The cost of living....

The cost of living...

So at least once a day in fb I bring up what we eat or what I have recently cooked and sometime around that point I have usually done our hardcore shopping... Like 300 to 450 Dollar hardcore. We carb backload except for Michael who pretty much has carbs regardless to keep up that sexy 330 plus. I myself have dropped 40 plus and watched my strength gains go up utilizing it.

Within the past year, as many if you know we have had some financial blows related to our daughter and between that and just trying to get on top and whatnot our grocery funds are limited. Meaning for us quanity usually ranks quality unless it comes to our daughter, in which that case we will cut one place for another. I am honestly stoked to see how well her type of eating works for her than how I was raised. I was raised with moderation eating, which did ok for me, BUT I came from a grandfather who owned a bakery and we frequently snacked on sugary items. I do minimal research at best on foods, but I do try to stay abreast and make right decisions. So onto some specifics....I will breakdown the 450ish I spent on this months food and reasons as to my shopping logic.

Trader Joes: I was always a fan long before I even met my now spouse. I recently have been drawn back because of my research on genetically modified shit. Yes, shit. Have you ever looked into genetically modified anything? It is mutilated and just full of issues. TJ's labels contain no gmo and they are cheap for certain things. I usually get finger snacks for dear daughter and then pita and pretzel chips for the hubs. They also have a kick ass cheese section if we have the spare cash. Always take your bags in there is a .5 discount. They also have cookie butter. Shut.your.face. Seriously the best back loading heaven ever but it does top out around 5, so that vs their peanut butter for 3 and guess what wins. They also have some pretty good sugar free chocolate but it is not the tj label and ever since we found Aldi's chocolate tj is a no go... We do however get our chocolate chips from them because Daughter will have a bite of a cookie on rare occasions and because the hubs likes cookie dough post lifts (and they are a touch cheaper).

Aldi: They are usually a every other month visit. Primarily for sugar, flour, and spices. Oh and chocolate. Omg. Coffee and cream Chocher is ammmmmmazing, I spent 35 there last month but as I said before this varies. Sugar is one thing I hope to be changing soon, primarily to raw but I want to research it a tad longer... We also get our deodorant here or target. We sweat a lot and they sell 19% aluminum which although not all natural this girl is not gonna be stank nasty so I grab it up at 2 a bar or the target Mitchum is 3 at 20%.

Costco: Our money saver. Today I spent 300. This trip is usually 230 to 250 but our daughters juice and yogurt was on sale. On my trip today I got #10 red lean uncut hamburger meat (food handling is a major no no for me, more hands =more contamination risk) 4 pork loins, 4 packs of italian sausages, 2# of sausage, 2# of bacon, and steak (unsure of weight) plus 48 boxes of organic juice for Amelya, 7 containers of heavy cream, 2 bags of Splenda (on sale and we will prob go back at the end of the month which we usually do not do but it is 5 bucks cheaper this month), vanilla (the only baking product NOT from aldi besides coconut oil) 40 cups of Greek yogurt, 4 bottles of fish oil, 3 bricks of cheese, salted and unsalted butta, 10# of rice for Michael (cheap and easy carb), large size sour cream and cream cheese, whole milk for the little and some other randoms. What I listed is our base but we usually get muscle milk bimonthly there too and that adds on 70ish depending on the sale.

Target: 35 today. Eggs are 1.11 there. Yes, 1.11. I buy 16 dozen a month. I also get trash can liners, small bags of whole grain noodles, toothpaste, deodorant, soup and Annie's reheat pasta (only nonmonsato quick reheat I am aware of). If it is not on sale or I do not have a coupon I do not buy it unless it is something for Amelya (shirt, movie, a new snack) or today, headbands to keep sweat out of my face and my new olive oil sprayer (in which i will be using grapeseed oil instead) to avoid chemical laden cooking sprays. I also picked up crossiant rolls for my hubs and the kiddo because they are usually quick and easy to use and I have not mastered the crossiant. I also get all of my crystal lite stuff there because they are only 2.20 there... And our gallon jugs that we rotate out go bpa reasons and to avoid germ growth on the Cpap.

*every month we also have Amelya's meds also, but that is not factored into monthly grocery bills unless it is for the flavoring... I should mention that I choose not to find alternate all natural meds because the treatment risks her heart and I would rather deal with the occasional night terror or snoring.

Hoggs: 12 local honey. I consider this an investment given that I am not touting Amelya to the doctor.

Co op: 35 a month. I love my fruit and vege co op. if you have more than one person in your house, it is a MUST have. ESP with a kid, variety is the spice of life and with a preset basket and the mindset to use it, it can expose you to anything!!! My co op stays local as long as it can meet basket contents.

Dollar tree: 10 every three months... Primarily for razors, Epsom salt and garlic pepper seasoning.

Walmart: 10. I hate Walmart. I avoid it like the friggin plague. It is hard to coupon there and the freak stench is enough to make me want to run out screaming like a friggin banchee. I usually get Purex bar soap and tea tree. The good news is both of those products can be caught on Amazon pretty cheap and cost me maybe .50 cents more and for that, I will pay willingly.

I do want to note that from what I have seen a normal non powerlifting family (is that really normal?) pays closer to the 500 range which is INSANE to me. I also want to make mention I make our shaving cream, cleansers, laundry detergent for us and her , I cloth diaper, I make her wipes. I hand wash dishes (primarily because our dishwasher is a POS) and I mop on my hands and knees because I have a toddler. I also utilize the bleach tabs with less waste and easier to keep out of someone (ahem, Amelya's) hands. The basic needs there are the rinds of lemons and oranges, vinegar (Costco), borax, oxyclean, washing soda, purex bar soap, baking soda, tea tree oil, coconut oil and/or grapeseed oil). *note most oils have different uses, it is good to research these.

I use old rags and washcloths with each having their own room to clean (ie no kitchen rag in the bathroom).

I make my own pie crust, pizza crust, cakes, cookies, quiche, shred my own cheese (did you know preshreeded cheese only has two cups but they claim more?) I buy brick and work on Tricep power and save some cash.

I try to cook once a week and only cook in am so I am not jacking up the power bill by cranking the ac just to cook.

We do have a deep freezer to stock up on sale items.

Lastly, I switched to hair one recently. It costs 11 every other month, if that. No more sodium laurel in my shampoo... She sounds great but laurel makes you buy more product. No thanks. I use it on me and Amelya and that is it... Even with our curls!!

I am avidly trying to stay away from highly processed, fast food, chemical shitstorm, Monsanto ridden foods. It has taken a while to discover this and I am sure it will take a while to get into it being as other than fruits and veges healthy foods cost way more.

Nothing all this cost makes me wonder... And it should you too, why is our current administration all proactive about activity YET it costs double to eat well versus going to little Cesar's or mcd and feeding a whole family for 8-10 bucks. Even if you do not go out why in the world is Monsanto so cheap vs non Monsanto? If you have not researched it, it is time to look into it. Control the food control the masses. I am gonna stop there because I can go on for hours... Tata!

Articles, Training and Applications oh my!!!

Articles, Our Training and Applications oh my!!!

So this AM I noticed that Dan Green put out an article on why Westside is not the only side. I disagree with a good number of his points but also agree with a number of his points. See, I did Westside at the beginning of learning to powerlift with Gordon Lake, it was a great eye opener to powerlifting. I enjoyed it but eventually I did not see the process of Westside and that meant Gordon and myself did not see eye to eye being as Becky Rich was his coach and she did or does (?) Westside. Becky has done awesome with Westside, if you do not know her you really need to take the time and look this girl up, she is crazy strong and good looking and friendly to boot!! I eventually ended up training at North Georgia Barbell where Jon Grove ran programming. Jon was not a Westside follower and honestly I had no place else to train. Jon used a method of heavy chains in which I quickly fell in love with and pulled my dl from a horrid 330 to 400. I was pretty happy with that!! I was also not training with any females and to be honest the three times one girl came in to train the focus was more on her ass than our training. I have said before I never trained with women until recently and that is still very limited partially due to the fact that I just want to get in there and be productive and strong. Anyhow, back to Jon. Jon did integrate some good Westside concepts like good mornings and speed work. My squat went from 290 in 09 to 418 in 11 (I think it was 11, lol) so again I love it. My training eventually moved back to Greenville (thanks to GA cops and a certain Deadlift video) and to Dave Brown (a very avid Westsider) where I integrated box jumps and Kettlebells into a globo gym workout along with some Westside techniques. Anyhow, life continued to progress and marriage and a child then happened and although I lifted until I was 7 months I used no certain training method, I instead based training on keeping muscle mass and some strength. My point to all this is that I myself am littered with Westside much like Dan Green was (I am not comparing my lifts to his by any means, just pointing out something similar) and I had held some pretty strong lifts like a raw 418 squat and 455 pull.... now, I actually have some very awesome strong friends who do Westside and some awesome strong friends who do not and even though I do not preform Westside exclusively we still talk about training and whatnot. One girl in particular is Gracie. Gracie is a pretty well known in pl as is her now fiance. Gracie has defended Westside and its methods ALOT as well as having to defend her lifts (which honestly, who has not?). Gracie has grown stronger as time passes and that speaks volumes for Westide. I also speak with Ambre a lot. Ambre has gone through a back injury that almost put her out of pl. Westside training HALTED that and she came back stronger. Honestly if you use other methods there is no label for it so I will call it "other". The best notable lifter who used other that I have seen come on to the pl scene is Callerina Key. Friggin retarded strong, friendly and modest this all speaks volumes when you are a 4 plus squatter and in the 160 range (I believe, I know she has leaned out more recently). I think Westside is not the only side and it is not a side for everyone BUT I also think it is also better than starting strength (from what I have seen, I did not do it) for a beginner. I have yet to see anything phenomenal from the looks like westside cube method, but for benefit of the doubt I will group it into the "other" until I see something solely from the cube alone (ie no Westside before). Dan had a good article. Good points. I will not agree with its entirety, BUT it makes awesome points... I also feel that it was a huge call out (moreso than others because let us admit his numbers are crrrrrazy) to Westside which appears intentional, but hey any press is good press aimiright?

On to our training.... Michael is continuing to write me and I feel like I am progressing pretty well with it but yoke may kill me. I feel like I stay sore constantly and I am sure that is diet and just getting back into the grove. I must admit SM is my bag and I am enjoying the variety!! On that note I am applying for a sponsorship for Michael for Afro Brutality sports... I think it is a long time coming for him and with it I hope it brings other opportunities like the chance to write programs for more lifters. It is a CrossFit based company BUT he does sponsor other types of athletes!!

On yet another note (or as Michael says my ADD is kicking in) Amelya is using mosquito repellant stickers and on the first try they worked well!! I am totally stoked she does not have to be exposed to those terrible chemicals!! I am also considering adding elderberry again related to the nasty sinuses going around, but I may wait until she is more symptomatic... Only time will tell. Amelya has also recently developed the slamming my head back when I do not get something I want... This is fun times. I have not decided the method of attack but I am thinking it is gonna lead to butt spankings. This in itself is a very touchy subject but let me be very clear, I was raised by having my ass beat for wrong doings and I turned out well, so I feel this approach will work for her. Well grumpymcgrump is ready for a nap, so tata!

Let the butt hurt begin!!!

Mark my own words...

Not even two blog posts ago I posted about needing unity in pl... More importantly and specifically women's pl THEN yesterday I find out some mutual friends or rather I thought mutual friends thought it ok to call out my spouse in not so many words. Okay.... I get it. I do not like Brandon Lily. I am pretty sure people know that including Brandon himself... However, I do not (nor does my spouse) downgrade Lily's numbers. The guy HAS pulled 805 raw. That is pretty legit. On that same note my husband has pretty much been top 5ish (because we all know it varies) since getting serious about pl. It was termed that he knows nothing about strength because he is still "green".

Let me stop a moment here. My last post was modesty. I am NOT bragging on myself here, I AM posting this without my husband knowing... he is very modest imo for what the guy has been through... My husband has suffered the following thoughout training: shoulder surgery, two pec tears (one minimal), a non healing ulcer on his shins, the test level of a chick until two years ago, sleep apnea, ever changing work schedule and if that is NOT enough, missing lifting days and weeks because our daughter had surgery or did not feel well or needed something. My point to the last couple sentences is this: his training is less than ideal. More so less in the past year. YET he has a 775 squat a 575 bench and a 750 pull. Those numbers are medicore? You do not have anyone as strong to train with you locally??? Really? My husband obviously knows NOTHING about lifting coming from all of that and putting up those numbers in addition to writing me, who in six months and drug free has gotten my numbers back pretty close to pre pregnancy? I mean I did the work but he wrote me.

Sooooo, back to the beginning of my post. Unity of women's pl. I had to remove a female pl from my fb page after I was made aware of the post. I will not stand by and allow a good man, much less the love of my life be trash talked. It is enough that this same pl chick is friends with the couple we compete against, the same couple who (in my opinion here) spoke to our gym owner like he was insignificant and the same couple who when I asked to train with the female part of the couple was told no. It is all good. I honestly wish you guys luck in finding that gym/unity that gives you what you want without being kicked out.

Michael and myself have found a good gym. We respect Wade, he respects us (why do you think he asked us to check out his gym?) It is CROSSFIT. I despise CrossFit, they will never be as strong as pl yet they get so much coverage and it pisses me off BUT LET ME BE CLEAR powerlifting needs to pick up the cf love. Why? Cf has true love for one another. Cannot lift it? Your yelled at untill you try! Hit a PR? Ten people tell you awesome. Going to regionals? They help with snacks! No way to lift that day? Your partner watches your kid. Need help with technique? They watch your vid and offer to help. Fucking grumpy and sore and you just wanna fuck some weight up? They leave you be and let you turn on hatebreed. I love it. Cindy, Tara and both of the Meetzes have been awesome to us and in turn we try to do the same. It does not always have to be a gift. A great word or even a suggestion is always a great "gift". "Gifts"unite people. Amelya is my "gift" daily, so is Michael and my grandparents.. And so is my gym, they all make me better and I love them.

**Side note: several years ago suggestions were not wanted by myself yet a friend Suzanne Hedman always offered them and eventually I totally warmed up to them/her and I appreciate her opening my eyes to being more open to critique.

In ending I should remind you all I am a powerlifting MOMMY so, in that turn I really want to hit up a few kid subjects. Allergy season is among us. Many of you know that I really have to be more all natural than most because of her heart. On that note I started Amelya on local (Pickens) honey since 9 months. A spoon a day. We have had no issues with allergies. If she gets symptomatic we give 3ml of elderberry syrup until symptoms resolve. Adults can do this too!! I also highly suggest looking into alternate forms of sunscreen (deet free) like skin so soft, mosquito stickers or citronella spray! Now.... Onto sunscreen. It has been getting a lot of publicity. It really is full of junk. I have been giving Amelya 5ml of cod liver oil and only use facial sunscreen. They have to be on cod liver oil two weeks before sun protection can occur and they must hydrate well!!! I also must include the benefits of high fish oil levels (dha/EPA) like cholesterol decreases, joint health, sleep! You can get the stuff super cheap at Walmart and Amelya takes it like a pro.

I think that is it for now... Gotta feed the kiddo!

Taking all your credit. And yours. And theirs.

Within the past year or so I have seen several women and men attaining several of the goals set for them.... Some weight loss, some strength, some just health decisions. I have just been sitring by watching it happen again and again and I am assuming these folks think press is press right? NO!!! Two days ago I watched two people who run a crossfit gym, who I know would love to have more buisness post a before and after of a client and simply marked "crossfit and paleo" not Hit Crossfit. Not Wade Meetze. JUST yo! Look at what she did!!! THERE is my point. Who did the work? She did. Who wanted it? She did. Michael is training a couple guys for raw strength right now and instead of shooting out of the mouth and promoting it, Michael was like "let them do it, see it works and THEN THEY can tell people" I said no, but looking back at it, I do not want to be like that and Michael was showing me modesty.  There is a way of getting yourself out there, it is called word of mouth. Let someone else promote your works! God was not like "yo guy I just fed a bazillion people, bow down!" He let people spread his word. My point?  Modesty goes a long way.

Catch up and man up

It has indeed been a month but in the past month I attained a one year old and am working quite a bit plus strongman training and now in a new gym. I also did a meet this past month. I weighed in at 214, which is 17# from my last weigh in and is still very heavy, it is very apparent on my midsection... Leading up to the point of all the above is that my new gym is CROSSFIT... And I am doing one or two WODs just to lose weight and primarily on bench days or event. Being in a cf gym changes a lot of things. A true crossfitter is amazing. They are focused on the goal at hand and oddly enough, encouraging of whatever you are in the gym for. I have also seen some women more like myself, less worried about the scale more about strength, which is great. The downfall to strength in a cf gym is more often then not cardio bunnies will pop up (and want to do strength) and even if doing strength will kill gains by wanting to run marathons/5k or cardio.

Motherhood is very different with a running toddler. She is very independent within reason and has opened up to some but crowds (much like mommy) are just a no go. We still are doing every six month echoes and I have recently added 5ml of cod liver oil in addition to daily meds to help with the upcoming summer and just for general fat intake and cholesterol (because we do feed her eggs daily). I have read a good bit on cod vs fish and other than the EPA and dha doses I do not really see much of a difference except getting her to take cod liver is CAKE. Reflux meds are ten times worse, which reminds me we are still on to follow up with her sleep doc soon. While on the subject of motherhood I feel it very necessary to bring up vaccinations at a year old we load up our kids full of all kinds of stuff, the most highly discuss able being the mmr (measles mumps and rubella). First, I am pro vaccine. Second, I am pro delayed vaccine. I think too much therisol (spell check refuses to work with the spelling) ie mercury at once is Cray Cray so delaying is good for us... But I do think getting them (unless live vaccines for health issues stop you) is very important. That being said a friend of mine, (for the sake of driving myself nuts the little girls name is Jo) got her one year shots. Jo had a pretty bad reaction up to 104 fever, seizure and hearing loss (that will return with time). I texted the mother and her response to be affirming she did the right thing was "do you think so?" Um YES. Did you know a recent bout of the mumps recently shut a school down? Did you know your child could be disabled of never reproduce if they got these diseases? Did you know that the more do not vaccinate the more likely these diseases will become common? Did we survive? The autism link has been debunked folks... And do you not think our daily diets are not causing a radical increase in autism? No you say? Do you feed your kid that shit they call food at McDonald's? Do you watch the carbs fat and protein? Our diets have changed radically in the past twenty years.

Onto another subject, powerlifting. Women's powerlifting is so hateful. Yea I am calling out pretty much every female powerlifter. Powerlifting is fun. None of us are going to ever become anything... The proof is Laura. Strongest woman ever right? She does have the records, the respect, the gym, the sponsership but her physically powerlifting does not pay the bills. Her job does. So then why is women's powerlifting so damn catty? I guess it is the numbers? I tend not to think so. Ann Vanderbush has whipped my ass several times in the same weight class yet we still chat. Who is prettier? Who is really pretty when squatting double body weight? Who is thinner? That is just silly, I have been thick and thin and I will never be thin and powerlift but I would never hate on a 123 lb chick because she was 123. I cannot figure out why women in this sport are not more bonded... I guess for the same reason cf and pl is still not bonding? Are we scared? Scared of not fitting in? One better than the other? Mad because one uses Westside and another 5/3/1 and we are so brainwashed our method is the right one that we hate all others? I dunno.

Women need to step up to the plate... Er bar... And if you are reading this and you lift, it means you.