Day 91

Happy April Fool's Day. I hope any pranks pulled on you are harmless.

Rule 8

Take care of your body: Learn about nutrition. What kind of fuel does your body need to have optimum energy and vitality? Learn about excercise. What kind of excercise can you enjoy? Cherish and revere the temple you live in.

This is one of the most important rules for me. Getting older has really affected my health. Taking Avandia was the worst mistake I have made concerning my health. It put my life in jeopardy. It all comes down to diet and excercise.

Rule 9

Mirror work: Look into your own eyes often. Express this growing sense of love you have for yourself. Forgive yourself looking into the mirror. Talk to your parents looking into the mirror. Forgive them, too. At least once a day, say "I love you, I really love you!"

I have forgiven my parents. We don't come with instructions and they did their best. All these rules comes down to taking better care of yourself, your attitude and outlook on life. It will take practice, practice and more practice.

Rule 10

LOVE YOURSELF - DO IT NOW! Don't wait until you get well or lose the weight, or get the new job, or find the new relationship. Begin NOW - do the best you can.

That's all you can do - is the best you can.

Day 90

Rule 7

Be loving to your negatives: Acknowledge that you created them to fulfill a need. Now you are finding new, positive ways to fulfill those needs. So, lovingly release the old negative patterns.

I have so many negative patterns that must be released. I need to explore more about why we create them to fulfill a need. I guess it would take going all the way back to see all the things that have happened to you and molded you into the person you are today.

***

Today is my son's birthday. Happy Birthday Gideon, as his friends call him and DK the nickname I call him. I cannot believe 37 years have passed by so quickly. I send you best wishes for a happy day and a wonderful life.

Day 89

Rule 6

Support yourself: Find ways to support yourself. Reach out to friends, and allow them to help you. It is being strong to ask for help when you need it.

I'm doing pretty well with this rule. I have lots of support. A great husband, helpful co-workers and terrific friends.

I do need a financial braniac that can support and teach me how to handle money better. A life coach to help me manage my irrational behavior at times. I rarely have a problem asking for help or directions. So when it comes to support I think I am doing okay.

Day 88

Rule 5

Praise yourself: Critcism breaks the inner spirit. Praise builds it up. Praise yourself as much as you can. Tell yourself how well you are doing with every little thing.

This will be a hard one. It doesn't seem like I do much. Now that days are staying lighter longer and I'm feeling stronger, maybe I will start getting more things accomplished. Like making jewelry again. It's been quite awhile since I've attempted to make anything. I know doing a job well done can lift your spirits. I have alot of projects planned once the weather gets warmer.

Day 87

Rules for Living continued.

Rule 4

Be kind to your mind: Self hatred is only hating your own thoughts. Don't hate yourself for having the thoughts. Gently change the thoughts.

I will fill my mind with the beautiful things life has to offer. Art, music, books and friendship.

I will work on no negative thoughts. I've noticed that it is so hard to lift a negative person into cheerfulness from their slump, but, a negative person can drag you down into their depths if you let them.

A wise person once told me, "Surround yourself with happy successful people and you will be a winner. Surround yourself with negative unhappy people and you will be a loser."

Day 86

One more recipe.

Stir Fry Chinese Chicken

1/2 cup orange juice

1 tsp crushed garlic

1/4 cup barbeque sauce

1/4 cup Hoisin sauce

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes

1 1/2 Tbsp chicken broth

2 cups cooked rice

Combine orange juice, crushed garlic, bargeque sauce, Hoisin sauce and ginger in a medium bowl; mix well. Add the chicken cubes to the sauce, cover, and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours, or overnight. Spray a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray; add the chicken broth and heat over medium-high heat. Add the marinated chicken to the skillet and cook, stirring frequently, for 7-8 minutes, until cooked through. Serve over rice.

I found these recipes in the book Fill Up to Slim Down by Edward B Diethrich, M.D. and Jyl Steinback.

Day 85

A couple of recipes while I catch up the days.

Pineapple Chicken Packet

16 oz can pineapple chunks, in juice, undrained

1 lb bonesless skinless chicken breats, cut into 1 in slices

1/2 cup pinto beans

3/4 cup canned corn kernels, drained

3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 tsp chili powder

1/8 tsp cayenne

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain the pineapple into a bowl, reserving the juice. Combine chicken, pineapple, 3 Tbsp of pineapple juice, pinto beans, corn, cilantro, chili powder and cayenne in a large bowl; toss to mix.

Tear off four 10-inch pieces of heavy-duty aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray. Divide the mixture among the foil sheets. Wrap foil around chicken mixture, leaving room at the top, and seal tightly. Place foil packets on a baking sheet; bake 35 to 40 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. If desired, serve over cooked rice.

Upside Down Ginger Peach Cake

24-oz can peach halves, canned in juice

1 1/2 cup plus 3 Tbsp brown sugar, divided

1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice

1/3 cup craisins

1 1/2 cups cinnamon applesauce

3 egg whites, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground ginger

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 cup nonfat frozen yogurt or cool whip

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9X13 baking dish with cooking spray. Drain peaches, reserving 2 Tbsp of juice. Cut the peach halves in half again. Combine the reserved peach juice, 3 Tbsp brown sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl; mix well. Arrange the peaches in the bottom of the baking dish; sprinkle with the craizins and drizzle with the peach sauce. Combine the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and mix until blended. Pour batter over the peaches and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 to 10 minutes, loosed the sides with a knife and invert the cake onto a serving platter. Serve warm with frozen yogurt or cool whip, if desired.

Day 84

Rules for Living.

Rule 3

Be gentle and kind and patient. Be gentle with yourself. Be kind to yourself. Be patient with yourself as you learn the new ways of thinking. Treat yourself as you would someone you really loved.

I think with maturity comes patience. I have learned this lesson pretty well. Look how long I've been waiting to win the lottery. LOL! But really, I don't lose my temper any longer when things don't go my way or when expected wants don't happen as swiftly as I would like.

I try to be gentle and not so forceful. I do need to learn to listen more and not speak everytime I'm involved in conservations with people.

I think I am kind, but, my tounge can be sharp at times. I will definitley work on all 3 of these parts. I will be more patient, I will work on being more gentle and will practice random acts of kindness more.

Day 83

New Rules for Living

Rule 2

Don't scare yourself: Stop terrorizing yourself with your thoughts. It's a dreadful way to live. Find a mental image that gives you pleasure and immediately switch your scary thought to a pleasant thought.

I have written in the past about my worry box. Constant worry moving in and out of the box. But I guess I do have scary thoughts too.

Globally I get scared where politcially this country is heading. With all the violence happening I am scared something really bad will happen. The militia people, white nazi wierdos and the religeous right wing extremists all the while you have republicans spewing hatred and stirring them up into a frenzy. It is bound to bring on something horrific. Here in the Northwest we have all three of those groups, especially across the border in northern Idaho, only a few miles away.

Then there are the scary things that have been haunting me for a long time. War, nuclear meltdowns and fire. I am terrified of fire.

So now I must define my pleasant thoughts. Ireland, of course. South Whitely where I keep all my yesterdays and dreams of being a lottery winner.

Day 82 New Rule #1

New rules to live by. I was sent 10 new ways of thinking by Mind Body and Soul. Each day I am going to post a new rule and see how I may implement this in my life.

Rule One

Stop all criticism: Critcism never changes a thing. Refuse to criticize yourself. Accept yourself exacly as you are. Everybody changes. When you critcize yourself, your changes are negative. When you approve of yourself, you changes are positive.

***

Can I really do this? I find myself being very critical and griping alot about the goings on right now in our country. All the negative images we see on the news just brings me down and makes me critical and mean spirited. So much ignorance and hatred is everywhere. I worry where our country is heading. Closer to home I am going to try and not be critical of the people around me and try to listen to people without trying to solve their issues, which I sometimes try and do.

I can work on not being critical about life in general. Sure there is never enough money and sometimes life just sucks. But who's to blame? Usually me. So its time to make it better. Have a more positive attitude and work on the things that suck.

I have posted these rules on my wall at work with a small bucket under them. Everytime I say something critical I'm going to put a nickel in the bucket. Maybe that will help with my new goal.

Day 81

Healthcare reform bill passed. Now for the shit storm to begin by the right wing wackos. The country is so divided. Even friends are divided on this issue. Feels like back in the times of the Vietnam war. Now the state of Washington along with 10 other states have a bill that they want to opt out. Without even considering what the people want? I hope our President and party stay strongly commited and safe.

Day 80

Just a nice relaxing Sunday at home. Waiting to see if the healthcare bill will pass.

Day 79

A beautiful spring day in the Northwest. Almost flip flop season.

Removed Michael's pain pump today.He is doing well, considering. Just very uncomfortable.

Dogs to groomer, post office and library. Typical Saturday errands.

Day 78

Day after surgery. Michael is still doing good. The pain block is slowly wearing off and now the pump is doing it's job.

I forgot how much I miss visiting the library. Books, movies and cd's. They have it all. The movie inventory has really increased since the last time I have been in.

I was able to access my desktop from work. That was pretty cool.

Day 77

Michael's Surgery Day. We headed out early to Holy Family Hospital after scraping the ice off the windshield. COLD!

We were there for about 6 hours. The ligament in his shoulder was torn clear through, worse than we thought. The rotator cuff was also repaired and the bone spur removed. Dr. Scott said it all went well.

Because of the Pain Block there was little or no pain today, just discomfort. He did not sleep as much as I thought he would.

We will see how it goes...