Fine Graphite Drawings by Janine Flynn
Posted by Patricia on May 14, 2008
I am boasting today. I want to show you my cousin Janine Flynn’s website. Her work makes you want to cry it’s so beautiful. No need for a lot of words from me. Just take the tip over and you will see for yourself. Don’t forget to come back and thank me later.
On Being a Mother and on Loving Our Family
Posted by Patricia on Mar 17, 2008
I recently received this lovely story in an email. It touched a nerve and I’ve added some thoughts (in bold) myself.
After 21 years of marriage, my wife wanted me to take another woman out to dinner and a movie. She said “I love you, but I know this other woman loves you and would love to spend some time with you.”
The other woman that my wife wanted me to take out was my MOTHER, who has
been a widow for 19 years, but the demands of my work and my three
children had made it possible to visit her only occasionally.That night I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie.
‘What’s wrong, are you well,’ she asked?
My mother is the type of woman who suspects that a late night call or a
surprise invitation is a sign of bad news.‘I thought that it would be pleasant to spend some time with you,’ I
responded. ‘Just the two of us.’
She thought about it for a moment, and then said, ‘I would like that
very much.’That Friday after work, as I drove over to pick her up I was a bit
nervous. When I arrived at her house, I noticed that she, too, seemed to
be nervous about our date. She waited in the door with her coat on.She had curled her hair and was wearing the dress that she had worn to
celebrate her last wedding anniversary.She smiled from a face that was as radiant as an angel’s. ‘I told my
friends that I was going to go out with my son, and they were
impressed,’ she said, as she got into the car. ‘They can’t wait to hear
about our meeting.’We went to a restaurant that, although not elegant, was very nice and
cozy. My mother took my arm as if she were the First Lady. After we sat
down, I had to read the menu. Her eyes could only read large print. Half
way through the entries, I lifted my eyes and saw Mom sitting there
staring at me. A nostalgic smile was on her lips. ‘It was I who used to
have to read the menu when you were small,’ she said. ‘Then it’s time
that you relax and let me return the favor,’ I responded.
During the dinner, we had an agreeable
conversation- -nothing extraordinary but catching up on recent events of
each other’s life. We talked so much that we missed the movie.As we arrived at her house later, she said, ‘I’ll go out with you again,
but only if you let me invite you.’ I agreed.‘How was your dinner date?’ asked my wife when I got home. ‘Very nice.
Much more so than I could have imagined,’
I answered.A few days later, my mother died of a massive heart attack. It happened
so suddenly that I didn’t have a chance to do anything for her.Some time later, I received an envelope with a copy of a restaurant
receipt from the same place mother and I had dined. An attached note
said: ‘I paid this bill in advance. I wasn’t sure that I could be there;
but nevertheless, I paid for two plates - one for you and the other
for your wife.You will never know what that night meant for me.
I love you, son.’At that moment, I understood the importance of saying in time: ‘I LOVEYOU’ and to give our loved ones the time that they deserve. Nothingin life is more important than your family. Give them the time they
deserve, because these things cannot be put off till ’some other time.’Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you’ve had a baby…. somebody doesn’t know that once you’re a mother,’normal’ is history.
Somebody said you learn how to be a mother by instinct …. somebody never took a three-year-old shopping. Or coped with a choking baby.
Somebody said being a mother is boring ….somebody never rode in a car driven by a teenager with a driver’spermit. Or awoke to discover their brand new car missing, only to fly into a paroxism of worry over the sixteen-year-old who was surely driving it.
Somebody said if you’re a ‘good’ mother, your child will ‘turn out good’….somebody thinks a child comes with directions and a guarantee. Only prayer works all the time-no matter how hard we work at being a mother.
Somebody said ‘good’ mothers never raise their voices …. somebody never came out the back door just in time to see her child hit a golf ball through the neighbor’s kitchen window. Or came out of the back door in time to see a seven-year-old building a volcano with the assistance of your finest leather gloves.
Somebody said you don’t need an education to be a mother…. somebody never helped a fourth grader with his math. Or struggled to understand the medical processes at work when your sick child is being treated.
Somebody said you can’t love the second child as much as you love the first …. somebody doesn’t have two children. Or they don’t have a heart.
Somebody said a mother can find all the answers to her child-rearing questions in the books….
somebody never had a child stuff beans up his nose or in his ears. Or ask ‘where did I come from?’
Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and delivery….somebody never watched her ‘baby’ get on the bus for the first day of kindergarten, or on a plane headed for military ‘boot camp.’ Or watched her children dealing with any kind of rejection.
Somebody said a mother can do her job with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back … somebody never organized seven giggling Brownies to sell cookies. Or tried to take care of a couple of boisterous toddlers after being up all night with the baby.
Somebody said a mother can stop worrying after her child gets married….somebody doesn’t know that marriage adds a new son or daughter-in-law to a mother’s heartstrings. Plus a string of grandchildren–all just as important to you as any of your children are.
Somebody said a mother’s job is done when her last child leaves home….somebody never had grandchildren. Life just gets busier and busier…
Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don’t need to tell her…. somebody isn’t a mother.
This is for all the ‘mothers’ in your life and for everyone who ever had a mother. This isn’t just about being a mother; it’s about appreciating the people in your life while you have them….no matter who that person is.
Anti Aging Skin Care
Posted by Patricia on Feb 25, 2008
True anti aging skin care is not a matter of smoothing a particular skin cream over your face twice a day. Nor is it a matter of adopting any particular beauty treatment you can name, although for sure these things have a place in making you look and feel good.
Don’t let that depress you though, because there is a system of anti aging skin care that will guarantee you perfect skin and a beautiful body to go with it long into old age.
In this series we’re going to take a look at the simple things you can do to make sure you keep your looks for as long as possible.
Anti aging skin care that really works is what you put inside your body. Every part of you depends on the nutrients you take in on a daily basis to maintain youthful looks and performance. If your nutrition is deficient then your body will decline onto a path of accelerated aging.
Oils are the most important aspect of your nutrition. We use oils to make important hormones called prostaglandins. They run everything: Our body systems, our brain, skin, hair, eyes and even our teeth. Most of all, our sexuality depends on the right balance of oils for hormones.
The diet of nearly every single person in the Western world is deficient in the right kind of oils to keep us healthy. Here are the reasons why:
The Low Fat Movement is a Travesty
One of the most damaging things you can do to your face and the rest of your body is stay on a low-fat diet. The low-fat craze is responsible for more cases of accelerated aging than just about anything else.
Don’t Eat the Wrong Fats
Eating the wrong kind of fat is just as damaging as low-fat. You must take steps to eliminate trans fats from your diet immediately. This means more-or-less cutting fast food out of your life. Hard? You just need to decide what you want more: fast food or a healthy old age. It IS that bad.
Commercially prepared oils also need to be cut out of your life. They all contain trans fats and are too high in the Omega 6 fatty acids. In the old days, the common diet provided an equal balance of Omega 6s and Omega 3s. Now we have a horrific imbalance: the average US diet provides between 30:1 and 60:1 in favor of Omega 6s. This is destroying our health. Making even small adjustments can affect your health tremendously. This is just one more reason to take cod liver oil every day, by the way, as it provides pure Omega 3s.
In my house we only use extra-virgin olive oil and butter or butter ghee.
Fast food is so damaging precisely because the oils are highly-processed and denatured. It’s not enough that they don’t provide vital nutrition that feeds your body. In the bargain they pose a threat as the transfats they contain pollute the body so that even when you do eat good fats, your body has to fight the deficit first, clearing away layers of cell-pollution, before it gets to the task of rebuilding.
Another aspect of the perfect anti aging regimen is movement. It’s true that not all movement is equal, but any kind of movement is far better than an inactive life. We’ll look at that later, just after we take a look at other aspects of the diet that affect how our skin looks and ages.
Lopez reportedly strikes deal worth millions for baby photos…
Posted by Patricia on Feb 21, 2008
I don’t know about you, but this headline made me feel sick. This poor child is not even born yet and his mother is already striking deals to make money off of him. That to me is a betrayal of parenthood. It’s as if the glorious gift of motherhood is just another way to make money for Ms Lopez. I am disgusted.
Wonder how that baby is going to feel a few years down the road when he discovers that he was just a commercial venture to his mother. A child has a right to feel loved and protected by his mother and father–not sold to the highest bidder. A child also has a right to be able to respect his mother and father. What respect can there be when she is prepared to sell his most private first moment? Yuck. 
Skin Care for Bad Skin Days
Posted by Patricia on Feb 18, 2008
Everyone has days when their skin isn’t as good as usual. Over the years I’ve been called on to help with skin crises in a number of situations. The #1 cause for panic is bad skin just before an upcoming wedding, or other very important life event. I’ve come across so many people who are convinced that there’s nothing they can do to get rid of blemishes in a hurry–or even in the long term.
Don’t Panic: You Can Have Wonderful Skin in Time for Your Wedding!
If you have even a couple of weeks to your special event, there is still time to considerably improve the look of your skin.
The first thing you have to do is eliminate white sugar, white flour, chocolate, chips and sodas from your diet. You must drink at least 8 glasses of water a day–more if you are overweight. Eating lots of salad and fruit and vegetables is also a must. There are valuable vitamins and minerals in these foods that just can’t be reproduced in a multivitamin no matter how good it is.
Then you need to go and get a good multivitamin tablet from your local health store. There are plenty to choose from; ask if you’re not sure.
The Secret to Magical Skin Improvement in the Shortest Time Possible
And now we come to the most important ingredient of your new skincare regimen: Cod liver oil. Yep, this is the secret that has drastically diminished, or completely eliminated dreaded blemishes from countless faces. It is hailed as a ’superfood’ in the health-food universe, and with good reason.
Plentiful supplies of vitamin A and vitamin D ensure rapid response to your skin problems. In fact, you’ll probably find that cod liver oil makes you feel and look better all round.
Emergency Blemish Treatment
For emergency treatment, you can mix cod liver oil with zinc oxide and dab it on your spots. It’s safe–meaning non-toxic–and it won’t dry your skin like so many other topical blemish treatments. But in the long term you shouldn’t need to do this if you’re following the other recommendations and taking cod liver oil every day.
I’m confident that you’ll see such wonderful results that you’ll carry on taking cod liver oil long after your special event is over.
Secret Strategies for Keeping a Cold at Bay
Posted by Patricia on Feb 16, 2008
My daughter phoned me a little while ago. She has a terrible cold. In fact, she has had a cold almost constantly this past year.
She is pregnant and her daughter is only a year-and-a-half, so that’s one reason her immunity is low. The other thing is that she suffers from extreme morning sickness (just as I used to) so her nutrition hasn’t been at all good for some time now. To cap it all, she’s a teacher so she works hard, struggles to keep up with her housework and looking after her kids, and basically has no mercy on herself.
The first thing she needs to do is pay particular attention to her nutrition now that her morning sickness has eased slightly. Then she needs to go and get some vitamin C and som zinc. Zinc is essential to a healthy immune system, and you use a lot of it when you’re nurturing a new life. In fact, any time a woman is hormonally active she needs more zinc. I would love it if she’d take a really good multivitamin too, but if they make her vomit then obviously she’s better off not vomiting.
And what we all have to remember is that it’s so easy to be wise from afar. It’s always a lot more difficult to cope with a given situation than it is to set things right from a distance. 
Found a Good Body Lotion Lately?
Posted by Patricia on Feb 16, 2008
Because I have very dry, sensitive skin, I’m always trying out new body lotions. If I don’t take care of my skin with excellent diet and constant moisturizing I develop eczema. Horrible.
Most moisturizers don’t work at all for me, and I’m allergic to the smell of many of them too. It’s terrible to have an allergy to all artificial fragrances, lol.
Anyway, recently I tried a new one that I really love. It’s from the new Nivea range and it’s called Sensitive Balance Body Lotion.
Try it. If you have dry skin that needs pampering you’ll love it. The smell is delicate and unobtrusive too.
The Mall
Posted by Patricia on Feb 15, 2008
Yesterday my daughter and I went to the mall. It was a cold, rainy day but she was desperate to get out. She has been mainly home since her daughter was born two weeks ago, and my two-and-a-half year old grandson was also desperate to stretch his legs. Sitting outside our favorite coffee shop I felt so blessed watching my daughter tend to her baby and the little one running around burning off some of his energy.
But then I remembered my two daughters, sons-in-law and my four other beautiful grandchildren so far away in Raleigh. Tears came to my eyes, I miss them so much.
I’ll be seeing them again in a few short weeks but having your family all over the world is not an easy way to live.
Serendipity
Posted by Patricia on Feb 15, 2008
Serendipity: The art of making happy and unexpected discoveries by chance. It sums up my life and I’ve always had a great affinity for this word.
I’ve been promising myself for some time that I’d start a blog just for me. In the course of my day I inevitably feel the urge to write about a multitude of things that don’t fit into any of my work blogs. It’s considered bad form to write off-topic, so I restrain myself.
This is my personal blog so I’ll be writing about anything and everything as the inspiration comes to me.
Hope you’ll join me on a regular basis, and please, don’t forget to bookmark my posts, stumble me, and most important, leave your comments and your highly-valued opinions.
