Tis the Season

Christmas shopping complete!

Yesterday was not only a lovely date day, but it was also productive!

We watched the early showing of 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1' and really enjoyed it, although we wished we'd rewatched the prequel beforehand because we'd forgotten some important details!

Later, while Adoring Husband was side tracked briefly by SES duties, I got almost all of the Christmas shopping done, and then finished it off in his company, before we had a late lunch at Aquavue.

I've spent this morning wrapping everything and writing out cards and will mail it all out tomorrow.

This makes me far more organised than in previous years. In fact, one year Adoring Husband and I realised 2 days before Christmas that we hadn't done ANY shopping and ended up transferring money into everybody's account on Christmas Eve!!

Some of our family are celebrating Hanukkah this year, so that's a whole new ball game! Time for me to learn a bit more about Judaism.

Anyway, today I want to share some information about Calcium.

No species, except humans, continue drinking milk past infancy.

In the human body, the enzyme (lactase), that digests the main sugar (lactose), in milk, stops being produced by our bodies between the ages two and five years old. So, as adults, the undigested sugars from milk, end up in the colon, where they begin to ferment causing gas, cramping, bloating and diarrhoea.

Being able to digest milk as an adult is a weird genetic adaptation that is still occurring, but being able to digest milk is so strange, that scientists say we shouldn't really call 'lactose intolerance' a disease, because what's really weird is the ability to continue to drink milk.

Somewhere along the line, 'somebody' decided that we should include milk/dairy as a food group and humans selected cow's milk because of the cow's docile nature, its size, and its abundant milk supply.

Consider for a moment, if it was possible, to drink the milk of a mammal other than a cow, let's say a rat, or perhaps the milk of a dog would be more to your liking. Possibly some horse milk or cat milk. Do you get the idea? In other words, human milk is for human infants, dogs' milk is for pups, cows' milk is for calves, cats' milk is for kittens etc. Clearly, this is the way nature intends it.

Milk is not just milk. The milk of every species of mammal is unique and specifically tailored to the requirements of that animal. We are not cows.

A glass of cow's milk contains acidic animal protein that actually leeches calcium from the bones. Over time, a flawed belief that humans are required to consume three glasses of milk daily to sustain bone health and strength created the milk myth. And now, the supposed "truths" about milk we were all taught to believe are being debunked by studies ranging from those published in reputable scientific journals, such as the Journal of Nutrition and The American Journal of Epidemiology.

Milk and dairy products are pro-inflammatory and mucus producing. Milk increases the risks of respiratory conditions and allergies. It has been linked to the development of arthritis due to joints becoming inflamed.

I want to clarify that unsweetened cultured or fermented dairy such as kefir or yogurt are actually acid neutral, and as long as they don't contain sugar, have health benefits. Ghee, which is clarified butter that originated in India, is also known to be very beneficial to the body.

So your next question is "if not from dairy, where should I get my calcium?". I suggest NOT from supplements...

“Beyond being ineffective for bone health, calcium supplements are associated with some pretty serious health risks. Studies on the relationship between calcium and cardiovascular disease (CVD) suggest that dietary intake of calcium protects against heart disease, but supplemental calcium may increase the risk. A large study of 24,000 men and women aged 35–64 years published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) in 2012 found that those who used calcium supplements had a 139% greater risk of heart attack during the 11-year study period, while intake of calcium from food did not increase the risk. A meta-analysis of studies involving more than 12,000 participants also published in BMJ found that calcium supplementation increases the risk of heart attack by 31%, stroke by 20% and death from all causes by 9%.”

To be safe, calcium should be consumed from food sources and NOT synthetic supplements or artificially fortified foods.

You also need to consider that if you are lacking Vitamin D and Magnesium, then your body simply cannot absorb calcium anyway.

Food sources of calcium are:

Bone broth - is an excellent source of Calcium and many other minerals. My recipe for bone broth using either chicken carcasses or the back bones of beef is for the slow cooker (or on a very low simmer on the stove). Add an unpeeled carrot and onion, a few garlic cloves chopped, a stick or two of celery, 2 T Himalayan salt and 80ml of Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar (which helps remove the calcium and minerals from the bones). Cook it on a low simmer for at least 12 hours (I usually keep mine simmering for 22-24 hours). Either drink it on it's own or use it in stocks, sauces, soups and gravies.

Even a tiny amount of calcium from bones is easily absorbed, making broth one of the best sources of calcium.

Fish with bones - Fish with bones are an excellent source of calcium. An easy and inexpensive way to consume fish with bones is in the form of canned fish like salmon (with bones) and sardines (with bones). The bones become soft during the canning process so they can be easily chewed and consumed with the fish.

Because these foods are also a good source of Vitamin D, they enhance digestion of the calcium and make it more usable.

Egg shells - Keep your eggshells. Wash the insides of the shell so that all the egg white is gone and when you have enough, boil them up for about 10 - 20 minutes, then lay them on a baking tray and dry them out in the oven (about 20 minutes at 160C). Put them through a grinder to form a powder and store it in a container in your pantry. I add a teaspoon to my morning smoothie or you can sprinkle it over your cereal, add it to your sweet potato/cauliflower puree. It can be added to just about anything.

Dark leafy greens - Dark leafy greens are another great dietary source of calcium, though some are better than others. Collard Greens, Turnip Greens, Bok Choy, Kale and Broccoli all ranked really well for being absorbable sources of calcium while spinach and seaweed ranked low on the list.

Other good food sources of calcium are figs, beans, blackstrap molasses, almonds, sesame seeds, oysters and seafood.

The big advantage to using these foods for your calcium requirements, is that they have so many other beneficial vitamins and minerals as well.

I hope all of this makes sense. I tried to condense it as much as possible and put it all in the simplest terms.

Christmas lights photos still to come. There are storms headed in our direction again this evening, so I doubt I'll have any luck tonight.

I'll be glad when storm season is over - even though the rain is lovely and very much needed, the uncertainty of every storm and it's intensity is quite stressful - especially for those of us with PTSD from the tornado last year.  It's always nice to chat with fellow victims of that night, just to know that I we are not the only ones panicking a little every time we hear thunder.

I'm off to watch some cricket. Go Aussies!!

Nite all.

Decorated

Well, the tree is up and decorated ... I will attempt a better photo tomorrow night, to show the different colours ...

... but it's raining tonight, so I couldn't take a photo of the outside lights. Maybe tomorrow night.

There is still lightning and thunder about and still plenty of rain on the radar, but the weather is nice .. not scary.

As for my day, nothing much to report, other than a lovely morning tea with Kaz. Just the two of us, because everyone else was busy .. it's that time of year.

Tomorrow is date day, so I'm off to bed to get my beauty sleep.

Nite all.

PS My apologies .. I wrote this last night, but forgot to publish it!

It's Christmassy

Due to SES commitments, Adoring Husband has only today, been able to decorate the outside of our house with Christmas lights and decorations ... just in time for a nasty storm to hit and almost wipe the whole lot out!

The tree is also up, but not decorated yet ... I'll do that tomorrow ... and we have other inside decorations that need to be hung tomorrow too.

So it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I'll take photos when it's all done.

Meanwhile, I spent some more time in the kitchen making an Apple Caramel Coffee Cake ...

... and a Cauliflower Crust Stromboli ...

... and Battered Fish (GF) with Sweet Potato Rosti and Snow Peas, of which I don't have a photo to show you.

So, we've eaten well today, although dinner was a bit late tonight, because AH was involved in an SES callout for someone who got some damage in the storm this afternoon.

I must try to fit some study in tomorrow because AH and I have a 'date day' booked for Wednesday.

Time for bed now.

Nite all.

TV and Food

A lazy kind of Sunday for Adoring Husband and I.

We bypassed the Seat of Knowledge this morning because the town's problem resident was there and I didn't want to start my Sunday with a dose of negativity, so AH and I went straight for our morning coffee fix instead.

A short sharp morning storm hit while we were there and after AH rushed home during a break in the rain, I got myself another coffee and sat with a friend for a catch up.

When I got home, AH and I watched a movie starring Michael Douglas and Dianne Keaton called 'And So It Goes'. It wasn't as funny as I expected, but still quite enjoyable.

I made an omelette for lunch, which turned out to be a cross between an omelette and scrambled egg .. I've never professed to be a great omelette maker. I seem to struggle with omelettes and ANZAC biscuits for some strange reason.

AH and I spent the rest of the afternoon watching Season 7 of Big Bang Theory which was a good giggle.

I made some energy balls with a list of ingredients so long, I don't even think I could remember everything to list them here, but they included maca powder, raw cacao, grated dark chocolate, hemp oil, coconut oil, dates, cranberries, raisins, almonds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pistachios, coconut, tahini, nut butter, maple syrup and that's all I can remember.

There are about 30 of them, they are pretty tasty and very healthy!

Lamb rack with veggies and gravy for dinner.

********

There was some sad news in the neighbourhood today, our neighbour in the rental property next door passed away during the night. He had been ill for a long time with emphysema, requiring an oxygen bottle to help him breathe and a wheel chair to get around. I spoke to his wife just last week, who told me that she didn't expect him to last much longer.

RIP Ray.

********

Nite all.

Somewhere over ...

... the rainbow.

We've had a day full of thunderous storms, amazing lightning and heavy rains.

A water spout crossed onto land and caused some damage in The Bay.

A woman was hit by lightning at the Howard markets this morning. I don' t know the status of her condition.

There have been a number of short blackouts here in town, but Howard lost their power for hours .. in fact, I don't even know if they have it back on yet.

I rode my trike to the local supermarket this morning, thinking that I could be there and back before the big storm hit, but I misjudged badly and ended up having to ride the storm out in the supermarket. After about 30 minutes, there was a break in the rain and I pedalled home, but there was still a lot of lightning about and I was afraid that I'd get hit! Obviously I made it home safe n sound.

I spent a lot of time in the kitchen today.

Overnight, I'd made a good batch of chicken stock, so I packaged and froze some of it and I made some chicken and vegetable soup for a friend who's husband is very ill and malnourished. I tried to deliver it today, but she was out and he wasn't answering the door. I'll try again tomorrow.

I had a heap of organic oranges, so I juiced them with kiwi fruit and coconut water and now I have a huge jug of delicious juice in the fridge.

I cooked a corned beef in the slow cooker and we had that for dinner with a delicious cabbage/onion/bacon mixture simmered in some home made beef broth and then sprinkled some toasted slivered almonds on top.

I had plans to make an apple and coffee cake, but that might have to wait til tomorrow.

No study today .. I couldn't focus with the crappy weather conditions .. not that I ever need much of an excuse!

More storms are forecast all week long, so I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Nite all.

Never too late!

Just goes to show that it's never too late!! 96 years old!!



I'm super excited to announce that I STUDIED today!!

Woot! Woot! Three whole hours!

That's it. Now that I've started, I may have kicked that procrastination bug up the butt!!

I'm feeling confident :)

Chemistry was my subject of choice today and even though the lecturer said that Chemistry really isn't that hard .. I feel that she lied .. just a little bit, because I'm only part way through the first lesson and I'm already bamboozled!!

Anyway ...

Nite all.

Mango Promises

Our mango tree has fruited for the first time and it has LOTS of mangoes dangling from the branches.

The animals and birds ate my peaches and my mulberries and I'm not going to let them eat my mangoes, so today, I found the old exclusion bags that we used to protect our tomatoes and I put them on most of the mangoes on the tree.

So now I have an exclusion bag tree .. of which I will take a photo tomorrow to show you.

That was my first chore this morning to start the procrastination process for the day, to avoid study.

I cooked up some curried sausages and roasted a chicken. I made the dog's food, which took a bit longer than expected, being such a big batch. I got 13 days worth of meals all packaged and frozen.

For all the time it took to cook and prepare all of that .. it took just as long to clean the kitchen afterwards! I emptied and refilled the dishwasher 3 times today and still had big pots and bowls that needed to be hand washed.

Anyway, that took up all of my day and now I am watching one of my favourite movies "Fried Green Tomatoes".

Adoring Husband spent the morning doing a forensic search down in Gympie with the SES, spent the afternoon at the SES shed, came home for both lunch and dinner, then returned to the shed for training in the evening.

So we've both had a full day.

Here's a photo of The Sex Therapist, Nurse J and myself, taken by Adoring Husband last Wednesday night at the local pub where we went for dinner. We look so happy!

Nite all.

Who knew?

Who knew that Cod Liver Oil was so expensive?? Even more expensive than Coconut Oil!

I've decided to make the dog's food from scratch.

The vet recommended dog biscuits for our dogs after we told him that we fed our dogs fresh meat only, and have done so since they were puppies.

Our dogs are aged 8, 8.5 and 9yrs.

One of our dogs got pancreatitis and so the vet decided that the 'heart smart' mince that we've been feeding our dogs has too much fat in it, which caused the condition.

So we bought dog biscuits and changed their diet.

Big mistake.

The smell of the poop and the farts is unbearable .. this was never a problem before!

The dogs can't get enough water into their bodies, to help digest the biscuits, so they fluctuate between constipation and diarrhoea.

They don't like the biscuits very much (and we've tried 3 different varieties), so the food stays in their bowls, which attracts ants .. yes we put their bowl on top of a large plate of water to stop the ants, but the dogs drink the water lol.

There are no guidelines or safety standards for dog food, especially biscuits, so I don't trust that this is a healthy diet option for dogs. They also contain grains, which have never been part of a carnivore's diet in the wild.

So I've done a bit of research and found that making dog food is a good option.  I'm not going to cook their food but combine raw beef mince, liver, heart, raw egg, blended green leafy veg, mashed pumpkin, cod liver oil, ground egg shell for calcium and a small amount of plain yoghurt or kefir which works like a probiotic.

I don't have measurements or a particular recipe for this - except that dogs shouldn't eat more than one egg per day and the offal needs to be in small amounts in each batch of food.

So that's my priority for tomorrow.

I bought two new pairs of shoes today. I threw out 8 pairs yesterday!

I was wearing a pair of shoes today, that are about 15 yrs old. They were Colorado sandals with a low heel and very comfortable, but I've only ever worn them (perhaps) twice each year. Just after I bought my new shoes today, I was walking across the carpark in the Bay, when the sole of one of the shoes that I was wearing, broke in half and literally feel off the shoe completely!

How lucky that I had new shoes to replace them!

If any of my friends out there want to check out my throw-away shoes before I take them to St Vinnies, please feel free to come visit me. They are all size 7 (maybe a couple of size 8s in there) and most are in very good condition, a couple 'like new'. There are joggers, sandals, flats and heels.

I also have two bags of clothes in which you might be interested.

Adoring Husband has a big day of SES duties tomorrow, so I wonder if studying is in my immediate future???

Enough of this frivolity. Time for bed.

Nite all.

The Hero Returns

Adoring Husband has returned safe n sound *insert very happy smiley face here*

My day was full and busy and distinctly lacking study time.

I started at the Seat of Knowledge with my boys. Morning tea with the girls was next, where I had a very pleasant time with the lovely little Lola.

I eventually came home to attend to some housework, including cleaning our walk in robe, which had my shoes and handbags scattered all over the floor so that I could barely reach my clothes! Now it's immaculate.

The air conditioning guy turned up to investigate a problem with our ducted system. It may very well be costly by the time he sources the replacement parts that we need. Bummer.

I made a birthday cake for Happy Harry, and during that process, the electric hand mixer died .. it's well over 10 years old, so I think I got my money's worth. My hair dryer died on Friday night as well, so I'm not having a lot of success with my small appliances!

I met with 'the gang' down at the Lion's Park for our monthly evening barbecue and the cake was a success. Thank goodness, because it was the first time I'd made this red velvet cake (sugar free and gluten free) and it was for a special occasion, so it would have been a disaster if it was a failure.

Then Adoring Husband arrived, looking tired, but very well.

We came home, and by the time I cleaned up and packed everything away after the barbecue, I got to sit down and my feet thanked me profusely.

Here are some quotes that I enjoyed today.

Nite all.

Unproductive

Oh I wanted so much to study today.

Instead, that "P" word came into play and I found so many different things to do, instead of studying!

I procrastinated by

• Watering the garden 
• Reading my emails
• Checking facebook
• Surfing the net
• Getting clothes off the line
• Feeding the chooks
• Searching for frogs in the garden
• Researching camera lenses
• Playing Words With Friends
• Watching a movie
• Or two
• Collecting the eggs
• Checking my flickr mail
• Ordering my FROG box

I briefly checked some due dates for assignments and exams and then signed out.

Probably my most unproductive day for a while.

Adoring Husband will be home tomorrow :)

Nite all.

The Challenge

The flickr challenge this month is "A Bug's Life".

There have been a lot of submissions and they are amazingly good! None of my shots even come close to being competitive this month, but I've submitted one just to be involved.

I've searched high and low for a different kind of bug .. there are dragonflies, spiders, bees and beetles and I really wanted something different in a different environment, but I didn't have much luck and the weather has been so windy this month, that it's been difficult to use the macro lens effectively.

Anyway these were my efforts this month and my final choice was the frangipani with the beetle.

I wish that I could share on here, the other submissions, but I can't.

Adoring Husband is still in Brisvegas cleaning up after the storm. They've asked the team to stay on for a couple of extra days, so I have peace and quiet for a little longer.

Here I was thinking that it was about 9.30pm but I just looked at the clock and it's after 11pm!! Where has the time gone? Time for bed!

Nite all.

On Duty

It has been a very strange day.

It started with me being woken up by Adoring Husband's alarm. It had already gone off once and he thought he'd turned it off, but instead he had accidentally put it on snooze. Of course he was out of the room when the alarm went off, so at 4.30am, I was climbing over the bed trying to find the phone to turn the alarm off.

I get very cranky when I am woken unnecessarily.

Adoring Husband was awake that early because the SES had been activated to go down to Brisbane and assist with the storm damage.

For this reason, I had to go do AH's work for him this morning.

It seems that AH didn't screw the lid on the tall spray bottle of blue cleaning solution the last time he used it. The bottle fell to the ground leaving the spray nozzle in my hand, the blue solution sprayed upwards over both of my legs and onto one leg of my white shorts. It oozed into my thongs, sprayed up the wall and then the bottle tipped over leaving a puddle of thick goo about 30 cms in diameter.

The language that spewed from my mouth was not at all ladylike .. and I did not care!

It took me quite a while to clean up that lovely mess and by the time I got home, the blue had well and truly stained my shorts. I scrubbed them with Sard's Wonder Soap and let them soak. They are now in the washing machine .. I will report on the successful removal of said stain (or non removal).

I changed out of the shorts into another pair of white shorts to go for coffee.

While I was waiting for my coffee, I bought a banana and was chomping away on it, when some woman stopped and said "Is that your breakfast?" When I replied "Yes" she responded with "That's very naughty. Don't you know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day?" and then she promptly coughed and spluttered all over me - suffering from the flu. So I said "Obviously your hearty breakfast has done you the world of good!"

We had a conversation and I set her straight on healthy breakfasts and what the health and diet industries have lied about for the last 40 years. Her idea of a healthy breakfast, was not in the slightest bit healthy!

I believe she will think twice in the future, before commenting on anything that I'm eating because I'm not backwards on coming forward when it comes to food and nutrition!! She did apologise to me for trying to sound like my mother, but I think she was just sorry that she chose ME to pick on lol.

Then my coffee arrived and as my continuing luck would have it, I spilled the coffee over one leg of THOSE shorts. Seriously!? Another scrubbing session ensued.

By this time, I decided that to put value and safety into the remainder of the day, I should remain at home and try to avoid doing anything. I didn't want to tempt fate any further.

So that's what I did.

Here are the photos of Chicklet that I promised.

Now, I await Adoring Husband's phone call to find out how his day went.

Nite all.    

Touching Base

Yes another short post tonight, and no photo of Chicklet .. let's try again tomorrow night for that one.

Instead, a spider photo that I took today in the garden.

Now I'm off .. seeya tomorrow.

Nite all.

Freak Storm

How terrifying it must have been for the poor people stuck out in the open when this storm hit Brisbane today?!



So much damage and there are more storms forecast for the next few days.

I have to say that I do not like this time of the year in Queensland. The storms are just too wild and too unpredictable!

I arrived home safe n sound this afternoon after an uneventful train ride from the Sunshine Coast.

The worst part of my day was trying to remove a very large toad from my laundry this evening .. UGH!

The best part of my day was being woken up by little Chicklet and Vegan Chickie this morning with a nice hot coffee in bed.

Now, it's after midnight, so I need to cut this short again. Photos of Chicklet tomorrow!

Nite all.

First Time Ever

Well here I am signing in for a brief update.

For the first time ever, my little Chicklet has fallen asleep beside me in my bed!

We had tried this two times on previous visits, but after only a few minutes, she scrambled back to Mama's bed feeling a bit stressed.

Tonight, we both lay down together and closed our eyes listening to one of those voice overs where the lady's soft voice lulls you to sleep. We had tried that once before without success, but tonight, it worked like a charm .. almost sent ME to sleep too!

So here she is (photo taken with my phone), almost 3 hours later, fast asleep beside me ...

She is a very restless sleeper and flails her arms about regularly, so I suspect I could wake up tomorrow morning quite battered and bruised!

Nite all.

Forgotten Post

Well, it seems that I forgot about blogging last night! My mind must have been full of Chicklet visits and packing! I even went to bed early.

Tonight's post will be very short because, as usual, I am absolutely exhausted after a full day of Chicklet play. I don't think it would matter how fit and healthy I was, Chicklet is impossible to keep up with and I will always be exhausted at the end of every day that we play.

I arrived at the Sunny Coast at 7.45am and by 2 o'clock this afternoon, I was struggling to keep my eyes open in the middle of a dinosaur game .. in fact I'm sure that she woke me up twice during the game!!

So, it's now not quite 8.30pm and I am ready to turn off the light and close my eyes.

Before I go, I'd like to acknowledge the anniversary of my Dad's passing. I can't believe that it's been seventeen years. I miss him. xxx

Nite all.

Dinner with Friends

Adoring Husband and I went out to dinner tonight with The Sex Therapist and a small group of friends. It was a fun night and made me realise how much I miss The Sex Therapist. I hope we get to see each other again at least once before Christmas.

It's been an interesting day. I've spent some quality time with people I haven't had contact with for a long time and really enjoyed chatting with them.

Life gets in the way sometimes.

I did take some photos tonight, but won't share them until tomorrow night.

All I have from today is a shot of my second set of Tawny Frogmouths who have also left the nest, but are still hanging out in the big tree.

The first set of chicks have left the nest and also left the area where they were hanging out. I have no idea where they are now.

So we are now near the end of the Tawny season, which makes me a bit sad. It's time to look elsewhere for the next phase of nature .. I have no idea what that might be, but I'm sure it will be interesting and intriguing.

Nite all.

Sharing the Quotes

Friday night facebook share.

Nite all.

Trimmed Up

I can't even remember the last time I went to the hairdressing salon. It must be about 3 months. My hair had grown so long that it was getting caught under my armpits and the split ends were tangling and knotting together.

I had about 3 inches trimmed off the ends today and it's surprising how much lighter and cooler it feels.

Tonight, in the big city of Rockhampton, my 17 year old niece (my brother's daughter) graduated from year 12.  She looked beautiful ...

... and it was nice for my brother to get there from Cooktown, for the occasion.

Other than that, it has been a very hot and humid day today. The weather bureau predicted an 80% chance of rain, but unfortunately it was not meant to be.

I might try for an early night .. it's 10pm .. so now would be a good time to hit the hay!

Nite all.

Something New

I was given some Colloidal Silver yesterday.

One of the ladies who makes my morning coffee had previously talked to me about how she had a special generator to make her own colloidal silver.

To buy colloidal silver in the health shops or chemists, is very very expensive and sometimes it's watered down, so you don't know which brands are worthy of spending your money on.

From my research so far, you can make your own generator and there are any number of instructions available on the net to do that, or for a couple of hundred dollars, you can get a generator and the necessary extras to set yourself up to make your own colloidal silver.

Colloidal Silver is a homeopathic remedy, that consists of distilled water infused with particles of silver ion via a battery-charge.

Colloidal silver is taken internally as an immune booster for treating cold and flu symptoms and for treating a number of other medical conditions.  It can also be applied topically in the treatment of cuts, scratches, and skin rashes. Colloidal silver works by destroying harmful bacteria and toxins.

After much research today and yesterday, I discovered some amazing success stories and the only negative side effect that people have tried to pin on colloidal silver, is a condition called Argyria, where your skin permanently turns blue .. almost like a smurf! But when you look further into it, on the rare occasion that this condition has occurred, it's because the people were ingesting massive amounts on a daily basis and using impure ingredients.

Everything in moderation, I say.

I have a vague memory of my grandparents, aunties and parents using colloidal silver when I was a young child, to treat colds and for wounds like burns, cuts and gravel rash. I remember it being kept in a vibrant blue bottle under the kitchen sink. So I know there is a history of use in Australia.

So I had my first dose this morning. I've started on one teaspoon in the morning on an empty stomach. As with all new natural remedies or therapies, I never expect instant results or reactions, but this morning I felt quite energised and my brain felt like it was on alert .. I wish I could say alert enough to cure me of my procrastination problem .. but alas no .. just alert enough to want to absorb as much information about colloidal silver as I could find!

I've put some colloidal silver in the dogs' water bowl too.

What do I hope to get out of colloidal silver you ask?

I hope to build on and strengthen my immune system. I believe that it's already pretty strong, but I still have digestive issues related to my gluten intolerance and some other food sensitivities, so I think the colloidal silver can provide a detoxification that will strengthen my good gut bacteria and maybe cleanse, not only the bad bacteria, but any toxins or metals that I have accumulated in my body.

I'm keeping a health diary, so I will have a record of how my body reacts or changes over the coming weeks and months.

I'll try to remember to keep you posted.

One thing I know for sure, is that a good solid night's sleep is important for good health and since it is already after 11pm, I should be in bed already!

Nite all.

Spectacle

Tonight's storm was a spectacle of sheet lightning, and I was still not brave enough to go further than our alfresco area with my camera and tripod.

I will always imagine how wonderful that lightning must look over the ocean at night .. I will never be brave enough to go look for myself .. although perhaps a drive in the car isn't out of the question one night.

I got a phone call this afternoon from some friends offering some tomatoes from their garden. They offered to drop them off at our house during their afternoon walk, so, I rushed around like a chook with it's head cut off, cleaning the house.

As the saying goes .. we can get more housework done in the 30 minutes before guests arrive that the whole week prior to that!

So I dusted quickly in the lounge room, made the bed, cleaned the toilet, tidied the bathroom, hung out some washing and loaded the washing machine with the dirty bathmats and towels. At least the house looked 'just' presentable.

Prior to that, I bathed two of the psychotic dogs. They weren't very pleased about that.

Morning tea was very pleasant this morning too, but we did miss Lady Lynn and little Lola very much.

There is some heavy duty yawning coming from my body right now, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Revelations

Today, while I was channel surfing, I happened across the first episode of a three part series which aired on the ABC called "The Men Who Made Us Fat".

I haven't yet watched the second and third parts, but plan on doing that tonight and tomorrow. I took lots of notes on this program and intended writing a long post tonight, but decided that I would just add the link so that you could watch it yourself.

It's very interesting, and for me, it confirmed some facts that I have suspected for quite some time about the food and sugar industries. It seems that we little people have been manipulated by so many money making industries for so long, it's surprising that we haven't become extinct already!

So, lucky for you, this is just a short post, although I do want to mention something about my Tawny photo that I posted a couple of days ago .. the one with the close up of the eye.

I posted that photo in flickr (flickr is an online photo management and sharing site, where, depending on your security settings, you can share your photos with just a couple of people, or with everybody who uses flickr) and usually I get around 100-200 views of my photos .. on a good day.

Somehow, it was put onto 'explore' which (I don't really understand how this even works) is like a public page, where everybody who is a member of flickr can view it. The photo has had almost 47,000 views and almost 600 people have made it a 'favourite'!

I can't even describe how hectic it was last night as I got notification after notification on my ipad in a constant stream, advising me as the number of views increased at an incredibly rapid rate.

Anyway, it has slowed down considerably this evening, so I don't think I'll get too many more views.

I wonder how photos are selected to go on this page. I wonder if there is a way to stop photos being selected for the explore page? I wonder why it's even a 'thing' and how it is supposed to benefit me, if I'm not running a photography business?

Hmmm all very interesting.

The weather has been very hot here .. how about where you are?

Nite all.

Natural Wonders

I went searching for bugs to photograph for this month's flickr challenge today.

It's amazing what you can find when you go out looking.

... and here are the Tawny chicks out of the nest and looking less like chicks every day!

I had a lovely talk on the phone with Chicklet and Vegan Chickie today and have made plans to visit them in just over a week. Can't wait!

Nite all.

It's a Fine Art

Yes, that procrastination thing again .. it's a fine art that I have honed to perfection.

Surely there is a way to make it an asset or a money maker or something more positive than just for avoiding study or housework!

I spent more than 2 hours sitting at the cafe with coffee this morning.

I had five different people sit at my table for a chat and I spent some time chatting online with The Nikonian. It was a really pleasant way to spend the morning. I have my favourite table, which is fast becoming known as my office .. as suggested by some people who see me there almost every day!

It's a great source of comfort for me to have that familiarity with people and the friendly contact every day, even if it's just a happy 'good morning' or a smile and a nod.

Adoring Husband spent the day selling Christmas cakes to raise money for the SES, but came home for lunch, so after I cooked quite a delicious meal and he left for the second half of the day, I spent some time going through some old photos and checking my study site, to make sure I wasn't missing anything while I procrastinate.

I got a phone call from the 'Sex Therapist' (just to be clear, not a REAL sex therapist, just someone who got carried away with talking about sex at a party once, so we gave her that nickname) who I haven't seen or spoken to for a few months, so that was nice and we'll be catching up in person soon.

Tomorrow, I need to phone Vegan Chickie .. I feel like it's been 'forever' since we talked on the phone, or had any contact at all! It's definitely time for a visit at the end of this month.

Here is my best effort for the day ..

Happy Sunday everybody.

Nite all.

Simple Vision

I have spent most of my day creating my vision board.

I have had most of the pictures for well over a year and I bought the board about 6 months ago, but being the expert procrastinator that I am, it has all been sitting and gathering dust.

For some unknown reason, my brain chose today to create the masterpiece .. probably as a way of avoiding study, because that was my first thought when I woke this morning.

My visions for my future are pretty simple.

Elle Macpherson in the bottom right corner represents me ... because until I see myself in the mirror, that is how my imagination creates my image. I also have admiration for her achievements in both her chosen career and for her business decisions.

The other two females who I chose to share my board, Taylor Swift and Julia Gillard, are also strong women who I admire greatly and who have worked damned hard to get to where they are in their chosen fields and continually fight battles to stay strong and stay on top. A reminder to not rely on luck for any successes that I strive for.

These three women are not my idols, but I do admire them for the strengths that they not only possess but seem to use wisely.

The car represents my wish to some day get my driver's licence .. in my own time .. and not when other people think it's time.

The lap pool .. because everybody knows that one day, I plan on having one in my yard!

The lady in the top right is twice my age, still living at home and healthy as an ox .. I would like to reach that milestone and be as fit, healthy and alert as she is. This would mean that I am only halfway through my life! Perhaps my vision board needs to be extended!

Special mention about the love I have for Adoring Husband, my family and my friendships.

My hopes and plans for continued financial fitness and security.

Also special mention for my health, environmental health, organics, nutrition, fresh fruit n veg and positivity.

All of those smiles winding down the right hand side of the board to convince myself that one day I will be brave enough to visit a dentist and fix my teeth so that I can keep on smiling.

So you see, I don't ask much. There are still a few little gaps in there that I need to fill. All in good time.

It's now hanging on the wall where I will see it every day and seeds of creation will germinate and grow.

Here is the link to last night's episode of Catalyst on the ABC. Well worth watching.

I'm off to get ready .. raffle night at the club awaits.

Nite all.



 

Blah

That's how I have been feeling all day today.

I was awake most of last night with what felt like food poisoning, but Adoring Husband and I ate the same food for the last two days and he has been fine, so I'm not sure.

It's been a while since I spent the night with a bucket and a toilet bowl and I hope it will be a long time til that happens again!

So my food intake has been limited today and I've kept my fluids up and had a long nap this morning trying to catch up on some sleep. A good night's sleep tonight should have me back to normal tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I played with one of my bug photos this afternoon ...

Definitely need to get out with my macro lens and search out some more bugs!

Thank you Judi for your advice for pork crackle and pork belly .. I will put it to the test next time for sure!

Now I have a couple of hours of reality TV to watch, so I'm reclining in my chair and having a relaxing evening with Adoring Husband at SES training.

Nite all.

A Day of Nothing

I attempted, for I believe the fifth time, to cook a crispy skinned pork belly for lunch today.

I am yet to succeed in this area. The same with roast pork. I simply cannot get the crunchy crackling right.

I've tried various recipes without success. I scour the skin. I dry the skin. I rub the salt. I cook it on high for 30 minutes, then reduce the heat for 2 hours. In the first 30 minutes, it looks promising, but then nothing happens.

So if anybody out there has a good fool proof recipe that they want to share with lil ol me .. please feel free .. I would be most appreciative.

I did baked veggies with it .. kipfler potatoes (yes I know they are not paleo), pumpkin, carrot and sweet potato. Then blanced greens. Asparagus, broccoli and beans blanched in water, lime and butter.

My belly was so full, I felt like a big fat pussycat all afternoon and just wanted to curl up in a corner and purr myself to sleep!

Tonight, for a light dinner, I rolled out some GF bread with a rolling pin until is was very thin and very flat, scraped a thin layer of butter on them and then lined a muffin tray with them (butter side down), added some baby spinach to the base and then filled them with a mixture of leftover chopped silverside, tomato, onion, mushroom and egg. Added a thin slice of cheese on top and baked them in the oven for 30 minutes on high.

That was our nice light dinner.

I've taken lots of photos of bugs and bees today, attempting to get a photo for this month's flickr challenge "A Bug's Life", but they are all still on camera. I will share them eventually.

I am also still procrastinating with studying and with reading my book about procrastination.

There is no hope for me.

Nite all.

 

Vitamin D

I was very concerned today when there was a news item on television about the great Australian cricket player and commentator of international cricket, Richie Benaud, and his battle with skin cancer.

His advice was for everyone to 'stay out of the sun'!

The reason he has skin cancer is because he played cricket for probably more than 20 years without a hat. This means that for every test match, he stood in the sun for about 7 hours a day when the team was fielding, and depending on how well he was batting, for a few hours when the team was batting.

He played cricket before sunscreen was invented and he NEVER wore a hat.

Taking all of that into consideration .. a good recipe for disaster.

Of all the advice that I would give to anyone who wants to stay healthy or get healthy by any natural means necessary, vitamin D from sunshine would be in my top three pieces of advice.

Firstly, one of the most preeminent Vitamin D researchers in the world today has identified that vitamin D helps produce the antimicrobial peptides that protect against the flu. This is why people are more prone to the flu in winter when Vitamin D producing sunshine is minimal or nonexistent at some latitudes, or people are too bundled up to get enough skin exposed in the first place.

Supporting Dr. Cannell’s suggestion that vitamin D deficiency is why people get the flu, a study published in the journal Nature Immunology further explains how vitamin D protects us by properly activating T cells, an important part of the immune system.

Bear with me for a moment:

“When a T cell is exposed to a foreign pathogen, it extends a signaling device or ‘antenna’ known as a vitamin D receptor, with which it searches for vitamin D.

This means the T cell must have vitamin D or activation of the cell will stop. If the T cells can't find enough vitamin D in the blood, they won’t even begin to mobilize.”

Vitamin D levels have plummeted for every single age, race, and ethnic group over the past two decades.

Vitamin D deficiency can lurk unnoticed until it is too late and you are already sick. The problem is that it takes time, usually several weeks, to raise vitamin D levels, so taking supplements when you're already sick is not going to help.

Here are 10 signs that vitamin D is probably already a serious deficiency that needs to be addressed immediately.

(The best whole food based supplement to bring vitamin D levels into optimal range without the danger of overdosing (like with prescription vitamin D drops) is fermented cod liver oil.)

1. Chronic Pain

Bone pain and chronic pain in general is a subtle symptom of serious vitamin D deficiency. Get your vitamin D levels checked and address the problem.

(A study conducted by Greg Plotnikoff, MD, senior consultant with the Allina Center for Health Care Innovations, makes the point. 150 people living in Minneapolis who came to a health clinic complaining of chronic pain were tested for vitamin D levels. Virtually every single one, 93%, suffered from extremely low vitamin D. “The group with the lowest levels of vitamin D were white women of childbearing age,” Plotnikoff says.)

2. Muscle Weakness

Something that people don’t realise is that most muscle weakness issues are related to low vitamin D levels. The National Institute of Health reports that a person suffering from a vitamin D deficiency will have trouble with proper muscle function.

3. Psoriasis

This is a common skin issue and is an autoimmune disorder that can be vitamin D related. Good doses of pure sunshine or Cod Liver Oil will, at the very least, ease this condition.

4. Constant Fatigue

Vitamin D is necessary for the body to produce energy. If you are constantly tired or struggling to get going in the morning, get your vitamin D levels checked or just start getting regular/daily doses of sunshine.

5. Depression

Feelings of hopelessness can be related to simple nutritional deficiencies. Vitamin D is critical for the brain to produce the happy hormone seratonin. Some people only suffer from depression during winter months, known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), which is caused by lack of sun exposure and hence vitamin D during this time of year.

6. Sweaty Head

This is probably the weirdest symptom of vitamin D deficiency. Back in the 'olden days', doctors used to ask new mothers if their heads were sweatier than normal, to pinpoint a probable vitamin D deficiency. A sweaty head is also a subclinical symptom of rickets, possibly the most prominent and dangerous form of vitamin D deficiency in children.

7. Constant Respiratory Problems

This warning symptom is related to flu as a vitamin D deficiency disease. If low vitamin D puts people at risk for flu, it stands to reason they would be at risk for other respiratory problems too. Studies have demonstrated that vitamin D protects against respiratory illness, particularly in children.

8. Hypertension and/or Cardiovascular Disease

The Vitamin D Council recommends adequate vitamin D levels in order to avoid this silent, symptomless killer which afflicts 4 in 10 people worldwide.

The American National Institute of Health has identified vitamin D deficiency as a risk factor which can lead to congestive heart failure.

9. Chronic Kidney Disease

Chronic kidney disease is a growing health concern and a primary and powerful predictor for premature cardiovascular disease.

Not surprisingly, given that cardiovascular disease itself indicates a likely vitamin D deficit, research indicates that those that suffer from chronic kidney disease are also vitamin D deficient.

10. You are an Infection Magnet

If you suffer from one infection after another, it would be wise to get your vitamin D levels checked as soon as possible. As I mentioned, T cells, which are an important part of the immune system, are properly activated by vitamin D. So, if levels are low or even undetectable, adequate and effective immune response to any infection in the body will be severely hampered.

I know that's a lot to take in, and some of you probably just skimmed over the top or skipped the whole thing, but you really need to know that VITAMIN D IS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT FOR GOOD PHYSICAL, MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL HEALTH.

Don't stay out of the sun. It's the worst thing you can do.

I just wanted to mention that I went to bed at 7.30 last night! I woke up thinking that it was about midnight, but when I checked my phone, it was 8.30!!!! It didn't matter because I fell straight back to sleep and didn't wake up until 6.30 this morning. I must have really needed that sleep!

I feel good for it today.

Nite all.

It Caught Me!

So I think exhaustion has caught up to me today. I thought I was exhausted on Saturday night and took Sunday to recuperate, but I felt a lot more lethargic and unmotivated today.

All I've done today, apart from my normal morning routine, is some cooking and two loads of washing.

So, I share this with you before I head off to bed for an incredibly early night.

Nite all.

Procrastinating with Rest

Today, I posted this in facebook ...

"PROCRASTINATION comes from the Latin 'pro', which means "forward, forth or in favour of", and 'crastinus', which means "of tomorrow".

I should be either, doing housework OR studying, however, I am procrastinating by reading a book about 'PROCRASTINATION".

I thought of procrastinating about reading the book on procrastination, but everything I need to do is already on my procrastination list.

By the end of the day, I hope to have finished the book and have the new title of 'go-getter' and 'winner'

PS This is me procrastinating instead of reading the book about procrastination."

Nobody asked me the name of the book, but plenty of people could relate to my dilemma, because it seems we all procrastinate .. some do it more than others and some, like me, are so bad, that it has a huge effect on their lives.

I'm hoping this book will help me overcome this problem and change my life in a positive way ... if only I could stop procrastinating and sit down and read it from cover to cover!!

*****

Here is a short excerpt from the book ...

University students are the biggest procrastinators of all and often miss deadlines for essays and assignments.

Their most infamous excuse for missing deadlines is to claim the death of a grandparent. Mortality of grandparents increases several hundredfold during final exams, a statistic that, if taken seriously, suggests that seeing the grandkids being tested is extremely stressful for the elderly!

*****

Anyway, today was a day of rest for me. After such a big day on Saturday, I needed to kick back and take it easy. Lucky for me, my life allows me to do that.

So after our ride down to the Seat of Knowledge and coffee at the 'local' while reading the Sunday papers, Adoring Husband and I came home and I went straight to the bedroom to continue reading my book about 'Procrastination'.

After about an hour, I cooked our lunch, which was Snapper and eggs, poached in chilli, lemon and coconut milk with kale, then sprinkled with coriander, chives and toasted pine nuts. It was something that I made up on the spur of the moment because I had absolutely nothing planned for lunch, but AH loved it and wanted seconds .. unfortunately, there wasn't any seconds left!

Back to the bedroom for some more reading, but I lasted about 30 minutes and then napped for about an hour.

Even though I planned on finishing the book on procrastination, I decided to procrastinate and do some cooking in the kitchen instead. As you do! 

I made some chocolate/hazelnut fudge and some chocolate seedy bliss balls, both of which are very very rich, so they can only be eaten in moderation, which is a good thing for AH, who likes to eat everything to excess! They are incredibly healthy, so it really doesn't matter if he wishes to eat these to excess.

So that was my day. I did get photos of the Tawny chicks out of the nest, but they are still in camera, so I'll share them some time during the week .. unless I procrastinate too much .. but you'll see them eventually!

Nite all.

  

Exhaustion Sets In

We set our alarms for 4am, arrived in Maryborough at 5.30am and were on the train to Brisvegas at 6am.

Luckily, the train was running right on time because the appointment with Professor Silburn was for 10.30am, which gave us 40 minutes to labour our way up the numerous steps and the steep hills to get to his room on time.

Thirty minutes later, we were back out on the streets looking for somewhere to get a coffee and something to eat.

Adoring Husband asked 'Siri' on his iphone to find us some gluten free food nearby and it just so happened that the restaurant directly across the road from where were standing, was about to open for drinks and snacks!

It was a great restaurant attached to a bar, with an outdoor area to eat and drink. There was a cool breeze blowing and the outdoor area overlooked the Roma Street Parklands, there was relaxing music playing in the background, the coffee was 'to die for' and the food was fresh and delicious. The service was friendly and the furnishings were very comfortable. Personally, I could have spent the whole afternoon there.

Once our bodies were fuelled up, we took a decent walk through the park and down a lot of stairs towards Queen Street Mall, but stopped at the Town Hall when we saw that there were markets inside. Adoring Husband bought me a beautiful resin bracelet.

We found Myers, where I tried on a billion tops but didn't buy anything.

We found the ABC shop where AH spent a gozillion dollars (ok so I exaggerate a little).

While we were in Myers we were contacted by QLD Rail to tell us that our train home would be delayed by 2 hours. It was supposed to leave at 3.45pm but now it was leaving at 5.45pm and we had to be at the station by 5pm.

So we found a pub close to the station where AH had a couple of beers and I had a glass of wine while we waited for 5pm.

At least the train (The Spirit of Queensland) left dead on 5.45pm and we had our own TV screen to choose from movies or TV shows or music videos. They took orders for dinner and we both had roast chicken and vegetables, which was delicious.

Before we reached Gympie, we could hear (over our headphones) a commotion at the end of our carriage and a female was loudly abusing rail staff. By the time we reached Gympie, we saw the police on the platform and the woman was escorted from the train .. it was not her planned destination, so she was complaining loudly about how she would get home. I have no idea what the whole thing was about or how it started, but it made the train fall another 15 minutes behind schedule.

At one stage I looked up to see a tall thin gentleman dressed in dark jeans and shirt, heavy black boots with a heel, an ankle length black coat and a leather cowboy style hat. He had shoulder length white/grey hair and a shiny badge pinned to his shirt with a name tag attached to it.

I didn't see his face and I didn't get to read the name on the tag but I'm wondering if it read 'Wyatt Earp' or something similar! He certainly had an interesting and mysterious air about him as he walked very slowly up and down the carriage a couple of times.

During the trip, we watched a Jack Black movie "Bernie" which also starred Shirley Maclaine and Matthew McConaughey. It was a strange and interesting movie that left us with a bemused frown on our faces.

We finally arrived in Maryborough at 9.45pm and pulled into our own driveway at 10.30pm.

It's been a long day and we are exhausted. It's taken an hour for us to wind down and I can hear my bed calling my name, so I'm off!

Oh and the Professor has prescribed a new and different medication for AH, so hopefully that will provide some relief. If not, we've got another appointment in 4 months to discuss other options.

Interestingly, there were 9 Neurologists in the one building!

Nite all.

Everybody Loves Snakes

Well, my little Tawnies have left the nest, and while I was photographing them, I heard a yell from across the road.

It was a friend asking me if I'd like to photograph a snake.

So I high-tailed it across the road to find a stunningly beautiful python in an empty garbage bin.

The man who owns the house, has a row of inter-connected aviaries in his backyard where his mother used to breed cockatiels (this is where we bought OB, the crazy bird that we got as a friend for SEB). His Mum passed away a couple of months ago and now he is continuing on with her hobby.

He wondered why the birds were disappearing. They had reduced from around 40 to just 8!

So he went searching through the aviaries today and discovered this beauty hiding up high in one corner and very well hidden.

So we took it out of town to relocate it in some bushland beside a lake.

Beautiful creature.

Tomorrow, Adoring Husband and I are travelling by train down to Brisbane to meet with a new Specialist about his Parkinson's.

We gave up on the Neurologist in Bundaberg. In two years, he hasn't provided any comfort, nor has he eased any of the symptoms. The medications that he has prescribed have been more trouble than they were worth with horrible side effects and beyond that, he has offered no other hope. Besides that, he wasn't at all friendly or encouraging and had a very abrupt bedside manner.

The Neurologist in Brisbane has a very good reputation and is, apparently, the top of his field, so we have high hopes of getting some satisfaction from him.

It's going to be a big day, so I need to get some sleep.

Nite all.

Dateless Date

Adoring Husband and I decided, while sitting at the Seat of Knowledge this morning, to go to the movies.

We had to go into town for shopping, an appointment with the doctor and to get dog and chook food, so we drove in early and each saw a 9.30am movie.

Adoring Husband saw the movie "Interstellar" starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway which ran for almost 3 hours.

At the end, he described it as long, boring and convoluted but intriguing. He was disappointed.

I chose to see "This is Where I Leave You" starring Jane Fonda, Jason Bateman and Tina Fey.

I loved it.

It was funny in parts, heartwarming, heart wrenching and intense. I could relate so well to this dysfunctional family, who with all their faults and frailties, loved and cared about each other, but just didn't know how to express that love in a healthy way. By the end of the movie, I grew to love each one of them and wished that I could give them all a hug.

I recommend it and I'll be buying it on dvd when it's released.

I had an hour to spare after my movie finished, so I got to do some shopping while I waited for AH to come out of his movie.

I bought an Adam Sandler movie and a little gift for my Chicklet.

While AH went to his doctor's (not his usual doctor, where I have to be his bodyguard) appointment, I got to spend some time at the shopping mall, where I had a little bit of a spending spree, buying myself four tops, a pair of shorts and some cheap jewellery. I also got some books and clothes for Chicklet.

Then we picked up our organic FROG box and arrived home at about 4.30pm.

It was a long, but very enjoyable day.

Then to top it off, a pretty sunset that I photographed over the lagoon.

Nite all.

Finely Tuned

This is what I've learned recently ...

The body has cancer cells within it 'all the time' and the healthy immune system clears them and fights them and keeps you healthy. If you have a poor diet and lifestyle, then the immune system becomes exhausted from trying to keep you healthy.

In some cases, a tumour is created by the exhausted immune system.  It is effectively building a wall around the cancer cells to keep it under control until the exhaustion passes, but if your diet and lifestyle doesn't change, then your immune system will remain exhausted and the wall cannot hold the cancerous cells for very long.

The human body is finely tuned and has the power to heal itself .. a broken bone, a cold/flu, an infection, tumours/cancer etc. As long as you provide it with what it needs, such as exercise, breathing oxygen efficiently, vitamin D from the sun, vitamins and nutrients from food, good mental and emotional health, good quality sleep, enough clean filtered water to name a few.

Along with these very important needs, we must remove as many toxins from our lives as we can,  to make it as easy as possible for our immune system to build on our good health, instead of using all of it's time fighting our bad health.

Some brief examples of what we need to do:

Sunshine helps to heal all emotional and mental disorders, but you also need vitamin K to help absorb vitamin D properly, which you will find in lots of vegetables. Most people with chronic illness also have a chronic vitamin D deficiency.

Stop eating sugar. Sugar feeds cancer. Physicians should know that sugar feeds cancer. The reason they should know is because PET scans use sugar to locate the cancer cells inside your body.

The acidity of your body needs to be above 7.  You can buy pH paper to test your own acidity.

Detoxifying. Liver detox is important. The reason we detox, is because the cancerous cells have to be removed somehow and the safest and least invasive way is with detoxification through juices, lymphatic drainages, coffee enemas, hyperthermia etc.

Additionally, your brain can't work when there are deficiencies in your body. Even one deficiency can create havoc with your brain.

There are many different cancer treatments, and the most common is chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy doesn't just kill cancer cells, it kills the good cells that we need and it destroys our immune system, which then can't fight other diseases. This is why people easily get sick with other illnesses like pneumonia, colds/flus, infections, diarrhoea, ulcers etc., during treatment. This is also why people die from the cancer treatment, rather than from the cancer itself.

So if you choose chemotherapy as your cancer treatment, you also have to work very hard, at the same time, on all of the other things that I have mentioned, so that your immune system is strong enough to help your body heal and to fight off the germs that other people want to pass on to you.

Without a healthy and strong immune system, there is little hope!

Don't wait until you're sick before you work on your immune system. Do everything in your power to keep it strong, because if it's working perfectly, you simply cannot get sick.

Once upon a time, doctors knew this important fact, but unfortunately, now they only understand how to manage ill health with any number of medications.

With so many toxins in our lives these days (even the carpets on our floors, the paint on our walls and the plastics and glues in our furnishings), it's impossible to live a toxin free life, so the best we can do is build and strengthen our immune system to keep us happy and healthy and strong.

That is what I have learned.

Nite all.

Living the Syndrome

What is boiled frog syndrome?

It's based on the premise that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death without moving.

Are we the boiled frogs?

With the daily burden of chemicals in our food, air, water, personal care products, household products and furnishings, combined with malnourishment through diets composed mainly of processed and “dead” foods, we end up engineering a slow but sure death of cells in our body.

This leads directly to a breaking point that results in disease processes that invoke ageing, pain, illness and other forms of suffering.

Most people call it “getting older”, but I believe we are actually “becoming toxic and malnourished”. There’s a big difference and this is why our body breaks down as it does and we complain about getting old.

On top of this, we all have psychological issues that we have never resolved, and which manifest in our subconscious and eventually affect us in some physical way.

So, for many of us, no amount of healthy living will cure our ills because we have this psychological blockage that stops the healing process.

The human body is so complex and so brilliant, working to keep us alive and healthy, while we abuse the life out of it or treat it with disrespectful neglect until it just can't cope anymore because we are not giving it the resources it needs to thrive. 

A healthy immune system is the only thing that keeps us from death, but we do so little to nourish it or to understand it.

I wish that I had cared enough to understand this concept years ago, but then, the rules for, and scientific knowledge of health, have changed considerably just in the last 5 years, so maybe my timing is just right!

With that out of the way, I will stop with the health talk and share my Tawny photos ...

The second photo was the little chick watching me leave as I walked under the nest. How cute is that?

It was Melbourne Cup day today. The race that stops the nation.

Adoring Husband and I sat on our couch, put some money into an online betting account and watched the races on TV. We lost our money, but it was a bit of fun and I made healthy snacks for us to munch on and we didn't have to dress up or watch fashion parades.

Almost midnight again.

Nite all.

He's Back!

Adoring Husband has returned from Brisbane with excellent results from his health check surgery.

He has the 'all clear' but has to return in 3 months for a further check up .. how else would the specialist make enough money to pay for his high rise office and his house on the water and his world trips? But don't get me started!

It's good to have him home knowing that he is healthy.

I was also happy to hear about his conversation with the barista who served him when he bought his first coffee since his health scare 3 months ago.

She asked if he wanted sugar and when he replied 'no thanks' she responded how nice it was to serve someone who didn't want that poison in his coffee! They then talked about different sugar alternatives and he told her about coconut sugar.

Was that really my husband having that conversation?

Crikey! He has come a long way!

I have to thank my little brother for being there in our moment of need. When the hospital wouldn't allow AH to leave the hospital unless he had someone to escort him, my LB and his friend drove an hour to the hospital to sign him out and then drove him to the train station. Otherwise AH would have had to stay an extra night in the hospital.

We also must thank Happy Harry for driving all the way to Howard to pick AH up from the train station late at night. It's a big ask at such a late hour and we appreciate your good soul. Karma will reward you by bringing good health and happiness in abundance. Thank you.

So we are happy and feeling the love. Harmony has returned and life as we know it is balanced again.

Nite all (those Tawny photos still to come .. tomorrow)

Stormy

We were hit with a pretty big storm tonight. It started with a few large hail stones and changed to very heavy rain (24mm in 30 minutes) with strong winds, lightning and cracking thunder.

It made the psychotic dogs even more psychotic than usual and they wouldn't settle down until I let them in on the couch, where they all huddled quietly together until it passed.

The storm was bad enough to trigger a little PTS in me and I was relieved when it passed without incident, although it's difficult to tell in the dark if there is any damage to the solar panels on the roof. It will be easier to tell in the light of day tomorrow.

Adoring Husband is in Brisbane tonight and will make his way into the hospital early tomorrow morning for the follow up tests on his bladder and prostate.

I went for a ride before lunch and it was incredibly windy down by the water, so I wasn't out for long, and that is the extent of my day.

I took some photos of the Tawnies and you will be surprised at how much they have already grown! I'll post them tomorrow.

Nite all.