It's been awhile, but there's good news

It has been a really long time since I have written.  Just can't seem to find the time. I'm not complaining as it is a good busy.  My days are full with working til 3, when I then pick Teya up from school. She loves Kindergarten!   Monday is Teya's dance day and she still loves her class.  As of today, she has choosen ballet as her favorite.  I practice yoga Tueday and Thursday nights.  It has been the best thing I have done for myself.  My body enjoys the stretching and my mind enjoys the break.  Also, I get to catch up with a good friend, Sara, who got me excited about the class as the instructor is fabulous.  Wednesday's I work til 6, which is a really long day.  I love the kids, but I'm exhausted at the end of those days.  Teya comes back to the school with me and gets some extra playtime, so she loves that. 

Teya doesn't like it when I am in the office on my computer.  She complains and basically drags me out.  I have been wanting a netbook or laptop for the mobility. Well I have finally gotten one and I am SO happy.  My new laptop arrived this week and it is awesome.  Hopefully now I can stayed better connected online.

My health is awesome.  Next Wednesday, St. Patrick's Day, will be my one year of being cancer free. It was a year ago that I discovered a melanoma on my left breast and had it successfully removed.  It is also a year and a half out from my lung surgery.  I couldn't be happier!

I have been cleared by all doctor's except one.  In December I had my CT scan of organs and MRI of brain and eye.  Everything came back NED (no evidence of disease).  Since then, my eye doctor, dermatologist and dentist all have given me a clean bill of health.  So I have been cleared inside and out.  At the end of this month I see my oncologist who will run my bloodwork, but with all the other tests coming back healthy, I have no doubts that my bloodwork will be good as well.

For those of you reading this on Facebook, I will be removing the feed and this will be my last blog post.  I want to get back to writing in my blog and it just isn't something I am going to publish in facebook any longer.  It just doesn't feel right.

Halloween

Now that it is almost Thanksgiving, I figured I better post our Halloween pics (ha - so, I'm a little behind!). 

We had a wonderful Halloween at the Partridge's house this year.  Jon and CB joined us for the festivities and good times were had.  Linda made a wonderful Taco Salad dinner, CB made some hot chai tea for us to enjoy during the trick-or-treating and she made some yummy Halloween treats.  We brought over guacamole & chips and brownies.  Good eats all around!  Afterwards we all relaxed and enjoyed a movie together.  It was a really fun night with great friends.

Teya was a butterfly, Skyler was Darth Vader and Jordan was Spiderman.  They were too darn cute.  The kids had an awesome time trick or treating and got ALOT of candy. It was the most successful candy night in the past 2 years that we have been trick or treating together!

Our Trick-or-Treaters - aren't they cute!

Snickers anyone?

Yea for candy!

Skyler was a nice nephew and gave Jon his favorite - Almond Joy

CB's Halloween Treats - Yummy!

Getting some of CB's scary treats

Skyler and Jordan having some hot cocoa

Hope everyone had a safe and scary Halloween!

Dangers lurking at the Grocery Store

Dr. Oz (love him) recently talked about the bacteria lurking at grocery stores and ways to protect you and your family.  Here what he had to say about the produce section.

THE PRODUCE SECTION

Dirty little secret: When you grab an apple for lunch, your hands may be the 20th pair to touch it. That’s right, veggies and fruits are picked, sorted, thrown on a truck, taken off a truck, sorted again, boxed, and unboxed all before they reach the display case where they’re fondled by other customers before they meet you. Experts say, all in all, 20 people will touch a tomato before you slice it up for your salad. And that’s in addition to all the animal waste that can mingle with produce on the long journey from farm to table.

Quick fix: Carefully wash all fruits and vegetables before eating, even if you don’t plan on eating the skin. When you peel or cut vegetables and fruits, the bacteria from the exterior can travel inside. Keep any prepped veggies, such as sliced tomatoes, at 41 degrees or cooler until you eat or cook them.

It has been so long now that I have been washing my produce and not just rinsing with water that I forget that it is not common in most households to wash their fruits and veggies with any type of scrubber or veggie wash. Remember just like washing hands or anything else, simply running water over our produce does not remove bacteria, germs and pesticides.  You can lower your risk with organic produce and locally grown produce, but washing is still recommended.

Here are two ways of washing.  Choose whichever works best for you.

Cool Water:  Wash the produce under a stream of cool water or using the spray nozzle of your faucet and rub the produce with your hands, or scrub with a vegetable brush, to remove potential bacteria in all the grooves and crevices.

Produce Wash: You can buy produce wash at the grocery store or make your own.  I know of two recipes; 1) equal parts water and vinegar or 2) grapefruit seed extract (3 to 4 drops to 4-6 oz of water).  Spray, rub and rinse or for leafy veggies & large quantities, soak for 5 to 10 minutes.

I love my reusable bags and use them whenever I remember to bring them into the stores.  I'm pretty good about the grocery store, but frequently forget at other stores.  Anyway, Dr. Oz had another great tip that I have a hard time remembering to do.

Reuse, recycle, and REWASH! Reusable bags are great for the environment, but can be bad for food safety. Wash them every 10 uses—using an acidic cleaner such as vinegar or running them through the washing machine—to remove any dangerous bacteria from your previous shopping trips.

Dirty Dozen - Shopper's Guide To Pesticides

Many of you have asked about what I eat and what products I use and why.  I can always tell you what, but most of the time I can't remember exactly why.  I've done lots of research with books and online information and I do what I believe to be the best for me and my family.  As I come across some of the articles and information that have impacted my decisions I'll post them on my blog.  This will help me organize my information and hopefully they will be useful to you as well.

Here is one of them about fresh produce:

I buy as many of my fruits and veggies organic as I can, but I can't always find them.  Here is a list that I use as my guide.  It is "The Shopper's guide to pesticides" and it lists the top 12 dirtiest and 15 cleanest fruits and vegetables.  For a full list, click on the "full list" tab in yellow to see where your favorites are on the list.  This list really helped me when I began switching over to organic.  I began with the dirty dozen and made my way further down the list.  It felt easier doing it slowly.  I hope it gives you a place to start as well. 

Also, buying organic is not significantly higher in  price.  I buy everything we need with at least 50% of our produce as organic and spend the same amount at the grocery store as I did before when I stayed away from the organic section.  What has helped our bill is reducing the amount of meat that we buy.  I'll get more into that topic in another post.

Happy Shopping!

You can click on the title to get to the page or here is the website address http://foodnews.org/walletguide.php

What soft drinks are doing to your body

I just read this article (What soft drinks are doing to your body) and I found it informing.  I have not drank a soft drink for over a year and I don't plan on having another one ever, but I read it to see if it was worth passing on to my soft drinking friends and family.  I thought it was worth reading and I hope you will too and maybe it will make you think the next time you go for a soda.  (click on title of this post to go to article)

Have a great day!

Here is the web address:  http://health.yahoo.com/experts/drmao/20270/what-soft-drinks-are-doing-to-your-body/