Decisions, Decisions

If the pain wanders, do not waste your time with doctors. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

The... patient should be made to understand that he or she must take charge of his own life. Don't take your body to the doctor as if he were a repair shop. ~Quentin Regestein

I received an email from the very sweet and thoughtful, Maria Zannini last night which reminded me that I haven't shared a recent decision with you about my knee surgery.

The short version is this: I've canceled it.

Now, the long story (if you're interested). Way back in the fall when the doc suggested surgery, I started heavily researching alternative treatments. I don't like surgery (who does, except those plastic surgery addicted people?) and wondered if there might be other options.

I made several lifestyle changes.

I went to a diet of about 70% raw foods, heavy on greens like spinach, and even now have a "green" smoothie for breakfast every day (it has cucumber, carrot, broccoli, apple, spinach, blueberries, ground flaxseed, soy yogurt and orange juice) and sometimes for dinner, too. Cucumber and flaxseed are good for cartilage and ligament strength, broccoli, blueberries and orange juice are high in anti-oxidants and spinach is just good for everything. If you ate nothing but spinach for the rest of your life, you'd probably stay healthy.

I (mostly) decaffeinated myself. I stopped drinking soda (there is evidence that the carbonation actually depletes calcium from our bones). I added high doses of glucosomine/chondrontin/MSM to my diet, as well as additional supplements of fish oil and vitamin C. I also take Yucca, which is an herbal anti-inflammatory (it's great for arthritis in people AND dogs, in case you wondered).

As my knee felt better (and it did!) I began exercising it. Walking more. Taking the stairs. I could kneel on it and squat! I added in some stretching (I've lost a little range of movement in both directions -- it takes an effort to straighten my knee all the way, though I can without pain, and bending it all the way is difficult). As a side effect to all of this, the joint pain I've had in my toe for ten years AND the joint pain I've had in my right thumb for three or four years disappeared almost completely. My toe, which was noticeably swollen, is not any more. And it doesn't hurt for me to write with a pencil or open cans (it's incredible how much we use our thumbs).

As I mentioned on my blog a couple weeks ago, in preparation for my surgery I was required to go off all my supplements. My knee was feeling about 95% well and I was already beginning to waffle on the need for surgery. Then... I started to hurt again. Not just my knee, which didn't "hurt" exactly but felt off a little, but my thumb joint as well.

It made me think. Could it be that the more major surgery he'd recommended -- the one where he would be drilling into my bone to stimulate cartilage growth (that may or may not work) wasn't necessary? Was it possible that my body was starting to heal itself? Could it be that most of my pain was due to arthritis (which he said I have in my knee)?

Was I being foolish to even think of canceling / postponing the surgery? I wanted some different opinions from the people who care about me the most and who would be vested in seeing me feel better. I talked to my husband and my mother.

My husband is an IT guy. He thinks with his head and isn't really into what he calls "the woo-woo stuff". But when I asked him his thoughts he surprised the heck out of my by saying, "Surgery is always a last option. I fully believe that there isn't much in our bodies that can't be healed by proper diet and exercise." And he reminded me that I could always reschedule the surgery if it became clear that my way wasn't working.

My mom, who is more into "the woo-woo stuff", and has successfully kept rheumatoid arthritis symptoms at bay for going on twenty years now without prescription medicine (something doctors never believe when she tells them, so they retest her every few years because they think she'd be crippled by now if she had it and wasn't treating it their way) said basically the same thing.

On Wednesday, the day before my pre-op appointment, I called in and canceled everything. And I restarted my supplements. It's been four days since that occurred, and as of this morning my knee is feeling almost back to where it was before. My thumb only aches a little and I'm able to use it at 100% again as well.

Some people would say it's all in my head. Maybe. But even if it is, if I feel better.... who cares? I think it's nutritional, though. And I have every confidence that over the next couple of months I'll be back at 100%.

And that's the rest of the story.

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You Are Deep

You like to have fun, but you aren't a big fan of frivolity. You object to too much silliness. You are quite intellectual and thoughtful. You get a lot of satisfaction from doing important work. You are steady and consistent. You find it easy to commit to projects and people. You don't let your emotions decide for you. You follow your head, not your heart.

What Does Your Least Favorite Color Say About You?

Well, that's spot on. And again, that freaks me out a little...

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Good Morning!

Albert Einstein, who discovered that a tiny amount of mass is equal to a huge amount of energy, which explains why, as Einstein himself so eloquently put it in a famous 1939 speech to the Physics Department at Princeton, "You have to exercise for a week to work off the thigh fat from a single Snickers." ~Dave Barry, Dave Barry Turns 50

Dakota woke me up before the crack of dawn today -- sort of a good news / bad news thing. Good: I'm getting stuff done! Bad: I'm SO tired.

My title gave me an earworm .... let me share *G*:



Day two of Weight Watchers was MUCH easier (for me, anyway -- DD had a harder time). My best WW friend? Salsa. It's zero points and I use it on everything. I use it as salad dressing, I put it in my food. Mmmm.... I do love salsa.

DD got an eye-opener at the bread store, though. We brought our points calculator, and she used it on bagels and donuts. ONE donut is 8 points (considering we get approximately 20 per day, that gives you an idea of just how bad it is). It's been giving us a lot of chances to talk about what is healthy and what isn't, what nutrients are less good for your body (like fat -- you need SOME healthy fat every day, but not too much) and which ones are best.

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Note to my Nook: I really hate it when you run out of charge in the last twenty pages of a suspense novel. Really. Just saying. Conveniently, though, I can plug it in an read it if I must.

Still, I LOVE the free eBooks. I have a ton, and yesterday got "Scandal Sheet" by Gemma Holiday (thanks, Tori) for nuthin'. Smart folks giving away the first book in a series. I'm a sucker for a good series.

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And now, I'm off to write. Did things backward today since I was up early. Wish me luck!

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You Are Deep

You try to observe the world rather than judge it. You feel like you are here to learn. You see every side to people. You know that things are complicated and nuanced. You have trouble getting along with people who are flippant or silly. You crave substance. You connect best with philosophical, thoughtful types. Your friends care about ideas.

The Paint Daub Test

Maybe 50/50?

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Food

I'm trying to eat better. And, I do feel wise after drinking tea. After eating vegetables, I just feel hungry. ~Carrie Latet

Overslept this morning -- I knew it was bound to happen as I've been exhausted the past week and eventually my body says, "Okay, enough of this." I woke up at 6:10 which is REALLY late for me. But I do feel a little better today.

DD and I started on Weight Watchers yesterday. I need to drop 15 - 20 lbs, and she could benefit from losing at least 5 (or else holding steady until she grows into what's there). The biggest thing I want her to get out of this is the knowledge of just what is actually IN food (like 16 grams of fat in a tablespoon of peanut butter) and the ability to make wise choices when it comes to meals and snacks.

When I was her age, I was skinny, skinny, skinny. But I also lived on a huge piece of property, had no electricity (ergo no TV, etc) and personal computers hadn't been invented. The only video game was Pong. I actually had to walk a couple miles to the bus stop every day. We had P.E. daily, plus THREE recesses where we played jump rope or dodge ball, etc. I was on track, volleyball and basketball teams. I had a pony to ride. In other words, I was VERY active.

Additionally, we grew or raised much of our own food. My mom cooked nearly everything from scratch, using whole grains for bread products. We had WHOLE oat oatmeal that didn't come from a packet, used goats milk from our goat. I was healthy and it was easy to be that way.

Now? Not so much. It's a different world, and I need to teach her how to live in it in as healthy a way as possible. She doesn't get as much exercise as I'd like, in part due to the fact that I hurt my knee a few weeks ago and have been very restricted in activities, so our walks and bike rides have dwindled.

Still, we'll get there. Despite much grumbling from both of us, we made it through yesterday and hopefully we'll do okay today. DH is home, and he's a junk food junkie, so it makes it tough to be smart when he's around. Here's hoping!

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Wrote just over 500 words again today. The timer is working. I might start using it twice a day instead of just once, since I really need to be getting 1000 words down for the next few days to meet my goal.

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You Are a Giraffe Print

You are a graceful and classy person. You are flexible enough to fit in with any crowd. You are very down to earth and responsible. You always see what's coming, and you are prepared for it. You may not look like the strongest creature in the world, but you are secretly incredibly tough. You have an amazing survival instinct, and your endurance is unmatched. People should never test you!

What Animal Print Are You?

That's about 75% right.

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Healthful and Homemade

It's bizarre that the produce manager is more important to my children's health than the pediatrician. ~Meryl Streep

I do a lot of reading on nutrition. I typically always have a non-fiction book on the nightstand, and it's invariably about nutrition: human or pet. Recently, I've been reading what I've found to be the most (apparently) honest and unbiased book I've found on human nutrition ... though to call it a book about "nutrition" may be a misnomer. What it's really about is food ... and IMHO there is a vast difference between food and nutrition.

The book is called "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan and it's fantastic. He's written about how we get our food and what goes into getting our food. He covers corn (which is involved in nearly everything we eat), CAFO's (Confined Animal Feeding Operations aka feedlots), REAL grass fed/cage free animals (he featured a place called Polyface Farms, and I am in awe of their system and wished I lived in Virginia) and lastly, he covered hunting and gathering.

What was most interesting about this book was two-fold.

1. He's not a rabid anything. Most books I read on food and nutrition have an agenda that is clear and they beat you over the head with it. He's not anti-any kind of food (i.e. no "carbs are bad" or "meat is evil") and appears to have gone into the research of this book with a fairly open mind.

2. He was hands on (or as hands-on as he could be -- the CAFO's wouldn't let him onto the killing floor) during each segment of the book. He worked with a corn farmer, bought a calf to observe as it made its way through a CAFO, worked on Polyface Farms (up to and including slaughter) and hunted and gathered. He was quite open about his observations, even when they may have been less than flattering about himself.

The point of all this gabbing on my part is this: I've decided to embark on a year of living healthfully and as locally as possible. I've decided to try to eliminate as many processed foods as I can (and, as a result, eliminate as much hidden corn from my diet as possible) and learn how to make my own homemade versions of what I can. I'd like to share some of the nutritional tidbits I've learned and share with you my experiments (both failures and successes -- I've already had both) and I'll be sharing the book I've been discussing with some lucky people in a giveaway. I'm not sure how I'll give it away, or how often yet ... it's all still forming in my brain.

But, I've started a new blog for this, Healthful & Homemade, and I'd love for you to visit. The postings probably won't be daily, but they'll be regular (you might want to "follow" it so you don't have to check back unless there is something actually there) and I'll make it as entertaining and informative as I can.

Hope to see you there!

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What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West   Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I saw this on Maria Zannini's blog and had to try it. It pegged me!! Yes, I am from the west, California to be exact -- how did it know?

What about you?

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Tuesday Tuesome

Because I can't think of a thing to say... I give you:

THE TUESDAY TUESOME:

Health…
1. Do you take vitamins and if so, what?

Yep: Multi, calcium, B-complex, Flax oil, St. John's Wort and Iron (I only takt that twice a week).

2. Do you make an effort to eat healthy, or you eat whatever you feel like eating?

I try to eat healthy: whole grains, lots of veggies (yum!), almost no sugar or refined foods, etc. I also try to choose mostly organics -- especially when it comes to dairy and eggs, because to earn the label "organic" you must also treat your animals humanely, so it's a two-in-one!

3. What two types of food do you have a hard time staying away from?

Chocolate. And French fries (or potato chips -- same thing, really).

4. What are two food items you refuse to eat?

Cow and pig.

5. Are you pleased with your daily diet or do you think it could be better?

It could always be better, but I think I have a healthier diet than many.

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You Are the Ace of Hearts

Youthful and playful, you love life and the world. You have a kind spirit, and you bring happiness to everyone you know. Artistic and bold, you see the world in bright colors. And you certainly aren't afraid to express everything you see and feel. You are sentimental, and your emotions are very deep. You are easily swept away and easily hurt. A gamble you should take: Blackjack Your friends would describe you as: Unique Your enemies would describe you as: Weepy If you lived in Vegas, you would be: An up and coming chef or fashion designer

What Playing Card Are You?

Ha. Easily swept away? Weepy? Not. But, sentimental? You bet.

If I Must

Grammar is the logic of speech, even as logic is the grammar of reason. ~ Richard C. Trench

I had some interesting comments, yesterday, in regards to MY comments on the overuse of "that" in writing. Please note, its isn't that I'm opposed to using that word when it is necessary. The point was, that sometimes its use isn't necessary. The Long and the Short of It actually had a lovely article about that word last week, that may help clear up what I meant.

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Judy and I were gabbing the other day, and somehow (I don't remember how) we decided to go on Weight Watchers together. I must be out of my mind -- I'm going to attempt NaNoWriMo without the benefit of unlimited chocolate! So, to help keep me accountable, I'm putting up a weight loss ticker. Yikes!

Today, the ticker is here. But tomorrow, it will be on the sidebar. Heaven help me.




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My eyeballs were killing me yesterday -- too much computer, probably. So I opted to write, last nigh, in longhand. Shocking, but true. Judy suggested a new idea (and, Judy, you were right, it's easier to *ahem* write a lot than none, LOL...) and I ran with it, to the tune of seven handwritten pages. I need to transcribe it, now, but at least I'm writing again.

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ANIMOLOGY: What Animal Are You? Your Result: Tan Giraffe Loner. You're a sort of a loner, but you are very brave and a quick thinker. You have a little secret: you like to help others. Soul Mate is the Red Jaguar, but you hate the Marroon Panda.
Gold Falcon
Ocre and Gray Dolphin
Red Jaguar
Silver and Red Wolf
Teal Cat
Blue Fox
Yellow Trout
ANIMOLOGY: What Animal Are You?

Grrr.... Just THINKING about a maroon panda makes me angry...

Wednesday Already?

“Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose.” - Tom Krause

That quote is what writing for publication is all about.

So...I got a flash (thumb) drive yesterday. It may have been a little too little too late, though, because my old desktop wouldn't boot up. It has my website on it. I don't have FrontPage on my laptop (yet), so have been doing updates to the website down in the mushroom pit. I don't know if DH looked at it last night... I hope all is well.

In any case, this *should* mean that I won't lose documents any more -- um, unless I lose the tiny little flash drive.

Where should I keep it? It needs to be convenient, but safe. And I need to remember where it is. How many times have you put something somewhere that made sense at the time, only to be utterly unable to locate the thing again? Oh well, I'm sure I'll figure out something. I'm just glad to have entered the current century.

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The darling dog woke me at midnight, and again at 3:40 (the last time was done, not by whining, but by licking me in the face... a lovely way to wake). I stayed up the last time... worked on my reviews stuff first (mostly clearing out the inbox) for an hour! And I don't have it even half done. What do y'all think? We get quite a bit of traffic, but few comments, so I don't know if people love LASR, hate it, or are apathetic.

Keep in mind that we don't do negative reviews. This doesn't mean we're dishonest. What it means is -- if one reviewer reads a piece and doesn't like it, she passes it on. If the second reviewer doesn't like it, it goes to me (or to Judy). If we don't like it, it doesn't get reviewed.

As an author myself, I simply can't give snarky reviews to someone. They did what they thought was best, someone else (a publisher) thought it was good enough to print. Reviews are, by and large, a simple opinion. Opinions vary. I always point out that I didn't like "Outlander", when the rest of the world seems to think it's the best romance ever written.

See... opinions.

I think I'm rambling. Must need more coffee.

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Our latest caterpillars, now named "Eenie", "Meenie", and "Miney" (the pupa is "Moe"), are growing like crazy. If humans grew this fast, we'd double in size every two or three days. It's incredible. They are no longer little black worms, but are instead miniatures of what they'll look like as grown up 'pillars. Well, except for poor Eenie, who's a little behind the others.

I'm still trying to figure out how the fragile dill plant is going to hold these buggers when they're bigger.

I'd take pictures (would you really be interested?), but I haven't uploaded my cameras software onto my laptop yet. Considering the state of my desktop, I may want to consider doing so. Perhaps today.

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I mentioned to Judy yesterday that my blog hits have gone down lately. Have I bored you all to tears? Do hits count when they're read through an RSS feed?

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I got on the scale this morning. I lost four pounds, and have NO IDEA how that happened. Now, that's my kind of diet.

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The Movie Of Your Life Is A Black Comedy

In your life, things are so twisted that you just have to laugh. You may end up insane, but you'll have fun on the way to the asylum. Your best movie matches: Being John Malkovich, The Royal Tenenbaums, American Psycho

If Your Life Was a Movie, What Genre Would It Be?

Books and Soda In the News

These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves. From each of them goes out its own voice... and just as the touch of a button on our set will fill the room with music, so by taking down one of these volumes and opening it, one can call into range the voice of a man far distant in time and space, and hear him speaking to us, mind to mind, heart to heart. ~ Gilbert Highet

This weekend, as I contemplated the fact that my library held nothing of interest to me except that which I've already read, I made up a list of books I enjoy and like to reread and plan to hit the UBS down the street. I already went to WalMart, BJs, Sams and Target for the ones I could buy new at a reasonable price, as I do prefer to buy new whenever possible. But, SAHM=Limited Budget.

Then I saw this: Kansas City Bookstore Owner Burns Books to Protest Decline in Reading

Apparently this guy wanted to thin his stock and has several thousand books from his UBS to give away -- and says he couldn't find a place who would take them!

This is such a tragedy, it makes me want to cry. Literally.

My DD didn't do her chores last week -- and if she misses too many, she loses privileges. I've tried taking away TV and making her bedtime earlier along with a decrease or loss of her allowance, but none of that seems to matter to her. This past week? I took away reading before bed and at meals (yeah, I know it's a bad habit, but I do it, too...so she's learned). Now, she's distraught.

"Mommy, could I please read? Just today? I promise I'll do my chores."

AHA! Found her weakness!!

Too bad more people wouldn't miss it if you took their books away.

While perusing the online news, I also came across this:

Caution: Some soft drinks may seriously harm your health

This article indicates that there is strong reason to believe that a common preservative found in drinks such as Fanta and Diet Pepsi has the ability to switch off vital parts of DNA, eventually leading to cirrhosis of the liver and degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's.

Now, I don't really drink that much soda, but when I do, it's typically diet Pepsi so I'm impacted by this. Could I give it up? Absolutely. Do I want to? Not really... but still... Parkinson's? Ugh. I'm keeping an eye on this for awhile.

What about you? Do you drink soda? Could you give it up if you discovered it caused severe health problems?

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DH is strongly encouraging me to get a novel published instead of "just" short stories. So, this weekend I've worked on editing one of them. If you look at the sidebar, you'll see that I'm about halfway done. Then I have to write the synopsis and query. Ugh, ugh, ugh.

I'm not sure if this one will get a complete read through by anyone. I won't have time to post it all in my group, and it's awfully long for anyone to get through and nit in one reading. It's already been looked at in its entirety by one good friend and that's what I'm working through now. I may take a chance and hope it stands as is. We'll see.

In any case, that's what I'll be working on for the most part in the week to come. I also have a short story with characters I really love, so I may pull that out now and then when I'm going cross-eyed over the novel.

Have a wonderful week!

Give it Up?

My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people. ~ Orson Welles

Because I'll forget if I don't say it now: Go visit Allie's Blog for Writers Wednesday and read a great writing tip. Even better? Leave a comment, and be put in a drawing to win a $5 Amazon.com gift certificate!

I ran out of words yesterday. It was the strangest thing. I had nothing to write. Not a thing. Do you recall that my blog entry was mostly pictures? I couldn't do revisions, couldn't write, had no inspiration and nothing seemed to help.

I can't recall if that's ever happened to me before. I hope it doesn't happen again today. I have stuff I want to get done.

"Miles From You" is number five on the bestseller list at The Wild Rose Press. And number five at All Short Stories for TWRP. Not bad. I'm kinda bumming, though, because I have two reviews up at that last site, and they're "good" and "okay". I know, it could be worse, but I want "great"! I really loved that story...

Melissa has been dieting (in preparation for the RWA conference) and is using a particular program from the book, "Eat to Live". I've been reading through the book and I agree with pretty much everything he says, and I'm certainly going to add more fruits and veggies to my diet immediately (not that I'm not already eating a lot, just not as much as he recommends: 1 or 2 HUGE salads and 4 fruits daily)...

But...

I don't think I could keep on his program for any length of time. Not because I could only have a little cheese or yogurt. I have no problem eliminating animal foods from my diet (though he says you can have them in moderation).

It's the coffee and chocolate part.

He says you can have 1 cup of coffee occasionally. But I LOVE my coffee and really don't care if it's regular or decaf, I just like the taste. And I drink it with chocolate soy milk. Every morning I drink an entire pot of coffee with about 1 1/2 cups of chocolate soy milk. I spent all night thinking about it and again this morning (as I sip at my mug of java).

What about you?

What would be a deal-breaker for you on a diet? Seriously -- what would be one thing you simply couldn't give up?

BTW, it was interesting to see that the gardeners and non-gardeners were about evenly split yesterday. I just always assume everyone must love getting out there and weeding and planting and tending as much as I do.

I attacked our woods a bit yesterday afternoon. There is one thing good I can say about New Hampshire -- stuff GROWS here. Like crazy. If we didn't fight with our back woods, our entire lawn would be forest in only a few years. It's truly amazing.

Here's hoping I find some words today. I'm going to give it a go. Have a great day!