from a proud health nut - an ode to you

I guess I'll start by using more correct grammar and spelling in my blogs, which means I'll try to caps the words that should be...it just became one of my 'signature' moves - when emailing personally to friends and family or blogging, I just stayed away from grammar and all of that because I felt trapped. All parts of my life at one point or the other have required me to have 'perfect' English, and to be honest, I just wanted a break. So to be a bit more PC, I'm trying this out for a lil' bit. I don't know how long it will last.

The real purpose of today's blog is to give kudos to all the people I know who are doing even just 1 thing to improve their health. This health stuff can go way deep. Your choices and my choices are probably very different when it comes to what we eat, but that's okay. I'm so glad to know that we are beginning to be concerned with the foods we eat. Again, our choices may be very different still, but you are doing SOMETHING, and I'M SO PROUD OF YOU! Something is better than nothing, so give yourself a pat on the back. Continue to learn, but try to not get overwhelmed by all that is out there. I've been learning this stuff hard-core for the past couple of years, and I'm barely hitting the surface so hang in there.

crazyness

what a day! i mean that. sometime just before noon or around that time today, i received a call from my MIL. she was with the FIL on the way to see the oldest BIL and SIL who live in wichita (about a 15 minute drive). apparently some losers decided to break into their house. my sister in law was alone with the 6-month old baby. the losers held her up at gun-point and locked them in a closet while they ransacked the house. they stole a few valuables and then her sports car. thank GOD a neighbor from across the street called the police when she noticed something suspicious (the losers going into the house). the losers were only a few blocks away when the police caught up with them. they ran into a pole (totaling the car), the police ran into the car as well, but the losers still managed to get away on foot.

UGHHHHHHH! it's so frustrating - no, not the fact that the cops didn't catch up with them (cops get trashed enough. give 'em a break); but i'm ticked off at losers. i'm once again faced with and saddened by the fact that we live in a society in which cowardly, lawless losers can break into someone's home and may get away with it. the thing is that it's not going to get any better. that's right. we think that just because of advancement in technology or whatever else we think we've advanced, that life will somehow get better. i'm not a 'this-world-is-coming-to-and-end-we're-all-doomed-to-die' person, but that is in fact going to happen one day. things, life, people's morals, values, and behaviors are just going to get progressively worse. peace on earth is not going to happen until it gets really bad. that's just how it is. it's sad, but it's true.

so what do we do in the meantime? we pray just to make it today. i know, i know, lame-o. really, though...we must do what we have been called to do. we must live unto Him who gave us life. we must not forget that those who are His are in His care and in His hand. we must tell those who don't know Him about His great compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and love. and we must be this love...in spite of and because of 'losers.'

I Can't Believe it's Not Butter - I Can't Believe We Haven't BANNED it!

the number 1 killer today is heart disease. it's not drunk driving or even cancer. it's heart disease, and probably 99.9% of us help this killer every single day by the food we ingest.

people are always talking about cholesterol, right? the drug companies love it! yep, they get super filthy rich by telling us we need to lower our cholesterol. cholesterol is NOT the cause of heart disease. a high cholesterol count is not the problem. the problem is when the cholesterol attaches itself to the arteries. that's when blood flow is restricted. cholesterol only attaches itself to damaged arteries. if an artery isn't damaged, cholesterol can flow right through our blood without problems, and we don't get arteriosclerosis.

arteries are damaged primarily by 3 things:
1. chlorinated water - the stuff we drink, shower and swim in
2. hydrogenated oils or trans fats - this stuff is probably in 90% of the processed foods at the store...also called partially hydrogenated oil -it's all the same
3. homogenized dairy products - the fat in milk, cheese, yogurt, etc. is not the problem; it's the homogenization process (i'll post on this process another day)

almost all of us partake of this stuff every day. even if you eat a salad for lunch, the dressing most likely has partially hydrogenated oil in it. the 'good-for-you-whole-wheat bread' most likely has hydrogenated oil in it too. so does the infamous 'i can't believe it's not butter' product.

the milk you had with your cereal - pasteurized and homogenized. the water we brush our teeth with, make tea with, wash vegetables with - all chlorinated.

is there a way to avoid this? that's up to you. i'm pretty much finished with most of that stuff myself because i've read so much on it that it makes me sick thinking of the fda, the pharmaceutical industry, and even the politicians making money off of our diseases. it's all a scam...but anyway...because i've done so much research, i am convicted about what i allow in my body.

practically speaking, what can the average susy do? there IS a way to completely cut out hydrogenated oils. read the labels and don't buy the stuff. same with the dairy - i hardly ingest the stuff anymore. it's a change in lifestyle, but there are alternatives.

about the water - well, that just takes more work. to be honest, i can get so caught up in this all-organic-tree-hugger life that i forget to enjoy the life God gave me. so i take it one step at a time. if i can get a shower filter, yay. if i can swim in a lake or river rather than a chlorinated swimming pool, yay. if not, i don't let it ruin my day.

cute-ness

today our nephew is 6 months old, and i just want you to know how cute he is...

with mommy and daddy


with uncle nathan


playing superman with grandma

the locks are gone

a busy week last week was. i headed down to dallas on wednesday for a concert that i'd planned with some friends a few months back. the event was on friday, but i spend wednesday and thursday catching up with old pals. i didn't get to see everyone that i had wanted to see, but i realize that it's just impossible to try to do that in a couple of days. next time.

i also did something that i have wanted to do for a while - i cut my hair off to donate it to locks of love. now, i'm not telling you this so that you can say things like, "oh you're so great, blah blah..." i was a bit shocked when i started getting that reaction from people. the reason i'm doing this is not to get brownie points but to try and do my part to help lil' kiddos whose disease-stricken body has cause them to lose their hair - locks of love. locks of love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. i didn't want to tell too many people why i was cutting my hair, but i really think it's important to make you and others aware of this organization. i figure that God gives us gifts, abilities, $$, and even hair for a reason. He gave me this big head of really thick hair that happens to grow pretty quickly, so why not give it away?

so amra, my new hairstylist, cut about 12 inches:


then she cut, cut, cut, cut some more, and thinned out like crazy. my head is so much lighter. i took this immediately after the cut (thus being in the car) so i could show you:


a before picture will be here soon.

Please Pray for Anya

Friends, it's with a sober and burdened heart that I write this today. I just learned over the weekend that my friend's little 3.5 yr. old daughter, Anya, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Please take a moment to pray for this precious little girl. It's so hard to understand why certain things happen to certain people, BUT I'm glad that Anya's parents' hope is in God first and foremost. In spite of the questions they may have, they know for certain that our Father God loves Anya more than even they do, and they know that she is in His hands. I know the family would appreciate your prayers.

horsey manure

horse manure - that's what i played with earlier today. you know, it's an excellent source of...organic fertilizer.

this morning my MIL informed me that she was going to plant some vegetables. in the past she has typically grown a garden but just didn't make room for one this year. well, susy came along and kinda interrupted those plans. she doesn't want me to spend the money on the organic food at the store, so we're going to grow our own. well, i've wanted to do that for a long time; i just never knew quite where to begin. unfortunately, i didn't inherit my mother's green thumb, and i wasn't sure quite where to plant stuff out here. leave it to the the green queen (aka, the MIL) to find a place. her flower gardens are all on 'virgin' soil, so she said it'd be a great place for the vegetables. so we planted some zucchini, squash, and different kinds of peppers in the same area as the flowers. next year, we can designate a spot for just vegetables and do even more. for now, this will do. spring is planting season, but i think these will do just fine even though it's already summer.

so to the manure - well, because i'm 'freak-o' about fertilizers and all the crazy chemicals in the foods we eat, i'm going back to all organic. believe me - if you knew what i know, you would do it too. but anyway, the MIL said where she'd used horse manure (no, not straight from the horse), the plants, flowers, trees, etc. did much better. well, wouldn't you know it?! Father God intended for mother nature to take care of itself...and she does. there were areas that she still wanted to fill with the manure, so off we go to fill the gator with the manure.

yes, there i was on a mountain of horse manure, shoveling it into the gator. who ever would have thought that i could enjoy myself so much with a shovel and some horse dung?! you should try it sometime.

here we are on the gator


this is one of the zucchini plants

thousand-leggers

if you know me well, you know that i don't like bugs. i guess most people don't. okay, so not liking bugs is an understatement; i detest bugs. i used to have these recurring nightmares of giant mechanical roaches and spiders coming after me. no joke! thank GOD i haven't had one of those in a while, but of course, that...dislike just doesn't go all that well in the country, where i'm constantly discovering species of creatures i've never seen.

one of those creatures is the thousand-legger, aka the millipede. maybe i saw one when i was younger. i mean, living in mexico and traveling to small villages i'm sure had its bug-seeing moments. never, as long as i can remember, have i laid eyes on such a yucky, yet almost pretty creature. during our excursion to alma, i came upon such a creature - the thousand-legger. i have this instinct that i haven't been able to control - a screaming instinct when i come across a yucky bug that's out to get me. well, that's what i did when i saw the thousand-legger in the sink as i was about to wash my hands. the MIL, now knowing the meaning of my cries for help, came to my rescue, but to no avail. she quickly escorted me out of the bathroom while yelling, "mom!!!" immediately grandma elsie ran in to see what the fuss was about. without hesitation, she just ran water on it, and down the sink mr. thousand-legger went.

unfortunately, i was a bit too startled to go for the camera so that you could understand my consternation with mr. thousand-legger, but here are some pictures that might help. oh, but just so you know, the actual mr. thousand-legger was about 3.5 inches long, and with his leg span he was about 1.5 inches wide.

these are almost his very colors, but he had more legs


his legs numbered about this many...but they were much longer


and this...well, it just goes to show why i don't prefer them


p.s. i didn't use that bathroom sink the remainder of the time we were in alma :)

green acres?

i've heard about green acres - the show that is, but i've yet to watch an episode. i do know a bit of the music for some reason, though...anyway, if you want to see some real green acres, you've got to see this

this is the view from the front porch when i wake up in the morning



these are the real green acres.


now i understand now why people write westerns. so much can take place in just one day out in the country. the adventures never stop, and there's just so much to see and experience. i don't know that i'd actually ever read a western, but i can completely understand the purpose...of some.

alma, ks

so alma, kansas - that's where we went for a couple of days last week - grandma elsie, the mil, aunt karen, and i made some great memories there. after meeting up with karen, we went to the only restaurant in that town of under 800 people. it didn't seem like even that many people lived there. i think they have a stop sign, but that's about it. the four of us drove to 3 different cemeteries to find relatives' gravesites.



along the way, we stopped at a couple of the school houses where grandma elsie used to teach



some scenery


we went to the creek (but it's pronounced 'crick' in kansas) where grandma elsie skipped rocks.



we spent the remainder of the weekend mostly going through great-grandma thowe's (pronounced toe-bee)...stuff - letters, hand-sewn clothes...and stuff. we even played dress-up.



there's so much more to be said of the weekend, but it's hard to put into words. i'm so thankful that i've had the opportunity to be a part of that if just for a little while. i can't imagine what life would've been like without the commodities of electricity, running water, air conditioning and the like. people lived simple yet enjoyable lives without all the stress and chaos we have today. i'm beginning to experience and love that.

so this was a couple of weeks ago when nathan & i went cherry-pickin' and turkey-chasin'




then with the horsies

country bumpkin

i wrote this on wednesday:

This has been another great week so far. Yesterday I went into town (I actually have to use that term now – going into town) to take care of some errands. After the errands,
I stopped at a little bookstore where they actually buy and sell used books. I could’ve spent hours there just looking through some of them, but I was good and left with only one book. It was a $2 book at that, so I couldn’t pass it up. I’m looking forward to maybe making this a weekly visit to the little place.

When I was finally out of there I did it – I went to the driver’s license office and became an official Kansan by getting my Kansas driver’s license. The temporary license issued is so much better than the Texas temporary licenses because you actually get to see your picture right then and there. If it’s not a good one, you can ask to re-take it. The lady didn’t actually ask me if I liked mine like she did other people…but I’m sure it’s because…it was okay??? Who knows, but anyway, that’s points for Kansas.

Today was great because I made my way to Green Acres, a Whole Foods-type store where they actually sell organic food. I was so excited to be there that I ended up spending over 2 hours there. Those stores are like home to me – love it. Green Acres is smaller than Whole Foods, but it’s just as great.

Tomorrow I’m heading to Alma, Kansas with the MIL and Grandma Elsie. What’s in Alma? Well, none other than Grandma Toby’s (sp?) house. Grandma Toby is the MIL’s grandma. The MIL’s sister will also meet us there, and we’re sure to have a wonderful girl time. I hear it’s a neat old house with lots and lots of memories. We’ll come back on Saturday morning in time for me to see hubster.

The MIL wants to jump on the health wagon with me, so after we return from our trip this weekend, we’re jumping in this together. I’ll finally get back to my better eating habits and get back on track. I’m also scouting out some other health food stores and local co-ops. We’re also talking about our own organic garden next year…hmmm…

hickety cricket

so what is life like for me now that i'm living in the sunflower state? well, my first week was pretty uneventful:

monday - memorial day was great because it meant nathan would be home for even one more day
tuesday - unpacking, started teaching the non-A.D.D. black lab how to "play dead"
this is him during one of his resting moments:

wednesday - unpacking; this is the day i found a tick on my head after running around outside with the dogs; this is also the day a black, furry spider crawled out of a curtain as i vacuumed; this is ALSO the day a spider was crawling on my leg as i walked inside from petting the cats; continued the "play dead" teaching process
thursday - the BIL drove around the area with me so that i could figure my way around the wichita, towanda, andover, etc. area; continued the "play dead" teaching process
friday - spent time checking emails, etc.; read; was on the inet for a few hours in the evening; hubby came home!

on sunday afternoon nathan went fishing while i spent some time finishing up a book. he then picked me up and wen went on a gator ride. the gator is this 4-wheel drive, 2 passenger lil vehicle that they use here to go from one place to the next. we drove into an 'wooded' area, picked berries and ate them! we also chased a turkey, but he was one turn ahead of us even on the gator.

that evening nathan's older brother and his wife came over with their 5 month-old baby boy. he's one of the most adorable little babies ever.

i've never known so much peace and relaxation. i'm taking it all in and enjoying every moment of it.

pictures coming soon!

the move...

...was almost uneventful. it all began on friday, may 25 at 3:22 a.m. i woke up and after fueling and purchasing the largest coffee available, i drove from lake jackson to dallas to attempt a finish at the packing before my mom and her husband, louis, made it to my apartment later that morning. i made it to dallas shortly after 8 and hurriedly took down the shower curtain and continued the packing.

now understand that my mom had called me the prior week to let me know not to rent a u-haul because louis had a trailer that they believed would fit all of our stuff. now i had never seen this trailer, but they were convinced that with tarps everything would be fine even in the rain.

well, wouldn't you know it?? it rained on and off on friday as we were loading and even driving. nathan wasn't able to get off work to help, but i reassured him that i had the help of some trusty friends. without their help, we wouldn't have been able to get it done. so after 6 or 7 hours of loading and all that fun stuff, we finally pulled away from dallas...still in the rain.



we made it to my aunt's house in northwest oklahoma sometime after midnight. just before going to bed at 2 a.m., i walked out with my uncle to get a couple of things from my jeep. he noticed that my mom had left her inside light on. we noticed that when he went back outside to turn it off, it took him quite a while. when he finally came back in, it turned out that there had almost been a fire in my mom's vehicle. we had stuffed some of the sofa cushions in the back, and one of them had turned on the back, inside light on without her knowledge. it stayed on the entire time that we drove from dallas to fairview, ok. it burned a whole in our sofa cushion, but THANK GOD that was all. things could've been worse.

we finally made it to kansas around 7 on saturday, may 26. i can't begin to say how amazing it was to see my husband after not having seen him for over 8 weeks.

we're settling in now, and i'll have more time to blog about the great kansas adventures...i'm already a country girl...almost...

special thanks go to those who were there helping pack and also load. i can't tell you how much i appreciate you!!!

i miss my friends and fam like crazy, but i'm at peace knowing we're in God's will.

...more to come...