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My thoughts released; a mind set free |
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These pages contain my thoughts, from meandering ideas and persuasions to deep cerebrations and serious mentations. Why, for what purpose? To release my mind and set creativity free. Somewhere inside the constraints of my mind dwells a writer, a poet, an artist who paints with words. In here I release those constraints and set the artist free. Perhaps, lost somewhere in the depths of thought, is a story or a poem, waiting to be written. 
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| Someone left the door open and all my pet peeves got out; I say, "Who, who... who let the peeves out!" Yes pet peeve; we all have some. One of mine is getting interrupted when I'm reading or writing. Interruptions when I'm concentrating are bad enough, but when it's reading or writing, it's even worse. I like it quiet when I read, so I can focus on the story. The same is true for writing, I loke it quiet so I can focus on the story. In both cases, the story is being played out within my mind, and outside interruptions force me to pause and then try and find the spot I was at. Perhaps you can relate. Currently, we live in an apartment in a fair size city. We moved from a big house in a small town, I'm talking an old farm style house in a community of less than 1000 people. It was quite a change, but we adjusted quickly. We like it here, having just about everything within an hour's drive or less, plenty of choices and a very comfortable apartment. Yes, we lost out on space, but we got use to it. Our heats and garbage is included, which is a big plus, maintenance is quick and efficient, and all the other utilities are reasonable. We rented a garage right off the building we live in and can park inside out of the weather. We rented a second garage for storage, and the two cost about the same as a local storage site. We've been here for over a year and it's become our home and we like it. Then we got new neighbors upstairs who have young children. The people who moved out also had young children, and one was mentally handicapped and got a bit loud at times, but it wasn't a problem at all. The new people, however, do not restrain the children at all and are always stomping around above us. We addressed them and let them know it was creating a lot of noise for us, but they didn't care and it got worse and worse. We eventually went to the landlord with the problem and they also tried to address the people, but it didn't do any good; they just don't care how much noise we have to deal with, and it goes well into the early morning hours. If that isn't enough, the children also love to throw things off the balcony, especially if we are sitting outside. We also addressed this problem wit the parents, but they just replied, "They are children and don't know any better." It's gotten so bad that the police have been called in, but the people above us tell them we are racist and just picking them out because they are immigrants. The police also have informed us there is little they can actually do, to talk to the apartment management because it's a breach of the lease agreement. But, again, racist is hurled back at us, and the managers cannot do much until winter ends because there are young children. They did offer us the chance to move into a top floor apartment and would not charge for the transition over. Even so, we like it on the ground floor, we passed up second and third floor living for this apartment. It's handy for the dog, the kids, and for hauling in items from the car. To move would be us being punished because they cannot comply. As you can see, it's a big peeve and it's really messing things up. I cannot read or write at home because of the noise. Moving is our only option, so to put the peeve back into the barn and keep people from petting it, we are planning on moving when our lease runs out. It's not fair it's not right, but it's the only option that we can see that will be a solution. I mean, even if we had the people upstairs evicted, would we get better people, the same, or possibly worse people above us. We are looking at areas outside the city, maybe an hour or two. We are looking at houses, I don't want another apartment. Finally, there needs to be work available near by, I'm not going to spend half the time I work driving back and forth. I did that once, it was enough. I figure as long as they let the peeve out, it may as well provide us with something better. |
| It's been a few days and I feel great! Why? It's kind of a long story, about a months worth, but don't worry, we can condense this stuff down further than Campbell's soup. I was doing what I had come to think of as average for myself a month ago. I have gained some weight from ending my smoking period, and on top of the excess I already have, was getting way too heavy. Also, my back was hurting, a lot. It's an old injury but as winter arrived it grew worse than ever before. Also, I was tired and feeling run down, kind of in a fog, and just filled with the Blah. Winter blues I thought, and I was doing alright at holding my own against them. Then I stumbled across some information about something called Leaky Gut Syndrome, and it seemed like what I was suffering from. But, the medication was herbal, not much for support form other research, and I was leery, especially at the cost of the herbal medication. Even so, I thought, if it works it will be worth it. I spent a week doing further research on the product, the condition, and the list of ingredients in the medication. I decided to try it, and ordered one months worth for a trial run. A week later and I find out it's going to be a while to fill the order! By this time, I should have had the stuff, and now I find out it hasn't even shipped yet. I was very upset and figured I had fallen for a scam. I wrote a not so nice letter, expecting it to not even be delivered, but it did go through. I do have to say at this point, I did not ever get an actual replay to the letter I wrote, but shortly after I was notified that my order had shipped. a few days ago I received an apology letter and a coupon for 50% off my next order, no limits. I also received my product, last Wednesday. Eager to try it, I started right away on Wednesday and also, on Thursday, decided to make a batch of homemade, from scratch, vegetable beef soup. It was difficult to do much of this kind of thing for me, due to my back hurting so much, but I set myself up with a stool in the kitchen and took frequent breaks as I washed and prepared the vegetables. I had not eaten lunch, so snacking was my plan, since I had lots of yummy vegetables at hand. It all went well, except as I was cleaning, and snacking on some broccoli, I discovered a bit of dark coloring within the plant stem and into the florets. Barely noticeable, but it was there, so I discarded it, but not before I had snacked on some of it. I didn't think much about it, since it taste fine and it wasn't really anything except discolored. In fact, I almost used it in the soup, but decided at the last minute not to. The soup was terrific, the whole family enjoyed it, an everyone did fine, but me. By the time dinner was over, I was in extreme stomach pain! I took Pepto-Bismo to help with the pain, as well as Tylenol, and it helped, but not much. By 8:00 pm, I was becoming feverish and I retired to bed. I did not get over the fevers and pain, which by later that night had extended to full body pain in all my joints, my entire abdomen, and an extreme headache until Tuesday morning, when I woke finally feeling better. Better, but so week I could not even open a bottle of Pepsi, or walk across the apartment without having to stop and rest. The fever had finally stopped, the aches and pain had all diminished, but there were flare ups and like I said, a lot of weakness. It took another two days to regain my strength and fully recover. I would have to say I had some kind of food poisoning, and I'm just thankful that I didn't end up in the hospital. Tuesday, feeling better, I returned to my bottle of herbal medication, thinking that it may also help with the recovery and healing, since it was for stomach/digestive issues. Wednesday I continued with no real changes except for being a bit stronger and more rested. Thursday I was no longer ill and that's when I noticed I had not only regained my strength, but I had more energy than I've had in a long time. Also, my back seemed to be less sore. This morning, and through the morning, I have been feeling better than I have for years! My back pain is all but gone, I have a lot more energy, my thinking/concentration is clear, and even my mood is better. Many of my symptoms, including the increased back pain were stated in the advertisement as possible side effects of Leaky Gut Syndrome. I have also had problems with elevated white blood cells with no reason, immune problems, and stomach and digestive issues for about seven years now. I have seen doctors over the years and never found any cause, just treatments for the symptoms I was suffering. Recently, I was told that I may have West Nile Virus, since I was bitten years back by a deer tick and the condition was verified at the time. I had also gotten shots and antibiotics, but I was told they do not always stop the infection. But now, I'm a believer that it was all side-effects of the stomach/digestive issues I've been plagued with over the last seven years; I also believe that Leaky Gut Syndrome was the culprit. I'm excited, yet still giving myself time to see if this continues or if it's short lived; I am hopeful, however, that it will not only continue, but even increase as I continue to take the supplements over the next month. If your interested in knowing more about Leaky Gut Syndrome or the medication I found to treat it, please write and I'll share the information I found. I'm also thinking about switching to a different supplement after this is done and see if the lower cost one does as well. If it does, great, but if it doesn't I'll be switching back to the current one. It's a bit expensive, but if it works and I can feel this good all the time, it's a small price to pay. |
| Do you know how difficult it can be to write in a blog everyday? Currently I only write when the notion hits, but in the past I've attempted to write in here daily. I've also had other blogs over the years, with the same results; I can't even make tow months of writing daily, and more often, it's not even a full month. The bottom line is, daily blogging is hard to do. First of all, you need something to blog about. That means a person needs a lot happening in there life to put into print. For example, I could relate this to some of the summers we've had filled with camping trips, road trips, kayaking, fishing, swimming and of course, work experiences and things going on in the home, like adding a patio or enjoying a summer night fire on the patio. With so many things going on, it would have been easy to pick out something to write about each and every day. In fact, I could have written multiple entries most days. But, there just wasn't any time to write, I was too busy doing. Then, there were other periods of time when work filled just about everything, and there wasn't time to spend doing much else. Again, I could write about the heavy burden that kind of work has on a person, but there wasn't time. In between these periods, more normal times of having more time and less to do. Now there's time to write, but what about? There's not much more boring than to read about someone who doesn't have anything to write about. Not to mention, what to write if there's nothing to write about? It reminds me of Cheech and Chong's old stand-up comedy routine of the kid who had to write a paper on his summer vacation. It went something like this: The first day of my summer vacation I got up and went uptown to hangout, then I went home. The second day of my summer vacation, I went uptown and I hung out, then I went home. The third day of my.... Well, I think you get the point, it's like trying to carry on a conversation with Dave, but Dave's not home! Yep, daily blogging is tough. But, at the same time, it's possible, many people have proven that. I have done a couple of months straight, maybe more. That was at a site called 750 Words. It was quite simple, you open the account and go in and write. The site gives credit for each day, but there's a catch, you have to write - you guessed it - 750 words. The idea is simple, it would be easy to just go in and type some gibberish to make the daily count, but to get to 750 words, you have to put some thought into it, even if it's free-writing. I think the site is still around and maybe I'll check into it one of these days. It would be easy enough to write my daily 750 words and then copy and paste it here. But first, I need to take care of a few other things that I should maybe blog about tomorrow, or maybe the next day. We'll see how it goes... |
| Now that we are a couple weeks into the new year, I do have some observations and thoughts. Not that these are strictly a result of the new year, it's just because I'm writing these now. For instance, I've gained weight. Some may have arrived this year, but I have been watching what I eat more, so it's likely not much. Most of what I have recently put on for weight is from last year, starting the end of October. Again, that was the start to the increase, and I'm sure Thanksgiving and Christmas added to the gain. However, most of it's a result of not smoking. I ended my smoking streak in October, after a few years or was it longer, of smoking again. Yes, I quit many years ago and then started up, like a damn fool, because of work related stress. I re-quit towards the end of October, and I did try and eat better and I did try to refrain from gaining weight. I knew I would gain some, but I didn't want to gain a huge amount. Of course, Thanksgiving and Christmas are feast and goody times, so I tend to gain some over the holidays as well. Again, I was a bit cautious so I wouldn't put on a ton, and I did manage things pretty well. But, with quitting smoking over the holidays, I ended up with an extra twenty five pounds. What did I get for Christmas? Fat, I got fat! I have a picture of a fat cat with this written across it for my motivation to reduce my weight. Also, over the holidays and with the new year, I have high blood pressure. Not bad, but it's holding steady in stage 1 hypertension. Two strikes already for the new year, not a good start. But, again, it's not just something that came with the start of the new year, but a result of the added weight and some ongoing stress, added to some unhealthy eating habits like too much sodium. I'm sure not sleeping, something else that has started recently, isn't helping either. I know some of it's a result of the noise from the apartment above us, both the not sleeping all night and the stress. We've been dealing with this since last summer, and still have not gotten lasting results. So, now that I have them listed, I find I'm at a big three for bad or negatives for the new year. Since these things tend to happen in threes, or so they tell me, I guess I have mine out of the way and can anticipate a very good year. My anticipations are, reduce my weight as well as getting in better shape, lower my blood pressure naturally without needing to be on medications, and move out of the apartment and into a house. This will give us more room and comfort, provide us with more freedom in our living choices, such as fish tanks and small animals for the girls. No noisy, inconsiderate people above us, so less stress and better sleeping. |
| A new year is upon us. Why so many expect the new year to bring change is beyond me, but it's a nice thought. Sure, a new year brings new possibilities, but so does a new month, week, or even day, I say day; I like that one best simply because it matches with the Bible. We are given each day and told to live for that day, not in the past, not in the future, but with the day the Lord gave us. Don't get me wrong, I have no problems wit anyone doing new year resolutions or planning on making positive changes with the start of the new year. Not at all, I'm just saying we don't have to wait a whole damn year to make needed changes. Also, I feel, or maybe I should say think, new year resolutions tend to put too much pressure on a person if they fall short. With days, we mess up one day but can start afresh the next, but with a year... For example, I could have made a new year resolution to lose weight; I know I need to drop off quite a few pounds. But, my wife cooked a very nice dinner to bring in the new year complete with a batch of her scrumpdilyicious sugar cookies and I, being in a festive mood, engaged in feasting and enjoying. It didn't bother me, even though I know I'm going to be working at losing a lot of weight this year. It was one day to enjoy the great foods and then right back at it today. In the past, however, I would have made my resolution and bypassed much of the yummy foods and sweets, only to feel deprived and eventually fail. Failing the diet is bad enough, but I would also look at the failed resolution and get a double whammy. One day at a time, that's the key to succeeding at many things in life. Don't look back at past failures; hopefully you already learned from them. Don't look forward to some future day, there's no way of knowing what will be happening then, or if that day will even come. No, we have today to work with and if we make it, great; it's always easier to hold to change for just one day. But, if we don't, it's only a day set-back, so don't fret; when you wake up, you get another day. |
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