The Maya National Council of Elders of Guatemala asked us to pray for our world on May 22

I just found out about this, a bit too late:

Date: May 11, 2007

From:

Don Alejandro Oxlaj, Guatemala de la Asuncion

Don Alejandro is charged as the primary keeper of the teachings, visions and prophecies of the Mayan people. He is head of the National Mayan Council of Elders of Guatemala, Day Keeper of the Mayan Calendar, a 13th generation Quiche Mayan High Priest and a Grand Elder of the Continental Council of Elders and Spiritual Guides of the Americas. He is also an international lecturer on Mayan Culture.

Don Alejandro gives us this timely message: a call to action, a call to come together and be as one. Don Alejandro Hill be performing a Sacred Maya FIRE Ceremony in Guatemala , and be joining the thousands of others around the planet during the Break through Celebration.

“Brothers and Sisters of all colors, holding hands around the planet on May 22nd 2007, let us reflect on this, let us meditate in our own way, in our own language, according to our own culture or religion, because we have only one Sun to shine upon us equally, one air that we breath and gives us life, one water that we drink and becomes blood in our veins and all live on Mother Earth. She feeds us, she holds us. Brothers and Sisters of all colors, together united in meditation to make conscience to the men in power, governors, politicians, business people: no more war, no more contaminating bombs, no more death. Together we can make a difference.”

Dear Brothers Joseph and Carl (Giove and Calleman):

In the name of the Heart of the Heavens and the Heart of the Earth, greetings to you. In the name of the Maya National Council of Elders, Spiritual Guides of Guatemala, we address the following to you for your great magnetic connections at the global level:

The Spirit of the Maya Nation and the Spirit of Mother Earth make us look for ties of friendship with all peoples of the world. The Maya Prophecy tells us “ …We will meet for we are one like the fingers of the hand”. We all are children of the Earth, we are flowers of the garden of our Creator coming in different colors, in different shapes, in different sizes, with different aromas; speaking different languages, and each one worshiping and meditating in their own way to the same Creator who has different names according to their own culture.

We hope this communiqué reaches all institutions, in private sectors as well as governmental ones; landowners, scientists, and all people in general. Brothers and sisters, there has been over 500 years of extermination in the face of the earth, extermination of humans, extermination of our brother animals and ancient trees, every day at a faster speed. The elders from the National Council of Elders and Spiritual Guides of Guatemala are keepers of mystical and millenary knowledge. Like the birds, tirelessly in their flight, they live to see the prophecies fulfilled. We want to make all people and governments in the world conscientious, and have them analyze and reflect at the situation of the planet in the present time. Let us start by remembering that the Americas were a paradise 500 years ago. Virgin forests, cities of beautiful animals, cities to an innumerable variety of colorful birds, flying in freedom; they provided food for everyone. The waters were abundant and pure; and the people, they lived in their own traditions, guarding their cultures and conserving the beauty of Mother Earth. Our ancestors lived to be over 100 years old, free from contagion and illnesses. They were respectful and obedient to the laws of our Creator.

Let us talk now about our present times. We enjoy new advances in technology, inventions that make everyday life easier for us, we all use them, but the negative side is that we are finishing up our forests, and contributing to the contamination of the planet, the rivers are drying out, the waters are being contaminated. Our crops are affected by plagues as well as plagues killing our animals. We are threatened by contagious illnesses, incurable illnesses unknown in the past. Very harmful are the use of chemicals, the insecticides, transgenic seeds, etc. And most of all, these days, the nuclear testing: nuclear bombs and a great deal of war weapons, and the war in itself sterilizing or killing the planet Earth and affecting all living beings. Many people are homeless, children begging in the streets, others are involved in prostitution. Predators are on the rise. Dead people appearing daily in the streets, kidnappings, extortion, shootings in the schools, parents killing children, children killing children, parents raping their own kids. All this is a direct result of the contamination. There is no respect; no respect for life. The authorities sell themselves. The justice can be bought or sold.

Now lets speak about the future. We, the traditional Mayan elders, and all indigenous peoples in the world, meditate on the future. We don’t think only for today, the present, we think for tomorrow, for our children, grand children and future generations. We see a dark shadow approaching, a shadow that will cause a lot of harm. It is the great contamination. All this is due to man’s creation. We are digging our own graves. Wars are being transported to other countries; they reason in their speeches it is on behalf of freedom, but the result is more slavery. They speak that it will bring new development, but the result is more hunger for the underdeveloped countries. If we continue like this, the time will come when there are no more soldiers to form battalions. The Maya National Council of Elders of Guatemala ask all nations of the world – their governors and the governed ones – to put a stop to the contamination; and to the big and small enterprises, to find alternatives. We don’t want any more wars, no more death, no more nuclear testing, no more chemicals, because the warming up of the planet is unbearable to Mother Earth. If we don’t change, sooner or later, she will strike back with millions of lives lost.

Our Creator created us here over the face of the earth to worship him, to love and respect each other. We all are equal, we are flowers of the earth, in different sizes, of different colors, with different songs, with different smell, but all looking at our Creator, honoring him with different dances, different music, different ceremonies. We all plead to him,
we are his children, he is the creator of all that exist, all that we see and all which is beyond our senses. He has given us our life with an intelligence to do well. Brothers and Sisters of all colors, holding hands around the planet on May 22nd 2007, let us reflect on this, let us meditate in our own way, in our own language, according to our own culture or religion, because we have only one Sun to shine upon us equally, one air that we breath and gives us life, one water that we drink and becomes blood in our veins and all live on Mother Earth. She feeds us, she holds us. Brothers and Sisters of all colors, together united in meditation to make conscience to the men in power, governors, politicians, business people: no more war, no more contaminating bombs, no more death. Together we can make a difference.

May 22nd 2007 is 5 Ajpu, the Day of Grand Father Sun, he shines upon all of us equally, he doesn’t know discrimination, he doesn’t get lost on his path, he doesn’t get ahead or behind of himself. He gives us warmth, he gives us life. One Sun, one Air, one Water, One Mother Earth. May 22nd 2007 day of Grand Father Sun, Grand Mother Moon.

The Maya Prophecy says: “Arise, all arise, not one nor two groups be left behind, together we will see once again the place from where we have come from”

Alejandro Cirilo Perez Oxlaj/ Wandering Wolf
Grand Elder of the National Council of Elders Mayas,
Xincas and Garifunas of Guatemala

Unconditionality

So, Scott Noelle talks about letting in unconditionality. Being unconditional not just with your kids but with yourself. I think that's an admirable goal, but it just sounds like so much an out-there concept. He says:

Unconditionality is a state of mind in which you are willing to allow well-being into your experience... NO MATTER WHAT

This definition implies that the experience of well-being is always available to you — that you can have more well-being simply by letting it in. There are many people in this world — perhaps you know some of them — whose lives seem to prove this point. They have a high level of well-being despite poverty, disabilities, an abusive childhood, or other circumstances about which most people would feel quite unwell. But it’s not that well-being is somehow more available to them, it’s that they are more skilled at achieving the state of unconditionality that lets it in.

Unconditionality is selfish in the best sense of the word, because your own well-being becomes your top priority. You give to your child only what you can give happily, and that sets in motion a pattern of giving that continually increases your well-being instead of feeling like a drain. This leads to more generosity, not less.

Hm, something to think about. Sure sounds cool.

Camping, just mama and son

Two weeks ago, C and I went camping together, just the two of us. I had worried that it would be too hard with just me and a four year old boy, but really it wasn't too bad. His main motivation was that I had said that he could have marshmallows when he was four and we went camping -- last fall! He has an amazing memory for such things. Anyway, we found a close by state park with a campground, Kanaskat-Palmer State Park.

Since it was the middle of the week and before Memorial Day weekend, there were plenty of spots, so we didn't need a reservation (otherwise we would have had to reserve it a year in advance or something). All we had to do was get everything we needed to bring packed into the car and go. Which would be a much bigger job than I had realized. As you will come to see as I relate the crazy tale.

On Tuesday evening (or was it Monday?), we went to the local big box store, Fred Meyer, and bought a tend. We needed a new tent, because our old one, a Target brand tent, had lost a "shock cord" -- the elastic cord that holds the pieces of pole together. Who invented this style of tent pole must have known that this would happen, particularly if you have to camp in a damp environment a lot and don't have a chance to take the tent home and put it up in your yard to dry out on a sunny day after you come back from your trip - which we can't do being that we live in an apartment.

C enjoyed the little pull-out description of all the tents they had to offer. He kept insisting we get a tent right then and there; I wanted to ponder things a bit more, given how short-lived our last tent was (less than two years). Anyway, we ended up getting a four-person Coleman brand tent (I wasn't so sure about the store brand). Bill showed up at the store around then, having walked there from work on his way home (thank goodness for cell phones), so he helped carry the tent to the checkout.

Then, the next morning, C was still very determined to go camping right that minute (I wasn't so sure at that point, although the idea of just packing up and going did seem kind of cool). I realized we also needed some more fuel for our camp stove, and maybe also a propane lantern. So we went to Target and got their cheapest propane lantern along with some fuel for it and the stove (they had their own brand of propane, two canisters connected together, which was cool, almost like an omen telling me yes, buy a propane lantern, not one of those battery ones).

We have a tiny battery powered lantern, and about a dozen flashlights, you see (C loves flashlights and went through a period where he had to buy one every time he saw one), so we really didn't *need* a propane lantern, but somehow, it just doesn't seem like camping without one.

At that point, it was probably around noon or so, and I was hoping to leave soon. But somehow, between going shopping, cooking, packing, the afternoon just passed. We had had to go back to Fred Meyer for some ice for the cooler and some snacks, and by the time we got home, Bill was coming home from work! He gets home early compared with a lot of my friends' husbands, but still it was nearly 5 pm! I had hoped to leave by 2 pm at the latest, but I am notoriously slow anyway, and with all the last-minute things to do it just got past me. So we had a big snack to tide us over, finished packing the car, and left around 5:30. PM. On a weekday. Boy, did I not look forward to a drive to a new place through rush hour traffic!

I hadn't even known how bad it would get. It took us over half an hour just to get through Issaquah. Lots of people live down there, or further south, and go that way on their way home from work. It was quite warm, and we were sitting in traffic with all kinds of people on their way home to their overpriced condos and McMansions in Issaquah. Not to mention all the people on their way to places like Maple Valley and Black Diamond, which are slightly more affordable, if you consider affordable anything under half a million dollars.

I was pretty mad at the traffic, but also at myself for taking so long to get ready to go on our first camping trip of the year, which also happened to be our first camping trip without Daddy ever. He couldn't have taken the time off on such short notice, but also it was something I'd wanted to try, just to see if we could do it so that maybe we could do longer trips later on.

We finally got through Issaquah, passing over a dozen paragliders on the way -- apparently there is a big site there they use for that -- and began to get into the semi-rural area. I say semi-rural because this area is known for trying to preserve the rural qualities while still allowing some, very exclusive, development. So you will pass an old, broken down farmhouse with rusting assorted farm equipment in front of it, then a sign for a gated community or some such right next to it. It's very odd.

By limiting development, the housing that is built is kept very expensive, yet it is intermixed with very trashy looking old places from before Microsoft and all its money and before the population started to expand outwards. Kind of surreal. Like, if you happened to have been a farmer type twenty or thirty years ago, and fell asleep, and woke up now, you'd think someone had played a joke on you by randomly turning half your neighbors' farms into subdivisions filled with these weird super shiny SUVs and houses almost as big as their lots.

Anyway, we drove through a bunch of this, until we got to an old run-down country store on a corner. My directions, which were printed out from one of those online websites, said to turn left on a particular road, but I couldn't see a street sign. I pulled into the parking lot of the store, noting a Sheriff's car parked next to it. Before I could get out, a woman holding a paper walked out of the store.

C, being conscious of delays to getting his marshmallow fix, said, "ask her what the street name is," and I, ever obliging, leaned my head out and, when she greeted me with that ever so Seattle friendliness, asked. Sure enough, she knew the name of the street, even telling me to take the left fork at the Y. When I seemed hesitant, she asked me where I was going, and when I told her, she gave me directions all the way there. She said "I know that's how to get there because my delivery route takes me there -- wouldn't have known last year how to get there."

I can relate to that -- I know most of the Bay Area based on my bread delivery routes that I had many years ago. Chris asked me what she delivered, but I was at a loss. She had a paper, so I said "maybe newspapers" and he said "but then why was she buying a paper?" I had no idea.

Anyway, we made our way there, and found a spot to camp at. I had brought cash, but not the right amount. You were supposed to pay by putting money in an envelope and putting it in a box, but you had to have exact change, and the price had gone up from the published $15.00 (which I had) to an awkward $19.00.

How many people just put in a twenty and left it at that? I'm sure they count on that happening. I am ever so conscious of paying no more than the right amount, so we drive back to the entrance, where I'd seen a light on in the little hut there, although the blinds were drawn. We went in, and asked the ranger for change. He seemed a bit confused about what to do, as if nobody ever asked that of him. He thought about it for a minute, then said, "let me see what I can do."

He didn't actually have change for a twenty, but he did have a single one dollar bill, along with a twenty. So I said, "why don't I just pay you and you can give me the dollar as change?" This seemed to be quite a revelation for him. Again, I don't think many people try to get change from him. In order for me to pay him, he need to put it into the computer. It took him a while to figure out how to do it without logging back into some special area of the computer. He said he'd just logged out and didn't want to log back in again. Anyway, eventually he figured it out and we were out of there.

We went back to our site, and I started dinner, which consisted of some frozen stir-fry veggies and hot dogs. Remember, I had very little time to plan, and we aren't really eating much in the way of processed foods, so couldn't just buy a bunch of canned stuff (I really don't like most canned stuff anyway). I used the camp stove we brought. I discovered I'd forgotten to pack any sort of oil or butter, so the stir fry had to be cooked in water (tap water, no less, since I hadn't brought bottled). Not exactly a gourmet meal, but it had to do. Oh, and lots of miniature marshmallows for C. Lots. He had no interest in trying to toast them, which was fine since we had no wood for a fire anyway (the ranger didn't sell any, and our trunk had been too full to bring any from home).

As we were getting ready to set up the tent, a man came into our camping spot to ask for matches. I was a bit creeped out by having a strange man approach me in the middle of a nearly deserted campground, but he seemed ok. I found my large box of strike-anywhere matches, and began to get it out. He said, "are they..." and I finished the sentence, "yes, they're strike anywhere," so he just said, "great, I'll just take a few then." And smiled. I was glad to have my wedding ring and engagement ring on (which I was to lose later, see the post about Bainbridge Island). I hoped he'd assume my husband was just in the bathroom or something. But I figured if my mom could take us kids camping for weeks every summer without any incident, we were fine.

So, we set up the tent (which I didn't really like -- it didn't really sit right on the ground -- I much prefer our old Target brand tent over this new Coleman tent), and then I filled the air mattress. At this point it was getting dark, so we started up our new propane lantern. I didn't read the instructions first, so I just tied on the mantles and then tried to light it.

I didn't realize you were supposed to burn them first before starting it up, so the combination of the mantles doing their first burn along with a generous amount of propane nearly singed my eyebrows off. I quickly turned off the fuel. At this point, I decided to read the instructions. Why did I think that growing up with one would make me a natural at this? Anyway, we got it started, and found it very bright. It was also a perfect magnet for mosquitoes, apparently. We sprayed each other with some all natural DEET-free mosquito repellent (which smells nasty, by the way -- eucalyptus mint does not combine well in a bug spray).

We went to bed, after I'd gotten the all-important air mattress inflated (I have a battery operated pump, which works way better than blowing it up with your mouth). It was freezing cold. The two of us snuggled into one sleeping bag was quite a snug fit. Also, it turned out the air mattress had a slow leak in it. So, between the air mattress losing its air, the cold air, and being tightly packed into a sleeping bag with a four year old, I got very little sleep. I woke up with a nasty sore throat. I a was also very tired.

The next morning, we had turkey bacon and eggs for breakfast, again cooked without any butter or oil. They stuck, of course. We brushed our teeth with the water from the spigot (which looked kind of orange in the water container -- yikes), deflated the already mostly deflated air mattress, and took down the tent. C really wanted to go home at this point. He had eaten almost the entire bag of marshmallows at that point, and I think he was tired of them.

I really wanted to at least look at the local river (I think it was the green river), so we drove down there. There wasn't a lot to see at first, because the banks of the river were well covered with trees. But then we hiked down to the water, and it was beautiful. The water was clear and cold and it was so quiet. All you could hear was the sound of rushing water. It's a big whitewater rafting river, and they have signs giving the ratings of the rapids. We were at the point where beginners were supposed to get out, because it becomes a Class IV river after that (only experts can handle that). We walked down to the edge and put our fingers in the water. It was freezing. It is melted glacier water, so you'd expect such, but wow, was it cold.

Then, we headed home. We drove back through Issaquah, stopping to eat lunch there. We lost C's jacket there, I think, because I haven't seen it since. Why do I lose so many things, anyway?

Anyway, we had a good trip for a first shot early in the season. It felt good to be outside. Next time, though, I'm bringing a new air mattress and a bigger sleeping bag!

Our Trip to Bainbridge Island

We took the ferry to Bainbridge Island on Memorial day, and then rented canoes and paddled around the marina there. It was pretty cool. I hadn't paddled a canoe since I was a kid, yet I could still do it pretty well. We saw sea life, and got to peek into places that were homes of the leisure set. Lots of cool boats, including old tugboats, too. It was very relaxing, and serene.

The only bad thing was that I lost my wedding ring and diamond engagement ring. I am now ring-less! My hand feels kind of naked without them. We haven't gotten around to shopping for a replacement -- we kind of decided that I should probably just get a wedding band, since the engagement ring was so darned expensive, and since most diamonds are used to fund war (blood diamonds). Besides, diamonds are overrated. Their prices are kept inflated artificially by a cartel, a lot like oil. If I had the coloring, I'd wear 18 carat gold like the Indian women I've known, but it washes out my pinkness.

Visualize World Peace -- how would it look?

You know the bumper sticker, "Visualize World Peace"? My mom probably had it on her car, at least at some point. Anyway, what do you think it would look like? What would a world without war be like? Where would we be spending our time, energy, and money? Would countries use just the United Nations (expanded greatly, to deal with the increased use), or would there be smaller bodies around the world for conflict resolution? What would the groups that are currently at war with another do with their time? How would they relate to one another?

What would our government look like if it weren't constantly fighting wars around the world? Where would the money be going instead? Would we be coming up with alternatives to fossil fuels? Inventing new ways to communicate? Open up your imagination and set up some expectations to demand of our government. We have to start somewhere, and it makes sense to me that we should be solving our problems, like health issues (increasing allergies and developmental disabilities, illnesses like AIDS), energy sources, food sources, and clean air and water.

The next Manhattan Project should be about creating a better world.

The President is just one step from being a dictator

So, in case you haven't heard (and even if you do watch the news on TV which I don't do you probably won't have), there is a new law in effect that gives the Unites States President, who is currently George W, essentially dictatorial powers. You can read about it here if you want. It's a presidential "directive" (something that didn't even exist until recently) , which is basically a law that the US president can create without the approval of congress or the Supreme Court (whatever happened to checks and balances?). The directive states that if there is a catastrophic emergency, which could be one of many things, the president of the United States, along with a separately selected group that he chooses (and is not elected) the power to take over and run the country.

Does this make sense? I don't think so. What can a person do to work on having it revoked? Can only the president revoke it? Can we impeach him if this is in effect?

They're trying to mess with our chocolate! Mockolate is real!

So, there is an industry lobby group that is pretending to be made up of concerned citizens who want to "modernize" the definition of chocolate to allow it to be made with transfat, artificial sweeteners, and just a bit of chocolate flavoring. That's not exactly what they made it with on "Friends" when the guy who used to play Lenny had Monica make a bunch of things with "mockolate", but not far off. Yuck! I don't want chocolate like that. And this at a time when they're starting to say that a bit of dark chocolate can be good for the heart, because of all the antioxidants in it (tea, too, supposedly). Why on earth would they do it? To make more money, of course! Supposedly there may be a shortage of the real stuff, so in order to keep the populace supplied with cheap chocolate (marked up of course), they think they need to make fake chocolate and pass it off as real. Why not use that other fake chocolate, carob? It's actually not that bad, as long as you don't think of it as chocolate. It's brown, it's sweet, and depending on how it's made, it can actually melt in your mouth.

Anyway, let's tell them we'd rather have expensive real chocolate or even carob that the junk they are trying to get the government let them pass off as real. Where do I sign up to do this?

Baby carrots -- they aren't really baby carrots

OK, so I knew this already, but still. Ugh~
http://www.wisebread.com/baby-carrots-the-frugal-idea-that-isnt

Cheney's lesbian daughter has a baby

So, Cheney's lesbian daughter recently had a baby with her lesbian partner. He's gotten his photo take with their child, his grandchild, but the baby's moms were not in the picture. Wonder why? According to this site it's because they are trying to play both sides of it, getting points from lesbians for acknowledging their lesbian daugther's baby, but leaving the lesbian daughter and her wife out to keep from angering the religious fundamentalists who support the Republican party. Boy, what a mess!

One Hour no power

To help spread the word about global warming, a group of people have decided to ask everyone out there to unplug and turn off everything -- TVs, cars, etc. -- for one hour at noon on Sunday July 1, 2007. Since everyone would use their local time, not everyone everywhere would have everything off all at the same time, but it would be all the same day, which would still be quite effective.

How much impact would all of this have? Has anyone calculated it?

http://www.onehournopower.com/

Alki/Seacrest beach in Seattle

We went to the beach in West Seattle, and the weather was perfect. We saw sea anenomes, lots of barnacles, some mussels, seaweed, and seagulls. He chased some seagulls, and interacted with a toddler boy who came by for a few minutes. Lately he's really been wanting to play with other kids, like every single day! Totally opposite of the way he used to be. It's amazing how much they can change. I'm sure the trip to see Stacy had an impact. I'm so glad we went to see her. I know it did him a lot of good.
It was such a beautiful view of the Seattle skyline and waterfront, and ferries and other boat traffic going by. The area looks a lot like the coastal areas of the Bay Area, particularly bits of Alameda and Berkeley. Kind of quaint. I forgot my camera or I'd add some pictures. On the way, and on the way back, we got to see the Port of Seattle, with all the Container ships being unloaded and loaded and moved by tugboat and such. Pretty cool.
We didn't stay that long because C wanted to see the lighthouse out that way, but when we got there it was closed. An elderly man sitting in front of his garage told us about another one north of there, which we tried to get to but got lost. I think next time we'll just stay at the beach we start out at. Carkeek park next time, because they have a playground there, and a train goes by right there.

C fell asleep on the way home. So it was harder for him to get to sleep tonight. But I'm still up! I should go to bed!

No more corn for us!

Well, I had hoped that at least ds could have some corn in his life, since he loves it so much, but after some major intake of corn, he got nosebleeds each time -- once only a few minutes after eating it! He had kettle corn two Saturdays in a row, and each night, he woke up in the middle of the night with a nosebleed - the second time both nostrils bled. Then the next day, we had Mexican food, and he ate half a fried corn tortilla, a bunch of tortilla chips, and part of a steamed corn tortilla, and on the way home his nose started bleeding. And later on, and this is one of those too much information things, he passed bloody mucus on the potty. Mind you, that day he'd also had a chocolate covered ice cream bar and a bunch of Xylitol gum (and Xylitol is usually made from corn), but I think it was the corn. Since he hasn't been having it, he hasn't had any more bloody noses (or bowel movements). Sigh. I already knew it can give me a migraine when I eat it too much, but I had hoped he could at least have it.

He has had nosebleeds in the past, especially if he eats a ton of fruit and nothing else. I'm thinking it's the salicylates. I hope not because he loves things that are high in salicylates! But really, he had gone a while there with very few nosebleeds and now all of a sudden, when he's eating lots of corn, he gets lots of them. And this was the first time he had passed blood as well, even counting other days when he had ice cream.

Maybe some day. Maybe just whole kernal corn.

Wow, the weather has been great!

The weather here has been really nice -- in the upper 60s during the day, but cooler at night. The sun has been out just about all day every day for most of the week, which is such a nice change! I love this weather! Can we please have more of it? I would love to have it like this for the rest of the summer!

Cute dogs

This is too cute:

Funny Dogs & Even Some Cute Ones!!!

the honey chicken

OK, so I made the chicken. Now, it didn't cook as long, and I had it on high to compensate, so I can't say for sure, but I didn't like what turned out. It was entirely too sweet for my taste. Then again, I only put in six chicken thighs instead of eight, but still...I kind of had a feeling it would be too sweet, but wanted to try it anyway since it's made from 100% SCD legal (allowed on the specific carbohydrate diet) ingredients and since lately it seems like most of my cooking has depended on tomatoes for flavor. Maybe if it were to cook more the chicken would soften up. And maybe the fact that I left the skin on and the bones in changed it a bit. But the main problem was the sweetness - the honey plus all those dried fruits just made it taste like candy. Not my favorite. This one will be going in the recycle bin! Sigh.

Crockpot honey chicken with dried fruit

So I think I'm going to give this a try but with bone in skin on thighs because they are much cheaper:
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 cup mixed dried fruit pieces
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup chicken broth
1 onion, chopped
Cook for 8-9 hours on low in a slow cooker
http://busycooks.about.com/od/chickenrecipe1/r/chixdriedfruit.htm?p=1
It's basically cooked chicken with honey and dried fruit. I think the recipe needs to explain what goes where in the crockpot -- I know usually you put the veggies on the bottom, but what about the honey and the chicken broth? Do you pour them in on top of everything? Should the fruit go on top of the chicken so as to flavor it, or underneath so it gets moist?

You Tube

This was done 15 years ago. I wonder what this girl is doing now?

Our trip to TN

This is ds sitting on a canon that is in front of my old elementary school. The school is gone now, torn down, and they say they will be building some condos there (this is in an old neighborhood with very expensive houses most of which are old and antebellum style). We went to Tennessee to see family and also drove over to North Carolina to see my Aunt Fran, who is 85 years old and still going strong.

We did too much in too short of a time. I am still burnt and it's been several days since we got back. I had fun to some extent, but it was exhausting. We were staying with my friend Stacy and her husband Paul and their two daughters, who are 3 and 6. The kids played a lot while we were there, and I think it was tiring for all of us. Also, we tried to squeeze in seeing my two brothers, and we went out to eat a lot, so we ate food that wasn't the best for us, and it affected us. I got a migraine, ds had a bad temper (and even hit the six year old). I get so frustrated with him, but when away from home, I have a hard time getting him to behave. I sort of drop my guard or just give in a lot because I don't want to fight him. And he gets more stubborn -- and he already is that. Not a good combination, especially not with exhaustion and jet lag on top of it.

I did enjoy the warm weather, the green trees, and getting to see my family and friends. I hadn't seen my older brother Stan or Aunt Fran since my mom died back in 1996. My older brother's wife and I had a falling out not long after my mom died (and really we never were all that close), so I just hadn't seen him even when I went back to visit and saw my other brother in 1998 and again in 2001. Boy, Stan looks different! He's got glasses now, and is going gray. He will be 50 in June, and while he has a somewhat youthful face, he is definitely older than he was the last time I saw him. But a lot changes in 11 years.

I liked the weather and while I was there and right after I got home, I was thinking again (for the like millionth time) about moving back there, but later had second thoughts. I get so attached to my place. I like how liberal it is here, how the evergreens are everywhere, how the ocean isn't that far away, how you can see Mt Rainier from any hill just about, how you can get pastured milk at a corner store, how low the crime rate is, how many many jobs there are here...I could go on. I know it would be nice to see my family more often, and the cost of living is a lot lower there (although it's coming up lately). I do much prefer 80 degree days to 56 degree days -- I think. Or do I? I think I have less tolerance for heat than I used to, but I also don't like cold either. Give me a place where the high is somewhere between 60 and 80 most of the year, or at least a half of it, and I will be happy. TN gets way too hot, this place is too chilly for my taste. I like to go around in short sleeves, not in layers, LOL.

Anyway, I'm glad to be home to sleep in my own bed again (really ds's but that's what I always sleep in).

the haircut

So, C cut his own hair (with some help cleaning up from mama), and now has very short hair. I think he got tired of being mistaken for a girl, although it never seemed to bother him until he was around a friend's daughters and got mistaken for one of them. He would always correct people, and say "I am a boy, I just have long hair."
You can see his eyes now! One problem is now he's getting sunburned! Have to use sunblock, LOL.

Arsenic in chicken feed

It's ridiculous that they would put arsenic in chicken feed as a growth promoter. Factory farming has always disturbed me -- for years I was a vegetarian at least in part because I wasn't happy with the way meat is produced in this country. Adding arsenic, antibiotics, and hormones to animal feed is polluting our water supply, creating antibiotic resistent bacteria, and raising unhealthy animals that have nutritionally inferior meat, eggs, and milk. I think just about everyone agrees it's bad for us and the environment. A chicken's natural diet is grass, bugs, slugs and snails, caterpillars, and some seeds. Feeding them a monotonous diet of corn, soy and additives is not good for them. Keeping them enclosed, either in tiny cages or in a large coop, may protect them from preditors and make their meat more tender, but it also causes them to be stressed out. Same with cattle -- they are grazers, and naturally eat grass, weeds, and other leafy greens but they are fed in this country tubers, corn, and soybean meal and kept in pens. Their meat may be more mild tasting and tender, but they are stressed and unhealthy, and must be treated with antibotics, etc. That doesn't even begin to go into the environmental cost involved in transporting these animals to huge slaughterhouses (which I don't want to even get into -- not pretty).

What's the answer? Everyone who eats animals should try to eat most of it as grass fed, free range beef and poultry or wild caught fish. Unfortunately, that's often not available, or extremely expensive. The food production system makes it very difficult to obtain, in an affordable manner, healthy food. That has got to change. Each little bit that everyone can do -- like finding locally produced eggs by someone who has some chickens in their back yard or by hunting for wild game or fishing for wild fish -- can help. It's good to eat lower on the food chain if possible -- like eating vegetables instead of animals that eat vegetables -- but many of us need animal protein to be healthy. I know I do! I used to be a vegetarian and was quite sick often, and was also rather depressed (although the latter seems to still be a problem for me).

If I had a house, I would buy a deep freeze and buy my meat from a local rancher, or even maybe game from a local hunter. I would grow as many of my own veggies and beans as I could fit into my yard. Those of in apartments could band together and buy a whole, grass fed free range cow and divide it up among us like people used to do. If I had a bigger storage closet, I'd get a plot in a local community garden, but I don't have anywhere to store the shovels and such, at least not without getting rid of my Christmas and camping stuff.

To sum up, eat locally, eat low on the food chain, and try to get the best stuff you can find for your budget.

Here are some links:
http://www.eatwild.com/
http://www.localharvest.org/
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/localfood_dir.php
http://www.realmilk.com/where.html
http://www.living-foods.com/articles/whywildfood.html
http://www.eatwellguide.org/
http://www.realfoods.org/
http://find.mapmuse.com/re1/interest.php?brandID=FARMER_MARKETS
http://www.beyondorganic.com/

Alfie Kohn

Alfie Kohn believes that children should neither be punished for bad behavior nor rewarded for good behavior, because it's coercive. He also believes that the current school system is not good for them, but I think his kids are in it, because he and his wife both work (at least that's what I hear), and I'm assuming their kids have been either in daycare or with a nanny since infancy. Kind of odd, don't you think? I know in our case, ds being in daycare would be coercive because he won't even stay with a friend for five minutes while I go to the bathroom! I would think it would be a lot easier to be tolerant with your kids if you spent that much less time with them, don't you? Give me 40+ hours a week away from ds and I would bet I would treat him a lot differently. Although getting him to bed would probably be a lot worse of a problem, since he would be wanting to spend more time with me.
I do like more the stuff that Marshall Rosenburg says about non-coercion. http://www.cnvc.org/raisekds.htm

Happy New Year to you!

I heard that April 1 used to be new Years. Sounds good to me! I sure wish it would get above 60 degrees -- the high here today was 48, and it's supposed to snow tonight! I really would like to live in a place that has a real spring! Cold weather for a couple of months is one thing, but half a year -- please!
That's it for today.

How do I fit yoga in with a four year old?

I have got to do my Yoga 4 Fertility video today, but ds is using the VCR. I have the VHS version from the library, they don't have it on DVD.
I think I'll buy the DVD, unless there is a better one. I'd like one that has both short and long workouts. This one is about an hour or more, depending on whether you pause the tape.

gratitude entry for today, 3/28/07

Things I'm grateful for: my friend Becka and her wonderful daugher Amelie, who met me and ds at the park today and played. Playgroups like the Eastside AP, where I can talk to other moms. Message boards, where I can post and read other posts from other moms and people. Books from the library that I can read. Being able to read books. Reading to ds tonight. Holding him as he fell asleep. Watching him play with his friend Amelie, and then another girl later on tonight in our apartment complex. Cleaning up the kitchen and having it not be too bad. I need sleep!

gratitude and joy entry for today, 3/24/07

Things I am grateful for:
1. Having a mommys group to meet other moms -- I actually ran into one of them today and enjoyed talking with her a bit. 2. Having a wonderful son who lives well 3. Having a loving husband with endless patience 4. My health, which is improving 5. the fact that ds's health seems to be impoving as well 6. being able to buy food at the food court at crossroads mall 7. Being able to go to Redmond Town Center and see the new sensory garden and get a backpack with free stuff in it for ds
Things that brought me joy:
1. Sleeping in this morning 2. Playing games with ds 3. eating dinner 4. making yogurt with mango for ds 5. Posting on MDC 6 reading to ds tonight

gratitude and joy entry for today, 3/19/07

I am so grateful to my loving, patient, kind husband, who did the dishes tonight without being asked or reminded. I am grateful for a sweet, loving, happy, funny son who did really well last night, not waking much at all. I am grateful for my yoga video, which is helpful and makes me feel good. I am grateful for my wonderful friend, Stacy, whom I will be visiting and staying with in less than a month. I am grateful for the flowering trees and milder weather -- even went without a sweater today! I am grateful for our warm dry apartment, which is getting cleaner and more orderly all the time.

Things that brought me joy: going to 321 Bounce today with ds and playing with him on the equipment. Doing yoga and having it relax me and help the crick in my neck. Reading to ds. Seeing dh walk in the door, having walked through the rain on his way home from work (I keep the car so we can go places, he walks nearly 2 miles each way to and from work). Breathing.

what do you think of this?

http://www.specialtybottle.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=409

gratitude and joy entry for today, 3/1/07

Gratitude:
I am so grateful for my loving husband who did the dishes for me tonight, and also got ds ready for bed (except the teeth brushing, book, and nursing, LOL).
I am endlessly grateful for my wonderful, imaginitive, intelligent, sweet little son.
I am very grateful for my friend Becka, who came over today with her beautiful daughter.
I am grateful for my brothers, who have been there for me over the years.
I am grateful for the sun that came out today.
I am grateful for my Aunt Janet, recently returned from a trip to the South Pacific, who emailed me today. I am picturing her grandson, my cousin, healing from some illnesses that he has had recently.
I am grateful to the earth, for providing us with delicious food.
I am grateful for having a computer to write this on.
Joy:
Cooking black bean soup brought me great joy, as did eating it.
Seeing ds playing with his friend brought me joy.
Holding ds in my lap brought me joy.
Kissing dh when he came home brought me joy.
Seeing dh and ds play together brought joy to my heart. They have so much fun together!

Messages of Love

Messages of Love
This is a website by a really cool mama who sends out messages of love to people. They are way cool.

Isn't this a cool drawing?

My friend Chasmyn introduced me to this artist, William M Perry, who is selling his drawings on Ebay. He's selling them every week so if you sign up to see his new stuff, you will get a new image in your email every week. Pretty cool, huh? And he also sold a cool love poem called "Until Bananas Turn to Ink" which he wrote and illustrated and self-published, and it's really awesome. I bought a copy for DH for Valentine's day and he loved it. I just wish I'd left more positive feedback -- I was stressed and rushed so it was a bit terse: "item in good condition" was all. Oops!

Save money going to college Video!

I don't have the patience to listen to this guy, but the idea sounds cool -- go to college for $11 per day!

gratitude entry for today, 2/14/07

I am grateful for a loving, handsome husband, and wonderful, attached son, great friends, and a healthy, sound body. I am grateful to have a nice place to call home, lots of good food, and fun things to do. I am grateful to be able to stay home with my son full time, and to be able to get around with him in our car regularly. I am grateful to have a mommy's group that meets regularly relatively close by, and to be able to spend time with them and their kids. I love kids!
Things that brought me joy today included going to a mommy's group Valentine's party and seeing C play with the other kids and eat whatever they were serving without any unusual reactions (sure, he was hyper, but so would any kid who ate the sugar and stuff they had). Being with my husband and son brought me a great deal of joy in different ways. I really enjoy seeing C laugh and smile, and playing magic tricks with him really makes him excited, which I love to see. Loving DH and celebrating Valentine's Day as a couple really brought me joy too.

I love Hanna Andersson!

Here is a bid I missed on ebay for C's favorite jammies, Hanna Andersson -- his favorite are the striped ones. They make cute prints, too, but they aren't as soft or durable as the striped ones. That is especially important when you buy them used -- the prints are usually at least slightly faded and definitely don't last as long. Anyway, I need to figure out the best way to win an ebay auction without driving up the price, because these things can get pretty spendy if you keep bidding on them. I can get them new at the outlet store for $28.00, although they aren't always available in the size we want. So I don't want to spend more than say, 20 bucks, shipping included, on them on ebay, but often the bids get way high on the popular ones. I intend to have good jammies for a decent price.

We love Hanna's long johns!

Reiki - long distance healing

Reiki healing
So, this blogger can do long-distance healing with Reiki via instant messenger. What an interesting idea, using modern technology to use an ancient healing technique. Reiki is supposed to be really good for pregnant women and for childbirth. Supposed to help a woman get in touch with her feminine energy.

This is a strange thought: I wonder if that's why I have infertility? I sure have had a hard time getting in touch with my feminine energy. I was kind of a tomboy growing up, but mainly in the sense that I didn't like my hair long or to wear dresses. I didn't like my hair long because I had a sensitive scalp, and I didn't like dresses because I felt exposed in them. I did like to climb trees, and I did play with trucks, but I think that was at least in part because I didn't like dolls (they scared me) and I wasn't left with much else to play with. I wasn't into sports, and I didn't take to things like car repair or woodworking. But I never fit in with the girls with all their gossip and such. At least in part because I didn't have any early friends who were girls, so I never learned to relate to them.
Does that explain my infertility? That I just never felt like a girl? I doubt it, there are plenty of butch or tomboy women, lesbians and otherwise, who get regular periods and ovulate. It could be the endocrine system problems I have are a result of toxins, which also caused my scalp sensitivity and maybe even my fear of dolls. Who knows?
Now, to try to turn all this musing stuff around: I would like to put more energy into directing my mind at what I want from life, rather than what I'm not getting.

the Lactivist

The Lactivist -- a website by a mom who is a lactivist -- an activist for breastfeeding. Her latest post is about how she got sued by the National Pork Board for selling a shirt with the slogan: "Breastmilk: the other white milk" (because they were saying it made pork look bad somehow! Anyway, she changed the slogan to "Breast: the original white milk" and the pork board apologized and donated money to a mother's milk bank.

Pretty crazy stuff.

What I think is cool is that not only is she a lactivist for breastfeeding, but she's also a work-at-home mom. To do that takes a lot of organizational skill and energy. How does one do it? I'd like to watch her one day just to see how she copes.

Gratitude and joy, dude!

I keep typing "gratidute" or "gratidude" so I thought I'd just make a silly joke. I am tired, so it's easy to entertain me.
Here are some things I noted today to be grateful for:
1. Having the sun come out today -- in winter, sun is a rarity up here, so you need to enjoy every bit you get of it.
2. Being able to brush my teeth and get them clean.
3. The smell of soapy water as I wash dishes.
4. My friends, who are so supportive and helpful.
5. C, my wonderful son, who teaches me something new every day
6. My wonderful husband, who will play with C in a different way than I do.
7. Having a washer and dryer in our apartment! Yes! I grew up going to laundry mats, and hated it. Never had a washer/dryer until moving in with DH. No more dragging baskets of laundry down the street!
8. Having a car that can get us where we need to go. I only bought my first car a little over 10 years ago. Before that, it was bus, bike, and/or walking. Of course, when I lived in San Francisco, that was fine, but it made it hard to get out of town.

Things I did today that brought me joy:
1. Going to Farrel McWhirter Park to see the animals. There are baby chicks there now, and C just loved watching them peck and scratch and huddle under the heat lamp.
2. Washing dishes and getting them clean.
3. Holding C while he slept
4. Reading to C
5. Seeing Dh come in the door tonight.
6. Watching videos with C sitting next to me. Or lying next to me nursing. Yes, he's almost 4 and still a nursling!

gratitude and joy for 1/30/07

(I'm actually writing this on the 31st, but that's because I couldn't get on the computer last night)
Things I'm grateful for:
1. Having DH, who went into work late and left early to help out while ds and I were sick, for a husband.
2. Having Chasmyn, who is sending me "The Secret" video and another CD whose title escape me, for a friend.
3. Becka calling me to talk even though she doesn't like to use the phone.
4. DS's birth, which was a miracle in more ways than one.
Things from 1/30/07 that brought me joy:
1. Holding my son in my lap while we read a book together
2. Seeing the blue sky and sun shining
3. Feeding ds frozen blueberries
4. Eating yogurt with frozen blueberries

joy for today, 1/28/07

Things I did today that brought me joy: eating porrige, reading the Sunday paper, holding my son in my lap, drinking clean water, reading email from friends.

gratitude entry for today, 1/28/07

I am grateful for my patient, loving, handsome husband, and my sweet, gentle, handsome, healthy son. I am grateful for the sun today, and being able to comfort my son when he was ill. I am grateful for my brother Charlie, who is really smart, and my other brother Stan, even if I never hear from him. I am grateful for my friend Stacy, whom I meant to call today, and my friend Vashti. I'm grateful for the evergreen trees all around and my friend Becka who emailed me today.

 

I will try to keep up this blog

OK, so I just realized I don't keep up my blog. I should enter something new every other day, at least. I should have made it a new years' resolution.

I need to do this:
1. Make a list of the things I'm grateful for each day
2. Make a list of the things that brought me joy each day.

Maybe I could combine the two and blog about it?

Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters

Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters

What a cool blog. I wish I were as good a writer, and as good about updating my blog as this woman. I love her post with "Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou. It's about how femininity is something other than the ability to reproduce, or any other stereotypical thing.

Infertility definitely makes you feel less than female, especially if you had always assumed you could reproduce on your own without medical intervention, and especially if you were brought up to believe that part of being female is to be a mother (which is generally the case). I often feel inferior to women who get pregnant without trying, or who try for awhile and then get pregnant. I know a woman who just had her third baby in three years, and while I don't really think that's for me, I still envy her fecundity. Sure, she's in her twenties, but I could never have done that, even at 20.

However, it's important to remember that not all women can or want to give birth to children. Many women choose to be child free, and many others are never able to get pregnant and carry to term a child. Does that make them less than female? I don't think so. Being a woman is so much more than that. In addition, in our ever more crowded world, the ability to reproduce in large numbers is not really considered by many to be an asset.

It also connects to the idea of same sex marriage -- if a heterosexual woman who is infertile, either by choice or circumstances, wants to marry a man, she can, but if she wants to marry a woman she can't. In either case, no biological child will issue forth from her loins no matter how often she consummates her marriage (unless, as an infertile, she uses advanced reproductive technology -- and unless she is young enough and rich enough to do so). Why should it matter than in one case the other person has a penis? With me, my pregnancy was induced the same way a lesbian woman's in my La Leche League meeting in Richmond, CA was -- at the Kaiser fertility clinic in Oakland, on a doctor's table. Sure, my husband's sperm was involved, but it could easily have been donor sperm, for all my husband was involved in getting it into me. And in my case, I have been with women in the past, so it's doubly odd for me that my choice of a man as a partner has such impact on our ability to raise a child together. It doesn't seem fair to me, but then again, neither is infertility, and nobody has a law about that (yet) that creates it. Other than, perhaps, the lack of laws protecting us from toxins and stress, which no doubt created infertility.

Back to being a woman. What is it? Having a vagina? Two X chromosomes? Lots of estrogen? I have lots of estrogen, but for a time I also had lots of testosterone (due to my PCOS), and I probably will again once C stops nursing (breastfeeding has really given my body a break from much of the PCOS). Am I less female? I'm still a woman, aren't I?

Anyway, you go girl!

Inanimate Alice -- what a trip!

WOW! Inanimate Alice


OK, so the people who put this set of stories are a but odd. Or what? Take a peek at the first one and tell me what it means, please? It definitely draws one in and makes one think. I don't want to put too many words into describing it, because I don't think I can do it justice. Just go there.

Another view of war and peace

December 10, 2006, 9:38 pm Sugar-Sweet Memories By Jeremie Lucia

This post in another blog talks about the poster's experiences in Afghanistan. I haven't been there myself, but it sounds like quite a different life from the States. I think it's a bit controversial. Have you read it?

C has grown so much

C has grown so much, I can hardly believe it. He's 3 3/4 now, and is 43 inches tall. He's about 37 pounds or so, although it's not the same twice. He eats a lot for such a little kid. He can eat a whole cantelope himself in a couple of hours, which is more than I could do. He has taken to eating for breakfast the following combination: a one-egg omelet with cheese on it, a turkey dog (eaten like sausage), and homemade frozen yogurt (we call it ice cream). He also ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich this morning. He seems to be able to handle rye sourdough bread -- too bad it's like $5.00 for a quarter of a loaf at the health food store! Regular bread makes him wet his pants, due to the gluten in it. But at least I can buy bread instead of having to make it from cashew butter like I was doing (he can't stand that because it requires the use of the food processor, which is too noisy for him).

Anyway, he is so strong, and so helpful around the house. He likes to put away laundry in the dresser drawers. Any excuse to run from room to room, really.

More later...

Looking for Longleaf

This sounds interesting: Looking for Longleaf: The Fall and Rise of an American Forest . This book is on my brother's wishlist. It's about how the longleaf pine forest is basically extinct. Yet another victim of progress. If I had a few extra hours, I might take a peek at it. Maybe I'll put it on hold at the library! Any light reading in your wishlist, bro? What about a nice copy of Randy Travis Platinum Collection or Dangerous Man by Trace Adkins?

Omaha Steaks: grain fed steaks

Omaha Steaks
So, Omaha Steaks is what we get every year from some relatives. They are very much grain fed, which makes them fattier and more tender, and much less healthy. What about Niman Ranch beef instead? Is it any more healthy? It sure is a LOT more expensive! No hormones, no antibiotics, and traditionally raised, so it is over $100 for just 5 flank steaks. Wow! And these cows are still not fully grass fed, so their fat is still low in the healthy omega 3 fatty acids that make grass fed beef healthier. If this is what there is, I'll just have beans, thank you!

Might as well say that we may or may not get some of these steaks in the mail for Christmas this year. We have gotten them every year for several years from some relatives of Bill's, but there is a bit of a problem going on between his mom and them, so I'm wondering what will happen. He never calls them because he's so uncomfortable with it all. Every family has its oddities, of course. It's just too bad that Chris is in the middle of it all (and Bill as well, really). Why can't people just get along?

It snowed!

Finally getting around to posting: it snowed here last week, and it even stayed on the ground here for a couple of days. And out farther, it was still on the ground yesterday! Isn't that cool? We got about two inches, but only about half an inch stuck to the ground. The car got all two inches on it. I should have taken photos, but we need a new camera battery. Anyway, we had some fun cleaning off the car and made some snowballs. Not really enough for a snowman/person. Bill went in to work anyway, and was one of the only ones there. Microsoft was closed! Those folks are spoiled in some ways, although they also work insane hours many times.

Hope you all are having a wonderful winter!

celiac disease -- whatever happened to the old cure for it?

This is in regard to the Wikipedia entry for Celiac disease, which states, "At this time no medication will prevent damage, nor prevent the body from attacking the gut when gluten is present. The disease is controlled by strict adherence to a gluten-free diet, which allows the intestines to heal and resolves all symptoms in the vast majority of cases..."
It contradicts itself later, however, by stating. "Even while on a diet, health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is decreased in people with coeliac disease. Some have persisting digestive symptoms or dermatitis herpetiformis, mouth ulcers, osteoporosis and fractures." (there is more, too, but you get the point. I'm amazed that mainstream medicine still stands by this, despites lots of doubts about what really causes celiac disease and what can be done about it.

There is an alternative diet to the gluten free diet, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (TM), which restricts not only gluten containing grains such as wheat, rye, and barley, but also all grains (including rice and corn) and most complex carbohydrates including potatoes, most beans (including soy and pinto), and other starchy vegetables and all sweeteners except for honey and saccharine. This diet is based on the idea that the gut is damaged by an imbalance of intestinal flora, and that the unfriendly flora must be starved off by depriving them of food. The diet only allows carbohydrates that are monosaccharides such as those in fruits, sweet vegetables such as squash, non-starchy veggies such as broccoli and zucchini, and honey. All fermentable carbohydrates are removed from the diet to allow the gut to rest and heal. This diet was first developed to treat celiac disease, but fell out of favor because of its difficulty to maintain and further studies that pointed to gluten, a protein, rather than starch, as the culprit in celiac.

There is a small minority of people who believe that celiac disease, irritable bowel disease, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, and even perhaps autism, are all caused by carbohydrate intolerance rather than gluten intolerance. This is because only monosaccarides can be digested completely by the human digestive system and absorbed properly. All other carbohydrates cause problems, particularly if there is intestinal damage such as that caused by coeliac disease. The complex carbohydrates, disaccharides and polysaccharides, are not properly digested in the stomach, and go on to feed unfriendly intestinal flora such as Candida albicans, which in turn cause more intestinal damage. Thus, this vicious cycle causes increasing damage to the intestines and an out of control imbalance of intestinal microflora.

It turns out humans never really were meant to be eating starches, especially in the huge quantities most modern diets -- not just the US diet, but most around the world (other than traditional Arctic people and a few other isolated groups). It was less than 10,000 years ago that humans started to live settled enough and farm enough that they could grow large quantities of crops, including grains. Before that, most humans ate meat, fruit, vegetables, some tubers and a few grains gathered a few weeks a year, doled out very frugally throughout the year. And only a thousand or so more years before that were we regularly cooking our foods, so we really couldn't eat grains or tubers. Many people's bodies have adapted to this new diet, but many have not, and celiac disease is just one sign that it's an ill-suited diet.

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet(TM) solves this problem. It does not restrict protein foods such as meats, and allows some beans, such as lentils and navy beans once healing is well under way. It includes dairy, although in cases where dairy is not tolerated it can be excluded as well. This diet was developed in the early 20th Century, and was commonly used as recently as the 1950s to treat Celiac disease. (Haas SV and Haas MP: Management of celiac disease, p x. J B Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1951)

What did we do today? What should we have done?

Often, right before he goes to sleep, ds will ask me, "what did we do today?" He likes to hear about what we did, maybe because he finds it comforting, maybe because he forgets. Anyway, today, it felt like "what did I do today?" or "what should we have done today" because we had kind of a lousy day. It's raining, ds had a tantrum, we didn't really do much fun stuff. I feel like a bad mommy for not doing more fun stuff with ds. I feel like he's using his DVD player for a replacement mommy.
Today started out like many days. I made breakfast, almond flour porrige (which ds asked for and used to eat). He refused to eat it, and only ate an apple. He is a very picky eater, by the way. Anyway, we went to my doctor's office for my cranial sacral therapy appointment (he had some goat milk yogurt in the waiting room), then we stopped at a supplements store for cod liver oil. DS got a raw vegan energy bar, which he devoured. When we got home, he had a tantrum. Was it the energy bar on basically an empty stomach? Going to the doctor's office (where he watched his DVD player while I got my treatment)? Was it something else? Well, he ended up falling asleep, which is not something he usually does anymore. He had been running around at the doctor's office in the waiting room, and one of the receptionists said "I wish I had his energy." Little did they know it was being hyper. And that he would collapse a short while later.
Why won't he eat better? Why does he ask for food that he then doesn't eat? Why does he eat so many sweets? Well, it's the candida, duh! But why can't we kick it? Why does a kid have to go through this? Why can't he be healthy? I am so tired of these worries. I don't know what to do.

Probiotics are cool

What don't probiotics do? It would seem nothing! They help with many things, including digestion of oxalates (in many things such as most veggies and nuts), which helps with mineral absorbtion. They help digest carbohydrates. They fight yeast infections. They help absorbtion of other nutrients. They are just so cool. How do you get them? Naturally fermented foods are the best sources, like yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut (homemade without vinegar), and other similar foods. There are plenty of pills and powders, too, but they are usually less effective. Some people are very allergic to dairy, and have to take extra precaustions in finding fermented foods or probiotic supplements they can handle. I am fairly reactive to cow's milk dairy, although goat's milk yogurt doesn't seem to be a problem for me, fortunately. I didn't like goat's milk yogurt until I got fresh goat's milk. I prefer it raw, if possible, but it is very expensive. It's almost $9.00 for half a gallon. I would love to have my own goats to milk so I could save a bit, but then that would be a lot of work. Not to mention the land for them would be pricey, at least around here. See why I call this my ramblings :=?
Here are some links:
http://www.natren.com/pages/natashart2.asp
http://www.natren.com/pages/baby.html
http://www.wildfermentation.com
http://www.healingcrow.com/ferfun/ferfun.html
http://www.natren.com/pages/natashart3.asp
http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefir-faq.html#alternatekefir
http://www.merc-buyers.com/FS-microorganisms.htm
http://www.victusinc.com/Enterales/Reuteri/Probiotics.htm


More later! I am needed to get ds ready for bed.

Jokes about congress I've gotten in my inbox

I got an email the other day with these jokes about congress, apparently related to the Tom Foley fiasco:

Q:Why don't members of congress need bookmarks?

A: They bend over the pages

Q. What is the difference between Congress and the Library of Congress?
A. At the Library of Congress, you aren't allowed to lick the pages.

This was from a church email list, by the way. But it was a Unitarian church group, and in Washington state. tee hee.

The rains are here! Is this 50 days and 50 nights or what?

So, it's the second week of November, and it's been raining nearly constantly for over a week, I think, and is supposed to rain every day for the next two weeks or so at least. See: http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/USWA0395.html Oh, and it's supposed to get colder, too! There are flooded basements, flooded rivers, and even some cancelled schools. Sure, this is the Seattle area, known for its rainy weather, but this is ridiculous! I lived in Northern California, which does get a winter rainy season although it's shorter and drier, but it did not prepare me for this thing of days and days going by without any dry days. And for such a rainy place, it really doesn't have a lot of things to do with kids that are indoors. Sure, towns have recreation centers with some periods of indoor play, but they are for toddlers mostly. Oh, wait, that's right, most kids over two are in daycare or school now, so their parents don't have to take them to the park. No wonder! Yet another problem with being a homeschooler (sort of) in a world where school is starting younger and younger.
I don't like the extremely dry air in places like Tucson, AZ http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/USAZ0247.html but envy them their sun and warmth. I would like the warm and the sun without the incredibly dry air or the unbearably hot summers. Is ther such a place? I'd like the humidity to be about 50% all year, with a variation of temperature from about 55 degrees in the winter to about 85 degrees in the summer, with a long warm spring and fall. Sigh. Rain isn't all bad, it's just when that's all there is that it gets to be a downer. It would be nice to have some sun every once in awhile. Even just an hour a day, sheesh!

World On Fire

$5,000 could cover the cost of hair and make-up for one day on set in LA or pay for one year’s schooling for 145 girls in Afghanistan. Sarah McLachlan does the math and encourages you to join her.

Walk Slowly, Live Wildly

Walk Slowly, Live Wildly
What an interesting blog. Sara and her family have moved into a tiny one bedroom apartment from a big house, and downsized majorly. I couldn't do what she did, especially since she's still got parents to hold onto some of her stuff (the benefits of having kids young -- living grandparents!). But the way she makes her little place look -- wow! That I want. I want to create a livable, beautiful home with functional but nice looking furniture. I want to be able to create a home that I would post pictures of on the web, and invite people over! I want a nice place, and her blog makes it abundantly clear it doesn't have to be huge to be nice and homey.

Supplements

Thought I would list the supplements I'm taking:
sodium ascorbate, about 6 grams a day
5 HTP (am going to stop on that for a bit to see if ds's mood gets better -- he's been bossy and angry a lot, and I'm thinking it might be what he's getting in my breastmilk, even though he hardly nurses)
L-Tyrosine
St. John's Wort
bioflavanoids
sodium ascorbate
Vital 10 diary free Probiotics from Klaire Labs
homeopathic candida
selenium (need to get more of this)
energy electrolytes (minerals)
Dolomite (need to get more of this)
Calcium by Garden of Life
Thropps enzymes -- two diferent kinds, one is Ultra-Zyme Pro and the other is a combination with grape seed extract
Candida Yeast Management enzymes by Nutraceutical Sciences Institute
Homeopathic single remedies: sepia 200K and ignatia amara 200K

Five Love Languages

Five Love Languages

The Five Love Languages

My primary love language is probably
Quality Time
with a secondary love language being
Acts of Service.

Complete set of results

Quality Time:		9
Acts of Service:		8
Physical Touch:		7
Words of Affirmation:		5
Receiving Gifts:		1

Information

Unhappiness in relationships, according to Dr. Gary Chapman, is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. Sometimes we don't understand our partner's requirements, or even our own. We all have a "love tank" that needs to be filled in order for us to express love to others, but there are different means by which our tank can be filled, and there are different ways that we can express love to others.

Take the quiz

Some treats are all tricks -- chocolate and child slave labor

So, it turns out most of the chocolate candy we eat was produced using the work of children, who are unpaid and exploited, in Africa. I had already known that most chocolate is contaminated with lead (even organic) from processing it, and that it's usually loaded with pesticides, sugar, and soy (which gives me migraines). In fact, I had figured with all the nastiness in it, that it's hard to say whether the additives, the lead, the pesticides, or what give me migraines unless I tried pure raw cacao and saw whether it gave me migraine. Anyway, now it turns out that there is a new Nestle boycott (on top of the ongoing boycott of Nestle for its formula advertising, which is still in violation of the World Health Organization guidelines and ethics in general) because they, among others, are using forced child labor to harvest their chocolate.
So this Halloween, if you must give out chocolate, make sure it's fair trade chocolate!
http://store.gxonlinestore.org/trickortreatkit.html
http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/retailers.html
http://www.ethiscore.org/report.aspx?id=214970&free=true
Does anyone know if there is any raw, organic lead-free cacao that is also fair trade?

Pirate Papa: A Journal of Anarcho-Green D(o).I(t).Y(ourself). Parenting

Pirate Papa: A Journal of Anarcho-Green D(o).I(t).Y(ourself). Parenting
What a cool site! All kinds of things, all kinds of information. I like the look of it, too! Check it out!
I love to hear about other parents who are doing things differently. Not following the herd. Thinking for themselves.

Is your life waiting?

I am just getting started on this book, Excuse me your life is waiting and I am slighly sceptical, yet intrigued. The gist of the book is that negative feelings and thoughts attract more negative feelings and thoughts, as well as negative people and negative events. She's saying that we get negative things, such as poverty, illness, and accidents, due to negative vibrations we send out when we feel negative feelings (such as despair, loneliness, jealousy, rage, etc). That we create our own reality, including all the things that happen to us. We are magnets, and if we are negatively charged, we attract negative things. That would mean all my negative thoughts, which are profuse (as you may see from my other posts), are making my life a living hell. Hmm, maybe? What about a depressed person such as myself, who can't help but feel negatively? Is that person doomed to a terrible life? How would one turn it around? I will read more and get back to you on that.

What's for Dinner? Eating the NT Way: Gingered Chicken Breasts

Found a blog with some yummy-sounding recipes in the style of Nourishing Traditions. Many are egg- and dairy-free that I've seen so far. Pretty cool!
What's for Dinner? Eating the NT Way: Gingered Chicken Breasts

Mama's got milk

This is so cool. From a friend's blog:
To the tune of “Baby Got Back”! (written by ?)

I like milk breasts and I cannot lie
You other babies can’t deny
That when a mom walks in with an itty bitty waist and
Two round things in your face
You get THURSSSSSS-TEE
Cuz you notice her bra is stuffed
she’s deep in double d’s she wearing
Im hooked and I can’t stop staring
OH MOMMA I wanna get witcha
And drink your juicy pitchers
Enfamil tried to lure me
But only momma’s milk makes me WAY healthy!

Ooo boobie’s smooth skin
It always makes me grin,
So feed me, feed me,
Cause you know it makes me happy
I see ‘em bouncin’
With at least six ounces
It’s sweet.
This treat!
Sit down mom, pull up a seat!
I’m tired of magazines,
Sayin formula is the thing
Ask the average baby and they’ll say, “Snap!
Give it to me straight from the tap!”

So, Mommas (yeah!)
Mommas (yeah!)
Can you NIP without any drama?
(HELL YEAH!)
Then nurse ‘em, nurse ‘em, nurse ‘em, nurse ‘em,
Nurse your precious babes

Momma’s got milk!
(Mom’s sweet face over big full boobies)
Momma’s got milk!
(Mom’s sweet face over big full boobies)

I like ‘em round and big
I’m like a little baby pig
I just can’t help my self,
I’m eatin’ like an animal
Bottles can’t hold a candle
I wanna get that booju and slurp,
Slurp it up slurp slurp
I ain’t talking ’bout Playtex
Cause silicone nips are made for chumps
I like ‘em real big and juicy
So give me your big bubbles
Boobies don’t give me trouble
Rarely do I get a gas bubble
I’m lookin’ at TLC’s baby shows
Oh would you look at that…Oh, NO!
You can keep that mooju.
I’ll keep on stickin’ with booju.
A word to all you new mommas.
It’s no trauma
It’s not a big drama
I gotta be straight,
Your baby can nurse
Til the break of dawn
Now you’ve got it goin’ on
Similac won’t like this song
Cause they count on you to try it and quit it,
But you know those breasts make milk
It’s not wrong. You’re strong
Let’s get that lactating on

So babies (squee!)
Babies (squee!)
Do you wanna have your thirst sated?
Momma undo your bra, whip it out,
You make this baby shout

Momma’s got milk!
(Mom’s sweet face over big full boobies)
Momma’s got milk!
(Mom’s sweet face over big full boobies)

Yeah mommas.
When it comes to breastfeeding?
Size ain’t got nothin’ to do with your ability.
Bs? Cs? Double Ds?
You’ve got all your baby needs.

So they gave you a “success bag”
Complete with a Nestle tag
But don’t think that you always need
To get some free swag
Leave that sample up on the shelf
You can make it yourself
You can have some wine and sushi,
Your babe can have your milk!
Some docs wanna play that hard role
And tell you to supplement.
Momma toss it! Leave it!
The trashman can retrieve it!
So the security guard says, “Stop that!”
Well, I ain’t down with that.
Cause my boobs are full
And this baby needs feeding,
It’s his needs that I’ll be meetin’
Some knuckleheads tried to be snide,
But the law is on my side.
I’m not feeding her in the restroom.
So stop with your doom and gloom.

So momma if your babe needs food
Go ahead and do what’s good.
Sit down and feed that baby there
And let your milkies flow
Momma’s got milk!

Anxiety makes the world into a hurricane

I have anxiety. I don't know if you call it general anxiety disorder, or what, but it's anxiety that comes and goes, and generally makes my life miserable. I often feel as though nothing is right, that everything is wrong. I'm anxious about going out, I'm anxious about staying in. I'm anxious about spending money, I'm anxious about not buying anything. I'm anxious about making phone calls, but not talking on the phone leaves me isolated, particularly as I'm a stay-at-home mom who often literally stays at home all day. I'm anxious about the mess my home is in, but my brain is so scrambled I don't know where to begin to clean it. I hate it.
Why anxiety?
I know for me the anxiety is at least partially biological in cause, although the exact biology of it isn't clear to me. Candida, which I know I have, can cause anxiety, as can die-off when on an anti-candida diet (which I'm tiptoing on the edges of -- I cheat -- by eating fruit, honey, or carrots, just a little bit each day, probably enough to keep the candida alive but also just enough to keep from totally losing it). I know my anxiety is probably at least partially inherited from my mom, as she seemed like a pretty anxious person, always on the go and rarely relaxed unless she was reading a book. Whether I inhertited her candida and nutritional problems or her genetic problems is not clear though, as both can come to a person from their mother. And gut issues, and nutrition, are definitely tied up with mood and other mental problems.
What to do about it?
I used to be on Prozac, and it helped both my anxiety and my depression, but it made me feel like crap. I was tired all the time, needed coffee just to get going, often took naps in the middle of the day (yes, even at work), and slept 11 hours per night on weekends. I have been trying various homeopathic remedies, including gelsemium sempervirons, staphysagria, sepia, natrum muriaticum, and thuja, but none has resolved it. I just have a drawer full of little vials of these round pellets. The diet that I've been on for almost a year, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, has helped many who had gut issues, but it doesn't seem to have done much for me beyond helping me to lose some weight. I'm guessing that the candida are just too strong for it, and I will have to do something else.
And the torch is passed
My son definitely has separation anxiety, and is generally very high needs, so I'm pretty sure my problems have been passed on to him, whether through gut flora and nutrition problems he got in utero and/or during and after birth (candida from the birth canal and candida and missing nutrients in my breastmilk), or through just being around an anxious and depressed mom. I was thinking today how few memories I have of having real fun with him, and how few memories I have of having real fun with my mom, and it saddened me. How can I right this? I don't want him to grow up to be anxious and depressed like I am. I want him to be happy, healthy, and full of joy and love. What do I do to change things?
Rant
All I really want to do now is eat regular food again, like cereal and milk and pie and such. Give me a pill that will let me be healthy on a whole foods diet that isn't so limited, please! I can't even go camping because of a) the anxiety and b) the fact that the diet I'm on requires me not to use any canned or processed foods, which means I have to cook every meal -- not easy on a campstove with a few tiny camping pots. I can't enjoy life and I'm sick of it. Help me, please! I am tempted to chuck the whole thing, ask to be put on Prozac or St John's Wort or something, and eat at Denny's!

Tired all the time? Could it be Adrenal Fatigue?

Do you think you may have adrenal fatigue? I think I may have it, although for me it would probably be more of a downstream consequence of PCOS and candida. In general, if you are tired all the time and have to drink a lot of coffee, caffeinated tea or other stimulants just to get by, you probably have adrenal fatigue. This is what this website says:

Adrenal Fatigue affects an estimated 80% of people living in industrialized countries at one time or another in their lives, yet it has been ignored and largely untreated by the medical community. As a physician in private practice, the number of patients I can work with is limited so, in order to reach the many individuals who suffer from this problem and help them regain their health and vitality, I wrote the book Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome.

Here are some more links to info about it:
http://altmedicine.about.com/od/gettingdiagnosed/l/bl_quiz_adrena1.htm
http://www.lammd.com/A3R_brief_in_doc_format/adrenal_fatigue.cfm

Walid's Wanderings

Walid's Wanderings
This page is from the point of view of someone who actually lived in Lebanon. He does not live there now, but from his posts obviously sees things from a Lebanese point of view. The whole Middle East mess is such a tragedy. That people are killing people over land, oil, differences in religious beliefs, is just horrible. That the media is showing mostly the point of view of the Israelis is not helping matters.
Seeing it from a Lebanese point of view certainly puts a different perspective, although the point of view is of one who believes violence can be justified based on violence. In this way, his point of view is exactly the same as that of the Israelis that so many have been horrified over. Is it a geographical prejudice?

Maternal Digressions

Maternal Digressions
I hope that some day, being a mother will be seen as a normal part of life, and that mothers will be acknowledged as human beings. This site talks about the way women are treated when pregnant, when breastfeeding, and generally in mothering their children. Not well, especially when you consider how important the next generation's health (mentally and physically) is to the world's well-being. Being a mom is a 24/7 profession, and should pay as such. Sure, we are rewarded by seeing our children grow and develop. However, it's difficult to focus entirely on mothering when you have to worry about money because being a mom doesn't pay anything. It should. Society should pay a woman well to stay home (if that is her choice), well enough that she doesn't have to have an anxiety attack every time she spends money for groceries.

In traditional societies, childrearing is a part of everyday life, shared by all, and is integrated into the activities that support the family. Children help gather and prepare food, as well as provide help in making tools and other necessary items. They learn as they go, they are a part of the family and the community as a whole. Sure, they play, but they are enveloped in a constant context that includes all ages and generations. In our society, they are often shunted off to daycare at a few weeks old, and spend the majority of their time once mobile either doing busy work or being ignored and left to fend for themselves with other similarly aged children as models. This is because we have decided that children are best kept separate from adults as much as possible, due to their not having anything valuable to contribute. This dooms them to feelings of inadequacy and feeling abandoned. Even if a woman does stay home to care for young children, she is often so isolated from others that she gets depressed, or ends up sticking the kids in front of a video so she can get some time with other adults. What's wrong with this picture? Plenty!
What's the solution? Homeschooling, or unschooling, at least de-institutionalizes children, but it leaves them cut off from the adult world in many cases, simply because they don't fit in to the hushed, sterile, maze-like world so many adults toil in day by day (the lucky white collar workers, anyway). Is there a way to fit children into the real world without enslaving them or totally disrupting the world of work? Should the factories, offices, stores, etc. be so serious and locked down that children wouldn't fit in? I realize that child labor is not exactly what we need to go back to, in the sense of children being forced to put in long hours in noisy, dirty, dangerous, conditions. But should anyone work like that? Shouldn't work itself be changed, so as to make it less slavery like? Or would that be some sort of radical revolutionary thing? I don't know.

Locked out of the American Dream

So today (actually yesterday now, it's the middle of the night) I was at a mommy's group get together at this woman's house not far from here. They just bought it for a little under $500K, and are putting a lot of money into it as it was a fixer. She is a full time stay at home mom (sahm) like myself, so all the money must have come from her DH's job at the big local employer (the one that makes software that runs most of the computers in the world). Wow, that place must pay really well! And he must be pretty high up there, too. How else could they afford that? Then one of the other mamas in the group mentioned that she and her dh are building not one but two houses! Sure, she's working as a lawyer part time from home, which I'm guessing pays pretty well, but whew! Talk about brushing shoulders with the rich!

I guess it comes with the territory of being a sahm, since most women work and most women who don't work outside the home have husbands that are well paid, but I couldn't help feeling sorry for myself, and comparing our situation to theirs. We just got our bank statement, and it shows that we exceeded our income this month, again, and are now living paycheck to paycheck practically -- and this is without putting anything towards retirement! And we are living in an apartment. I know part of it is that our rent is going up a lot, and part of it is that ds and I took a trip back east to visit the ILs, but mostly it's the diet -- SCD is breaking us! All the vegetables and meats are just too much money! I would bet we spent over a thousand bucks on food. At this rate, with these kinds of housing prices, we will not be able to afford even the smallest, most worn-out house in this area without buying so far out we'd never be able to get to the nice places to shop like the farmer's Market, the natural food coop, much less fun places like the museums downtown. What's a poor girl to do?

I know I should be happy we have a regular roof over our heads, a car we can use (yes, we have only one car, dh walks to work), and food to eat. There are billions of people worse off than we are. We have internet access, a TV (no cable though) and enough clothes in relatively good condition not to have to wash them daily. Why can't I be grateful for what I have instead of seeing what I don't have? So, we have no garage. So, we have only a 2 bedroom apartment. We're not living in tent city, after all. We may never be able to own a home, but at least we can pay the rent. We have heat in the winter, hot running water, and wow, a washer and dryer (didn't have that growing up -- the washer and dryer that is).

Why is it that the homes here are so out of reach for so many? I mean, it's not as if dh works at a fast food place. He has a college degree, has been out in the working world for many years, but he obviously isn't being paid half what these other women's Dh's are being paid. Why not? Sure, his dad was a plumber who died young and left a widow with a high school education to support three boys. Sure, he's a laid-back hippie who would never want to negotiate for more pay or switch jobs a lot to increase his salary. But why should that mean that we are relegated to apartment living? What about all the teachers, grocery store clerks, bank tellers, and non-profit workers? At this point, even if we could find a house to rent for a reasonable amount, we couldn't afford to pay movers and are too old and physically unfit to move ourselves. I feel so trapped! Is this the depression talking?

I had meant to go on about how the median income in the area is almost double what dh is making, and how that meant that either he was underpaid or I was not supposed to be home with a kid, but I forgot about that. Yes, that's right, the median household income here, in our School District, is over $100K! That includes people who work at the grocery store, etc, which means that a lot of people are being paid really well, or else most women are working outside the home, or both. Where do we sign up to be paid like that? King County (our county) median household income is more like $60K, which is more in line with ours, but that must include inner city areas where there is no income along with rural areas where people can more easily subsist on less. I still can't help thinking, what about the Starbucks employees, the massage therapists? Where do they live? Do they have long commutes? Live with their parents?

Anyway, enough obsessing about money. I need to try to sleep!