At lot of life happens within the family unit and it is not always easy to keep up. So before Glen and I leave on a wonderful seven day vacation with long time friends, I would like to tell you each that I do think of you and ponder just what it is that you are doing at the moment or how you are feeling about your job, your significant other, your passions and life in general. Cell phones are great, but they won't replace a face to face. And even then, its difficult to get a few moments for heart to heart talks, one of the disadvantages to living several hundred miles apart.
So whatever pressing issue there may be, remember that your family supports you, we will be here to cheer you on, cry with you or laugh with you or just listen when you need to talk. We are never too busy to hear about what is happening in your life or help you out in whatever way we can.
We feel that you are each brilliant and resourceful and that you can take very good care of yourself, we have seen what a wonderful job you have done thus far. You work, play or study hard, fulfill your dreams and manage to take care of one another as well.
A great day for me is when I lie in bed at the end of the day and smile, remembering that I have spoken to each of you before the day's end! Love you, Mom
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
The Diet Dance
I started another new diet today...I won't tell you what it is until I see if it works. But let's just say it is rather unconventional but in an odd sort of way it makes sense to me. And I didn't have to buy hardly anything to get started! Have I piqued your interest yet?
Diets can be tricky. Sometimes they require adding items to your shopping list that are expensive, oversized (like my HUGE container of Metamucil), or just plain wierd. After a few months all that extra stuff goes into the trash or gets stuffed to the back of my pantry until I throw them out a few years later. Diets get trickier when you have to shell out money to join a gym, because everyone knows working-out is essential to a good diet. Then there are the chemicals you need to take as you diet; garlic pills, fish oil pills, flax seed oil, coconut oil. I could go on, but you get the picture.
Another thing about diets is that they always begin with a New York Times bestseller! So one can't simply begin dieting, there is much reading, research and preparing to do in the initial stages. Next comes the grocery scouring...you know...slowing walking through the grocery store, eyes peeled for foods that look yummy, delicious, or chocolatey but also pass the "read the label" test. Once the groceries are all unloaded at home, you are starving because you have only been allowed to gaze on all your favorite fat filled friends when you realize you have nothing to eat because you have to prepare and cook it first!
Sometimes people might end up watching reality TV programs based on weight loss and dieting. That's when you know you have hit a "dieting low." Also, it may seem like a logical step to begin looking for support from fellow dieters on-line, I have heard there are millions of blogs on the subject :) Luckily, I haven't been that desperate, yet. (Or have I?)
There are many charming and not so charming names for diets, too. South Beach, Beverly Hills Diet, Grapefruit Diet, Atkins Diet, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, even some that have been around for years like the Scarsdale Diet or the infamous Cabbage Soup Diet, ugh!
And then there is the instant weight loss program, don't even get me started on liposuction and lipodissolve. That is Cheat Dieting for the wealthy!
But this diet is different. Based on scientific principles of digestion, it is so simple and so cheap that one can simply shop for food in a normal sort of way so long as one attends to the matters of digestion while one eats. No...I'm not going to be bulimic or use laxatives...but this is just as simple.
Ah, but I have already said too much, and as I really have no clue whether it works or not, I will remain optimistic. But if it does work, and I drop all this unsightly weight around my middle, I shall be the first to pass along the diet.
For now, it shall be known only as: Rhonda's Mystery Diet. Talk to you in ten pounds!
Diets can be tricky. Sometimes they require adding items to your shopping list that are expensive, oversized (like my HUGE container of Metamucil), or just plain wierd. After a few months all that extra stuff goes into the trash or gets stuffed to the back of my pantry until I throw them out a few years later. Diets get trickier when you have to shell out money to join a gym, because everyone knows working-out is essential to a good diet. Then there are the chemicals you need to take as you diet; garlic pills, fish oil pills, flax seed oil, coconut oil. I could go on, but you get the picture.
Another thing about diets is that they always begin with a New York Times bestseller! So one can't simply begin dieting, there is much reading, research and preparing to do in the initial stages. Next comes the grocery scouring...you know...slowing walking through the grocery store, eyes peeled for foods that look yummy, delicious, or chocolatey but also pass the "read the label" test. Once the groceries are all unloaded at home, you are starving because you have only been allowed to gaze on all your favorite fat filled friends when you realize you have nothing to eat because you have to prepare and cook it first!
Sometimes people might end up watching reality TV programs based on weight loss and dieting. That's when you know you have hit a "dieting low." Also, it may seem like a logical step to begin looking for support from fellow dieters on-line, I have heard there are millions of blogs on the subject :) Luckily, I haven't been that desperate, yet. (Or have I?)
There are many charming and not so charming names for diets, too. South Beach, Beverly Hills Diet, Grapefruit Diet, Atkins Diet, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, even some that have been around for years like the Scarsdale Diet or the infamous Cabbage Soup Diet, ugh!
And then there is the instant weight loss program, don't even get me started on liposuction and lipodissolve. That is Cheat Dieting for the wealthy!
But this diet is different. Based on scientific principles of digestion, it is so simple and so cheap that one can simply shop for food in a normal sort of way so long as one attends to the matters of digestion while one eats. No...I'm not going to be bulimic or use laxatives...but this is just as simple.
Ah, but I have already said too much, and as I really have no clue whether it works or not, I will remain optimistic. But if it does work, and I drop all this unsightly weight around my middle, I shall be the first to pass along the diet.
For now, it shall be known only as: Rhonda's Mystery Diet. Talk to you in ten pounds!
Sunday, July 8, 2007
The worst place I ever lived...
We lived in Wilson, Oklahoma the year I was a fourth grader. So many things I had come to love and count on were no longer available. My father had moved our family to Wilson from Los Angeles and we all experienced our own variety of culture shock. But for me, that year was particularly difficult. I missed the excitement, opportunity, and culture of Los Angeles. There was always somewhere to go, something to do, or people to be with. Instead, I found myself immersed in a culture so backward and simple I felt I would die of boredom.
While in Wilson, we lived in two different houses, the first so run-down that one could literally peer through a huge gap in the wall, past the floor to the ground below. The second house was nestled on a few acres right in the bend of a creek amidst a pecan grove. The person who rented it to our family made us promise to take care of the grounds, harvest the pecans, and "not go into the room that was locked."
Many atrocities occured while we lived in that little white house by the creek. A fire in the living room started when someone carelessly draped a window curtain over the open-flamed heater, popular at the time. My sister and I valiently put the fire out before it spread but much damage was done in a matter of a few minutes. We were given stern warnings by the grown-ups, including the fire department for our efforts, but I can still remember our decision to fight the fire instead of running outside like everyone else in the house did.
My brother found that if he removed the pins from the hinges, the door to the "locked" room could be lifted out of it's opening, thus allowing us entrance. It was probably the beginning of my love for antiques, because I can still remember all the cool, old furniture stacked in the room that we weren't allowed to use. And I obsessed about having that room as my very own bedroom, instead of all four of us crammed into the freezing, drafty lean-to we used for sleeping. My father wouldn't allow us to breach the promise we had made with the homeowner, so that was the only time I can remember being inside the locked room, however, I continued my dream of having the room as my own until we moved from that place.
As for the pecans, I can remember it was not our families' priority to harvest them nor to take care of the grounds. We did plant a garden of sorts, but I remember that we all lost interest and the weeds finally took over before we actually reaped many vegetable rewards. However, my sister and I found that the pecans were like "cash" just laying there on the ground and we often picked up a wagon load and hauled them off to the produce store to have them weighted and converted to quick cash. My share of the money always went for something I had been dying to have, like a baton so I could be a "twirler."
Dad moved on to Natoma, Kansas a few months before the rest of us. He had been out of work and found employment in Plainville and would come for us when he had saved enough money for rent, etc. That period was one of chaos and adventure for the four of us. We roamed the town doing pretty much as we pleased. Mom wasn't in to baking, so we were always starving and out of desperation, my sister and I would whip up something from the "commodity" stash, involving the main ingredients; dried eggs, flour, sugar or peanut butter. We never used a recipe, we didn't need one, if it was hot and sweet, we would eat it!
Life didn't seem a lot more exciting in Natoma, but eventually I came to appreciate a few things about life in a small, quiet, mid-western town. I attended junior high through high school there but never really gained a sense of "community" although I consider it an important part of my roots. And because of that one year in Oklahoma, I can look back and smugly declare Wilson "the worst place I ever lived!"
While in Wilson, we lived in two different houses, the first so run-down that one could literally peer through a huge gap in the wall, past the floor to the ground below. The second house was nestled on a few acres right in the bend of a creek amidst a pecan grove. The person who rented it to our family made us promise to take care of the grounds, harvest the pecans, and "not go into the room that was locked."
Many atrocities occured while we lived in that little white house by the creek. A fire in the living room started when someone carelessly draped a window curtain over the open-flamed heater, popular at the time. My sister and I valiently put the fire out before it spread but much damage was done in a matter of a few minutes. We were given stern warnings by the grown-ups, including the fire department for our efforts, but I can still remember our decision to fight the fire instead of running outside like everyone else in the house did.
My brother found that if he removed the pins from the hinges, the door to the "locked" room could be lifted out of it's opening, thus allowing us entrance. It was probably the beginning of my love for antiques, because I can still remember all the cool, old furniture stacked in the room that we weren't allowed to use. And I obsessed about having that room as my very own bedroom, instead of all four of us crammed into the freezing, drafty lean-to we used for sleeping. My father wouldn't allow us to breach the promise we had made with the homeowner, so that was the only time I can remember being inside the locked room, however, I continued my dream of having the room as my own until we moved from that place.
As for the pecans, I can remember it was not our families' priority to harvest them nor to take care of the grounds. We did plant a garden of sorts, but I remember that we all lost interest and the weeds finally took over before we actually reaped many vegetable rewards. However, my sister and I found that the pecans were like "cash" just laying there on the ground and we often picked up a wagon load and hauled them off to the produce store to have them weighted and converted to quick cash. My share of the money always went for something I had been dying to have, like a baton so I could be a "twirler."
Dad moved on to Natoma, Kansas a few months before the rest of us. He had been out of work and found employment in Plainville and would come for us when he had saved enough money for rent, etc. That period was one of chaos and adventure for the four of us. We roamed the town doing pretty much as we pleased. Mom wasn't in to baking, so we were always starving and out of desperation, my sister and I would whip up something from the "commodity" stash, involving the main ingredients; dried eggs, flour, sugar or peanut butter. We never used a recipe, we didn't need one, if it was hot and sweet, we would eat it!
Life didn't seem a lot more exciting in Natoma, but eventually I came to appreciate a few things about life in a small, quiet, mid-western town. I attended junior high through high school there but never really gained a sense of "community" although I consider it an important part of my roots. And because of that one year in Oklahoma, I can look back and smugly declare Wilson "the worst place I ever lived!"
Saturday, July 7, 2007
"I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore..."
If you haven't done so yet, then run, don't walk to your nearest theater to view Michael Moore's "Sicko." In all fairness, I must warn you that you will be extremely pissed-off at the end, so plan ahead to do something completely fun or go out and get drunk! We didn't take the advice and ended up in a total "slump" afterward.
Realizing that this is Moore's viewpoint, and taking into account the slant and bias that he added for his desired effect, we are still plenty concerned with the direction of health care in the United States. Anyone who chooses to ignore this issues is simply a fool . The big question is what will we do about it? It is time to unite and conquer! Remember the slogan from the movie Network? "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" That is exactly what Americans with or without health care need to do.
We have plenty of expertise right here in our own family...teachers, entertainers, lawyers, health care providers, accountants...we should be able to come up with a plan.
Get involved, start here...http://www.blogcatalog.com/post-tag/sicko
Or maybe we should all move to France or Cuba...Canada is too cold!
Realizing that this is Moore's viewpoint, and taking into account the slant and bias that he added for his desired effect, we are still plenty concerned with the direction of health care in the United States. Anyone who chooses to ignore this issues is simply a fool . The big question is what will we do about it? It is time to unite and conquer! Remember the slogan from the movie Network? "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" That is exactly what Americans with or without health care need to do.
We have plenty of expertise right here in our own family...teachers, entertainers, lawyers, health care providers, accountants...we should be able to come up with a plan.
Get involved, start here...http://www.blogcatalog.com/post-tag/sicko
Or maybe we should all move to France or Cuba...Canada is too cold!
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