Never saw it coming this Weigh..This Gift

We got a little respite from the cold all week through the weekend so I am taking advantage of it.  Right now I am clearing my house literally as I prepare for this move.


  I just got through re potting some of my plants that are going to a friend who enjoys gardening.  I had to re pot as I wanted to keep my beautiful ceramic pots for a future time.

  I also thinned out some of my veggies in my outside garden.  I now have 3 large container pots of Kohl Rabi.  My green onions are coming up famously as well as the basil, I have not seen the broccoli bloom or bear fruit yet.  I should be able to harvest one more batch of my collards & mustard greens before the whole organic garden is donated to the food bank that graciously assisted me for the last several months. My garden served a purpose for me now that purpose will continued.  I wish I could figure out what to do with my compost.  It is not fully converted yet otherwise I could sack and send it on its way with the containers.


Any suggestions?


I would not have seen things going this way but at least I know it is the gift that will keep on giving!


And I burn some more calories today to boot!


I know I've released some more weight, I do not know how much yet as I do not have scales & I won't be back for my follow up visit with the doctors until the 1st week of January.  It is definite I did as my clothes are hanging off of me so that is a good sign.


Somehow I got off track from my walking which I so enjoyed although I've got movement in over the last month


If it is to be, it is up to me. Author Unknown

E I E I O~Making Your Garden Grow...

There are many benefits to growing your own food in a backyard garden. Early in the summer, many of us are able to keep up with what our gardens produce as we take our precious products from the garden directly to our tables. As the summer goes on, keeping up can become a challenge. We check the garden before heading out of town on vacation and realize there are many things that are ripe and ready for use but we don't have time to do anything with them.

Or, perhaps our green thumbs have produced more than we can keep up with at the table and our storage space is already filled to capacity. What are we to do?

Here are 3 creative ideas to help you put your extra garden produce to good use.

There comes a time in almost every gardeners summer when there is more produced than can be used. Making salsa or properly storing, freezing or canning the extras are certainly a traditional and recommended option. However, if you are short on time or storage space, here are 3 creative ideas for your extra produce that you may not have thought of.

Give them away – Tough financial times may make fresh produce hard to afford for some of your neighbors. Offering your surplus provides the perfect opportunity for those that might really have a need or just a desire to include fresh produce in their diet a reality with dignity still in tact. Place your extra produce by your mailbox with a large sign that says "FREE" and see just how fast your surplus disappears.


Donate to a nearby food pantry or homeless shelter – Most community food banks or food pantries offer canned vegetables if any at all to those that come in need of food. Drop in shelters rarely provide fresh vegetables as part of their meal offerings for those that come in search of a cool and dry place to stay and receive a meal. Making fresh produce available to outreach opportunities like these in your community will get your extras in the hands of those that need it and will put a smile on your face at the same time because you were able to make a difference.

Check with local outreach organizations and churches in your community to find a local food pantry or drop in center. Feed America is the nation's leading domestic hunger relief charity and their website can help you find a food bank that serves your community.

Use your social networking connection – Send out a "tweet" or post a status update letting your local networking friends know you have fresh produce to spare. Encourage those that are interested to come by and pick it up. Better yet, invite them to come and pick it for themselves which saves you some work! What a great and creative way to socialize AND provide your extra produce to a local friend or acquaintance. What other creative ideas do you have for garden surplus this summer?

No More Drama...

Please do not think you are exempt if you are not African American...Get to stepping, moving, remove what is humanely possible any and all that causes you grief.

Have a svress free diet. Iv can be done in different degrees of modificaion. Create the vision plan that works for you hat is healthy safe A& productive...Believe it or not music you enjoy can do it, laughter, sharing, dancing, plants in your home, prayer, meditation, writing are some ways.

Stress May Raise Diabetes Risk for Obese Black Women


Surge in anxiety-linked hormone worsens blood sugar level, researchers suggest

THURSDAY, March 5 (HealthDay News) -- Stress may play a key role in the development of type 2 diabetes in obese black women, U.S. researchers say.


"Much attention has been given to the role of obesity in the development of type 2 diabetes, but stress may be as important in this at-risk population," study co-author Anastasia Georgiades, of Duke University in Durham, N.C., said in a news release.


The study included 62 healthy, non-diabetic black women who were asked to recall stressful life events. As they did, the researchers measured the women's levels of blood sugar and epinephrine, the "fight or flight" hormone that's released in reaction to stress.


Women with high epinephrine levels (25 picograms or more per milliliter of blood) while recalling stressful events and with more belly fat (33 percent or more of total body fat) had significantly higher fasting glucose scores (about 100 milligrams per deciliter) than women with lower epinephrine levels and less belly fat (85 mg/dl). A fasting blood glucose level of 100 mg/dl is considered within the low range of pre-diabetes, and a level of 125 mg/dl is the benchmark for type 2 diabetes.


Women with high epinephrine levels and more belly fat also had bigger increases in blood sugar levels during the stress test.


The findings were to be presented this week at the annual scientific meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society.


"While we don't fully understand the nature of the association, women with abdominal obesity may be more vulnerable to the impact of stress -- causing their body to increase blood sugar production and elevating their risk for diabetes," Georgiades said.


Further research is needed to determine exactly how epinephrine production affects blood sugar levels in black women. Nearly one in four black women in the United States has type 2 diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association.

information
The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more about type 2 diabetes.
Content bySOURCE: American Psychosomatic Society, news release, March 4, 2009

Holding my Fire

I got a secret, now if you promise not to tell anyone else, I’ll tell you my secret…

Are you ready for this? There has always been this little part of me that used to be much louder, but I have been holding my fire with bated breath for someone to come along and save me, protect me, and make my life somehow better.


Whew that felt better. And I know another secret that I have to hold you to on the point of hanging you by your hair and torturing you with a feather.

Promise?

Here it is…

I am not alone in those thoughts!

And I would suspect that this is a universal yearn for, and hankering of human beings from the beginning of time to know that we matter, and that we are cherished. That someone’s eyes light up when we walk into a room. I do not see where this wish will detract from my ability to care for myself or make me any less of an autonomous woman, just a very human one.


Once upon a time in the not so distant past, I, like a lot of other people had great angst and hurt because no one seemed to care enough for me to cherish me. I’ve had more then my share of people who used me, who feigned friendship (was it them or me?) making me and my life more like the Dew Drop Inn where for the price of a few minutes of attention you can have a genourmous (bigger then hugemongous) party, trash the house and then move on at my expense.

And while I thought I was successful in getting them out before the cops came and charged me with disturbing the peace, I was still left with the trash and debris. I became fatter, more anxious, and more injured because of one thing. I had left the dag-gone tape running.
We know the one, because most of us have hit that play button many times.

The one that told us that no matter what, we would be triumphant, we’d win the Nobel Peace Prize, find the cure for cancer, solve world hunger and establish peace. Even if we do all those things and throw in a Grammy or Oscar for good measure, we somehow feel we’re not good enough unless there is someone to genuinely care for us or about us.

Of course I am exaggerating here, but so is the tape. A gross amplification of what life really is and who we are in this life. I didn’t take the tape out and destroy it, I turned the volume down and it continued to drone on unremittingly.

So we hold back our fire, at least I did; though there are many times I couldn’t hold the fire back.

Despite the low grade tape still incessantly running nearly inaudible in my conscious thoughts, I did some things quite well and far more successful then what some of the silhouette people had prophesized.

I read this quote last night, “You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger then your faith” ~Mary Manin Morrissey. The desire to be cared for and cherished is not wrong, it’s very human. It’s when we allow that honest need to override our dreams, that it takes third row center in our lives and it tap dances all over our faith in doing what is right. The hitch is not to mute the tape, but pull it out, smash it, toss it in the recycling bin or delete it permanently and move on.

Release the fire to win the Nobel Peace Prize, find the cure for cancer, solve world hunger and establish peace, write seven award winning novels, and garner an Oscar,Grammy & make a mean to die for low fat, non-dairy omelet while you're at it..

. The rest of us will be better for it and we will cherish you for it.

Now that just might be me, and how cool is that!