These two were so tuckered out from something or other . . .
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
So. Random.
I have about fifty blog posts run through my head in a given day. And time for about .374 posts/day.
I love books. Right now I would love to tell Amazon to send me about fourteen. My juvenile library is pathetic, and already exhausted. But. I currently have no library, so they would need to live in cardboard boxes until I build one. Which will probably not be finished until about a year from now. I think the kids and I are going to the library today. Very, very soon.
I'm an ENFJ. Vern is an INTJ. (Supposedly we're really ill-matched. ;o) Luckily, knowing how our personalities differ makes it possible for us to eke out an existence together.
What are you?
I love books. Right now I would love to tell Amazon to send me about fourteen. My juvenile library is pathetic, and already exhausted. But. I currently have no library, so they would need to live in cardboard boxes until I build one. Which will probably not be finished until about a year from now. I think the kids and I are going to the library today. Very, very soon.
I'm an ENFJ. Vern is an INTJ. (Supposedly we're really ill-matched. ;o) Luckily, knowing how our personalities differ makes it possible for us to eke out an existence together.
What are you?
Monday, January 18, 2010
If you'd like to help, but don't know quite how . . .
If you'd like to help with the disaster efforts in Haiti, I would encourage you do to so. Here are two ways you can:
1) Donate to the LDS Humanitarian Aid Fund. 100% of donations go to disaster relief, and we have one of the world's best track records in actually getting the supplies to those who need them.
2) Donate to Doctors Without Borders via the Yarn Harlot's Knitters Without Borders campaign. I highly respect DWB and what they do, and if you're not comfortable donating to an organization with a religious affiliation, this is the one I recommend.
While I don't have TV/Cable, I understand that damage in Port au Prince is devastating. Please, take a minute to think about something you could easily go without buying this next week or month, and then go make a donation. The babies being born in Port au Prince, those who are just being found after days of entrapment in rubble, and countless others will be blessed by your small sacrifice.
I live such a blessed, easy, prosperous life.
1) Donate to the LDS Humanitarian Aid Fund. 100% of donations go to disaster relief, and we have one of the world's best track records in actually getting the supplies to those who need them.
2) Donate to Doctors Without Borders via the Yarn Harlot's Knitters Without Borders campaign. I highly respect DWB and what they do, and if you're not comfortable donating to an organization with a religious affiliation, this is the one I recommend.
While I don't have TV/Cable, I understand that damage in Port au Prince is devastating. Please, take a minute to think about something you could easily go without buying this next week or month, and then go make a donation. The babies being born in Port au Prince, those who are just being found after days of entrapment in rubble, and countless others will be blessed by your small sacrifice.
I live such a blessed, easy, prosperous life.
Friday, January 15, 2010
And THAT's the Rest of the Story . . .
Curtis & Leroy saw an ad in the Starkville Daily News Newspaper in Starkville, MS and bought a mule for $100. The farmer agreed to deliver the mule the next day. The next morning the farmer drove up and said, "Sorry, fellows, I have some bad news, the mule died last night."
Curtis & Leroy replied, "Well, then just give us our money back."
The farmer said, "Can't do that. I went and spent it already."
They said, "OK then, just bring us the dead mule."
The farmer asked, "What in the world ya'll gonna do with a dead mule?"
Curtis said, "We gonna raffle him off."
The farmer said, "You can't raffle off a dead mule!"
Leroy said, "We shore can! Heck, we don't hafta tell nobody he's dead!"
A couple of weeks later, the farmer ran into Curtis &Leroy at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store and asked. "What'd you fellers ever do with that dead mule?"
They said,"We raffled him off like we said we wuz gonna do."
Leroy said,"Shucks, we sold 500 tickets fer two dollars apiece and made a profit of $898."
The farmer said,"Good Heavens, didn't anyone complain?"
Curtis said, "Well, the feller who won got upset. So we gave him his two dollars back."
Curtis and Leroy now work for the government.
They're overseeing the Bailout Program.
Curtis & Leroy replied, "Well, then just give us our money back."
The farmer said, "Can't do that. I went and spent it already."
They said, "OK then, just bring us the dead mule."
The farmer asked, "What in the world ya'll gonna do with a dead mule?"
Curtis said, "We gonna raffle him off."
The farmer said, "You can't raffle off a dead mule!"
Leroy said, "We shore can! Heck, we don't hafta tell nobody he's dead!"
A couple of weeks later, the farmer ran into Curtis &Leroy at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store and asked. "What'd you fellers ever do with that dead mule?"
They said,"We raffled him off like we said we wuz gonna do."
Leroy said,"Shucks, we sold 500 tickets fer two dollars apiece and made a profit of $898."
The farmer said,"Good Heavens, didn't anyone complain?"
Curtis said, "Well, the feller who won got upset. So we gave him his two dollars back."
Curtis and Leroy now work for the government.
They're overseeing the Bailout Program.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Raw Update Journal: It's only the beginning.
I blogged that I had gone raw . . . blogged that I would continue raw . . . and now I'm making good on the promise to actually tell you all something about it. ;o)
It has been interesting.
First, I'm going to list some of the latest perks:
Since the day we went raw (one month and four weeks ago this Friday), I have lost 14.4 pounds. I'm the only one in my family losing weight . . . Vern is maintaining (he doesn't have anything to lose), and the children are looking healthy and round, and growing just fine.
While I'm not down to the 4-5 hours sleep many raw foodists rave about, I do really well on eight . . . which I haven't been able to do in at least six years.
My pathetic abdominals have really made a good show of finally getting back to their former selves. (With all the other pregnancies, they did so within six months or so on their own . . . this last time, they simply stopped at about six weeks post-partum and refused to improve no matter what I did.)
My irises are getting clearer and lighter in color. This week I noticed the brown inner portion (I have hazel eyes: half green, half brown) is significantly lighter . . . more of a dark straw color than the medium earthy brown they have been all of my life.
My back is getting better all on its own. Nearly two months of treatment in Oregon before the move did little lasting good (although it really helped me feel better while I was going), but once I went raw, it improved dramatically all on its own.
And now, onto some of the actual story . . .
In the beginning, I kept things very simple. VERY simple. I used the recipes at the back of the book 12 Steps to Raw Foods, along with some common sense dishes (fruit or green smoothies, salads, raw muesli, etc). For the first four days or so, I would begin to feel like it was time to eat and start thinking about things I would usually make (grilled salmon, brown rice and salad, for example), and then I'd feel the fear begin to rise. Fear of not knowing what to feed my family, fear of being hungry, fear of who-knows-what. Then I'd think calmly about my handly little book
, and start going about the task of feeding everyone.
After a few days, those fearful episodes ceased entirely. I began sleeping better, feeling better, and began (for the first time in a LONG time) to actually feel hungry again. It has been years since I have felt what we all know as hunger. Due to the hypoglycemia, I would go straight from doing fine to shaky and/or headache and/or depressed and/or panic attack. So not fun. Sometimes I even got to feel the draining, sinking feeling as my blood sugar plunged, and to anticipate for a terrible minute or two on what was coming next.
A few days after we made the switch, I was up very, very late on a Saturday night. (I think I got about five hours.) Sunday is a full day for us, with church attendance and service, and the rest filled with family time. It takes a lot of energy, but is the most fulfilling and happy day of the week for me. I was a little less energetic than I had been the preceding days, but compared to what I would have been pre-raw, I was amazed. So was Vern. I've had plenty of short nights since then, and while most of the following days haven't been as great as that Sunday was, they're still like a walk in the park compared to the "bad" days of the past.
I should probably explain just what the "bad" days were like, eh? Okay.
A typical bad day included most of the following, and sometimes all:
Those, my lovelies, are what hypoglycemia can do to you. Many health professionals call those symptoms "depression" . . . which they are. But depression is not a disease. It is a symptom. And if you change the fuel you give your body, the depression will leave. Whole, raw, complete foods do the trick. I can eat raw, whole fruit smoothies and dates for an entire day, and feel great. No crashes, nada.
Now that I'm past them, it seems easier to talk about them. While stuck in that cycle, the knowledge that my life consisted mostly of these kinds of days felt as though it would crush me . . . it was difficult to be anything like the mother I want to be, and to not be able to see my way out of where I was didn't help. (Yeah. Understatement, that.) I felt like I could never catch up to my husband's and children's needs . . . that I would always be behind them on sleep, mealtimes, everything . . . I wasn't fast enough, strong enough, good enough . . .
And now they're nearly gone. (The bad days, not my husband and children. ;o)
I still have off days every so often. Short nights bring them on, as have times when I've allowed something a little questionable to come into my food supply. (Agave syrup more than once or twice a week in small amounts is not good for me.) But these "off days" are barely even a shadow of what the bad days used to be. Honestly, my off days now are what my really good days were like then. And those good days were only two (or if I was lucky, three) out of seven. Now I'm at least five good days out of seven, and it's really more like six or seven out of seven.
People ask me all the time "Don't you miss _____?", or "Isn't it hard?", or "How can you handle it?"
My response is simple: "Giving up _____ is nothing. I have my life back."
It has been interesting.
First, I'm going to list some of the latest perks:
Since the day we went raw (one month and four weeks ago this Friday), I have lost 14.4 pounds. I'm the only one in my family losing weight . . . Vern is maintaining (he doesn't have anything to lose), and the children are looking healthy and round, and growing just fine.
While I'm not down to the 4-5 hours sleep many raw foodists rave about, I do really well on eight . . . which I haven't been able to do in at least six years.
My pathetic abdominals have really made a good show of finally getting back to their former selves. (With all the other pregnancies, they did so within six months or so on their own . . . this last time, they simply stopped at about six weeks post-partum and refused to improve no matter what I did.)
My irises are getting clearer and lighter in color. This week I noticed the brown inner portion (I have hazel eyes: half green, half brown) is significantly lighter . . . more of a dark straw color than the medium earthy brown they have been all of my life.
My back is getting better all on its own. Nearly two months of treatment in Oregon before the move did little lasting good (although it really helped me feel better while I was going), but once I went raw, it improved dramatically all on its own.
And now, onto some of the actual story . . .
In the beginning, I kept things very simple. VERY simple. I used the recipes at the back of the book 12 Steps to Raw Foods, along with some common sense dishes (fruit or green smoothies, salads, raw muesli, etc). For the first four days or so, I would begin to feel like it was time to eat and start thinking about things I would usually make (grilled salmon, brown rice and salad, for example), and then I'd feel the fear begin to rise. Fear of not knowing what to feed my family, fear of being hungry, fear of who-knows-what. Then I'd think calmly about my handly little book
, and start going about the task of feeding everyone.After a few days, those fearful episodes ceased entirely. I began sleeping better, feeling better, and began (for the first time in a LONG time) to actually feel hungry again. It has been years since I have felt what we all know as hunger. Due to the hypoglycemia, I would go straight from doing fine to shaky and/or headache and/or depressed and/or panic attack. So not fun. Sometimes I even got to feel the draining, sinking feeling as my blood sugar plunged, and to anticipate for a terrible minute or two on what was coming next.
A few days after we made the switch, I was up very, very late on a Saturday night. (I think I got about five hours.) Sunday is a full day for us, with church attendance and service, and the rest filled with family time. It takes a lot of energy, but is the most fulfilling and happy day of the week for me. I was a little less energetic than I had been the preceding days, but compared to what I would have been pre-raw, I was amazed. So was Vern. I've had plenty of short nights since then, and while most of the following days haven't been as great as that Sunday was, they're still like a walk in the park compared to the "bad" days of the past.
I should probably explain just what the "bad" days were like, eh? Okay.
A typical bad day included most of the following, and sometimes all:
- Deep fatigue, such that climbing the stairs took all of my energy, made my heart pound, and required rest at the top.
- Nearly overwhelming feelings of hopelessness and despair.
- Incredibly short temper.
- Unkind tones of voice (often completely unnoticed by me until someone pointed it out)
- Lots of time spent distracting myself from everything around me.
- Deep-level hunger, accompanied by a complete disinterest in eating anything (with the disinterest often bordering on revulsion).
Those, my lovelies, are what hypoglycemia can do to you. Many health professionals call those symptoms "depression" . . . which they are. But depression is not a disease. It is a symptom. And if you change the fuel you give your body, the depression will leave. Whole, raw, complete foods do the trick. I can eat raw, whole fruit smoothies and dates for an entire day, and feel great. No crashes, nada.
Now that I'm past them, it seems easier to talk about them. While stuck in that cycle, the knowledge that my life consisted mostly of these kinds of days felt as though it would crush me . . . it was difficult to be anything like the mother I want to be, and to not be able to see my way out of where I was didn't help. (Yeah. Understatement, that.) I felt like I could never catch up to my husband's and children's needs . . . that I would always be behind them on sleep, mealtimes, everything . . . I wasn't fast enough, strong enough, good enough . . .
And now they're nearly gone. (The bad days, not my husband and children. ;o)
I still have off days every so often. Short nights bring them on, as have times when I've allowed something a little questionable to come into my food supply. (Agave syrup more than once or twice a week in small amounts is not good for me.) But these "off days" are barely even a shadow of what the bad days used to be. Honestly, my off days now are what my really good days were like then. And those good days were only two (or if I was lucky, three) out of seven. Now I'm at least five good days out of seven, and it's really more like six or seven out of seven.
People ask me all the time "Don't you miss _____?", or "Isn't it hard?", or "How can you handle it?"
My response is simple: "Giving up _____ is nothing. I have my life back."
The Economy is Bad, Folks . . .
How bad? It's so bad that . . .
- I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.
- I ordered a burger at McDonald's and the kid behind the counter asked, "Can you afford fries with that?"
- CEO's are now playing miniature golf.
- If the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds," you call them and ask if they meant you or them.
- Hot Wheels and Matchbox stocks are trading higher than GM.
- McDonald's is selling the 1/4 ouncer.
- Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children's names.
- A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico .
- Dick Cheney took his stockbroker hunting.
- Motel Six won't leave the light on anymore.
- The Mafia is laying off judges.
- Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.
- Congress says they are looking into this Bernard Madoff scandal. Oh Great!! The guy who made $50 Billion disappear is being investigated by the people who made $1.5 Trillion disappear!
- And, finally...
- I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc., I called the Suicide Lifeline. I got a call center in Pakistan , and when I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited, and asked if I could drive a truck.
(This came via email, without attribution. If anyone knows who came up with these, I'd be happy to add a reference.)
Monday, January 4, 2010
Too Stinkin' Cute!
Friday, January 1, 2010
Back to the Future
It's now officially the year Two Thousand and Ten.
2-0-1-0.
Is it just me, or is there this aura of mystery and living "in the future" around this year? When we were kids, movies were made about years beginning with "Twenty". "What will you be doing in 2010?" seemed to be such a far-off question. But far off it is no longer. Here's what I'll be doing in 2010. How about you? I'd love to hear answers from everyone who sees this . . . just leave me a comment so I know where to go read your answers. :o)
1. Keeping my inobx EMPTY.
2. Continuing to eat a 98% raw diet.
3. Purging more than a decade's worth of stuff.
4. Keeping only what I'll use that I love and/or that will make me happy while I use it.
5. Designing (personally) and constructing (not completely personally) a carriage house, in which we'll live until the house proper is complete. Seven people in a 24'x 36' apartment should be F-U-N, right?
6. Designing said house, and seeing how much we need to save before we can begin. ;o)
7. Putting in a garden large enough to help significantly in feeding my family.
What seven things are you going to do this year?
2-0-1-0.
Is it just me, or is there this aura of mystery and living "in the future" around this year? When we were kids, movies were made about years beginning with "Twenty". "What will you be doing in 2010?" seemed to be such a far-off question. But far off it is no longer. Here's what I'll be doing in 2010. How about you? I'd love to hear answers from everyone who sees this . . . just leave me a comment so I know where to go read your answers. :o)
1. Keeping my inobx EMPTY.
2. Continuing to eat a 98% raw diet.
3. Purging more than a decade's worth of stuff.
4. Keeping only what I'll use that I love and/or that will make me happy while I use it.
5. Designing (personally) and constructing (not completely personally) a carriage house, in which we'll live until the house proper is complete. Seven people in a 24'x 36' apartment should be F-U-N, right?
6. Designing said house, and seeing how much we need to save before we can begin. ;o)
7. Putting in a garden large enough to help significantly in feeding my family.
What seven things are you going to do this year?
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