Happy Fourth of July

It’s the Fourth of July and I am starting to feel back to normal. That can only mean that my next cycle is just around the corner – July 12th. I’ve never really experienced the symptoms of cancer like night sweats, fatique (OK looking back I did this time), loss of weight, etc. I’ve always felt pretty well when I’ve been told I needed to start chemotherapy. My joke has been that I feel good so they make me feel bad so everybody feels better.

I was reading an article on MinnPost.com by Timothy Walch, director of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, Iowa, about historic words too important to be misquoted. Apparently Herbert Hoover gets misquoted a fair amount – no chicken in every pot and car in every garage – but so do the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Why? Because we are lazy.

According to Walch, we “too often rely on questionable Internet sites or biased cable-TV talk shows for news and information; we too often digest what we read and hear as factual when it's more accurately opinion or, perhaps, pure fabrication. Compounding our gullibility is the tendency for Internet pundits and political leaders to misquote or take quotes out of context to bolster a particular point of view. In short, "documentary information" is too often twisted to justify partisan perspectives.”

He goes on to say that there are good ways of checking stories and quotations. Just as the Internet is the source of a lot of misinformation, it also offers the tools to find the truth. Most well-known stories and quotes can be checked using the search box on Google.com other sites such as Snopes or WikiQuote.

Does my referencing an article found on the internet make you stop and pause? I hope so. I like the way Walch put it - "The Fourth of July, the day we cherish freedom, is a good day to use our thinking skills to check the accuracy of what we read and hear."

Eat Good Food, Be Kind, Tell the Truth

Click below for the collection of recipes or for an easy to print copy of a single recipe.

Collection of Recipes

Grilled Pepper Salad

The Friday Update: Just the Facts

I Went to a Garden Party…

Really it was a graduation party for John and Angie’s son. A beautiful day, sitting outside, catching up with people. I’ve been a little socially isolated.

Kathy complimented me on the blog. I was trying to explain to her and Bob that it is a real outlet for me but not just for the writing. The “putting it together” piece is just as important. It helps with my tunnel vision by really giving me something on which to focus.

So how does a blog work? Search me. Most of it is automatic but when it starts “thinking” for me it gets very interesting. What I want and what it does often are not aligned. I get focused on fixing those things and it can keep me occupied for hours.

The blog has actually been 3 blogs that I tried to tie seamlessly together. The collection of recipes and the recipes themselves are separate blogs that open in a new window so you never have to leave this one and click back; same with incorporating pictures and other links. It is not an automatic function so I had to incorporate the HTML language to make that happen. I’ve made a lot of trips to the HELP section and HELP is not always very helpful. Basically it is a control issue and right now, I have a high need for control.

Carrie told Eunice she also like the blog but that I never said how I was. She didn’t know what she was starting. I’ve been working on that with tunnel vision since last night. There is now a 4th blog – The Friday Update: Just the Facts . I'll include a link for it at the end of each post and also on the top sidebar of the blog. You can simply click on it to get the short update on how I am doing or bookmark it to go there directly once a week so you don’t have to wade through all this other stuff. Thanks, Carrie for the suggestion via Eunice.

I’m still feeling well. Had some issues with constipation this week and felt a little off for a day. I also have a sore throat and think I may be catching a cold which is not good. This morning I noticed I also had a mouth sore and it occurred to me that the sore throat could be a side effect of the chemo especially because otherwise I feel fine. I gargled with salt water to see if that would help I did get some immediate relief but I remember as a kid my mother had us gargle with salt water as a “cure” for sore throats. Can’t hurt.

Eat Good Food, Be Kind, Tell the Truth

Click below for the collection of recipes or for an easy to print copy of a single recipe.

Collection of Recipes

Mediterranean Potato Salad: Good for a Garden Party.

The Friday Update: Just the Facts