All this diet talk is making me hungry!

Recently, I read a book by Peter Walsh (Oprah's organizing guru) called, "Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat?" It's a really great book for gaining balance in your life so that you don't overeat. I don't generally overeat, but I do have a huge problem with clutter. My kids seem to walk from one room to the next dropping stuff and then acting as though they were never in that room. ARRGHH!! Anyway, Peter Walsh is a rock star. I listen to him on XM radio. What I love about what Peter does, that's different from other organizers, is that he tries to get to the emotional reasons behind the clutter.

Apparently, shopoholism is a problem! Who would have thunk? And I do believe Peter thinks you can have too many shoes!! I know, scandalous!

Anyway, he came on the radio the other morning and my ten year-old goes, "OH NO, IT'S PETER WALSH, I HATE THAT GUY! TURN HIM OFF!"
"Seth, I love Peter Walsh. Why don't you like him?"
"Because every time you listen to him, you make us clean something!" LOL

It's true. When I'm out of balance, my house is a disaster. So I'm taking the rest of the week to do a sweep through the house of excess stuff, and I'm going to schedule one day a month to make sure I don't get overrun. An obvious problem area is books. I thought about getting a Kindle so that I didn't get over loaded with them, but I read too much in the bathtub. I have been getting rid of everything I'm done with reading, and I'm being harsh with all the kids' stuff. I've done my kitchen, my pantry, my closet (since reading Peter's book) and next comes the dreaded kids' rooms.

I just let the maid go because I hate having to be out of the house when they're here, but cleaning isn't my issue. I'm sort of a clean freak, but the clutter! It's like if my kids see a horizontal space, they have to cover it with crap!! Any suggestions? Other than following the four of them around all the time?

And what about you? What physical manifestation does your stress take in your life? How would a friend know you needed a break?

Labels: Organizing, Peter Walsh

ONE MORE THING
I forgot one thing I wanted to talk about. The Biggest Loser. I've been a big fan and have watched faithfully but I think I'm done now, as of last week. For the first time I saw the hand of the producer behind the show. The only way in the world Jonelle wouldn't have been voted off last week is one of two things:
1. The way the show was edited made her look worse than she really was. More ostracized, more unsure she should be there.
2. The producers made the players NOT vote her off for drama effect.

Either way, it's clear now that the show is manipulated. And it's a shame because this season's group is terrific and are there for the right reasons. But I'm super disappointed in the producers.
C

DIETS AND BOOK GIVEWAY
Di talked about her exercising and I'm going to follow it up with talking about food. But it's about food to help you stay on your diet. If you're like me, you like to eat out but WHAT if you're on a diet. Sit down restaurants get expensive. I get sick and tired of salads which is the only wheat free thing at the fast food stores. And no, don't tell me to get the chicken sandwich and remove the bun. I haven't found a fast food place with grilled chicken I like. They're all oniony tasting. Yuk! So I found a fabulous new meal this weekend. It was so good, we ate there TWICE in one day! Ready to hear what it was?

Long John Silver's! They've got these new freshgrille meals. Shrimp scampi, cajun salmon and tilapia. All with rice and steamed vegetables. The veggies were still slightly firm so they weren't cooked to death. Loved them! The meat was about 150 calories. I'm in love! But then I love seafood and you might not.

I'm fixing Dave's breakfast now instead of letting him eat cereal too. All those carbs first thing in the morning is bad for his blood sugar. A vendor of his gave him this really cool appliance and I hadn't used it until this week. It's a Back to Basics unit (I think that's GE) that's got a toaster, a little side thing that poaches eggs and a layer on that that steams the meat. Very slick. So I fixed him an English muffin egg and turkey bacon sandwich. I'm liking it for myself too with wheat free English muffins.

So there are my two recommendations for the week. But the big news is that Cry in the Night is in the stores now and I'm going to draw three names to win a signed copy. If you've already bought it and want a signed bookplate for your copy, just email me and my secretary (Dave) will mail you one. :) I'm getting some reader letters too and everyone is so glad to be back in Rock Harbor. But oh my, poor Bree. You won't believe the trouble she's in!

Ready, set, GO! Email me at colleen@colleencoble.com

Labels: Cry in the Night, diet, Long John Silvers freshgrille, Rock Harbor

I HATE exercise. Have I mentioned that? We have an awesome treadmill in our bedroom and it takes every shred of grit and determination for me to climb on that thing and sweat it out. Music doesn't help. Movies don't help. I watch the clock like there's no tomorrow--which could very well be the case by the time I get off that thing.

First off, I need to explain my mother. She is the antithesis of me: Organized, practical, views going to the salon as a painful endurance, etc. I have her laugh and her mannerisms, and I look like her. Well, I look like her with my hair dyed, full makeup and painted toenails, but other than that...

So Sunday I told her, "Mom, join Facebook, then you won't have to download the pictures I send of the kids, I'll put them there."

So she does this. By Sunday night, she emails me, "Kris! It sent an email to everyone in my address book, telling them I joined! I heard from my doctor's nurse, someone in dad's camera club, someone I went to high school with, what did I do? See, this is why old people shouldn't use technology." I calm her down. It's just an email, they can delete, right?

So Monday morning comes. The kids are off and I get to sleep in (I am the only one of my parents and brother who feels 8 a.m. is an acceptable hour to rise -- they're more the 5:30 types -- even when they were young.) Something is seriously wrong with that, but I digress.

At 6:30 a.m. on our day off, my cell phone is buzzing and I come upstairs to check it and it's beeping: TEXT MESSAGE FROM KAY! (my mother) Okay, first facebook, now she's texting??? So I check it out and Facebook has texted me that Kay has joined Facebook! So I call my mother, at an hour she knows I view as ungodly, and tell her, "Hey, you're texting now!" I elaborate.

She is mortified and she squeals, "Oh Kris, what did I do? What did I do? Did it do that to everyone?"

Now I know it's only me because I've texted her pictures before from my cell phone, but what fun would that be?
"I have no idea what you did!"
"I woke everyone up? Oh Frank, Frank, Kris says I woke everyone up with a text message about Facebook."
My dad, ever the beacon of support, grunts, "Oh Kay!" in exasperation. "For crying out loud!"
And she wails, "I just wanted to see my grandchildren!"

She is cracking up at this point and so am I. So Mom, this one is for you. A freebie. Thanks for the entertainment. This is a Jonah-engineered swing he made for Elle.

AGING GRACEFULLY
This is from my birthday dinner at my favorite place--Mi Pueblo in Wabash IN. Love, love, love their food and the authentic Mexican ambiance. If you ever get through Wabash, make sure to stop there. I always get the arroz con pollo. That's rice with chicken and spicy cheese sauce for the uninformed. I told them when we got there it was my birthday but I didn't expect singing, a hat, and whipped cream on the face. LOL It was all Dave's fault--he told them to bring a hat.

You ever heard the term: aging gracefully? What's so graceful about aging? I see the wrinkles in the mirror, the age spots. HATE age spots. Hate them, hate them. I'm always working on holding back the ravages of time. It's not that I care that I'm older--I just don't want to look it. LOL! I think all women feel that. My mother in law today was complaining about her wrinkles. She's 82!

I'm a big believer in bioidentical hormones. Oprah had a show about them last week and it's good someone with power is talking about them. I'm one who can speak to both sides of the fence because I was on NON bioidentical (Premarin and Estrace) for 33 years (starting at 23 after a complete hysterectomy) and the difference is night and day. I found out about them when I was searching for a cure for my migraines. You can go here to find out more info about that. While I had high hopes for the migraines (and it DID work for them) I was even more surprised by the other things the hormone balance helped. When we age, our production of progesterone drops. In my case, it was totally cut off after my hysterectomy. If I'd known about the hormone balancing when I was 14, I wouldn't have lost both ovaries. The swelling in my ankles is gone and so is my fibrocystic breast disease. My fibromyalgia went away with solving the thyroid resistance problem (I took extra thyroid first to get rid of it). There are so many things that are better now, I'm having trouble listing them all. My hair is growing in thicker, and those dreaded age spots are fading. My beginning cataracts vanished and my doctor is now running a clinical trial to test what he's seeing in his practice: it's reversing or stopping macular degeneration. Here's info on my doctor: http://www.dzugan.com/html/restorative_medicine.php

Progesterone sensitizes your body to all your hormones: thyroid, insulin, estrogen, cortisol, etc. When you're low in progesterone, you get hormone resistant. So even though you might have adequate amounts circulating in your blood, your body is resistant to them and isn't using them. As the doctor replaced my hormones, my need for thyroid went WAY down. From 3 grains of Armour thyroid to 1/2 now. I'll be able to cut it out completely soon. Lack of progesterone causes depression, PMS, fibrocystic breasts, infertility, miscarriage, breast cancer and endometriosis. Hormonal imbalance is related to heart disease, Alzheimers, diabetes. If you're in your late thirties or above, some of your health problems might be related to hormonal imbalance. It's more common than you think.

It's the same for men but what they typically get is diabetes, heart disease, and prostate cancer. The problem is that we get estrogens in our food. Our food is laced with it and so are plastics that we use every day. It totally whacks our hormone balance.

There are several good books to read about this issue. The ones by Suzanne Sommers are good. And this one by Uzzi Reiss. And any book by Dr. John Lee.

You might have to take in information to educate your doctor. You might have to change doctors. But it's worth it to take charge of your own health. Then you can party with a Mexican hat with me when you're feeling better too! Feel free to ask me any questions. I know a LOT about this topic. Hormonal stuff is something I've studied for over 35 years. I might have turned 57 yesterday but I feel much younger, thanks to my bioidentical hormones. I'll never give them up. Wish I could testify in the hearings taking place about them, thanks to a lawsuit brought by the makers of Premarin. Gag. You'd think they'd see right through that. People discovering what's best for their bodies is cutting into their profits, poor things.

So take charge, friends. Take back your life!

Labels: bioidentical hormones, depression, fibromyalgia, hearing, Premarin

Labels: 80's fashion

Okay, trying not to freak out over the plane in the Hudson River thing.  GULP! Maybe it's a sign! I mean, hello? Birds! Do I REALLY want to go to England? 

This summer I may have the opportunity to go to Manchester, England with a friend. Now, grant it, I wouldn't be going for a grand tour. I'd be going with someone who is studying there for a week or two. We'd be staying in a dormitory and preparing our food in a microwave. Still the idea of actually going to England sounds so exciting! Imagine the writing it could inspire!

Okay, look at this. This is either my Bill Gates/beauty & the geek theory, the increase in vaccines or both in CA.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The increasing number of autism cases seen in California since the 1990s is in large part real, not simply the result of changes in diagnostic criteria or in how autism cases are counted, new research suggests.

This study is the first to assess whether the autism trends in California might be explained by changes in age at diagnosis or by inclusion of milder cases, Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciotto and Dr. Lora Delwiche, from the University of California, Davis, note.

Using data from the California Department of Development Services, the researchers found that autism rates among children aged 5 years or younger rose steadily from 0.8 per 10,000 children born in California in 1990 to 11.2 per 10,000 children born in 2006.

The cumulative incidence per 10,000 births climbed from 6.2 in 1990 to 42.5 in 2001.

The proportion of cases that were diagnosed by 5 years of age rose only slightly from 54 percent to 61 percent for 1990 to 1996 births, according to a report in the January issue of Epidemiology.

A change in the age at diagnosis could explain 12 percent of the increase in autism rates, while inclusion of milder cases could explain 56 percent.

"With evidence of a leveling off, the possibility of a true increase in (autism) incidence deserves serious consideration," the investigators emphasize.

"It's time to start looking for the environmental culprits responsible for the remarkable increase in the rate of autism in California," Hertz-Picciotto added in a statement.

SOURCE: Epidemiology, January 2009.

Well, American Idol has this year's Kelly Pickler. You know how Simon always picks some hot little item, half his age, because she looks good? This year, it was a smart mouth 20 year old in a bikini. I'm convinced Simon goes deaf when his eyes are popping out of his head. Let me predict bikini girl's future. She will come to LA. She will not be that special there. She will grow a plastic chest, maybe even paid for by some kindly, pro-bono plastic surgeon, and spend her whole life trying to get that fifteen minutes of successful sleazedom back.

At that point, I switched back to "America's Biggest Loser". I won't spoil it for you if you didn't get to it, but last night's made everyone cry, and the ending and results are superb!!

Trey and I lost the family vote, hence we had to watch Idol first. I enjoyed Idol's new judge, and wow, can she sing! But upon Simon's lack of ability to judge (do you remember him predicting Kellie Pickler would outsell Carrie Underwood?) Ack!

So DH and I have this conversation later, and I told him, "You know, it used to be, women wanted big, strong, strapping men because they were the ones who protected them, could provide security. Now, rich men are often scrawny geeks and that's the hunter of today. And men think it's only about having the most beautiful skinny wife, and they're not as capable of carrying healthy children -- especially with their plastic parts. I think that's why there's more dysfunction."

He looked at me, rolled his eyes, and said, "The world according to Kristin."

Well yeah, isn't that what it's about? But he went to sleep and I went back to my book, certain I should have been a psychologist.

Labels: American Idol, bikini girl, Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler, Simon

BOOK TALK
You already know how silly I get when I receive the first copy of a new book and this time wasn't any different. Cry in the Night came on Thursday when I was talking to my publisher and my editor. Of course I cried and raved but with good reason. The cover is just fabulous! This is a new Rock Harbor book and poor Bree is in quite a pickle. It's shipping to stores now.

But that's not really what I want to talk to you about. I'm kicking around the idea of writing one of my romantic mysteries in a historical setting. What do you think? Would you read it or do you hate historicals? I started out writing prairie romance and I've missed the fun of all that research. LOL If you DO like the idea, do you have a favorite time period or place? If you hate the idea, tell me that too. What I have in mind would be one of my normal stories: it would have a strong heroine caught up in danger, there would be a dog or some kind of lovable animal. A strong romantic conflict and drama. The things you normally expect when you pick up one of my books, but it would be set in the past. What do you think? I need some opinions here!

MOVIES
THIS IS FROM DIANN EVEN THOUGH IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S FROM COLLEEN
My husband and I love to go to the movies (decent ones). Our kids know this and gave us a generous portion of gift certificates for the movies for Christmas, which will go a long way toward our date nights. But here's the rub. Do you all know how much it costs to see a movie? The price of the ticket here is $8.00--times two, we're talking $16!

And then there are snacks. I'm tempted to sneak food in, but there's just something, well, sneaky about that. But after eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner (we had to save money for the movie), we're hungry.

As if that weren’t enough, they even charge us for the 3-D glasses! Of course, we wear them! We take our grandkids, after all--well, most of the time. (We could pay off our mortgage for the price it would cost to take all of six of them.) Okay, so we wore the glasses once without the grandkids. And get this: After we paid for the glasses and after we watched the movie, they encourage us to drop the glasses into this big barrel for recycling!! Excuse me??? Didn't I just pay for those?!

Yet, despite all this, we go--and love almost every minute of it (especially if we're eating chocolate caramel popcorn). One evening after choir practice we decided on the spur of the moment to go with another couple to the 10:00 p.m. showing of "Nanny McPhee". By 12:30 a.m., we were laughing our brains out at Steak & Shake. We should have eaten apple pie. There was just something very Americana about it all.

By the way, we've already gone to see "Bedtime Stories," and "Marley & Me". Anybody else seen those? I'm curious what you thought. I'm keeping my eye out for upcoming flicks. I'm thinking that Bride Wars looks kind of fun--in a sadistic sort of way.

Any other movie buffs out there? Do you stay home to watch them or go to the theater?

I'm always ticked when actors are given credence and a voice. I mean, they READ other people's lines for a job, for goodness' sakes!! But tonight, in my tub, reading Amanda Peet's ignorant show of support for vaccines in People Magazine, I about blew a gasket.

First off, Amanda's daughter (that's right, one) is 22 months. She's not even old enough to know if her daughter HAS autism (and I pray that she doesn't!!!) But no one is advocating we get rid of vaccines. Who is spreading these rumors? The medical community that wants to stab your kids 3 to 6 times a visit to save time, money and personnel, that's who. They want to make mothers like Jenny McCarthy look ridiculous and ludicrous, so they distort what she's saying. They don't want to fix it, they want us mothers to shut up. The difference is, Jenny speaks from experience. Amanda speaks from what they're telling her.

Parents of kids on the autistic spectrum are asking for the medical community to make certain that vaccines are safe. (No Mercury, avoid too many shots at one time for developing neurological and immune systems) But the medical community won't police themselves, and who do you think is paying for all these studies saying it's safe for kids to get six shots at a time? The people selling what goes into the shots. DUH!

Some kids are more susceptible. Some kids have compromised immune systems. How can a medical community responsibly say they know what's best and every kid is alike? I fought for my son's health with early, expensive therapy and diet. I lied to pediatricians to avoid shots until I thought my kids were ready for them, or I got them separate by saying they had a little sniffle, only one today please. I honestly think the vaccines have something to do with my MS. Do I have any proof? Heck no, and I'll never get any because who is going to fund that study?

When is any mother going to listen to a doctor over her gut instinct about her child? That would be Darwinian.

Sorry for my not-fun rant. : )

OOOh wasn't Biggest Loser good though? Oh my gosh, I LOVE this group!!

Labels: Amanda Peet, Aspergers, Autism, Jenny McCarthy, vaccines

PORN SHOPS
Bet that got your attention, didn't it? LOL We just went on a road trip to Kansas. By the way, my iPhone ROCKS on a road trip! It was great to be able to check my email and look up stuff on the web while I was in the car. But I digress. Missouri always has the cheapest gas. We eagerly await crossing that magic line from Illinois to Missouri and buying gas. Sometimes we're running on fumes as we cross the line, but Dave will NOT buy gas if when he knows the price is going to drop thirty cents a gallon in just a few more miles. We got it for $1.35 near St Louis.

And Missouri is so pretty. I just love the rolling hills and valleys. But one thing mars its beauty--porn shops. What IS it with Missouri and porn stores on every corner? We'll be driving along, enjoying the beauty, then wham! A billboard announcing the next porn shop interrupts the view. The "Show Me" state lives up to its motto in that regard too. Can any Missourians out there explain it to me?

Other than that puzzle, we had a great time! We were at my friend Nancy Moser's house for our annual brainstorming weekend. From the bottom left Stephanie Grace Whitson (Higgins), Nancy Moser. 2nd row, Deborah Raney, me. 3rd row: Mel Hodde, Cheryl Hodde (They write as Hannah Alexander.) I ate way too much food. Nancy had some candy goodies that were to die for and she cooked us the best dinner on Saturday night--cashew chicken. The time flew by too fast.

Then it was time to head home through Missouri again and face the gauntlet of porn shops. LOL Someone out there has to know the answer!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!  WHOOOOHOOOO!!!