Tuesday, September 22, 2009

When You Have Only Two Pennies Left

When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other. -Chinese Proverb


Grow lilies. Bake bread. :)

Copyright 2008-2009 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission. Use the ShareThis link if you want to share this. And remember that if my work gets published anywhere else without proper citation, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Sharethis: Cocoa May be Beneficial for Migraines , Headache & Migraine

What marvelous news for Migraineurs!

Some years ago I discovered that neither chocolate nor cocoa were Migraine triggers for me; however, craving chocolate was invariably a signal of impending Migraine attack. Whether I indulged my craving and ate any chocolate or not, it had no effect on the timing, frequency, or intensity of the attack.

Glad to see good news on the chocolate front.

Here's a very nice chocolate sauce that does have plenty of cocoa solids.


Rich Chocolate Sauce


2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
6 tbs water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
dash salt (important for flavor)
1/4 tsp vanilla
4 tbs butter

Heat chocolate and water over low heat, or microwave on high for 30-60 seconds at a time, whisking until smooth.

Add sugar and salt. Continue heating and whisking until sugar is dissolved and sauce is slightly thickened.

Stir in vanilla and butter. Serve any way you like including in a dish by itself. Makes 1 cup.




Theobroma cacao good for Migraine pain
Cocoa May be Beneficial for Migraines , Headache & Migraine
Source: emaxhealth.com



Parin Stormlaughter sent this using ShareThis.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

IMPORTANT Sharethis: FDA requires strong amputation warning on sedative - EarthLink - Health News

9/21 Edit: for tyops. I shouldn't try to write when I can't.


***Simulposting***

I imagine this will be of interest to people who need emergency room and urgent care for situations such as, say, Migraine attacks.

This story is full of emotion for me. I'm a musician, was professional for a number of years. To lose one of my arms would have been the end of my career, as it was for the woman here.

This med is one I have had prescribed off and on in oral capsules for years with success. There is no amputation warning for oral administration, the way I read the article.

Phenergan is also a component of oral combination drugs such as Mepergan which I've also taken with success. Those of us who take it by mouth are not the people this new labeling requirement will affect, it appears.

PLEASE read the article. If your doctor administers Phenergan by injection (or directs that you receive it by that route) then you need to know this information.



Phenergan "amputation" warning now required labeling
FDA requires strong amputation warning on sedative - EarthLink - Health News
Source: enews.earthlink.net



Parin Stormlaughter sent this using ShareThis.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Parin Stormlaughter has shared: Studies: Swine flu spreads long after fever stops - EarthLink - Health News

Explains why the doctor told Aikichik and Libchik to isolate themselves through Saturday. Their fevers are gone but they're still coughing like sixty.

Read the good article.


Coughing is better sign that you can still spread H1N1 than fever
Studies: Swine flu spreads long after fever stops - EarthLink - Health News
Source: enews.earthlink.net



Parin Stormlaughter sent this using ShareThis.

Sharethis: Early flu season _ what you need to know - EarthLink - Health News

Good article from Lauran Neergaard of the Associated Press.


Lauran Neergaard's good reporting
Early flu season _ what you need to know - EarthLink - Health News
Source: enews.earthlink.net


Parin Stormlaughter sent this using ShareThis.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

H1N1 is here...I mean, right here

Libchik and Aikichik both tested positive for influenza at the doctor's office yesterday. The doc said it meant that they both had H1N1. They're both taking Tamiflu now and were given strong cough medicine.

They're so feverish that the ambient temperature goes up tremendously when they're in the same room.

H1N1 is overwhelming the university they attend. No doubt that's where they were exposed.

Take care, everybody.



Copyright 2008-2009 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission. Use the ShareThis link if you want to share this. And remember that if my work gets published anywhere else without proper citation, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Update: Squirrely Hit Counter

Sick threat of harm from some demented mind or another. No more hit counter.

********************************************************************

Please disregard the hit counter. It jumped more than 8,000 hits in about 36 hours. That's got to be a mistake. I'll reset once I talk things over with someone who can explain how this happened.

Thank you. Carry on.



Copyright 2008-2009 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission. Use the ShareThis link if you want to share this. And remember that if my work gets published anywhere else without proper citation, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

Friday, September 4, 2009

When Enjoyment is Nowhere on the List

"Yes Mother, but how will you benefit from all this?"
Recent observation by Libchik


Happy Full Corn Moon! I'm full of Migraine meds and about to get horizontal but I wanted to share some thoughts first. Once I hit the sheets I might not get back up until Sunday.

The other day, Libchik and I were making some plans. She and I worked and talked, planned and compromised, and reached a viable solution.

At the end of our discussion, she commented that everyone would be pleased with the solution we reached--except me! She said that I had not included myself and my own needs anywhere in the complex. She also scolded me for never including myself. It's nothing new.

I'm hearing this EVERYWHERE. People keep telling me that I should begin to consider myself before I consider others. It is foreign to my nature though. And that self-denial is my nature is borne out through my birth chart. I was born so "others oriented" that I have no internal mechanism for self-promotion even when I need it.

The ability to deny myself serves me well in my belief system. I was a Secular Discalced (meaning Barefoot) Carmelite for some years, and Discalced Carmelites are a penitential order. We thrive on penance. A Carmelite who doesn't might reconsider his or her vocation.

But a prime directive for us is to never take on penance of our own volition in the absence of approval by a spiritual director who understands the penitential vocation. I haven't had a dedicated spiritual director since my friend and formation director died. I was so crushed by her death that I voluntarily withdrew from Carmel.

All that to say: I should probably listen to all the people in the last 3 or 4 years who have told me that I should loosen up and get my mojo back. It was surreal to hear my adult daughter adjuring me to think of myself, when I know I've spent the last 42 years thinking of her and her sister, and my parents and ex-husband, and the job I retired from on disability pension, and the showbiz public, above all else.

I've said this several times over the last 8 or 9 months, that I must learn how to relax and let my hair down. And for sure it will be a learning event because I don't know what I like to do. I have no idea what I enjoy. Not a clue of what's fun to me.

Well, I know I feel gratified by a number of things but Libchik told me that gratification wasn't the point of pleasure. Experiencing enjoyment is the objective of pleasure. If I'm knocking myself out to solve problems and plan events for others, it's nonsensical to omit myself but I do it anyhow.

Baking that poppy seed cake and feeling the satisfaction after so many years of not having the capability to cook triggered a confusing cascade in me. Honestly, I believe I did feel pleasure. I was proud that I had come far enough to make the attempt to bake again. The cake turned out just fine and it was delicious. My mother enjoyed it. I was gratified that I could accomplish it but there was more to how I felt. I may have--enjoyed it?

What else does one do to figure out what's fun? I won't be climbing aboard the Great American Scream Machine roller coaster at Six Flags, that much is certain. But what other things are fun for a person with no vestibular function whose chronic illnesses are triggered by so many things she can't keep up with them all?

Growing mushrooms? Reading a sensual piece of fiction (or non-fiction for that matter)? Getting hot and sweaty with an agreeable guy? Where do I find an agreeable guy who is ok with my chronic crap?

I'm so trained to perform music that I never learned to play for fun. I was quite glad to find that I could still knock out songs on my new guitar but I can't say it was entertaining to me. My mother asked me to plan a time to play the piano for her sometime soon. It will certainly be gratifying to see her enjoy it but it won't be anyone's idea of fun but hers.

I'm going to cry now. I have to find pleasure but I don't know where to look. Actual me-oriented pleasure and not gratification from service. Maybe that's a start--have I been substituting gratification from service for self-indulgent pleasure?

I wonder if anyone has published a workbook to guide the servile back into the real world? How would I even look that up on Amazon?

Copyright 2008-2009 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission. Use the ShareThis link if you want to share this. And remember that if my work gets published anywhere else without proper citation, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Parin Stormlaughter has shared: Five Minute Global Prayer: Send and Receive Healing Energy this Friday | Dancing with Pain(R)

Five Minute Global Prayer - Send and Receive Healing Energy
Five Minute Global Prayer: Send and Receive Healing Energy this Friday | Dancing with Pain®
Source: dancingwithpain.com


Parin Stormlaughter sent this using ShareThis.

Venusian Pleasures - Poppy Seed Cake

stormlaughterIcon_lock "Oh help me. I'm floating in cinnamon, nutmeg, almond, & poppy seed pleasure. I should say "join me". :)"
Me on Twitter


Never mind Neptune. More delicious delights have my attention right now.

My mouth is numb, comfortably numb. I just consumed half my daily calories with Neufchatel. Then I had another piece.

I'm drying petals from a blossom of Ryan's Rose so the kitchen is filled with the rosy fragrance. Couple that with this cake's sweet cinnamon heat from the oven and this domestic goddess is reborn.

This is where my Venus finds her voice.

Poppy Seed Cake
Inspired by a recipe from Gail Gand

1 1/4 ozs culinary poppy seeds
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/8 cup corn oil
1/2 tsp vanilla flavoring
couple of drops of almond flavoring
1 cup self-rising flour
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch grated nutmeg

Soak poppy seeds in milk for 1 hour. Set aside. Grease and flour a loaf pan and set aside.

Whip egg and sugar until fluffy. Drizzle in vegetable oil, vanilla, and almond flavorings. Sift together flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add to batter alternately with the poppy seeds and milk.

Pour batter into loaf pan. Bake at 325o for 45 minutes to an hour or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Top warm with cream cheese, butter, honey, or ice cream.


Notes: Oh heavens, what pleasure. Use evaporated milk in this recipe if you wish and you can save your regular milk for drinking. Consider trying Homemade Vanilla Flavoring and Vanilla Sugar for desserts like this. Be sure not to use more than a couple of drops of almond flavoring because it can easily overpower this delicate cake. Original recipe made 2 cakes and this recipe doubles flawlessly. Fill the room with the fragrance of roses (or if you're adventuresome, serve with tangy, fragrant rose conserve) to go along with this delight. The cake is moderately sweet and always unfrosted.

Copyright 2008-2009 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission. Use the ShareThis link if you want to share this. And remember that if my work gets published anywhere else without proper citation, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

Venusian Pleasures - Homemade Vanilla Sugar and Vanilla Flavoring


Vanilla Sugar


Place 2 lbs granulated sugar in an airtight canister and label with ingredients and date. Bury a whole vanilla bean pod in the sugar. Shake the container every few days. Let steep for 2 months. Use in any recipe calling for granulated sugar as well as in coffee and tea. One pod will flavor three changes of sugar (6 pounds in all) but use only 2 lbs at a time or it'll be a year before the sugar gets flavored. You can then use the pod for things like puddings and mead.


Bourbon Vanilla Flavoring

Split 2 vanilla bean pods and scrape the seeds into a pint of a bourbon that you like to drink, then add the pod halves. Cap tightly. Shake bottle every month or so. Let steep in the back of a dark cabinet for about a year before use. Marvelous in things like eggnog, hot toddies, and bourbon-soaked cakes. Two pods will flavor 2 pints of bourbon. Just refill the original bottle once you've emptied it. Discard the pods after the second batch. Very nice gift.



Copyright 2008-2009 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission. Use the ShareThis link if you want to share this. And remember that if my work gets published anywhere else without proper citation, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.