Lines from my Facebook Feed:
1. "You know it's a wicked fart when it wakes people up from a dead sleep."
2. "Lightning is hard to catch."
3. "Somebody please get rid of that chicken fat song."
4. A. "Randy Travis is not Dwight Yoakum."
B. "How do their butts compare?"
5. "I should add we found the empty champagne bottle behind the rock. It's not ours. Or the baby's."
6. "Cry Freedom cry from deep inside where we are all confined ... Hands and feet are all alike but gold between divides, hands and feet are all alike but fear between divides us.... Hear what I say. Hear what I say. Oh. so be It. Oh, there is a way .How can I turn away? Brother, sister go dancing through my head, human as to human. The future is no place to place your better days."
7. "Well, that was fun. An evening of rampant cynicism and righteous indignation. This program brought to you by Five Old Farts, LLC, the guys that gave you Bush as president and took apart everything we've needed to insure equal protection under the law. Tune in next week when we bring you Tacky Shacky Challenges the 19th Amendment, citing religious differences. It's going to be an exciting program! Don't miss it! You kids get to bed now."
8. "23,380 steps today. I'm one tired puppy!"
9. "My dream? To have an openly gay person on the court. Not a "maybe is, rumor has it" but an OUT gay person.
10. "On this day in the year of our Lord 1776, the Second Continental Congress, assembled in Philadelphia, formally adopted Richard Henry Lee's resolution for independence from Great Britain. The vote was unanimous, with only New York abstaining."
11. "I still prefer hot hot hot to cold cold cold! I didn't spend the day shoveling 22 inches of snow!"
12. "Target became the latest in a series of major national chains to deliver a clear message to customers: Leave your guns at home."
13. "The lights on the carnival midway gate have been updated to all-LED. Also brand new for 2014? Tailgating. At the Fair. At the Civic Center."
I did not write any of these lines; these are the things that greet me in the mornings.
Thursday Thirteen is
played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a
while and this is my 351st time to do a list of 13 on a
Thursday.
Thursday, July 03, 2014
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
Books: Search for Love
Search for Love
By Nora Roberts
Performed by Gayle Hendrix
Audio approximately 5.25 hours
Copyright 1991, audio copyright 2009
This book is a romance written nearly 25 years ago. I have been reading later Nora Roberts work and been pleased overall. This book was not disappointing but I did feel like I was reading someone else's work. It doesn't have quite the expertize and command of language of her later writings.
In this story, Serenity Smith, an artist in the DC area, is summoned to Europe by a long-lost grandmother. Upon her arrival, she meets her cousin-by-marriage, the current count of an aristocratic estate.
You know how it goes then. He wants her, she wants him, stuff intervenes, love overcomes, happily ever after.
Easy listening on long drives back and forth to physical therapy. It was also nice to realize that I was right in my earlier thinking that Roberts wrote romances. Some of her later work leaps beyond that category so I was wondering if I was misremembering.
By Nora Roberts
Performed by Gayle Hendrix
Audio approximately 5.25 hours
Copyright 1991, audio copyright 2009
This book is a romance written nearly 25 years ago. I have been reading later Nora Roberts work and been pleased overall. This book was not disappointing but I did feel like I was reading someone else's work. It doesn't have quite the expertize and command of language of her later writings.
In this story, Serenity Smith, an artist in the DC area, is summoned to Europe by a long-lost grandmother. Upon her arrival, she meets her cousin-by-marriage, the current count of an aristocratic estate.
You know how it goes then. He wants her, she wants him, stuff intervenes, love overcomes, happily ever after.
Easy listening on long drives back and forth to physical therapy. It was also nice to realize that I was right in my earlier thinking that Roberts wrote romances. Some of her later work leaps beyond that category so I was wondering if I was misremembering.
Tuesday, July 01, 2014
Monday, June 30, 2014
She Would Have Been 70
My mother's 70th birthday would have happened on June 20. I let the day go by without commenting here on my blog, but I thought about it.
I've thought about it a lot.
My mother died in 2000 at the age of 56 - just five years older than I am now. She had pancreatic cancer. The disease manifested itself when she was 55, and she spent a year fighting it before it before cancer took her.
I was 37 years old when my mother died. Fourteen years have passed and I have grown considerably in the time, not up (maybe out a little) but inwardly.
I think I have forgiven her.
There was a lot to forgive. I needed to forgive her for dying, for getting sick, and for leaving me. But there was also that first 37 years of my life, which were turbulent and less than delightful. I needed to come to terms with all that took place in that long period of time.
My mother did not want to be a mother - certainly she did not want to be an 18-year-old mother, which is how old she was when I was born. I think she wanted to be a wife, but she wasn't ready to be a mother.
Eighteen is young to have a baby. It happens all the time all over the world, and perhaps there are young women that age who are mature and ready to raise a child. My mother was not one of them.
It didn't help that I was a girl. Girls in the early 1960s were not desirable. A boy, now that would have been something, to have had the first-born be the heir apparent, the male child who could inherit the world. He would come along three years later, a helpless squalling red-faced brat. I would die to protect him even today.
Perhaps I was not cast aside as I felt, but I felt it, nevertheless. I don't think it was my imagination, but I allow that perhaps it could have been. Regardless, I grew up feeling unwanted, unnecessary, and unneeded. I was told, frequently, that I was a burden, followed by endless tirades against the stupidity that comes from being a child. It was a helluva way to be raised.
My mother acknowledged a few times that I did not have it easy. She used to say I wasn't raised, I was jerked up. And I think she's right about that. I wasn't given much of a chance to be anything other than an old soul trying to grow into and out of my life long before I even had any idea of what that actually meant.
She loved me as well as she could. I have figured that out in the last 14 years, but it took her dying for me to discover that. My mother did not love me as I needed to be loved - unconditionally and without rancor. She wasn't capable of that with me. I don't know if that is how she loved my brother. You would have to ask him.
Her talents were many - she was crafty, she cooked wonderfully, she made my father a fine house. She threw great parties, she looked after her mother. She helped my father on the farm, she went to aerobics classes, and she took bookkeeping courses at Virginia Western when I was around 12 years old. She worked a 40-hour job for 30 years.
She didn't take me to church but she didn't stand in my way when I asked for a Bible, and she didn't flinch when I questioned things. But she could be mean and spiteful and when it came to her daughter, she was relentlessly difficult and I spent the entire time I knew her trying to understand why she hated me so.
I loved her, of course. She was my mother. I did everything I could possibly think of to please her, and failed every single time. As time passed I came to realize I didn't particularly like her as a person. We had nothing in common, we didn't share similar values (I have no idea where my moral system came from), I disliked her taste in clothes. She passed off love by giving things - material gifts - and I don't recognize that, generally, as a love offering. Material items are not part of my love language though I am trying to do better in seeing it. Materialism is, after all, how many people communicate in this day and age.
Recently I looked my own mortality squarely in the eye. The last year has been a difficult one for me health-wise, and while the doctors didn't think I was dying, I wasn't so sure. It rather felt like it, because I was very sick. I thought a great deal about my mother's cancer diagnosis. Her coming death was a certainty, and she refused to deal with it. She fought it, but she made no amends that I am aware of. I asked her many times over the course of the last year of her life to speak to me, to explain, to tell me what I needed to hear.
She refused. Every time. She would not explain, she would not say she was sorry, and she would not tell me I was loved. She went into her grave without saying the things I desperately wanted to hear.
My aunt told me she said them to her. I will never hear them.
I spent six months of the previous year trying to make sure I left nothing undone. Oh, I'm not going to die now, the doctors were right. But I went to work on the things that mattered most. And that wasn't acquiring more stuff, or making more money. It was being with people I cared about, and working on a broken relationship with my father, and trying to come to grips with my own odd concept of spirituality and what happens to us after we're gone.
And in the process of doing all of that, I realized that sometime in the last fourteen years, I had forgiven my mother.
Forgiving, I think, is one of the hardest things we can do. But it also the most important thing we do. I did not forgive my mother for her - she's not here, after all. I forgave my mother for myself. I think that's really the only reason you can forgive, is to make your own peace.
I learned, too, that time is short. You never know if you will live to be 51, 56 or 70. I might leave here for an appointment in a few minutes and not come back. Grudges are easy; forgiving is hard. I hope I always take the hard road.
With whatever time I have left, I want to always be loving and generous, kind, fun, and courageous. And I hope I have the courage to say "I love you" to the many, many people I would like to say it to.
I've thought about it a lot.
My mother died in 2000 at the age of 56 - just five years older than I am now. She had pancreatic cancer. The disease manifested itself when she was 55, and she spent a year fighting it before it before cancer took her.
I was 37 years old when my mother died. Fourteen years have passed and I have grown considerably in the time, not up (maybe out a little) but inwardly.
I think I have forgiven her.
There was a lot to forgive. I needed to forgive her for dying, for getting sick, and for leaving me. But there was also that first 37 years of my life, which were turbulent and less than delightful. I needed to come to terms with all that took place in that long period of time.
My mother did not want to be a mother - certainly she did not want to be an 18-year-old mother, which is how old she was when I was born. I think she wanted to be a wife, but she wasn't ready to be a mother.
Eighteen is young to have a baby. It happens all the time all over the world, and perhaps there are young women that age who are mature and ready to raise a child. My mother was not one of them.
It didn't help that I was a girl. Girls in the early 1960s were not desirable. A boy, now that would have been something, to have had the first-born be the heir apparent, the male child who could inherit the world. He would come along three years later, a helpless squalling red-faced brat. I would die to protect him even today.
Perhaps I was not cast aside as I felt, but I felt it, nevertheless. I don't think it was my imagination, but I allow that perhaps it could have been. Regardless, I grew up feeling unwanted, unnecessary, and unneeded. I was told, frequently, that I was a burden, followed by endless tirades against the stupidity that comes from being a child. It was a helluva way to be raised.
My mother acknowledged a few times that I did not have it easy. She used to say I wasn't raised, I was jerked up. And I think she's right about that. I wasn't given much of a chance to be anything other than an old soul trying to grow into and out of my life long before I even had any idea of what that actually meant.
She loved me as well as she could. I have figured that out in the last 14 years, but it took her dying for me to discover that. My mother did not love me as I needed to be loved - unconditionally and without rancor. She wasn't capable of that with me. I don't know if that is how she loved my brother. You would have to ask him.
Her talents were many - she was crafty, she cooked wonderfully, she made my father a fine house. She threw great parties, she looked after her mother. She helped my father on the farm, she went to aerobics classes, and she took bookkeeping courses at Virginia Western when I was around 12 years old. She worked a 40-hour job for 30 years.
She didn't take me to church but she didn't stand in my way when I asked for a Bible, and she didn't flinch when I questioned things. But she could be mean and spiteful and when it came to her daughter, she was relentlessly difficult and I spent the entire time I knew her trying to understand why she hated me so.
I loved her, of course. She was my mother. I did everything I could possibly think of to please her, and failed every single time. As time passed I came to realize I didn't particularly like her as a person. We had nothing in common, we didn't share similar values (I have no idea where my moral system came from), I disliked her taste in clothes. She passed off love by giving things - material gifts - and I don't recognize that, generally, as a love offering. Material items are not part of my love language though I am trying to do better in seeing it. Materialism is, after all, how many people communicate in this day and age.
Recently I looked my own mortality squarely in the eye. The last year has been a difficult one for me health-wise, and while the doctors didn't think I was dying, I wasn't so sure. It rather felt like it, because I was very sick. I thought a great deal about my mother's cancer diagnosis. Her coming death was a certainty, and she refused to deal with it. She fought it, but she made no amends that I am aware of. I asked her many times over the course of the last year of her life to speak to me, to explain, to tell me what I needed to hear.
She refused. Every time. She would not explain, she would not say she was sorry, and she would not tell me I was loved. She went into her grave without saying the things I desperately wanted to hear.
My aunt told me she said them to her. I will never hear them.
I spent six months of the previous year trying to make sure I left nothing undone. Oh, I'm not going to die now, the doctors were right. But I went to work on the things that mattered most. And that wasn't acquiring more stuff, or making more money. It was being with people I cared about, and working on a broken relationship with my father, and trying to come to grips with my own odd concept of spirituality and what happens to us after we're gone.
And in the process of doing all of that, I realized that sometime in the last fourteen years, I had forgiven my mother.
Forgiving, I think, is one of the hardest things we can do. But it also the most important thing we do. I did not forgive my mother for her - she's not here, after all. I forgave my mother for myself. I think that's really the only reason you can forgive, is to make your own peace.
I learned, too, that time is short. You never know if you will live to be 51, 56 or 70. I might leave here for an appointment in a few minutes and not come back. Grudges are easy; forgiving is hard. I hope I always take the hard road.
With whatever time I have left, I want to always be loving and generous, kind, fun, and courageous. And I hope I have the courage to say "I love you" to the many, many people I would like to say it to.
My New Friends
With a mystery ailment that the doctors can't figure out or do much about comes interesting attachments that they hope will help.
This is Mr. TENS.
A TENS unit (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) is used for nerve related pain conditions. The machine works by sending electrical pulses across the surface of my skin and into the nerve strands.
It kind of tickles unless I crank it up high. Then it can hurt. It can also cause burns if you're not careful. It's a little bit like being zapped with an electric fence.
The pulses prevent pain signals from reaching the brain. Supposedly, these units also stimulate your body to produce higher levels of endorphins. Endorphins are supposed to help you not feel so much pain.
I attach those funky looking little round pads to my tummy and then push buttons. Note they do not have an easy "belly pain" button as it is not a place one usually requires a TENS unit. I have to manually select what I need.
I'm so special.
My other new friend is this disability placard:
It says I can park in the close parking spaces at the supermarket. Let me tell you, that is not necessarily as helpful as one might think. For one thing, there aren't many cart return racks close to the handicapped spots, so you either have to push the cart to the nearest cart return or haul the cart back across the parking lot to the building. What good is that?
Anyway, these are my new friends. Say hi!
Sunday, June 29, 2014
He Could Fix the Big Mess
From Sunday Stealing
IF YOU COULD:
Q. Travel anywhere, where would it be?
A. Ireland, Scotland, and England.
Q. Meet anyone, who would it be?
A. I have a pen pal I've been corresponding with over the Internet for 14 years; it would be really nice to meet her in person.
Q. Bring anyone dead back to life, who would it be?
A. Jesus, so he could fix the big mess that has been made in his name. I am pretty sure he didn't mean for so many of the so-called Christians to honor the wealthy, demonize the poor, not want their tax money to feed children, do away with education, or eliminate other "entitlements." I think, in fact, he says the opposite - help the poor, give away all you have, etc. Somehow people have the Pharisees mixed up with Christ.
Q. Be anyone for a day, who would it be?
A. I'm pretty content to just stay me, if that's Ok.
Q. Get anything for free for the rest of your life what would it be?
A. Food.
Q. Change one thing about your life what would it be?
A. My health.
Q. Have any superpower what would it be?
A. The ability to see very far into the future (not the near future, but the far future, like 250 years from now). I am curious as to how we turn out.
Q. Be any animal for a day which would you be?
A. A human being.
Q. Date anyone who would it be?
A. It is sad no one comes to mind.
Q. Change one thing about the world what would it be?
A. I would eliminate guns. All of them.
Q. Live in any fictional universe which would you choose?
A. Middle Earth, of course.
Q. Eliminate one of your human needs which would you get rid of?
A. The one that deals with, um, elimination.
Q. Change one thing about your physical appearance what would it be?
A. I'd weigh a lot less.
Q. Change one of your personality traits which would you choose?
A. I'd be a little less quick-tempered.
Q. Be talented at anything instantly what would you choose?
A. Playing the piano.
Q. Forget one event in your life which would you choose?
A. Some things are better left unsaid.
Q. Erase an event from history (make it so it never happened) which would you choose?
A. I think if you change one thing you alter a great many others, and I would not want that power. I think, though, if I must choose, that never having slavery, which means going way way way back in time, might be a good thing to eliminate.
Q. Have any hair/eye/skin color, which would you choose?
A. I'm okay with what I have, though a little less "soft white" might be nice.
Q. Be any weight/body type, which would you choose?
A. I would weigh about 100 pounds less than I do now, and be athletic.
Q. Live in any country/city, where would you choose?
A. I am happy where I am.
Q. Change one law in your country, which would you change?
A. I'd make voting mandatory.
Q. Be any height, which would you choose?
A. I would like to be about five inches taller, so I could utilize the top shelves.
Q. Have any job in the world, which would you choose?
A. Head of a publishing company.
Q. Have anything appear in your pocket right now, what would it be?
A. A leprechaun that could then grant me as many wishes as I wanted.
Q. Have anyone beside you right now, who would it be?
A. My husband. Always.
IF YOU COULD:
Q. Travel anywhere, where would it be?
A. Ireland, Scotland, and England.
Q. Meet anyone, who would it be?
A. I have a pen pal I've been corresponding with over the Internet for 14 years; it would be really nice to meet her in person.
Q. Bring anyone dead back to life, who would it be?
A. Jesus, so he could fix the big mess that has been made in his name. I am pretty sure he didn't mean for so many of the so-called Christians to honor the wealthy, demonize the poor, not want their tax money to feed children, do away with education, or eliminate other "entitlements." I think, in fact, he says the opposite - help the poor, give away all you have, etc. Somehow people have the Pharisees mixed up with Christ.
Q. Be anyone for a day, who would it be?
A. I'm pretty content to just stay me, if that's Ok.
Q. Get anything for free for the rest of your life what would it be?
A. Food.
Q. Change one thing about your life what would it be?
A. My health.
Q. Have any superpower what would it be?
A. The ability to see very far into the future (not the near future, but the far future, like 250 years from now). I am curious as to how we turn out.
Q. Be any animal for a day which would you be?
A. A human being.
Q. Date anyone who would it be?
A. It is sad no one comes to mind.
Q. Change one thing about the world what would it be?
A. I would eliminate guns. All of them.
Q. Live in any fictional universe which would you choose?
A. Middle Earth, of course.
Q. Eliminate one of your human needs which would you get rid of?
A. The one that deals with, um, elimination.
Q. Change one thing about your physical appearance what would it be?
A. I'd weigh a lot less.
Q. Change one of your personality traits which would you choose?
A. I'd be a little less quick-tempered.
Q. Be talented at anything instantly what would you choose?
A. Playing the piano.
Q. Forget one event in your life which would you choose?
A. Some things are better left unsaid.
Q. Erase an event from history (make it so it never happened) which would you choose?
A. I think if you change one thing you alter a great many others, and I would not want that power. I think, though, if I must choose, that never having slavery, which means going way way way back in time, might be a good thing to eliminate.
Q. Have any hair/eye/skin color, which would you choose?
A. I'm okay with what I have, though a little less "soft white" might be nice.
Q. Be any weight/body type, which would you choose?
A. I would weigh about 100 pounds less than I do now, and be athletic.
Q. Live in any country/city, where would you choose?
A. I am happy where I am.
Q. Change one law in your country, which would you change?
A. I'd make voting mandatory.
Q. Be any height, which would you choose?
A. I would like to be about five inches taller, so I could utilize the top shelves.
Q. Have any job in the world, which would you choose?
A. Head of a publishing company.
Q. Have anything appear in your pocket right now, what would it be?
A. A leprechaun that could then grant me as many wishes as I wanted.
Q. Have anyone beside you right now, who would it be?
A. My husband. Always.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Saturday 9: I Feel the Earth Move
Saturday 9: I Feel the Earth Move(recommended by Blue County Magic) (That's me!)
1) This song is from the album Tapestry, one of the all-time best-sellers (more than 25,000,000 copies sold worldwide). Is it in your collection?
A. I have certain songs from it in my Amazon cloud. I also sometimes listen to it on youtube. You can hear the entire album here.
2) It's about that glorious passion you feel when you first fall for someone. How many times have you been in love?
A. I think just once, and it became a 31-year marriage in which I am still involved.
3) San Francisco radio stations briefly removed "I Feel the Earth Move" from their playlists after the 1989 earthquake. Have you ever been in an earthquake and literally felt "the earth move under your feet?"
A. I was disappointed when there was an earthquake here in Virginia on August 23, 2011, and I did not feel it. I was driving down the interstate at the time and missed it completely. However, the thing shook the east coast from New York to North Carolina.
4) Carole King is the first and only woman to win the Gershwin Prize for songwriting from the Library of Congress. Here's your chance to brag a little -- tell us about an accolade you have received.
A. I have won eight Virginia Press Association awards for my writing for newspapers. The very first one was for a write-up I did in the first person of a hot-air balloon ride I took in 1986. Another was for a three-part series I did on the failing government in a nearby county. I also have won for sports writing, which is not my specialty. The others have all been in government reporting or feature writing, which are my specialties. A few months ago, I placed in a local poetry contest.
5) Carole wrote "You've Got a Friend," which was a mega hit for her good pal, James Taylor. King and Taylor have known one another for more than 40 years, but have never been romantically involved. Do you have any platonic friends of the opposite sex?
A. Many of my husband's friends are also my friends. One of his cousins is a fellow I can count on if I must. My editor and I are also friends, though there is that business thing going on, but after working together for nearly 30 years how could you not be friends? And there are many others.
6) Like more than 80% of the population, Carole is right handed. Are you right handed, left handed (10%) or that most rare of all, ambidextrous (less than 10%)?
A. I am right handed.
7) One of Carole King's earliest hits was Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion." Little Eva was the teenager King hired to care for her young children. Tell us about a sitter who cared for you when you were little.
A. My grandmother was the babysitter I was with most often. She also had two young boys at home still, including one who was a year younger than I (and he was the youngest of six children; my mother was her firstborn). The other boy was four years older than I was, and then my brother came along, and he is three years younger than I am. So she had her hands full but she took good care of us. When we needed some extra loving, she would pull us into her lap and rock us in her rocking chair, all the while singing, "Daisy, daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half crazy, all for the love of you."
8) Beautiful is the title of the Broadway play about Carole King's life. If we were producing your lifestory, what would you want us to call it?
A. Strong Enough.
9) Carole wrote "Pleasant Valley Sunday," the Monkees' song about conspicuous consumption. When Crazy Sam looks at her crowded shelf of hair products (paraben-free conditioner, keratin-restoring conditioner, hair masque, hot oil conditioner …), she realizes she's guilty of it herself. Have you bought anything recently that you later decided was a waste of money?
A. I have far too many magazine subscriptions. I am trying to either convert them to digital (which is harder than you'd think it would be, especially since many of these were gifts) or let them lapse. The only ones I really want to keep are O!, Writer's Digest, and Reader's Digest. But I also receive the print editions of Redbook, Woman's Day, Taste of Home, Better Homes & Gardens, Progressive Farmer, Onsite Septic Tank Installer (those last two are my husbands, but still), and a few others. They really pile up and I am tired of having to recycle them.
1) This song is from the album Tapestry, one of the all-time best-sellers (more than 25,000,000 copies sold worldwide). Is it in your collection?
A. I have certain songs from it in my Amazon cloud. I also sometimes listen to it on youtube. You can hear the entire album here.
2) It's about that glorious passion you feel when you first fall for someone. How many times have you been in love?
A. I think just once, and it became a 31-year marriage in which I am still involved.
3) San Francisco radio stations briefly removed "I Feel the Earth Move" from their playlists after the 1989 earthquake. Have you ever been in an earthquake and literally felt "the earth move under your feet?"
A. I was disappointed when there was an earthquake here in Virginia on August 23, 2011, and I did not feel it. I was driving down the interstate at the time and missed it completely. However, the thing shook the east coast from New York to North Carolina.
4) Carole King is the first and only woman to win the Gershwin Prize for songwriting from the Library of Congress. Here's your chance to brag a little -- tell us about an accolade you have received.
A. I have won eight Virginia Press Association awards for my writing for newspapers. The very first one was for a write-up I did in the first person of a hot-air balloon ride I took in 1986. Another was for a three-part series I did on the failing government in a nearby county. I also have won for sports writing, which is not my specialty. The others have all been in government reporting or feature writing, which are my specialties. A few months ago, I placed in a local poetry contest.
5) Carole wrote "You've Got a Friend," which was a mega hit for her good pal, James Taylor. King and Taylor have known one another for more than 40 years, but have never been romantically involved. Do you have any platonic friends of the opposite sex?
A. Many of my husband's friends are also my friends. One of his cousins is a fellow I can count on if I must. My editor and I are also friends, though there is that business thing going on, but after working together for nearly 30 years how could you not be friends? And there are many others.
6) Like more than 80% of the population, Carole is right handed. Are you right handed, left handed (10%) or that most rare of all, ambidextrous (less than 10%)?
A. I am right handed.
7) One of Carole King's earliest hits was Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion." Little Eva was the teenager King hired to care for her young children. Tell us about a sitter who cared for you when you were little.
A. My grandmother was the babysitter I was with most often. She also had two young boys at home still, including one who was a year younger than I (and he was the youngest of six children; my mother was her firstborn). The other boy was four years older than I was, and then my brother came along, and he is three years younger than I am. So she had her hands full but she took good care of us. When we needed some extra loving, she would pull us into her lap and rock us in her rocking chair, all the while singing, "Daisy, daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half crazy, all for the love of you."
8) Beautiful is the title of the Broadway play about Carole King's life. If we were producing your lifestory, what would you want us to call it?
A. Strong Enough.
9) Carole wrote "Pleasant Valley Sunday," the Monkees' song about conspicuous consumption. When Crazy Sam looks at her crowded shelf of hair products (paraben-free conditioner, keratin-restoring conditioner, hair masque, hot oil conditioner …), she realizes she's guilty of it herself. Have you bought anything recently that you later decided was a waste of money?
A. I have far too many magazine subscriptions. I am trying to either convert them to digital (which is harder than you'd think it would be, especially since many of these were gifts) or let them lapse. The only ones I really want to keep are O!, Writer's Digest, and Reader's Digest. But I also receive the print editions of Redbook, Woman's Day, Taste of Home, Better Homes & Gardens, Progressive Farmer, Onsite Septic Tank Installer (those last two are my husbands, but still), and a few others. They really pile up and I am tired of having to recycle them.
Friday, June 27, 2014
Farmer 0, Tractor 1
Or maybe it was the creek that won this round?
Not my farmer nor my tractor, but a neighbor's. Oops.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Thursday Thirteen #350
1. In 1976, I saw a movie called The Other Side of the Mountain. In one scene, the heroine, who had been paralyzed in a skiing accident, showed her boyfriend/fiancé that she could now retrieve a potato chip from a bowl. The boyfriend stood up, incredulous. "Aren't you going to walk again?" he asked. And when she did not answer, he fled, never to return. That scene has stuck with me all of these years.
2. My favorite scene in Dirty Dancing is the one where Baby is practicing her footwork on the bridge, and we get to watch her progress from being stilted and stiff to free and loose. It helps that she is dancing to the song Wipe Out.
3. In the movie Under the Tuscan Sun, my favorite scene is at the end, when the Italian salesman tells the heroine that she has all she had asked for, it just wasn't in the form she expected.
4. When the heroine in Flash Dance does her thing in front of all the judges, and one of the judges claps for her and looks enthused, I break out in a big grin every time.
5. I always cry when the mother deer dies in Disney's Bambi.
6. Forrest Gump always tears me up when his girl Jenny goes back to her old house and begins throwing rocks at it. Later Forrest Gump tells her, while she is cold in the grave, that he bought the property and had the house torn down.
7. One of my husband's favorite movies is The Replacements, starring Kenea Reeves. My favorite scene in the movie is when the whole ball team is in jail and they start singing and dancing to I Will Survive.
8. I always cry near the end of Return of the King when King Aragorn sees the Hobbits bowing to him. He bends down and says, "My friends, you bow to no one," and then he and everyone else bows before the Hobbits. Sheesh, makes me cry just to write it out!
9. In The Fellowship of the Ring, when the ring wraiths first appear and one of them sniffs at Frodo and his friends as they hide beneath a stump, I always jump and am surprised. I've seen the movie at least 10 times.
10. In The Two Towers (yes, I am a Tolkien fan, sorry), I always tear up when the elves march into the Keep, coming with their bows and arrows to help the men battle the orcs.
11. The movie Red Dawn, the one with Patrick Swayze, not the remake, made a big impression on me because I was young when I first saw it. The scene I best remember is the one where the boys watch from a distance as members of their families are executed. It was shocking at the time.
12. The movie Secretariat stays with me because of the tenacity of Penny, the horse owner, and her strong desire to win The Triple Crown. She believes in the horse and in her self. I admire that.
13. The movie SSSS was released in the early 1970s. When I stayed at my grandparents house, I would get up after they went to bed and watch it on the late show. The movie was about an evil scientist who turned a man into a king cobra snake. In the last scene as I remember it, the transformation is complete and the cobra's brother arrives in time to see the snake in a deadly fight with a mongoose.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 350th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
2. My favorite scene in Dirty Dancing is the one where Baby is practicing her footwork on the bridge, and we get to watch her progress from being stilted and stiff to free and loose. It helps that she is dancing to the song Wipe Out.
3. In the movie Under the Tuscan Sun, my favorite scene is at the end, when the Italian salesman tells the heroine that she has all she had asked for, it just wasn't in the form she expected.
4. When the heroine in Flash Dance does her thing in front of all the judges, and one of the judges claps for her and looks enthused, I break out in a big grin every time.
5. I always cry when the mother deer dies in Disney's Bambi.
6. Forrest Gump always tears me up when his girl Jenny goes back to her old house and begins throwing rocks at it. Later Forrest Gump tells her, while she is cold in the grave, that he bought the property and had the house torn down.
7. One of my husband's favorite movies is The Replacements, starring Kenea Reeves. My favorite scene in the movie is when the whole ball team is in jail and they start singing and dancing to I Will Survive.
8. I always cry near the end of Return of the King when King Aragorn sees the Hobbits bowing to him. He bends down and says, "My friends, you bow to no one," and then he and everyone else bows before the Hobbits. Sheesh, makes me cry just to write it out!
9. In The Fellowship of the Ring, when the ring wraiths first appear and one of them sniffs at Frodo and his friends as they hide beneath a stump, I always jump and am surprised. I've seen the movie at least 10 times.
10. In The Two Towers (yes, I am a Tolkien fan, sorry), I always tear up when the elves march into the Keep, coming with their bows and arrows to help the men battle the orcs.
11. The movie Red Dawn, the one with Patrick Swayze, not the remake, made a big impression on me because I was young when I first saw it. The scene I best remember is the one where the boys watch from a distance as members of their families are executed. It was shocking at the time.
12. The movie Secretariat stays with me because of the tenacity of Penny, the horse owner, and her strong desire to win The Triple Crown. She believes in the horse and in her self. I admire that.
13. The movie SSSS was released in the early 1970s. When I stayed at my grandparents house, I would get up after they went to bed and watch it on the late show. The movie was about an evil scientist who turned a man into a king cobra snake. In the last scene as I remember it, the transformation is complete and the cobra's brother arrives in time to see the snake in a deadly fight with a mongoose.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 350th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Strange Visitors
Sunday I received a phone call from a neighbor that there were pelicans on the pond.
He wasn't kidding! There is a huge flock of about 20 down there. We've never had pelicans on the farm before.
I have no idea what they are doing here.
Strange happenings.
Monday, June 23, 2014
Sunset on Friday, June 13, 2014
There is nothing is more musical than a sunset. He who feels what he sees will find no more beautiful example of development in all that book which, alas, musicians read but too little - the book of Nature. -- Claude Debussy
Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better. -- Henry Rollins
Sunday, June 22, 2014
That Probably Doesn't Count
From Sunday Stealing
90 Questions, Part 3
61. Do you like current pop stars?
A. I am not sure who the current pop stars are, but there are probably a few out there I know and like.
62. What is your least favorite chore?
A. Cleaning the toilet.
63. Last place you drove your car?
A. To physical therapy.
64. Ever been out of the country?
A. Yes. I have been to Spain and France and I think there was a plane layover in England, but that probably doesn't count as a visit to a country. It was 35 years ago.
65. Where were you the last time you used a public bathroom?
A. At my favorite restaurant.
66. Could you handle being in the military?
A. Not at this age and with my health. Maybe when I was 18.
67. What is your average cell phone bill?
A. It's about $65. We don't text, we don't download, we use the things for talking on.
68. Who or what are you thinking about right now?
A. Right now I'm thinking about answering these questions.
69. When was the last time you laughed REALLY hard?
A. I laugh a lot and have a wicked sense of sarcastic humor that keeps my friends in stitches.
70. How many pairs of shoes do you own?
A. I have no clue. I have about 5 pair that I wear, the others are just sort of there. They probably need to be donated. I have problems with my feet and that requires replacing my shoes about every six months.
71. Are your toes always painted?
A. Never. I'm allergic to nail polish.
72. How many piercings do you have?
A. Just one in each ear.
73. What are you doing today?
My plan is to eat breakfast, read the Sunday paper, do a little sprucing up around the house, and then read an exciting book about how to eat properly following the FODMAP diet for IBS. Doesn't that sound interesting?
74. Have you ever been gambling?
A. Does playing the state lottery count? If yes, then I have. If you mean in a casino with slot machines, the answer is no. But I would like to.
75. When is the last time you updated your blog?
A. I blog every day.
76. Do you like roller coasters?
A. No.
77. Have you ever been to Disneyland or world?
A. I have been to Disney in Florida. I can never keep it straight whether that's a land or a world, but whichever it is, I was there in 1993.
78. Do you have a favorite cartoon character?
A. Captain Planet and Bugs Bunny are tied.
79. Last thing you cooked?
A. Eggs.
80. How's the weather?
A. We have a lovely morning with azure blue skies and a few fluffy white clouds overhead. The mountains look green and strong, as well as clean from last night's rain shower. A thin veil of fog rises up in the valleys from the creeks, so be careful out there, all of you early-rising motorcycle riders.
81. Do you e-mail more than snail mail?
A. Yes. In this day and age, who doesn't?
82. What's the funniest picture you ever took with your cell phone?
A. The only pictures I have taken with my cell phone were of my old car before we traded it in. It was the only thing I had to take photos with and I wanted a picture before she was gone.
83. Last time you were sick?
A. Sick as in with a cold or flu or something? That would be back in late winter. Sick as in "ya gots sometin' wrong wit ya and the docs don't know what it be" - that's now.
84. What states have you lived in?
A. Just Virginia.
85. Do you wish you could move?
A. No. Though I would seriously like to declutter.
86. Do you take a lot of quizzes?
A. I go through spurts.
87. What is your dream car?
A. I am happy with the one I have now, thank you. My husband, however, would like a red Lamborghini.
88. Have you ever wanted someone you can't have?
A. I suppose we all think about things that might have been or could have been.
89. If you could be anywhere right now where would it be?
A. I'm fine right were I am.
90. Are you happy with your life?
A. I am not miserable. I wish my health were better but other than that, I'm content.
90 Questions, Part 3
61. Do you like current pop stars?
A. I am not sure who the current pop stars are, but there are probably a few out there I know and like.
62. What is your least favorite chore?
A. Cleaning the toilet.
63. Last place you drove your car?
A. To physical therapy.
64. Ever been out of the country?
A. Yes. I have been to Spain and France and I think there was a plane layover in England, but that probably doesn't count as a visit to a country. It was 35 years ago.
65. Where were you the last time you used a public bathroom?
A. At my favorite restaurant.
66. Could you handle being in the military?
A. Not at this age and with my health. Maybe when I was 18.
67. What is your average cell phone bill?
A. It's about $65. We don't text, we don't download, we use the things for talking on.
68. Who or what are you thinking about right now?
A. Right now I'm thinking about answering these questions.
69. When was the last time you laughed REALLY hard?
A. I laugh a lot and have a wicked sense of sarcastic humor that keeps my friends in stitches.
70. How many pairs of shoes do you own?
A. I have no clue. I have about 5 pair that I wear, the others are just sort of there. They probably need to be donated. I have problems with my feet and that requires replacing my shoes about every six months.
71. Are your toes always painted?
A. Never. I'm allergic to nail polish.
72. How many piercings do you have?
A. Just one in each ear.
73. What are you doing today?
My plan is to eat breakfast, read the Sunday paper, do a little sprucing up around the house, and then read an exciting book about how to eat properly following the FODMAP diet for IBS. Doesn't that sound interesting?
74. Have you ever been gambling?
A. Does playing the state lottery count? If yes, then I have. If you mean in a casino with slot machines, the answer is no. But I would like to.
75. When is the last time you updated your blog?
A. I blog every day.
76. Do you like roller coasters?
A. No.
77. Have you ever been to Disneyland or world?
A. I have been to Disney in Florida. I can never keep it straight whether that's a land or a world, but whichever it is, I was there in 1993.
78. Do you have a favorite cartoon character?
A. Captain Planet and Bugs Bunny are tied.
79. Last thing you cooked?
A. Eggs.
80. How's the weather?
A. We have a lovely morning with azure blue skies and a few fluffy white clouds overhead. The mountains look green and strong, as well as clean from last night's rain shower. A thin veil of fog rises up in the valleys from the creeks, so be careful out there, all of you early-rising motorcycle riders.
81. Do you e-mail more than snail mail?
A. Yes. In this day and age, who doesn't?
82. What's the funniest picture you ever took with your cell phone?
A. The only pictures I have taken with my cell phone were of my old car before we traded it in. It was the only thing I had to take photos with and I wanted a picture before she was gone.
83. Last time you were sick?
A. Sick as in with a cold or flu or something? That would be back in late winter. Sick as in "ya gots sometin' wrong wit ya and the docs don't know what it be" - that's now.
84. What states have you lived in?
A. Just Virginia.
85. Do you wish you could move?
A. No. Though I would seriously like to declutter.
86. Do you take a lot of quizzes?
A. I go through spurts.
87. What is your dream car?
A. I am happy with the one I have now, thank you. My husband, however, would like a red Lamborghini.
88. Have you ever wanted someone you can't have?
A. I suppose we all think about things that might have been or could have been.
89. If you could be anywhere right now where would it be?
A. I'm fine right were I am.
90. Are you happy with your life?
A. I am not miserable. I wish my health were better but other than that, I'm content.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
I Listen to the Radio
Saturday 9: Little Red Corvette
(recommended by Smellyann)
No link this week. Prince apparently is very strict about copyright infringement.
1) The subject of this song is frankly sexual. Do you blush easily?
A. Not as easily as I used to.
2) Prince is his real name (Prince Rogers, to be exact). Growing up, his relatives called him "Skipper." Do you have any nicknames within your family?
A. I do, but if I wrote them out, I'd have to kill all of my readers.
3) Prince says he's "obsessed" with Mozart and reads whatever he can find about the composer. What's the last book you read?
A. Heal Pelvic Pain, by Amy Stein. Not very thrilling, is it. I reviewed it here earlier this week.
4) Between Prince and The Beach Boys, the Corvette is a much sung-about car. Tell us about your vehicle.
5) In the 1980s, when Prince was popular, MTV could turn a song into a hit. In 2014, how do you hear new music?
A. I listen to the radio. How's that for old fashioned?
6) In 1982, when "Little Red Corvette" ruled the airwaves, Braniff Airways shocked the travel industry and threw passengers into chaos by declaring bankruptcy. When did you last fly? Did your trip go smoothly?
7) 1982 is also the year Disney opened Epcot. Have you ever been to a Disney park?
A. Yes, see above. In 1993. We were only there for four days which wasn't long enough, but we had a good time.
8) 1982 is the year Cheers premiered. The sitcom was set in a bar where "everybody knows your name." Tell us about your favorite local bar or restaurant.
A. My favorite local restaurant is Shakers, which is in Roanoke near the mall shopping area. They have great baked spaghetti, good sandwiches, and a nice dinner menu. They play 1970s and 1980s music and I feel very comfortable there. I also appreciate that it is not a major chain, so I feel like I'm helping out my community when I eat there.
9) The 1980s were considered a highpoint in professional tennis, with Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe dominating the sport. Do you play tennis?
A. Only on the Wii.
(recommended by Smellyann)
No link this week. Prince apparently is very strict about copyright infringement.
1) The subject of this song is frankly sexual. Do you blush easily?
A. Not as easily as I used to.
2) Prince is his real name (Prince Rogers, to be exact). Growing up, his relatives called him "Skipper." Do you have any nicknames within your family?
A. I do, but if I wrote them out, I'd have to kill all of my readers.
3) Prince says he's "obsessed" with Mozart and reads whatever he can find about the composer. What's the last book you read?
A. Heal Pelvic Pain, by Amy Stein. Not very thrilling, is it. I reviewed it here earlier this week.
4) Between Prince and The Beach Boys, the Corvette is a much sung-about car. Tell us about your vehicle.
A. Happy to. I have a brand new 2014 Toyota Camry SE that I purchased in April. It is white with a black and gray interior. It doesn't have quite as much upfront storage as my 2003 Camry but I am adjusting. It has a backup camera and lots of places for connecting computerized gadgets and smart phones. Which would be great except I don't have a smart phone. Maybe one day.
5) In the 1980s, when Prince was popular, MTV could turn a song into a hit. In 2014, how do you hear new music?
A. I listen to the radio. How's that for old fashioned?
6) In 1982, when "Little Red Corvette" ruled the airwaves, Braniff Airways shocked the travel industry and threw passengers into chaos by declaring bankruptcy. When did you last fly? Did your trip go smoothly?
A. I last flew in 1993. My father gave my husband and me a free plane trip to Florida to Disney World as a combined gift for my college graduation and 30th birthday. He gave us his frequent flyer miles. The trip was fine. Obviously I am not a frequent flyer. I doubt I ever get back on a plane. That's okay with me.
7) 1982 is also the year Disney opened Epcot. Have you ever been to a Disney park?
A. Yes, see above. In 1993. We were only there for four days which wasn't long enough, but we had a good time.
8) 1982 is the year Cheers premiered. The sitcom was set in a bar where "everybody knows your name." Tell us about your favorite local bar or restaurant.
A. My favorite local restaurant is Shakers, which is in Roanoke near the mall shopping area. They have great baked spaghetti, good sandwiches, and a nice dinner menu. They play 1970s and 1980s music and I feel very comfortable there. I also appreciate that it is not a major chain, so I feel like I'm helping out my community when I eat there.
9) The 1980s were considered a highpoint in professional tennis, with Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe dominating the sport. Do you play tennis?
A. Only on the Wii.
Friday, June 20, 2014
Friday the 13th Honey Moon
This is actually the moon set on Saturday, June 14, but that doesn't sound as interesting as the title. I took these early as the moon was going down. Apparently it will be decades before there is another full moon on a Friday the 13th.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Thursday Thirteen
I am overweight. This is my own fault for not paying attention and for lacking the will power to say no to a chocolate bar. I am owning this. But getting the fat off is something else again. It's especially difficult now that I'm dealing with this weird abdominal issue. A 30-minute visit to Barnes & Noble does me in, so exercise, aside from the physical therapy I'm doing, is not feasible right now. Because I'm not well, I'm not getting out as much. So I'm alone a lot more than I used to be, and I think that makes the bad stuff look even more appealing.
Plus I have ulcers, and that means no 'maters or spicy foods. I've been looking at diets. Diets confuse me and always have. They are like some sort of math only written in alien language. I simply can't figure out why if I eat a pound of fudge I gain more than a pound. I mean, the fudge just weighs a pound, right?
My problem with weight loss books is they go into all of this detail about why their diet works better than others, blah blah. I don't care. I just want a month's worth of foods spelled out for me, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks, that I can live with, that are healthy and filling, that are fairly easy to fix, and don't cost a fortune. Apparently no one can offer that.
Anyway, here is a list of diets that I've tried or looked at or read books on. I hope I can come up with 13.
1. FODMAP diet. This is my latest one. My gastroenterologist handed me a piece of paper several weeks ago with this word on it, FODMAP, and a list of foods you could eat and a list you couldn't. Here, do this, he said, though you won't be able to stick to it. That was incredibly unhelpful. I've done a little looking online but still couldn't figure it out. I ordered a book. It just came yesterday. I will be reading it this weekend.
2. Atkins diet. My husband likes this one. He did it about 10 years ago now and lost a lot of weight, all of which he gained back once he stopped the diet. That's the trouble with diets. You gain it all back plus 10. I lost weight on Atkins, too, but also got very depressed. I need some carbs.
3. South Beach Diet. I tried this one some years ago, but it had too many foods on it that I couldn't eat. I have a lot of food sensitivities and I think this diet had most of them in it.
4. Weight Watchers. I have done Weight Watchers online a couple of times and in the first several months, I lose weight, but then Thanksgiving comes and that's the end of that. My issue with WW is that it doesn't teach you anything at all about healthy eating, really. I mean, if you want to eat 28 points in chocolate (which would be about 4.5 candy bars, btw) and call it a day, you can do that. And that's not healthy.
5. The Scarsdale Diet. This is an old one. My husband used it 35 years ago when he finished high school. He's always had a little trouble keeping his weight in check, and right before I met him, he went on this diet and he was fine looking, let me tell you. :-)It's a lot like Atkins. Eliminate the carbs.
6. Jorge Cruise. I had never heard of this guy until someone who had just started his diet recommended him. "Oh, I've lost 9 pounds in a week," said the skinny friend who probably didn't need to lose that much anyway. I found his book online for $1.99 so I downloaded it. It's low carb. But it's on my kindle and I have discovered I can't manipulate that like a book. Still might try this one if I can figure out how to get the diet onto a piece of paper. However, above-mentioned friend confided a few weeks later that she and her husband had found it impossible to stick to the plan.
7. The Schwarzbein Principle. This is one of the best diet books I've ever read, even if I couldn't stick to the program or figure it out. I did understand this one more than most. Maybe after I finish the FODMAP book I'll go back and reread this one.
8. The Dash Diet. The Dash Diet is supposed to help with high blood pressure. I don't know if it works because again, I couldn't really get my head around it. This is supposed to be one of the better diets.
9. The Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program. I have already admitted I'm a sugar-holic, so this seemed like a good idea when I read the book. The most interesting premise was that you needed to eat a high carb like a potato before you went to bed. I actually tried that for a while. I had the craziest nightmares. You ain't had a nightmare until you've had a potato-driven one.
10. Eat Carbs, Lose Weight. This is diet book by Denise Austin. It seemed pretty good.
11. The Writing Diet, by Julia Cameron. Yes, really! A diet for writers. Good advice in here, but no menus. This is more about self-care and mindset, and I need to reread this but I see my copy has gotten musty. I should stick in the freezer a while, ha, to get the musty smell gone. The best thing I took from this book was her acronym of HALT: Don't get too Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired.
Hmm. I've run out of diet books. I only had 11. So here are two diets I've heard of but never tried:
12. Simply Weight Loss. I hear ads for this on my local radio station all the time, and have for years. It must work for somebody. It's herbs and supplements.
13. Jenny Craig, Nutrisystems. We've all seen the commercials. I've never tried either of these because they seem to rely too much on prepared foods, which have a lot of salt in them. My aunt has attempted Nutrisystems and I looked at the labels - way too much sodium for my high blood pressure. But anyway, there they are.
What diets have you tried? Any tips for the chocoholic who is trying to quit?
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 349th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
Plus I have ulcers, and that means no 'maters or spicy foods. I've been looking at diets. Diets confuse me and always have. They are like some sort of math only written in alien language. I simply can't figure out why if I eat a pound of fudge I gain more than a pound. I mean, the fudge just weighs a pound, right?
My problem with weight loss books is they go into all of this detail about why their diet works better than others, blah blah. I don't care. I just want a month's worth of foods spelled out for me, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks, that I can live with, that are healthy and filling, that are fairly easy to fix, and don't cost a fortune. Apparently no one can offer that.
Anyway, here is a list of diets that I've tried or looked at or read books on. I hope I can come up with 13.
1. FODMAP diet. This is my latest one. My gastroenterologist handed me a piece of paper several weeks ago with this word on it, FODMAP, and a list of foods you could eat and a list you couldn't. Here, do this, he said, though you won't be able to stick to it. That was incredibly unhelpful. I've done a little looking online but still couldn't figure it out. I ordered a book. It just came yesterday. I will be reading it this weekend.
2. Atkins diet. My husband likes this one. He did it about 10 years ago now and lost a lot of weight, all of which he gained back once he stopped the diet. That's the trouble with diets. You gain it all back plus 10. I lost weight on Atkins, too, but also got very depressed. I need some carbs.
3. South Beach Diet. I tried this one some years ago, but it had too many foods on it that I couldn't eat. I have a lot of food sensitivities and I think this diet had most of them in it.
4. Weight Watchers. I have done Weight Watchers online a couple of times and in the first several months, I lose weight, but then Thanksgiving comes and that's the end of that. My issue with WW is that it doesn't teach you anything at all about healthy eating, really. I mean, if you want to eat 28 points in chocolate (which would be about 4.5 candy bars, btw) and call it a day, you can do that. And that's not healthy.
5. The Scarsdale Diet. This is an old one. My husband used it 35 years ago when he finished high school. He's always had a little trouble keeping his weight in check, and right before I met him, he went on this diet and he was fine looking, let me tell you. :-)It's a lot like Atkins. Eliminate the carbs.
6. Jorge Cruise. I had never heard of this guy until someone who had just started his diet recommended him. "Oh, I've lost 9 pounds in a week," said the skinny friend who probably didn't need to lose that much anyway. I found his book online for $1.99 so I downloaded it. It's low carb. But it's on my kindle and I have discovered I can't manipulate that like a book. Still might try this one if I can figure out how to get the diet onto a piece of paper. However, above-mentioned friend confided a few weeks later that she and her husband had found it impossible to stick to the plan.
7. The Schwarzbein Principle. This is one of the best diet books I've ever read, even if I couldn't stick to the program or figure it out. I did understand this one more than most. Maybe after I finish the FODMAP book I'll go back and reread this one.
8. The Dash Diet. The Dash Diet is supposed to help with high blood pressure. I don't know if it works because again, I couldn't really get my head around it. This is supposed to be one of the better diets.
9. The Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program. I have already admitted I'm a sugar-holic, so this seemed like a good idea when I read the book. The most interesting premise was that you needed to eat a high carb like a potato before you went to bed. I actually tried that for a while. I had the craziest nightmares. You ain't had a nightmare until you've had a potato-driven one.
10. Eat Carbs, Lose Weight. This is diet book by Denise Austin. It seemed pretty good.
11. The Writing Diet, by Julia Cameron. Yes, really! A diet for writers. Good advice in here, but no menus. This is more about self-care and mindset, and I need to reread this but I see my copy has gotten musty. I should stick in the freezer a while, ha, to get the musty smell gone. The best thing I took from this book was her acronym of HALT: Don't get too Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired.
Hmm. I've run out of diet books. I only had 11. So here are two diets I've heard of but never tried:
12. Simply Weight Loss. I hear ads for this on my local radio station all the time, and have for years. It must work for somebody. It's herbs and supplements.
13. Jenny Craig, Nutrisystems. We've all seen the commercials. I've never tried either of these because they seem to rely too much on prepared foods, which have a lot of salt in them. My aunt has attempted Nutrisystems and I looked at the labels - way too much sodium for my high blood pressure. But anyway, there they are.
What diets have you tried? Any tips for the chocoholic who is trying to quit?
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 349th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Books: Heal Pelvic Pain
Heal Pelvic Pain
By Amy Stein
Kindle Edition
256 Pages
Copyright 2008
As regular readers know, I have been experiencing chronic abdominal pain since my gallbladder surgery a year ago. The local doctors so far haven't been much help, but it appears I have adhesions or scar tissue and it has affected the muscles in something called the pelvic floor. This is a group of muscles, fascia, and tissue in the area below the belly button ending at the legs. Problems down there are called pelvic floor dysfunction. Apparently about 10 million people have pelvic floor issues but they are often treated as other things. Misdiagnosis is common, from what I can gather.
This book was written by a physical therapist for pelvic floor dysfunction. It offers massage techniques, stretching and strengthening exercises, and general overall health advice for those who might benefit from some attention to that particular body area.
As I am already undergoing physical therapy for my abdominal pain and have been for about 8 weeks now, I was familiar with some of the techniques and was actually pleased (and relieved) to see that they were being used on me.
I wish I had not bought the Kindle version of this book but instead had gone for the hard copy. I have learned recently that nonfiction books are probably better for me than the tree-killing versions. I like to go back and reference and in this book in particular, I would have liked to photocopy a page or two of the exercises to take to my physical therapist. As it was, I tried to show her the exercises as they appeared on my Kindle but that didn't work so well. The Kindle also divides the pages funny and I have found that makes it difficult to consult while trying to do the exercises or massage.
The author emphasizes the need for stress relief and that is something my physical therapist has been emphasizing with me, as well. The author talks a little about diet but I felt that was lacking in detail. However, there are many other books about diet out there.
The exercises in this book would help anyone with just general health concerns, I think, but in particular women with bladder issues, bowel issues, or sexual dysfunction might be interested in taking a look. I think the massage techniques in particular could be helpful to the millions who suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Additionally, Stein has just released a video demonstrating the massage techniques and exercises. The video is called Healing Pelvic and Abdominal Pain: The Ultimate Home Program for Patients and a Guide for Practitioners.
I bought the video and have watched some of it. So far I have found it helpful, but I think it might serve physical therapists as a guide more so than patients. However, that judgment might be premature as I haven't watched the entire thing. As an example, she uses some tools such as a massage stick and a massage ball. I use a tennis ball for a massage ball, but I had never even heard of a massage stick. So some kind of discussion about equipment might have been helpful. Also, I am hoping there is a routine in there somewhere that one can follow, like I would do with a Denise Austin video. We shall see. Please be aware I'm still watching the video so these comments could change.
I definitely recommend the book (do get the paperback) if you have any issues that seem related to pelvic floor or the abdomen. It is especially good if you are new to these concerns. Even if this is not what is causing my pain, I think the exercises are helpful.
By Amy Stein
Kindle Edition
256 Pages
Copyright 2008
As regular readers know, I have been experiencing chronic abdominal pain since my gallbladder surgery a year ago. The local doctors so far haven't been much help, but it appears I have adhesions or scar tissue and it has affected the muscles in something called the pelvic floor. This is a group of muscles, fascia, and tissue in the area below the belly button ending at the legs. Problems down there are called pelvic floor dysfunction. Apparently about 10 million people have pelvic floor issues but they are often treated as other things. Misdiagnosis is common, from what I can gather.
This book was written by a physical therapist for pelvic floor dysfunction. It offers massage techniques, stretching and strengthening exercises, and general overall health advice for those who might benefit from some attention to that particular body area.
As I am already undergoing physical therapy for my abdominal pain and have been for about 8 weeks now, I was familiar with some of the techniques and was actually pleased (and relieved) to see that they were being used on me.
I wish I had not bought the Kindle version of this book but instead had gone for the hard copy. I have learned recently that nonfiction books are probably better for me than the tree-killing versions. I like to go back and reference and in this book in particular, I would have liked to photocopy a page or two of the exercises to take to my physical therapist. As it was, I tried to show her the exercises as they appeared on my Kindle but that didn't work so well. The Kindle also divides the pages funny and I have found that makes it difficult to consult while trying to do the exercises or massage.
The author emphasizes the need for stress relief and that is something my physical therapist has been emphasizing with me, as well. The author talks a little about diet but I felt that was lacking in detail. However, there are many other books about diet out there.
The exercises in this book would help anyone with just general health concerns, I think, but in particular women with bladder issues, bowel issues, or sexual dysfunction might be interested in taking a look. I think the massage techniques in particular could be helpful to the millions who suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Additionally, Stein has just released a video demonstrating the massage techniques and exercises. The video is called Healing Pelvic and Abdominal Pain: The Ultimate Home Program for Patients and a Guide for Practitioners.
I bought the video and have watched some of it. So far I have found it helpful, but I think it might serve physical therapists as a guide more so than patients. However, that judgment might be premature as I haven't watched the entire thing. As an example, she uses some tools such as a massage stick and a massage ball. I use a tennis ball for a massage ball, but I had never even heard of a massage stick. So some kind of discussion about equipment might have been helpful. Also, I am hoping there is a routine in there somewhere that one can follow, like I would do with a Denise Austin video. We shall see. Please be aware I'm still watching the video so these comments could change.
I definitely recommend the book (do get the paperback) if you have any issues that seem related to pelvic floor or the abdomen. It is especially good if you are new to these concerns. Even if this is not what is causing my pain, I think the exercises are helpful.
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