Wednesday, June 24, 2009

my first green juice



Decided on the Angel Juicer, mostly because many reported greater ease of cleaning than the Greenstar juicer. Love it, and have been juicing a carrot/apple combination every day. Today, I made my first green juice. I'm trying out the juices from the Gerson Therapy.

For my first green juice, I didn't want to be complicated, so I went with romaine and quarter of a green pepper. The vertical spout is where the veggies go in. One plastic container holds the pulp, and one holds the juice.
I was afraid it might taste bitter, but it didn't! It actually tastes like sweetish, lettucy water. Refreshing.
Here is the leftover fiber. The rationale behind leaving behind the fiber in juicing is that your body can take in far more nutrients than it would otherwise be able to digest. I'm one of those people who gets very tired after eating, so I find this extra appealing to give my digestion a break.
Clean up: About 3 minutes! I didn't even need to use the special brush that came with the juicer. Just a hot rinse, + it's shiny new.

Conclusion: Angel juicer gets 4 out of 5 juice glasses. One goes missing for expense + because it is less versatile than the Greenstar. The super easy clean up + pretty princess design means I'd choose it again!

Ghetto Disclaimer: Tile grout is permanently this color! I know. Yes, I've tried the paint stuff, but I'm open to your ideas. At any rate, this is how the counters always look-- can be ghetto, but no one wants to look more ghetto than they actually are!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Preston likes it here




Preston loves the range, mostly because there is a pond and he is able to most efficiently smell of fish. Sam and Moses like it too, but they can't be trusted off leash.

My mom is recovering from a hysterectomy + removal of the tumor-- rumor is she looked 6 or 7 months pregnant! She says she never expected to be pregnant at 49, but she might actually take the baby over the tumor.

Anyways, her biopsy results came back; it looks like she has non-hodgkin's lymphoma. She had a bone marrow biopsy today-- but we won't hear back for awhile. It has occurred to me that I should get over my fear of bone marrow biopsies, should I need to look into sharing some marrow...not sure how that all works.

No one wants any cancer, but I think lymphoma is probably relieving to my mom compared to the ovarian cancer we thought it was. For awhile, there was talk of the situation as being very, very dire with very few options. Since then, it's been roller coastery, but overall better.

My mom is in super good spirits. She's kind of a badass.

Monday, June 15, 2009

home on the range



I am home on the range. This is my grandma's house, where I was mostly raised--my mom and I lived on in a little trailer on my grandma's land...humble, yes. Who would want anything other than? I didn't know it at the time, but it was pretty idyllic. This pic is just out the garden that I remember my great grandpa tending when I was little. I took the picture because I think that' s a squirrel tail hanging off of it; not sure what that's about.


I remember lots about this garden! It used to be even bigger than this. I would take the tomatoes into my wagon and sell them door to door. My grandma would take me to pick okra for pickled okra and to dig up potatoes for the mysterious underground potato cellar- I will always remember it to be one of those strangely comfortable smells, standing, surrounded in the dirt, must be what it smells like to be a toad or a snake, I wound think. She would take me to her precious strawberry patch, then to pick apples off the trees for apple pie.

Baby grapes. I remember these, too.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009


Mom is still at the hospital. One dr says her tumor is not operable. Another says it is. She's being quite brave. I have an appointment with an endo I've been waiting on for awhile, who had a cancellation. The funny thing is, I feel like I'm sort of giving up on waiting for medicine to make me feel better in his journey. I have an intuition that my real healing/relief will come with getting a bit extreme about nutrition, ecercise and emotion balance....



UPDATE: Jan 2010...Wow, was that intuition ever right! I'm so happy and healthy now. I still have the tumor; sometimes if we take amazing care of our bodies, our bodies will take care of the little dramas such as a tumor for us...I am in need of no treatment other than continued health and happiness! I am so grateful! Grateful! I wish I could walk every single person feeling how I was- walk them down this path so they could feel how I feel today.

strange birds + five clams


Sam + I went on a walk yesterday.  We came upon some birds...the heck?

What are these birds?  The brown ones were kind of metallic-purple on their faces.  They were just barely larger than common doves, walked liked chickens, shook their feathers like peacocks.  They did not seem to mind my little dog + I.  

Breakfast.  Pretty much what I have every day, but it used to have eggs.  
Haven't been feeling eggs for awhile.

Mom Update: My mom's in the hospital getting tests + blood.  It might be a few days before we know anything.  I'm sending lots of peace and healing to her!

Have you watched this?  

Totally worth the five clams.  There are some free ones on there, too. 

Healthy Eating: Something about all of this health drama, all over the place, all at once, has made anything remotely processed just look terrible.  I'm generally pretty healthy anyways, although I think someone should tell my a$$ that, because it's just not shrinking.  It's beena little  awhile since I've had anything other than vegetable or fruit--I haven't had gluten, sugar or any sort of animal product (although once I'm healthy, I'd like to have fish again, I imagine). Whatever it takes at this point!  I'm still waiting on my juicer.  Woo hoo.



 

Monday, June 08, 2009

It's 5:26.

It's 5:26.  

Appointment at 4.

She has not called me yet.


Grandma surely wonders, 

if...if...if...
 
would it be heaven? 

would it be hell? 

I assure her, unsolicited, 

God hears all Her children.


Triangles awaken

as stubborn perrenials, 

raising with familiarity, 

nature's ironic patterns.


Women's chatter fills

the room,  Fill it.  Fill it.-

another familiar pattern. 

Space, anxiety, space, anxiety

Fill the anxiety.

Feel the anxiety.


It's 5:32.  

When will they call me?



Counting up the barters

to offer the Gods

in exchange for a 

most pleasant phone call.


It's 5:39.

Sunday, June 07, 2009

today part I (from iphone pov)

The little dogs + I sat in the gazebo.  Preston sat in this bucket.

It's very cool.

Preston + dirt bucket.

today part II (from iphone pov)

Here is my lunch before.  All from farmer's market.

My lunch after.  It was very good, thank you.

Pico I made to go with organic, vegan chili.  

I just made a couple of servings of the pico, so that we have lots of prana (life) in the 
leftover chili we eat when we make fresh pico to go with it.

A candle I lit for my mom's healing + peace.

Saturday, June 06, 2009

dig


It is time to dig deep!  Health, mental clarity, family contacts, Bowen Family Systems, spirituality...no waiting.

Right now, I'm grateful for so much.  That's where my mind is.  What do I have to worry about in this moment?  This moment requires my presence.  

:)

Thursday, June 04, 2009

bubbles on a stream.


I have this quote and design on a coffee mug that just might
be my main source of wisdom at the moment.


This is a strange time for me.

I'm not sure if I should even say up here what all is going on. In 3 months, my health has spiraled, my husband's mom has been diagnosed and then cured of non-hodgkin's lymphoma, then today we find out my mom might have ovarian cancer-- she is not insured, and won't know for sure until her medicaid goes through, but apparently that's what they are thinking. Yesterday, I found out that another very special person to me has been dx'd with pancreatic cancer. Bless her. Bless my mom. Bless B's mom. Bless all of us.

I went to the new endo yesterday who said he's not ready to treat the tumor- unless it's Cushings, which he's checking for, and in which case I'll need neurosurgery this summer (but this is very unlikely). Interesting. I think I need to juice. I think I need to run again. To write. To somehow deal. This is the weirdest time- somehow dark, yet I know that there is a purpose. I'm not sure what to do, really.

Monday, June 01, 2009

no more fudge-ickles.

Green star juicer. Cheaper. Uglier. Crazy amounts of versatile. Lots of people love it, including juice guru Kris Carr.

Pretty, pretty princess Super Angel Juicer. Supposed to make better juicer. More expensive. Supposed to be easier to clean. I don't think it's as versatile. So pretty.

Downtown Dallas from the zoo monorail. Zoo monorail!

It's a big week.

Work + Me as a Neurotic: There are two more days of school. I'm going to miss this group SO much that I wondered how I'd do it this time! And there's the silver lining of this health drama- nothing can make me NOT want the school year to end right now. This is all my ego talking, because I love teaching; honestly, I'm ready for a break from the sucking at my job feeling. This has really taught me how strongly I identify with doing well at work. Right now, I just can't do what I used to be able to do, and I have to find a way to be ok with that. I'm so surprised at how "Monica" (from Friends) I am about it-- I want to run around to everyone: "Are we okay? Really, even secretly? What about now? Now?" I'm often observing thoughts like, "Does she think I'm making this up?" I want to be that person who doesn't care what others think, but my thoughts are more along the lines of, "Is there anything I can do so you will like me? Please? Like me?" Don't get me wrong- when I decide it's okay, I can easily get over someone not liking me; but it's very rare that I truly write someone off like that.


Green things: Getting a real, fancy pants juicer! I'm SOOOOOOOOO over this health crap. I watched a couple of documentaries, too; that, combined with this health dram fest may have just put me over the edge to a healthier me. The other green thing coming into my life is (maybe)...wait for it...a PRIUS!!! If the 90's hippie conversion van could see me now!

When I get more healthy: I'm going to be more present with my family and my friends and my funky little pets. This weekend was my dad's 50th birthday (my parents had me when they were young!). He got a Fender! My dad is seriously a rock star guitar player. There's all this musical talent in my family. You should hear my mom sing, too. And my aunt. Me, I'm like those people who try out for American Idol that have a dream but not much talent. I rock out, it just doesn't make a pleasant sound. like you hear on the radio...I've been thinking of trying guitar (again); my dad kind of inspired me. Sometime I'm going to get one of those electric pianos, too. It keeps getting pushed to the back of the budget. That's okay, though. I'm glad I got my camera first. It was my present to myself for doing leadership team.