Watching your diet for the whole year and reversing all that hard work during the holidays is a reality for almost everyone. No matter how carefully you watch your weight, just a few holidays can put to waste all those moments of observing carefully what you eat. Holidays are conducive to gaining weight. For one, you aim to derive maximum pleasure from the few off-days that you have from work. This means that you intend to spend most of your time trying not to move much and stuffing your mouth with whatever you can. Moreover, though this sedentary lifestyle is punctured by some moments of you going out with your friends, that too involves going to all the famous eateries you did not find time to go. Even if one is not at home and is travelling to their favorite holiday destination, they would still find it difficult to keep their weight in check. After all, when you go to a new place, you want to experience it to the maximum, and that experience involves trying out food that is part of the culture of the place you are at. Hence, during the holidays, it becomes really difficult for one to maintain their weight. [Read more…] about 5 tips to avoid weight gain on your Holiday Getaway
Give Back to Mother Earth this Holiday Season!
Do you love animals? The ocean? Terra Firma? Do you have a conservationist in your family or friend group? If so, consider these gifts which will not only please the recipient, but give a priceless gift to our fellow creatures. Did you watch RACING EXTINCTION last night on Discovery? It premiered, and it has the power to change the terrible outcome that awaits us and future generations. What one thing can YOU do to help? #STARTWITH1THING
It takes one small thing to start a revolution. What will you do to help?
How about adopting something really BIG??? Like a Whale Shark or a Manta Ray? The person it is gifted to can name it as well, and sightings of the animal will be reported to them! check out http://www.marinemegafauna.org/support-us/adopt-a-giant/! The team at Marine Megafauna knows how to give a BIG gift opportunity! Here is my BIG girl! Daenerys Targaryen, the Stormborn, Princess of Dragonstone, Queen of the Andals and First Men, Queen of the 7 Kingdoms, the Unburnt, and Mother of Dragons! We just call her Dany for short!
I was given the wonderful gift of naming this beautiful Manta in the Revillagigadoes Islands. The Manta had not been seen since 2003 until I photographed it in 2012 and turned put it in the database for the Pacific Manta Research Group. I decided on JEDI with the help of Karey Kumli at the Pacific Manta Research Group! I had two names, and Karey said “I like Jedi, it has a positive and powerful message. Keepers of Peace & Justice in the galaxy.” Isn’t that what we are trying for? Peace and Justice for the creatures that populate the earth?
JEDI
Manatees and Dugongs are endangered by humans and their boats. They are such sweet, friendly creatures. Remember them this holiday season! Donate here: https://secure3.4agoodcause.com/save-the-manatee-club/gift.aspx?id=2 or adopt one!
A Little Fun Rolling in Crystal River, FL
Join the fight for a healthy ocean and ecosystem! Join the Ocean Conservancy! http://www.oceanconservancy.org/the-ocean-matters/
Let’s not forget our other friends: African animals http://www.africanwildlifeconservationfund.org/
With the death of Cecil and so many other lions, they have become critically endangered. Can you imagine a world without Big Cats? I can’t. Help by High Five Give Five! http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/big-cats-initiative/get-involved/
Black Rhinos are almost extinct in the wild…and the Northern White Rhino is on the verge. There are three left in the wild. Yes, only three. They are in such desperate shape. They truly need all the help they can get. http://www.savetherhino.org/
and don’t forget Pelagic Life, http://www.pelagiclife.org. From studying animals to assisting sharks who have been “hooked”, this group is always active in the cause of saving our Pelagic Life. Nurture YOUR soul in the open ocean!
Give a gift of life and conservation for the holidays, and help humans preserve not only wildlife, but ourselves.
PS: Please don’t forget when you travel, fly airlines that do not carry endangered species cargo. American Airlines just announced it will no longer carry shark fins as cargo! They join, just to name a few, Air New Zealand, Air Pacific, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Jet Airways, and United Airlines. Many, many carriers are joining the crusade to stop transporting ivory, rhino horns, shark fins, manta fins, sea turtles and other endangered species parts. Choose your airlines and hotels and even shipping companies based on this kind of criteria. If they contribute to the shark fin trade, do not fly them. And let them know why you won’t fly them. Use social media to chastise any transport of these endangered species parts!
Happy Holidays to one and all! Let’s all help make this a friendlier planet!
It was an Epic Christmas/Christmukkah!
It was truly an epic Christmas.
Christmas Eve was great fun, visiting with friends we regard as family, and playing an utterly crazy poker game until all hours.
15 months from a near death experience and a double lung transplant, my husband Randy is doing incredibly well. Back to his old self!
My two children, Ally and Wes, 27 and 24, were both home with their fiances, Mike and Carisa. I had four kids this year! And four dogs. Chaos! One of my favorite things.
We are missing loved ones, that is true, but such is the tenor and measure of life itself. They are in our hearts and the very air we breathe. We have much to be grateful for.
Life moves on, the moving finger writes, and all that, and we lose touch with some while we strengthen our bonds with others. We are thankful for those we love in our lives, and even though so many very many of our friends and loved ones live at a distance, we know that friendship and family is not about geography. Besides, we love to travel!
I hope you had a holiday of joy and wonder, with many more to come. Season’s Greetings!
Midlife Christmas Conundrum
I love the holidays! Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, you name it, I love it. Following in the family tradition of Big Christmas, I have created a “Holiday Home”. I don’t put up a tree and a few decorations, I practically redecorate my house for the holidays, and we all enjoy it, especially me! Nothing makes me happier than friends and family telling me how beautiful and homey our house is, how comfortable and at home they feel when they walk in. I’ve often been told that I have “the Christmas House”. But I have a confession to make….I don’t know how much longer I can do this on my own, even with a little help from family (they bring down boxes and set up trees for me to decorate), but the majority of the “Christmas decoration” work is mine.
As I have said, I love doing it, and I have always enjoyed decorating for the holidays, ever since I was a kid, however, every year it gets harder and harder to do. It takes more and more time to do it. Pretty soon I’ll start decorating October 1st! And…then there is the shopping. I start early on it, and I’m usually finished weeks before Christmas, but then….wrapping. Wrapping is work. This year, I am having a hard time even getting started on it. Confession: I’m tired, and I hate to admit it.
Every year I say I am going to cut back, not do as much, not buy as much….but of course I cannot seem to put that into action. Every year we have a Christmas Eve get together, also work, but I do have help for that evening, so that helps. Preparing for it, though, is time consuming.
I’m in midlife, but I am still young….at least, young enough. The issues mainly surround the fact that I have chronic pain. I don’t write about it much, or talk about it much, but I was born with a spinal deformity, and I have never lived a day without pain. I’ve had surgeries to fix it, the last one was 14 years ago, and things have been much better since then. As anyone who suffers from chronic pain can tell you, though, it wears on you. I have a couple of other chronic conditions, as well, and so physically laboring is tough on my body. I need to do some problem solving on how to get my future Christmases done the way I want, without hurting myself to do it.
I won’t give it up! I love every ornament, decoration, gift and bow that I have or that I buy. There is nothing like watching someone open a gift you have given them! It brings me absolute joy. The finished product is so peaceful….a decorated house, softly glowing trees and candles, a fire in the fireplace, wrapped packages under the tree….the winter holidays are truly the most wonderful time of the year. I have to admit, though, as it takes me longer and longer to do it, I am able to enjoy it less, so I am going to have to find a solution. I don’t have grandchildren yet, and I want them to come to grandma and grandpa’s house with anticipation. The memories I have of my grandparent’s home when I was a child are priceless and precious to me.
So, this blog doesn’t really have a point. It’s just me, venting a little, and while writing, thinking of different solutions. My children are now busy young adults and do not have the time to help as much as they did when they were living at home. My husband helped this year, but he is 14 months post double lung transplant, so he too, wears out sooner than he did in the past.
Ah, it’s just change, right? Midlife has been full of surprises, so far, and sometimes the surprises are hard to keep up with, or to fully embrace. Some of the surprises have been tragic. The Empty Nest is a new time of life….and the changes come so rapidly, often too rapidly for one to deal with it all effectively. Well, I know what I need to do right now. I need to wrap gifts. Oy, what joy!
Tell me, is it getting tougher on all of us? Or just me? How do you get everything done you want to? Or do you?
Method to my Madness
Yep. That’s my desk. Actually, it is pretty damned organized for me. I have been working in here for a week, cleaning out files and paperwork which was piled to my waist. I’m one of those people who try and try and try to organize. I go out and buy all kinds of storage bins and contraptions to help, but I cannot seem to even last a week in organization mode. I forget where I put my keys. I can’t remember what I need at the grocery. I couldn’t remember to take my books to school when I was a kid. I would be ashamed to take photos of my closet and vanity….it hasn’t improved since I was 8 years old, regardless of all the good intentions in the world. Yes, there are clothes on the floor, stuffed into shelves, and hopefully clothes I haven’t seen in a long time might be buried in there somewhere. My desk makes my purse look like a complete mess. It is a bottomless pit, filled with all kinds of items I can never find without emptying the whole thing.
And yet, I’m always on time. Actually, I’m always early. I am a college consultant in private practice, and was formerly a Lecturer at the University of Texas Dallas, and both jobs require planning ahead. I’m very detail oriented when it comes to my students….I quadruple check everything they do, because I am terrified I might let something get by me. I made Lecture notes for all of my classes because I knew if I didn’t, I wouldn’t remember what to say, how to say it, or I would get way off topic. I can write a beautiful research paper (as long as I am taking my ADHD meds when I do it).
So today, I find on the internet, an article about research done at the University of Minnesota regarding messiness, particularly at the desk. Organization is always complimented, messiness is always looked down upon or punished. The article is in in the Elite Daily, written by Dan Scotti. “The Psychology Behind Messy Rooms: Why the Most Creative People Flourish in Clutter” discusses the research performed by Dr. Kathleen D Vohs. I also found an article about the research in the New York Times, dated September 2013. People who work in “disorderly environments” (everyone in my life calls it “a mess”) have been scientifically proven (as far as science can prove anything) to be more creative.
Scotti comments “…it should be no huge shock that messy rooms containing possessions misplaced from their “conventional” locations would promote creativity. I suppose if you prefer to “lay,” and I use that term very loosely, your clean clothes on the floor of your bedroom, when the empty dresser is only a few feet away – you’re certainly thinking outside the lines of conventional reasoning. And that same concept could be applied to more abstract conception. Consider this from Albert Einstein, “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, then what are we to think of an empty desk?” (It sounds to me like Dan Scotti might be an organized person, I mean, I “lay” my clothes wherever I take them off, or I drop them off on the way to going someplace else. Besides, the drawers are a mess and I can’t fit anything more into them. Why would there be an empty dresser in the room, Dan? It makes perfect sense to me to lay my clothes on the treadmill.)
You have no idea how nice it is to hear that Einstein’s desk was a disaster, so was Twain’s and Agatha Chrisite’s. Dr. Vohs, who was head of the research at U of Minnesota says, ““Disorderly environments seem to inspire breaking free of tradition, which can produce fresh insights.” I am not very traditional, and apparently am an “out of the box” thinker (I think that is a much nicer way to put it than the way my family has described me most of my life). My husband cannot make sense of most of what I do or say. I admit I do things differently than most people, and I think differently than most people. My husband calls me “kooky”. He and my kids are always telling “kooky mommy stories”. An example: the drawer in the kitchen which holds dish towels and oven mitts is always too full and hard to close. So, I moved the mitts to the cabinet above the drawer, with the measuring cups. Now the drawer closes. Randy, my husband, told me that putting them there made no sense, that it was crazy and “kooky”. I think it is a great solution. And so it goes.
You know, I have spent a lot of time trying to organize my stuff. What a waste of time! I could have been doing so many other things instead of trying to organize. Hm. Well, I need to decorate four Christmas trees, wrap gifts, finish buying gifts, decorate the house………actually, everything is in chaos right now because I’m unloading all of the boxes (about 30) filled with decorations, ornaments, etc. It will be pretty much of a mess around here until I get all of that work done. Then, after Christmas, it all has to be taken down and put away in boxes. Maybe I should just leave it up all year around. THAT would be out of the “boxes” thinking, wouldn’t it?
Fab Fotos Friday: It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
I LOVE the holidays. Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, you name it, I love it. This time of year fills me with joy, and excitement, and magic. I love decorating, and I go overboard; I love watching parades (I’m going to the Parade of Lights tonight in Fort Worth!); I love trees; I love Santa; I love the Grinch Who Stole Christmas (NOT the movie!); I love it all. These are photos that make me particularly happy, and put me into the season. Happy Holidays everyone!