Massage Chinese Style and Curry

We had our convention at the weekend, more about that on another post. Saturday morning I received a text from my Sister in-law Myra. She wanted a massage and would love company, would I like to have a typical Beijing style massage?
Myra lived in China for 2 years before she became pregnant with our wonderful happy chap Elliot who is 8 months old. I believe she used to get a massage every week as they are so cheap in China and very good to boot.
Well she must have read my mind, I have been thinking about and needing a massage for a few months now. So I wholeheartedly agreed.
After the convention we went back to her home so Elliot could be fed, bathed and put down for the night while dad watched ice hockey and ironed. Her husband loves to Iron and he spends many a free night happily ironing away. I looked on in envy as he ironed like a professional, one eye on the game and barley a glance at his ironing as he first Ironed the back top of his shirt, then cuffs, collar and the rest of his shirt, systematically spraying with his very posh looking water bottle. Now that's a trait all husbands need to come pre programmed with.
Before we head to our appointment we are famished so Myra suggests we have dinner. Just around the corner is an Indian restaurant she says is fab. I don't need to have my arm twisted to eat Indian.. Lead the way Myra.


www.kathmandukitchen.com


The food was some of the best I have had in the USA. You had a choice of having your dish Tali style or a la cart. A la cart means that it comes just with rice. Tali style is above, it comes with Dahl, vegetable curry, rice, nan, a yogurt dip and a potato dish. All this for under $20.


Shortly after we made our way to the Massage place. Its called has a sign that says FOOT out side. It advertises itself as a reflexology place but its more massage, a little foot work but if your expecting professional reflexology you'll be disappointed. However the overall experience was very good.
Its not the most elegant place I had been to, but as Myra has been there before I had confidence. The location does nothing to install confidence but if you can look past that your in for a treat. You enter a small typical reception and the rest of the room behind a Chinese screen is darkened. It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust, but when they do I see the room is full of leather spa chairs. Each one facing the wall so that there is a degree of privacy. Myra had given me some basic info ahead of time. Its would be in a room where others were getting the same treatment and that you wear loose comfy clothing so that they can massage underneath straps etc.
The above picture is not where I was but its a good representation, minus the pond, and the chairs are against the walls.


There were several others getting massaged but the lighting was dim enough and there was enough space that I didn't feel that like I would be uncomfortable. We requested women. We were lead to 2 spa chairs, our feet were put into a hot water and we were laid back in our spa chairs, and a long towel placed over us.
My lady said hello and then got to work, I personally do not like alot of chit chat. First she worked on my scalp, head, face and neck, this involved deep pressure and a little hair pulling. Something I hadn't experienced before, but it was relaxing and the different sensations were pleasant.
The lady then moved on to my hands and fingers, a typical hand massage, very nice. Next she moved on to my arms and under arms and arm pits. This was very strange to me. She used the towel at all times and she put alot of pressure on my underarms, this sent pins and needles feeling throughout my body and it wasn't my favorite feeling but I went under the assumption that they knew what they where doing. They lady then proceeded to use small slapping motions along my underarms and armpits. Well I just burst into a fit of giggles and so did the lady massaging me. Her reaction was sweet and this further relaxed me. After they finished my face she put a hot towel behind my neck and then wrapped my feet in one too. I also had a small towel over the my eyes and this added to my relaxation. The only sounds I could hear were sounds of nature coming from a dvd somewhere and the slapping sounds of others being thoroughly pummeled. All I could think was, I wonder if they will do that to me, I was soon to find out!
I was asked to lie on my front and put my face comfortably in the custom made face hole in the spa chair. My little Chinese lady was STRONG, she worked my back and shoulders with her elbow at times. I had moments of "I cant take this anymore" then she would move on. I thought about asking her to soften up a bit as she did ask me if the pressure was ok and I said yes. Because I'm tough!! At one point she climbed on my back her knees in my calf's, she slapped her legs up and down on mine and then put all her might into my back. It was all very strange but I have never felt so loose. It takes a little getting used to, and I have a sports masseuse I used in Placerville and she is great but she costs twice as much and she talks to me too much. I am sold on FOOT massage on Stockton Blvd. Its not fancy but its only $20 for a whole hour. Tip is $10, and they work hard. They are not what I would call professionals like my sports masseuse but they do know what they are doing. I loved it, highly recommend and will be taking friends there..

More research to do

I had a wonderful thing happen to me on Sunday. Jehovah answered a prayer and he let me know I can still continue pioneering. I have been struggling with my hours, London In November and my plans for ministry there where sank by storms and extreme tiredness. I had a test done recently that showed my blood sugars have been running high for at least 3 months. Might explain the tiredness I felt while in the UK.

But back to my little miracle. I was about to approach my elders and let them know that I have been having a hard time, ( we have had most of our pioneers come off the list in the last 6 months due to personal circumstances so its been hard being out) He said he was coming to talk to me about that too. In my head I was prepared to accept that I might have to step down and reg aux till I get back on my feet. But our Chairman of the body of elders told me that they knew its been tough and from April the first they want me to have a clean slate. I can start a fresh. No catching up on hours. WOW I was blown away.

In the car on the way home I had a cry. I thanked Jehovah again and again. This was approval from Jehovah, I was so humbled. I know he knows that pioneering is what Ive always wanted to do and I want to do it as long as I can. But at the same time I know I have to be humble enough to know circumstances change and it might not be possible, but as long as he will have me I will make every effort to do my best.

That said I am now on Fast forward to get my daily diet down. I need to get things set so in April, May and for the rest of the year I'm not falling behind because of not looking after myself, Or eating things that make me sick because I was in a rush and didn't make a wise choice.

I have more research to do.

Yesterday I thought I made a wise choice on food, I was following a carb counter book and ate a mini slice of pizza with salad. The effects, within 2 hours I could barely keep my eyes open, not just tired but I had to physically fight to stay awake while I was at work. Even my diabetes specialist does not know why that happened. Im allowed 30-45g of carbs per meal.

Today I took my meds and within 15 mins before I had a chance to eat nausea hit me like a brick wall and I threw it all up. Right now im feeling dizzy.. I need to go to work as I need the money. Aye aye aye. I thought I had a ok breakfast. 1 slice of rye bread with butter, 14g carbs, chicken and A short Latte 8g carbs, but my blood sugar shot through the roof.

Any suggestions welcome.. recipes.. etc

This and That

A general update and blog this week.. Aaron has been sick all week with the flu he had 2 days off and is feeling better today but he is far from over the flu. This bug has been making the rounds and people here have had it for up to 3 months before they are symptom free. I have had a off week too, partly due to "feminine issues" and that on top of my blood sugars still working them selves out with my medications.

I was so exhausted on Tuesday I put my self to bed at 7.30pm, and couldnt even keep my eyes open by the tempting offer to watch Mega Mind on Dvd. I slept right through to 8am the next morning. I awoke feeling much better. Today I'm feeling in better spirits. I had a check up with the Diabetes specialist. She is very sweet and spelt it out to me today that I did in fact have Diabetes and that it was for life. I would eventually be able to come off the meds but will always have to eat like a Diabetic. Why am I always the last to know!!! I'm not sure why the permanency hadn't hit me yet but it hadn't. The good news is I'm doing very well, I am eating right, varied and controlled.

I'm sitting in our little Italian coffee shop on the high st. A change from Starbucks, I felt more creative being here. I brought a journal to continue with my poetry, Its been a a while since I have written any and I wanted to have a hard copy of my poems all in one place. So I am currently coping and editing them from my computer to my journal. I may post one or two here and there but i find they are mostly indulgent and no one want to hear me wailing on or being sappy lol. But if you do just say!

This has been an odd week, it feels like its been on long slumber party with out the party, as I have felt lousy for most of the week. I have done no ministry, which is weighing on my mind. But new week new me right!

I just got a call to volunteer at EDAC www.eldoradoartscouncil.org. Its the local non profit arts association, I love being involved it really inspires me and I feel a little involved. There is only so much time I can dedicate to personal pursuits in this system. So this is the little I do for me in the arts. It propels me to create the little I do, weather its writing, scrap booking (new to me) making Jewelery or painting.

A diet thats wise and a bit of dedilee dum!

So my challenge is finding food, both snacks and dinners that i like. I want to be a raw veggie, nut chomping, smoothie drinking health nut, but ugh I am ashamed to say those healthful flavors just turn my stomach. Why am I ashamed to say it? because we, as a society for the most part are not used to such flavors and our taste buds shudder at those natural plants that come from the ground. They have no processed sugar, corn starch, high fructose corn syrup or E numbers. As much as some of us as are disgusted by it, our bodies are used to it, and oh they taste so good.

Can we re program years of eating?

Can our taste buds adjust to foods that are good for you but you gag at the thought of?

Is it mind over matter?

You see I'm finding that its just not working to try and have little of this and little of that, my blood sugar hits the roof. I'm still wanting the old foods. I still cannot envision a meal with out potatoes or rice. I cannot see breakfast with out bread.

I know I should be eating cottage cheese and carrot sticks but to me cottage cheese has the consistency of vomit, and that's just what I want to do when i think of dipping some rock hard orange stick into it. That is the crux of my issues, texture. Even as a little kid at school I would cut all my food into little pieces and then mix it up so it was mushy. I still do it occasionally. I do not like slimy, lumpy or crunchy foods. Of course the old joke is that the English boil everything to much, and, as much as I hate to admit it we didn't have crunchy veg as kids. We boiled all the veg. I steam now as opposed to boil but I steam the hell out of them. Even at restaurants when ordering veg I have to stipulate that I would like them cooked just a little longer.

So any reading suggestions, any ideas how I can become the lean green eating machine I so long to be??

You are what you eat right. I'm fed up of being doughy.

THE RUNNER INSIDE

The last time I ran was in October 2010. After my injury , my vacation to London, winter and then we moved house. I just never found the time. Nevertheless the good news is that I have been able to continue losing weight. The bad news I was diagnosed with type II Diabetes this month. See Diabetes Type II blog.
Since the weather is getting better and I need to start exercising again for health reasons. I have been thinking about what I should do. Im a big believer in doing something that you enjoy or you wont keep it up. If you are a regular reader of my blog you might recal that I had been told by a few people after my injury that I shouldn’t be running. It really knocked me down mentally and my confidence took a huge blow. I wasn’t sprinting or running long distances, If you want to be technical I was jogging and walking. My jogging wasn’t even very fast. I loved it, it made me feel good on so many levels. The movement, the self discipline that was needed the mental strength I had to develop. Feeling my body getting stronger. Being outside. I just cant describe how good it feels. Yet I was told by fitness experts and medical. I AM TO HEAVY TO RUN!
Last Sunday Aaron and I decided to visit REI, it’s a shop that specializes in Recreational Equipment from running, camping, cycling, snowboarding, rock climbing to hiking. It looked to me more for the hard core recreational people. Simon Hamilton you would have been in heaven in this store. So we played with the sleeping bags, and footwear. Looking around I felt a familiar feeling rising within me. It was like a fire little sparks at first then a raging inferno. This is what I wanted to do. I want to ski, snowboard, climb, run, hike, I want to challenge my body I love the feeling of pushing myself physically. I missed that feeling and I ached inside. This is the me I’m supposed to be instead of watching from the side lines I’m meant to be doing it. I needed to be inspired, I walked over to the book section and picked up a book on running. Opened the book and read this paragraph.
“Deep down the most important reason to be a runner is very simple - you want to be one. Always remember your body knows how to run. The runner you become starts with your intention. Weather you are running alone or with friends, for the thrill of competition or to feel good about yourself, it all starts within you. Hold on to the image of your self as a runner, remind yourself you are as much a runner as anyone else on this planet. With this in mind it wont be long until you believe it. Experienced runners will tell you that even though running seems like a purely physical endeavor, it relies on a firm psychological foundation of enthusiasm, commitment and experience. In other words if you get your mind running your feet will follow. I read this with tears streaming down my face. I had permission to run again. I wanted to run again and I would run again. The book “Runners world best, getting started” is written by Adam Bean and the Editors of Runners world Magazine.
The book also went on to dismiss myths about running. Such as…..

Running is bad for you knees.
The knee joint has been fine-tuned to with stand running. Running not walking is the most natural form of movement. Running can actually strengthen joints by toning the body in multiple ways.

Only thin people should run.
People of all body types run regularly and even start and finish races of all lengths. You don’t have to have the perfect body to begin a running program. Start running and your inner athlete will start to show, regardless of large, small, thin or stout you are. Running can reshape not only your body but your life as well.

You need lots of stamina to run.
Running builds stamina and you begin and train wisely - increasing the amount of time and run slowly and taking enough rest days - you will have the endurance you need to run.

Joggers arent real runners.
If you take only one thing from this book let it be this: All runners walk and all runners jog (that is run slowly) Take to heart that you and world Olympic marathon runners the world over walk and run slowly from time to time because it is the right thing at a given point in their training. As an athlete, you can and should work out the best possible way for increased stamina and achievement: running as well as walking and jogging are all aspects if your workout, and none should carry a stigma of weakness or non athleticism.

I have a plan, Im going to start running again. Watch space people because Im Back!

Diabetes Type II

I made a OBGYN appointment last month due to female health issues im having. Blood works were ordered and there it was in black and white, my blood sugars have been running high for at least 3 months. Most peoples run 80-100, mine have been 200-300.

Its funny how getting ill effects you emotionally. I was in a little denial at first, hoping the high blood sugar was related to my Thyroid being off, but more tests showed even my thyroid was off which Im taking meds for it, it wasn’t off enough to make my sugars as high as they are. Then I went through a period of anger and why me. Anger because I had let this happen. That it was a direct result of me being overweight, which is a direct result of my eating disorder which is a symptom of a childhood trauma. I will be paying for my past until the new system, this makes me very angry. But I have the power to change and I WILL CONTROL this. This will not control me. Why me, because I am trying so hard to educate my self and im making changes, I eat better and healthier than a lot of people I know and Im the one that gets sick. I still get overwhelmed and break down in tears.

There is a sliver lining to every cloud as they say. I have now fast tracked my eating habits and life style changes. This is no longer I will plan, but is a “I am doing.”
It is not easy. I have found that I can live with less sugar. After all we all know that we shouldn’t be eating those things. But the carbs, that’s harder, I had already switched to whole wheat and whole grains. But as my body can no longer deal with carbs very well. I can have very little bread, potatoes which includes fries, rice, pasta, and anything white and processed. Of course it goes with out saying no baked goods, or sweets. Even vegetables and salad have carbs. So I have to count and weight everything I eat now. I am on tablets that help lower my blood sugar and today it got so low I nearly passed out. That’s the difficulty. My body is used to running at a low of 200 and its goes up and down from there through the day. Now with the meds after eating which is supposed to be the highest it gets, mine registered at 179. Which is good for most people but for me it was a huge drop. I felt I just needed to sleep, I came home and could barley focus on the road while driving. I called the doctor as I didn’t know what to do. It was good that I was low but I was feeling lousy. She told me that I should treat it as low blood sugar, because for me it was, I needed sugar asap and I have none in the house. I had an orange but that only made a 2 point increase. So I grabbed a spoon and sunk it into my jar of Nutella. After a few minutes I could feel the sugar coursing through my veins. My headache that I had all day had finally gone and I rested.

My doctor told me that we are aiming to lower my sugars gradually and that I have to carry apple juice, hard candy, and other things to increase my blood sugar if needed.
I feel so frustrated. I have avoided carbs and sweets for almost a month now, trying to keep my blood sugar low and now Im being asked to introduce some of those things back into my diet. Apparently the mediation hasn’t even taken its full effect. I will be increasing my dose next week and then it wont be fully into my system for a few weeks yet. Im confused if only after a few days its already had this effect on me, whats going to happen when its really working. What am I going to have to eat to keep me from going into a diabetic coma!!!.. LOTS OF CHOCOLATE Hahaha…Kidding. If you have any experience with this or have advice please leave a comment.

Our Tree House II

Here are the picture I have promised of our new home. There are still some things we are intending to do to make it more comfortable but that takes time and money. Who knows where we will be in a year from now, we are young and child free hee hee..

Below is our kitchen. We have no storage above the sink level as we took that cupboard down it was metal like in the 1950s, we are intending to get open shelving from Ikea.


Below is a framing project I am doing. most of the frames will have black and white pictures of family and friends and then the colour will come from the art surrounding it. I have already started putting the back and white pictures in it. I will do a separate blog about the finished piece. The white frame and the brown one to the left that is empty will be painted accent colours im using in the room.

Below is the main room we live in, This is it without our furniture in it. The deck goes around the studio. i love the windows the room has such a light feel to it. My aim is to maintain that.

Below is the room with our stuff in it. Its night so it has a different feel to the picture above, I am intending to put curtains up. double rail ones so that behind the heavy curtain is a sheer fabric. To give it a light feeling.
We are also getting rugs and a book case to separate the bed section from the sofas. It will be one that has no back so you can see through it and it will give the sence of space still, again from Ikea. See the blue lamp. that is the accent colour in the room and is the colour I will be using to paint the frames. Tones of it anyway.

Below is the bathroom. Its nice and big. Im a bit stumped as to what to do in here! any Ideas?

This is our total storage in the studio, It now has all our clothes. 3 chest of draws and at the end storage for my art, our camping and tools. It also is my pantry. I have never had a pantry before. Its amazing, just were I am standing there is a tall set of shelves. One shelf has my spices, one shelf has all breakfast and tea stuff, etc. I recommend it to anyone that has a cupboard near the kitchen add shelves and make it a pantry its such a good thing, to walk in and see the food you need right in front of you.. ill take pics another time.. ahhhh pantrys
Well thats our place.. will update with the changes we make..


miss you all XXXX hugs