Acrostic!

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As I lay in bed trying to sleep I come up with my best ideas for things and sometimes I just think of silly things like trying to describe myself with each letter in my name. That's what I did a few nights ago. Then I tried to do my husband and my kids an so on. It can be some what entertaning. :) The first few came really quick for me, then I got irritated that I didn't have the letters I wanted to work with in my name, but that's not what the game is about. It's about making you think, sometimes hard about a word that starts with a certain letter that could describe you. I also think it should be uplifting and not negative. What we concentrate on we get more of, so stop being hard on yourself and love yourself. :) So here it is. I hope you can think of yours while trying to sleep tonight or if you are like my husband that will never happen because he's out as soon as his head hits the pillow. :)


A lternative Medicine Using
P eaceful Parent
R aw Food Loving
I ntactivist
L activist

D evoted
A ltruistic
W earing Babies
N ON-Vaxing

S entimental
H appy
E nterprising
E ffervescent
T ough
S punky

As you can see, since I don't have a long enough name to say all I wanted, I just used all of my names. :-)Happy Playing!

What's your happy place?

When you are in labor you are told to think of your happy place and go there in your mind. My happy place has always been Lake Powell. I love that place with a child like passion, even though I haven't been there in over 15 years. I guess I have fond memories there of the hot, hot, sun and jumping in the cool water every 15 min to cool off or playing on the sandy beaches with my brother and cousins while my parents laughed with my aunt and uncle. Maybe it was the fun of shopping for our camping trips and getting to pick out Black Cherry Shasta, and cheese logs for the fun trip. Those were not snacks we got on a regular basis, so it was a special treat. I even remember not so fun times there like when our boat broke down and we had to troll back in for hours and hours with my uncle who was sea sick, and my mom and aunt giggling away on cocktails lol. Then one time it stormed and the thunder echoed through the towering walls of rock and kept me awake, terrified. Whatever the reason, that is where I always thought of, but now as I make new memories with my children and husband I am developing new happy places. Maybe I will have the chance to take all my boys there someday (my hubby has never been either!) so I can share it with them, but I don't think there will ever be anywhere as perfect in my mind now, as just playing the day away at Laguna Beach. We have had such spectacular times there, but this summer seems to beat them all. What's your happy place? Please share.

Forever and Always. ♥

Got Bipolar?

We all seem to know someone who has been labelled with a psychotic illness of some sort these days. Wouldn't you love to know the origination of these labels? How about how much the multi-million dollar drug industry committing crimes against humanity, is making off of these people you know and love? I highly recommend watching this video if you are one of these guinea pigs or love one. Yes! Guinea pigs! How long do you thing they test these drugs before they approve them for use? A maximum of eight weeks! The drug companies are paying the physicians at the FDA to approve these drugs. There is a constant revolving door allowing these drugs on the market and labelling them as safe and effective! 
Your loved one might just need you to learn about it for them because if they are already on prescription psychotropic drugs they may not be able to do it for themselves. There is so much I could say on this topic, but this video does an amazing job of spelling it all out. I always want to share books I've read with people, but movies seem to be easier for most. So here it is, an hour and a half long video that might change you FOREVER!!

There are so many more effective ways of treating these imbalances in people. Proper nutrition, plenty of vitamin D and exercise have all proven more effective than these drugs in studies. If somebody I knew was diagnosed with on of these labels I would start with the books below!! I would begin a heavy metal cleanse and get some good omega's to their brain. Get them OFF of all processed foods full of High Fructose Corn Syrup and surgary soda's and foods. It's not a simple thing to treat our nutritionally starved brains and cells but it can be done with dedication.
Treating depression with Omega's

If you are a parent it is important for you to do the research. Children are always my biggest concern. Adults have access to the information, children do not! Your children are depending on you to protect them from all dangers. That might just mean protecting them from their doctors. I don't dislike doctors. They do amazing surgeries, however general practitioners prove over and over to me that they are often no more than legal drug pushers.

Okay, cutting the blog short! Go watch the video!!!

Multi Tool Learning

What do you think happens when you give this:

To this six year old boy for his birthday:

You find lots of these everywhere...

Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. If anything I'm bragging about the amount of learning that comes from letting little boys be boys. I will say he's very fast and I've had to lay down some boundaries with him. For example, the other day when he took the light switch cover off. :) There is only one knife on it, and for those worried about that John plans to dull it. I personally think he is responsible enough with it now that I've observed him with it for a couple of weeks.

How much love do little boys need?

A couple of days ago my husband John and I learned of a tragedy that happened in one of his clients, turned friends, life. Over many years of knowing this man John learned his friend had had a tortured childhood with a very critical and abusive mother. These pains followed him into adulthood and John would be his ear and confidant when he needed. John would share his own stories and help him deal with his issues. When the economy got bad this friend was forced to move home with his mother and stepfather. A decision that has changed every ones lives now, us included. He did something awful and sad. Something like I've only seen on TV documentaries. It has put John and I in shock to know we know someone who is capable of such things. We are very traumatized by it right now. Somehow when I think about it I feel his pain. I see a little boy. I see a sad, sad, little boy who was ruined. It has stirred up so many thoughts and brought me back to some reading I had done a while back on the formation of boys brains. It is hard to blame him when you know how fragile little boys are and how much power a mother has to destroy her little boys.

So of course this is a special topic to me since boys tug at the very bottom of my heart. Three of them make up my entire reason for being. Some day I may say that for girls as well but right now when I see little boys out and about I make sure to make eye contact with them and give them a smile and say hello. Why? You ask do I want to make them feel so special? Because they are so special and sometimes people tend to overlook little boys. Maybe not always but think about it. Little girls get tons of attention and sometimes little boys don't draw the same kind of attention. That in itself isn't the only reason to go around making boys feel special though, is it? Well no, there's more to it.

Everyone blames men being more violent on testosterone, but could there be more to it than a hormone? Science says so. Boys have a smaller corpus callosum, which is the part of the brain that connects the right and the left hemisphere, while girls have a larger corpus callosum. Abused little boys suffer from a 25% reduction in the corpus collosum while girls do not suffer from this problem. So what is so important about this "Corpus Collosum?" Most of us may have never even heard of this part of the brain until now. Well here's an excerpt from the article I was talking about:

This means boys actually need more love and care taking than girls as they grow up. If they do not receive enough interpersonal attention from their caretakers they suffer from damaged prefrontal cortices (self control, empathy) and from hyperactive amygdalae (fear centers), their corpus callosum is reduced further, and they have reduced serotonin levels (calming ability) and increased corticosterone production (stress hormone). All these factors make them have weak selves, reduced empathy, less control over impulsive violence and far more fears than girls.
~The Origins of War in Child Abuse by Lloyd deMause

The article is intense and goes into much detail how important it is to give boys EXTRA attention. MORE attention than girls need. More of all of it. More eye contact, more compassion, more touch and more love. Most of this responsibility lies on the woman in his life, the mother. So if you are a mother of a boy I strongly advise you to read the article in it's entirety over and over. Understand it fully. If you are a grown BOY who had nightmares of coming home from school and finding your mother gone I SUGGEST you read the article.

Here it is: Why Males Are More Violent

I didn't have the bond with John's friend that John did. I knew him and said hi, but that was about all of the opportunity I had to talk to him over the years. We were actually neighbors with him for some time in our second home. That's also where John's friendship with him grew since he would be in town for work a lot while I was out of state. I wish I would have known things back then that I know now. Just remember that you never know what people are going through. I remember a story in the book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People where a father was sitting in an airport allowing his children to act like wild animals. Finally when somebody complained he said he was sorry and that they had just left the hospital where his wife-their mother, had died. I always try to remember that when I encounter somebody having a bad day. I guess John's friend was close to the edge and we didn't know it. Had I only dared to share some things with him before. Here's what I would have said to John's friend AND all of the little boys who didn't get enough love:

I know you were not raised with unconditional love. I picture you as a little boy when your parents fought. I am so sad for you when your worst fears are realized and your mom hurts you with her words, hands or abandonment. I'm sorry you felt unwanted, unloved, and unliked. How can you give unconditional love if you don't know what it feels like. Little boys also need more care and understanding when they are young and your father was too hard on you. Raising you to be tough but emotionally destroying you.. I'm so sorry your mom left you and made you feel insignificant. So, so sorry. I just want to hold that little boy, look in his eyes and make him feel loved. You are special and you are important.

That all may seem silly to some but I think a lot of men may need to hear those things. Maybe even you reading this? I'm not sure where it all came from except my heart. :) Who knows. Remember kindness can change the world. :)

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” — Leo F. Buscaglia


I leave you with a tune by Dusty Springfield. It's easy! Just hold him and kiss him and squeeze him! Just show hi that you care.

What change has changed my life the most?

If you know me, you know I have made MANY changes over the last few years. Changes that have improved my life beyond what any words can say. So what is the change that I've made that has had the biggest impact on my life? Is it the elimination of processed foods and moving towards a live, whole food diet? Is it the elimination of pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, heavy metals, and toxic chemicals from my daily exposure? How about the peace that has come from lowering my impact on this planet? The action that impacted my life the most was the elimination of the TV. You heard right, the TV.

Now I liked my TV as much as the next American. I liked many of the reality shows like The Biggest Loser, The Hills and other shows like Medium captivated my Monday nights. I also loved the news. Nancy Grace and all of the current event programs sucked me in. Before that I watched 3 soap operas, (One Life to Live, All My Children and General Hospital-YUP all 3 were on during my daily duties as a mom)but after much nagging from my husband and Zig Zigler, I let those go. Now that I have been free from them for years I can see the negativity as soon as I see them for a few minutes. They literally suck the life out of you. UGH!

So we decided to take a huge jump about the beginning of March 2009. We decided to get rid of our TV and see what else life could offer besides being a zombie to the tube. It was CRAZY! It was strangely quiet! AND it was awesome! I was SO proud of myself as the days rolled on and I realized how much time the TV had been stealing from my life-and I didn't want it anymore. Everyday had so many possibilities instead of getting stuck being interested in the next program.

Even more important was separating myself from the bombardment of the constant negativity. Now if you watch TV regularly you may not be able to identify this negativity. I couldn't see it all before my TV detox. Oh, but now when I go to the gym and I'm surrounded by TV's, I can't believe what I hear. My IPOD died one day so I plugged into the TV's and I couldn't take it. They were either trying to convince me of an agenda or it was the opposite of a positive message. Then after hanging out at my brother in law's I realized it was even worse than I thought. As he channel surfed with my kids in the room, he couldn't find anything that even he thought was appropriate for them to watch. How have we as a society allowed ourselves to become so desensitized to these things. Trust me. You are no different than me. I had no problem with the TV. My enlightenment came from the lack of TV for so long. Okay, so there's one show I can think of that seems to be cool for my kids, The World's Dirtiest Jobs. :) We look for that one when we stay in hotels. BUT there are still those commercials telling us how to feel from certain clothes, hairstyles and cars.

This is how going without TV has changed my life:

-My instincts are louder and not manipulated by others anymore

-MORE time spent with my children

-MORE time spent with my husband

-More time reading books

-More time to research on the Internet

-More friends

-Tons more time outside getting my vitamin D

-More time to prepare healthy meals and relax and let my children help
-Our living room isn't focused on a zombie box, in fact we sold ours a couple months ago.

I really believe that the only way to have the effects I've had is to eliminate the TV completely for a long period of time. At least a month. I know that the addiction festers if you still watch a few shows a week. At least in my experience.

So, you see lack of TV has opened up so much more time to be filled with positive things that were otherwise being filled with crap. Without TV and it's brainwashing there is room for profound changes. Sure I have no clue what the heck is going on with American Idol, but I hated that show anyways. Why do I need to know who's winning? I don't care anymore. That need is gone in me. I also don't care what drugs Lindsay Lohan is doing or the goings on of any other stars personal life. I just found out about Sandra Bullock's divorce. That's the way it should be-none of our business. I follow the news online, like the oil spill, but I limit my exposure to the negative. I am doing myself a disservice if I meditate upon it. Anyone who watches Nancy Grace knows that it is the same murder case everyday, repeating the same phrases over and over. That's not healthy for anyone. I have lost faith in all of mainstream media anyways. Too many lies. When 5 (maybe four now) companies own all of the TV stations, the facts are bound to be skewed.

I saw an article a while back about how our brain waves are in full steam when online and basically turned down (or off hehe) when watching TV. If it's a habit, turn it to the Internet. Just a thought. :)
"You watch television to turn your brain off and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on." Steve Jobs
Are you ready to kill your TV yet? I'll lend you a bat, or these days I guess it takes a phone to call the cable company. :)  Tell them why too. It feels so great!




"Everybody’s got values . . . The thing that frightens me is the way that an eroding public school system . . . and television on all over the place is leading to a steady dumbing down of the American public and a corrosion of basic critical thinking in the population." ~Jamie Raskin, American University law professor, November 2004 on the Democracy Now! radio program

Just a reminder :)

You are special, you are strong, and you can make a difference. :)