Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Reminder: Forget not that the earth delights to feel

your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair

When you arise in the morning think what a precious privilege it is

to be alive to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Wild west adventure with my best friend

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

SPMP

I may not have gone where I intended to be but I know I have ended up where I am meant to be

Monday, August 20, 2012

R.I.P Tony Scott

I was super sad to hear about Tony Scott's death this afternoon. It is always sad to see lives come to an end so soon and without reason. I have always been a huge Top Gun fan and Days of Thunder.

I found this recipe on Pinterest and had to try it out for right away. I took the morning to myself alone in the kitchen with the local country station on soothing my soul. Cooking has become my happy place and my boys LOVED this little simple recipe.

Gluten-Free Baked Oatmeal
Total Time: 50 minutes
Serves: 6

Ingredients
2 cups gluten-free rolled oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnut pieces
1 cup raspberries {any berries work}
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
2 cups milk
1 large egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 ripe banana, peeled, 1/2-inch slices

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°F and generously spray the inside of a 10-1/2 by 7 inch baking dish with cooking spray and place on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, mix together the oats, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, half the walnuts, half the strawberries and half the chocolate. (Save the other half of strawberries, walnuts and chocolate for the top of the oatmeal).
In another large bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, butter and vanilla extract.

Add the oat mixture to prepared baking dish. Arrange the remaining strawberries, walnuts and chocolate on top. Add the banana slices to the top then pour the milk mixture over everything. Gently shake the baking dish to help the milk mixture go throughout the oats.
Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until the top is nicely golden brown and the milk mixture has set. For an extra tasty top, sprinkle a tablespoon or so of extra brown sugar.

Enjoy!

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Daily Reminder

Daily Affirmation

If you wait for perfect conditions you will never get anything done!

Friday, August 17, 2012

My life Secret on BLAST!

Right now I feel as if this is my "coming" out to the world. I have kept a secret hid from most of the world most of my life. As I am about to enter a new stage of my life I feel as if I owe it myself to share maybe this part of my life... my struggle.

I am an Eating Disorder Survivor

This what seems to be taboo disease has been a secret for 15 years. Few close friends and family have been aware of my struggle. Those who are reading take this for what it is worth and if you feel the need to judge or hold anything against me well I am sorry. Why am I finally now sharing this with the world? I have kept this hid for 15 years and so have many close people around me. Why? Why is this such a taboo subject? This disease is not always very noticeable it can be camouflaged very well.

I became the queen of camo when it came to this little taboo part of my life. In my early 20's drinking played a huge role in how I dealt with it. Yes I am exposing myself I am putting myself on blast for the 1st time ever. No one is perfect and in fact I am sure half of you who read this can say "Wow I'm not alone".

So what is the 1st thing you think of when someone says "Eating disorder" ?
Let me guess... Kate Moss skin and bones? A girl who looks in the mirror and says "I'm fat" etc. A few might say a girl who scarfs and then barfs.

I bet you no one will say a man who is who is obsessed with his abs so he works out 6 hours a day. Girls who have been raped or molested so all they eat is paper or an overly obese person who eats 4 dozen eggs,5 cheeseburgers and 2 gallons of ice cream because they are lonely.

Eating Disorders are one thing on the inside, but a totally other thing underneath.They are also stigmatized by the thin, and tend to leave out the thick.I think it’s wonderful that we dedicate a whole month to breast cancer, and that football players are wearing pink shoes, that everything from tic tacs to vacuum cleaners are colored bubble gum pink, and that everybody and the mayor are running half-marathons to raise money for a cure.

Here is my thing…My thing is, why isn’t that much effort and awareness brought to people who suffer from Eating Disorders?

Why isn’t Tebow wearing purple shoes, and President Obama painting the white house periwinkle?

I guess it’s because people don’t realize the depth of what an eating disorder involves. That everybody is different and that unlike Cancer you can’t cut it out.

I’m not at all comparing disease to disease. What I am saying is that level of awareness should be equal.

Eating Disorders not only effect the person who is suffering from it, but like any other disease it effects those who love them.

They have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.

Approximately 7 million girls and women struggle with eating disorders · Approximately 1 million boys and men struggle with eating disorders Amount of people affected by specific eating disorders: · 0.5% – 3.7% of females suffer from Anorexia Nervosa in their lifetime

· 1.1% – 4.2% of females suffer from Bulimia Nervosa in their lifetime

· 2% – 5% of the American population experience Binge Eating Disorder

· 10%-25% of all those battling anorexia will die as a direct result of the eating disorder

· Up to 19% of college aged women in America are bulimic

about 326 every week die, so about 16,952 a year will die in total, which means
about 350,000 people die a year from all eating disorders.

I could go on and on with the facts..but the simple truth is that all of us who have eating disorders can talk about it next week, wear purple bracelets and pass out NEDA pamphlets while all the high up proffs go and speak about it over tea sandwiches somewhere.

We need more than that people. We need advertisers and marketers to be more aware of their effect on young girls. We need the editors of magazines with airbrushed supermodels to be more aware, and the mannequins in store windows to listen up. We need all the friggin Insurance companies who deny treatment to people with Eating Disorders everyday, leaving them to suffer or die.

I am proud to be a survivor, but I am also disappointed to not be doing more!

Thank you!

Finding and choosing hope

For the 1st time in my life I am going to open just a bit to the world. Why am I doing this? Well maybe it will bring me some comfort? Maybe it will be good to just vent? Maybe it will bring someone hope? I'm not really sure what this will end up doing? Maybe nothing? Most of you know I have always been a very private person. Few know about my life and even fewer actually know what goes on deep down. Why you ask am I like this? Well it breaks down to trust and who wants to be judged or misunderstood? If you are someone who knows about my life and you are not my mother consider yourself someone special and important.

In the past few months I have made a lot of life changes. These life changes have been for the better and I have been figuring out who I truly am and where I wanna be in life. I have lived a very adventurous life and have become very traveled through out my 20's. I was always on the move and had a fear of settling down and becoming tied down and bored in life. If anyone knows me well enough well you know I am the least boring person to ever live! Out of no where I met someone who is teaching me I can still be adventurous and be settled. It has been a long experience and a change for the better.

Even know life is great I still find struggle. No one has a perfect life that just doesn't exist. We all have our own crosses to bear in this life. I am constantly faced with set backs. There are moments when I just want to, “arrive.” But the truth is, I will probably never, “arrive,” because a life that moves forward constantly adds new destinations along the way. So here I am, choosing hope, and setting out on a long arduous journey, not sure where I will end up. I trust God, with my whole heart I trust Him, but I’m still unsure of where I’m headed at the moment. I am absolutely sure of one thing though, hope is the difference between life and death on life’s long journey.

I have two very important aspects in my life.... My family and my relationship with GOD. My family consists of my husband,my step son,our cat and two dogs. They and GOD bring me hope and every new day. One of the saddest realizations lately in my life is I have a few "issues" that may never get fixed and may always play peak a boo in and out of my life. It is the very nature of our brokenness. Once sin entered the world, it was never the same. And just like we cannot change that Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, we cannot change the hurt that stems from that. We can however, be made new in Christ and live in hope. “This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.” (Hebrews 6:19) I am trying to live everyday in hope. And in that, I am searching and working along the way.

I will succeed

I will conquer

I will over come

I choose my life

I choose my family

I choose hope