Birthday

I'm one year older.  I was wondering how to deal with this day, and I figured it out.  I would just enjoy the day for what it is.  I don't need to go anywhere or be that elaborate with my plans.  I'm very happy being low key.  Things have been too hectic to be anything more.  I'm loving the quiet.  My hubby is working today, but we'll have dinner later on.  He bought me tickets to see Richard Marx and Matt Scannell in October, so I am really excited about that.  Today I finished getting everything together for school, which was a gift to myself.  I firmly believe that when you get to a point, the milestone birthdays are the ones to make a big deal over.  I'm only 38, so when 40 comes, that's when it's time to have an elaborate celebration.  I'm celebrating today by just enjoying the serenity.

Can You Sleep?

I'm a night owl or an insomniac, which ever you would like to classify me.  I don't really know how it started or when I got to this point, but it's a problem that happens more often than not.  You can chalk it up to many reasons.  Some people say that sleeplessness is caused by depression or anxiety, caffeine, bad food choices, or even just being overstimulated.  This problem definitely hampers your day and takes a toll on your health.  Now it's not that I didn't have an intended bed time.  It seems that whether I have a set bed time or not, I still have trouble getting an adequate amount of sleep at night.  I don't really drive, luckily, but there are many who experience this problem and operate vehicles or heavy machinery.  There are historical incidents where sleep deprivation has occurred with drastic consequences.  The most famous being the Exxon Valdez Spill and even the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster .  Sleep can actually affect cognitive reasoning and can affect your mood during the day.  According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep deprived drivers cause 100,000 crashes, 71,000 injuries and more than 1,500 deaths each year.  The NSF also states that sleep deprivation cost the average American $100 billion annually in lost productivity, medical expenses, sick leave, and property and environmental damage.  It's frightening how much losing sleep costs us.  Factors such as mental illness and socioeconomic class can lead to oversleeping or getting too much sleep.  Lack of sleep can even affect your body mass index and increase the likelihood of heart disease or even diabetes.

It's funny, but not many doctors really ask about how many hours of sleep you are getting.  Some physicians ask if you are sleeping, but that is usually the extent of that inquiry.  How many hours of sleep do you think we really need?  Some people think that we need eight hours, but really there is no set number.  The amount of sleep actually depends on how your body reacts.  The amount you sleep may depend on the amount of stress you are experiencing, the amount of physical exertion that you have during the day, or if you are going through an illness.  For me, because of the medicines, I have to sleep at nine hours.  I know that sounds like a lot, but I really do need that.  I'm trying to push myself with less sleep, but I don't know if conditioning could change that number.  Lately, with the way my life has been going, I've pretty much been exhausted.  On the other hand, a study done by the NSF actually shows that oversleeping can have similar effects.  Getting more than nine hours is considered to be oversleeping.  So finding that happy medium is extremely important.  I usually get thrown off if I have a nap during the day, so I try to prevent myself from doing that.  The National Sleep Foundation actually has a chart which shows the different amounts of sleep you need from your newborn age to your adulthood.  It's amazing how shutting down for a bit really gives us a clean reboot.  Not to use computer language, but it really represents what we go through as human beings. 
 










Moving toward a healthier night's sleep is very important.  It helps to have a nighttime ritual that helps you ease into bed.  Whether it's taking a bubble bath or listening to relaxing music, you have to find a groove that works for you.  Reading a book, watching your television, or using your laptop can actually keep your head from hitting the pillow.  It's also very important that your bedroom be quiet, cool, and comfortable.  This will aid in easing yourself to sleep.  I usually put on my white noise machine or listen to soothing music, because it clears my mind.  I keep the room relatively cool at night, because that really does wake me in the middle of the night.  I used to have a great deal of problems, because my husband snores, but earplugs and the white noise machine gave me my sleep back.  That factor was really the hardest hurdle I had to get over.  When I was fighting depression, I also had problems with sleep.  Allergies can also give you a problem with sleep, especially during the Spring and Summer months.  I have a deviated septum, which I recently acquired after breaking my nose during a seizure.  This problem actually caused sinus headaches for me, and that kills sleep for me during the warmer months.  Sometimes it's medical problems that cause insomnia, or just throwing off your sleep patterns.  So many people are looking for the perfect cure for insomnia, and there is no easy answer.  I'm still on the great search for a perfect night's sleep.  Hopefully that hunt will end sometime soon.

Cooking (A Mobile Blog)

Tonight I decided to make a lovely italian meal. I made some sausage meat sauce, hot and spicy, and whole wheat pasta. We had ciabatta garlic bread with fresh mozzarella. I love to cook, especially with my husband, because it's the time that we talk and catch up. It's really great to use our creativity to make something so filled with love. It's a nice way to spend an evening together. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Posted via email from Summer Writing

Water Safety

My Dad lives in a very small riverfront community called Eagle Point.  This neighborhood faces the Metedeconk River in New Jersey.  Every community down the riverside has a private beach that people, in the community, can choose to be a member of.  Members pay annual dues to maintain their membership to the beach.  Most of the communities have a relatively nice size beach along with a playground on the premises.  In my parents neighborhood, the beach is smaller than the parking lot.  It basically has enough room for a few people to sit or lounge, and a large pavillion which is larger than sand along the shoreline.  You would think, because of the modest size of the beach, you wouldn't have to pay that much unless you were docking your boat off the beach's docks and slips.  Well, that is absolutely untrue.  My family barely uses the beach badges, and my Dad pays $125 annually.  He doesn't have a boat and he doesn't jet-ski.  When my Mom was alive, they only went down there for their beach parties maybe once or twice a year.  I think it's a damn rip-off!  I wouldn't ever swim in that water, so I can't see why someone would pay for that.  The scary issue, when it comes to the river, is the unclean water.  My family is paying to swim, fish, dock boats, or dock jet-skis in unsafe water.

Now there are other reasons why I don't go down to the beach myself.  This river, which is also filtered for drinking water for our area, has runoff pollution.  There are many reasons behind all of that pollution.  Some of this is from storm water runoff, and some of this is also a result of boats that let go their waste in the water.  I can remember being a teenager and swimming at Windward Beach, a public beach on the other side of the river, and seeing fecal matter in the water.  I had immediately exited on to the sand, and went home to shower off as quickly as humanly possible.  After that incident, I found it very difficult to swim in that water.  I used to love playing in that water, but finding waste was the last straw.  My husband and I went to Windward just to sit on the shore and enjoy the view, but we would never swim there.  I've seen signs up that tell swimmers the water is contaminated.  Does anyone pay attention when they see signs that distinctly explain that the water is polluted?  That should raise some red flags.  Don't you think?  I can't even fathom how people actually eat the seafood that is caught from the river.  I can't help but to think that causes so many different health problems.

The Metedeconk River is an estuary into the Barnegat Bay, which eventually drains into the Atlantic Ocean.  The Brick Municipality's water supply is actually taken from surface water off of the river.  According to the Trust for Public Land, seventy-five percent of this water is filtered for drinking water and other uses.  Ground water, which filters into the Metedeconk River, receives polluted water from short flow paths.  The increase of development causes even more hazards to the water supply.  It makes me really glad that I drink bottled water rather than the water from BTMUA.  That groundwater is the same crap that people swim in, bathe in, wash their clothes with, sometimes eat from, and in many cases cooking with.  I firmly believe in having a water filtration system in your home.  Luckily my parents have that on their kitchen faucet.  I can't see how that can make anyone feel safe.  Many towns within Ocean County do not have any storm water management plans.  This includes towns such Jackson, Howell, and even Lakewood.  Contaminated runoff, even with a plan in place, still threatens the cleanliness of the river water in Brick.  To minimize the damage from water runoff, many people need to mind what chemicals or liquids they spill onto the ground.  Many people in these developments, who have runoff plans within their town, still continue to break the laws that coincide with the plan.  I can't even imagine what our waterways will look like if the BP/Halliburton oil spill reaches them.  Wouldn't people want to keep the waterways as clean as we can right now?  Hopefully people will stop being careless.

A Little Rant

I'm learning to take a deep breath these days.  Not because I'm doing yoga or some kind of meditation, but to realize the ball of stress that I'm dealing with.  My patience seems to be wearing very thin lately.  Maybe it's part of the grief, or maybe it's just the imbeciles around me.  It can go either way really.  I'm not a person who can thrive in chaos, even though I have tried more than once.  I'm trying to take a step back and count to five, then deal with my life head on.  I'm thinking that stress management isn't a bad idea.  With everything on my plate right now, I don't really know whether I will even have the time.  Am I being a tad rough on those who are part of my life, maybe, but then they are rough on me with their incompetant lifestyles.  It can drive you to drink honestly!  My husband is really the only one who can get it together lately, aside from my two sisters. 

I'm not saying that I am perfect myself.  No one is perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I can at least make an effort to do things to the best of ability.  I like to have well thought out plans for the most part.  Really that is the one thing that is expected in my book.  When one thing goes wrong, it seems like people or things have to cause obstacles to kick me while I'm down.  This always seems to happen in this fashion whether I try to prevent it or not.  This kind of crap keeps me from feeling like I have a fighting chance, and it just depresses me.  They say when one door closes, another one opens up for you.  I can't say whether I believe that or not.  I've been looking for that opportunity throughout my thirty-eight years without any success.  This doesn't mean that I am going to stop trying or give up, because that isn't really part of my makeup.  It's kind of like trying for the point of nirvana; it's an endless search that may lead to absolutely nothing. 

My 4th of July

When I was a little girl, I remember that I couldn't wait for the Fourth of July.  I can remember the anticipation of going to the Wall Township Fair near Wall High School.  I was ready for the fireworks, even though I was scared of the loud sounds they made.  It was just the family ritual every year and it was something that I looked forward to before my birthday.  When I moved to Brick Township, we began seeing the fireworks at Six Flags Great Adventure.  It wasn't really the same, but it was just as fun.  It was the novelty of being able to ride the rollercoasters and other amusement park rides, and enjoy being a child during that point.  I never really grasped the real meaning of the holiday during that time other than the enjoyment of those accouterments. That was a time of innocence and joy.  It was the one thing about Summer that I have always cherished.  We never had a huge picnic or barbecue, but we definitely had that tradition.  When I learned about the holiday during my history classes in elementary school, I realized that there was a whole meaning behind the fireworks.  This holiday celebrated our freedom and emancipation of the thirteen colonies from English monarchy.  This day seems to have taken on many meanings, such as the supporting of the troops during wartime, but mostly people do something fun such as picnics, family reunions, watching a fireworks display, or even just going to a baseball game.  For some, the meaning of the holiday still holds political water.  Many people still go to political rallies and speeches on this date.  I think the most interesting celebration is the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, New York.  These are the events that we naturally celebrate and some without even the foggiest recognition of the reason behind it.  Our country is celebrating freedom from relying on a monarchy to support them.  Although, we seem to need to be supported.

For me, the Fourth of July is a quiet one this year.  I'm spending the time at home, doing some cleaning, writing, laundry, and just enjoying some time on my back deck.  This isn't really because of what happened last week.  I just really felt the need to be reserved and quiet.  I'm actually doing something by myself.  My husband is working rather late on a Sunday, and I'm not really in the mood to fight crowds in order to enjoy fireworks.  Having a pear nectar and a quiet early evening is worth it for me.  Maybe I am embodying the true meaning of independence.  For reason, there was no reason for me to celebrate outwardly.  Some of this comes from my distaste for what is going on in our country today.  There is a laundry list of things that are predominantly wrong right now.  This isn't because of a lack of patriotism.  In fact, the reason that I am concerned about celebrating a holiday like this, comes from the fact that our troops are stuck in the Middle East for what seems like an eternity for a war over oil and territory.  I support the troops and want them to make a safe return home, rather than risking their lives for a cause we shouldn't champion.  We shouldn't be the ones to make a democracy in Iraq or even Afghanistan.  There are things on our soil that are in grievous trouble.  Look at the large scale unemployment rates in the midwest.  According to the Michigan Department of Economic, Labor and Growth, people were losing 32,000 jobs per month statewide.  That rate is astronomical and absolutely absurd.  Even in New Jersey we still have 3.91 million people who remain unemployed according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.  It's facts like these, the ever growing oil spill, and our lack of competency when it comes to socialized medical insurance, that really takes away the fun of celebrating independence.  It seems that our government doesn't mind sending people into the wartime effort, but we can't take care of fiscal responsibilities, environmental issues, and medical difficulties right here in our own country.  Because we have so much of these obstacles, people become reliant on federal welfare, medicaid, and other government monetary programs.  How can I celebrate independence, when our citizens are dependent on the federal government.

Healthy Food

I went to the grocery store today to accomplish two weeks worth of shopping.  When I was walking through the aisles, I was looking for healthy choices for meals and snacks.  I noticed right away that most of these products had immense amounts of sodium within them.  Aside from the produce, it was hard to find items that I could use.  You end up scouring the shelves to meal plan for the week.  You look for lowfat and low carbohydrate lunches, and you can't even turn to items like Lean Cuisine.  Do we consider most of the foods on your grocer's shelves real food?  I was on my way down the dairy aisle and I went to buy some nonfat yogurt.  Just as I went to put my containers in the cart, a little boy scurried around me to grab the Go-Gurt.  I was reading in an article on Hub-Pages stating that this product has more sugar than the soft drink, Coca Cola.  That fact sickens and startles me all at the same time.  I couldn't believe that Yoplait would deceitfully trick the consumer into thinking that is healthy.  Coca Cola has 3.25 grams of sugar within the soft drink.  In one serving of Go-Gurt, you have 4.89.  This product uses mostly high fructose corn syrup to sweeten.  Is that really food aside from the cultured milk?  I find that to be something that every parent or person alone to avoid.

There seem to be many food products that are considered to be healthy and are distinctly unhealthy.  Anyone can realize that candy isn't good for you, and french fries are not the best thing to eat, but some of these labels are deceptive.  Even something as simple whole grain muffin could be loaded with unhealthy fats disguised as naturally good for you.  Fat-free muffins may not be healthy either, because they are using sugars to make up for flavor.  Many people buy these breakfast items with the intent of putting more fiber into their diets, but they are unaware of the cholesterol that they are ingesting.  Rather than choosing that product, you can choose to eat something like Kashi Go-Lean or Cinnamon Harvest which contain important proteins and two grams of fiber per serving, plus it is beneficially low in calories.  This, of course, depends on your usage of lowfat or nonfat milk.  I never use whole milk and always stick to skim or nonfat milk, so I don't feel that I am missing out in any way.  All-Bran, which can be bland for most, carries a high amount of fiber within their product.  I can't eat that cereal because it tastes like wood shavings.  I guess I'm not a good advocate for Kellogg's.  

When it comes to lunch food, I always feel like I'm on the great search for something tasty and quick.  I always seem to go to a frozen meal, because it's something that is quick and ready in less than six minutes.  Today I looked at the package of Lean Cuisine, while I was at the grocery store, and I was blown away.  They had great elements for portion control and were quick to prepare, but they were extremely high in sodium.  Unfortunately, I bought a couple anyway.  I tried to find the packages with the least amount of sodium, which have a level of 480 milligrams or less per serving.  There are healthy alternatives.  I did find low calorie, whole grain bread and I found cold cuts that were low in sodium.  Brands like Russer and Butterball put out low sodium versions of Virginia Ham and Sliced Turkey that are available at the deli counter in your grocery store.  I also found that you can make a great tuna sandwich with low calorie mayonnaise and albacore tuna when you add red onions and celery to the mix.   Beware of tuna salad from your favorite deli, because most of it is made with high calorie mayonnaise and may contain more fat and cholesterol than a fast-food hamburger.  Sometimes I think that going to the store and buying fresh produce for a salad is safer than risking the other alternatives.  You can always add the tuna plain, cooked lump crabmeat, or cooked shrimp for added protein.  Grilled chicken pieces are also great for added protein.  Of course, you have to use moderation when making those choices. 

I really love the momentum of the whole food movement.  I think that eating fresh organic vegetables from a local grower is absolutely fantastic.  I wish that we were able to have that opportunity year round, but unfortunately that isn't the case.  I have noticed that in the winter months, the organic produce in our supermarket has to be shipped so far that it isn't in great shape by the time it hits the produce shelves.  The push for finding organic red meat or produce can be difficult.  Being that I can't leave meat behind and go toward the vegan or vegetarian lifestyle, I still suffer from getting supermarket quality beef to use for dinners or lunches.  Noticeably we haven't really brought Whole Food Supermarkets in our area, and I wish we were able to buy meat originating from grass fed cows.  Instead we have to rely on what the USDA claims to be a quality product.  Many of these animals are fed hormones or antibiotics for growth.  It really scares me to think of it.  It makes you worry about what meat they are using when you order a hamburger at a restaurant.  With the high mercury content within seafood products, it also makes you nervous to eat that on a regular basis.  Methylmercury, an organic compound found in most seafood products, can cause symptoms such as paresthesia (pins and needles), lack of coordination, impairment of speech, hearing and movement, and can cause muscle weakness.  It makes you nervous about eating a fish fillet sandwich, even if it is on a whole grain roll with low calorie mayo.  I try to only eat seafood once a week to reduce the chance for mercury absorption but if your pregnant or you are a child, the National Resources Defense Council says that you are more vulnerable to absorption in your tissues.

Even though we have so many different dangers within the food market here in the United States, I still have fun trying new recipes.  I find that the joy of sharing time in the kitchen with my husband to be very endearing.  I love tasting that first bite and sharing it with him.  Right now, we are trying to have that same result, but with healthy twists.  Sometimes I fall off the wagon and have a slice of pizza, but I try to find new foods to cheat with.  My biggest addiction right now are fresh pears, especially during this time of year.  Making tacos with lean Angus beef, whole grain tortillas, low fat cheese, and organic fresh vegetables is another addiction.  This, of course, is eaten in moderation.  I really love grilled salmon and fresh whole green beans as well.  I'm not the type for sweets for the most part, but lately flavored rice cakes have sneaked in as a replacement for cookies and chips.  I struggle with weight difficulties, and have crash dieted many times, but it seems that I am able to keep the calories down just by living a lifestyle.  Being that diets are so regimented, I have been trying to find something that fits my everyday plan.  This way I don't feel as if I am being deprived, but I am eating correctly.  I try not to rationalize my needs for certain foods, because if they are unhealthy, they just are.  Choosing safe foods seems to be more of a necessity than just a choice.