Spread the diaper in the position of the baseball diamond with you at bat.  Then fold second base down to home and set the baby on the pitcher’s mound.  Put first base and third together, bring up home plate and pin the three together.  Of course, in case of rain, you gotta call the game and start all over again.
~Jimmy Piersal, on how to diaper a baby, 1968

..the terrible discovery that men make about their fathers sooner or later is that the man before him was not an aging father but a boy, a boy much like himself, a boy who grew up and had a child of his own and, as best he could, out of a sense of duty and, perhaps love, adopted a role called Being a Father so that his child would have something mythical and infinitely important: a Protector, who would keep a lid on all the chaotic and catastrophic possibilities of life.  ~Tom Wolfe, The Bonfire of the Vanities

Last night I discovered WeTV’s I Want To Save Your Life with the Diet Detective, Charles Stuart Platkin.  It’s not just another makeover show..  It’s fun and lively and gives great information in a not-pushy way.  Friends of overweights invite him to come give tips and tricks to learn a better way of living and eating.  I saw two episodes in a row last night.  One was a husband and wife team, Diana and Juan, with several small children.  Their parents had diabetes and heart issues due to overweight, and they wanted to make sure they would be alive to raise their kids.  Each was maybe 80-100 pounds overweight.  Charles first went through the refrigerator and pantry and had them read the labels for calories, sugar, fat and sodium content.  This was the first time they’d read food labels and were stunned by what they saw.  “It says one thing on the front of the label and when you turn it around and read it, it’s a whole other story,” Diana said.

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Sheesh.  I have no one to blame but myself.  Imagine that.  Six days ago I mowed the yard and a few hours later got a scratchy throat and dry cough.  I went to bed and woke up in full blown sinus and chest congestion.  Ok, hay fever I thought, and I used my neti pot, upped my Vitamin C in case it was a cold and began drinking my Breathe Easy tea.  I didn’t think much more of it, it’ll pass in a day or two.  But it didn’t.  By day 3, I was coughing a lot with filled sinuses and a giant sinus pressure headache, as well as feeling I had broken ribs from the coughing.  I ran out of steam within 4-5 hours of getting up.  I’d slept 16 hours a day for the first 3 days.  But I was so wrapped up in the final layout of the July Horizons that I didn’t stop to think – now what do I know about this sinus/coughing thang?  On day 5 I asked on Facebook, “Ok, day 5 of a heavily congested chest – help! What REALLY works to clear it?” When the first person mentioned Mucinex, my first thought was – “I don’t know if I want to be putting chemicals in my body.”   When I researched to see what was in it and saw the word guaifenesin, something clicked in my brain.  It occurred to me to search my blog to see if I’d mentioned it before.  I was surprised to find I’d written just 4 months ago Guaifenesin – Generic Mucinex – to the Rescue. Continue reading →

SPIRITUAL CINEMA:  Visions of a Universal Humanity, a Barbara Marx Hubbard Film
Thursday, June 17th at  6:30 pm & Sunday, June 27th  at 1:30 pm
Unity of Melbourne, 1745 Trimble Road, Melbourne, FL 32935

In Visions, futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard brings together some of the finest minds of our time, presenting us with positive, future scenarios for humanity based on the latest scientific, social and spiritual realities. If you are tired of all the focus on what i bad and wrong with our world, come join us as we focus on that which is possible.  See the trailer at www.visionsthemovie.com.

“I love Barbara Marx Hubbard and this is a vision of the future I’ve been waiting for!” ~ Elizabeth Stamper

Saturday morning I moved the lawn and shortly after that my sinuses began draining, so I figured it for a touch of hay fever.  By noon I was coughing and sneezing and felt very low energy. I slept 18 hours both Saturday and Sunday.  Monday I woke up feeling fine, a little sniffly, but much rested.  My head was so stuffed yesterday that I sounded like a monster on the phone  By 3:00pm, the coughing came back with a vengence so I bit the bullet and took some Nyquil and ate some chicken soup.  By 5pm I was sound asleep and woke up 12 hours later.  For the most part it’s gone and I feel really good after all that sleep.  An added bonus is that when I have the sniffles, it’s a hassle to eat and breathe at the same time, so I basically skip eating except for fluids.  Today I’m 5 pounds lighter than I was Friday, which is 5 pounds lighter than I was last month.  Yay!  When I no longer care about losing weight, it starts slipping off by itself.  I can live with that.

The body knows before I do.  I had another example of that this week.  Like before I get a hot flash, I will have the thought in my head “hot flash”.  I didn’t know that until I knew to look for it.  Or if I am going to get indigestion, I know it because I feel compelled to take my neckchain off several hours before.  When I get stressed, my body gets a hot red patch in a particular spot, which disappears as soon as the stress is gone.  I only get it every few years.  I get it even if I am not aware that I’m stressed.  The last time it happened, it was in October 2006 when I did the Gateway Voyage at the Monroe Institute .  I was not feeling any stress at the time and was on a happy road trip with galpal Rev. Beth Head. Suddenly the first night on the road, I notice it.  It let me know that there would be stress going on.  But I was on the week’s retreat for change, so I figured stress would be part of that.  A few days later I had a breakthrough experience and within an hour the red patch was gone.  It had done its part to convey its message.  Then last week I got the red patch again! Continue reading →