Plaque in the Arteries

I haven't been talking about eating raw that much since I have been in Tennessee, and the truth is - I have barely been eating raw! I have been eating cooked food, junk, and even drinking sodas! What is it about being at your mom's house? Sentiments of sweetness from the past - I guess. My family has been wanting me to cook banana bread (lots of it), banana pudding, I have been making casseroles, pinto beans, hamburgers, potato soup, and too much to list. I have also been eating popcorn and some snacks. I have been drinking carrot juice and an occasional salad - but I have been bad! That means detox when I go home. My husband and I have been talking about doing some serious raw fooding next month!

Today my mother and I went to the doctor and I saw a poster with this on it:



I think it has encouraged me to think about detoxing and eating clean even more. It's going to be back to my healthier diet as soon as I get home! I have had DVT (Deep Veing Thrombosis) before, at the age of 25, and am at a high risk for blood clots as it is, so I definitely don't want all this in my veins!

I hope this photo encourages you too!

Love,
Kimberly ♥

Trip to the Doctor with My mother

Today I accompanied my mother to the doctor. She will be alone here after I leave for New York next Tuesday. so our main purpose was for me to talk to the doctor to see if I could get him talked into getting her some help. He said that hospice is out of the question since she does not have a terminal illness, but he would try to see about the home health service. I just want someone to come and check on her a few times a week and help her out, so that would be fine. But the doctor encouraged her to start going out and I agree with him on that. It would do her a world of good!

Well, here is our trip. The van picked us up. The driver was a lady and was so nice!



Mom lives really close to the hospital, so it was like a 5-7 minute trip. The hospital was built somewhere around 10 years ago or less, so it is really nice. (Even though here you can only see the medical buildings with the doctors' offices in them.



The picture below, I did not take, but it shows the hospital.

Here is my mother entering the office.



The office is just adorable! My mom's doctor's wife decorated it.





I love the colors back in the actual office part. Look at those floors! Cute!!





Many of the offices here in this town support local artists, and it is the case with my mom's doctor. Isn't this adorable?



After seeing the doctor he sent her out to have some blood drawn.



In the meantime I managed to sneak in a few pictures.





I loved these photos of the local mountains! I can imagine having a house right in the pictures. I know - I'm dreaming!



When my mom had finished with her business (and visiting) we went out to sit in the lobby and wait for the van to pick us back up.



And I took some more photos. I love the trees!





The Bradford pear trees are just amazing in full bloom!



And then the van came and we are now back home. I really wish I could have gotten out more to show you this town, but I have photos, which I took last summer, and I can add them later as time passes along.

Love,
Kimberly ♥

Beautiful Views and Not So Beautiful Views

I miss Tennessee so much when I am in New York. There just aren't that many pretty views. Well, I do live on an island in the Long Island Sound, and with just a short walk I can see YHWH's (God's) beautiful creation of the ocean, but at my home all I can see is brick and other buildings, bus stops and the street. I showed you the other day my mom's view of the lawn in front of her apartment, where the orchard is (pictured below)...



but that doesn't do the views around the apartment building, which she lives in justice. Let me show you the other views one can see from here.

This is the back yard of the house behind her apartment.



I love that fuchsia bush!





This is the road, which goes in and out to the main road. This apartment building is fairly secluded and not many know it is here.



Mom is way up on a hill. Here is a view looking down on another apartment building and some houses.



This circles around behind the apartment building.



One can get a sneak peek of the mountains from this position.



From this position one can see the business section below.



Here is a little peaceful hill near mom's apartment. When my husband was here with me last summer we spent many a quiet days there together picnicking and just watching the clouds, enjoying the peace and quiet of southern life.



This is the front of the apartment building, which my mom lives in.



And this is my mom's personal front porch, which I enjoy sitting on with a glass of ice tea, just listening to the birds, the near train, which passes by frequently and relaxing.



But even with all these nice views and the peace and quiet of my hometown, one must realize that there is still ugliness in the world. I live in New York City, where there is an estimated 38,000 (+) homeless people, but even in Greeneville, Tennessee, my hometown, the statistics are as follow:

Greene County
34 (Total) 16 (Surveys)
Emergency = 5
Transitional = 0
Unsheltered = 29
Families with Children = 0
Chronically Homeless (as determined by completed surveys) = 5 (31%)

One of these unfortunate homeless people once made their home here in the woods by mom's apartment, and this is an old make-shift as it had been already abandoned last summer (of 2009) when I was here, never the less - it is a sad sight!





Please remember to pray for the homeless in our nation as the employment situation gets worse and worse.

Love,
Kimberly ♥

Thanksgiving With My Mother

Well, since I moved to New York I haven't spent one Thanksgiving with my mother. That's been four Thanksgivings without her. We decided tonight to have our own, and here's what we had.

We started with two cornish hens. There is no need to have a turkey for two people.



They are seasoned with butter, salt, pepper, chopped cilantro and mine has garlic. Mom doesn't like garlic. Had I been home I would have put thyme and other herbs on them, but things are scant here, due to no transportation.

We had them with green beans, corn, potatoes, stuffing and rolls.



Here is a close up.



Here it is on the kitchen table.



I made banana bread of desert. I would have added some nuts, but we did not have any.

I mashed up four bananas and added 1/3 of a cup of butter, 1 cup of sugar and 1 egg beaten.



After I mixed that up I added 1 and 1/2 of a cup of self rising flour.



After mixing the flour in I greased a 4 x 8 loaf pan and poured the mixture in it, baking it in a preheated 350 degree over for about an hour and ten or fifteen minutes. Check yours as ovens vary.



It turned out just beautifully.



Care for a slice?



(As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. (2 Corinthians 9:9-11)

Love,
Kimberly ♥

Connie's Orchard

I have shown you all the lawn across from my mom's apartment before. It's where I have been picking my dandelions for my salad and tea.

This is it taken from under my mom's porch.



Well, now it looks a bit different. Years ago it use to be covered with trees, but my mom's landlord had them cut down and the stumps removed for safety reasons. They were very large and old. His ex-wife always encouraged him to plant more trees there in their stead, but he never got around to it. She died a few weeks ago, nine days after my father died, and so for a memorial to her, Terry, my mom's landlord, planted an orchard.







He planted Gala apple, Granny Smith apple, Bradford pear, peach, plum and cherry trees. He plans on buying an arch and placing a sign over it, naming it "Connie's Orchard". If he gets that put up before I leave, I will get a picture of it. I think that it is so sweet of him to do that in remembrance of her. I wish that I could do something like that for my relatives whom I have lost.

Love,
Kimberly ♥

Little Doors and Compartments

I love little doors and compartments. I don't know why, but I just think they are so cute and they really appeal to my eyes, so you can imagine how thrilled I was when my husband found this compartment under my sink, but my love for doors and cabinets doesn't stop there. Nope! I love them on...

trucks





cabinets



desks



ovens



and more.

I just love doors, drawers, and any kind of little compartment. I know... I am easily amused...

but the last time I came to my mom's, which was last summer, her wall looked like this:



so you can imagine how thrilled I was to come this time and see what the landlord had done to it. He installed a small door to get to the central heating and air area so that he could clean it out. Now it looks like this:



Is there anything similar that you find cute?

Love,
Kimberly ♥