1/2 cup tumeric powder 1 to 2 cups water 1/3 cup UNrefiined coconut oil 1.5 teaspoons fresh black pepper Get a small pot, put ONE cup of water and ALL of the tumeric in. Start heating it up. DO NOT let it boil, but continue to stir and stir. It will dry up, and you will have to add UP TO one more cup. (My friend says sometimes she needs only 1/2 cup, other times a full cup). Then, after 10 minutes, take off stove, add the 1/3 cup UNrefined coconut oil, and 1.5 teaspoons fresh black pepper, stir it up - it will be kind of pasty. Put in GLASS JAR and store in fridge. Make a shake, or a smoothie and put 1/2 tsp in (heaping). Or, you can do 1/4 in the morning and 1/4 at night or however you want to space it. ... View Post
Reaching For My Weapon
I was awakened abruptly by the seemingly purposeful, very quiet twisting of the doorknob on my front door. It sounded differently than when my son comes home. This was NOT him - and whoever it was, they did not want me to know they were entering. They were being painstakingly quiet, and moving very slowly. I glanced at the time. It was 2 a.m. Frozen, I wasn't sure if I should dial 911 or get out of bed and grab my gun. All sorts of thoughts ran through my mind. I knew my gun was in the corner in a drawer. I'd have to get out of bed, make my way across the room, and get it out of its case. The ammunition was in my dresser drawer on the other side of my room. I'd have to open the box, and then load my gun. How would I ever do all of this in the dark? It might just be ... View Post
Thoughts From My Couch
I'm sitting in my usual spot on the couch as I write this, and I can hear my son downstairs packing. I have to say goodbye to him today as he heads off back to college after a busy three weeks at home. The door of the dryer just shut, and I heard him clean out the vent. I am laughing to myself thinking - his wife will love that he not only knows to do that, but that he actually does it. And then, I started laughing to myself. I remember a day when a friend told me that her son did not want to clean his room, and that she was having a difficult time getting him to cooperate. He felt she was asking too much, so she explained to him that he was very lucky not to be living in my house, where my sons had to clean toilets and scrub floors. She meant no harm, but I ... View Post
Wasted Time
Bucket List 2016 has been penned and re-penned a couple of times. A list of meaningful, exciting, and even educational things made the list, and of course that year-after-year goal of getting healthier was #1. It's always #1 - year after year after year. Why is it that I have no problem crossing off the fun things I want to do, but repeatedly fail at the least fun, but the most important thing? The very thing that could give me more time. The truth is, I'm selfish with my time. I don't want to do the hard work of working out, and taking the time to prepare a healthy meal, or maybe even spend the few extra dollars it may cost me to eat healthier than the on-the-go, unhealthy, short-term satisfying foods in a box, or handed to me at the drive-through windows of fast food ... View Post
A Few of My Favorites
Driving home from work in the rain today, December 23 and just 2 days before Christmas, I couldn't help but agree with everyone who is complaining about no snow. Now, you won't hear this particular complaint from me often. I don't like the stuff. I don't like to be cold. I don't like to shovel it. I don't like to walk in it, drive in it, or dress for it. But I do enjoy looking at it (from inside, and through a window ;). This time of year, it ought to be snowing, but it's not. My heart began reminiscing back to all of my favorite memories. I don't want to ever forget them, so decided to rush home and list them. It will not mean much to anyone who isn't a part of them, but perhaps it will inspire you to share yours over the time you will spend with family and friends this ... View Post
Earn It ??
I own far too many movies on DVD. So, I've been attempting to sort them out, give some to my kids, donate a few, and put the rest in some sort of order on a shelf. This task has landed me on the couch watching an oldie-but-goodie flick more than once in the past couple of weeks. Last night, it happened to be Saving Private Ryan, which was one of my sons' favorites. My youngest son, Ian, always called it, "Save it, Private Ryan!" I'd just laugh and squeeze him. If you're not familiar with the movie, its about a platoon of U.S. soldiers who go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action, and bring him home from the war. Captain Miller, played by Tom Hanks, leads the platoon, and dies from gunshot wounds sustained during his rescue of ... View Post
Runnin’ in Stilettos
Have you ever run a marathon? How about a 5K? Did you wear two of the same shoes? If so, I'm assuming they were running shoes. Right? Same size on each foot too, right? I know that seems like a stupid question, but this next one is even sillier. Do you think you would have done as well in that race, had you worn a pair of heels? Stilettos? And for you men - How about a pair of heavy, steel-toed construction boots? Could you have run a marathon and done as well, and felt as good, had you worn steel-toed boots instead of a good pair of running shoes? How about if you ran the race wearing one stiletto, and one running shoe? Or, one steel-toed construction boot, and one running shoe? Of course not! Where am I going with this? Well, when I put my sneakers on this ... View Post
When God says NO!
I just ran into the husband of a patient I cared for a few years ago. She was in the hospital a long, long, long time. He was a Christian man, and was always confident that his wife would be healed of her very advanced cancer that had metastasized everywhere. My co-workers and I had found it very difficult to care for her, watching her suffer tremendously in pain as we turned her or bathed her. Any movement caused excruciating pain, and her husband insisted that she did not need pain medication. This not only made our days and nights difficult, but also sparked many, many conversations regarding just WHY God allows us to suffer, to be diagnosed with cancer, to die horribly painful and sometimes lonely deaths. I remember him being very angry with staff at the suggestion of ... View Post