The Three Forms of Plain White Sugar

White sugar is something that almost all of us consume everyday, whether we do it intentionally, or it is in the prepackaged food we are eating. Although there are plenty of forms of sweeteners in both our packaged food choices and simply packaged for us to buy, I only wanted to mention plain old white sugar today.

Do you know that plain white sugar can be made from three different sources?




I am pretty sure that everyone is familiar with cane sugar. This is made from from sugar cane. It is fascinating to me that something that basically looks like a stick could give us something so sweet. I grew up thinking that all sugar came from cane. I was amused when I found out it wasn't.

Do you know that white sugar can come from beets? This is the one I find most amusing! How can something so pure and white come from a red root grown in the ground? Now I know that root vegetables are among the sweetest, and hold the highest sugar content making them act like a starch in our body rather than a vegetable. Nice to know when juicing.. adding a root vegetable can make a very sweet drink!

And my least favorite, do you realize that not just HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) is made from GM (Genetically Modified) corn, but it is also the most commonly used sugar in the industry? It makes sense that it is used in various forms as a sugar, since it acts like a sugar in our body. Corn is really not the vegetable you were taught it was! While we may have a greater chance of being aware of whether our corn on the cob was genetically modified, there are no restrictions for labeling it on any food.

How often do you eat something, or serve it to your family, that has sugar in it? Do you know what kind of sugar was used? Do you know if it was genetically modified? Wouldn't you like to know?

To me, this is just another way that our freedom is being taken away, one cell at a time.. so small we don't notice it. Personally, I would like a choice on whether to eat genetically modified food, a choice on what type of sugar I consume, a choice on whether my food is raw or cooked when I eat it, and a choice on how it was cooked and when.. what about you?
Please let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Heads Up! President's Day Sale

I always love it when I can pass along a deal to you guys! Take a little bit of time off and treat yourself or a loved one to a new computer game. With so many of you snowed in, it might just be the perfect thing to keep the kids busy for a while. My kids and I share our opinions on a bunch of computer games over at www.GazeUpon.com and share things like which ones we think hold an educational value, which ones are multiplayer, and which games have settings so younger kids can join in the fun!

Use the code PREZSALE to get 30% off any $6.99 game on the Big Fish Games website.
Coupon codes will not apply to Collector's Edition games.
This coupon code will expire February 15, 2010.

Moving Forward

There are some days where things just do not go as planned. Then there are those days that seem to last for weeks. Sometimes I am afraid that I have fallen so far behind that I will never catch up. It seems an insurmountable task to catch up everything that has been left to the wayside while life came crashing through.

I am finally starting to actually learn to just accept things for how they are. How does this help? Well, if I can accept that I really am that far behind, then I can move on to starting again. Did you catch that? Most of the time we run around trying to catch up and feel overwhelmed and stressed. Things don't seem to move fast enough. It seems that something else is always waiting to crumble. We stress over things not being good enough, not being fast enough...

Next time, try forgiving yourself. You did the best that you knew how to do at that time. Let it go. Take a deep breath.

Then you can pick up the pieces and start moving forward again. 

And that is good enough.

Balance for Rejuvination

As a mother, we have so many things that call to our attention each day. It can be quite overwhelming some days. As they say, if mom isn't happy, no one is. Taking time to relax and recharge yourself each and every day is essential to being your best and providing your best for your family. I hope these affirmations will help to remind you of that.

I balance my night time with rest and enjoyment so each and every morning I may rejoice in rejuvenation.

I wake up alive and revived because my life is balanced with a reprieve from the daily routine. The moment the sun's rays shine through my window and touch me awake, I am psyched and prepared for the day.

As I stretch and slide out of bed, I celebrate my awakening with a breath of fresh air. I hop into a comfortable shower singing a melody to match the birds outside my window. I take the time for a good quality breakfast which nourishes my body.

I can scarcely wait to bounce into my day! Today is a good day and I am ecstatic to be a part of it.

I arise so alive because in the evening I take the time to rest and fully relax. I permit myself the down time I need to shake off the strain from the day, as well as do the things my body and mind require to wind down.

I run a shower of warm water to relax my muscles and quell my mind. I make time to reflect on the day and let go of my anxieties and worries, visualizing them evaporating away from me as the steam rises from the warm water.

I feel my body's tension release and I unwind.

Today, I choose to make relaxation time a priority, understanding that my reward awaits me the next day when I awake.

Ask Yourself:

1. How do I feel when I wake up each day?

2. How do I relax at night?

3. Do I make this time to care for myself a priority in my life?

Calling Me Home

It seems that I have always loved the mountains. Perhaps the were something that played in my dreams as a child growing up in the flatlands... Perhaps they have simply always called to my heart, to my soul.
The mountains that Heidi grew up in, running wild and free among the goats. The family stories that I grew up listening to. The pictures of family in Norway.. ancestral homes built right into the side of mountains with green grass growing on their roof, ancestors standing in front of their mountain yards...
I hadn't realized how my heart longed for the mountains until now. Returning home from a visit of the flatlands where I grew up, I watched out the window of the airplane. The patterned fields slowly passed beneath me. I marveled at the hundreds of windmills strewn along in seemingly empty, and maybe unwanted, space. I watched as ripples started to appear in the land, the patterns of them fascinating me with their complex simplicity.
I was not prepared for the happiness, the pure joy that filled my heart when we came upon the first mountain range. Watching that fade and then build into the next larger range, until the entire window was filled with the craggy hills that I had spent the last seven years surrounded by.
I had cried as I left the flatlands of my childhood..as I left my mother and grandmother again. These were not the green hills that Heidi had run through, nor were these the green hills that my ancestors had built their homes in. These were the mountains of the southwest, painted  in their own glorious shades of pinks, and blues, and reds. The colors of the sunset captured by the rock to be seen throughout the day or night. The colors that stayed even through the rain and fleeting clouds. Now tears filled my eyes again as I felt my heart, my soul, speak to me. They said, "These mountains are home."