The road to being a BLACK BELT!

(What my niece gets to look forward to when she is a black belt...their own restroom!)

Friday morning I got an email from my older sister saying that my niece was being promoted from yellow belt to orange at her martial arts school. I quickly made arrangements with the girls at work to leave early, so I could make it on time.

I made it to Fullerton with 20 minutes to spare, so I went to the Sprint store and bought my niece a little congratulations/"I'm proud of you"/"Keep up the good work!" gift, a NEW CELL PHONE! Poor kids had gone months with out a phone because the face has come apart. I have gone just a day or two without my phone and felt like I was disconnected from the world. I can't imagine being in high school and not having it. Well.. I guess I technically can, since back in my high school days i didn't have one, but time are different now.

I could decide what color to get, so I called her from the store an asked "grey, pink or red?" She was confused and I didn't want to give away the gift, so I said think clothes or an accessory and she choose red.

When my niece arrived, I asked her if she wanted her gift now or after her promotion. Silly question, huh? Of course she wanted it right then. I don't blame her, I would too!

So I asked her to close her eye's tight and stick out her hands and I place it her deadly, karate hands.

This is a before picture with my niece and her yellow belt.

See the black belts on the wall? This martial arts school has a "black belt" club. You pay a flat fee for your "journey to black belt experience" and no matter how long it takes to get you black belt you will not have any fees there on out. Part of the black belt club is having you future black belt placed on the wall with your name and year you signed up under it. It is then up to you to work hard to get that belt off the wall and around your waist. I thought that was a great motivation factor. To come to class and always see your future black belt up on the wall as a constant reminder what you are working for.

(Here is a picture of all the current "future black belts" on the wall.)

(Here is my niece in action...sparring! I LOVE IT! She takes after ME!)

AND...TAHDA..... Here she is AFTERWARDS!!!! And did you notice something???? She is not wearing here old yellow belt!....AND she is not wearing her orange belt that she was SUPPOSED to get promoted to! She is wearing a PURPLE belt!!!! Her sensei wanted to recognize her for all her hard work and bumped her up a belt!

CONGRATULATION'S MY NIECE!!!!

Delirium

Friday night Jay came over and helped me assemble my TV stand. I was hungry, sleep and going delirious! When I get like that I am one big goof ball. But about one 1 AM we completed it! Poor Jay had to be at work that morning at 6am!

Saturday night we headed down to Jay’s home and had a bonfire! Seeing how Jay lives in San Clemente and drives all the time to North Orange County, the group thought it would be a nice treat for us to visit his area. Josh and I were the first ones there and we guarded the last fire pit as if our lives depended on it. South county beaches are a lot cooler then north county and I was freezing! I made a Starbucks run to get some warm fluids running through our bodies. Go figure the two people that were assigned to bring wood didn’t show up for another 1 ½ - 2 hours. Josh and I sat there on the pit and watched the ocean and talked about life. Pretty soon we saw dolphins jumping out of the water. There were three pods and they were jumping out of the water and displaying quite a show for us! We told all the late folks…. And of course, they were jealous! See it pays to be on time!

(Left to Right: Me, Josh, Santa, Dennis and Jay (he is on the bottom)

(Santa and me holding the fruit bowl and trying not to have it in the picture. Obviously that didn't work!)

I had made some croissant sandwiches with chicken, pesto sauce, sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts and everyone kept raving about them! *me blushing*

I got a call into the night that Paul and Sensei T were coming down!
NICE! I was so excited I haven’t seen Paul in like forever.

(Left to Right: Sensei T, Me and IT Paul)

The night was filled with tasty food, great company and TONS OF LAUGHTER!

(Left to Right: Jay, Josh, Dennis and homeless women in the middle)

This homeless person kept coming to our pit asking to sit by the fire and for ice. At the end of the night we were taking photos and the guys wanted one with her. Little did we know that her husband was not too far away and got jealous. Oops!

What do you think?

The VP of HR passed by and asked if I follow American Idol and I told her that I don't. She said when ever she sees me she wants to call me "Jordin" because I look like her. You know me, the minute she walked away I googled "American Idol Jordan". Up came these photos... so what do you think?? Do I look like her? And is that a good think?

Dad will always take care of us!

After my Father passed away all my sisters and I picked things that when ever we saw them we would think of him, so when I ever I see a bubbles, humming bird, butterflies and blue jays I ALWAYS think of my Daddy!

This past weekend I was hanging at my sister’s house and she was telling me a great story that just happen to her. She was having a terrible morning and on her drive to work she had heavy metal blasting and if steam could come out of her ears, it probably would have. All-of-a-sudden, she started to talk to God and asked him to help her calm down because she was about to go to work and didn’t want to start her day this way. She asked specifically. “God, give me a sign that today is going to be okay and that you hear me!”

She got to work and a gentleman was waiting to deliver some furniture to one of the employees. My sister directed him to where to assemble the furniture and continued to start her day. About 20 minutes later the lady who received the furniture came to my sister and was holding a small hummingbird in her hand. She had found it in the drawer of the desk that was delivered and it had already passed away. My sister said it was a beautiful hummingbird and she couldn’t believe her eyes. What is the likely hood of a hummingbird fling into a warehouse and going into a drawer and getting trapped in? And then, on top of that, it being delivered to my sister’s work.

My sister told me that she just kept looking at it. They lady didn’t know what to do with it and my sister was in shock that it was a sign from Dad and God letting her know that they heard her and everything was going to be okay!

Never could hack it as a Shaolin Monk!

Saturday morning I headed over to Mr. W’s house (Cindy’s honey) for a day of sun bathing, catching up, swimming, and good food!

Mr. W set up a wall dedicated to their trip. It was neat to see pictures, statues and a cool picture of Cindy and Mr. W dressed as royal emperors (or something like that). Cindy, I think you should so post it! It is my favorite!

Sun bathing was so relaxing. I could hear the birds chirping away and it almost put me to sleep.

I have never tried tofu cheesecake and it’s like tart crust with a tofu whip cream on it. Very tasty! That was the main reason Cindy and I wanted to go.

Afterwards, we headed back to the house and watched a DVD on Shaolin Monk training in kung fu. I couldn’t believe the amount of dedication and hard work they put in to it. The live, eat and breathe kung fu! They prepare for any situation. One of the drills is they attach a rope to their testicles and the other end of the rope is attached to an iron brick. They proceed to drag…yes, drag it with their testicles! Another exercise is where they squat for hours at a time with a cup on their head, each leg is on bamboo and a sharp bamboo is placed right under their bottom, so if they give up they get speared. OUCH!

Oh to the ASPARAGUS!

A couple weeks ago I was sitting at a restaurant and to help time pass they have these random little tid bits you can read, so after reading it I put it my purse to blog about and totally forgot about it until I bumped into it this morning.

Can you pass the . . .

ASPARAGUS TEST?

We can't give you a million dollars, but if you answer the questions correctly and eat a lot of asparagus, we can assure you that you'll be much healthier.

Ready...?

1. The word "asparagus" is derived from what language?
2. What state grows most of the asparagus in the US?
3. What do asparagus, onions, garlic, leeks, shallots, chives and yucca have in common?
4. What is asparagus's best known nutritional value?
5. Does asparagus have aphrodisiac qualities?


ANSWER KEY
1. Greek, and the word means "sprout" or "shoot".

2. California. And, Stockton, CA is host to the Asparagus Festival in April. Make your reservations NOW as the attendance of asparagus enthusiasts has grown considerably over the past few years.

3. They are all in the Lily family!

4. It is the best vegetable provider of folic acid - necessary for blood and cell formation, as well as, liver disease prevention.

5. All through history asparagus has been trumpeted as an aphrodisiac. A 16th century Arabian love manual gave an asparagus recipe to create a stimulant for amorous desires. In his book "FOOD", write Waverly Root devotes a section to the sex life of the asparagus!

1 of the reasons I DON'T use a microwave

MICROWAVED WATER – SEE WHAT IT DOES TO PLANTS

Below is a science fair project. I n it she took filtered water and divided it into two parts. The first part she heated to boiling in a pan on the stove, the second part she heated to boiling in the microwave. Then after cooling she used the water to water two identical plants to see if there would be any difference in the growth between the normal boiled water and the water boiled in a microwave. She was thinking that the structure or energy of the water may be compromised by microwave. As it turned out, even she was amazed at the difference.

I have known for years that the problem with microwaved anything is not the radiation people used to worry about; it’s how it corrupts the DNA in the food so the body can not recognize it. So the body wraps it in fat cells to protect itself from dead food or it eliminates it fast. Think of all the Mothers heating up milk in these “safe” appliances. What about the nurse in Canada that warmed up blood for a transfusion patient and accidentally killed them when the blood went dead. But the makers say it’s safe. Never mind then, keep using them. Ask your Doctor I am sure they will say it’s safe too. Proof is in the picture of living plants dying. Remember – You are also living. Take care!

FORENSIC RESEARCH DOCUMENT

Prepared By: William P. Kopp
A.R.E.C. Research Operations
TO61-7R10/10-77F05
RELEASE PRIORITY: CLASS I ROO1a

Ten Reasons to throw out your Microwave Oven

From the conclusion of the Swiss, Russian and German scientific clinical studies, we can no longer ignore the microwave oven sitting in out kitchens. Based on research, we will conclude this article with the following:

1. Continually eat food processed from a microwave oven causes long term – permanent – brain damage by “shorting out” electrical impulses in the brain [de-polarizing or de-magnetizing the brain tissue].
2. The human body can not metabolize [break down] the unknown by-product created in microwaved food.
3. Male and female hormone production is shut down and/pr altered by continually eating microwaved foods.
4. The effects of microwaved food by-product are residual [long-term, permanent] within the human body.
5. Minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of all microwaved food is reduced or altered so that the human body gets little or no benefit, or the human body altered compounds that cannot be broken down.
6. The minerals in vegetables are altered into cancerous free radical when cooked in microwaved.
7. Microwaved food cause stomach and intestinal cancerous growths [tumors]. This may explain the rapidly increased rate in colon cancer in America.
8. The prolonged eating of microwaved food causes cancerous cells to increase in human blood
9. Continual ingestion of microwaved food causes immune system deficiencies through lymph glad and blood serum alterations.
10. Eating microwaved food causes loss of memory, concentration, emotional instability, and a decrease of intelligence.
    
    
    JUST THOUGHT YOU WOULD WANT TO KNOW....