It is Fun to Play Hard and Eat Right

We heard the greatest thing today at school from some program called Fuel Up for 60! They said that we have to play at least 60 minutes a day! That's a whole hour for you guys who can't tell time. How cool is that?! Now when my Mom says to turn off the TV, I can say, Well Mom, I'll just have to go PLAY! And not only do we have to play everyday but they said we have to eat good food to fuel up our bodies with energy. So, when I come back in, I'll say, Hey Mom, how about some of those righteous Quesadillas? They are healthy since she makes them on whole wheat tortillas and uses real cheese, and they taste, fantastic!
Right now, the snow is killer where I live and sledding down the hill near our house is awesome. Yesterday, I was talking to my cousin who lives down south and he said that they don't even have to wear coats! He was riding his rip-stick all over the neighborhood and I was snowboarding down my street at the same time! Sometimes I wish we could change places. But, whatever, it is fun outside with my buds. And when I come in all tired and worn out, Mom has good food waiting for me in the kitchen. I can fix them myself if she 's not around but I really like it best when she makes them she's just got a way, that's special.

Palomar Printing suggests that you check out the good folks of Worcester East Middle School, at:
http://www.greatschools.org/massachusetts/worcester/1891-Worcester-East-Middle-School/
and the great program, Fuel Up For 60, at:
http://www.fueluptoplay60.com/about-fuel-up-to-play.html

Our differences bring us together

During the holiday season, it seems we do many things the same way that we have always done them, and, for that matter, the same way our parents did them. But, if you think about it, it is not really so surprising that we repeat ourselves.

These reminders of our past comfort us. I make a three layer coconut cake every Christmas just like my Mother. I'm told that she learned from her Mother to pile the divinity icing on one inch thick at Christmas because my Father proposed in February just because he liked it so much! Even though they are worn and faded, my most cherished decorations are the ones from my childhood. And, every Christmas Eve will find us at a candle light carol service before our feast and on Christmas morning we will all replay the same routine as always, even though the children are virtually, grown.

Down the street, my friend's Menorah honors her entry hall. Her house has been full of very different smells and celebrations. Hanukkah fell before Christmas this year and it was they who led the way toward celebration and traditional rituals. Our Jewish friends shared delicious potato latkes with us and we even learned to play the dreidel game with our chocolate candy gelt. Hanukkah is a holiday which commemorates the miracle of the oil and of precious freedom being won from oppressors. It is this remembering the struggles of the past that helps us value what we have today.

When we all get together, we enjoy a swirling celebration that joins two different religions and traditions together. This diversity is what makes us stronger if it is nurtured with mutual respect and support. And those reminders of our past keep us strong because down deep, it is our history that makes us who we are. Our friends at Ancient Ties make it their business to keep reminders of our heritage integrated into our daily lives. This Winter, let's celebrate our differences and in doing so, find a wealth of delightful similarities!

Just how do we sum someone up?

Recently, at a friend's dinner party, I settled in the kitchen with a few other guests to keep her company as she finished up making the Paella. As she worked, we munched on chewy bread which we drenched in her delicious red peppers swimming in olive oil and garlic. We laughed and talked over glasses of white and red Spanish wine and hopefully didn't distract our hostess too much, with our company. At the high kitchen table where we sat on bar stools, our conversation was light and bounced around for the recommended ten or so minutes before we got around to the compulsory question of “What do you do?”

I read somewhere, to try and wait awhile before asking someone how they make their living. Perhaps it is so that their real personality will shine through allowing you to learn about their hopes and dreams, their values and expectations and their affiliations and dedications. Surprisingly, this advice can make early conversations a little tricky. It can almost feel like talking to a stranger in your underwear. Are we are vulnerable without our cloak of profession?

But, since I always like a challenge and since I really do want to see the real person inside, I just smiled and listened to them tell me what they wanted to share, with as little leading as possible. I learned that the woman across from me was a parent. That news led to descriptions of her children and the special characteristics that described each of them. She was a multi-tasking parent, dealing with very different children in various emotional stages of life - a single mother of teenagers! She was also a sportswoman who enjoyed horseback riding and farm life. On top of all that, she was out there in the dating world and expounded on the trials and tribulations of trying to find someone suitable to get to know in a world of married people. I was getting a pretty clear picture of a vibrant, engaged and searching woman who had a nice smile and a hearty laugh. It turned out that she was also a veteran and had served in the Navy. That is where the marriage had happened and the children had come from – some handsome sailor who had won her heart - and they had made a go of it for many years, before the fall.

We were enjoying the good food and company and wine and the cheese – did I mention the black olives? It was hard to imagine that we would even have room to enjoy the very special Paella that was now fragrantly cooking in the oven. The smells drifting across the kitchen were enticing and the wine was flowing freely – I believe I even had a bottle mostly to myself there for a while. Eventually though, it just happened, and the new friend sitting across the table said that she worked as a Surgical Technician. She had been Navy trained – the best training, she said. Those Naval Hospital ships are where they send our boys when they are hurt overseas. They are on the cutting edge of technology (oh, excuse that pun!) She said that she had gotten the very best start for her wonderful career and at the same time, gotten to serve her country while she perfected her skills. But after her tour of duty ended she was able to segway right into civilian life and now she worked in private practice.

She told me that her days were always exciting. Every day brought something new and every thing that she did was important. As she told me about her job at an outpatient clinic affiliated and across the street from the Catholic Hospital in our city, I saw a love in her eyes akin to that which she had when she talked about her children. She was secure in both of her major roles in life – her job and her children. She loved her challenges. She helped change people's lives! She helped save people's lives!

All of a sudden, our conversation was interrupted by a beautiful platter of Paella being set down before us. It was a mound of fragrant, saffron flavored rice crowned with scallops, clams and shrimp, and decorated with lemon halves and olives. Amazingly, we were all hungry again and as we enjoyed the very special dinner, I continued to hear what it was like to be a surgical tech. It was wonderful to hear the passion in her voice and realize how important her work really was.

After I got home I googled the Navy Surgical Tech School in San Diego and shared the interesting website with my children – my two rising Seniors and three college aged sons who also want to give back and be counted. I can only hope that they too will find an avenue like my new friend, to be important and useful and fulfilled in this world.

As I look back on that evening, years from now, I believe it will be the nice friends and congenial conversation that will first come to mind. Of course, I will also remember the Paella, which was such a special treat, and made by my friend's capable and caring hands. I also think, that I might notice that after that evening, I didn't wait so long anymore, to ask, “What do you do?” I learned that evening, that even though you may talk all around it, learning of the gratification from a job well done, of a job enjoyed and valued may well prove to be outstanding and defining elements which will clearly describe someone's life. If you chose the right profession it will inherently describe your hopes and dreams, your values and expectations and your affiliations and dedications.

They Come as Quickly as They Can!

Once, when we were trying to get an old MG Midget back to running, my husband siphoned off its old gasoline into a big pickle jar. We then realized, that we didn't know what to do with this flammable, toxic, gallon of explosive liquid and so I went inside and called the fire dept. They were very nice, and thought about it for a few minutes and found mine, to be a pretty unusual and interesting question. But, before answering it, the Chief asked me how my husband siphoned the gasoline out of the car? I told the Chief that my husband had used a hose and his mouth because he thinks he is invincible! The Chief told me that doing that was very dangerous and that even though I reported that my husband seemed fine, the Chief thought that the paramedics should come to check my husband's breathing. As he hung up the telephone, he told me not to be alarmed because they respond to every situation with the utmost expediency. Before I could cross the kitchen, dining room and then the family room to reach the side door, I could hear the sirens! Now, we live at least 4 miles from the station. They arrived and had my husband checked out in record time. They were simply amazing in their response! Luckily, my husband was fine. The Chief ended up taking the jar of gasoline, to be on the safe side. We bought a siphoning gadget from the local car parts store and will never siphon by mouth again. But, most of all, we gained even more respect and greater appreciation for our local Fire Department, due to their actions that day. They proved that they do their very best EVERY TIME! The Spencer Fire Department is getting a new custom made Ladder Truck in 2010! With this new, wonderful addition to their fleet, The Spencer Fire Department will be even more able to serve YOU!

Christmas Choral Concerts fill us with nostalgia and "put music in the air".

Every year when Christmas rolled around, music became prominent in our lives. Our Church would begin at advent and have wonderful musical corals to lead us into the month of celebration. Opportunities to hear choirs were such valuable and enjoyable events. When we would go home we would be filled with inspiration and would gather around the piano. Our Grandma would play Christmas carols and I would get to turn the sheet music when she would nod at me. All of us kids would beg for our favorite song to be sung next and then, when it was our turn, have a hard time deciding which one, that actually would be. Our voices would rise together in a strange but wonderful, multi-generational harmony and our broad smiles would only dim at the end, when we sang the solemn and beautiful, Silent Night.
Although these memories will last forever, unfortunately, as the years went by at our house, there wasn't anyone left to play our piano. So, Daddy began to buy Christmas albums; a new one every year, there for awhile. He chose combination ones with the biggest stars, Bing, Andy and Perry all crooning the greatest songs. I can still picture the covers now, each year printed with a different colored bow, tied perfectly and symmetrically in the middle. They were gift wrapped and appropriately so, for they were terrific presents for us! We played them on our little phonograph over and over, enjoying them year after year despite their scratches and gravely sound. Those records would be spinning through all of the decorating and creating the background for all of the holiday meals. Those carols encouraged us to sing along and enhanced the Christmas spirit in our home as only music can.
I admit that those record player days were, a pretty long time ago. Since the early 60's, we have seen quite an evolution in music technology. I can still remember how we thought we'd hit the big time with our new Marantz amplifier and strobe light regulated, turntable. Our automobiles were revolutionized by groovy 8 track tape players, seemingly, only out long enough for us all to buy them before they morphed into cassette players before our very eyes. Yet again, we all fell for it – why, well, I guess, because, we love music! Sadly, just about as soon as we had converted all of our records to tapes and carefully, stored our beloved albums, (vertically, in a temperature controlled, out of the way, closet) and bought fantastic cassette sound systems for our cars, CD players came on the scene. Again,our lives were changed with their great, new, digital sound!
Could now, at last, our Christmas carols, remembered from yesteryear, recorded from old scratched records, discarded to make way for these new CDs, sound like the real thing again, sound like the old days, sound like us, around the piano? Well, if they could, it wouldn't be for long. The industry topped itself in no time, amazing us with the unbelievable, MP-3 player - the sound of the future! Again, we rushed toward the new horizon and for the past few years, have all been running out to buy the latest and greatest models, yet finding it rather hard to keep up and hard to know, just what to buy. MP-3 players are continually getting better and becoming more and more improved! They are getting smaller or getting bigger, they are getting Internet capable or combing music with phones or music with cameras or combining everything with everything, all at once, and all crammed into one tiny, little package! It is truly hard to fathom, how very lucky, we are. There are even these things called apps and there are more and more of them each day. There are apps for almost everything! We need these apps. What does one of the commercials say?....Something like, 'there are apps to let you be you'.
Now, we are free to go anywhere and our music seamlessly follows us. We can instantaneously, pull up any song, right out of thin air. And because we have these really great headphones, we can listen most any time, most anywhere. It is so convenient that what we are listening to doesn't have to clash with that of the fellow's across the table. We don't have to worry about the other guy, anymore.
We are lucky. We almost have it all. It is just that, as I look around, it seems that we are listening to our music, alone.
I am wondering, despite all of these great improvements in sound quality, availability and portability, is all this fantastic technology really making us feel any better? Is it able to make us feel like like we did when we gathered together around the piano? I am wondering, is there an app for that?

Life is Nutz!

What a crazy name for a company! But the owner, Kevin Brown (and his friend, Keith Kober) are slightly nutz, as they are IronMen, and have made a commitment to participate in SIX IronMan triathelete competitions in one year. So far, the two men have completed two this fall, November, actually, 3 weeks apart, in Tempe Arizona and Panama City, Florida. Ironmen raise money for charities in order to compete, and Kevin Brown, for the fall events, raised $5300 for ARC (Addiction Referral Center) in Marlboro, MA, $13,000 for Right Turn, in Arlington, MA, and $5800 for Jane Lane’s Kids in Sand Diego, CA. As Kevin says, At the end of the day, it’s all about helping our fellow human beings.

So, what does this have to do with a company called Life is Nutz? Brown and a small group of supporters have started a for-profit business for charity, with plans to donate proceeds to organizations, including ARC. The name, What R U Nutz? (aka WRUN) was coined by Bill Beers, the company's CEO. The group will be selling T-shirts, water bottles and other apparel at Ironman races, and its Web site, www.lifeisnutz.com, and are at the Natick Collections outside the Friendly’s from now thru the 15^th of February. They sell shirts for many sports, including the Nutz Baby and Nutz Shopping Mom. Check them out on line or in at the Mall.

Life is, after all, about helping our fellow man.