02/08/2010
A few weeks ago, my daily supply of fiber consisted of 3 scoops of organic oatmeal, a few scoops of organic granola, an organic apple, a serving of steamed organic broccoli, and a few navel oranges from the tree in my backyard. I had assessed the situation and determined that I needed to add more fiber to my diet. My biggest question was, “What type of fiber did I want to eat, and could I find a tasty, organic version of it?” I headed to my trusty Whole Foods Market to see what I could find.
My first stop in the store was the cereal aisle. I haven’t eaten cold cereal in a few years, but I know eating cereal is an easy way to increase my fiber intake. The cereal aisle in Whole Foods Market is not an ordinary cereal aisle. I couldn’t find any of the cereals that I ate when I was a child, and there were no ’surprise toys’ or mystery packages neatly hidden inside the cereal box to tempt me. After spending nearly 10 minutes surveying my options, I choose Cascadian Farm Organic Honey Nut O’s.
And boy what a great decision that was. The Honey Nut O’s was a tasty blend of honey and almonds. The box contained 10.4 ounces of cereal. The box didn’t last past day 5. The taste of the Honey Nut O’s was pleasantly sweet but the sugar didn’t leave a sticky residue on my teeth like a box of sugary, sweet cereal with sticky marshmallows.
I didn’t miss the receiving a free toy either.
- Mama
02/06/2010
There’ll be good times again for me and you
But we just can’t stay together, don’t you feel it too
Still I’m glad for what we had and how I once loved you –Carole King
“Guess what I got for Christmas?”
My friend pulled a book from a brightly colored gift bag. “The Good Divorce.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” If it weren’t so absurd, I would’ve laughed. My friend looked as if she wanted to cry and all I could do is shake my head.
This couple has been going through it, both of them invested in building a home and family for the past 10 years and along the way, one of them fell out of love and has decided that it is time to part ways.
Uhm… Can I say that handing someone a book, no matter how critically acclaimed, is not the way to end a relationship?
Breaking up is hard to do. Doing it the right way is even harder. And let me confess right now that I suck at it. I’m the one to just go silent, disappear emotionally and physically, block phone calls and emails. It gets worse. I then get rid of them physically too, things they might’ve left at my place, or gifts (except for jewelry or music, don’t judge me!), cards and letters.
Let’s just say I’m bad at it, but I’ve seen worse, break up by text or email and even worse, hearing it from a friend.
When someone is loyal, loving and giving and you’ve taken the time to share your life with him or her, that’s not to be taken lightly.
What’s your worse break up? How about the best? A good breakup? Hmph. Let me know.
- Aunt B
02/05/2010
Deviled Eggs use yogurt in place of mayonnaise so you can enjoy every last healthy bite.
Makes: 12 servings
Ingredients:
- 12 hard-boiled eggs
- salt and pepper to taste
- paprika for garnish
- 2 tsp. mustard
- 1 tsp. vinegar
- 2 tsp. lemon juice
- 1/2 cup Stonyfield lowfat plain yogurt
Directions:
- Cut the eggs in half (lengthwise) and remove the yolks.
- Place yolks in a bowl and mash with a fork.
- Add yogurt, mustard, vinegar and lemon juice and mix well.
- Season with salt and pepper, if desired.
- Stuff egg halves with the yolk mixture and garnish with paprika.
For more delicious recipes using Stonyfield organic yogurt, visit http://www.stonyfield.com/recipes/
- Mama
02/04/2010
Blind dates are not for the faint of heart. Dipping one’s toe back into the dating pool after so many years of being “off the circuit” is fraught with peril enough not to have to now do it blindfolded. But as any self-respecting single gal knows the blind date is one of the rules of re-engagement. Saturday I have another, and this time I go with no expectations at all. Not like the last time with Giles, the friend of a colleague hell bent on setting the two of us up. And there you have obstacle number one: what happens when the date’s a disaster and you’re forced to fess up to said well-meaning workmate?
Giles and I had agreed to meet at a neighborhood restaurant – he’d described himself as dark-haired and of medium stature and my friend had assured me he was not unpleasant on the eye. When I arrived at our appointed meeting place I spotted a lone male sitting at the restaurant bar – he was dark-haired and of medium stature and, well, he was rather delish. I kind of eyed him and smiled but, not receiving so much as a stirring of recognition, decided to seat myself at the bar and call Giles on my phone, secretly hoping that the hottie across the way would pick up.
Alas, Giles turned out to be the rather ordinary looking bespectacled chap seated behind the restaurant pillar. Be still my sinking heart. We made innocuous small talk for the evening and then agreed to split the check.
They say don’t judge a book by its cover but then you hear about love at first sight… certainly there has to be something said for physical attraction, chemistry even. You’ve either got it or you don’t…
- Single-again Samantha
02/03/2010
Are you a fan of the Biggest Loser? Lose those unwanted pounds, and tone your muscles with your personal trainer Jillian Michaels!
02/03/2010
The worst drugs are as bad as anybody’s told you.
It’s just a dumb trip, which I can’t condemn people if they get into it,
because one gets into it for one’s own personal, social, emotional reasons.
It’s something to be avoided if one can help it.
~John Lennon
Just last weekend while in the midst of all that warm and fuzzy gratitude…
“Uhm, Mr. V- can you come downstairs,” the young man talking sounds desperate, a teen all arms and legs and acne, his voice wobbles between boy and man, “Tyler and Kevin were doing ecstasy and Kevin isn’t doing so well.”
Mr. V was watching a “Bobby Flay Throwdown,” his daughter all curls and freshly showered cuddled next to him. This is his custodial weekend.
Mr. V races downstairs to his 15-year-old son’s bedroom and sees his son’s friend breathing heavily, his hand to his heart, which was racing when he placed his palm on the boy’s chest, his legs shaking.
It was supposed to be a sleepover, three guys, a movie, burgers and fries; these were good boys, the honor students, the geeks. And there was Kevin, shaking, sweating.
Single parents have it hard when there’s no drama, day-to-day can sometimes break you down, but when something like this happens…
Mr. V and I are friends and he called late that night, wondering how he missed the signs, how his son could break his trust, what should he do now? I didn’t have the answers but I listened.
I also went over to the American Academy of Pediatrics to see what they had to say, here it goes:
- Tell your son or daughter you LOVE him/her and that you are worried that he/she might be using drugs or alcohol.
- Say that: You KNOW that drugs may seem like the thing to do, but doing drugs can have serious consequences;
- It makes you FEEL worried and concerned about them when they do drugs;
- You are there to LISTEN to them;
- You WANT them to be a part of the solution;
- What you will do to HELP them.
While those suggestions are a good start I had some thoughts.
To be continued.
- Aunt B
02/02/2010
Every Tuesday, Mama shares a personal story. This story was sent to us by an Anonymous person.
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I am 22 now, and I would like to share my story about my past with eating disorders.
I was a chubby child. My mother took me to a child psychologist when I was only four years old. As I grew older my mother continued to make comments about my weight. Coupled with pressure from the media to be thin, I began my journey with eating disorders.
As I hit puberty, my weight ballooned and I became bulimic at 14. I also felt pressure to be thin because I was drum major of my band and president of several social and academic clubs in my high school.
I grew up in a wealthy family with a live in housekeeper. I always found ways to hide my bulimia from her.
I was only bulimic for two years before I realized I wasn’t losing weight and my health was declining.
At 16, my mother bought me Metabolife. (Yes, that was when ephedra was legal). Metabolife was the catalyst that started my life-long battle with bipolar disorder. I became manic and ate nothing but a snickers bar each day.
I am 5′6″ and I got pretty skeletal. When I was diagnosed, I was put on Lithium, which made me gain 60 lbs.
I moved to NYC for college at a prestigious fashion school and became manic and suicidal at the same time.
I was so mentally unstable that I got into a situation where I was slipped a date rape drug and nearly died. I woke up convulsing in St. Vincent’s emergency room, the main trauma center for 911.
Four years have passed and I am now stable and on medication. I am a healthy and muscular size 0 and food no longer rules my life.
I am an entrepreneur in the fashion industry, and even though I have reached my ideal image and have a healthy level of self-confidence, memories of my battle with eating disorders are never far from my mind.
- Anonymous
02/01/2010
It’s been chilly around here lately—so much so that my toes are icy cold as I sit here typing, even with a steaming cup of tea to keep me company. I feel like I can almost see my breath and I’m indoors!
All of this cold weather has really got heating costs on my brain lately. It doesn’t help that when I sit down to read at night, that the draft coming off of the windows has me reaching for even more blankets to keep me warm. There’s not enough tea in the world to help me when my reading seat suffers from such drafts!
There must be a better way, I think to myself, and lo and behold, there is! I know I can’t afford to replace my windows, and certainly wouldn’t want to attempt to do so in weather like this, but there is a simple, low-ish cost solution for reducing the heat lost through my beautiful windows: window film!
While some may consider this solution a bit less than stylish, it certainly is practical. A box of window film (which you can get at any home improvement store) will typically run about $20 and can be used on several windows (depending on the size of your windows, of course). And apparently, it can help to cut heating energy costs by as much as $20 per winter annually. That’s not a bad return! If you want a more accurate estimate of your potential savings, try out 3M’s calculator for that purpose.
There are many companies that now make window films, most of which work just fine according to the experts. And the good news is that I think, with a little care, I can remove the plastic from the windows come spring in such a way as to make them reusable the next year. That’s what a friend of mine did at least, and it seemed to work quite well for her. So the $20 investment could last for several seasons!
- Lucy
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