Sore Throat Remedies

Earthclinic's site for natural cures

I read the link above and compared it to my mom's recipe...

Take a couple of Garlic cloves, honey (to taste), a little bit of lemon juice, water and a couple of cinnamon stick and bring them to a simmer. Then let it simmer for at least 10 minutes so the cinnamon sticks release their cinnamon. Cool slightly and serve in a mug. Then sip it down.

I adapted my mom's recipe based on the recommendations Earthclinic's site and came up with this recipe.

Cinnamon-garlic-honey tea - mostly by my mama Terri (except **)
* 2 ounces apple cider vinegar
* 2 cups water
* 2 sticks cinnamon
* 2 TBS lemon or lime juice
* 2 Cloves of garlic peeled
* 2 ounces+ of honey (+to taste)
* 2 shakes (~1/4 tsp) ground chile powder - chipotle or cayenne **

Boil all together, then let simmer for 10 minutes. Cool slightly and serve. Sip while still warm. You can make a batch and simple reheat it during the day. Save in glass canning jar and refrigerate if necessary then reheat on the stove.

The pepper kills some of the sting of the soreness. Granted I haven't had as severe a sore throat as others described on the earth clinic site, but this works for me. I think the honey, lemon juice and cinnamon help to make the brew more palatable.

technorati tags:
remedies | sore throat |folk cures

What's up with Wavy10

Tonight on their news cast I saw them use a technique that caught me offguard. They were doing a story on the most arrested criminal in the country. The odd thing was that instead of simply showing his series of mugshots, they started each somewhat out of focus mugshot at a normal frame and then zoomed in. The effect was that this black guy was coming after you. I was taken aback. I've never seen them do this to a white guy (even the most disgusting ones). I'm not black but the implied message is something only an apologist could miss.

TAGS: subtle racism | racism

A coworker ended up with my old CRX

Small world. No, I don't mean the disney ride, I mean as in how ironic. Back in 2001 I sold my 1988 Honda CRX to a family friend. I had taken relatively good care of it engine wise - regular oil changes. Body wise, it was ok. It had a few distinctive dings in it, mostly of the "I keyed your car" type. Which I figured were caused by some F-150 driving rednecks who "don't like them Jap cars". Well F-150 drivers, those will now be built by my cousins!! Meanwhile most of those 'Jap cars' are built here in the US, by workers who don't shaft the buyer. Unlike workers at a local truck plant who don't put parts on the truck 'because they don't feel like it' (like a friend who worked at the plant told me about) -- but I digress.

My coworker has been driving this car for at least 2 possibly 3 years. Recently I had read that great book, "Getting Things Done" by David Allen. One of my projects was Cleanout the Garage. In said garage was a donut spare from the CRX I sold. I remembered that my coworker had a CRX, so I finally remembered to ask him if he wanted the spare. Sure. This morning I brought it in. As I was talking to him, I wondered if it had been my CRX. He explained how he had bought it from a used car lot that had bought it from an auction a couple of years ago.

He mentioned that he had replaced the windshield on it and had to scrape out some silicone. Funny, I said, I had a leaking windshield that I had fixed by caulking with silicone. "On the drivers side?" I asked. "Yes". Then he asked, was the side window ever replaced. I said, yes the guy after me locked his keys in the car and ended up busting out the right side rear passenger window. He said, Yes that's the one and said the seal wasn't the original. He walked me over to his car, and there on the passenger side door was a vertical rust line about 1 inch long and a sharp indentation next to it. The same one I remember finding one day after going back to my car from school - a Navy school no less. Perhaps it had occurred earlier, but it was the first I had noticed it, back in 1989.

Then he opened up the hatch and I looked at the bumper, same scratches on the top of the bumper where I had dragged something heavy across it. Hey, I used to be very petite, and I still rest heavy things on a bumper before I lug them into my van.

My other half wants me to get a picture. If I remember I will and add it to this.

At least my coworker takes care of it. He says the engine runs great. Which is great to hear despite the 2 other owners after me. One who I know abused the car - drove it down a dusty road to work everyday for maybe a year. Lost the wheel covers, don't think he gave it regular oil changes (or air filter changes). The other guy I don't know how well he took care of it, but he was a young kid and I don't think he could afford to keep it up as well as I did.

Small world indeed.

TAGS: cars | coincidences

Eating better - no this isn't a New Year's resolution

My 'sister-in-law' recently started asking her brother (aka Dad) about better foods. I realized that we have been buying better for us food for a little over a year now, but hadn't really shared that with anyone. So here is my attempt to share how you can eat better for sometimes alot less and also actually get a little exercise in the process.

3 Simple things to do
We have been losing weight and feeling better just by doing these three simple things. Well actually I have done two of them and not much of the 3rd.
1. Bread - eat whole grains - 3 grams minimum per slice.
2. Butter/Spread - use Smart Balance.
3. Pedometer - wear it and aim for 10,000 steps per day.

1. Bread - eat 'better' carbs
We replaced white bread (aka refined carbohydrates) with it's better and actually more tasty variety - whole grain edition.

Any bread we buy must have at least 3 grams of fiber per slice. Pepperidge Farms makes some excellent breads (7-grain, 9-grain, 12-grain, 15-grain) that are quite tasty. So does Arnold. We prefer Pepperidge Farm's Nutty Oat, but Walmart no longer carries that. That was the best tasting bread we have tried. However Sam's club now carries Arnold Whole Grain classics in a double loaf pack that costs slightly more than the same as a single loaf at Walmart around $2.88 if memory serves (I can't find the receipt).

I gained a ton of weight when the diet message 10 years ago was to eat Pasta (aka Low Fat era, lots of carbs). Boy did I. I gained 30 pounds which has never come off! The problem was that the pasta was white, not whole grain. In addition to having a high glycemic index - which means it burns quicker and if not used gets converted to fat quicker, white pasta also makes you hungrier. Yup that's right. You end up feeling unsatisfied and hungrier, so you eat more. Another reason to limit your intake of white carbs (bread, pasta, potatoes) and soda. The easiest way for me was to start by cutting out one serving of white carbs per week, then every couple of days and so on.

2. Butter/Spread - eat 'better' fats
Another thing we did was discover Smart Balance spread last year, as I have noticed many others have. Most medical professionals and dieticians are promoting that not all fat is bad. In fact you shouldn't avoid all fat, just the bad - saturated fat (sat fat) variety. You can't cut out sat fat entirely but you can make choices to replace it with the artery Clearing variety, poly unsaturated (poly fat) and mono unsaturated (mono fat). We try to keep sat fat grams down to no more than 6 per serving - and that's actually more than we usually allow.

Smart Balance has 9 grams of fat, but only 2.5 of that is sat fat. Poly fat makes up 2.5 grams and mono fat makes up 3.5 grams and 0 trans fat grams. According to their label a Brandeis University study showed their spread helped to improve cholesterol ratios of HDL (good) versus LDL (bad) cholesterol in study participants - the catch per CSPI is that you must exclusively eat it in place of all fat. Still it's better than using regular butter or margarine. I believe any little bit of good you can do still helps.

So if you've been doing Atkins, etc, at least cut the fat off your steak and try to get lean cuts of meat. You'll get your protein fix and not be clogging your arteries with heart killing sat fat.

Also did you know that your brain needs fat? Just don't forget, it needs mostly better mono fat far vice the not-so-good trans fat

3. Pedometer
Ok so this is not something you eat, but it can help you with your eating plan. I don't know how it does, it just seems that all that walking helps you prefer better foods (maybe because those foods have more nutrional value).

Last year Dad started to wear a pedometer. He finally settled on one he picked up at Sam's Club for $10, the Omron model. It has a 7-day memory and automatically 'clears the cache' to dump the 8th day's numbers. His goal last year was to do 10,000 steps each day. Sure enough a couple of weeks ago PBS had a Frontline special about Diet Wars where that was the consensus of several medical experts. In fact many sites and organizations are now promoting the 10,000 steps per day.

In Dad's experience working in an office, if you drink alot of coffee and "have a busy day" you'll average around 6,000 steps per workday. If you're like me and get stuck at your desk, you might make 3000 per workday. It also helps to have a baby who likes to be held and the holder must be moving at the same time (e.g. walking back and forth). Per Dad, "the earlier you wake up, the more steps you seem to build up before you leave the house" -- linlu note: it works for him since he's hyper to begin with. He also says that staying up late doesn't work because you tend to be winding down (aka sitting more).

Summary

So there you go, two eating tips and one activity tip, which I classify with eating better. We have others but those escape me right now. Until next time..

TAGS: dieting | New Year's resolutions | Eating better

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Blogging for your kids

Here's an interesting idea that finally occurred to me. This blog will serve as insight into who I am/was for my children. I know that there are many many blogs out there and many of the bloggers are parents. As the mom of two under 6 year old kids, I can see that already many of my attitudes and ideas have changed in the almost 6 short years they have been with me. I know that in the teenage years and especially in the adult years and when I am gone, this blog may well be the best indicator of who I was at this time. So although I may have an audience of 1 or 2 at least I can hope (assuming I'm not archived off) that my kids will be able to read my blogs and discover who I was.

I'm lucky in a sense that my memories of my dad are still with me, but how can I share what he was like with my kids (a lot of fun). My son does not remember grandpa, and my daughter never met him on this earth (although a toy in her room was 'talking' to her last night - must be one of the grandpas).

If my dad had a blog when he was still 'mostly here' he might have still been alive today - at least he would have taken better care of himself. It would also have been neat to peer into pop's mind at various points in his life. I wonder how he handled becoming a father. I know I ended up disappointing him later in his life, but at least my sister was there for him. I can only imagine that when we were little I was his favorite, but later in life it was my sister who took care of him. I am glad he left what he could to her. She is also the person I am trusting with the most important details of my life (although she doesn't know it yet!).

Anyway back to 'blogs as heirlooms'. Here's to hoping this little corner of the internet will be passed on to my kids.
.:end:.

TAGS: heirloom | legacy

Sucked vs didn't Suck

The American Music Awards (AMA) is on tonight. This is my take on who sucked and didn't suck.

Sucked
AMA Producer & the Sound Engineer
When will any music awards show get the sound right? If this thing was broadcast in Dolby surround you certainly didn't hear it. The music sounded as if it were coming out of a 1 foot wide flat speaker in the front - not even stereo in some cases. This is on my Yamaha/JBL surround sound system. I had to use the make believe surround Concert Hall setting to make it sound wider than 1 foot and three dimensional. Ugh, in 2005 this is the best they could do? If I were a performer, I would have wished I had never performed on this show.

Mariah Carey - A horrid performance of a horrible song. She blamed it on a lack of a monitor, nah, she was signing the song. It just sucks as a song. She needs to stop doing vocal gymnastics and relearn how to sing. Her style is so annoying these days. An x Octave range is not a weapon, it's an instrument for pleasure not pain. She's forgotten that.

Lindsey Lohan - I love her movies, but she doesn't belong on a music stage. She butchered Stevie Nick's "Edge of 17". She failed miserably at using the backup singers to mask her flat and unappealing voice. When she realized that, she started doing the rock star poser routine.

Kenny Chesney - Two things I can't stand -- Male twang and the 'yo yo yo bitch' rap. Guess which category he's in.

Paris Hilton - Why is she even there? I've seen better leaches for publicity.

Ferrell & Gwen Stefani - Like I said two things I can't stand. This was poser rap, no music, no talent. Gwen -- what a waste of theee minutes for her. She should have picked Andre 3000 instead to rap with - at least he has real music behind him and something more than the usual yo yo yo cliche rap.

Hillary Duff - Weak material. But at least she can hit the notes. She needs to lose the silly background dancers. Ouch she's hitting bad notes, I think she's moving toward the suck category... Yup, no warmth in her thin now grating voice. She's in the suck category.

Ciara, Bow Wow and Mario - She had a thin song with a thin grating voice. I don't hear what all the fuss is about. She's another Maria wannabee - yuck. BowWow/Mario - 'snap' 'snap' heard it.

Tim McGraw - I'm sorry but this boy cannot sing. If you remove his nasal twang you'd hear a weak whiny voice. Must be the wife effect.

Eurythmics - Thanks to the sound engineer. Annie couldn't recover from a bad monitor until the end.

Macy Gray - "Dee Dee Dee"

Rascal Flats - Who? Chipmunk lead vocalist. At least they can harmonize, but in a twang! Yuk. "Brother and sister kinda thing" - Yup makes you think of Michael Jackson. Eeew!

Didn't Suck
AMA Video Director - The film effect on some of the performances was a great touch. For some of the performances it almost seemed as if you were watching a DVD. I say almost a DVD because of the sucky lack of surround or even something more than flat sound.

Rob Thomas - Going solo. Still sounds great. Nice understated arrangement and performance. He didn't pose, he just got the job done.

Keith Urban - At last a country singer who doesn't rely on a twang. I've never heard him before since most male country singers can't sing without a cowboy hat a twang or both - both of which do nothing for making the music pleasant. Which is why I avoid male country singers. I like the sound of some of the females, just not the twangy males.

Cyndy Lauper & Sarah McLachlan - Sarah was great as always. Cyndy was a little shaky on some solos. Together their vocals harmonize beautifully. The only down side was that the pedal/steel guitar was too loud, drowning out Sarah in parts.

Will Smith's Acceptance Speech - I love his rap. He's got great music. He's a real talent and his songs are just plain fun.

TMobile Caffeinated Cheerleader commercial - I was once like that - in the ice age.... Giddy, couldn't shut up. It's so amusing to watch.

Santana & Los Lonely Boys - These boys can sing. Harmonies - something you don't hear much of anymore except in Rock. Cool guitar solos by the lead guiatarist/vocalist of Los Lonely Boys. Santana - he's one of those legendary guitar players that just becomes more phenomenal as he gets older. He could walk on water with his playing. How they made their guitars sing such a sweet melody. This was the best performance of the night.

Sheryl Crow - She always delivers, too bad the ABC/AMA Sound Engineer didn't.

All American Rejects - They didn't suck, but they weren't anything special either.

Brooks & Dunn acceptance speech - A heartfelt thanks to all music fans, not just their own.

Rolling Stones - These guys have been performing a little longer than I have been alive. Tina Turner is coming out of 'retirement' to do another tour. I hope I'm kicking and moving like they are when I reach that point in my life.

Tina Turner - I know she wasn't on. But if you can get a chance to go see her, do! I wish they made more like her. She can do it all and sounds like heaven live.

TAGS: award shows

Household tip - Bulldog clips

Here's a tip that will make you say, of course.

Do you have many potato chip, cracker or even frozen food bags that you crumble-roll the ends to close them. Well if you use a 1 1/2" bulldog clip instead, you won't have to do that anymore.

Rather than buy those oversized clips at the grocery store. [You know the ones which have incredibly weak grasping power.] Use an office supply bulldog clip instead.

It won't let you down. It's smaller


and it's easier to store when not in use. . Note: There are at least 4 large and a couple of smaller bulldog clips in that 3" x 3" storage cubby.

TAGS: Household tip | Household

My garden plan 2006

I am working on redoing my overgrown huge planter. Here are my ideas for version 2.0.

Big planter - keep/add these plants:
Black mondo grass: add along parts of the front border.
Roses: Princess Diana, Playboy, Mister Lincoln, Simply Marvelous
Verbena: keep try to add more.
Platycodus: Try to expand, add plants from seed this early spring.
Dahlias - large: shift to where sterling silver was removed.
Calla rehmani: shift to selected places along front border where there is not a rose.
Weeping pussy willow: where pink rose was removed, back, southwest area.
Marigolds: Thin out, moving extra.
Annuals in front of planter: thin out moving extra to front of house.

East fence line area:
Daylilies: add a few more
Sunflowers: smaller inedible variety this year.
Clematis: Next to piers (inside fenceline).
Planters on top of piers: Ready made color.

Remove these plants:
Roses: Sterling silver - move to a corner somewhere.
Pink rose (??) - close to sterling silver - a garden for my daughter.
Marigolds: extra ones, plant in front of gladiolus by a/c unit.
Cannas: move to along back fenceline.
Gladiolus babies: Move to cover a/c unit - put back with other glads.
Dahlia - Bolognese: Move to southwest corner planter.
Oriental/Asian Lillies: Move to front of house or along side fenceline.

Front planter boxes:
Pansies: Add.
Implement watering system in the least visible way.
Ferns or burros ears: add new hanging plants.

Mailbox planter:
Gladiolus: Remove, move to ac unit.
Clematis: Try again.

First prep:
Pull out all big planter plants.
Add full yard or two of topsoil.
Replant.
Add mulch - 3-4 yards for entire yard.

TAGS: gardening

.:end:.

Genetic roots

Our son has a strong background. Not only in terms of physical stength - but also in emotional strength. He gets a "determination" tripple whammy from his dad - who is highly motivated and determined, his Maga (his dad's mom) and his great grandpa (dad's side).

His Maga is an Okinawan World War II orphan. She managed to survive and for a short time even nurse her fatally wounded mother at 4 years old. At the same time she cared for her little brother (2-3 years old). His dad tells me stories of the stories Maga would tell Daddy about sleeping in trees to avoid the dogs. This was during and after the Battle of Okinawa. Maga is from a highly respected Okinawan family. Maga's mother and dad were teachers, which in Okinawan society is one of the most respected positions a person can hold. They were also very smart if not geniuses. Unfortunately genius doesn't count when you get hit by shrapnel or shot by soldiers as her mother and father were.

His great grandpa (Dad's grandpa) survived the Bataan Death March of World War II. Great grandpa survived by using his brains -- in this case it saved great grandpa. Great grandpa managed to escape and live. There are few of these soldiers still left in our area. Only one of them has ever talked about what happened during the march on television. Unfortunately great grandpa never told Daddy about what happened during the war. It's something that haunted great grandpa until he died in June 2000.

I can see their determination and strength in our son. He can set his mind to a task and complete it - he's been doing this for a couple of years now - he is five years old. He also is seemingly impervious to pain. That can be good and bad. He recently willed himself not to cry when getting vaccination shots for school. He said to his doctor, "I'm not going to cry". Sure enough he didn't. When he was a baby, he usually wouldn't cry when getting shots. When he was a few days old he had to have blood drawn from his heel for billiribum testing. His dad says he didn't even cry and almost didn't notice anything. His sister on the other hand did notice when she had the same test and she did cry. So our son has had this high tolerance for pain from birth.

He's actually lucky to be alive. I am positive his genetic roots have alot to do with that. When I was in labor, the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. The fetal monitor was showing extreme distress. It took a few minutes to get him out. Lucky for us our great OB/GYN noticed this right away and pulled him out. When he came out he didn't make a sound, and was in bad shape. The nurses had to resuscitate him - he was almost a purple grey. I was only able to hold him for a few minutes but quickly gave him back so he could be taken to the first level ICU. I am thankful he was only kept overnight. The next morning he was pink as could be. I know that the lack of oxygen has caused some diminshment of his genius, but he's still a pretty smart kid. Plus babies are pretty resilient and almost plastic like when it comes to brain development. They can bounce back if cared for and if the damage isn't too bad.

Anyway, from the other side - mine - he gets mathematic ability. My dad was called a human calculator. Our son is able to do some addition already. His dad taught him to count to a hundred by the time he was 4. I can sense in our son the same ability as my dad. I'm planning on teaching him the binary number system soon as well, like my father taught me.

The only bad thing about genetic roots, is that not only is the good inherited, but also the bad. Like our predisposition to heart attacks & coronary disease - both sides. High blood pressure - also both sides. Diabetes, bad eyesight, and the real issue right now allergies and asthma. The allergies and asthma are from me. He seems to have it worse than I did when I was little. He's had pneumonia a few times already, as much as I have had in my entire life. We have to pay attention to his allergies to ensure they don't cascade to a runny nose, that turns into bronchitis that turns into pneumonia. Benadryl is our friend.

The connection between exzcema as a baby, and allergies/asthma is one that became known in the pop media within the last few years. When he was a toddler and seemingly getting ear infections quite a bit, a doctor at patient first recommended that whenever he got a runny nose to give him Benadryl. Sure enough since that time he has only had one ear infection. He has had pneumonia a few times usually from a cold or sudden onset of allergies I couldn't catch in time. What's odd is that I am going through the same thing now that I am past 40. I have to ensure my allergies don't cause bronchitis, because bacterial pneumonia is not too far behind.

So that is our son's genetic inheritance. You get the good with the bad.

TAGS: okinawa | asthma | exzcema

.:end:.

Rewards Galore

Our son started kindergarten this year. It's funny because they use a reward system similar to what we use (see previous post). In his school, kindergarten has a 10 sticker system. When they earn 10 stickers they can pick whatever they want out of the Treasure Basket. They also earn green, yellow or red faces each day. A green face is good. A yellow face is given if the student is told twice about breaking a lesser rule. A red face is given out when a big rule or 3 warnings about a lesser rule are given out. Lesser rules are talking out of turn, not following directions and the like. Big rules involve hurtful physical contact with another student using their body or items. Yellow and red faces also mean a note is sent home to parents, which a parent then has to sign and return.

Anyway, we have piggybacked onto the green happy face system. For every green happy face, he earns $1. A week of all green happy faces earns him a star (value $4). He is paid his green happy face earnings (allowance) on Saturday mornings. He tends to save $1 each week, and given that's 20% that's pretty good. In actuality he has saved more than that as he has earned $12 so far an only spent $5.

He has earned 2 yellows and one red so far. One of the yellow and the red were earned when he went back to school after being out for 3 days sick. He was too excited to listen to the teacher and stop chatting with his friends. We helped him by teaching him to look at the teacher when she is talking. He listens only when he is looking at you, so we taught him to always look at us when we're talking to him. We're still working on that.

Tonight he earned another star. This time for politeness. He said, "excuse me" to his dad when daddy blocked his view of Teen Titans. His tone was polite and he waited patiently until his daddy realized he was blocking our son's view. Daddy of course smiled. Our son thought he was in trouble, but we explained that he had politely indicated to Daddy about his blocked view.

..:sidetrack:..
When I was in school, I paved the way for my sister. I don't ever recall being sent to the principal's office, being in detention, or even getting into a fight. Probably because I'm a big chicken. Anyway, I was one of those students who could occasionally be called teachers pet. Not because I buttered them up, but because I was polite and didn't chat in class. I'm hoping my son is the same.

..:back to our subject:..
He is shaping up to be a good student. We just need to keep motivating him to want to be that way. I frequently tell him he is a "good boy" and say "remember you are a good boy". When he was a toddler I would say to him "You must use your powers for good not evil". I know brainwashing, but I think it's working. He does have a good heart and a caring almost empathetic personality. His dad reinforces the "stand up for your self" part when needed (see post Genetic Roots). He has occasionally had to stand up for himself, but because he is one of those kids that gets along with everyone, he doesn't usually get in trouble. I of course remind him that he should use verbal warnings as much as possible when some other child is troubling him.

One of the techniques we taught him was how to deal with someone who is bothering you. We told him to loudly say, "Stop that, I don't like that". It's a way to tell the offending child to stop and also draw attention to the conflict without tattling. It also puts the other child on notice that they are being warned that continued harrassment will be dealt with. So far he has only had to go that route a few times in the past year. His verbal warnings are now rare for him to give out.

At his preschool/daycare last year he had to daily deal with a child who would try to tackle him the minute he walked in the door. My son at first tried to fight back, but after a while of initially getting into trouble and our explaining how to use verbal warnings, he learned to simply ignore that child. True that child has issues so he hasn't stopped the tackle attempts, but our son has learned patience and the ability to ignore slights or little annoyances.

Our son is learning how to deal with difficult people (troubled children) at a young age. This should help him deal with the difficult people (overgrown children = aka adults) later in life. He is also very adept at getting along with many people, which will help him socially later as well. I know the better you are at getting along with people the more successful you tend to be.

TAGS: rewards | parenting | positive reinforcment

.: end :.