Category: Family

2014-12-15 Tea, empathy and needlepoint

I have been trying different teas recently as part of my ‘wellness’ routine.  I have found that cardamom tea does work as a good soother of a sweet tooth craving.  According to a Dr. Oz show some time ago, this spice tricks your brain into thinking it is having sugar.  I also believe that as advertised on the label, the Vanilla and Cinnamon tea for Healthy Skin is working.  (I am allergic to many skin products, eg. parabens and aloe.  Therefore, I use those items sparingly, if at all, to minimize my exposure and take supplements, eg vitamin A.) I also like to use peppermint tea to cool a queasy or uneasy stomach.  It works, but the peppermint oil makes my lips tingle.  I have some vanilla (extract), cinnamon and peppermint (extract), which I use regularly in my cooking, along with turmeric sprinkles on top (occasionally).  I mix my teas.  Yes, it true.  A blend is nice, but can be tricky.  Green tea taste bitter to me and like black, red and white tea contains a heavier fluoride content, which I avoid to keep my fluoride intake consistent for a healthy thyroid (see pg. 263 of “Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: Lifestyle Interventions for Finding and Treating the Root Cause” by Izabella Wentx, PharmD, FASCP with Marta Nowosadzka, MD ISBN: 09780615825793).  I like cardamom with vanilla and cinnamon.  Anything smooths out a chai and a little ginger tea is hard to swallow – literally, so I take on approximate 1/3 cup with some other smoother tea.  I love Earl Greys (especially Twinings), unfortunately, it make me sneeze.  Twinings, Numi and Yogi are my favorite brands, though, I have to say mostly because I cannot locate other brands in the local grocery.  Though they may be more expensive, you can buy in bulk (e.g. subscribe at Amazon for example) and always have an ample supply for guests, lol.  This is funny because I have always wanted to have a “tea party” as an adult I have never had one.  Hey, that’s another item for the bucket list? Menu: https://entertaining.about.com/cs/coffeesandteas1/a/afternoonteamen.htm

You should remember to check the tea ingredients.  I believe that most of the grocery store varieties barely contain much of the tea they have on the label – the labelled ingredients indicate more of the fillers, eg. black.  My organic cardamom Pu’erh tea that I was unable to locate locally contains mostly organic Black Pu’erh Tea.  Life is fully of complexities, so I minimize the cardamom, however, according to wikipedia: “Pu-erh  or  Pu’er is a variety of fermented  “dark tea ”  produced in  Yunnan province, China.” Therefore, I am correctly ‘healing’ by introducing a low dose of probiotics and ‘fermented’ foods into my diet. (see pg. 311 of “Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: Lifestyle Interventions for Finding and Treating the Root Cause” by Izabella Wentx, PharmD, FASCP with Marta Nowosadzka, MD ISBN: 09780615825793).

Life is complicated.  A healthy diet, reducing stress, relaxation and mindfulness are all good ideas, but each individual is different in their response to these.  Yes, it is ironic that most of us may not ‘have time’ to take time for a mindfulness practice.  Hey, I get it.  I had a group of bargain needlepoint kits in my closet for over twenty years.  We had a flood last year and I needed something that I could do that would take my mind off of the state of 0ur home.  I really had to concentrate to get the those itty, bitty cross stitches in the right places and I had to get some magnifying glasses to do it.  After a few months, after I talked myself into taking on the one that everyone said “will take you years to finish,” I found myself so looking forward to a little quiet time, a bright light (preferred morning sun) and a ‘spot of tea’.  My family supplied the sympathy or was that empathy?  In any case, I am deeply appreciative of all the people that helped us get our environment livable and for the flow of peaceful acceptance that happened as I created and backed out less and less “misstitches” in my work.  I will SOMEDAY finish them all, then buy more and keep going.  Working on those little creations  made me a more relaxed and easy going person with a better and more positive attitude and I want to share my discovery with others.  If they just put it in their closets for twenty years, I will know that it is there, waiting for them to come to the point that they work on even when they think that they will never be able to do it.  One stitch at a time girls. Have a happy tea break, anyway.

2012-11-30 Panoramic Group Photo of Just Us Kids

My sister and I have been talking about creating a panoramic photo of our family as kids. Roughly the same age.  That’s the way I see us.  We are occasionally serious, but we are just kids at heart.  Nothing like having new little ones running around to bring out the kid in all of us.  Though we have the idea and most of the pictures, the ability to do so effectively requires merging multiple photos together which I am still working on.  Not this year anyway…. but soon. This is a possible web site for getting the job done.  They really slashed prices this Christmas, maybe they will do so next year, too. Surely, I’ll be ready by then.  Oh, not Shirley again. Lol. Enjoy.

Nope, not yet. 10/2018

2012-07-17 Surge Protectors, MicroXML, GitHub

Surge protection, especially in this stormy weather, is not going to “shield” your electronics from any damage during storms.  Best solution is to turn equipment off EXCEPT the surge protectors (especially batter powered).  They will “fry” before the equipment does, but electrical storms ground through all the wires in the house. As for adding security, as I have heard over and over, the best protection is six inches of air (space).  I would unplug and stay off of any electronics in an electrical storm.  I am wondering why my sister seems to lose her routers over and over.  I’m going to ask her whether they are grounding into a surge protectors.  P.S. Use UPS (uninterrupted power source) for pricy electronics.  Pay attention to “on all the time” plugs to maintain equipment in a storm.  We mostly use lower end UPS ($40-50), which keeps us from losing power in brown outs and and for a minute or two.  See also: https://forums.cnet.com/7723-7591_102-566830/do-surge-protectors-merely-give-us-a-false-sense-of-security/?tag=nl.e497

MicroXML: https://www.sdtimes.com/link/36778  Any simplification would be worth it in my book.  I’m already learning so much and in effect, most of what I do is about the data.  How to display, convey, distribute the data —  the simpler solution, the better.

Sdtimes.com on GitHub:

“Code repository offerings heat up in July  By Alex Handy July 10, 2012 —  The business of selling and hosting software repositories only became more competitive in July. Yesterday, GitHub announced that it would be receiving a US$100-million investment from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. That same month, Perforce announced its availability as a hosted repository through collaborative SaaS tool provider Assembla. The news from GitHub was a veritable Valley love-fest. Andreessen Horowitz is the venture capital firm founded by Marc Andreessen, cofounder of Netscape. The $100-million investment round was also joined by Silicon Valley legend Ron Conway, making for two very heavy technology hitters backing GitHub. …”  https://www.sdtimes.com/link/36790

which means that code managment could get much better on GitHub: https://github.com/

2012-06-10 Another really special day.

Yesterday was a really great day because you were born.  I can already tell you are going to be a unique individual, but naturally we were comparing you to your big sister, your “nana”, and your aunt, who kept shaking her head and giggling from all that ‘deja vu’.  I was so impressed with your hands, they seem to be exploring more than your eyes.  It was a bright sunny day outside.  Your big sister was born at night, and she seemed to always be keeping one eye open even when she was supposed to be sleeping.  You, on the other hand, kept both eyes closed, but your mouth went wide open and your face bright red at the least disturbance and you’ve got a way of letting us know when you are not pleased! Of course, your great grandfather said, “You were nice and comfortable and doing just fine until they brought you out into the world.”  It’s true, but we know that you will just love it as soon as you get a little used to it.  Your big sister was sad that you were not yet big enough to play, but your father reminded her what they had already explained, that what seems like long time will be not much time at all and you who is too little to play, will turn into that constant shadow that follows her everywhere.  She said that she would be your shadow.  She liked the word “shadow”.  She knows the word “dinosaur” and she is only two.  She sang “Twinkle, twinkle, little star” for you.  She also sang other songs, told us all to be quiet, played with your “It’s a Girl” balloon, opened all your cards for you and made us read her new book, “I’m a Big Sister”, over and over, just in case we forgot. Your “nana” sat at the little table, in a little chair, reading to us outloud.  [INSERT PIC HERE]. We were all so “wowed” by your presence and your beautiful, beaming, but tired momma, your “Pa” “Pa” taking pictures and your “Popa” grinning from ear to ear. I am so amazed you are here, so pleased to meet you and so happy that you will have a lifetime to get to know all of us, your loving relatives, especially, selfishly, your grand aunt, me.