About a project

Hi everyone, just stopping by for a few minutes to say hello. I'm hoping my mood for writing comes back soon; I miss it!

I *have* been working on a bit of creativity over the past few weeks, though. Several weeks ago, on Ali Edwards blogsite [at aliedwards.typepad.com ], she had posted a challenge to join her in compiling our 'week in the life' journal, using photos, writing and any other things we come across that we can stick to our books [receipts, news articles, whatever]. During the week of the challenge she shared her stuff that she did that day; she also opened a flickr site to go along with it, for the rest of us to post as we go, if we were so inclined.

I actually surprised myself by sticking with taking photos and doing a tiny bit of writing every day. These past few days I've been getting some film developed [and I developed some rolls that have been sitting around for months and months], so I'm almost set to go in putting this altogether. I just need to make prints of my digital photos and then decide what size album to use. A friend is having a scrapbooking get together next Friday [any local people want to come with me and see how scrapbooking is done?], so I'm using Thursday as the latest day to get these prints made, so I can start pulling it altogether Friday afternoon. Will keep ya posted.

Sometime soon, I'm going to play around again and figure out how to post photos here to my site; I hope it'll be easy enough to figure out. There's a few photos I just got back that I wouldn't mind sharing. Soon, I'll work on it soon!

Comments

Hey Y'all,  I've gotten a number of comments on my sugar sensitivity topic--here, in mail, and my blog that I started for just this topic...  So please, if you have a continued interest, please go to my other blog here at blogspot:

 http://loveaffairwithfood.blogspot.com 

[you might need to cut and paste in the browser...]

I'll try and get to the comments on any topics sometime soon. I've been in treatment these past 2 1/2 weeks for some health issues and am not sure when I'll be done.  Soon, I hope!

Thanks for reading...  :-)

Sugar Sensitivity & Addiction [Intro stuff but longwinded!]

[An Update: I've started a separate blog on this topic and how things go as I try and work my way through a better-for-me eating and exercise plan. Feel free to check it out at loveaffairwithfood@blogspot.com ].

Something new to me: Learning about Sugar Sensitivity and Sugar Addiction [the addiction is a symptom of the sensitivity].  There have been a few times where I've heard about Sugar Addiction from the 'diet' books in bookstores [like one diet about Sugar Busters].  As I've been going to the gym and working out a bit, I started thinking more about trying to eat healthier [I hate the word 'diet' and the negative connotations that go with it, since I've lost and gained hundreds of pounds throughout my life]. 

So a couple weeks ago, I did a google search about sugar addiction. And of course, there are different beliefs about this topic, especially since it's fairly new; many doctors, nutritionist, and other health professionals aren't fully up to speed with the finer points [like in just telling us to just stop eating sugar and/or white flour].

I then went to the library and pulled a few books and sat down and browsed through them. Granted, this is fairly new to me, thinking about sugar as a possible addiction [I've had vague thoughts about it in the past]. But with the health background that I have along with all of the issues with diet plans in the past, some of these plans either didn't make sense to me and/or the authors didn't go into details about WHY they stated what they did. And for me, at least, I need to know the whys' and wherefores about something before I can attempt to make changes in something that's meant to be a long-time thing.

One of the books I went through [Darn, I can't think of the author's last name or the complete book title that I looked at] was by an author that did go into these whys and wherefores. Her background includes coming from an alcoholic background [her father died of alcoholic complications when she was only 16], then going on to getting a bachelor and master degrees in this area. She counseled [and still does, I believe] alcoholics and in time, opened a clinic for alcoholics and for those with drug addictions [and stayed in counseling them].  

During these years, she realized how much sugar she consumed and became aware of similar withdrawal symptoms that her clients had. So knowing about those addictions, she experimented with what she ate and didn't eat and eventually came up with a program for herself where she was able to give up sugar altogether.

She then started questioning her clients about what they typically ate and found that many of them ate the same way that she had. So she had them try her food program and they had the same results that she had.  

Eventually, she got her PhD combining aspects of nutrition, addiction, and counseling with science thrown in.  As she refined the program, the long term success rate was great. People who go on more traditional weight loss programs, only 5% were able to keep the weight off over the long term, many of them gaining even more weight then was lost.  Her success rate was 95%.

I then went to the bookstore to get my own copy of this book but couldn't find the particular one that I had been looking at. But they did have the updated/revised edition of her previous book _Potatoes, Not Prozac_. [The first edition was written in '98, this library book in 2000, this update PNP just this year. [2008]]  

As I looked through this book, it was similar to the library book, though updated--so I brought it. In new stuff I'm reading, it really helps me out to highlight stuff, write comments or questions in the margins, etc.  There is a lot of detail about the whys of the sugar sensitivity that many of us have, how it meets the medical model of what addiction is, about the chemical imbalances in the brain, etc etc.  The first 5 chapters covers this info [but those that aren't interested in these kind of details or don't really understand it all, can just start with chapter 6] before she goes into her 7 step program.  

I'm not going to go into any more detail about it in this post, this had already been a long one, so I'll post more about it soon as I'm going to give this program a try [early in the book, she has a list of questions to see if we think we're addicted, and I matched on every single one except the one about if my parents are/were alcoholics]. 

She does have a website in case anyone that's read this far can go check out now bef0re my upcoming postings.  Check it out at: www.radiantrecovery.com .

Art Projects and Glue Books

Lately, I've been coming up with more and more ideas for art projects... [Who would've thought, way back when I was a kid, that I'd ever be interested in creating art on a regular basis? Sure, I always liked the craft projects in school, girl scouts, etc, but at that time, they were an end to themselves.]

I'm coming up with ideas from one of the online art groups that I participate in--and the swaps I've been involved with has really expanded my self-imposed limits. And I've recently got a quilting friend interested in creating artist trading cards [ATCs] after seeing some of mine. And even though she just started about a month or so ago, she is GOOD. I would've never had known that she was new to ATCs if I wasn't the one that got her started.  She's shown ME some new techniques in making this pieces of art by incorporating fabric into them [or only using fabric with added ribbon or fibers, sometimes beads or stamped quotes [frequently using light colored fabrics to stamp the quote onto].

I've been reading a number of different books about art journaling and I've gotten tons of ideas for art journals of my own. Who says that journals have to be text only? How often do we hear people say that they don't do the journal or diary thing because many times, they can't think of or know how to put their words onto paper?  We don't have to be good at drawing or coloring to make these things. Even stick figures, icons, or basic line drawings can work [using colored inks, crayons, markers, paint, whatever]. 

If that's still too difficult to start with start off with making a glue book.  What's a glue book? Glue books are pictures and/or words/phrases from magazines, newspapers, brochures, newspapers, junk mail, whatever, glued onto a page.  These can be glued down in a random order--side by side or overlapping, whatever you want. Or you can come up with a specific theme for your page. Or create a picture with your cut-out images.  Anything goes! Other things can be added-like ticket stubs, take-out menus, jar labels, stuff from boxes of food, etc etc.

You may use a journal for your glue book [and it's ok if you make a page that's smaller or bigger than the book page; glue it in anyway; it's ok to have stuff sticking out].  Or make your own journal book--for example, you can create your glue pages on an individual basis then take it to someplace like Kinko's and have them bind it for you. Or cut out similar/same sized card stock [different colors, if desired], have Kinko's bind it, then create.  Or use an old book and add stuff to the book pages themselves [if the pages are too thin, glue or staple a few of those pages together first, let dry, then use...].

Anyway, I need to finish cleaning/better-organize my art room so I can do more than just think about these projects.  Anyone with me?

Somewhere along the line, I'll start adding links to some cool websites so you can see what others have done...

Developing My Thoughts and Expanding on Ideas

Wow, it's been a couple months since my last post...  I've had some ideas but they were still pretty vague/half-baked ideas in my head, thus, I kept putting them off until I had it just right [there must be something to that "perfectionist" thinking].

In the past week or so, though, I've been thinking about how I'm processing [or not] these thoughts and ideas.  So right now I'm thinking that to be more effective, I'd be better at writing about them as I go along. Because I have ADHD, I often have racing thoughts and thus, often getting bogged down with the initial ideas. And with getting distracted very easily-often from my racing thoughts jumping around or those 'voices' in my head, nothing wasn't getting fully processed. So, frequent frustrations have been very common.

So though I started blogging to share ideas and stuff I've read, seen, or have memories of, I'm going to try and be more consistent about posting about thoughts and ideas earlier in the process and then expanding or changing these ideas.  Another aspect of my ADHD is that I'm not organized at all, so this will be a place where I can keep them someplace where I'll be able to find them.

Of course, I'll continue to post stuff I come across, ideas, and things that I'd love to read about.

I know that not many people know about my site [yet?], I really do want to hear what y'all think about my postings--and/or to feel free to ask questions [including the stuff mentioned above]. If you don't want to post here, feel free to send me an email at denisephoto.yahoo.com or, for those of you that are local, to tell me in person or by phone. If you have information and/or ideas of your own that you'd like me to share [anonymously, if you so choose], again, do let me know. I really would like to see other or differing thoughts so we can all learn.

Thanks much in advance as well as reading this far!  :-)

Does Perfectionism Get In the Way of Achieving Goals?

There have been numerous times over the years where I've come up with big goals and plans but then I don't make a lot of progress with them.
Plans like:
-lose weight
-exercise more
-read so many books each month
-start a book discussion group
-get back into taking more photos
-work on a particular art project

And one thing that I've been trying to overcome but have not yet been able to maintain and that is decluttering my living space and maintaining yet in a such a way where I can feel comfortable being IN my space, I can find things easily when I need them, have space to work on my projects, and can feel comfortable having visitors. [Hmm, is that a run-on sentence or what?] I'm always coming up with these big plans on how to accomplish what I want, what specifically I'll do each day to reach those goals, but when push comes to shove, it doesn't happen. Either I start one aspect of the project but get distracted and thus move on to something totally different [easy for me to do since I have ADHD], or when the time comes to do it, I talk myself out of doing it because there's something else [more interesting and fun] that I'd rather be doing, or I ...

Sometimes I don't even bother trying because I know that I'll never get to the end--so why bother? I've read that there are many 'perfectionists' out there that are the same way. But I've never considered myself a perfectionist, mainly because there's been so many things that I've failed at or haven't been able to fully accomplish.

So I've been doing a bit of reading here on the net and have come across some interesting sites. Here's a link to one of the articles I read; I'll post links for more sometime in the near future.

http://blog.beliefnet.com/ourladyofweightloss/2008/05/the-art-of-imperfection-seven.html

Let me know what YOU think about any or all of this, if you have suggestions, links of your own, whatever!

The Sprunging of Spring

Though I'm listening to the rumbling thunder as I type, I'm so glad that spring is finally here. The other day, someone gave me a bunch of daffodils from her garden and it looked so nice in my kitchen/dining room. A few days ago, a couple red tulips by the front porch opened up; yesterday, there were several yellow ones that opened up as well. I've been at this place of residence for just over a year now and it's great seeing the new growth on the bushes/plants/flowers, etc. One day recently, as I got home from somewhere, the neighbor twins were playing out in front. They're very friendly little ones, a boy and a girl, both with blond hair and blue eyes, maybe 3 years old or so. And they've sprouted up quite a bit, too; kids do that, I suppose!

With it staying light out later in the evenings, I'm watching a lot of people out and about--running, biking, skateboarding, blading, walking--with friends &/or SO, with kids, dogs... And I've already watched a boy on his front lawn trying to get his kite up into the sky. My computer is on my desk in front of the window up on the 2nd floor of the house, so it's easy to watch what's going on in the neighborhood and watching the parade go by every day. but this is the time of year when I start to feel a bit guilty about not being out there, too, doing my walking and fresh air. I do know how good it is and how it makes me feel, but still, it's hard getting myself to walk out that front door. Excuses are sooo easy [I do have a bad back, so I never can go far early in the season but in time, I am able to go further before it acts up; I'm also trying to get rid of some tendonitis in my knee and my elbow]. I need some way to get those walking shoes on and sending them out that door...

But even though I haven't started my walking routine yet, I'm still SO happy about the arrival of spring. Even with the rumbling of the clouds building up and into a thunderstorm [I just saw a flash of lightning]. so maybe I can stay inside and do some spring cleaning [this is something FUN?? I don't think so, but it needs to get done].