Give away #2 Creative Awakenings

This is the book to be given away

I received this book for my birthday and it is wonderful.  Soooo I decided to share it with my friends,  for my second give away.  This last birthday was the big double nickel and with all the changes and challenges of late; I am feeling a little at a loss as to what direction to take my life.  When I was younger I wanted to go into psychology and become a therapist.  This developed into wanting to do art therapy with abused children.  I have always had a creative bent, but with raising six kids; time and money were at a premium so my dreams got put on hold.  It literally took years of birthdays and Christmas's to gather brushes, paints and canvases for my first paintings.  I did sew and quilt for my family which did give me a creative outlet, but the kids always came first.  I had plenty of plans for when I became an empty nester.  Unfortunately as an empty nester my health severely limits what I can do.  I'm learning not to put my dreams on hold anymore; especially after Emily has been so sick, I realized nobody is guaranteed a tomorrow to make their dreams come true.  My problem is what direction do I want to take my life.  I know it will involve blogging as I have come to love this form of self expression and the friendships I have gained.  I can't do everything that I want to do; my body just won't allow that any more, so this book is perfect for where I am right now. Hopefully to give some direction to my endeavors.   I have read Creative Awakenings                                                                                                                        pretty well all the way through and what it does is take you through the process of discovering yourself and your dreams through art and words.  Once a month you do a piece of art and everyday you look at it and contemplate what it is trying to tell you.  You can add to the art as the month goes by changing and considering.  I will be posting this once a month and would like anyone out there to join me in my new encounter with myself and maybe discover some things about yourself in the process.  All you need is this book, a 9x12 sketchbook (mine is one for Mixed Media) and art supplies of your choice.           I am able to offer this as I have become an Amazon Associate and this prize will be sent to the winner by Amazon.  I chose Amazon as an income choice for several reasons  1-I can choose just exactly what is advertised; only those things that I fully recommend as I have found what is advertised has brought help or pleasure into my life. 2-All it takes to help me out is to click on the advertised items or if you order from Amazon for other items you can help me out by going to the Amazon box in the top right of my blog and fill out your category or just hit GO and it takes you to Amazon.  I then get credit for your sales without it costing you anything but an extra mouse click to get to my site.  Please remember me anytime you order from Amazon as this is how I can get my art supplies, instructive books, give aways and other wishes.  3-Amazon has great prices, quite often cheaper than Wal-Mart, excellent service and an amazing selection of merchandise.  4-Amazon has a great wish list policy. Everyone can create a wish list, anyone can order for you as a gift and Amazon will ship it without giving your address to the sender.  Cool, huh. I have several wish lists on Amazon and that is how I received my book.  All these reasons are why I am using Amazon as my giveaway provider.

Rules

1-  Going through my website; click on the Amazon box on upper right, set up a wish list with Creative Awakenings on it, or if you choose to buy the book now and join me in starting to use it, just choose another item of the same price.

2- Leave a comment letting me know that you have a wish list and then preferably let me know what you like about my blog or how I can improve it.  You could also let me know by sending me an e-mail at johninayoung@yahoo.com.  Any comment left after I have received a comment on your wish list; will count as an additional entry.

3- This time I am going to try a random number generator so I don't have to worry about making sure I have mixed the entries enough or any other worries about it being fair.
4- Deadline is September 15

Good luck

and

Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

Food Friday- New Addiction




New non food addiction- art edits

 

New food addiction

 First I'll address my new photo- let's have fun- addiction.  Believe it or not both of these photos started out with the same shot.  It has been so hot outside that I have spent more time inside on my computer.  While alot of this extra time has been in reinstalling and organizing the data I put back on my computer after having to reinstall Windows, but I have also taken some time to play.  I have been playing with different aspects of the picnik.com editing program and learning how to fine tune some of the different aspects of the program.  I've been working with this because I don't have to download the program it stays on the Internet and therefore it does not take up memory on my computer; a big plus for a photo editing program.  Add the biggest plus is it's free and does some really cool edits.  They do have a premium program with more features for a small yearly fee, I just never felt the need to use the features on the premium plan.  But fun it is and there are so many variations that I could use it for a long time and still be having fun.  In fact I have to restrain myself from saving to many of the variations.  Fun, fun.
Now on to the new food addicton, since I have given up sodas, I have started to drink lots of herbal teas sweetened by Stevia in the Raw (check out the ingredients some stevia products have additives).  I drink a great variety especially those from Celestial Seasonings.  When I open the packages I put them in ziploc bags to save the flavor and also because they take up less room.  I have a good size container filled with these bags.


My collection of teas

 As you can see I really do have lots, most of them I drink for the flavor but I have also been researching medicinal teas and there are some that I drink for that reason.  I believe that they are slowly but surely helping.

Since so much of my life right now is taken up on developing new eating habits and having fun doing it I have decided to do a post on Fridays on my food lifestyle changes and the things that make this change easier and/or more fun.  That's the reason for for this photo as it shows some of the things I have found to be useful.  First is a wide variety of flavors so I don't get bored. Second is the teabag strainer cuz it keeps my fingers from getting burned when I squeeze out the tea bags after they steep. Third is the mesh tea ball as alot of medicinal teas come loose, not in bags. Fourth I had to make sure the containers I use to steep my tea have a big enough mouth so that the ball will fit in it I use Rubbermaid servin' saver bottle.  Its nice to use 'cause of the lid which keeps the flavor in while it steeps and I can use it to drink from when it's done with very little spilling.  Nice when your hands shake.  They also hold a two cups of water and since I like my tea a little stronger I can put 3 bags in the 2 cups instead of 1 bag per cup and then it can be heated in the microwave.
Fifth I also use insulated sports bottles for iced herbal teas, the ones shown holds the containers worth of tea plus the ice from one of the ice cube trays shown. Sixth is the flexible ice cube trays as they flex to get the ice cubes out easier and the cubes fit through the small necks of soda bottles and sports bottles.  And of course you have to have your favorite mug, mine is 'Winnie the Pooh' from the Disney Store.  I try to make everything as fun as possible.
Try some I think you'll like it.
Enjoy
☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

Lifestyle changes

Eggs Dijon

The seizures that I have been having have cause multiple drastic lifestyle changes.  I can not drive so I am basically housebound.  I carry my cell phone on my person constantly so I can call for help because even if there is someone else in the house once a seizure starts even with being conscience; I can not talk well enough to shout for help or walk well enough to go for help so I call our land line to get someone to help.  I now have to have someone in the house just in case. Hopefully this is only temporary, only until the seizures are under control.
Since the doctors tend to agree that at least in part this is due to all the medications I take, I am coming off some meds and changing others.  The doctors and I are working on using less toxic meds even if they do not work  as well and using supplements instead or to enhance the effectiveness of the less toxic meds.
This was causing havoc with my system until recently as I am now adjusting to the new medications.  In fact now I am starting to feel better than I have in quite awhile.
However I'm about to embark on a drastic lifestyle change; changing the way I eat.  All my research has mentioned that adults with seizures have been helped by a low carb diet.  After I check this out with a couple of my doctors and learn how to manage my insulin shots to control my diabetes I going to give it a try.  Of all the suggestions on meds and supplements this seems to be the safest alternative and beneficial in other ways too.  I want to make this diet as healthy as possible and if this may be a permanent lifestyle change I want to enjoy it.  To this end I have pulled out my cookbooks and am looking through them for new recipes and I hit up the library for low carb cookbooks.  I am having a delightful time looking for new and exciting ways to cook and recipes I might not have tried before.  I discovered that I can make this change and truly enjoy the process.  I think I had gotten into a rut with the way I was eating and instead of trying to adapt my old recipes I am going to find a new and delicious way to eat.  I love learning and am going to make this an exciting new voyage of discovery by trying a new recipe every day.    If I can figure out how to put my new recipes from my cookbook program to my blog; I will share them with you.  Even if you are not on a low carb diet you might enjoy the dishes anyway.

Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺