Looking at the bright side

Some of my friends struggle with depression. I'm grateful that hasn't been the case with me. I can think of a few times in my life when I've felt a dark cloud surround my thoughts and I'd look back to my usual self, wondering how to get there again, wondering if I ever could, thinking I probably couldn't. But I somehow snap out of it. That's my only glimpse at what depression might be like. My friend tells me it's a small glimpse.

Most of the time I'm actually chuckling throughout the day at the irony of life, the silliness of circumstances. I even laugh at myself for being so grateful for simple things, realizing that I'm unique in "getting a kick out of" little, little things. The only one that's fresh in my mind right now isn't really appropriate to write about online -- since it has to do with bodily functions, but even that can tell you how easily pleased I can be with normal every day stuff.

I don't know why I find it so easy to see the bright side of the coin (okay, I'm messing up some metaphors here, I'm sure).

If this doesn't come as easily to you, first I recommend you clean up your eating, (even if just in small ways). It will make a difference to your brain to feed it essential nutrients for maximum health (yes, even mental health is affected by eating). Secondly, pray or meditate (or both!), if you don't already. This will help you cast your burdens on a higher and helpful source and alleviate your mind from all the stuff that clutters it up in life. Third, think of someone worse off than you are. There are PLENTY out there. Sometimes just a change of perspective can help. Finding a way to help that person is even better! Fourth, surround yourself with positive people. Some people tell me they don't want to be around positive people when they don't feel positive themselves, but it can help. Laughter really is great medicine.

I found a fun piece of art about looking at the bright side (up at the top). Pretty cute (and positive!)

My husband is much more realistic than I am. That's what he calls it. (In fact, that's what my friend who battles depression calls herself too! Hmm -- maybe ignorance is bliss?) A quick example. One night I was looking out the bathroom window and exclaimed, "Wow! I see the big dipper!" This might not be as exciting for most, but we live in a misty climate and have many foggy nights. Being able to see the stars is a treat.

My husband replied this was impossible. The big dipper isn't in that part of the sky. We can't see it from our house because we live in a forest and the trees on the north side of our house cover most of it up. Granted, he does comprehend astronomy FAR better than I ever have, but this looked like the big dipper to me. So I stuck with my happy place and said, "Well, I'll just call it the big dipper" and he told me, "You can't. It isn't the big dipper." I was fine with the falsity of my experience, even if it gave me joy. He couldn't do that. He knew it wasn't there and as nice as those stars might be, it couldn't be that celebration for him that it was to me.

This wasn't an argument of any sort. In fact, we were (or was it just me) laughing about it as we went back and forth on "But it isn't the big dipper" to "I don't care -- It still looks like it to me." It's kind of become our symbol for how I see things. He calls it basing happiness on inaccuracy. I just call it happiness! :)

I've learned not to think of him as a pessimist though. Everyone's way of thinking probably plays into their strengths and talents. My husband's an industrial designer, which is part designer/part engineer. This clever comment on engineers describes his way of thinking well.

To the optimist, the glass is half full.
To the pessimist, the glass is half empty.
To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

School on the horizon

This is the last week of summer vacation and even though I enjoy the change of pace, the sunshine, and the freedom to take off when we like to, I miss the routine of school and having some time to myself at home. I've never completely had time to myself at home, (well at least not for almost 18 1/2 years), but it's a lighter load when my school-aged children are at school.

My youngest son will start Kindergarten on Monday and he's more than ready. I don't know if he'll come close to sitting still or keeping his racing thoughts in his head, but he definitely wants to be a part of it and is just itching to be there. It will be fun to see how he progresses without his given role of the baby of our family.

I won't be completely alone at home while he's at school because my husband works from home. I think I'll enjoy the times he goes out to lunch with a friend or leaves to run an errand -- having the house comPLETEly to myself. But I really do enjoy having him home with me. I love talking with him, having him come downstairs for lunch mid-day. Very pleasant, very nice.

I guess I'm telling you all of this to say that once school starts again, I'll have more time to write -- more time to focus my thoughts. I've missed writing as much as I was writing before. (I had problems with that sentence -- had to try a few versions to avoid that last phrase looking like an adverbial phrase with "as much as I had before." Fun to keep my brain going here late at night :)). TTFN!

Oh what do you do in the summer time? (Raw Lemonade Recipe)

Oh what do you do in the summertime

when all the world is green?

Do you fish in a stream or lazily dream

on the banks as the clouds go by?

Is that what you do? So do I.

Oh what do you do in the summertime
when all the world is green?
Do you swim in a pool to keep yourself cool
or swing in a tree up high?
Is that what you do? So do I.

Oh what do you do in the summertime
when all the world is green?
Do you march in parades or drink lemonades
or count all the stars in the sky?
Is that what you do? So do I.

I used to sing this song when I was little. I just love the memories it gives me of sunshine in the summer! I live in a cooler summer climate now, but we celebrate like no other when that sun comes out and brings the temperature up to even barely 80 degrees. Just love it!

I've been capturing that "Lazily dreaming" part this week. I have not been very productive at all! I was in L.A. last week with that infomercial filming and thought I'd just dig in this week with organizing and cleaning since my focus was away from that before the trip. But that hasn't been what I've been doing. I'm just enjoying the summer. It won't be here forever.

I've been writing quite a bit about my trip last week over on the Video Fitness (VF) Forum. I will post it here once I get some pictures to go with it. I thought I was so prepared for my trip by bringing 2 extra sets of batteries for my camera. I even emptied out my memory card (even though it only had maybe 5 pictures on it :)) before I left. I kept wondering what I'd forget. You know how every trip, you get there (or are on the way) and think "Oh, no! I forgot my razor!" (or pajamas, or underwear, or whatever -- these have all happened to me).

Once I ended up with no shoes on a trip to L.A. I did bring the pair on my feet, but we stopped off at a river on the way down and one of my shoes fell out of the car onto the river bed and we drove off without it. I rode all the way to L.A. without shoes and bought some at Target when we got there. The greatest part of that story was that we couldn't check to see if they were there on our way back because we drove back a different route. But a few weeks later when my husband traveled that same road, he stopped along the river, saw a spot where someone had built a fire and there was a collection of things someone had gathered along the shore. In the pile was my shoe! I got it back -- yay!

Anyway, this time I kept thinking "Did I forget this? Did I forget that?" and couldn't come up with anything. I was so well prepared. But the day we got to the studio, I took out my camera and it said, "No memory card" -- I'd left it in my computer!!!!! So I didn't get to take a single picture. But the other women did and they promised to send them to me. So far . . . nothing. But I haven't given up! I'll be sure to post about it all soon.

I should post a great raw recipe for lemonade while I'm here talking about summertime and lemonade. Here's a simple one I learned from Alissa Cohen:

Juice 4-5 apples
(Granny Smiths are great; others are fine too)
Add 1 big lemon into juicer

Drink up! It's super refreshing and wonderful.

My Slim in 6 Infomercial Trip -- Preparations

I haven't been writing in here much this past week as my trip nears. I guess I've spent most of my computer time reading and answering e-mails pertaining the trip. I'm so excited. I leave tomorrow morning!

Here's what I know so far. My husband and I will fly into LAX in the morning, be driven in a limo to our hotel (a very nice one at that), I pick up a packet with the schedule for the time I'll be there. They've e-mailed schedules to me, but times weren't specified and events could change last minute. So this will be the full picture.

My husband is on his own while there -- he's fine with that (just glad they invited him too!) His brother lives down there and he actually is going to be able to meet up with business clients during our stay.

I have all of tomorrow "off" to rest and relax until we film. I plan to work out in their exercise room (which overlooks an indoor pool that overlooks the even bigger outdoor pool :)). I plan to spend time at the pool too. It's too cold here in the summers for outdoor pools so this will be a treat.

There's a huge mall across from the hotel and I may make my way over there too. I have a few good friends down there and am trying to work out meeting up with at least one of them. I did this last time with my former boss and it was really fun.

On Wednesday, a shuttle will pick us (8 of us) up and take us to a filming studio where we're to have our make-up and hair done in a natural way for a workout, but there will be make-up and hair stylists to complete our look. A wardrobe specialist will help us choose what to wear (we bring 4-6 choices and she's been shopping for us). We'll do a group chat with Debbie (that will be staged and filmed), followed by a Group Demo workout w/Debbie (that will look like a class, I imagine). There will be food available throughout the day and I imagine a catered lunch (that's what they did each day when we filmed the videos). We are shuttled back to our hotel at the end of the day and are free for dinner and the evening.

Thursday will be similar. Once we're at the studio, we'll film a setting where Julie Moran is talking in front and we're exercising in the back. Sounds simple, but it's scheduled to take all day too. At 5:00, we'll all go out to dinner with Debbie (and our guests are invited). We're free that evening (swimming and jacuzzi, I hope).

Another good night's rest in the hotel, then we fly home on Friday.

I can't wait!!!!! Time to finish putting away the groceries, then I'm dying some clothes (a new skirt and pair of shorts I bought and decided not to keep white) and I'll finish packing. TTFN!

Lunch pails from long ago

I'm not sure why, but last night as I was falling asleep, I started thinking about my lunch pail I had when I was young. I know that many call them "lunchboxes" now, but I called mine a lunch pail. I was born in the mid-60's and went to school in the early 70's. I pretty much had a childhood like they pictured on "The Wonder Years." (I sure with they'd put that on dvd, by the way). Thinking about my lunch pail brings back a flood of memories to my childhood and elementary school experience.

I searched around the internet a bit this morning, looking for my Bedknobs and Broomsticks lunch pail. I found that one sold on e-bay just a week ago for $6.50 plus shipping. Others go for quadruple that price or more. This was a metal lunch pail and had bumps and indentations around the pictures. One of my favorite things to do was to touch the little bumps and feel the fish on the front or the soccer ball on the back. I loved how colorful it was. I loved to look at the pictures on every side.

What I didn't like was how the top metal piece didn't stay shut. Sometimes it would, but if I was running down the hill to the bus or doing anything not mellow or careful, the lid could pop open and my lunch would fall right out. I remember one morning heading out to the bus and my sandwich spilled, my apple bounced and rolled across the street (visions of bruising rolling through my head), and my thermos fell. Then the thermoses were lined with glass and we had to be careful not to let them crack. You'd always shake your thermos after it fell to listen for broken glass. Later they made them with just plastic. They probably didn't keep your drinks as cold, but at least you didn't have the risk of drinking glass. I remember that the cup part of my thermos broke and I had to bring it to school for awhile with just the screw lid on. I'd see other children pouring their drinks into their cups to drink it and I'd have to drink straight from the thermos. I wasn't embarrassed to do it or anything, but I did long for that cup again.

We soon found a remedy for this faulty latch. The bobby pin! All you had to do was slide a bobby pin into the hole of the little barrel that the latch went over and the latch couldn't move. I did love putting that bobby pin in. And I loved the feeling of opening that latch over and over. It just felt good. They later came out with a plastic latch that would kind of spring shut and stay shut. Yes, it worked, but it wasn't nearly as fun to play with or as easy to open. This is where my thoughts traveled to last night. I was thinking about the latch change and how technology always intervenes and changes what we once loved. Not that technology isn't good. It is. But it often takes away something that we liked and replaces it with something that works better (but isn't as lovable).

Take the record player, for example. I do love my CDs (and am getting used to the whole MP3 thing), but it was really fun to stack a bunch of records on top of that tall spindle that held the records up high and eventually released them one by one as each record finished. There was something soothing about that. I learned to love the Beatles this way. I'd stack a bunch of Beatles records up so they could all play in a row, then would flip them all over to hear the other sides. (And yes, I tried playing the "Sgt. Pepper" one backwards to hear them say "Paul is dead" -- it was muffled, but if you really used your imagination and turned the record at an even pace, you could make out something :)).

Back to the lunch pails, I've wondered why I didn't have a Brady Bunch lunch pail since I loved them so much. After all, my best friend, Cindy, had a Partridge Family one (and oh, how I loved to look at that -- it came on right after "The Brady Bunch" each week and I loved that show too).

I think I probably ended up with a Bedknobs and Broomsticks lunch pail because that's what they had at Sprouse Riese, which was the only dime store in town back then (hadn't changed much -- now they just have a Rite Aid -- no Wal-Mart, K-Mart or Target). We'd go to Sprouse Riese and if they had something, that was our option. If not, we didn't even think about it. If we shopped out of town, we might find something else, but that didn't happen often, especially when all of us were little. My parents only had one car, so we stayed home all day while dad was working. Anyway, I was fine with my lunch pail. And I loved looking around the lunch room to see what everyone else had.

I think the lunch pail I admired the most was one that a girl name Jenny used to bring in. She had a completely different style that was vinyl and oval. It was tall and had a long handle like a purse. It was covered in flowers and just looked so cute. I used to look at it all the time. I can still see her walking into the lunch room and feel the emotions of excitement I felt as I oohed and ahhed about it inside. Simple joys in life.

I'd love to hear about your lunch pails if any of you have any great lunch pail memories. I spent some time looking through e-bay and a few lunchbox websites, just remembering the various pictures I used to see every day in the cafeteria. I'll end with a few photos of the Brady Bunch lunch pail. Enjoy!

Raw Recipe -- Rocky Road Ice Cream / Mousse

I promised (well, actually just said, but I feel like it was a commitment or promise) that I'd make my Raw Rocky Road ( I'd call it "Rawky Road" if I were like a lot of other raw foodists, but that just seems so corny to me :)) recipe yesterday and would post it here for you. Well, I ran out of raw cacao! So I didn't.

I have some more cacao coming from Amazon -- most likely this week. I'll just post the recipe now anyway and will take a picture to post of the actual goods when the cacao gets here. I could attempt it with my cacao nibs ground up, but whenever I've tried making fudge that way before, it didn't turn out very powdery -- it was more rubbery and gave way too strong of a chocolatey taste. So I'll just wait for the mailman to bring more.

Here's the recipe. If you freeze it, it's ice cream, if you refrigerate it, it's pudding. I'll just call it "ice cream" for now since that's my favorite way to eat it.

Raw Rocky Road Ice Cream

Meat or Insides of one Thai Baby Coconut (scooped out into a bowl)
1/4 c. dates (soaked in water, then drained)
1/4 c. cacao powder
1/4 c. almonds
2 T. agave nectar

Blend it all into a food processor until nuts are mostly blended smooth. You want some nuts blended into the cream and some left chunky for that rocky road feeling. Freeze until firm for super yummy ice cream that will last you a few days. Just refrigerate if you want to try it as mousse.

Raw Recipe -- Sweet Cauliflower Salad

I have quite the sweet tooth and tend to like my salads with fruit in them. I don't mind soups or sauces to have their savory vegetable flavors, but for fresh, I'm happy to overpower it with sweetness.

I never ate cauliflower growing up (that I remember -- if it was offered to me, I probably stuck it in a napkin & put it in my pocket). The first year I was married, I went to a cooking night at church and discovered this cauliflower salad. I've made it ever since. I haven't met anyone who loves it nearly as much as I do, but that doesn't bother me. It's my wonderful way to get some cauliflower into my body.

The sauce used to consist of mayonnaise with fresh lemon juice mixed in. Since eating raw, I decided to try 1/4 c. nuts in a blender with fresh lemon juice and it tastes just the same (if not better).

Here's the recipe:

1 head cauliflower

3-4 bananas

1/2 c. dates

1/4 c. nuts (I've tried walnuts, cashews, & macadamia nuts and they all work well)

Juice from 1 or 2 lemons (1 if you juice it, 2 if you squeeze by hand)

Cut the first 3 ingredients into bite-sized pieces (the dates even smaller so they can spread around the salad well). Place into a salad bowl. Blend nuts and lemon juice in the blender and mix into salad. You can eat it immediately, but it's even tastier when the juices have soaked in a bit in the refrigerator.

Let me know what you think of it. I'd love to hear if it ever becomes anyone else's favorite too!