Pulpy Juice For Me

YES YES YES - - pulpy juice for me. You know I'm the one at the grocery store pushing back the pulp free orange juice and looking for the country style, or the pulp juice. That's me. There are more like me too, more than you think! The details are in the pulp people!!

In the photos you see several things to intrigue you I'm sure. I forgot to add the tomatoes! I'm so sorry. I did actually throw in a Roma tomato this morning with the carrot and sweet potato juice. You see the apple and nectarine - they went in too! It was a party, let me tell you. We danced. Me, the cup, the juicer, the veggies - - we had a little thing going on, and Kirk Whalum was there too; well, in my ears. Most of the time I'm connected to one of my iPods. (To make things simple I have several iPods with different types of music in them so I don't have to search for the music I want that day. Four 4Gb ipods beat a 16Gb if you think about it.)

Back to the juice! I wanted to get rid of some of the things in my refrigerator this morning and juicing or making bread is the only way to accomplish that. With bread you want the mushy gushy zucchini or the over the top ripe bananas but this morning the only things I could find that needed to be thrown out to the possums in my backyard or into my juicer were: tomatoes and apples. I just HAPPENED to have carrots, sweet potatoes, blueberries and nectarines hanging around. I'm saving the blueberries for bread next week if I don't use them all up in my nightly yogurt. I think I'm beginning to show a pattern...I need to re-evaluate. Mix it up!

What you do (and what I do) is wash everything first, cut it up, blend it in the juicer and then because I'm serious about the way my heart beats on a regular basis, I pour in a little liquid life - flaxseed oil. I'll add a link here from the University of Maryland and show you what they have to say about flaxseed oil: http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/flaxseed-oil-000304.htm Basically, flaxseed is a member of the Fatty Acid family like Omega 3. You know about them - they hang out in fish and you're suppose to have it now. Flaxseed oil is best in the liquid form if you're going to add it to juice. Some people cook with it too - replacing their extra virgin olive oil. (They even make flaxseed meal which I add to flour for everything)

Drinking the pulpy stuff makes sense. I don't skin my veggies before I put them in the juicer - so the pulp is 90% or more from the skins and that's where the best nutrients are. Why did our mothers cut off the skins when we were kids? Makes no sense at all - - eat that skin! Since we're on the subject, if I had a baby now the poor thing would be one of those healthy freaks. I'd make my own baby food with the baby food juicer thing - - get one if you're a new mommy - - seriously. OK, so what does this particular juice do for you? Let's break it down:

Carrots: carotene - cancer fighting and more
Tomatoes: energy giver, cancer fighting (prostate and liver mostly)
(I don't have a prostate, but I love my liver where it is now)
Sweet potatoes: energy, anti-oxidants and helps curb diabetes
Apples: please, apples just simply save your life we know that
Nectarines: heart health, general balance, fiber, and again cancer fighter.

Wow - - this make me want another cup. Be right back!

Happy TRAILS

YES, I'm going to tell you all how to make my fabulous, oh, so very fabulous trail mix. Believe me when I say I did not invent this. I'm pretty sure you, me, anyone can come up with this stuff. It is NOT brain surgery -- it's much tastier - - if tastier is even a word. You'd think I'd know if it's a word. I have a degree in English. I should know whether or not tastier is a word, but I really don't care. Are you ready?

Get out a big fat bowl - - then put the bowl to the side because you really need a pen and paper. You need money and you need a way to the market. I choose the health store but I have to be honest here - - I have from time to time gone to WalMart to get these ingredients. Not lying.

Write down the following:

Cashews raw no salt (You'll soon discover I'm big on raw and no salt)1/2 pound
Almonds - whole and again, raw without salt - about a 1/2 pound
Peanuts - whole or half is good, roasted - - oh, threw ya! (1/2 pound)
Walnuts - halves and wash these to be sure you get the shell pieces out 1/4 pound

***At this point you may want to warn EVERYONE that this trail mix you're making has nuts in it. Lots of nuts. Very important note there, very very important.

OK ready - pick up the pen again - -

Raisins - 1 cup or so - I use California raisins, I'm addicted
Cranberries - dried of course, they look like red raisins - 1 cup
Yogurt raisins - you choose the flavor I use vanilla 1 cup
Coconut chips - hard to find this is not the shredded stuff, but the real stuff 1 cup
1 ENTIRE BAG of Mini-M&Ms dark chocolate, you get it on the BAKING aisle
1 cup or so of roasted or honey roasted soy NUTS not soy beans..very important difference if you like your teeth where you left them before you started eating the trail mix OK...soy nuts!

SEEDS: Sunflower (obviously without the shell) without salt too 1 cup
Pumpkin seeds - - no shell, no salt, green little guys - 1 cup

Here's where it gets really good - - and no, you won't find this at the health store. I throw in a bunch of SMARTIES candies sometimes because it surprises my tongue when I get one and I think "Heck, eating healthy is good! Real good!"

OK - - you've bought it all, you're thinking it was expensive and it better be worth it. It is.

Grab that bowl, dump everything into the bowl, and mix it up...mix, mix, mix, this is the mix part of the word trail-mix - - you thought it was the fact that all the stuff was rather mix-match...no, it's the mixing, the mixing, the mixing. Now, say out loud "If all of us just got along as well as this trail mix does, we'd be in much better shape!"

No cooking, no freezing, no nothing -- just scoop it out and eat it. You can store it in bags, put something over the top of the big bowl, or whatever you want - - it's your trail mix now.

Dog Joys

One of the things I really love about my dogs is the way they just all get along. King is right up in Faith's face all the time trying to kiss her and she has decided to let him. It took a while; there were moments Faith really just wanted to bite the nose that nuzzled her. King can be a bit aggressive with the love-sharing.

The sun broke over the trees this morning and shared its forceful smile - - but I had nothing to do with it. Sort of like Faith with King's imposing nose, I pushed my face as far into the pillow as I could and I pretended the Sun was the Moon as I tried to recall the last long minute of sleep left in my eyes. That didn't last very long - - nope; my own nose gave me alert that there was something quite amiss in my bed! Sure I had felt the pressure of the springs in the mattress give way as King and his 75 pound body plopped and flopped around me, but WHOA that smell! He had to have been rolling in something dead - - should I call a cute detective to come and investigate? No, wait, maybe I should stop this blog right now and call the man....would he come over to my place, perhaps inspect my bed for something interesting? Is NYC out of his jurisdiction if it's a dream? (I think I slipped back into that long last minute again)

Laura had let King and her dog Yuki in from playing outside. I could hear Laura in the bathroom with the shower running. I could hear her scolding her little black dog, and I could hear Yuki's yapping laugh calling back to King as if to say "Hey, I'm getting a bath!" That was all it took! Now the 75 pound stinking dog was flopping himself over my body on his way to the tub - - have you ever showered with a couple of dogs in your pajamas? It's a GREAT way to start your morning! Drag your kid into the tub with you and you've got a heck of a party! LOL

Matrix and Faith are much more clever of course, both of them are so far under the bed right now - - I won't be able to bathe either of them until I get some help from the kids to literally move the beds - - very clever dogs!

Now that I'm up and writing - - I'm thinking I may have to go out and find out where the dogs were playing and what they were playing in. If I think I have even the smallest opportunity to call in a certain detectve (no names please)...I am so on that! Oh, what I mean is I would be so on him - - I mean, I would so do that - him, it, whatever....I think I need another shower.

A King Sized Mess!

I should have taken pictures of the dog when he came into the house a few minutes ago. He had been outside just being a dog, and as I usually say "A quiet puppy is a naughty puppy". Well, my words rang true again -- as I opened the back door to let King into the house he brought with him a couple of pounds of muddy feet, and a towel he had drug out from the laundry room door that he had been using obviously to soak as much muddy water up as possible. I wasn't thinking "quick grab the camera!" I was thinking "Oh my GOSH - - stop King, STOP!" The end result is good. This story ends well.

For months now I have been trying to rethink every issue and to become a more open and positive person. When you do this, when you let God know you're open for suggestions in the patience and positive realms He brings you plenty of interesting events with which to practice. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, laugh!

First things first: I threw the wet heaping mess of a wasted torn up towel into the backyard for now. I'll deal with it in the morning. Secondly, I got the mutt into the bathroom where the tub could be of better assistance than a water hose as it was the water hose that caused the mess in the first place. My neighbor kid decided to turn his on and play in it; apparently my backyard runs a bit slanted to his. I didn't know that - - King was delighted to find out that fact. Very delighted indeed.

Rather than trying to fill up the tub I just ran the shower - - and what seemed like several minutes went by before the blackest water on the face of the earth was out of my bathtub and down the drain. King just sat there - - what a good dog. He loves the bath tub, loves the shower, loves the toilet, it doesn't matter, he'll stick his foot in it if there's water pooling. I really didn't know a dog would try to fit himself into a toilet, but this one does try. He'll be 8 months old in about a week and this is the first time I've had him near more water than just the bath. I may need to take the dog to the lake and just see what happens. Maybe he'll be one of those rescue dogs and save the people who go too far out - - maybe he'll lose a few trying to play with them on the way back.

The event took a total of four new clean towels including the one I had to use to get the rest of the dirt and hair out of the tub. I counted four Swiffer sheets (and yes, I use both sides) but my floors are clean again. I'm not touching the towel in the backyard. No, I think I'll wait for trash day and just count it as a loss. Poor King, his new toy may be on its way to the city dump! Look on the bright side, I still have several more shoes he hasn't found in the closet - - maybe he'll find a way to trick me and be at peace again gnawing on a pair of Toms. Maybe I won't be so positive if he does -- maybe God will have to just forgive me!

You Have a Friend - Me

This will be a short blog and very much to the point. There is a man reading this blog tonight - you were led here I know you were. I saw you in your den praying. I felt you, and I knew you would seek my help through prayer. I still don't understand why you don't fully surrender and simply call so we can pray together; but that will happen. I'm not worried about it. Tonight you're hurting and my heart is feeling swollen because of your pain. So I pray.

In my prayers tonight I pray not only for the decisions you are trying to make but also for the lives your decisions will touch. I've been praying for you for quite a while now, so you haven't been alone in your decision making. You have been protected by several angels and they have all reported that you are doing well but that you still haven't fully given in to the promises that you know are yours to claim. Religious thoughts and routine or prior training is one of the reasons you can't give it all up just now, but you want to, and that's a start. When you realize that God is not, Jesus is not, the same as they taught you - - He doesn't keep score, and He doesn't punish for what you're thinking of doing. He releases you because you trust Him to bring you that peace. He releases you, now it's your turn to release yourself. I'll catch you. You have a true friend and the good news is, I'm a forever friend - - past this life, way way into the next because we knew each other before and today is just another day of the continuium. Let go.

You know my number. We have work to do. I love you.

Taurus is Too Slow - - I Prefer Aries!

When it comes to my body being compared to the zodiac I really would prefer a more spiced up, fiery, more ambitious character rather than the one my lumbering body is taking after. I don't know if it's because I was born under the CHINESE symbol of the OX - - but my body is NOT responding to the dieting, the exercise, or even that much to the prayers that I say in order to cast off this extra weight which has been taken up residency and space for years right in the middle section.

If you're like me and you're over 40 and you're over weight -- you'll probably also like me and the thought of doing something about it is not only agonizing, but it is also a chore. I don't mind hard work. I don't mind thinking outside the box - - but what I do mind is the mud-stuck mindset of my belly thinking that it doesn't have to leave it's comfy home when it clearly is not welcome. I have been dieting, I do actually eat correctly. I eat so correctly that my diet master has told me over and over again that my condition "stumps" her. REALLY? Well, it pisses me off! I'm over here depriving myself of fat and calories, I'm working out and doing strength exercises, I'm walking, riding, jumping up and down and pouring herbal tea and healthy non-fat, low-fat, low-gluten, low everything food into my throat and still having this gushy, mushy, mushroom top in spite of it all....so, what do I do?

Well, I guess it's just time to keep doing it. That's right, no changes unless they are changes that would actually get the job done. I do mix up the strength exercises doing legs and butt one day and arms and chest the other. I do walk one day and ride the next. I do actually do push ups but you'd laugh at me, I'm not the best at it. I try! Oh, but the kicker is this - - my diet is so close to perfect for someone who should be losing weight that now I'm thinking of actually changing it so my body thinks I'm cheating...just for day! I have to do something, I have to trick it, I think what I may do is throw a party and tell my stomach that it's we're eating cake when really it's just beets, carrots, and a few almonds! C'MON!!! LEAVE already! Think Hathoway, think Knightly, oh, I don't care think Kim K, but go away please!

My daughter Laura (and my dad) are Tauruses. They don't change, they don't move, they don't budge. I don't want that - -my stomach acts like a freakin' Taurus - - plodding along, going in circles, being the belly it's been for years! I want the ARIES belly! I want the warrior! I want the abs to show! I want the fighter. I want the knock-it-out-of-the-park rock hard muscles...I KNOW they're in there! Don't make me cut you out - - I will do it (Well, I won't do it, someone with a medical degree and years of experience will do it, but I will have it done!) I want this belly to know I mean business and if I want it, I get it, why - - why? Oh, I don't know maybe I'm just spoiled that way. It's not FAIR....I should have been born in the year of the HORSE and just been gorgeous and flowing, running with my mane behind me, but no...no...just an OX. At least I have the heart of one too.

Lotta good that does when I'm thinking I'd like to put on a belly shirt once in my life! LOL