syndrome), a leading cause of infertility. While she was able to quickly conceive naturally and recently gave birth to a lovely girl, my husband and I have been trying to conceive for two years without luck.

PCOS has caused my cycles to be very unpredictable and at this point I may not be ovulating at all. The author of the book also has PCOS but got the symptoms under control and a regular cycle back by eating to support the endocrine system.

At first I was reluctant to buy the book but then I realized that I was looking at having to spend thousands of dollars on infertility treatments, so why not spend $10 first and give this diet a try?

Besides, it also helps regulate blood sugar and PCOS has links to diabetes. I'm dangerously close to pre-diabetes at this point and getting my blood sugar levels under control is important no matter what else is going on in my life.

Ms. Vitti calls her method FLO Living and has a website and a consultation service as well as the book.

She teaches us how to not only get our nutrition on track but also how we can support our body with different types of foods and nutrients at different points in our cycle to keep our hormones balanced.

I will be creating meal plans for myself each week based on where I am in my cycle and what foods Ms. Vitti recommends. I'll post pictures, recipes, and results for each meal.

Along with that I will also have posts about home improvement, DIY, and suburban homesteading. We just bought our house five months ago so we're just starting out on all these things but homesteading has been my dream since long before I knew the word for it!