Googling Ingredients?

Am I the only one that Google's ingredients?  Well, I just googled the ingredients on the Sensodyne Toothpaste in my medicine cabinet.  I use to use it, but now I make my own toothpowder with bentonite clay, baking soda & cinnamon.  But my DH uses it once in awhile.  On the active ingredient list is the words sodium nitrate.
And when I look it up it says it's other name is saltpeter.  Now I don't know if any of you have ever heard of that, but it was used in the army to keep men from getting erections.  The Merriam-Webster dictionary describes it as:  A white powder that exists naturally in some soils and that is used especially as a fertilizer, in medicine, and to make gunpowder.

Well I don't know about you, but I don't want my family using this.  Now I will have to scrutinize food labels even more than I do now.  This is craziness! No thank you toothpaste companies, I will stay with my toothpowder that has actually brightened my teeth and done away with the sensitivity more than your Sensodyne ever did.

I hope this gets at least some of you that read this to start reading labels of things you put in your home.  Especially things that your children will be using.

Have a healthy day!

Second Day No Sugar!

So this is the second day of no sugar.  I already slept better last night.  I didn't have that feeling that my blood was moving extra quick through my veins and my head throbbing from too much sugar.  I have even felt fuller after eating.  I use to always have to have something sweet after every meal, even breakfast.  I wonder if the sugar in my diet was making me crave it?  Hahaha, that's a definite YES!

I always eat oatmeal in the morning with walnuts and cinnamon and raw honey.  Don't get me wrong, raw honey is much better for you than other kinds of sweeteners, but I was having it every morning.  And I had been noticing that I was increasing my honey each day.  That is not a good thing.  One thing I never did do was have honey or sugar in my tea or in my coffee and I've never liked drinking soda.  So I guess I have it easier than others who are only drinking soda and need sugar in their coffee and tea.  I have a friend, who shall go nameless, that puts over 7 sugars in her coffee.  How do you even taste the coffee.  And if you don't like the taste of it, find another way to get your morning jolt.  Like have an apple, or some pineapple.  I have actually stopped eating pineapple, because for me, it has too much sugar.

Soda is the one thing that I never bring into my home anymore.  I use to buy it for parties, or when my boys came for a visit.  Then I wondered why I wouldn't drink it, but was giving it to the ones I love.  So now, whenever you come to my home, you will get water or tea and sometimes coffee if it's early enough the day.  On a side note, I did bring a 2-litre bottle of Coke into my home to wash my massage sheets because it is great for bringing out the oils.

After cutting out sugar for a few weeks I will work on my carb intake.  One poison at a time.  Even though I know that carbs turn into sugar.  I guess I have been lowering my intake since yesterday.  And I'm making better choices for carbs.  I have an apple a day and I make quinoa instead of rice all the time.

I have always been a label reader.  So much so that my husband does not like grocery shopping with me.  I guess I get that from my Dad.  He is 85 years old and refuses to eat sugar, french fries and items made by tobacco companies.  He does look good for his age.  I can't say I'm that crazy yet.  Remember that I said yet, because there is still plenty of crazy to come my way just from my DNA I'm sure.

The two things that are forcing me to do this is to show others you can change anything about yourself no matter how old you are, and because I want my kidneys to be in awesome shape justin (purposely said it this way) case I'm a match for my nephew.

I posted a link below to tell you how sugar makes you fat.  I still have fat in my diet, just not sugar.  And low fat products are thee worst and they taste horrible.  I have known this for awhile.

https://authoritynutrition.com/4-ways-sugar-makes-you-fat/

Sugar Detox Again

I've decided to do another sugar detox this fall.  I always seem to do it right before and during Halloween.  Which I think is good because I have had some really bad sugar hangovers in the fall.  I got a family member to try it with me because competition makes things easier for me.  We are also going to do the plank challenge.  So when we complete our mission and get all the way to mid December we will be showing off our six-pack abs.  Here's to trading our sugar in for planks.

https://remedydaily.com/2016/05/18/try-the-28-day-planking-challenge/

Missing It Already.

Since I've been home for three days I've been missing camping.  It's a simple way of life even though there's a lot of work.  I would love to be a Full-timer.  Not sure my DH could handle it.  He can work anywhere in the country and if I get nationally certified so can I.  Moving around to a different area every few months would be awesome.

Tahquamenon Falls, MI

White Fish Point, MI

Dallas & Domino enjoying the outdoors.

Domino & Dallas tuckered out from all the hiking and fresh air.

Back In The USA

As we've done throughout our whole trip we continued to not make reservations at campgrounds as we drove back into the USA.  It was doable because it was the end of most campgrounds seasons.  A lot of them close October 10-15th.

We were driving through New York state when I took these pictures.  We stayed at a wonderful campsite in Schenectady NY that was on a river. We got there at 7pm and couldn't see a thing.  When we woke up, we were right on the river and no one in front of us.  It was beautiful.  These were taken on the way home during a rainstorm.

This picture was taken quickly out of the truck window while Gary was driving on the highway. I was clicking pics of the foliage and suddenly this lovely creek was there with these beautiful trees.

Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Retelling our travels is a little difficult after the fact.  We had very sketchy wifi or nonexistent most of the time, so I'm having to think bank of when we did things and where pictures are from.  The biggest problem is that we went from Vermont to Canada, then Michigan and back to Canada so the parts of Canada are getting messed up in my head hahaha!

We went through the port of entry at Sault Sainte Marie en.m.wikipedia.org.  It was awesome to see huge ships and small ships going through the locks.  It was mesmerizing.

A giant freighter going through the locks as we got there.

 My husband has been dying to go to Lake Superior to see where the Edmond Fitzgerald went down.  I think he was hoping that we could take a boat out to the point they lost it and he could go diving down to see what he could find.

Great Lakes Historical Society.  My DH is obsessed with the Edmond Fitzgerald.

This was so lifelike it was creepy.  

Amazing invention.

 This is the first time we had seen Lake Superior.  It was amazing and breathtaking.  Now I know why they call it Lake Superior.  It's because it is the Superior lake of the Great lakes.  Great just isn't a big enough word for it.

Last Day In Canada

We stayed at the Milton Heights Campground in Milton, ON.  We were only going to stay two nights, but ended up staying four.  This was a great home base to visit, Guelph, Toronto & Parry Sound.  My grandfather was born in Guelph and my great grandfather and Bobby Orr were born in Parry Sound.  My great grandfather actually died in Parry Sound at the age of 33.  The campground was clean.  It had hydro (electricity), water and sewer.  Most of the campgrounds we went to did not have sewer.  This one also had a laundry room which is great to have because it's really hard to pack a ton of clothes in a small camper.

There were a lot of dogs here and a lot of really nice people, most of whom were from Ontario.  I wasn't surprised they were all so nice, because they were dog people, hahaha!  We even gave a couple that was staying across from us our email addresses so if they are ever in the States they can let us know.  I am glad that we left when we did because most people had a long weekend in Canada due to their Thanksgiving being celebrated on October 10th and lots of people started filling up the campground with children.  I don't mind children, but they do make my dogs bark.

It was really nice to stay somewhere for more than two days and not have to hitch and unhitch every other day.

On our way home it was more than a days drive because it takes a lot longer to drive pulling a travel trailer because you're not going 60 mph.  So I found a nice place on a river in Schenectady, NY.  We didn't get there until 7pm so everything was dark.  We almost drove down a railroad track because it was right near the turn for the place.  It was called Arrowhead Campground & Marina.  It looked like a nice big site when we pulled in, (thank goodness it was a pull-in site at this time of night). But we couldn't see anything but the plug to plug in.  We didn't hook up to their water because we needed to use up our water in the tank before getting home.  In the morning when we woke up, it was a spectacular site.  On our door side of the camper was the river with lots of trees and no other campers in our line of site.  I couldn't believe our luck coming in so late on a holiday weekend and getting, what I would call, a prime site.

Still not home yet, but I'm sure we will be back tonight or tomorrow morning.  I truly have enjoyed our experience RVing and could do this most months out of the year.

Guelph, ON where my Granddad was born

The Basilica in Guelph, ON

Wayne Gretzky Sports Center & Hall of Recognition.

Domino & Dallas chilling' at Milton Heights Campground thinking they're getting the steak we're cooking!

Bobby Orr Hall of Fame in Parry Sound, ON

Bobby Orr Hall of Fame in Parry Sound, OR on Georgian Bay in Lake Huron

Yes I play Pokemon Go.

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Bobby Orr's dedication to his Dad after he passed away.

In front of the City Hall of Guelph, ON trying to find out about my father's family.

From the top of the Civic Museum in Guelph.  Small museum, but nice old pictures of the town.

Outside the Guelph Library still trying to find out about my family.

Toronto For The Day

Went to Toronto today.  It is a very big city.  I haven't walked through a major city in awhile so I don't know if there are tons of people walking around in business suits all at the same time with large pockets of no-one in between.  My husband went to the Hockey Hall Of Fame and I walked Domino & Dallas through Toronto.  I was worried as I walked through little marbled sitting areas thinking that one of my dogs was going to have to go to the bathroom.  I guess I shouldn't have worried, because Domino decided to wait until he was in the middle of a street.  I saw that he was trying to go and I kept pulling him onto the sidewalk.  I did go back into the street and pick up after him.  And I was happy in the end that he didn't go in front of one of the many restaurants that we walked by.

When Gary got out of the Hall Of Fame we walked to the CN Tower near the waterfront.  We had to take turns going inside.  I went and bought both tickets so Gary just had to wait in three lines instead of four.  It cost $35 to go to the main upper deck.  There is a higher deck that I thought Gary would have gone to, but he didn't.  And they have an outside area where they tether you off and you can practically hang off the side of this very tall building.  So we went up 114 stories, but we could have gone up 147 stories.  It was not as impressive as the Sears Tower, or the John Hancock in Chicago.  These windows were just like regular windows.  I wanted them to be floor to ceiling.  They did have an outside fenced in deck that was nice and windy.  And they had a glass floor in a small part of it that people were lying on and having their pictures taken.  I could barely get myself to look down.  And it wasn't as scary as I thought going up and down the glass elevator, even though I was right out front.  I think it was because they shoved so many of us in one elevator and I felt like I was safe and secure.

Surprisingly, they had pretty good spinach and feta stuffed bagels at the top of the tower.

We then walked for 15 minutes to go down to the waterfront.  It had kayaks for rent and a tiny beach which was nice.  And also a train museum and a brewery.  We never got to walk to the gardens or any other museums.  They are not all together like in Chicago.  If we didn't have the dogs, we would have gone on a double decker bus tour and a lake tour to the Toronto Islands.

I liked Ottawa better than Toronto even though we didn't have a chance to walk around Ottawa.  I guess because there were no hockey places in Ottawa so Gary didn't have a need to walk around, hahaha!

Ottawa

This time we went to Canada.  We've both been to Montreal before, but never went to Ontario.  Actually, we started by getting a route to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and it showed us a way through Canada.  I figured that would be interesting and maybe this time we would actually see some wildlife besides our own two dogs.  Well, so far we just saw one deer on our way up through Vermont.

We left in the middle of the afternoon to make some headway.  And halfway through the ride G was too tired to drive so we stopped in a small rest-area in Sharon, VT.  There were a few big rigs, but it was quiet, cozy and free.

We bypassed Montreal because we've both been there a lot and figured with a trailer in tow it would probably be a mess.

We got into Ontario in the afternoon and didn't have a place in mind to stay.  I looked on my RV Parky app and found a great campground called Wesley Clover Park Campground.  It was small but woodsy and private.  We were actually next to a tiny little cottage that was empty.  It was a lovely place.  But all night long we heard some noise and finally realized it was the highway that we were just minutes from, even though we had to loop around and felt like we were in the middle of nowhere.  There were a lot of empty areas that we were able to walk the dogs.  There was so much wilderness I was a little apprehensive to walk my dogs alone, but did and still didn't see any bear or moose or elk.

The next morning we had our truck unhooked from the trailer and made our way into downtown Ottawa.  Of course it was rush hour, but we were on vacation and forget that everyone else has to work.  But, oh my goodness... OTTAWA IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CANADIAN TOWN I HAVE EVER SEEN.  I didn't get very many good pictures because there were so many busses along the sidewalk and it was way to busy to walk the dogs around.

Beautiful pictures to follow when I have amazing wifi.  Right now it's free and very sketchy.  I use to take wifi for granted.

Art Work in the middle of Ottawa