February 23, 2012

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Moving from Adversity to Global Action

February 3, 2012 By 1 Comment

What do you do when your life or the life of some one you love is threatened by an unknown ailment? For most of us, we head to a doctor or an emergency room. We call on the knowledge of specialist and we have faith that they will see us through. And as scary as it may get, we take comfort in the fact that we have access of some sort.

My family is dealing with a medical issue that has, and I say this as honestly as I can and with no trace of exaggeration, scared me like nothing I have ever experienced.  And I’ve – we’ve been faced with some doozies.

My husband has a 6 cm nodule on his thyroid that may or may not be cancer. And in the time that it took for him to drive five minutes to the urgent care facility near our house (a trip that he made for something completely unrelated to this) and be seen by the on-call doctor, our lives changed drastically. In a matter of minutes, my family’s security has been dismantled and I am finding it hard to see the future…

Read More at A Million Moms

Kristina Daniele

Kristina, Founder and Oz of We of Hue is one of many doing it across hues-homeschooling, wifing, mothering, and business building. She is a web designer and social media consultant with a love of building communities on line. She looks forward to intelligent conversation that is eye-opening and statement-making.

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Filed Under: Health & Self-Esteem, Thoughts

When the dark, comes to light.

April 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment


My teen love story – over a number of posts I will be sharing my first love story.  As you read over the coming posts, you will understand that I had to purge the past.  I must say it has helped me heal some. Part 1 is here.

Months later I’m in my room and my mom bursts in the door and demands me to pull my shirt up.

WTH!!!

I’m stunned and don’t know why.

She had a dream…she is hollering and demanding me to expose my breasts. She looks for swelling and gently squeezes my nipple.  Oh Lord, milk…I want to DIE.  I’m pregnant and didn’t even know it?

Before I know it she is beating my ass, she is kicking my ass and I don’t even fight back I’m so mortified and ashamed. My grand mother breaks it up.  My mom is sobbing, I’m sobbing.

I just want to DIE.

We avoid each other for 2 days.  I miss school for the 1st day.  I called him to tell him and he’s stunned but happy.  Explains it’s not the best situation for us, we’re too young, but he’s happy and wants to do this.  Through tears I explain how it went down and he doesn’t understand my mom’s reaction.  We argue.

“I’m her only child! I’ve let her down!”  I hang up.

When my mom finally does talk to me she is crying and explains she was waiting until I was 16 to talk to me about sex.  I’m crying and apologetic.  She leaves me.  We avoid each other for days, seems like an eternity. He’s unreachable.

I want to die.

irogers

Filed Under: Health & Self-Esteem, Parenting

Educate parents rather than banning homemade lunches

April 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Yeah…you read that right.  How does that make you feel?  It would be a bad day any day somebody would tell me I can’t send my child’s lunch to school.

“Nutrition wise, it is better for the children to eat at the school,” principal Elsa Carmona told the paper of the years-old policy. “It’s about … the excellent quality food that they are able to serve (in the lunchroom). It’s milk versus a Coke.”   Principal Carmona needs some educating. She’s looking ignorant. I get their issue:  milk vs. Coke.  I respect their concerns but not how they go about resolving the issue.  Address the parents individually that pack unhealthy lunches for their children.  DUH.  Educate those ignorant to the labels on packaged foods and explain the affects of high salt and high sugar on their child’s behavior, you don’t decide for the entire school to ban lunches from home.  Banning parents from sending lunch promotes ignorance. It’s my prerogative as a parent to send my child’s lunch and if I send it they better eat it.  Better yet, as a stay at home mom – don’t make me come up there during lunch time to sit with my child and watch them eat MY lunch from home.

As a parent I have my concerns about school lunch.  Is it fresh? Is it delicious?  Will my child eat it?  Are the portions large enough?  If it’s a hot meal, is it served cold or warm enough? Was it prepared with clean hands? Did the staff wear hair nets? When was the last time the cafeteria was inspected?  What grade did it receive? Is the USDA doing their job? *side eye* Let’s address all of that.

The issue has now become telling me, as a parent, what I can/can’t send for my child’s lunch.  NOBODY can tell me that, I’m not having it and I am sure I am not alone on this issue. Educate the parents sending the unhealthy lunches and leave the rest of us who have common sense alone.

 

original article: http://yhoo.it/fKml73

 

Pascha Dudley

Pascha Dudley is a wife, mom, contract paralegal and freelance editor. She writes The Posh Blog, www.theposhblog.com and is a Social Influencer for an online retail forum. She resides in Suwanee, GA with her family.

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Keep it Healthy Thursday: Weight management during the holidays

December 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Thanksgiving was a couple of weeks ago and Christmas is right around the corner. The holiday season is in full swing and you know what that means – office parties, house parties, New Year’s Eve’s parties, the list of parties goes on and on. Most people equate the holidays with weight gain and are ready with that New Year’s Resolution to lose weight.BUT this is a fallacy! You can enjoy the holidays, indulge in great food and you don’t have to gain weight! Impossible you say? Ha! I know it can be done, during the holidays last year I lost 20 pounds – 20 pounds! And I indulged. So, based on my experience I want to give you a few pointers to help you maintain your weight this holiday season.

1. Remember – everything in moderation! If you want a piece of pie, have a slice. But just one! Don’t make the mistake of baking a pie and keeping it at home. Have a piece and give it away. My friend still reminds me that I made pumpkin squares last year for Thanksgiving that were rich and indulgent. I tasted the pumpkin squares but left them at her house for her family to enjoy. No weight on my butt! LOL

2. Alcohol – I know that we all like a celebratory glass or two during the holidays. Try a wine spritzer by mixing wine with tonic water. Doing this cuts both the calories and the amount of sugar that you ingest. If you want something heavier I suggest vodka low in calories and you can mix it with flavored water and a little bit of juice. Keep drinks simple, cut back on the sugar and you won’t waste calories.

3. Eat something before going to a party. Have a small healthy meal and arrive at the party with a partially full stomach. This will keep you from over eating. I’ve also found drinking water to help with maintain a feeling of fullness.

4. Get moving! After a big dinner or the day after a great party be sure to move your body! Go out for a walk, run, or even dance around the house. Do something physical to burn off some of those calories.

5. Enjoy yourself! Don’t spend so much time counting calories that you don’t enjoy your meals. The holidays and the food that accompanies the holidays come around once a year. Don’t beat yourself up for enjoying some of the yummy foods. And if by chance you do end up gaining weight, shake it off and start exercising and eating right in the New Year!

Renee Ross

Renée is a woman, a mother and an advocate of healthy living and social responsibility.

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Keep It Healthy Thursdays: The Healthy-Living Fanatic!

December 2, 2010 By 4 Comments

My name is Renée and I’m a healthy-living, fitness fanatic. Okay, that might be stretching things a little bit. Let me start again. My name is Renée and over the past year I’ve lost 50 pounds. I’ve gained a few and lost a few but overall I’m holding pretty steady at the 50 pound mark. I didn’t do any extreme dieting and I lost the majority of the weight in six months. I truly believe in the motto slow and steady wins the race and after shedding the weight I decided to make a new goal – to run a Half-Marathon.

I’m proud to say that on October 17th, 2010 I completed the Nike Women’s Half-Marathon in San Francisco alongside 20,000 of my fellow runners/walkers. And during my training with a little help from my friends, I raised over $5000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I’ve accomplished quite a bit in the past year. It hasn’t been easy and my journey to healthy living continues to be a journey.

Most days I do okay with my eating but like everyone else I sometimes struggle with motivation – to exercise, prepare healthy meals and just stick to my plan. But I recognize that I am human and I will backslide. I attribute my successful weight loss to sharing my journey with the world – the good, bad and ugly. This has not only made me accountable but I believe I have helped many other people that are just beginning or even in the midst of a similar journey.

In this column I plan to continue to share with my you both my successes and my failures and I continue down this path of living healthy. I will remain accountable and hopefully provide you with some practical advice that you can apply to your life so that you may reach your fitness goals. Remember, nothing ventured – nothing gained. I didn’t get serious about my weight loss until my third time and each time I made my attempts public. Although it was slightly embarrassing my experience has been real. If I can do it you can do it. What are you waiting for?

Renee Ross

Renée is a woman, a mother and an advocate of healthy living and social responsibility.

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Filed Under: Health & Self-Esteem

Keep It Healthy Thursdays: The Genesis

December 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Pssssst. Pssssst. Hey you! Yea, I’m talking to you on the other side of the computer screen. Dude, stop giving me the funk-eye, already. Yea, I know. That befuddled look is because you’re wondering how you can hear me when I’m on the other side of the screen. Never mind that, just accept it. And since were on the subject, don’t you think it’s pretty darn cool that you can? I thought so, too. Now that I’ve gotten your attention, I’m sure a million questions are going through your mind. Easy. Easy. We’ll get to all that. Care for a virtual cup of tea? Oh, coffee’s your thing? No probs, we can still hang. How’s that chair working for you? I don’t fluff pillows or prop up feet, but I’ll wait while you get comfortable – take your time, I’m not going anywhere.

Good deal. You look much better now that you’ve gotten a good cup of joe  in you. You had me worried there for a minute with how white your face turned when you spotted me tapping on your screen. So you drink coffee black, eh? Woosah! You’re hardcore, aren’t you? I like you already. I’m pretty hardcore myself. Specifically, about the things I’m passionate about and I certainly don’t ride the fence on those issues. You’ll never see me engage in something unless I fully intend to see it to the end. But, don’t get it twisted though. It doesn’t mean I always finish unscathed – believe me, I have a few bumps and bruises to remind me of some of tough spots I had to meander through to finish what I started. Nonetheless, I do manage to maintain my level of energy and not lose the passion to continue. I’m not a half-ass kinda girl.

Anyway, I know with all the ramblin’ I just did, you’re probably more confused than ever. I know you wanna know who I am, why I just appeared at your screen unannounced and uninvited, blah, blah, blah. Well, to give you the skinny, I’m a single mom of two boys, I work for myself (although my clients think I work for them), I did the college thing many moons ago (I really need to dust off the ‘ole brain cells) and well I’m just plain happy with the state of my life these days. But here’s the real kicker – every Thursday I plan on tapping on your screen so you and I can have a conversation of sorts. Yea, exactly! Like girlfriend chitchat. The subject matter? Well, there will be some wellness, some parenting… well actually A LOT of wellness spun in the form of green living, health, kids, creating a village, and parenting colloquy. Huh? What do I mean by wellness?  Hmmm, let me see the best way to explain this. I suppose I’m hoping that we will have a dialogue that inspires both of us to live better, to be healthier, and to want to move to a higher place – mind, body and spirit. Does that make sense? No, but you’re still interested in these chat sessions anyway? Cool. We’ll carve it out as we go. Really, the most important thing is that if you show up that you are honest and open. I’ll warn you straight away, we won’t always agree, but that’s okay. Just as long as you can handle a healthy, friendly debate that ends with a kiss on each cheek and rescheduling the session for next time. How does that sound? Did you say copacetic? Awesome! Same time, same place next week…

image credit: Tony the Misfit

Ana Gazawi

Single mom of two boys trying to live a greenier, crunchier life. Lover of life and all things that bring good people, great conversation, and lasting memories together.

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