Day 32--Buddha's Brew Kimbucha

As everyone who knows me knows, I have some major problems with my stomach in the form of GERD and have taken pills for it since 1999.  After listening to the nutritionist speak on digestion last week, I have decided I am going to try to control this problem naturally and get off all these stomach pills.  So I've not taken my Nexium for a number of days, and I can not say that I have enjoyed not taking it.  I definitely have had a lot of heartburn.  I am drinking the cider vinegar/honey drink before meals and that helps, but not enough.  Today I was in the healthy food grocery store here and bough a drink that is somewhat of a soft drink, only with Kombucha (a fermented product) brewed in Austin, Texas.  It claims to have 19 billion live cultures in it and beneficial acids--all for the stomach.  I got peach mint and it is good, but it does have cane sugar used in the fermenting so it has 14g of sugar and 55 calories per serving.  It is a 2 serving bottle so I'm saving the rest for another day.  I did have to break down and take some Tums today but I'm going to keep trying to figure out the balance of what will work.  I think 19 billion live cultures will either heal me or kill me!

Day 31 - Everyone has their own "normal"

On April 16 one of the family's whose kids were my responsibility as their CASA were allowed to move back in with the parents on a monitored return which means CPS and I will continue to drop in and see who things are going with the kids and parents.  So I dropped by today and what a mess!  There wasn't a place to step for toys and pillows and who knows what on the living room floor.  I stayed for an hour asking questions of the father who was at home with the children about what they feed the kids for meals and snacks, when they put them to bed at night and for naps, why they have their important papers in the floor for the kids to walk on and write on, why the "candy box" which is a large diaper box is on the table where the kids can get into it any time they want and on and on.  These parents are living for the first time alone with their children and have zero parenting skills obviously since they let the kids go to bed at 10:00 p.m. or whenever (ages 1, 2, 3) and when I would tell him something, he would say, "They didn't tell us that in parenting classes."  And obviously they have had no modeling done for them by their own parents.  So, I have decided to just be the teacher of parenting to these two young kids who instead of learning on their first child how to set up schedules, feed nutritious food, and make the kids learn to put their toys up, are now having to learn it with 3 children underfoot--which makes it triply harder.  I have less than six months to teach them and see a change or the state may get the kids back.  This scenario in a nutshell is what is wrong with our society today!  But I won't give up on them--they are going to learn a new normal--it may not be my normal but hopefully it will be better than their current normal!

Day 30 - Memorial Day Tribute

As this is Memorial Day Weekend, I decided it was time I sat down and read all the letters my uncle Melville Hines sent home during his time in the Marines.  So I began yesterday afternoon reading the 106 letters he wrote from the time he left to go to boot camp until the last letter my grandparents got before he was killed in Guam.  My brother had the letters and other memorabilia at his house for a long time, and brought them to me quite a while back but I never had taken the time to sit and read them--until yesterday.  How I wish I had read them when I was much younger so that I would have had a better understanding of who this young man was.  The letters opened up a picture of him for me so that I could see the farm boy he was as he went to San Diego and saw things and people he would never have seen in Hamlin, Texas.  He talks about swimming in the ocean, seeing fish as big as cows (porpoises), seeing Red Skelton live, the Stamps Quartet at church one Sunday (and he was a faithful churchgoer both stateside and in the Pacific).  He talked a lot about the food they were fed--and he thought it was good but just not enough biscuits and fried chicken and ham!  He played like a kid when he got time off--riding ferris wheels, playing baseball and football, swimming in the ocean and lying on the beach in the Pacific eating coconuts and bananas.  He loved his family and missed them terribly and worried about how they were doing.  He craved letters from home.  He ran into people from Hamlin quite a lot to have been in San Diego--I guess many families were drawn to that area for work and to be near their sons who were drafted or enlisted.  He wrote his baby sister and sent her gifts and money and told her he wished she could see the things he was seeing.  He was a young man with his life in front of him until he stepped onto the shores of Guam and was hit in the lower back with shrapnel.  I have wept tears this weekend for the great loss my grandparents and mother had to bear in his death.  Because now I know him a little--his personality, his teasing, his faith, his sacrifice, his homesickness and his joy in seeing new things.  The box with his letters in it is hallowed ground to me now--it is what is left of an uncle who would have spoiled me and loved me and played with me and given me cousins except for his sacrifice for his country and all it stood and stands for.

And this story is played out by families all over the United States today as they remember the sacrifices their families have made for us to live in this great country.  The losses continue even today as the few die for the many for freedom's sake.  My nephew who is in the Army right now and is in my prayers always is doing this great thing for all of us, and my granddaughter who turns 15 today is telling me she is considering the Air Force Academy--so the torch will continue through our family and we will be proud of it.

Day 29 - The Newton Boys

Back on May 24, I wrote about going to the little "ghost" town of Cottonwood on my way back from Haskell and learning that the Newton's of Outlaw gang fame had grown up there.  Last night Bill found a movie made of the Newton Gang and we watched it.  It was made in 1999 and featured a young Matthew McConaughey and was really good.  Don't know how true to history the movie was, but at the end it did have the interview of one of the Newton boys on the show with Johnny Carson and that was a hoot and also one other of the Newton brothers being interviewed.  They all went to prison but all but one lived to die a natural death at a very old age in Uvalde, Texas.  I would recommend the movie because it does have some funny scenes in it, and has the famous railroad robbery where they scored $1.3 million, much of which has never been recovered although they did go to prison for the robbery.  And then there's Matthew!

Day 28 - Veranda Bloom

I went to the most amazing store today in the little town of Rogers, Texas.  Everything in there was something I could easily see putting in my own house--so unique and lovely.  I thought it was a much better place to shop for decorative items than the Magnolia Farms shop in Waco--I know that is kind of heretical, and I do like that shop too.  But this one was more than I could even take in during one trip.  I'll post just some of the things I loved in the store that I believe would work in the lake house when we begin on it.  I'm ready to go back with anyone who wants to go take a look!

Love this table and all the turquoise

And this round table with a curved bench!

Front side of what would make a great island in  a kitchen

Back side of same island piece

Another possibility for an island

Coffee table with wine barrel bottom

Pretties

Loved this windmill print

So much stuff!

Day 27 -- Honey and Wine and Honey Wine

Today I visited the Dancing Bee Winery and Walker Honey Farm near Rogers.  This Honey Farm has been in existence for at least three generations, but probably a decade ago they added a gift shop and then later a winery to their business.  While I've known it was there all this time, I had never taken the time to go out and visit the shop.  So today I needed some honey to take with my disgusting apple cider vinegar drink and decided to go there to get it.  I was quite surprised at the size of the shop, the variety of things they had in it--mostly made from honey-- and the gift items they carry.  They must have raw honey from 15-20 different "sources"--mesquite, wildflower, various berries, a variety of grains, and even avocado.  You can taste them all, but after about 4, I couldn't distinguish them as well so settled on the local wildflower honey.  I found out that you can take in your own container, and they will fill it with your choice of 5 varietal honeys.  I'll do that next time I need some.  They have homemade honey soap and other products that have either honey or beeswax in them.  They also have a large selection of Texas olive oils.  On the other side of the shop, they have their wines, and this winery has lots of varietal meads to choose from.  They also have a smaller selection of grape wines and have a vineyard growing on the property.  I did not find out what kind of grapes they are growing there.  If you find yourself on Highway 190 between Temple and Cameron, you should treat yourself by dropping in.

Day 26 - Little Things

Today was a busy day with no earth-shattering things to consider as firsts.  However, a couple of things stood out to me that were new to me on this day.

I have a case with CASA that I was assigned to in February.  Since that time we have had two different CPS caseworkers assigned to the case, neither of which every returned a phone call or an email or did anything on the case as far as I could tell.  Today I met the 3rd caseworker for the case and she was wonderful!  Because she was already 3 ½ months behind on what was going on, I met her at her office in Killeen and we talked about the goings on with the kids, the parents, the grandparents, the caregiver and what seemed like the best plan for the children.  We both agreed on it, and she wants us to work closely together to make things happen.  It is so refreshing to get someone from CPS who realizes that CASA and CPS should be a team effort working to get the best for the children who are in the system.  So this meeting was a really big deal to me.

Tonight, my trainer had the nutritionist come back for another lesson--this time just on the digestive system's role in our health and well-being.  I learned a number of fascinating things and already knew a few things that we discussed.  The digestive system is a 5 step process:
1.  The Brain--digestion starts when we see and smell food--the Pavlov dogs salivating model.  If we don't start producing saliva for the digestive process before we put food in our mouth, we will not have successful digestion.  Also this is where we should focus our minds on eating, relaxing and thinking about our food--not watching TV, reading, racing through the meal or being stressed which can inhibit digestion.  She says "rest and digest".
2.  The Mouth--this is where we make the food digestible through mastication with the saliva and enzymes that are in it which break the food down to a liquid state before sending it on to the next step.  It is in the mouth that carbs are broken down--and if they don't get broken down, they are not absorbed in the stomach or gut and go straight to the colon where they sit and cause us to feel bloated.  She told us that even smoothies or other liquid drinks, even juices, need to be chewed in order to be in the mouth long enough for the saliva enzymes to break them into usable nutrients.
3.  The Stomach--this was an interesting part to me.  This is where the physical breakdown of food is done through the acids in the stomach.  This is also the first line of defense for any pathogens that enter our bodies through either food or airborne--the place where allergens can be defeated or not.  She said that 90% of Americans have too little aside in their stomachs and can not digest their food effectively to absorb nutrients.  This is actually where heartburn, GERD, reflux come in--there is not enough acid in our stomach to break the food down for the next step of the process and so the stomach sends it right back up out into the esophagus because it is not ready for digestion.  Taking Tums or other acid blockers exacerbates the issue rather than helping it.  They give immediate relief of the heartburn, but the cycle continues because the alkaline in the products neutralizes the acids in the stomach and up things come once again because they aren't digested enough to go on to the next step of the process.  The nutritionist advised to begin taking 1 teaspoon of unpasteurized apple cider vinegar (mix with water if desired, even some honey and sea salt) 30 min. before each meal to give the stomach more acid so it can work as it is supposed to.  Or you can take digestive enzymes by capsule or probiotics.
4.  The Small Intestines (Gut)--The food from the stomach is full of acid and now must be neutralized as it goes into the small intestines so they add alkaline to the digesting food at this point.  People who have a system that doesn't put enough alkaline in to stop the acids are the ones with ulcers.  Most all of our nutrients are absorbed in the gut and sent into the blood stream.  Also 70-80% of our immune system is in the gut where the airborne things that come in through out nose or mouth get neutralized.
5.  The Large Intestines (Colon)--this is mostly water, waste and some nutrients such as vitamins are absorbed here.  It holds our undigested food which goes out as waste and holds good and bad micro-organisms.  The total process takes 5-6 hours and that is why we should just eat 3 regular meals a day rather than 6 small ones as some diets recommends because otherwise our digestive system never gets to rest.

For my daughter who has my stomach issues, she said to read the book Why Stomach Acid is Good For You--I'm going to order it and you can borrow it!

Day 25 - Cottonwood Springs

Generally, when coming back from Haskell to Belton, I take the quickest route to get from A to B.  Today I was on my way to doing just that, when on a whim, I exited at Putnam to go towards Cross Plains where I would get on 36 to head on home.  I had never been on this little byway--the road less traveled as Frost would say--and it did not disappoint.  First I went through the tiny community of Putnam and then continued you on through cattle and oil country until I got to a little crossroads that had an historical marker sign that pointed to the "y" off the main road I was taking.  I hesitated but kept going and then just decided to make a U-turn and go back and see what was historical about that area.  The little road led me to Cottonwood Springs--an early day Texas settlement that probably didn't have 25 houses total.  First marker was an explanation of the creation of the town and after reading it I went on down the road to the cutest little historical bank building with markers at it and then on to their historical Methodist Church and school.  It was such a peaceful little village with no commerce that I could see and yet a few people have gathered there to live a quiet rural life in a place that was once controlled by Indians and housed a family of famous Texas outlaws.

Historic Methodist Church

Historic Bank, Post Office and more

Story of the Newton Boys Gang

Story of the town

History of the Bank/Post Office

Day 24 - A Day at Hendricks

It's not that I haven't spent many days at Hendricks, but this morning I had to take my dad over there to have fluid drained from his plural cavity.  On three different occasions, we were told the time of the appointment was 11:00 a.m. so we were there 15 minutes early to get checked in etc.  Soon they came to get him to take blood and we waited a bit for that to happen and it did.  Then they sent us on to radiology where the main event was to happen.  We sat a few minutes and then a man came out and told us we were very early for our 1:30 appointment--first time we were told of that time--and said we should leave and come back.  I explained in a not too kind way that we were 60 miles from home and would not be leaving and that they needed to get him a bed NOW so he could lie down as he has a broken vertebrae and was hurting a lot sitting in the wheelchair.  After a time, they did put him in a bed in the recovery room and told us we could wait there until 1:30 (two hours from then) and they covered dad up with warm blankets and left us.  I asked for contact info for customer relations because this was such a ridiculous scenario and they got it as well as scheduling dept. info whose fault they said it was.  Then at a little after 12 a nurse came in and said they were taking him back.  I questioned what had changed and this is the first:  they said that a doctor had offered to stay during his lunch and do the procedure so dad wouldn't have to wait--thank you Dr. Anderson and your techs who stayed to help get dad home quicker.  The procedure was done, it went well, they removed 1.8 liters of fluid from him (about 6 pounds) and we headed home.  This small act of kindness for a 90 year old man humanized the hospital experience and gave me hope for the medical profession for a time. 

Day 23 -- Eggstraviganza

I'm at my parents' house for a few days and when I can, I try to make them a pie--they love sweets and one favorite is custard pie.  So I got in the kitchen after lunch and began to gather the things for the pie and got out the four eggs it called for.  And I cracked the first egg into a bowl--and low and behold it had two yolks! In all my many years of cooking, I have never broken open an egg with a double yolk!  Wow!  I was so excited, I forgot to take a picture of it!  When I settled back down, I broke the second egg and--bamm! another two yolks in that egg too!  There has to be a word for this phenomenon!  And again, I didn't think to take a photo!  But I have two witnesses who have now also eaten two pieces of that pie and declared it fit for human consumption, so that's really all that matters.

Day - 22 Things are bloomin' in Rising Star

I have no idea how many times I have traveled the roads between Belton and Haskell and back but hundreds, perhaps thousands!  So it is pretty hard to figure out a first when cruisin' a highway you can almost drive in your sleep.  So today I was half way to Haskell, going in to Rising Star and decided to drop in to a nursery that I drive by each way on Highway 36 between Comanche and Rising Star where I generally turn and go to Cisco, Albany and on to Haskell.  This was an impressive nursery with acres of beautiful flowering plants, trees, gifts, canned goods, and farmer's market vegetables.  All the plants were gorgeous and lush and healthy--something I'm not used to since the ones at my house never have those traits!  So I bought hollyhocks which I have never had but was told they attract hummingbirds and run off mesquitoes--double whammy!  So if you ever find yourself wandering around down Hwy 36 around Rising Star, be sure to stop in--it is a beautiful place.  (I also loved the warning about the speed trap on their sign!)

 

Day 21- It's Greek to me!

Today we had to run an errand in Round Rock so it was lunchtime when we got done, so I told Bill I needed a first for today so find a place that serves food I don't ever eat.  So we ended up at a cute Greek place that is a new franchise Greek restaurant in Texas just opened about 2 months in Round Rock.  It is set up kind of like Freebirds or Chipolte where you go down the line and tell them what you want as a base, your protein, your veggies, and your toppings and it comes in a bowl.  It was cute and clean and interesting as well.  I would recommend it as a place to eat lunch with having a grease fix in the process.  The signage was so cute--mostly about "how do you pronounce gyro"?

Another great thing I got to do today is go to a Ruthie Foster concert at the Cultural Activities Center.
Wasn't my first of her concerts, but every one is different--what an awesome voice she has and can she sing the blues!  We ate our supper from a food truck out in front of the CAC before going in to the concert.

Day 20 - Three bad and one good first

Every day since I started this year of "firsts",  I think when I get up "what in the world will I do for a first today?" And sometimes, like tonight, I go back through my day thinking this day is a wash only to find a number of firsts--none of them earth-shattering--but firsts nonetheless.  I expect that happens every day of our lives but we aren't super tuned in to that unless we make it a priority as I am trying to do this year.
So I'll start with my "bad" firsts:
1.  Went out to eat by myself at a Chinese buffet--never done that--and the food was terrible.  Eating in Killeen, I was confident the Chinese buffet would be good, but it was just plentiful, not necessarily tasty.  Will never do that one again.
2.  Watched by video my father-in-law fall in his apartment straight down onto his left shoulder--what a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach to see it and watch my husband see it.  Good news is that he wasn't hurt badly--bad news is, it could happen again.  He lives alone in a one bedroom apartment so we have a "nanny" cam up to kind of check on him throughout the day.  So this is what we got today.  Hope to never see that happen again.
3.  By the time we got through at my father-in-law's house, it was late and we hadn't eaten, and I didn't want fast food, etc.  Soooo, when we got home I had chocolate covered strawberries and wine for supper.  You may ask, "how can this be bad"--well, it wasn't bad tasting, but I know it wasn't a very good nutritious meal so that was the bad part of it.

Then, I had a good first today,  and that was to watch two of my CASA children have visits with their parents.  The visit was at the CPS office behind two-way glass so as observers we weren't in the way of the interactions.  First the mother went in with the two boys who are her biological children for an hour, and I was able to see how she interacted with the two boys ages 3 and one, and they with her.  Nothing was wrong, but nothing was personal--it was no different than when I interact with them really.    Then the second hour the dad went in to visit with the one-year-old who is his biological son.  It was a joy to watch his joy in seeing his son and playing and loving on him.  There was true connection between father and son, laughing and loving, playing and learning--and it made me smile--and laugh.  This boy needs his dad, and it was easy to see so that makes my job easier when it comes time for recommendations to the court.

Day 19 - What is that smoke smell?

You know how sometimes you go along all day just fat, dumb and happy and then the funniest and stupidest thing in the world happens?  Today was the that day.  I have an owner of a rental property that is wanting to sell it so before setting a price on it, he wanted me to go look on the inside and see what kind of shape it is in and what deferred maintenance there might be.  So I made an appointment with the tenants for 2:00 this afternoon and I got that right on time.  The man of the house let me in and was very friendly.  I explained to him what was going on and assured him that nothing concerning the sell of the house would affect his lease in any way--I was just trying to get a feel for what the house should be priced at when put up for sell.  He was super cooperative and took me room by room through the house pointing out things he had noticed might need to be done to it and we were chatting as we went and I was snapping pictures of problem areas.  We went upstairs to a landing that they had made into their media room and also upstairs were a couple of bedrooms and a bath.  When I got up there, I felt I could smell cigarette smoke and we have a no-smoking policy for all our rentals that we manage.  So here's how the conversation went:
Me:  I seem to smell smoke up here--ya'll are not allowed to smoke in the house.
Him:  Oh, we don't smoke cigarettes at all.
Me:  OK, just seemed I could smell it and I know the previous tenants didn't smoke at all either.
(At this point we are still walking around and the smell is really pretty strong)
Me:  I can really smell smoke--if it isn't cigarette smoke, what in the world is it.
Him:  Oh, that's marijuana smoke--that's all we smoke in the house.
Me:  (Gasp) What?!  That is an illegal drug and is absolutely not allowed on the property--in fact it is a breach of your lease and you can be evicted.
Him:  Well, it's not really illegal.
Me:  Yes, it most definitely is illegal in the state of Texas.  You must be thinking of Colorado or California!
Him:  But nobody really thinks of it as illegal.  I understand cigarette smoke makes your walls and stuff yellow but marijuana smoke is clear and won't mess things up.
Me:  You don't seem to understand:  you are doing an illegal activity in this home which is grounds for eviction--and perhaps jail time if the authorities decide so.
Him:  But the lease just says no smoking allowed (obviously different from a toke on marijuana--a term that is most likely outdated since the 70s when I was in college!)
Me:  Any kind of smoke--cigarette, cigars, vapes, and certainly marijuana.  You understand that now that I know this, I will be required to report it and there is a chance you will be evicted.
Him:  Well, okay.

I left feeling like I had just been in the twilight zone.  But then, maybe the smoke smell was heavy because he had been toking (not "smoking") very recently!

Day 18 - My great niece

Today I got to see my great-niece for the first time!  She won't be born until September, but I got to see her nonetheless through the miracle of science which shows us that an unborn fetus really is a baby with a face, 10 toes and everything.  How could anyone look at these photos and think life doesn't begin at conception.  I love her already because I love her parents so much.

 

Day 17 - Family Reunion in Court

As my family knows, I am a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) in Bell and Coryell Counties for children who are caught in the CPS system.  My job is to advocate for the children in court so that they will have a voice for what is best for them.  I currently have two cases for a total of 5 children.  One case I have had since July 2016, and many things about it have been truly tough.  I can't go into any of the details but three precious children now ages 1, 2, and 3 were the focus of my advocacy.  During this year the two older ones have been in 5 different foster home placements and the baby in 3 because of separate placements.  I have worked with the children, the foster parents, the parents and CPS throughout this time.  Today was the final hearing with the possibilities of termination of parental rights, placement in yet another foster home or return to the parents.  For a long time, I thought the parents weren't going to get their act together to get the children back, but they have matured a lot during this year and so my final recommendation was that the children be returned to the parents on a monitored return (CPS caseworker and myself will continue to check in with the family weekly or by-weekly to make sure things are going smoothly).

 I have probably never prayed quite so fervently about guidance on what God's will for these children and parents should be and wisdom to recommend the right thing.  I turned in my court report recommending that the children go back to their parents with monitored return for 6 months.  If all is well during that time, the children will be out of the CPS system and with their parents again forever.  When I took this CASA volunteer position a little over a year ago, I never thought of the ramifications of that final recommendation for any family until the days approached for this hearing today.  What a huge responsibility--and to mess it up would mean devastation for either the parents, the children or both.  CPS was opposed to my recommendation and tried to get me to change it right before court began.  I stood my ground because God had given me a peace about my decision, and I felt that if my decision were wrong and CPS's was right, God was in control.  As it turned out, the judge took my recommendation and the children are probably moved back in with their parents by tonight.  The parents were full of joy and weeping as I walked out of court.  The father asked me if I would come by their house at my earliest convenience so they could take a picture of me with their children and be able to show it to them when they are older to say that I fought for them to grow up with their parents.  It was so touching and gratifying, and I continue to pray it was the right decision.

All of us as young parents probably had a time when we were careless with our children or not attentive or spanked them too hard or spoke to them too harshly.  These parents learned the hard way the heartache of losing your children to the Department and the nightmare of trying to get them back.  Young parents really need to take heed of their behavior with their children because anyone over careless actions or mindless words or deeds could end up losing the most precious things that God can ever give us--our children.   Wish I could post photos of these beautiful babies but I'm not allowed to but they would melt your hearts!

Day 16 - Poldark

I am a big fan of period piece movies because of the beauty and refinement and costuming of the older days but also because there is a bit of history I can learn while watching them.  I was so taken with Downtown Abbey from PBS when it was on and am always intrigued to find others that are done on Masterpiece theater.  Jodi told me about one called Poldark that is a PBS show and so tonight, being at home alone while Bill is in Washington DC and after a long drive home from Haskell, I decided this was the night to begin a video binge with this TV series, first season.  This one is set after the Revolutionary War in England with the main character being a war hero come home to Cornwall, England to find his sweetheart now engaged to someone else, his father dead, and his estate in ruins.  But it appears it will be much more intrigue than a love story--I'm looking forward to watching the whole first season this week--I love Roku which allows this type of watching rather than having to be before the TV at the same time every week to see the next episode.  

Another first today was taking my dad for a nuclear bone scan in Abilene.  While it was very hard on him to do this, and I hate that he had to have it done, it was somewhat fascinating to be able to sit in the room with him while the scan was going on and see the process and visit with the radiologist who was doing it as he explained how it is done and what it shows, etc.  We don't know the exact results, but it was obvious that he has a problem with a disk in his back--it was glowing like the rising sun!  

Day 15 - Garmin Gadget

Back in April, I had to send my beautiful watch off to have a new crystal, cleaning and maintenance done on it and so I've been "timeless" shall we say and it is driving me crazy.  While at my daughter Jodi's house, I quizzed her about her activity tracker that is also a watch, and does many other fun things.  I decided that I should get one so that I would not only be able to see what time it is but also have the incentive of moving more every day.  So today I purchased a Garmin Vivosmart HR+ as a time piece while mine is gone and also as a tracker of activity and an accountability tool as I am now connected with Jodi and we can keep each other honest!  The only bad part about starting this today is that I had to travel to Haskell so was in the car for four hours after buying it and couldn't get in all the steps I might have wished for on my first day.  But not only does it keep time, but it also buzzes me when I get an email or text on my phone and many things I haven't yet figured out at this point.  My husband has an Apple watch and so now I'm feeling a bit more competitive because I have something electronic on my wrist as well--at least until I get my Rolex back!  Another part of this first is that I took a picture of my wrist while driving--a certain no-no but there wasn't much traffic to deal with between Albany and Lueders!

Day 14 - Baseball and Bicycles

My youngest grandson, Tyler, who is 5 is playing T-Ball for the second year.  Last year, I was never able to make it to Seguin when he was having a game so this year it became a must that I see at least one of his games before I got voted world's worst Nana.  So this morning at 9:00 I was at the field to cheer on the Roadrunners and what fun it was!  Watching those cute little boys scramble like fire ants for the ball no matter if their assigned position was on the other side of the field was just too cute.  Tyler did such a good job throwing the ball and got a couple of hits, the second being a home run!  It was very exciting to get to share this with him and give him support at something he is loving to do!  So I've now seen him play T-Ball and hit a homerun.

Tyler going to hind catcher position

After we got back to the house after lunch, Tyler wanted his dad to take his training wheels off his bike so he could ride like a big boy.  (His cousin Clay who is about 9 months older than Tyler, learned to ride without his training wheels recently, and I think Tyler decided he had to prove he is just as big as Clay!)  So the training wheels came off, and Ty ran in the house to get his mother and me to come watch him ride without them.  I suggested he might want to put on long pants since he was riding on a gravel driveway, but he assured me he wasn't going to fall.  Sure enough, with a little help in getting the pedals in good position to begin, he took off and never looked back--it appeared he had been riding like a big boy his entire life!  That was a fun first to get to him accomplish--he was so proud of himself.

Big boy bicycle riding

My reflection as I was driving home is anxious we are to see our little ones learn to do "big" boy and girl things while somewhere within us in an unspoken place, we don't want to see them grow up from this sweet innocent stage of childhood to where they don't need our help as much and begin to seek more and more independence.  We all know that is the healthy way to raise children, but in all parents (and grandparents) there still remains that yearning for our sweet innocent babies.

A Boy and his dog

Day 13 - Reading the National Geographic Magazine

 National Geographic Magazine is my favorite magazine--because of the pictures.  Wow, do they have some fantastic photographers on locations all over the world.  I get the magazine every month in the mail and spend that night or the next day sometime looking through it and looking at all the pictures and reading all the captions for the pictures and come away feeling like I've seen a part of the world I will probably never visit in person.  Then I get the May issue, and I begin my routine of thumbing through it--and because of my heightened awareness of looking for things I've never done before, it suddenly dawned on me that I have NEVER read this magazine from cover to cover--hardly read a complete story in it--it has been my picture book.  So I vowed that I would read every single word of every single article in the May 2017 issues of the magazine--and so I have now completed that quest.  It took me a few days to get it all digested, but I will say to you that not only did I read the stories, but I studied the graphs (and I HATE trying to decipher graphs) and everything!  The only thing I didn't read in the magazine were the ads--sorry advertisers but your money was lost on me.  I read about research on what creates "geniuses", I read about Central African Republic and their woes, I read about mental ailments in famous people, I read about King Tut's dad and his dynasty, I read about the moors of Scotland which I did get to visit last year, and about haute couture made out of rotted food waste plus much much more!  And I enjoyed it!  This may or may not be a turning point in my life, but I can say their writers are as good as their photographers!

Day 12 - A lesson in holistic nutrition

For about four years I have been going to the best ever trainer in Temple.  Celebrate Fitness is all about the whole person--getting fit, staying strong, eating right, being healthy and being spiritually fit as well.  I have two one-on-one session each week with Kathy, and she has made a huge difference in my life--well, most of it!  I am still quite guilty of not eating well--I eat a lot but I don't eat the right things at the right times in the right quantities.  This is what makes her the best--she cares about my health and that of all her other clients and so tonight she invited a nutritionist to come to her studio and speak to her clients about how we can go beyond getting our bodies fit physically and work on putting the right things in our bodies to make them the wonderful temples of God that we are created to be.  For an hour and a half or more, we had a class on what our bodies need to work as they are created to work.  I learned lots of things I didn't know so I'll share a few of them with you.

1.  We must have properly prepared foods, a balance of fatty acids, blood sugar balance, mineral/vitamin balance and hydration in our nutrition.
2.  Blood sugar balance means watching the amount of refined sugars in our diet.  The average American eats 140 pounds of sugar each year!  So we must lower our refined sugars and processed carbs (bread, pasta) intake which has been scientifically proven to affect many things, but a really scary one she mentioned is memory issues as we age.  Some forms of dementia are beginning to be associated with high levels of sugar.
3. Artificial sweeteners and soft drinks are absolute no-nos!
4. Some sweeteners that are ok are coconut sugar, whole leaf stevia, raw unfiltered sugar, pure maple syrup.
5.  Fatty acids are crucial to our health.  The idea that we should eat no or low-fats is counter-productive to how our bodies are created.  The three kinds of fats are saturated, mono-saturated and poly-unsaturated.  Saturated are the best for our bodies despite the hype about heart disease, etc.  These include butter from pasture-raised cows, coconut oil, lard, tallow--all natural products.  Mono-saturated oils are olive and avocado oils, and they are fine to eat but frying with them at high heats can change their makeup and make them less than good.  Also learned that olive oil should always be in a dark container of glass and should be stored in a dark, cool place or its characteristics change.  Learned about a product called Ghee which is a butter I had not heard of but is good to use.  No poly-unsaturated fats are good and that includes canola oil, sunflower oil and grapeseed oil.
6.  Hydration--we all know we don't drink enough water!  Water in fact is the most common low nutrient intake in America.  Also learned that drinking a lot of water with a meal is not good because it washing out the acids needed for digestion that reside in the  stomach.  So only sips of water with a meal and drink the majority of your water at other times throughout the day.  The amount of water you should drink a day is your weight divided by 2 = ounces of water to drink--but not more than a gallon!

This was so much good information and encouragement to eat clean and healthy.  Thanks Kathy!

Day 11 - Walking Trails and Chickens

Thanks to my good friend Jan, I learned about a beautiful walking trail in Temple that I "knew" about but had never been on.  It is a hidden treasure that makes you think you are far away in the country when you are actually in the hub of things.  The trail is Pepper Creek Trail and today I walked it with my friend Jan and two of her friends.  We had a great time visiting and enjoying nature and the beauty of the day and got in an hour walk in the process.  I will definitely be walking this trail more often now that I know I don't have to walk beside a busy highway to enjoy it.

Another first for me today came from my good friend Avis.  Avis has chickens--big chickens and adolescent chickens.  I have a definite aversion to chickens since the day when I was a young girl on my grandparents' farm and was gathering eggs when a rooster decide to jump on my back.  I was traumatized by the event and since that day have liked my chickens fried, not clucking and laying eggs and such.  So as it turns out, these adolescent chickens have to be "put up" for the night so I happened to be at her house at putting up time and said I'd help her get that chore done.  So she caught these little hennettes and gave me one to carry for her to the overnight roosting area.  So now I can say that I've put a chicken to bed for the night and can only hope it doesn't have chicken nightmares knowing I was thinking fried chicken all the way!

Day 10 -- History of Playgrounds

Today I visited an exhibit of the history of playgrounds that was at the Temple Railroad Museum.  We've come a long way baby--as the saying goes.  When I looked through the photos of old playground equipment, I couldn't help but both cringe and also think what a bunch of sissies we have become!  I remembered playing on a lot of those pieces of equipment--and no one thought a thing about us getting hurt.  Now, everything has to be uber safe because equipment manufacturers are no doubt afraid of lawsuits.  Back in the day, the parents were responsible for the safety of their children, and it seems they were confident things would work out ok!  It was a great stroll through memory lane and even way beyond my memories.  A cool thing is that beyond the playground equipment exhibit, there was the static exhibit about the history of the railroad in Temple as a railroad center.  I had no idea what a great exhibit this little museum has about the railroad and its importance in the creation of Temple as we know it now.  I should have already taken by grandkids here but haven't--but I will!  A great morning of exploration and discovery at our own railroad depot which is still in use as the Amtrak station and this great museum.

Day 9 - Jicama Tortillas

Like many people these days, I am trying to cut down on my carb intake and if there is one place where that is hard to do, it is when you are wanting to eat Mexican food!  My plan for dinner tonight was chicken fajitas, and I was telling my trainer and accountability partner when I was there today that I would just eat mine without a tortilla.  She asked me if I had tried jicama tortillas.  Never heard of them!  But I do like jicama just for its cool crisp texture.  So she told me to go to the part of the vegetable section at the grocery store that has the pre-chopped packages of things and I should be able to find them.  So off I went to HEB and sure enough--there they were with the chopped onions, spiraled veggies, stuffed mushrooms, and other quick and easy products.  So I grabbed a container and made my fajitas tonight for dinner.  I fed my husband the regular tortillas,  and I had the jicama tortillas not wrapped around my fajitas but underneath where I could cut everything with a fork.  They were so yummy that I got a wrap out and filled it with guacamole and took one to my husband--he loved it.  We are already seeing the possibilities of using these as wraps for appetizers of all kinds because they have such a mild flavor but give such a great refreshing crunch.  You will have to go to a fairly large grocery store no doubt to find them--but give them a try.  They also have jicama sticks pre-peeled and cut which would be great for dipping instead of chips.  A new first that will soon become a go to standard I suspect!

Day 8 - Painting with a Twist

When I was in first grade, I had a teacher who was quite an artist.  So she enjoyed having us do artistic projects I suppose.  I can still remember the time I was traumatized by my teacher when I presented my picture to her, and she told me that I would never be successful or graduate from high school because I did such poor work.  Obviously, if I can remember that from so long ago, it really did have a negative impact on me.  I'm pretty sure I didn't really know what graduating from high school meant at the time, but I knew I was a failure and had displeased my teacher and that is not something I handle very well!
So when I saw an ad in the  paper the other day about Painting With a Twist, I decided I would get out of my comfort zone and put myself in the middle of having to try to be artistic once again.  I didn't get anxious about it, because now I realize I have other talents--and I did graduate from high school after all without ever being good at drawing or painting!  So today I went down to the studio, and when I entered and told them my name, I was told that I was the only student in that particular class today so I would get a private lesson!  That certainly took some pressure off--no one but the teacher would see my work, and surely she had seen some pretty awful stuff.  She was a sweet young lady and gave me my completely white canvas (somehow I thought this would include an outline on the canvas and I would color in the lines and be good) and a plate full of paints and three brushes and off we went for two hours.  At first I was very tentative but relaxed as we went along.  I messed up a few times and she gave me some help in making those less noticeable.  By the end of the two hours, I had another "first" under my belt--an oil painting I like to think of as reminiscent of Grandma Moses--pretty primitive!  I enjoyed it and plan to try my hand at painting again now that I have nothing to flunk out of and failure is just a state of mind I'm not inviting to the party!

Day 7 - Sports day

Today I went to see my older grandson Weston play his championship football game for the Rebels, his Flower Mount youth football league.  Coming into the championship game today, the Rebels were undefeated and also had not been scored upon all season.  The weather was absolutely beautiful for a day at the ballpark and all the kids on both sides were pumped and ready to play.  At the end of the game, not only had the Rebels won, but they remained unscored upon for the season--a new record for the history of the youth football league in Flower Mound!  So it was a first for the entire league and for me to get to be there to see the record be set!  How exciting to be a part of this milestone with Weston!

Another first for me today (I have a few to catch up on since I started 7 days late!) was having a Anzac biscuit with my coffee for breakfast.  When offered the biscuit, I had to ask what in the world it was and found that my world traveler kids learned about these while in Australia during the Anzac celebration in Australia last year.  Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand is the equivalent of Memorial Day here in America--a holiday on April 23 celebrating the Armed Forces in those countries and these biscuits (very crisp cookies) are a standard treat for the day.  Mandi (my daughter) found these at World Market and so another first--not only learning about a holiday in another country but also the treat associated with it.  Very tasty biscotti type cookie tasting of oatmeal and cinnamon not too sweet but perfect with coffee!