Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Lesson 5: First day of school feeling never goes away

No matter how old I get or how many years I teach, the feeling is still the same.  The jitters start the night before, creeping from the belly of your body up to your palpitating heart.  The newness is exhilarating--fear and excitement all rolled into one. 

For anyone who is a teacher, read the following rewrite of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst.  I picked this up at a HC inservice a couple of years ago and kept it.  It is one of my very favorites:
Alexis and the Miserable, Horrendous, Repugnant, Impossible Day


I went to bed angry at my husband and this morning when I woke up, he had left me.  He'd taken the toothpaste and the alarm clock with him so I woke up late, my teeth were grungy, I got a speeding ticket on my way to work which made me miss bus duty.  My principal was not pleased.  I could tell it was going to be a miserable, horrendous, repugnant, impossible day.


During my planning period, the office collared me to do a head lice check.  I had barely enough time for a restroom trip when my son's parole officer called wondering why he'd missed his appointment for the third time.  I think I'll move to Tahiti.


In math class, Betty forgot how to subtract tens, Larry and Billy were passing around a Hustler magazine, and Jane poured my coffee on the guinea pig.  I could tell it was going to be a miserable, horrendous, repugnant, impossible day.


At lunch in the faculty room, the microwave petrified my hot dog, the pop machine game me root beer instead of Pepsi, the table was dirty, and the fire alarm was set off by one of my students.  I wondered if they have recess duty in Tahiti.  I could tell it was going to be a miserable, horrendous, repugnant, impossible day.


I could tell because during my afternoon observation, Joey ate his eraser, Amanda stole the principal's wallet, and the guinea pig gave birth and died.  The principal's evaluation said I needed improvement in discipline and following my lesson plans.  I hope you choke, I said to Joey.  I hope Amanda gets arrested.  I hope the dead guinea pig shows up in the principal's lunch tomorrow.  After next payday, I'm going to Tahiti.


At the end of the day, Sam threw up in the doorway, the custodian asked if I'd filled out a requisition for clean up, and my desk drawer jammed.  My car keys were in it.  So were my tranquilizers.  "I am having a miserable, horrendous, repugnant, impossible day!"  I yelled.  No one even heard me.


So I sledge hammered the desk, found my keys, took a tranquilizer, and jumped over the mess at the doorway.  Except I didn't jump far enough.  There were kids laughing at me in the hallway and I hate kids.  There ws a dead battery in my car and I hate dead batteries.  This wouldn't happen in Tahiti.


May AAA card had expiere, I was $2.00 short for the taxi ride home, my house had been vandalized, and I had to wear my husband's hip boots to unclog the plumbing.  I hate my husband's hip boots.  I hate my husband. 


I called my attorney who charged me $100.00 just for asking one question.  It has been a miserable, horrendous, repugnant, impossible day.  My attorney said some days are like that--even in Tahiti.


adult version authored by Judy, Pat, and Kathy
Story told by Dr. Rasinski--Kent State

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Lesson 4: Johns Hopkins Update on Cancer Research--A Must Read

Again--another article that needs to be shared.  Received in my school mailbox in 2009.  Read Below:

After years of telling people chemotherapy is the only way to try ("try" being the key word) to eliminate cancer, John's Hopkins is finally starting to tell you there is an alternative way.

1.  Every person has cancer cells in the body.  These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion.  When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached detectable size.

2.  Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.

3.  When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.

4.  When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies.  These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.

5.  To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6.  Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like live, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

7.  Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.

8.  Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size.  However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.

9.  When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.

10.  Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy.  Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.

11.  An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with foods it needs to multiply.

Cancer feeds on:

a. SUGAR:  is a cancer feeder.  By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells.  Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful.  A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses, but only in very small amounts.  Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in color.  Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.

b.  MILK:  causes the body to produce 20 mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract.  Cancer feeds on mucus.  By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy mil, cancer cells are being starved.

c.  Cancer cells thrive in an ACID environment.  A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork.  Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

d.  A diet make of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruit help put the body into an alkaline environment.  About 20% can be from cooked food including beans.  Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells.  To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice(Most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day.  Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees.

e.  avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate:  which have high caffeine.  Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer fighting properties.  Water-best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water.  Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

f.  Meat protein:  is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes.  Undigested meat remaining in the intestines becomes putrefied and leads to more toxic build up.

g.  Cancer cell walls have tough protein covering.  By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

h.  Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the bodies won killer cells to destroy cancer cells.   Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.

i.  Cancer is a disease of the MIND, BODY, and SPIRIT:  A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor.  Anger, unforgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment.  Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit.  Learn to relax and enjoy life.

j.  Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment.  EXERCISING DAILY and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level.  Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.

Also:
1.  No plastic containers in the microwave

2.  No water bottles in the freezer

3.  No plastic wrap in the microwave

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters.  This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well.  Dioxin chemicals cause cancer, especially breast cancer.  Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies.  Don't freeze your plastic water bottles with water in them as it releases dioxins from the plastic.  Recently, Dr. Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Cast le Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard.  he talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us.  He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers.  This especially applies to foods that contain fat.  He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body.  Instead, he recommends using =glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex, or ceramic containers for heating food.  You get the same results, only without the dioxin.  So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc. should be removed from the container and heated in something else.  Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is int he paper.  It's just safer to to use tempered glass corning Ware, etc.  he reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper.   The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave.  As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic and drip into the food.  Cover the food with a paper towel instead.

Lesson 3: We are What we Eat

Some things are just too good to keep to yourself.  I've had this information in a folder for several years.  I kept it because it makes perfect sense.  The food we eat was specifically designed to support certain systems of the body.  It is an interesting read from a source unknown.

  • Carrots:  A sliced carrot looks like the human eye.  The pupil, iris, and radiating lines look just like the human eye....and yes, science now shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.
  • Tomato:  A tomato has four chambers and is red.  The heart is red and has four chambers.  All of the research shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food.
  • Grapes:  Grapes hang in a cluster than have the shape of the heart.  Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.
  • Walnut:  The walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums.  Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex.  We now know that walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.
  • Kidney Beans:  kidney beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.
  • Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb:  These look just like bones.  These foods specifically target bone strength.  Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium.  If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, making them weak.  These foods replenish the skeletal needs.
  • Avacados, Pears:  These target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female--they look just like these organs.  Today's research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers.  And how profound it this?...it takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit.  There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them)
  • Sweet potatoes:  look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics
  • Olives:  assist the health and function of the ovaries
  • Grapefruits, Oranges, and other citrus fruits:  Look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of the lymph in and out of the breasts.
  • Onions:  look like body cells.   Today's research shows that onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells.  They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. 

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Lesson 2: There is always more than meets the eye

Please take 9 minutes out of your day to watch the video I posted on Carly Fleischman.  She is an inspiration to all those who live with autism. 

Remember that the eye is the lamp of the body.  Spend a moment gazing into Natalie's beautiful blue eyes.  With certainty, you will be captivated by the potential that you see.  It is up to us to believe in the ability that lies beneath and help bring it out of her one day at a time.

Autistic Girl Expresses Profound Intelligence

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Lesson 1: Sharing a story is sharing a bit of yourself

Today was the day I stepped it up.  Sometimes you have to do that in order to stay in the game.  To play today's Game of Life, you have to put yourself out there a little bit for the world to see.  From Twitter to Facebook to Blogs and Glogs, people are sharing themselves---their little worlds to anyone who is interested. Maybe it is time I did, too. 

So world, meet me--Eloise Hawking, keeper of the Lamp Post and all knowledge sacred.  Feel free to check this blog regularly for humorous and heart-warming stories sure to make you smile.  Wife, mother to three, and teacher of many, I am filled with stories that people continually ask me to share or repeat.  The best of those will find their resting place here--a home where anyone can visit at any time. 

Just look for the lamp post and you will surely see the light, radiating from within, guiding those to her that need a lighted path. 

Godspeed, my friends.  Let me help light your way.  --Eloise