The Sweet White Stuff

No soap yet. But a dandy, philosophical visit with my sister, freshly returned from a little more than a week on British soil. Piping hot coffee ingested curbside, under overcast skies, while seated in contemporary (almost too funky for our small town?) metallic armchairs. Raw sugar crystals, amber brown and reminding me of Polish stones encircling mosquitoes and whatever else managed to be bogged down in their gloopy-ness before becoming eternal ornaments, embellished her latte.

And what's so special about raw sugar? I know, I know: it's not processed in the same unhealthy way as white sugar, but what is the more specific reason it is better for you? Google research begins (which I realize isn't TRUE research before you condemn my methods! but it has some merit?)...

Here's what Michael Bloch shares: sulphur dioxide is added, phosphoric acid and calcium hydroxide or carbon dioxide are mixed in to "rid the impurities" and pretty it all up. (Whereas raw sugar simply has lime added followed by a centrifuge method to separate crystals.) It's a threat to our environment due to pesticides, clearing of forest/land for sugar cane plantations, processing = loads of energy, waste & chemicals. http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/73/1/White-sugar-vs-raw-sugar.html

It's a threat to us for many reasons, one being that refined sugar raises our insulin level which in turn means a depressed immunity system, causes weight gain, and forces our body to utilize much-needed vitamins and minerals to help our body metabolize it.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-is-Refined-Sugar---Known-As-White-Sugar---Bad-for-You?&id=119462

Sugar lesson of the day.

Morning....Morning? Oh...Morning!

Lyn Andrews' "The Sisters of O'Donnell" under my belt, I dreamily sway through my day...okay, so that was overly romantic...half of the characters kicked the Victorian era bucket; I was up too late reading (well, midnight, so not horrifically late); Rebekah just shoved her hand down a ball-popping toy and had to be rescued; and Gavin's chauffeur to school needs soon to depart. Welcome to another day! Feeling rather chipper, though, I search for my galoshes amongst the footwear crowding the closet base, and get ready to take on the day!

Coffeeeeeeee....a recent study just "proved" that caffeine, though it wakes you up, doesn't actually give any sort of "jolt" like us addicts claim.....still I dream of that moment when the warm liquid meets tongue and all is right in the world....

Coffeeeeeeee....Did I mention coffee? Must locate children, who are bounding about the basement, flashlights in hand, searching for "a scary rooster with a mask on and a tractor" (because we have so many of those odd ball creatures meandering about our home!).

Stuck, stuck, stuck....

Ever been stuck - car hugging a snowbank so tightly you needed a neighbour's tractor and a few strong testosterone-filled individuals to release the car from its loving 'death grip'? Or calf-high (as in your own, not as in actual cow babies...)rubber boots in riverbank mud - trying not to shriek out in surprise at the frigidness of the water as it cascades against your leg while attempting to yank yourself loose from the squelchy mire? Or how about just plain routine?

That's the location where I often find myself stuck. Stuck - part of the dictionary.com definition - "to be at a standstill, as from difficulties: I'm stuck on this problem; to be embarrassed or puzzled; hesitate or scruple".

Stuck, stuck, stuck doing the same things the same way... But, wait, have you ever surprised yourself with a solution to that "standstill"? Wondered why, as you were overcome with a "eureka!" solution, you were ever performing the routine that way in the first place? Since our coffee maker "bit the caffeinated dust" a year ago I have been daily brewing my addictive poison in a French Coffee Press. This wonderful contraption has nestled ever-so-comfortably on the top shelf of one of our cupboards - so high that every morning I grappled with wooden stick and catapulting stainless steel. Finally one day, "Eureka!": could I not simply rearrange some of the bottom shelf inhabitants to make room for a tall, robust, shiny friend? Why was I ever performing that routine that way in the first place?

Well, I'm off for some "always under construction" adhesive-elimination (yeah, yeah, fancy for: change, growth & un-'stucking')...4 days at the "Emmaus Project" conference in Alliston("The Emmaus Project is transforming, recharging and refreshing presbyteries within The Presbyterian Church in Canada" http://presbyterian.ca/emmaus/ ).

Talk to you Sunday evening...