50 Days

Yesterday marked 50 days on Nutrisystem for me. I have hit a bit of a stall after the rapid weight loss in the beginning. I have lost 13.8 pounds total. The last 7 days I lost zero (but didn't gain!) and this morning I started to go down a bit again. I have not been faithful with my exercise because of school, but I have scheduled my classes for next quarter in such a way that I should have more time.
I spent four hours yesterday doing a total overhaul of my living room/dinning room/what used to be the bunny area. I got rid of a lot of furniture and thew away a bunch of junk, and put my "office" in the dining room where the bunnies used to be. It felt great to clean up and clear out and since I did all of the moving and heavy lifting on my own (shoulda taken pictures, it was a disaster area before) I am sure I burned a bunch of calories.
Still have not gotten orders from the AF. I bug my husband everyday to bug the people who issue them but alas, no orders. There is little I can do to prepare for the move without dates and orders. We are looking to rent a house in the Queen Creek area, I decided I needed to be wayyy out of town and away from the noisy, scary people in order to be happy in Phoenix. So I am going to take the free shuttle from the ASU east campus to the main everyday. The east campus just happens to be across the street from where Adam will be working.

Old news: I was too sad about it to share earlier but I think I made it clear from the previous statements that we no longer have Oreo and Fiona. We found them a great home with kids and a mom who loves them. Ever since we found out we would be moving to Phoenix we knew the girls would not be able to go. The 2,000 mile journey in the hot summer alone would most likely have killed them and the hot dry air of the desert would not have been healthy either. We miss them a lot but know that they are loved and being well cared for.

Scary Statistics

I am studying for a test in my Environmental Law and Policy class tomorrow and read the following rather alarming statistics in my text book:
-Chronic diseases and conditions affect more than 100 million people in the United States alone (this includes things like cancer, asthma, Alzheimer's, endometriosis, infertility, multiple sclerosis, autism, Lupus, and Parkinson's disease).
-Nearly 12 million (17%) children in the U.S. alone suffer from one or more developmental disabilities.
-Breast cancer now affects more women worldwide than any other type of cancer with rates of occurrence increasing 50% over the last half century. In the 1940's the lifetime risk of breast cancer for a woman was 1 in 22, now it is 1 in 8 and rising.
"Environmental Issues", Thomas Easton, 12th ed.

Granted, one must factor in that the number of people on the planet has grown exponentially. Still, this scared me, I personally know people that suffer from M.S. (my Dad's brother died from it, my good friend's mother is currently suffering from it), a few family members have been lost to cancer, Adam's close friend is currently fighting it (he has an advanced form of testicular cancer, which has spread throughout his abdomen and is fighting for his life in the second cycle of chemotherapy as I type this), I have family members with autism, bi-polar disorder, Lupus, developmental disorders and have lost more than two people to Alzheimer's and dementia in the last 10 years alone (my grandmother just recently).
These statistics aren't just statistics to me, they are very real. These people are just some of the reasons I am interested in alleviating any environmental factors which may be causing these problems. Its why I get out of bed and go to school everyday, with the hope that I might contribute to helping the world (and those I love) in some small way in the future. Not a bad reason to get up in my opinion, well saving the world and coffee... ;). Hey, gotta keep a sense of humor about life or might just want to give up on it.

Favorite Books

I liked this quote I read on Merc's site: "A man is known by the books he reads." — Ralph Waldo Emerson. I think it is very true. So I thought it fitting to list my top three favorite books (granted this is on a list a mile long, I am a nerd and proud of it).
1) Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn. This book is responsible for (to use my husband's term) "waking me up". I first read it in high school after a friend, who was more "awake" than I was at the time, allowed me to read his copy. I of course own my own copy now and have read it multiple times. I always turn to it when I feel I need a little motivation for my continued quest of saving the world. It is now sufficiently written in and dog-eared, the way all good books should be.
2) Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte. Not entirely sure why I love this book so much, but I do. It may be the classical, romantic (as in time period and style not mushy) elements, as well as the hints of feminism. This spot could be tied with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. If you have not read it, you should. I would also recommend reading any cliff notes or study guides with it, as I read it for two different classes and believe you need to know all of the background of this great novel to get the full effect of it beauty.
3) Beyond Civilization, also by Daniel Quinn. Another book which is written in and dog-eared. Short read but well worth the time. May be necessary to read Ishmael first in order to grasp what he is getting at. I guess I should just say that I adore Daniel Quinn and everything he has written.
3)b) Again there is a tie here, with Jared Diamond's Collapse. I had the extreme pleasure of hearing Dr. Diamond speak last month and I certainly agree with the President of my university calling him "one of the greatest minds of our time".

Some day I shall make a full list of all the wonderful books I have read as well as categorizing my thoughts and feelings about them. By someday I mean before I turn 80, because that is when I assume I will stop taking college courses and will have some free time =).

Music

I discovered a fabulous British artist named ADELE. So far she only has two singles released in the U.S. but I will definitely be one of the first to buy her full C.D. when it hits the States. I found her on itunes, as a free download and have listened to both of her songs 20 times.

John Mayer, one of my all-time favorite artists released a new single, SAY. You can listen to it for free at his website www.johnmayer.com. It is fabulous. Apparently it was on the movie "Bucket List" which I didn't see but have heard good things about. We saw John Mayer in concert last year and it was just amazing, he is a great performer and has immense talent. This new song can bring tears to your eyes and make you smile all within three minutes.

Helpless

Watching someone you love hurt their body and refuse to seek help could possibly be one of the most difficult things to deal with. How do you convince someone that the way they are living... well they won't be living for long. The only word I can find for it is helpless. It is despair, sadness, pain, all with no relief in sight.

I'm not going to give up the fight. Other people have cast her aside but I won't do it. I don't want to live with regret, with "if I had only...". I know what it feels like to feel you have no one to turn to at your darkest hour, to have no comfort, to have no one there to help brush off the dust when you fall. I will be there for her, she deserves better than what life has handed to her. I will dig deep and find the strength within me that helped me pull myself out of the darkness. I just wish I knew what she needed, wish I didn't feel so helpless.

Green Tip #3

Make a small investment in reusable shopping bags. These bags are fantastic, not only will you help to reduce waste and the use of virgin materials but your house will be neater without 50,000 plastic grocery sacks hanging around. =)
Here are some good sites for reusable bags:
www.envirosax.com
www.reusablebags.com
www.baggubag.com
* Also, some stores like Target are selling their own reusable shopping bags made from recycled materials and are usually around $1.00.

Interesting

I took the Myers-Briggs personality test and thought the results were very interesting:
I am an INFJ, Introverted 67% (no surprise there), Intuitive 100% (shouldn't I be able to read people's minds or something?), Feeling, 50% (really thought it would be more), Judging 44%.

Detailed description: of a "Counselor"

The Portait of the Counselor (INFJ)
The Counselor Idealists are abstract in thought and speech, cooperative in reaching their goals, and enterprising and attentive in their interpersonal roles. Counselors focus on human potentials, think in terms of ethical values, and come easily to decisions. The small number of this type (little more than 2 percent) is regrettable, since Counselors have an unusually strong desire to contribute to the welfare of others and genuinely enjoy helping their companions. Although Counsleors tend to be private, sensitive people, and are not generally visible leaders, they nevertheless work quite intensely with those close to them, quietly exerting their influence behind the scenes with their families, friends, and colleagues. This type has great depth of personality; they are themselves complicated, and can understand and deal with complex issues and people.
Counselors can be hard to get to know. They have an unusually rich inner life, but they are reserved and tend not to share their reactions except with those they trust. With their loved ones, certainly, Counselors are not reluctant to express their feelings, their face lighting up with the positive emotions, but darkening like a thunderhead with the negative. Indeed, because of their strong ability to take into themselves the feelings of others, Counselors can be hurt rather easily by those around them, which, perhaps, is one reason why they tend to be private people, mutely withdrawing from human contact. At the same time, friends who have known a Counselor for years may find sides emerging which come as a surprise. Not that they are inconsistent; Counselors value their integrity a great deal, but they have intricately woven, mysterious personalities which sometimes puzzle even them.
Counselors have strong empathic abilities and can become aware of another's emotions or intentions -- good or evil -- even before that person is conscious of them. This "mind-reading" can take the form of feeling the hidden distress or illnesses of others to an extent which is difficult for other types to comprehend. Even Counselors can seldom tell how they came to penetrate others' feelings so keenly. Furthermore, the Counselor is most likely of all the types to demonstrate an ability to understand psychic phenomena and to have visions of human events, past, present, or future. What is known as ESP may well be exceptional intuitive ability-in both its forms, projection and introjection. Such supernormal intuition is found frequently in the Counselor, and can extend to people, things, and often events, taking the form of visions, episodes of foreknowledge, premonitions, auditory and visual images of things to come, as well as uncanny communications with certain individuals at a distance.
Mohandas Gandhi, Sidney Poitier, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jane Goodall, Emily Bronte, Sir Alec Guiness, Carl Jung, Mary Baker Eddy, Queen Noor are examples of the Counselor Idealist (INFJ).
Here is a second description:
Beneath the quiet exterior, INFJs hold deep convictions about the weightier matters of life. Those who are activists -- INFJs gravitate toward such a role -- are there for the cause, not for personal glory or political power.
INFJs are champions of the oppressed and downtrodden. They often are found in the wake of an emergency, rescuing those who are in acute distress. INFJs may fantasize about getting revenge on those who victimize the defenseless. The concept of 'poetic justice' is appealing to the INFJ.
"There's something rotten in Denmark." Accurately suspicious about others' motives, INFJs are not easily led. These are the people that you can rarely fool any of the time. Though affable and sympathetic to most, INFJs are selective about their friends. Such a friendship is a symbiotic bond that transcends mere words.
INFJs have a knack for fluency in language and facility in communication. In addition, nonverbal sensitivity enables the INFJ to know and be known by others intimately.
Writing, counseling, public service and even politics are areas where INFJs frequently find their niche.
* I take it as a very good sign that two people whom I have great respect for (Jane Goodall, Eleanor Roosevelt) and one whom I just about worship (Mohandas Gandhi) are the same type that I am. This was frighteningly exact of how I feel and apparently act, my husband actually said "you didn't know that about yourself?". Wow, what an amazing thing to read something that understands you so well. I think people should carry around a little card describing themselves, perhaps people wouldn't be so weirded out by me if they knew that my intentions were good =).
Here are my career prospects:
Literature/Writer, Humanities,Web Design (??) Philosophy, Archaeology, Social Service, Religious Education, Psychology/Counseling
*With the second description, "Public Service" I guess I am on the right track with environmental planning! Whoo, I made a smart choice!

How very awesome this info is. Thanks, Merc.

Green Tip # 2, Valentine's Day

Valentines Day rivals Christmas for its wastefulness. Here are some tips to make your red day more green:

Fun Flowers
Valentine’s Day is the biggest event of the year for the floral industry, but unfortunately that can mean clouds of toxic pesticides sprayed upon fields far and near, harming waterways, soil and air quality and worker health. Luckily, a growing number of organically raised flowers are becoming available online, in health food stores and at better florists
Sweet, Sweet Chocolate
With its rich flavor and purported mood-enhancing ingredients, real chocolate is truly a divine treat. When you shop, aim for organic and fair trade brands (found at natural foods stores, online and now at major groceries), which ensure that tropical forests and workers receive important safeguards. You don’t want your bon bons to be responsible for loss of bonobo habitat.
Sparkling Jewelry
The good thing about jewelry is that it can last for generations; the bad thing is that it can result in strip-mined, toxic earth and poisoned workers. Buy vintage to cut out that impact, or shop from fair trade dealers, which ensure worker rights and protections.
Care-free Cards
The original and classic “I Love You” is the paper Valentine. So make yours out of recycled content! Not only is recycled paper widely available, but you can also get tree-free versions made from hemp, kenaf and other fibers. Beautiful cards are now preprinted on the greener material, or get crafty and make your own. E- Cards are always a great option too, especially for those long distance Valentine's.

Source: E-The Environmental Magazine

Just had to share

Day 30 of Nutrisystem:
I bounded over the first hurtle in weight loss, the first 10 pounds!! I am now down 11.2!
Nutrisystem works, and works well if anyone out there is considering a weight loss program.

Newest Creation

I made this shawl on Tuesday. I was sad and bored and created this:

And the blinded thing on the left is our newest family member, Charlotte Jane (as in Charlotte Bronte who wrote Jane Eyre, one of my absolute favorites). She is pure white and Maya is pure black, we like chess. hehe

Green Tip #1

This is possibly the easiest tip of all:
Buy organic foods, clothing, make-up, cleaning supplies whenever possible. This requires no extra effort, just reach for the organic container instead of the other when shopping.

Organic is better for your body and it is better for the Earth because dangerous chemicals are not being released into groundwater or the atmosphere to keep little crawly things off your apples and such.

I recently found organic sheets (available at Target stores) and have since been sleeping MUCH more soundly without toxins leaching into my skin. I have psoriasis to begin with so my skin is already sensitive to contact with chemicals.

Greenie

I had a lightbulb go off today. I realize that a lot of people ( I hope) want to live a more "green" lifestyle but are afraid to make a change, afraid to upset the balance of their life. Thus I vow to post a way to live greener in an easy, non-life altering way at least once a week. For those 4 of you who read my blog I hope that you consider taking a few steps towards living sustainably, or at least pass on the knowledge to someone else!! =)
Also, note for my bro: you asked where other people are hiding on the internet, my question is why are you hiding me? I noticed you posted links to everyone elses blog but mine on the family site. Are you afraid that I will offend someone?? Couldn't possibly be more offensive than a certain "marry-in" hehe, you know who you are. Just wondering, there is no need for a link, if people want to know about me they can ask, obviously no one is interested in my life. Me being the token heathen in the family and all. =) Probably best to not tell them where I am hiding, I want to continue to get invited to family functions...

Goodbye

A very close of friend of mine's husband passed away this morning. I wish her comfort and peace during this difficult time.
Let us not forget our own mortality, live each day as if it could be your last. Follow your dreams and don't be afraid to strive to better yourself.

Goodbye Ed, I am thankful I knew you.