10 am version vs 5 pm version

10 vs 5? What does that mean? I made a comment to my husband several weeks back and it weighed upon my thoughts as something to explore. I innocently said one evening, "I wish you could meet the ten o'clock Suzy." And he replied (as only a husband can) "Why? Is she nice?" And I lovingly looked up my husband and snapped "Yes, she certainly is!" We both laughed and then the thought lingered. The ten o'clock Suzy is amazing and the five o'clock she's kind of a lazy whiner. Am I alone? Or do you too have perkier, kinder, wittier, and all around better alter -ego version? There is something about the ten o'clock version of me who is ready to conquer the world. And I don't want to put down the five o'clock version of myself, but she is closer to being conquered BY the world than completing any conquests of her own. At ten I have got energy and plans. Lots and lots of plans, oodles I dare say. By five, I just want to sit down in front of the TV and rip up all the lists I have jotted. Because the five o'clock version has no intention of stepping off the couch; let alone out of the house. At ten I can't imagine resting until all ten lists are completed and two more are started. I am so excited to get going, I beginning fidgeting in my seat. Because at ten, I am full of positive energy and the can-do spirit. My lists begin to fill quickly and schedules dance around in my head. I believe the ten o'clock version of myself could be Santa's Personal Assistant. Organized, friendly, excited to get to work, that's me! But hours begin to pile as the perkiness begins to subside. By the time I hit traffic to head home five o'clock Suzy has quietly and moodily slipped into my car. She is cranky, exhausted, and can barely read the schedule of daily needs. At ten I just know I am going to hit the gym, try out a new recipe, go grocery shopping, update the blog, contact friends and family, and still be super pleasant to greet my husband and pets. At five I know I am going....home. And TRY to put on a happy face and try not to grumble to much about the day, traffic, and the dirty house. Because thou who complaineth, cleaneth! There is obvious reasons why at ten life seems a little better, a little brighter, and just all around a little bit perfect. Mostly, there is time to dawdle and take the scenic route while trying to accomplish the daily tasks. By five, time has dwindled and the pressure to get everything done NOW is compounded. At ten, there are few burdens traveling throughout the mantra of lists. It is easy to plan for the gym when there is no headache, no problem to run errands straight away from work forgetting half the objects are sitting on the cupboard ready to go, and still pick up groceries. Because at ten I am not hungry, after work I for some reason am famished as if I have traveled the desert for a week's time. Finally, I would say the lure of no crowds makes breezing through the lists fantastically easy. In the imaginary world everyone else is still at work while I breeze in and out of lines, traffic, and stores. The five o'clock Suzy has no such luck. This version gets sandwiched between the most annoying people in the world, the other five o'clock versions of everyone else who have ten places to be, right now!!! So in this exploration vision I have learned my ten o'clock energetic self has to one day meet the cranky run-down five o'clock version. If for no other reason my hubby deserves to meet the "nicer" version. May your HealthFULL journey be FULL of wisdom, insight, and laughter. Remember to Fully Understand Life by Living whether it be as your ten o'clock version or your five o'clock version! 'Til we meet again. . .

Pity Party for One, Please!

Can you see it? I am waving my white flag. It has been kind of a rough week. Yes it was Christmas and to this day is my favorite holiday. So I do wish everyone a belated Merry Christmas. It is a joyous holiday regardless of my personal circumstances. I do warn you the following rant is going to come off as whining. But this is a pity party and I do intend for it to be a good one. Where shall I start? Well this is my HealthFULL Journey so let me update you about my health. This week I suffered from the Seasonal Flu according to a doctor's best opinion. I believe it might have been the flu nicely topped off by a cold. But I am not the doctor just the patient. I suffered four full days of fever sprints. One would break and then another would quickly replace it. I have had no energy. I am on the sixth day and still find it completely draining to walk room to room. I have blown my nose through TWO kleenex boxes and am soon to start my third. I have been achy and chilled. It was actually the chills that drove me away from work Monday. I tried to keep warm by wearing my jacket at work and the sleeves drove me crazy. Every time the cool lining touched my hot skin I wanted to cry as if I was being burned. But ask me where I went after work on Monday? Did I go home? Oh no, I headed to my parents to nap for the afternoon. Because our house was being worked on by a plumber. A fantastic plumber, a kind plumber, but he was doing extensive work on our house. What work you may ask out of curiosity? Well, remember the hole in our bathroom. Our slight hole with a slight mention. Well that hole was joined by a new friend, another hole that was much bigger on the outside of our house. Our plumber was more determined than I to discover the leak. He proceeded to remove the siding from our house, pry into the board, and then drilled out our concrete slab to get a peek at our pipes. Well concrete when drilled turns into a fine dust, a powder that travels through the outside hole into the inside hole and covers our bathroom, our connected master bedroom and our living room with a gray sheet of dust. Yay! We spent that evening last Thursday (the evening before the predicted snowstorm) dusting and vacuuming and completing four loads of laundry so we could sleep in a semblance of home. I do blame myself as I asked and hoped for a clean house for Christmas. Be careful of what you ask for!!! So our plumber returned Monday to complete the outside work which he did. It looked wonderful. But Monday afternoon I could not handle drilling noise and drafty holes while I rested and recuperated. I returned home to a completed outside wall and then climbed into bed. I believe it was Tuesday I discovered that showers/baths provided a needed way to combat the chills. We were choosing not to use our master bath as we were resting the pipes to make sure that everything had a chance to set after recent construction and needs a good cleaning from the initial gray powder storm. It was then Midnight of Wednesday that I gained the strength of the Hulk and managed to break our one working shower's only handle. You might think "Oh no" and I say, "Oh yes even in my sickly state I can have the impossible happen." I was pretty devastated. So after a morning conference with my husband who pointed out that I broke our only working bath and reminded me our plumber was en route to visit his family for the holidays about six states away. He figured out how to make a temporary fix and stole the master bath's shower handle. We then headed to the Urgent Care. Because I am going to admit now. We don't get sick often and still haven't really found our family physician. So my wonderful husband had called several (I think five or six) doctor offices to try to make an appointment and their was no luck. So to the Urgent Care we went. We then waited ....and waited....and waited some more. I believe we spent over two and half hours waiting through the appointment and lab results. Mind you this is the day before Christmas Eve. We aren't completely done shopping, no presents wrapped, Christmas letters waiting to be sent, library books overdue, and Christmas decorations are not up. We had plans, numerous discussions, and here we were in the final hours of prep sick as can be. I with my flu and my husband with a cold well on the way. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh! Corey finished our shopping with detailed instructions and late Christmas Eve together we wrapped. Every couple presents we passed back and forth the anti bacterial foam. I was stubborn and with hubby's help put up our tree Christmas Eve. Now granted it comes in three parts and is pre-lit; but I was still as impressed as if we, ourselves, displayed the Rockefeller Center Tree. We did enjoy Christmas Day with the family though I was under Dr's orders " No hugs, no kisses, no sharing spoons, avoid contact with the kids, and no holding the baby(my youngest niece)". I am a hugger. But I got through the holiday following the orders to a T. I had big plans for today even being down for the count all week I figured this weekend I would get the Christmas Cards done and out. No such luck. This flu is not an easy bird to kick. But it was a big lesson this week. I haven't been grateful for the Health I do have and that Health really does matter. Without our Health everything else stands still. It is our Health that mostly dictates our abilities. So though I am way off the HealthFULL Journey I do look eagerly upon my return. May your HealthFULL Journey deserve appreciation and that illness stays far away from you and those you hold dear. 'Til we meet again. . .

The ART of CHOKE

Can we just say D-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s?!?!? Because the veggie of the week was a goodie. I will confess I have been a fan of artichokes in the past, but those artichokes have been hidden in a dip, with a salad, or on a pizza. This means the hard work had been done for me and just leaving me the tangy flavor. The artichoke as been quite the enigma to me. I had heard stories that you couldn't eat the leaves, that there are pricklies to avoid, and that the delicious heart of the artichoke is well hidden. Let me tell you these stories are completely true. I am also going to say yes it can be quite the production to get the veggie prepared. But it is WELL WORTH the wait!!! Have you seen an artichoke? They are quite intriguing. Some really could be used as artwork as they look like a fun sculpture. Maybe that's why artichokes start with "art" :) The sizes range from a ping pong ball to a huge softball or perhaps a big grapefruit. Our artichokes were a little bigger than a baseball. Then imagine a deep forest green color and the shape of pinecone. The artichoke is just leaf layered upon leaf. Then most leaves appear to hold a tiny solitary needle at the very point of the leaf. This is because the artichoke is actually an overgrown thistle. Yikes right? No need to worry. The prickly can be intimidating, but we can easily win this battle. Big universal tips when picking out produce. You can read these tips in most literature, web information, or just acquired knowledge. Choose heavy produce items. If you pick up a squash, an eggplant, or an artichoke and you think wow this weighs a lot more than it looked , put that produce in your cart. That weight tends to be flavor. If the produce gives you the opposite reaction, "Wow that is as light as a feather." Put the vegetable or fruit down and walk away. The light factor can be the produce did not develop or that dried up. Either way, not tasty. Also look for appearance. Do the colors look inviting, stand out, draw attention? That means the nutrients are alive and well. That food is going to have flavor. If there is a darkness, a haze, or a fuzzy coat (Kiwis are from the tropics they deserve their fuzzy coat :), that produce is not worth your time because they are past their prime. Now preparing these delights does take some effort, but there will be fun in the consuming I promise!!! You can cook artichokes in a variety of ways. But it is highly suggested as they are such a hearty thistle to either steam or boil before applying the "final flavor". You can even microwave them. Boiling you lose nutrients which means you are also cooking out some of the flavor. Steaming allows you to hold in your flavor and maintain the health benefits. We ate barbequed artichokes. Mmmmmm goood! I pulled out our fun little steamer basket. Which honestly I don't remember using before. But will be pulled out more often now that I have figured out the contraption. After I uncurled the peaces I placed water to boil in the pan and covered it with the steaming basket. Now the directions on the steaming basket remind users do not lose the water. Maintain the level of boiling water. I remember specifically asking my hubby who would not pay attention and would let the pot run dry. And he so nicely reminded me that the basket will cover the pot so it is easy to forget and not pay complete attention to the water level. Pish posh I am becoming quite the cook who can create smoke haze. Ummm yeah I'm the novice that they write those simple reminders specifically for. Yup because I scorched the bottom of our very nice pan. I scrubbed and scrubbed the layer of char. It is soaking as we speak. So yes steaming is easy, especially with the fun little basket. BUT DON'T FORGET TO MAINTAIN WATER LEVEL!!! Just speaking from experience. The steaming can take 25 to 50 minutes from what I read. The fork will tell you. If you can pierce it easily you have completed stage one. Before you steam you should rinse your artichokes and cut off the top third. I strongly recommend if you don't already have one, purchase a big, strong, and heavy knife. A rinky dink paring knife will be your nemesis against this hearty plant. Remember you have layers upon layers of leaves to cut through or more accurately, saw through. This exposes your "heart". Some articles also suggest that you trim up your leaves and cut off that prickly tip. It's just a suggestion, but does not affect the flavor or the edible facor or your choke. I'm kind of wimp so I didn't want to take chances with eating a thorny thistle. The trimming is kind of fun. You are making the produce attractive, easier to enjoy, and the activity has a soothing rhythm to it. I also chose to cut off the stems that left me an even base to steam the artichokes. Www.oceanmist.com recommends of only trimming the stem as it can be quite flavorful and that you can steam either base down or base up. After the artichokes are steamed, any cooking method is correct. I found an easy marinade that gave the tangy a rich brightness. But you could even enjoy the artichokes once steamed. Dips are encouraged. After letting the artichoke pick up the marinade's flavors I pulled out our trusty grill pan. Love this piece of our cooking arsenal. We've only owned the pan for maybe four months and have used it on a weekly basis. I placed the yummy leaves in the grill pan until it reached a mild char on both sides (six minutes each side for mine). Then it was placed on our dinner plates and the festivities could begin. As you take a bite there is a manly, dainty way to attack the leaves. The leaves are both what you eat and yet remain inedible. Take a leaf and scrape it with your teeth. The masculinity of eating with your bear hands is quite thrilling. And yet, by closing your teeth and dragging the leaf through. It feels dainty to eat without the munching and the crunching. The artichoke blended the flavors really well together and picks up great taste through it's leaves. The tanginess factor seems to blend fairly easily towards spicy or sweet. Definitely a favorite. Please experiment and experience all that you can on your HealthFULL Journey. Fear compounds too easily. So, make choices, discover your options, and fully embrace what at first appears challenging. 'Til we meeet again. . .

Celebrating milestones

We all tend to celebrate milestones. Some common events are celebrated by most of us through birthdays, anniversaries, and other holidays. Other milestones can lean to the more personal victories such as sobriety, travels, or championships. Some milestones may remember a tragedy, acknowledge a life-lesson, or simply exist. We each travel our journey. We cannot move forward without creating a past. Which means each of us will create and celebrate hundreds of milestones. Some will be good, some will be sad, and some will be downright ugly. But without these events, we wouldn't be the same individuals we are today. It is these events that shape our understanding of life, living, and interactions with others. It is easy to become pensive and reflective during the Holiday Season. We use the Holidays as reminders to be grateful of what we have, love those around us, and to both accept the past and celebrate the near future. As we move through the holiday season we work to create memories. We seek comfort, love, happiness, and peace. the aftermath of a milestone tends to be more interesting than the actual event. It is hard to truly feel an event as we are constantly processing and going through the motions. But in the aftermath we can reflect and feel all that has occurred. As you travel your HealthFULL journey I hope you Fully Understand Life by Living as you celebrate your own personal milestones. May your journey be full of lessons and celebrations. May your reflections be exciting, comforting, and joyful. 'Til we meet again. . .

A Plentiful Feast

Mmmmmmmmm..... My hubby and I just finished a delicious feast with tons of color, wonderful variety of textures, and no meat. Our meal included stuffed delicata squash and red quiona blend. I joked about taking a picture as it was just so pretty to see. But I couldn't quite bring myself to that level of boastfulness and I didn't know where the camera was hiding :) It was a supper full of newish foods. We first roasted the squash which couldn't be easier. The delicata squash are oval - shaped and either dark colored like watermelon. Or like the ones we sampled tonight that were bright yellow with beautiful orange stripes running along the ridges. It was super simple to prepare the squash. Rinsed it as the peel is completely edible and super thin. As most squash prep starts , first you cut it in halves and scoop out the seeds. The delicata especially is reminiscent of those jack o lantern carving days or scooping out the pulpy seeds. Place the halves on the cookie sheet and cover with a little salt and pepper. Then the fun comes with mixing up a stuffing. Around our house we had some silken tofu, canned black eyed peas, canned spinach and collard greens. Drain and rinse the canned foods and saute everything together. After the squash can be pierced easily then you can fill it with the stuffing. Place panko breadcrumbs and some cheese on top. Then put the squash back into the oven to create a crisp crust. Yummy right? Then our side dish was an easy blend of red quinoa with Israeli couscous, Baby Garbanzo beans, red quinoa and orzo. The blend has just the right amount of chewiness with nutty goodness. Oh the holiday season comes with its own craziness. As we race around trying to get everything done it is easy to lose focus. It was fun to be healthy creative with our evening meal. I already can feel how nice it was to take time to discuss our days and enjoy a meal packed with nutrients. I hope while you travel your own HealthFULL Journey that you can find a little down time to pamper yourself while you improve your own well-being. Hurry back soon when we discuss , "Wish you could meet the 10 am me vs the 5:00 version". 'Til we meet again. . .

What if?

Do you play the game of questions? I would have to consider myself a sort of master at the "what if" game. I am a champion worrier. We currently have a hole in our bathroom wall. ( You may remember me mentioning that we were having plumbing issues. ) I am "nervous" with this hole. If I am to be candid I am terrified that a creature of unknown proportions will pop out of the wall at any moment. Or that our furry creatures will decide to explore and squeeze through. (This would be quite a feat, but it still makes me nervous.) My fantastic hubby has helped quell my worries by covering the hole. I am not a hundred percent confident but I do feel a little more secure and that we keep the bathroom shut until our second friendly plumber pays us a revisit. Part of the what if game can lead to worries, solutions, or some intriguing discussions. I dally in the what-if game for all three reasons. Let's play a quick little round now. Since I am sitting here anxious about animals let's think about that theme. What if you could be any animal what would you choose to be? I tend to think that most of lean towards the powerful beautiful felines. There are the royal lions, the quick cheetahs, and the agile tigers. But what if we changed the question what would you CHOOSE to be to the question; what animal do you most resemble currently? Again I think many of us would like to be a quick cheetah, a humorous monkey, or perhaps a loyal dog. If I am to truly be honest with myself and all of you. I would have to pick the turtle. That doesn't so "cool" or even exciting, but strikes close to the truth. I like to carry "my shell". I like to think out solutions to most problems; regardless of how probably the outcome. I want to tuck my head in my shell and ignore the "problem areas". For instance I was not ready to call the plumber. I pull my vulnerable self into my shell and all is well. Also like the turtle I have always moved at my own pace. Most often the pace is slow and steady, but it is my own. I will hole up in my shell until I feel secure enough to move forward. The other quality I believe the turtles and I share is the ability to adapt. When you bring your home with you everywhere it is pretty easy to adapt. On your HealthFULL Journey I hope your what-ifs lead to few worries, many solutions, and interesting discussions always. 'Til we meet again. . .