Happy Valentine's Day, Crappy Drivers!

I had close encounters of the bad driver kind today. I'm buzzing down the highway with cruise control set at 55 mph due to all the police patrols and ahead I see this car on the side of the road just sitting there with its brake lights on. So I turn off cruise control and let the car slow slightly.

At about twenty feet away from the car, the ignoramus pulls out in front of me! I was still going at least 50 mph. Thank god for good reflexes. I slammed on the brakes, they squealed loudly, and my whole van slid about ten feet heading right at the car but veering across the highway. Thank god there were no oncoming cars! There was a car behind me but at least 50 feet away. The ignoramus car speeds up, thankfully, or I might have slammed right into him. Wow. I came at least five feet from hitting him. Too close for comfort. At first I was shaking, then angry, then cussing. For a brief moment I considered calling 911 to report is sorry ass driving skills, but then I remembered all the times I've pulled out in front of people without realizing it. Karma reminding me we are all human. Oops.

Another twenty miles down the same highway I come around a corner and another ignoramus is passing a car driving in my lane right toward me!  I'm forced to drive on the shoulder and he pulled in just in time.

"ARE YOU BLIND, IGNORAMUS DRIVER? CAN'T YOU SEE THE NO PASSING LINES FOR YOUR LANE??"

 I can't tell you how happy I was to get off the highway!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

 

So grateful for my excellent brakes!

So happy for my quick reflexes!

So thankful to be alive!

"Nothing Feels as Good as Feeling Good Does"

Happy New Year! Tis' the season to make those resolutions to be a happier and healthier person. This is when we commit to losing weight, eating better, or stopping any number of bad habits that effect our quality of life. Sorry to say, this new-found willpower and inspiration will often last about a month or less until we go back to our old, nasty ways using any number of excuses to justify the failure. I speak from experience. The travesty is how we acquired nasty habits in the first place. Why weren't we taught how to eat and drink for health? Why aren't we afraid of bad habits and the bad health they can cause? Instead most of us spent the first two or more decades of our lives eating garbage, drinking poisons, and indulging in other health-sacrificing behaviors without any concern for what it could be doing to our bodies and ultimately, our health. We were having fun. Is it any wonder it's catching up to us?

How many of us had to get sick before we became healthy? I was recently sent this article with just that title: Why I Had to Get Sick to Get Healthy My favorite quote from it is "nothing feels as good as feeling good does." So true. Those of us suffering from any number of debilitating illnesses would do almost anything to feel better and those sacrifices are worth even moments of feeling healthy. I can't count how many sacrifices I've made just to feel good.

I often hear people accuse their bodies of betraying them with illness, but I'd be more inclined to blame my neighbor for wearing perfume, the grocery checker for using that nasty scented shampoo, or my parents for not teaching me how to live a healthy life. After a lifetime of body abuse, I share in the culpability. If I would have treated my body better, would I be chemically-sensitive today?   If I would have resisted all those pizzas, soft drinks, chocolate candies, cakes, cookies and pies over the years, would I be chemically-sensitive today? If I hadn't worked at perfume-saturated department stores or air-freshened schools, would I be chemically-sensitive today? If I hadn't lived in some of the most polluted cities in the world, would I be chemically-sensitive today? Some of it I couldn't have controlled, but in most cases I had a choice even if it was a difficult choice. Still, I don't blame my body. My body is the victim of my past bad behavior and the bad behaviors of others.

I wish I would have paid more attention to the signs. How many times did eating a whole bowl of cookie dough or cake batter make me sick? Candy bars would give me a face of zits. Drinking diet Coke and I'd be moody and temperamental for days. Once on a dare I ate nine pieces of deep-fried fish with three baskets of French fries then washed it all down with a McDonald's Shamrock Shake. To describe my body's reaction to that torture as horror doesn't even come close! These were choices I made. Did I listen to the warnings and worry even for a moment about the consequences? Nope.

My body is doing what a healthy body should: protecting me from poisons. Even after years of abuse, it's still working. Amazing. Granted, the headaches, nausea, and respiratory failure responses are a real bitch and it is definitely a disadvantage to not be able to live in a toxic city or be anywhere near the bad habits of others, but reacting to poisons are my body's warning signs and I've learned the hard way I should be paying attention. If I would have listened to my body earlier in life, I might not be where I am today. I am a much better listener now.

Hooray, body! Thank you for always being there for me even when I ignored and disrespected you.

I am grateful.

Giving Thanks

The Thanksgiving holiday is a time to be grateful for what you have. We often tend to concentrate on the negative and take for granted the positive. Things I am thankful for:

My health, that keeps me mobile, cognitive, happy, and alive.

My wonderfully safe and bizarrely decorated house, that keeps me sheltered, entertained, and healthy.

My garden, that produces beautiful flowers, organic foods and serenity.

My van, that runs so well and has so many uses.

My fragrance-free friends, that keep me sane and entertained.

My income, that keeps me stress-free.

My computer, that provides income, entertainment, and a social life.

What else?

My annual rituals for this holiday are making my Christmas wreath and watching White Christmas. My unplanned rituals are eating something I shouldn't and being lazy.

Life is good.

What makes you give thanks?

A Celebration of Appreciation and Gratitude

I have a new appreciation for my old house, also occasionally known as The Rat-Infested, Opossum-Harboring Hotel. For all its faults, it's safe and home. (As long as keep fighting to keep the critters out!)

 

The garden is growing and beautiful. I've worked on this garden for eight years and it finally feels right. Flowers blooming. Birds singing. Wind whispering.

 

 

 

 

Sun shining. Neighbors mowing. Trees blossoming.

 



 

No mold anywhere, no insect infestation, and it's all mine. I don't answer to anyone demanding rent and telling me what I can and can't do.

I'm still free! Hooray!

Peter is happy he's not jailed in a small cage sitting in a strange place. Life is good. I spent some time outside appreciating my safe haven and every now and then kissed its walls and smiled. Nothing like a really bad experience to make you appreciate what you have.

To celebrate, I built an ugly gate.

 

My other gate rotted so I threw it away and I've been using chicken wire which is unsightly. Not that this isn't unsightly, but it has a sort of eclectic charm that makes me smile. In an issue of Martha Stewart Living I saw pictures of a garden gate someone made with used, ugly wood. They hooked it to the fence post with twine and had to lift it to open and shut. Something looking like a pig pen enclosure. A nice, traditional farm gate.

 

Mine isn't that rustic as I have used old hinges and a latch recycled from the last gate, but it's still pretty ugly. If you look really closely, you can see the dirt on the wood pieces. I found some of these pieces in the garden as I was using them as stakes. HAHAHAHA I am the recycling queen!

 

Peter won't care. It'll do its job to keep him out of the front gardens. At least he can see it, unlike the chicken wire which he ran right into.

My lungs are finally back to normal today. I am so grateful.

Pain, Potatoes and Positivity

The Three P's. I'm into the alphabet lately.

I've been sinking into negativity for the last two weeks. It might be because of the construction worker overload, or my horrid neighbors, or my lack of income, or my painful arms, but maybe it's just my bad attitude and cheating on my diet? OK, time to confess.

 

Potatoes! Damn. Might it be potatoes? I've never had a problem with potatoes, but they are nightshades. One of the most common side effects of nightshades is pain.  It is said if you can stay away from a food for over a month, then eat it, you should be able to tell if you react to it. I've never really eaten a lot of potatoes and it's been at least six months since I've been near one.

They are NOT ALLOWED on the Paleo/Hashimoto's diet due to the negative effects of starchy carbohydrates on blood sugar so I gave them up. Just to eat something different, I tried some last week and again this week. Yum. Homemade French fries or rather potato slices baked on a pan of olive oil. Not really fried, but still tasty. Didn't seem to have any reaction, but was I really looking closely at my symptoms?

I've been in pain for the last two weeks and it does get worse when I eat a potato. Coincidence? Hmmmmm... I had a baked potato yesterday and last night I awoke in the middle of the night with my whole body burning and in pain. And the negativity is always a clue although I am quick to blame it on any number of things besides food. Ponder, ponder. It's always such a mystery.

So let's see if I can get my diet back on track and force feed myself some positive attitude to see if it makes a difference:


The "Secret" Reinforcements:

1.) I am grateful for all the money that comes to me easy and frequently.

2.) I am grateful for my perfect health and feeling wonderful everyday.

3.) I am grateful for all my wonderful fragrance-free friends.

4.) I'm grateful for all my energy.

5.) I'm grateful for all the wonderful activities that keep me busy, entertained and cheerful year round.

6.) I'm grateful construction workers are helpful, kind, respectful, trustworthy, professional and down right joyous to be around.

7.) I am grateful for my perfect neighbors who are kind, considerate, respectful and responsibly train and socialize their pets so they can live in a neighborhood without being an obnoxious nuisance.

Gratitudes:

1.) I'm grateful for my house not falling down around me. It's much, much, much older than I am with just as many creaks, but it's still strong and reliable.

2.) I'm grateful for Peter's fortitude and positive spirit.

3.) I'm grateful I found this diet that I am religiously following.

4.) I'm grateful for my willpower.

5.) I'm grateful I'm not in debt.

6.) I'm grateful I get to see Jason Mraz in concert this month. YIPPEE!

7.) I'm grateful for my garden growing like crazy.

8.) I'm grateful for my vehicle that keeps on working.

9.) I'm grateful for my income.

10.) I'm grateful to be self-reliant and independent.


Update: I've been potato-free for almost a week now and I still have pain. It started going away so I got a little too confident with lifting things and typing more and it came back. I'm taking it easy for a little longer.

X-Ray Vision

Can you count how many times you've been to the doctor and leave with no hope? Feeling like your body is betraying you? Falling apart? Wondering, good lord, what is the next thing to go? More bad news? Will it never stop?

I went to the eye doctor yesterday. He said repeatedly I am very lucky to have better than outstanding vision. Others would kill for my healthy eyes. He even got out these weird little lenses and showed me how other people see. Really?! I am lucky. He even said as we get older our eyes deteriorate. Cataracts develop and get worse requiring surgery. Macular degeneration befalls most of us. If you have diabetes, good luck. But my eyes...a gift from the gods.  Amen.

St. Lucy is the patron saint of vision. I know this because I majored in art history in college. Lucy was the one who held a plate with her eyeballs in it. Very cool. While taking a Renaissance Art History course, I visited relatives who had a one-eyed kitten.  Her name was One Eye. This relative wasn't very imaginative when it came to naming pets. She was such a pretty kitten with an incredibly ugly name. I felt she needed a better start to life so I renamed her Lucy after her patron saint. I am reminded of this story on my day of eye-health gratitude.

How often have I received good news from a health professional? I am going to revel in its glory for at least a week and remind myself daily about how lucky I am! I feel like a superhero.

Sunny Side to Every Situation (Theme Song)

I used to whistle, hum or sing this all day long when I was unemployed. Sometimes I'd sing only the boldface line over and over again, as loud as possible:

Sing tra la la la la la la la,
The sun may never, ever shine,
But tra la la la la la la la,
Somewhere the weather's fine.

Long ago, one fine day,
Some philosopher was heard to say,
"There's a sunny side to every situation,"
And the same applies to you,
His philosophy's still true,
There's a funny side to every situation.

You've no dough, so relax,
You don't have to pay an income tax.
You've no job so just pretend it's your vacation.
Should the landlord raise your rent
Thumb your nose and pitch a tent
Every situation has a sunny side.

Sing tra la la la la la la la,
The sun may never, ever shine,
But tra la la la la la la la,
Somewhere the weather's fine.

With no bonds and no stocks
In your little safe deposit box,
You can never be affected by inflation.
When your car is out of gas,
Then no red light can you pass,
Every situation has a sunny side.

 

 

Alternative verses:

Though some eggs are dark outside,
They look different when they're fried,
Every situation has a sunny side.

 

When it rains, when it pours,
Think how nice it is to stay indoors,
There's a sunny side of every situation.

When your rent is overdue,
Let the landlord fret for you,
There's a funny side to every situation.

When your broke, through and through,
Folks can't borrow anything from you,
That is what we call the law of compensation.
When it's raining cats and dogs,
Think how swell it is for frogs,
Every situation has a sunny side.

When you lose all you own
And they take away your telephone,
And you feel that you are out of circulation,
Say, you're lucky after all,
Those insurance men can't call,
Every situation has a sunny side.

Lyrics by Johnny Mercer, Music by Harry Warren

from musical 42nd Street