A book that will change my life

I've been reading this book called Protein Power Lifeplan. It's all about how ancient men ate, and how our bodies have developed to eat the way that man did for all that time. In the last few thousand years, the book says, our eating habits have drastically changed, and then over the last two hundred years, even more so. But, the book goes into how we should eat for the way our bodies developed.

Ancient man ate nothing except the very occasional honey that would raise his insulin. Most of what we eat does...most of what we eat is filled with sugar and carbs, which turn to sugar and raise our insulin levels. The average person eats half a cup of sugar a day. That's right, folks. A day. As a result, our insulin receptors desensitize themselves, much as you get used to a bad smell in a room, because there is so much insulin everywhere. So, the result ends up being high blood sugar, high bad cholesterol, low good cholesterol, high triglycerides...the main afflictions of our society.

Also, ancient man had a good calcium/magnesium balance. This is needed, along with Vitamin D, to build good bones. They got most of the magnesium from water...now we filter it out. So, we get tons more calcium than magnesium, which adds to the sugar/cholesterol problem.

This book isn't a diet book...it's a book about shifting how you think about food, and what is actually good for you and what isn't.

I thoughoughly recommend it, especially if you or your parents have any of the above mentioned problems. My dad does have all those, and the last time I went to the doctor, it looked like I was heading that way.

I feel better already.

Strangely, I haven't had a soda in 4 days and I don't miss it. That's right. I don't miss coke.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to the man who has made me such a happy happy girl. Jon, I love you, and I'm so happy to know we'll spend all our birthdays together!

Lately

Kermit and Christian Bale

Click here. You'll be glad you did.

Bliss

It is so peaceful being here at the beach. The dog is behaving herself very well around the other dog, Daisy, and things are copecetic.

Sitting in the sunroom, I can hear the crash of the waves, and the squawk of seagulls.
It's a little stormy now, but the good kind of beach stormy...the sky looks angry, and I can't wait for it to let loose a little more.

However....I've started taking the pill again...4 days now. And I feel insane...very emotional and weebly wobbly. I hope that passes soon, or these pills are going right in the garbage. I cried today without the faintest idea why. I hate that nonsense.

Bertha is pretty funny on the beach. She runs right up to the water, but when it comes in, she backs away. She will go in it, but not too far. The waves are pretty big, and they keep her from going out, really. But after she gets wet she insists on rolling in the sand. A big, healthy roll...she makes sure to get a nice even sand coating all over her body. Annoying to clean? Yes. But totally worth it, if only for the giggles it provides.

Coming home tomorrow. Meet me at Beefs, if you want some trivia action. We've moved it to Wednesday nights at 8:30. Further, Matt is here at the beach, and he's staying longer than us. That means he'll have to relinquish his 3 week first place run.

Beach!

We get to go to the beach! Out of the blue, we get a vacation. Beautiful. I'll be writing my next post from the porch of my beach front house...Wi-Fi, ocean, my man, my dog and some friends...This is going to be AWESOME.

I've done some research...

...and I've decided that the birds at Matt's house are brown headed cowbirds. I haven't actually gotten close enough to tell if I'm right-I'll look tonight perhaps, but it's the only thing that makes sense. Brown headed cowbirds don't make nests-they lay eggs in other nests and leave them for other birds to raise. Then, they all flock to bamboo groves at night.

Source

If you find this interesting, there is a more in depth article here.

Woah

Well now, this photo doesn't leave much to the imagination, now does it?

Pictures

These are just some random pictures from the last few weeks.

List of Talents

1: I am wonderful with children.
2: I'm very personable, and get along easily with people.
3: I love to entertain a crowd.
4: I am a decent actor, with lots of training.
5: I am a better director, with lots more training.
6: I can sing.
7: I know my way around a computer very well.
8: I have a firm grasp of the internet, and how to use it as a tool.
9: I can cook up a storm.
10: I am very creative.
11: I can design websites, and keep them updated. This is not to say that I am a web designer...it has been a hobby since college.
12: I think very quickly on my feet, which makes me great at improvising, or stalling for time in front of a crowd.
13: I'm pretty durned book smart.
14: I have HUGE stores of patience.
15: I am very confident and self assured. I'm not sure that is a talent, but I think it is important.
16: I'm a great motivator.
17: I can design sets and lights for plays or shows.
18: I can build sets, and hang and focus lights for plays or shows.
19: I can run sound, and I have some of my own equipment to do so.
20: I'm learning how to make videos-I can edit video and I have an HD video camera.
21: Years of stage managing has made me great at keeping people on track and organized.
22: I'm not a photographer, but I take pretty decent pictures, and I'm married to a photographer, which gives me a steady stream of good pictures.
23: I'm good at expressing myself through writing.
24: I have a really good understanding of how to best use all the free Google products, and I'm good at explaining them to other folks.


Cool Accomplishments:
1: I was the first person at my college to get perfect scores on all 3 parts of the Praxis 1.
2: I was voted most creative in my high school class.
3: I organized, directed, produced and performed in a Variety Show to raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims. It raised $3,500.
4: My trivia game is one of the more happening things to do in Hickory.


I'm sure that there are more things I can add, but it is hard to think of everything at once. Is there something you can think of?

I'm back

I hope no one thought I was dead. I was just uninspired. I've been in a bit of a funk. I think this is because I'm not really doing anything for me right now. I mean, I'm not using my talents, and that's a waste, and it makes me sad. So, how do I fix that? Well, I don't really know, but it seems like I have a good idea on how to start.

I'm going to gather proof of my talents. And also, a list. I'm going to create a list of everything I think I'm good at. I'm going to get my resume back in fighting order. I'm going to record a couple of songs. I'm going to make sure all of my directed plays that are on video are in a nice, easy to view folder somewhere. Then, perhaps I will have a better idea. And perhaps, I can do some of that right here for you to see. But, I'll need some help along the way. Any suggestions would be most helpful...

To catch you up on my life...same old things for the most part. I went to see my mom, which was lovely. Greensboro has a Harris Teeter that is the biggest grocery store I've ever seen. This excited me more than it should have. And I spent some time over the weekend with Jon in Sylva with his friend Terry. He took some great pictures of her, and then she took some portraits of us. I'll show you some later, when Jon gets home with the files. Trivia at Beefs is going well. Trivia at Drips is not. I've missed Allison lately...haven't seen quite enough of her.

Last night, I locked my keys in my house. After I'd already loaded the car with all the trivia stuff...dog inside, me outside. Jon was out of town with the other key...to make a long story short, Allison's man Jared climbed my house monkey style and got in an upstairs window. Yay for Jared!!

So, I'm off to clean and make some lists.

Sorry about the no blogging

It's been a while since I sat down to talk to all you folks. Now this is for several reasons, but mainly this one: I have been feeling completely uninspired. I've been tired, cranky, and kind of depressed. I'm feeling like I'm on an upswing, though, so I'll get back to this baby soon.

I like big butts.

Photo by Allygirl520.

Jon loves my butt-says it is his favorite one of all time. Allison took a picture of my arse in jeans a long time ago, and apparently, other people like it too. This amuses me:

1: Arse.Com It's a butt rating site. You must click on my behind to get into the site. And I found my butt in the rating part-1 is tiny, 10 is huge...my butt is 5.04, which is nice and balanced. Yay for my butt!
2: As part of a father's day gift giving guide. I know. Weird.
3: And in Spanish.

And, I noticed that 5 people marked this photo as a favorite in flickr. I had no idea my butt would be so well loved by the internet. I'm so flattered.

And this one has nothing to do with my butt, but I've always loved this picture of Allison's, and I think this is quite a funny use for it.

A distinct advantage to my marraige...

My in-laws are the distinct advantage of which I speak. They are very wonderful people, who have been nothing but precious to me since the day they met me. They embraced me as part of their family, and trusted that we knew what we were doing when we got married so quickly. I could go on and on about them, but I'll just offer an example. I present, my breakfast:

That's Activia yogurt in there, which is good stuff. It has my recommendation. Now, for the other ingredients...

The figs are picked off Jon's granddad's fig tree, and his mom picks them a lot, so we have yummy figs the whole time they're in season.

The blueberries, off a bush in the in-laws back yard.
The raspberries, again, picked by Jon's mom.
The peaches-this is my favorite part: The folks went to South Carolina and picked a bushel of peaches and brought them home. Then, we spent the morning peeling and soaking and otherwise preparing the endless peaches. And, in my freezer, I have a whole year's worth! A whole year of delicious peaches. That's a lot of cobbler, folks. And that freezer, they got it for my birthday last year, because my freezer in my fridge is tiny and non functional.

I never thought peeling and cutting peaches would be fun, but it was. They really feel like family now, which is nice.

People!

Help save Mr. Rogers! PBS has decided to stop showing it every day, and I think that show is important.

Birds!

There is always a lot of noise in Matt's back yard-at the back of his lot, there is a bamboo grove that is always full of chippery...but people-I think every bird in Hickory lives in Matt's back yard. I am not kidding. I will photograph another night, but as night falls, literally thousands of birds pour into this tiny little space, from all around. Thousands. Proof another night, but seriously. I think it is every flocking bird in Hickory.

Sad Night, well kind of

Last night was the first night of Trivia at Drips. No one showed up. Except my dearest friend Allison (thank you thank you). Oddly, I wasn't that disappointed, or even discouraged.

Some reasons:
-Downtown was dead. We stepped across the street to McGuires, where the only people in the place were the bartenders parents. There were Crickets.
-July and August are the slowest months of the year. Drips is brand new, but it's a weird situation. Drips closed a year or two ago, and something else went in. They closed, and new people opened Drips back up. They are fighting, and sometime gaining advantage from people's preconceived notions of what Drips is. It's actually very cool but some people don't know that yet. It's a hard time of year to be starting out, though.
-They're getting beer soon, and it will be oh so much easier to draw a crowd.
-We haven't properly gotten the word out.
-The owner seemed less discouraged than I did.

But, it is possible I may gain access to a projection screen, which would let me show videos during the game. That would open up a whole new world. A whole new world, where I am a very happy girl.

So, we'll try again next week. If any of you readers know anyone who would enjoy a smoke free evening of trivia, please tell them about Drips.

The evening was fun anyway, hanging out with Jon and Allison at Drips and McGuires. Not a bad night, really.

As we were leaving, Allison and my old neighbor walked out the door. Allison really dodged a bullet because this happened about 15 second after he drove off. He was our next door neighbor in college and he was so nuts that we used the word crazy every time we said his name. He was a nice guy. Sometimes. Other times, he would cuss you out at the top of his lungs in front of people, for no apparent reason. Or go out of town for the weekend, leaving his door wide open with his wallet and keys on the table. I'm so thrilled he lives in Hickory now.