International Towel Day - May 25th

For more information, check the International Towel Day official web page.

 
And thanks, Mr. Adams.

Secrets of Old Age Video

Found this on YouTube today. Yeah, it's a little corny and preachy at times, but it has beautiful graphics and a nice message.

Disney Characters Audition for Star Wars Movies

THE FIRST STEP IS A CINCH

Mikey's Funnies is generously hosted by Agathon Group, website development and hosting with a ministry heart:
http://www.agathongroup.com/

today's FUNNY===========================

THE FIRST STEP IS A CINCH 
By Saralee Perel

"Where have you been?" a neighbor named Stacy said. 

"Where have you been?" my neighbor, Robert, asked. 

I was riding my three-wheeler bike down our road. The bike is made specifically for people like me who are disabled. "Well," I said to the dozen or so neighborhood folks who asked me the same question. "I took time off to be depressed."

I was on my trike that day because of a breakthrough. I can still visualize myself on a recent afternoon when I debated about opening our front door and re-entering the outside world. The breakthrough occurred because of this thought: "If I keep waiting until I want to do something, I'll be waiting forever."

Oddly, this new way of thinking began because of a 21-year-old movie I watched called, "City Slickers." Mitch, played by Billy Crystal, is dreadfully depressed as he takes us through his comical mid-life funk. 

During his journey of recovery, he was taught "the secret of life." But here's the thing: Finding that secret could never have happened until Mitch stopped waiting for happiness to come to him and instead took the first step himself. 

First steps, I have learned, are nowhere near as huge as they sound. They're actually quite simple. They have to be.

My husband, Bob, heard me crying when the movie ended. "I thought it was a comedy," he said.

"It was hysterical."

"Then why are you crying?"

"Because it made me realize I've wasted six months of my life by settling into depression and waiting, waiting, waiting to come out of it."

That was the instant I took that first step. I grabbed my cane and said, "I'm going to ride my trike." 

He tried to stop me. "You can hardly move today. And you haven't been on your trike for ages!"

"Bob, if I don't do this now, I am never going to do it." I knew that. I knew that from the depths of me. I had to do something to help myself. 

And it had to be now. 

Now, I'd have never done this had I thought, "I'm going to grab my cane, get my sturdy shoes, find the bike lock, check the weather," and on and on, ending with something overwhelmingly sabotaging like, "and ride every day for the rest of my entire life." 

I biked down our road, loving every minute. It's a new year, a new me, a new life and all because of one simple decision.

And so, the secret of life that Mitch learned? 

To paraphrase from the movie: "Just one thing," Curly, the wise cowboy said. "You stick to that and the rest is foolish detail." 

"What is that one thing?" 

"That's what you have to find out for yourself." 

For Mitch, it was not about taking an adventurous trip out West; it was merely agreeing to read the brochure.

For Mitch's wife, it was just saying these words to him: "I want you to have that adventure and find … your smile." 

It was when Mitch realized by simply giving his wife one single kiss: "Today is my very best day!"

And for me, it was grabbing my old wooden walking stick. 

------------

Award-winning columnist/novelist, Saralee Perel, can be reached at sperel@saraleeperel.com or via her website: www.saraleeperel.com. Please click "Like" on her Facebook Fan Page: www.facebook.com/4footedcoach. Her novel "Raw Nerves" is now available as a paperback and an e-book. To take a look at it on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0060LNUKK/mikeysfunnies-20

Copyright 2012 Saralee Perel. Permission is granted to send this to others, with attribution, but not for commercial purposes.

For the Science Geeks Out There

I just found out about the existence of this musical project called the Symphony of Science. Fantastic!

This one is called "We Are All Connected" and I see the web site has a number of these there that I'll explore further when I have a bit more time.

Makes me want to go visit Liberty Science Center again, and soon!

Random Blog Name Generator by Jennette Fulda

Jennette, formerly known as the Pasta Queen, has a new blog. In real life she's a computer geek, and her old blog for her weight loss (and the basis for her book, Half-Assed) had cool graphics on it. On this new blog I see she added a random weight loss blog name generator.

Here are a few I was given:

Empress LaPotato Chip

Diva of the Muffin Top

Quest of a Roly Poly Princess

Lardy O'Cracker Jeans

Okay, I liked that last one, but for now I'll stick to Suzy's Search for Sanity.

Got Fat Feet?

Then you'll love these 2 videos by Kim Brittingham, author of Read My Hips: How I Learned to Love My Body, Ditch Dieting, and Live Large. You need to watch both videos to get all the info this Jersey Girl has to offer.

and

Healthful Health Q & A

I first read these way back in 1992 when I used my IBM PS/1 computer to access Prodigy and bulletin boards. These are as funny today as they were then.

Enjoy!

HELPFUL HEALTH Q&A 

Q: I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?

A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it...don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap. 

 

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables? 

A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

 

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio? 

A: Well, if you have a body, and you have body fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

 

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating a regular exercise program? 

A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain...Good. 

 

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you? 

A: You're not listening. Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

 

Q: What's the secret to healthy eating? 

A: Thicker gravy. 

 

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle? 

A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

 

Q: Is chocolate bad for me? 

A: Are you crazy? HELLO ...... Cocoa beans ... another vegetable!!! It's the best feel-good food around! 

 

Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets. Now go have a cookie...flour is a veggie! 

I Drive My Husband Crazy, Too

I know nobody reads this blog - my counter service tells me so - but the few people who have managed to find this place over the years probably quickly run away as soon as they see the posts. They haven't changed much over the years - Dieting for weight loss versus size acceptance. The debate still rages today, but it's leaning more towards eating the healthier lower fat vegan foods and getting some fun exercise in than obsessing over the numbers on a scale.

We were recently "on vacation," in quotes because we're probably the first couple in NJ to have never gone away for any vacation in our 31 years of marriage, except for our 5 days in the Poconos for our honeymoon. Instead of going away we spend our money on such "luxuries" as a few extra goodies in the weekly grocery basket, or replacing broken or worn out/outdated items with more modern ones. This vacation we bought a few CD's (on sale) to replace those that was still had on vinyl (most from the 1960's) but were so worn and scratched we didn't dare play them any more for fear of ruining our 32 year old diamond needle on the turntable. We replaced the broken digital camera (only 2 years old) with a better Canon Powershot and broken Singer serger sewing machine (24 years old) with a newer Singer model. We bought 7th Heaven season one on DVD to replace the home-taped VHS version I had (the remaining seasons are in my Amazon shopping cart for future splurges). Now we can use those old tapes for the upcoming summer season of tv.

And we bought books, which brings me to the topic of this post. When the Amazon package arrived my husband had a good laugh at my expense. Included in the order was Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby's size-acceptance book Lessons from the Fat-O-Sphere along with Kip Esselstyn's Engine 2 Diet which pushes the same very low fat, high starch strict vegetarian food plan as his parents and Dr. McDougall. Yeah, at first thought they are extreme opposites, but if you look back on this blog you'll see that the times I felt my best, physically and mentally, were the times I was following the vegan food plan and avoiding all dairy. My husband unpacked the box and just shook his head when he saw the titles and said "We're in for another bumpy ride, aren't we?"

During vacation we ate a lot of crap - fatty meats, bakery goodies nearly every day, as well as almost every lunch from a fast food restaurant, then a chocolate cream pie with three inches of whipped cream on top for the finale on Mother's day. My son and husband really don't like chocolate pudding so the pie was all mine, and I devoured the entire thing in 2 days. Yesterday was my first non-goodies day in a week and a half, and I was in agony! I could barely sleep, my snoring and snorting, as well as hip pains, kept waking me up every hour or so. My head was ready to split open, and when I described the pain to my son he said it sounded like his typical migraine headache. It was the worst headache of my life and didn't go away, even with three doses of extra strength Tylenol. Usually one regular strength tablet taken only once gets rid of any headache I get, but this one was a killer, and the first time I ever had eye pain to go along with it. I never want to go through that kind of pain ever again!

So, with that in mind, yesterday was day 1 of no sweets or any other crap foods. I know the dairy in those things is causing the sinus problems, and I know yesterday's headache was probably a sugar hangover. I'm now going to make a strong effort to avoid all things dairy, have only a little bit of sugar (In iced tea or lemonaide), and continue to make dinners the whole family enjoys, which will save not only my sanity but a few bucks at the grocery store, too. Most meals will be low fat vegan, but not all. I already made one of the soups in the Engine 2 book and see a lot more recipes I'll be trying, just as I'll be making a lot more McDougall recipes, but not only very low fat vegan ones. In fact, yesterday Isa's newest book, Vegan Brunch, went on sale and I ordered it.




Plans for today include hitting the park with my new camera, and finally opening the box with the serger. All my fabric is washed and ready to go, and I've got a lot of sewing to catch up on. Once this headache is gone and I catch up on housework, the first thing to get made is a new Lazy Girls purse. I've had the patterns and fabric for over a year now and really should get started on them again. After that I have a few aprons to make up (Again, the fabric has been waiting about a year), and last week I bought more fabric for summer caftan shirts. I'm so glad I found her directions again after she moved them. I've been using them for almost 10 years now and just LOVE how those shirts feel and fit. I even wear them during the cold wintry days, layered with other shirts. They're best in the wildest fabric designs possible. For this year's batch I have a tropical print (Parrots!), ladybugs, multi-colored sprinkles (known as "jimmies" to some parts of the country), subdued beige butterflies, and my favorite (and the most expensive piece), Japanese fans. My apron and purse fabrics are wilder than these, so I really can't wait to get started. Hopefully now that I'm away from dairy again my arthritis and neck neuritis won't act up as much and allow me to work at the machines for more than a few minutes at a time without pain.

Expect photos. :)

Music Meme from Vesta

Here's what she says to do:

A.) Go to musicoutfitters.com
B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year
C.) Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you hate and underline your favorite. Do nothing to the ones you don't remember (or don't care about)

Got that? Too bad it doesn't say to do anything to which of these we currently own in either 45, LP or CD format. Just a quick glance says I currently own many of these, either on an album by the artist or on one of the many compilation CD's we bought over the years. Some I own but by different artists other than those listed here. Some of these I swear I never heard in my life, and I always had a transistor radio glued to my ear, either on WABC or WMCA AM stations or WNBC on the FM dial. Now I keep my radio n WCBS or WQXR, the 2 oldies FM stations here in the NYC area.


OK, here's my list.

1. Joy To The World, Three Dog Night
2. Maggie May/(Find A) Reason To Believe, Rod Stewart
3. It's Too Late/I Feel The Earth Move, Carole King
4. One Bad Apple, Osmonds
5. How Can You Mend A Broken Heart, Bee Gees
6. Indian Reservation, Raiders
7. Go Away Little Girl, Donny Osmond
8. Take Me Home, Country Roads, John Denver
9. Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me), Temptations
10. Knock Three Times, Pawn
11. Me And Bobby Mcgee, Janis Joplin
12. Tired Of Being Alone, Al Green
13. Want Ads, Honey Cone
14. Smiling Faces Sometimes, Undisputed Truth
15. Treat Her Like A Lady, Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose
16. You've Got A Friend, James Taylor
17. Mr. Big Stuff, Jean Knight
18. Brown Sugar, Rolling Stones
19. Do You Know What I Mean, Lee Michaels
20. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Joan Baez
21. What's Going On, Marvin Gaye
22. Uncle Albert-Admiral Halsey, Paul McCartney
23. Aint No Sunshine, Bill Withers
24. Signs, Five Man Electrical Band
25. She's A Lady, Tom Jones
26. Superstar, Murray Head and The Trinidad Singers (??)
27. I Found Someone Of My Own, Free Movement
28. Amos Moses, Jerry Reed
29. Temptation Eyes, The Grass Roots
30. Superstar, Carpenters
31. My Sweet Lord/Isn't It A Pity, George Harrison
32. Sweet And Innocent, Donny Osmond
33. Put Your Hand In The Hand, Ocean
34. Chick-a-boom, Daddy Dewdrop
35. For All We Know, Carpenters
36. Help Me Make It Through The Night, Sammi Smith
37. Rainy Days And Mondays, Carpenters
38. If You Could Read My Mind, Gordon Lightfoot
39. Gypsy, Tramps And Thieves, Cher
40. Never Can Say Goodbye, Jackson 5
41. Rose Garden, Lynn Anderson
42. Don't Pull Your Love, Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds
43. It Don't Come Easy, Ringo Starr
44. Mr. Bojangles, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
45. I Love You For All Seasons, Fuzz
46. Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get, Dramatics
47. That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be, Carly Simon
48. If You Really Love Me, Stevie Wonder
49. Spanish Harlem, Aretha Franklin
50. I Don't Know How To Love Him, Helen Reddy
51. Yo-yo, Osmonds
52. Bridge Over Troubled Water, Aretha Franklin (Aretha? This is a Simon & Garfunkel song!)
53. Doesn't Somebody Want To Be Wanted, Partridge Family
54. Draggin' The Line, Tommy James
55. Proud Mary, Ike and Tina Turner
56. Beginnings/Color My World, Chicago
57. Stay Awhile, Bells
58. Sweet City Woman, Stampeders
59. Me And You And A Dog Named Boo, Lobo
60. Another Day/Oh Woman, Oh Why, Paul McCartney
61. If, Bread
62. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology), Marvin Gaye
63. One Toke Over The Line, Brewer and Shipley
64. She's Not Just Another Woman, 8th Day
65. Bring The Boys Home, Freda Payne
66. I Just Want To Celebrate, Rare Earth
67. Never Ending Song Of Love, Delaney and Bonnie and Friends
68. Easy Loving, Freddy Hart
69. Liar, Three Dog Night
70. Stick-up, Honey Cone
71. Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep, Mac and Katie Kissoon
72. Love Story (Where Do I Begin), Andy Williams
73. Wild World, Cat Stevens
74. When You're Hot, You're Hot, Jerry Reed
75. Funky Nassau, Beginning Of The End
76. If Not For You, Olivia Newton-John
77. Groove Me, King Floyd
78. Watching Scotty Grow, Bobby Goldsboro
79. Woodstock, Matthews' Southern Comfort (By CSNY - who are THESE guys?)
80. Amazing Grace, Judy Collins (I love Judy Collins but HATE this song)
81. I Hear You Knocking, Dave Edmunds
82. Lonely Days, Bee Gees
83. Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again, Fortunes
84. Won't Get Fooled Again, Who
85. Trapped By A Thing Called Love, Denise Lasalle
86. Mama's Pearl, Jackson 5
87. Timothy, Buoys
88. I Woke Up In Love This Morning, Partridge Family
89. Theme From "Shaft", Isaac Hayes
90. If I Were Your Woman, Gladys Knight and The Pips
91. I Am...I Said, Neil Diamond
92. Wedding Song (There Is Love), Paul Stookey (I prefer Captain and Tennile's version)
93. Don't Knock My Love, Pt. 1, Wilson Pickett
94. Love Her Madly, The Doors
95. Here Comes The Sun, Richie Havens
96. Sweet Mary, Wadsworth Mansion
97. Right On The Tip Of My Tongue, Brenda and The Tabulations
98. One Less Bell To Answer, Fifth Dimension
99. Riders On The Storm, The Doors
100. It's Impossible, Perry Como

To be honest, most of the ones left untouched I never heard. Only 1 or 2 I did and just don't care about.