Pictures don't lie.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

A picture is worth a thousand words. But how many calories is a photo worth?


Found this blurb somewhere on CNN:

Snap before and after photos of each meal with your camera phone.
Keeping a visual food diary is a more accurate way to see what and how much you're eating, United Kingdom researchers say. Afterward, download the pics so you'll have a record.

I don't have a camera phone. Still, this idea really struck me as the ultimate of diet strategies.

To have a photo collection at the end of every day of every bite you put into your mouth! Wouldn't THAT open your eyes!!

For now, I'll just visualize every plate of food, every snack. What will that pile of food look like at the end of the day? Of the week?? Wow!

Does that idea open your eyes, like it does mine?

Karen

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

--KREN 12/24/2009 4:08PM

Martha! That's FUNNY! LOL Karen Report Inappropriate Comment

JANDREWS031 12/23/2009 12:00PM

I like the idea, I might give it a try I received a new digital camera for christmas. If I get brave I might try it. Report Inappropriate Comment

CHRYS13 12/23/2009 5:19AM

Wow....you're right! What a picture! Report Inappropriate Comment

GOALIEGRANDMA3 12/22/2009 10:14PM

How about the snacks???? Somedays I might run out of pixels! Report Inappropriate Comment

SERENITYSEL 12/22/2009 5:31PM

I have a camera phone, but I like the food tracker and to be honest, I wouldn't remember to use the phone. Good idea for those who want to use it. Report Inappropriate Comment

GABY1948 12/22/2009 5:26PM

I am sure it would open my eyes...but even more so if I could see what I USED to eat! Thanks for posting this and getting us all thinking, Karen! Report Inappropriate Comment

PJSTIME 12/22/2009 3:01PM

I won't do pictures the nutrition tracker has already openen my eyes. PJ Report Inappropriate Comment

FISHINGLADY66 12/22/2009 12:35PM

I don't have a camera phone either, but that sounds like a idea. I can visualize it in my mind. This sure makes you think twice. Thanks Karen for sharing this idea. I hope you have a wonderful day. Report Inappropriate Comment

KAYYVAUGHN 12/22/2009 8:45AM

It would probably be overwhelming. I can just picture the snacks in my mind. Since Saturday, we have a counter of Christmas cookies, candy, etc. So far, I've limited myself. It's difficult. With my husband's help, my favorite is almost gone. Karen, have a terrific Tuesday. Kay Report Inappropriate Comment

MZ_CUPCAKE 12/22/2009 8:38AM

Wow... that is an eye-opening idea... and maybe a wee bit scary... LOL! Thanks for the great post! Report Inappropriate Comment

The Season for GIFTS

Sunday, December 20, 2009

What Gift can I give my body today?

My body is pretty important. It keeps on going no matter what I put in it or do to it or how I neglect it. What about YOUR body?

Instead of complaining about your body; constantly listing all its faults, express some love for your body and the miraculous things it does, with or without any help from you.

Every day that you live and eat in a healthy way is a GIFT to your body.

If you only do it once during the week, you have still given your body a Gift.

In fact, every healthy meal you eat, even if it's just one, is still a Gift to your body.

Your body is better off for having that one healthy meal than never having a healthy meal at all.

So stop counting your failures, and start counting your WINS.

Start counting all the Gifts you give your body.

And count all the Gifts you receive from your body.

Love your body. Be kind to it. Give it what it needs and not what YOU want at the moment.

Start now with a healthy meal or snack, instead of . . .



Karen

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

FISHINGLADY66 12/21/2009 8:33PM

This is a great message to all. We need to give the best gift to our bodies which has brought us thus far. Thank you for your positive attitude and encouragements. Report Inappropriate Comment

JANE246 12/21/2009 1:10PM

Thanks for the gift of encouragement. I really needed this. Have a wonderful day. Report Inappropriate Comment

PJSTIME 12/21/2009 6:17AM

A great message filled with positive words. Thank you. Have a great day. PJ Report Inappropriate Comment

--KREN 12/21/2009 5:58AM

I've learned to love my body from my massage therapist. She's taught me to see my body in an entirely different light! Karen Report Inappropriate Comment

GRAMMAP1 12/20/2009 10:33PM

Hey that is a great Message. I really needed that since I constantly rebuke my body. It's true; it has done some amazing stuff. Carried four precious Sons to be healthy. And much more! Report Inappropriate Comment

JUSTJO66 12/20/2009 9:17PM

Thanks Karen for the positive words. Today I gave myself the gift of reading your blog and it lifted me up. :o) Thanks Report Inappropriate Comment

GABY1948 12/20/2009 6:53PM

Positive reinforcement is always a good thing! Thanks for sharing this, Karen...I love how you are always so positive. Report Inappropriate Comment

LOSETONEED 12/20/2009 6:24PM

Thanks for the pep talk; we all need one of those every now and then. Report Inappropriate Comment

LADYFOLDER 12/20/2009 6:15PM

Good thoughts. Thank you Report Inappropriate Comment

DIHEALTHYHAPPY 12/20/2009 6:10PM

This was a timely reminder of something I'm working on. Thanks! Report Inappropriate Comment

JORETTAH 12/20/2009 6:02PM

Karen, thanks for your personal message to me and thanks for this very positive blog. Giving my body what it needs and not what I want....wow what a thought. It is one I am really letting sink into my thinking patterns. Report Inappropriate Comment

KAYYVAUGHN 12/20/2009 5:18PM

Karen, Your positive attitude always helps so much. I have tried to eat healthy today. My sister-in-law left some sausage balls. I ate one this morning. I'm used to eating about four of them. I hope that you had a nice day. Have a good week! Kay Report Inappropriate Comment

Spark Tracker!

Monday, December 14, 2009

www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/stay-on-
track-calendar.asp

Many of you may know about this, but I just found it. I've been talking about it, wanting something like it, and I just discovered this has been here on SparkPeople while I've been dreaming about it.

It's the Stay-On-Track calendar and it gives you a birds eye view, month by month, of everything you have tracked on the Spark Planner, the food tracker, and your weigh-ins.

You can look back over any month and view a day when you ate exactly what you planned to eat, so you can give yourself an instant replay. The same goes for your calories burned, your exercise, etc. etc. It's a good way to find that favorite meal you had two months ago, but you can't remember what day it was.

I think it's a very handy, helpful tool and I wasn't even aware it was here. So I want to share it with all the teams I've joined in case others aren't aware of it either.

Karen

PS - In case you aren't familiar with the Spark Planner, the link is below. Map out your appointments and have it send you a reminder via email.

www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/planner.
asp

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sister

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

FISHINGLADY66 12/15/2009 10:48PM

I use the planner, but I have not seen the Stay-On-Track calendar. Thanks for the info. You are so talented. Comment edited on: 12/15/2009 10:52:02 PM Report Inappropriate Comment

SOPHIEMAE2007 12/14/2009 7:07PM

I remember seeing this one time and never looked at it again until now. Thanks for the reminder!! Report Inappropriate Comment

PJSTIME 12/14/2009 4:31PM

Thanks for sharing I didn't know either. It will be very useful. PJ Report Inappropriate Comment

JUSTJO66 12/14/2009 1:44PM

This is just too cool. I knew about the planner but not about this feature. Thanks Report Inappropriate Comment

NICKI2B 12/14/2009 9:48AM

Thanks for the info! I had no clue this was on there! Cool feature! Report Inappropriate Comment

AUTUMNWINDZ 12/14/2009 9:37AM

I found that the other day and was delighted. It is amazing how many wonderful tools SP has for us. Report Inappropriate Comment

ANGIE

Friday, December 11, 2009

ANGIE

This is a poem to Angie,
Not as my Aunt, but as a woman.
A woman who never knew
that she was beautiful,
Nor remembered she was crippled.
Who, though thoughtless, ignorant people
laughed at her,
Found a reason to laugh with all.
Who loved all God's creation so intensely,
That speaking of children and animals
and ordinary people,
Brought tears of joy to her eyes.
Who loved everyone so much,
It was difficult for her
to love one person exclusively.
Who was not religious,
But was God-like in her truly Universal love.
Who could laugh until her sides ached,
And defy the strongest of the unjust.
Who never, never quit,
Until the end,
When she could not place her burden
of old age upon those she loved.
This is a poem to Angie's beauty,
Which, after her crippled body faded to dust,
Lingers still.

Angie was my aunt. She was more than that, really. She was my Other Mother. Always there. Always patient. Always happy.

The love of her life never came home from WWII. She never married. Never had children. She became Mother to me and many of my cousins and all of us thought of her with the same love you have for your mother.

She fought to get her job at the telephone company during the war. They didn’t want to hire her because she had polio. She wore a heavy leg brace, ugly built up shoes and walked with a limp. No, it was much more than a limp. Her uneven legs and her weak side threw her into such a meandering gait that every eye turned her way whenever she moved. She convinced the phone company that as a telephone operator she’d be sitting down all day so it wouldn’t matter. They were worried about all the work she’d miss.

I’d love to have been in the room during her interview when she convinced them to hire her. She eventually received an award for 30 years PERFECT ATTENDANCE.

She worked a late shift at the phone company, most of the time, getting home after midnight. Still, she was there every morning, carving my pancakes into faces with grins and big square eyes. She was there when I got home from school, with my snack, and with dinner ready in the oven before she left for work, so my mother and my youngest aunt would have food when they got home at 6 PM.

She walked her walk beside me through countless school halls and stores and trips. Never bothered that my little girl legs ran circles around her wherever we went. And what a nurse! It was almost a delight to be a sickly little girl with asthma, bronchitis and bouts of pneumonia. I spent days in a sunny bedroom, with a kitten, a book, a doll, and Aunt Angie. She made me soup. She buttered my toast. She handed me anything I wanted. And me too little to ever think of her and her painful steps, or what it meant to watch her cut callouses off her uneven feet.

No one ever thought of her crippled state. And that was her glory.

For the most remarkable thing about Angie was that she was crippled, and no one ever remembered it.

What did she feel inside about never marrying or having children? About loving to dance and having a body that fought her? About not being able to run, to take long walks, to ride a bike? I was too young to ever wonder.

Her smile, her eyes, her deep, true kindness radiated from her and met you right up front; filled your senses with delight and joy, so that you were blind to any defect, any pain she had. A spinster who lived her life with other people’s kids, in someone else’s house. Dear Lord, if I can only live in such a way to be remembered with the sweetness and fondness and love that we all remember Aunt Angie, I will die happy.

Karen

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

JENNY888 7/16/2010 5:43PM

Thank you Karen for sharing this again. I didn't get to read it the original time. I'm glad I did now. Your other mother, Angie, will stay in my memory. Report Inappropriate Comment

GOALIEGRANDMA3 12/22/2009 10:17PM

No wonder you are the woman you are!!! Look at the role model you had. Karen, this is lovely. Report Inappropriate Comment

JUSTJO66 12/14/2009 1:38PM

Karen what a wonderful testament to your Aunt Angie. A beautiful poem and memories. I suspect you might be more like her than even you can image. Report Inappropriate Comment

DUMBELLE 12/12/2009 9:53AM

She sounds wonderful. She certainly made a huge impact on your life and others as well. Report Inappropriate Comment

MOOKBALL 12/12/2009 12:37AM

What a W-O_M_A_N! Report Inappropriate Comment

SCOTMAMA 12/12/2009 12:18AM

What a blessing for you to have had an "Aunt Angie" in your life. I know one of the reasons you remember her in such a loving and beautiful way is because you see people as she did. you see in people the beauty and the kindness, not the temper, the disabilities and other things that are in most people. Your stories reflect a kindness in you that maybe you picked up from being around your aunt. And she is lucky to have been remembered so graciously! Thank you for the beautiful blog. Report Inappropriate Comment

SERENITYSEL 12/11/2009 8:34PM

Karen, that was a beautiful story. It reminded me of my own mother, who was severely crippled with RA. I remember as a child asking her if her hands would ever be like mine, not all twisted up. She said "when I die". Well I was 48 when she died, and I was lucky enough to be with her. The minute she took her last breath, I remember looking at her hands. They were still twisted and crippled. I cried. Yes, at 48, I really thought they would straighten. I finally realized what she meant. When she got to heaven, she would not be in pain anymore, mentally and physically. I remember beating kids and adults (when I got to be an adult) up for laughing at her and they called her "gimp" because she could hardly walk on her crippled legs. My mom loved to play Bingo, and I don't know how she did it, but I would take her and my grandmother, and sometimes go with them, and she would buy a lot of cards and she played them, I don't know how. Thanks for the poem and for the memories. You were very fortunate to have someone like your aunt in your life. I believe having someone like these two ladies, helped us learn NEVER to make fun of others. Sharon Report Inappropriate Comment

GABY1948 12/11/2009 7:25PM

Karen what a wonderful and loving memorial to Aunt Angie. Oh, that we could ALL be remembered so beautifully but ANYONE in our lives. That would be completeness to me. God Bless you and your sweet heart! Gaye Report Inappropriate Comment

FISHINGLADY66 12/11/2009 6:08PM

This is a beautiful blog. What fond memories you have of a Wonderful person. Thank you for helping me remember the beauty in people. Report Inappropriate Comment

INKEDSHUTTERBUG 12/11/2009 5:22PM

Absolutely beautiful, you're a very good writer Karen. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about Angie, she sounds like a wonderful soul who left many lessons for us all. I'm sure she would be proud to know you remember her so fondly. Report Inappropriate Comment

PJSTIME 12/11/2009 4:49PM

What a beautiful poem and blog. You were blessed to have her in your life, but you already know that. I wish for myself and everyone a little bit of Aunt Angie resides in all of us. Her wonderful attitde and fortitude and kindness. The world would be a much better place with more Aunt Angies. Thank you Karen. Have a wonderful afternoon. PJ Report Inappropriate Comment

KAYYVAUGHN 12/11/2009 4:45PM

Karen, Your aunt was your guardian angel. Your memories of her will carry you through many difficult times. She must have been an inspiration to many others. You were fortunate to have her as an important part of your life. Thanks for sharing the story with us. Report Inappropriate Comment

The Duck Who Couldn't Swim

Saturday, December 05, 2009

Once upon a time, my husband and I and our two sons lived on ten acres overlooking Stillhouse Hollow Lake in Central Texas, near Salado. Our little plot of land bordered the Army Corps Of Engineers land that surrounded the lake.

Our house was high on a hill and the land dropped away behind it in shelf-like layers. On the second layer was the barn and workshop. On the third layer was a small field and a pond, which is Texas is often called a “tank”. The final layer was the lake itself.
tiny.cc/Hillside649

We had some mallard ducks, but they were slowly ravaged and eaten by the many critters that lived in the land. A few hardy, crafty hens and a drake survived. One hen layed a large clutch of eggs near the tank. But that didn’t last. Eaten by a fox or a raccoon or a opossum or one of any number of varmints that shared the land with us. So she layed another clutch of eggs on the next higher level of land, near the barn. Same ending.

The poor duck would not give up and finally she deposited her eggs in a nest she created right next to the chimney of our house, which was right outside our picture window. (Remember those?) Each day we could look out and see her sitting there, patient and confident that she was taking care of her eggs. It worked.

A few weeks later she hatched about 9 or 10 little ducklings! The cutest things you ever saw. Hours later she took them down to the pond. Can you even imagine how many tiny steps those little webbed feet took to get down there??

They swam in that pond for a very short time. The catfish we had stocked in the pond opened their wide mouths and swallowed them like bugs! I was horrified for a while, but this is MOTHER NATURE, folks. She’s never seen a Walt Disney movie. Only the strong or the very lucky survive.

Back at the house, the boys were looking at an egg that didn’t hatch. It was still in the nest, but had a little hole in it and you could see a tiny little beak moving and weakly chipping away at the egg shell. MOM, we have to help it! Wow. My husband was a Game Warden and had always told me there is a reason some eggs don’t hatch. The bird inside is weak or mal-formed and just won’t make it anyway. But two little boys didn’t want to hear that, so we gently helped that little duckling fight his way out of the egg, slowly, a little at a time, as natural as we could make it. Put him in a box and sat him on the dryer with a light above him to keep him warm. Fed him, got him to drink. Over the next days, he spent a lot of time in one little-boy-hand or the other, watching cartoons on tv, lol.

We named him, of course. Donald, of course. He grew up fine and healthy, except he walked with a little limp and one of his wings was so crooked it stuck out like an artificial limb not quite correctly attached, so he couldn't fly.

The only thing we forgot to do was put him in water and let him swim. So, he never did want to swim. Wouldn’t go near the water. I often took him out and turned over rocks so he could find crickets and other bugs to eat, lol. He was a very plucky ducky, lol.

In the summer, the boys took him down to swim in the tank with them. He wouldn’t have it. We made a boat from the lid of a styrofoam ice chest, and the boys put a rope handle on it and pulled Donald around the tank on that lid when they swam. He would settle down on that lid and seemed to enjoy the ride! He certainy NEVER jumped off, lol.

He lived a long and happy life, was a real pet, just a little funny looking and certainly the only duck we knew that couldn’t swim, lol.

Karen
(Inspired by JUSTJO66's blog, A Lesson from a Duck.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

SERENITYSEL 12/6/2009 12:47PM

Beautiful story! Report Inappropriate Comment

AMBUDMAN 12/6/2009 10:31AM

What a great story. I will have to share with my grandchildren. Report Inappropriate Comment

BELTONWALKER66 12/6/2009 9:52AM

What a wonderful story! Thank you for sharing. These memories can be passed down to future generations for enjoyment! Love all your blogs and think you missed your calling and should have been an author! Have a super great day. Linda Report Inappropriate Comment

FISHINGLADY66 12/5/2009 10:55PM

Karen this was a heart touching story. I could almost see the whole picture the way you told it. You are an awesome writer. I really enjoy reading your memories. Keep them coming. Life is all about memories. You have some real good memories. Thanks for sharing them. Report Inappropriate Comment

JUSTJO66 12/5/2009 9:44PM

Great story Karen. I'm with PJ..I've never seen a duck that couldn't swim either but I sure would have liked to have seen one on a styrofoam boat..:o) Sounds like your boys had/have tender hearts for the animals, too, like you and your husband. I think children born with animals to care for learn so many good things from them. Thanks for writing this. Jo Report Inappropriate Comment

EMMABE1 12/5/2009 6:57PM

Wonderful story - and very good lessons for the children too - and maybe for the rest of us too!! Report Inappropriate Comment

MOOKBALL 12/5/2009 3:41PM

Maybe nature has its way of letting animals know their limitations. I'm sure Donald didn't miss being eaten like his siblings! Report Inappropriate Comment

PEDAL-PUSHER 12/5/2009 1:54PM

I agree, GREAT STORY! Your boys could probably remember many great stories about dear Donald, as everybody sees things differently. Report Inappropriate Comment

KAYYVAUGHN 12/5/2009 12:18PM

Karen, Thanks for the heart warming duck story. I feel for the little duck, but I'm glad that your boys took care of him. That duck knew that your family cared for him. Animals are smarter than we think. Report Inappropriate Comment

PJSTIME 12/5/2009 11:53AM

What a wonderful memory. I bet you sons remember Donald too. You ought to ask them. I have never seen a duck that couldn't swim let alone one being pulled around on a styrofoam raft. I bet it was hilarious. PJ Report Inappropriate Comment

GABY1948 12/5/2009 10:49AM

Oh, this is a MARVELOUS story, Karen! I love your stories. We do have the same heart for animals. My dh is alot like your dh...he has taught me so much. But my dh was not a game warden though he would love to have been or now wishes he had joined the DNR. He did work for government...just the drain commission. Keep writing these awesome stories, please! Report Inappropriate Comment