November Birthdays!

For November birthdays we had "Yankee Chili" for dinner with corn bread and, for dessert, a strawberry cake, strawberry frosting with sprinkles.  Yum!  I call it "Yankee Chili" because I put meat, spices, beans and veggies in my chili to make more of a stew compared to the southern version of chili which consists only of meat, tomato sauce and spices.  C and I loved it but the kids were only happy with the corn bread!  But we ALL ate cake.  

We sang happy birthday to:

Aunt Jeanne

Uncle/Brother-in-law Scott

Siggi

Carmelo

Christie S

Kerry F-H

A much shorter list than October birthdays but all loved and cherished just the same!  We hope you all enjoyed your special day!

As I was saying...

Oddly enough after I posted my last entry I picked up my current issue of Consumer Reports On Health.  Right there on page 3 the title reads:  "Hospitals embrace complementary medicine."  And the first two sentences say:  "Nearly 40% of hospitals now offer acupuncture, massage and other complementary therapies, compared with just 27% two years ago, according to a recent survey by the American Hospital Association.  Growing research shows that those therapies can help many patients when added to standard care."

ConsumerReportsHealth.org provides unbiased information about health including complementary therapies. 

Please give it a try

I just wanted to send out an appeal for help with my future career.  Please utilize your local complementary medical professional.  Many practitioners of complementary medicine are trained to work with western medical professionals but approach the body from a different angle than those trained in western medicine.  That is why it is called complementary medicine.  It works well together with traditional western medicine.

Check out this site for high quality practitioners in acupuncture and oriental medicine: 

National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine  

If you are a more research based person, here is a link to the government agency that explains, monitors and promotes research in complementary medicine:

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine  

The more the public demands complementary options as part of their health insurance plans and the more patients educate their western medical practitioners about other options they want to utilize in their own treatment, the more acceptable and mainstream these practices will become.  Many of them are more cost efficient, less invasive and equally helpful for so many illnesses when compared to western medicine.  The goal is NOT to turn our backs on western medicine but to enhance it.  The goal is for all practitioners to work together for the benefit of the patient.

So, again, I encourage you to utilize your local complementary medicine practitioners.  Use them yourself, use them for your children's illnesses, use them for your aging relatives and use them for your pets.  The success these practitioners have now will help to pave the way for my future career.  It is a perfectly selfish request!  But, I also strongly believe in alternative forms of medicine regardless of whether or not I plan on making that my career.

Thanks for trying and I hope we all reap the rewards of having choices in health care.

Will the media ruin Christmas?

I just saw this article on CNN.   At first I found it quite entertaining.  Then I started thinking that this kind of media attention 6 weeks before Christmas could develop into a huge thing that will just ruin Christmas all around for everyone.

Christmas means different things to different people.  I find that most people celebrate what they deem the important points for them and their family and leave the rest.  I mean, everyone is really too busy with their own lives to get into this supposed Christmas war.  Why does the media have to turn it into a huge thing?  

So, this year I encourage you to ignore the stories about certain groups boycotting retail stores for having too generic holiday greetings.  Disregard any sort of media blitz about what is expected of you during the holidays.  Enjoy the holiday time for what is important to you and your family.  Make your own memories and celebrate in your own way.  Don't let the media provoke you and distract you to become a part of their so called Christmas war.

Celebrate!

Some days there are no words

Some days are such a mish-mash of events that there are not words to sum up the day.  O started the day getting all ready for school and just mentioned as he brushed his teeth that his belly hurt.  Then, as we walked out of the front door to catch the bus he mentions that his throat was "really, really sore."  After a brief conversation about whether or not he needed to stay home from school, we decided he would, in fact, stay home.

He was a bit put off by the rules:  if you are sick, you stay in bed and read.  No t.v.  No video games.  No running, jumping, playing.  Just relaxing in bed.  I may have to sit on him soon to keep him from running around with the dog.  Guess he feels better, huh?!  

The weather was dreadfully dreary, dark and rainy but I was in pretty good spirits all day and still am.  I kicked butt all weekend and had finished all of the laundry, worked, cleaned the kitchen, sorted through piles of paperwork that needed to be thinned out plus DD came over today for our massage trade.  Oh, and I snuck a couple.....ok a FEW pieces of Halloween candy.

Of course hearing about Mac the elephant (previous post--click on the title to go to the Zoo's announcement) was very sad.  But, all-in-all, the day was really good.

Now the dog is licking the bottom of my shoes, the cat is attacking the dog (hissing, whacking at his nose) because he is a bit too close to the cat, the other cat is yeowling in the other room because she has decided it is time for dinner.  The kids are drawing beautiful pictures for me.  M is only in her underwear because she has become a streaker as of late.  I'm lucky she is wearing underwear right now.  O's hair is sticking up just enough to be super cute.  I'll take a photo and post it to the beginning of this post.

Yeah, a good day of nothing much is really nice for a change.  And on a MONDAY no less.  Wish you all were here to enjoy it with me.  

I guess I'll now need find time to study for my Acu II midterm that is tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

Houston Zoo bids farewell to Baby Mac the elephant

Bigger Than Me

I feel like my current education is bigger than me.  I mean, while I find it wildly interesting, I feel like it is pulling me along.  Like this is my destiny and I'd better just suck it up and do it.  Maybe because I am beginning year 2 of what will be at LEAST a 4 1/2 year adventure.  I've come too far to quit but I can't yet see the light at the end of the tunnel.  And when the thought crosses my mind that I need to take it easy and spread my classes out more, take more time to finish my degree, I think of the class that just started this semester.  There are almost 30 of them.  That is at least twice as many as when my class started a year ago.  The word is out.  I can't let them get ahead of me, right?

I told my friends once that I would pay the whole tuition just to have the knowledge for myself.  That I wanted to be able to help my family and friends and if I made a few bucks along the way then all the better.  Now I feel threatened that these people, who began their education a year after me, will hit the job market before I do.  That's not ok at all.  So, it doesn't matter if I'm ready or not.  It doesn't matter what sacrifices both my family and I will have to make.  I can't let them beat me to the finish line.  And that is how it is all getting to be bigger than me.