Diet not Dieting

I think it was about this time last year that I started reading about Nourishing Traditions; I read the book late last spring and have tried a few recipes. But my great traditional diet plan fell through, partly do to my love of boxed cereal and all things baked. And in the time since last year I have gained a bit of weight, part do to diet, part to to Fibro treatments/medications and part to an over worked under producing thyriod. Well the medical issues are more under control so now it's time to focus on the food.

I've decided, thanks to a few blogs I'm reading, to reread NT and see if I implament any of it in my diet. I have read that there is a new cook book out that uses the NT principles and I plan to put it on the to read list as well.

There will also be some regular posts here about it.

Also I owe you all some photos, I forgot my camera last weekend, but will bring it this coming weekend so you can all see my secret new job.

No I have not forgotten all of you. It has been a bit busy around here and non of it was post worthy. There has been cleaning and applying for jobs. The past few days have given me some post ideas, so I am hoping there will be something new for you to read later this week. I still ow you all a post or two about the Flower Show and there may be some fitness and exercise info coming up. Also I will be revealing my new part-time job, with photo evidence.

Slow Down This Sunday

When: Sunday March 15 at 7:00 pm
Where: CBS's 60 Minutes
Who: Alice Waters from Slow Food Nation

Yes it seems that mainstream media has picked up on what is going on and has decided to help spread the new. I plan to watch it, and give a brief review for those who don't have televisions (I didn't for years, and that was before You Tube). Stop back on here Sunday Night for more information.

"She's done more to change how we Americans eat, cook and think about food than anyone since Julia Child."
--Lesley Stahl

And the Winner Is...

Amy Ellen! Who has a most yummy blog that you should all check out. She was the only entry, sadly for me. Well my dear, I will be keeping an eye out for some special southern freindly seeds tomorrow.

Thankful Thursday

I almost forgot to be thankful!
This week I'd have to say I'm thankful for Spring being on its way and that this weekend I will be getting a little taste of it. Also for the inspiration to be writing more.

I know it's a bit lacking this week, but it's been a very quiet here.

Food Declaration

I have mentioned the Slow Food movement before; and I have been thinking a bit about it lately. I have fallen off my slow moving bandwagon. I was on their site today and remembered I had never posted the link to the Food Declaration. From the site:

1. Current policy is mired in a 20th century industrial paradigm, where the primary goals are limited to production volume, efficiency of feeding, and ensured profits for commodity producers and those they supply, thereby, benefiting too few.
2. People, ecosystems, and rural economies are becoming less healthy as a direct result of current American policy.
3. The efforts to solve food and agriculture challenges are not being addressed to the degree required by the scale of the problems.
4. The last farm bill cycle confirmed that too few control the debate and they are focused on protecting the status quo rather than aiding the broader population of the nation.

I urge you all to read and sign The Declaration and hope that you also take a stroll through their site and that of Slow food Nation.

For your Viewing Enjoyment

I have had this song stuck in my head, off and on, since I heard it on A Prairie Home Companion, months ago. It's one of those songs that was written for both children and adults who have a silly side.

Bloggaversary and Giveaway

In the past months I have seen fellow bloggers reach the one year mark; many of them have fully developed blogs, with regular posts, series on a related topic and many followers and commenters. I think it makes my blog feel a little neglected. It is of course my own fault, I started this project at a time when I had others going on in real life. Ones I didn't want to post about regularly. I mean who wants to read about PT and trying new medications.

So, somethings seem to be getting settled and some positive things seem to be taking off, I am hoping that year two will be far more interesting, educating, green, healthy and post-able if not compost-able. I have tabled my home remedies series, just for a month or so; I have decided to write them all and then release them one a week. I am also hoping to regularly do Thankful Thursday, and maybe get some of you in on it. I think March might see some spring cleaning of the kitchen cupboards and fun ways to get the blood moving. April has a special surprise, a hint it has to do with my new job. Yes I'll be working again, but I am over excited about my new job.

But for now I have, for you, a Give Away! I will be at the Philly Flower Show later this week and plan to start my seeds this coming weekend. I will be buying some special seed packets just for the winner. But I'm going to make you work for it. All you need to do is leave a comment with a question for me or something you would like to see me write about; I also need an email address if you don't have a blog or one listed in your blog, and finally what planting zone you are in. The drawing will be Thursday morning.

Good Luck and I can't wait to hear from all of you,

~Kate

To Health

It is Thursday and I challenge you all to be thankful.

I am thankful for having a week so filled with health that I have been running around doing things I normally can't (like having nearly all the house clean, sparkling clean, all at once). It has kept me from sitting to actually write, but it has filled me with ideas.

I am thankful that spring is almost here, and that DH and I are going to the Philly Flower Show next week, and that my Mom is planning on coming down to join us.

I am thankful for friends who are willing to get up early and come to brunch to celebrate DH's birthday on Sunday. And that said friends are talented and generous enough to bring things so I don't have to cook it all.

I am thankful for having two job offers.

I am thankful that on Monday I will be having my one year blogaversary, and I am thankful that I will be able to share it with you all by hosting my first giveaway. Come back Monday to find out.

I am thankful for another week to live.

Hello All

It's been a while, yet again. Well between bronchitis, two rounds of stomach bugs and a bit of traveling in between, my brain has not been interesting in giving me things to write. Well the house is beginning to regain order and a state of health and I am over my writer's block and there are posts in the work.

With all the resents coughs, aches and ickies I have been inspired to do a series on at home, non drug, ways to fix or atleast manage some of the common health complanets. I hope to have the first installment tomrrow.

Hope all is well with you. And I leave you with this photo from a recent trip to Conneticut to visit my family.

Blessings,
~Kate

The 'Sick' Word

On my last post I had a comment that really made me stop and think about how I approach some things...

Hello. I notice that you head your blog "a sick girl" and I wonder if therein lies a good deal of your problems.
I too have many health issues (not only fibromyalgia but other truly debilitating problems) and I don't label myself as 'sick'. Yes I have many problems and life gets hard but they are bodily problems -my mind is healthy. I remain optimistic and have a hopeful and thankful outlook on life. Thankful because however bad I am feeling these are not terminal illnesses - you only need to be in the company of someone worse off than yourself to have your own problems put into perspective.
One thing I would do is change your header - saying you are a sick girl immediately show you to be someone who is dwelling on their illness, even to the extent that you are revelling in it. Sure, life is hard when you have problems but you should look at the bigger picture - you don't have a terminal illness, you get by with less pain than some people have to endure. Try not to be so inward looking and enjoying being sick and I can assure you that people will begin to treat you differently - as a whole person, not someone who classes themselves as 'sick'.
It is easy to fall into the trap of being a 'sick' person, almost to the extent of wallowing in your 'sick' state. I hope this advice will help you and perhaps you could leave a comment in this section about your reaction to these comments.
M-

M-,
Thank you for your comment, I have actually spent much of the weekend mulling it over. I totally understand how you might interpret the word "sick". I try to live a life thankful for what I have, and I don't need to be around someone sicker than myself to realize how worse it could be. But being still a few years away from 30, sick for more than half my life and having a down-turn in health makes a person wholey aware of their health issues. These health issuess and those of both the earth and those on the earth helped spawn the idea of starting this blog. I understand that my focus in writing has not fully come together; but the header is a testament to my daily life. I am sick, I work towards health every day, some days I get there and some days I don't, but regardless I get up the next day (with my bones creaking like an old house) and try all over agian.

I am not reveling in being sick, I am owning something that is part of my life. The people who know me well, my friends and family, don't treat me any less or any different. Except some of my burlier male friends hug me a little gentler than they do my husband, and my friends understand when I have to cancel because I have another infection or have muscle cramps in my legs and can't walk.

Notice that the words "healthy" and "green" also apear in the header. This blog is a daily journey and the reason maybe because of sickness, but the journey is about health. Healthy of the body, the mind, the spirit and the planet.

New Year, New Week, New Post

In years past I have made New Year's Resolutions; they were broad and vague and usually forgotten by the end of January. But this year is different, this year I vow to make no New Year's Resolutions. I vow to take life month by month, week by week and day by day. I have places where I would like to be in a year and in five years. But as life so frequently needs us to be, I will be flexible and reevaluate my time frames and check lists. My hope is that in being a little bit more Organic in how I style my life, my lifestyle will follow suit. And that with some meditation, a little bit of prayer, and a lot of work, I will be able to meet my goals for this year.This was supposed to be ready for the first Monday of the year; but it was still percolating. See, I'm taking this year week by week.

photo credit: Me at the 2008 Philadelphia Flower Show, take by R (my loving husband)

The Word

Whether you are a Bible Scholar, Language Buff, Literature Fiend or Religious this site might appeal to you: http://originalbible.com/ . As more than one of the above I am very excited about this project.

There is an ancient Jewish adage regarding translating the Scriptures, “One who translates a verse literally is misrepresenting the text, but one who adds anything of his own is a blasphemer.” This new translation uses transparency, "The basic idea of transparency is that one should be able to “peer through” the English translation, and, to whatever extent possible, see, hear, and even feel, the dynamics of the original text." They hope to better represent the originals use of language, including alliteration, puns and word plays, idioms, rhythms, redundancies, and obscurities, the the reader can better understand some of the nuances for them selves. There is a reason that for centuries both the Catholic and Jewish religious leaders and scholars learned the language of the original texts. I read what has been posted on the site already and it is fare more beautiful than what my Oxford Scholars Bible has in it's pages (and though I do actually own more that one bible, the others were not at hand, I think they were not at hand at the time).

I do look forward to the release of this translation.



photo credit: The Bible 1601 by Allyson Ricketts
and He Inspects the First Sheet of His Bible from Giclee Print

Introspective Medical Post

Many Anniversaries are happy, some are sad but filled with warm memories; tomorrows is neither. Ten years ago, tomorrow, I got the diagnoses of Fibromyalgia. It was wonderful to know what had been making me so sick for years; but it was disheartening to find that there wasn't a "cure" or a lot of information on symptom management, especially for a Juvenile patient. But I got a good doctor and created a management plan that worked.

But some how, over the coarse of ten years I have gradually gotten worse. For a NON-degenerative disease (syndrome technically), this is not a good thing. I am resentful that I can't manage my health now; I know some of it is my inability, but I know some of it is just my body working against me.

And now nearly ten years to the day I am diagnosed with an additional issue. I was to the endocrinologist today. My Thyroid is still unhappy. I officially have hypothyroidism and have meds for it. Yay, one more pill to take for the rest of my life. He thinks the nodule is because my thyroid is working double time to produce hormones. This is a common and controllable illness; but is yet another item on my almost comical list of medical issues.

Sometimes I think God placed my brain ans spirit in the wrong body.

Once again the year goes out with me wishing and hoping that the next year will bring more good health then then one that has passed.

I hope you are all well.

We Need a Little Christmas

Yes, I took an unannounced week off. We had a little case of lie here. Things are okay, I just had a number of doctors appointments and things to do.

One of those was working on the Nativity Pageant at Church. I re-wrote the old play, really i used the old play as a guild line for length and form. I am also directing it. This is the first time my work is being preformed and the first time I have directed. I know it's only a Church thing and the children in it have minimal/no experience, but it is still very cool. And I am very excited.

However the house has suffered; it has become very cluttered and I still haven't gotten our decorations up. Today is cleaning, tonight is getting boxes out of the attic and getting our tree. Tommorow is cleaning the kitchen, making soup and decorating the rest of the house.

Hope all is well in your worlds,
Kate