Green Juicing once a day keeps the Doctor away

As we try to eat healthier at home, sometimes a new recipe helps me step up my motivation. To keep going on the healthy path.

My husband was recently suffering from kidney stones and lesions on his liver and glad bladder. His reaction to this news was very frustrating. His doctor treated the kidney stones and sent him elsewhere for the lesions.

Whats frustrating is healthcare's way of segregation of issues versus looking at the whole body, especially in this case. 

 I have an uncle who juices religiously. He makes smoothies but mostly drinks Raju says on a regular basis. His theory is that the acidity and various juices would get rid of all those lesions. And I'm trying to encourage my husband to go down this path. It's been a few weeks since I've given him this recipe, I've enjoyed it. But I don't think he has.

I refuse to nag. I refuse to beg. I tell him all the time and your wife, not your mother. It's his life and his health therefore his choice and drinking and making these juices. 

Either way its yummy and worth a try. 

Green smoothie

- INGREDIENTS -

• 1 lemon, quartered (washed and unpeeled)
• 1 whole avocado, peeled and pitted
• 2 stalks celery
• 2 cups spinach
• ½ bunch parsley

• ½ bunch cilantro
• 1 organic cucumber (washed and unpeeled)
• 1 teaspoon organic extra-virgin olive oil 
• pinch of sea salt
• water as needed

Add non fruit/veggie ingredients to the drink after youve made the juice. Consume immediately for maximum nutritional value.

Make mistakes, breathe, reflect and Laugh out Loud. Or cry. For those you love. 

When Fear is Around, a poem

"When fear is around" A Poem 

Story behind the poem:

The inspiration behind the poem. When we observe people around us I always say we are outsiders looking in, inside their box. Imagine the world you live in. It is different then mine. Your community, your office. your house. That is "your box." If I were to look inside your world it would like like me taking the lid off the top of the box and looking inside. I am looking into your box. Inside your world.

When we live in our own box, we see things from our perspective. But when an outsider looks into the box they will see things very differently. When my husband and I chat about life, the kids, or work, his perspective is different then mine. We look into eachothers boxes and sometimes see things differently. And that can be helpful, and eye opening (after the frustration of being told how different I am).

When looking into the box, we see people at their best or worst. But we don't analyze ourselves that way.

Both our Babcia's suffer from some level if anxiety and fear (night time fear of the dark, yet saying they are not afraid. Teasing kids with fear of animals, or losing a chess game...) I mean everyone does have some level of fear, or anxiety at some point in their lives. However as they age their fears are sharpened, like a fine point on a sharpened pencil. I just see WHAT their particular fears is more then they recognize it themselves. For one grandma, sometimes it is medical concerns, and death and dying. For the other its the darkness, nighttime and a fear of someone breaking into her home. I would argue we all have these as fears, at some point. Or concerns. I just see it amplified in them because they talk about THESE particular fears often.

The Poem // WHEN FEAR IS AROUND

Growing,
Stronger,
Every year.

Paranoia,
Anxiety,
Her fear.

Driving,
Walking,
Every day.

The Beach,
The store,
Every way.

Her fear of the dark has swollen thick,
When driving she fears getting hit,
What, when, where is it
The fear is hers and constant.

All. The. Time.
She can't face it.
She feels it,
She never unwinds.

Do you see that truck? Is the alarm on? In case of fire, keep it armed.
At night I hear her as she dreams, muffled noises, silent screams.

By morning we learn she was running away, from the dark, a man, an animal gone astray.

We can't discuss it,
she denies it's there.
The ever constant,
always growing, Fear.

The storm was so loud,
I laid in bed,
The the trees shook,
Branches scraping above my bed.

Did the siren sound? Did the earth shake?
No major alarms, but it still made her heart quake.

It's the smallest thing,
The quietest creek,
When her ears give alert,
And she listens for it to speak.

Fear says hello
In its own way.
Each of us hearing it,
What does it say?

For me it's the creaking in the hall,
Why is there noise when there should be none at all.

For him it's his wife coming to bed,
It's late, its dark, he rested his head.
Suddenly a light, someone entering the room,
He catches his breath as his heart zooms.

For the children it's the darkness, when they lay their heads.
And they snuggle their animals, warm in their beds.
They fall asleep to the sounds of kids songs,
The pounding of their hearts is drowned and gone.

And Great Grandma she wonders,
Will I fall asleep in my bed,
Or will I fall into that wonderland,
And my body lay cold and dead?
Then her heart pounds,
Her face warms, and she quakes
Her mind racing,
She quivers and quakes.
It's happening, this is the moment it's now,....
When fear takes over and all reason bows down.

I wish her peace, I wish her calm,
I wish her patients thru the it all.
Neither silence or sound,
Can help calm her,
When Fear is Around.

NEW UPDATE :: YOUTUBE CHANNEL INFO ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT BLOG

Our family has had many adventures through the years. Mom, the @Minstr0Interior had an a-ha moment . . .  Suddenly I See what we will have filled our life with, ADVENTURES! We travel, craft, sing, dance, collect insects and spend loads of time together. Sometimes too much time together. Our kids have recently begun to document their own adventures, and so this channel was born. Enjoy our adventures. Or not. WANT MORE? If there is a blog post accompanying this video we will share it here. Sometimes we will include the ingredients list of the craft or recipe, or the itinerary of our trip. In the meantime click play. 

From our family: 👍 + 🙃 + ❤️ ( Thumbs up, emoji face, hearts! )

See It Live >>> 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2mGpujQIVgxdfTImFnQuLA

Make mistakes, breathe reflect, and turn on a light. Laugh at the dark.

In Depth Interview, with God

In Depth Interview: With God

Show Title: In Depth With ...

Where: New York City

When: Sunday, October 24, 1999

Time: 1:00 p.m.

Announcer: 

Good Evening and Welcome to tonight's program In Depth With our special guest; God! This evening's program will be shown uninterrupted thanks to God who has purchased all the commercial time. Our program was filmed earlier this afternoon for tonight's special broadcast. 

Opening:

Tonight we will be asking a few questions to the Being that needs no introduction. God requested to be here this evening to answer some questions that have been bombarding Him through the prayer lines recently. The Lord said that tonight's half-hour format is quite sufficient to answer the questions He feels need addressing. Per God's request, we are in New York City's Central Park amongst man and nature. 

Interviewer:

Good Evening God, and thank you for selecting our program to use as your method of communication to the world.

God:

Response.

Interviewer:

Theologian Huston Smith has begun a revolving theory around the various religions of the world. He theorizes¹ that all religions are compared to the base of a triangle. as you climb the ranks of beliefs and teachings to a higher power, the angles of religion come closer together and finally meet at one point, which is you, God. Are You the one being for all these religions? Religions that were formulated early on and then broken off into many pieces? Christianity's God, Judaism's Yahweh, Islam's Allah, and Spirituality's Higher Power?   

God:

Response.

Interviewer:

Doctor Michael Persinger at the University of California has been conducting experiments showing a connection between electrical current stimulation when connected to the human brain and the presence of God or a higher being². Basically that the mind is an electromagnetic map to one's soul and whatever meaning or idea of "God" is what man's brain creates for itself (whether that be God, Yahweh, Allah or any spirit). Even atheists have reported "A" presence. That these are all emitted in the mind. 

Clearly You claim to be sitting before me, but are You a creation of our electrical waves when one "feels your presence" and is this how humans were made to react? Or are You really an "energy all around us?" 

God:

Response.

Station Identification: (SFX On Screen) 

Interviewer:

The Bible, Koran and the Torah, as well as other texts, are held sacred in their respective religions. One debate has arisen over the years as to whether or not these texts should be taken literally or is each text to be interpreted and used as a guide for life? Are these texts religious "T"ruths (with a capital "T") or are they man made inspirations to control societies? Moreover, does this mean we can alter these texts for our modern lifestyles? For example: the food laws in the Torah. Pork was a "filthy animal" in Egyptian times and many theologians have associated these laws with health concerns for those times. So can such laws be altered considering modern food preparations?

God:

Response.

Interviewer:

Another question that we cannot ignore amongst the more scientific of us who want to know,. And we recognize that it may be hard for the people around the world to hear, Was Darwin Right? In his theory of Evolution, Charles Darwin theorized that due to a change in the environment, the creature that was around before man had to adapt to a new environment and essentially evolving into a new species. Considering the basic evolution of basic anatomy like bacteria and the fact that cells do "adapt" to a new environment, we know this theory to be true in today's modern era. But is this a valid theory for man's presence on earth? Or did You mold man in your own image and put him in the garden of eden as told in the book of Genesis. And considering evolution, is "in your own image" what man looks like today³?

God:

Response.

Interviewer:

Much discussion is surrounding the world considering the New Year and the millennium. The Bible speaks of the apocalypse and a horrible end to the earth with plagues and specifically itemized events⁴. Others theorize that it will be man's own doing. Tell us, will humanity end itself and the end lies in our own free will, or will You ultimately decide when to bring on the apocalypse? 

God:

Response.

Interviewer:

It has been an incredible experience speaking with You and an honor. Racism, diversity, war, pain, love and economy - these are all areas left for man to decipher. As You, God, said "that the answers lie within man" and so does the answer to our existence. A close analysis of tonight's broadcast will reveal the answers to these questions and others some watching may have.

 Closing:

To our guest tonight, God, I would like You to give our closing this evening since we feel that You will say the most appropriate final words.

God:

Response.

Run Music
Run Credits

In Depth Interview with God
Are You Sure About That Blog Blogspot

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bibliography

1 Huston Smith, "The World's Religions." Harper, San Fransisco, 1991. Pages 386-389.
Theologian and author of "The World's Religions" theorizes that man is actually striving for one religion to suffice for the whole world. However it is man's desire to have individual followers and that explains the variety of preachers and leaders throughout our religions of the world. Smith concludes that because there is such a strong basic preaching to all religions it is overtly possible that the hundreds of religions practiced today spawn from one originally practiced faiths. Human egos and differences are what have historically caused the various splits int he churches and faiths. Several authors reference Smith and revere him as an expert in his field including Philip Novak author of "The Worlds Wisdom." Smith was contacted and asked to fill in as tonight's position as interviewer, he declined stating that it is too great an honor for him to live up to.

2 "Wired Magazine" This is Your Brain on God. November, 1999. Jack Hitt.
Doctor Michael Persinger at the University of California has been conducting experiments connecting electrodes to the human mind in certain areas of the brain. The subjects, after completing a questionnaire to show sanity (with questions like do you believe in God? Are you being followed? Do you go to church? Do you see aliens? and the like) who have been found are of a healthy mind and body claim to have had an experience with a higher power during the experiment. We interviewed Mr. Jack Hitt from Wired Magazine who translated his experience in the experiment for us. Dr. Persinger's claims do not deny a presence of God, but simplify the experience of God to an electrical transmission from the body to the brain.

3 "Charles Darwin, "The Great Minds of Western Literature." Theory of Evolution Encyclopedia Britannica. Vol. 46.
Charles Darwin theorized that man evolved essentially from ape due to a drastic change in the environment of the earth. In order to survive this creature evolved and adapted itself to continue surviving in this environment. While Darwin needed to present his theory very subtly in 1859, it is still widely debated to this day. Scientific evidence proves that cells and bacteria, the basic forms of life, do adapt to new environments especially shown when antibiotics no longer affect the bacterium. Darwin's theory essentially cancels out the teaching of Genesis and God "placing man on earth." The only area of debate is what is God's image, or is this evolution created for man's survival on earth?

4 "Holy Bible," Revelation The King James Version. Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville 1984. Pages 721-732.
Revelations claimed to be written by Saint John the Divine and gives explicit directives to look for at the end of times. False teachers and Seven Souls are some of the narratives as well as the Beast of the Sea and the New Jerusalem are clear earthly details. No timeline is given in the bible as to why or when the end will come. 

Updated: 2016 This is Your Brain on God. 

End of Interview. End of File.


Afterwards: 

This "interview" and script are complete fiction.

Have you ever been asked "when you arrive at the pearly gates, what will you Say to God?" Do you have a question that you must have answered? While these are not questions too "personal" in nature, about family or tragedy, instead they merge the Great Ideas of the World's Religion and Modern obsession with TV and answers.

In college I took an extensive amount of English and Writing Classes. While the English and Writing for Journalism developed my creative muscle skills for formal writing my creative writing classes stretched the muscle that would keep me going on in life. The mass media course here required us to interview someone.

Along side the classes to fulfill my major I was also learning about myself. I took classes on the world religions to better understand the fundamental teachings and how the belief system played out in our daily lives.

This creative writing assignment was a culmination of these classes coming together in one written form. I have been meaning to post this assignment for a few years now. But amongst the day-to-day doings of our lives, feeding and entertaining the children, I hadn't found a moment to search for the document and post it online. How interesting that I find time on New Years Day. after a tumultuous political and violent year, perhaps it brings perspective.

It is posted here, with limited revisions. I remember little of the assignment, except that it needed to be formatted for TV or Radio. And we needed to time it accordingly for the segment length.

Ironically after I posted this I referenced the link backs for the Authors listed. Huston Smith died December 30th, just 2 days ago. On the day I decided what I would be doing New Years Day, 2017. Rest in Peace. Thank you for inspiring millions to open their minds and spirits. #Irony

Originally written October 18, 1999, Creative Writing for Mass Media

Thanks for reading!! 

NEW UPDATE :: YOUTUBE CHANNEL INFO ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT BLOG

Our family has had many adventures through the years. Mom, the @Minstr0Interior had an a-ha moment . . .  Suddenly I See what we will have filled our life with, ADVENTURES! We travel, craft, sing, dance, collect insects and spend loads of time together. Sometimes too much time together. Our kids have recently begun to document their own adventures, and so this channel was born. Enjoy our adventures. Or not. WANT MORE? If there is a blog post accompanying this video we will share it here. Sometimes we will include the ingredients list of the craft or recipe, or the itinerary of our trip. In the meantime click play. 

From our family: 👍 + 🙃 + ❤️ ( Thumbs up, emoji face, hearts! )

See It Live >>> 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2mGpujQIVgxdfTImFnQuLA

Make mistakes, breathe, reflect and Laugh. Out. Loud. 

Teenage Ninja Turtle Handmade Ornaments - Simple Craft, Keepsake

When our cousin came to visit for a month from Guatemala, I had four kids at home for christmas. It was also one of the coldest Chicago winters in a long long time. Winter is a good time to craft. I take a break in the summer because, well its warm and we are outside mostly. So Winter Solstice brings out crafts.

TMNT are all the rage this year with the kids. There is a new cartoon on netflix, and the movie was available on DVD, which they love. Event baby girl gets into it. You would think she is the "girl" ---nope. She is Leonardo. Partially because he loves blue. I explain to her he was a great artist. As were all 4 of the Renaissance turtles (you knew that right?). 

Making the TMNT Craft ornaments.

• These were once clear bulbs, thrifted. 

• I had acrylic paint in the basement and I filled each bulb and I'd roll the paint around inside the bulb. returning every 40 minutes to roll the paint around. 

• Even once the bulbs were finished, and hung on the tree, I continued to Roll the Paint around inside the bulb --- it takes forever to dry. 

• I used permanent marker to draw in the faces.

• Felt pieces from other crafts served as their masks. 

If you are reading this post, please post a comment below on what you liked - or didn't  - about this read. Does the topic interest you and you want to know more? Submit a question and I am happy to tackle it.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Handmade Ornaments.
Notice the different smiles.

Names and Dates on the Ornaments.

In addition, the elf left us a cute note this year before he
left for the North Pole on Christmas Eve.

Chrispy Cold Dragon Breath, frozen boogers, cold Chicago
Christmas 2014.

Make Mistakes, breathe, reflect, Laugh.Out.Loud.

Baby Girl Pinned Dragonflies Stink Bugs and other Insects at 3 years old

We spent the weekend in Indiana and of course enjoyed some bug collecting! I walked my moms entire garden, and after some very wet weather (early May) we had a limited amount of bugs.

However, dragonflies were about!! She lives near the dunes, with lots of wet and marsh areas. Heaven for some dragon and damselfly species.

Baby Girl Pinned Dragonflies Stink Bugs and other Insects at 3 years old

Baby girl pinned 3 0f our 9 Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs collected Indoors. They are invading our room and walking along the ceiling - ewe!Also a yet to identify Spider, stinging fly and a golden abdomen weevil found on the UNDER side of a plants leaf.

Learn more at our blog Areyousureaboutthatblog dot blogspot dot comPictured here is a Jewelwing Damselfly. I don't use a regular spreading board - altho I will soon enuf. I make some indentations in styrofoam to fit the body and allow the wings to lay flat.