Oprah's Health Wizard, Dr. Oz Tells You To Take The H1N1 Vaccine - But His Kids Aint Even Taking It

Listen carefully here. This man obviously has a vested interest in promoting this vaccine.

new years's musings

Today I went and bought myself a plant. A nice trailing plant, which I put in my bathroom on the edge of the tub. A humble little guy, who despite it's meager origins, has cheered me immensely on this cold, dark winter day. Maybe this sounds neurotic, but I have gone into the bathroom several times, under various pretenses, just to check on my plant. A living plant inside, while everything outside sleeps.

This quiet time has been restorative, yet I am now finding myself in a strange duality of fully enjoying the season and also looking forward to the coming of Spring. I am, and will always be, a warm weather girl.

I have been spending alot of time in the kitchen, trying new recipes, pouring through cookbooks, going through websites like allrecipes.com. One cookbook which we have particularly enjoyed the results of is Food and Wine's Italian Cookbook. It is not a vegetarian cookbook, although it does include several non meat dishes. It is a very health conscience book, however, which I appreciate. Several recipes can be modified to vegetarian very easily. The meat eaters in my family equally loved the dishes with and without meat... something of a rarity in this house to please everyone. I will post some of my experiments in the next few days.

Besides cooking I have spent alot of time at home with my family, going to movies with my husband, reading, and at the gym- running, doing weight training, and tons of yoga. I finally got window treatments put up, and am still loving the effect. So cozy!



I feel myself readying for the oncoming semester (14 hours) and more time up at the salon. I am beginning to feel that familiar old anticipation coming over me, and I know in a few weeks I will be guns ablazin'! But, in the meantime, this quiet time has been lovely and necessary, and I try to embrace every second of it.

Greg booked our 2010 family vacation a few days ago. It's in June. We are going on another cruise. This one is 5 days and will be in the Caribbean. Everyone is all excited about getting in shape and being in a bathing suit, but I am in shape now but will probably be pregnant then, lol!! Talk about irony!

I took this picture of a corner of my house yesterday when the light seemed just right. It is some of my pottery, some of a friend's, and a still life I did a few years ago while on a sunflower kick that lasted far too long:

very good article on the 57 benefits of veganism

While I am not 100% vegan 100% of the time, I know that when I have eaten a completely vegan diet (as opposed to a vegetarian diet which includes dairy products), I have felt my best.
It's great to see an article promoting veganism on a nursing website. Too few medical professionals promote the many healing benefits of good nutrition in general, much less the vegan diet.
As the new year rolls in, I am giving my body a break from the richness of holiday fare by cleaning up my diet with a return to vegan eating. I strongly suggest that others consider doing the same. Your body will thank you for it.

http://www.nursingdegree.net/blog/19/57-health-benefits-of-going-vegan/

winter.solstice.home

Once again, the blanket of Yule time seems to have wrapped itself around me, insulating me, and acting as an invisible buffer to any and all things of the world. This is a time when I naturally become more reflective and family/home centered, and all of the universe becomes condensed into my humble little home and those inside of it. Nothing can get me, nothing bothers me, and a strange serenity and calm overtakes me that for the rest of the year is but a distant memory. It is the antithesis of summer time; all the things summer is not. Summer, when the whole universe seems limitless and a sense of expansion overcomes, compelling me to do, create, move mountains earth.
This year I found myself the possessor of time, a commodity I hadn't known in awhile. This time has been an enormous blessing, and I am so grateful for it. It has allowed me to be a full time student, get back into hairdressing and open a small shop, garden, take up some serious yoga, cook, cook, COOK, and to finally make this house a home.
I used to say that it took a year for a house to really become home after moving in. Well, this house has been the exception. We will have been here 4 years next month, and only recently has it began to come together. Now, I wonder if I will ever move again! Window treatments are finally up, the kitchen is all I need it to be and more. It's organized. It's comforting. I have learned it's quirks, and it has taken on the patina of "us".

Ever so slowly, we have finally began to make friends and know our neighbors. The kids know the entire city, and love living here. Good place for roots, good place to grow up. Our four legged babies keep us entertained and help make this place home, as well.


Yep, this little house is becoming a real home after all this time. Thanks to time. Time spent living here, and time afforded to me during this year. What a gift.

DVD Library Wishlist

Beowulf
American Beauty
Deliverance
The Hangover
300
The Men Who Stare at Goats
I am Legend
Zoolander
Great Expectations

PRECIOUS SILVER

"our lives are the cumulative total of all of our past decisions." me

And the sooner people recognize this simple truth, the happier they will be. All things in our lives, both good and bad, are attributable to choices that we have made previously. Along that line of thinking, I can't help but add to further it that all things that happen to us, therefore, are ultimately our own fault.
I realize that many of you are out there, shaking you heads in protest, saying, "But what about the starving children in Africa! Or the people of war torn nations, without food and things basic for survival?!". I agree....there are exceptions to everything, and I am not without empathy for all human suffering. But what I am talking about now is personal resposibilty, not starving children in Africa. Of course they didn't chose where they were born or into what kind of circumstances they were born in to. No one chooses what they are born into....but they DO chose where they go from there. My children did not choose for their father die...but they DO choose how they handle his death. Do they choose to use it to make excuses about their lives, or do they use his death as an excuse to go FURTHER in life?? Do they make it a reason to fail, or a reason to succeed? A reason to live or to die? That is what I am talking about. It is each person's personal responsibility, the decisions we each make on a daily basis, and how those decisions eventually translate into our lives as a whole. And, truly, once you think about it, it is SO EMPOWERING! How cool is it that we, we alone, are in charge of our own destinies. Even children, with no control or say over the circumstances into which they are born have the power and ability to affect change. How wonderful is that?
By accepting this truth, that the decisions we make translate into the lives we lead, we accept full responsibility for who and what we are, and have control of who we become. By fully accepting this truth, we enable ourselves to make the changes necessary to become the person who we were born to be, and to fulfil our highest potential. Making excuses, blaming others, and not accepting full responsibility for everything in and about our lives only serves to stunt our growth, and gets us nowhere.
Remember this as you go out into the world this next week. Your life is yours. You own it, and it can be whatever you decide to craft it into. If is entirely up to you. So begin crafting the life you desire. The time is RIGHT NOW!
Now go get 'em!!