DAY 17, gardening and slip ups.

It's the start of day 17 of my cleanse. Only 4 more days to go.

Let's cut to the chase. I sucked this weekend. Friday I drank a margarita (it was really only a few sips but still, also, I think I just don't like drinking it tastes awful (I know some of you are gasping at the thought of hating alcohol). Then I ate an entire bag of Twizzlers at a movie. I won't even tell you how awful I felt, physically. Saturday I actually did awesome but then yesterday came.

I have a TON of carrots that I bought and I do enjoy a crunchy carrot here and there and I've had my fair share of grated carrot over my many spinach salads but I felt they aspired to do more. They did more by becoming carrot cake muffins. Those carrot cake muffins? Flew into my mouth. I swear. Granted they were made with whole wheat flour, hardly any oil, no egg and were only like 150 calories each which isn't bad, but when you eat somewhere around 974 of them, those 150 calories each turn into a year's supplies of calories. I know myself and I should have known better than to make them without a plan to give them all away shortly after baking. This morning I took a few to my SIL and brother's house. There are only a few left, thank goodness.

Today, I aspire to do better. To treat this body better. I brought my usual ENORMOUS spinach salad with grape tomatoes, bell peppers and grated carrot. I also have a millet and veggie stuffed green pepper to up the veggie count. As a snack I brought a container of blackberries (I'm so glad the price is back down) and a small container of edamame. I haven't quite thought ahead to dinner but I do have some purple asparagus that's been waiting for me. I won't let the bad choices stamp out the good choices I plan to make today, tomorrow and forever.

In other news: In an effort to reduce my dependency of my grocery stores and save a few bucks in the long run I've built a raised garden bed. Actually, my Dad helped me build it. I need to get a few more bags of soil and then I'm totally going to call myself Farmer Kristie. I need to research what vegetables I want, space planning and buying of the actual plants. I also need to look into when I should plant certain plants. I'm a bit late in the game already this season, but I'm excited to see what I can come up with. I'm considering greens like kale and chard, bell peppers, herbs of course, sweet potatoes, maybe a blackberry bush, tomatoes, squash and a few other things. I think this will help teach my children where food comes from and that it doesn't just show up on the shelves and in cans. If all goes well, my friends might be inundated by fresh, organic whole foods. I can't wait!

Any organic gardening sites that you guys know about? Information is power, as they say.