Can't write another post without writing THIS one:
My niece, Alisha, whom I have adored my whole life and have actually claimed as my own kid (my sister merely having given birth to her) will be welcoming her own baby to the world! Yep, another generation of crazy cajuns will be making it's way into the world....
So the newcomer is a baby girl, and it looks like we've settled on the name Addisyn Paige (though the spelling may change). We all are sooooo excited to meet her!!!! My sister has gone nuts, buying stuff for her first grandbaby, and we all simply cannot wait for the big day to get here.
I'm so proud of Alisha, for so many reasons: she finished college and is now a nurse, making tons of money and working at a great place. She will always be able to take care of herself and her growing family, if it ever came to that.... luckily she's married to a great guy who has a great job with lots of future opportunities so all is well on that front.... but she heard what we said all of those years, finished her education before having babies, and in case life ever throws her a curveball, she'll be able to take care of herself and her kiddies. It's all I've ever wanted for her!!! I am SO Freaking Proud of her.
She's a happy mommy, not one of those sniveling, whining "oh my god I'm pregnant" types of moms. No depression and no martyrdom, just happy to be having a baby and hopes to have many more!!!
Did I say I'm SO FREAKING PROUD of her??? :)
Can't wait to meet you, Addy. :)
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Vacation Blog
Well, maybe I'll just rename this my "vacation blog" since I only seem to manage to post every few months now, about the trips we've taken or the things we've recently done. :)
After the walk in September, we took a short trip down to Louisiana for two reasons: to hang out in the French Quarter with my sister and brother-in-law, and my niece and nephew-in-law, and to go to an LSU football game. We had a fantastic trip!!! One of the best, ever. It included many, many wonderful cajun meals down in the Quarter (including 4th and 5th meals - hehe!!), many, many good drinks, a ghost tour, some creepy cemetery tours, a fun drive over to Baton Rouge and then of course, the grand finale which was a football game at Death Valley. We love spending time with our family and plan to do it more often!
This is a group pic of us having breakfast at the world famous Brennan's:
And of course, Bananas Foster for breakfast:
Can't go to La. without having Beignets:
Birds of a Feather:
We went into the bathroom at this one place, and supposedly it was not only a haunted bathroom, but also the SMALLEST bathroom IN THE WORLD!!!! We couldn't stop giggling when we were in there! So a self-group photo was necessary.
When we were younger, we shared toys. When we got older, we shared drinks. When we got much older, we shared reading glasses. This is a pic of Steve and Kenny sharing reading glasses so they could read the menu at one of our most favorite restaurants in the entire world:
Standing in front of Tiger Stadium, AKA Death Valley, at my alma mater, LSU:
Sis and I making art, in the style of Picasso:
We also got to spend a few hours with my brother and his kids, which also included my mom. It's just too danged hard to get little kids in the car and travel, so they weren't able to hang with us in New Orleans or Baton Rouge, but got to spend a few hours with us and go to a nice lunch at Joe's Crab Shack. (a safe place for the kiddos) Spending time with two little kids, no matter how cute they are, reaffirms my GREAT decision NOT to have any. I love 'em, but I don't have the desire to own any. Dogs are just fine with me. :) That said, those little ones are cute as bugs, full of attitude and personality - and I fully expect them to give my brother hell as they grow up. :)
I have to include this pic because we all laughed so hard when we took it - Alisha was convinced Steve looked like Harry from Harry and the Hendersons, so of course it warrants a place on this blog:
Anyway, we also recently returned from our annual pilgrimage to Laguna Beach. Been spending a week there yearly since 2004, and absolutely love it. It's a laid back kind of vacation, and boy is that what we did! It was fun and a much needed rest. We try to go every year for the week right after Thanksgiving - we celebrate our holiday wedding anniversary and just take some down time.
We celebrated our second anniversary this year. My how time flies!!! :) I do have pics for that trip, too, but will post a separate blog for those. :)
After the walk in September, we took a short trip down to Louisiana for two reasons: to hang out in the French Quarter with my sister and brother-in-law, and my niece and nephew-in-law, and to go to an LSU football game. We had a fantastic trip!!! One of the best, ever. It included many, many wonderful cajun meals down in the Quarter (including 4th and 5th meals - hehe!!), many, many good drinks, a ghost tour, some creepy cemetery tours, a fun drive over to Baton Rouge and then of course, the grand finale which was a football game at Death Valley. We love spending time with our family and plan to do it more often!
This is a group pic of us having breakfast at the world famous Brennan's:
And of course, Bananas Foster for breakfast:
Can't go to La. without having Beignets:
Birds of a Feather:
We went into the bathroom at this one place, and supposedly it was not only a haunted bathroom, but also the SMALLEST bathroom IN THE WORLD!!!! We couldn't stop giggling when we were in there! So a self-group photo was necessary.
When we were younger, we shared toys. When we got older, we shared drinks. When we got much older, we shared reading glasses. This is a pic of Steve and Kenny sharing reading glasses so they could read the menu at one of our most favorite restaurants in the entire world:
Standing in front of Tiger Stadium, AKA Death Valley, at my alma mater, LSU:
Sis and I making art, in the style of Picasso:
We also got to spend a few hours with my brother and his kids, which also included my mom. It's just too danged hard to get little kids in the car and travel, so they weren't able to hang with us in New Orleans or Baton Rouge, but got to spend a few hours with us and go to a nice lunch at Joe's Crab Shack. (a safe place for the kiddos) Spending time with two little kids, no matter how cute they are, reaffirms my GREAT decision NOT to have any. I love 'em, but I don't have the desire to own any. Dogs are just fine with me. :) That said, those little ones are cute as bugs, full of attitude and personality - and I fully expect them to give my brother hell as they grow up. :)
I have to include this pic because we all laughed so hard when we took it - Alisha was convinced Steve looked like Harry from Harry and the Hendersons, so of course it warrants a place on this blog:
Anyway, we also recently returned from our annual pilgrimage to Laguna Beach. Been spending a week there yearly since 2004, and absolutely love it. It's a laid back kind of vacation, and boy is that what we did! It was fun and a much needed rest. We try to go every year for the week right after Thanksgiving - we celebrate our holiday wedding anniversary and just take some down time.
We celebrated our second anniversary this year. My how time flies!!! :) I do have pics for that trip, too, but will post a separate blog for those. :)
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Walking 40 Miles for Boobies
Last weekend was the Avon 40 Mile Breast Cancer Walk. I raised nearly $2200 (thank you for helping, hubby) for the cause and I actually managed to finish the entire walk without having to take a sweep van! I admit, though, that the last 13 miles were sheer will power.... I started the first mile that morning saying to myself, "If I can make it one more mile...." which turned into "If I can make it to lunch at mile 10, (mile 10 of the second day, which was actually mile 36) I can finish..." I made it to lunch and despite having severely painful and swollen feet, I finished the damned walk. :)
A HUGE kudos to Steve, because he was soooo helpful!! He cheered us along the way, met me at tent city at the end of Day 1 and helped me get my tent set up, blew up my blow-up mattress pad and just basically did all he could to make my life easier that night. He rocks. :)
This is a pic of me by my one of the tents we stayed in on Saturday night. Part of the experience is the camping - we all slept in these two man tents. They actually were pretty cool, and "tent city" is always neato. :)
We started out early Saturday morning, with a group of about 2800 people trying to get moving. It takes a while and it took us nearly 4 hours to go just 9 miles! But it was fun and emotional and motivating. The first day we did 26.2 miles (a marathon) and walked from 7 am until 6 pm. It HURT. Normally walking that far would take about 6-8 hours, so you can understand how the sheer size of the group slowed us down.
Second day we got up and finished the last 13 miles. Like I said... I finished on sheer willpower... but I finished regardless.
As soon as we stopped, I pulled off my shoes and they were hurting and itching - so of course I was rubbing and massaging them. They immediately started to swell, which I expected and didn't think much about.... until they became SO swollen that I could NOT walk on them any longer! In fact, Steve and I went into the famous Fab Dogs hot dog place on our way home and I had to gimp into that place like a handicapped person. Everyone was staring at me! But I wasn't missing that chili dog, dammit....
Anyway, I did a good thing and I'm proud to have finished. :)
This is a pic of me with my friend, Cathy, who has survived breast cancer - she did this walk to celebrate her 5th year of being cancer-free. I met her on the bus on the way to the event, and we walked the entire walk together. She was amazing. :)
These things tend to make a person emotional. I cried at opening ceremony, I cried during the walk, I cried when my feet were hurting so badly that I thought I wouldn't finish, I cried when I saw Steve along the way cheering me on, I cried at the end when I saw Steve waiting for me at the finish line.... it goes on and on. But I made it.
Cathy asked me why I was walking, and if I had personal experience with breast cancer. I told her no, and found myself saying what I know to be true and what I believe... and what many, many others have used as their response.
Why did I walk?
Because I can.
A HUGE kudos to Steve, because he was soooo helpful!! He cheered us along the way, met me at tent city at the end of Day 1 and helped me get my tent set up, blew up my blow-up mattress pad and just basically did all he could to make my life easier that night. He rocks. :)
This is a pic of me by my one of the tents we stayed in on Saturday night. Part of the experience is the camping - we all slept in these two man tents. They actually were pretty cool, and "tent city" is always neato. :)
We started out early Saturday morning, with a group of about 2800 people trying to get moving. It takes a while and it took us nearly 4 hours to go just 9 miles! But it was fun and emotional and motivating. The first day we did 26.2 miles (a marathon) and walked from 7 am until 6 pm. It HURT. Normally walking that far would take about 6-8 hours, so you can understand how the sheer size of the group slowed us down.
Second day we got up and finished the last 13 miles. Like I said... I finished on sheer willpower... but I finished regardless.
As soon as we stopped, I pulled off my shoes and they were hurting and itching - so of course I was rubbing and massaging them. They immediately started to swell, which I expected and didn't think much about.... until they became SO swollen that I could NOT walk on them any longer! In fact, Steve and I went into the famous Fab Dogs hot dog place on our way home and I had to gimp into that place like a handicapped person. Everyone was staring at me! But I wasn't missing that chili dog, dammit....
Anyway, I did a good thing and I'm proud to have finished. :)
This is a pic of me with my friend, Cathy, who has survived breast cancer - she did this walk to celebrate her 5th year of being cancer-free. I met her on the bus on the way to the event, and we walked the entire walk together. She was amazing. :)
These things tend to make a person emotional. I cried at opening ceremony, I cried during the walk, I cried when my feet were hurting so badly that I thought I wouldn't finish, I cried when I saw Steve along the way cheering me on, I cried at the end when I saw Steve waiting for me at the finish line.... it goes on and on. But I made it.Cathy asked me why I was walking, and if I had personal experience with breast cancer. I told her no, and found myself saying what I know to be true and what I believe... and what many, many others have used as their response.
Why did I walk?
Because I can.
Wine Train
Sooo... after camping for a few days up in Eureka, we headed down to wine country. It was a blast! Stayed in a very cute B&B and spent an evening on the Napa Wine Train. The wine was great, the food fantastic, and getting a little bit drunk on the train and hanging out the window was my all time favorite. :)
We had a fabulous meal which, for me, included the famed foie gras - something I'd never had before. Now that I've had it - I'll be having it again. It was absolutely delicious!
The train was cool, but it did move along at a snail's pace. It was about a 3 hour ride through the vineyards, so the scenery was awesome! But we almost immediately wished we had taken some dramamine. No worries, though... wine fixes everything. :)
We had our own little seat in the dome car which was cool. The views were fantastic!
And, of course, I couldn't finish up without a pic of a farmhouse amongst the vineyards.
Simply beautiful.
We had a fabulous meal which, for me, included the famed foie gras - something I'd never had before. Now that I've had it - I'll be having it again. It was absolutely delicious!
The train was cool, but it did move along at a snail's pace. It was about a 3 hour ride through the vineyards, so the scenery was awesome! But we almost immediately wished we had taken some dramamine. No worries, though... wine fixes everything. :)
We had our own little seat in the dome car which was cool. The views were fantastic!
And, of course, I couldn't finish up without a pic of a farmhouse amongst the vineyards. Simply beautiful.
Trying to keep up
Uggg. So I just haven't had the wherewithall to blog lately. Not a bad thing; I've been doing this for at least 5-6 years and sometimes I just don't feel like it. But, I like to keep my family and friends up to date with what we're up to, so I thought I'd post exactly that: an update. :)
Let's see... we went to Northern CA in August to go camping in the Redwoods with my best girlfriends. It was fantastic, as always. Those trees... those trees... what is it about them? I find myself walking amongst them, feeling like my life is insignificant and small at best - but that's a good thing, as it is - in a way - a connection to my creator in that I realize there is something bigger and more important out there than me. I still don't know what that means, but it's a sense of calm that feels good. (and not to get off on that tangent, but don't need no stinking church or stupid pastor or whoever to teach you that when you experience it in nature.)
I think this pretty much says it all! Steinbeck had it right.
We also spent a fair amount of time with our friends, just hanging out around the campfire. Can't beat two days of relaxation when you are forced to shut down and stop worrying about the world. Great food, great friends, peace and love are pretty much what defined the weekend!
It was much needed R&R, cause surviving the CA economy right now is a challenge. It's not just the business aspect; it's the emotional aspect. We've seen good clients come and go because of jobs lost, failed marriages, foreclosures... and say what you want, but day after day of bad news does take it's toll on you after a while.
So a dose of Redwoods was just what we needed. :)
Let's see... we went to Northern CA in August to go camping in the Redwoods with my best girlfriends. It was fantastic, as always. Those trees... those trees... what is it about them? I find myself walking amongst them, feeling like my life is insignificant and small at best - but that's a good thing, as it is - in a way - a connection to my creator in that I realize there is something bigger and more important out there than me. I still don't know what that means, but it's a sense of calm that feels good. (and not to get off on that tangent, but don't need no stinking church or stupid pastor or whoever to teach you that when you experience it in nature.)
I think this pretty much says it all! Steinbeck had it right.
We also spent a fair amount of time with our friends, just hanging out around the campfire. Can't beat two days of relaxation when you are forced to shut down and stop worrying about the world. Great food, great friends, peace and love are pretty much what defined the weekend!
It was much needed R&R, cause surviving the CA economy right now is a challenge. It's not just the business aspect; it's the emotional aspect. We've seen good clients come and go because of jobs lost, failed marriages, foreclosures... and say what you want, but day after day of bad news does take it's toll on you after a while.
So a dose of Redwoods was just what we needed. :)
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Our Recovery Dollars
I promise I will write something positive soon because there are a lot of happy things in my life, but this entry has been stuck in my brain for almost a year now.
Last year while in Laguna Beach, I saw a sign that said, "Your Tax Dollars At Work". It was a sign advertising the work being done in the area, funded by tax money, under the guise of "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act". At first I was pretty happy to see it, till I realized something...
It was in Crystal Cove, CA, nextdoor to Newport Beach. Where the super super rich live and play.
So fast forward to last month when we were in Palm Springs. We came across yet another of these signs and I got to snap a picture of it this time:
Did I say it was in Palm Springs? Another playground for the rich?
Is this where our tax dollars are going? To beautify and improve the places where the rich people live in the country? I don't recall ever seeing one where I live, or in any of the other "non rich" places I've been.
If anybody has, please feel free to let me know, because so far I've only seen them in these areas. The streets by my house could use some work on them - where's my sign and federal dollars?
WTF?
Last year while in Laguna Beach, I saw a sign that said, "Your Tax Dollars At Work". It was a sign advertising the work being done in the area, funded by tax money, under the guise of "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act". At first I was pretty happy to see it, till I realized something...
It was in Crystal Cove, CA, nextdoor to Newport Beach. Where the super super rich live and play.
So fast forward to last month when we were in Palm Springs. We came across yet another of these signs and I got to snap a picture of it this time:
Did I say it was in Palm Springs? Another playground for the rich?
Is this where our tax dollars are going? To beautify and improve the places where the rich people live in the country? I don't recall ever seeing one where I live, or in any of the other "non rich" places I've been.
If anybody has, please feel free to let me know, because so far I've only seen them in these areas. The streets by my house could use some work on them - where's my sign and federal dollars?
WTF?
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Raw Foods
Although my last post was about my thoughts about my food, there's another aspect to it that I still need to cover.
Politics.
Let me describe something to you: a lazy summer day, walking across a 40 acre parcel of land covered in lush, green grass. We'd just turned "the girls" (our 100+ holstein cows, all of them personally named and appreciated) out onto pasture and they were loving it. Fat and happy, as my dad used to say.
They were clean. They got to walk around on open pasture all day, with the occasional prodding from one of us on the 4-wheeler to get up and move to the next pasture. Then of course, they had to make the long trek back to the barn twice a day to be milked. They were fed some grains during the milking process, but overall these girls were maintained on hay and open pasture. And we loved them; we loved them all.
What a life.
Fast forward to today and how dairy cows are now handled: they have sad lives. They stand around on muddy partitioned areas being fed who-knows-what in large bins. There are, literally, millions of them on one very large farm. There is no pasture. They might get some hay, but mostly their life consists of being fed grain, being given antibiotics because their living conditions are so bad, they are sick all of the time, standing around with their feet in mud (which leads to foot rot) and giving away their life in the name of providing food for the masses.
If you don't believe this description, you need to visit the large CA dairies.
I doubt that most people have a concept of how food is supposed to be farmed. This is because the demand on the food supply has dictated that the small, family farm become extinct and the large, corporate food producing machines grow in size.
That's the premise behind the show Food, Inc as well as many other documentaries that spell out what's really going on behind the scenes.
Do I think I'm going to change a damned thing? No. Do I think I'm going to make a difference politically? Hell no. Do I think I'm going to have any affect at all on those around me? Fuck no.
What I do think is that I've witnessed such a drastic thing in my lifetime - just since I was about 20 years old - that I have to do something on a personal level, for myself.
And what no one seems to want to mention... the drain on the food supply, the dangers of the way food is now farmed by large, uncaring corporations, the absolute obvious loss of personal freedoms that is evolving daily - is all due to overpopulation and over-demand on the food supply. Say what you want about the evils of corporations, but the reality and bottom line is that this way of farming food has developed because of the amount of food we now have to raise to feed the masses. The reason we have to farm huge amounts of beef and chicken and vegetables on a corporate level is because the mom and pop farms cannot sustain the population. It's still supply and demand, no matter how you look at it. And people don't seem to get this - they can't even remotely imagine a world where their kids might live, where the food supply is controlled, contaminated and manipulated - they can't even imagine something like that happening.
But ask my parents. They're farmers. They know what I'm talking about.
I don't have children that I'll be worried about when I leave this earth. My family members that will be left behind will be enduring their own world and their own battles.
And I fear for what's coming in the next few decades, even if it's behind the scenes or subtle - lost rights, less or maybe even no personal freedoms, inabilities to earn livings, etc etc. - will affect them more than anyone realizes right now.
It makes me proud to own a small business, it makes me proud to be a part of America that many others do not see or appreciate. I may not retire with much money in the bank or with any sort of decent retirement plan, but I'll retire with my asshole intact, knowing that I didn't make my entire life revolve around retiring from society. I want to do it myself.
This is a partial explanation of why I am making an effort to buy much of my food these days from small farms, coops, etc. Not because I think I can change a damned thing but because, in my mind, I'm rejecting the theory of supporting the overpopulation of this country and the corporatization of our entire society.
I used to loathe being on a farm as a kid; now? I'd go back in a heartbeat. I am so thankful I was not one of those kids who was raised in the city, who never got to raise dairy cows or calves or chickens or collect fresh eggs or watch the baby chicks run around every spring and summer. I rode horses, stacked haybales, played in big barns, fished and explored the land. I grew up with fresh milk, fresh meat, guns and freedoms.
What do we have now?
**Note: in the interest of those who think I'm becoming a paranoid nut or an extremist, just don't worry about it. Go feed your kids the shit from the grocery store because that's all you know and I'll start looking for the farm I'm gonna buy so I can grow my own food later in life. You can support corporate America because you don't get it.
Politics.
Let me describe something to you: a lazy summer day, walking across a 40 acre parcel of land covered in lush, green grass. We'd just turned "the girls" (our 100+ holstein cows, all of them personally named and appreciated) out onto pasture and they were loving it. Fat and happy, as my dad used to say.
They were clean. They got to walk around on open pasture all day, with the occasional prodding from one of us on the 4-wheeler to get up and move to the next pasture. Then of course, they had to make the long trek back to the barn twice a day to be milked. They were fed some grains during the milking process, but overall these girls were maintained on hay and open pasture. And we loved them; we loved them all.
What a life.
Fast forward to today and how dairy cows are now handled: they have sad lives. They stand around on muddy partitioned areas being fed who-knows-what in large bins. There are, literally, millions of them on one very large farm. There is no pasture. They might get some hay, but mostly their life consists of being fed grain, being given antibiotics because their living conditions are so bad, they are sick all of the time, standing around with their feet in mud (which leads to foot rot) and giving away their life in the name of providing food for the masses.
If you don't believe this description, you need to visit the large CA dairies.
I doubt that most people have a concept of how food is supposed to be farmed. This is because the demand on the food supply has dictated that the small, family farm become extinct and the large, corporate food producing machines grow in size.
That's the premise behind the show Food, Inc as well as many other documentaries that spell out what's really going on behind the scenes.
Do I think I'm going to change a damned thing? No. Do I think I'm going to make a difference politically? Hell no. Do I think I'm going to have any affect at all on those around me? Fuck no.
What I do think is that I've witnessed such a drastic thing in my lifetime - just since I was about 20 years old - that I have to do something on a personal level, for myself.
And what no one seems to want to mention... the drain on the food supply, the dangers of the way food is now farmed by large, uncaring corporations, the absolute obvious loss of personal freedoms that is evolving daily - is all due to overpopulation and over-demand on the food supply. Say what you want about the evils of corporations, but the reality and bottom line is that this way of farming food has developed because of the amount of food we now have to raise to feed the masses. The reason we have to farm huge amounts of beef and chicken and vegetables on a corporate level is because the mom and pop farms cannot sustain the population. It's still supply and demand, no matter how you look at it. And people don't seem to get this - they can't even remotely imagine a world where their kids might live, where the food supply is controlled, contaminated and manipulated - they can't even imagine something like that happening.
But ask my parents. They're farmers. They know what I'm talking about.
I don't have children that I'll be worried about when I leave this earth. My family members that will be left behind will be enduring their own world and their own battles.
And I fear for what's coming in the next few decades, even if it's behind the scenes or subtle - lost rights, less or maybe even no personal freedoms, inabilities to earn livings, etc etc. - will affect them more than anyone realizes right now.
It makes me proud to own a small business, it makes me proud to be a part of America that many others do not see or appreciate. I may not retire with much money in the bank or with any sort of decent retirement plan, but I'll retire with my asshole intact, knowing that I didn't make my entire life revolve around retiring from society. I want to do it myself.
This is a partial explanation of why I am making an effort to buy much of my food these days from small farms, coops, etc. Not because I think I can change a damned thing but because, in my mind, I'm rejecting the theory of supporting the overpopulation of this country and the corporatization of our entire society.
I used to loathe being on a farm as a kid; now? I'd go back in a heartbeat. I am so thankful I was not one of those kids who was raised in the city, who never got to raise dairy cows or calves or chickens or collect fresh eggs or watch the baby chicks run around every spring and summer. I rode horses, stacked haybales, played in big barns, fished and explored the land. I grew up with fresh milk, fresh meat, guns and freedoms.
What do we have now?
**Note: in the interest of those who think I'm becoming a paranoid nut or an extremist, just don't worry about it. Go feed your kids the shit from the grocery store because that's all you know and I'll start looking for the farm I'm gonna buy so I can grow my own food later in life. You can support corporate America because you don't get it.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Finally a real change?
I'm becoming a little obsessed with something.
My food.
It started several years ago when I started having issues with my weight. Then that turned into concern about sugar in my food. I even wrote about how evil I thought sugar was when I did the 60 mile walk a few years back - all they had for snacks was sugar stuff! That turned into worrying about where the heck my food came from. That turned into many more steps that eventually led me to watch a movie called "Food, Inc."
I spent part of my childhood in soybean country in the deep south, on my parent's dairy. Watching a documentary about the control and takeover of that type of farming by huge corporations who ran small farmers out of business simply made me open my eyes.
Have you ever gone to the grocery store and just looked at where all of the food you're buying comes from? It's pretty much from a handful of companies. All of it. And, try to find something that does not have added sugar in it.
It's nearly impossible.
That bothered me. That was a few months ago.
So then I decided to make some dietary changes - no more fast food, no more cokes. It was a start. My reasoning behind that was simple: I love fast food. I love McDonald's double cheeseburgers and cokes. I love french fries. But it was getting to where I wanted to eat that stuff every day. You can't tell me it's not poison for our bodies and that it's not addictive because it IS.
Besides weight gain, I started noticing how tired I was all of the time, how grumpy I was, how difficult it was becoming to maintain my concentration at work much less maintain a positive attitude, which has always been important to me.
Soooo.... this morphed into some drastic changes about 4 weeks ago: I changed what we eat. (because where I go, Steve goes :) ) We stopped eating out. We started cooking nearly every meal with fresh meats and produce. We cut out all of the "white death" (white rice, potatoes, bread). We essentially started the Atkins Diet - which I've always thought highly of. In fact, lately my answer for people who say, "isn't that an unhealthy diet?" is: yeah, until you become diabetic eating the shit you eat.... then you'll be forced into the low carb lifestyle.
Now THIS part led me to another path as well. I joined a local organic food co-op. We get to buy local produce from organic farmers as well as fresh farmed meats from organic farms in CA. Occasionally someone local provides us with something yummy like freshly slaughtered lamb. There is a leg, some steaks and some stew meat in the freezer that I cannot wait to cook!
Another part I'm excited about is our ability to obtain raw dairy products. Raw. Not pasteurized. And, it's from an organic farm right here in CA. I'm waiting for my first shipment of raw milk, raw cream, raw butter - not sure how I'll like it, although as a kid I loved it - and I have to watch how much I eat because of the diet changes (milk has a fair amount of carbs in it) but I'll keep it in moderation and enjoy it.
Being a non-fruit eater overall, I've made some changes there, too. I've started slow, with adding berries to my diet. Amazingly, once I cut out the sugar and fast food, I started craving strawberries! Yes, me, the person who hates fruit, started eating berries every night. I've expanded that to include blueberries, raspberries - you name it. Things taste different when you cut out the crap in your food.
No more sugary peanut butter - just plain ol' ground up peanuts. I add some flaxseeds to a spoon of it and it's like nature's perfect food for me. :)
What all of this means is that I'm making some huge changes to the way I eat. We will still go out to nice restaurants, etc. but not as much as we used to and we are totally avoiding fast food.
The bottom line is that I think there are major problems with the food we buy at the grocery store. I think there are major problems with corporate farming. I think there are major problems with food contamination. I think that unhealthy eating is shoved down our throats daily and it's damned hard to fight that.
End of the day - weight is falling off of me. I'm eating well, not starving like I did on weight watchers and having things I love. It's working for me. Sure, I'll indulge on occasion, but honestly... this is about soooo much more than weight loss for me, that I'm not sure I want to ever let myself go back. I'm also walking a lot - did 13 miles last Sunday - which is also extremely important to my well-being. I'll be up this Sat. at 5 am. making the pavement miles on my feet.
What is boils down to? The Farmers of America deserve my attention. Not corporate America, but Country America. Where the heart is. Where the health is. Where MY health is.
My food.
It started several years ago when I started having issues with my weight. Then that turned into concern about sugar in my food. I even wrote about how evil I thought sugar was when I did the 60 mile walk a few years back - all they had for snacks was sugar stuff! That turned into worrying about where the heck my food came from. That turned into many more steps that eventually led me to watch a movie called "Food, Inc."
I spent part of my childhood in soybean country in the deep south, on my parent's dairy. Watching a documentary about the control and takeover of that type of farming by huge corporations who ran small farmers out of business simply made me open my eyes.
Have you ever gone to the grocery store and just looked at where all of the food you're buying comes from? It's pretty much from a handful of companies. All of it. And, try to find something that does not have added sugar in it.
It's nearly impossible.
That bothered me. That was a few months ago.
So then I decided to make some dietary changes - no more fast food, no more cokes. It was a start. My reasoning behind that was simple: I love fast food. I love McDonald's double cheeseburgers and cokes. I love french fries. But it was getting to where I wanted to eat that stuff every day. You can't tell me it's not poison for our bodies and that it's not addictive because it IS.
Besides weight gain, I started noticing how tired I was all of the time, how grumpy I was, how difficult it was becoming to maintain my concentration at work much less maintain a positive attitude, which has always been important to me.
Soooo.... this morphed into some drastic changes about 4 weeks ago: I changed what we eat. (because where I go, Steve goes :) ) We stopped eating out. We started cooking nearly every meal with fresh meats and produce. We cut out all of the "white death" (white rice, potatoes, bread). We essentially started the Atkins Diet - which I've always thought highly of. In fact, lately my answer for people who say, "isn't that an unhealthy diet?" is: yeah, until you become diabetic eating the shit you eat.... then you'll be forced into the low carb lifestyle.
Now THIS part led me to another path as well. I joined a local organic food co-op. We get to buy local produce from organic farmers as well as fresh farmed meats from organic farms in CA. Occasionally someone local provides us with something yummy like freshly slaughtered lamb. There is a leg, some steaks and some stew meat in the freezer that I cannot wait to cook!
Another part I'm excited about is our ability to obtain raw dairy products. Raw. Not pasteurized. And, it's from an organic farm right here in CA. I'm waiting for my first shipment of raw milk, raw cream, raw butter - not sure how I'll like it, although as a kid I loved it - and I have to watch how much I eat because of the diet changes (milk has a fair amount of carbs in it) but I'll keep it in moderation and enjoy it.
Being a non-fruit eater overall, I've made some changes there, too. I've started slow, with adding berries to my diet. Amazingly, once I cut out the sugar and fast food, I started craving strawberries! Yes, me, the person who hates fruit, started eating berries every night. I've expanded that to include blueberries, raspberries - you name it. Things taste different when you cut out the crap in your food.
No more sugary peanut butter - just plain ol' ground up peanuts. I add some flaxseeds to a spoon of it and it's like nature's perfect food for me. :)
What all of this means is that I'm making some huge changes to the way I eat. We will still go out to nice restaurants, etc. but not as much as we used to and we are totally avoiding fast food.
The bottom line is that I think there are major problems with the food we buy at the grocery store. I think there are major problems with corporate farming. I think there are major problems with food contamination. I think that unhealthy eating is shoved down our throats daily and it's damned hard to fight that.
End of the day - weight is falling off of me. I'm eating well, not starving like I did on weight watchers and having things I love. It's working for me. Sure, I'll indulge on occasion, but honestly... this is about soooo much more than weight loss for me, that I'm not sure I want to ever let myself go back. I'm also walking a lot - did 13 miles last Sunday - which is also extremely important to my well-being. I'll be up this Sat. at 5 am. making the pavement miles on my feet.
What is boils down to? The Farmers of America deserve my attention. Not corporate America, but Country America. Where the heart is. Where the health is. Where MY health is.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
An Unfair Sentence
Lately I've found myself thinking a fair amount about a story I read recently.
There was a young mother (I can't remember her age but I know she wasn't that old) who gave birth to a child with severe cerebral palsy. At something like 5 or 7 years of age, this child was never going to progress in abilities beyond that of a 6 month old child. He couldn't walk, talk, interact, couldn't feed himself, wore diapers and was completely bedridden. He had to be fed almost around the clock with very small bites of food because he'd choke if he ate a whole meal at one time.
Those things were never going to change.
This mother let the child starve to death. When they found him, he weighed something like 15 lbs. She is facing 25 years to life for it.
At first I was angry, thinking and feeling she deserved it, because after all, how cruel is it for a mother to kill her own kid? It's one of those crimes against nature that you just can't understand.
But after I thought about it, my view started to change. It wasn't this mother who failed her child, it was society and religion that failed that family. What kind of life would that dead child have had? Ok so let's say money was no object and 24 hour care was provided - so he would get to lay in a bed for his entire life and never even have a life??? How incredibly selfish, unfair and sadistic is that? It's sick to a degree that I cannot fathom. Then consider the mother - how unfair is it to expect her to care for this child? How unfair for her to have it in the first place??
And that is because I am a veterinarian with extremely agnostic, borderline atheistic, views on religion. I was granted the incredibly kind and generous power to euthanize my suffering patients, although that power was granted by a really fucked up society.
Now, I'm not saying that starving this kid to death was the answer. But I think I can understand the desperation, the depression, the fear and the overwhelming depth of emotion this mother must have felt.
She should have had a right to euthanize that kid. Legally. Humanely. And without the judgment of stupid christians who all feel they get to play god all of the time anyway. And, if they knew this child was sick when it was in the womb, she should have been given an abortion.
If these things were legal, this woman would not even be in trouble because she probably would have had him put to sleep. It's a fine line on something that is incredibly unfair and inhumane. We, as a society, failed her by shoving antiquated beliefs about euthanasia and "right to life" bullshit down her throat, forcing her into an unwinnable situation.
I'm going to try to follow the story closely, but I know in my heart that the unjust spin put on it by the media is devoid of the emotion that I am certain she went through in trying to provide that level of care for a brain dead blob of a human. I know that sounds harsh, but that's the reality and I've no interest in being PC on my blog.
The world needs to wake up, get the fuck out of the dark ages, and start allowing abortion and humane euthanasia in humans.
Jack Kevorkian was right; we need to get religion out of medicine and start letting doctors do their jobs.
There was a young mother (I can't remember her age but I know she wasn't that old) who gave birth to a child with severe cerebral palsy. At something like 5 or 7 years of age, this child was never going to progress in abilities beyond that of a 6 month old child. He couldn't walk, talk, interact, couldn't feed himself, wore diapers and was completely bedridden. He had to be fed almost around the clock with very small bites of food because he'd choke if he ate a whole meal at one time.
Those things were never going to change.
This mother let the child starve to death. When they found him, he weighed something like 15 lbs. She is facing 25 years to life for it.
At first I was angry, thinking and feeling she deserved it, because after all, how cruel is it for a mother to kill her own kid? It's one of those crimes against nature that you just can't understand.
But after I thought about it, my view started to change. It wasn't this mother who failed her child, it was society and religion that failed that family. What kind of life would that dead child have had? Ok so let's say money was no object and 24 hour care was provided - so he would get to lay in a bed for his entire life and never even have a life??? How incredibly selfish, unfair and sadistic is that? It's sick to a degree that I cannot fathom. Then consider the mother - how unfair is it to expect her to care for this child? How unfair for her to have it in the first place??
And that is because I am a veterinarian with extremely agnostic, borderline atheistic, views on religion. I was granted the incredibly kind and generous power to euthanize my suffering patients, although that power was granted by a really fucked up society.
Now, I'm not saying that starving this kid to death was the answer. But I think I can understand the desperation, the depression, the fear and the overwhelming depth of emotion this mother must have felt.
She should have had a right to euthanize that kid. Legally. Humanely. And without the judgment of stupid christians who all feel they get to play god all of the time anyway. And, if they knew this child was sick when it was in the womb, she should have been given an abortion.
If these things were legal, this woman would not even be in trouble because she probably would have had him put to sleep. It's a fine line on something that is incredibly unfair and inhumane. We, as a society, failed her by shoving antiquated beliefs about euthanasia and "right to life" bullshit down her throat, forcing her into an unwinnable situation.
I'm going to try to follow the story closely, but I know in my heart that the unjust spin put on it by the media is devoid of the emotion that I am certain she went through in trying to provide that level of care for a brain dead blob of a human. I know that sounds harsh, but that's the reality and I've no interest in being PC on my blog.
The world needs to wake up, get the fuck out of the dark ages, and start allowing abortion and humane euthanasia in humans.
Jack Kevorkian was right; we need to get religion out of medicine and start letting doctors do their jobs.
The Age of Denial
Something that has weighed on my mind for a few years now is why many of the old people I see are grumpy and negative. I try to have patience with them and after much pondering and thought, I think I understand why they get to be that way.
As you go through life, you gain and lose wealth, you gain and lose material items, you gain and lose jobs, etc. Those are things that fall under the "time heals all wounds" mantra.
But what doesn't fall under that mantra is the loss of the people in your life. I don't care who claims that it eventually gets better - it doesn't. Maybe we learn to cope and maybe we learn to reorganize the thoughts in our brain so we sweep things aside and don't think about it every second, but that doesn't take away the pain of the feelings of loss that we gain every day, week, month and year as we age.
On average, by the time you're in your 40s, you're starting to feel this pain of loss of people around you. It might be an insignificant impact on your life, like the loss of Hollywood actors (I'm still sad over the loss of Heath Ledger, Patrick Swayze, etc) or it might be close friends or even family members. Either way, you start getting the hints about what the rest of life will look like, no matter what you've built, what family or friends you have, or what you do.
The grumpiness I see in old people, I believe, is about the compounding feeling of loss that worsens as we get older.
Now, there are some christians out there that will say believing in their mythical god will make that better, that believing in heaven will take away the sting of that. I say that believing in that could also be explained as a way to deal with the pain of loss - it's too big to get your head around, it's too painful to even accept, really... so telling yourself you'll see them again or that they're in a "better place" or whatever is a way to deal with a pain so deep and detrimental that you... well... can't deal with it.
It's a form of denial, no matter how you look at it.
I don't have any answers; this is just something I've been thinking about, as my own inner feelings are creeping up on me at the realization that I'm scared inside over the loss of those close to me. The older I get, the more I have this sinking feeling of dread over waking up to a 2 am phone call saying someone in my family is gone. It's almost like you go into a weird waiting mode, knowing it will come some day but walking around trying not to think about it. Again, denial.
So no matter how you want to look at it or spin it, it's all a form of denial! It's because we have no answers about god or however you define the afterlife - christian, atheist, agnostic - we all live in a state of denial.
Is it good? I don't know. I'll think about it some more later. :)
As you go through life, you gain and lose wealth, you gain and lose material items, you gain and lose jobs, etc. Those are things that fall under the "time heals all wounds" mantra.
But what doesn't fall under that mantra is the loss of the people in your life. I don't care who claims that it eventually gets better - it doesn't. Maybe we learn to cope and maybe we learn to reorganize the thoughts in our brain so we sweep things aside and don't think about it every second, but that doesn't take away the pain of the feelings of loss that we gain every day, week, month and year as we age.
On average, by the time you're in your 40s, you're starting to feel this pain of loss of people around you. It might be an insignificant impact on your life, like the loss of Hollywood actors (I'm still sad over the loss of Heath Ledger, Patrick Swayze, etc) or it might be close friends or even family members. Either way, you start getting the hints about what the rest of life will look like, no matter what you've built, what family or friends you have, or what you do.
The grumpiness I see in old people, I believe, is about the compounding feeling of loss that worsens as we get older.
Now, there are some christians out there that will say believing in their mythical god will make that better, that believing in heaven will take away the sting of that. I say that believing in that could also be explained as a way to deal with the pain of loss - it's too big to get your head around, it's too painful to even accept, really... so telling yourself you'll see them again or that they're in a "better place" or whatever is a way to deal with a pain so deep and detrimental that you... well... can't deal with it.
It's a form of denial, no matter how you look at it.
I don't have any answers; this is just something I've been thinking about, as my own inner feelings are creeping up on me at the realization that I'm scared inside over the loss of those close to me. The older I get, the more I have this sinking feeling of dread over waking up to a 2 am phone call saying someone in my family is gone. It's almost like you go into a weird waiting mode, knowing it will come some day but walking around trying not to think about it. Again, denial.
So no matter how you want to look at it or spin it, it's all a form of denial! It's because we have no answers about god or however you define the afterlife - christian, atheist, agnostic - we all live in a state of denial.
Is it good? I don't know. I'll think about it some more later. :)
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Down South Again
We're here in Houston, about to finish out our wonderful trip home.... flew in earlier this week to celebrate my niece's graduation from nursing school! I have to say that I'm really missing the south right now. Yes it's the retarded bible belt (and we all know how I feel about bible thumpers) and you can't really drive very far without seeing a billboard telling you to praise the lord... but I can see past that crap. It's hot, it's muggy, there are mosquitoes everywhere waiting to mutilate me and cause anemia - but there is something else here. Something really, really positive...
There's a "homey" feel to the south that does not exist in CA. In general people are nicer, more accommodating and just generally better mannered. But that's still not really it...
The food is great!! No food anywhere else in the country like there is in the south. Yesterday we had some fantastic BBQ (including baked potato salad which is definitely a step up from the plain kind) some boudin and today we'll be boiling crawfish.
But that's not it, either...
Last night we were all over at my niece's house and I looked around the room at the 20+ people hanging out. We had just finished dinner and were watching Avatar, and I was holding my beautiful little nephew in my arms while he slept. Our group was quite the mismosh of people... divorced parents and their respective significant others, sister's in-laws, friends of S & A, doggies, etc. For a change, everyone was getting along and the stress level was actually low.
It was then that I realized what I love about the south. My family is here. Doesn't matter if I love CA and everything that goes with living on the West Coast; what matters is that when I visit Tx and La, I feel at home. And I miss it.
Doesn't mean we'll ever move back (way too many variables in our life right now to even see that as a future possibility) but there is a lot of comfort in knowing that I have a place to go where I can feel comfortable and at home if I ever need it.
Maybe some day my brother, my sister and I will all live on the family farm that we will inherit from my dad, all in our retirement. We've gone out, made our lives, traveled the world, received our respective educations at our parents' insistance, grew our families and lived our lives... so maybe one day we'll all go back home and end up where we started.
Just a thought.
There's a "homey" feel to the south that does not exist in CA. In general people are nicer, more accommodating and just generally better mannered. But that's still not really it...
The food is great!! No food anywhere else in the country like there is in the south. Yesterday we had some fantastic BBQ (including baked potato salad which is definitely a step up from the plain kind) some boudin and today we'll be boiling crawfish.
But that's not it, either...
Last night we were all over at my niece's house and I looked around the room at the 20+ people hanging out. We had just finished dinner and were watching Avatar, and I was holding my beautiful little nephew in my arms while he slept. Our group was quite the mismosh of people... divorced parents and their respective significant others, sister's in-laws, friends of S & A, doggies, etc. For a change, everyone was getting along and the stress level was actually low.
It was then that I realized what I love about the south. My family is here. Doesn't matter if I love CA and everything that goes with living on the West Coast; what matters is that when I visit Tx and La, I feel at home. And I miss it.
Doesn't mean we'll ever move back (way too many variables in our life right now to even see that as a future possibility) but there is a lot of comfort in knowing that I have a place to go where I can feel comfortable and at home if I ever need it.
Maybe some day my brother, my sister and I will all live on the family farm that we will inherit from my dad, all in our retirement. We've gone out, made our lives, traveled the world, received our respective educations at our parents' insistance, grew our families and lived our lives... so maybe one day we'll all go back home and end up where we started.
Just a thought.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Words of Wisdom?
I read something in the paper this morning that made me giggle. It made me think about how we all go through the same steps in our lives, we all struggle with the same things and we all go through the same thought processes even though we might not see it from the outside. It doesn't matter what path you take in life - you'll likely have similar thoughts and similar concerns as everybody else. I don't think we're nearly as unique as we'd like to make ourselves out to be.
It was a quote by Joni Mitchell, a folk singer who gained fame in the 1970s. It went like this:
"My first four albums covered the usual youth problems -- looking for love in all the wrong places -- while the next five are basically about being in your 30s. Things start losing their profundity; in middle-late age, you enter a tragedian period, realizing that the human animal isn’t changing for the better. In a way, I think I entered straight into my tragedian period, as my work is set against the stupid, destructive way we live on this planet. Americans have decided to be stupid and shallow since 1980. Madonna is like Nero: She marks the turning point."
Lately I've been feeling exactly like this. I guess it's a path we will all take at some point - and there is some comfort in knowing that those who have gone before me experienced the same things I am experiencing now. Watching the world change around you and experiencing what you perceive to be the decline of civilization has been something that every generation has gone through.
The best comparison I can give in my world is... people who drive ridiculously expensive cars but don't pay their vet bills. I'm only using the vet bill thing as an example - but it outlines the lack of priority that seems to define the younger generation nowadays. Make someone else responsible for your choices and don't worry about the tab - let someone else pick it up. That seems to be an undercurrent for most of my beliefs today!
I guess the question in my mind is whether or not there truly is a decline or is it just change in general?
It was a quote by Joni Mitchell, a folk singer who gained fame in the 1970s. It went like this:
"My first four albums covered the usual youth problems -- looking for love in all the wrong places -- while the next five are basically about being in your 30s. Things start losing their profundity; in middle-late age, you enter a tragedian period, realizing that the human animal isn’t changing for the better. In a way, I think I entered straight into my tragedian period, as my work is set against the stupid, destructive way we live on this planet. Americans have decided to be stupid and shallow since 1980. Madonna is like Nero: She marks the turning point."
Lately I've been feeling exactly like this. I guess it's a path we will all take at some point - and there is some comfort in knowing that those who have gone before me experienced the same things I am experiencing now. Watching the world change around you and experiencing what you perceive to be the decline of civilization has been something that every generation has gone through.
The best comparison I can give in my world is... people who drive ridiculously expensive cars but don't pay their vet bills. I'm only using the vet bill thing as an example - but it outlines the lack of priority that seems to define the younger generation nowadays. Make someone else responsible for your choices and don't worry about the tab - let someone else pick it up. That seems to be an undercurrent for most of my beliefs today!
I guess the question in my mind is whether or not there truly is a decline or is it just change in general?
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Made It!
This post is dedicated entirely to my niece. :)
It took her a few years to get some direction, but she is finally coming into her own as a young woman. I am so incredibly proud of her! It's apparent that what her mom and I have harped on for years, finally sunk in.
She's graduating from nursing school next month. She'll be an RN.
I could not be happier!!! Steve and I would not miss her graduation for all the money in the world; we'll be flying to TX next month to be there in person.
I told her for the last few years, "No babies until you graduate!" She got married last year, so I was concerned she might start down that path too soon, interrupting her studies...
But she listened and I know that no matter how proud I am of her, she will be even more proud of herself for finishing school!! NO ONE can ever take THAT away from you!
I've already told her to go ahead and make me some grandnieces and grandnephews now. :)
She's in the clear. :)
I love you Scooby and I am more proud of you than I will ever be able to put into words. :)
It took her a few years to get some direction, but she is finally coming into her own as a young woman. I am so incredibly proud of her! It's apparent that what her mom and I have harped on for years, finally sunk in.
She's graduating from nursing school next month. She'll be an RN.
I could not be happier!!! Steve and I would not miss her graduation for all the money in the world; we'll be flying to TX next month to be there in person.
I told her for the last few years, "No babies until you graduate!" She got married last year, so I was concerned she might start down that path too soon, interrupting her studies...
But she listened and I know that no matter how proud I am of her, she will be even more proud of herself for finishing school!! NO ONE can ever take THAT away from you!
I've already told her to go ahead and make me some grandnieces and grandnephews now. :)
She's in the clear. :)
I love you Scooby and I am more proud of you than I will ever be able to put into words. :)
Super Moms!
I really feel the need to say a few things about mommies.
Those who know me know that I am a huge supporter of education for women. I don't believe in having babies until you have positioned yourself such that you can take care of those kids in the event that something changes in your life and you must take care of them yourself. It shouldn't be that big of a deal; you graduate from high school, you go to college and you are self-sufficient sometime in your twenties. It's really not that big of a deal unless you're one of those lazy asses who just wants someone to take care of you, or if you're just too lazy to get yourself an education - which is what happens most of the time, I believe. I see sooooo many young women today make excuses for not going to college, make excuses for not being able to take care of themselves. I've seen them go from home to marriage without ever learning what it means to be self sufficient and to have your own space.
So as I've done before in my Ode to Beautiful Women series...
I wanted to mention a few that I am in total awe of.
G's sister, J, is amazing. She's working on her PhD in psychology; she had her first baby 2 years ago and during that time she moved to NYC, stayed in school, got pregnant with baby #2 in that time frame. A few weeks ago she gave birth to the second child and let me tell you... she is my hero! She had about 5 hours of labor, had the baby with a midwife, took pictures 3 hours later and was home by noon! I wish I was exaggerating but I'm not! And, she flew here to the HD with her hubby for a visit, 10 days after the baby was born!
So she's a very educated, successful woman in a very happy marriage; she's raising amazing, smart kids who are incredibly adjusted - much more so than most situations with SAHMs.
Then there is my vet school friend, S. S. got married right after we graduated, and she and her husband bought their hospital about the same time we bought ours. Since then, they've had two children, bought a bigger farm, are building barns and chicken coops, all while running their business. Their kids are amazing - growing up in the country is so much better than any other alternative! Oh, and did I mention she's 29? Yeah, not very old to be so accomplished.
And, the kids of these amazing women are incredibly well adjusted - not bratty, no behavior problems - as opposed to what the staunch SAHM group would like to believe - these women are raising a terrific group of next-generationals. :)
The women in my life - the ones I admire the most - are the ones who are as happy and content as these girls mentioned above and who are raising the next generation of adults who will be educated and progressive.
Because... the reality is that it's education that is going to carry us through the degeneration of this country. The divide will grow and if you don't have some sort of education, you will be left behind.
Those who know me know that I am a huge supporter of education for women. I don't believe in having babies until you have positioned yourself such that you can take care of those kids in the event that something changes in your life and you must take care of them yourself. It shouldn't be that big of a deal; you graduate from high school, you go to college and you are self-sufficient sometime in your twenties. It's really not that big of a deal unless you're one of those lazy asses who just wants someone to take care of you, or if you're just too lazy to get yourself an education - which is what happens most of the time, I believe. I see sooooo many young women today make excuses for not going to college, make excuses for not being able to take care of themselves. I've seen them go from home to marriage without ever learning what it means to be self sufficient and to have your own space.
So as I've done before in my Ode to Beautiful Women series...
I wanted to mention a few that I am in total awe of.
G's sister, J, is amazing. She's working on her PhD in psychology; she had her first baby 2 years ago and during that time she moved to NYC, stayed in school, got pregnant with baby #2 in that time frame. A few weeks ago she gave birth to the second child and let me tell you... she is my hero! She had about 5 hours of labor, had the baby with a midwife, took pictures 3 hours later and was home by noon! I wish I was exaggerating but I'm not! And, she flew here to the HD with her hubby for a visit, 10 days after the baby was born!
So she's a very educated, successful woman in a very happy marriage; she's raising amazing, smart kids who are incredibly adjusted - much more so than most situations with SAHMs.
Then there is my vet school friend, S. S. got married right after we graduated, and she and her husband bought their hospital about the same time we bought ours. Since then, they've had two children, bought a bigger farm, are building barns and chicken coops, all while running their business. Their kids are amazing - growing up in the country is so much better than any other alternative! Oh, and did I mention she's 29? Yeah, not very old to be so accomplished.
And, the kids of these amazing women are incredibly well adjusted - not bratty, no behavior problems - as opposed to what the staunch SAHM group would like to believe - these women are raising a terrific group of next-generationals. :)
The women in my life - the ones I admire the most - are the ones who are as happy and content as these girls mentioned above and who are raising the next generation of adults who will be educated and progressive.
Because... the reality is that it's education that is going to carry us through the degeneration of this country. The divide will grow and if you don't have some sort of education, you will be left behind.
Economy Comments
I haven't said much about the local economy and I realized that I should detail a bit about what I've seen here in the last 3 years so that some day I can look back on it and know that I survived it.
When I first moved to CA, the high desert was a fairly decent place. It has it's ghettos but overall it was rural and pretty nice. Bought a nice house on the side of a hill, had a job at a very busy vet clinic that saw an incredible increase in business from 2003 to 2006. Apple Valley is less than 3 hours from Vegas, 40 minutes from terrific OC shopping, less than 2 hours from the beach.
Things were hopping here for a few years.
Then, in 2007 (right about the time I was getting a divorce) I started noticing a "slow down" at the clinic where I was working. Nothing major, just some slight changes. I didn't think too much about it and certainly didn't see a "crash" coming when we decided to purchase OUR veterinary hospital.
I started noticing a change in the "type" of people I'd see at the grocery store. In fact, in the course of one year, I was accosted 3 times in the parking lot of the store I normally went to - beggars and gang banging types. We started having strange people come into the clinic - some with resumes, one who told us he just got out of jail and needed to do some community service, etc etc. These weren't "normal" folks; these were what I'd affectionately refer to as "tweakers".
Just last week I had to decline sending medication home for a 22 year old cat because the owner kept calling me and asking for opioids by name. "Can I have some kitty morphine?" I normally would oblige for the sake of the cat, but the owner also told me she just got out of rehab... WTF?
So yes, I have started seeing a dramatic change in the demographics of my area, and that is the part that scares me. It's still gorgeous here, the weather perfect and my house is beautiful. We've had a lot of rain this year so everything is green, robust and healthy.
But the scenery is changing on a bigger front.
When I think back to when I first lived here, the cost of living was pretty cheap compared to "down the hill". Costs went sky-high with the stupid housing bubble, and are now back down to a decent range.
Let's get something straight: housing is NOT going to boom again in this area for many years. It might fluctuate, but the days of getting twice what you paid for your house are gone!
Foreclosures are abounding; businesses are suffering; I've heard recently about some local, very long term businesses folding. It's then that I feel fortunate that we are still in business. We are a part of the 3/50 Project (supporting small businesses) and we fight every day for what we do, for what we believe in and for our own ethics and morals.
That said, let me tell you what I am seeing on the veterinary front: people don't have any money to spend. Period. When they do, they are much more conscientious about it than before. They want cheap. There is a degredation going on in this country like none I have seen before.
What this is doing to my mindset? I refuse to buy "cheap" anymore. I HATE that I don't have a high end grocery store to shop at, that is owned by a local business; I HATE that I have to support "big business" on any level. This country is run by small businesses and raped by the big ones.
If we don't wake up and preserve certain qualities of our life, then those qualities will go away forever.
The middle class is being squeezed like never before; I never thought I'd be a part of this but I am. I am fighting to keep my employees and also fighting to protect my profession so it's not ruined by "low cost bottom feeders" who don't do anything but stab and jab and do shitty surgeries. But right now they are popular and quality medicine is in trouble. People don't seem to care; and I maintain that they will get what they pay for. In the end, it's the animals that suffer, as always.
I am beginning to doubt that it's worth it; people are generally stupid, they overbreed and they are egocentric and *never* do much of anything for the greater good anymore. Nobody stands for anything except themselves.
It's very depressing.
When I first moved to CA, the high desert was a fairly decent place. It has it's ghettos but overall it was rural and pretty nice. Bought a nice house on the side of a hill, had a job at a very busy vet clinic that saw an incredible increase in business from 2003 to 2006. Apple Valley is less than 3 hours from Vegas, 40 minutes from terrific OC shopping, less than 2 hours from the beach.
Things were hopping here for a few years.
Then, in 2007 (right about the time I was getting a divorce) I started noticing a "slow down" at the clinic where I was working. Nothing major, just some slight changes. I didn't think too much about it and certainly didn't see a "crash" coming when we decided to purchase OUR veterinary hospital.
I started noticing a change in the "type" of people I'd see at the grocery store. In fact, in the course of one year, I was accosted 3 times in the parking lot of the store I normally went to - beggars and gang banging types. We started having strange people come into the clinic - some with resumes, one who told us he just got out of jail and needed to do some community service, etc etc. These weren't "normal" folks; these were what I'd affectionately refer to as "tweakers".
Just last week I had to decline sending medication home for a 22 year old cat because the owner kept calling me and asking for opioids by name. "Can I have some kitty morphine?" I normally would oblige for the sake of the cat, but the owner also told me she just got out of rehab... WTF?
So yes, I have started seeing a dramatic change in the demographics of my area, and that is the part that scares me. It's still gorgeous here, the weather perfect and my house is beautiful. We've had a lot of rain this year so everything is green, robust and healthy.
But the scenery is changing on a bigger front.
When I think back to when I first lived here, the cost of living was pretty cheap compared to "down the hill". Costs went sky-high with the stupid housing bubble, and are now back down to a decent range.
Let's get something straight: housing is NOT going to boom again in this area for many years. It might fluctuate, but the days of getting twice what you paid for your house are gone!
Foreclosures are abounding; businesses are suffering; I've heard recently about some local, very long term businesses folding. It's then that I feel fortunate that we are still in business. We are a part of the 3/50 Project (supporting small businesses) and we fight every day for what we do, for what we believe in and for our own ethics and morals.
That said, let me tell you what I am seeing on the veterinary front: people don't have any money to spend. Period. When they do, they are much more conscientious about it than before. They want cheap. There is a degredation going on in this country like none I have seen before.
What this is doing to my mindset? I refuse to buy "cheap" anymore. I HATE that I don't have a high end grocery store to shop at, that is owned by a local business; I HATE that I have to support "big business" on any level. This country is run by small businesses and raped by the big ones.
If we don't wake up and preserve certain qualities of our life, then those qualities will go away forever.
The middle class is being squeezed like never before; I never thought I'd be a part of this but I am. I am fighting to keep my employees and also fighting to protect my profession so it's not ruined by "low cost bottom feeders" who don't do anything but stab and jab and do shitty surgeries. But right now they are popular and quality medicine is in trouble. People don't seem to care; and I maintain that they will get what they pay for. In the end, it's the animals that suffer, as always.
I am beginning to doubt that it's worth it; people are generally stupid, they overbreed and they are egocentric and *never* do much of anything for the greater good anymore. Nobody stands for anything except themselves.
It's very depressing.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Pure Kindness
I've commented before on how much my husband spoils me.
I've taken some flack over him, especially from my family, because he's got a colorful past. You can look at it as my divorce in 2007 just created chaos for everyone's emotions and so they reacted to that - change is difficult and everyone was wondering where my head was and why I was doing what I was doing. I was a bit alienated by them and had more than one snippy conversation about where my life was going and why on earth would I make so many changes, including getting married, in such a short amount of time? Well, finding the chopped-off mule deer head in my yard a few months ago is the manifestation of why I decided one morning to make that change. (I know not everyone understands this point; I'll have to explain later) It was simply time. I'm known for that; I can tolerate and tolerate and tolerate, probably more than most, until a breaking point. Once I reach that point, I don't look back.
That's what I did with Steve.
Instead of trusting my judgment, I got flack. But it's ok; I know they were just worried about me.
So I wanted to post yet another example of how, 3 years later, he still spoils the hell out of me. Never mind that I haven't done a load of laundry in weeks; I haven't cleaned the house, put gas in my car or picked up my own prescriptions from the pharmacy. I don't have to worry about details like paying the car note. Our spa is always perfect and ready to use every single day. He pretty much takes care of all of those things for me.
And he does it out of love and friendship.
Did I mention he makes me laugh every single day also?
When I was a vet student, I bought an item off of ebay that I totally loved. It was the veterinary symbol - the V with the snake on it - carved out of a single piece of wood. It's about 2 feet long. Well, when we first bought the practice, it was hanging in the lobby and fell off the wall and broke. I was heartbroken because I loved it so much!
It's been sitting at the house since then. Or so I thought.
Yesterday Steve walked into the lobby with something in his hand - it was my vet sign, completely repaired with a new finish on it!
If I hadn't had a client standing right next to me, I would have burst into tears. I was so appreciative of it - I just stood there looking at Steve, in awe that he is so good at surprising me.
Add this surprise to him planning and executing an entire weekend for us down in Orange county, complete with dinner and show - he's a pretty neato guy.
So having someone treat me like I'm worth something and like I matter... that's why I changed my life 3 years ago.
I hope everyone understands. I definitely traded UP. :)
I've taken some flack over him, especially from my family, because he's got a colorful past. You can look at it as my divorce in 2007 just created chaos for everyone's emotions and so they reacted to that - change is difficult and everyone was wondering where my head was and why I was doing what I was doing. I was a bit alienated by them and had more than one snippy conversation about where my life was going and why on earth would I make so many changes, including getting married, in such a short amount of time? Well, finding the chopped-off mule deer head in my yard a few months ago is the manifestation of why I decided one morning to make that change. (I know not everyone understands this point; I'll have to explain later) It was simply time. I'm known for that; I can tolerate and tolerate and tolerate, probably more than most, until a breaking point. Once I reach that point, I don't look back.
That's what I did with Steve.
Instead of trusting my judgment, I got flack. But it's ok; I know they were just worried about me.
So I wanted to post yet another example of how, 3 years later, he still spoils the hell out of me. Never mind that I haven't done a load of laundry in weeks; I haven't cleaned the house, put gas in my car or picked up my own prescriptions from the pharmacy. I don't have to worry about details like paying the car note. Our spa is always perfect and ready to use every single day. He pretty much takes care of all of those things for me.
And he does it out of love and friendship.
Did I mention he makes me laugh every single day also?
When I was a vet student, I bought an item off of ebay that I totally loved. It was the veterinary symbol - the V with the snake on it - carved out of a single piece of wood. It's about 2 feet long. Well, when we first bought the practice, it was hanging in the lobby and fell off the wall and broke. I was heartbroken because I loved it so much!
It's been sitting at the house since then. Or so I thought.
Yesterday Steve walked into the lobby with something in his hand - it was my vet sign, completely repaired with a new finish on it!
If I hadn't had a client standing right next to me, I would have burst into tears. I was so appreciative of it - I just stood there looking at Steve, in awe that he is so good at surprising me.
Add this surprise to him planning and executing an entire weekend for us down in Orange county, complete with dinner and show - he's a pretty neato guy.
So having someone treat me like I'm worth something and like I matter... that's why I changed my life 3 years ago.
I hope everyone understands. I definitely traded UP. :)
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Congrats, Mini Me
So we found out yesterday that one of my Super Techs who has worked with me - literally - since I was a new grad... got accepted to Oregon State School of Veterinary Medicine! She got the email right there at work and let me tell you there was some hootin' and hollerin' goin' on at that point!
Of course she would prefer Western Vet School here in Pomona, CA, but won't hear on that one for another month or so. But that's OK; she's got until April to accept her position in Oregon. So we're golden!
I admit that I feel smug about it. To all of those people who say "Oh yeah I was gonna be a vet" as if they could just walk through those front doors of any veterinary school - IN YOUR FACE! You do not and will never compare to someone like G. And to those who thought G. wouldn't do well with her application - again, IN YOUR FACE! She got into Oregon - who only accepted a total of 56 students - as an out-of-state applicant. Read: coveted position!
Hard to miss with a 4.0 GPA in science and a 1450 on your GRE.
G. is smart. Married, successful and putting off the baby making until she has an education. Just another version of me. Yeah, and she's only in her mid twenties. Like many of my classmates, she'll be a doctor by 30 and can start her family and never, ever have to worry about taking care of herself, her kids or even her husband if it ever came down to it.
Congrats, G. Welcome to the best profession in the world. Class of 2014.
(I'm bragging because I had a small hand in her pursuit of this dream. The mentored becomes the mentor.) :)
Of course she would prefer Western Vet School here in Pomona, CA, but won't hear on that one for another month or so. But that's OK; she's got until April to accept her position in Oregon. So we're golden!
I admit that I feel smug about it. To all of those people who say "Oh yeah I was gonna be a vet" as if they could just walk through those front doors of any veterinary school - IN YOUR FACE! You do not and will never compare to someone like G. And to those who thought G. wouldn't do well with her application - again, IN YOUR FACE! She got into Oregon - who only accepted a total of 56 students - as an out-of-state applicant. Read: coveted position!
Hard to miss with a 4.0 GPA in science and a 1450 on your GRE.
G. is smart. Married, successful and putting off the baby making until she has an education. Just another version of me. Yeah, and she's only in her mid twenties. Like many of my classmates, she'll be a doctor by 30 and can start her family and never, ever have to worry about taking care of herself, her kids or even her husband if it ever came down to it.
Congrats, G. Welcome to the best profession in the world. Class of 2014.
(I'm bragging because I had a small hand in her pursuit of this dream. The mentored becomes the mentor.) :)
Thursday, February 4, 2010
VIN
So this is kind of insignificant to most, but it's a HUGE thing to me. I am part of an online community called VIN - Veterinary Information Network. It's a resource for veterinarians that covers everything from basic message boards to online continuing education, classified ads, job searches, etc. It's awesome, and I've been a member since I was a vet student. In fact, our website is set up through the VIN site.
I was recently involved in a lengthy discussion about clients and the changes we are seeing in vet med, and that discussion led to another discussion about getting a group of veterinarians together to brainstorm and vent and discuss issues and try to come up with solutions. Then that led to a conversation about that group getting together soon, and to gather at the VIN location in Davis, CA.
I made it to the first list, so I'm in. It's probably not a big deal, and might lead to absolutely nothing, but being able to participate is a BIG deal to me. I feel like I'm a part of something, like I might be able to contribute and hell, maybe even be involved on the ground floor of something for change in veterinary medicine. There is growing concern that our national voice, the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association) is starting to grow a deaf ear to our concerns and even starting to sell out to the big brats like pet insurance. Maybe this will turn into something bigger than we can anticipate!
I'll be heading up there for a short weekend in a few weeks. I'll let you guys know how it goes. :)
I was recently involved in a lengthy discussion about clients and the changes we are seeing in vet med, and that discussion led to another discussion about getting a group of veterinarians together to brainstorm and vent and discuss issues and try to come up with solutions. Then that led to a conversation about that group getting together soon, and to gather at the VIN location in Davis, CA.
I made it to the first list, so I'm in. It's probably not a big deal, and might lead to absolutely nothing, but being able to participate is a BIG deal to me. I feel like I'm a part of something, like I might be able to contribute and hell, maybe even be involved on the ground floor of something for change in veterinary medicine. There is growing concern that our national voice, the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association) is starting to grow a deaf ear to our concerns and even starting to sell out to the big brats like pet insurance. Maybe this will turn into something bigger than we can anticipate!
I'll be heading up there for a short weekend in a few weeks. I'll let you guys know how it goes. :)
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Avon Walk in Santa Barbara
OK, so since *none* of my close friends and family opted to do the walk with me, I'll be joining my good friend from up on Morrow Bay on the Avon Breast Cancer walk in September. We'll be walking 40 miles through the town of Santa Barbara! A somewhat smaller version of the 3Day, this should be a little more feasible for me to prepare for - which means hours and hours of walking no matter what. :)
Looking forward to it, and I'll be hitting every single one of you up for a donation once my donation page is up and running. :)
Looking forward to it, and I'll be hitting every single one of you up for a donation once my donation page is up and running. :)
The Nasty Human Element
It's been a tough few weeks at work, I won't even sugarcoat it. It's not the long hours, necessarily, or the long days, even. It's the godforsaken human element associated with my profession. I feel I'm seeing a major decline in the quality of people and it's scary.
Let's see... was it the sweet little beagle missing half her hair, with a bloated abdomen and so skinny that I could palpate her entire pelvis? Was it seeing that or was it having to talk to the idiot owner who only brought her to see me because animal control made him do it? And then he had the nerve to give me attitude? Or the fact that I told him she was sick and needed tests and he said he only brought money for the office call and refused any treatment?
Or was it the next neglect case, a 13 year old Pit Bull mama who just had her last litter of puppies last year (at 12 years old), was a walking skeleton with severe osteoarthritis, who could barely get around, but when I and animal control told him she wasn't sick and she was normal, the owner accused us of being racist?
Or was it the chihuahua who ate a box of rat bait poison - with a punk ass young owner who walked in the door with an attitude and telling us he had NO money and we'd better "fix his dog now"? Then had the nerve to tell us "we made it all about the money" when we asked him to even come up with part of the payment and we'd spot him the rest?
Or last but not least, the sweetheart doggy with a face so swollen we had to put him on oxygen because he could barely breathe past the swelling and then the owner (stupid, stupid owner) telling me he'd been like that for two days?
I've lost my faith in humanity. Human beings are NOT made in the image of some make believe god; we are parasites and we are nasty. We deserve things like Hanta virus, the Plague, AIDS. I don't even have tolerance anymore when people try to give me some lame ass excuse for giving their pets away - I don't care if you lost your house, couldn't handle motherhood or fatherhood (one that is too common and makes me the most angry - too many lameass parents out there that breed too much - it's how I got our most recent rescue at the hospital), lost your job or whatever. You took on a responsibility so deal with it.
Sometimes I justify euthanasia for one reason and one reason only: to get them the hell away from the human slime that owns them. And don't let people with money fool you; they're the worst and the first to dump their animals. They'll drive up in expensive cars and then tell me they can't afford a simple blood test. So I put their animals to sleep just so they won't suffer at the hands of these kinds of people. And these are the people breeding and shitting out kids every year like it's something special to get knocked up. I literally hate them and wouldn't spit on them if I found them laying on the side of the road.
And for the rest of you punks who neglect and abuse animals, who use them only for breeding to make you money or who don't think their souls mean anything to the myth of a god that you worship - go to hell and die in a fiery car crash. Or, better yet, come see me. I have some pink juice for you. It won't hurt a bit; after all, what's good for your neglected pet is certainly good for you.
Let's see... was it the sweet little beagle missing half her hair, with a bloated abdomen and so skinny that I could palpate her entire pelvis? Was it seeing that or was it having to talk to the idiot owner who only brought her to see me because animal control made him do it? And then he had the nerve to give me attitude? Or the fact that I told him she was sick and needed tests and he said he only brought money for the office call and refused any treatment?
Or was it the next neglect case, a 13 year old Pit Bull mama who just had her last litter of puppies last year (at 12 years old), was a walking skeleton with severe osteoarthritis, who could barely get around, but when I and animal control told him she wasn't sick and she was normal, the owner accused us of being racist?
Or was it the chihuahua who ate a box of rat bait poison - with a punk ass young owner who walked in the door with an attitude and telling us he had NO money and we'd better "fix his dog now"? Then had the nerve to tell us "we made it all about the money" when we asked him to even come up with part of the payment and we'd spot him the rest?
Or last but not least, the sweetheart doggy with a face so swollen we had to put him on oxygen because he could barely breathe past the swelling and then the owner (stupid, stupid owner) telling me he'd been like that for two days?
I've lost my faith in humanity. Human beings are NOT made in the image of some make believe god; we are parasites and we are nasty. We deserve things like Hanta virus, the Plague, AIDS. I don't even have tolerance anymore when people try to give me some lame ass excuse for giving their pets away - I don't care if you lost your house, couldn't handle motherhood or fatherhood (one that is too common and makes me the most angry - too many lameass parents out there that breed too much - it's how I got our most recent rescue at the hospital), lost your job or whatever. You took on a responsibility so deal with it.
Sometimes I justify euthanasia for one reason and one reason only: to get them the hell away from the human slime that owns them. And don't let people with money fool you; they're the worst and the first to dump their animals. They'll drive up in expensive cars and then tell me they can't afford a simple blood test. So I put their animals to sleep just so they won't suffer at the hands of these kinds of people. And these are the people breeding and shitting out kids every year like it's something special to get knocked up. I literally hate them and wouldn't spit on them if I found them laying on the side of the road.
And for the rest of you punks who neglect and abuse animals, who use them only for breeding to make you money or who don't think their souls mean anything to the myth of a god that you worship - go to hell and die in a fiery car crash. Or, better yet, come see me. I have some pink juice for you. It won't hurt a bit; after all, what's good for your neglected pet is certainly good for you.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
The 3 Day, 2010
Should I do it? Should I commit to raising $2300 again, to walking before work and every Sunday and to start long distance walking again? Boy do I want to... Steve says to just do it... but I know that means spending 3-8 (yes, three to eight) hours walking on Sundays coming this fall.
It sure would be nice if someone would commit to it with me. :)
It sure would be nice if someone would commit to it with me. :)
One of My Highlights
Instead of thinking about the sucky parts of 2009, I wanted to post something happy that happened to me in 2009: the purchase of my wonderful spa last May for my 40th bday. :) I have pics and comments about it on Facebook, but not here, so I figured I'd clue the rest of my fan base into where I spend every single evening, relaxing. I am most definitely a Hot Spring Spa Fan!
First, though, a little education: if anyone tells you they have a saltwater spa, give them a totally blank stare and ask them if they even know what that means. Most of them will tell you they run some form of bromine through their system - that can be achieved by adding the chemicals or with a system that recycles the bromine (known as a bromine generator). Either way, bromine and chlorine are both halogen salts and anyone with even a bit of brain matter should know this. It annoys me to NO end when someone smugly says, "oh I have a saltwater spa!" and they really don't have a clue about the periodic table. Some people will even add a bag of sea salt to their spa and use current to separate the chlorine from the sodium - NaCl! Either way you look at it, you're probably using either bromine salt or chlorine salt, unless you're using one of the newer systems like Baquaspa, which is neither! There are generators out there that generate one of these sanitizers but you still have to maintain water quality, you still have to change the water periodically and you still have to monitor it closely! Anybody who says they have such a great sanitizing system that enables them to go a year without changing their water - EEWW! I do NOT recommend you get into their spa because that means it's filthy on a microscopic level!
Anyway, bromine is easier on your skin than chlorine. In fact, we decided on our spa type and after TONS of research and recommendations, decided on the Brilliance System. I love the way my skin feels after getting out of the spa, how it smells - just everything about it. We decided against a bromine generator because, well, it's just not worth the expense!
SO - if anyone I know is contemplating a spa purchase, talk to me first!
OK so now that the educational part of this series is over, here's the fun part:
It comfortably seats 7 people, and I can stretch out across the whole thing and barely touch the sides! (not the case for my 6'1 hubby) It has a zillion jets that you can adjust 6 different ways, some funky 70s-like lights and well, it's just the best.
Oh, and if you DO get a spa, you MUST get a lift for the cover. I can take the cover off and put it back on with little effort - a must, because those covers are freaking heavy! And the LAST thing you want to do is have to lift it after getting all relaxed!
I couldn't write this post without thanking my loving husband for being In Charge of the Spa. I love it because he's so darned particular and wants his water perfect at all times, so our spa water ROCKS!
It's one of the best purchases we ever made.
First, though, a little education: if anyone tells you they have a saltwater spa, give them a totally blank stare and ask them if they even know what that means. Most of them will tell you they run some form of bromine through their system - that can be achieved by adding the chemicals or with a system that recycles the bromine (known as a bromine generator). Either way, bromine and chlorine are both halogen salts and anyone with even a bit of brain matter should know this. It annoys me to NO end when someone smugly says, "oh I have a saltwater spa!" and they really don't have a clue about the periodic table. Some people will even add a bag of sea salt to their spa and use current to separate the chlorine from the sodium - NaCl! Either way you look at it, you're probably using either bromine salt or chlorine salt, unless you're using one of the newer systems like Baquaspa, which is neither! There are generators out there that generate one of these sanitizers but you still have to maintain water quality, you still have to change the water periodically and you still have to monitor it closely! Anybody who says they have such a great sanitizing system that enables them to go a year without changing their water - EEWW! I do NOT recommend you get into their spa because that means it's filthy on a microscopic level!
Anyway, bromine is easier on your skin than chlorine. In fact, we decided on our spa type and after TONS of research and recommendations, decided on the Brilliance System. I love the way my skin feels after getting out of the spa, how it smells - just everything about it. We decided against a bromine generator because, well, it's just not worth the expense!
SO - if anyone I know is contemplating a spa purchase, talk to me first!
OK so now that the educational part of this series is over, here's the fun part:
It comfortably seats 7 people, and I can stretch out across the whole thing and barely touch the sides! (not the case for my 6'1 hubby) It has a zillion jets that you can adjust 6 different ways, some funky 70s-like lights and well, it's just the best.Oh, and if you DO get a spa, you MUST get a lift for the cover. I can take the cover off and put it back on with little effort - a must, because those covers are freaking heavy! And the LAST thing you want to do is have to lift it after getting all relaxed!
I couldn't write this post without thanking my loving husband for being In Charge of the Spa. I love it because he's so darned particular and wants his water perfect at all times, so our spa water ROCKS!
It's one of the best purchases we ever made.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Unbelievable View
So just as I'm wondering why in the hell I'm still in this desert, I look out the back over the pool to this unbelievably magnificent view and am reminded of why I'm a desert rat in the first place.
All of these pics were taken off my back patio, by the pool. It looked like the sky was on fire!
I do love the desert even though I also miss the rain and green of the south.
**Note: I was not bitten by any mosquitoes when I took these pictures. :)
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