"Beam-ectomy should precede all mote micro-surgery. Just saying." Ginger Conrad paraphrasing Jesus Christ.

Paradigm Shift

“The list of health problems I think it would very hard to live with is SO much longer than the list of foods I previously thought I couldn’t live without,” Merrill Alley.

Sunday, May 24, 2015

a new stepford

Praying For...Tyson, our nearly eight-year-old lego maniac...that he will know Jesus, the Prince of Peace, and strive to be like Him...that those in authority over him will encourage his talents, spirituality, scholarship, and so forth with gentleness and pure love...that the hearts of leaders of nations and worldwide neighbors will soften and their ears be open to the whisperings of gentle, godly inspiration...that more people will seek God and His beautiful plan.

General Conference Sermon of the Week...This week I studied We’ll Ascend Together By Linda K. Burton.  I appreciated her timely instruction that we women stop deriding men in our lives and refuse to accept the new culture that wishes to eliminate fathers from families. I also accept her challenge to speak words of kindness more often to my cherished companion and about him, to lift the men in my family and express gratitude for the ways they fulfill their divine and complementary roles and seek the help of the Holy Ghost to teach us how we can better lift them. "I invite each of us to heed Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s heartfelt plea: 'Brothers and sisters, in this long eternal quest to be more like our Savior, may we try to be ‘perfect’ men and women in at least this one way now—by offending not in word, or more positively put, by speaking with a new tongue, the tongue of angels.' "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel," 2 Nephi 31:13.

Cucina Fresca...Grandma passed a few weeks ago. In the past, family events with food were an open door to mock me. This time my dear uncle made some beautiful salads for any vegans in the group. I thought I would be the only one. BUT!!!! four other people fought over (well vied for) the other three salads. I'm not the only one now AND some are now thoughtful enough to think of herbivores...Cooking in the rice cooker is lots of fun. Probably the most exciting thing is the ease of cooking polenta in it. For dinner on Saturday, we ate herbed polenta with marinara and baby greens. Strangely, even though neither of us was raised with polenta, we both consider it to be a delightful, comfort food. This week I'm going to try Vegan Rice Cooker Frittata.

2/3 c chickpea flour (aka garbanzo bean flour)
3/4 c water
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 c mushrooms, chopped
1/4 c kale, chopped
1/4 c artichoke hearts, chopped
2-3 sun dried tomatoes (not in oil), minced
1 T nutritional yeast
1/4-1/2 t dried herbs of choice
black salt
black pepper

Mix the chickpea flour with the water, scallion, and a couple twists of black pepper. Cook the mushrooms and a pinch of black salt, covered, over medium low heat for about 5-10 minutes.
Mix the veggies and chickpea batter. Pour into the rice cooker. Cook on white rice setting. Enjoy!

Doctor Ginger, Medicine Woman...Yup, just a student of herbal and nutritional alternative healing--not a doctor at all. I'm so grateful for herbs. Although recovery from this flu/cold is slow, herbs have made it more bearable. Sometimes, I just cannot breathe. This morning during and after our bike ride, I coughed and wheezed. Dr. Christopher's Lung and Bronchial got me breathing in a manner of minutes. Also, my eyes are pretty weak from the fever and such. Dr. Christopher's Herbal Eye Bright formula with cayenne wakes them up in a hurry. When he was living, he testified his preparations were divinely inspired. I believe it.

Bibliophilia...sent Tyson Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Secret Pitch by Sobol, Runaway Ralph by Cleary, and LEGO Chain Reactions by Pat Murphy.

Movement...biking the extensive trails around my home six days a week with J. We are up to 8 miles a day, which takes about an hour. This is a pretty slow pace, but we're getting stronger and faster by the day. Usually, we stop about half way through our ride for a rest. Because I get bored sitting around, I do essentrics stretches to loosen up my lower body. Even so, all this riding sort of put essentrics on the back shelf, which was not really ok with me. After this flu/cold thing dissipates, I'll have enough energy to finish my morning ride with 30 minutes of essentrics. I also found a before bed, stress reducing, essentrics workout that is fantastic. The statement 'I love movement' emanating from my lips has me wondering if I'm really a new Stepford wife.

Garden Gate...I've also discovered that gardening is very meditative for me. This week has been so fun, as I watch all the baby herbs emerge from the soil. It's funny though. I planted those seeds, when I was deliriously ill. Therefore, I don't know what any of them are and won't until they begin to put on true leaves. One gogi bush has been struggling to get over transplant shock. It seems the drainage in that spot isn't optimal. Since I don't want to kill the new plant, I dug a trench around it and filled it with a lava sand and wood chips to encourage better drainage. Plus, I gave it more shade like I did with the other gogis. I hope it works...I'm so much happier with so many meaningful things to do.

Needle News...still making lavender strawberries for my closet. Gotta love lavender. Brought Grandma's sewing machine home the other day. It's sitting in my breakfast nook.

Family History...I got a whole box of pictures and documents from Grandma that I will scan and upload to family search and ancestry. My great grandmother's hand written death certificate is likely in the lot. I sure hope it made it into the box. Thanks to mom and Uncle Paul for allowing me the privilege of keeping these precious documents and mementoes.