Planning a New Years Resolution

Keeping in mind in order to add something to your Resolution you have to take something away.
Like I want to add reading scriptures with my family I am gonna have to take away what they consider valuable TV or sleep time in order to make this happen.
In order to take something away let say eating Junk food you have to have a plan to put something there in order to not fall into the same habit that is comfortable and routine.

With that in mind its time to ask all the questions to make successful planning.

What were your goals last year?
 Did you achieve them?
 If not was there baby steps in place to reach it or was it just a huge leap?
Would you  or could you do it differently?
 If so how?
What was the best moments of your year?
what were your least enjoyable moments of the year and how to avoid them?

Keeping all that in mind What is your goal for this year and the baby steps to achieve it? A back up plan or goals if Life happens?

My goal Last year was not to be such a loner and to stop pushing people away, along with loose weight and exercise more. ( sums up to build my self-esteem)
I perceive I achieved one and not the other.
I did have baby steps for achieving the goals.
Being the first to smile and say hi. Stop looking at my feet and trying to avoid eye contact. Surround myself with people I feel safe with. Make an effort to stop by group invites even if I do not plan to stay. Prayer and research.
Go on a diet with splurging only on Fridays ( failed) Increase my vegetable intake.(satisfactory because I did baby step increase it and its still in progress) Exercise.( Epic Fail)
My other epic fail was dropping the ball on continuing the years prior goal of reading scriptures and every day and beginning and closing the day with a prayer. which I was successful on. I do not think I did it less than that year but I did not improve on it either.
My worst days was when I did not feel I achieved an accomplishment my best days were when I feel like I achieved many accomplishments and was blessed for it ( however I seemed to have many of these days and rewarded myself with food which of course could not wait till Friday)

1. Contine to read the scriptures everyday. When done with the church goal in order to not get bored research and index for talks or follow a manual of a class you do not attend for scripture studies.
2. Continue with self-help and self-esteem research and apply it when necessary. Keep smiling and remember its a gift if someone returns it.
3. Keep researching and applying your baby steps to your health and care of your body. My goal this year is to try to go Gluten-free and see if it helps with my conditions so I might be able to exercise if I wanted to.My Epic Goal is to get back to warrior preparedness level. Cut out sugars to avoid  other conditions that put my body under stress. continue my water increase intake. Research Healthy recipes to have handy when asked whats for dinner.
4. Do 1 compassionate service project or more a day.Spare time Service projects

far off goals of want but not an action plan of yet is....

•  This is not a goal but a responsibility of continued goals in prior years: To continue to clean my home when I can using the F.L.Y method. Encourage my family to pick up after themselves as much as possible when I am not able to. Another reason why GF diet is a goal and hopefully an answer to prayers of more movability.
• Read scriptures with family everyday. baby steps if it were to occur is pick a time for everyone to pick up the scriptures and for each of us to read 1 verse until it becomes a habit.
• Writing a journal, drawing a picture or doodle or something on a page in a book everyday or online and printing it out.

New years Diet resolution frustation

Ok Here is my dilemma.....

I have found 3 very similiar diets. In partially following one of them I took care of several issues I was having with my body and eased the pain of hereditary disease.
Now a little back story... Awhile back I had made a friend who was allergy tested and found out she was allergic to gluten and some other foods. In the process of researching recipes and foods I could prepare for her and share with her I came across a lot of knowledge I knew to be true from my nutrition classes and scriptures. Mostly scriptures because I also stumbled across books with documented research and history of how much the United States covers up nutrition facts to keep farmers and doctors under there control. I read that several food sciences were scrapped when they found out they could not duplicate an ingredient and make it into a profitable pill.  Keep the doctors rich and the farmers poor scenario. You probably thinking I am one of those conspiracy nuts but I keep reading the same ideas and the same thing happen over and over again.
Have you ever noticed that when books are published there are different ones published for the United States? If you look for books in a different language you can only find a few with the excuses that country does not have very many writers or books. I have. I also did a tour in Germany where practicing medicine is actually practicing medicine and they were allowed to try new things and actually cure there patients. If you look up other countries there diets are different there over populated because there people are living longer except for the ones who made the switch to an american style diet.

Now back to my friend and My signs and symptoms that lead me to realize I need to do something different.
1. My child who has special needs was also diagnosed with allergies. All my babies had colic and all had a problem with what I call fake milk. In fact the child that did the best and was the happiest was the one I breast fed until a year old. They all have a lactose intollerance and they all had to have there diet changed because of ADHD and wavering signs of Autism on the small spectrum. I noticed HUGE changes in my children when I changed there diets.
2. Sugar was a poison! No wonder my mother cut sugar out of my diet as a kid. She only allowed honey in the house and we would go through buckets of it. I had big issues and missed days from uncontrollable aches and pains and migraines that made me double over and squeeze my head. my parents actually found me in the shop one day were I had put my head in a vice and tightened it and fell asleep there from the relief. My mom would have me drink a soda and poof an hour later my headaches and pains were gone. Soda was then allowed back into the house and I was allowed 1 soda a day. I worshipped Pepsi because it was the cure for everything. I sooo self medicated with it. Just the sound of one being cracked open still causes a response in me and according to my dad it did even as little little girl.
3. Because of my disease I have a lowered immunity so I am constantly sick..... Atleast that was my excuse till one day I noticed something but did not know what to do about it. My friend had given me all her flour and things that she was allergic to including a yeast starter. So to use up the mountains of flour she gave me I decided I was going to make bread. The first week my hands dried out significantly... ok that is sort of to be expected I did wash my hands a lot to be sanitary during this process.  The next week oops forgot to make the bread so I fed the batch like a double batch. The following week had time to make the bread. I made several loaves but while I was kneading the dough I realized my hands were on fire. They had turned cherry red and began to ache massively before long my fingers were like hotdogs and I had no knuckles. I realized I was having a reaction to the yeast which was not surprising because I have had several Candida issues growing up. I washed my hands real good but they still were on fire to the point for some reason I grabbed the shortening and rubbed them down  and soon they were back to normal. I threw out all of the starter and put the jar in the sink. The next day I went to wash the jar out and it began to happen again just mildly though.

Not very long I began to gain massive weight. I craved fattening foods. I was huge and bloated ( mostly bloat and swelling) I tried the 17day diet. I failed because it made me sick. In fact I even blogged about on here about it was a huge fail.
Recently I came across the Candida Diet. I had such a bad outbreak that Monistat was not working and I was raw and my stomach pushed out from bloat. I tried it half heartedly because I wanted the pain to go away. Thankfully this diet had huge warnings about the die off all the symptoms and everything it explained were stuff I had issues with all my life. I was massively constipated it had been weeks since a movement and I was worried about the die off might kill me because the Candida had gotten so bad. So I decided I would start the diet the day after I ate Chinese food. Chinese food and I ....well its not my friend. I also rubbed myself down with tea tree oil because my disease was flared up and I couldnt move my arms or my legs and my skin was on fire. I was drinking tons of water and had my aspirin ready. I was gonna do the diet till Friday give it 1 whole week even though it said it takes two. IT WAS AMAZING! I lost 7 pounds that night. The 2nd day my swelling stomach was gone but now I had a depressing over hang that itched where the skin touched.I did have the sickness and hugest craving for sugar so much worse than when I quit smoking. I knew it was bad when you feel sooo sick and the only thing you want to eat is chocolate and you dream and desire a soda. A cyst from my disease that had been bugging for over 2 years and was always in stages 3 or 4 healed by the 5th day with no swelling just a black and blue purple mark there. I was still not eating properly because my house was not properly stocked but I had more energy and was in less pain than I had in years! It was awesome so awesome when Friday came around I figured it was all in my head and I was gonna have what ever I wanted. Saturday came around I was still splurging and doing fine and Saturday night  came around I was in tears. It was bad. It was so bad it was too embarrassing to describe on here. It was so bad still Sunday that my husband told me I should stay home but I said Heavenly Father provided me with the information I needed to make my body better to get me out of pain. I am being humbled to realize this. I will go and feel every scrap of pain to remind me of  the gift he has given me.  I umm .. I actually only stayed for sacrament. then came home and slept for two days.
So here's the thing. I have been researching other symptoms my family has and want to include them in on the diet too. After figuring out all this for me I noticed things with my family members. I learned about Leaky gut and lactose intolerance.... My husband and children experience all the symptoms and its not that different from the 17 Day diet which in turn is not that different from the Candida diet. However the Leaky gut is suppose to be cured with Paleo diet. Its not against the scriptures but.... Its not with it either. I believe in a triangle the vegetables should be in the biggest part not the meat but the rest of it I would go along with. I have already researched pescitarian diets because Jesus ate fish and was not a vegetarian. Whats that he ate bread too you say? yes yes he did but bread back them was flat. flat like a pancake and guess what else they  used get this.... Grass seeds or flax. Wheat was not easily found nor heavily used until flour mills.
So I kind of want to use all these diets without following any of them because they are still basing there nutirtion ideas off the U.S.'s messed up nutrition charts that were rigged because I dairy farmer/beef saler was sitting on the board and had stuff slyly worded to not lie but not come right out with the truth so people could do there natural thing they always do and just assume what the truth was.
Wait I just wrote all this out and figured out my problem is not knowing what diet I want to do. My problem is I know what I want to do but my husband will not let me do the grocery shopping to make sure it is done correctly and in harmony with the scriptures and what I know and what I was taught through the spirit. My problem is his refusal to give up control of the grocery shopping and his reluctance to let me be his help-meet. which never bothered me before because I was so sick before. Hmm this is something new I need to grasp and he hates change with a major passion. Yah this is gonna be hard.

Grape Juice is better than wine

Now you may beg to differ and that is ok because I do not consume alcohol.

I was in the store once I think I must of been buying my dieting foods or something because I Remember the guy ringing out in front me telling me I should just have a glass wine for bed everyday it was very high in antioxidants .  I told him I did not drink alcohol beverages and that I assume grape Juice has the same amount antioxidants  He then argued that its a social drink. I am very proud of myself that I just raised my eyebrows at him and stayed quiet. I mean the cashier was already ringing up my items and this guy was really gonna argue that I should consume alcohol. I already figured if he was gonna push it I was gonna tell him "Look buddy, No matter what you say I am not going to change my mind. Its whats required of me so please go and leave me alone." He did not push it though in fact he looked rather embarrassed  I don't know if it was because he just realized he consumed a social drink every night before bed alone or what, but I am hoping it was because he realized if grape juice is just as good, his reasons were just not smart.

http://www.oracvalues.com/sort/orac-value/80

Anyways I did the research and there are so many many more foods that are more antioxident that alcoholic beverages including grape juice. So doctors who are prescribing it for that reason are lying to you. They also know the numbers of percentages of Alcoholism disease and it is very high. Do not take my word on it though do the research for yourself and see because that is the only way to truly believe it.

Crochet Chrismon Urls and more

The best of the religious Christmas ornaments that I have found so far:
http://www.caron.com/projects/ss/star_ornament.html
http://www.nancyhearne.com/drawingboard/starornament.htm
http://www.petalstopicots.com/2011/12/crocheted-star-of-bethlehem-ornament.html
http://www.jpfun.com/patterns/free/ornaments/f103010starnstar.shtml
http://www.crochetnmore.com/littleangelornament.htm
http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/Crochet/Projects/Seasonal/LC2825+Lacy+Christmas+Ornaments.htm
http://smilesandtattoos.blogspot.com/2009/11/crochet-christmas-ornament.html
http://www.roxycraft.com/crochet_iheartu.htm
http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/80976AD.html
http://www.jpfun.com/patterns/free/ornaments/f103013fiveornaments.shtml
http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/Crochet/Projects/Seasonal/LC2635+Decorative+Christmas+Ornaments.htm
http://mycrochetstuff.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-star-ornament-free-pattern.html
http://expimag.blogspot.com/2007/12/christmas-star-ornaments.html
http://priscillascrochet.net/free%20patterns/Angels/Angel%20in%20Flight%20Ornament.pdf
Just a cute ornament ForUncle Teddy and Aunt Judy: http://pacycrochets.tripod.com/id14.html
Tree Skirt patterns:
http://www.craftown.com/cropat35.htm
http://smoothfoxlover.blogspot.com/2009/10/smoothfoxs-christmas-tree-skirt-free.html
http://www.freepatterns.com/detail.html?code=FC00484&cat_id=321
http://www.crochetkim.com/patterns/christmastreeskirt.html
http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/granny-tree-skirt
http://strngbn.tripod.com/treeskirt.html
http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/crochet-tree-skirt
http://priscillascrochet.net/free%20patterns/X%20Afghans%20and%20Tree%20Skirts/Quick%20%E2%80%98n%20Easy%20Christmas%20Tree%20Skirt.pdf
http://www.crochetville.org/forum/showpost.php?p=1070831&postcount=2231
http://garnstudio.com/lang/us/pattern.php?id=3935&lang=us
http://www.michaels.com/Caron-Crochet-Christmas-Tree-Skirt/e07220,default,pd.html
http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/victorian-tree-skirt
http://www.freepatterns.com/detail.html?code=FC00518&cat_id=321

CHRISTmas ornaments Symbolism

Did you know the original Christmas Ornaments(chrismons) held symbolism or remembrance about what you were celebrating?
I wanted a tree with ornaments on it that were not about Charlie Brown or Santa clause and his reindeer so I decided to look up old fashioned Ornaments the kind I know that were made by hand and found out a lot more about Symbolism and it was like an answer to prayer I never said. ( which is why I know its important when Heavenly Father has me stumble across pages that give me way more than what I was expecting and were just what I needed)

 Christmas lights/candles - The light of the spirit, prophets
 garlands, tinsel- The people reflecting the spirit giving rays of hope
candy canes- A sheperds staff, Some say the red and white represents repentance and blood.
Ship on open waters - represents the community of the Church.
Anchored Cross - a Christian cross shaped like an anchor, symbolizing the steadfast faithfulness of God.
Pomegranate - the fruit is the Church and the seeds are its members.
Seashell - (the water of) Baptism.
Trefoil or Triquetros - a three-pointed knot symbolic of the Trinity.
Star of David - Jesus Christ's Jewish heritage as a descendant of King David.
Butterfly - the immortality of the soul.
Phoenix - rebirth, resurrection and new life.
Alpha and Omega - These Greek letters, ? and O respectively, together are a reference to Jesus Christ's self-description in Revelation 22:13 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." Though they can be found on a chrismon by themselves, they are often added to the ChiRho monogram.
Crown- shows royalty and power of Christ, Christ as the King of Kings.
Ichthys- also known as the fish symbol, a common symbol of the early Christian church under persecution, used to denote Christ.
Triangle- symbolic of the Trinity, like the trefoil.
Cornerstone- symbolic of Jesus Christ's ministry and life being the foundation of the Church, and the foundation of Christian principles and beliefs.
Cross- a generic Christian cross, a common symbol of Jesus' crucifixion and of salvation.
Dove- a white dove, symbolic of peace and as referenced in Christ's baptism.
Pearl- representative of the Bible containing precious "pearls of wisdom".
White rose- representative of the Nativity and of Virgin Mary.
Five-pointed star- the Epiphany of Jesus.
Bell- rings the good news that Jesus is going to be born soon(now from a movie: an angel is getting there wings)
Here were some other common Christmas Ornaments some are quite easy to see the symbolism if you have studied your scriptures and others you would have to have the spirit to tell you since it was hung in the honor of listening to him
Popcorn or cranberries, orange halves, and seed-covered suet cakes.Angels or star apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers"  wafers  cookies  paper ornaments ,red flowers  airplanes, bicycles, space rockets, cosmonauts, and characters of Russian fairy tales( I have not heard Russian Fairy tales so have no way of knowing if these are parables or more like our Charlie Brown),Tinsel and several types of garland or ribbon chrismons.
One I thought of is Keys- Priesthood, homes and families
Now with Prophets talks and parables we have so many more in which we can use and point at to our children and share a lesson or story in which to keep the spirit close and in our homes.
So I would like for you to keep a prayer in your heart and try to see even more Symbols in Christmas and research it too for you will see there are tons more Symbols than just the ornaments that can be hung on your tree.
Wreath- Crown, the evergreen representing the victory of the eternal spirit over death
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wreath

Activity for you: http://www.sundayschoolkids.com/activity-christmas/1-c-chrismons-kit-vol1-instru.htm

40 Days with Prophets, Seers and Revelators Challenge

Here are the links that will  help you if you do not have it in print:
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2012/4?lang=eng

http://www.lds.org/ensign/2012/05?lang=eng

I have been accepting lots of challenges on other blogs lately and I happened to testify of it and the blessings I have been receiving from accepting these challenges that seemed to be there to help me learn new virtuous and good things.Its weird two weeks later after giving my testimony  of accepting challenges the Youth and the Bishop pass out this one. I guess this time its my time to share a challenge with everyone in Thanks to all the wonderful blessings  the other challenges brought to my ward and myself.

This is a challenge that was a given on a day the Youth gave the sacrament lesson. It was awesome because sacrament went completely over that day with lots of lessons the members in the church needed to hear. Even the usual crying babes were listening as a new face popped up to tell a story, read a message or  bare a testimony. We were given this challenge along with plastic bracelets with the word Remember on them. I think it was perfect since these bracelets are still a hit among that generation. They are to remind of Christ but  I also want it to remind me of the day the Youth gave there talks and Sacrament took up half  our time and Bishop cried and shared his story of his investigators visit to us. Poor investigator I hope he was not shy.We are grateful for that investigator though, its not often our Bishop has time to get out of church we are grateful that man listened to The Spirit and helped him and strengthened his faith.

Get to know yourself, Self reflecting, Cleaning in relation to bible study.

what do you learn of yourself as you clean? Do you find you want to do so much you do it so fast you miss things? Are you so hard on yourself that you have become extremely picky and have to take care of every single detail so much so you fall behind or get exhausted and burned out? Are you the person who waits until you can not stand it anymore and finally does something about it, or does bits and pieces every day?

Think about it. Think about it good and hard. This is the kind of person you are, and this is how you would work for the lord. These same guidelines apply for scripture study and applying them to yourself because they go hand in hand. How you clean is how you study.

21-Day Challenge - Yoga Journal

21-Day Challenge - Yoga Journal

Well lately I have been trying to teach myself belly dancing. believe it or not I got really sore doing it but a friend posted a link to a 21 day yoga challenge and I figure why not? So lets see if I am able to do this :)

Ended Day 19 of 17 day diet-No more

Ok ok. That diet did work if the only thing you are concerned about is loosing weight. I will not cut down those who do it because it did work and for many they do not have any issues.

Here was what happened to me....... I found myself in the bishops office confessing all the enmity I was feeling towards everyone and everything. Everytime I looked at a noodle, bun, beans or rice, I would end up feeling caged and just want to cry. When I cheated on the diet believe it or not it was not sugar I was running for like I thought it would be. It was starches that usually help with depression. I was not listening to what my body needed.
I was drinking my 8 glasses of water and peeing every 30 minutes to an hour and I would take me an hour to use the bathroom in which it felt like were stones or large rocks and made symptoms of hemroids come back that I had not experienced since pregnancy.
I was sleeping all the time and I even had thoughts of hopelessness. I knew I was going to allow myself to eat what ever I wanted for Christmas and found myself counting the days for freedom.The week before Christmas I was feeling so awful I finally talked to Bishop and he asks what has changed. I told him the only obvious change that I have done is my diet. He did not say anything to me after that just let me vent but to me it was very obvious The strict diet of no carbs and no sugar is not for me.
I still plan to use many of the menu choices in the diet because the list of low carbs foods is fantastic but I am not gonna follow it as strictly as before so I do not find myself suicidal or in constant flux and prayer begging for   heavenly father to take my anger away when I am on  the diet that does not follow his teachings.
I would of phased to part 3 of that 17 day diet on New Years Eve.
I had lost 10 pounds and even though I have been eating like crazy since Christmas I have only gained a pound even with mother natures visit.
I am going to try something different this time  and pray for the best.