tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26543938953966388162024-03-13T06:42:55.113-07:00Artist Sees BeautyBecause life is awesome.Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12669753237540491119noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654393895396638816.post-62750034193502902092016-08-31T21:48:00.001-07:002016-08-31T21:48:28.259-07:00It's been a while...<br />
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Wow! I can't believe how long it's been! This year has been crazy. It's mostly been a solid stream of unfortunate events, really. It's ridiculous by this point. As a sampling I will tell you my well pump went out, the fridge broke, the dryer didn't work, I herniated my back, and my truck was totaled. That's just to name a few!<br />
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We've moved out to the country to a small farm we're renovating with the intention of opening a winery. You ever have that situation where you buy a property and then everything breaks? Yeah....<br />
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My A/C has been out for a solid week now, and since this is Texas, my house has been holding at a humid 86-88 degrees. Yeeesh. Can't get anyone to come service out in the country though, naturally. A gent came out this morning and "fixed" it, but he never turned it on to check. I turned it on after he left, and it's still completely broken. Called the company and chatted to a rather grumpy fellow who claimed that would come back this afternoon "if they had time" which, naturally, did not happen.<br />
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Fat dog has spent the whole day panting and looking miserable. I bathed her in the hose and she stood completely still with no argument for the first time in her life.<br />
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A storm settled in this afternoon and blissfully lowered the interior temperature from hotter-than-all-blazes, to a largely tolerable 85 degrees. Fat dog and I mostly sat out on the porch in the cool breeze.<br />
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Seeing the rain over the fields of green grass and cattle reminded me that the view is quite a winner, and almost makes up for the lack of comfortable environment.<br />
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<img alt="" class="spotlight" src="https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13339595_10104192691903778_138428780315173087_n.jpg?oh=a0c0109de3af772d639e7fad222061a9&oe=587FC1F6" />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12669753237540491119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654393895396638816.post-40574039608460623312015-01-05T14:10:00.000-08:002015-01-05T14:19:40.685-08:00The Christmas CrazinessOh good grief, Christmas is insane! I am almost glad it's over now. Almost because I will miss the free days and visiting loved ones, but I'm glad to be back in my pjs and able to sleep in my own bed.<br />
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I think we went around and saw everyone we're related to except for my older sister and my husband's mother (oh, but don't worry! We're going there in the near future).<br />
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Sorry it's been so long since I've written! I was in three Christmas concerts, voluteered for a fundraiser, made a ton of dog sweaters for an event, competed in a baking contest, made cookbooks for my sisters, had 3 out of town Christmases and hosted two different sets of relatives here. Phew! Luckily my house stayed pretty clean, so a few swiffers to pick up the extra dogs lying around my house and some cleaned bathroom counters and mirrors were all that was needed.<br />
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I don't know about you ladies out there, but my husband is not a very talented wrapper or cook, which means all of that was left to me. I admire you women who have children and have to wrap tons of small presents. The only kids I have to wrap for are the triplets (my husband and his two brothers) and I mostly just stuff all their gifts in one box so it's easy to wrap!<br />
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I have this problem though. You see, my mother-in-law is a super perfect wrapper. Her other sons just dump their presents off at her house to wrap. I save her the trouble and wrap our own, but I have to do a very good job because they will be scrutinized. I think I did pretty well this year, despite this really terrible photo.<br />
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As a gift this year my dad bought me this kiln from a public surplus auction. I'm super excited! I need to get my garage rewired (that, or unplug my dryer, it's a 220 volt) and get the kiln serviced. Then I'm going to crank that baby into action! Finally a use for my ceramics degree...<br />
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For my sisters this year I got together with my Grandmothers and collected the family recipes we grew up with and love. I spent hours reading recipes my Great-Grandmothers had hand written, and typed them up with little stories and anecdotes that my Grandmothers added in. I ran out of time and couldn't type everything they sent me. It ended up being 108 pages total. I put it in some nice 3-ring binders so we can add more in the future. I really hope my sisters like them.<br />
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I also found this hysterical item with a bad translation on it. Husband and I laughed until we cried. So naturally I bought it for my friend that owns the barn. I think it's a piggy bank? Minus the piggy.<br />
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Oh! Husband ordered a new printer/scanner for us! Our current scanner is broken (printer too, for that matter) and so soon I'll be able to scan in some comics! We plan to use our current printer for target practice when the new one comes in, this one is awful.<br />
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How about you? What did you get for Christmas? Do you have trouble trying to maintain appearances around Christmas for your family or in-laws?Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12669753237540491119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654393895396638816.post-89674647471960312502014-12-04T14:35:00.002-08:002014-12-04T14:41:54.271-08:00So Many Things to Do!Oh man, I think I've allowed my mouth to overload my back.<br />
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I have committed to so many things! This week I have two orchestra rehearsals (which take almost 4 hours each if you include the drive time), I'm in two concerts on Sunday between which there is a party and I need to make a food to take. I'm helping the engineers make African decorations for an event at their office, I need to make several dog sweaters for a fund raiser auction on Sunday, tonight is Home Brew Club, and I'm entered in a baking contest on Tuesday.<br />
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Whew! Want to come over and help?<br />
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My husband is an engineer. I call him and his coworkers, who are my friends, "the engineers" because I'm a creative namer like that. I like crafting with the engineers. It's really fun showing them different techniques. Some of them have some pretty nice art skills hidden under all that analytical thinking!<br />
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It somehow came about that they are in charge of decorating for an African themed party at their office and I have been recruited for my technical skills. We're trying to make African masks for the event. It's been a struggle creatively because of an extremely tight budget, but I'm pretty proud of what we've come up with. I really hope this isn't a mockery of someone's culture! They have such vibrant symbolism and structure to their art, I hope we can portray some of that culture in our low budget, Hobby Lobby crafting. Here's an in progress picture of one of the African masks we sculpted out of clay:<br />
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On Saturday some of the ladies from my string ensemble might be coming over to work on our crafts for the auction. The Christmas auction is a great fundraiser and it's mostly home made crafts. Last year I donated horse lessons. They sold, but no one ever called me? Strange. Who would spend lots of money on horse lessons and then never claim them? This year I'm going to make some fleece dog sweaters. I made one for my big girl, Sato, last year and she loves it! She gets chilly in the cold because of her thyroid problem, but most stores don't stock sweaters big enough for her (and if they do they are very expensive). Here's a picture of Sato wearing her sweater:<br />
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I got really lucky, the fleece at the fabric store was 50% off when I went. I bought a few different patterns:<br />
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I am ready to have all these projects out of the way! The Thanksgiving break was nice, but I didn't accomplish very much while I was out of town.<br />
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Have you ever over committed yourself? What sorts of things did you have to do?<br />
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Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12669753237540491119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654393895396638816.post-72601845268175051582014-11-21T14:19:00.000-08:002014-11-22T15:58:50.803-08:00Oh Sickness!Hey! Sorry it's been a while (two weeks *cough*) since I posted. I got so sick! I was sick for an entire week, Saturday to Saturday. Bleh!<br>
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It wasn't the flu though, thank goodness, just some kind of upper respiratory junk.<br>
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Here's a quick sketch I drew that illustrates pretty much the entire week:<br>
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My husband got sick too, but his only lasted two days. Have you ever heard that saying about "the fool never catches a cold"? As in, he's sick but won't admit it because he's convinced he's not? Yeah, my husband is one of those. So even though he said it only lasted two days I have my doubts...<br>
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While I was busy sitting around doing nothing but feeling sorry for myself I ended up watching a lot of travel channel. I love travel channel! I like the food shows especially. Well, husband and I sat around an entire day watching nothing but travel channel food shows. When it came time to eat neither of us wanted to cook (both being sick) and he said that after watching all those delicious food shows he couldn't bear to order pizza.<br>
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So we hauled our sick butts out of the house (much to the dismay of germiphobes) and ambled over to china town for some more authentic food.<br>
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We decided to try this new restaurant that had just opened and so we limped on in. The place was more authentic than many and the servers struggled with their English. I had interest in a bean curd dish because I love tofu, but between the waitress' struggled English, my 100% lack of Chinese, and a menu that was half in Chinese, this is what came out:<div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nT7DcfBsOK0/VHEjKIaZcZI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/U2LSma2D27o/s640/blogger-image-557815306.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nT7DcfBsOK0/VHEjKIaZcZI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/U2LSma2D27o/s640/blogger-image-557815306.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>Some kind of garlicky greens dish, hahaha. My husband's order was correct luckily, so between his stew and my garlicky veggies we had a fairly healthy and lowish calorie meal. It was a pretty successful adventure.</div><div><br></div><div>I have to admit that also part of my absence has been because of having to catch up on other stuff after being sick.</div><div><br></div><div>What do you do when you're sick to feel better?</div>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12669753237540491119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654393895396638816.post-17500188068132211562014-11-07T15:24:00.000-08:002014-11-07T15:24:07.508-08:00Cheating Low Calorie CauliFried RiceI <i>love</i> food!<br />
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The problem with that being, of course, that in recent years it has been sticking around a little too long. I'm starting to wear my pasta, if you know what I mean.<br />
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Husband and I have been on a diet for a few months now and we're starting to show progress, but I look at delicious recipes online and have a hard time staying true. Or rather, I have a hard time continuing to cook diet food. So many times I cook something low calorie and think "this is a bit flavorless, a little butter oughta fix it right up!"<br />
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Incidentally, whoever said "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" has never tried French food, hahaha. They love their butter.<br />
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Anyway, I've been reading about this trend using cauliflower rice and decided to try it. I figured a good way to mask that cauliflower flavor for my husband would be to douse it in soy sauce, ginger, and garlic.<br />
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It really looks convincing though, I gotta say!<br />
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(And yes, I used a filter because my phone takes awful photos, and my super nice camera is acting up this week...)<br />
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<b>Ingredients I used:</b><br />
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20 oz Cauliflower, lightly steamed (not too mushy, it still needs to hold its shape)<br />
2/3 cup Frozen Peas and Carrots<br />
3 Eggs<br />
10 oz Chicken Breast, sliced (or tofu would be superb too, would have done that had husband not been an involved party)<br />
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Soy sauce, ground pepper, minced garlic, and minced ginger to taste.<br />
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I was good this time and used an olive oil spray to coat my pan lightly. I cooked my chicken first and while that was browning I riced my cauliflower. I have no experience in this at all, but I just dumped the cauliflower in my blender for a few seconds until it had a "ricey" texture.<br />
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(Terrible photo number two, sorry! I also have black counter tops, which didn't cheer up this already sad photo any, ha!)<br />
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Then I scrambled my eggs and dumped in the caulirice and veggies. Stirred it around a bit, flavored to taste and called it good. Tada!<br />
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I'm no gourmet chef, so this wouldn't win any prizes. But it was pretty good and husband even enjoyed it! The nice thing is you can add whatever you like to it, and the whole process only took about 30 minutes. I bet you can come up with something a bit more complex than mine, I just wanted to share the idea.<br />
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<b>How many calories, you ask?</b> I counted it to be 1,010 for the whole pan (it'll vary depending on your seasonings, oils, and meats, of course) which made it barely over 500 for half of the pan. Husband and I each got half of the pan and neither of us finished it, it was a lot of food!<br />
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What kind of ingredients do you like in fried rice?<br />
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<br />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12669753237540491119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654393895396638816.post-51652322835962476212014-11-05T13:56:00.005-08:002014-11-05T13:57:25.249-08:005 Health Reasons to Drink WineWhat? Health reasons to <i>drink wine</i>? Heck yeah, those are studies I can stand behind. To prove that this information is legitimate and I'm not just making it up for my own benefit (*cough* I would <i>never</i> invent information to allow me to drink more *cough*) I will include links to Harvard Health articles. I read several articles to pick my 5 reasons, but I will include just one link on each.<br />
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As a side note, these statistics only apply to a "moderate" amount. A "moderate" amount is defined as one glass a day. I know the word "moderate" is pretty relative, so I thought I should specify... Drinking more than a moderate amount frequently (i.e. 2-3 glasses a day) can increase your risks for many negative health situations.<br />
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<b>1) Drinking red wine can reduce your risk of stroke.</b> Drinking moderate amounts of alcohol can prevent blood from clotting. Red wine is the best choice because of a chemical in it called Resveratrol which is being studied as a possible supplement choice for protecting your brain.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/goog_453868317"><span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></a>
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Womens_Health_Watch/2013/June/things-you-can-do-to-prevent-a-stroke"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Womens_Health_Watch/2013/June/things-you-can-do-to-prevent-a-stroke</span></a></span><br />
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<b>2) Drinking red wine can increase your "good" cholesterol and lower your blood pressure.</b> Red wine is full of antioxidants which have beneficial effects on our body systems. This article I chose does praise red wine briefly for it's aid, but apparently touts the huge benefits of non alcoholic red wine. I've never heard of that, wouldn't it just be grape juice? I might have to look into this red wine substitute further.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/non-alcoholic-red-wine-may-lower-blood-pressure-201209125296">http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/non-alcoholic-red-wine-may-lower-blood-pressure-201209125296</a></span><br />
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<b>3) Drinking wine can decrease your risk for coronary disease.</b> Between numbers one and two above wine does a pretty good job of reducing heart disease. Recent research has shown that other alcohols may also be beneficial, but many scientists still put red wine at the top followed by white wine.<br />
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<a href="http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Excerpt_from_Healthy_Women_Healthy_Lives_alcohol.htm"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Excerpt_from_Healthy_Women_Healthy_Lives_alcohol.htm</span></a><br />
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<b>4) Wine promotes improved longevity.</b> This is just a fancy way of saying it prevents several types of early deaths. Mostly heart related deaths such as heart attack. In theory by preventing early deaths you should be able to live longer.<br />
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<a href="http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Heart_Letter/2011/October/more-to-the-story-than-alcohol--heart-protection"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Heart_Letter/2011/October/more-to-the-story-than-alcohol--heart-protection</span></a><br />
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<b>5) Drinking wine can help prevent prostate cancer. </b>Okay, this one isn't really for women, but it's hard work keeping our men healthy and happy. This is a good way to keep them <i>both</i> healthy and happy. My husband prefers this one over the cruciferous veggies I force down him, ha!<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/prostate-benefits-from-red-wine"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/prostate-benefits-from-red-wine</span></a></span><br />
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Well that's that. For the benefit of science and fairness I will also address one fairly big negative for women so you won't have rosé colored wine glasses (haha, you get it?)<br />
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<b>Drinking moderately any type of alcohol can raise the risk of breast and colon cancer.</b> This is a pretty important thing to point out. In order for you to determine how much you should drink for health reasons you should probably consider your family history and also consult the articles below.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/goog_453868320"><br /></a>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/study-supports-alcohol-breast-cancer-link-201111033747">http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/study-supports-alcohol-breast-cancer-link-201111033747</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span><a href="http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Heart_Letter/2011/October/more-to-the-story-than-alcohol--heart-protection"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Heart_Letter/2011/October/more-to-the-story-than-alcohol--heart-protection</span></a><br />
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Also, I must say this: If you value your longevity at all do not get behind the wheel after drinking. There you go, full disclosure.<br />
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I wish wine could be a magical cure for many ails, but I guess it's too good to be true *sigh*. I plan to continue to enjoy moderate amounts of wine! Speaking of which, do you ever cook with wine? I do sometimes, but it turns into a game of "a cup for the pan, a cup for me, a cup for the pan..."<br />
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What about you? Do you like the occasional glass of wine? What is your favorite? Do you worry about health risks?<br />
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Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12669753237540491119noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654393895396638816.post-75442632438403853222014-11-03T13:57:00.001-08:002014-11-03T14:31:08.749-08:00Husbands and Healthy FoodsI don't know if you have the same problem I do with my husband and healthy foods but boy is it hard to work with!<br />
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I have to give husband credit though, he's much better than he was. At least now he'll eat a side of broccoli or green beans if it's well seasoned. Used to be if he saw a veggie in what I was cooking he'd be upset and convinced the veggie flavor ruined the meal. When we ordered sushi rolls he'd take his chopstick and poke out the cucumbers. He would order crunchy tacos, remove the cheese and set it aside, remove every speck of lettuce, and then put the cheese back on.<br />
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Ah how I don't miss those fettuccine alfredo, meat lover pizza, and fried chicken days.<br />
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Don't get me wrong, I <i>love</i> fried chicken, but when you only eat that with a side of mashed potatoes it goes straight to your hips.<br />
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What changed? Well his pant size for one thing, that made a huge difference. When all that cheese started hanging around he became more open for lower calorie foods. At first I had to "hide" the veggies for him but we have worked from there constantly.<br />
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The main problem was onions. He was 100% convinced that he HATED onions. If he saw me add onions or saw them in the pot he'd instantly hate whatever it was I was cooking. I started having to chop the onions up really small when he wasn't looking and dump them in. Then I'd increase the ventilation so he couldn't smell them. Many days went like this:<br />
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What about you? What foods do your husband or children dislike? How do you work around it?<br />
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<br />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12669753237540491119noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654393895396638816.post-21291560497626489872014-10-29T13:56:00.001-07:002014-10-29T14:07:44.071-07:00Even the Worst Days"If you don't think every day is a good day, just try missing one." - Cavett Robert<br />
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Sometimes
when I have a "bad day" I remember how lucky I am to be alive. I also
think about women who had worse times than me and still became great.
Women like Helen Keller and Oprah had very difficult lives and yet they
have been written onto the pages of history. I think my worst day is not
even close to days that frequently happened to them.<br />
<br />
Any
of us can achieve our dreams, we just have to keep believing. What is
we all had half the drive and direction as Oprah? We would probably have
very great and fulfilled lives with a mere half.<br />
<br />
John
Johnson once said "Men and women are not limited by the place of their
birth, not by the color of their skin, but by the size of their hope."<br />
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What dreams do you have? What hopes?<br />
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Speaking
of good days, Buddy also has good and bad days. It's funny, but his
attitude changes from day to day like people depending on his situation.
Here's Buddy enjoying a nice roll!<br />
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">He's so fat these days!</span></span><br />
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Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12669753237540491119noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654393895396638816.post-11986861637683862032014-10-28T14:51:00.003-07:002014-10-28T14:51:44.315-07:00Angular Cheilitis and How to Treat ItI decided to write about Angular Cheilitis today because it is something I suffer from periodically and it flared up today, ugh.<br />
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<b>What is Angular Cheilitis?</b><br />
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In short, Angular Cheilitis is a type of inflammation in one or both corners of the mouth.<br />
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<b>What are the Symptoms?</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Initial Symptoms mimic dry lips. You may feel like you need to put extra lip balm in the corners of your mouth.</li>
<li>Early inflammation may cause a feeling of tightness of the skin in the corners of the mouth.</li>
<li>As the inflammation increases the tightness will transform into mild pain. When you open your mouth you may feel pain in the corners. It often feels like the skin is splitting.</li>
<li>Dry skin or flakiness in the corners of the mouth.</li>
<li>Swelling and redness around the inflamed area.</li>
<li>Serious Angular Cheilitis can cause blisters or skin that splits in the corners of the mouth.</li>
</ul>
<i>Luckily, Angular Cheilitis is not contagious, so don't worry about that!</i><br />
<br />
<b> What Causes It?</b><br />
<br />
There are many things that can instigate it. The main ones are:<br />
<ul>
<li>Drooling (i.e. while sleeping)</li>
<li>Stress or weakened immune system</li>
<li>Longer or deeper folds of skin at the corners of the mouth</li>
<li>Allergic reactions </li>
<li>Nutritional deficiencies, most notably B2 (Riboflavin) and Iron </li>
</ul>
Almost all cases are afflicted with candida yeast. Candida are naturally occurring in saliva and on the surface of your skin. In fact, your skin is covered in millions of microorganisms that maintain a tiny ecosystem. Occasionally something can cause this ecosystem to be thrown out of whack (the instigators listed above) and the candida yeast can overtake the corners of your mouth. There are also a few bacteria that can overtake your mouth as well.<br />
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<b>How can I treat it?</b><br />
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I have had lots of luck clearing mine up in a manner or days by following the procedure below. <b><i>Please note that I am not a doctor or expert of any kind, I am merely using my personal experience.</i></b><br />
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Start by taking some vitamin sand minerals that will boost your immune system such as Vitamin C and Zinc. Take some iron and vitamin B complex as well in case you are suffering from a nutritional deficiency. It helps fight the candida yeast you can find a supplement called "oregano oil" in a capsule. Take it once a day until the infection clears up.<br />
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That's what I do to fight my Angular Cheilitis. Mine is cause by the vitamin B2 (riboflavin) deficiency and candida yeast, so this is tailored toward that situation. You should probably determine your reason for Angular Cheilitis so you can treat it appropriately.<br />
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<i>Always consult your doctor before beginning any sort of treatment program.</i><br />
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What do you do for your Angular Cheilitis? Let me know!<br />
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Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12669753237540491119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654393895396638816.post-86433329246363283502014-10-25T09:01:00.003-07:002014-10-25T09:01:51.484-07:007 Health Reasons to get PedicuresJust in case you need a good argument prepared for your husband here are some health reasons that you should get a pedicure!<br />
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1) <b>It relieves stress.</b> Nothing like a nice hot foot soak and foot massage to take away the stress. You will get a nice hour to yourself or with a friend to do nothing but just relax. You know what they say "happy wife, happy life" right?<br />
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2)<b> It improves the health of your skin.</b> We frequently don't spend as long caring for our foot skin as we do for our face or hands. We abuse our feet and then aside from putting on a little lotion before bed or making use of a pumice stone once in a while we do little to keep our skin healthy.<br />
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3) <b>It helps prevent corns and callouses.</b> It's not fun to think about but corns and callouses are very common and are not fun as all. They are collections of hardened dead skin and can quickly become painful. A pedicure will soak and thoroughly scrub away the dead skin, preventing the buildup.<br />
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4) <b>It improves circulation.</b> The warm foot soak is a good way to start getting the blood flowing in your feet, but the massage will really improve the circulation. Sometimes our hearts have a heard time pumping blood to and from our feet and as a result circulation tends to be poor. If you suffer from a medical condition that exacerbates this situation then you could especially benefit from this experience.<br />
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5) <b>It relieves pain.</b> Between the massage, the removed corns and callouses, and the increased blood flow you should also get pain relieve. Women particularly suffer frequently from foot pain because of poorly fitting shoes. A pedicure can easily improve the happiness of your feet.<br />
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6) <b>It prevents infection.</b> It's gnarly, but there is bacteria everywhere on your foot. It especially loves to get under your toenails or into the rough dead skin. Bacteria around the nail can cause ugly nail infections or can get into the skin of ingrown toenails and cause infection there. Pedicures are a good way to reset your bacteria levels. Your toenails will be thoroughly cleansed all around and your dead skin will be completely removed. It's good to start from square one with bacteria as often as you can to keep it in check. Less foot bacteria can also cause less <i>foot stank</i> as well, which is always a plus!<br />
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7) <b>It boosts confidence.</b> Hey, confidence is super healthy. A lot of women avoid wearing shoes that they think are cute because they fear their feet are cracked, scaly, or "ugly". Don't let that stop you from getting shoes that will make you feel fabulous! A pedicure will brighten your feet right up and you can rock those shoes that day.<br />
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I keep trying to get my husband to get a pedicure to help him with his starting-to-be-ingrown toenails, but he won't do it! To my men friends out there: it's fine for men to enjoy the benefits as well, go with your lady friend next time, you won't regret it.<br />
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<br />Even horses enjoy the benefits! I told Buddy he'd be the envy of <i>all</i> the girls with his fresh pedicure and new shoes!</div>
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Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12669753237540491119noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654393895396638816.post-25037640291389395732014-10-21T14:48:00.002-07:002014-10-21T14:48:32.262-07:00Weight Loss and Limiting Medical ConditionsAsk anyone how to lose weight and they will tell you "diet and exercise!" and I fully believe that to be the truth. But what if you can't exercise normally?<br />
<br />
I frequently admire the thin and toned bodies of joggers or gym goers. I often fantasize that some day I can look like that too. Is it possible? Is it possible to have such a perfect toned body without traditional exercise?<br />
<br />
So many people out there suffer from various conditions that are limiting to exercise. I have a friend who had major spine surgery and has a titanium neck, she has to be very careful of back or neck injury. I have a friend with very severe arthritis in her back and deformed bones, life is often painful for her to just sit. These women also want trim, fit bodies.<br />
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I get angry at perfectly healthy people who blatantly describe these women as "lazy", having no knowledge of their struggles. I always say that "you never know", so be careful before judging.<br />
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I am frequently inspired by the recoveries of people with severe injuries. I often think about Morris Goodman, the "miracle man" who crashed his plane and had injuries that were so severe they thought he would be fully paralyzed and stuck to an iron lung for the rest of his life. He walked out of the hospital a few months later, able to breathe on his own. It's truly remarkable!<br />
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I am less heroic than Morris Goodman, I think, but still interested in a healthy and thin life. Most of my "diet and exercise" leans more toward the "diet" end (*sigh* I really love food....and that's the problem here). I have been having some pretty good success, it's been slow, but steady.<br />
<br />
I do want to be healthier and less flabby though, so I'm trying to work in extra movement during my week to help. I can walk for a pretty good distance without paying for it too badly the next day, so here are some ways I've been working in some extra walking and low impact exercise:<br />
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1) I've been trying to visit parks, arboretums, and nature trails, so I can enjoy nature and get in an extra mile or so!<br />
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Husband likes nature trails too.<br />
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2) I've been parking further away from the store entrances. I'm hoping over the week that'll add in an extra mile.<br />
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3) I've been trying to do squats and calf raisers while brushing my teeth. You can't overdo it in that limited time.<br />
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4) I've been trying to attend parties and events. If something exciting is going on I walk more before I realize it.<br />
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5) We've been trying to get over to the beach more. Wading and swimming against gentle waves is great exercise. It'll wear you out, phew.<br />
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6) I ride horses. It's low impact, full body work (if you do it right), and lots of fun!<br />
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Every little bit counts, so don't feel bad if you can only get in an extra 10 minutes a day. 10 extra minutes a day will add up to 3,650 minutes by the end of the year. That's over 60 hours! What will 60 hours of walking do for you? Get up and try to get moving as well as you can. Do you have a condition that makes you opt out of jogging and stair machines? How do you get in your low-impact and limited workout? How do you stay motivated to keep trying?Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12669753237540491119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654393895396638816.post-44767982356384783772014-10-20T13:09:00.000-07:002014-10-20T13:09:49.501-07:00A Horse Halloween! Or, How I Learned to Dress up my Horse and Love that Bomb.<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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As Halloween approaches it is the perfect time for Halloween parties. This past weekend we had one at our barn and it was great fun! There was an obstacle course and scavenger hunt for the children, lots of good food, and a horse costume contest for the adults.<br />
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I LOVE horse costume contests! I love costumes by themselves, but they are incredibly more fun when combined with horses. I very frequently make costumes (husband and I go to comic conventions and renaissance fairs and I always make our outfits) so it's fun to try to make one for my horse, Buddy.<br />
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I asked many friends what kind of costume I should make for Buddy and they had many good ideas. I thought he could be the painting "Starry Night", a brick wall of graffiti, a dust bunny, or an Egyptian pharaoh. Husband thought he should be a sea horse (which we have done in the past) or the terminator (not sure how I could accomplish that!) My best friends suggested a pumpkin (Buddy is REALLY fat...), "Draculorse", a lamp, or a mushroom. Mom threw in the tooth fairy, Winnie-the-pooh, or the Goodyear Blimp. Looking at pictures of the Goodyear Blimp and remembering the mushroom suggestion I got a great idea! Dr. Strangelove!<br />
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For those of you who have never seen the movie "Dr. Strangelove" you should watch it! It's a black and white comedy about the cold war. It is very funny. There is an iconic scene in which, through a misunderstanding, a nuclear bomb is dropped and the character "Major Kong" accidentally falls out of the plane with it. Major Kong then rides the bomb down while hooting and waving around his cowboy hat. That scene has been referenced many many times. An example that I can remember (I've seen many I can't remember) is the casino "The Atomic Wrangler" in the video game "Fallout: New Vegas". The icon is a cowboy riding an atom.<br />
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He was supposed to have little tail fins on his bum, but they wouldn't stand up correctly :(. The nuclear bomb in the movie was named "Hi There!" so I made sure to include it on Buddy.<br />
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The only problem with the party was that I ate way too much. I went WAY over my calorie count (1500 calories over my goal). I did walk for at least 3 hours though, and I rode a nice quarter horse named Dexter, so I burned some of those extra calories off. Looks like I'll lose 1/2 lb this week instead of a whole pound. Any downward is progress though, and I'm happy about that.<br />
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What do you think would be a clever horse costume?</div>
Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12669753237540491119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654393895396638816.post-64391744957250112392014-10-15T13:44:00.002-07:002014-10-15T14:01:35.845-07:00Swallowtail Caterpillars!I thought today I'd talk about my 'pillars! A few weeks ago I found these little caterpillars on my parsley. I tried to look them up but had no luck until I looked up what butterflies/moths use parsley as a host plant. I decided they were black swallowtail butterflies. It turns out caterpillars go through about five stages called "instars" and you can't use a caterpillar identification tool until fifth instar, mine were about 2nd instar.<br />
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Well I decided I wanted to raise them and they seemed a bit like a bird buffet (ten big fat caterpillars in the open?) so I built a cage around the parsley. I used dowel rods that I stuck in the dirt and I wrapped some nylon screen around it. I then folded the top down and clipped it with a chip bag clip.<br />
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Those little dudes ate 6 parsley plants! I kept having to put new ones in the cage. After a few weeks they pupated and about a week after that they emerged. How beautiful they were!<br />
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These pictures were taken as I opened the top to release them after their wings dried. The one in the top view picture had a deformed wing (see the crimp?) and was unable to fly away. I was so sad :( I did so much research but there wasn't much I could do, so I put it on my giant Lantana and went out every few hours to check that it hadn't fallen to the ground. It disappeared the second day, I'm sure it was eaten. Which is very very sad, but probably for the best, life must be miserable for a butterfly that can't fly.</div>
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It was a great experience though! I hope some day I can grow more butterflies. Next year I'll plant host plants for various butterflies varieties to see if I can get more caterpillars. I also like to plant for the honeybees to try to support their populations as best as I can.</div>
Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12669753237540491119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654393895396638816.post-33787716359225374112014-10-13T14:00:00.000-07:002014-10-15T14:02:08.221-07:00Nephew Caught a SpanxI haven't done much with this blog yet, I need to make it pretty and add some pictures!<br />
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Had a great weekend! My sister came down with her hubby and little one. I was excited to take my nephew to the renaissance fair. I have to admit, I ate TONS of calories at the fair (my day ended up being over 3,100 calories, YIKES). But after counting in all the calories burned walking I was only (cough) a thousand over my daily limit, which I guess means I'll lose 2/3lb instead of a whole pound this week, but it was worth it for a turkey leg and lots of mead.<br />
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Speaking of mead, husband and I are brewing our own for the first time. I don't know anything about it except that it's bubbling away merrily. I have high hopes, I hope it turns out good.<br />
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At one point this weekend my nephew was playing a video game in which you roll things up on a ball and he happened to roll up a flying Sphinx. He proudly announced "I rolled up a Spanx!" "A Spanx?" I asked. "Yep," he said "a <i>flying</i> Spanx". Hahahaha. I told my sister that I need to get one of those! Kids say the funniest things...what do your kids say that's funny?Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12669753237540491119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654393895396638816.post-28786016747269416912014-10-08T16:22:00.000-07:002014-10-15T14:02:33.058-07:00Getting Off the GroundLet's see how well this goes and if I can keep my bum in gear to write!<br />
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I'm not really sure what to say, I've never done a blog before. I guess ultimately I want to inspire others to live healthy, happy, and positive lives.</div>
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I suppose I should say something about myself? I'm an artist (well, my degree is in art anyway...) and I am married to an engineer. Opposites attract right? I have a very nice little horse named Buddy that was recently retired and a big dog named Sato that I have had for years named.</div>
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I am on a weight loss journey right now. Seems I've gained quite a bit out of college and during my few years of marriage! I want to lose 20-25 pounds total. I have currently lost about 3 pounds using a calorie tracker. It's been a slow loss as I seem to lack self control (I just LOVE food), but slow and steady wins the race, right?</div>
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I hope this will be a good experience!</div>
Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12669753237540491119noreply@blogger.com0