Simply Belle

When I was little, I’ve experienced so many typhoons, earthquakes, and floods, and what not in the province of Catanduanes. And at some point in time, we were experiencing earthquakes, one after another,  on a daily basis. We would go out of the house and stay on the ground for as long as the quakes lasted. It created a phobia and trauma in me.  In order for me to deal with the earthquakes, I would shake my body as hard as I could when I knew it was coming so I wouldn’t feel the tremor as much until it was over. My parents would say, “mahukom na” or “the judgement is here.” Hukom was such a scary word for me because I thought it meant the end of the world. And I said to myself, “why would God ruin the earth He created?” It didn’t make sense to me.

Will earth remain forever? Will it be brought to ruin? The creator of the universe gives us books to reveal the answer to these questions. All we have to do is  open our Bible. Do you have one? If not, let me know and I will give you one.

James 1:17 – “Every good gift and every perfect present is from above, for it comes down from the father of the celestial lights, and with him there is not a variation of the turning of the shadow.” James’ account gives a picture of the beautiful earth and where it originates.

Psalm 115:16 – “As regards the heavens, to God (Jehovah) the heavens belongs, but the earth He has given to the sons of men.”

Isaiah 45:18 – “For this is what Jehovah has said, the Creator of the heavens, He the true God, the Former of the earth and the Maker of it, He the One who firmly established it, who did not create it simply for nothing, who formed it even to the inhabited. “I am Jehovah, and there is no one else.” So God created earth not  to tear it apart or bring to destruction but for people to live in it.

Ecclesiastes 1:4 – “A generation is going, and a generation is coming, but the earth is standing even to time indefinite.”

Of all the planets known to men, earth is obviously the prettiest. When an astronaut went to space, the only colors that he saw were emanating from the earth like the royal blue of the sea, the tans and browns of the earth, the luscious greens of the forest, etc. God created it perfectly for us to inhabit and so we should do anything in our power to take care of the earth.

Nowadays, humans because of greed and selfishness mismanaged the earth. Will the earth’s damage beyond repair as a result? No! God (Jehovah) produced an ecosystem to help the earth recover. He has a way of fixing things. Like a polluted water can be filtered by passing it through rocks or gravels. Even though humans have caused so much destruction on this earth, God, will restore our earth like it used to be because earth is meant to be inhabited. Ecclesiastes 7:29 says “See! This only I have found, that the true God made mankind upright, but they themselves have sought out many plans.”

But Psalm 37:29 says, “The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.” It shows that the earth will be here forever for the righteous ones, the meek ones, and teachable ones to dwell on it. 2 Peter 3:5-7 says “For, according to their wish, this fact escapes their notice, that there were heavens from of old and an earth standing compactly out of water and in the midst of water by the word of God. and by those means the world of that time suffered destruction when it was deluged with water. But by the same word the heavens and the earth that are now are stored up for fire and are being reserved to the day of judgment and of the destruction of the ungodly men.” Proverbs 2:21-22 – “For the upright are the ones that will reside in the earth, and the blameless are the ones that will be left over in it. And as regards the wicked, they will be cut off from the very earth, and as for the treacherous, they will be torn away from it.”

Revelation 21: 3-5 says “With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say “Look! The tent of god is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. and God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.” And the One seated on the throne said: “Look! I am making all things new.” Also he says “Write, because these words are faithful and true.”"

Isaiah 60:13 says “To you the very glory of Lebanon will come, the juniper tree, the ash tree, and the cypress at the same time, in order to beautify the place of my sanctuary and I shall glorify the very place of my feet.” The very place of God’s feet is the earth itself.

God’s name means he causes to be or to become. And He will make sure that our beautiful planet earth is here to stay.

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The trip to San Diego the second time was not something I looked forward to. In the hotel room, I kept waking up the night prior to the day of my appointment. A lot of things were popping in my mind. Of course, I am terrified at the thought of losing some key teeth that are responsible for chewing my food. But what matters most to me now is my health and had I known that keeping my tooth would have ill effects in my body, I would have chosen other option. You see dentists don’t warn you about the dangers of root canals or they are not aware of it. Or they choose to believe that the procedure is safe and we take their word for it.

I am also worried about the pain associated with root canal removal. A month ago, my lower mouth didn’t respond to Novocaine that well and so I felt a deep sharp pain when my tooth was being extracted. That terrified me! Also, since my 2 year-old bridge had to be taken out, the thought of it scared me as last time I had it removed, there was so much hammering involved and if my brain could just talk, it would have yelled at the dentist, STOP! I have been through so much with dentist and with the removal of my infected root canals, I am hoping that I will require lesser dental work in the future. That is my ultimate goal and to incorporate a 99% sugar-free and refined-food-free to my current diet.

Fortunately, the removal of my 2 other root canals in my upper left mouth went pretty easy. Thank goodness! Despite the heavy Novocaine I was under, I could feel when a tooth was about ready to come loose. With the previous three root canal extractions though, my teeth gave a pretty good fight as if they didn’t want to come off, and some deep discomfort – reason why I was terrified and anxious with my second trip to the dentist.

Then to my surprise, they didn’t bleed as much as the other three which made my dentist a little concerned. He said the tooth towards the back of my mouth was infected and created a hole through my sinus and with inadequate bleeding, it could possibly create a dry socket and he didn’t want it to happen. He wanted it to bleed to promote the formation of a blood clot to fill up the hole that the root canal had created due to an infection. And I didn’t have a slightest clue that this was happening inside of me except that I had recurring lumps and tumor in my breast in spite of a healthy stellar diet I am on. I also had experienced other ailments like excruciating pain in my left abdomen once that required a trip to Urgent Care, floaters in eyes, severe forgetfulness, etc. All the while, I thought my new root canals that were done by a dentist in Payson, probably just about 2 years old, were fine. Tsk tsk!

So, he put me under observation for an hour in his office while he attended to my husband’s mouth. He had 3 amalgam fillings removed. He also discovered that one of his tooth that came off on its own a year ago left a bone in the jaw and was not detected by a regular dentist through x-ray here in Payson. So, the dentist needs to get it out on our next appointment, probably early next year or whenever we find time.

An hour later, while my Novocaine was starting to wear off, he saw me again in his office, and this time, he spent time bleeding the extraction site on one tooth by applying some pressure on it and thank God, he successfully bled it – a must for healing.

Right now, I have to be really extra careful with my extraction sites. I can’t sneeze or cough or drink through a straw to avoid creating a dry socket from extraction sites while everything is raw. Thank goodness, I opted to stay home and so I avoid the allergens at work that seem to get people sneeze quite easily.

Also, I am keeping a careful watch of my lingering pain in my left waistline that travels below my shoulder blade that has kept me from doing several activities like weeding and sitting for a long period of time. The longest time I can weed in my yard is half an hour and after that, I will be in so much pain. When I deliver mail in my truck, I have to prop a pillow in my lower back to alleviate the discomfort. The last time it hurt profusely, it left me almost immobile and thankfully, it only lasted for a short while. If my pain disappears, I’d definitely attribute it to the removal of root canals. Let’s see.

I saved my 5 root canaled teeth in case I decide to write a journal to show to people who are interested.

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From mere looking at me and from what I have been advocating about healthy diet, many of you will think that I am super healthy. True, I haven’t been sick of any major illnesses or never have I been confined in the hospital. I think the diet has played a major role in my health. Hallelujah! But diet alone is not enough to stay healthy especially as we get older when our immune system is no longer as strong as before and also the fact that we are living in a toxic world.

Like Dr Budwig said, we need to take care of our teeth.

Few years after I arrived in the USA, in the year 1986, my teeth were not in perfect condition. I had cavities all over. It was a good thing my husband had great dental insurance, fixing my teeth didn’t cost us anything. I had fillings, bridges and root canal done – in my mid and late 20′s.

I was perfectly fine for a while. After staying in WA for 10 years, we decided to move to a warmer and brighter climate of Arizona, in the higher elevation where all you see is blue sky all year round and traffic is never heard of.

A couple of years after we settled here, I started sneezing and coughing around early winter, something that my postmaster who hired me had warned me about. I thought I was invincible and didn’t think I was susceptible to allergies. Little did I know that I was wrong. My conception of allergies proved me wrong. I thought allergies were something minor with few sneezes and coughs now and then.

The first full blown allergies I had came 3 years later after the move. It was so bad that I had to see a doctor for possible bronchitis or pneumonia. It kept me and my family awake at night. I have never coughed that bad and persistent before. The good thing about it is it’s seasonal. It gives my body a chance to recuperate for half of the year to be hit again half a year later. I did everything possible to alleviate the symptoms, mind you, but the relief it provided was shortlived.

My husband, after doing research about health, thought that my body was so toxic and that I needed to detoxify. Which infuriated me because why was my body so toxic and not also his and we ate the same food and lived in the same house and breathed the same air? Still, he was adamant about detoxifying my body of who knows what by eating 100% raw and juicing raw veggies and fruits.

I gave raw diet a try for 3 months at a time. I tell you, it’s a wonderful feeling being on raw. Your feel so good but so darn hard to stay on during winter time especially my job requires me to be out on the street for most part of the day all year round. We decided to modify our diet by eating all raw morning and lunch and cooked at dinner. It’s the best compromise I could come up with from 100% raw.

Until one morning, while undressing, I thought I’d give my breast a little attention, and to my horror, I felt a lump the size of an almond. I was devastated! “Oh, no!”, I said, “I can’t die yet, my children need me.” It bothered me for a while until I decided to cast my worries to God and I would do the rest.

The first thing I did was to have a doctor looked at it. It took several doctors to diagnose a problem from gynecologist, to x-ray and ultra sound technicians, then to surgeon. Then back to surgeon to discuss the option, then came surgery, and back to surgeon again. Can you imagine the money involved in these doctor trips including the useless and most uncomfortable mammogram procedure that a poor woman has to go through per doctor recommendation that the patient has to pay – all for nothing? Lucky, the lump turned out negative for cancer. What did the doctors do to solve the problem? Was cutting the lump the solution?

I thought so, at first, only to see regrowth 3 years later in the same area. This time around, I didn’t seek medical help. I took matters into my own hands and did research on what is causing lumps and tumors and how to get rid of them naturally. It may be very well connected to the root canals that I have had in my mouth for so long and a few other things like chemicals that I already quit using. Although from just quitting chemicals like those in shampoos, sunblock, hair dye, etc, my lump and tumor have almost disappeared but I still have a lingering pain on my left waist that travels up below my shoulder that may very well be connected to my other root canals that I have yet to remove.

I quit seeing my dentist in town. I remember one time receiving a flyer from my dentist saying that if we don’t have our teeth periodically looked at, they can create all sorts of problems in our body. They are right only they want you to keep coming back to them almost on a yearly basis to fix an infection that is beyond cure as if we are rich. For one year alone, I spent almost 5K on dentist excluding insurance. And I notice every time I come back, they always find a tooth or two that need to be root canaled or crowned. Then I began to question why the more I go to the dentist, the more I develop problems? Because all they do is seal in the infection in the decayed tooth.

Of course, they blamed it on my poor brushing or flossing and never their fault even though God knows we do our job religiously. They don’t want to admit that it could be the dentist causing havoc in our mouth like drilling root canal which then results in an infection and can eventually spread to the healthy teeth, so from one root canal, you end up having 5.

In root canal tooth, you can not sense or feel a pain because the nerves are taken out but you can still chew with it like normal teeth. But since it is a lifeless tooth with deadened nerves, our body’s immunity cells can’t reach there because the nerve vessels are dead and no longer available thereby creating a breeding ground for bacteria and cancer cells to thrive and slowly flows to every part of our body causing all sorts of problems. Now, that explains why I manifest a slight dementia, floaters in my eyes, the breast lumps and tumor, and pain in my lower left back that travels up in my lower shoulder, lymph nodes in throat and armpit, deep sharp pain underneath my foot, recurring gall bladder pain that results in infection, severe allergies, and so on and so forth. Go figure. I think it is not a wise decision to keep a dead tooth in our mouth.

The healthy diet that I am on definitely has kept me from going under. Thank goodness.

Below are my 3 infected root canal teeth that I had uprooted a few days ago. All three didn’t have pain and swelling warnings except an occasional bleeding in one tooth when flossing.

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Hello! Sorry for having been away for so long after facebook has held me in captivity for a couple of years. I tell you facebook can be addicting and so time consuming. I am glad that my interest in it is starting to dwindle down. Maybe, I can find some to resume writing again on this blog.

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I think it is about time I write a story about my husband. Earlier this year, he got very ill. I don’t know why. He coughed a lot and his mouth, lips, and throat were in pain. His tongue had cracks all over and it was very excruciatingly painful for him to eat. He coughed loudly and constantly as if there was something blocking his throat and the coughing was his attempt to try to get rid of whatever was inside. No matter where he was, be in the garden, or on the freeway driving, or in the store buying groceries, if he felt the need to cough, he would do it. What was alarming was he spit blood and it went on for a long time.

I became concerned. I urged him to see a doctor. My husband, because of his experience in the past with his doctors, dislikes going to doctor’s office. I couldn’t get him to go. He barely touched his food because once the food touched the affected areas in his mouth, it hurt him bad. He lost the desire to check his garden and if he did go out, it was only for a brief moment. When I got home from work, I usually would see him sleeping and barely had energy to do what he used to love doing.

I became very worried and I knew that I would need a help from good friends who he respected to persuade him to see a doctor. I called my friends E and B. They convinced him with all their might to make an appointment.

I made an appointment with the first doctor and because my husband was a first-time patient, he had to wait a few weeks before he could be seen. As he expected, doctor didn’t know what his problem. My husband asked him about the cracks on his tongue and his answer was something to do with old age, that when people get old, their tongue looks cracked and ugly. Ha! Was it a joke or what? Of course, it didn’t end there. He recommended that my husband see a gastroenterologist to take a good look of what’s inside his throat using a scope. The gastro took pictures of his throat, and I tell you looking at those pictures freaked me out. I have never seen such abnormalities in my whole entire life. It was puckered, swollen, and thick, more like a cauliflower, reducing the size of the throat opening by about 50%. Now, that explained the constant coughing.

Two days later, nurse called the house to deliver the good news ruling out cancer. He was elated! But it was not over yet. He had to see the gastro once again to ask what other things he saw from the procedure he performed because when my husband woke up, the doctor was gone. The gastro didn’t find anything wrong except for the obvious ones. He then recommended that he see an specialist. Big mistake! Worst doctor ever per my husband. Rude and mean! He didn’t have a clue and complained that my husband moved a lot while looking through his nose. Well, if someone was inserting something in your nose, wouldn’t you move and let him know how it feels?

I was seated next to my husband at the specialist’s office. I thought it was worth mentioning to the doctor that my husband had severe asthma and that he used a puff per hour at some point so the doctor could better diagnose my husband. As soon as the doctor heard that my husband used one puff every hour, doctor got so excited and raised his voice. “Do you know that you only have to use 2 puffs once a week? You are a very sick man, you can die.” So I butted in, ” 2 puffs once a week is the safe dosage for asthmatic people? That means the asthma specialist from WA whom he had seen for many years who prescribed him 2 puffs every 4 hours was wrong?” He said, ” I am not an asthma specialist, I don’t know. I want you to see one in town.” What a butt-head! You see why people are losing faith in these people. They are arrogant, and dumb! (but not all, I respect Dr R from the province. I think he is a better doctor compared to a few butt-heads here.)

Of course, my husband, tired of being passed on from one doctor to another, not to mention the ballooning medical bills, decided to take matters into his own hands and fired all his doctors. He canceled future appointments and devoted his whole life doing research on his health. First thing he quit in early January was sugar, processed food, and meat. The recovery was very very slow. He went through months and months of detox wherein he coughed out tons of phlegm of which I didn’t have a clue where it was coming from. From his lungs? How can a lung hold so much phlegm? Unbelievable! At first I thought something was wrong with him from the mucus after mucus that he was coughing out for 8 months. Wouldn’t you be concerned if this happened to your loved ones? He was certain though that what he was going through was a form of detox and that it would end sooner or later. Sometimes, it could get annoying especially early in the morning when he coughed so loudly waking me up in my deep sleep.

To help with the healing, we changed our diet into mostly raw, taking advantage of the fresh produce from the garden. We also have a daily dose of wheatgrass juice from the wheatgrass he grows on a regular basis. He grows sunflower microgreens that we mix with our breakfast smoothie along with with fresh Swiss chard and sometimes a leaf of aloe vera. We cut off processed food totally out of our diet, and got rid of the hydrogenated oils like canola and corn off our pantry. We only use extra virgin olive oil for salad, and cold pressed coconut oil for cooking. He added raw organic eggs to his diet. I was an avid rice eater and when I became mostly raw, I found myself rice-free for months at a time except at a Filipino party.

As a result of our lifestyle and dietary changes, my husband healed himself of the disease that doctors didn’t have a name for and what is amazing was he conquered his asthma. He can breathe easily without the aid of inhalers. It was a slow process, as I said, as it took him a while to get rid of inhalers. First, he was using it one puff twice a week, down to once puff once a week, and then came a time when there was not a need for it. He became more active in backyard gardening, and hardly naps during the day. From 185 pounds, he is now down to 140 pounds. I, however, lost only about 7 pounds down where I am supposed to be.

For asthmatic people, good news, there is hope for you.

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I miss my guitar. I feel like playing this song right now but my guitar is lacking a string. Bummer! Anak was very popular in the Philippines and in Asia when I was young, and even to this day. I’ve translated the lyrics into english for the benefit of non-tagalog speakers.

Nang isilang ka sa mundong ito
Laking tuwa ng magulang mo
At ang kamay nila ang iyong ilaw
At ang nanay at tatay mo’y
Di malaman ang gagawin
Minamasdan pati pagtulog mo
At sa gabi’y napupuyat ang iyong nanay
Sa pagtimpla ng gatas mo
At sa umaga nama’y kalong ka
Ng iyong amang tuwang-tuwa sa iyo

Ngayon nga ay malaki ka na
Nais mo’y maging malaya
Di man sila payag
Walang magagawa
Ikaw nga ay biglang nagbago
Naging matigas ang iyong ulo

At ang payo nila’y sinuway mo
Di mo man lang inisip na
Ang kanilang ginagawa’y para sa iyo
Pagkat ang nais mo’y
Masunod ang layaw mo
Di mo sila pinapansin

Nagdaan pa ang mga araw
At ang landas mo’y naligaw
Ikaw ay nalulong sa masamang bisyo
At ang una mong nilapitan
Ang iyong inang lumuluha
At ang tanong,”anak, ba’t ka nagkaganyan”
At ang iyong mata’y biglang lumuha ng di mo pinapansin
Nagsisisi at sa isip mo’y
Nalaman mong ika’y nagkamali
Nagsisisi at sa isip mo’y
Nalaman mong ika’y nagkamali
Nagsisisi at sa isip mo’y
Nalaman mong ika’y nagkamali
Nagsisisi at sa isip mo’y
Nalaman mong ika’y nagkamali

English version

When you were born into this world
Your parents were all thrilled
And their hands served as your light
And your mother and father couldn’t hold still
Watching you even in your sleep

In the evening, your mother was sleep deprived
Preparing your milk
And during the day, your father was fond of you
While you you sat on his lap

Now, that you’ve grown
You wanted to be free
Despite of their objection
There’s nothing they could do
You suddenly changed
And became hard-headed

And you didn’t heed to their advices
It didn’t even occur to you that what they were doing
Was for your own good
Because all you wanted was to satisfy your own caprices
You then chose to ignore your parents

And time has passed
you’ve suddenly gone astray
And you succumbed to evil things
And the first person you got in touch with
Was your crying mother
And she asked, “my son/daughter, why did you end up like this?”

And unaware, tears suddenly came rolling down your face
you felt remorse, and finally realized that you have done wrong (4x)

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Bato Rural Development High School

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My daughter’s birthday is coming up and since she made the Dean’s list this year, she wanted us to get her a special present for her birthday.  And so we bought her a keyboard through target.com.

It was my husband who placed an order. He filled out the needed information on the billing list including the billing and shipping addresses.  For some reason, it wouldn’t accept the shipping address he provided.  Instead, the target.com picked another address where she used to live, and whether the address was correct or not, we just had to take it.  My husband tried mightily hard to change the shipping address to the correct one he initially filled out.  Strangely, it wouldn’t accept it.

We tried to cancel the order, and again, it wouldn’t let us. I’ve never heard of such policy that you can’t cancel or make changes minutes after you placed an order. It said that the order was being processed and no changes were allowed. It would not even give us the shipper’s name, for heaven’s sake.  I wouldn’t be surprised if  Target online will be out of business in the near future.

Are we dealing with US business or some backward foreign business? Who is in charge of order online at target.com? It The site is definitely not user’s friendly. If target.com doesn’t accept PO delivery (where my daughter gets her mail), at least, let us know and give us an option to provide alternative shipping address.  It wouldn’t. It  just took the order with the address it preferred, and processed it.

I went to target.com site and found some phone numbers to call. It was some foreign girl with an accent who was on the other line, and my husband couldn’t understand a word she said. She hang up on him!  The nerve of her!!

I called the same number but tried different option. Again, a guy from some foreign place  answered the phone.  Geeshh, he wasn’t much of a help either.  He said, there was nothing much he could do once the order was being processed.  The only info he was able to give me was the shipper’s name.  UPS.  Just what I thought. How will the UPS know my daughter is no longer residing in that address? They don’t have the system like USPS that keeps forwards of the people moving out except in some cases when customers move leaving no forwarding address.

I told the guy that unless the UPS asks for signature, most likely, the delivery person will  leave the package outside the front door of her old residence thinking that she lives there when in fact, she had moved out 7 months ago. If the residents are honest, they will notify the UPS of the wrong delivery or they can take the package and pretend they know nothing about it.

That is what we get from shopping at target.com. Don’t know what is going to happen on that order.  Any help?

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Recently, Lexi and I switched cars because she needed a 4-wheel drive on snow in Flagstaff.  I had only been driving her car for a week when it completely conked out on me.  The first day, I had difficulty starting the engine, the next days, it took longer and harder to start, until it went kaput.

We don’t know much about automobiles.  We used to have a good and honest mechanic in town but ever since the owner got sick and hired new staff, my husband hasn’t been pleased with his service.  So, we were on the prowl again for a new mechanic.

During the new year’s party at my friend’s house, my husband tried to find a good mechanic through an acquaintance who claimed to know a top notch one.  His two other friends from the party also vouched for the mechanic.  My husband asked for his phone number.  I guess this mechanic has a full time job at an auto shop here in Payson and wants to supplement his income by after-work jobs.  Well, we didn’t see anything wrong with earning on the side, so we called him.

The next afternoon, he came over to our house.  He wasn’t able to tell what was wrong with the car without his tools, which he should have brought with him. Or possibly, he had them all along in his truck.

So, he came back again the following afternoon with his scope to have another look at it.  My husband left him alone this time because it was chilly in the garage, and he was getting cold.  I told him to keep an eye on the guy but he didn’t think it was necessary.  He trusted him.   About 10 minutes later, D (the mechanic) told us that the car needed a timing chain which could cost around $900 to $1,100.

D was so good at explaining what sort of symptoms a car manifests when it needs a timing chain. He acted so believable and trustworthy.

Hubby: (feeling so shocked) What if the problem is not the timing chain?

D: I eliminated all the possible problems, and I don’t know what else it could be.

Hubby: So, what do you recommend?

D: Tow the car to the shop where I work but don’t mention to the owner that I looked at the car already. Just say it won’t start.

Hubby: Okay

The next day, my husband looked for the phone number of D’s shop in the directory but for some  reason, the listing was not in 2010 phone book.  He then picked out another shop just to inquire how much a timing chain replacement would cost. The guy he spoke made several calls and said that it was highly unlikely that the problem of our car was the timing chain. He said that the Phoenix Auto Supply where they order parts don’t even carry that part for a Nissan because there hasn’t been a need for it.  He then talked my husband into bringing the car to his shop and promised to waive the diagnostic fee since we were first time costumer.

D who was looking at our car and who was supposed to come back the next afternoon to fix my husband’s Toyota’s heater,  knew nothing of the new arrangement made with the second mechanic.  My husband became leery about D after what the second shop had told him.

The next afternoon, D came and pounded on the front door. My husband informed him up front that he couldn’t find his shop’s phone number in the phone book so that lead him to call another shop and he revealed to him what they said about Nisson driving chains. D said he already ordered the part for the heater and asked to be reimbursed for it. We paid him $25.

D didn’t appear to care or so, I thought.  He said they were pretty jugged up anyway.  He left and promised to come back on Friday to fix the heater of the other car.

But D didn’t show up on Friday with the heater part as promised.  Not on Monday even, or Tuesday.  Not even a call.  What was wrong?  We started wondering.

To make the story short, in the interim while waiting for Friday to come, we ended up towing the car to a totally different shop recommended by my friend from work. Not to D’s or the other shop I mentioned above.  As it turned out, the problem was not the timing chain but cracked and loose spark plugs that needed to be replaced.  My husband felt a sigh of relief!  He had the new shop mechanic replaced the other two spark plugs, too, and put air in the tires – all for $120 including labor.

Look at how much we saved! It pays to shop around for mechanics, don’t you think?

Now, what about D? You be the judge.  He had a couple of days to look at the car, and being a good mechanic that he is per his friends, which we believe, he should have been able to detect the obvious problems right away.  And why didn’t come back to fix the heater on Friday? Any answers?

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Belle doing yoga

I don’t know about you, but in my age, 40 something, it is extremely hard to keep my weight down. It is like yo-yo. Like I would watch my diet extra careful for over a month, and spend 4 to 5x a week huffing and puffing on the treadmill, and maybe successfully lose 5 pounds, then in just a day of eating a full course meal including dessert is enough to gain two to three pounds back. So unfair! I’ve worked so painstakingly hard to lose that 5 pounds for over a month only to gain a couple of pounds back. And then, I suddenly notice I can’t quite fit in my favorite jeans I wore just over a month ago. I mean, it can still fit if I suck in my abs and remain standing for the whole entire day. Because the moment I sit down for a standard duration, my pants bulge here and there. So uncomfortable that I wish of changing into a pajama pants right at that moment.

But I love that jeans. Pssst, I think it belonged to my younger daughter but it was a little too big on her so she abandoned it. I then took over it. Hands me up. And I vow to continue wearing it even if I have to constantly work hard to fit in it rather than buying a new one. It is an incentive for me to stay in shape, I guess.

Maintaining a certain weight for a person my age is no easy feat especially now that everything you buy at the grocery store seems to be bad for you. Almost everything! The vegetables are saturated with pesticides, the meats are full of hormones, dyes, and whatever else, the drinks are full of sugar. The water is mostly sold in a PLASTIC container that is not good for you. The desserts are nothing but sugar and fat. No wonder why obesity is prevalent in our society.

Anyway, I came up with some guidelines to keep me or you from getting obese. Do not ever skip your breakfast. Doing so just makes you crave for unwanted food later in the day. Bowl of high fiber cereal, low-sugar, with reduced fat milk and berries are highly recommended. I put goji berries and blueberries and slices of half banana in mine. Eat four or more serving of vegetables and 3 or more servings of fruits. Reach for whole grain bread, brown rice, and oatmeal. Stick with healthy fats like olive oil, vegetable oil, and nuts.

One good rule of thumb is eat lots of good food, and less of bad food. How is that?

If you are like some of the people who get midnight snack cravings, often times, a glass of water will take care of the problem. It is also nice to keep raw nuts in your pantry that you can nibble on when hunger pangs occur. If water and nuts don’t do it for you, try graham crackers (preferably chocolate flavor) for dessert. First, you spread a low fat whipped cream on a piece of graham cracker, top with another piece looking like a sandwich, and freeze. It tastes just like a chocolate ice cream.

Even though diet has a lot to do in losing weight, it is still best to add exercise in the program. Start with 15 minutes walk 4x a week, 20 minutes 5x a week, 25 minutes 7x a week, 30 minutes 7x a week, 35 minutes 7x a week, 40 minutes 7x a week picking up pace this time, until an hour a day 7x a week.

Lastly, patience is the key to losing weight. If you fail once, twice, thrice, despair not. Start all over again.

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