The Times They Are A Changing

Although holistic medicine is an overview term for many alternative healing methods, I see it as more of a philosophy in that it is an intention to heal the body, mind and spirit together. There is no need to separate the healing process by going to a conventional physician to treat the arthritis in your left hand, a psychiatrist to treat the mental reason for the way you think and a clergyperson to handle your soul. I feel fragmented just thinking about it that way. I don’t discount the need in our for all three of these types of people or the three healing practices, however.

There are times that a conventional medical doctor is, without a doubt, the person you want to see as well as a clergyperson or psychiatrist. In fact, if it is in your beliefs to do so, you should see them first. However, sometimes an illness or condition is not cured by these professions. If so, it certainly can’t hurt to give a holistic method a try. Personally, I believe that my body, mind and spirit work together. And so looking for a holistic method to my healing is a more natural approach for me. If I contract a certain disease and it is eminent that it have immediate attention, I would first see a conventional doctor for medication or other procedure. After all, if you die before you can figure out why you’ve gotten the disease and the lesson (learning) transpired from it, you haven’t solved anything.

After being am sure that my immediate physical problem is manageable you could seek out other alternative medical methods. If the disease contracted is related to your thinking process (what you tell myself) as well as your spirit, you could never be healed without analyzing those areas. Even after analyzing, you may have a block in your thinking that isn’t allowing you to see the original problem. And “darn it” you just want your medical condition to go away. Many times a holistic treatment can do that. However, you must be aware that you must continue to try to find the root problem to the disease in order that it not return. “Do what you’ve always done and you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”

Spiritually speaking, I believe that a person may come into this world with the expressed reason of experiencing a disease, physical or mental condition. It’s a brave soul that takes this path. Through this experience there would be an abundance of growth. Surely the soul would return to it’s home at the end of this lifetime shining brightly.

For further information on holistic medicinal treatments and alternative healing see my blog, http://gentlecare.today.com/ and http://hubpages.com/hub/alternativemedicineoverview

I am still looking for that “free lunch” on the web. Interestingly, as I mentioned in one of my latter posts, I decided to learn how to read tarot cards. Well, I ran into a post that gives you printouts for blank tarot cards. You print them on card stock and then color them in yourself. You’ll find all the directions here, Free Tarot Cards.http://altreligion.about.com/library/weekly/aa082003a.htm

This “find” made me wonder about free classes online.

Inner Life Skills offers free internet classes in intuition, personal power, relationship healing, family healing, business and career building and life purpose.

The Culdee Center has free metaphysical ebooks you can download.

What is Metaphisics has free courses available.

Learning the Tarot offers a free beginner’s course.

Online Education Data Base has listings for 200 free online classes. Wow! Some of the titles include: Fundamentals of Physics, General Biology 1, General Biology 2, Quantum Mechanics, Linear Algebra, Calculus 1,2 and 3, Basic travel French, Spanish, Chinese, Intro to Philosophy - to name just a few.

Learn That has free tutorials as well as free courses in learning to play guitar, computer classes, money, finance, home repair, business. They also have lifestyle courses on automobiles, education, etiquette, health and fitness, parenting, pets, travel and more.

Word2word has free online language courses. Choose from Burmese, Danish, Kurdish, Spanish, Vietnamese, Latin, German, Polish and way more choices.

Small Business Administration offers business courses online at no cost. Some of the titles are: How to prepare a business plan; Marketing 101; Guide to starting a business; Franchise basics.

Good Typing has an online typing course in several different languages at no cost.

Top 10 Universities with Free Courses is an article that delivers what it says. Learn how to take free classes at Berkley, MIT and others.

Writer’s Helper offers free writing courses.

Writing Coach also offers free writing courses.

I must admit, as much as I hate feeling “lack” of any kind, every week as I stand at the grocery store checkout counter and write the total for my groceries, I am astonished. It seems to be more every time I go. Some weeks it’s almost double what I paid last year at this time. On other occasions it’s at least 50% more. But those are on weeks that I’m really watching what I’m buying and mentally thinking of the dinner menu plan to include grilled cheese sandwiches or something with eggs. Nothing wrong with that. And, I’m not alone.

So, now when I see something on sale that we would ordinarily eat anyway, I stock up. Smarter shoppers have been doing that all along, so it’s nothing new to them. All of this got me to thinking about “free” things. Is there anything that’s still free?

Free Blog Ping Service (a website that will notify other servers (or blog services of changes in your blog)

Pinggoat

Google Blog Search

Yahoo Publisher

Blo.gs

Google’s FeedBurner

Bloglines

Ping-O-Matic

One of my traits is that I have an insatiable thirst for knowing and learning. There might be thirty things that pop up throughout the day that I find of interest and want to know more about. Of course, that’s one of the reasons I love writing. I can investigate a subject and write about it. However, it I looked into everything I wondered about, I’d never get anything else done (a small secret, every once in a while I just let myself go and I don’t get anything else done). It has occurred to me, though, that I know a little about a lot of things.

I have decided to make a list of some things that I really would like to know or know how to do well. Then, I will make a pact with myself to spend more time on each, becoming an expert (or at least close).

One of the first things on my list is to learn to read tarot cards. So, I found a website and ordered a beginners book and a deck of tarot cards. I just received them and decided I would read the book all the way through before trying my hand at the cards. In the first chapter it asks why do you want to learn to read the cards?

I see tarot cards as a tool, much as any other divination tool would work. I just find a pull toward the cards as apposed to something else. Not knowing yet exactly how the readings are done, I can see myself asking all that is pure and positive in the universe to answer my questions through the cards. If nothing else, I would probably ask my guide for what else, “guidance.” I’ll let you know how it goes.

You’ve finished your grocery shopping and now your ready to get your plan in action for your traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Whether it’s your first big holiday dinner or you haven’t done it in quite a while, you may have questions after you’re in the middle of preparation. Who do you call?

USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline
(888) 674-6854
Yes, They’re open Thanksgiving day to answer any question you have about cooking the 25 pound turkey. But call between 8:00 am and 2:00 pm Eastern Standard Time to contact an expert.

Reynolds Turkey Tip Line
(800) 745-4000
They are open until December 31 - 24 hours a day.

Butterball Turkey Talk Line
800-Butterball or (800) 288-8373
Open through December 28 (8:00 am to 8:00 pm weekdays and until 6:00 pm weekends - CST) Thanksgiving day they are open 6:00 am to 6:00 pm Central Standard Time.

Honeysuckle White
(800) 810-6325
Recorded message to the most asked question about cooking your Thanksgiving turkey.

Foster Farms
(800) 255-7227
Experts on the line to answer your questions 24 hours a day - Nov. 19 to Dec. 1. Their hours for the remainder of the year are 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.

Thanksgiving Recipes for Dummies

How to Cook a “quick and easy” Turkey

A Trouble Free Thanksgiving

Happy Turkey Day!

A study was done at Kent State University by Dr. Steven Toepfer. He questioned why at a time where people enjoy a higher income with more material wealth, do they seem to be more unhappy that previous generations.

Dr. Toepfer enlisted students from the university in a gratitude experiment. He instructed the students, over a six week period, to write letters of gratitude to people who had made a positive difference in their lives. They were to write a letter every two weeks. The rules stated that the letters had to be of a positive gratitude nature. They would spend some time in introspection and reflection before writing the letters. And after writing the letters, they were to journal their feelings as to their mood and satisfaction with life.

It was expected that the students would find the experience beneficial to their state of mind about life in general. What Dr. Toepfer didn’t expect is that their happiness and satisfaction with life grew with each letter they wrote. 75% of the students in the study said they planned to continue the letter writing experience beyond the study time.

Toepfer stated, “We are all walking around with an amazing resource: gratitude. It helps us to express, enjoy, be thankful and satisfied with a little effort. We all have it and need to use it and need to use it to improve the quality of our lives.”

I suppose, I’ve known somewhere in the back of my head that certain potatoes work best for certain dishes and others work best for other dishes, but I never categorized clearly.

Russet Potatoes
The brown-skinned potatoes that we normally purchase in a 5 or 10 pound bag at the grocery store are grown year round and therefore they are easy accessible. When cooked they come out light and fluffy making them the best potato for baking or mashing. They also work well boiled and used in a potato salad recipe.

Red Potatoes
These potatoes are sometimes called “New Potatoes” as they are harvested before they are mature. They are firm, smooth and moist making them a good choice for potato salad, roasting, steaming or boiling. They are great boiled with just a dab of butter. They also make great breakfast potatoes if you have some left over from dinner the night before. Just toss them in a heated pan with a bit of olive oil and sauté.

Yellow Potatoes
The yellow flesh makes them seem as though butter has already been added and, in fact, they taste a bit buttery. They are now available most of the year and are a dense and creamy potato. Yellow Potatoes taste good roasted, boiled, baked and steamed.

Round White Potatoes
These potatoes have a creamy texture, but hold their shape. White potatoes are a good all-around potato that can be used in almost any dish.

Fingerling Potatoes
Fingerlings come in a lot of different colors, but basically they are mostly yellow under the skin. Their great for steaming, baking, boiling and salads.

Christmas Potato Recipe

Ingredients

2 ½ lbs. red potatoes
8 oz. sour cream
¼ cup melted butter
½ can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup shredded cheese (your choice)
½ teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
½ cup bread crumbs
½ cup Parmesan cheese
1/8 cup melted butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray oil inside of a 9X13 inch baking dish.

Cut red potatoes into desired size (bite size is good). Place them in a large pot of water and boil until nearly tender.

Place drained potatoes in a large mixing bowl. Add sour cream, butter, mushroom soup, shredded cheese, salt and pepper and stir until combined.

Pour potato mixture into the greased baking dish.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine the bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese and remaining butter and stir. Sprinkle this mixture over the potatoes.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the topping is golden brown.

Note: This recipe can doubled for larger crowds.

Personally, I love autumn leaves. I love seeing all the golden tawny colors spread across the front yard. I love listening to the crispy sound as the wind blows through them. I love gathering them, taking them indoors and using them for decorations. And I love using them as a subject for artwork. So, you can imagine my dismay at having a husband who likes the front yard neat and orderly. As they first start to fall, he mows them up. Later, when they start to cover the lawn he gathers them and takes them of…somewhere.

The truth is these dried leaves can be recycled in a lot of different ways. After all, nature is recycling by feeding the earth with these nutritious morsels. The two well known ways that human’s use them is as a mulch in the flower beds and as future compost for the garden. But, if you are an arts and crafts person, or you’re just feeling creative, you can press the leaves and use them in art projects.

I love creating multi-media art where you might start with a canvas and use paint, ink, chalk for the background and then add texture with, what else, pressed autumn leaves. Or, create a collage on a journal cover or gift card with the leaves.

How to Press Leaves

Its best to choose the autumn leaves that are still a bit pliable (have retained some moisture). So, when they are pressed they will not just crumble in a thousand pieces, but stay intact in one piece.

Step 1. Collect different shapes and colors of autumn leaves. Also pick some green ones for variation of color, if you like.

Step 2. Place the leaves between two pieces of paper. Find a location where they won’t be disturbed and place several books on top of them.

Step 3. Leave them to flatten and dry for a minimum of 24 hours.

Step 4. Place the flattened leaves between two sheets of waxed paper and then place a piece of paper over and another under them on the ironing board. With your iron on a medium low temperature (no steam), press over the paper, moving the iron slowly for about 10 seconds.

It seems that specialty coffee is one of the first indulgences to be cut out of the ever shrinking family budget. Starbucks netted a drop of 97% in their last quarter. Surely other chains and independent coffee houses and dealers must be in the same fix. During the past year Starbucks has let employees go and closed some stores in order to stay ahead of the game. That’s not such an easy task for independent coffee businesses who have one or two drive-thrus or coffee houses. But those aren’t the only people affected by our tightened belts where coffee is concerned.

When Starbucks compares themselves with other coffee companies such as Folgers, Nestles or Maxwell house they do quite well as far as their work with “Fair Trade Coffee” distributors. However, when they are compared to other coffee houses, even other coffee house franchises, they are improving, but still hitting the outside mark. So, what is fair trade coffee and why is it preferable to coffee beans that are not?

Much of the coffee beans used in the United States is grown in developing countries (South America, South Africa and South Asia) that demand little if any employment laws of employers. It is not just coffee beans that are considered in fair trade agreements, but handcrafts, cocoa, sugar, tea, cotton, honey, bananas, wine, fresh fruit and flowers.

To explain fair trade coffee beans simply, it has to do with the small farmers in the growing locations. Many times they were swindled because of their lack of recourses to access the world coffee markets. The middlemen who were held accountable for the swindling were dubbed “coyotes” because of their less than scrupulous actions. And then, of course, there were exporters and brokers that all took a piece of the pie. Sounds a lot like our situation in the way we do business in our own country, doesn’t it? Of course, we aren’t thinking about the slave labor that sits at the production’s first level of a product when we purchase it. But, that’s another story. Anyway, small farmers many times would receive less than it cost them to grow the beans. They were then offered loans from the scamming middlemen.

Fair trade encouraged small farmers to ban together forming a co-op that sold directly to the certified fair trade coffee importer, thus cutting out the middlemen. Coffee beans that have been purchased through this system are labeled so on the packaging. Purchasing these products allows the buyer, here in our country, to reach a socially conscious hand back to those small farmers. It’s a good thing.

Now, those small farmers are starting to feel the pinch as our previous habit of specialty coffee indulgence diminishes. It’s not like these people are going to have to go without the most recent tech gadget, they will have less food to feed their family. It’s the necessities that will dwindle and all but disappear in their homes. If you decide to indulge in a specialty coffee or the purchase of coffee beans, make sure they are “Fair Trade Certified.”

The new LED Christmas lights save both energy and money. You will see up to an 80% savings in your electric bill by using LED lights as apposed to incandescent lights. This year’s Christmas lights have small rectifiers built in at the end of each string. This is different that previous LED lights where the rectification was housed in an adapter for multiple strings of lights. That means that this years model is brighter than previous LED lights.

How Many Feet of Lights Do I Need

Different lights (companies) make their strings different lengths. So, be sure to check the Christmas light box to see how long they are before figuring the amount you will need for your tree.

4 foot tree needs 57 feet of lights

5 foot tree needs 80 feet of lights

6 foot tree needs 105 feet of lights

7 foot tree needs 132 feet of lights

8 foot tree needs 161 feet of lights

9 foot tree needs 192 feet of lights

10 foot tree needs 225 feet of lights